I've given away boxes of books (kids and and adults). 
One time I went onto our local social network letting people know I had books that needed new homes. Medical students, teachers and two women came to my house to collect lots of them. The two women came to my house with their children. I held out the books, and they made their way to my couch and living room for the next three hours! They wanted me to teach their children English on a full-time basis. For many reasons this wasn't viable (I am busy and committed with other things, uprooting my kids from a schooling situation that's working to put them in a car for about two hours a day to go to "their school" wasn't at all what I wanted) It wasn't quite the quick book pick-up that I had in mind! Since then Julia and her friend have become my friends. Julia has invited us along to some interesting activities like making pizza at a restaurant (it was a bit like a photo shoot with my blond kids as the advertising material for her institute) and picking organic vegetables (she wants my kids to speak English to their group. It didn't work out as she expected but we enjoyed picking and eating cucumbers), etc. 
We've had three schools all trying to recruit my kids in the past three months. They offer us many different things, mostly free tuition, flexibility, etc. I've told you about the "international school" that was very generous with all it was offering. The second school was the one Julia tried to recruit my kids for. And there is another woman who keeps calling me and inviting me to her house (I finally said I don't have much time, so rather than go to her house for an entire half day - I don't even know her name and I understand it's not friendship that she really wants -I told her that I could meet her on my side of town for a hour. When I confirmed that we would meet to chat, she said we would instead be going to her daughter's English institute "so that my kids could play there and I could chat with everyone." I realized that it was New Years and she was probably hoping for a special program, a photo shoot and my blond boys mixed in with her students to use to attract net students for her. I was busy, not impressed and decided boundaries were needed. My "no" wasn't being heard. I appreciate directness and geniality. I told her "no"again and then texted her to make it clear. It's been an interesting time and I'm grateful that I'm learning more about boundaries, how to make friends with people and how to not let the little stuff get to me. I feel grateful that I get to homeschool my little man before he heads out the door for preschool. His current school is very flexible with us and we've been there for two years so we have some nice friendships there.
Back to my topic, so we've reduced BUT in the past three days, I've been finding new books.
I've visited a few blogs lately and I have access to a library this week (such a treat.) I've downloaded about ten free eboooks, I like to go to different free websites for kids books and I'm "reading" about 8 books from the library... A book about wisdom, a depressing story about a Chinese daughter, a biography about George Mueller, "the tipping point," a parenting book - "Say goodbye to whining, complaining and bad attitudes in you and your child", a marriage book about discovering the key to marital success, (my husband laughed at me when I tried a couple of the suggestions. Think I need to trying) "The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul" (thanks Fiona), and a few others. 
What a treat to read (the actual reading usually happens for about ten minutes at a time.) I quickly read a few pages and then I'm called back to parental duties.
It's been a great week. We don't often have a lot of down time so we are relishing this special time, getting to chat with helpful people and every once in a while I read a few pages (or listen to a podcast...) .
What books are you reading at the moment? Do you enjoy podcasts? Which ones are you listening to?
It's this little one's birthday today... 
Thanks for stopping by and reading!
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