Tag: Books

Review subscriptions and memberships

March 15, 2025

Last year, I went through our remaining memberships/subscriptions and made a list of the ones that would not be renewed at the 2025 renewal date:

  1. Everand/Scribd
  2. Smyrna Public Library
  3. Amazon Prime
  4. QuiltFolk magazine
  5. Missouri Star BLOCK magazine

Everand was cancelled the same day they announced a price increase.

The Smyrna Public Library is a hard one for me. I live outside the city limits and pay a modest annual fee to use the library. It’s totally worth the fee, but after being told last year that Sadie was no longer allowed in the library outside of official therapy dog visits, I’ve limited my visits and ceased all non-READ volunteering. Now that I no longer work part-time as a literacy enrichment instructor, I don’t need the extra access to children’s picture books. No need to renew. The county library system and regional library consortium will meet my needs. (Update 5/13/25: my renewal fee was waived due to a “policy change”.)

Amazon Prime no longer represents a good value for us. Stuff is frequently delivered late. There’s not much streaming programming that we watch. I get books and magazines for free via the Libby app at the public library. We’ll do what our niece does and wait until the shopping cart has $35 in it to get free shipping. We can wait a day or two extra for delivery.

Quiltfolk is a quarterly quilting lifestyle magazine. It’s absolutely gorgeous and available in print only. I’ve been a subscriber since the magazine’s early days. Over time, I’ve kept a handful of issues and shared the rest. It’s become too expensive to just give away. Already been set to non-renew.

BLOCK from Missouri Star is another quilting magazine. I flip through each print issue when it arrives, but haven’t made a project from one of the magazines in a LONG time. The issues also come digitally as part of the subscription, so I’ll still have access to them even after I cancel. (Update 5/13/25: With the new format, I really find value in the magazine projects, so it’s a keeper for now.)

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

Rediscover the joy of reading

October 2, 2024

I love to read – most anything non-fiction, magazines and contemporary, realistic fiction. Before retiring, I joined a neighborhood book club – primarily for the social opportunities. Honestly, the group’s collective book choices usually aren’t my cup of tea, but I muddle through. After several months of murder mysteries, WWII spies and a few duds, there’s finally a book I can’t wait to finish – How To Read A Book by Monica Wood. I’ve had the best time streaming this month’s selection while I work in my sewing studio.

I rarely buy books anymore – especially books I’ll read one time. I like to browse the local Barnes & Noble with my Libby app open. If something looks good, I place a hold on the title. My books usually come from the library or via the Libby App. I know the wait for popular titles at my local libraries can be up to 3 months for print, electronic and audiobooks. This is sometimes a challenge when obtaining book club titles. Kindle Unlimited and Everand operate like a paid Libby service, except you have instant access to a lot more stuff. If you are a voracious reader and like to read current bestsellers in an e-book format and/or listen to audiobooks, the $11.99 per month fee seems quite reasonable. Music apps like Spotify also offer access to audiobooks, so it’s worth exploring what options are available to you.

Publishers of quilting books are slowing entering the e-book realm. I attended a class with Christa Watson last year. I was the only attendee with a digital copy of her book. Everyone else came with a print copy, which she autographed for them. Note to self – bring a charged Apple Pencil with you next time and set the pdf copy for markup.

Photo by Perfecto Capucine on Pexels.com

Our final spring semester enrichment class

April 23, 2024

The last Monday of April marks our final Monday enrichment classes for this semester. As it was when I taught in public schools, the last day is always bittersweet. I’ve really enjoyed my part-time gig and spending time with the kids and staff. But I look forward to having Mondays to call my own for the next four months! I did agree to return for fall semester; however, I’ll be doing literacy activities with a geography theme this time around. There will still be storytime with plenty of hands-on activities. Arts & crafts activities will be fewer with more emphasis on social studies skills like maps, globes, cultures and countries.

Here’s what we’re reading and doing next Monday with supervision provided by Sadie:

The stories:
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. (K-1)
After the fall by Dan Santat (all)
On account of the gum by Adam Rex. (all)
Are we there yet? by Dan Santat (2-5)

The activities:
Kindergarten & 1st:
Bunny craft from Simple Everyday Mom

Second – Fifth Grades:
Would You Rather Game? (selected questions from Great Wolf Lodge)
Create Your Own Travel Scene (adapted from LB Kids pdf activity created for Are we there yet?)

The goal is to keep things simple for our last day. I’ll pick up our books from the library tomorrow and my printables are already downloaded.

Sometime in May, I’ll go through my craft/instructional supplies and see what I might need to buy for fall semester. Glue sticks and kid scissors for sure!

Will I run into you at the back-to-school supply sales in July?