Book review Thursday...

Ahhh, finally taking a breather after a long day. Books have been on my mind lately, given that my Kindle is my new best friend. Mike gives it the slitty eye whenever he sees it in its adorable pink case accompanying me everywhere, like maybe he's jealous of the attention I'm lavishing on it. But seriously. I'm in love with it.

So, Catholic fiction. I did end up purchasing book 3 of the John Paul II High series for my Kindle and will dive into it as soon as I finish the novel I'm currently reading. Which is one of the "Fairy Tale Novels" series by Regina Doman. I own nearly the whole set that she's written so far in traditional print form, and I picked up the first book, The Shadow of the Bear, to read last week.

Let me tell you: I was impressed. These are books marketed to young adults, written by a homeschooling mom. But once again, this is young adult fiction that adults can enjoy and appreciate. The first 3 that she wrote are actually a trilogy, which I didn't know. I only own the first one, and now I'm dying to get the other 2 in that series (Black as Night and Waking Rose)! They're on my Kindle shopping list. :) Anyway, these are modern takes on old Grimm's fairy tales, and Shadow of the Bear is a retelling of Snow White and Rose Red.

In this book, we meet 2 sisters who live with their mom in New York City. Their dad has recently passed away, and both are feeling out of sorts in their new Catholic high school. One night, their mom comes home from work and is nearly run down by a car just outside their house. A bedraggled looking young man helps her to safety and she invites him in out of the cold. The man calls himself "Bear" and appears to be homeless and has a touch of frostbite. The older sister, Blanche, is suspicious of his mysterious nature, although her impetuous younger sister Rose and their trusting mother accept him without question and invite him to come back for a visit later in the week. Blanche knows that she recognizes this man, and she believes that it was he who she has seen dealing drugs in their school parking lot.

As the story unfolds, we see Blanche and Rose go about trying to make friends and fit in at their school and figure out whether Bear is friend or foe. They both gradually come to treasure his evening visits to their home and the friendship and camaraderie he brings to their lonely lives. When it becomes clear that Bear is harboring a secret, both sisters want to get to the bottom of it and clear Bear's name.

I didn't know how I was going to like this book at first (it was a birthday gift) but I ended up loving it. I am keeping it for my own kids to read when they are teenagers. What I like the most about this book is how the author creates realistic Catholic characters and has them face challenges that all teenagers face. The characters then deal with those challenges (either at first, or ultimately, after having learned the hard way) in the way that we as Catholic parents would want them to. GOOD, good stuff.

Since I'm currently lacking the other 2 books in the series (very much anxious to hear the rest of Blanche and Rose's stories!) I picked up a stand alone book in this collection, The Midnight Dancers. Oh my. I couldn't put this book down! This is a modern take on Grimm's The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Our heroine in this story is Rachel, and yes, she has *11* sisters, plus 2 young brothers. It's a Brady Bunch situation with her widowed father remarrying and both of them bringing large families together into one. The sisters range in age from Rachel at 18 down to 11. Their father is overseas in the military, and after an injury, he decides to retire so that he can be home more with his children. Just before he retires, he meets a young army medic named Paul, and finds out that prior to beginning medical school the following fall, Paul will be a performer at a festival right in his home town. The two reconnect back in America, and Paul becomes a family friend. The intrigue comes in when the girls' father makes a request of Paul: to get to know his daughters and try to find out what secret they're hiding. Because he knows they have one, he just feels that he isn't close enough to them, after being away for so many years, to figure out what it is. Paul agrees to befriend the girls, but only on the condition that he won't divulge any information that he uncovers; he'll only work with the girls to tell their father themselves.

Ok, so here is the good part. The family is currently very fundamentalist Christian and both parents are extremely involved in their church. The girls feel stifled in the highly structured environment and long for freedoms that their parents would never allow. So what happens? They find an ingenious way to sneak out of their house every night while their parents are sleeping. For a time, they simply go to the nearby beach and swim. But then...boys get involved. Some boys from their church find out about their scheme and sneak out to meet them every night. Then...boys NOT from their church start coming. Then...they start traveling off the beach to an island nearby to have dances, since some of the boys have boats. There, they meet yet other interesting people with a mixed influence...

Paul, for his part, is watching out for them, unbeknownst to them. Paul is the Catholic character in this book, and naturally the other characters have a bit of an anti-Catholic bias against his faith. So that raises some interesting scenes. But what ends up happening is that when Paul finds out what the girls are up to, he feels that he should be around when they have these midnight escapades so that he can protect them and intervene if needed. They don't know he's there; he found out about their adventures on a lark and without their knowledge. He knows everything that they are doing, but he can't say anything to them about it. And he also doesn't want to say anything to the girls' parents. While the younger girls look up to him and enjoy his company, the older girls are a bit disdainful of their father's young friend. And yet they are the ones Paul is most concerned about, since they are drawing the eager attentions of numerous young men with dubious motives. Paul very gently tries to plant the seeds for the girls to trust their parents again and be able to communicate with them about concerns they have about the family's lifestyle, as well as reasonable individual choices they 'd like to make for themselves, such as their style of clothing and dating. He tries to get the girls to see that they shouldn't allow men to view them only in terms of their physical beauty.

This book was *excellent*. I couldn't stop reading it. The intrigue is just off the charts. I just had to keep finding out what would happen next, and if everybody was somehow going to get caught by the others! Highly, highly recommend this one. Now I'm reading Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyber Thieves, which is the author's most recent book.

Good stuff.

I may have broken Amazon

I'm loving my new Kindle, and frankly, I need something to cheer me up given the rough nights we're having these days with Anne.

So yesterday, I took some time to pluck out a few titles that I'd like to read, and place them on my shopping list for future purchase. Then I noticed that when you have a Kindle, you can get a short sample of the book for free, to decide whether or not you like it. I got excited. Free is right in my budget right now. :) Thus, I downloaded a few samples.

Then, I started to justify a small purchase to myself. I have plenty of traditional books that are as yet unread on my shelves at home, but I *really* wanted to experiment with reading something on the Kindle. I had the samples, but I wanted more.

I'm avoiding secular books for Lent, so I browsed my wish list of Catholic titles. Eureka! Book 3 in the John Paul II High series. I've blogged about earlier installments in this series before. It's a young adult series that is really well done and I've loved both books that I've read. Books 3 and 4 and newly out and I'm itching to read them. For the Kindle, they are only $5 each.

Ha ha! Maybe I'll just download book 3. It's Catholic fiction, so it qualifies under my lenten reading plan. And I've been dying to read it. I'll just click "purchase"...

Uh oh. Amazon, in her infinite wisdom, is telling me that "due to copyright restrictions, this title is not available in your area: United States." Oh, this is bad. What about the next book in the Fairy Tales Retold series, which I'm going to blog about tomorrow or Friday (excellent young adult Catholic fiction from Chesterton Press)? Same message.

I started to panic. I went through my list of desired titles, including all the old Harlequin romances that I have queued up, plus the NASCAR books. All of them were listed as "unavailable in my area."

For an embarrassingly long period of time, I was convinced that my not-exactly-mainstream reading choices (Catholic fiction and Harlequin Treasury titles, combined with racing romances, *snorts*) were simply unavailable for me to read on Kindle. How many other people read these things? Maybe they'll never be available for Kindle!! Since I had just registered my Kindle the night before, I thought to myself:

"Now it knows where I am, since my new Kindle is registered to me, and so now all of this information about what is and is not available in my home area is coming out!"

I mean, seriously. Who is "it"? The Mysterious Amazon People Behind the Curtain? That makes no sense. I'm at the *U.S* Amazon store, it's not exactly rocket science that people from the U.S. are going to be buying those books. And they were all listed with a price as available before yesterday afternoon.

I forced myself to squelch my panic-induced paranoia and went back to the listings for the sample that I'd downloaded just that morning, for one of the modern Fairy Tale Novels. Same message. I released a little of my tension, since I knew that that was impossible. The sample was currently on my Kindle, no problem.

I went into the Kindle Forums, and saw a thread with lots of confused Amazon customers. Apparently every single person currently living in the United States could not at that moment download anything from the Kindle Store.

Dear me. This wasn't the fault of me and John Paul II High, was it? Had I broken something and screwed the entire country? Well, nobody knows, but they were all blaming Harry Potter. All these years after those books came out, and yesterday was the very first day that all 7 Harry Potter books were available for download onto Kindle. Previously, the author has resisted having them converted into ebook format. And speculation was that maybe it was all those Harry Potter fans that broke Amazon.

But at any rate, an hour later, when I went to leave for home, Amazon was still broken. Sometime over the evening, they fixed it, since everything is put to rights again over there. But still. Panic abounded. We all couldn't get our instant gratification of having a book we desired in our hot little hands within a single minute of ordering it. Travesty!

We are all so incredibly spoiled. :)

A new member of the family

Yesterday was a long day. I worked, then went home to collect the children. Mike had to teach in the evening, so I took the kids to my parents for dinner. By the time Anne had finished throwing puffs on the floor and Henry started to whine that he was bored, I was all done in.

We stacked into the car and drove home. As I struggled to the door with Anne in her bucket style car seat, the diaper bag, my purse, and the bag of stuff that my mom had sent home with me, Henry opened the side screen door. There it was.

My Kindle.

Needless to say, this made the exhaustion of the day much easier to take. I quickly got Anne into her jammies, nursed, and down into her crib. I had Henry go up to put on his pajamas and brush his teeth. As he wandered upstairs, I relished the sound of the quiet house and triumphantly tore into my package.

Kindles come in Amazon guaranteed "frustration free packaging" for which the powers that be deserve to be canonized. I'm certain we've all nearly killed ourselves Christmas morning while trying to free our child's new Batcave from the package. Those hard plastic restraining straps? The sharp plastic coating that one could easily impale a limb on? Things with SCREWS in them?! Ugh.

Anyway, I quickly freed my Kindle and turned her on. I've been thinking about a name all week, but it wasn't really an option to give her a name like I do my iPods. (I was thinking about Kateri. I always use holy names. My current iPod Nano is named "Max" after St. Maximillian Kolbe. Well, I suppose they're not all holy. My old iPod Shuffle is named "Spike." "St. Spike, pray for us..." No, likely not). Anyway, she calls herself "Tiffany's Kindle" which is just fine with me.

I got her all registered and set up with our wireless network. I slipped her into her snazzy pink cover for protection. Then I downloaded St. Therese's Story of a Soul and a bunch of free romance novels. I was glowing.

The screen is unbelievable. It is positively unreal how beautiful it is. I expected it to look like a computer screen, I guess. But it doesn't. The e-ink actually looks like a *book*. I love it.

I'm *dying* to dive into my new novels, but I'm not reading secular books during Lent.

*halo*

And this is one lenten resolution that I've actually stuck with, and we're in the home stretch. I've really been enjoying the Catholic fiction and non-fiction that I've been reading so it's hardly a hardship. I have more books to review this week, so keep an eye out. :)

Anyway, I peeked at Story of a Soul and that is going to have to tide me until Easter Sunday. There was a bunch of other good stuff available for free due to being out of copyright. St. Thomas Aquinas, G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy.

So far, I'm terribly glad that I finally purchased an ebook reader. I have Kindle with me today at work, and she's happily nestled on my desk after charging up. We're getting along just fine.

Is that a Cheerio she just launched? Anne goes to Mass...

So, yesterday I took both children to Mass with me. This rarely happens, since Anne is usually napping when Henry and I go to Mass. But she's sleeping like rotting garbage again these days, so she slept in, given that she hadn't slept much during the actual night. Hence, she was wide awake in time to leave for 10 am Mass. So I took them both.

And it went just fine.

At first.

Well, I mean, overall I've come a long way from "The Incident" (link too painful to provide here, but on the right navigation bar for those that have yet to read that harrowing tale). So I'm happy to report that I handled things well. And really, it wasn't that bad. It was quite typical of what you'd expect from Mass with a 10 month old.

We arrived, with Anne in her pink outfit quickly taking on celebrity status amongst the older ladies in our parish. She looked around with much interest and flirted with a toddler in the pew across the aisle. She enjoyed the music and was quiet as a church mouse.

For a little while.

Then came the Liturgy of the Word. Henry settled in coloring his Magnifikid! and Anne turned to me with that expression that all parents know: Fussy Face.

We're all familiar with Fussy Face. There's just that edge of irritation and impatience mixed in with a chubby-faced overtired scowl. It's usually accompanied by wordless gestures that are unmistakable:

I DEMAND TO NURSE.

PUT ME DOWN!

WHY DID YOU PUT ME DOWN! PICK ME UP!

I WANT THAT! NO, NOT *THAT*! *THAT*!!

NEVER MIND, I HATE THAT! I DON'T WANT THAT!

So, I get The Face, and she begins to squirm. I quickly pull out a teether that is shaped like a bumble bee. She takes it, shakes it angrily right near my face a few times, and flings it to the floor. Fantastic. This is going really well.

I make Henry retrieve the teether, and I pull out the strongest weapon in my arsenal: Cheerios.

Anne is eating finger foods now, and let me tell you, this revolutionizes our lives. We can actually go out to eat as a family in restaurants again. She'll sit happily in her high chair with us while we eat dinner. She'll munch them in her stroller and we can go on walks again without one of us having to carry her halfway through. It's downright miraculous.

So I brought a bag of Cheerios with us to Mass. I've been through this before, so I opened the Ziploc bag carefully and left it in the diaper bag, taking the Cheerios out one at a time, rather than bringing a container of them right out into the open. Yes, it is possible for me to learn from past mistakes. Anne pinches a Cheerio carefully between her thumb and pointer finger and pops it into her mouth. *sigh of relief* There was an occasional thrown Cheerio, but Henry retrieved all of them for me, and nobody was injured.

We continue in this vein for awhile, even through the homily. Just as I was starting to worry about running out of Cheerios it was time to stand up to recite the creed. And this is where the trouble began.

Clearly, the novelty of being in church had worn off, and she was beginning to get tired. I got the Fussy Face again, combined with the lethal Put Me Down! body language. I switched her to my other hip and tried to bounce her discreetly. Unfortunately, she was not in a mood to be trifled with. That's when the squawking began.

A little bit of squawking I will try to temper. When the squawking advances to Really Loud Unhappy Baby! I extract the offender from the sanctuary. And that's the point we reached immediately after the collection. We head to the back of the church.

Our parish doesn't have a cry room, so we just hung in the back entrance, which is actually quite large. There are speakers in there, so we could hear, plus the wall to the church is glass, so we could still see. Aside from not being able to sit down, it wasn't bad.

Henry loved it back there. He was happily walking around poking into holy water dispensers, plastic rosaries and Catholic literature. Anne settled down as soon as it became clear that I would be pacing back and forth with her in my arms. Motion is always so vital with babies.

Right at communion time, Henry announced that he had to go to the bathroom. *sigh* The bathrooms are right there, but naturally, he didn't finish with anything resembling speed, so I had to poke my head in and instruct him to just wait for me outside the door when he finished so that I could go and receive communion.

Communion reception went fine, even with me receiving on the tongue. I've only had the Eucharistic Minister try to put the host into my hand one time when it was clear that I had a baby in my arms and I was sticking my tongue out. Receiving on the tongue definitely seems to make many people uncomfortable.

Anyway, when I got back to our spot in the rear Henry was waiting for us perkily. By this point my arms were killing me, but everything was going well. We awaited the dismissal hymn and stole back out to our car.

So, all in all, it went pretty well, all things considered. The instant we got home, Anne went down for a long nap.

Next week, for Palm Sunday, she'll be home napping with daddy. :)

Book Review Friday

I've been doing well with my lenten reading, and I just finished a Catholic fiction entry entitled Bleeder, published by Sophia Institute Press under their Imagio Catholic Fiction line. It's a murder mystery, and it was quite good. And frankly, any Catholic fiction whatsoever is hard to find, so I'm thrilled to point books out when I do find them, particularly when they come from an orthodox Catholic press.

Our protagonist is Reed Stubblefield, a college professor recently the victim of violence which has left him traumatized and disabled, who heads to his brother's remote cabin in northern Illinois for some relaxation and writing to soothe his soul. He's not a Catholic, but quickly becomes aware of a priest in the area who has attracted quite a bit of attention due to claims of his alleged healing powers and possession of the stigmata - the wounds of Christ. Reed's brother is a new Catholic convert and friend of the priest in question, Father Ray. His brother conspires to initiate a friendship between Reed and the priest, believing that it will prove emotionally and spiritually beneficial.

We follow Reed as he struggles through meeting new people in the tiny town and getting to know Father Ray - is he genuine, or perpetuating a giant hoax? We encounter journalists, both kindly and unscrupulous, and a rabid group of followers of Father Ray. Some are vehement in their devotion of him, while others present themselves as following an old Gnostic heresy and use him for their own purposes.

Suddenly... (and this isn't a spoiler, it's right in the description of the book on the back cover) Father Ray bleeds to death on Good Friday during Mass. What happened to him? Was this part of his stigmata, or something much more sinister? The police think Reed has something to do with all this. What on earth would the motive of an ailing Presbyterian classics professor be?

I very much enjoyed this book. Reed is quite likeable, and there is a host of interesting secondary characters. The storyline is intriguing, and I thought handled in a very realistic and thought provoking manner. I definitely recommend this book.

The book has a web site, which also includes information about a sequel entitled Viper which I just found out about. It looks like Marian visions will now come into play. Here's the description:

"Just before All Souls' Day someone entered the names of nine parishoners in her church's Book of the Dead, seeking prayers for their souls. The problem? All nine are still alive. Until they start getting murdered...one by one...in the precise order their names were entered in the Book of the Dead...and always right after a local visionary sees a mysterious woman known as the Blue Lady..."

I just added this to my Amazon wish list. :)

And speaking of Amazon, my Kindle is now merely one state away in transport. So close to me, precious Kindle! I suppose it's too much to hope for that she'll arrive tomorrow, instead of spending the whole weekend cold and alone in a UPS truck, poor thing...

HOT

It's freakishly hot here, and frankly, I'm not liking it. :) We had a barely recognizable winter here, and now it's 80 degrees in March. I don't want to *sweat* in March. There's just something apocalyptically wrong with that.

So, not only am I hot, but my hair is sticking up. *sighs* Remember how I mentioned the postpartum hair loss thing? Yeah, that thing. Well, after both of my babies (I still did have hair left, don't worry) I would get regrowth *right* at the front hairline. And right now, it's at that awkward phase where it won't lay flat. And it's right in the front. I keep wetting it, and it'll still stick up the instant it dries. I got desperate. I stuck a bobby pin over it, and I just left it in. I mean, at work and everything. It actually looks kind of cute. Better than a tuft of hair sticking up in front anyway.

However, significantly cheering me is news from the world of my Kindle: She has shipped.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I even got a special email from Amazon, congratulating me on her impending arrival into my arms.

I am SO EXCITED. She's due Monday, even earlier than I anticipated! Oh sweet day!

I've been perusing the ebook options both at our public library and via the Kindle store, and I've made even more exciting discoveries. Some old, out of print romances very dear to my heart but that I no longer own are available for the Kindle. And they're like $3-$4 per book! I'm so super thrilled. I used to love this Harlequin romantic comedy series called Love & Laughter. It became defunct in the late 90's. They're all available in the Kindle store as reissues under a "Harlequin Treasury" imprint. The public library does not catalog these old Harlequins, so this is pretty much the only way to get your little hands on these old titles. Well, there is the used bookstore, but she tries to get rid of the old series romances quickly because they're not hot sellers. I am *so thrilled* that I'll be able to pick the exact ones I want again!

I'll have to calm down a tad since I'm not reading any secular books until after Lent. But still, I can play with Kindle and load on some spiritual classics while I'm waiting.

SO EXCITED.

Adventures in Best Buy, and Magnifikid! review

A couple of interesting purchases to detail. :) Henry used his Magnifikid! for 3 weeks, and finally I made a decision: I decided to get him a subscription. It's $34.95 for one year.

Magnifikid! comes in a clear wrapped packet of 1 booklet for each week of the month. Each booklet contains artwork and prayers associated with the Gospel theme of the week. It includes a kid-friendly rendition of the liturgy, explanation of tough terms, a comic starring "Brother Goodventure," and a puzzle, maze or picture to color. It's targeted to children ages 6-12.

Henry likes having his own book to carry to Mass. I will admit that his favorite feature is the maze or other activity included on the back cover. Last week was a holy word find.

"I LOVE WORD FINDS MOMMY."

Next week is a picture of stained glass to color, not sure if he's going to be as crazy about that. But he does ask me where we are in the Mass so that he can follow along in his little book. He'll look at the pictures and flip through it during the homily, etc. Even though he's not studying it in depth or anything, I still thought that anything that improves his enthusiasm for attending Mass was worth the subscription price. Since we started bringing the booklets with us, he's been better about going to Mass with me. So, that's that, and I'm glad I got him the subscription. We have one last free trial issue for this Sunday, and then we're out of them until his new subscription starts arriving. I'll be curious to see how much he asks about them in their temporary absence.

Once again, I wasn't using my sample Magnificat, so I didn't order a subscription for myself. I already own the 4 volume Liturgy of the Hours set, so I can always use that when I want more discipline for daily prayer. But when Lent started, I was using my Liturgy of the Hours like a good girl. As soon as I started trying to use the Magnificat, I fell off the wagon. That's a wonderful little magazine, but I just don't use it.

So anyway, in other purchase news, I journeyed to our local Best Buy yesterday after work for a few things. I was eligible for a cell phone upgrade, and plus, I wanted to play with the Kindles.

I tackled the more interesting task first. The Kindles and I, we frolicked. I tested out their features and they let me hold them. I am quite taken with them. The "demo" mode really restricts you in the store, but overall, I loved them.

After that, I moved sections real quick-like to do my cell phone upgrade. It's pretty uncomplicated with me, which I don't think the suave salesman was prepared for.

"Can I help you, Miss?" *beams*

He gets bonus points for calling me "Miss" rather than "Ma'am." Makes me feel younger.

"Hi, yes. I have Verizon, and I'm eligible for an upgrade. I don't have a data plan, nor do I want one. I'd like a Qwerty keypad for texting, but I want a free phone. I'm pretty sure these are my few options right here, correct?"

"Um. Wow, you're very prepared. Yes, without a data plan you're very limited. There are your 3 options here."

I can see the little bubble over his head saying "No data plan. What a strange, strange creature."

There were 2 additional phones available for $30 with my upgrade, and they had a touch screen, but I'll show my old-fashionedness (is that even a word?) again here. I don't want a touch screen. Finger prints make me spastic.

So the choice was easy. I simply chose the same phone that I already had in the newer model. In electric blue, because I like loud colors. My cell phone is purely functional for me. I do like to text my sisters and friends, so I pay $5.00 per month for 250 texts, and I never surpass that amount. I have a *really* old plan that is $39.99 for 450 minutes per month, with free Verizon to Verizon and nights/weekends, yadda, yadda.

The phone guy's eyebrows raised again when he went tappy tappy on his computer keyboard and looked up my plan to renew it.

"Wait. It says 'this phone is incompatible with the current plan.' Why on earth would it say that? Oohhhhh. Your plan is REALLY OLD. They're going to make you upgrade."

I'm assuming "they" are the Verizon People From Up On High. This made me sweat for a second, since taxes really add up on these cell phone plans, and I don't want to pay any more per month than I'm already paying. I don't *need* anything else other than the service I'm already receiving, so I don't want an "upgrade."

Well, the good news was that they call it something else now, but I could still have the same plan as I was currently registered for, so that's good. He set everything up on my cute new blue number, and I was set. Payment: $0. Sweet.

I lingered over the Kindles again before I left. We bonded.

So, the big news is: I did it. I just placed my order for a Kindle (the $79 entry model) with accompanying (and adorable) pink case. She needs a name, but I haven't thought of one yet. Perhaps it will become clear to me once she arrives and I hold her for the first time. :)

At any rate, I'm *super* excited. She's due to arrive mid-next week. Now, if only babies were on this type of gestation timeline...

Oh boy...

You know, it's interesting. Lately, as we all know, the Church has taken quite a beating in the media. And I think we'd all agree that the disagreement is coming from those more "to the left," if you will. That's certainly a generalization, but I think it's a fair one. But yet, (and I have to admit, I find this amusing, albeit hurtful) the Church also takes a beating from the exact polar end of the spectrum, the far right.

This morning, I logged onto Facebook, and my lovely friend Cam from the A Woman's Place... blog drew my attention to a post by a headcovering shop that in the past, I've highly recommended on this blog: Garlands of Grace (link purposely excluded, ha!). I've "liked" the Garlands of Grace Facebook page, so I quickly found the source of Cam's comment:

"In response to several ladies who have wondered and many others who have presumed, I am compelled to share:Garlands of Grace in NOT a Catholic run business. I am burdened for all who stand with the Catholic Church and would plead with you to come out and believe the Word of God."This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:11-12"

Well then. I have absolutely no problem patronizing businesses that are not Catholic, not Christian, or even totally secular. What I DO have a problem with is associating with businesses that are downright anti-Catholic. THAT the Catholic Librarian does not tolerate.

Because the thing is, Garlands of Grace is not simply clarifying that they are not a Catholic run company. They are flat out saying that Catholics are not Christians and need to "come out" in order to actually "believe the Word of God." This viewpoint is certainly not pervasive amongst all non-Catholic Christians, but unfortunately I've seen it before, and it's insidious amongst at least a small representation of Christians. Very sad, but true.

Underneath this post, as one might imagine, a real brouhaha has erupted in the comments section. Happily, a sizable number of commenters (by far the majority) are charitable and articulate Catholics defending the Church and letting the business owners know that they will not shop there nor recommend the store anymore. There's also some ugly stuff mixed in there, including one woman who called the Church a "glorified cult" but that's par for the course, I suppose. I considered commenting, but then demured. The other Catholics there did an outstanding job of articulating my feelings beautifully and in a kind and charitable fashion. I just "liked" their comments to lend support. But I did "unlike" the page on Facebook to let the shop know that I'm no longer a fan of theirs. I'm curious to see how Garland of Grace's number of fans goes down due to this. It looks like a significant number of their (now former) customers are Catholic.

Anyway, I'm saddned by this, but I suppose I'm not totally surprised. If the Church made everybody happy all of the time, *that* would be something to worry about.

On a more positive note, if you're in the market for headcoverings, check out Cam's etsy shop A Snood for all Seasons. I just bought 2 coverings from her (the convertible type), and they're beautiful! She also sells coverings for little girls, and I'm plotting a purchase for Anne. How cute will that be?!

So, the morning is off to an adventurous start...

Big news Monday:

ANNE IS SAYING "MA MA."

Clearly, my months of indoctrination have worked. I mean, she doesn't seem to realize that Ma Ma is my *name* given that she just chants it at random, but we'll ignore that part. I'm just thrilled that she's saying it at all, given that Hank was 18 months old before he said Ma Ma. The only good part about that was that when he'd wake up at the crack of dawn and start chanting "Da Da Da Da," I'd tell Mike that he should go fetch him, since clearly, the baby wanted him. :)

She also slept better this weekend. The 7:30 bedtime really seems to be helping, plus, well. She's doing the one thing that that is pretty much guaranteed to improve her sleep: she's developing and getting older. That's what all the "helpful" sleep advice people whose children allegedly slept through the night from the hospital fail to tell you. Your baby WILL sleep better. They're just not going to do it as a young infant. When they get older they'll sleep better. And thank God for that.

Anne turned 10 months old this weekend. I have very mixed feelings on this. :) She's so extremely precious, and we're enjoying her so much. So I'm focusing on the positives. But on the other hand: my baby! I don't want her to turn a year old, I'm just not ready for that.

Anyway, that's that. If you didn't catch my Sunday post, be sure to do that and let me know what you think. :) I'm still contemplating that ebook reader, so leave a comment if you have some advice. I did, however, remember something that has the potential to put that plan on hold: the used bookstore.

How I *adore* the used bookstore! I haven't been there in years. But I could trade in my romances there and you get 25% of the cover price in credit. Then when you buy other books there, you automatically get 50% off the cover price, plus an additional 25% off from your accumulated credit. So, you end up getting 75% off. And this store is targeted to women's fiction. It's full of romance novels. I haven't traded in any books there in ages, but I could again very easily. This would solve my space problem. Plus it would preserve my love of my precious print books. And buying the print books via Harlequin's web site is still dirt, dirt cheap, even cheaper than ebooks! They have everything discounted, plus perpetual coupon codes for money off your total. So I could get new romances there and trade them in at the used bookstore for supplementary books. Hum. Not sure what I'll do. Mike is pleased with my desire to explore the used bookstore again. He nearly keeled over last night when I mentioned that I was contemplating a Kindle. He's definitely not an electronic device lover. If I tried to read in bed with my Kindle he may contemplate an annulment.

But the Kindle would still be a nice supplement to my print books, no? If you love your ebook reader, convince me. :)

I may go over to the dark side

That's right. I'm considering buying an ebook reader.

This is rather anathema in my world. You see, I love books. Real, live books. I like the way they look all lined up on my shelf and tucked onto my bedside table. I like the way they feel in my hands. I even like the way new books smell. And I became a librarian because as a child I so loved to read, and that has continued throughout my life.

I'm certain that actual print books will always have a place in my life. But I've been noticing a few things lately. The first is space. I keep having to weed my print collection because we simply don't have room to store all of the books that we'd like to. Plus, there are a lot of free ebooks out there. Stuff that is out of copyright (St. Therese's Story of a Soul!), promotional offers to get you hooked on an author. I've been getting back into my Harlequin roots again, and that's been making me ponder: I love these books, but what do I do with them after I read them? I'll keep some favorites, but I don't need all of these little romance novels taking up space on my one bookcase. I end up giving them to friends to read, or donating them to the library book sale. AND there are many of those books out there for free as ebooks! Or, very inexpensive, often times much less expensive than getting the print. Not always, certainly. And there's nothing I like more than having a shipment of books waiting for me. But sometimes, there are things available as ebooks that you can't get in print (or would have to order used in print, adding shipping fees to your purchase that you wouldn't ordinarily pay if you bought new).

Like for example, I'll embarrass myself by admitting something: I like the old Harlequin NASCAR series. Go ahead, laugh. But those books are mostly out of print now. A few are available new on Amazon. Harlequin only sells them as ebooks now, they're totally out of stock in their print book store. One is availble for free as an ebook over at Amazon, and they have others in the Kindle store that are all less expensive than buying them in print, either new or used. Harlequin has the whole series available in ebook format.

Anyway, I have about $56 in credit from Amazon from trading in some old books I wasn't using anymore. And their least expensive Kindle is a mere $79. It's got me to thinking that maybe I should just buy it. It would only cost me $23 with the credit! I'd still certainly buy and read print books. But the Kindle would allow me to access free books I wouldn't ordinarily have access to at all, and save money sometimes if I'm not really wedded to keeping a copy of the print book lying around.

But it worries me. Will I still enjoy reading on the device the way I do print books? Will I become one of those annoying people who always has their nose buried in their electronic device? No offense, but those people really get under my skin. :)

So, what do you all think? Should I do it? Do you have a Kindle or a Nook?