Sparky, I had a trust from an accident settlement when I was a kid. (motorcycle accident at 16) The terms were that I would get it at 21, but could request withdrawals for medical or education purposes. It was pretty easy to use. I just submitted any medical or tuition bills and they wrote me a check. I thought the terms of getting the balance at whatever reasonable age with the ability to withdraw for set reasons made sense.

What's interesting is there are all these bookcases, and they're full of--books. Hardly a knick-knack to be seen. Just books. Are Americans afraid of books?

I don't know. Our bookshelves are pretty much full of just books too.

Our bookshelves are pretty much full of just books too.

Yeah, and your name is Gudanov. Do you have family in the Old Country?

I have 4 bookshelves that are overpacked with books. They line an entire wall of my living room. Sure, there are pictures and a few dust collectors in front of the books. But the cases are for books!

We have a wall of shelves in the basement, full of books. Two other bookshelves in the basement full of books. Four short bookshelves full of books in the living room, two tall bookshelves in the living room, mostly full of books. Two tall bookshelves in the bedroom are full of books. Our daughter has a medium height bookshelf full of books with stacks of books piled on top.

but could request withdrawals for medical or education purposes.

With the HEW (health, education, welfare) trust she'd be able to withdraw at any age for those things - it's just determining when the trust would terminate so she could do what she liked with the money instead of having to make requests.

When I moved up here three years ago, I purged my books and got rid of a bookshelf or two, so I don't have nearly the number of books I used to. However, I do now have a short (about 3 1/2' sq.) but deep shelf in the bedroom for my paperback romances (which are double-shelved--two rows per shelf), IKEA 6'x3' shelves in my dining room that are jammed packed with most of my non-fiction books, 6'x1' shelves (also in the dining room) that have my cookbooks/nutrition titles on half of the shelves and my unorganized photos on the others, and two 6'x4' shelves (which my dad made) in the living room--one has all but one shelf for my fiction (the remaining shelf is for my tchotchkes so my cat can't reach them) and the other is mostly for my dvds/tapes, but the bottom two shelves are the rest of my non-fiction.

It drives Joe crazy that I usurped shelves of MONSTRO for knick-knacks. I'm not afraid of books in the least, but I also like my knick-knacks. Like the dragonware chocolate set bought in Japan in the 1930's or my WCC diploma.

Hivemind Crosspost - If anyone here is familiar with Yaz, would you please e-mail me at my profile address?

DC is a fairly good city for books; several years ago the Post magazine section had an issue devoted to decor. One of the rooms featured was a "library" - lots of shelves, not a book to be seen. The photos featured the couple's art glass collection in the "library". There were letters and letters and more letters - all pointing out that a library should include books.