Home » The Sweet Life » Flowers for Valentine's Day, What do yours mean??
As an overworked mom (as we all are!!) the most easy and immediate escape you can get can be found for free at your local library. Having or making the time to read…well, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that! I have always loved to read. I best thing about being an avid reader, is passing along that interest to my children. We have numerous library books checked out at any given time. Some current favorites are: Hey, Wake Up by Sandra Boynton and Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Reeya, age three) and Dougal Dixon’s Amazing Dinosaurs: The Fiercest, the Tallest, the Toughest, the Smallest and SHARKS by Roger Priddy (Rishi, age five). Also, they are both presently obsessed with their BOB Collections of books, which are beginning reading books. Listening to them sound out words as they read may just be the sweetest sound in the world. They both ask for books on their birthdays and we spend time every day reading. I love getting lost in a book even if it means laundry is piling up, kids are restless (well usually I read it when they are napping or playing) and my husband keeps asking when I’ll be done reading. He does not read for pleasure as I do (he said the TV is more entertaining than a book!) but he does love reading to the kids which is more important anyway; I mean he may be a lost cause in a literary sense, but the kids are far from that status.
In this time of immediacy with the Internet, cell phones and television on demand...whatever you want, whenever you want it...it's a rarity to sit down, take a minute and just read a book. I've written in the past about being in a book club. I wish I could go more often; it's been months since I made it to a meeting but I try as much as possible to read the selected book.
Not many are so stellar that I feel inspired by them, but there are a few. Last year, my favorite book was The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. I enjoyed it so much that it inspired my work in the bake shop (otherwise known as my kitchen!). One of my most popular repeat orders is a cupcake rose bouquet...I made close to 50 of those last year. After reading Diffenbaugh's book, I decided to get creative and make something that means something.
The result is meaningful, lovely and delicious. You cannot get much better than that, especially with Valentine's Day approaching.