Read All About It!

Read All About It!

I love reading! I always have. I remember being tucked away in my room, reading Nancy Drew novels at a young age.

I'm not exactly sure when I stopped reading books for pleasure. I think it was between the time I gave birth to my second and third babies. I just did not have the time anymore. I would fall asleep even before getting through one page. I would have reading spurts now and again like the time I read the Dan Brown novels or the Twilight trilogy. Earlier this year, as I was on bed rest, I read the Hunger Games trilogy and The Girl with...series too. Awesome reads, by the way.

I have rediscovered my passion for reading courtesy of the ipad. It has made reading so much more convenient. One thing about books is that they can be bulky. They're sometimes a little hard to manage while lying on the bed, particularly when nursing. LOL! The ipad makes it so much easier. I love it!

What's gotten me really excited too is that I can borrow books from the library using the Overdrive app. Awesome! I've gotten book recommendations from a friend and some of the books are available as ebooks from the library. I'm going through them one at a time. She has a number of foodie books - memoirs of chefs/culinary people that detail their lives in the kitchen, quest for restaurant funding, etc. I'm currently reading Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton. It's a fun read so far. I am currently at the chapter where she is employed by catering businesses. I'm not sure I want to eat at a catered event again in the near future. LOL!

Some of the books awaiting me are:
Novels by Sarah Addison Allen
Ken Follett novels
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Books by Anthony Bourdain

I'm getting excited just looking at these titles! Guess where you're going to find me this Thanksgiving break!

Drowning in Books

Drowning in Books

Our parish school was getting rid of their reading textbook series. They had offered them to other schools nearby but no one wanted 10-year old books. They were still in good condition though. They thought of me since they knew I was homeschooling. I accepted and was very grateful. I wrote to our homeschool group and offered it to other families. Several families responded. There's a homeschooling conference at the end of the month that will have a used curriculum/books fair. I thought it would be a good idea to bring some over there and give them away. So, I had the brilliant idea of asking the school to give me everything they've got.
Here's what I thought:
1. It would only be 1 book per set.
2. There would be about 30 sets per grade.
3. They were giving me books for grades 1 -5.
I knew I was going to get a lot of books but nothing prepared me for what I was going to find once I arrived at the school!
1. In grade 1, there were 5 books per set!!! The rest of the grades had 2 books per set.
2. There were more or less 40 sets per grade.
3. They were giving me books for grades 1 - 6.
I was seriously in over my head. When I got to the school, they had these books waiting for me ready to be loaded to my vehicle. This picture that I took were the first half of the books. The upper grades were still using their books so I had to come back at the end of the school day to pick those up.
For a moment, I was almost in a panic. What was I gonna do with all these books?! There was no way I could give away all these at the conference. And where oh where was I going to store all these? I do not have storage space in my house!
Then my mom had a lightbulb moment.
Why not send this to Auntie A's school in Bulacan, Philippines?
OMG! That was the answer!!
That same afternoon, I bought a couple of jumbo cargo boxes, cleared away the little patio furniture we had and set the boxes by our patio and loaded the books into them. As it turns out, we are going to need 1 more box. But I am soo glad and relieved that we found a home for these books. They are in really good condition. It would be so sad if they were just going to be thrown away.

LP: Makapal (Thick)

LP: Makapal (Thick)

Makakapal man ang mga nobelang ito ay mabilis kong natapos basahin. Madali lang kasing basahin. Engaging naman kahit papano ang istorya. Sinabi ko nung una na hindi ko babasahin ang mga ito. Pero kinain ko rin ang mga salita ko. Pinahiram sa akin ng kaibigan ko ang buong set (kulang ang una sa litratong ito kasi naibalik ko na) kaya ayun, natapos ko rin ang serye.
Hindi ako nasabik tulad ng karamihan. Ok lang. Hindi sya "must-read" sa aking opinyon.
Sa mga nakabasa ng serye, Team Edward o Team Jacob?

These books may be thick but I breezed through them. It was very light reading. The story was engaging enough for me.
At first, I swore I was not going to give in to the Twilight mania. I, obviously ate my words. A friend of mine lent me her set (the first one is missing from this pic as I had already returned it by the time I took the photo).
I did not go ga-ga over the series like others have. It's ok. Not a "must-read" in my opinion.
To those who are fans of the series, Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Earn a Free Book from Barnes & Noble

Earn a Free Book from Barnes & Noble

Here's a little incentive for all you summer readers out there.
You can earn a free book from Barnes & Noble just by reading 8 books of your choice. It seems simple enough. The kids complete a summer reading journal that a parent/guardian needs to sign off. Bring the completed journal to any Barnes & Noble store between May 26 & September 27, 2009 and you will get a coupon for a free book. You choose from a list of eligible titles listed on the coupon.
Read and download the summer reading journal here.

Have a fun summer!

The Little Way of the Infant Jesus

The Little Way of the Infant Jesus

I found this excerpt from my November The Word Among Us. I had never heard of Caryll Houselander before. Now, I am intrigued. This excerpt simply resonated with me and made so much sense to me. This is from the book, Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross. As you read these excerpts, think of the baby as Jesus.

"Before a child is born, the questions which everyone asks is "What can I give him?" When he is born, he rejects every gift that is not the gift of self..."

So true isn't it? How often have we experienced this? What the baby really wants is to be held and cuddled and loved. Everything else, he does not appreciate. Even as the infant grows into a toddler, we jokingly lament that the child is more interested in the box than in the expensive toy that it housed. Material presents cannot really replace the gift of selfless love and the gift of time that parents can give to their children.

"The first giving of this love to a newly born is the reshaping of our whole life, in its large essentials and in its every detail... The infant demands everything, and trivial though everything may seem when set out and tabulated, the demand is all the more searching because it seizes upon our daily lives and every details of which they are built up.

The sound or our voice must be modulated - the words that we use must be considered, our movements restrained, slowed down, and trained to be both decisive and gentle.

Our rooms must be rearranged; everything that is superfluous and of no use to the infant must be thrown out ... what remains must be placed in the best position, not for us, but for him.

There must be a new timing of our lives, a more holy ordering of our time, which is no longer to be ruled by our impulses and caprice, but by the rhythm of the little child.

All our senses must be given to him, and we must give him our hands. We must give him our hands, tending his needs and washing his clothes. In his service, we must overcome all delicacy and fastidiousness...

In this reordering our life, this resetting of it to the pace of the infant's life and the new simplicity imposed on it, we ourselves are made new... in the service of the infant we are made whole. Every detail of our life is set by it into a single pattern, and ordered by a single purpose. We are integrated by the singleness of one compelling love."

WOW. I don't know if it has the same impact on you. To me, it is simply wow! I've known what discipleship - following Christ entails - total surrender. But reading it in this context of caring for a baby's needs just brings it home to me. This is something I can really relate to. This is something that I know so well. And this tells me that I can do this. If I can surrender and be completely devoted to my baby's needs, I can surrender and be completely devoted to my Lord's needs as well.

Emotional Eater I Am

Emotional Eater I Am

Yup...indeed I am. Emotional eating is what I do. When I am stressed or tired or sleep-deprived, I eat. Some people I know lose weight when they're stressed. Some people have skin breakouts needing serious acne treatments when they're stressed. Me? I gain weight when I'm stressed. And as I try to overcome this tendency (I'm not trying hard at all. LOL), I realize that I cannot just stop eating. I need to replace eating with something more productive, kwim?

That's why I think I find this book fascinating. I've often heard of the author's other book, The Artist's Way, referred to as a manual/handbook for jumpstarting creativity. I'm wondering if this her new book will jumpstart weight loss as well. It sure would be a unique approach to a healthy and creative lifestyle, wouldn't it?