Read for the Record Day - October 7, 2010

This year's Read for the Record Day is set for October 7, 2010. On this day, you can read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats online for free at WeGiveBooks.org. You can create your own profile on the site, and pick from several literacy-minded campaigns to donate your books to. For every book you read online, the organization will donate a book for free to the campaign. The goal is to promote early literacy in children, and to get more books into the hands of children. You can pick from campaigns supporting Haiti, local libraries, East Africa, Asia, Volunteer USA, Jumpstart (the recipients of the donations through the Read for the Record Day), and many more.

Please visit the website for specifics on how this works. Please support childhood literacy. Read to a child.

I love reading. As a child, I would read anything I could get my hands on. I demanded my Mom put the cereal box in front of me each morning so I could read it as I ate. I would read the same box every time I ate cereal, until the box was empty. I even read the ingredients list and nutrition facts! I attribute this to my mother passing her love to read on to me by reading to me often. As I began to read myself, she would let me read to her. As a toddler, she read Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone to me 
 so many times I could "read" it to her. I had heard the story so many times, I could recite it to her from memory.

Now, as a mother, I read to my children. My youngest had a small library before he was born. Our friends and family bought him books for us to read to him. I buy a new book almost every time I step into a store. Of course, right now he listens for about thirty seconds, and then wants down to play. But I still read the book, and show him the pictures. One day, maybe he'll thank me.

Read to a child today! It WILL make a difference in their lives.

Free Movie Rental from RedBox

At work, a discussion was had about the new RedBox DVD rental kiosks that have been popping up at Walmart and McDonalds locations near here. I hopped online to see what the deal was, since none of us had tried them. Sounds like a cool concept. DVDs are $1 per DVD per night. Rental is with a debit card. Movies are due back at 9pm the next night. Late fee is $1 per movie per night, to be charged to the debit card used to rent the movie. Movies can be returned at any kiosk. So I can pick up a movie in Ardmore when we go to visit the in-laws (since we usually stop at McD's, which has a kiosk there) and return it later at Walmart in Athens. Selection near where I live is kinda slim, but for a small town it's pretty decent. You can hop online to find the nearest kiosk, reserve movies (rental fee starts when movie reservation is confirmed, so don't reserve too far in advance of pickup), or browse selection of an individual kiosk.

Also, (the free part) if you sign up for emails from RedBox, they'll send you a free rental code good for one movie for signing up, a weekly email, and promo codes at an unspecified rate. If you sign up for SMS text messages on your cell phone, you get a promo code every Monday. Go to to sign up or for more details on how the kiosk works. Be sure to read the FAQs under the Help section for more info on how RedBox works.

To me, this RedBox thing sounds like a cheap date night. Or cheap family fun night. Whichever you prefer. Even cheaper with the free promo codes! As a side note, my sister-in-law has tried it, and seems to like it OK.