Spreading Goodwill again

I'm on an unintentional roll. Today's Goodwill find is this three volume set of Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.


I bought them for $2/book--total $6. eBay has sets starting at $50.

Now to figure out how to sell on eBay.

Goodwill Hunting

The other day I drove by a Goodwill store and so I stopped because, well, that's what I do now every time I see a Goodwill store. It is sort of like wiping down a doobknob before you touch it (which I don't do) or bumping elbows instead of shaking hands (which I don't do but think would be a little fun) or kissing the clasp on my necklace and making a wish every time it makes it way to the front of my neck and touches the charm (don't judge me).

But Goodwill stores sell used books for a very reasonable price, so I like to check out the inventory whenever I see one, and by whenever I see one I mean about once a week.. Anyway--this particular Goodwill store has the smallest book rack of all the Goodwill stores I frequent, so it usually takes me only a couple of minutes to see if there is anything I like. I've learned, however, that it's best to walk around a rack at least a couple of times because each time I seem to find a book I didn't notice before.

On the second time around I found this really great Harvard classic, Two Years Before the Mast.

It's got this really pretty gold-embossed cover...

and gilded edges on all three sides of the pages.

That's going to make something very special one day.

I was just getting ready to head to the front to pay when I saw a skinny volume with the word CROSBY embossed in gold. Normally I'm looking for big, fat books, so this one had escaped my eye the first three times I had made my way around the rack. But it was so glittery that I had to pull and it out and I found this.

 Just the prettiest cover ever, all navy and green and gold.

 I turned it over and the back was just as glittery even though that was a picture of what? A hot water heater or something?

I mean look at this dazzling cover.

My first thought was WOW that will make something super-spectacularly beautiful!

Then I opened it up. Believe it or not, this was actually a catalog for the Crosby Gage and Valve Company. It starts with pictures of all their factories and then continues with pictures and specs of all the products they made for steam-powered contraptions. 

Then  I noticed that it was printed in 1904. That's 14 years before my 94-year-old grandmother was born!

According to accounts I've been able to find on the Internet, Crosby was started in Massachusetts in the 1870s. By 1904 they had offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London as it proudly boasts on the cover. Some accounts say there were also offices in Hamburg. By the 1950s they were bought up by another big company. (Been there, done that, Crosby.)

Anyway Goodwill was asking their standard $1.99 for a hardback book, so I snatched it up.

When I got home I checked eBay to see if anyone had ever sold a book like this. And SCORE! There have been two that have been sold in the last year or so for about $85. Heck yeah! I guess kissing the clasp does work. (I told you not to judge!)

The only thing that separates us from the animals

Captain America and I have similar tastes in clothing. When he is not in uniform, Captain America can be found in house pants, sometimes accompanied by a shirt. Sometimes not. Me too.

Well, I do favor wearing a shirt more than he, but regardless, we tend toward the casual.

I am also not a big wearer of make-up. I don't wear it daily, but I do make it a point to wear it if it is Sunday and if I find my make-up bag in the car on the 10-minute drive to church and if I get stopped by the train on the way.

But Mama didn't raise a complete slob. I do try to always wear lipstick and earrings, because as she taught me, it's not just how you look, it's how you accessorize!

The same thing is true in the world of book folding. Accessories matter.

Take this book, for example. I'm on a Thanksgiving kick, so I decided to fold the word Blessings in this chocolate covered RDCB. I was pretty happy with the way the word turned out. Trying to fit nine letters in 250 pages isn't as easy as it looks, but this font really works well, I think. The original end papers, not so much.

 

The vintage yellowed pages are just too close in color to the washed out orange of the end papers. This book needs the equivalent of a new pair of earrings. So I convinced Captain America to drop me off at Michaels the other day and (happy sigh) went and bought some autumn themed scrapbook paper.

 

But as usual I bought too much, so now I need your opinion. Help me accessorize this book. Which paper do you like the best?

No 1: Autumn leaves photo

No 2: Thanksgiving Paisley

No 3: Dark Leaves

 

No 4: Sparkly leaves (the dark orange ones are glittery)

No 5: Light leaves

No 6: Pumpkin polka dots

 Whaddya think?

October Showers Bring November Weddings

Seasons of life.

A few years ago I couldn't go to the mailbox without getting at least one graduation announcement. Now it's weddings and showers. My kids are of that age and so are all my friends', it seems.

That's fine by me. I love weddings and I love showers. Weddings and showers mean lots of presents, lots of smiles and best of all...

CAKE!

So in honor of all those beautiful brides and handsome grooms out there, this one's for you.

And speaking of love, here is how I blog these days.

That's Rudy, the dauschund, with her head hanging over the edge of the couch and Oreo, the cat, spooning my arm. 

They love me, and I love them. Love is grand. So is cake.

Supply Chain

My name is Stephanie and I'm a bookoholic. Lately I've been in supply acquisition mode, as Barb likes to call it. I try to control it, but it controls me.

There is another box of RDCBs in my trunk that I'm waiting for the right time to sneak upstairs.

And there is a sack full of fun stuff like this old textbook (teacher gift anyone?) and this giant cookbook (oh, I have great ideas for cookbooks). And what could be better than this beautifully embossed vintage volume?

How about a sack full of embossed vintage volumes...and a vintage school dictionary?

The other day when I went to the library to pick up the latest batch of RDCBs, I picked up these, too. I mean who could resist something called Gentlemen, Scholars, and Scoundrels? Or Leon Uris' Trinity (gotta do something St Patrick's for that one--although I actually might read that one first)? There was even a hymnal for 50 cents. 

Oh, and did I tell you that I found some more Michener? Another copy of Texas to begin with. Same blue and same gold star on the front.

My first was part of a two-volume set, but this new one is the whole honkin' thing, so it's taller and really thick.

 So thick in fact that it has over 1000 pages. Now that can spell a really long word. Or a couple of words.

So maybe it doesn't become a vase, but spells Lone Star instead? Or maybe it's a vase. Or not.

And then there is this gorgeous copy of The Source. Definitely a vase.

I really have been trying to cut back, but fate is working against me. Just the other day I was driving to the craft store to smell the scrapbook paper, when I saw this sign.

I mean, c'mon, who can turn down books for a buck? So I winded my way through the woods to get to the store and guess what. It was a house. Just a regular ole circa 1975 house, but when I walked in it was full of books. Books in every room, on every wall---and there were a few new walls just for books. In fact, there were a few new rooms just for books.

Here's a picture I took from one corner with the fancy-dancy panorama feature on my iPhone.

And I thought to myself gleefully, "One day my house will look like this. My books will spill over from my attic and down into my garage and onto shelf after shelf stacked into bedrooms."

And then my eye went to the window. I glimpsed this piece of art that the owner had hung there and had a Kurt-Douglas-at-the-end-of-Planet-of-the-Apes moment. I have seen the future and there is no escaping it.

And you, dear readers, will all be invited to come dig me out when that happens. I will be at the bottom of the pile, happily folding.

TV Wars - Red River Rivalry Style

Q. Why do more Texas fans watch NBC than the Longhorn Network?

A. Because they keep tuning into The Biggest Loser hoping to see Mac Brown.

Go OU! Beat Texas!

Want this stunning pair? Check out my new Etsy shop!

Football Fever

Red River Rivalry. It's on!

Go OU!