When you're old as dirt like I am, you remember what children's books and stories were like back in the old days. For me, there were three books that belonged to my older brother that were read many times over by me. I loved these books as a child. They were large hardcover books with fantastical illustrations. "Stories That Never Grow Old", "The Gateway to Storyland" and "The Brimful Book", all of which were done by Watty Piper.
If you were lucky enough to own these, you for sure remember them. Back then, Mother Goose and Grimm's still meant something in a literary sense rather than an NBC television show.
Back in 1988, my girls were 9 and 7, and my brother passed these books on to them. I hadn't thought much about them since then, but last year I was feeling sentimental and wanted to see them again. My older daughter has Brimful, so I leafed through it at her house. It gave me the warm fuzzies. Then I kind of put it out of my mind for awhile until I remembered to ask my younger daughter about the other two. She has them stored away until Griffin gets a bit older, and it kind of got pushed to the wayside again.
One of Tyler's best friends is having a baby in a week or so, and for her baby shower, she asked that people give a book instead of a card. Since I hadn't really looked at the invite, that little detail slipped past me so I had no book for her. Once Tyler and I got to talking about the kind of books we should get, I mentioned that I would really love to give her these books. Her friend is a true lover of the written word, and to find these for her and my second honorary grandchild would be meaningful for me. And hopefully for her, too.
Thus began my internet search to find these books. I was hoping they were still in print, but in keeping with my usual luck, they haven't been printed for many, many years. On to eBay I go! I was lucky to find the two companion books in really nice vintage condition for not too outrageous a price. Brimful is giving me much more trouble. The pic of it above is from an eBay listing I had bid on. I'm SOOOOO beyond mad at myself today. The auction ended this morning around 11:00 which on any other day would mean I'd almost surely win. But today I woke with a doozy of a headache and had fallen asleep in my chair, completely forgetting about the auction. Even though it hadn't appeared that anybody else was even looking at this one, they outbid me by 50 cents. I'm crushed. It went for only $10.49, and the condition of the book is so wonderful. I seriously want to just cry. Any others I've found are in much worse shape and much more expensive. I guess my search will continue. I have even sent a message to the seller to see if they will put me in contact with the person that outbid me so I can see if they'll sell it to me.
In the meantime, if anybody has it and wants to part with it, please contact me! I'm desperate!
As I said I would, last night I did some stamping over the ILNP Nostalgia. I just think black stamping over a color shifter always looks good.
In general, this is not a fantastic picture, but I figured I would include it because it shows that vibrant green I wasn't able to capture in my indoor photos.
The polish is still spectacular, and as I figured, I like it stamped with black.
I actually get to work tomorrow, and I'm going to leave this one on for at least another day.
Drivers on the road tomorrow; take heed!
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