so here's the post where i pretend i've not been gone forever

i know, i know.  i posted one week, was gone the entire next week, and came back again for a monday's memory like nothing had happened.

i'm resisting the urge to say "well, it's MY blog" right now.  

(actually, since i just typed that i suppose i didn't really *resist* that urge)

but the truth is last week was crazy busy with extra babysitting jobs and getting tax prep stuff done

(yep, i waited until the last possible moment of the extension...i'm betting if you were in my shoes you would as well)

and this week...i had a fantastic and wonderful surprise

it's fall break

for all the kids in this area

and for ME TOO!

because F's parents are teachers

i don't have him this week

and because all of my piano/voice students are metro students

for a myriad of reasons

every.single.one of them canceled this week's lesson

and bonus: i have babysitting jobs scheduled tomorrow, thursday and friday afternoons...friday night and saturday.  so i'll still be making monies, just in fewer days :)

and my google reader?  it's at a big fat ZERO right now

and i'm about to share my secret with you

it's been an amazing discovery for me

the next button

if you don't know about it, you should

because sometimes i read a post in google reader

and don't bother to click over to comment

and with the next button

no, i don't always comment

but i'm right.there if i want to

so it totally saves a step!

so how to find this elusive "next" button?

1.  open google reader

2.  go to "settings" and choose "reader settings" from the menu that will drop down

3.  open the tab that says "goodies"

4.  scroll down until you see this:

5.  follow those instructions

6.  start clicking "next"!

i have a button in my browser for "reader" so that i can easily click back over when i want...and i've made a couple of "next" buttons for specific tags that i want to read before everything else.

and BONUS: i just discovered that if you scroll down a bit on the "goodies" page there's a way to subscribe from your toolbar as well!  i just did it. 

thank you, google, for making my life infinitely easier!