My Bookshelf Runneth Over

I was at my parents' house last night, nursing Annabeth in the office upstairs while everyone else was hanging out in the living room. There's a big bookshelf in that room that seriously might collapse if one more book gets crammed in it. Authors get sent all kinds of free books from their publishers, so our family never lacks in that department. I entertained myself by attempting to read the various titles, willing my blurry vision to focus. My eyesight is usually fine, but it's been getting fuzzy at night since I'm a little sleep deprived. I was having trouble with one particular book title and then I realized it was Get Out of That Pit in Portuguese or something.

My husband, who loves to read books just as much as he likes to watch ESPN, certainly married into the right family. When we were newlyweds, he worked on the youth staff at the church we attend now. The church had a bookstore in it and staff members could have the cost of their purchase deducted from their paychecks. It was a little too easy, to say the least. Curtis came home with one or two new books every single week. He was only working part time and still finishing school, so it's not like we had a lot of money to burn. I used to go in there and beg the manager not to let my hubby buy any more books. Jeanie, if Curt comes in here just tell him no! She always grinned and never made any promises.

Then for a season Curtis kept getting big boxes of old books given to him by his grandpa's neighbor. Sure, these were free, but now there was the matter of space. Our house was absolutely overflowing with books. They were everywhere - under the bed, stuffed in our one small bookshelf, laying on the bar, stacked in random corners, and even filling our cars. It was madness. What finally saved me from losing my mind over those books was that with his next two jobs (including his current one), his offices had a whole wall lined with bookshelves. And there they all went. Give God some praise!

But don't worry, we still have this next to our bed.



And since I cannot possibly leave you with such a tacky photo, here are some new ones of Annabeth. She was a month old on Tuesday. Can you believe it?



Here she is with her Big Pink Bear. I'm going to try to take her picture with him every month to show her growth.


She was obviously having some issues just now during our photo shoot.


This was my first attempt at taking her picture with Big Pink Bear at just a week old. Apparently she's just not that into him.