Some of you may be familiar with The Tales of The Arabian Nights and the storyteller, Scheherezade. If not, let me give you the Reader’s Digest Condensed version of who she was.

You see, there was a Sultan who didn’t like women much, because his first wife had done him wrong and had ” R-U-N-N-O-F-T” just like Mrs. Hogwallop in “O Brother Where Art Thou.” But he liked “being married” (wink, wink). So each day he married a beautiful woman from his kingdom, spent the night with her and at dawn the next day he had that wife beheaded and married a new one.

Now, it seems to me that the men in his kingdom would have put a stop to this pretty quickly, because he was using up all the available women. I guess the men were just sitting around waiting for the sultan to get voted out of office, or something.

I digress.

The Sultan beheaded all his wives until he married Scheherezade. She was a storyteller. On her wedding night, she began to tell a tale for the Sultan that had more twists and turns in its plot than a ball of yarn on the floor after the cat paws get to it. When dawn came, the story wasn’t finished but the Sultan wanted to hear more. So he stayed her execution, but that story wound into another that didn’t end at dawn. She entertained the Sultan for 1,001 nights until he saw the folly of his ways.

You know that’s fiction. In real life, he never would have seen the folly of his ways.

Y’all may be aware that I am a professional storyteller, and I think of myself as having a “Scheherezade Complex.” I rarely finish a story. Often when I am telling to an audience, I leave the story open-ended and conclude by saying, “But, that’s a story for another day.” Sure, part of the reason for that is an affectation. Partly, I do that because when I was growing up none of my family was interested in hearing the stories. They always interrupted me before I got finished. So, I guess I’m trying to preserve my dignity in case you aren’t interested. Besides, many of my stories are about the journey, not the destination.

However, Matty at Running on Empty has gently chided me that she wanted an ending to a story. And, I have a couple of other loose ends to tie up. Here they are.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I was a surprised as the dickens to get a comment on a post I had written last January! It wasn’t even spam. I had written a post called Travel To Turkey Without A Passportand told y’all about the town of Turkey, Texas. It’s a delightful little town, but I warned you, “There isn’t much food to gobble in Turkey.”

Last week, Joni commented this

Please allow us to invite you back to Turkey, Texas and experience the “Turkey Drive In” as my husband and I have owned and operated it since March 2006. I am so sorry you have to tell your readers to be “forewarned” as things in Turkey have changed dramatically since your last visit.
Allow us the honor of treating you to one of the best hamburgers or grilled chicken salads for lunch and then enjoy a fresh cut ribeye or new york strip with all the trimmings for your “evening meal.” We also have purchased the Turkey General Store and are in the process of combining the two downtown to make for quite an experience! We do carry “picnic supplies” so you will not have to “import” a picnic. Please give us another chance to change your “warning” and “gobble” some good food in Turkey, Texas. lol

I stand corrected! Thank you, Joni, for your kind invitation, and I might just take you up on that. You were planning to “treat” me to that meal, weren’t you?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I told y’all about my difficulties with the Apple Geniuses and my tech “support” problems. It seems the Apple Store at Willow Bend, in Plano, had sold me the wrong Protection Plan. They told me on the phone that I could buy a new one (and they would charge me for it), but that the refund for the wrong one wouldn’t show up on my credit card for two to three billing cycles. Because I had opened the box, the Apple Store told me on the phone that they couldn’t issue the refund (it had to come from “corporate”). I was not amused.

I put on my dressy sweat pants, so I would look professional and imposing, and drove to confront the geniuses at the Apple Store. I went to the trouble for nothing. It couldn’t have been less of an event. The young lady who greeted me was a manager, and I told her the problem and said, “Waiting two months for a refund is not acceptable.” She said, “It certainly isn’t!” Right then and there, she put the refund for the wrong plan on my credit card and charged me for the correct plan (which was $100 more). She then proceeded to help me register the product.

That woman told me she wasn’t one of the “geniuses,” but I much prefer a person of average intelligence who can get the job done! All is right with the world. I’m happy with Apple, Matty.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I related about being contacted by someone who wanted to put advertising paragraphs on my site and said it was Too Good To Be True. I thought it was a scam artist trying to get my PayPal id. The Savvy Boomer told me that he had worked with folks like that, and that it might not be a scam, just someone who was unprofessional.

Turns out, that they contacted me again, and sent an attachment that is supposed to have the paragraphs they wanted to add. I’m afraid to open the attachment! It would violate my agreement with BlogHer, anyway. Not opening the attachment, putting the advertising would violate my agreement. And, I’m not sure that I want to have paid advertisements like that on my blog (as much as I’d love some money!). I don’t do PayPerPost, but I know that Damien, at Postcards from The Funny Farm, does. I think he likes it, so if that’s something you want to try, check with him to get some insight.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I whine a lot, don’t I? Sometimes, though, I just have to “put on my big girl panties and deal with it.” I warned y’all to use your listening skills and hear the sounds your house makes. It’s a good thing that I did.

We’ve got major plumbing problems, but the jackhammers don’t start until Wednesday. When they told me it was going to be jackhammers through the foundation, my first instinct was to sit down and cry. We had a very similar experience last year at this time with the jackhammers, and I knew my house was about to be filled with cement dust. Do you realize what that would have done to these 72 afghans for Share A Square??

I spent the weekend packaging them in plastic bags and tying ribbon around the top. It’s done, and they are ready for delivery! I’ll show you pictures later in the week.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Finally, Leanne is going to start work on my site in a couple of weeks to make a sub-domain for Share A Square, so that all the pictures will be in one place.

I’m also toying with having her make a sub-domain for

“A Daily Dose of Dear Dora.”
Y’all have met Dora here on my blog, but you didn’t know it. She was masquerading as “Dear Abby.” She’s Abby and Anne’s third twin; they never talked about her because she was half a bubble off plumb, and she was a bit of a witch. I’ve been channeling her, with the Dear Abby contest. It wasn’t really Abby answering, it was Dora. She wants to come to my blog on a sub-domain and answer letters every day. I think she’s crazy, but it’s what she has been telling me to do. Y’all know that I always do what the voices in my head tell me to do. Jamie, at Duward Discussion, is trying to help me find her picture. If you’ve seen her, and want to send me a picture (that I can use for free!), go ahead and do it. We have something close, but I think there might be a better picture of her out there somewhere.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I didn’t mean “finally” when I said it before. There’s a contest at Bleeding Espresso.com! Michelle has unveiled a brand new look, and you can win a $30 Amazon gift certificate by linking, subscribing to her feed, and commenting. Congratulations, Michelle, on your new site!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
NOW, I’m done…and if you think you are exhausted, so are all my ideas for the week!

Technorati Tags: Scheherezade, Turkey, Texas, Apple Store at Willow Bend, scam, Share A Square