I haven't sold in awhile, but on Amazon, the shipping price is fixed by Amazon. You get a certain amount for standard shipping (Media Mail) and a certain amount for expedited (Priority) if you allow that choice (and it's added to what the buyer pays). Usually the amount allowed will cover the mailing cost (including packaging), but if it's a big heavy book, you might have to consider that when you set your price.

Amazon does take a cut from the sale, but it's worth it if you have books that you think will sell. Obviously, best-sellers aren't easy to get rid of because there are so many other people wanting to sell them. But nonfiction books and specialty books sometimes go pretty quickly. And the market is vast.

Jay

I hadn't made polenta until just a few years ago,but I'm living in an area where there are a lot of people of Italian-American heritage & where, consequently, we have a lot of wonderful, small, European-sourced, family-owned markets that sell these foodstuffs. Also, many of the local restaurants are Italian-influenced, whether they focus on new Italian cooking or the old family-style "red sauce" type. I'd be behaving like a kind of cultural isolationist if I didn't try occasionally to make healthier versions of some of the dishes & take advantage of these fabulous markets. The nearest to me, Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, is more like Little Italy than Little Italy is these days. (Chinatown has sort of eaten the original Little Italy, which hangs on almost as a kind of theme park rather than an authentic ethnic enclave.)

I do see some southern cooking down here among African American families that came north as a result of the Great Migration. From them I learned about cooking greens & I make a black-eyed pea dish every New Years.

I've been seeing beets laid out on the tables at the local farmers' market on the weekends, so I'm pretty sure they're in season. The guy there kindly cuts off the tops & puts them in a separate bag. I do save them & sautee them in a little olive oil & garlic, but it's easier to store the whole shebang in the fridge when the beets are separated from their greens. I scrub the beets with an old toothbrush, cut them up as Jessica describes, rub them with olive oil, sprinkle them with salt & pepper & put them in the center of a square of tinfoil. I put maybe a teaspoon of water underneath them. I fold up the tinfoil in a package. Then I set them on a small tray (in case they leak) and roast them whole.

When they're done and cooled (very important ;-) I cut them up into matchsticks. Then I mix up a simple dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, some dijon mustard, a bit of Splenda (sugar's fine if you're not afraid of it), pepper & lots of dried dill. I marinate the beet sticks in that mixture. They make a nice side dish. If I want to be fancy, I serve them with a pat of goat cheese on the top & sprinkled with a couple walnuts. That concoction can also sit very prettily on top of a green salad.

Alliosn & Michele I read the "Hunger Games" series while dogsitting and loved them. Bought Gregor and read those too, almost one a night. Probably for the 9-12 year old set but who cares - sometimes reading is reading. My cousin's kids have them all now and are enjoying them immensely.

saef I took a bus tour of the Bronx las time I was in NYC. The tour guide (a middle class black woman) only let the bus stop at "Wave Hill" and also at a wonderful Italian market where they hand-rolled cigars among other things. I got the most amazing pastries there while queuing for the bathroom.

So today my 1 o'clock dog group found the sand so excruiatingly hot on their way back to the car that they were squeaking in pain and lifting their paws up to try to get away from the source.

And tomorrow is going to be the really hot day . I tried a 20-cal version of Gatorade ( I hate the taste of the regular kind) today (at DH's suggestion) to revive myself. Kinda like watered dwon grape koolaid but it worked! Will have to try to buy it by the case as one small bottle is $3!

Tomorrow into the blast furnace - will feel like 50 C. Dogs to the park for about 20 minutes per walk and that's it. Amazing that none of my clients have suggested that their dogs not go out in this. I would never, ever take my dog for a walk (german sheperd/lab mix with the sheperd coat) in this kind of heat.

Good evening all! (I will be parked in front of the air conditioning.)

Dagmar

Sounds like beets are on this weekend's menu! Thanks for the suggestions. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

michele - I've read the first Hunger Games book, but am waiting to get the other two from a friend. I enjoyed the first one and can't wait to read the other two.

Dagmar - That is crazy hot!!! For people and doggies.

I'm brain dead and hoping bedtime comes soon. Now would be good. Alas, my roommate had plans tonight so I told her I would hang out with her dog - he had a small skin growth removed today under general anesthesia, so we didn't want to leave him alone. He's fine, just pretty zonked. That makes two of us, and I don't have the excuse of medicine.

I leave in the morning with dd for our college tour. I'm not bringing my computer so I'll have to rely on my iphone for my emails, facebook fixes, etc. I'll check back in most likely on Saturday.
Wish me luck driving (with dd for all those hours and with my leg cramps!) and you all have a great rest of your week in my absence.

Dagmar - whoa! do we live in the same country? It is 12C here and raining. We are not having a summer - and you are having too much of one.

S

Michele, I hope your drive goes okay!

Dagmar, we haven't been walking Carter in this weather either. It's been 98 degrees and extremely high humidity lately! I haven't had time to walk him in the morning and it is way too hot in the afternoon. We've been playing with his tennis balls inside to try to get him a little exercise. Well, mostly he's going stir crazy and has been bringing us tennis balls and begging us to throw them. Yesterday for no apparent reason he decided he wanted to run around the house at top speed. It's hard to dissuade him from it, but his coordination since his surgery isn't good and when he tries to do that he usually ends up slipping and falling over, so we don't want him to risk hurting himself!

I saw the rheumatologist again this morning. Still don't know what's wrong with me. They are doing some more blood tests. Right now he's thinking it may be some form of atypical lupus or atypical fibromyalgia, since my symptoms kind of match both but not really either one, and my labs have been negative or inconclusive. In any case he wants me to continue taking the Lyrica, and add in tylenol, since he thinks that is a safer treatment than any of the other drugs, especially since they don't know what's wrong. He did also give me another prescription for a 1 week steroid dosepack if I wanted to try it and see if it helps. He says he doesn't think whatever is wrong with me is going to cause any permanent damage so it should be okay to just treat with painkillers. It's frustrating but there's not much I can do other than hope the blood tests turn up something.

Dagmar - I didn't realize it got almost 100 degrees in Toronto! Wow. It has been hanging in the low 90's here this week.

Jessica - sorry the rheumatologist didn't have any help for you. That is frustrating.

Michele - be safe in your travel! Hope the driving goes well.

I made the tamale pie recipe over in the recipe forum, from BluetoBlue I think? It uses polenta and was really fabulous.

Still sore from the '100 workout' I did on Tuesday some two days later. Oy.

Sorry you're still sore, Shannon!

Drive safe, Michele. What schools are you visiting?

Jessica, I posted to you in Operation 5-10. It's got to be frustrating. I hope the new blood tests will give answers this time.

So I stopped at Macy's yesterday to pick up my new purse and a belt for DH and I saw this dress....I don't usually wear dresses, but it really caught my eye. It's purple (not even my color), kind of like a sheath, but not typical sheath material (stretchier) and rouched at the waist on one side. I told DH about it (thinking it'd be cute for my reunion) and he said I should go back and try it on. Of course, if I get it, I'll need to get Spanx and new shoes! So I guess I'm going shopping after work today. I tried to find a photo of the dress, but can't on the Macy's site. If I remember, it was Lauren by Ralph Lauren, so maybe I can find it there...If so I'll post later. Or I'll take a photo of me in it if I get it! It'll also look cute for some of the concerts DH and I'll be attending next year.

I found itLauren Dress

Love the dress, Allison!

Allison Ralph Lauren is one of my favorite designers (though I don't have anything by him) - so simple and elegant. I love the dress!

Jessica your as yet still undiagnosed illness sounds extremely frustrating. I hope the new combo of drugs helps!

Shannon It's weird how sometimes a workout leaves you so sore for days. And other times you're fine. Hope you feel "looser" soon.

sznn Same country indeed?? This unfortunately is no longer weird summer weather for us - we have had drought and hot, hot temps for a lot of summers now. I still remember getting off the plane in Vancouver for vacation in August 1999 and thinking how wonderfully cool it was. It was around 70 F the whole time we were there and not a bit of rain.

So I made it through today just fine. Having that bit of A/C in the car makes all the difference! Poor dogs though - the last group (the ones burning their paws yesterday) were attacked by the biting flies as soon as we exited the car. I turned them back into the car and took them to a local ravine instead. Not as nice as swimming (although the previous group was hip deep in green slime in the lake). Phew!

We are supposed to get cooler temps by the weekend - just in time for my stand up paddling lesson.

Good evening all!

Dagmar

So I keep reading about nuts being a good source of protein, fats, etc. etc. One is supposed to eat 8-10 or a small handful or whatever.

How did any of you manage that? If I get a small bag of nuts (400 cals usually) they ae gone in a minute. if I buy a larger bag (almonds mostly) they are gone in an evening. I can portion them out but hey .

How do I develop the self-control to eat a portion of nuts? Please share your experiences.

Dagmar

I have a history of eating bags and bags of cashews. Currently, I have a difficulty with open bowls of tree nuts of any kind. If I have one, I have many, many.

But, each morning, I take six (as in 6.0) walnut halves or almonds to eat with my breakfast. I serve the six, put the bag away, and have no problem.

Likewise at lunch, I put toasted pecan halves on my peanut butter and banana sandwich. I've planned this. I serve it, put the bag away, no problem.

Yet when an unplanned, unannounced bowl of tree nuts appears before me, it's iffy whether I'll just fall in face first.

Another nut addict here.

What I've found is that once I stop overeating carbohydrates, I do a lot better with stopping eating nuts.

The program I'm following now allows 10 almonds (raw) as a snack. I can do that and not eat more. So it helps to have limited quantities. But it's best if I not have roasted salted nuts in the house, or if I just consider them NMF (not my food--my partner likes to have some around). No matter how good for me they are supposed to be, they are a high-calorie item.

Jay

I have found this to be true as well. Of course, I have found that:

Once I stop overeating carbohydrates, I do a lot better with stopping eating _________________. (in other words, fill in the blank! )