Hello? ... Hello!

No we have not run away... we've been busy, but have thought of writing often. 

I don't have pictures on the computer at the moment but will post some soon. 

We spent the last 2 weekends hanging out with my sister-in-law and nephew....Jen (my sister-in-law) and i went to the County Library System's annual book sale - Sunday is $5 a box (and they are very generous sized boxes!) and $1 a bag.  Ah the joy!  Jen came away with 3 boxes but i managed more books in my 2.  I spent the entire time in the kids books and did pretty well, if i may say so myself.  We have decided we will defintitly be returning next year ....only earlier (read that - when they open) on Sunday.  Here's hoping the wait to get in is a lot shorter next time!

PaperBack Swap

Trying something new here - Today we are in Greensboro participating in the NC FLL State Tournament so i thought i would try to pre-write and schedule this post to be posted today even though i'm not here! ...i am guessing it will work....

Now, on to the post!



Are you at all familiar with this?  Its quite interesting actually....

You sign up and then post books you are willing to give away.  You pay for shipping, which seems to run at most about $3.00 per book (and that includes any fees if you decide to print with the postage on the address label.)  Anyway, once you start giving away books and they are marked sent (or received depending on how you do the postage) you earn credits.  One for each book sent (starting with your first one.)

You then use those credits to request books you want from other members.  And they send you the book - no charge to you!  Gosh, this has been great.  While there are many books i would love that people don't seem to want to let go of (and you'll find them on my wish list,) there are times when i will be pleasantly surprised.

Now don't go laughing when you see my list of books to send out - its called "i need to get away, even if only in my mind!" : )  Ok so you caught me - i read Christian, Historical Romance Novels .... Maybe one day i will write one.....

But my point is - from time to time i find some great books... whether for me, for Cory, for the kids, or school. And i can turn around and send back out the ones i am done with, but we are welcome to keep any we want as well.

We just recently received a Pop-up book about Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Now i am fairly well on top of the catholic children's book scene and this was one we have never seen before by Francisco Serrano and Antonio Valeriano

And it was free.  Now I must say, sometimes it seems like you are paying a lot in mailing out books to other people but when you look at the numbers its really not that bad.  I pay about $3 per book to send it, the books i read for fun run between $7 and $15.  If i had bought it new i am saving anywhere from $4 - $11 per book....they gauge your savings by an across the board used book price but most books i get have only had one owner.

I have placed a button on the right side here on my blog - it shows books on my wish list.  If you click through that or the button here on this post and then you sign up i will get credit for the referral so please take the time to go that route if you want to be nice to me today. :  )

Either way, i hope you can use this site as its like heading into a gigantic bookstore - and who wouldn't enjoy that? 
Just keep in mind there are all kinds of books; oh so many i personally would never read... So just a quick warning concerning parental 'control' of the whole situation... I do not let the kids go to the site, i do any posting and requesting for them as needed.  I also have adjusted my home page preferences to not show many types of books....but they still show up in all the other lists on the site. 

Have a great day!

On the Road Again

The kids and I have headed back to Nina and Papa's for a week or more.  Daddy is working hard down at Memaw and Grandpa's.  The trip up was fast ...much faster then expected.... and we arrived safe and sound, after a few nights visit with friends.

That's one thing we have been so blessed with, children that travel well. We have no game boys or PPSs.  We have no movie screens or portable DVD players.  And i love it just that way.  There is a crate full of library books and a basket full of our own books.  We have books on tape (well, CDs now) and music...and each other.
It saddens me to see how much into daily life technology creeps for all of us.  The time traveling is really a breathe of fresh air.  (rereading this later i see i need to add 'the time spent traveling'...anyone catch that? Though time traveling in a van with a full load of kids and stuff would definitely make for an interesting trip!)

So what are the kids reading these days?  Boxcar Children, Cam Jansen, Redwall, Dora, Cars, and Little House on the Prairie.  Notice the tv/movie infiltration early on - you can't escape.  But there is Peter Rabbit, The Zoo, and Bible stories as well.  Plus tons of other titles i will not bore you with yet.
As for those books on tape, Mr. Revere and I,  and Ballet Shoes.  Unfortunately we did not get to hear either one on the trip up as the noise level was unusually high. We'll try again on the trip back south.

I have a couple of pictures we'll post later, i'll wait until after we bathe the dog ...yep, you read that right! That should bring in an interesting assortment of photos! : )  Little does Bella know we're coming for her! (this ought to be good.....)