Ever have a bad day? Ever had a bad book order? Ever received a bad book? Ever pay full price, only to receive a defective copy? Surprisingly, that happened to me.

Last autumn, I was ordering a couple of books from Tapestry of Grace for an upcoming unit. When they arrived, I anxiously opened the package. After all, what homeschooler doesn’t open boxes left by the brown truck in eager anticipation? Delightfully, I thumbed through one book and it looked crisp, new, and full of fascinating details! I couldn’t wait to dig into it. Then I picked up the other book. As I thumbed through it, I was shocked to see red markings throughout the book, in random fashion. Hmmmmm….. I know Tapestry of Grace to be a reputable company and would only ship quality products. Surely there was a reasonable explanation for this! I imagined that a child had been loose in the warehouse, picked up a book and started pretending to be a college student, making "thoughtful" marks throughout the book.

I e-mailed TOG to let them know about my, ahem, red inked book. ;) Juli, at customer service, was horrified! She couldn’t imagine how a marked book ended up at my house! She promised a clean copy, which quickly arrived by the end of the week. I opened that one and it was fresh and clean! I e-mailed Juli to let her know I had received the new book and to thank her. She then told me an interesting story. ;)

When the TOG staff were at a meeting, Juli mentioned how a customer received a marked copy of Courage and Conviction. Suddenly, Marcia (author of TOG) got a sheepish look on her face. Everyone said, "Marcia…." Apparently I had received her working copy! Those were her marks! Those were her thoughtful ponderings while writing Year 2! She inadvertently left it in a stack with other books in the warehouse! LOL

When I realized the history of this book, everything changed! The previously unwanted marked copy was now hot stuff! Uh-oh! Maybe Marcia wanted it back? Regretfully, I did as I knew I ought and asked Juli if Marcia wanted it back; I would mail it. No, no, she was done and I could do what I wanted with it. I could even sell it on e-bay! She had to be kidding! This is my copy! LOL I was even given permission to blog about it! =)