Tag: nook

Up North, and the New NOOK

This post is brought to you by CJ Affiliate’s VIP Content Service. Thank you Barnes & Noble for sponsoring this post. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Barnes & Noble, all content and opinions expressed here are my own.

The newest Barnes & Noble NOOK 7″ Tablet just launched, and it’s their most affordable NOOK yet at $49.99. We received one a little early to test out, so we took it up to the Northwoods of Wisconsin with us over Thanksgiving.

We all gathered for Thanksgiving dinner and did plenty of sledding and playing in the snow while we were up there, but we also relaxed and read a lot. I got started with our NOOK by adding a few books for each of us from the NOOK store. The tablet is Android-powered with full access to the Google Play Store, so I added some of the kids’ favorite apps too. Eleanor’s current obsession is horses and she has been making an e-book about them. She even figured out how to add audio and narrated each page! I have two favorite excerpts: “horses are beautiful and nice and strong and helpful and they like you too,” and “woohoo woohoo go horses!!”

We packed light and each kid could bring two toys and one book. We were gone for four days though, so it was pretty handy to have the NOOK with more books for everyone when we wanted to read something else. Brandon and I had our titles on it too, saving a lot of room in our bags. The tablet has all kinds of features (front and rear-facing cameras, a 7″ LCD screen, expandable storage from 8 GB up to an additional 128 GB, and more), but it’s still nice and lightweight — super easy to pack or just slip in my purse.

The feature I appreciate most is that you can create up to 6 individual profiles. I can hand the NOOK to one of my kids and not worry that they’re accidentally going to get into my email or delete something that I need. Plus it’s easier for each of us to find what we’re looking for; nobody has to scroll through a bunch of books or apps that are on there for someone else.

(Are you loving my Northwoods props? Mr. Raccoon is such a help when I need to stand something up.)

The new NOOK would be a great gift for readers, and I love it as a tablet for the kids. It’s available now at Barnes & Noble.

December 5, 2016
Let’s Put Together a Nook

Which furniture, art, and lighting would you choose to put together a little nook? I’ll tell you what I’d choose below!
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September 20, 2011
Toy Storage / Play Area

The nursery has very strange little alcoves at each end. One side is setup as a closet, but the other side is just open. It looked like this when we moved in:

I had painted the woodwork white and sewn white curtains to close the space off when we had the room setup as a guest room. It looked much better, but there was still no purpose.

When we talked to the girl that grew up in this house, she mentioned that she had kept her bed down there. We thought that was a good idea for a kid’s room (what kid doesn’t like sleeping in a fort?), but we still wouldn’t be able to use it for several years. Then I started thinking about how well the TROFAST system from IKEA would fit, and I realized that the area would be great for toy storage.

I was lucky enough to have a toy closet as a kid for a few years, and I remember spending hours in there playing. It would get hot and stuffy, but I didn’t care because it was my secret little world.

I carpeted with FLOR tiles, but I could see adding a fluffy little rug and a bean bag chair down there for comfort. I had planned to close off the left half of the opening and build shallow shelves for books, similar to the Catalina Magazine Rack.

Now that we’ve built the crib though, it blocks that whole side. Maybe we should still do it and just leave the shelves empty for now?

I know we won’t be able to use it much at first and we’ll have to put up a child safety gate, but I hope our daughter will eventually love her little play area.

January 15, 2009