Monday, May 24, 2010

A Quick Update

It's been crazy busy around here, but I wanted to let everyone know what's happening in my corner of the world.

Spitfire and Bunny are here for an extended visit. I'm growing so accustomed to them being around that's it's going to be hard when they go home. I think Bunny has grown just since she's been here. How much is she going to grow when I can't see her every day? Sigh. For now, I'm not worried about what isn't getting done while I'm holding my granddaughter. I'm just doing the grandma thing!

As you've probably figured out, between reading challenges and book reviews, I'm seriously into books. My wonderful family has further fed my obsession by pitching in together and buying me a Kindle for Mother's Day. This is something I've wanted since I first laid eyes on it. The idea of carrying a library around with me was too appealing to be missed, but in the back of my mind was this little bit of doubt. What if I got one and it turned out to be just another gadget that lays unused in the drawer?

I needn't have worried. I absolutely love it! The really cool thing is how many free books are available to go on it. In addition to the thousands of books actually on Amazon , there are thousands more on other websites like Project Gutenberg. Anything in Kindle, Mobipocket, or pdf format is read natively on the the Kindle. I went a little crazy (OK, a lot crazy) downloading free books and now I have a touch over 700 on there plus another 200+ archived, ready for instant download. If you don't have a Kindle, you can download free software to read Kindle books on your Mac, PC, iPhone, or Blackberry.

I've made a bit of progress on my reading challenges, but I can't shake the feeling that I would be a lot better off if I could lock myself in my room for about a month and read. Hopefully, I'll get some more reading in this summer.

I'm excited about coming changes in my home. A friend was selling off some furniture to make room for new pieces and I bought her used, but good condition living room furniture for a bargain price. My den furniture is in sad shape and I've been wanting to replace it, but didn't have the means. Now, I can redo the den with more comfortable, better looking furniture and they even plan to deliver it to me when I'm ready! I think I've rearranged the room half a dozen times in my head already.

We're winding down the school year and everyone is excited about summer and camp. My two oldest still living at home will be gone most of the summer working as interns at the camp. Three of the children will be attending camp, two one week, and one another. I'll be pretty tied down while all my babysitters are gone, so I'm hoping to get big things done on the house, school planning and, of course, reading challenges.

In case you missed the introductory post, I'm waging war on frumpiness, that dowdy, out-of-shape, not-looking-my-best, condition moms sometimes find themselves slipping into. The official battle lasts until the end of July. Care to join in the fun and make yourself over?

Book Review: Morning for Dove

Review available at http://thebulgingbookbag.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-review-morning-for-dove.html