There is No Balance for Books

In most things, Knut and I balance each other out.  Normally, he’s the saver and I’m the spender.  We’re learning that’s only in regard to certain things.  I’m a night owl and he’s an early bird.  It’s nice to have both in the family when there are little ones in the house.  I’ve learned to appreciate that we each have our strengths because it brings so much balance to our household.

It’s when we are too alike that we get into trouble.  For instance…

we both hoard books.  It is an addiction for both of us.  O, we’ve seen a Kindle, and it was kind of cool.   We both still love the real deal.  We love vintage books or new books.  We both could spend days in Barnes and Noble.  We buy books online, on ebay, at garage sales.  Our main curriculum through Sonlight is a literature intense program.  You should not be surprised.

We love to read.  The books don’t just lay on the shelf.  We actually do read them several times.  We love discussing them.

So I must show you our recent book score:

These are only 3 of the 4 boxes.  I told Knut to bid on the box containing the first 18 Nancy Drew books, still wrapped in plastic.  He got it for $10.  He also got a box of books for $7 containing some amazing vintage children’s books.  They will be super for David doing kindergarten.  I saw most of them at the used book fair at the last homeschooling convention, and nearly bought the set at $3 a book.  It’s nice to have the whole set plus some Dr.Suess ones for much less than that.  Knut also got some woodworking books that he said were awesome, and not pictured is my impulse buy of $2.50 for a box of National Geographic hardcover book collection on places around the world from the Alps to America’s deserts.  Knut was so excited to see those. 

We were at an estate auction this last weekend.  Someone should have been there to say “You guys don’t need any more books.”  We wouldn’t have listened, but one of us should have some restraint.  Instead, we were pushing each other on to bid on yet another box.  When we were separated at the auction, we both bid on and won different boxes of books that were not on our list that we had made after walking around together.  We had not discussed, and we had no plans to buy them.

When we found out about each other’s purchase, we congratulated each other on our amazing finds.

Because we both love books.  It’s probably a problem.  I’m thinking those built in bookshelves that he’s hoping to build this winter may not be enough room… 

In some other minor estate sale updates:
Knut also got a neat tackle box-ish thing for his ski wax.  Silje got some ceramic kitties, and I bought a pretty bird cage that will probably only cage a plant.  Knut also got some tools, I got a child’s rocking chair and I bid on and lost: a flour mill (I really wanted that one!) and some skillets. About everything there was in amazing condition.

There was a sewing machine there that was gorgeous, but I didn’t happen to see it out of it’s case until it was on the table for bidding.  It was an antique Singer that was portable in a cute little carrying case and it was pristine condition.  It was one of the most beautiful machines I’ve ever, ever seen.  I’m guessing it was made pre-WWII.  I held on tight to my ticket and chanted to myself “this wasn’t on the list, you don’t need this.”  It sold for $65 and had I gone there planning on spending that money, I would have done it in a heartbeat.  If it were under $50 I would have bought it without hesitating.  That’s my limit for impulse buys.  We have a $50 limit in our family that we must discuss every purchase above that amount.  Had I seen it, thought about it for 10 minutes, told Knut my intentions, I would have bid with reckless abandon.  I was holding out for the flour mill…that I didn’t win.  I’m going to be mourning not bidding on that sewing machine and losing that mill for a few weeks I think.

Good thing I’ll have some books to keep me company.