If You Love Books, Check out Book Crawler

I may be in the minority here, but sometimes I buy the same book twice. Or maybe three times. We have books and bookshelves all over the house, and it's hard to keep up with what I already have, especially children's books. (I'm not generally a hoarder of things, but I do sort of hoard books...)

I've found a neat iPhone app that's helping me get organized, and thought I'd share it with you, as most of us are looking for a little organizational help this time of year. It's called Book Crawler, and it sells for a whopping $1.99. (I should mention that I'm pretty cheap, and rarely pay for apps. This one is really worth it.)

There are several ways to import your book collection, but the quickest way is by scanning the ISBN number. (Even then, it's taking me a while to scan hundreds of books, but it will get done eventually.) After importing your books, you can categorize them several different ways, by topic, author, etc. When the kiddos and I are looking for books about a given topic, like space,  I can easily look and see what we have.

When I'm making my weekly book buying Goodwill trip, I can scan the books' barcodes to see if I already own them, which is pretty awesome.

What apps are making your life easier?

(I have no affiliation with the makers of this app, I just wanted to share something that's working for me.)

WFMW: Audio Bible for Your Smart Phone

I know ya'll are going to think all I do is play with my phone, but I found another cool app to tell you about. Actually, my sister ran across it, and told me about it just in time, right before I spent about a hundred dollars on essentially the same thing, (an audio Bible on CD.)
It's called Bible.Is, and it's a free audio Bible for your smart phone. I have an iPhone, but I checked, and it's also available for Androids.
I love it. I've been listening to it while I cook, clean, and as I go to bed at night.
For more WFMW posts, go to www.wearethatfamily.com.

(I am in no way compensated for this recommendation. The app is free, and it's great. )

WFMW: Read Awesome Free E-Books Without a Kindle

Several years ago, when e-books first came out, I found myself sort of puzzled. As the owner of a desktop PC, I couldn't imagine why you'd want to tie yourself to the desk for hours and hours in order to read a book.
After that came the Kindle and Nooks. Although I thought they sounded neat, they amounted to an extra, somewhat pricey, gadget to buy and keep up with. I didn't take the bait.
Last year my husband gave me an iPhone. It's taken me a while to discover all the things it can do, but I thought I'd share one of my favorite uses.
You can download the Kindle app for free on your iPhone, which allows you to read digital books from the Amazon Kindle store. That's pretty good news, but it gets even better.
There are lots of free books to be downloaded. Nearly all of the old "classic books" are now in the public domain, which means they are free. There are also a surprising amount of new releases that are offered for free for a limited time. (I find out about many of these by following my favorite publishers on Twitter.)
With the Kindle app on my iPhone, I'm never without a book. (And ya'll know I love books.)
For more Works for Me Wednesday posts, check out www.wearethatfamily.com.

WordWorld Build a Word App for iPhone Review

My kids love WordWorld. I like it too. It's my favorite PBS cartoon in the current line up, and it's inspired my son to make things like this:

(L's Lego interpretation on Ant, Fly, and Bee from WordWorld.)

I recently had the opportunity to review the Build a Word app for iPhone, and it's been a hit with both kids, not to mention my husband and I.

My five year old son is able to use the app independently. The two year old needs help, but still thinks its awesome. She'll even sit still to watch her brother play.

It's really more of a letter matching game than a spelling game. An outline of a word will appear on the screen, and your task is to "catch" the correct letters as they fly across the screen. After spelling the whole word in that fashion, you "squish" the letters together, and they transform into a Word Friend, like Pig, or Sheep. The games include the same sound effects and the "Build a Word" song your children will recognize from the show.

The kids have been begging to play this, and at only 99 cents, it's a really good value.

The app is available through iTunes.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this app to facilitate the review, however no other compensation was provided.

WFMW: Spending Time in the Word-There's an App for That

Some of the people I really admire are avid readers of the Bible. They don't just read it a few minutes in the morning or before bed, but constantly carry it with them to take advantage of odd moments here or there to read.
I'm not really that organized. By the time I load up the two kids, and all the stuff that two little kids require, I often forget things. Like my sanity. Or my Bible.
I recently upgraded to an iPhone, and in addition to all the fun time wasting games, I was surprised to see that there were some really useful apps as well. On of them is the Olive Tree Bible Reader. It's free, allows you to read the bible in its entirety or search by book or verse. You can also highlight verses and take notes. Finally, it's free, which is pretty awesome.
I'm still partial to the experience of reading an actual book, but I'm excited that even I can now remember to take my Bible wherever I go.
For more WFMW posts, check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/.

P.S. I was not compensated in any way for this post. Just so you know. :)