Unpacking and sorting is going well. Better than I imagined in some ways, slower in others. We are pretty much living w R, even though we have the other house. We’ve been fairly much living w him before the break-in in November, although it became much more consistent after the break-in. Now, neither he nor I really want to sleep alone. There is a great deal to be said about twining with your soul mate and falling asleep – and waking up that way in the morning. Every morning. Even on those mornings I drive him nuts by trying (not really) to make him late for work.
Funny. This morning it was not only difficult for him to get out of bed…but also to leave the house. It’s not the first time I’ve brought up (he’s brought it up too) his being able to work from home. When I said something this morning though, even though he was in a rush to leave to get to work, bells rang in my head…hey, my Intuition has many ways of communicating with me…this is one of those moments when I know all I have to do is wait to see what the Universe unfolds for us. Mark my words. It is going to happen. Just don’t ask us when right now.
One of the issues I am currently having is not being able to get to different stores to buy things to help in the sorting process. I need to get some under-bed storage. I need a couple more ‘hat boxes’ – for leg warmers and arm warmers, believe it or not. I had bought three ‘hat boxes’, thinking one for hats, one for scarves, one for gloves, for in the front hall closet, right? Well, luckily I have a wicker basket—for scarves. Two ‘hat boxes’ are full of hats (and yes, I am planning to knit more—I have requests to fulfill) and one for gloves and mittens…and room yet to have the arm warmer and the leg warmer boxes to boot.
There is so much room in this house. I have been all too used to thinking how can I stuff so much into so little space? I don’t have that problem now—although we are reaching the end of the unpacking and I have piles of things and although I know I can and will sort them out, right now I look around and think, wth did I get myself into here? Do I really NEED all of this? Well, if I didn’t need it, it wouldn’t be here.
Case in point…my bookcases. What did I say? Thirteen bookcases in all? From before? There is the bookcase my grandfather built, the one from a friend and the small one Dad gave me for the living room of the apartment in Weirton. The rest are all the ‘standard’ 72 in tall versions. They are all full, as of this moment. I have 2 bookcases still in the boxes upstairs that were supposed to be for the dvds, in the living room…but…at least one of them has to come to the basement to hold the rest of the kids books…that will make 3-72in tall bookcases for kids books alone—and that is not including the homeschool or heavy lit books I have for later on either.
I loved it last night, when R arrived after work to pick us up to take us home. I turned around for that last inspection of the basement, which is where I’d been working all day. I had a small sitting area set up with the rocking chairs and one of the chests. I had all the bookcases full, over full, because I still have a plethora of books…so they are still stacked in and on top of each other…and on top the bookcases themselves in certain instances, just to keep things in order. A solid wall of bookcases…I love it. So, yes, I covet the library Beast gives Beauty in the movie, in the story, oh yes. I covet the movie, ‘the Ninth Gate’, simply for those heavily guarded and well-beloved walls of books….
As I finished with the last box, not including the boxes of kids’ books still awaiting my attention, I found myself walking up and down, staring at the titles on the shelves. Frankly, I am amazed. Thanks to my father, I have a great deal of different sci-fi novels…not as many as he has sent over the years as these are the ones I normally pass on when I am done with them, but a significant enough amount…not to mention my own sci-fi collective outside of his more up-to-date recent fiction and thriller…I didn’t realize I had so much Asimov, though I love him. I tend to grab whatever of his work I can find when I find it. Heinlein too, although I don’t have much to show there.
I fretted while unpacking, worried somehow something had gotten missed, or left behind, or thrown out when it shouldn’t have been. I have been through my books many many times in the past few years. I have pared down, sold, thrown away, donated, whatever…I was afraid I’d gotten rid of too much that I would end up needing to have back…now that I have everything out in the open and on the shelves…I feel…amazed…for all the weird and wonderful and many varied things…you can really tell where my focuses are…
And, yes, I have one entire 72 in tall bookcases w nothing but knitting and crochet books on it….
I was actually more intrigued by the fact that ever since I met…certain stupid people (yes, I know—stupid is a mean word—but sometimes it really does apply) my need to investigate the more … Pagan-y? Avenues? Ever since I got divorced (yes, the ex hub is the one who got me interested in Scott Cunningham) my interest in that arena has dwindled, for a variety of reasons. Despite the ‘teacher’ R and I both took on for a bit…in fact, I think her presence also helped lead me in other directions…strange as that may seem.
I still have many books, some of which I started to read and then stopped, some I never bothered to read after buying them, and many I still refuse to part with…but when it comes to various religions…at least I run the gamut…from Earth-based religions to Hinduism to Islam to Judaism to Native religions…to archeological relics pried loose from the very dirt itself. And yes, dears, there is more than enough Christian esoteric-ness to keep me and mine busy for a very long time. It is not “religion” with which I have a problem…any given religion at all…it is the translation of things that the followers of organized religion (any and all organized religions, even ‘disorganized’ religions of a Pagan nature) tend to adhere to—the adherence that destroys the very foundations of the religion they supposedly believe in and hold up as true.
I am impressed by and large by the more philosophical bearing of a great deal of the books I have, those that replaced the Llewellyn-minded books…not that I am knocking the Llewellyn-esque at all…it’s just not my thing…according to what I kept and what I am working with now, it never really was my thing. The ex hub got me into more of it than I needed anyway…I’d taken that route when I was younger and had outgrown it—and then he held it out again, so because it was him I followed. Not that I don’t have my own natural proclivities. But the things I believe are not to be found in those books.
If you step back and take in my collection as a whole, you will find I have far more spiritual philosophy and theology at my fingertips—and not from one religion, but from as many religions as I can collect…and that part is still only a small venue in the grand scheme of my library—which surprises me. Considering how determined I am to lead a spiritual life, though firmly grounded in the physical.
I was surprised by how many writing/writer books I have—and have had for a long time. I had long thought that part of me dormant, but it seems some of these books have followed me for more years than I care to admit…and that even though it is now a large part of my life, as it was eons ago prior to my utter destruction via the marriage contact, it never really went away…it was always there, that dream within me, whispering and murmuring and refusing to let me go…
I was dismayed to find my erotic collection as decimated as it is…N’s dad really sucked the soul right out of me. And now I find out that some of the books I let slide are now out of print collector’s items…and even some that are still in print are collector’s pieces and no longer easily (read that as inexpensively) attainable…I now live w a man with whom my every desire is sated, often times before I even realize it is there…and the types of materials I tend to collect are…not something I would ever employ with him…but I still like the thrill of the power … and even though I do not carry my own whip, I still like to be able to read about it…it takes me far out of the every day and the mundane…I have plenty of erotica…not porn, mind you…although I have a bit of that too, simply because I gave some to R when I was getting rid of things—and he kept it and gave it back to me when I moved back here (yes, we did have that type of friendship…this is the friend I dragged into the sex shop w me to buy lube to use w the guy I was then dating…there has never been anything we have not been able to talk about, even before we started to date…) At least I do still have some very high quality stuff. I developed a taste for erotica very early (thanks to Anais Nin)…and strange as it sounds, the older and the European is still to me a higher quality stuff. I simply have to do a lot of research before I find what I am looking for…although I ordered the volume of Hanne Blank sight unseen and w very little fore-knowledge—and I really like her stuff. Then again, I haven’t really looked around in awhile to see what is out there…so I guess that time is coming…I need to hit a few used book stores…this is why I miss half-priced books. I could find the most amazing and delicious things there…
Of course I have scads of homeschooling and parenting books. Tons of autistic spectrum books…and other…instances of mind and body not melding as society deems fit…a lot of that I still need to read and that is also a plan in the works. For my own edification, I decided to learn Latin more fully…not that I have done much w it as yet—but I was shocked to find out how many Latin books I have (including two Latin-English dictionaries!)
I am unsurprised by my biographies and autobiographies…even though the number may seem slim (roughly 3 shelves+, give or take), but I do tend to run through them rather quickly—and I have the tendency to read several biographies/etc about the same person to see how much more there is to be learned…with Joyce, I read books about his family as well…and that was far more telling than his own biographies…all this means is I do not always buy the bios/autobios as I read them…that’s what libraries are for…
As I have 1 whole bookcase dedicated to the fiber arts, I also have one other bookcase entirely dedicated to all the other crafts in our life. From sewing (it’s own shelf) to pottery to book binding, soap making, candle making and various miscellaneous crafts—not including the crafts to make with your children books that are technically part of the homeschool section.
As I pause for breath after all this hub bub….I cannot tell you how thrilling it is to SEE all my books…to be able to walk up and say, ahh, here is my entire Brian Lumley collection (and now I can go and find the books I don’t have in the necroscope series…if there are more…)
Ahhh….here lies all my Anne Rice books, from vampire to witch to the servant of the bones…I lack ‘Cry To Heaven’ (which I adore) and the Beauty series…which I have bought several times and I always end up giving it to someone else who NEEDS them more than I do….seriously….
Sonya Blue by Nancy Collins. The whole collection in one volume. I can’t read anything else by Nancy Collins anymore. She wrote a werewolf book—I read it well before my divorce. I realize it’s not her and I realize it was the character…but the werewolf did something –Bad—which I will not repeat—and ever since I can no longer touch anything she’s written…though she is an incredible writer.
There is where Dresden lives on my shelf. There is Sookie’s stacked house. There is ‘Sandman Slim’, a new addition. You really have to know me to understand the appeal of that one…this is a book that brought tears of recognition to my eyes…now figure out why and it’s not the reason you think.
Here are my sci fi books. Most of which I haven’t read yet. As I sit here listening to the original cast recording of ‘Wicked’, I can show you exactly where the first three books of the ‘Wicked’ series are located. I am not sure if there are any after the Lion’s tale—it is another task to check for later on.
I had over twenty duplicates…and not all of them were the classics I tend to pick up everywhere…so I had three copies of ‘Jane Eyre’—two ‘Great Gatsby’s’—three volumes of ‘Leaves of Grass’…I also had duplicates of my ‘Witch For Hire’ series by Kim Harrison (which I love and can so totally relate to, what with the smut I know about…)
And as I sort through these books, I think about the ignorant youths who broke into the old house…I have some hefty first editions in my collection…and some are far older and more valuable than my prized first ed of ‘Servant of the Bones’ by Anne Rice…I have a wealth of sorts…but to anyone but me it is utterly worthless….
I am also loving the whole there is my yarn stash…far more yarn than I had realized, yes, but still…fiberholic that I am…it’s just not enough! Lol At least this is something else I can GET to and make use of…so for another year in a row I am determined to knit from my stash and use up as much as I can before proceeding…
Like the scarf I have half-designed (heck, in my head I have it half-knitted!) and all I need is say needles and yarn. I think I found the yarn I want yesterday as I was picking through things…BUT…I have a pair of socks and a sweater to finish before I start something new…unless I get off my butt and get that cheerleader doll for my niece made—which I really do need to do here soon…so much for Christmas or New Year’s on that one…but at least it is coming…I said the house would have to be more in order before I sat down and pulled up everything I need…and I am getting there, to be sure.
I am happy. Very happy. I see brilliant things coming this year. I am all too glad of it.
Here’s one of my goals for you—and no, I don’t have a time limit on it, so who knows how long it will take:
I plan to catalogue my library (again) – I had this done once before we moved to MD…but there were too many changes during that time…too many files lost and found…too many books tossed and sold…I just let it go. But with all the duplicates I found this time around, I am thinking, my netbook and excel go hand in hand. Once things settle down, once shelf at a time will be input into a file…and the netbook can be carried. We know someone who uses hers as an electric day planner—it replaced her palm pilot or some such…works for me.
Here’s to a continuation of all things good.
