February Flab

Anybody else feel the need to trim things up a bit?

Yes, my waistline is in dire need of this but mostly I'm talking in school/home terms.
Somehow my bookshelves have multiplied and even though I have 5 boxes of packed away books in my basement my 2 bookshelves are overflowing!

I'm sure it has nothing to do with my inability to pass by my libraries used book corner......seriously, can you pass up a 50 cent copy of a favorite or needed book? I can't.

Thankfully, after much prayer and thinking God inspired me and I was able to rearrange our livingroom so that I can squeeze in a couple more bookshelves.
Now just need to actually get those shelves......have to talk to hubby about this one:)

I'm hoping to organize my shelves kind of like a library does...not dewey decimal but more along the lines of a shelf for each year in Ambleside. We'll see what I actually manage to get done.

Here are some different ideas for how other moms have organized their "space".

Our Homeschool Space @ Gaze Into the Heavens

Our Classroom @ Sunshine and Lemonade

Avoiding February Homeschool Burnout before it happens @ Like Mother, Like Daughter

Organizing Children's Books A Category Simple Method @ The Tranquil Parent

Organizing Part Two: The Bookshelves @ Everyday Snapshots Explores Homeschooling

Bookshelf Organization @ Higher Up and Further In

Organizing our Homeschool @ Color me Orange

How you Organize your Home Library @ Mental Floss

Not to beLabor the point, but... @ The Pioneer Woman

(I could probably keep going all night just to avoid exercising but, for my children's sake I had better knock this off!)

How do you keep it all together?
Do you wing it?
Do you have a "school room"?
Are you drowning?
Does your space flow well?

Time & Energy

Have you ever had some thoughts rattling around in your head that you really want to get posted but whenever you have a few minutes your brain just kind of shuts down?

That's how I've been feeling lately.

So for those who read this blog someday in the hopefully near future I'll actually have the time, energy and brain power all put together at the same time to jot down some thoughts I've been having.



But for now I'll just have to keep reading and researching so that I'll have my sources in order when the time comes.



And for those who are interested I'm rapidly nearing the end of pregnancy so that my be part of my brain power problem.

The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read to me,

Sagas of pirates, who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays,

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales,

Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness lent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things,

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings

Stories that stir with an upward touch,

Oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be--

I had a Mother who read to me!

By: Strickland Gillilan

"Today a reader,

Tomorrow a leader."

~ Margaret Fuller ~

When I was about eight, I decided that the most wonderful thing, next to a human being, was a book. ~ Margaret Walker ~

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen ~

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. ~ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu ~

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child. ~ Mary Ellen Chase ~

A room without books is like a body without a soul. ~ Marcus T. Cicero ~

Never judge a book by its movie. ~ J. W. Eagan ~

When you have mastered numbers, you will in fact no longer be

reading numbers, any more than you read words when reading books

you will be reading meanings. ~ Harold S. Geneen ~

Books are not men and yet they stay alive.

~ Stephen Vincent Benet ~

Books are not made for furniture,

but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.

~ Henry Ward Beecher ~

A book is good company.

It is full of conversation without loquacity.

It comes to your longing with full instruction,

but pursues you never. ~ Henry Ward Beecher ~