WORDSWORTH

My sister and I have found our creative selves. I’m not sure we knew we had creative selves. That’s no entirely true. I’ve always thought I was creative; I just haven’t expressed my creativity much until recently. We are surprising everyone with all the projects we are tackling. We are even surprising ourselves a little! But hey, why not? If it doesn’t turn out just redo it. :)

The other day I was at our local thrift store and found myself digging through a bin of wooden items trying to find one that would be our next masterpiece. It was like being on a treasure hunt. I seriously felt a bit like a dumpster diver. And I’m not going to lie, it was fun. 

My sister has always been a negotiator. She will haggle over a $2 item and try to get it for 99 cents. I have to admit she gets some really great deals by doing this though. She even bargained on the price of wine when we were Italy! And she got us a great deal! It was so funny. My daughters were so embarrassed.

Well wouldn’t you know it, I’m either mellowing in my old age or maybe it’s that I’m finding some extra courage in my old age. Either way, I’m finding myself becoming more and more comfortable at bargaining. This morning I was in a little shop looking for something to become my next work of art and I found some old maps. I’ve been wanting some old maps for a project I’m working on but hadn’t found any until today. They wanted $2 for these maps and I heard myself say, “I’m not giving $2 for these maps.”  (I immediately thought of my sister, she would have been so proud.) And guess what? I had to pay $1.25 instead of $2. Whoo! Hoo!  *It’s the small things in life that make me happy.*

I’ve also been looking for old books for another project so I asked if they happened to have any.  I started looking through the few books they had and really didn’t see anything that caught my eye. There was one old book of Gene Autry but I didn’t really think I wanted a story of Gene Autry for this particular project. For some reason an old book caught my eye and I had to lean in closer to see the title and subject matter. I tilted my head up so I could look through my trifocals (*sigh*) and saw the word Wordsworth. What a great word. That alone made it worthy of buying. The pages were that lovely golden old. The kind of old where you know time has just settled in on the paper. I thought this might be the perfect old I was looking for. The price was $6 and of course I wasn’t going to pay $6. I offered $4. Sold!

 Once I got home I started looking at this old book a little closer and realized it was a book of poetry. I’m a sucker for poetry. Its title is The Works of Wordsworth. Now that’s a great title isn’t it? It’s a poetical works of William Wordsworth. After a quick Google search I discover William Wordsworth was an influential leader in English romanticism and a part of the most influential poetry in Western literature. How amazing is that?

What a great name for a writer, Wordsworth…. I turned to the copyright page of this newly found treasure and saw it was printed in 1905! 1905! No way. I am holding a book in my hands that was published 110 years ago. I am holding a piece of history.….

Undoubtedly this book will not be used in any craft projects. I think I may have stumbled upon my new favorite book. I cannot wait to read it!

And something else ~ when I was looking through those old maps this morning I found a Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog from 1900! I did have to pay $2 for it. *ha* I’d say this was my day for great finds and good bargains.