Five on Friday: Going Home

There are five things I love about going home to Bowling Green. Okay, there are actually more than five things, but these are the ones that came to me this morning.

1. My mom makes breakfast. Real breakfast. Sausage, eggs, and toast; an omelet; or sausage gravy with biscuits. You get the idea.





2. I get to hang out with my sister and her two kids. Cara is a great mom with a huge heart. She works as a massage therapist, goes to school full time, and still makes time for her little ones. Carter Ray is smart, fun, athletic, and capable of being more mature than many adults, yet still able to truly be a kid. His current passion is playing guitar, but he is also excellent on the skateboard, pogo stick, and with a fishing pole. Tae is a firecracker. She is into everything. The world was made for exploring, right? She never gives her parents a minute to rest. She loved taking Alex's pacifier away and giving it back to him a million times. He's a bigger boy now, and I can tell that Tae and Alex are going to get into plenty of mischief together as they grow older.

3. Time slows down. I've checked the clock, and it appears to work just like it does everywhere else in the world. However, everything just moves at a different pace.

4. Sharing beer and pizza with my mom while watching a Cardinals game. This experience is even better when they win.

5. It's home. There are Amish buggies, trucks jacked sky-high using lift kits, and a 24-hour Walmart where you are sure to run into at least one person you know no matter when you go. 

P.S. Sorry the pictures are so wonky! I need to do a tutorial on how to layout pictures in this app. 

Five on Friday: Unread Books on my Shelf

Baby genius. He's reading about why he babbles.

Having a theme is really helpful to my blogging, so, I'm going to start a Five on Friday series. Every Friday until I get tired of this series, I will write about five (somewhat) related items. This could be five things I saw on a walk that day, five people that pissed me off, or five baby boy birthday party ideas. Today, I'm writing about five of the unread books on my bookshelves.

When I lived near a Borders, I had an addiction to book buying. I would spend hours in that store browsing around. I loved looking at the covers, reading the synopsis on the back, and wandering around the different sections. I enjoyed all the different areas of the store. Some days, I perused the self-help aisle or the do-it-yourself aisle. Other days, I tended to mosey around looking at the biographies and literature. On particularly self-indulgent days, I would browse through the art books.

For the most part, I limited myself to just looking, but an occasional book would make its way out of the store with me. My bank account is happy that Borders went bankrupt, but I don't know that I really am. I have not looked up the nearest Barnes & Noble, because I don't think my bank account can really handle it right now. I do love my kindle fire, but it's not quite the same thing as going into a bookstore and actually holding the book.

There are definitely more than 5 unread books on my bookshelf.  But, I thought I'd list a few and see which one you guys think I should read. 

The five unread books on my bookshelf.

1. The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan: Every feminist should read this book. I have not read this book. I haven't even tried to read one page of this book. Does this mean I'm not a feminist? But, I am a feminist. So, this book sits on my shelf waiting for the day when I have the courage to read it.

Alex's choice.

2. This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman: A gift from my parents from a couple Christmases ago. It's a compilation of short philosophies that are about three pages long. This would probably be an easy read to pick up with a seven-month old running around the house.

3. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy: My mother-in-law loaned this book to me a few years ago. In fact, I don't think she was my mother-in-law yet. I have started this book. I was a few hundred pages in when life became too distracting to finish. Plus, everyone had the same name. I needed a diagram to keep the characters straight. Hmmm...I bet they have one on the interwebs. I'll find it and print it if I pick this book back up.

4. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel: Everyone raves about this book. I've read the first 10 pages at least three times. But, I haven't been captured by it yet. If you vote for this one, please tell me how long it took you to love this one!

5. How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die, by David Crystal: This book came home from Borders with me one day. I read a few pages and thought it was fantastic. I just haven't had the chance to read it yet. I would blame it on the baby, but that wouldn't be fair since I have had the book for at least four years and the baby is not quite that old.

So, which book do you think I should read?

Babies and books. Is there anything cuter?