Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 2-28-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

If your email is in today's column, please let me know and I'll send you a free book from my book shelf. Thanks for writing.

From my Email Bag:

"Suzanne, I have been receiving your emails for about a year now and I just wanted to say 'Bravo!' I wished I had signed up 5 years ago. Your service has renewed my love of reading and I am proud to say that I have read more in the past year than I have since graduating college in 1997." --Farrah Kim

"Hi Suzanne....greetings from the Carribean. We're on a cruise and I've been keeping up with my 'Suzanne' reading. It's rather delicious and decadent to read email from sea." --Elizabeth Covino...and in port in St. Thomas right now!

"Suzanne, I've been in your book clubs for about three years now. Because of you, I'm reading again. I used to know that if I went into a library or bookstore I would spend at least an hour just trying to pick out one book. Because of my indecisiveness and the fact that I work full-time and am also a full-time student, I gave up trying to find books. It just didn't fit into my schedule. Your book clubs allow me to keep a running list of the books I want to read and I can run in and out of a bookstore or library in less then ten minutes. Thanks for giving me back a hobby I didn't realize I missed so much." --Nikki

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Warm regards,

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 2-25-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I took my mother's dog, Brandy, for a walk the other day. I admit I'm not an experienced dog-walker. I have two cats who aren't the least bit interested in walking around the block, but how difficult could walking a dog be? Things started out normal enough. My mother had warned me about Brandy's frequent need to stop and do his "business." But after four blocks of stopping every time we passed a light pole or mail box so he could pee on them, I realized that we needed some new dog-walking ground rules, otherwise it was going to take me four hours to walk four blocks.

So after a Suzanne-to-dog talk, we agreed that he would walk behind me on a short leash, and that I'd pause periodically for him to do some quality sniffing and peeing. The speed of the walk picked up and we were on a positive roll, until we stopped by my friend's store downtown on Main Street.

When I'm out for a walk I always stop and say hello to Linda. I was a little concerned about taking Brandy in the store with me, but I decided if I picked him up--he's a small poodle--and carried him in, he couldn't get into any trouble. Well, I was wrong.

Linda and I were having a nice "what've you been up to, how's business?" chat when a horrible smell filled the air. I knew immediately what it was. Brandy has a well-deserved reputation.
But since my friend had just met Brandy, she wasn't aware of his claim to fame, and she gave me one of those "Oh my gosh, was that you?" looks. It was awful. And we both looked down at the floor, assuming since the smell was so bad, that something must be there. But there wasn't, and the foul smell just clung to every air particle surrounding us. It wouldn't go away.

"It's the dog," I pleaded. My friend was still eyeing me. "Honestly." And I started to tell as many Brandy, inappropriate passing gas stories as I could think of to persuade her that REALLY it was the dog.

"My, that's a rich smell," my friend said as she was walking backwards towards the front door of the store. "Perhaps we should talk outside in case a customer comes in."

It's the first time I've ever been asked to leave a store, and it's the last time I'll ever take Brandy in one.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

P.S. Brandy and I are still buddies.
Go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/brandy2.html

Dear Reader Column 2-24-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

When I get up at 5 a.m. the first thing I do is open my email.
Thanks for taking the time to write. I appreciate it.

From my Email Bag:

"Suzanne, thanks for providing your book club service. I just finished reading The Horses Of Proud Spirit, by Sue Bowles. The book has 199 pages and I was able to read it in one day, but it took me two boxes of Puffs (144 tissues in each) to finish.

Although I checked the book out of the library I do intend to purchase my own copy, and anything else Ms. Bowles finds time to write. Suzanne, maybe you can start adding a 'cry meter' as part of your book description so we'll know when to have tissues at hand while reading. " --Pat McDaniel

Thanks for reading with me, Pat. It's so good to read with friends.

Warm regards,

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

P.S. I have 20 copies of The Rosary Girls, by Richard Montanari to giveaway. All you need to do to enter the drawing is send me an email

Dear Reader 2-23-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'm buying a new chair for my office today, well actually it's for Billee, my calico cat. It doesn't have to be a fancy chair, but it does have to be covered with material that cat hair won't cling to.
Billee likes to sit in front of the window on "her" chair, but then the chair gets covered with cat hair, looks a mess--which drives me crazy--so I'm constantly "rolling" the chair with a sticky roller to make it look presentable.

But after finishing this morning's "rolling" of the chair, I did some calculations. I could've bought Billee a brand new leather chair with the amount of money I spent on cat hair rollers last year.

I know, it sounds ridiculous that I'm buying a chair for my cat to sit on. But what can I say? She likes her spot in front of the window and I'm a softy. But I'm not the only one.

My mother and her husband dote over their dog Brandy even more than I do over my cats. Brandy doesn't eat dog food. Once a week my mother buys a $9.00 roast and cooks it for the dog. I know because I was the chef last week, and I've never felt more ridiculous than when I walked into the living room and said, "You know mother, here's a question that I never imagined I'd ever be asking anyone, 'How does the dog like his meat cooked? Rare, medium-rare, or well done?'"

The things we do for our pets. (By the way, Brandy likes his roast beef medium-well.)

If you'd like to Billee and me, go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/billy2.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 2-22-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Thousands of readers entered last week's ugliest salad bowl contest.
And the winner is Robert Guffey from Wilton, Connecticut.

Robert wrote:

"Hi, Suzanne, my wife, Angela--whose middle name is 'Suzanne' by-the-way--really wants this bowl. We've been married for almost 27 years and using the SAME wooden salad bowl that was a wedding gift. Actually, we've been using it until recently when it split (no metaphor there for the marriage though :o). We COULD buy a new one but--hey, this is much more fun!"--Hoping, Robert Guffey

Congratulations Robert! Can you send us a photo when you receive the bowl?

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. I think my mother Virginia, and her husband Ron, had as much fun reading your email entries as I did. And they assure me that they're going to garage sales every day looking for a new "treasure" for me to giveaway at the book clubs.

If you're a new reader or missed the Ugly Bowl Drawing last week, here's a link to tell you all about it: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/bowl.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] www.DearReader.com

P.S. I have 20 copies of The Rosary Girls, by Richard Montanari to giveaway. All you need to do to enter the drawing is send me an email.

Dear Reader Column 2-21-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

My life is kind of like the quilts that I sew. I'm not a gifted seamstress. In fact, when I sew my quilting squares aren't always straight, so the rows don't always line up. But in the end, when everything gets sewn together, and I hold up the quilt, it looks pretty impressive. And nobody even notices the square in the corner that's too short.

It's exciting when I sit down to begin sewing a quilt, because there isn't any pattern that I follow. I just make it up as I go along. And my business life has been that way too.

Want to start your own business? "Write out a five year business plan"--that's the advice you'll find in most business books. But I've opened a restaurant, launched a business magazine--and then the book clubs--all without mapped-out plans ahead of time. Instead, kind of like my approach to making a quilt, I cut one square, then another, take one idea and the next one, and sew them together--piece by piece--designing and making adjustments along the way.

Sometimes reporters ask me, "Suzanne, where do you want your business to be in five years?" And I tell them that honestly, I really wouldn't want to know. I prefer to take it one square at a time.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

P.S. I have 20 copies of The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari to giveaway. All you need to do to enter the drawing is send me an email.

Dear Reader Column 2-18-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

"You've got to try harder." That's what my teachers would tell me when I didn't make the grade. But I've discovered that trying harder isn't really the best way for me to become better at something.

When I try too hard, things don't usually work out. I actually do better when I don't care about the results--nothing's going on in my mind. I just do what I do best.

If I'm on a sales call and in the back of my mind all I can focus on is "Boy, I really need to get this account," most likely it won't happen. I need to go in and just be me. I know what I'm doing. I've done my homework, I've got great ideas to share, but I can't get in touch with them if I'm concentrating on trying harder.

Yep, my teachers told me, "E" is for effort, but my best work happens effortlessly.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 2-17-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I've owned several pieces of clothing that looked great on me, but I shouldn't have bought them because they were too complicated to wear.

I remember a one piece jumpsuit--the kind that zipped all the way up in the back--it had only one way in and out and I couldn't reach the zipper by myself. Now, in the morning I could ask my husband to do the honors, but it's a little tougher recruiting zipper assistance when I'm out in a public place and I have to visit the bathroom. "Excuse me. Is there anyone out there who could come in the stall and help me unzip this, and then hang around and help me zip back up?" Nope, not too many takers on that request. In fact, comments like that tended to clear out the bathroom quickly.

A sales clerk assured me the other day that the thin red watch band that was supposed to wrap twice around my arm would look great on me--and it did. The only problem was that unless I held one end of the watch strap in my teeth, wrapped it around with my other hand, and then did some acrobatics on the display counter to try to hold everything in place while I fastened it, that watch was not a one-person accessory.

Nope, if I can't get it on by myself I don't buy it. You'd think that Golden Shopping Rule would be fool-proof, wouldn't you? But the other day I was trying on a tight spandex shirt in the dressing room. Over my head, arms through the sleeves, looked in the mirror, didn't like what I saw, started pulling it off up over my head, and I was stuck. I'm not kidding. I couldn't move the shirt up or down. It was my first retail 9-1-1 call. The clerk who came running to help assured me it was her first time, too. Aren't I lucky?

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

P.S. You could WIN the "super-bowl" of prizes. Last winter when my mother and her husband came to Florida to visit, they became garage sale junkies. After one of their excursions, they handed me "the ugly salad bowl".

Email me and tell why you should win the ugly salad bowl and you're entered in the contest. (Yes, it's all in good fun. They love the contest idea.) I'm begging you--enter this contest. It's time for the ugly bowl to find a new home. For more information and to see this week's prize, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/bowl.html

Dear Reader Column 2-16-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

If you haven't entered this week's "super-bowl" contest, do it today. Email and tell me why you should win the big, ugly, bowl. Need inspiration? Read what some other readers have written.

If you missed Monday's column and the contest information, go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/bowl.html

From my Contest Email Bag:

"Suzanne, well we've had quite a bit of rain this year; more expected. So, I'm thinking [the bowl] might come in handy this Spring. Not sure how waterproof it is, but I think it would be a perfect raft for our cat...it's even got it's own compartment for her to carry her toys."--Anne E Taylor

"Oh my goodness it's the size of a Volkswagen! It would make a great 'one-up' gift at Christmas next year. My sister and I every year try to one-up each other with a useless but unique gift! Well the salad bowl has got one-up written all over it!"--Kristina Begovich Dolinar

"Dear Suzanne, since there is just one of me, I couldn't imagine what I'd want with [the bowl]. Then I decided to think 'out of the box' and realized [it] would be just the right size to hold: Slips of paper on which I've written each unhealthy relationship situation I've stopped putting up with."--Kathleen Richardson

"Suzanne, there is no good reason why I should win such a rare and beautiful salad bowl other than I really want it, and would treasure it dearly."-- Richard Thomas

"I actually think that salad bowl is beautiful. Here are two reasons why I think I should win it: I am 5'3" and my husband is 6'4". For 27 years I have had to look up and see things through his eyes. He always likes EVERYTHING bigger, taller, wider, and longer. That salad bowl would be PERFECT for him, as we eat salad every night and I would no longer subject him to the tiny containers I keep insisting on using when serving him up."
-- Debby (with a "y" and not "ie") Kratovil

"Suzanne, I would be honored to have the salad bowl. I am a Deaconess at my church, and part of our duties include serving the repasts when our members lose a loved one. I can never include salad as part of the menu because none of us have a bowl big enough. Your salad bowl would eliminate this problem."--Regina Sampson

"Suzanne: Just checked out your pictures of the bowl. Sometimes, things are so ugly that only a mother can love them. That bowl deserves a good home, not mine, but a good home. Good luck. As usual, your message this morning was just what I needed on this snowy Monday morning."--Krista J. Casey

Send me an email and you might be the lucky big, ugly, super-salad bowl winner!

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 2-15-05

Join my email book club. Over 280,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'd just gotten home from New York City, put on my pajamas, hit the "play" button on the recorder, (my husband always records a good show for me when I'm gone), crawled into bed, fluffed the pillows, and opened the bag of potato chips that I'd grabbed from the kitchen.

Crunch, crunch. They were good going down, but all night long I was brushing potato chip pieces out of my bed. They make a lousy sleeping partner.

I used to accuse my husband of being a slob when he ate snacks in bed. Peanuts or chips, it was never a mystery for long, because his late night delight would soon be all over the front of his shirt--crumbs from top to bottom.

"No problem," he'd tell me, "I'll get rid of the crumbs when I'm done."
But his idea of cleaning up was to stand up beside the bed and brush the peanut shells onto the rug below. Clearly we had different housekeeping standards, but we finally reached an agreement. Now whenever he needs to "brush off," he pulls the bottom of his t-shirt up, cradles the crumbs and heads to the kitchen. I've never had the courage to ask him what he does with the crumbs when he gets there, and after last night, I don't think I will.

Okay I admit it. I was tired, all snuggled in bed, and the rug below was an easy target. It's too bad I didn't get a chance to get rid of the evidence before my husband woke up.

"Suzanne, did I just step on a potato chip?"

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

P.S. You could WIN the "super-bowl" of prizes. Last winter when my mother and her husband came to Florida to visit, they became garage sale junkies. After one of their excursions, they handed me "the ugly salad bowl".

Just email me and tell why you should win the ugly salad bowl and you're entered in the contest. (Yes, it's all in good fun. They love the contest idea.) I'm begging you--enter this contest. It's time for the ugly bowl to find a new home. For more information and to see this week's prize, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/bowl.html