My second favorite day of the year

If you know me, you know that Christmas is my most favorite day of the year. I like the start of winter. I like the cooking and the giving of gifts. I do my shopping all year round and am always done by Nov. 15. Things are wrapped and tagged and shipped to family by Dec. 10. It eliminates a lot of stress for a woman who hates standing in line, large groups of insane people and, well, traffic. 

My second favorite day of the year has become the annual Center for Children's Books sale held by the Graduate School for Library Sciences at the University of Illinois. And today is that day! 

But before I swing by and pick up Quigs for the festivities, I have to get a large amount of homework done for school. At 10:30 a.m. I'm observing my focal child. I have to type up my observation of the class I visited last Wednesday for my program planning class that's due tomorrow. (I wrote it on Friday while I waited for my tires to be changed, but I forgot to take my laptop, so I've got to type it and put edit it.) 

I also failed to finish my psych reading, so I have to do that and take an online quiz before the 11:55 p.m. deadline tonight. 

Thank goodness MacTroll is home this entire week. Its the first and only full week in February he's home. So we've got a lot going on before he has to run off again. 

Oh, and by the way, if you see my son around, he's a bit birthday obsessed. He's very excited about being three. He's very excited about his special day, and unlike his mother who has terrible birthday karma and wishes, most of the time, that the day would just come and go unnoticed, X-man loves his birthday. We've been practicing blowing out candles without spitting with my birthday cakes. Like at Christmas, I love watching X-man get excited for special days. Special days that are all about nothing but fun and enjoying them with the people you love. 

But the coolest part is that X-man was born the opening weekend for Jarling's in 2006, which means his birthday is always likely to coincide with that date. And if Jarling's is opening then warm weather is just a few weeks later. I don't call anything before May 1 a guarantee of warmth because I've had school canceled as late as April 26th for snow... 

So, hooray for good stuff like books, birthdays and frozen custard. 

Update: Nearly $400 worth of new children's books for $96. It was awesome to read new books with X-man all afternoon.

Love Your Library!

Something you may not know about me is that I love working in public libraries. I worked at the North Suburban Library in Loves Park from 1991-1996. I started out shelving and putting the metal sticker strips that make the security alarms go off into all the materials. As I got older, I did a lot of work in the children's section. I created a database for parents and school teachers who were looking for high-quality books on particular issues like divorce, diversity, potty training, death, etc. I also worked as a children's reference librarian, which rocked. I also worked the circulation desk and assisted the community outreach person with the monthly newsletter. The job let me see all aspects of public libraries from the overactive children who climb shelves, to the homeless people searching for warmth, to the die-hard romance readers who mark each paperback so they know which Harlequins they've read. It didn't pay a lot (my wage ranged from $3.62 to $5.00 over five years) but it was very flexible to my high school and college schedule. 

When we moved back to Illinois from Virginia, I wanted to work part-time, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I ended up being hired as a circulation clerk for the Champaign Public Library. It was a temporary position while another employee served overseas in the military. I trained at the main library and then worked at the Douglass Branch, where my circulation duties and my past experience with children's programs blended. I was sad when my time ended at 10 months, and I thought I'd like to go to library school. Unfortunately, I didn't get into the University of Illinois that year. When I applied they warned me that the down economy was driving up their application numbers. And let's face it, I'm good, but children's librarian isn't sexy. At least not as sexy as the librarians who want to reinvent information management. I mean, I'm impressed by that. 

Regardless, I've never given up my love for the library. And on Feb. 15, the University of Illinois Center for Children's Books is having their annual sale. I had to miss it last year because I was on travel to California. But this year, I'm excited about going. Yes, it costs $20 just to get into the door. But once your in, books range from $1-2 for paperbacks and $5 for hardbacks. I take along a canvas bag and fill it for X-man and then come home all excited about reading all of my purchases. 

The sale itself is a big rush. Kind of like one of those Christmas morning releases. They put everyone in a holding cell in the order they arrived and then they set us free and people rush around shoving books in boxes. These are new books, mind you. Schools, churches, daycares, pre-schools, they all send a posse of people with boxes and crates and dollies. Other libraries use it to pick up books, too! There aren't very many individuals there. But I find it worth it every time I go. I'm usually in and out in under an hour. But my rush lasts for days. 

Because the one place I love more than the library -- is a bookstore.

Which makes me completely panicked about the current closure of Pages for All Ages. Seriously. It makes me sick to my stomach to drive by their parking lot and see it empty and the lights off with the evil signs up that they've closed for "THE DAY" for inventory. 

And that's not just because I have a gift card I'd like to spend. It's because I LOVE that place.