One of my favourite memories of growing up is of my Dad reading to me and my sister. He would read us all sorts of books – from Shakespeare plays and sonets to Tanglewoods Secret and Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St John, to sharing Asterix comics with us. The books he read us were many and varied and instilled in both of us a love of books.

This love of books has stuck with me throughout my life. Reading is still one of my favourite past times and one of the ways I love to relax.

As an adult, one of my favourite times is to sit and curl up on the couch with a good book, often with some relaxing music playing in the background.

As a parent, I have been able to share my love of books with my children. At the end of the day, no matter what else has gone on during the day, I am able to enjoy a book with my kids, and it’s not just me reading to the boys. As they have learned to read, sharing the love of books and reading has been wonderful, even magical as the love of reading and the joy of a good story is instilled in them.

Although I have to say my favourite time of day is when I creep down the stairs and see my Dad reading a book to my son, just like he used to read to me and my sister. I look at the special time they are sharing and know that he will grow up to remember these times in the same way I remember the special times my sister and I spent having Dad read stories to us.

This post is using the Weekly Story Starter from Leaf Journals. This weeks theme is: My favourite time… Books.

Debbie Alford over at Day 2 Day Personal Concierge is running a competition. She is looking for photos that have her new business name in it.

Well, my boys were bored, so I sent them outside to create an entry!

Yes, they are still in their PJs – it is school holidays after all. It has been wet & raining, but the ground was dry enough to draw on.

Here are the boys proudly showing off their artwork:

And finally, this is the photo heading off to Debbie to enter the competition:

If you want to get involved in the competition, go to her Facebook page.

Oh, and the boys are already talking about what they want to do with their prize!!!

It’s been ages since I’ve posted here, and really should post more often. I’ve turned this back into a blog more than a site, at least for now… just to have some fun with it.

The last few months I’ve been doing a ton of soul searching and planning and other heavy stuff, I thought it’d be fun to have a blog I can just play with, just for fun. So I’m doing that here.

If you want business tips, head over to my Business Mums Blog. That’s where I post business tips and information. I’ll definitely post more there than I do here…

Anyway, kids are on school holidays, so I’d better go & do the “Mum thing” and play with them for a while.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the one giving away all the cool prizes. I thought I’d take a leaf out of Monique’s book over at Your Cheeky Monkey blog and share some of the goodies I’ve won.

Recently I entered a competition over at the Suz’s Space blog. All I had to do was comment on her blog – how easy is that. I was so excited when Suzie emailed me telling me I’d won. She came over yesterday afternoon to give me my prize – see photo.

The prize includes 4 issues of Super Food Ideas magazine, some kitchen utensils, a chocolate book and a picture. The picture is now up in my bathroom (I don’t have any hooks in my kitchen!) and the serving spoons came in handy last night when I had my bible study group around for desert & games.

Thank you so much Suzie. I can’t wait to use the rest of my prize.

Before I start, I was born in 1977 – on the edge of generations X and Y (different people tell me I’m gen X & others gen Y – I’m confused). I’m not that old.

I twitter & facebook and have multiple blogs and domain names.

But, I don’t have speakers on my compter! At least, not ones that have been set up properly. I have a phone that is great at making and receiving calls, but doesn’t surf the web or do any of that fancy stuff. I don’t have a laptop.

Because of the lack of speakers on my computer, I don’t watch online videos. There are some people who share all their information by video, so I unsubscribe from their messages. I can’t hear them. Now, if they had a transcript too, then I’d be interested.

A tip for everyone running a business on the Internet. There are still some of us who prefer reading things on paper instead of a screen. And not everyone has sound on their computers.

OK, rant over. Time for a quiet cuppa.