My girls have been drawing

I have found a site that has great drawing videos.  You can read about it more on my other blog.

by Allie

by Selena

Reading Rules

I came across this post  about what your reading rules reveal about your personality and thought it would be fun to share my reading rules.

- If a book doesn't catch me after 50-100 pages it is okay to stop.  There are too many good books to read to waste time on one that isn't.

- I remove dust jackets and toss them.  They are superfluous and just get in the way.

- I like books to look well read.  I don't mind if they get bent, dropped in water, etc.  But I don't write in books, it just never has occurred to me to do so.

- My favorite book form is oversize paperbacks.  For big, heavy, long books I prefer ebooks (which I read on a Nook Color or my phone a Samsung Note 2).  Otherwise I can't decide if I prefer electronic or hard copy.  Maybe if I had an eink reader I would prefer ebooks in all cases?

- I do not like to fold the corner of a page to mark it, mostly because when you get a whole bunch of folded pages they might get unfolded or refolded and then you might get a mistaken mark and that is just annoying. But if I can't find a scrap of paper to slip into the book, and I don't have anywhere to set it down open, then I will fold the page, but mostly I just lay the book down with the book open to the page I am at.  I hardly ever use a real bookmark.  My husband thinks it is hilarious to pull my bookmarks, and my kids often pick up my books and the bookmarks fall out.  I do spend a frequent amount of time searching through the book to find my place.

- I like to pick my books based on my currently feeling.  Usually alternating between fantasy, historical fiction and non-fiction, with some classics and general fiction thrown in.  Overall I tend not to read the same genre for more than two books in a row, unless I am reading a series.

- When I am picking out a book I tend to rely on word of mouth, or searching for books on a certain topic (especially biographies and historical fiction).  I rely pretty heavily on Librarything.com's "Will you like it" feature to help me decide.  It is pretty spot on.  Only once have I noticed where it was really wrong when it said that I would not like a book that I really did.  (Where'd  You Go Bernadette).

- I have to record my book on Librarything and Goodreads when I start reading it and then rate it when I am finished.  I rarely write a real review, though it seems like Facebook is trying to make me, since my entries are automatically posted to Facebook and people end up asking me what I thought.  I am trying to be okay with just jotting down a few thoughts, but I feel like if I am going to write a review, it should be a real thoughtful one that takes me more time then I have.

- I don't like to read many reviews ahead of time because I think they will sway my thoughts too much.  Especially bad reviews. If someone points out something annoying about the plot or writing style it will drive me nuts when I read it.   But I do read the reviews after I finish.  I like to see if other people had the same thoughts as me--kind of a virtual book discussion.

- I love to reread books.  Sometimes I want to read a book that I know will be fantastic.  I don't have the best memory when it comes to stories so I can reread my favorite books a couple years later and it is almost like reading it for the first time.  I have read Jurassic Park five times, Gone With the Wind three, and almost all of Dave Duncan's books at least twice.  I have read the Hunter's Haunt and the Man of Word Series three or four times.

- Full bookshelves are the most satisfying form of home decor.  I have a very hard time giving books away.

- I do not like reading more then one book at a time, though sometimes I will have a non-fiction and a fiction book I read at the same time.