Reading Books

Today, I’m at the library, utilizing their fabulous bank of computers. Our home computer has been down for a while, so I haven’t had much opportunity to blog. Worse, I haven’t had much opportunity to read other people’s blogs.

Since I haven’t been reading a lot of blogs, I’ve had my nose buried in books. If you don’t care what I’ve been reading, I don’t blame you. I promise I’ll write something more interesting or post pictures of my new garden or something even better next time. For now, you get books.

The kids and I just finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, on Friday. We celebrated by watching the movie which only covers the first three books, presented out of sequence for the sake of Hollywood. But whatever. I think the boys liked it. I’m not sure what we’re going to read next… I have a few random novels that I’ve checked out from the library, but I’ve also picked up this:

The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices, by Edmund M. Kern. I’m not sure about reading Harry Potter to the kids, so I’m reading this book to investigate the possibility. Who doesn’t love a teachable moment?

While we were wrapping up Unfortunate Events as a group, the kids were individually devouring Magic Tree House books, by Mary Pope Osborne. Their obsession continues but, at a rate of about one book per day, I have a feeling that they will be done with that series in a blink!

Speaking of kids, I’m reading Taking Back Childhood: Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World, by Nancy Carlsson-Paige. Long title, long book. Reading this, I feel like some of my concerns are being validated. I’m not being overprotective… I’m being a responsible parent.

And while we’re on the topic of responsibility, let’s talk about Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet, by Tracey Bianchi. I’m barely into the first chapter, but I fell in love with her concept in just the introduction! Allow me to quote, “…when it comes to saving the planet, I cannot separate the cause from the Creator of the world.” I love it when authors unashamedly point to God. I can hardly wait to see what the rest of the book has in store!

Finally, at the bottom of the pile, I have Spring Cleaning: The Spirit of Keeping Home, by Monica Nassif. I’ve thumbed through it. It looks informative. And useful. And it means that I have a lot of work to do! Now that the garage sale is done (Praise the Lord!), I can get to it. Oh. Happy. Day.

So that’s it! I have others around the house that I think I’ll read. Soonish. And I have a growing list of books I want to read after these. Imagine if I had started liking to read when I was younger!

I’m so thankful that my children love to read. There are so many things to be read… things to learn and imaginative places to be unlocked. The possibilities are endless!

So… Do you have any recommendations to share?

No Impact? Man!

Around the beginning of our year without buying, I learned of No Impact Man. His name is Colin Beavan, and he lived a year in New York City with no net impact on the environment. No net impact. Since we all have an environmental impact, simply by existing, Mr. Beavan set out to do good for the environment to balance it out.

The No Impact Project offers us all the opportunity to form groups and try this experiment for just one week. While I don’t plan to sign-up for my own No Impact Week, I am inspired by the daily concepts. Last week, The Green Paige participated in a group in New York City and chronicled her adventure en vlog.

Her posts are thought provoking, at least for me – a garbage nerd. Even without participating in a No Impact Week myself, Paige’s posts have heightened my awareness of my own wastefulness. But even better than that, I feel capable of change, of breaking out of the cycle.

As Colin Beavan says, it’s about doing more good… Not just less bad.

I’m not saying that everyone should follow the No Impact Blog, or become a fan of The Green Paige on facebook, although it’s what all the cool kids are doing. I’m just saying that, if you are even the least bit interested in the environment, you might want to.