The reason why my neighbor in Unit D left after 19 years is because of termites. She said she wouldn’t have moved if not for the termites; she liked the location and it was convenient. However, my wayward landlady doesn’t maintain her rentals well. She always cheats her way into “repairs” and other landlordy duties.

So after my former neighbor left, it seems like the termites shifted to my closet that is just against the wall I share with Unit D.

I collected these Sweet Dreams pocketbooks that have been out of print for decades by scouring second-hand bookshops. I intended to pass these down to my girls because these are the type of books that high school girls read. If not for these books, I wouldn’t have been a writer today. Seriously. I became a voracious reader because of these pocketbooks.

And now the termites ate most of them 😭 They’re very hard to find now. I want my girls to start their romance book journey with these since the kind of young adult fiction I encounter these days encourage unhealthy relationships and wrong self-esteem lessons. Case in point: Twilight series. 🤮 Aside from the bad writing, the premise was all wrong and the dynamics—it was really unhealthy. I barely got through book 1. I read it out of curiosity because a lot of girls got hooked on it at the time Book 1 came out. But in the end I trashed it. It was pure garbage.

So now I have to search far and wide again to rebuild my Sweet Dreams collection and guide my girls with the choice of reading materials. They already graduated from Percy Jackson and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series so I think they’re ready for this. They refused the classics like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. It’s ok, I’m patient. They will get there.

While I mourned the demise of my Sweet Dreams collection, I packed my other books like the fantasy ones, business books, journalism books and everything else in between.

I still have to pack my latest acquisitions that are on my wall shelves in my room. So far I have carted off four boxes to my car. I still have two more here in my room 🤭 Forgive me for being such a bookworm.

My dream of having a home library may no longer happen but at least I have enough cupboards to store them.

And if I still run out of bookshelves, I can always install over-the-door shelves. Art and books are going to compete for wall space in my house.