Summer Romance Challenge

I have been in a reading-for-pleasure slump, mostly because of the spring cleaning but also because lately I never know what I want to read. I know what I don't want to read, which is anything dark, violent, current politics or depressing, which is most of what is on the bestseller list these days. I also blazed through the two new books I bought this month, so I'm back to square one.

To cure this malady I thrifted a box of vintage Harlequin romances for the minimum bid. They arrived in remarkable condition, looking as new and smelling as pristine as they did when they were published. These were much loved by a reader who took good care of them. I love people who cherish their paperbacks.

I know writers mostly turn their nose up at these type novels, but I enjoy them a lot. They're usually well-written, have an interesting storyline and aren't too graphic (I have nothing against graphic romances, btw; they're just not what I read for pleasure in my old lady days.) A lot of talented, prolific romance authors like Anne Stuart got their start writing for publishers like Harlequin. She probably typed this one on a typewriter.

I'm hoping to read all 25 books this summer, starting with this one. I'll post about the best books in the lot, and then do a big wrap-up of all of them once I finish the pile. As for what I paid for them, I bid the minimum and won the entire lot for $9.99. The books retailed new for $4.99 back in the eighties and nineties, when it would have cost me $124.75 to buy them new, so it's an excellent value.

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Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Store Closing Haul

The mega Books-A-Million store over in Sanford is closing, and offered an extra 20% off on their current stock -- all sales final -- so I went over to do some shopping. Safely but sadly there was no one in the store but me the entire time I was there. The Holly Jackson novel is for Katherine, the Halloween board book is for Oliver, and the copy of Garden Spells is to keep on hand because I give that book to everyone. The rest of the books are for me. I love Anne Cleeves, and the Galbraith novel sounded interesting (the first couple weren't, but I'm willing to take another chance.) The Escape Room is by a new-to-me author, plus it was cheap. The GreenCraft mag is just a guilty pleasure. Hopefully the smaller BAM nearer to me won't close. I don't buy many books from brick-and-mortar stores these days, but that's really the last one within reasonable driving distance.

Valerean

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