Bookshelf Remodel

Our living room had a major eyesore for a number of years.  We had a whole wall of built-in bookshelves that were just not pretty.  The shelves were useful since we have a ton of books, but there was nothing that could be done to that set-up to make it look nice.  The bottom 1/3 of our shelves were unusable because toddlers love pulling books off of shelves.  The ledge of the bookshelf extended out so much that it became a dumping ground for mail, keys, and any item that I didn't want the kids to reach.  Our living room always looked cluttered, messy, and not very well thought out because of those shelves.  It didn't matter how clean the room was.

BEFORE:

Thankfully, due to a recent freelance job, we had the funds to update them.  Jeremy had a vision and explained it to a carpenter friend of ours who executed the bookshelves perfectly.  We can fit all of our books on there in a more organized and decorative manner.  We also now have tons of storage at the bottom of the wall that the kids will not be able to access.  I'm incredibly excited about our shelves.  Jeremy clearly is too because he has been on a book buying frenzy recently.

AFTER:

-Kira

A Parenting Book I Can Stand Behind

Generally, parenting books are not very desirable to me.  I decided if a 16 year old can figure out how to raise a child without completely ruining them (and many can, I have relatives to prove it) that a responsible almost 27 year old and her husband can figure it out.  Most parenting books and ridiculous "news" shows would tell me otherwise.

According to the society we live in kids shouldn't walk to school by themselves, they shouldn't talk to strangers, and apparently they can't even handle wearing a drawstring anymore until they reach junior high.

I have literally argued with older generations who believe that the world is a much scarier place than it was when they were kids.  I adamantly believed this wasn't the case even though I had no facts or statistics at the time to back me up.  I truly felt that it was the television news sensationalism of stories related to very rare and horrific events involving children that has started freaking parents out.

I guess that is one of the reasons I love the book Free Range Kids so much.  In many ways, it proved me right.  I like to be right, but I also like this book for other reasons.  I appreciate the author's sense of humor as well as all of the fact and statistic based reasoning found in the book.  It made me feel good to know that I am not crazy and that the idea of raising my kids a little more "Free Range" isn't radical and unsafe.  I want our kids to have confidence in themselves and their abilities.  I don't want to treat them like they will break in half or get abducted by some weirdo if they are out of my sight for five minutes.  I don't want my children to be afraid of everything and everyone around them.  If you feel the same way, you should definitely read this book.  And, if you go through your child's Halloween candy looking for poison and razors...you should probably read this book, too.

-Kira

Books

I was hoping to tell you guys about my weekend, so many celebrations!  But, I want to go to bed and don't have the motivation to upload pictures so that will hopefully come tomorrow.

I wanted to tell you that I finally finished my first ever science fiction book series!  I know that sounds really nerdy, but Jeremy told me he thought I would like them so I gave it a try.  It is the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.  And they were great!  The first three books were written in the 1940s and 50s and the last three were written in the 1980's.  All are set in the future, but none seem ridiculous now as many future themed books and movies do years later.  And, looks at this guy.  Doesn't he just look like someone whose books you would want to read?  I know science fiction is probably not a genre many of you get excited about, but I would definitely recommend this series and plan to read more of his books.

 The next book on the list is Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.  What are you guys reading?  I need some recommendations.  My birthday is coming up in July so I want to update my Amazon wish list.

I hope you all have a great week!
-Kira