Inventories and the Lack There Of

I am still not quite used to living in the Midwest. We have been here 3 years, and it looks like we will be here for a while longer. We have made peace (somewhat) with that. It is only the beginning of March, and the extreme weather is beginning to worry me. Tornado sirens going off in the middle of the night, news reports of towns being destroyed, lives being lost, houses and memories - gone.

The next one could hit us, or our neighbors - our friends.

We have 17 years of stuff. Things that we have accumulated over time, with many moves and many memories. We have been weeding through some of these belongings, but there is still a LOT OF STUFF.

I need to do the following quote by William Morris much more artistically, and hang it somewhere in the house!


This past weekend reminded me that we have not done a full inventory of our household goods - ever. I realized that even if it seems like a herculean task, I need to it. And I think no matter where you live, everyone should do it! Tornado, flood, hurricanes or robberies can happen anywhere.

So, I looked at all of the different apps that Mac has available and found 2 that are going to help us inventory the house. Home Inventory Database and Librarian Pro. I probably could have just used the Home Inventory Database, but I decided it might be a bit easier to inventory the books with Librarian Pro.

And I have a LOT of books...

This is a picture of the bookcases in my office. Unfortunately I don't have a wide lens, so I can't get the entire shelf in view. Patrick cut off a few inches of one of the bookcases so that I could put them together on one wall. I really love having a wall of books. I just wish that the shelves went all the way to the ceiling! As you can tell, my books are a little crammed in here.

I still need to finish organizing the books, and I will... one of these days. Perhaps after I'm done with the inventory of the house.

Then we have 4, count them 4 bookcases like this one, 3 are mostly cookbooks, the fourth is cookbooks and other STUFF.



This is a close up view of 2 of the shelves, and some of my favorite cookbooks.



I wish that I could tell you that these were the only bookcases and shelves filled with books, actually - no I don't. I love my books. But they do become rather boring after a few pictures, and I don't want to bore you.

Now, I suppose I should go and continue on. If you need me, for anything in say, the next year - I'll be here, with crossed eyes and inventory on my brain!

Reading - The Friday Night Knitting Club

I'm getting very frustrated. See, I caught a cold a week before Thanksgiving, and was well enough to celebrate that holiday. But now I think this cough and cold are going to be here for a while. Every time I think I'm better, I will try to do something, anything - decorate, cook, clean, talk - I start coughing and can't stop.

So, I'm thinking that maybe this is the way my body is telling me to sit back and do nothing. Even though sometimes it feels as though that is all I do. Thankfully we have mostly decorated for the holidays, and after Patrick left for work last night, I could curl up on the couch with the glow of the lights, a cup of tea and a book - "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs.

I don't know how to explain how deeply this book affected me. I had tears streaming down my face by the end of the book. Don't get me wrong, I have cried over books before. But for some reason the story of Georgia Walker and her daughter has hit some nerve ending for me. Even after I had crawled into bed, I couldn't get the story out of my head. I woke up several times last night, thinking about the story. Then this morning, I opened up the third book in the series - "Knit the Season", and by this afternoon I had it finished. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get the second book "Knit Two".

The funny thing is that I didn't think I'd like the books. I have seen the first book in bookstores before, and even though I knit, the book never seemed to call to me. I bought them because I was in the mood for some holiday reading, and thought "Knit the Season" would be a nice easy comfort read. I bought the first book just because.

I've been thinking about these books all day, and trying to analyze both the books and my thoughts. I read. A lot. So why did this book strike such a chord with me? Do I think I can relate with one (or more) of the characters?

This makes me think again of starting both a reading club, but also a knitting club. I've toyed with the idea of starting an online reading club - any body want to join?