I love to read. Everyone knows this. At times, I will have up to four books going at one time. I like to have one in the bathroom, one by my bed, one in the car and one downstairs. I don’t like to just ‘sit’ so…reading occupies my mind. I have read loads of books and remember a few. Although I don’t remember everything I read, the books I read do tend to leave a bit of themselves in me. They change me sometimes. I remember once when I was reading a book about a woman that was really angry with her husband…I found myself being really short tempered with my own man. I had to stop and think about that one. Since I know that books influence me, I try to steer clear of books that might cause negative feelings and/or actions. Now, that doesn’t mean I am a sissy reader. I do stray far from Dr. Suess. Although….he was a bit weird, but hey, we won’t go there today. I don’t like books that have a lot of bad language because I don’t want to suddenly slip up and cuss out one of the kids for not picking up that dadgum laundry in the bathroom. I don’t like things that are psychologically scarey either. I am home alone a lot and well, I don’t need any more stress.

The reason I bring this up is that a few of my kids like to read. Ben and Thorin like me to read TO them. Jared will really get into a series of books and disappear for a few days. Mae….loves to read but the teachers at school are working hard to destroy that by making her read less than fun books ALL the time.  Ethan went through a faze recently where when ever he got off the school bus he had his head in a Nate the Great book. So cute. Sarah likes to read to ME. I love it! It is such a nice change of pace. She lets me lay on her bed and she reads to me. She has been reading me Marley. The kids version of Marley and Me. It is about a dog that is like most of the dogs we have had. He messes, chews, barks, jumps, destroys, etc. It is really funny to read because we have a very well behaved dog.  I sit there and smile and feel a bit of pity for the poor fools that have ‘bad dogs’ like that. Until today. What was I thinking? I was working on the computer for ages this morning. The dog was asleep on the floor by me and her tummy was making the weirdest sounds! Sqeaks, and moans, and bubbles….it was very odd. After much typing and surfing I finally had to go lie down for a bit. I didn’t think to lock up the dog. I mean, I was right here. Well, I awoke 20 minutes later to the jangle of her collar as she briskly walked past the bed again and again. I got up thinking she needed to pee. I went downstairs and found not one, but two piles of what must have been toys, chewed beyond recognition. And of course, a very icky gift of poo. At least the poo was on the hard floor. I couldn’t believe it! I think the dog must have been listening last night when Sarah read. I guess dogs understand more than we think. I laughed at the book….but I’m not laughing at the mess! Needless to say, the dog has been outside the rest of the day.  The cats seem happy….maybe there was a bit of sabotage here? We may never know.