Books Read, to be Read, or to be Re-Read

There are so many now that I'm seeing red. 

Since Nourit one day started devouring books, I've felt this panic to keep the beast fed. 

So a query last week on Facebook I post-ed,

For material she can read by a light in her bed.

Below is a compilation of what you all said.

Hopefully it all will go to her head.

Some we've read,

Some are to be read,

And some will definitely be re-read.

Book List for Nourit

~or Other Girls Age 7~

(to be augmented and edited, as we go...suggestions are welcomed)

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Shoe Books - Noel Streatfield
Betsy Tacy Books - Maud Hart
The Littles - John Peterson
The Mouse and His Motorcycle - Beverly Cleary
Ramona Books - Beverly Cleary
A-Z Mysteries
Wayside Stories Series - Louis Sachar
Anne of Green Gables
Trixie Belden Mysteries
The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner
Pippi Longstocking
The BFG, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits -  Roald Dahl
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E. L. Konigsburg
Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Nancy Drew Series
Percy Jackson Series
Judy Moody - Megan McDonald
*Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
*Spiderwick Chronicles - Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
*Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Books
*Dimwood Forest Books  - Avi
*Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
*Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Floors - Patrick Carmen 
The Magicians Elephant - Kate DiCamillo.
Kate DiCamillo Books
Everything in a Waffle - Patty Horvath
*Rump - Liesl Shurtliff

 More Ideas and Links

The Diamond in the Window: For those starting chapter books
A Mighty Girl:  The world's largest collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls.

Zazie vs. Toy Piano

Not bad for a first performance, although we'll have to work a little on her hand position.  And perhaps on getting back to the piano for her encore.

If You Give a Mom Alone Time

For awhile now, I've felt a great weight on me, and it's not extra baby weight that needs losing.  (I can thank my mom's genes for that one.)  It's both the physical weight of a 20 lb-er who is in the Ergo more than not, and the mental weight of my to-do list (which includes the to-do list of everyone else in the household.)  Once or twice a week, though, the kids walk out the door without me, a stillness descends on the apartment, and the baby falls asleep.  For a millisecond, after I set her in her crib and shut the door to the bedroom, I'M FREE!  Lighter than air, I can do anything I want to do:  dust the furniture, scrub the toilet, or clean up the dishes from lunch (and yesterday's dinner, and the huge pot from dinner three nights ago...)  The possibilities are endless.  Just like my laundry.

Or, I can read a book.  Except my book is in the bedroom and I'd risk my precious freedom if I snuck in to retrieve it.  I could do some yoga, but my mat is in the bedroom, too.  (I didn't plan my escape very well.)  Practice piano?  Too loud.  Take a nap?  Too much coffee in the morning.  Clean the closet?  I don't want to get into the middle of a project and have to leave it undone.   (And yes, that does sound kinda fun to me, in a sick, sick way.) 

Okay, looks like doing the dishes has won out.  But there are snacks in the kitchen, and once I have my nutella spread on a graham cracker, I need to sit down to eat it.  Preferably at the computer so I can do something useful at the same time, like check Facebook.  The kitchen looks daunting anyway, and I doubt I would even make a dent in the mess before the baby wakes up.  I really want to make this time count since I have so little of it.  I need to do something rejuvenating, something that will give me back at least part of what the kids have sucked out.  Another snack.  Maybe read some news. But that makes me feel even more useless since bad stuff keeps happening in the world and I'm doing nothing to make it a better place.

Maybe I'll just sit still and continue not doing anything.  Breathe.  Meditate.  But from where I'm sitting, I can see the four gaping holes in the wall where the guitar hooks fell out last October, and the pile of books ready to fall off the shelf, and the dust bunnies fornicating under the front desk.  I'll put these on my mental list of 'things to do when I have an entire week to clean and fix the apartment' (or when hell freezes over, because I don't know who is going to take three kids for an entire week while I clean my home.)

Hmm....I wonder what I could do with an entire week alone?