books, books, books

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. I cycled a few kilometers up the road to the "village" post office instead of going to the super local (100 metres walk away) post office. The local post office is in a big shopping centre and I am trying ever so hard not to buy STUFF I just do NOT need.... the temptation of an entire shopping mall can be hard..
All winter I have been trying to spend less (well the post office is doing well, but letters, postcards and parcels always cheer someone else up don't they?) - the winter wardrobe buys consisted of a NZ made pair of tights, 2 merino jerseys, a decent bag and a pair of sandals. Pretty good for me.
The boys do need some clothing possibly, but they never complain or really even ask for it :)

I did however buy books in Christchurch last week. One always needs new books. And Christchurch needs help with their local economy after the earthquakes. And I still have quite a lot of money to spend for school on library books.

I came home with this lot - yeah - it was not surprising that the Air New Zealand lady was looking at me when I was attempting to lift my bag up onto the convey-about thingy.

There are some real gems in this lot. If you have young children and do not know Oliver Jeffers picture books, get to a local bookshop pronto! I highly recommend The day the crayons Quit and the subsequent sequel above The Day the Crayons came home. My absolute favourite is Stuck and the Hueys and subsequent Huey titles. Book is so divine, that I have ordered another copy for myself.
Joy Cowley and Kate de Goldi (NZ authors) both have new ones out - I read the new Cowley one on the plane home and it is brilliant.
Quite funny I had to go all the way to Christchurch to find Gagana Samoan language readers!
I could esily fly to Christchurch and buy books every few months - I recommend Scorpio books and The Children's Bookshop there.