the Lemi Shine solution

i am trying to build a website.
it is not going well.

after a marathon evening (6 hours!) of sitting in front of the computer trying to download programs and decipher code and interpret techno-talk, i threw up my hands and said something to the effect of: "i'm a writer, not a f*@$!^% website designer!"
then i had a charming little temper tantrum that involved ripping papers to tiny shreds and moving all of my newly downloaded files to a folder i titled: "Stuff I HATE!!"
this behavior may or may not have been fueled by half a bottle of red wine.

on this very same night, i discovered a solution to another problem that's been eating up my time.

story:
for the past year, i've been noticing a slight film left behind on my dishes after they come out of the washer. recently, this problem became so bad, i had to throw out utensils and cooking equipment that had become permanently coated in a white chalky film.

handsome and i tried everything from different dishwasher rinses to scrubbing the dishes with rough sponges AFTER they'd already been washed. we turned to the internet for advice several times and finally found a suggestion to buy a product called Lemi Shine.

try to imagine this bottle with a cape and super hero music

a single load later... TA DA! - sparkling dishes with not a speck of film anywhere. it turns out that chalky stuff was from our hard water. now, instead of spending a bundle for a water softener, we simply add a little Lemi Shine to every load.

i estimate this discovery is saving me an hour of effort every week. that's more than two whole days every year. and for just a few bucks a bottle, i say it's a bargain. i'm such a fan, i'm considering Lemi Shine product placement in my next book.

it got me thinking about how valuable our time is and how much of it gets unnecessarily wasted.
so i made a decision to find an easier route to website creation.

24 hours after my temper tantrum, i remain stressed, but much less so, because i enlisted the help of a website developer to do my heavy-lifting. this is going to cost money (though not nearly what other people pay, because i'm hiring a friend and doing a simple site), and i believe it will be money well spent.

it's not exactly the "Lemi Shine" solution, but it's going to give me a lot more time to do what really matters - write!