I thought life would have slowed down after the write-a-thon ended. Not a chance. The bookstore is down three people in the café, which by necessity is now being staffed by book clerks.
I worked the front counter for a few hours this morning. It was fun. It’s been a long time since I rang up customers and did used book trades. Maria and I went on a rampage around the counter, cleaning up and reorganizing. There is always so much to do in the front of the store. Four hours went by fast.
I saw people that I haven’t seen in months, or even years. Several expressesd surprise at seeing me. I think they thought I had left, since most of the time I’m chained back in the office, slaving away at the computer.
Dinah’s vet walked in the door with an armload of books from the cart outside. “I hate this place,” she said, set the books down on the counter, and went browsing for more.
“Try working here,” is always my response; working in a bookstore is dangerous. I didn’t ring up her sale, but I don’t think she made it out for less than $50.
It was a nice change of pace from the usual routine. That’s going to start up again Monday morning. But until then, I’m going to catch up on my reading and my writing.
We are in the midst of a massive overhaul of the store. Remaindered books from the Bargain Annex are being worked into the appropriate sections in the front of the store. All of the new children’s books, including Alaskana are being moved to their new home in what used to be the Bargain Annex. Cooking will also end up in that room, as well as CD’s and DVD’s. I’d like to see some space for the graphic novels and manga and a large display table in what I am now referring to as Kiddie Land. All the moving means that we’re purging our sections and a ton of great books are being discounted. Come on in while the selection is fresh!
This last week has been one ‘Groundhog’s Day’ after another.
Today was Tina’s last day at the store. She’s heading back to Oregon with her family and they’re going to miss our wicked winter wonderland.
(For all you Silent Outsiders, I woke up this morning to snow on my car, gasp!) I’m going to miss Tina’s constant cheery smile and all the hard work she puts in behind the used book counter. I’m going to miss her continual bustling around the store, always with a purpose, a task. Bye Tina! Have a safe trip home & keep in touch.
(It kinda looks like all my books at home.) We still have a lot of shelving and fixture measurements to work out, but I’m looking forward to the change. It was a busy, busy day but I’m finally feeling caught up at my desk after almost a week of sickness.
There were brown streaks all over the carpeting. Nope, not poop, it was chocolate. It’s a good thing Nick bought that carpet shampooer last month. Pulled that out and shampooed the upstairs. I called the vet and let him know she’d had about eight ounces of chocolate including the wrappers. (Less than half a bag of those assorted Hershey mini chocolate bars. She had to go behind the couch and dig them out of a knitting bag, it’s not like they were left out on the couch or end table. She was on a mission for chocolate.) A dog her size (150 lbs) can ingest about two pounds of chocolate before poisoning sets in. So I guess that’s good news. He warned me that she’s going to have diarrhea. Boy was he right.
Since Dinah was outside, roaming the yard and expelling chocolate from her bowels, I packed in my meager container garden. The flowers were starting to die and my peppers never fully matured this year. Again. Last summer it was all rain and no sun, this summer it was all smoke from forest fires and no sun. I’m not going to plant any peppers next summer and the weather will be beautiful. The garden is clear, and Dinah is sleeping off her chocolate hangover, the carpets are shampooed, and now I can finally get to work writing.
Elisa and I arrived in Portland Wednesday morning and had a day to ourselves before the fun started. After a short nap, her sister (Hillary) and sister’s friend (Ian) came to the hotel and took us out for a night on the town, as in, a night spent browsing Powell’s and eating pizza at Rocco’s.
The nightcapper Thursday was a party of books. Elisa and I both stuffed our messenger bags to bursting with cookbooks, picture books, and other excellent titles. I’m especially looking forward to reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, check her out in her steampunk costume!
Saturday morning was spent configuring books in suitcases. (It was successful, we each had two bags, weighing between 42 & 47 pounds each. Boxing and shipping Battle Books has paid off at last with a semi-reliable judgment of weights.) Elisa and I checked out of our room and went to the airport.
I planned on starting them if there was time, but there were just too many mistakes to correct.
Then started prepping for training, printing out a copy of the training checklist and setting up a user account for the computers and a customer code for shopping. That didn’t take me long, so I cleaned out the red basket of problem-child books that have been damaged and discounted those that needed discounting.
