Barnes & Noble by Morning

The ring tone for my cell phone is Amarillo by Morning, which I hear at least a dozen times a day. (Why this is my ring tone is another story blog.) So it shouldn't come as a surprise after dropping my son off at the junior college and running a couple of necessary errands, I found myself humming Barnes & Noble by Morning as my car turned into the entrance to Barnes & Noble and Best Buy. If I have to get out on a chilly, wet, September morning then I may as well enjoy myself.

I always head first to the magazine section to check if whatever new arrival I'm awaiting has shown up on the rack. Neither The Old Schoolhouse or the new Mary Jane's Farm is in, yet. Which is okay with me as I have a little over $2.00 in my billfold. That is enough to cover one medium coffee and one yogurt parfait at McDonald's before it will be time to pick my son up at noon. I take time to look through a couple of decorating magazines, neither of which tempt me to put them on my "to be purchased" list for next month's budget.

Normally I'd check out the clearance section next but I'm keeping an eye out for Crunchy Cons to be published in paperback. There is a lot of temptation in the "New Paperback" section this week from both fiction and nonfiction titles. So much so that I remember why I do not have a credit card. I can't resist temptation when it comes to Barnes & Noble (or Borders, Amazon.com, Starbucks, and my favorite gourmet shop that sells tea). I make a mental note to check online reviews for a couple of the books and head out for my much needed (and cheap) McDonald's coffee.

I do end up at the library later, checking out And the skylark sings with me and Home Schooling, Educating with Head, Heart and Hand. Although we're wrapping up our journey in a couple of years, I enjoy reading the experiences of other people. This is one of the areas that I find reading about families who are different than ours to be helpful. I believe both of these books are written by those of a more liberal political perspective than me. My son has a favorite saying, "The best friend of the far left is the far right, and they just don't always know it". I've found that true in two areas of interest, homeschooling and health foods! So, I'm looking forward to reading both of these books whose authors look at the lifestyle I have chosen but from a different perspective.

I also checked out a book called guest rooms by Hilary Heminway and Alex Heminway. (What is it about these book titles with no capital letters?) The cover has the most serene picture of a bedroom. My guest room is the living room with the sofa bed pulled out but someday I'll have a real guest room. I'm not looking forward to that day for it will be when my son moves out. However, this book has some beautiful ideas in it for the entire house.

It may have been difficult to get up early this morning but time spent with books and coffee, even on a budget, is a good thing.

Photo: Allposters.com