Summer Reading Challenge

I have been in a reading-for-pleasure slump, mostly because of the spring cleaning but also because I never know what I want to read. I blazed through those two new books I just bought as well, so I'm back to square one. To cure this malady I thrifted a box of vintage Harlequin romances for the minimum bid. They arrived in remarkable condition, looking as new as they did when they were published.

I know people turn their nose up at these type novels, but I enjoy them a lot. They're usually well-written, have an interesting storyline and aren't too graphic (I have nothing against graphic romances, btw; they're just not what I read for pleasure.) A lot of talented, prolific romance authors like Anne Stuart got their start writing for publishers like Harlequin.

I'm hoping to read all 25 books this summer, starting with this one. I'll post about the best books in the lot, and then do a big wrap-up of all of them once I finish the pile. As for what I paid for them, I bid the minimum and won the entire lot for $9.99. The books retailed new for $4.99 back in the eighties and nineties, when it would have cost me $124.75 to buy them new, so it's an excellent value.

Comments

Gifts

This is a story that starts out very sadly, so if you're depressed by the holidays you might want to skip the first part. As far back as I can remember I've dreaded the holidays. Being poor, having constant family troubles and belonging to a strict religion made that time of year always pretty unhappy. I just hunkered down and hoped to get through without being yelled at or punished because I didn't do something I was expected to do, like sit in church for hours without moving or making a sound while a priest spoke mass in Latin. Gifts were uniformly disappointing, too. My mother usually gave me dolls or socks or underwear for Christmas. I understand now as an adult that she was doing the best she could, and trying to save money at the same time, but as a kid I'd been told good children got what they wanted for Christmas. I was a pretty good kid, but while my friends received new bikes and cool toys and lots of treats from Santa, I didn't. I thought San

We Have Backsplash!

Yesterday my guy and I decided to chose this natural stone as the backsplash tiles for our new kitchen counters (which will be in the same quartz I'm holding at the bottom of the photo.) Since all the bids for installing the backsplash came in very high my guy is going to put it in himself; he's done a bit of tile work in the past, too. I swear there is nothing this guy can't do. :)

Detoxing Results

For twenty-four hours I left these five vintage cigar boxes sit with detoxing agents (baking soda, coffee grinds, dryer sheets, vinegar and Febreze) inside them to see which worked best to remove the tobacco/storage odors that came with them. I then removed the agents and did a sniff test. Before we get into the results, a reminder: none of what I do is ever meant to be expert advice, as I am certainly not an expert at anything. Follow my methods at your own risk, and please first consult an actual antique expert conservator or restorer to detox items that have value for you. Okay, let's see how my experiment worked. Baking soda (left) did nothing to remove the odors. I think if I let it sit for a longer period of time it might have done something, but for a 24-hour test it was a complete fail. Coffee grinds (right) removed 100% of the odors, and left behind definite coffee scent. I like that and think it goes very well with wood, but if you don't like the smel

Rayen

Search This Blog