Let's Book It!

I currently need to go shopping. My mascara is past needing replaced. I’m out of hairspray. The last bit of my eyeliner literally fell out of the tube yesterday. I have been out of face moisturizer for going on a month. I suppose I’ve been a little too busy lately. Busy buying clothes for my son who managed to bust the knees out of all but one pair of jeans. Who somehow outgrew all his long sleeved shirts except for four. (And, I really don’t like having to wash clothes twice in a week just to make it through the school week!)

I’ve been busy planning and hosting meals for the teachers and staff at my son’s school. (I’m the PTA Hospitality Chair this year.) I’ve spent hours planning for our upcoming school Valentine’s party. I’ve had company. I’ve been overloaded with house chores and grocery shopping. Tied up running across town to pick up the (prescription..vet purchased..cha-ching) food for our cat, Babs. She starts meowing the second she sees her empty food bag go into the trash. It doesn’t matter that her bowl overflows. Once she knows we’ve poured the last of that bag into her bowl, the non-stop, annoying cat mewing begins!

I suppose it is true that we moms tend to prioritize our needs to the bottom of our to-do lists. No arguments here. Which reminds me--I am also in serious need of some personal clothing items as well as clothes in general. And shoes. I keep wearing the same pair day in and day out. They are the most comfortable ones I own! About the only thing I manage to keep up with is my hair. Well, I mean, if you count waiting twelve weeks between appointments for my last cut, color, and highlights, keeping up. I’m not so sure! I think the fact that I begin to look like my son’s grandmother rather than his mom forces me to get on the ball and make that hair appointment.

With that being said, I find the fact that I went leisure shopping yesterday quite puzzling. Maybe amusing. I’m a bit torn as to what to label it. After getting my son off to school, picking up a rental car, seeing my husband off for his day-trip out of town, doing my volunteer work at the school, and my aforementioned haul across town for cat food, I had about 40 minutes to spare before pulling into the school pick-up line to receive my child. I drove through Starbucks to grab a bit of fuel in the form of a venti sized skinny latte and decided I’d spend my few spare minutes at one of my favorite places: Half Price Books. Browsing books with an iced latte sounded divine! I find myself daydreaming of such shopping trips at times when I seriously need a break. I adore books! And bookstores!

Flash forward thirty minutes later to me standing in the check-out line with SIX books! Yes, I found and purchased six books in a record period of time—for me. (I’ll have to blog another time about how it takes me forever to do most anything. Usually!) During check-out I casually mention to the clerk that I am getting a Kindle for Valentine’s Day. Yes. I am aware that a Kindle allows you to purchase books and download them right to your device, alienating the need to purchase the physical book! The irony! The clerk merely smiled.

Enter my split-personality. (Not really, but it works here.) The book lover side of me is elated to have found these particular books. Three are authored by Herman Wouk; I’ve taken such a liking to him and am on the road to collecting all his works. The other three were on my list of books to buy. I felt like I had struck gold. The practical side of me was busy kicking my intellectual backside for the remainder of the day over the fact that I had just spent money earmarked to purchase those desperately needed items, instead, on desired books! Now I’ll have to wait yet another payday.

I guess it is true what I have said so many times—I’d rather buy books than shoes! Or makeup. Or clothes. Or…well, you get the point!

Barnes and Noble--My Apology!

Last summer I decided to take a ‘short’ hiatus from blogging and focus more on my child and summertime fun. Thought I'd take a few weeks off and then hit it hard once again. Well, lesson learned the hard way! It's like breaking a diet and then trying to get started back. Now—almost one year later, I am finally attempting to pick it up once more. OK! No more summer hiatus here. If you are reading this, thank you for not giving up on me:)

My apologies to Barnes and Noble and those of you still wondering what ever happened as a result of my last post. And, to those wondering if I ever indeed received a response.

I did! And a very prompt one at that!

Mr. Jerry Warren called me on behalf of Barnes and Noble in response to my inquiry as to why they had ‘marked books’ in their stores. By marked, I mean books that bore an ugly black slash-mark on their tail edges.
(Please refer to previous post, 8/6/2010--‘A Venting Moment: Oh, No You Didn’t!’ for a detailed account of my discovery.)

Folks, Barnes and Noble has been redeemed! They are NOT responsible for the ugly marks. Mr. Warren traced this ugly mark back to its maker and found that it is the publisher that makes the mess! Can you believe that? A book’s own publisher? The horror!

Apparently these selected books—or ‘remainders’—are books that are in excess, for whatever reasons, and the publisher sells them to our bookstores at a reduced price. The black marks let the publishers distinguish the books as reduced in price and non-refundable.

I still think marking the edge of a book is simply the publisher taking the quick and easy way. Don’t tell me with today’s technology, there is not something less unsightly that can be done to mark these books as remainders! It is tasteless and a disrespect to the books and their buyers. Publishers are in the book business, after all! You don’t send your child off with a dirty face!

Oh, that they reconsider their ways!

A big thanks to Mr. Warren and Barnes and Noble for taking the time to look into this situation. And also for providing a helpful tip to anyone that may be bothered by those black slashes: Fine-grade sandpaper used ever so gently will remove the marks.

And now……we know!

I, for one, am happy that Barnes and Noble isn't the one behind the frustration, because I really do enjoy shopping there.

A lot!

A Venting Moment: Oh, No You Didn't!

Ever been lifted high on one of those ‘aha’ moments only to plummet down again upon some secondary realization? Well, I just had one of those experiences. I know I write a great deal about books, but I really can’t help myself. I tend to immerse myself in those things that I particularly like!

I was so elated when I found four wonderfully priced books on sale at Barnes and Noble last week. I bought four books for $20! I felt I had almost stolen them away. I was happy and almost smug with my newfound treasures.

And then I got home and thought it over. I had already noticed the black marks in the store, yet for some reason they had not really registered. Not until I was home, stickers removed, and books stacked in front of me to admire, did I really began to get…..angry! I’m sure there is a good reason. But no matter what it is, it is not good enough for me. There along the tail edge of each book was a line drawn with black marker!! I seemed fixated on this mark for a bit. Noticing how it somehow sullied my books. They are brand new books. Sale books, but new nonetheless. Don’t they deserve the same respect as any other new book?

Why, oh why, would anyone put these marks on books? I cannot fathom an acceptable reason to scar a book with such black ugliness! I almost took them back. The more I looked at them and the more I thought about it, the more upset I became over such a gross injustice.

Okay! I know there are much weightier matters to concern myself with, but my love for books will not let me forget this mistreatment. (Come on, book lovers--I know you must agree??) I have not noticed if Barnes & Noble makes a habit of marking books in this manner. I do know that I will check into it on my next visit. And I also know that if I find this is their standard procedure, someone at the top will be getting a letter from me!

I’m serious! I’m still upset about it. And I’m not one to get upset easily or stay upset. But—they just rained on my look-at-my-great-bargain-of-books parade and I don’t like it!

And to think--I just bought a membership card!

Note:
On a return visit this week to Barnes & Noble, per two employees, I did find that it is a common practice for their warehouse to mark similar bargain books in this manner. I do not know if every B&N does this, but the store at Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, Tx. certainly does! I also sent a letter to the president of the company and await his response, confident that a solution can and will be found! I will update you as soon as possible!