Creating a reader, one book at a time

After months and months of reading bedtime books to Ava with varied levels of interest on her part, she now points to the books at bedside when she wakes up and when we put her on the bed indicating she wants one. She either flips through it on her own or we read it to her. Favorites are Where Do I Sleep?, a lullaby book featuring animals from the Pacific Northwest, Dr.Seuss classic Oh The Places You'll Go, both of which we received at her shower, and as of its purchase two weeks ago, I Love You Because You're You, which pleases me to no end.

I LOVE books and held out hope that she would come to love them too, but I didn't want to be too insistent for fear of turning her off of them. So far, the steady, consistent use of fun, interactive titles seems to be working. Yay! We'll be getting her a library card in no time.

Sent from my Nokia phone

Get Out The Vote!

At a GOTV training. It's packed. Standing room only!

I want a thoughtful leader, not a gimmicky campaigner

Great op-ed about how Republicans love to campaign and have learned how to use divisiveness to win at all costs, but they apparently hate to govern, which is why many we've seen so many messes during their tenure in power. Governing is really where the rubber meets the road. Unfortunately, they've run us off the road into a ditch. Palin's ascension shows GOP's lack of interest in governing

Scary house

Out walking with friends & spotted this scary house. Um, into Halloween much?

Pen porn

I love fountain pens! And I hate using pencils. I use fountain pens whenever possible and I'm particular about the ones I have.  If someone in a meeting or out and about asks to borrow a pen, I carry a loanable/loseable ballpoint for just that purpose. But I don't consider myself a collector because I actually use mine regularly.

I have all the pens I need and can use right now, but like anyone who is into a particular type of item (shoes, cars, watches (hi J.!), clothes, insert personal lust item here), I love looking at pens, reading about them, seeing what's new on the market, and generally drooling over them.

Just as folks who are into fashion peruse Vogue, GQ, InStyle and Lucky, pen folks peruse Stylophiles, Pen World, and Pentrace. I also include the catalogs of Levenger and Fahrney's which all fall under the general heading of "pen porn."

But given the current economic malaise and the need to save for our future life endeavors and Ava's future scholastic efforts, I have instituted a personal moratorium on pen purchases. Which makes the periodic appearance of the aforementioned catalogs all the more special. They have appeared. So if you need me, I'll be holed up for a bit at my desk "having a moment" with the latest edition and leaving noseprints and pen longing in my wake.