Book Board Chat

Clear and cool here in Houston. Beautiful red sunset tonight. Happy New Year!

Diane - I remember the coke bottle with a cork sprinkler from when I was young. And I do recall some clothes in the bottom drawer of our yellow Frigidaire. When I wanted to earn some extra money, my mother would pay me ten cents per piece to iron. Sometimes we had a woman come in to help around the house and I remember her ironing. I guess my mother didn't like that particular chore! For some reason this ironing thing is one of my more vivid childhood memories. I was probably 9 or 10. I only use my iron now for sewing purposes. Ironing anything else never even occurs to me.

Ann that cat sanctuary looks like my kind of place! Currently have my eye on a yellow stray cat that lives in the alley behind my workplace. If he only knew the life of Riley he'd have if he came to live with us--he'd hop right into the car. Lol. I'm working on getting him to trust me. On the sly of course, since all the shop owners would freak if they knew I was was even thinking of feeding a stray. They finally got all the strays pretty much under control after the town's cat lady died and I don't want to get that started again. Wally, the cat in my photo, is not very affectionate. I miss having a cat to pet. And I am hankering for a yellow cat.

JoAnne A shame about your nice Bernina. I'd be willing to bet all that was wrong was the type of thread. My boss at the quilt shop says it's because the thread is no longer manufactured with long staple cotton. Used to be you just put in the thread and started sewing. It seems now all brands of machines are finicky about the thread and needles. its a process of elimination finding what works. I finally settled with using a old Singer 301 that I picked up at an estate sale. Nothing fancy but it's a workhorse. It doesn't care what I put in it. I absolutely love it.

Diane- dont even get me started on the sorry state of bed linens today! I have a single queen size percale top sheet and one pillow case left from a set I purchased in 1985. That sheet and pillow case still looks and feels practically brand new. They are hands down better than any others I have bought in the last 25 years. I used to actually enjoy making the bed, but not anymore with the flimsy ill-fitting things they are trying to pass off as sheets. There are many online discussions about people looking for sheets like we used to buy. Evidently they simply do not exist anymore--anywhere at any price.

I got smart (desperate?) and purposely looked for bed linens at estate sales last year when I was visiting Ohio. I lucked out and found three sets of queen size percales in a beautiful little floral print at one house. I'm normally a little squeamish about buying something like that used, but I snatched them up fast. They look practically brand new. The thicker mattress is a problem for the fitted sheets but I've been thinking about how I can fix that. I also have four towels that I bought in 1978 that are a little ragged around the edges but are still made better than anything out there today. I use them for the pets when needed.

The same can be said of good old Coats & Clark sewing thread. How many quilts and pieces of clothing were sewn together with this thread from the dime store? It was a good product but not anymore. The modern stuff shreds and breaks and can't even be used in most of the modern sewing machines while the spools from 30-40 years ago sew just fine in any machine you put it in. I pay a premium for thread made in Italy but it works just like the C&C used to. I'd order my sheets from there too if they would fit the bed.

Okay. I'll get off my soapbox now! Obviously a subject I feel strongly about. Lol.

Jane Thank you. Down to one 9 yr old cat (on heart meds) and a 17 year old cockatiel that lives on the dryer. The fewest amount of animals we've had in years. Our pet cemetery out back has certainly expanded. With the recent flooding down here, the shelters are full of dogs that need homes. I'm really tempted, but it's been a real problem finding someone to take care of the pets when we go out of town. The cost of that adds significantly to the traveling expenses. Guess we'll just wait til a stray finds us like we usually do. Then we'll know it's right.

Diane. Sorry you had to say goodbye to Rowdy. We had to say goodbye to our 16 year old cat Scrapper last week. These little animals are such good friends and it's so hard to lose them. My vet said that only a small percentage of cats and dogs live to such ages and that means we took really good care of them.

I hear you about the Houston traffic--it's gotten so much worse in the last five years with so many coming to live here from other states. Thanksgiving weekend I found myself driving the back roads home one evening instead of the interstate because the rain and bright lights were too much. Now I'm starting to understand why my mother didn't like to drive at night very much as she got older.

I grew up in Houston so it's always going to be home, but I sure wouldn't mind splitting my time between here and a lot of other places. Ahh, if only the finances permitted us to do so! We are tired of this "country" living and wish to be back to having the choice of nine grocery stores in the immediate area and lots of restaurants. I sometimes think about renting out this house and then renting an apartment in a high rise in downtown Houston. Lots of them to choose from now, but the developers think this is NYC or something and the rents are ridiculous these days. My husband wants to live anywhere it isn't hot. I would just like to get back to the city (and not the suburbs either).

Diane, maybe we should trade houses. Lol. I wouldn't mind trying out Florida near the beach for a while. Too bad I live 50 miles west of Houston and not so close to East Texas.

Reading all of your moving posts increases my desire to continue weeding out and paring down all of our stuff. After years of selling antiques and collectibles, then eBay, all the while fixing up an old house (boo HGTV), I desire nothing more than to see the baseboards in all of my rooms, clear walls and tables and a floor absent of cardboard boxes and paint cans. I'm tired of it all. It seems like I've done nothing but shuffle STUFF for the last 20 years. I can already see it doesn't get any easier the older you get.

While helping my sister move last September, I was carrying a box and missed the last step on the staircase. I sprained my ankle, it cost $800 at the ER to get it checked out, and it's still not healed all the way. That convinced me I have no business doing those type things anymore.

All of you inspire me to do more things than you'll ever know.

Thanks Diane. I will send you an email. Jane, not much new here. I am trying to make myself part with a storage unit full of advertising cookbooks that I have been selling online for many years. I love them still but they take up too much real estate in my small house and I don't sell enough anymore to justify the monthly storage unit cost. Here in Texas if paper isn't kept in climate controlled conditions, it deteriorates quickly. Can't figure out what to do with them and it's hard because I am still so attached to them. Sniff, sniff. I think I might try selling the whole shebang for a nominal cost on Craigslist or something. With one picture. Ha. After almost 20 years of selling online, I find it difficult to even want to deal with it anymore. Not even money makes me want to wrap and go to the post office. Lol. I am still grateful that I got to experience selling online in the good times though. And still love to buy books for myself. I guess my life is so boring that I can't find anything worthy of posting about on a regular basis. It is funny though, since I have read this board for the last 18 or so years every day that I feel like I know you all. I shall have to make an effort to post more so y'all can know me better.

Long time since I've posted but still read the board every day. Diane, I have a family member I'm stumped on if you'd like to give it a try.

mysteryhorse - I saw that you had pictures and looked at all of them. Liked how you incorporated the picture links into your post. Cute kids and I especially liked the Winner's Circle. How many people are in the club that own the horse?

Also forgot to say that although I've had a Kindle for about a year and a half, I've never really liked it. Partially because I prefer an actual book in my hand and also because I find the prices too high for something that's only going to read once. (I do like the samples, though). Last week when we went on vacation, I downloaded three Kindle books from one of the county libraries we belong to. Some of the newer stuff was waitlisted, but I got three books I thought I'd try. It was so easy and lots more convenient than carrying the actual books along on the trip (why I wanted the Kindle in the first place). The best part is that they were free! At least if I don't like them, I won't have wasted any money. Has anyone else tried this feature?

Paula - Not long ago I ran out of things to read in our small town library, so the librarian recommended the Robyn Carr Virgin River series. It seemed as if I had tried her books before and didn't like them, but I checked out three this time because I needed something to read. Surprisingly, this time I read them all and kept going back for more. Unfortunately the series ran out and now I'm waiting for new ones. Maybe because it's a different time in my life, or something like that, but I found them to be pleasant, stress-free reads even thought every one of them was predictable. They all seemed to be so cheerful and for the first time in all my years of reading, I felt like I was reading for escape. I didn't even mind the the boatload of stuff about babies although I don't usually care for that. Another library in a nearby county seems to stock a lot of fiction by British women authors and I have liked several of those (although their names escape me at the moment). Although I always liked Nora Roberts, I just can't get into any of the J.D. Robbs. I wanted to like them, but just can't, probably because of the futuristic stuff. I wish I liked the mystery authors, but don't care for any of them. It sure would give me a lot more to read.

Beth - What a coincidence. When I read your post about "Songs in an Ordinary Time," I though the title and Vermont setting sounded familiar. And it was. I just checked that book out of the library last week. It's in my pile to read.

furtima - I love your paintings! I think they would make an awesome set of postcards.

aegbooks - taking a few away each day doesn't sound so scary, does it? Pictures wouldn't work for me either. We made a new rule around here a while back--when we bring in something new (books, shoes, shirts, etc.) we have to get rid of an old thing in the same category. So far, it's been working, at least we aren't accumulating more. The pictures made me think of when Hurricane Ike was coming back in 2008. The projected landfall and strength put our small town directly in its path. The evening before, I went around the house taking photos with my digital camera of each room and all the stuff in there. Fortunately, the super high winds missed us and when I looked at the pictures later, I was appalled at how cluttered and junky everything looked. I guess we were so used to looking at everything that it didn't seem as cluttered as it really was. The photos inspired me to get rid of some stuff. We even finished a bathroom which had become more of a junk room in the middle of a several year long hiatus where we had stalled out in the middle of an upgrade.

Have a cockatiel who lives in a good size cage on top of the dryer (which is in a utility room we pass through numerous times ever day). The parakeet belongs to my sister and is temporarily housed in her cage on top of the washer. I think because there isn't room for the cats to jump up on top of either machine that they don't bother. Have seen them sitting on the floor eyeing the cage(s) when they are really bored, but for the most part they are trained to leave the birds alone. I wouldn't leave the cage on top of the dining room table, for instance, where the cat could easily get too close. The cockatiel sounds the alarm when she feels a cat is too close for comfort--it's a distinct sound that means the cat is too close. That bird has lived on top of the dryer for 11 years and so far, so good. Used to have a very large cage on legs and about seven feet tall, but no room here for that one.

diane - I was young when Peyton Place was on television, but my mom and her friends watched it, so I remember it being on. I ought to look around and see if I can find some old episodes to watch so I can see how much of it I remember. Your job at the TV station always sounds so interesting. What a great time you must have had!

jim - Have a Kindle too and although it has it uses, it will never replace a real book for me. Since I long ago weaned myself off of buying newly released fiction at full price, I have a really hard time paying those prices for an ebook that I can't even hold or trade in for something else. When it was new I got a newly released Nora Roberts title at full price, zipped right through it ( and it wasn't one of her best ones) and then thought about all the other things I could have spent that $15 on. I have purchased a very few titles in the $6-7 range to fill in for authors when I can't find copies at the library. I do like it for traveling because it takes up so little space. I like it for restaurants because I don't have to hold it open with my hand (although I am leary of liquids or spatters). I really like the sample chapters. The best part is at 2 a.m. when you realize that you have nothing to read and that you can get anything you want in about 60 seconds.

sareader - I know what you mean about books feeling like old friends. I have so many like that and though I weed through and cull, some of them I just can't part with because of their memories. Long ago cleared out the paperback fiction and then eventually hardcover fiction to make more shelf space. For purely nostalgic reasons, I only kept paperback copies of Valley of the Dolls, Once is Not Enough, The Carpetbaggers (loved Harold Robbins early fiction) Peyton Place and two autobiographies--Fortunate Son and The Coal Miner's Daugher. Now I buy and keep only non-fiction. Think my NF shelves are better stocked than our local small town library which is struggling along. I also collected cookbooks, but have managed to pare that down to two floor to ceiling shelves. I noticed that I don't cook much anymore, we eat out a lot, but there are still so many memories with those cookbooks and occasionally I still do use some of the recipes. I also sell the old promotional cookbooks and have a room full of those that take up a lot of real estate (not to mention those in bins and boxes in the closets). My husband is a big reader too, of fiction. To support our reading habit, we had to resort to the library some years back. Living near Houston, there's a lot of competition for the new releases, but we make do with luck and timing and reserving copies. We have library cards to four different libraries that we use to feed our habit! We solved the problem of getting the library books mixed in with our own by just keeping the ones we're not reading in a large book bag. There's a great used bookstore that we frequent also that helps fill in some of the fiction spaces and we trade those back. Some days I look around and think to myself that our main furniture consists of bookshelves with a place to sit, sleep and eat thrown in as a mere afterthought. Can't hardly hire anyone in town to help me move anything because they have shuffled my many boxes of books around one time to many. Never met a book I didn't like. Should also mention that we live in a small 1,110 sq ft house with three cats and two birds (one borrowed). Thank goodness they don't like to read too.

Bob, so sorry about mama mia. It's the hardest thing when our little kitty friends leave us. Sounds like she will have a nice resting place.

lludwig - Don't mind hearing about LLB's adventures either. San Francisco is #2 on my list of places I'd like to live. I often think about how my life might have turned out if only there had been the interent when I was 18. In some ways the younger generation is so fortunate. In other ways, well, I'm glad I'm not so young anymore. LOL

lludwig - I don't think it's boring reading about Swifty's apartments. It is an entirely different way of life than Houston and there aren't many opportunities to hear what it's really like. I wish I would have had the foresight (or courage) to move to NYC when I got out of school. I've always wanted to live there. Now I'm too old to do anything about that. Can't even get any husbands/boyfriends to visit. 🙂

lludwig - In Texas, like anywhere, we have to live in what they build. And they primarily build large square footage houses so that is what we're used to. Older, smaller houses or apartments are not that plentiful as everything "old" (pre-1950's) is/has been torn down to make way for new construction. The droves of people who are moving here from California sure aren't complaining about the large square footage--they are delighted to buy a huge house with lots of money left over after the sale of their homes on the West coast. Soon their houses, and the houses of the people from other states coming here to get jobs, will fill up with furniture too. Congratulations to Swifty. Quite an accomplishment at any age.

Ann - I never knew how Furtima, Maureen14 and the others did it either. I really admired their fortitude. I only did it for 45 days and I was a basket case. Hang in there, I'm thinking of you.

Maureen - what a good idea--I may have to try that!

adderbolt - LOL, no union at the HEB stores in Texas. I do remember my sackers in the Akron Acmes to be top notch. They also spoiled me with "snow" bags -- paper sack inside of plastic. I also remember them to be older and they never squished any of my food.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the way the groceries are bagged. I like my cold/frozen foods together and the dry things separate. I like my bread to still be in a loaf shape when I get home and don't want the frozen pizza melting all over the bag of sugar, or the hot soup from the deli bagged with the cold sushi. Even though I take them out of the cart and group them together on the belt, by the time it gets down to the sacker, they are putting bags of potatoes on top of the delicate tomatoes, fish in with the milk, cantalopes on top of the eggs, etc. I have to practically stand watch over them, and then don't have the opportunity to watch the price scanner to make sure I'm charged the correct amount for each item (there's always at least one item not priced according to the shelf price). It makes me crazy! Crazier still when I get home and see that something has been ruined or overcharged for, but it's too far to go back. I wonder if they are just lacking common sense or if they won't have a clue until they are out spending their own hard-earned money on groceries. I'm sure they hate to see me coming.

furtima - I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I'll be thinking of you and your family.

dupo, I'm so sorry to hear about Miss Kitty.

wellingtonct - No, not my ebay ID. I haven't sold on Ebay in quite some time. We rescued the cat in the avatar from a Wal-Mart parking lot. He was a small kitten covered in motor oil when my husband brought him home. Naturally, his name is.... Wally. After living the good life for about four years now, the vet recently said he needs to lose a couple of pounds.

Good morning. I have been in the rafters, although rarely ever posting, since the beginning of the bookboard so many years ago. Reading the BB everyday has become an ingrained habit and I'm grateful for the webmaster for creating this beautiful site so that it may continue on. I have learned so many things from all of you over the years and want to say thank you.