Judging a book by it's cover

I'm not a terribly thrifty person.
It's the truth.
Sure, I cut coupons occasionally.
I always shop from the back of the clothing store up, beginning in the sale section.
It's a learned behavior. Something I've been trained in since I was three-years-old, waddling around in my Rainbow Bright nightgown with mom's Esprit purse slung over one shoulder.

Plus, I do like saving money. Sometimes.

But, you know, there's times I just want what I want, and I can't control the GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE ITS MINE MINE MINE impulse that hijacks my brain waves. I'll buy the $58 shirt, knowing that, yes- that is a ridiculous price for one shirt and okay, the money could be spent on something I actually needed. But wheres the fun in that? Sensibility is not going to dress me in cute clothes every morning.

My mother is probably reading this right now, wringing her hands and wondering if her daughter was somehow accidentally swapped at birth with this wasteful child. Say it ain't so!

To be honest, there really isn't a whole lot of $58 shirts hanging in my closet anymore. And it's not for lack of want. It's more for an excess of part-time, single motherness that I spend less.

But the point remains. I suck when it comes to spending frugally.

Our library has a room dedicated to donated books. People bring in their old books- children's books, cookbooks, autobiographies, best sellers and the not-so-bestsellers. They line the shelves in the room with these books and paste signs that read "Children's books- $.50" and "Hardback's- $3".

I've been going to my library for years before I discovered this room for myself. I have no idea why, my mom always participated in the good deals. Maybe it was because I was too enthralled with running in and scooping up as many Cat Fancy's and American Girl's as my spindly arms could carry. Oh, and MAD. Remember those?

But as I grew older, I found myself wandering into this room more and more in search of a good deal. And justification for that $58 shirt.

But I saved like $20 in books this week! pat, pat.

I'm really picky when it comes to the condition of my books. Like, bend the spine and I'll cut you, picky. So I tend to only go for the books that look as though they haven't been fondled by a middle aged man with Cheetos fingers. However, I'm less restrained when buying books for Brae . There's not much of a point being so selective when you know they'll be tossed around the room, stepped on, eaten on top of and mostly likely wind up on the bathroom floor at some point.

So he's building quite the collection of used children's books. And sometimes it's great what you can find in that room.




Something tells me there is a damn good reason this book never really took off.