What I Did on My Presidents' Day Vacation

So so sorry, Internets. We were visiting Mama Turista in San Antonio this weekend, and I've been catching up with, you know, LIFE the past two days. But, I'm back now. I think.

Last Wednesday, because I love to be all benevolent and shit like that, I took Peach to Half Price Books and told her to pick out a few books for GGMS's library book drive. We had a few gently used paperbacks to throw in, but I thought she would also enjoy picking out something new, so when we happened upon a series of illustrated classics for young readers at $2.98 a pop, I told her to choose 4 or 5 titles. Not an easy task for a stone cold bookworm, I now realize. Por ejemplo:

P: Oh, Mommy! They have Oliver Twist! I love Oliver Twist! And look! The Secret Garden! Wait - is that? YES! It's A Little Princess! I LOVE THAT BOOK! And Heidi! And Great Expectations! Did you know Charles Dickens wrote that, too? And A Christmas Carol. YES! They have Tom Sawyer AND Huck Finn! And they have Black Beauty! You know who would love that? Olive! You know, because she loves horses. And they have ...

You get the picture. We ended up with 10 titles, 4 of which never left our house. And thus began my journey, my mission, my compulsion, if you will. Must. Get. More. Must. Have. Complete. Series.

I know, I know. But I am SO my father's daughter. He loves nothing more than to "hunt" for stuff. Not live stuff - not anymore, anyway. Mama Turista won't allow that. Just STUFF. Like if you just casually mention you like a certain coffee, he'll hit every Wal Mart, Sam's, and Costco within the state until he finds a pallet of the stuff he can deliver to your house. And what's good for one of us is probably better for the whole family, so - pallets for everyone!

So one week later, after five trips to four stores in two cities, voila:

Now if we can just track down that pesky King Arthur, Peach's wishlist will be complete. The only problem with all of this, besides providing further proof that I should probably be "talking to someone" about my compulsive behavior, is this is the view I've been getting of Peach the last few days:

I used to be like that. The whole reading-while-walking-then-falling-down-the-stairs thing. Now the extent of my pleasure reading is the few pages of People magazine I can get through in the 10 minutes it usually takes before I fall asleep. But I did snag this for a couple of bucks:

I also got a giant book of these puzzles all the kids are doing these days. SOO-DOH-KOO? Maybe you've heard of it?

And just to show you that I came by this craziness honestly, upon Papa Turista's triumphant return from The Valley on Sunday, he had in hand 4 titles from another illustrated classics series for young readers. Awww ...