Mom's Birthday and the Green Valley Book Fair

     It seems like I was on the road for more hours than I was awake on Sunday October 10th. Yet it was such an amazing day. My mom's 80th birthday. She wanted to share it with her church friends in the morning and then my sisters and I, at the Green Valley Book Fair, just south of Harrisonburg, Va, in the afternoon.

My haul from the Green Valley Book Fair near Harrisonburg Va.

    I arrived at the church a little before 10am and had coffee while I waited for everyone to come down stairs from the second service. We had brunch and the huge chocolate cake my sisters had bought. Then after mom's second Sunday School Class ( where they sang happy birthday to her for the third time) We all met at the car and took off for our road trip.

     3 hours later we were down a long country road surrounded by cows and corn and in the middle of it was a huge ware house with over 500,000 brand new and some out of print discounted books. It was like a country festival. They had food vendors set up for the lunch crowd, hundreds of people in the middle of no where all looking at the books!

    Well I only got to the first floor. So, I actually only saw one book that had anything to do with horses or horse sports. It was a huge coffee table book by a woman who had compiled years of equine sports photography, a lot of it licensed images, and much of it in very poor resolution for the size of the book. They wanted $5 for it. I had to pass. I already had most of the images in other books I’ve collected over the years.

     Yet I was on a quest and never realized it. I began to notice piles of books under the tables and that is where I found the first book: Crafts and Craft Shows and How to make money. This book's second edition was published in 2007. I’m thinking well I don’t really do shows anymore but I sure could run my online things as shows. So for $5 I think I got a great deal. Later while waiting for the rest of the family I read the first chapter. The book already paid for its self. And I can’t wait to try out some of the things they suggest this week.

    The second book I found was also under the table. People from Art Show Judges to my DRS worker have been telling me for years that I should become an illustrator. Sooo in honor of them and to prove I am listening ( grin) I picked up a copy of the 21st edition of the Children's writer's and Illustrator’s Market. I haven’t looked at it yet. The paperback was $5.

     Then the last book I found was actually out in the open. Crisis Control in the new millennium by Larry Burkett. 20 years ago I used to listen to his radio show. He founded Christian Financial Concepts. He was one of the first people to warn of the economic crisis how to protect ourselves and how Americans could prosper and not be harmed from it. Every debt consultant out there now uses his basic principles for paying down debt.

Crisis Control in the new Millennium was priced at $2.99 . It was published in 1999

     It was a fun and exhausting day. Good time with my sisters and my mom. We were actually all were so tired at the end of the day that we crashed at about 8pm. I cant remember the last time I went to bed that early. LOL.

You can find out more about the book fair which runs through October 23rd and then the Christmas book fair from Nov 25 through December 17th  at http://www.gobookfair.com/