There have been all kinds of private detectives, investigators and amateur sleuths in fiction. It would be hard to come up with a completely new character. But, if that were your challenge... what can you come up with?

How Stuff Works: How Private Investigators Work

It's too much of a stretch to create a private detective as a baby. Though it would be interesting to work out the bugs on that idea, it just seems too much to expect a baby to get around well enough to get the job done. Not to mention the language barrier.

So my idea for a new detective is a teenager, a girl but not at all the Nancy Drew type. This girl is into body art and dresses all in black. People tend to cross to the other side of the street to avoid her. She's actually very clever but hides it, not wanting to look geeky to her friends. Some how she gets wrapped up in a mystery to help a friend or neighbour.

Invent your own detective, give it a try.

I'm watching TV... not really paying much attention to it.

My little man brings in the coffee. He's wearing that cute little apron we found last week. That's all he's wearing. I watch his bare feet, then up along the backs of his legs to his butt cheeks as he walks away, off to do the laundry.

Weekends are nice, when you're a Domme. What new little torment can I think of for my little man...?

I hear the washing machine start up. Then the clothes dryer starts up. I like the smell of fresh dried clothes and how nice and warm they are when they first come out of the machine.

"Little man...?" I call to him.

His head pops around the doorway, ""Yes, Madam."

"Bring those towels from the dryer, here."

In a minute he is back with the towels, not yet folded. I press one to my face, so warm and soft. There are not half a dozen towels in the pile, but I only need one more. No point in making him re-wash all of them.

Standing up, I take off my shirt, slip my pants down to my ankles and step out of them. From the bottom of the pile, I pull out the warmest towel and set it down on the couch behind me, spread out. Before I sit down I pull off my panties. When I sit down I feel the warm towel on my butt cheeks, it's soothing and comfortable.

"Kneel before me, boy."

He does, his face looking hopeful. His breathing has changed, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't noticed all these little things about himself. His eyes are on my boobs, the only part of me still clothed.

I smile at him then lean forward to kiss him and give his bottom lip a little bite. "Unfasten my bra."

I flip my hair forward, making sure it brushes his face and chest. His hands are sure and quick at the hook and eyes behind me. I hold the front of my bra rather than let it fall off too easily. Leaning back I smirk up at him as I wiggle myself forward inching my hips to the end of the couch. He has to back up before my knees push him away.

"This towel is so nice and warm on my bum. Feel my bum."

His hands start on my knees, one on each side. He slides his hands down my thighs, his fingertips gradually slipping lower until he is cupping my hips. "You feel very nice." He says.

"My boobies are a bit cold." I whisper.

"May I kiss them?" He asks.

"Not yet. Open my legs and kneel between my thighs."

He knows what to do, what I want. His hands slide back up to my knees, on the outside of my thighs. At my knees his fingers slip between my knees, pushing them apart slightly. Then he runs his hands up along the inside of my thighs, gently pushing my legs apart. I'm already wet and I know he can smell and see how much I'm enjoying this. I relax back against the couch, letting my thighs fall open farther.

"Now you can kiss my boobies."

I know this is not exactly what he wanted at that moment. The flicker of disappointment on his face makes me laugh quietly.

My bra is removed, but he holds back a moment, admiring the curves of my breasts and my nipples. He presses his face between my breasts, kissing the valley before moving to the peaks. I pretend not to notice his hands, placed on top of my thighs with his thumbs just brushing the lips of my pussy. The almost there touches are making me want more.

By now he is kissing and sucking one breast and then the other. He makes those funny little noises and I can see the apron has started to tent out in front of him.

"Stop." He freezes in place. "Lean back so I can see you, lift your apron so I can see your cock."

Reluctantly he removes his hands from me and lifts his apron. "Should I take it off?"

"No. It looks cute covering your happy, little cock." He lets the apron fall. "What may I do for you now, Madam?"

"You may kiss and lick my pussy and suck on my clit."

"Thank you, Madam."

"You're welcome." It really is nice being a Domme on the weekends.

Condensing your idea into a few words has a way of giving you focus. So if you #TweetyourThesis on Twitter, with its limit of 140 characters (including spaces), should show you what you really are trying to write your thesis about.

If it works for a thesis, why not any non-fiction you are working on? If you can't pin down your focus or if you have wandered away from it, get back on track by putting your idea into a Twitter post. Put your idea in a few words, get your focus back and then expand on it again. Develop your points with the focus on your end goal. You can even use your Twitter post as your conclusion to wrap it all up.

Resources:

• UCLDIS Goes Viral - This is where #TweetyourThesis began. An idea to summarize your thesis in one sentence that would fit in a Twitter post.
• Wired Campus: You Can Summarize Your Thesis in a Tweet, but Should You?

This is my Mother's teddy bear. I'm not sure how old it really is. But, she wasn't the first owner of this bear. My brother used to keep it in his bedroom when he was a boy. Currently, it's in his house, in the spare bedroom. I saw the bear there when I visited over the Christmas holidays. It doesn't look any different from the first time I saw it as a kid.

The bear's arms and legs are held with a thin rope which has become loose through the body so the arms and legs both dangle around. The head is a bit loose at the neck, but it doesn't dangle. The fabric/ textile over the body is a little thread bare looking, like an old, worn in carpet. Overall, I think the bear is in pretty good shape. The embroider on the face is still tight and hasn't got any damage from wear and tear at all. As an experienced embroiderer, that is pretty remarkable. The bear is stuffed with something pretty dense. It has no leaks so I can't be sure what is actually in there.

We never played with this bear. It was given the respect due it's age (and the fact that it was Mom's bear) and we rarely touched it. She had a few other toys leftover from her time as a child but the bear is the one my brother liked best. He had his own bear, bought for him. Also, a dog Mom made him. So he had stuffed animals to play with. That bear was always special. It didn't get to play with the other toys but it did get to watch from it's perch on top of the clothes dresser.

Cymruted Collectible Bears: Teddy Bear Identification by Build

The Teddy Bear Museum: Teddy Bear History

Flickr Teddy Bear Photo Groups:

• My Teddy Bear
• Teddy Bears
• Crazy Teddy Bears
• Artist Teddy Bears
• Handmade Teddies
• Girl Teddy Bears Only
• Mini Bears
• Lost Bears

You never know what you will find when you browse around at the thrift store. Do you remember the Love Is... couple?

This glass had a stem and base. I wondered if it came with flowers originally. It would suit flowers for the bride. I'm only guessing, but it would have been a very nice way to send flowers to the bride-to-be, or to propose with flowers in a glass vase like this.

I remember this Love Is.. couple. At one point I even wrote my own list of Love is... sayings in my diary for them. I ended up with a pretty good list but not all of them were winners. I didn't have the courage to send them in then, I was just a kid, what did I know about love, romance or relationships. Of course now I'd disagree. I think kids can know a lot about love and relationships (not every relationship is about physical love). To me it seems this is one of the things we can see in the Love Is... couple. They have love with affection and real thought for each other's wants and needs.

The Love Is... drawings were created by New Zealand artist, Kim Grove, as a series of love notes in the late 1960's for Roberto Casali. They later married but Roberto became ill with terminal cancer and Kim stopped working on the cartoons in 1975. Roberto died in 1976.

Since 1975 the cartoons have been drawn by Bill Asprey.

The Official website. The site kept by Bill Asprey also has the comic strip.

A collection of Love Is... from a fan.

Another Love Is... collection.