We spent the day working on the renovation. William and I got the porch cleared away. Inside, I began sorting through old books. So many books, some of them in Swedish and very old. So much sheet music, dating back to 1907. I am sure that some of these things would matter very much to the right people, and if I knew who these people were, I would send word to them right away.
There are some books I'm keeping. For instance, Emily Post's book on 'etiquette' looks like a fun thing to look through. As I casually flipped through it, one important chapter was devoted determining how many servants one needs to run an efficient household. I think I will need to read that closely, because the current servant of this house really is not running an efficient household at all. She probably should be replaced, the slattern.
It is sad to say, but Tim and I have decided to (gasp) throw away books. Put them on a dump truck and take them to a transfer station. While we are doing that, we are going to hoe out some old books at home as well. There are books that are no longer relevant, and haven't been for many years. There is no point in keeping them.
Any books that are readable and relevant (and there are plenty of them) will be headed to our library's "Book Cellar", a used book store that sells their donations out of the (you guessed it!) the cellar.
William and I also completed another big project. We got all the glass ware and dishes washed and loaded into the car and taken to Goodwill. I have another car load of appliances still new and in their boxes. That stuff is set out and waiting for me to haul away.
William earned $10 for his help today, and he got his allowance too. He is $32 away from his VR equipment and he's chomping at the bit. He has his lawnmowing job to do on Monday, which will get him another $10.
He's got it all figured out and thinks he can have the money he needs by the end of next weekend. It's an exciting time to be William.
Here we can call Goodwill and they will come pick things up. Just get things together over a few days and call them. Maybe they do not have a truck there though.
ReplyDeleteNo trucks here.
DeleteGo, William! I'm sure you'll get even more pleasure from the new equipment having earned the money yourself. I still remember buying my first bike - and that was when dinosaurs roamed the earth!
ReplyDeleteThat is our hope for him. LOL at the mental pictures: I have visions of a young boy pedaling for all he's worth, pursued by irritated dinosaurs.
DeleteHow satisfying. If you are letting your servant go, just send her my way.
ReplyDeleteShe's really pretty much useless, domestically speaking.
DeleteWilliam is so close and I understand his excitement.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to find out how many servants you really need. You will do well to get rid of the current single one. We just can't get decent servants and have given up on them, but gosh the place is such a mess and we have run out of clean dishes. We must order some more.
There must be something in the etiquette book about always looking presentable for your husband, and cheerfully fulfilling his needs.
Don't they have servants for that?
DeleteOur goodwill (charity shops here) are reluctant to take books and clothes and glasses and CDs and DVDs at the moment. People seem to have stopped reading; using glasses (crystal in particular); CDs (replaved by Apple music and Spotify etc; and DVDs replaced by streaming services. I sometimes wonder what they do accept.
ReplyDeleteBooks are a difficult sell here because so many of the donations are books that no one is interested in. How many copies of Trump's "the Art of the Deal" does one store need? Or Sarah Palin's 'Going Rogue'? Seems like the extreme right aren't big readers.
DeleteThat was too funny about the servant situation and holy cow I'm getting excited for William, I didn't know he was so close! 🙂👍
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of jobs to be had, plenty of money to be made, and he's taking advantage of many of them. The servant situation here is getting out of hand.
DeleteNext weekend he may be known as William the Conqueror.
ReplyDeleteYou probably will hear the barbaric yawp all the way up there.
DeleteHere's a funny thing- my 13-year old grandson is saving to buy his own VR set-up. He's doing chores for money too but I do not think those paying him are as strict about getting the job done properly as you are.
ReplyDeleteWilliam can be just as inefficient as the house servant. He wants the money, but he wants to expend the least amount of effort that he can to get it. We let him decide if something is going to be a $5 job or a $10 job. He can get pretty sniffy about it, but in the end, he makes his own decision on how much he wants to earn. Half assed gets half pay.
DeleteThat's good..get paid for what and how you did the job!
DeleteAnd all good advice for William as he grows up too.
ReplyDeleteOh, Pat, it is good to see your comment. I hope you are feeling better.
DeleteLike you, I shudder at the thought of books going to waste… so I couldn’t help myself…. Did some digging to find entities that might be interested in your old Swedish books (assuming they aren’t about, say, accounting or something!) — Swedish-American/ Scandinavian libraries, American universities with Swedish programs, antiquarian and rare book dealers, etc. Let me know if you’d like me to contact any of these on your behalf or help with sending if there’s interest…
ReplyDeletehttps://asimn.org/experience/collections/
https://www.americanswedish.org › visit › library
https://www.swensoncenter.org › donations (currently not accepting donations, but maybe they just haven’t updated their website)
https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/
Rare and antiquarian booksellers directory
https://www.abaa.org/booksellers
Scandinavian Cultural Center - scandicenter.org
Amscan.org
https://library.swedishinstitute.edu/. Offers assistance with “library miracles”
Major universities, especially ones with Scandinavian studies depts, such as these: https://www.dailyscandinavian.com/best-colleges-with-scandinavian-studies-degrees/
Or
https://scandinavian.berkeley.edu/
Or
https://german.fas.harvard.edu/scandinavian-studies
Or
https://guides.library.upenn.edu/swedish
(yes, I am insane. Also procrastinating… :P )
I've started going down the list. The books are mostly religious, appearing to be prayer books, maybe. We did find what appears to be a marriage certificate from 1893 (October 6th to be precise, from Wilcox Pennsylvania), which is horrible repair. No pictures, though. There are some technical manuals that are interesting, because the machinery they represent is so antiquated.
ReplyDeleteInsane, you say? Pull up a chair and sit right down next to me.
For the mechanical books, if you decide not to keep them, these places might be interested:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.moah.org/donate.html
Their focus is mechanical and electrical inventions from 1750 to 1950
If the machines are related to agriculture, maybe these:
https://www.nal.usda.gov/collections/special-collections
National Ag Library
the Cornell University Ag school (history of the literature of agriculture dept)
chla.library.cornell.edu
Interesting article on the efforts to preserve old ag printed artifacts that references orgs in other links here…) https://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/agricultural-literature-and-rural-life
Still insane (would love to have coffee if I’m ever in your faraway neck of the woods ) and clearly still procrastinating! 😂 )
Ok, I’ve *got* to get to work now!!
My favorite place to take books I no longer want is our local library. They host a book sale several times a year to raise money for the county library system.
ReplyDeleteI just can't bring myself to donate books that will not sell.
DeleteAmvets picks up at my door. They call me about every 6 weeks and let me know when a truck will be in my neighborhood and ask me if I want a pickup. I always say "Yes" and then get together a pile to give away.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you don't live near, Debby, as I have them coming this Wednesday! :)
I try to be mindful of my donations. It's a burden to pass on things that are unsellable, irrelevant, or in poor repair. They simply have to pay to get rid of my garbage. Not fair!
DeleteSad about books. I took a trunk load to Bibles for missions in Feb.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Red...We have the oldest Swedish Lutheran Church in America less than 10 miles from us. I've messaged them and asked them if they are interested. Thank you for that tip!
DeleteI volunteer for a book selling annual event to raise money for the local library. It is amazing how many books we weed out every year that are no longer relevant and even unreadable that were donated to us. You are a rare bird to presort them before donating them!
ReplyDeleteI was horrified when I was putting the dishes in the bins at Goodwill. I pulled it back out and said, "I didn't noticed the chip. I'll get rid of this." He said, "Leave it right rhere. It's fine." Honestly, I'd thrown away several chipped plates as we sorted and washed them.
DeleteWe have culled a lot of books and glassware and crockery in this current move.
ReplyDeleteWilliam's joy will be all the sweeter for having worked and saved.
I really hope it is. It's quite a milestone and something he will always remember.
DeleteGood to see things heading for a new home where possible
ReplyDeleteBravo for donating what you can. The simple truth is that books have a lifespan like anything else, and sometimes they really ARE trash. My dilemma is I can't tell what's valuable and what isn't -- is an old book a rare edition or just a commonplace, moldy relic? I don't like to burden charities with my trash either, but sometimes I donate everything and let them sort it out -- because they'll have people who can evaluate the books and cull the trash from the treasure.
ReplyDelete