Books & Products I've Seen at Amazon

Dianne here:

In honor of Black Friday (something I never cared about before as I'm NOT a shopper), I decided to write a blog about some of the interesting products and books I've seen while working at Amazon this fall. After weeks of being frustrated by not remembering interesting titles, etc., I finally wised up and scribbled down titles and names as I came across them. (No time to spend on this at work, so I hope I can read my scribbled-shorthand list.) I will try to add a link to the product at Amazon, if you want to read more about it or find it for yourself. The Amazon web site has customer reviews on most of their products that are helpful. I am NOT trying to get my readers to buy anything; just throwing out ideas and sharing interesting "Amazon Sightings."

I learned, for example, that I can buy my makeup from Amazon. Before, I ordered it from Sephora, but at Amazon I've been enrolled in their "one-click" order program for years, so it's just easier for me to order things there. My friend, Nancy, recommended this makeup to me last summer, and I really do like it, especially if I'm in a hot or humid climate. It feels like no makeup when you wear it:

Bare Minerals Makeup:

My brother-in-law has a nifty pillow for his GPS that he can move from car to car, to hold it steady on the dash. Our GPS, "Sacajawea," tends to wiggle and move in its permanent holder. We've even resorted to scotch tape to hold it steady. Now that I know I can order these pillows from Amazon, I plan to get one. I have stowed two different ones, one made by Garmin

and one by Tom Tom. I plan to research to see if Mio makes one also.

I've heard others rave about French-Press coffee makers. I've seen really nice ones, but I came across a practical one for the RV by Bonjour that is advertised as unbreakable:

Along with a milk frother:

I've seen lots and lots of gingerbread house kits in outbound totes moving along the conveyor belt, and I've stowed some nifty advent calendars.

Yesterday I stowed lots and lots of these Weber grill handle lights, and wrote it down thinking Roger might want one for ours. Unfortunately, they don't work on our baby grill, but it looks like a nifty item if it works for others:

Other things I've seen are lots and lots of cameras (Sony and Canon), toys of every description, baseball caps of every team, the list goes on and on and on....

Roger and I love Seinfeld-type humor, and our daughter (a professional comedy performer) turned us on to "Curb Your Enthusiasm." When we lived in our sticks-and-bricks house, we used to rent them from Netflix. We don't subscribe to HBO, because we wouldn't watch it enough to justify the cost, so that is the only way we could view it. Now, we no longer have Netflix in our new roaming lifestyle, so I was delighted to see that we can order the "Curb" DVD series on line, and can order it by season so that we can get just the ones we haven't seen.

(Note: Do not watch this series if you are easily offended!)

I have also stowed a lot of DVD series of old TV shows. Some of them surprised me, as I had no idea they were available:

The Donna Reed Show

Gunsmoke

I love Lucy (complete series)

Hogan's Heroes

The Waltons (complete series)

I had a lot of trouble finding a bin large enough for the Waltons series of DVDs. I finally had to take it to a special section for oversized items.

There are many others; these are just the ones I actually saw. If there is another one you are interested in, I'll bet you could find it if you browse under the correct heading.

A favorite movie for RV'ers is now available on DVD, too, Lucy & Desi in The Long, Long Trailer

I saw a design coloring book that I would like to use myself!! I immediately thought of my daughter, Amanda, as she is very artistic and loves to draw designs like I saw in this coloring book. It would be too intricate for a young child to color, but looks like fun to me at any age.

I saw a Christmas CD by Andrea Bocelli that my friend, Nancy, would like:

Amazon also sells used books. When stowing a new book the other day, I put it on a shelf next to an old, used book entitled "Texas" by James Michener. I definitely plan to order this book (used, from either Amazon or Half.com) if I can't get a Kindle version, because Roger and I will be spending this winter in the state of Texas, our first-ever actual visit there (aside from driving across the panhandle on Route 66 one summer). One of my favorite books of all time is "Centennial," also by Michener, so I assume I'll enjoy "Texas." (I haven't figured out how to underline items in blogger, so I apologize for the quotation marks.)

Other favorite books Roger and I have read that I've seen and/or stowed, include: "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett;

"Timeline" by Michael Crichton (a favorite of mine)

"Black Cross" by Greg Iles (Roger liked it and I'm reading it now on my Kindle.)

One funny book title I saw the other day was: "Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog." I don't know anything about it, but I thought the title was funny.

Another was "How Dogs Think."

Roger and I watch the Biggest Loser reality series. They have a cookbook out now

and exercise videos that I have seen and stowed.

A cute photographic book I saw (also thought of my daughter, Amanda) was "Monkey Portraits."

It has chimps, orangutans, and monkeys of all descriptions, some posed in costume.

I thought of my other daughter, Robyn, when I saw a guide book about moving to Los Angeles.

She's planning to move to L.A. next month. She has lots of friends already living there, so she may not need the book.

I plan to ask Roger if he wants the "A-Z Crossword Dictionary."

I might want to re-read some Erma Bombeck books (haven't read them since the early 1980s and I love her humor.) I stowed one the other day appropriate for Thanksgiving entitled "Family - The Ties that Bind...and Gag"

My fellow Scottish descendants might enjoy "How the Scots Invented the Modern World."

I never would have known about such a book if not for stowing it at Amazon! That's another one I plan to buy and read.

There's a book entitled "Make Money Teaching On-Line."

(I thought of Roger, although he's pretty good at retirement and might prefer the A-Z Crossword Dictionary!)

Last, but not least, I stowed a true-story book entitled "Saving Cinnamon." The title caught my eye, because our beloved grandpuppy beagle is named Cinnamon. This book is about a dog that was rescued from the war zone and sent to the U.S. I didn't have time to flip through it at work, but it looks like a heart-warming story, just from looking at the back cover.

There you have it: Amazon sightings that interested me, with no criteria other than that!