Sigh.

We’ve been using Belle’s old daybed as a couch down in the family room because we didn’t have a couch because we gave it to Zappa because he didn’t have one either and now he does and we don’t.

It was awkward as a couch, but handy for overnight guests.

Up in Belle’s old room was a big dresser. It was just the right size for a teenage girl’s folded clothes (HUGE) but too big for a guest room, which is what I’m trying to turn her old room into, if I may end a sentence with a preposition.

I have Zappa’s old and much smaller dresser down in the garage, which we are still cleaning out as there was so much stuff in there it was absolutely archaeological. He hates dressers and prefers to keep his clean clothes where they belong: in laundry baskets lined against the wall. He lives in an apartment so his feng shui is his business and I shut up about it and mind my own business unless I’m telling the general public like I’m doing right now. He’s single but I’m sure he would put his boxers in a dresser for the right woman. Tomorrow I’m going to clean that small dresser and bring it up to the “new” guest room.

I don’t want the room to be too cluttered, so aside from absolute necessities like a bed, and dresser, a tv and vcr and stereo, there won’t be much in there. The bookshelves are all hanging high on the wall. (What’s any room without bookshelves? We even have them in the bathroom!) (Well, where else do you get a few minutes uninterrupted leisure to do some light reading?) My mother Some might argue that a guest room doesn’t need all those electronics, but I beg to differ.

Tonight I was talking with our neighbor, a really nice young woman who is currently renting the little limestone house next door, where Hub and I lived for twelve years before we outgrew it to the point that we were spilling out the windows and finally saved enough money to build this house which we’re probably going to lose soon because we have absolutely no money but that’s another story. She mentioned that their little girl had outgrown her baby bed but had no other bed to move into and they had no money to buy one.

Light bulb. I gave her the daybed and I’m not sure which of us was happier. I also gave her the huge dresser because her little girl didn’t have one of those, either.

Then I thought of those bicycles stored in that garage. Thinks I, two families are really going to do the happy dance tonight, one for getting and one for getting rid of, if I may end another sentence with a preposition. My neighbor was ecstatic as she chose Zappa’s tiny little red bike for her little girl, Belle’s old yellow 3-speed for herself, and Zappa’s big blue 18-speed that he outgrew in high school because he shot up to nearly seven feet and any bike you can buy in a store just won’t begin to fit him, for her husband. That leaves two, so if you want a bike, come on over. I also gave her Zappa’s little tricycle, till she grows into the little bike.

I hope she has a lot of Brillo pads; those bikes are filthy.

And now I can put the two awesome reclining wing chairs Hub bought at an auction for $20 the other day where the daybed had been, and people can actually be comfortable watching tv down in the family room.

They lean back pretty far, if you want to stay the night. There is also an extra-long twin bed down there. Yes, my family is very, very tall. All except me.

I also have a camp cot; it’s leaning against the exercise bicycle with the Christmas wreaths hanging off the handlebars. We use it a lot. The cot, not the bicycle.

In fact, I need to dust off that cot and get Belle’s old room ready, because in a few weeks I’m having COMPANY! Those precious and beautiful kids from Michigan are coming down to live stay with me for a week, and I’m already so excited I’m barely legible.

The two girls sleep on the double futon in there, and their brother sleeps on the camp cot. They are absolutely awesome kids and I can’t WAIT till they get here. They are without a doubt the best-behaved kids I’ve ever encountered, and I am not in the least worried about taking them to school with me and putting them in the back of the classroom to read while I teach. They are voracious readers. If they get bored watching me teach, they can be trusted to ‘wander’ the building a little bit. They’re old enough to turn loose a little bit, if they stay together.

Hmm, I’d better start stocking up the Velveeta; grilled cheese is one of their favorite meals. Yes, they’re easy to care for! Oh, I LOVE it when they visit.

Don’t forget to go over to Patriside’s blog and sign up for the June MixMania!

And I still don’t have a couch.