Oma is for grandma

If you read my second-last post you might remember that I was thinking about starting a podcast. I’ve done a bit of research and at first it looked incredibly daunting.

Kara was suggesting to create my own .xml file and update this as I go (scary!!).

Michael mentioned podOmatic as an easy tool to create a podcast, which seemed easy enough but would have been a separate blog all together for me to look after.

The trusty google search for podcast tutorials brought me to a number of sites that were all pretty much saying the same thing: how easy it is and that I’ll just have to create my own .rss file … but this is the very thing I was trying to run from in the first place.

And then after all this I had to discover that wordpress has got a good article on podcating and that someone brilliant has written a wordpress plugin (PodPress) that allows me to podcast right here where I am with absolutely no effort on my part. Yippee!!

So I’m going to try it out right now and upload one of my Librivox projects.

 

 Der kleine Häwelmann [8:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Michael and I have discovered the wonderful world of LibriVox.

They provide hundreds of free audio books for you to download! Isn’t that fantastic? It certainly is quite a thrill for me and my book fetish.

LibriVox takes out-of-copyright books (books that are in the Public Domain) and record them for you to enjoy … but I don’t really need to repeat it all over again as Michael has already posted about it. So why don’t you just read his post here?

And if you love reading as much as I do, you can also contribute by reading a chapter or two yourself.

… goodbye! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!

My husband brought this book home from work for me and well I’ve been sitting in front of the computer ever since, having no time at all!!!!

I was looking for books I can read and everybody had great suggestions, but this book was the first that came my way and I got sucked in.

Now I’m writing a Web Site for my mum’s company and have already got the next offer to do another one though I don’t even really know what I’m doing … arrrgh!

I’m missing the days of leisurely reading through my blogroll, having a cup of tea and maybe rambling on about something on my own blog as well while the girls are fast asleep. Though it looks like my husband has gotten me a job where I can work from home. Maybe that was his plan all along when he talked me into starting a blog.

I love books!

You might have already noticed that, if you’ve read my previous posts books, glorious books!, endlich auch mal auf Deutsch (finally in German) or books that Mim enjoyed.

Thanks to my breast feeding, and incredibly distracted, baby I get to read a lot these days. When I feed E I’m not allowed to talk, move or engage in any other type of acctivity that could be classified as ‘distracting’, otherwise she’ll just come off the breast and will not, I mean WILL NOT!!, go back on. She usually then stares at me with the look as if to say “What are you doing?” So I’m an obedient little mummy and just sit there very quietly and try to turn the pages of my book without making too much noise.

This has been an incredibly wonderful thing for me as I haven’t read this many books in a very long time and I’m able to catch up on some of the English-speaking children’s literature I wasn’t able to enjoy as a child. So far, only this year, I’ve read:

• Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”
• Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass”
• Mary Stewart’s “The Hollow Hills”
• Mem Fox’s “Reading Magic”
• Michael Ende’s “Unendliche Geschichte” and “Momo”
• and I’m currently working my way through Sarah Turnbull’s “Almost French”

As I’m coming closer to the end of the book I’m beginning to wonder “And what next???” Going through books at this speed I’m gonna have to hit the second-hand book shops in the area and stock up, I suppose, or pay my library fine so that I’m a respecteable borrower again.

But if you’re reading this please leave me a comment. I’d love to know which book you’d have me read next. Which book was the best book you’ve read in the last year?

I’m seriously desperate!

I Read this book just the other day by Mem Fox, a brilliant children’s book author and literacy consultant as well as literacy professor (not that that gives her greater credibility, but I just love her stuff).

I found the book truly inspiring … maybe cause it says what I’ve wanted to hear anyway “Go ahead, indulge yourself in books!! Have as many as you like … and maybe even a few more!” I had a similar reaction of “Yes, yes, yes!” when I read the poem ‘Television’ from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

And for ideas on where to find good Australian children’s books check out the Children’s Book Council of Australia.