(no subject)

I got all of the to be shelved books down to the basement. They’re piled on a small table down there. I really have no idea when I’ll actually be able to shelve them. I’ve now started filling the big box in the living room with things I want to get rid of. I threw out some water damaged books that I have either replaced or don’t care enough about to replace. I still have a bunch more water damaged books that I haven’t decided whether or not to replace. I need to look at them and see if they’re still readable and then check to see how much replacing them would cost. (Basically, a couple of years back, we had a leak from the kitchen sink that soaked a bunch of my G author paperbacks.)

I’m trying to decide if I care enough to search my culled books online to see if any of them are worth sending to Books By Chance. I’m kind of inclined to think that the ones selling for a cent each on Amazon aren’t worth the effort and should go to the Friends of the Library sale.

Cordelia’s stuffed animals are all in the living room now. The idea is for me to go through them and sort out what can be donated (assuming we can find a place that will take stuffed animals. Many places won’t. Right now, I think that the Salvation Army and the Kiwanis will, but I need to check to be sure). Cordelia pulled out a few yesterday that she wants to keep. Unfortunately, Scott dumped those back into the basket this morning, so I don’t know which they are. That’s… frustrating and means I can’t start sorting until Cordelia comes home.

I’m on day three of a headache. The whole thing is very frustrating because I can’t seem to hit on the right thing to make it go away entirely. I’ve also, every day this week, found myself crashing at about 3:30 every afternoon. This is not just being kind of tired; this is fall over exhaustion that forces me to bed. I really don’t know what’s going on with that.

I want to make banana bread. I’ve got three bananas at the right stage of over-ripeness. It takes two for one loaf, but I’ve also got some applesauce that I could use to finish that out. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can use the stand mixer for it, given the situation with the mixing paddles, and I’m really reluctant to try to mix the stuff by hand.

I pre-ordered the new Bujold from the local bookstore but didn’t hear anything about it having come in, so I was afraid that my pre-order had gotten lost. I emailed the store, and they responded, saying that they’re closed all this week and that I can pick up the book next week. I can wait, but it would have been nice to know in advance.

(no subject)

Gah. Throwing out stuffed animals and dolls feels like I’m killing them. I’m not sure I can do it. But we can’t store many of the dratted things. We want to limit that to the ones to which we have real emotional attachment.

Other parents of older children, have you gone through this? How did you handle it?

(no subject)

At this point, my big box is about 2/3 full of books I think might be worth selling. I’ve got a big pile on the floor of things I want to send to the Friends of the Library for their book sale. I’m judging what’s worth selling by looking at listings on AbeBooks, generally searching by ISBN. If the price for a used copy in about the condition of the one I’ve got goes over $5 or $6 by midway down the first page of results, I put the book in the box for Books By Chance. I figure that my ability to judge condition is iffy but that it’s probably worth letting someone else check.

I’m a bit surprised. Apparently some of my Margery Allingham paperbacks are worth selling. I’d never have guessed that.

Doonesbury books don’t seem to be worth much, so I’m not sure I’m going to bother doing anything with them given that I haven’t hauled them upstairs yet. Maybe Cordelia will find them a curiosity in another ten years. Then again, they fill two shelves…

There are still shelves in the basement that I haven’t weeded. I don’t know if I’ll do that this weekend or if I’ll wait for Monday. This weekend would be better simply because then we could get by with only one trip to the library. I’m also kind of eying some of the history books from my college years and wondering if they’re worth keeping, given that I haven’t opened them in more than twenty five years. I’m not going to read Behind the Urals or Before the Deluge again, and I’m not sure that Cordelia’s likely to take a class in college that uses either of those as texts. (I read the former in a class on the history of the Soviet Union and the latter in a class on theater in the Weimar Republic.)

I will have to let Scott go through the books to see if there are any he wants to keep. I don’t know if Cordelia will want to look, but I’ll make sure she has a chance.

I just need to find something to put the books to be donated in that I don’t mind not getting back.

Cordelia and I have not touched the stuffed animals. (Scott’s working late tonight, so his input will have to come later.)