Oxfordictionary.com defines “acquire” (verb) as “to buy or obtain (an object or asset) for oneself” or “to learn or develop (a skill, habit or quality)”.
I am really good at acquiring things. Not valuable things, or rare things, or particularly unique things, but things. I am especially skilled at acquiring things involving papers, office supplies, or books. I don’t always purposefully go out hunting them, but books simply find me and follow me home. As anyone who has read Trigger’s Horse for any length of time could tell you, I am constantly struggling with finding room for these things. I currently have books in the 6′ tall bookcase in my bedroom, in stacks underneath my bed, on the shelves in my closet, and in more stacks on my bedroom floor. And there are boxes and boxes and boxes of them in my storage room.
Acquiring books is such a rush. Perhaps that is why I was so happy when I worked in the Fresno State College Library Acquisitions Department! (Yes, I was a student before the name was changed to CSU Fresno. It will always be Fresno State to me.) Part of my job was preparing the new books for circulation. At the Cuesta College library this job included typing the catalog cards (with a non-correcting typewriter, no less), but at Fresno State we ordered them pre-printed through the booksellers.
What about you? Is there anything you are particularly good at acquiring? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Patricia Sawtelle said:
Book, especially cook books; china, glassware, décor for the house, clothes in three or four sizes, shoes, a tower of stamps and supplies that I may never use again, about 600 + CD’s, DVD’s, cassette tapes(yes I play them in my car), and paper of all sorts including bills, tips that I file, tax info, note cards and assorted cards, floral supplies, and fabric. Junk. Does anyone else collect junk? All the things that I have typed are in my previous life. Now I am trying to get rid of most of it and buy very little, and wonder why I ever thought that I needed all of these “things”.
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momfawn said:
Oh, Pat — I feel your pain! You have such beautiful things, but definitely too many for one downsizing grandma. Let me know when you are ready to get rid of another load. – Fawn
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Kay said:
I think craft supplies comes quite highly on the ‘things I acquire’ list! Also books, and films… I’m a bit of a hoarder, because I think everything is useful. I am trying to get rid of stuff, and do practical things like craft using things I already have (where possible)!
Good luck with your A-Z 🙂
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momfawn said:
I’m right with you, Kay…I absolutely love craft supplies, and when I was teaching I had an excuse, because often I wanted to do things with my students that my school didn’t have money for. And now, of course, I “need” scrapbooking and papercrafting stuff for my business, as well as for fun. But what I really, truly need is breathing space. – Fawn
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AnnMarie Roselli-Kissack said:
Hi Fawn-
Yep, books are my acquisition of choice. Every few years – as I will this year – I shame myself into having a garage sale to share not only my books – but many other impulse buys I collected along the way while book shopping 😉
AM 🙂
One can never possess to many books 🙂
ps My mom is sitting beside me right now and I asked her where/when specifically we lived in CA – 1963 we lived in Pacific Grove, near Monterey – she’d put 3 babies (me and 2 older sisters) in an enormous navy-blue pram (to this day she wishes she’d kept) and took us to the beach every day 4 blocks away, while my dad attended Italian school at the local army base for the FBI.
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momfawn said:
Pacific Grove is so beautiful, and I can picture your mom pushing you girls down to the beach there each day. Hug your mom for me, and be ever so grateful that she is here on earth with you. I have a tee-shirt that says, “There’s no such thing as too many books!” Hugs to you, AnnMarie – Fawn
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AnnMarie Roselli-Kissack said:
🙂
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cdog5 said:
Fawn, my acquiring — books, books, books! (Plus some other stuff, but the real acquiring is books, books, books!) 🙂
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momfawn said:
Another reason we all get along so well, Deb. We share addictions (no, I meant to say passions)! – Fawn
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Poui Season said:
Like you – I acquire books at a rate that exceeds my capacity to read them these days. My partner and I share this obsession and so we have walls covered in bookshelves. 🙂
I also seem to be able to acquire bruises very well from the edges of things with my knees and toes. Lol.
Cheers!!!
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momfawn said:
Ouch — I tried to move my bed with my big toe the other night, and it didn’t work at all! There is simply something so wonderful about being surrounded by books, isn’t there? – Fawn
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Sarah Allan said:
Do messes count? Just kidding! I’m pretty good at acquiring books and Post-it notes. Happy A-Zing!
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momfawn said:
Of course messes count — I am so good at making them! I’m even going to admit to sleeping in my granddaughter’s bed last night (she was sleeping in a tent in the living room) because I was mid-project and my own bed was piled high with stuff! Thanks for stopping by, Sarah. – Fawn
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Walt said:
Walt
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Walt said:
I am smiling because I can picture your description so well.
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momfawn said:
Thanks, Walt. You know me and my book addiction! – Fawn
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