books, books, and more books

I finally pulled the huge containers that were holding all of my books out of Graham's room yesterday (well, Jonah and I did this together, because they were heavy) and with my precious Jonah's help, we put the books back onto the shelves that are in my bedroom. 

And basically, I am forbidding myself to purchase any more books forever and ever.  Or if I do buy books, I have to get rid of some.  Or maybe I just need more shelves.  I don't know!  I love books.  I have a slight problem.  (More than slight, according to my best friend.)

At one point during this process yesterday, I admitted to Jonah that I have a problem.  My entire bed was covered with piles of books, and the cedar chest at the end of my bed.  I even have an entire shelf of journals.  What does one do with all of those?!  I don't want to get rid of them, because my entire life for the past thirteen years is written down inside of them. 

My entire faith journey is in them, even more so than my actual day to day life, and to remember all that God has done is to honor Him, and I don't want to just throw them away.  Eventually, I'll buy a container specifically for the journals and store them inside of that.  I cannot bring myself to part with them.

All of these were inside of two containers, and I still had one more to go.  It got way worse before it got any better. 

We finally got them all stacked and organized, and here is the final result.

WE ORGANIZED THEM BY THEIR COLOR. 

Sorry I yelled, but do you know how happy this makes my heart?  The idea was not my own, but one I got (I believe) from Anne Bogel, or Modern Mrs. Darcy.  Also this picture does not do them justice.  It looks so much better in person than it does in this photo. 

I love it, though, and thankfully, I remember what all my favorite books look like.  It'll still be easy for me to find the ones I want to go back and re-read this year.

Also, I love getting my mail nowadays, because people keep sending me free books to read and review on reading websites.  I got this one in the mail back in October, but have been waiting until January to start it.

I'm also on launch teams a lot, to help some of my favorite authors promote their books, and they send me preview copies as well. 

I just love books.  Some girls like shoes and jewelry, I like books.  I don't always read a lot, and fast.  I go through dry spells, when I won't pick up a book for a couple of months sometimes, but I really want to read more.  Not necessarily in the new year, just period.  I think Netflix messed up my reading habit, so I need to exercise some self control in this area.  I read two and a half books in December, and I'm still working on that half one.  When I finish it, I have two more to read immediately, but a new-to-me author, Katie Ganshert.  (I'm journaling all about my books this year, too, in a cute new journal my friend Andrea gave to me.  I have never done that before, believe it or not.)

Plus, I'm traveling next week, and I like to read when I go on trips. 

Hopefully I'll read a couple between now and then, and I'll write more about that trip in the next few days. 

I have laundry calling my name and then I want to go make my bed and get semi-dressed for the day.  (I'm not leaving home today.)  And tonight, EVERYTHING in my room and bathroom gets put back into place!  This will be my last day to do my makeup downstairs!  I am so excited and can't wait to post pictures. 

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.