This week (April 30 - May 6) marks Screen-Free Week, which used to be called TV-Free Week until recently. It's a good change. Angela brought home a paper the other day where she had to list ten things she would do instead of watching television this week. She quickly reeled off a list and ended it proudly with, "I don't watch TV."

And it's true, she doesn't. But she does watch the few shows that Daddy records and cuts all the commercials out of, on weekend evenings. We are quick to whip out the iPad and check Facebook, or to visit some of our favorite sites (CuteOverload, YouTube for Japanese cooking shows and old cartoons, and sometimes music videos). Or to grab the iPod for a video game before bed, or my son's new obsession, Minecraft. So while we don't really watch television, we are surrounded by screens, and honestly, I think we're a little too dependent on them. Paul and I are just as guilty. So we're all making a conscious effort this week to unplug.

Obviously, we have to work, and we have to use computers for that. I will check the weather for the kids when they're picking out clothes for tomorrow. I'll use the iPad for my archived guitar music. But I won't be surfing, or browsing, and Pinterest will not see hide nor hair of me until next week.

Thank goodness Screen-Free week coincided with the annual library book sale this past weekend. True to form, we got about 120 books for next to nothing, and we left them all displayed on the dining room floor for as long as we could. Because in this house, we love us some books! It's hard to see from Paul's picture above (and again: Blogger, you keep resizing my pictures, and for that I will curse you with the fires of a thousand dragons) but there's a hearty dose of beach reads, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Mrs. PiggleWiggle, Beverly Cleary, and the find that made me squeal: my own copies of E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series. If you've never read them, they are a HOOT. (Plus, some are in the public domain and free for Kindle! What are you waiting for?)