Book Sale Madness

I admit, I have a problem with books. I love them and have WAY too many.

My favorite thing to do is browse used book sales and come home with an armload. This ensures I'm always reading books that are a few years (or more) old, but who cares.

Some of them I read, some I put on the shelf for later, and some of them I sell on Half.com when I'm done with them.

I haven't done the book sale thing in a while because I was concentrating on GETTING RID of books, which were overtaking every shelf in my house. I sold a bunch online and gave a bunch away. Hunter said my book collecting was getting out of hand, and I had to reluctantly agree.

So now that there's room on my shelves again, time to go book shopping! The library a block from my office had a Buck-A-Book sale last week. I waited til the last day, when it was "Bag of Books for $5". I got many books I am SO excited to read (in all my spare time).

Here are all the titles I put in my $5 bag:

You Don't Have To Be Thin To Win - The Official Chub Club's Workout Program (Molnar) (because I can always use a little diet/exercise inspiration)

The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence (Deepak Chopra) Hmmm, sounds interesting.

Bill Neal's Southern Cooking (Neal) I love regional or ethnic cookbooks.

Good Food FAST (Hiller) - good recipes here ...esp one for pumpkin bleu cheese soup that I thought I might try after carving pumpkins, but alas, I was too lazy.

The Palm Beach Story (Roxanne Pulitzer) This looks like a good smutty beach read. I used to live near there, so I like stories set in places I've been.

Maximum Success - Changing the 12 Behavior Patterns That Keep You From Getting Ahead (Waldrop/Butler) I love self help books.

Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But were afraid they'd ask) (Richardson/Schuster) - because "the talk" with Diva, age 9, is coming soon, and I need all the help I can get.

Generation Risk - How to Protect Your Teenager From Smoking And Other Dangerous Behavior. (Newton) The teen years are coming soon (sometimes it seems like they are already here)

The Juicing Book (Bauer) I've been curious about the whole juicing thing. Wanted to learn more about it.

Snowboarding Know-How (Weiss) This one's for Daredevil. He's been begging to learn to snowboard.

Cook Right 4 Your Type (D'Adamo) This is the companion book to Eat Right 4 Your Type, which professes that you should eat a certain way according to your blood type. Intriguing to me, I wanted to learn more about it. At a minimum, hopefully there will be some good healthy recipes there.

Psychology in Sports - Methods and Applications (Suinn) I'm an armchair psychologist - have always loved the psych stuff and sometimes think I missed my calling (since I am obsessed with psychology and self help books). Thought this may help me (and my kids) become better athletes.

Books on tape - Tourist Season and Lucky You (both by Carl Hiaasen) Love anything by Carl Hiaasen. He is a great mystery storyteller, with most of his crazy stories set in Florida. We drive 12 hours each way to visit my in-laws a couple of times each year, so books on cd are fun in the car while the kids are watching a movie.

I'm so excited about my 14 books for $5. Can't decide which one to read first . . .

WFMW: Need some creative pumpkin ideas?

Want some new ideas for carving pumpkins this year? Check out this gallery of Wild and Wacky Pumpkins here

My favorite is #21, "Mooning 2"

See lots of Works For Me Wednesday tips here

Happy Columbus Day

Yes, it's 10:21 p.m. on Monday night, and I'm just getting to the dinner dishes. It's been that kind of day. Busy, but very enjoyable. I had a day off work (love those bank holidays) and the older 2 had school, so it was just me and #3 today.

We had so much fun, and the following thoughts kept creeping into the back of my mind: 1) she is growing up so fast, 2) by working full time I'm missing it, or at least some of it, and 3) I can barely remember when the older 2 were this little, so am I destined to forget #3's general cuteness at 14 months too?

Hunter is away on a business trip (returning very soon) so that explains why I am doing dishes at 10:30 at night. We had to quick eat dinner & do homework so we could get to Diva's dance class at 7:30. Usually Hunter and I divide and conquer this one, since it's a little late for #3 to be at our athletic club, but what can you do? While Diva danced and Daredevil played pickup basketball, I watched #3 in the kiddie maze while simultaneously watching the Phillies/Rockies. Multi-tasking at it's finest. Go Phils!

Haven't forgotten Daredevil's birthday pics. Just haven't had a spare 10 minutes to hook up the camera to the computer. Hopefully I'll get to it this week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAREDEVIL

Today my baby boy turns 7 years old.

Seven years ago today, we were living in Florida,

and on a sunny October 4th, 2002,

our Daredevil came into the world.

So today, I decided to take a walk down memory lane and revisit each of his past birthdays.

Here's teeny tiny Daredevil with Hunter and his very proud big sister shortly after his birth:

When he turned one, we were in transition from Florida back to the Northeast, and we were living with my parents since we couldn't find a house we could agree on.
We had a small party at my parents' house.

For his 2nd birthday, we had FINALLY moved into a new house,

and used his birthday as a kind of housewarming party.

We rented a big moon bounce and invited tons of people,

a much bigger party than any 2 year old needs.

Since it was so much fun, I don't have many pictures.

So here is one of him right around that time - he's a talker, so he always looked like this!

Spider-Man was the theme for his third birthday in 2005.

This was supposed to be a pony-riding party at a nearby park,

but a Nor'easter storm nixed that plan.

Instead we painted pumpkins at home!

From there we went to pirate theme for his 4th.
This year we wised up and had it at the local kids' paradise, Boomers Family Fun Center

(Yes, he was Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween that year)

Then it was Army dude for his 5th in 2007. Boy, the Army tank cake was a lot of work!
His party was at a place called Moonbounce Adventures.
Yes, it is just that - a huge warehouse full of moonbounces.
Perfect for a gaggle of 5 year old boys!

(He has asked for a replica of this cake for this year)

In 2008, for his 6th, we had Guido the Magician come do a show at our house.
His tricks were amazing, even the adults couldn't figure them out.
He used the kids as his assistants, they loved it!

So this year, the theme is BOOT CAMP. We have an obstacle course and a "rescue your fellow soldier" relay planned. We have camouflage hats and face paint, and dog tags for all the boys,
and of course, the tank cake.

Hunter is getting to live out his fantasy of being a member of the military by playing drill instructor. Of course, being a hunter, he has head-to-toe camouflage already in his closet. Even better, it is supposed to rain buckets.

Daredevil is SO excited! The more mud, the better!

Pictures to come soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAREDEVIL......YOU ROCK AND WE LOVE YOU!

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