Day 116

I wanted to start by showing off the birthday present that I got from my mom….a Kindle!!!

I’m very excited about this gift.  Established when I was a young girl, my passion for reading has only gotten stronger over the years.  And as a technology fan, I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of an e-book reader for awhile.  Here are some of the major ones:

Pros:

• Thousands of e-books fit in less space than a single book.
• Easier to do other tasks while you are reading because you don’t have to hold the book.
• Nearly instant access to thousands and thousands of e-books.
• Ability to listen to audiobooks or have your e-book read to you.

Cons:

• E-books can be just as expensive as books and there are less options to get them free or cheap (from friends, garage sales, etc.).
• As someone who is on the computer all day, the last thing I need is more time with technology.

In the end, I had pretty much decided to get an e-book reader; but due to other priorities and our budget, the reader was down on my purchase list a bit.  Thus my excitement upon receiving it as a gift.  My mom is the best! 

I was so excited to do my first download.  Since I just bought a bunch of books at Salvation Army, I wanted to pick one that was free.  I’ve also been wanting to re-read some of the classics since it’s been YEARS since I picked them up.  Thus, my first download was Bronte’s Jane Eyre.  Because it’s been so long since I last read it (and my memory is fairly short-term), it’s almost like I’m reading it for the first time. 

So far, I’m loving my Kindle.  My only complaint is that the reader doesn’t even come with a single e-book.  Not even a portion of a book as a sample.  I was itching to test mine out on Sunday on the drive home from my brother’s house after just opening it; but since mine is a wi-fi only (not a 3G), I had to wait until we got home to get my first download. 

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We were so busy this weekend that we didn’t get around to dyeing our Easter eggs.  So after dinner tonight, I gathered the family outside on our patio table and snapped a few photos.  This year, we bought this cool little spinner to color our eggs.  It worked pretty well and I think the eggs turned out really cute.  Crockett was a little disappointed that we weren’t doing the standard dipping technique, but it’s fun to try new things too.  The kids loved pressing the button on top to get it to spin and I loved that it wasn’t nearly as messy.