Thursday, March 3, 2016

Shopping for New Books


     Impulse control should be firmly in place before signing up for Amazon Prime.  I live over a half hour from a book store, so I don’t feel as if I’m ignoring my local retailer.  For a short time our little town had a locally owned store, but the retired teacher wasn’t able to make it to the five year anniversary.  Many of the books I buy are professional books that wouldn’t be available even if I made the trip to Grand Rapids. 
      Last week The Big Book of Details by Rozlyn Linder was spotlighted by Two Writing Teachers, wait a minute, that was only on Sunday.  Of course I commented, but then I decided getting this gem shouldn’t be left to chance and a poor memory, I needed to order that book now!
     Look! Those multi pack of colorful Sharpie flip chart markers are on sale.  They are perfect for Morning Message and making charts!   I should get one…no, it’s a great sale, I’ll get two!
Reading night is Thursday, my friend is reading and I promised her I’d loan her some fun new picture books. But if my students are there, they’ll have heard the ones I love most.   
I’ll just take a look. 
     Oh, the grand-kids love this one, Stuck, by Jeffers I could share it with my students if Betsy doesn’t want that one. 
      Lenny & Lucy by Stead, what grandmother can resist a book with her granddaughter’s name in the title?  And it’s about moving, all the better.  So many of my students face changes so often, I’ve got to have that! 
     And this title is perfect for primary, The Almost Terrible Playdate by Torrey.  Learning to compromise and still have fun is so hard for my littles.  A familiar topic, I bet Betsy would have fun doing the two arguing voices! And then I’ll have it to use in future years.  In the cart!
Oh!  This is about dreaming up a story!  The Whisperer, with a Caldecott Honor illustrator as the author?  Got to have that one!  Any book about books is a former librarian’s joy.
     OK, seven items in the cart, plus the one that’s going to be back ordered.  Over $100.00, I’d better stop!  Good thing I have that $5.00 gift card!
     We had a big snow storm yesterday, with nearly every school in the region closed.  I left the garage door open so the delivery person could easily get to the back door. Both Fed Ex and UPS deliver a little after noon so I’d have a good afternoon of reading.   Belle, my timid dog is quick to jump up if she hears a sound in the garage, she’s better than a door bell.   Must be the snow was making deliverys later.   I worked on report cards and graded assessments so I could have time to delve into the Big Book of Details.  Finally at 5:00 pm I checked Amazon for delivery status.  What do you mean delivery attempted??  There was NO attempt!  And why did Amazon ship with the U.S. Postal Service?
     Today,at 8:05 am I called the post office.  The things you can do with a second snow day.  The worker who answered the phone found my package and agreed to hold it for pickup.  My mail usually doesn’t get delivered until 3:00 pm, that’s WAY too long to wait for new books!  I hung up saying, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”  With so much snow I was happy to find a spot right by the door.  The parking lot was practically empty. 

     Of course it was empty. The post office doesn’t open until 8:30!   The things you don’t know when you arrive at work at 6:30 every day. It was too cold to wait in the car so back home I went.  At 8:33 I arrived and as soon as I was back in the car I opened the box.  I love that quiet groan a new book makes when you first open the cover.  Oh no!  I think I’m going to have to buy at least two of these again.  My grand-kids need them in their library!


7 comments:

  1. Your slice made me smile for lots of reasons...the familiarity of feeling out of control on Amazon, the snow day feeling, and the frustration of the deliveries. It's been over a year since we've had a snow day here in my neck of the woods...I'm feeling a little bit jealous over here!!!!

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  2. Your slice made me smile for lots of reasons...the familiarity of feeling out of control on Amazon, the snow day feeling, and the frustration of the deliveries. It's been over a year since we've had a snow day here in my neck of the woods...I'm feeling a little bit jealous over here!!!!

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  3. Oh yes!
    I know this (delightful) sickness.
    I'm looking forward to your joy when that package arrives!

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  4. Amazon Prime is both the best and the worst. I am also a huge fan of Sharpie's Flip Markers - they're the only ones I'll use! Thanks for sneaking in that suggested list of books! :-)

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  5. Fun to read! And that package would be so fun to get! Hmmm... I have an Amazon gift card, and I don't know if I can wait to see if I win that book, either. If I buy it and then win it, I'd get to surprise someone!

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  6. I saw the comment about buying 1 book on Amazon and I thought, "There is no way that is possible." Amazon is dangerous!

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  7. Buying books is like eating potato chips...you can't get just one! Love this post...What a crazy struggle to get those books.

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