Spring has
sprung.
The grass is
riz.
I wonder
where
The birdies
is?
It’s here. Old
Man Winter can take a hike. And with that, he can take all the salt and sand
from the streets, and the unwashed windows with five months of dust spatters on
them, and all the extra layers of clothes.
You know
what I’m getting at, right? It’s time
for spring cleaning.
Out with
the old, in with the new. So long, clothes that don’t fit anymore, or that you
know you won’t want next winter. Goodbye, shoes you found at the back of the
closet that have a hole in the sole that you never got around to throwing away
last fall.
Some people
tend to accumulate things. I’m a person who never throws anything away. I went
through my filing cabinet and found 1-year warranty cards for things that I
bought in 2005. I wish I were kidding. My recycling bin is filled to
overflowing this week.
Cleaning is
not a romantic idea but it’s a fact of life. (Unless you have a significant other who does half of the
cleaning and the laundry, in which case it is a labour shared and still not fun but it's only half the work.) On the plus side, you can reward yourself for all your hard work
with a book at the end of the day.
I got a
little lucky. My spring cleaning was combined with moving, so everything was getting scrubbed and washed anyway. I purged bags and bags of junk, and put together half a dozen boxes to go to Salvation Army and the like. My house is literally lighter than it
used to be. [Correction – not everything got scrubbed. I still haven’t done the
windows. But I did do the kitchen cupboards.]
I even did
the junk drawers. And my bookshelves. Yes, there is stuff in my bookcase that
can go. I can’t bear to throw out a book, although I have recycled a few when I’ve
had to buy replacements copies. I may be the only person you’ve ever met who
has bought three copies of French/English and Spanish/English paperback
dictionaries and used them to death.
I often
read books I enjoy more than once, which is a problem when I don’t enjoy them. I
probably have a shelf’s worth of books that I don’t plan on reading a second
time, or that have been in storage for so long I’ve forgotten why I kept them
in the first place. What do to do with them?
In
Winnipeg, we can donate them to the Children’s Hospital Book Market. (You may have something similar in your area.) You can trade them in a used book store,
give them to a second-hand/charity store, or donate them to your library if
they are new enough and in good enough condition.
I’ve
recently discovered a third option.
Long-term health care facilities, nursing homes, and women’s shelters
often are looking for books too. If you have some good quality paperbacks and
hardcovers, consider donating them at a centre near you. Call the main desk and ask if they have a
library that takes donations. Romances
are always appreciated. Mysteries are too. I’ve found that biographies –
particularly about sporting figures – are also very popular.
This is
less of a problem now that I have an e-reader. Whether you have one book on it
or a thousand, it still only takes up half an inch on your bookshelf.
If you’ve
done your spring cleaning, or are saving it for March Break, I salute you.
***
May I offer you a free read to celebrate after you are done?
When an actor who will do
anything for a part has to romance a woman on a fundraising mission who wants
nothing to do with him, he’d better hope Hollywood magic is real enough to give
them both a happily-ever-after.
Sydney Richardson should have trusted her instincts and locked the door when a Greek god appeared on her doorstep at sunrise. After months of work, she needs every second of the day to wrap up a two-part fundraiser for burn victims like herself and she can't afford to waste time with a TV hunk, no matter how good he looks in a toga.
Chris Peck, worshipped by millions as Zeus on the hit drama Olympus, desperately wants to prove to the producers of a soon-to-be-cast romantic comedy that he doesn’t need fight scenes or special effects to make the jump to the big screen. Acting as the slave-for-a-day in the show’s fan appreciation contest was supposed to cement his everyman credibility but the winner wants nothing to do with him.
Chris is captivated by the woman who refuses to fawn over his looks and fame, and he promises to put her fundraising efforts over the top if she’ll spend the day with him. However, just when he convinces Sydney they could have a chance together, the movie’s producers offer him an audition that would mean breaking his promise and leaving Sydney in the lurch. The king of the gods has until sunset to prove to his new off-screen love interest that Hollywood magic and reality can co-exist.
Sydney Richardson should have trusted her instincts and locked the door when a Greek god appeared on her doorstep at sunrise. After months of work, she needs every second of the day to wrap up a two-part fundraiser for burn victims like herself and she can't afford to waste time with a TV hunk, no matter how good he looks in a toga.
Chris Peck, worshipped by millions as Zeus on the hit drama Olympus, desperately wants to prove to the producers of a soon-to-be-cast romantic comedy that he doesn’t need fight scenes or special effects to make the jump to the big screen. Acting as the slave-for-a-day in the show’s fan appreciation contest was supposed to cement his everyman credibility but the winner wants nothing to do with him.
Chris is captivated by the woman who refuses to fawn over his looks and fame, and he promises to put her fundraising efforts over the top if she’ll spend the day with him. However, just when he convinces Sydney they could have a chance together, the movie’s producers offer him an audition that would mean breaking his promise and leaving Sydney in the lurch. The king of the gods has until sunset to prove to his new off-screen love interest that Hollywood magic and reality can co-exist.
