Wonderful Birthday and my new Kindle!!

Hmmmm.  Yea.  So I wrote that post about my birthday not being that big a deal . . . and then proceeded to have a wonderfully sweet birthday.  I went into work and my lovely co-worker had written the Happy Birthday song on my whiteboard in multiple colors!  Then, I came home and my family sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me some nice gifts.  My Facebook wall was chock full of wishes, including a video song!   Then, my husband grilled t-bones on the grill, cooked up my favorite potatoes and even made me a birthday cake from scratch!

And, yesterday, I somehow managed to forget to mention that my dear, wonderful, generous husband gave me the most fantastic gift early for my birthday this year.

I now have a Kindle of my very own.  I love it.  I didn't want to love it, but I do.  (A bit like my iPhone, which I resisted for so long but now can't live without.)  I kept insisting I didn't need one -- I was perfectly happy reading traditional books.  But I confess I was intrigued and read the reviews and the specs.

I've had it for a couple weeks now and have become a convert. My first favorite thing?  The ability to increase the text size with the push of a button. I'm getting older, and my eyesight has always been poor.  I struggle reading many books, but I have no problem with the Kindle.

My next favorite thing?  The fact that I don't have to physically turn pages.  I didn't think this would be such a big deal, until I read a chapter of a book on the Kindle.  I can hold it comfortably in one hand, and push the "next page" button with ease.  Lydia loves to be held just so when she's falling asleep, which made turning pages difficult with traditional books, but it's no longer an issue.  It's light and easy to hold in one hand.

I also resisted for a long time because I borrow many books from the library and don't purchase very many books new.  I found after a few searches on Amazon that there are tons of free books available for my Kindle. Some are classics and in the free domain, but others are newer books that are offered free for a short time. 

The per-issue cost of magazines is less than the paper version, and makes no clutter!  For those magazines that I may have purchased off the stand, I will probably purchase on my Kindle.

I like that I can carry multiple books with me in the slim case.  I have about 20 books currently loaded, and 3 magazines. I plan to add a few more technical books in the next few months, and really look forward to not carrying the heavy books with me in my bag.

The one thing that I have to get used to is the ability to quickly skim books.  Sometimes books bore me and I like to skim ahead quickly to get to the meaty parts.  I can press the "next page" button over and over, but it doesn't have the same appeal as flipping the pages.

I found out last night that anything I downloaded to my Kindle I can also access on my iPhone through a Kindle app. That was handy during a recent football practice!

It made me nervous just carrying it around, so I bought a purple Leather Kindle Jacket to protect it. A book light attaches easily to the cover allowing me to read late at night.

I received an amazing birthday gift this year.  Something that I didn't think I wanted, but my husband sometimes knows me better than I know myself. Thanks again, sweetheart!!

Full FTC Disclosure: The Kindle reviewed in this post was not provided by anyone except my dear, sweet husband who very generously used an unexpected bonus to buy his wife this awesome birthday gift.  This is not a sponsored post. Nobody provided any compensation or product to me for this review.  I'm just thrilled with my new gift and wanted to share!