The PRINTED Word

To know me is to know that I  LOVE books..... and well, magazines!

And therefore, one of my most favourite places in the WORLD - actually it takes the #2 position following HOME is the LIBRARY. 

For me, libraries and garden centers are the best places to be this side of heaven.

Cassia and I have a standing date to visit our local library in Lytton every Wednesday. We work, we have lunch, we go to the library. 

Not only do we go for the books and magazines, our library has a great little play space for Cassia complete with soft carpeting, oversized stuffed animals and animal puppets. It is hard to keep her still once we get there. Shoes and socks are off and she is in - well - little girl heaven.

Cassia among the colourful turtle and alligator. Funny that they have a LARGE alligator after our trip to Florida last winter and coming up close and personal with the real thing.

A classic - Old McDonald's Farm with little animals attached.

 Although shy at first, Cassia has  taken a real shine to Georgia - perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that she lets Cassia sit on the counter and scan the books. Georgia is also a local artist and illustrator. 

We never go home empty handed. In fact that is a HUGE understatement. We are almost always at our limit of 40 books. Wednesdays are like Christmas because that is the day the books we have ordered come in.  We also order movies - feature films mainly - from the library. 

Taking out books, magazines and movies from the library is a VERY good way to make life simple and frugal. I USED to have a HUGE magazine addiction. I don't even want to think about all of the money I have wasted spent over the years on magazines of all kinds - cooking, baking, home design, gardening, etc. The good news was that I was learning - the better news - they all now come free from the internet and the library.

My library stack on the left and Cassia's on the right. This is the amount of books we each have out at any given time.

As you can see, the topics covered on my side are all over the map. Homesteading, cooking, gardening, essential oils, natural beauty products, food for kids, native plants of BC and fiction. There is also the memoir by Ashley Judd that I am reading RIGHT NOW. An odd choice I know. It all started innocently enough. I was scanning our library shelves and came across Wynonna Judd's autobiography. 

Hmmm - I thought - I had been a fan of the Judd's music back when they were BIG and I had heard about their crazy family - maybe I should 'get the facts'. Well, get them I did and CRAZY doesn't begin to describe the things that family has gone through. Once completed, I recalled that Ashley had also recently written her own - All that is Bitter & Sweet. Well - may as well get the other side of the story - so I ordered it in. It is a truly fascinating read - not only because Ashley gives WAY MORE details about their childhood but also the advocacy work she does now with AIDS/HIV groups. Learning about the sex slave trade in Asia and Africa is a truly eye opening experience. 

It left me feeling so very thankful yet so very disgusted all at the same time.

My love for reading has always existed, I recall winning a book reading contest back in grade 3. However, it wasn't until University that I began my love for learning. I am interested in more topics then I could possibly list here. Right now I am also really enjoying Lemons and Lavender by Billee Sharp - an eco guide to better homemaking and The Home Creamery by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley - I hoping to make our own yogurt and cheese this summer! Maybe a Sunday Cook....

I also read a great deal of fiction - every night without fail. One of the author's missing above is Erica James. She is my absolute favourite author right now. Sadly our library has a very limited selection of her books. Do you have one? Could you send it to me? I also love Westerns - Louis L'Amor and I are like this. I'm currently making my way through Dana Fuller Ross's Wagons West Series. Unfortunately, I'm stalled in Utah since the library does not have the complete series, if you can believe. 

I've also just picked up Neil Pasricha's books The Book of Awesome and The Book of (Even More) Awesome. Again they were on the shelf and I thought I'd give them a flip. I took them home since they made me laugh - funny little things that he talks about like 'That one really good pen that never gets lost' or 'Neighbors with Pools' or 'The Sound of Rain from Inside the Tent' and my personal favourite 'The Smell of the coffee aisle in the grocery store'.

pure FUN! 

Kind of like a Seinfeld episode!

I did not realize until I got home that they were from the blog 1000 Awesome Things! Great, now in addition to reading two really thick books I have an entire blog to waste fill my time!

Where or where do I find the time to read? I MAKE it - no ands or buts. 

One of the other great things about pinterest, is that I have a 'library' board. Every time I see a book I may want to read I pin it. The next time I'm ordering books from the library I just open my board and start searching. 

LOVE IT!

Right now Cassia is signed up for the 'Read to Me' program at the library. Every night after Derek reads to her she colours a picture - 7 pictures coloured and she receives a sticker from Georgia. After six weeks of reading and six stickers her name is entered to win a prize. 

I hope by starting Cassia early she will enjoy a life long LOVE of reading, learning, books and libraries as well.

Oh - and I KNOW that you can read books on the computer and the new tablets but they are NOT for me. The actual paper is for me!

Do you make use of your local library?

Teresa

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