Birthday thoughts

Yay, it's finally here. :-) I wait for my birthday each year as if I was still a kid, the day still feels so special to me. I have friends and family over each year and whereas it's sometimes stressful to do all the preparation (this year with an 11-month-old trying to get into the kitchen cupboards), I do love making food that my guests will enjoy and spending time with those I love.

The party turned out great. :-) The food was yummy - and I added two dishes that are definite keepers to my repertoire. One is a Layered Mexican Dip - there are loads of recipes for this online, but mine came from the New Basics Cookbook. It's basically layers of kidney beans in some form, guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes and cheese. What's not to love?

The other is Nigella Lawson's Ritzy Chicken Nuggets recipe - chicken strips marinated in buttermilk, covered in Ritz cracker crumbs and baked. The recipe is available on the Food Network and is fabulous, definitely worth a try!

On to the presents... Joe got me a Kindle - but I he actually gave it to me way early, because I couldn't wait and was becoming unbearable. :-) It's fabulous. I love having all those reading choices with me at all times and I'm enjoying my purse not weighing a ton because the one or two books in there. I heart my kindle.

I'm currently adding books like crazy - good thing that so many of them are free.

I got lots of beautiful things from my friends and family - I feel truly spoiled. People don't normally get me books because they can't keep up with what I've already read and I already own, but I did get one - the third book of Fables by Bill Willingham from Alex. Thanks Alex I can't wait to start on it! :-)

And - I had the sweetest surprise this morning, when I found two gifts and a card marked To Mommy, from Shane. How cute is that? One was a candle and the other was a book on how to cook healthy food for your family. Hmmm - is this a hint from an 11-month-old baby? ;-) I think I'll keep those gift tags forever and ever.

So here we are. I'm 34 years old today and I feel like the luckiest and happiest woman on Earth. So grateful.

Motherhood, reading notes and a possible early birthday present

Motherhood is wearing me out. Little S is amazing, his sunny personality is really coming through, he seems to already have a sense of humor and he's incredibly cute. But he has soooooo much energy and I don't. He wakes up so early, at around 5 am and I'm just not functional at that hour. Plus he's been testing out his lung strength. Constantly. I'm surprised that I have the brain power to read The Odyssey on my commute to work.

I'm really behind on my reviewing... I haven't even reviewed what I read for the Read-a-thon! One of the books I read was Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, which I absolutely loved. The story is amazing! As is the fact that all three books in the trilogy were total pageturners, usually at least one is weaker than the others. I know that some people didn't like the introspective aspect of Mockingjay, but it worked for me. I thought that it was a perfect state to be in following all that happened. I'd need some recovery/introspection time too. I was satisfied with the ending too. Maybe it didn't have that 'happily ever after' touch to it, which made it more realistic. That melancholy tone added an extra layer to the story, I thought.

There, can that count as my review?

My kindle is in the house! Joe ordered it early so that it would get here in time for my birthday in December and now it's way early! It's sitting in the spare room in its amazon box. And mocking me. I think it's cruel not let me have it, don't you? I mean it's RIGHT THERE. I'm negotiating with Joe, last year's present was late so I think it's only fair that this year's is early. Right? ;-)

To Kindle or not?

Do any of you have a kindle?? Do you use it? Do you still read regular books?

I'm considering getting one - make that, I really really really want one though I'm not sure why exactly. One good reason I can think of is storage - there are so many books I want to read but many I know I won't want to keep. We have a fairly big house but even then we're running out of book space. Plus I like reading new books too but I don't like hardcovers. Plus when I travel I end up taking like 5 books for a week and that really adds onto my luggage allowance.

OK, so that's 3 good reasons.

What do you think?