Goodbye, Junk!

We sorted and re-sorted and debated and hemmed and hawed, and finally we made a finished DONATE PILE. Then it sat in the garage for a couple months until I finally called a local thrift store that does pick-ups. Then we waited two weeks for the big day to arrive.

We got up at the crack of dawn to put it all outside and tape signs on the items and boxes. The picker-uppers could arrive at any time between 7:30AM and 5:00PM. How convenient!

At the last minute, an old bicycle was begrudgingly added to the pile after much consternation. Possibly it could have been altered and made into some sort of single-speed cruiser. But it would still be too small and it would still be a third bike for only two people. BUT again, it was much beloved and had been expensive when purchased 15 years ago. HOWEVER, it would probably never be ridden again, and it's not that easy to store bicycles. ON THE OTHER HAND, he loved it.

Well, I was able to watch the pick-up through the window when the doods showed up at about 10:00AM. They parked their giant truck in the parking lot behind our place, rather than pulling into the alley. So they had to take everything over a curb, and down a small hill to get it to the truck. They insisted on carrying two items at a time, which was unfortunate.

For one thing, DOOD #1 totally dropped the box that contained a perfect, complete coffee service set. All the pieces were wrapped in newspaper, but that couldn't protect them from a harsh fall, a tumble down the hill, and then being thrown back into the box. I had never used the set, but had I known that DOOD #1 would break 1/4 of the pieces on the way to the truck, I probably would have held on to it and pretended that some day I would have people over and serve them coffee by pouring the coffee from the brewing pot into the serving pot, and pouring milk from the plastic jug into the little milk pitcher, and filling the sugar bowl from the sugar bag that's inside a ziploc bag. AND serving little cups of coffee upon matching saucers. Yeah, right.

Poor DOOD #1 was trying to carry that coffee service box along with a dismantled CD rack, which is very tricky to move around and really requires 2 - 6 hands.

Next, DOOD #1 grabbed a heavy box full of books AND the microwave oven at the same time. I have to admit that I was and still am slightly aghast that he carried the microwave BY THE CORD! Oh my God! You never, ever, EVER carry an appliance by the cord! That was a perfectly good microwave, and CLEAN! And it had a glass plate in the bottom, on which to sit your food item so that it could rotate around and heat evenly. That glass plate is probably broken now, but I guess that doesn't matter if the electric cord was ripped out of the thing.

Finally, DOOD #2 carried some over-the-door shoe racks and the beloved bicycle at the same time, but tripping over the curb on his way down the hill must have pissed him off, and he literally threw the bike into the truck, right on top of all our breakable donatables. Poor bikey.

So, I know that it was all stuff that we didn't want (excepting maybe the bike, kinda sorta), and it doesn't matter what happens to it as long as it's gone. But part of being able to let go of it was the belief that someone would get some use out of it, and that it could maybe help some people. If I ever try to purge again, I will have to forget about this experience. Half the stuff you donate just gets ruined by the employees! Imagine what happens at the Great Sorting Warehouse!

I guess the other reason I was so surprised was that the lady on the phone who set up the pick-up for me GRILLED me about the condition of the donation items. Are they clean? Does everything work? Would you give them to someone you know?

She's probably wondering why half the stuff they get is broken and the other half needs to be re-wired. Why do all the bikes look like they got thrown into a truck? At least the over-the-door shoe racks seemed to be intact -- some thrift store customer out there must have some shoes that need organizing.

TOO high

Here's an SUV we saw in a parking lot and I couldn't resist embarrassing Jason by posing next to it. I'm almost 6 feet tall, and would have some trouble getting into it -- how do the owners climb in?

I tried to stall and hang around to see the giant rednecks who drive it, but alas, we never spotted them.

And seriously, doesn't that kind of alteration make an SUV 97% likely to tip over when going around the gentlest curve? What is the point of it?

New Dress

I finished sewing this dress the other day.

 


I'm not that experienced with making sleeves, so I'm thrilled with how they turned out.

 

The pattern is McCall's M5576. The fabric is Echino by Etsuko Furuya Fall 2009 Ornament Turquoise. It's a linen and cotton blend, and I love it, but I think this dress would have been better with a little stretch. It turns out that I am not very good at being ladylike. Wearing this dress, I am very aware of how often I make big movements: reaching, stretching, picking up heavy things, running up and down stairs, etc... In this dress, I have to be a little more calm or I will rip the seams apart, Hulk-style.

 

If anyone knows where I can get some really cute cotton fabrics with a little stretch, please let me know! The cutest fabric that I find always seems to be non-stretch.

Book 99: Poppy Done to Death

This is my last Charlaine Harris book -- until she writes some more. In this one, Aurora's step-sister-in-law is murdered, and guess who finds the body! It's Aurora, like in every book!

Well, sister Poppy has been having affairs with everyone, and our heroine is pretty disgusted. The disgust and the multiple suspects make it even trickier to figure out who killed Poppy.

Additionally, Aurora has a little half-brother. They share the same cheating father. Little brother is now a teenager and he comes for a visit, complicating and livening up Aurora's Thanksgiving plans/murder solving.

It's the same kind of deal you expect from Charlaine Harris (just seeing her name makes me want to speak in an outrageous parody of a Southern accent: Sharrr-LAYYYNE!). The characters are much more important and interesting than the mysteries. The characters are pretty well-drawn, and the mysteries are not. I have just discovered that this type of novel is called a "cozy." They usually take place in small towns, and the mysteries are solved by female amateur sleuths. There's not much graphic description of blood, violence, or sex. There's little to no cursing (or as I call it, cussin'). It's a whole genre that I never knew existed.

Thanks to this quick read, I am officially now CAUGHT UP and only have to read 5 more books by the end of the year. I'm horribly tempted by a couple of 1,000-pagers that are weighing down my shelves, but I'll try to wait until after Book 104.

Books 97 & 98: A Fool And His Honey & Last Scene Alive

Oh, Charlaine Harris, your Aurora Teagarden novels continue to move me closer to my reading goal!

In A Fool and His Honey, Aurora has to watch over an abandoned baby, try to figure out the parentage of the baby, travel to the North (Ohio), see how useless a father her husband would be, and solve a tacked-on second mystery. As usual, it's fun to read about the characters. The secondary mystery was quite unfulfilling and very much seemed like an afterthought.

In Last Scene Alive, Aurora is a widow. She's also dealing with the film crew that's making a movie of her own experience of almost being murdered! But guess what, the script was written by her ex-flame, Robin Crusoe, who helped her solve her very first mystery. Someone dies, and someone has a secret past, and Aurora meddles in it all while being pursued romantically by multiple men (typical set-up from Harris).

I liked when Aurora mentioned that with her glasses on, she could hear better when she talked on the phone. She also talks later about being without her glasses, saying, "I am never at my most alert when the whole world is a blur." Now, I'm not nearly as blind as she is supposed to be, but it is true that I feel pretty out of sorts without my glasses or contacts. The last time I went to the eye doctor, she did some looking in my eyes and then didn't give me my glasses back. I honestly had a little bit of trouble talking to her without my corrected vision. I felt very vulnerable and a little bit stupid. So, kudos to Charlaine for capturing such a true detail. She does that kind of thing a lot, actually.

I only have one more Harris novel to finish, and I'll be caught up! Only 5 more books needed after that to reach my goal of 104. I'm pretty sure I'll make it. I can't wait to read LONG books again next year, or maybe magazines! Or watch movies! But I will miss having the excuse: "I can't do XYZ! I've got to read for my blog!" That has been pretty nice.

Books 94, 95, 96: Three Bedrooms, One Corpse; The Julius House; Dead Over Heels

These are three more novels in the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris. These quick reads are really helping me get caught up on my goal of reading 104 books by the end of the year!

As usual with Harris's work, these are character-driven much more than plot-driven. Aurora is a fun and interesting character. She dresses and styles herself in just as poor taste as does Sookie Stackhouse. She is a tiny little librarian who is often stumbling upon dead bodies. Aurora also loves mystery novels and true crimes, so she enjoys trying to solve all the murders that happen near her.

In these three novels, she looks for a new house to buy, dumps her minister boyfriend for a more exciting man, and finds the Realtor Murderer (I made up that nickname just now, just for you). She gets married, takes ownership of a house with a mysterious past, and discovers some unwelcome secrets about her husband. She finds the corpse of a man she has hated for years, fights with a fellow librarian, sees a stabbing, and is pursued romantically by a few men other than her husband.

Even though death, betrayal, assault, and hatred are major themes in these, they still remain rather light-hearted and are very easy to read. And thank goodness, because I don't think I would reach my mass-reading goal without them!

Book 93: A Bone To Pick

This is book #2 in the Aurora Teagarden series, by Charlaine Harris of Sookie Stackhouse fame. In this episode, the tiny librarian inherits a house and half a million dollars from a casual friend from her murder club. The Real Murders club, which disbanded in the first novel, was a group of people who loved reading and talking about true crimes.

In this book, Aurora discovers a human skull in her new house and has to figure out who the murderer is AND who the victim was.

As usual in Charlaine's work, the dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, but the characters are fun, and you want to find out what happens to them. In this one, the whole mystery is suddenly solved with no subtlety or finesse. I'll still read the rest of the series, even though I have some complaints about her writing.

Book 92: The Girl With No Shadow

This is Joanne Harris's sequel to Chocolat.

Vianne and her daughter, Anouk, have been on the run for a few years, changing their names and their background stories, and raising little Rosette, Vianne's second daughter. They have stopped doing magic/witchcraft and are being as normal and boring as possible.

Then they meet their match: a woman who travels around, stealing identities and practicing her own brand of magic/witchcraft, with spells and symbols and charms. She moves into their lives -- too far into their lives.

The writing is lyrical and mystical. Vianne's still making chocolates and the descriptions might lead readers into chocolate binges.

The major theme is Identity. Can you change yours? Can you just become someone else and be happy? Can you deny your true self? Yes, no, and no, of course. If you liked the first book, you'll probably like this one, too. It's a fun, exciting story about magic mixed with modern life's text messages, security cameras, and internet searches.