Lori Bourne

I Just Can't Stop Reading

I'm a reader. There's no way around it. I love (and live) to read. But lately I've been completely out of control with reading. It started at Christmas, when I got a couple of new books as presents. I enjoyed the books I got, so naturally I bought some other books by the same authors. Then we went to visit my in-laws, and my mother-in-law had some new books I hadn't read yet (we have similar taste in books).

Within a two week period, I read 15+ new books for a total of a many thousand pages. They included all of the Clare Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne mysteries by Julia Spencer-Fleming, which I loved and highly recommend. My mother-in-law had the first one, In the Bleak Midwinter, and I was delighted to find that there were four more in the series. They were all great! The next one is due out in June and I cannot wait!

I even reached the point where I started checking books out of the library to feed my book hunger. I know! I usually buy books, to the point of ordering from Barnes & Noble several times during the week and then going to the store on the weekend. It just got too expensive! Our local library is old and gloomy (they're planning to build a new one this next year), and yet they do have all the books I've been looking for.

I don't want to get too introspective about my love of reading, but I will say that I think I use it as an escape, and not always in a good way. I sometimes choose books over spending time with friends and family, or doing chores or projects that I know I need to do. At certain points, when it's really gone too far, I stop buying or checking out books so that I don't have anything new to read, which forces me to turn back to my other responsibilities.

You might wonder how I find time to read, what with homeschooling, running a business, blogging, and all the other stuff that goes along with life. It helps that I'm a super-fast reader, but also I do purposely make time for it - and I watch a lot less TV than the average person, which helps a lot. I really, really hope to pass on my love of reading to my kids. So far, things are looking good - they love to read and to have us read to them.

Can You Be Too Organized?

Anyone who knows me will testify that I am very organized. I can't stand clutter - my house doesn't have those mysterious "piles" of mail, papers, magazines, etc. that seem to plague many other people. I love to read books about conquering clutter, but more because I can sort of gloat about how I don't have a problem with it, not because I'm trying to learn anything about it.

One thing my mom drilled into me and my sisters is that the kitchen must always be clean. "As goes the kitchen, goes the whole house," says the Flylady, and she's right. My husband mentioned this Simpsons episode once where a meteor or something is about to hit the Simpson house, and Marge runs back into the house to do a few dishes before running back out again to safety. Totally true!

There are times when it's a pain to be a super-neat person. For instance, my kids and I can be getting ready to go out (piano lesson, field trip, etc.) and I need just a few more minutes to straighten the house. I love coming home to a clean house. But there are times when I have to say to myself, "Well, Lori, what are you going to do? Take the kids to the planetarium or do the dishes?" Because I can't do both. I usually try to choose the kids over cleaning.

My mother-in-law, Pat, has told me many stories about her mother (Bruce's grandmother), Anna Elliot. She was evidently a very lively, fun person but her house was always in shambles. However, Pat has so many fond memories of her mom and all the great things she would do with them. She mentioned one time when they were done with dinner, and instead of clearing the table and doing the dishes, Anna just threw a sheet over the entire table and took the family out for ice cream.

I admire that. I think there's something to be said for putting the kids and fun family times ahead of cleaning and organization. It's really hard for me to do that, but I'm trying. I'll never be messy, but I can learn to "let go" of some of the smaller, less important chores so that I have more time with my family.