Third plan's the charm

If there is one motto that can sum up my life, it is this: “OK, new plan!” As frustrating as it is, usually it’s not the FIRST plan I have for something that works out the way I hope. (This is why I tell the kids, “Always have a Plan B!”) Life really hasn’t gone according to plan, but I have learned to accept that. Just roll with the punches. They say “Man plans and God laughs.” Well, He must’ve gotten quite the chuckle over how my plan for today got botched.

For all of last week, I had my sights set on an event taking place this weekend: The Lavender Festival (link). I asked Jennifer if she wanted to go with me but she wasn’t interested. Then I considered asking one of my friends but then I thought more on it and realized I would be much more happier if I went solo. I do enjoy going places with my friends (although there is just ONE friend who I go places with), but for the most part, I like to experience things by myself. I’m a loner and prefer to experience things alone. Just totally immerse myself in it without having to remember a friend or family member is with me that I gotta stay connected with.

Well, that was my plan, anyway. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go to the Lavender Festival today. I spent some time last night figuring out just where it was (not Eugene or Springfield) and then going over the route on how I’d have to drive there. Sadly, the festival was being held too far away (out by Walterville) and, also, my car is not in good enough condition for the trip.

Ohhh, dang. Why do so many fun and cool events take place so far away???

Well, despite this setback, I checked out the calendar of events to see what else was going on this weekend. I may not have been able to go to one thing, but I knew I wanted to go SOMEWHERE and do SOMETHING. I was happy to discover there was a book sale going on at the library today, with books selling for just a dollar. Awesome!

Before I could go to a book sale though, I had to take stock of what books I needed for my book collections.

That’s right, I collect certain books!

I am not just talking about classics. I am talking about types of books.

I collect history books, science books and biographies. I also collect the Guinness World Record books. And I also collect what I call “President books” (biographies of the Presidents), textbooks and books by my two favorite authors: Anne Rice and Michael Crichton. So I took stock of the books I already had for these collections so I’d know if a certain book would be needed or not.

With all that done, I figured I was all set to go to the book sale. But, alas! I didn’t get ready to go in time. Darn it!

Sooo I wanted to figure out what ELSE I was gonna do today. One thing I knew: I was in a book-buying mood. And there was definitely one place I knew I could go to to see if they had the books I needed: A thrift store called St. Vincent dePaul. It is not far from my house and the last time I was there was with Jennifer and she scored a couple of textbooks she would be using for her next (and last!) year of Junior High. Apparently, I am not the only one who buys textbooks: Jen buys them too. She even has a calculus textbook on her bookshelf.

So I drove out to StVdP and checked out their books. I love buying books at thrift stores. Not only is it more affordable (the textbooks are $2.50 each – a very NICE price drop compared to a receipt of $92 I saw for a similar textbook!) but sometimes I will find a book that is out of print, by a favorite author or a book that is rare to find. And it’s always a plus if the book is in good condition.

Fortunately, I did find a couple of good textbooks to add to my collection, and I also found a couple of history books too. Thankfully, these books were in good condition; no torn pages, weak binding or excessive interior writing that makes them unreadable. I was happy with the condition of the books. And even more happy that THIS time things went according to plan. Yay!

The third plan for today was a success. I am happy with how it turned out. Hopefully next year my car will be working better and I can go to the Lavender Festival and maybe the library will have another $1 book sale this year. At least I got to go somewhere and that’s all I wanted to get out of my Saturday.