Feeding Frenzy!

Almost two years ago, I came to the conclusion that I had hundreds of books that I really didn't need. (That's hundreds out of my 3500+.) Last year, I sold DVDs and collectibles on eBay: DVDs that I knew Denis and I weren't going to watch again, and several collectibles that I inherited from my mother. I have enough of a collecting bug of my own; I don't need to keep things I have no interest in, regardless of who gave them to me. Memories of loved ones mean much more to me than the things on which they spent their money. I was very successful with what I sold on eBay, so I began toying with the idea of opening a store there and selling my books. I sold a few books as a test, and I learned much. I would have to sell them for peanuts--so few peanuts that I would barely be able to cover listing fees and the like. Okay, there went one idea down the tubes. But I still had a lot of books I could get rid of, and the only question was how.

I'd heard about Paperback Swap and Book Mooch, so I began investigating them last month. I decided to go with Paperback Swap. I joined Monday afternoon and listed twenty books. The next day I had three to send out, which I did after a friend and I went to see "Mamma Mia!" Tuesday night I listed several more books. This morning, I got up, threw the makings of beef and noodles in the crockpot, started a loaf of Sally Lunn bread in the bread machine and came back down to this end of the house fully intending to just glance at my email and go back to bed. Ha!

There were seven requests for books that I'd listed. I printed the postage, got the books ready to go out, and told myself, "I'll check my email and go lay down and read." Ha! There were five more requests for my books waiting. It kept going on and on and on like that all morning.

I told myself, "I'm going to get books ready until noon. Then I'm going to take what's ready to the post office and call it a day." Then I had another thought: "I can't leave the house until the UPS guy shows up with the monitor Denis ordered for me. Crap!" (I now have a monitor so huge that I feel as if I have an aircraft carrier sitting on my desk.) So...since I had to wait for UPS, I listed several more books and continued to check requests. They never stopped! I had no idea bookaholics could resemble sharks in a feeding frenzy!

UPS showed up at 12:15, and I was still printing postage and getting books ready to send off. I finally called it quits at 2 PM and managed to find a laundry basket big enough in which to stuff all thirty-eight packages. I lugged the basket out to the car, huffed it into the post office, and sent them all on their merry way. Then I went out to my reading spot in the pool with a good book and a cold drink.

I'm exhausted, and I just checked: there are ten more requests waiting for me! I have been segregating the books I want to get rid of for the past few months, and Denis was beginning to complain. Normally I refuse to have piles of books anywhere in the house; they're all on shelves. He's much happier now that they're starting to find their way out of the house, and so am I. I'm also looking forward to the ones I've requested to be sent to me. It may very well get to the point where I have empty shelves where I can keep my PBS listed books separate from the rest and off the floor.

How many of you belong to Paperback Swap? Would you care to share your IDs with me so I can look you up? Mine is "cathyskye".

Now...I'm going to stumble off to bed, read a few pages, and sleep the sleep of the survivor! LOL