Ramblings | She Scribes

Keep your pets safe during the hot weather months

May 21, 2013 By Kimberly 14 Comments

It’s sad that I need to post something like this. Every summer I usually post something in regards to keeping your pet safe during the hot months. By now you would think that most people would know better than to leave their pet in a parked car while they go shopping or stop to have lunch. Sadly I continue to see dogs and cats left in parked cars. Even with the windows cracked open you are risking your pet’s health. Even after a few minutes the temperature inside your car can reach up to 120 degrees (even with the windows cracked!). Exposure to such temperatures can cause your pet brain damage, suffocation and heatstroke. Pets can DIE being left in parked cars on a hot day. Is the health and life of your pet worth you running into the coffee shop to grab a coffee or getting your nails done?

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PET IN THE CAR!

Plain and simple. That is easy enough to understand. JUST DON’T DO IT!

If you have your pet in the car and you need to stop some place take them home first. Or leave them at a friend’s house. Just don’t leave them in the car.

A couple of years ago I ran a post that provided readers with some more pet safety tips for the dog days of summer (no pun intended ). I think these tips are worth repeating.

Pets Need Sunscreen

Just like humans, cats and dogs can get sunburned, especially if he/she has light-colored hair. Animal sunburns can cause the same problems as that of humans: peeling, redness and even cancer. As skin cancer in pets is a serious concern, purchasing pet-friendly sun screen can go a long way in protecting the health of your pet when the heat kicks in. Places that are easy to forget, but prone to burning are: inside the nostrils, tip of nose, around your dog’s lips and the inside of ears for dogs with stand up ears.

Summer Style

Giving your dog a lightweight summer haircut helps prevent overheating. Shave down to a one-inch length, but never to the skin, so your pet still has some protection from the sun. Brushing cats more often than usual can prevent problems caused by excessive heat.

Pets Need Extra Water….But don’t let them drink just anything

Give your dog extra water during the summer, but be sure not to leave the water out for too long. Change the water often to prevent your pet from getting sick from bacteria that can grow in hot water. Also, when dogs are thirsty, they are bound to drink something they shouldn’t. Puddles of what may look like water on the ground can be mistaken for dangerous chemicals, so keep an eye out when your dog is looking for something to sip on.

Make a Safe Splash

Buy a kiddie or dog swimming pool and fill it with water for your pet. But, do not leave pets unsupervised around a pool – not all pets are good swimmers. Introduce your pet to water gradually and make sure they wear flotation devices when on boats. To remove chlorine or salt from the fur, rinse your pet after swimming. Be sure to also keep your dog from drinking pool water, which contains chlorine and other chemicals that could cause stomach upset.

Pets at Outdoor Summer Events

Warm temperatures and outdoor fun go hand-in-hand, but when the temperatures hit record highs, refrain from taking your pet to crowded summer events like concerts or fairs. The loud noises and crowds, combined with the heat, can be stressful and dangerous for pets.

Exercising in the Heat:

Pets need exercise even when it is hot, but show extra care to older and overweight pets that are more at risk from high temperatures. Limiting exercise to early morning or evening hours can help. Extra caution should also be taken with short-nosed dogs, and those with thick coats.

Watch for Heatstroke Dogs can develop heatstroke fairly quickly. Signs of this include excessive panting, staring, anxious facial expressions, warm skin, refusal to obey commands by owner, vomiting, collapse and rapid heartbeat. If you suspect that your pet is suffering from this, lower the animal’s body temperature by applying towels soaked in cool water to the hairless areas of the body. Often the pet will respond after just a few minutes of cooling, only to falter again with his temperature soaring back up or falling to well below what is normal. If this happens, take the dog to the vet immediately – don’t try to solve this yourself.

If you have any other special tips for keeping your pet healthy during the hot weather months please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Kimberly

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Filed Under: Pets, Ramblings

When all your dreams come crashing down

May 11, 2013 By Kimberly 33 Comments

I am beyond devastated right now. I dare not let my husband or children know how I feel. I’m afraid if I start to talk about it I’m going to start balling my eyes out. I hate crying in front of my kids.

Ever since I was a little girl I have always dreamed of having a house. I have always envisioned what my dream house would look like.

When my husband and I eloped we didn’t even have a placed to live. For five months after we married my husband lived with his mom and I lived with my parents. We were an hour’s drive away from one another. We were young and didn’t give it much thought when we jumped into getting married. Having a place to live afterwards should have been our top priority.

We didn’t have much money and we were desperate to find a place. When my husband found our condo, at a price we could afford, we jumped on the opportunity without much thought of the future. By the time we found this place I was already pregnant. Even thought it’s a one bedroom condo we knew we could turn the dining room into a bedroom for our daughter.

We never gave much thought to having another child. A little over two years later our son was born. Having the kids share the converted dining room worked out great for an infant and a toddler. After a couple of years we realized the kids outgrew the small room. We eventually ended up giving the kids the master bedroom (only bedroom) and my husband and I moved into the living room. We started off with a sofa bed, then moved on to air mattresses, a daybed/trundle combo and now we’re back to a sofa bed.

We have always wanted to move but the market has never played in our favor. FINALLY the cost of houses has dropped and we are finding houses that we can afford. For what we are playing for our shoebox sized one bedroom condo (no yard) we can get a lovely three bedroom house with a yard, and even extras (garage, basement storage, an extra bathroom…). Plus I could move closer to my family and friends.

Last year we finally took the plunge and put our place on the market. For what we had it listed for we would have had enough to pay for the agent’s commission, lawyers fees, other fees AND extra to cover moving expenses and inspection on a new place. Most likely we would have to borrow money to cover the down payment on a new place.

Aside from the fact we had the real estate agent from hell representing us, we had no interest on our place. We finally had the price dropped to where we’d have enough to cover the seller’s expenses and $2,000 left over if we were lucky,

After eight months on the market we had a grand total of five people come and see our place. Since we couldn’t stand our agent either we decided to take our place off the market.

With this being a great time to buy/sell a home (people are looking to buy/sell before school starts in the fall) we thought we’d try again. Maybe we’d have better luck this time.

I’ve been getting excited about the possibility of selling our place and FINALLY owning a home. I’ve been watching shows like House Hunters and all those DIY home repair shows. I’ve even been eyeing some great garden products that were shown on QVC just recently. My husband even found an adorable house for sale in the area we want to move to which happens to be one road over from where one of my childhood friend’s live (she’s practically in the backyard!).

I have even been purging our home of stuff we don’t truly need and cleaning like a crazy person in preparation of people coming to look at our place again.

Then it all came crashing down…

We just met with the new real estate agent. Based on what condos are selling for in our complex if we were to list we would have to list at, or below, what we owe. In fact, most of the recently sold condos have sold for $20,00 LESS than what we owe. If we were to list, and sell, most likely we would OWE $$$$$$$$$ in our mortgage and we’d still have to pay the agent’s commission, lawyers fees and other fees. We also wouldn’t have a dime to cover moving expenses, inspection and down payment on a new place. Another words, if we listed and sold for what most of the condos are selling for we would probably be in the hole AT LEAST $20,000.00 (twenty thousand dollars), if not more.

The agent said we could go as a short sale. We might be forgiven of some of our mortgage if we could prove “hardship”. Even so our credit rating would take a ding. My husband has excellent credit (not sure about mine). We also wouldn’t qualify as a hardship because technically we have no debt except money we owe my father and payments for one of our cars.

I know we could borrow the money from my father, but we already owe him thousands and it would literally take us FOREVER to pay him back upwards of $30K.

So that’s it. We’re stuck here. There is nothing we can do.

Now we have to deal with our taxes that keep going up, our common charges (HOA fees) that keep having increases, our teenage son and daughter have to share a bedroom and my husband and I will having to endure all the back and shoulder pain associated with sleeping on a sofa bed. Not to mention not able to have many people over, not able to take in overnight guests, no yard for our pets to run around in and having to deal with not-so-nice neighbor’s below us, across from us, next to us and diagonal to us.

We’re trapped. There is nothing we can do. My life long dream of owning a house is shattered. It’s not like we can try again next year because our daughter will be a junior in the fall and I’d feel guilty about doing that to her (making her graduate from another school). Not only that, my husband and I are in our mid-40′s. With a 30 year mortgage we’ll be in our mid-70′s and still making mortgage payments. How would we afford that?

Do you know who is the blame for my family never having a house? MINE!

Eight years ago I messed up our finances. I was paying the bills. We were struggling financially and I had no choice but to use our credit card to do things like buy gas or pay for groceries. Soon it became impossible to keep up with the minimum payments so I opened up another credit card. Soon I was “robbing from Peter to pay Paul” (meaning I would take one credit card to pay off what was due on another one). I even had to take out some cash advances. As you know the interest rate is astronomical. Before you knew it we were $60K in debt. I was terrified to let my husband know the truth. He had no clue.

To prevent him from finding out the truth I would intercept the mail so he didn’t see the past due notices. I also used to unplug the phone when he was home so that he didn’t pick up the phone when a phone solicitor called.

I am grateful that he was understanding when he found out. I thought for sure he would divorce me or something. He was really good about it.

We had no choice but to refinance and put the amount that we owed into it. We got rid of the $60K in debt, but our mortgage went up $60K (a couple of hundred dollars more each month).

Had we not refinanced we would ow about $50K on our condo right now. Since they are selling for $110K – $125K we could have sold for $100K and walked away with a $40,000 or so profit.

It’s 100% MY FAULT that we are stuck here. Now every time I hear my daughter say that she wishes should could have friends over, our our dog wanting us to throw the ball for him, I’m going to be reminded of the fact that it’s my fault we are stuck living in a shoebox.

Even if the market improves and we could sell our place for a bit more it won’t make much of a difference. If the prices go up that means the price of houses goes up too. Right now the prices are just right where we can buy a decent house that we can afford. If prices go up we won’t be able to afford anything.

Needless to say I’m not going to have a very good Mother’s Day tomorrow. A good mother wouldn’t have ruined things for her family and make them deal with these living arrangements.

I need chocolate. I really, really, REALLY need chocolate. And a gallon if ice cream.

Sorry to ramble.

Kimberly

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Filed Under: Family, Parenting, Ramblings

Need a cure for a bad day? How about a little “Fuzz Therapy” – or Cockroaches?

May 6, 2013 By Kimberly 13 Comments

It’s inevitable. We all have bad days. Some more than others. In fact I’m having an especially stressful day today.

No matter how bad your mood is there is usually something that can help eliviate it. Sometimes just blowing off steam helps. Other times a silly joke or a child giggling is enough to melt away your bad day. Often my mood improves when I spend some time playing with our dog or snuggling with one of our cats. A happy dog and a soft, fuzzy kitty is enough to make my mood improve. Even watching our fish peacefully swimming around their tank can take the edge off a bad day.

Did you know that even watching videos of puppies and kittens has been known to not only relieve stress but also help to increase concentration?

There are plenty of cute animal videos on YouTube. Instead of watching the same videos over and over again why not experience the cuteness first hand as it happens by watching LIVE webcams.

Thanks to Animal Planet L!VE you have your choice of any of their current 11 live camera to enjoy. They have live streaming of everything from baby chicks, calves and whales to penguins, kittens and puppies.

For those of you who want something a bit less traditional (and a bit more creepy) you can check out their live cockroaches and ants cams. Eww!

They even have a live jellyfish cam. I find them very relaxing to watch.

Here is a little more detail about some of their more unique offerings.

Ant Cam

apl.tv/leaf-cutter-ants.htm

A childhood ant farm has nothing on this colony of leafcutter ants from Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in New Orleans.

Beluga Cam

apl.tv/explore-beluga-whales.htm

In one of several cams from explore.org‘s Pearls of the Planet collection, the sleek Beluga whales from Vancouver Aquarium are put in the spotlight, entrancing audiences.

Calf Cam

apl.tv/calves.htm

Watch baby calves find their legs and explore a whole new world from the South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Maryland.

Chick Cam

apl.tv/chicks.htm

Spring has sprung for these adorable chicks that, along with the calves, call the South Mountain Creamery home.

Cockroach Cam

apl.tv/cockroaches.htm

While feelings may be mixed on these creatures that have inhabited our planet since the Cretaceous period, viewers will be mesmerized by their activity and surprise setting inspired by the southern home of Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium.

One of my favorite live streaming cameras is of the wild birds. I love Bluebirds. They are so pretty.

The only downside to the live streaming cams is that sometimes the animals or critters are sleeping and are not very entertaining. The random commercials that pop up too can be a bit of a turn off, but I understand that they are needed to provide the live cams free for all to enjoy.

The next time you are having a bad day stop by the Kitten cam, or for those with a bit more of a quirky side, check out what those icky cockroaches are up to.

Kimberly

*I was not compensated for this post. I posted this for the enjoyment of my site readers. Any opinions expressed are my own unless otherwise noted.

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Filed Under: Animals, Ramblings

And so it begins…

May 3, 2013 By Kimberly 16 Comments

I think we’ve been pretty lucky up until now. Our almost 16 year old daughter and 13 1/2 year old son are “homebodies” and don’t go out much. They don’t get into trouble except for typical teenager stuff like being lazy and disrespectful. What I mean by trouble is that they don’t break curfew and things along those lines.

We haven’t had to worry about our son because he doesn’t really have any friends. He never hangs out with anyone. He has plenty of acquaintances but no one he can truly call a best friend. We even offer to drive him and a friend to the mall, or take them to the ballpark, but he declines.

Our daughter has a new best friend weekly (or so it would seem). You know how teenage girls are. They can be very “flighty” and fickle. One day they are best friends with a girl and the next day they are enemies only to be best friends again a day or two later.

Even though I was a teenager at one point I can’t keep up with who likes who, who wore what, who is “besties” with who and what girl is sworn enemies with what other girl.

Teenage Girls = DRAMA!

A few times senior boys have shown interest in our daughter, but she always does something to push them away before anything can even develop. Not that me and my husband mind (she’s not yet 16 – she will be in 3 weeks). She’s still young.

She did have a “boyfriend” (I use the term loosely) two summers ago. They went to school with each other but never spoke with one another. One night on a sleepover at a friend’s house the girl Oovoo’ed (video chatted) with the boy because they were friends. My daughter started talking to the boy too and soon they became friends. The boy then asked her out and they started “dating” online (as only 14 year olds can do). They never met face to face but as far as they were concerned, and all their friends, they were a couple.

The boy kept pushing for my daughter to hangout with him so they made arrangements to meet for lunch at a local McDonald’s (how romantic! LOL). I dropped my daughter off and went food shopping at a grocery store near by. She knew the rules (don’t leave the restaurant, no kissing…). Shortly after I dropped her off she was texting me about how she didn’t want to be there, and she DOESN’T like him after all, and how does she let him down without hurting his feelings. The boy even gave her a necklace when he met her at McDonald’s which made it harder for my daughter.

She eventually was honest with him before leaving McDonald’s and they “broke up” there and then. He was mad at her for a while, even calling her nasty names (not in person but to their friends). Soon it all died down and now the two of them barely acknowledge each other at school.

Last summer our daughter had an on going thing (via text) with a really sweet boy. We never met him but I did read some of the texts and he seemed like a nice boy. He wanted to hang out with our daughter but she kept coming up with excuses. Finally they stopped talking to one another and he asked someone else out. They have been dating ever since.

When school started this year another boy, a senior (our daughter is a sophomore) wanted to drive her home from school the very first day. NO WAY! She knows the rules – NO GETTING IN CARS WITH BOYS, or teenage girls too for that matter. Not all teens are great drivers.

Things have been pretty quiet and we haven’t heard about any boy stuff for months. Then a few weeks ago, out of the blue, our daughter asked if she could meet her best-friend-of-the-moment at the local ballpark (minor league stadium) to watch a varsity baseball game. That was VERY suspicious. Our daughter is not into sports and knows nothing about baseball. We had a feeling boys were involved. She did mention one boy that was going with her friend, but they are just friends.

I dropped our daughter off at the ballpark and waved hello to her two friends and waited until they were inside the stadium. As per our daughter her best friend’s dad was also there and would drive them home.

Fast forward a few days later. I had to take our daughter to the doctor to make sure she didn’t have Bronchitis. While we were in the examining room waiting for the doctor to show up the truth came out.

The male friend that was there with them (the one I saw) left right away. Her friend wanted to go to see a boy she likes on the baseball team. ANOTHER boy, one who her friend supposedly used to like, was also there. Apparently this boy has eyes for my daughter. Judging by some pictures I saw on Facebook (yeah, I stalk my kids – I need to know what is going on), her “best friend” was getting a bit cozy with the boy that supposedly likes my daughter and that her friend “used to” like. Her friend never went to see any of the players on the team. It all seems pretty suspicious.

Meeting a boy there was not the bad part – the bad part is that she lied about he friend’s father being there (he wasn’t) and it was the boy (the one who likes my daughter supposedly) who drove them home.

She broke one of our MAJOR RULES – No getting in cars with boys!

I think I must have turned purple at that point because my blood pressure hit the roof. I lectured her until I was blue in the face. She apologized profusely and said she felt awkward that he wanted to drive them home and her “best friend” said “yes”. She felt like she was put in a bad situation and felt she had no choice but to say “yes”. Supposedly the boy wanted her to sit in the front seat (another HUGE no-no!) but her so-called best friend hopped in the front with the boy she said she no longer liked and my daughter sat in the back. She had him drop her off up the hill from where we live and walked home so we didn’t see her get out of his car.

I never told my husband any of this. He knows she met a boy at the ballpark, but he knows nothing about getting in the car with him. I HATE keeping it a secret from him but I know how he will react and he will go ballistic and totally lose it. Heart disease runs in his family and even though his ticker is OK I worry that too much stress will give him a heart attack. So I’m trying to minimize the stress by not telling him.

I haven’t heard anything about that boy since, until now. Yesterday my daughter asked if she could hang out with her friend again. She said they were going to the ballpark. I looked at her and said “boys?” and she just smiled. So yes… they are going to meet boys. Something that I am NOT comfortable about, but I know it’s inevitable. She knows all too well that if she gets into a car with a teenager again, especially without me knowing, she will be grounded for the remainder of this year, if not longer.

As if that wasn’t enough our son, who never wants to leave our home and has no friends, was asked to go to a carnival being held at a nearby town. From what we can tell it’s a group of kids, mostly girls but with a few boys too. We’re not sure if our son wants to go because he was asked to go and desperately wants to have friends (real friends), or he likes one of the girls.

We’re assuming they want to meet during the day, however the carnival is being held in a not-so-nice town, one with a high crime rate. I’m sure there will be Police around, but we can’t help but worry about our 13 year old walking around like that. He even wants to bring his video camera so they (him and those kids) an make silly videos while they are there. I am NOT happy with that idea at all. He’s way too trusting and I can see one of the kids walking away with his camera, or having to stolen. Case in point, on a school field trip to NYC a “friend” said he was hungry and knowing my son had money on him, asked to “borrow” money to buy a hot dog. My son gave him a $20 bill and never saw the change, nor did the boy pay him back. We’ve been trying to get the name of the boy but our son refuses to give us his name.

We’re torn about letting him go. We’re excited that he actually wants to go hang out with children his age, and not hide away at home like he always does. For my husband and I this is a bit deal. A very big deal. We’ve dreamed of this day for a very long time. At the same time it’s at a carnival in a bad part of town. The only thing I can think of is taking him and then staying but following the kids around at a distance to keep an eye on him. I just don’t want him to find out.

So now I have to stress out about our daughter meeting boys (senior boys no less!) at the ballpark and our son wanting to hang out with kids at a carnival in a not-so-nice part of town.

I already lose sleep and stress out over my kids (grades, getting into college…) now I have to add boys and friends into the mix. Egads! There goes my hair. I can feel the gray hairs bursting out of my scalp as I write this.

My kids are good kids, and they know right from wrong, but they are also very gullible and give easily under peer pressure. I don’t want to prevent them from living life and enjoying their youth, but at the same time I’m a mom and I worry about their safety and well being.

I know many of my readers are parents and grandparents. If you have any words of advice I would certainly love to hear them. I’m sure many people have had to face similar situations. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Kimberly

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Filed Under: Family, Parenting, Ramblings, Teens Tagged With: Dating, Rules

Some people need to get a life!

April 27, 2013 By Kimberly 24 Comments

** Warning – Ranting and venting post ahead **

I am a blogger. I love blogging. I love to write. Being a blogger has not only afforded me some wonderful and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities but also some friends that I love dearly. I am happy and honored to not only call other bloggers my friend, but also PR reps and publicists. Even if I never meet these people in person, they are still very much friends to me.

Over the years the blogging world (or “blogoshere” as some people refer to it as) has exploded. It seems like there are hundreds of blogs popping up every day. Some people blog to keep family and friends up to date on their lives, other people blog about things they are passionate about like crafts or sports. Even one time I found a blog of a guy that posted all the times he did a bet on the kentucky derby, for the last 10 years. Whatever reason people have to start a blog is perfectly fine with me. I love reading other people’s blogs. I personally subscribe to dozens of blogs that I read as often as I can.

Most bloggers that I know are wonderful people. I know mom bloggers, female bloggers, dad bloggers and male bloggers. I love how there is an opportunity for anyone who loves to write to blog.

There are also people who clearly should NOT be blogging. Instead of writing a blog to entertain, enlighten or educate people they use their blogs to spread lies and hatred. Usually those people are bitter and jealous of the success of other bloggers. Either that or their lives are so miserable that they want to spread their misery to as many people as they can. These people need to get a life!

Some bloggers go so far as to make garbage up just to drum up traffic and to get people talking about their website or blog post, even if it comes at the expense of innocent people.

It recently came to my attention that some bloggers looking for attention decided to write posts to blast an innocent person – someone I know well – all for the sake of some notoriety.

I cannot believe that adults and so called professionals would make up stuff about people they don’t know, without getting their facts right, and post blasphemous things. Exactly what do they think they are accomplishing by doing that? Traffic? Having people talking about you and your post? Is that really worth spreading lies and rumors about someone? I think that makes you a horrible person if you drag someone through the mud just for the sake of a few points on your Klout score and an extra Twitter follower or two.

If you read a lot of blogs like I do and come across a post that blasts someone about something, what do you do? Do you take what the bloggers has to say as “facts”, or do you do your own investigating? Do you stop and think that there are two sides to every story? Do you believe everything the blogger has to say? What gives that blogger the authority to make such claims? Are they an expert or something?

Take everything you read with a grain of salt and always keep it in your mind that not everything you read online is the truth and that there ARE bloggers out there that are bitter and jealous of other bloggers and will do anything they can to boost themselves into the stratosphere, even at the expense of others.

It makes me sad to think that there are so-called adults who act like the big bullies on the playground and try and push and shove people out of their way, and put people down, just for their own personal gain or amusement.

If you read a lot of blogs and happen to come across a blog post one day that goes off and blasts someone you don’t know, about a situation you know nothing about, don’t always believe what you read. Chances are it’s just their lame attempt to bring traffic to their site and nothing more.

Sigh…

Kimberly

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Filed Under: Ramblings

One of my favorite “hidden gems”

April 25, 2013 By Kimberly

I love books. I don’t always have the chance to read (in fact I next to never have a chance ), but I still love books. I’ve amassed a large collection over the years. I even have many books from my childhood that I had saved to share with my own children. I even saved some of my children’s favorite books to share with my grandchildren some day.

One of my life’s dreams even involves books. My #1 dream is to own a house (a nice house, not like the one from the Tom Hanks film Money Pit). My next dream is to take my family on a REAL vacation (like Disney World). I also wouldn’t mind a new (used) car and to be a “normal” weight. My life dream that involves books is to open up a used/new book store and coffee house. I have it all planned out. I would offer new and used books, host story time for children, offer workshops, crafts for children and more. I would also offer coffee, teas and baked goods from a local bakery. Of course renting a storefront and buying the supplies requires capital ($$$) which we simply do not have. I would be nice though.

One of the things on my “Bucket List” is to write a book – or – have one of my photographs appear in a book. That would be awesome too.

So as you can see, I ♥ books.

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday (he’s “29 and holding… ha ha). He wanted to spend the day walking around the town he grew up in – Nyack, New York. The weather was perfect and I love walking around Nyack, so that was fine with me.

Nyack is about a 19 miles (or a half hour give or take) Northwest of Manhattan (NYC). It’s an old town right on the Hudson River. Rosie O’Donnel has a beautiful house in Nyack. It’s even home to a haunted house that was the center of a lawsuit (Stambovsky vs. Ackley). The house on 1 LaVeta Place was declared legally haunted and the owners failed to disclose that to the new buyers.

Nyack’s business section is peppered with antique shops, boutiques, restaurants and art galleries. Hidden among the stores is what I like to refer to as a “hidden gem”. The shop is called Pickwick Book Shop. It’s located at 8 S Broadway if you ever happen to be in the area.

Pickwick sells both new and used books (among other things). Most of the books are used. In fact, some are very old (very, very old!).

Books are not only on the floor to ceiling shelves but also piled high where ever you look (no exaggeration). It’s almost impossible to find anything specific you are looking for. It can also be a bit overwhelming at times. However I never go into the store with anything specific in mind. I go to browse and to see what surprises I can find.

Many of the books look like they came straight out of someone’s attic or from a garage sale. That is fine with me. Where a book comes from doesn’t affect it’s words or what the story is about.

I love to visit the Pickwick Book Store to explore the books. Every now and then I’ll find a book from my childhood, or I’ll stumble across an old, out of print book that looks interesting.

I love looking at the old illustrations. That is my favorite part about browsing through the books. Yesterday I found a “who done it” mystery book geared towards children (I can’t remember the title) where the girl on the cover was dressed like she was straight out of the Patty Duke show. I love it!

Books everywhere!

Hubby browsing the books.

My husband even found a few books over the years at Pickwick that he’s enjoyed, and my hubby is not much of a reader.

Children’s book, old cookbooks (the kind of cookbook your grandmother would have had), reference books… you name it, you can find it there.

The books are not always cheap, even the used books. But often you can score a great deal. They even have sales on books and in front of the store you’ll find boxes of books available for a dollar or two.

I’m sorry that a few of the photos are fuzzy. I always feel awkward taking pictures inside stores. I don’t want people to think that I’m up to no good.

If you happen to find yourself in Nyack, New York, and you love books, you might want to take some time to check out Pickwicks. While you are at it you should take a stroll around town and enjoy some good food and the various galleries. Or you can sit down by the Hudson River and relax for a bit.