On Hold

Oh geez. As if I needed another reminder of my lazy, procrastinating ways....I was told today by paperback swap that my account has been put on hold.

A few months ago at book club, I heard about this great site where you could list your old books and trade them away with other members to get new "gently used" books for your collection. Finally a few days ago, I decided to dig out a bunch of old books and get myself set up on this site. Signing up and posting my books was easy enough...

I guess I wasn't expecting the quick response! I posted the books and within hours there were three requests waiting in my in-box. Wonderful! This will work out well. That was my first thought. But my second thought was: When am I going to get to the post office? and I have to drag my children with me...and suddenly this idea of swapping books through the mail became less appealing. And as the e-mails from Paperback Swap kept coming requesting the books that I no longer wanted (I think all 24 that I posted received a request!), the great idea became a ticking time bomb...soon and very soon the bomb would go off and I would be reminded of how useless I am when it comes to organizing, being timely, and adding things to my life that involve me buckling and unbuckling three children into car seats four times (or more) in the course of one car trip.

I never go to the post office anymore. I pay my bills online, I buy stamps at the grocery store for the random mailing I need to do, I even e-file my taxes ...and I usually get my books from the library. Adding a post office trip to my list of "running around errands" just does not sound in any way convenient.

I don't know why I decided to mess with a good thing anyway. I'll loan or give my books away to friends or family and I will continue to use the public library, which is a lovely neighborhood resource.

Three days later, because I failed to say that I would mail out my books, Paperback Swap has put a hold on my account. I don't like how that sounds, but I like it better than multiple trips to the post office!