Bookaholics Anonymous

Hello. My name is Alison and I am a bookaholic. But I don't want help. At least not in the sense of wanting to break the habit. What I do need help with is finding an extra hour in the day please. *looks around hopefully*. Right then.

I have a stack, about 3ft tall, of books competing with each other to be my next book. Then I happen to glance at the books in the charity shop, or the window of WHSmith, or read the culture section and my stack grows by an inch or two, thereby nudging the top contender down the pile again while I get my fix of my latest book crush.

Not only do I have a 3ft(ish) stack of books to read, but I also have a kindle. In my kindle, nestling in it's hard drive, is another virtual stack of books sitting patiently, waiting for the moment I click on them and get drawn into their world. This stack is probably only a virtual 12 inches tall but the fight for attention is just as vicious.

And now I have children who also appreciate the virtues of the printed page. Or am I projecting my addiction onto them? Possibly. I buy them books too.

This collection was a charity shop find. Fortunately the Wee One loves Thomas so I was absolutely justified in spending £1.20 on this classic vintage collection and it was genuinely for him and not at all to satisfy my addiction within an addiction, for classic hard back Ladybird books.

Remember that hour I said I needed to find? I think I need to find an extra half hour on top of that to read to the Wee One too.

So where exactly is this time to be found?

*reads a book on time management*

Joining in with The Gallery at Sticky Fingers.

The Gallery - Thank you Thomas!

At 20 months old, The Wee One has just discovered that he can communicate and generally gets what he asks for. Let me be clear, he isn't actually talking but the 'naa naa' sounds and pointing and pulling you by the hand in the direction of what he wants, is getting clearer.

One of this weeks obsessions is Fireman Sam which we have on DVD and we also have Jupiter Fire Appliance and a Fireman Sam poseable figure. These belonged to the Big One who at 7 has willingly handed them down, skipping the Princess who favoured 'In The Night Garden'.

The other obsession this week is Thomas the Tank Engine which fits very neatly into Tara's prompt for this weeks Gallery, the letter T.

The Big One was a Thomas freak! I once spent an entire weekend fashioning a cardboard box and a crate of poster paints into a Thomas The Tank Engine dress-up outfit. I was very proud of it actually until half the blue paint flaked off all over the house. My very poor photo filing skills are evidenced by the lack of a photo of the afore mentioned awesome costume so instead I present to you The Big One and the REAL Thomas at the Nene Valley Railway.

(No that face hasn't just been stuck onto a any old steam engine. That is THE Thomas as would be suggested by The Big One's awestruck face.)

He had an awesome day, with a momento toy train that suffered paint damage within 10 minutes of being opened. However the Wee One is oblivious to the paint damage and loves nothing more than pushing good old Thomas around and around and around. Oh and bashing the Thomas DVD case on the TV screen repeatedly until his insistent 'NAA NAA' is understood.

Thank you Thomas for giving pleasure to our 2 happy boys and please give a little 'toot toot' to the Big One who's birthday it is today x