As summer winds down, I thought I might take a moment and update some of my earlier blog entries.

In my very first post, I mentioned that my UPS man was having knee surgery. I’m happy to report that Mark has made a full, almost astounding recovery. He’s back to being the unicycling fool he was before the surgery. I say fool in the kindest possible way. I’d never met a unicyclist before Mark, and he is just enthusiastic about being able to ride on one giant wheel. It’s delighful.

Sadly, the scariest place in the bookstore, the back room, remains, perhaps even more frightening. Most of this is not my fault, as I’ve got cartons and cartons of Catching Fire waiting for eager kids and adults to read starting Tuesday. Try as I might, I just can’t keep that room clean. When I got back from vacation in July, I had an epiphany — I am the reason the store is messy. My staff consists of self-avowed anal compulsives and I’m, well, I’m not that way. The store is always cleaner at the end of the day if I’m not the one closing up. 

My struggles continue with the Baker and Taylor boxes. No easier to break down than they were months ago. I still struggle, but at least now, I protect my face when I recycle them, so at least, I haven’t punched myself in the face again. I have, however, gotten some wicked cardboard cuts which hurt and bleed way more than regular paper cuts.

The galleys for the fall have ceased and now we’re on to Spring 2010. Blissfully, our mudroom has been organized by month, so all the galleys are now in easy to read order. Meetings are now easier because I can actually find the book I need to look at before a meeting. While I’m organized, it’s a little scary to me that I’m already running out of room for 2010 galleys and it’s just September.

I have one very funny thing to add to When Kids Pay with Money. A young girl, about four, had saved her money to buy a fairy sticker book. It was on sale the day she came, so she saved a dollar, but still wound up needing to use, as her mom said, "all her paper money." This sweet little girl counted out four dollar bills and said to no one in particular, "But I like the paper money." Honey, we all like the paper money.