Dirt Chic

Book-Buying Strategies

It's become a pastime for me - buying books.  Oh wait; it's always been a pastime... BUT, now, it is about buying books cheaply.

It's pretty simple; go to the thrift store, and pick up some books that look interesting.  Even at the priciest thrift stores, used books are way cheaper than new.

 

And plentiful!

Granted, if you need a specific book NOW, it's easier to go the bookstore.  But if you can wait a little while - get it through inter-library loan.  I've been enjoying, though, building up a "transient" library of volumes that might pique my reading interest.

It doesn't hurt that I live close to a killer Salvation Army that has a furniture/book room (note the crafting section in the pic above).  But I do this at any and every thrift store I go to, even antique stores: if I find a book that I think I might like, I pick it up. 

This has led to some amazing reads.  Granted, I have a pretty good sense of what will interest me, anymore.  Sometimes I buy books for leisure/pleasure and sometimes they are more research-oriented.  No matter what, though, if the book is lame, I stop reading it, and I feel no pain in giving it back to charity - what is 50 cents lost?  Even at my local library, where used books are a little more "expensive", $2 for fiction is cheaper than $7-25.  

So, therefore, I do have a kind of backlog of reading material, because I pick up books faster than I read them.  But better than a backlog, than no books at all!

Now, on to reading the thrifted Sam Walton autobiography for research for my novel.  So, for someday, that you can pick up a paperback copy of said novel at a thrift store. ;)

Leaves

We talked about leaves all week last week.  The kids weren't as interested as some of the other things we have done. Here is the book I used to talk about them.

 

It was a pretty good book.  There were a lot to choose from at the library but none really good for small kids.  

 

The ladies at the library did hook me up with a fat bag of leaf cutouts. I love them.

 

We used a few of them to glue with but this is what we did with most of them. We sang a little song and threw them up in the air.  Then we hung them up on the "tree".

Here is the song- It's sung to the tune of "Farah Zhacas" (sp?):

Leaves are twirling, Leaves are Twirling

To the ground, To the ground,

Red, Orange, Brown, Very Very softly,

To the ground. To the ground.

Making a Cloth Baby Book

I did this for a contest on Etsy. It was really easy and turned out so nice.

Here is what you need:

-Fabric scissors, 6 6-inch squares of flannel, embroidery floss in different colors, 2 cotton squares of fabric that are 6-inches with a fun pattern, 2 chenille squares that are 6-inches, needles, material scraps in the theme of your choice.

 

Here is what the cover looked like. 

You can use a machine but I hand stitched everything. Stitch the front and back covers the same way. Put the cotton and chenille facing each other and stitch together with a back stitch or some other tight stitch.  Leave room on one side to turn rightside out. Then turn them right side out.  Fill with Polyfill and stitch up the hole you left. Then you can stitch around the edges if you like for a little extra flair. I have a million embroidery books I have gotten at thrift stores.  They are really easy to follow.  I taught all these stitches to myself.

 
Then you embroider material scraps onto the flannel squares.  I like to iron the edges down and then sew it on.  It makes it easier.  I also bought a disappearing fabric pen so I could embroider words well. 

 When you have finished two flannel squares sew them together like you did the front and back covers.

My theme was things that fly.

 Here is the last page.

Then you just hold everything together and stitch down the edge. Easy stuff.

--Mary
 
 
 
 
 
 

Recent Favorite Picture Books

Here are some Picture Books that I think are really fun, creative and amusing.

 

"The Show and Tell Lion" by Barbara Abercrombie and Lynne Avril.

I love the idea behind this book.  I especially love the Mom's acceptance of her child's creativity.  She is tender and loving but gives her child the opportunity to work out his problem for himself.  I think that for alot of parents it wouldn't occur to them that their child isn't "lying" but is just really creative. I also love the voice of the main character.

 "Pirate Jam" by Jo Brown

This book is a little crazy but really fun to read to Toddlers.  James is going through a serious Pirate thing and loves this book.  Justin knows it by heart.  I like how the author makes these pirates so loveable and gives them the opportunity to grow beyond "Piratey" things.

 

"Roger the Jolly Pirate"by Brett Helquist.

More Pirates for James!  This has a really fun twist to it.  I love it.  Some of the drawings could be scarey if presented the wrong way to a sensitive child.  James is sensitive and Justin did a great job of helping him to think this story is funny.  Roger is the best pirate I have ever known.

--Mary

Apples Today

Today I did a circle time with my kids.  We are doing a Homeschool Co-op Preschool with a few other moms once a week.  Circle time didn't go so well the first week so I thought we would try doing it at home to get used to it.  So, I got a few books at the library to jump start my brain.  I also just really love looking at currriculum.

  

Here are two good ones. The first is "Busy Bees Fun for Two's and Three's" by Totline Books.  The second is "Everyday Circle Times" by Liz and Dick Wilmes.  I just bought it on Amazon for 53 cents.

Today we just started with Apples.  Our Co-op group is doing Baking this month.  I thought Apples would be a good place for us to start because it is the letter A and it is fallish, etc.

We started by taking apples out of a bowl and putting them back in.  My 18 month old really liked this.  We sang a little song like this to just a whatever tune:

Pick up the Apples and put them in the basket...x2....x3.....x4...x10

Then we cut open the apple and talked about the inside and the outside.  Then we sang this song:

If you like to munch an apples raise your hand.

If you like to munch an apples raise your hand.

If you like to hear them crunch,

And eat them for your lunch,

If you like to munch an apple,

Raise your hand.

(sing to the tune of "If Your Happy and You Know It")

Then we did a craft.

Here's how it went.

 

We cut an apple in half and stamped with Tempra paint.  The apples we used were kind of old and not edible.  But we did eat a different apple while we did this.   As you can see, Lucy loved it and really followed my directions.  She didn't get too crazy.

 

James did a good job too but also wanted to use his hands.  I love it!  Now I have wrapping paper for Christmas!  They had a blast and the whole thing took like 15 minutes. 

Mary

Best Things in Life are Free

(After you pay for the cell phone with camera)

Don't Forget to Recycle. (Ever.)

Just kidding, I don't even recycle every stinkin' time.  But I try.

A big thing for me is keeping up w/my magazines.  When I read them, I dog-ear pages I like - pictures, articles I want to look at again, recipes.  And when I'm done, I stick it in my magazine rack.

It gets pretty out of control.  But when that happens, I get my utility knife or craft knife and I go through and cut out the dog-eared pages.  This is perfect, because if I had to re-look through every magazine I would just recycle them all without even messing with it.

So I cut everything out, and stick it in a folder, and that is a separate project - to put all those papers in their place.  (And worthwhile.  But I let that pile get big, too.  And I even end up recycling some of the stuff I cut out.  Things don't always look as good later on.)

Then my pile is a bit smaller.  :)  For awhile....

The Push

It took an old friend to push me into writing.  It's a fun story.

Flori was my best friend in Jr. High.  She moved away in High School and I dropped out so our friendship ended.  She just recently found me on Facebook.  She contacted me and wanted to get together.  I am always pumped to hang with friends if they can handle the chaos of my life.  :)

Anyway, she came and had Pizza with me and the kids and patiently watched me go through my bedtime routine with them.  I always read James 3 books.  After I came back downstairs from laying him down Flori said, "Have you ever considered writing book for Children?"  It really shocked me because I have always been to scared to admit my dream to anyone but Arwen.  Then she said," I know it seems overwhelming but I think you could be good at it.  Sit down and just try to write some S***.  Don't try to do anything good.  Then you won't be overwhelmed." 

I thought she had great advice.  It was the divine push I needed to get started. I'm thankful that God uses us in amazing ways. 

My first step besides writing was to buy the "Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market".  

 

Their website is cwim.com.  Before you even consider writing to be Published you must read this book.  There is a lot of business you must understand in order to write for kids.  I have read it cover to cover and it led me to my next step in my journey.  I'll talk about that next.

Mary

Early Inspiration: Kid's Books

Here are just some of my favorites.  Reading has always been my favorite thing.

   

Some More.

Ode to the best place I know.

I have always had a book obsession.  My dad used to take us to the library when we were little.  It is one of my earliest memories. I got in trouble every day at school for reading when I was supposed to be paying attention.  I would hide the book inside my desk.  That was in third grade.  In 5th grade I started checking out books seriously.  I would read about ten at a time.  As soon as I would get tired of one plot I'd just start the next book.  I had alot of book marks.  I was the kid who never wanted to go out and play.  I usually didn't want a lot of friends over either.  I just wanted to read.

It makes sense that I want to write books.  I wonder why it took me so long to discover this about myself.  I am now in my 30's and I am just getting the courage to pursue something I have always pushed away. 

--Mary

Are My Shopping Spree Days Over Forever?

I keep finding or re-realizing awesome ways to get around actually spending money on the things I want.  As a recovering spendthrift, I no longer am able or really want to go on shopping binges - that is, I don't want to deal with the consequences(debt, guilt over misspent money, general feelings of imbalance).  I certainly understand and sometimes miss the high that comes with buying stuff(and while I've heard talk of how it wears off and all that, in my case, I tend to enjoy my purchases enough that the high just mellows out to a nice feeling).  But I just really don't mess with that anymore - I now get pumped to buy cheaper bulk items for the house (ibuprofen, toilet paper) or getting a mess of things to sell from the thrift store(with one choice item in there for myself, sometimes).

However.

I've been going to the Bookworm here in my town all year, and have bought a few things.  I was a bit spoiled by the main used bookstore in my last college town, as it was dirt cheap.  I also have been spoiled by the mass credit I got from taking in a bunch of brand-new, unread books back to Barnes & Noble last summer.  I also am spoilt by the internet and graduate-school library lending privileges; I get choosier and choosier about books the longer I live, so while browsing is fun, most of the time I need to get down to business and either borrow the needed book or buy it for the cheapest price possible.

For some reason, I failed to note at the Bookworm that they trade.  A lightbulb went off in my head last week, and then I heard a cash-register sound.  I have a box of books I've tried to sell online sitting in a pile ready to swap.  So I took it in.  The owners were out of town, so there was no way I could get cash for the books, but that wasn't my intention.  (There's a subject for another post - do you take the cash or the credit?  A socio-economic quandary.)

I browsed while they tallied stuff up.  I wasn't sure what to expect as sometimes when I try to trade goods (usually at clothing stores) my expectations exceed reality.  But after I found some things, I checked up on them and I had about $48 and credit, and they had cleared out 3/4 of the box.

They explained to me the trading process and I thought I understood, so I went to the kid's section and found $48 worth of stuff.  (Alas, I couldn't trade for Newbery winners or Nancy Drews.  That's ok, though - I probably would've blown all my credit there, and those can be found elsewhere.)

I brought my stack up, and they tallied that up, and it only came to $24.  I had failed to comprehend that in the case of trade, you only "pay" half the price.  (Perhaps that's why they were somewhat steep to begin with, for used books.)  I scuttled off in total rapture (I was near it already, at the prospect of getting free awesome stuff for my random crap), and got a sizable stack of choice books - some that have been on my list for awhile, some additions to either my children's book collection (generally, stuff I grew up on but don't own) or resource library.  And a few gifts. :)

It might not look like much, but, well, books are flat!  And what you see is a total, unexpected shopping spree!

If you are so inclined, most good used bookstores will trade for books or cash.  Go for it!