Becoming Obsessed

Have you been here lately? Just something about myself that I don't think my friends and family know....I can be a little obsessive about things. I don't know when it started but I just realized it, I can be obsessive about things in my life.

For instance, when Dave and I got married I LOVED to cross stitch, I had HUNDREDS of patterns, needles, thread, fabric, you name it...if it had anything to do with cross stitch I HAD to have it. It made packing to move a little interesting because hubby said if it didn't fit it didn't go...I packed boxes so full it would have given a 10 year old a heart attack. I just had to have my cross stitch. As the years have gone by and the children came along my obsession of cross stitch waned a LOT. I can now fit my cross stitch supplies in one little box. I still have MANY projects that are done but not framed and many that aren't even done. But that's okay, I don't do so much now.

When we were done having children, our youngest is 9 years old, I became obsessed about family history. I had to have a computer, internet access, a printer, paper, ink, pens, pencils, notebooks, and album covers. When I discovered scrapbooking, it was the same. I combined these two obsessions into one. I now have 25 scrapbook family history albums...and I'm not even close to being done.

I have always had a love for books. I don't think I have EVER gone into a store, bookstore, grocery, shopping center, mall, or even the daughters book fairs at school, and NOT bought at least one book. Hubby threatens to use them in the fireplace, but then I threaten him with divorce (I wouldn't really, but hey I still have my books). Right now this is my obsession!! The New Year's resolution I made of reading 100 books this year? It is to fulfill my obsession. I can't get enough. I have three five-shelf bookcases crammed FULL of books. I can't just read one, I read seven or eight at a time. The library is a nightmare for Hubby because the library has a 'free to a good home' shelf. You guessed it...I take from it EVERY time we go in. Each of my daughters have their own 'library' of books. Aimee's is full of Anima or Manga, whatever they call it, it's still COMIC BOOKS. Any way, she loves them and her three-self bookcase is full. Wendy reads like I do, anything and everything. Her 'library' contains books by great authors such as Ernest Hemmingway, Stephen King, and Anne Rice, as well as many of the classics. She has a closet full of shelves that are crammed as full as my shelves. Kaitlyn, my youngest, has a four-shelf bookcase that is also full. Many of her books are books that I enjoyed as a girl, and of course anything that has to do with fairies. I can't get her to read on her own yet as furosiously as Wendy and I do, but it will come in time. I also have a four-shelf bookcase upstairs that is overflowing of books I call my mindless reading, books that I don't have to 'think' to read. You know the ones...you know exactly what is going to happen no matter who the author is.

Hubby is driven crazy I think with the amount of books we own. You see, he doesn't read anything except his scriptures. If it comes in movie form, he's happy. But to actually sit down to read a book for enjoyment...forget it. My dad says that Hubby has an off button in his butt and if he sits down quietly for more than 10 minutes, he's asleep. I stay up most nights reading to the wee hours of the morning. I don't know how many 'book' lights I've gone through because of the amount of reading I do. I've probably spent just as much money in lights as I have in books. Oh well.

I find reading to be enjoyable, informative, helpful, an escape from reality, and a way for me to relax. I have also found myself in other lands, times, and even other planets. I never thought I would enjoy a good mystery, fantasy, or even a 'good' romance, but I do. Get me into bed, a bottle of water, a good book light, a soft pillow, and a good book and I'm set for the night. Or a nice comfy chair I can curl up in with a warm blanket, a glass of ice cold diet Pepsi, a good book, and maybe a few pistachios will do the same. Let me read for an hour or two and it will change my mood so that I can be a happy wife and mother. If I am into a really good book I don't hear anything. The house could burn down and I wouldn't know it, that's how bad it is. I even love to read about other people's lives.

That leads me to another obsession...blogging and reading others' blogs. I love it!!! And I love to read others' comments on my blogs.

Oh wow, I didn't realize what time it was. It's a good thing everyone in this household can get themselves to bed. ;)