Just in case, you never know

Whenever my mom visits, she always brings something she's trying to get rid of. A kitchen gadget here, a book there. "This was your grandmother's." And then the ultimatum: "If you don't want it, I'll donate it to..." Well that's it. She knows my weaknesses, and my obsessions. I can't let an old cookbook find its way to some thrift store. Not one of my grandmother's cookbooks. Nothing against thrift stores. I have never said "Thanks, but no thanks." I probably never will. After I determine where I can shelve them, I log on to My Library to catalog them. Gems are revealed as I examine the covers, the title pages, the versos, the colophons. I will probably never prepare Creamed Sweetbreads, or Creamed Corn in Pepper Baskets, but I know the recipes are found in From Soup to Dessert with the New Irradiated Pet Milk recipe book.