Curing Hiccups with Small Fires

I love to read.  I love love love to read.  I like to keep what I read as well.  I do reread my books every few years and I like to have them as a list of my accomplishments.  That might be a bit odd.  I’m not sure.   Most of my books are still in the States, in my parent’s basement.  They are so heavy that I will only be bringing over a few after each trip.  I already have a probably too long list of what will be making the trip back with me in April. 

I can guarantee though, that I’ve read every book that is waiting to cross the pond!  I tend to buy as I go.  When I get down to my last unread book I’ll take a gander at the books sitting in my Amazon wish list and decide which 2 to 4 I’d like to read next.  When those are done the cycle continues.  I can never understand why people keep buying when they have piles and piles of unread books.  That mentality might come from my space issues though.  I lived for 6 years (not counting the 2 I was traveling) in tiny apartments, if it was going to take up space it had to get used, and sooner than later. 

Now I’m at the point where I’ve got a three bedroom house, just not a lot of book shelf space yet.  So I do have storage, but now there are two avid readers in the house buying books.  I have a feeling that an IKEA bookcase may be in our near future.  I sort of feel like I’m starting over with my book collection, but also that this is just a continuance of the collection that I have in the States.  

The book I wanted to talk about today is called Curing Hiccups with Small Fires by Karl Shaw.  Before I moved here I was doing research about the UK and was pretty excited when I stumbled on this book at Strand Books, a massive used bookstore in New York City.  This book saw me through my last days in NY, the train to my parents in MD and my first bit of time in the UK.  It’s not that its long, I was just only reading a bit at a time.  In fact, this is a perfect book for 2 or 3 minute reads  as each story is only a page or two long.

I love history and I adore the funny bits of history.  This book was right up my alley.  The book talks about different people from all different background and time periods that were on the eccentric side.  I liked the way that Karl Shaw seemed a bit empathetic with some of the eccentric characters he wrote about.  The book is divided into different types of people, travelers, political and etc.  I would definitely recommend reading this if you love history and like to laugh about it a bit.

Are there any books that you would suggest I read?

Being a Winner Part II

I entered a load of contests over the Christmas period, well, there were a lot on to enter.  A few weeks ago I wrote about the Bugs and Fishes giveaway I won.  Last week I found this half in and half out of my mail slot.  It was too big to go all the way in, but I guess too small for the postman to bother ringing the door bell for.  

Inside was a virtual treasure trove of makeup goodies.  I got, Jemma Kidd Makeup School lip gloss, Next Cashmere Bath Essence, Madra deco face tint, Garnier skin perfector and some candy!  

This all came from the lovely Penny Go Lightly!

Thanks!

Thrifty Finds

Hi Everyone, I’ve been gone for ages.  Despite that, I don’t have huge amounts to show you.  Our major thifting escapade was meant to be on my birthday, but high winds kept us in doors.  Happy Birthday me.

What I do have to show your isn’t even complete!  I got these tiny teacups; I’m not actually sure what they are called, off of EBay.  They are Woods Ware Jasmine and came with three teacups, 6 tea plates and a lidless coffee pot.  The coffee pot and extra plates are already in the loft and aren’t pictured.  We’re quickly running out of storage in our kitchen as we don’t have anything in the dining room yet.  Hopefully this year will bring extra storage in the form of a sideboard, welsh dresser and corner display unit!

I also found this Termocrisa bowl, pot, not really sure.  I thought it was Pyrex when I first spotted it for just 99p.  When I got it home and looked it up it turns out that Termocrisa was a Mexican company that mostly made knock offs of Fire King, which made things that look like Pyrex to me.  Fake or not, I still thing its super cute!

What did you do when the wind was blowing everyone away?

I’m going to link up with Her Library Adventures and Flea Market finds, Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, and Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl.