Bogged down with books

Okay I have mentioned to many of you that I am part of the Amazon Vine program. I get to pick four free items a month off of a list targeted at me and review them. I read and review a lot of books; so I get targeted a lot for books. I also get targeted for snacks and baby products (cause I buy cereal bars and diapers on Amazon). Occasionally the cool electronic item is thrown into the mix. I got a wireless router once, a really high tech baby monitor, and most recently a wireless internet radio system. So it's been pretty cool...now what does this have to do with raising a toddler? Well not a ton except that the book situation is getting out of hand.

See I get to chose two Vine items the third Thursday of every month; usually these are not books but sometimes they are books. Then the week after I get to choose two more items that are "leftovers" these are almost always books. It is an awesome way to get a ton of books for free. But I do have to read them and review them or else no more free items. So add this to all of the series I am reading and it gets to be a boat load of reading.

How many series am I in the middle of reading? Okay brace yourselves...I have to keep a spreadsheet of them all to keep it all straight and keep track of which books are coming out for which series. At last count I was actively in the middle of 36 different series. This doesn't count ones I've given up on. This is the first time I've actually counted and that's kind of intimidating; how much of my brain is lent to remembering miscellaneous book facts?

Then there are all the new series I am interested in. And all the stand alone novels that sound cool. Pair this with the paperbackswap.com site and books being constantly at my beck and call for really, really cheap and you have a problem. About 100 problems sitting on the bookshelf staring at me all night begging for me to read them. So now my 8 book a month habit has turned into a 4 book a week habit...or at last count 19 books for March. Is this crazy?

Then I write reviews for all of the books I read. All of this really cuts into my blogging time; at least this blog. So if you wonder where I am and why noone is blogging, well I am involved with my books.

What did I do before I got so book involved? Well I played a lot more video games and watched more TV, oh and I was in school at night so there is that.

My book reading never cuts into my time with Keegan but it is affecting him. The kid knows that any package that arrives in the mail is most likely a book. He is also addicted to his books and drags them everywhere with him (just like mommy). I don't think this is a horrible thing. It's definitely not new to me; I have had leisure reading stuck on my person for many years either tucked in a coat pocket, in a purse, or a backpack. It's no surprise to my family. It's also kind of nice I am getting some additional reward for reading besides the joy it gives me.

I never get sick of reading. I get sick of playing video games and exercising and watching movies...but never reading.

Does book reading cut into my personal life? Probably, I would rather read than meet friends to do stuff sometimes. Sometimes I read and Lyle wonders if I have forgotten he exists. But other than that it works out okay.

So, if you wonder why the blogging on this site is down to a minimum well....here is something to read (although boring and about books). Oh yeah and I don't have blog access at work so that cuts down on things a bit too :-)

Home Again...Toddler Speak

Here we are at home again. Going back to work was actually relaxing after chasing Keegan around for a week in San Diego. The trip back was fine. Keegan didn't sleep at all on the plane and I had a bad cold so the flight back was unpleasant for me. I couldn't read to Keegan because I had lost my voice with the cold, so Lyle read to him for about 2 hours. Poor Lyle, Keegan was good though.

Then it was back to work on Monday. It was an interesting week where both of our jobs were concerned. Kind of an up and down week. I found out that oddly enough we are getting a decent bonus this year; our division meet 149% of their goals so we get 6% or something in that realm. Then after that I found out they want me out at the plant the last week in March. So that kind of sucks. It is bad timing because my parents will be out of town and we are taking care of their cats. So now Lyle will be stuck with Keegan and my parents' kitties. He says he's not worried about it but then he is never worried about anything.

Then we got our taxes back from the accountant. Our business took a loss this year (just because of how things worked out over the year). This ended up meaning that we are getting a very large refund. That is super nice because last year (first year with the business) we screwed up and had to pay in $3000 for personal taxes. We were expecting to have to pay in this year but things worked out in such a way that we get a nice refund. I know I shouldn't be excited about a refund because that means the government has had our money all year; but it's still better than paying in.

Then we got bad news...looks like Lyle's work is forcing rate cuts on all of their consultants so that means that Lyle (hence our company, hence us) will be making less. There is even a rumor that the company might not accept the rate cuts and just get rid of all their contractors. So that is worrying. He's had a couple calls from people looking for consultants to become employees so he is looking into that. His current company is not sure of how fast they will act with layoffs or rate cuts. So, well, we will just try to be prepared. Hopefully it will all work out.

All the work junk aside...Keegan has been doing some pretty funny things...so I thought I would talk about that. He comes up with the craziest things.

In the car last night he started saying "yum, yum, yum." I said "Keegan what are you eating?" He replied, "Mama, I eat the car." I replied "Oh, well how does the car taste?" He said "It tastes like lemons!."

As if this wasn't strange enough the conversation continued to get stranger. Keegan said, "Mama, now I eat Memaw (what he calls gma)." I said "Oh, I bet memaw doesn't like that...what does memaw taste like?" His reply, "Like doggies." I wasn't sure how to respond to that so I asked "Have you eaten doggies before?" Keegan replied "Yep, they're yucky." Ummm...good to know...where does he come up with this stuff?

Then while we were at the bookstore yesterday looking for a book on Ireland. Keegan was standing by Lyle, he proceeded to take off running towards me and screamed as loud as he could: "Mama, I made poopie, I made poopie!" It was wonderful, as if the smell wasn't bad enough he had to announce to the whole block that he had made poopie! He was sooooo proud of himself.

Last quick story. Today while I was folding the laundry, Keegan went into his playroom. All of the sudden I heard a blood-curdling scream followed by Keegan whimpering "Owie, owie, owie". I dropped what I was folding and raced into the playroom thinking he had really hurt himself somehow. When I entered the room he looked up and laughed. He had his plastic hack-saw from his Black and Decker workbench and was pretending to saw his leg off. He screamed again and said "Mama, owie, I cut off my leg." Okay...as my heart settled down to a normal pace again, I tried to be thankful he had such a fertile imagination. He quickly got bored with the play saw and then got his battery powered jigsaw. He ran over and held Seras (our three legged kitty) down, for some reason she was very tolerant of him today, and proceeded to run the jigsaw up her back. He looked at me all proud of himself and said "I give Seras a haircut." Suddenly I am thinking he does not have a future as a stylist, not if he uses a jigsaw to do it...

Ah, well enough of the Keegan stories. Hope everyone is doing well. Keep your fingers crossed that Lyle is still employed in a month...