My New Fun Find (thanks to Kristine)

If you were to ask Kristine to tell you one thing that she doesn't understand about me, she might answer that it is my obsession with buying and owning books. Kristine is perfectly fine with checking books out from the library and sometimes even waiting for weeks to get her hands on a book that she wants to read. Part of our difference lies in the fact that I enjoy reading contemporary literature, while Kristine tends to read older books.

Anyway, a few months back Kristine and I created a category in our budget called "Whatever I want." This provides us each with some money to just buy a few things for ourselves---just for fun. This has provided me with funds to go use my Borders Rewards coupons that show up in my email inbox and tempt me every other week or so. Therefore, my book collection has increased.

There are a few reasons why I enjoy buying a book. 1) I like the look of a full bookshelf that contains a variety of different types of literature. 2) I like to be able to loan a book that I love to a friend. 3) Occasionally, I like to reread a book (ex. My Name is Asher Lev, To Kill a Mockingbird). 4) I hate the pressure of a library due date that makes me feel like I have to rush through a book. 5) I have a dream of our future dream house containing a beautiful library full of books that represent many memories of different time periods of my life.

For the most part, I can read anything and enjoy it. However, from time to time, I read a book with which I make very little connection. Then these books still lurk around on our bookshelves and are visually distracting from the books that I love. So, Kristine found this beautiful website called paperbackswap.com.

This site allows you to post these sorts of books and then for every book that someone requests from you, you get a credit that allows you to request a new book from anyone else. For the cost of mailing a book to someone else, I can get a book that is new to me. Of course, this wouldn't be a site for those who frequent the library and are content not to own the book, but for me this is perfect. I am waiting for my first two books to arrive and already have 5 more credits that I can't wait to use. I look forward to the additions this will provide for my classroom and dream house bookshelves.

Soccer Mom (& Dad)

This year we signed up James for AYSO soccer. Two years ago we signed him up to play through Kidsports and it ended up being a kind of ridiculous scam with 6th grade girls teaching the kids how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose" with a soccer ball. Needless to say, it was a waste of time and money; although, I am pretty confident that James had a lot of fun.

So I convinced Kristine that we should sign him up through AYSO this year. Much to my surprise, the coach called and told us that they will have two practices a week and then a game every Saturday. We thought that having two practices a week was a little excessive, but after watching them play last Saturday, we realized that maybe two practices is not enough.

Saturday they started off their season playing in a jamboree. Each team played three games that consisted of two quarters each. It was hilarious to watch. James hadn't really played in a real soccer game before and his excitement seemed to get the best of him. The first quarter he just danced around the group that was following the ball, seemingly nervous to really get involved. The second quarter that he played, he finally started to kick it. However, he kept kicking it the wrong way. He would get so excited that he would just kick the ball, not caring which way he was supposed to be going.

While this was going on, Kristine and I were rather embarrassingly yelling things like, "That's the wrong way!" or "Get in there and kick the ball!" Poor James just kept looking over at us. I think we confused him more than helped him and he didn't understand what was going on--He was just having a whole lot of fun.

The team didn't win any of the three games. In fact, they didn't even score a single goal. However, they seemed to get better as the day progressed. His coach finally put James in as a fullback. At first we were a little nervous that he was too close to his own goal and if he kicks it the wrong way, it might be incredibly embarrassing if he scores for the other team. But James has a pretty good foot on him and was able to clear the ball away from the goal several times.

It was a lot of fun to watch. But Kristine and I both left the game feeling a little embarrassed that we couldn't help ourselves from being a crazy soccer mom and dad that just want our kid to perform well. So we scream and yell, instead of just being happy that our little 5 year old was perfectly content to just run around on the field with his friends.