Every Nieder's a reader

(insert happy sigh)

That's my (semi) new Nook. A generous birthday/Christmas/you're-going-to-lose-all-of-your-hair-if-you-don't-take-some-time-for-yourself present from Dave, it's brought a little bit of balance back to my life.  Honestly, I haven't read much over the past year (aside from blogs, websites, magazine articles, etc) . . . at the end of the day, I would look at books waiting on my shelves, and question whether I had the emotional energy to invest in reading. 

Once I took the plunge with the e-reader, I realized that I love it.  I'm so used to being online constantly that the computer screen is more comfortable (less intimidating, I think) to me at this point than print.  I'm book hungry (and I added a Goodreads widget to the side of the blog---scroll down a bit to see it, under the pictures in the column on the right---that will have my "What I'm reading Now" book).  The Nook allows me to continue checking out library books, so I don't have to spend money on the books, either.

But . . . I have e-reader guilt.  Although I'm using the library system, am I contributing to the demise of libraries by switching to ebooks?  And what about bookstores?  I love libraries and bookstores, so to assuage my guilt, Maya and I have been spending as much free time as possible hanging out at the library . . . which she also loves!

At home, she'll pull all of the books on to the floor, but at the library she just walks along the shelves, touching them.  She likes the people watching, and likes to slam a book shut and tell me to go get a new one ("Amama mamaba!").

On Sunday the library is closed, so we hit up Barnes & Noble instead. 

It should come as no surprise that she likes reading so much, since she started pretty early . . .

4 months old (KIPP folks will appreciate her literary taste)

No, like really really early.

(A few days old)

You learn interesting things when you read.  Dave was shocked when he read the 2nd half of "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe":

Um, what? She "whipped them all soundly and put them to bed"?  Maybe she knows that goose that throws people down the stairs from our other book . . . remember him?

Oh, snap!  It turns out that the abusive mom and the vigilante goose are neighbors! 

Another interesting thing we learned while reading?  Maya has a bag that says "My best frinend". 

How was that missed by the designer/manufacturer/marketing team/distributers for that bag?

Speaking of best frinends, Maya's best frinend isn't doing so well  . . . he was neutered on Friday and has been pretty miserable and aggitated since then.  He wants to play and have fun, but he knows that it's safer to keep his distance.  I rounded the corner yesterday to see this:

I miss you, Maya (sniff sniff)

(More pictures of post-op Parker are on the Facebook page)