If I Were A Disney Princess I'd Be Belle

Having made the plunge into official adulthood slash wedded bliss, Zach and I also decided to take a drastic step and...not get cable. (oh the screams are deafening)

In reality this is not much of a sacrifice, I don't watch television that often and most of the shows we do enjoy are on the net the next day (this is where I give my shout out to Drop Dead Diva). Plus we have Netflix. So sacrifice...not so much. Although I'd like to take a moment to lament my loss of PBS and Turner Classic Movies.

*Sigh*

Okay, now that my dorkness has been assuaged, here's the real kicker. None of this was my idea, it was Zach's! I was only too happy to go along. But he said he wanted to go without tv so he would read more.

Be still my heart, I knew I married the right man.

Therefore, in conjunction with this endeavor (you'll have to excuse me, sometimes I write like I'm a 19th century heroine) we went to our new local library and got cards.

And let me tell you, libraries today are way more spiffy than they were when I was a kid. Maybe it's just cause we live in the big city now but I had to stop myself from gaping on more than one occasion. Let me just say that there is a self checkout for books. You swipe your card (which has a barcode) and then simply set your books down in a stack on this pad thingy and in about 10 seconds the computer screen will display every title you are checking out. I didn't even tell it anything! Then to top it all off, it prints a receipt of my books due date!

There's no little yellow sticker! There's no little card stuck into that pocket in the book! And while this is all very exciting I confess I'm a little sad because when I imagined what it would be like to be a librarian the "open the book, place the card, put the sticker on the front, one at a time" routine was one of my favorite parts. Yes, I sometimes fantasize about being a librarian, go judge someone else. But I digress.

Here's what I checked out:

Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy

Yes I read parenting books (FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN BECAUSE I AM A NERD) and also because as a teacher I think parenting books give a lot of insight. Anyway, the woman who writes this is very funny and easy to read. Plus it's a book that makes you feel all nostalgic about how you could play outside and ride your bike and catch fireflies when you were a kid. Then it points out that you don't really see that going on much these days because parents are afraid of, well, everything. Then I think she tells parents to lighten up but I haven't read that far yet.

The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World by Margaret C. Sullivan

Yes, this is a pure indulgence on my part but I love reading this kind of thing. And if you are an Austenite, excuse me, a Jane Austenite*, you should treat yourself to a read.

The 4 Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

I haven't figured out if this guy is crazy or genius, but he basically outsourced his job and now does whatever he feels like while still getting paid. Maybe it's illegal or maybe he doesn't have any student loans to worry about, I'll have to keep reading to find out. I do agree with his ideas about the "New Rich". Maybe I'll blog about it later, after I've conducted my assessment.

I love libraries. I love them because they give me free books. And while if I really love a book I like to have it on my shelf this also saves a ton of money (and I've eliminated about 10 books from my Amazon wish list because the library has them).

I love the experience of books.

If you have a book on your shelf that you can't live without let me know and I'll "check it out" :)