The house doesn't want us to miss it too much so today it decided to flood again. When I get back in town next week I'm packing boxes nonstop. I'm no longer dreading the move.

I wanted to publicly remind myself that one of the great things about leaving this house is that I'll never have to listen to the continuing education of Little Drummer Boy. Today he's working on solos. Long, rambling, cymbal-filled solos. He and his friends have recently discovered how much they love Bob Marley, and they play Legend for hours in their backyard, just under this window where I work.

I understand Allison's need to post in all caps. When you get to the point where you're looking at your to do list and it's longer than there are minutes in the day, all you know how to do anymore is emphasize just how busy you are. Like Jack talking to Wendy when she interrupts him working. It's distracting.

This will be somewhere around my twenty-fifth move. That number almost makes no sense at all. Here's another way to put it. Other than the four years I lived with my parents when I was in high school, the house I'm sitting in right now is the longest I've ever lived somewhere. Before that it was either my last Austin apartment when I lived with Eric, or it was the time I lived with Ray for over a year. When we move into this house, this house we're buying and will be our house and nobody can tell us they've decided to sell it and there's an open house next weekend and could I hide the cats, there's a good chance it will become the house I'll live in the longest. I only have to live there for more than four years.

They're still trying to sell the house we're living in, which has made it seventeen kinds of frustrating. I mentioned the flood that happened in the beginning of the book drive. This forced us to evacuate our downstairs room so they could replace the carpeting and paint the walls that had suffered damage in the four previous bathroom floods. This means we had to turn our bedroom into our office, because we have to work more than we have to sleep. Our garage right now is a glorified storage unit, with half of it filled with items we plan on selling in this mythical garage sale we've been planning on attempting. The other half is taken up by office furniture, weight equipment and cat shit. The cats, in fact, have started treating it as their bizarre apartment, and find it rude whenever we go in there to do laundry. This might be due to the fact that several times a week the cats are locked in that room so that strangers can walk through this house and decide if they'd like to buy it. This means that we've had to keep the house at "Mom's Coming To Visit" clean for almost two months. It's work. I know for some people that's considerered "clean." For us it's just more clean than we can handle.

We tossed out our mattress, which had been unaffectionately called the "Bed of Forks." That's what it feels like when you're trying to sleep. We're now sleeping on our guest futon which used to be in the guest room which is now an empty space. We're basically living and working out of a one-bedroom. With three cats. You can see why the cats have decided to annex the garage as their own.

This week we have to get our change of address forms, deliver paperwork to the escrow people, call the current homeowners of our new place and ask if we can come in and measure things, call the homeowners of the place we live in now and ask for a letter saying we're good tenants. We need to go to the wedding location, sign paperwork, decide on a few more things. I have a pitch tomorrow for a number of people on a project that we've been working on for a very long time. All of this, and I have a flight on Friday to visit my mom because she moved across the country this month, and bought a new home back where she grew up. I may outnumber Mom on moves now, but she's still making huge ones in her life, unafraid to change things, to move forward, to do what feels right and what makes her happy. She's so brave.

Everybody's moving forward and making changes during this time of the year that we're supposed to slow down, take it easy. If this is what we do in our down time, imagine what we'll do when we kick things into gear.

But it's very different for me. You see, I'm writing this post on my fancy new computer that I bought because I get to write another fancy book for Downtown Press. I haven't bought a computer since I was a junior in college. My ancient iMac kept crashing (and doesn't travel well), and my dad's old laptop has a thirty-minute battery life due to a bug in that version of the computer. So: enter my new, shiny iBook. I love it already.

I've been waiting to announce this because I've learned it's never over until the contract's signed. I got the go-ahead from my editor yesterday that I could let all of you know. I'm hard at work on another novel for S&S. I'll post details like pub date, title and synopsis as they're available (don't hold your breath... it'll be sometime next year). As for the last novel, it's on hold for now.

We're moving in three weeks.
The wedding is pretty soon.
I am not going to panic.

We met our wonderful cake lady on Monday. When you hear "cake lady" you assume you're going to deal with a semi-crazy lady who has a perpetual smudge of flour on her cheek. But our cake lady is not only sane, she's really pretty and has a beautiful home. I'm not just saying that because she fed us tasty cakes. I don't recommend ever eating cake at ten in the morning after a drive through the mountains, though. Just a little tip from this bride to all y'all.

Due to the amazing response of over 450 donations in just one month, I added a bonus winner to the contest.  The four winners are:

lil d, who sent: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir, by Azar Nafisi, Empress Orchid by Anchee Min, and The Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975.

emily, who sent: My Not-So-Terrible Time at the Hippie Hotel, by Rosemary Graham, Keeping You a Secret, by Julie Anne Peters, and Freaky Green Eyes, by Joyce Carol Oates.

jennifer, a local who sent: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly and The Fate of the Romanovs by Greg King.

and finally:  

Janice, who sent: Leonardo Da Vinci, by Sherwin B. Nuland, and Leonardo da Vinci (Masters of Art), by Jack Wasserman  

 
Congratulations to these four winners and thanks again for everybody who has helped the book drive so far this year.  It's been an amazing experience.

Pamie -

As your book drive for San Diego County Library comes to a close, the community of Rancho San Diego wants to express its sincere thanks for your thoughtfulness and the generosity of your readers. The books we've been sent have built our collection up and provided more of what our customers want and need. If there is anyone still looking for the opportunity to contribute books to our library, the youth services list has been expanded to include several variations on Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as books on the Olympics, something we definitely need more of in this Olympics year!

We continue to be touched by the response to this drive. Thanks to everyone, far and wide!

Sincerely,
Barbara Sutton
Youth Services Librarian
San Diego County Library
Rancho San Diego Branch
11555 Via Rancho San Diego
El Cajon, CA 92019
619-660-6325
www.sdcl.org

Hi Pamie,

My name is Katrina, and I am the Youth Services Librarian at the San Marcos Branch of the San Diego County Library.

Thanks to your efforts in promoting SDCL's Amazon wish lists, we are the lucky recipients of 18 books (so far)! Since our information was posted in your bookdrive blog, we have been steadily receiving shipments from people across the country! I am overwhelmed and not just a little choked up as items arrive here at the branch.

Thank you so much for thinking of us -- what a wonderful gift to the children and teens in our community!

Gratefully,
Katrina Neville
Youth Services Librarian
San Marcos Branch
San Diego County Library

Dear Pamie,

Many thanks to all of the people who have purchased books for the Lakeside Library. Best sellers, history, legal guides and reference books have come in from Washington, Texas, New York and even, London, England! Just the other day, I had a customer who needed a book on how to become a legal guardian for a child. I noticed that our copy was lost. I put a new edition on my wish list and within days I had it in my hands. Talk about real time collection development!

As other librarians for our system have commented, the library has been a great resource of comfort and rebuilding for members of our communities. Though our community was especially hard hit by the wildfires last fall, Lakeside's renowned "cowboy spirit" has pulled them through. To read more about Lakeside and our history, visit the Lakeside Historical Society's website.

Thank you, Pamela, for raising awareness about the plight of libraries in San Diego county, but of libraries everywhere.

Donna Ohr
Branch Librarian
Lakeside Branch Library
(619) 443-1660

Hi Pamie!

I hope you're doing well.

I received a letter today from the Beverly Public Library in Beverly, Massacusetts. I did an Amazon wishlist search for libraries in my area and Beverly. I was intrigued because Beverly is near Boston and the affluent cities of Cape Cod; how much help could they need as a well-situated city with access to both money and political input? Turn out, they are just as affected by budget cuts as a small library branch in Western Massachusetts or California. Here's the letter (you got a shout-out as well!):

On behalf of the Beverly Public Library and the Trustees of the Beverly Public Library, please accept my sincere thanks for your generous donation to the Beverly Public Library of Hoax by Nicholas Von Hoffman. Thank you also for giving credit to Pamela Ribon.

This past year our book budget was cut by approximately 80%. This left very little money for books, magazine subscriptions, and newspapers. We are grateful for your support of the library because it makes it possible for us to provide much-needed books for our patrons.

Again, thank you!

Sincerely,
Thomas F. Scully, library director

Eighty percent. Ridiculous.

I wanted to show you this letter to let you see the difference you're making, slowly, all over the country. I'm on the other coast, but am urging everyone I know to not only help out the San Diego library system, but local branches as well. I'll be talking to the English Club at Framingham State College this fall to see if we can figure out a similar program for the library. Their budget is currently at ZERO. I'm also trying to get my friends and co-workers registered to vote so that we can try to send the message to our lawmakers that this gutting of the arts and public works is unacceptable. It would have taken me quite a long time to realize the problem and figure out a way to ease it if it hadn't been for pamie.com.

Thanks for doing this, Pamie. And thanks for taking time out to read this letter.

-Vikky

Hey Pam,

Today I got the nicest card from Donna M. at the Vista Branch in Vista, CA. She thanked me for the four books I sent and asked if I'd like a bookplate with my name in them! She was also surprised that someone from the Midwest would take the time and effort to browse their list and make a donation to a library that they've never seen nor visited. I've mentioned your book drive I just wish more people would donate!

Anyway, thanks again for the opportunity to improve my karma and make some children happy with new books to read!

Winners of the bookdrive contest will be posted today as soon as I've finished posting the donations.

Pamie,

Thank you so much for connecting us to such generous people. We are so excited to see new books arrive and our customers are so grateful. You must be rewarded over and over again for all your good deeds! Thanks to all who have purchased books for the San Diego County Library system.

All of our branches share the wealth since all of our titles are interchanged among the 32 branches and two bookmobiles. It is a wonderful thing. We welcome all of our donors from near and far to come and visit us if you are ever in our neighborhood. We would love to meet you!

-From all the staff at the Alpine Library.