Do You Have An eReader?

No one in our family has a dedicated eReader.  Not yet, anyway.

But, I recently discovered that ChristianBook.com has free (sample) eBooks that can be read on your cell phone, laptop, desktop, iPad, Sony Reader, nook or Kobo.

So I decided to try their app on my phone and it has been a fun way to stick my toe in the water of the eReader pool!

Honestly, I had my doubts as to whether I would like reading a book without the book.  Know what I mean?  Somehow, I thought I would be missing out by not being able to physically turn the pages.

But I LIKED it.  Granted, my phone is small.  But I can adjust the print size for my aging eyes.  And the lighted screen was actually easier to read.  I also found the phone easier to hold than an actual book. 

Since I always (hopefully!) have my phone with me, it was super convenient to pull it out and read while waiting in the pick up line at school, or waiting at the soccer field. 

The experience has me thinking that maybe I might like a real eReader.  Do you have one you would recommend?  And if so, what do you like/dislike about it?

If you don’t have one yet, you might want to check out the eBook application I mentioned.  It’s really easy to get started—they walk you through it step by step!--and the free books make it a risk-free dip in the eReader pool!

For those of you following the remodeling of my sons’ bedrooms, I have some more pictures for you!  But we’re having trouble with my computer and network connections right now and until we get it figured out, I can’t retrieve pictures from my camera.  But hopefully soon!  Bedroom number 2’s bathroom is finally complete.  :)

After Picture: Room Two!

My Middle Man chose a real light blue—actually it was called “icy waterfall”--for his wall color.  Since we had dark grey left from the trim in his older brother’s room, we used it for the crown molding in here as well. 

He also picked the same comforter as his brother—only it had dropped from $29 to $19 on clearance at Walmart. (Yay for my pocketbook!)  

We decided to go with black curtains for two reasons.  It is staying light longer and soon the daylight will persist an hour later than the school night bedtime.  These will help darken the room.  And second, with neutral curtains, it will be easier to introduce new colors to the room as he likes.

The floor lamp was only $23 at Big Lots.  I LOVE that store for inexpensive home furnishing touches.  :)  And the cool part about it is I can use three energy-efficient bulbs, get tons of light, and still burn less electricity than the average light if it gets left on. 

Not that anyone around here ever forgets to turn out lights.

The moon chair was  brought in from another room so that he has a quiet place to read.

I still need to hang his favorite pictures back up and finish his bathroom. 

And that bathroom is harder than I thought it would be.  How DO you paint behind the toilet?  Or between the shower and the cabinet when there is only like 2 inches between them?  Lol!  Oh my back!

The towel racks and plaster board have taken a bunch of abuse in there, as well--more abuse than your average bathroom.   So I’m leaning towards not putting some things back in.  What boy uses a towel rack ANYWAY when there is a perfectly good floor?

Stay tuned…my makeover saga will (unfortunately) continue.  Lol!

I have some before pictures of the bathroom which I HOPE when compared to the after shots will show improvements!  But my fingers are crossed with all my experiments.

Progress On Room Two!

The loft beds are now gone, and so is the wall paper border of ducks! Thankfully, the border came down without too much trouble.  We were able to do it in just one afternoon.  I’m not a big fan of wall paper.  But, for me, removing it is worse than looking at it.  It’s just sooooo tedious!  Especially when you are anxious to get to the painting!

My husband replaced the ceiling fan which was wobbling and making funny noises.  I guess the blades hit one too many air-borne objects.  Not to mention a head here and there!  You’ll have that with two boys spending so much time at eye level with it!!  (And getting all sorts of ideas from Myth Busters.)

Then it was on to patching the holes in the walls.  Goodness gracious!  I don’t even want to know what all they were doing in there!!  Lol!

This room is about twice the size of the little bedroom we just finished for my oldest son.  And it has a bathroom adjoining it.  So there is much more to patch and paint.

The good news is…we (actually I) finished the painting!  And I can’t wait to show you the after pictures!

The bad news is…I haven’t taken the after pictures yet!  Lol!

You have to give me just a little bit of slack here.  Pretty please?  Besides the room projects, we are also juggling soccer and hosting a home group for our church’s vision campaign during the month of May.  Not to mention trying to get the garden tilled, the grass cut, the flower beds mulched, the fruit trees sprayed and all the other springtime jobs. 

Who is in favor of having two weekends per week from now on?     :) 

Room Number Two Underway!

Yep.  Another project-update-post.  Sorry friends.  But this is pretty much my life right now.

My two older boys shared this room since 2003 when we bought the house, and it is the room I’m currently focused on.  It will be my middle man’s room when all is said and done.

Before we could even start in there, we needed to get the massive loft beds out of the room.  With mixed feelings, I posted an ad on Craig’s List.  

I couldn’t believe the number of responses!  In no time at all there was a line of people wanting to snatch them up. I wasn’t quite as emotional as I was when I sold our crib.  But I still got a lump in my throat. 

These beds hold some fun memories. 

Like when the boys were too little to actually sleep up top and made their little fort beds under the desk cubbies.

Or when they hung curtains across the openings underneath to complete the fort effect.  Those were fun memories!

However, not all the memories were fun ones. 

Like the time my oldest son projectile-vomited three cheese steaks in four directions from the top of that left-hand bed.  Boy oh boy.  That was a fun one.  Aren’t you glad I shared that image?? 

Or the time my middle man somehow got his foot lodged between the bed and the window and ended up breaking the glass. 

Or the mounds of dirty socks and sundries I would find tucked in the corners up there out-of-site.

Or the countless mornings I would have to all-but-climb up there to get them out of bed!

Or trying to fish out stuff that fell between the wall and the too-heavy-to-budge-without-two-strong-men bed.

Come to think of it, I won’t miss those loft beds all that much at all!

Which is a good thing.  Because, this weekend, the last bed was picked up and the room has been cleared out!  Yippy!!!

Now my work begins.  :)  I really do enjoy this process of transforming a space.  Stay tuned for pictures as I go!

Twelve Years Old!!

Happy Birthday!!!  He wants to celebrate by eating dinner at Krispy Kreme’s.  Who’s in??  Lol! 

If that weren’t enough to make him my favorite son for today, he also commented that Mother’s Day should be every day this morning.   

He’s a live wire, a jokester, an athlete, and a tender heart.  He’s my middle son, and a joy. 

Happy Birthday!!! 

Let’s see how many of these it takes to fill a twelve year old…

 

I’d better stop by the ATM on my way!!

Our Trip To The Indianapolis Zoo

In spite of the cold rainy day, we had a wonderful time with my son’s kindergarten class!  These were some of our favorite animals.

Cheetahs.  They looked so regal, sitting there.

Elephants, of course! 

Rhinoceroses.  They are such big animals!

Jellyfish.  Just amazing.  We sure have a creative God!

Sharks.  The children just LOVED to pet these sharks!  In fact, we had to visit the shark pool twice.  Lol!

Giraffes. This one was enjoying some kind of fruit slices.  We laughed as we watched them reach out and snatch the fruit with their incredibly long tongues!

Dolphins.  The dolphins could swim all around this observation room.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get really good pictures of them.  But it was neat to watch them!

 

And penguins.  Oh my goodness!  These guys were putting on quite the show!  The kids giggled and ran from window to window as the comical birds dove and swam like little bullets.

So, which animal do you think my son enjoyed the most? 

 

You DID say SHARKS, right? :)

It was so much fun to go along on this fieldtrip—even in the rain!  And while we were there, I learned a few things:

1. It is much harder to go on field trips as a mom than as a teacher.  At least as a teacher, I knew all the names of the children!
2. You can’t have too many adults taking kindergarteners to the zoo. 
3. Because…(surprise) 6-year-olds scatter like the wind every chance they get!!  And when you are still learning their names, you need LOTS and LOTS of hands!!
4. My husband can turn a suspension bridge into a thrill ride the kids won’t soon forget!  And neither will the poor mom with a stroller who wisely backed off…Lol!
5. There is a hole in the sole of my right shoe.  My toes were never so happy to get home and into a warm dry sock!!

Field Trip!

Although I’ve taken many children on field trips as a teacher, this is the very first time I’ll be going as “just a mom” with one of my own boys!  My husband has gone on quite a few.  But not me.

In the case of my older sons, there was always a little brother at home that needed me.  It feels strange to be able to go on any field trip I choose now.  :)

And where are we going?  The ZOO!!  In the rain, no less!  Lol!  (I know how to debut, don’t I??)

It was funny watching my older sons’ reaction as we planned.  They weren’t sure whether to feel jealous or sorry for their little brother at having Mom go. 

I’ll try to catch a few pictures with my cell and post some later.

How about you?  What is the most memorable fieldtrip you’ve ever gone on—either as a student, or as a parent?