Our Home Library

Looks OK from that side...

Not terrible on that side either (save for the drying rack). Yes, that is a "penguin on the telly."   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k1ccguXiwsI hope he doesn't explode.

 This is where I make a confession of sorts, like giving you a glimpse into my dark secrets (if I had any) or the knowledge that my underwear is held together with safety pins. This is the second room of the library...

Oh dear. We moved here in July, and I had every intention of getting these books sorted, and into taller bookshelves. Wait, it gets worse...

Obviously, I can't find anything in those stacks (the books I need for homeschooling were carefully set aside when I packed. Thank god I had enough sense to do that). You can get through there, there's a walkway, and the paths are clear, it just isn't even close to being organised in a useful way.

 I know where the cookery books are, so that's a start. I keep them next to the pantry (obvious).

 I'm afraid the situation isn't much better upstairs, though the bulk of the books are all downstairs now.

Our small bookcases formed a double sided nook in the last house, but it won't work with the layout here. The plan is floor to ceiling bookcases in the second half of the basement, but I'm getting impatient. I don't want to buy inferior bookcases that aren't intended to hold books (books are heavy, you know?) so I may need to wait a bit longer for what I want. I have found it easier to send the kid looking for books in the stacks as he's smaller, has better eyesight, and a knack for identifying books by shape.

Chaos, but the somewhat organised variety. Everything else is neatly unpacked and dealt with, it is just this one room...and it is driving me out of my haus frau head. I like things in their place. This is...not. I don't even have a "junk drawer" for fuck's sake.

Let's see how the plants are overwintering in the sunny window, that will take my mind off the books.

Danny's terrarium is doing well. I'm afraid the parsley plant behind it is dead.

The Admiral looks good, though he has yet to bloom, or bear fruit.  I use the lime leaves in curries though, and to bake fish. It needs a serious pruning.

Apollo II is doing well. The first laurel tree (Apollo I) bit the dust, so I replaced him at the Lancaster County plant sale last spring. So far, so good.

 

You would think having all this sunshine pouring into our downstairs room would encourage me to spend a bit of time getting the books better sorted. I love having a walk-out basement, and the space for laundry, a pantry, and plants is terrific. I just can't deal with the other room. Like a teenager's bedroom, I close the dividing door and pretend it does not exist, except it does. Perhaps if I put it in writing here, I will feel obligated to deal with it, so here goes-Spring break, I will organise the second room of the library.

All right you guys, hold me to it!