Secular Confessions

[The10Eels]

I'm actually liking reading off an e-reader more than I thought I would.

I am the same.. I bought mine for the convenience of traveling, but really really love my kindle... I find myself searching to see if a book is available on my kindle before I buy it in hardback or paperback..

I love my Kindle. It's so comfortable to hold. My dad gave me a Kindle cover that opens like a book and I actually find that more awkward because the side with the Kindle on it is so much heavier. So I fold back the empty side. The cover is cool though because it has a light built into it that pulls out.

Im with ya on the cover... its kind of awkward to hold. I fold mine back too.


Thanks for all the well wishes on school...

The CNA class is only three weeks, and if I remember correctly you can't miss any days because it is so condensed.

I am going to stay enrolled and just hope that court gets postponed again... I went ahead and bought my all white scrubs uniform too

[Cosmosmom]

I don't remember who recommended Matched, but I'm (still) reading it. I mentioned it's very much like The Hunger Games-it has the same kinds of themes-but I'm actually liking Matched better. It makes references to actual people, books and stories, while the Hunger Games does not, and that really makes the story hit home for me.

That was me. The next book comes out this fall and I'm on the wait list already at the library. I haven't read Hunger Games yet but should be reading it soon....it's sitting on my bookshelf at home.

[missychrissy]

Thanks for all the well wishes on school...

The CNA class is only three weeks, and if I remember correctly you can't miss any days because it is so condensed.

I am going to stay enrolled and just hope that court gets postponed again... I went ahead and bought my all white scrubs uniform too

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it works out for you!

[Cosmosmom]

I do not have an e-reader but not really a book snob either. I read paper books....but mostly because I'm way too cheap to pay $10 for a book that I can get for free from the library....or borrow from someone else.

[missychrissy]

I'm too lazy to go to the library. Isn't that awful?

[daylilies]

We're lucky our library is right next door to Josh's school or I would probably never go either. Josh loves to go.

[3andMe]

I use my kindle cover to protect my book if I have it in a bag, or to prop my book up if I'm reading sideways in bed. Otherwise I just fold it back.

I was not too fond of the children's Roald Dahl stories, except for the pheasant poaching one (Danny, the Champion of the World). He wrote some pretty interesting -- and racy -- adult books, though. I'm still freaked out by the aliens in the elevator scene in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator book.

I pretty much will not read a book if it's not available on Kindle, anymore. It's too inconvenient.

My sister and I named our main dolls, our only dolls with faces, Ozma. We couldn't come up with different names, and the dolls were similar in appearance (our grandmother had made them for us) so we had two Ozmas. We read all of the Oz stories.

Where the Red Fern Grows was mentioned earlier too, and that one was beautiful and heartbreaking. I read that one over and over again.

[Cosmosmom]

I'm too lazy to go to the library. Isn't that awful?

Actually I hate to admit but I really dislike going to our public library too. It's downtown, parking kind of stinks and I hate plugging a meter during the week. So I really try to go on Saturdays and pick up the items I have on reserve. Thankfully a lot of the local grocery stores have return boxes....that is so handy! Plus some of the staff aren't the most friendly....much as I really hate to say. I basically at this point pick out my books online and have them put on the reserve shelf....I run in, pick them up and leave.

Oh and I'm pretty much always running a small late fine. And I really should know better!

[Ky'sMom]

[quote=missychrissy;1058219638
Bobbie is a book snob and insists it simply cannot be the same as reading from a 'real' book.
[/quote]

Book snob here .

I love the feel of a book and can't imagine reading anything without having a book in my hand. I am open to the evolution of literature though and won't say that I will never get a kindle or something similar in the future. But, I am also really anti-technology in a lot of areas as I have a strange fear of computers taking over the world and of humanity forgetting how to do certain tasks or activities without computers. I also feel that eventually our society will be destroyed, not an armageddon type of thing, but a Mother Earth "I'm-sick-of-all-you-humans-messing-me-up" type of thing. And I wonder what type of ancient artifacts that the future inhabitants of earth will find about us. How will they know about us if we go totally techy and don't have any written literature in books anymore. I know this is pretty silly but I think like that sometimes.

DH did say he wants to get me a kindle though and that was sweet of him but it was too much money IMO right now so I told him he can do so when they are under $99, so once they hit $98, then I'll get one.

Erin

[daylilies]

I'm always late returning books too which is really silly since like I said our library is right next to Josh's school.
I think about technology too like that, Erin, and what's going to happen if (when) books no longer exist someday and what people will learn about us. But at the same time I am like some of you and I don't buy a book if it's not on Kindle.

[missychrissy]

Smarter geeks than me will find ways to read historical data that's been buried in ruble for 100's of years, I'm sure. I don't worry about the archeology of it at all. I suspect more will be learned about us than they care to know, actually.

[daylilies]

Haha yes, if twitter and facebook still exist they will know what time we woke up, what we ate, what music we liked, what celebrities we follow...no lack of information there.

[Cosmosmom]

I took an archives class...only because I wanted to graduate already and it was the only one that I hadn't already had that semester. Archives are not my cup of tea.

I almost entirely deal with current info needs....basically just 2005 and up unless someone is working on a special project and needs older info...or there is just not anything more current. Love electronic journals....quick and easy to find what I need and no photocopying. Electronic books, not so much. I think that they are clunky to use and much prefer to just head over the the text book, call the table of contents or index and flip the pages.

I am going to try hard though to win myself an iPad 2 at the conference. Most of the vendors are giving one away if you stop at their booth (where they probably will scan my badge and have all my contact info but I don't care, I don't make most of the database buying decisions). Last time I went was four years ago and I didn't win an Ipod.....but I got a pen shaped like a femur!

[3andMe]

I'm too lazy to go to the library. Isn't that awful?

I'm not lazy, but I do as much as I can to minimize non-essential errands. I buy everything I can online because it's so difficult to shlep 3 kids around. There is no way I could browse through a library and pick out all the books I would normally read while trying to reign my children in and keep the books pristine and in order. I do go to the library for story time, but that's it. I will do it for an educational and fun experience, but not for something that will be torture for all of us when there is a pleasant alternative right at my fingertips.

I order diapers and wipes, paper towels and toilet paper and soap online and I buy baby clothes in bulk from APA moms who have kids a year older than mine. I would have groceries delivered but Safeway.com invariably shows up with only half my order and says they're out of stock of the rest of it, and suspiciously it's usually the heavy stuff they don't have.

[AmeriBrit]

There is a lot of anti-gay stuff going around on a few of my family's facebook pages...they will be duly deleted from my friends list as soon as I get back from the USA trip....I hate how people hide behind religion to be so frickin' hateful! Argh!!!

[missychrissy]

I'm not lazy, but I do as much as I can to minimize non-essential errands. I buy everything I can online because it's so difficult to shlep 3 kids around. There is no way I could browse through a library and pick out all the books I would normally read while trying to reign my children in and keep the books pristine and in order. I do go to the library for story time, but that's it. I will do it for an educational and fun experience, but not for something that will be torture for all of us when there is a pleasant alternative right at my fingertips.

I order diapers and wipes, paper towels and toilet paper and soap online and I buy baby clothes in bulk from APA moms who have kids a year older than mine. I would have groceries delivered but Safeway.com invariably shows up with only half my order and says they're out of stock of the rest of it, and suspiciously it's usually the heavy stuff they don't have.

Well, I'm not actually lazy either. I have too much going on and a trip to the library just seems like an extra chore. I do wish time allowed to take Conner though...I'm sure he'd love it. He likes books a lot.

There is a lot of anti-gay stuff going around on a few of my family's facebook pages...they will be duly deleted from my friends list as soon as I get back from the USA trip....I hate how people hide behind religion to be so frickin' hateful! Argh!!!

I don't know how you manage to bite your tongue. That stuff aggravates me like nothing else. ita about hiding behind religion to be hateful...that's exactly what they're doing.

[daylilies]

I forgot to tell you guys...the minister of my church sidled up to me the other day after the service and asked me if anyone had talked to me about being a collector. I thought she meant just help pass the plate during one of the services, so I said sure, I can do that! Well she seemed kind of surprised I agreed to it so fast and she started asking me if I'd ever done bookkeeping, and dealing with money, and I realized she was talking about an actual job at the church, balancing the books and keeping track of pledges! I quickly backed out. I've never done anything of that type of thing and I don't want to mess up anyone's finances but my own!

[Cosmosmom]

Uggg don't know how you deal with that either....I don't hear those kinds of comments from my family....course half my relatives are gay.....

[missychrissy]

Oh Kate! Yikes!! Was it going to be a paid position, or just volunteer?

whatever happened to shutterbird? I know she started this thread and just realized she's gone.

[daylilies]

It was going to be paid! Bummer. She did say she'd keep an eye out for something I'd be good at. ;)
I don't know where she went...I have wondered too since she started this thread.

[missychrissy]

Do they use a computer program for their finances? It might not be as difficult as you fear.

[AmeriBrit]

Chrissy, Kim deactivated her account on here a few weeks back.

[3andMe]

I think I remember Kim (Shutterbird) feeling like she was going back to her faith quite a while ago, although she didn't post an announcement in here. I think she posted a bit in the Christian room about it. At least that's what my hazy memory is telling me.

ETA: And then the deactivation, too, but she hasn't been a part of this room for much longer than that.

[AmeriBrit]

Could you ladies look at my thread in venting? I appreciate all of your view points.

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/for...post1058220658

[daylilies]

Do they use a computer program for their finances? It might not be as difficult as you fear.

She asked if I had ever used any computer programs for that kind of thing (I assume Quicken or something) and I haven't. I used to help my mom balance her checkbook with it, but other than that, no. I really wouldn't trust myself to not screw it up.

[missychrissy]

Could you ladies look at my thread in venting? I appreciate all of your view points.

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/for...post1058220658

sorry Ash, I'll have to look at it later. I'm running to my bus now. I hope it's not terrible.

[daylilies]

Gosh, I don't have any siblings so I really don't know what I would do. If you're always the one who has to be the bigger person and apologize for things like this, I would mention that to her.
My mother is always having tiffs like this with one of her brothers, he is kind of odd and they seem to have an on again off again relationship like you and your sister. She always ends up speaking to him again. But if you're tired of this dynamic (and I would be) I would try to talk to her about it. You're both adults and you shouldn't have to block and defriend each other on facebook like high schoolers.
I guess I would ask, what would you do if there were no facebook (or insert other passive aggressive social networking site here) LOL

[3andMe]

I have a relationship kind of like that with my sister. We don't defriend each other--I barely use FB--but we've gone periods without speaking and we get kind of huffy with each other. She carries grudges for a long time and also tends to get more upset about things than I do. I am more willing to just write things off--I don't care if I don't see her again if it's going to be her just complaining about things all the time. She would be appalled if she knew that, because family is very important to her.

Honestly, I don't think it's all that much to ask for you to not text, if she has to pay for it and email is free. I don't have text in my plan and I don't like it when people text me, particularly if they know I have to pay for it. She didn't put it very nicely, but it is a valid concern. If I were you, I would have just asked how best to coordinate next time.

The rest of it totally reminds me of my sister. The vacation especially. She would not care if it was more convenient for me to come at a certain time if it was not the best time for her, and I would hear about it at length for every phone call in the future. She still complains about this one Christmas I inconvenienced her 23 years ago. I hear about it every.single.year.

I based my strategy on how to handle the situation partially on the fact that I live five minutes away from my sister, as well as our particular personalities. I thought I could just deal with her as little as possible after one particularly bad episode, but really, that wouldn't be good for any of us. I don't think it would be less stressful over all. Living as far away as you do, it might be easier to just not communicate, but it really isn't all that great a solution with family who might be able to add something to your life and your children's lives.

What I've ended up doing is trying to let everything just roll off my back. I've realized that she will complain about everything no matter what, and that most of her complaints stem from not feeling loved enough or important enough or satisfied or happy. Like your sister complaining that your vacation wasn't at a time that was best for her--she was probably feeling like you weren't making her a priority on your trip. In your world, that's probably perfectly appropriate. You had a lot of people you needed to see, and you needed to work with your own schedule as well. In her world, all that's there is her and she was feeling hurt.

At this point, with my sister, I would start saying "I'm sorry to hear that, but I couldn't do it then. I realize you're unhappy but it's over now so I can't change it and there is no reason to talk about it any more." And then I'd quickly change the subject to shoes or kitties. It doesn't mean that she wins. I don't keep score about who is more of a peacekeeper. I'm just glad that I'm not as upset as she is, and I would try not to get to the point of not talking in the first place.

One last thing - it sounds like both of you have gotten into the habit of treating each other less politely than you would treat a stranger. Her in particular. No please, no thank you, very abrupt replies. Maybe if you start being extra courteous she might subtly pick up on the change of tone and treat you accordingly.

[missychrissy]

Ash, personally I wouldn't bother. Relationships are a two way street and if she cannot/will not meet you at least 1/2 way then you're just going to continue spinning your wheels. I can't even describe the level of anger I'd feel if anyone tried to tell me when to take my own vacation. I wouldn't listen to it for 2 seconds, much less try to defend myself.

[3andMe]

Yeah, it's a lot easier being overseas if you want to cut ties. We only live five minutes away, and our mom is right here too, and it would be very difficult for my mom and for all of us and our mutual friends if we were not on speaking terms. That's why I decided to do it this way, and we've actually stopped bickering for the most part. It's ended up being easier for all of us, I think.