KINDLE FIRE

I bought (2) Kindle Fires for my kids for Christmas and I let them have them early/as soon as they came. They knew they were coming. They came yesterday at 10:30 in the morning and the kids have not put them down AT ALL for one minute except to eat and sleep. They think they are the best things that have ever happened to them. They LOVE THEM.

Just some info for you to know if you are thinking about getting one (some) and are unsure...They are not quite as good as an IPad because they do not have GPS and they are only 7 inches instead of 10. But they only cost $200 instead of $600.

If you buy TWO and have them registered to the same Amazon account, when you download a free or purchase a paid app on one it goes into your CLOUD and you can download the same app onto the second device without having to purchase it again. If the first device downloads a book it shows up on the carousel of the second device and the second device can keep it or delete it. (The update that came out yesterday now enables you to delete items from your carousel- it was not originally programmed that way)

Each day Amazon GIVES AWAY an app that they normally charge for. Every day is a different app and you can find out which is the app of the day by following the FIRE DEPARTMENT BLOG http://fireapps.blogspot.com/2011/12...apps-1223.html

The fire only has (8gb) 6 usable GB of internal storage space but you get 5 GB of CLOUD storage for free. You can add CLOUD storage for $1 per GB per year. Most all Amazon content can be stored in your cloud as not to take up space on your device because space is limited.

There is no capability to use an SD card with the Fire.

Also it does not come with the micro/USB cable that you need to have to add your own pics and music to the device. It is NOT a standard Micro USB cable. It is even tinier than normal.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

I found out about the cord not coming with the Fire when I was reading a professional reviewer review the Fire on the Amazon reviews under the item description.

I would recommend getting the 2 year Square Trade warranty for the Fire for $44.99 because it covers ANY DAMAGE from drops to spills and since my 2 devices are for tweens that may not be super careful with them, they are covered up to 3 replacements in 2 years for free (just the cost of the warranty) You can purchase the warranty anytime within the first 30 days after you purchase the device. You just search on Amazon for "Kindle Fire Square Trade Warranty" Do not buy the one just for regular electronics up to $200 in value. The FIRE has it's own version of the warranty you have to buy for it to be covered. I think it is a bargain for my piece of mind to know no matter what, at anytime during the next 2 years, if my kids destroy this thing, I can get a new one sent to me for free.

FYI: I am not trying to talk you into buying a FIRE. I am not a sales person for Kindle or Amazon, just someone who has two of them.

They do not have quite as many apps available as the Apple store has but they do have some major apps like Angry Birds and some very big, technical, detailed RPG games and advanced apps.

The cases they are trying to sell to go with the FIRE are around $30. You do not have to buy a case meant for just the Fire. I got these

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

and it only cost me $30 ish for (2) cases and they are hard sided cases that will help in the event of a drop or a spill. They come with a pouch for the cords and a smooth side for the device to rest.

ANOTHER BIG FYI: If you join Amazon Prime (first month is free then $79 a year) not only do you get free 2 day shipping for the whole year, you get $3.99 one day shipping and it also opens up a whole 10,000 item library of TV shows and movies you get to stream to your device for free (no cost aside from the annual dues) Also as a Prime member you get one free book rental (any book) per month for free. My daughter downloaded Hunger Games yesterday for free and it is a loan, and you can keep it as long as you want then when you are done you give it back. If you are going to buy a Fire I would join Prime before you buy the Fire or WHEN you buy the Fire because then once your device comes to you, registered to your account, the PRIME membership is already in the device. My daughter has already watched about 7 episodes of My Name is Earl, season 1 and some Adam Sandler movie.

That's about all I can think of to tell you about right now. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Otherwise I just wanted to give you all a little bit of info about the new Fire.

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Long time no see!!

I know my postings have been few and far between lately. I am back from the Disney trip so that's no excuse. BUT, speaking of Disney.... Jeremy (my husband) said he and I (alone) are going to go back to Disney next October for about 5 or 6 days, KIDLESS!! The kids aren't too happy about that but I am so excited about it. I think we will have a blast without the kids.

We plan on doing a few parks we didn't get to do on the last trip, Sea World, Magic Kingdom (we only spent 3 hours at MK, it was raining) and Discovery Cove where we will get to swim with Dolphins. We will go back an revisit Hollywood Studios and Universal's Island of Adventure (where Harry Potter is).

We will both drive this time. No flying. Husband won't fly and we don't really want to be down there with no car. The exact dates we are going are not SET IN STONE yet because we aren't sure what his work schedule is going to be like yet. We won't know that until some time next year.

I had a flat tire Tuesday. I was running errands and felt the tire feeling kind of wonky and pulled into a Sporting goods store parking lot and sure enough, I had a flat. Considering my husband is out of town working in another state I had to call my 70 yr old dad to come help me change my tire. It was hard for him, but my 10 yr old some helped him some. I don't know how to do it but I tried to assist. I rolled the flat tire back to my trunk and picked that big, heavy bitch UP by myself and put it in the trunk. Now don't think I am a wuss because I think a tire is so heavy. My car has very HEAVY STEEL RIMS on it. Big 20 inch rims that are way heavier than a standard tire and rim.

All of our Christmas shopping is done. It's been done for weeks but there is one little item that never did show up. I contacted the seller who sold me the SD card through Amazon and they keep giving me the run around and saying it is the slow postal system. After purchasing from them I started looking through their feedback and they had dozens of bad feedback saying the same thing I am having happen to me. No item, no answer, no refund. SO now I am having to file a claim through Amazon to get my money back and had to reorder (from someone different) of course and have it shipped 2 day shipping to make sure it gets here by Friday.

I already let the kids have their stockings. They got mechanical pencils, a card game called Would You Rather, a pull my finger fart pen, Silly Putty and a super bouncy ball. I also let them early open one of their Christmas presents and they got a Crayola CRAYON MAKER and a box of bulk crayons to go with it to make the new crayons with. That little fucker has to be put together and then getting it to work right the first time takes an engineering degree. But we finally got it all figured out and got them working and they made some crayons.

Jeremy will be back in town today and will do Christmas with his own son this coming weekend because he (Jeremy) has to leave to go back out of town next Thursday. I will do Christmas with mine on Friday the 23rd. It was my mom's birthday. I let them open my stuff early because they leave to go to their dad's house the next day to spend Christmas weekend with dad. They already know what they are getting from him, laptops. And they know 1 thing they are getting from me but they have a few gifts that are surprises.

My Christmas gift from Jeremy was an IPhone and $740 worth of new tires!! All I got him were a few Marilyn Monroe posters for his shop/gym. It's hard to buy something for him because he has everything he needs and the things he wants are out of my price range. (Think new hunting bow $900)

I already gave my oldest son (DS26) his Christmas. I got him an Android tablet, a case to go with it and a Leather jacket and my husband bought him a DVD player.

I spend a lot of time reading the DISBoards. Which is a Disney forum/message board but they have boards that are discussions that don't have anything to do with Disney. On the Community board this morning I was reading a thread about a woman whose daughter is being bullied at school and on the school bus by a few boys. The school is hesitant to do anything about it because nobody is GETTING HIT (are you serious?) and they have no proof just the girl's word against the boys.

This is very disturbing to me because most bullying...the kind that causes kids so much distress that they decide to commit suicide IS NOT PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, it is taunting, teasing and emotional bullying. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE!

I have had personal experience with this and in my case, my son WAS actually being physically assaulted along with regular taunting and name calling, etc. It went so far in our case that I ended up taking both my kids out of school and homeschooled

It was just disturbing me reading about that. It reminded me of what my son went through and how he cried and begged me to please take him out of school. So I did.

So, off that bummer subject...Let me get off here. I won't stay away so long next time. =) TTFN