The airing of grievances

Carl and I were watching a program some time ago about the top 10 heiresses in the world. It, of course, depicted their extravagant and opulent lifestyles. One thing that I found interesting was their massive collections of whatever happened to interest them at the time, like expensive purses, designer shoes, cars for every occasion (possibly to match every outfit?) - all the predictable sort of things. It made me wonder: what would my collection be if money were no object? I asked Carl what he would collect, and he didn't hesitate in deciding on a wine collection. Not surprising for someone who follows Cellar Notes on NPR. I knew my answer too. As weird as it seems, my collection would be children's books. Specifically, picture books geared toward preschoolers. I have a real weakness for them. (As evidenced this past Christmas, Santa has a real love of children's books as well!)

So, probably the only thing that curbs my buying of books and saves our family from financial ruin is the library. Which brings us to my real point with all of this. I am sad to report that our local library is just not up to par. It is a brown 70s style building that has brown bookshelves, and I even think it has brown carpeting. So, my overall initial impression was clearly: brown. The children's area held NO appeal. There was barely any distinction between the adult books and the children's section. The selection was at best limited. They had a couple of bean bags and old stuffed animals, but it was just sad. I almost felt bad for the stuffed animals. I suppose we were spoiled by our last library that was bright, had an enormous children's section with an extensive collection of books, videos, audio book sets, even theme backpacks that the children could borrow. They had puzzles, games, educational toys, different coloring activities, plenty of tables, just an overall attractive environment. It makes my heart ache just thinking about it. Okay, so maybe I'm being a touch over dramatic. But I truly am disappointed with the new place. I know it's not their fault. It is an older building, and I imagine they probably have priorities that surpass the updating the children's area (like maybe a new roof and such...?).

An alternative to the library is just going to Barnes and Noble and hanging out there, reading some books. Even though this is not as much fun because you can't take the books home without paying. I'm sad to say that even the closest Barnes and Noble is terribly outdated and unappealing. Sigh. I love so much about the area in which we live. They have some of the best children's parks and more water parks than I've ever seen. The museums are FANTASTIC. The zoo is incredible (and free!). Awesome restaurants. I guess that there are just some drawbacks in living in one of the more established areas of St. Louis. (We also have the second oldest Target in the St. Louis area - not a pretty sight.)

The funny thing is that I know this is not a problem that is keeping Lily up at night. I'm sure she's just fine with the library the way it is, but I'm not. Maybe I need to be a part of some task force or something. I really want to find some way that I can help our little sad brown library, but mostly I guess that I'm just airing my grievance (a very important part of the under appreciated holiday of Festivus).