TV or not TV?!

I think I have a problem...turning off the TV 

Here's the thing...I love to read books.  There is nothing better than a great book.  One that can make you think about life or bring you to tears or make you smile and laugh.  I love a good book!!

But...even when I have a good book to read and am really enjoying it, I will turn on the TV.  I will waste so much time just watching needless stuff.  It's really bad...it's crazy.

It all started this morning, I was walking around the library gathering books that I wanted and thinking "I shouldn't take too many because I will never read them all in the amount of time the library lets me keep them".  Then I thought, "well that's only because you watch TV too much".  Oh...sometimes those little men (lil' good guy-lil' bad guy) on your shoulder really point out important things.

So I can to the only rational decision...
I am turning off the "tube". 

For one week, I am going to turn it off and read.  All week.  Just read.  I want to see how quickly I can get through a stack of books.  The TV is an amazingly addictive, evil, little thing.  I have known this forever but it's hitting me how much time I just waste.  I limit it for my kiddos...why not myself.  I am the one with the problem, not them.

Now there are my favorite shows that I really enjoy but with the internet and now our Hulu, I can catch up on just about anything and do it at my leisure.
This will be good.  I need this.  I will survive.  

So here is my goodie bag of books!!!

Source: amazon.com via Alicia on Pinterest

"The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks

Source: google.com via Alicia on Pinterest

"Fly Away Home" by Jennifer Weiner

Source: google.com via Alicia on Pinterest

"The Blue Bistro" by Elin Hilderbrand

Source: goodreads.com via Alicia on Pinterest

"The Family Fortune" by Laurie Horowitz
and...

Source: amazon.com via Alicia on Pinterest

"Silver Girl" by Elin Hilderbrand

They all look good right?  It's crazy because I really want to read all of them but I am already missing the stupid TV.
Ugh...I sooooo need to do this...but why is it so hard?  I guess it's hard to do the best thing sometimes.

So next Monday I will fill you in on how I survived Reading week.
I also need to stop blabbing on this post and stop surfing the internet.  Another one of my big time wasters!

Oh wait...Just remembered...can I watch KU get their butts kicked tonight by Kentucky?  That doesn't count right?!
Oh man...well, Good Luck Kentucky!  You aren't my wildcats but mine aren't the ones playing KU!

Books, Books, Books!!!

I love Books!  Do you love books?  I always have a book I am reading.  I carry a book with me wherever I go...you never know when I might be sitting somewhere waiting for someone or something and have a few minutes to catch a few more pages.  Some might say that I am escaping reality a bit and they might be right...who cares?!   
A couple years ago, I started to write down all the books I read.  If you are anything like me, I forget what I have read and what a book was about (I call it "mommy memory").  Once I start a new one I forget a lot of the details of the last one only because I get so in the next.  Because of my "mommy memory" I started keeping a little journal where I write down the books I have completed, the author and a brief summary of the plot.  This helps...a lot.  I also started using a great website called goodreads.com...I highly recommend it...helps keep track of book you have read, books you want to read and books you are currently reading, and recommends great new books to read.  You can also link up through facebook, find your friends and send out your own recommendations, do your own review of a book, and set reading goals.  I am happy to say through goodreads.com I set a reading goal of 15 books for 2011...I just completed my goal!  This seems quite exciting to me as I have 3 kiddos and love to watch tv...this can cause issues with getting books completed but I did it!  Yea me!
   
Here is my most recent favorite...I just finished this book today...A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff. You can check out my other recent books (some good, some bad) with the little widget on the right side of my blog...just scroll down a bit and you will see it...maybe they will be one of your favorites.  You can read about it here and then maybe sign up for your own Goodreads account.  It's so worth it! 

I also must say that I LOVE the library.  This has been an acquired love...I used to love Barnes&Noble but when things got a bit tough financially for our family I couldn't afford to buy books like I used to.  I knew I still needed/wanted to read so I had to use the library.  Thank goodness for the establishment of libraries!  I still go to B&N but for a whole different reason (to their dismay)...I go there when I need to run away (all you moms understand this), get my Starbucks Venti Skinny Caramel Machiatto, grab my notebook out of my bag and browse.  When I find a book I want to read I write it down along with the authors name.  I run home, check the library's online catalog and find out whether they have the book and grab it up if they do!  It's like finding a treasure!  The other great thing about the library...books are due by a specific time...you must get them done an turn them back in.  If you have too have kiddos and like to watch tv, this due date can be very motivational. 
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!! 

So the kiddos and I are headed to the library in just a bit with my Mom In Law (cookies, milk and tea to follow at Baba's!).  This makes for a good day...I have 3 kiddos who love to read nearly as much as I and love to get new books.  Off we go...!