I’ve spent this week doing much of the same thing I did last week — preparing for the San Francisco and Los Angeles (Pasadena) book fairs, though a few unexpected events have cropped up to try to distract me.

Here are the unexpected “events” that cropped up during the past 10 days:

1) The transmission on my mini-van (aka The Bookmobile) died. At 107,000 miles, we’re trying to decide whether the car will do ok with a new transmission (quite a costly repair) or whether we will be better off replacing the car (even more costly).

2) Our roof started to leak into the living room during a recent rainstorm. (Thankfully, the leak is small and no books were harmed or are stored anywhere near the leaky area. Fortunately, it has not rained since we discovered the leak.)

3) The tile floor in our bathroom started to crack and pull away from the wall. We suspect potential dry rot underneath the tile.

Despite these unexpected problems, which are, I suppose, common problems for an older house and an older car, I’ve decided that in order to keep from completely losing my mind, I MUST focus on the upcoming book fairs. They will be a fun and welcome distraction from all of these problems. (And they will give me the opportunity to earn some money towards making all these repairs.)

I spent most of the weekend at my “Command Central”, making plans for both the book fair and my household.

Here’s a photo of my “Command Central” (aka The Dining Room Table):

You don’t see any books in that picture, do you? That’s because I’ve spent a good deal of my work time this past week preparing the household to run smoothly while I’m away at the book fairs. Getting this household planning done over the weekend means that this week, the final week before I head off to the fairs, I can focus on packing books in boxes. Thoughtful Husband will be here with Tom and Huck while I stay in The City for the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair.  After that, he’s driving down to the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena with me (we have to take his car since the van isn’t working properly) while my parents stay with Tom and Huck. Thoughtful Husband, who has business of his own to conduct in Southern California, will then be flying home ahead of me. I’ll drive home after the fair. In all, I will be away from home for 10 days — the longest I’ve ever been away from my kids. I do get a brief, one-day stop at home in between the two fairs, and I know that both Thoughtful Husband and my parents are perfectly capable of running things just fine in my absence, but I’m trying to do as much advance work as possible before I leave to make their jobs a little easier.

Here’s what you see in the picture of “Command Central”. I suspect that those of you readers who are parents of school age kids or who otherwise have to manage the schedules of a group of people might be familiar with all of these things. If so, I’d love to know how you organize yourself and your family. Feel free to leave a comment, below, if you’re in the mood.

1) Top:  Home phone on the left. Business phone on the right.

2) Top left:  My grocery list for most of next week’s meals (still in the planning stages) and my coupon organizer. Yes, I use coupons! While I’m not an “Extreme Couponer”,  I spend about 15 minutes per week looking at what will be on sale at the store and matching that sale with a manufacturer’s coupon and planning my menu carefully. When I take the time to do this, I save between 25-30% on our weekly grocery bill. This savings is very important when you are feeding two constantly hungry, growing boys and often a few of their friends.

3)  Top right: My calendar. Thoughtful Husband wishes I would switch to some kind of electronic calendar we can all access from our computers, but, old fashioned girl that I am, I still like my great big wall calendar. It’s in our kitchen, on the refrigerator, where I can quickly jot down notes or change plans.

4) Bottom Left:  My Kitchen Binder. I tend to plan our dinner meals about 5 – 7 days at a time. On Friday, I look at the calendar for the week ahead and note what days will allow me time to cook a good meal for dinner. I shop for most of our groceries over the weekend. Often, things like basketball practice, guitar lessons, or Boy Scouts interfere with the idea of cooking a good dinner on a week night, because those activities frequently occur right at the time I should be home cooking. In the binder, which I put together myself, I have listed favorite recipes, organized by type of food — beef, chicken, fish, pasta, vegetarian, snacks, breakfast, etc.  I also have an index in the binder that divides the recipes into the type of cooking required — Easy Weeknight Family Favorites, Dishes That Can Be Cooked in the Crock Pot/Slow Cooker (good for days when I’m out driving kids to activities in the afternoon and want dinner ready when we get home), and Dishes That Can Be Cooked In Batches And Frozen. In each index, I’ve written the name of the recipe and the title and page number of the cookbook in which it can be found. Sometimes the recipe, if it’s a favorite, can already be found copied into my binder.  The last thing I have in my Kitchen Binder is a Freezer Inventory. When I’ve cooked food that can be frozen and eaten later, I write it down on the Freezer Inventory. That way I always know what (if any) dishes I have ready to go in the freezer. As of tonight, I have enough different dinners cooked and stored in the freezer for 9 nights. I did this by doubling the recipes of some of the dinners I cooked in December and January. This week, when I am busy trying to get ready to go but still need to provide a meal for four people, I can rely on those freezer meals.  Someday, when my schedule is less crazed, I look forward to doing less advance planning. For now, though, this system works well for our busy family with busy kids.

You might be thinking that this binder, which I put together myself last summer, sounds like a lot of work. It did take me a while to think about how to organize it and put it together, but once I did that, the binder became a time-saving tool for me. During our very busy school year, I look at that binder when I prepare my grocery shopping list on Fridays.  Each week, I choose one meal to defrost from the freezer and one meal to cook in the Crock Pot/slow cooker for the evenings when we are busy with sports practices and the like. One night a week, I choose to cook a recipe that can be doubled. I freeze the extra portion for a meal on some future night when we are busy, so I am always gradually replenishing our freezer meals.  On the other two nights of the week, I cook simple and easy dishes. My main goals are for us to limit going out to dinner and to eat a homecooked meal together, regardless of how busy we sometimes get.  Lucky for me, Thoughtful Husband often cooks on the weekends. Also, I give myself total freedom from the binder and from advance planning during the summer, when we tend to grill most of our dinners.

Bottom Right:  My Household Management binder. This is another binder I’ve created with weekly and monthly to-do lists, chore lists, phone numbers, school, sports, and scouting information, holiday planning, etc. On this week’s to-do list, in addition to packing books for the fair are things like:  find Tom and Huck a ride to and from basketball practice when I am away at the book fairs, call a friend for her birthday, return overdue library books (!), and a list of the dinners I plan to cook this week.

If you come here mostly for bookish news, you might be wondering why I’m writing about how I manage my domestic duties. I’m writing about it because doing all of these things in a (somewhat) organized way allows me to be efficient. And perhaps I do it because it gives me the illusion of control over problems like a broken down car, a leaky roof, and dry rot.  Because of that attempt at efficiency, I have a little bit more time to devote  to working on books. Also, a few of my fellow working mothers have requested that I write up a little post to share about how to manage household duties and a home-based business, so for those of you who did so, here you go!

So that’s a quick tour of home preparations that help me to prepare for a book fair. More bookish posts to come soon!

See you in the stacks!

I must say that I’m relieved about one thing. Had the 49ers won today, they would be playing in the Superbowl game on Sunday, February 5.

So what, you ask?

Well, Feburary 5 is the last day of the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair. Had the 49ers been in the Superbowl on February 5, all of San Francisco, fervent football fans or no, would have skipped the book fair to watch the game. While I know that the worlds of book collectors and football fans rarely intersect, all Bay Area citizens, even those like me who don’t follow football, would have been home watching their home team play in the big game. Now that two East Coast teams are in the Superbowl (New England Patriots vs. New York Giants), most San Franciscans won’t give a hoot. Maybe they could give the book fair a try?

See you in the stacks!

I’ve been working on preparing for the February book fairs this week. Preparing starts with taking an inventory of book fair supplies.  Since I’ll be doing the fairs in San Francisco and Pasadena one right after the other, it’s crucial that I have enough supplies. If you’re not a bookseller, you might be surprised to see the amount of supplies needed for a book fair.  And if you are a bookseller, you might like to know what I recommend you bring to a book fair. The supply list I compiled was created with the help and advice of quite a few experienced booksellers, and you can see it by clicking here.

Once the supplies are ready, the next step in book fair preparation is to check each of many pieces of ephemera I’ll bring to the fairs and to make sure each piece is stored in its appropriately sized plastic sleeve and that each sleeve has a price sticker on it. Ephemera — flat, small, and easy to store, but I have a lot of it, and  pricing it can take a while!

Over the weekend, I plan to catalogue about a dozen books, recent acquisitions I plan to bring to the fair. This will be simple in some cases and will require a bit of research in others. Either way, I’m looking forward to having the weekend to work. Did I mention that both Tom and Huck’s basketball teams have a bye this week? That means no games this weekend, which means no driving kids to and fro in the car. It means that while they play with the neighbors, I can work on books (which, to me, is like play). If I’m lucky (and I think I’m pretty lucky), Thoughtful Husband may even volunteer to take on the task of cooking dinner Saturday night.

All work will temporarily be halted on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. That’s when our San Francisco 49ers will play the New York Giants to see if, after 18 long years and decades after the end of the Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young “dynasty”, they will go to the Superbowl! Note to diehard sports fans who may read this blog:  I do not normally follow professional football, but my 11-year-old son Huck does. He’s had me watching each 49er game, and when I watch it with him, I enjoy it in a way that I hadn’t before. It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite films, Rudy, and of how that little football movie inspires me in so many ways, even though I sell books instead of playing football. When it comes to following football, I am what some might call a “bandwagon” fan.  That is to say that I follow football when my hometown team is winning — much the same way I followed baseball when the Giants finally won the World Series of Baseball in 2010. Perhaps not a “true” fan in that sense of the word, but happy when my hometown teams make us proud.

See you in the stacks!

Announcing:  The Collective!

No, it’s not my Catalogue #2, but it is a catalogue that features a few of the many books I’ll be offering for sale at the San Francisco and Los Angeles (Pasadena) Antiquarian Book Fairs next month. I like to think of this new catalogue as a nice bridge between Catalogue #1:  Dante Alighieri and Catalogue #2:  Subject As Yet Unannounced. It’s Catalogue #1.5

This catalogue, the collaborative effort of seven ABAA booksellers including yours truly was the brilliant idea of my colleagues and friends Brad and Jen Johnson of The Book Shop in Covina, California.  Each bookseller is exhibiting at both fairs and each was given two pages on which to show off some of his or her best books to be offered for sale at the February fairs. Brad and Jennifer designed the cover (image of front and back above) and did all of the graphic design and layout, a couple of others wrote the Terms of Sale and Introduction pages, and we each contributed two pages of books for sale, featuring some of the treasures we plan to bring to the February fairs. We divided the costs of printing.

The catalogue is available as a downloadable PDF. You can click here or on the image above or on the image in the far right sidebar of this blog (top right corner).  If you’d like a print copy, most of those will be distributed at the fair, but I do have some available for mailing. Just let me know by leaving a comment or sending an email to chris AT bookhuntersholiday DOT com.

See you in the stacks!

This is our family dog, Molly:

She is a sweet little dog, a Spaniel. When Thoughtful Husband and I moved into our home, many years ago, his sister gave us a dog. He was a large but gentle dog, a Golden Retriever that we named Buck. As he got older, he went blind. Because he could not see, he quit moving and playing and laid around in a corner all the time.  Our hearts broke for him, but we didn’t know how to help him.  Our vet suggested that a blind dog might benefit from a companion, a sort of “seeing eye dog” for himself. She reasoned that if Buck heard the sound of  another dog’s footsteps and barks, he would eventually interact a bit.  Tom and Huck were young at the time we decided to get a second dog — around 3 and 5 years old.  I needed to make sure that the new dog would get along very well in a house with small children and an older, blind dog.  After some help and advice from our vet, we got Molly. Here she is as a puppy:

Molly is a sweet dog.  She and Buck got along well, and I do believe she made Buck’s life better until he finally died. They often dozed off in a corner right next to each other and she did get him to play with her a bit.

Now, she keeps me company here at home while Thoughtful Husband is at work and Tom and Huck are at school.  I often think of her as Book Dog.  She looks like a dog from an illustration in a Victorian children’s book I own, she is the perfect size for cozying up next to me on the couch while I read, and she lies at my feet while I sit at my desk and work on books each day.

It turns out that I am not the only person who thinks about her dog as a literary asset.  Meet Condescending Literary Pun Dog.  This dog is awesome, totally awesome.  He has a sense of humor and he is extremely well read.

I found out about him here. I highly recommend reading the rest of these hilarious puns. Not only are they funny, but they’re a little quiz to see how well-read you are.

Enjoy!  See you in the stacks!

The San Francisco Book Book, Print, and Paper Fair takes place February 4-5, 2012 at the Concourse Exhibition Center.

The following weekend, February 10-12, 2012, The 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair takes place at the Pasadena Convention Center.

For the first time, I’ll be exhibiting at both fairs. Back-to-back. As soon as I finish in San Francisco, I’ll be heading down to Pasadena for my first ABAA sponsored book fair.

Wish me luck. And if you’ll be in either the San Francisco or Pasadena areas during the above mentioned dates, please leave a comment below or contact me by email (chris AT bookhuntersholiday DOT com), and I will happily send you a free pass to either or both shows.

See you in the stacks!

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012!

Since my previous post was all about reading, I thought I should update my reading list (over there on the right sidebar of the blog) so I can share with you books I recently either bought or borrowed from the library because I think I will enjoy them. Perhaps you will, too, though I know that literary tastes vary. That’s part of what makes books fun. I often learn about books I have never heard of from you, readers of this blog. Several times you have recommended books to me and most of the time they are books I enjoy.  Here’s my winter reading list:

The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco

Reamde, by Neal Stephenson

My Life as Laura: How I Searched for Laura Ingalls Wilder and Found Myself, by Kelly Kathleen Ferguson

The Provincial Lady in Wartime, by E.M. Delafield

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpice, Edited by Joan Reardon

Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris, by Paul Gallico

Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge, by Gladys Taber and Barbara Webster

Spencer’s Mountain, by Earle Hamner, Jr.

 
I know it’s likely that some of you may be surprised that I would enjoy a domestic novel like Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris and novels written by authors in completely different genres, like Umberto Eco (literary/historical/philosophical) and Neal Stephenson (science and cyber fiction). These seem to have nothing in common with another. Well, I’ve said it before and I will say it again (with all credit due to Walt Whitman):  “I am large. I contain multitudes.” As most of you no doubt realize by now, I like books of all sorts.

Winter seems the perfect time for hunkering down with a good book, a warm fire, and a cup of tea (or your beverage of choice). What’s on your reading list this winter?

We’re hosting dinner for 10 at our house tomorrow night, and I’ve made ahead as much of the food as I can. Tom and Huck, who have been off of school all week, were recruited today to help clean the house. Despite not being thrilled to do chores during Christmas vacation, they did a fantastic job. In fact, I think that the clean house they left me is the best Christmas present they can give me. It was at my behest that they did these tasks, but they did a good job, and spent most of the day making our house look nice. Having company for dinner is good motivation to really clean the house well.  The boys washed windows — inside and out,  cleaned baseboards, helped change sheets on beds, cleaned the bathrooms, and cleaned up the dumping ground room we affectionately call the Play Room. I’ve been trying to figure out where to put all of the books that are usually all over the dining room table and another table that is usually where the Christmas tree is now baking batches of fudge, toffee, and cookies and am almost finished. Dinner is prepped for tomorrow night’s feast and presents are wrapped and under the tree. Here are a few pictures of the tree and the living room (probably the cleanest I shall ever see it). Note the absence of antiquarian books in the photo. This cleanliness and lack of book clutter surely will not last more than 24 hours, so enjoy it while it lasts.

And here are some of my favorite book-related Christmas ornaments. (Yeah, that’s right. I have book-themed Christmas ornaments. Just a few.)

This is a lovely printer’s device that was made into an ornament by the very talented and crafty Jennifer Johnson at The Book Shop in Covina, California.

I made my mom buy me this ornament a few years ago. She thought it was ugly (I do, too), but I laughed when I read it and had to have it:

My mom bought me this ornament in 2007, the year I started Book Hunter’s Holiday. I’ve written about it once before:

I got this ornament when I went to Rare Book School at University of Virginia. I took a short field trip to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. Since I am a big fan of Thomas Jefferson, Rare Book School, and blue and white china plates, it seemed like the perfect souvenir of my trip. (That’s Jefferson’s home pictured on the plate.)

I got this ornament at the Surveyor’s House (aka one of the many childhood homes of my favorite author, Laura Ingalls Wilder) when I visited De Smet, South Dakota on an RV trip across country with my family.  This particular house is featured in Wilder’s book, By the Shores of Silver Lake.

And last but not least is this little memento of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. I got it during this year’s Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair.

Thank you, dear readers, for reading the blog. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, know that I am thinking of you and am thankful for you this holiday season. You’re part of what makes bookselling such fun!