Not even 1 yet (his birthday is next week), but already a handful! ;-)

Here are more Wordless Wednesday posts.

Stumble it!

I’m up to my ears in books that I want to read. The priority is going to “Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care” because I’m picking that one up from the library today and will only have three weeks until it is due back. It’s been on hold for me since Friday, but I haven’t been able to get over there to get it yet. Well, that’s not entirely true. The kids and I went to the library yesterday to return some books and hang out, but found it closed for Veteran’s Day. Shucks. Anyway, I can’t wait to get my hands on that book. You can be sure it will work it’s way into a future blog post.

The other two books I bought and have waiting for me are “Connection Parenting: Parenting Through Connection Instead of Coercion, Through Love Instead of Fear” - which came highly recommended by a friend, and “Mothers and Daughters: Loving and Letting Go” - recommended by a different friend. Both of which look like they will be helpful in my relationships with my children as well as with helping me deal with some issues from my own childhood. It’s amazing how much baggage we can carry with us from our own childhoods into parenting our children. There are so many things that I thought I’d swept under the rug and forgotten about that have resurfaced since I had kids of my own. Hopefully these books will facilitate the healing process.

It seems there are so many good books out there that I’d like to read, and never enough time to do it. I need to find a way to set aside regular time for reading or else find a way to download the information from the books directly into my brain. Wouldn’t that be something? :)

Stumble it!

NaBloPoMo - Day 13

Two weekends ago I managed to score a pretty sweet find off of Freecycle - a six-feet pre-lit artificial Christmas tree! The tree is about five years old and in great shape.

I’d been wanting to buy a larger tree for us since we moved into this house. The tree Jody and I bought in our early days together was a narrow one because we were renting such a tiny house and that was all we had room for. After our move here with a bigger living room, I thought it’d be fun to have a bigger tree and the pre-lit part was just an added bonus because now I won’t have to worry about stringing lights. :)

Of course the day we got it we set it up to make sure all of the pieces were there and the lights worked, etc. Then we got the flu and didn’t feel up to disassembling it, so the tree remained up in our living room for a few days. Ava was actually disappointed when Jody took it down, but was satisfied with the knowledge that we’d be setting it back up again in a few weeks.

We figured we would just Freecycle our old tree, but then the woman who gave us her’s mentioned to Jody that she was looking for a skinnier tree to fit into her house. He told me about it, so I emailed her back to see if she would like to have ours and she picked it up this weekend. We couldn’t have planned that better if we’d tried! :)

If you have an old artificial tree or other decorations that you are no longer using, think about Freecycling them or donating them to a charitable organization. It will no doubt make someone else happy and is good for the environment too!

And if you choose to get a real tree this holiday, be sure to recycle it. “With over 33 million real Christmas trees sold in North America every year, Christmas tree recycling is an important way to give a renewable, recyclable resource back to the environment.” Check out Earth 911 for a Christmas tree drop-off site in your area.

Stumble it!