i heart you library

the tight budget this month has made me appreciate the value of FREE.  there aren't many places to find it these days but it does exist. in the summer in utah, there are plenty of free activities around because it is such a gorgeous place with great mountains and parks and hikes and trails at our doorstep.  but in the winter, you really have to push yourself to identify a free activity.   

with that challenge in mind, i'd like to dedicate this post to my new girlfriend,  the salt lake county library.  how cool are libraries?  the whole concept is just utterly fantastic.  i mean,  we citizens have at our disposal a warm place to go all day, every day, to read books, magazines, get movies, music, listen to storytimes or get on the computer.  it's a cultural mecca and you can take home just about everything in there for FREE. (well, i know technically we all pay for it a bit through taxes, but don't burst my bubble!)  

since having kids, i probably go to the library every other week but this month i've found a new way to utilize it and it is working wonders for me.  i tend to read a lot of magazines and online stuff each week and there are always book recommendations or things i want to research further, both for me and the kids, so i've gotten into a nice habit of adding them to a generic wishlist i keep on amazon.com.  this month  i've started to get serious about "shopping" for these wish list items at the library and i am in love with this process! it is working so well.  all i do is search the library's catalog online and place a hold on the items i want. they email me when they have pulled something aside and there it is, sitting just for me on the library's hold shelf.  it feels downright spoiling!  having good things waiting for you on the hold shelf is a huge boon with kids because it cuts down on the time you spend negotiating against getting a spiderman comic vs. an aesop fable and we don't have to wade through every title in the children's section to find the good ones.   i will be the first to admit that borrowing a book isn't always as nice as owning it, but i've found that unless you really LOVE a book or it is chock full of visual inspiration,  there just isn't a need to hang on to it.  they just take up space and sit there forgotten and dusty.  i think everyone is cutting back here and there on budgetary "indiscretions"  so i'd like to suggest an easy cut back.  don't go to barnes and noble. go out and get a library card and start using it!  you might be surprised how much money it saves you, and, let me tell you, the people watching is priceless!  

so here's to you library,  thank you for filling a void in my life this month and helping me stay sane!  (and for teaching cleo all about piranhas.)

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