4-27 Ever do something really stupid?

My mother, Eileen, was a master furniture rearranger. She would rearrange quite often, totally swapping furniture from one room to another. Legend has it that she moved a sofa-bed up a flight of stairs single handedly. She always did it alone, no help. Now, there was a woman!!

Loy's family does not rearrange furniture. Once it is in place, it stays there forever. (Right, Dolores?) So the whole concept of making a room feel new by moving furniture around is totally foreign to him. And to move it just to try it out--and risk putting it right back in two weeks?? Absurd!!

I inherited Eileens' furniture moving genes. I love nothing better than to start moving furniture around and try and maneuver it around and into a new configuration...sort of like a druggie's high for me. My sister hates to move furniture. I can't figure that out. She is more like my mom in personality and looks, but she does NOT have the furniture moving compulsion.  I don't know about my brothers. All I can say is that, basically, their furniture has been the same whenever we go visit.

Loy and I have been married for 32 years. We get along pretty well. There are certain things we really excel at:

1. Moving to another city--we're all over it. We rock at making all those arrangements. 
2. Traveling--we do pretty well at that. We both like about the same level of activity on a trip.
3. Sitting on the porch--we love to sit out on our back porch and just do our own things. Very nice.

However, there are things that we sort of bump heads on. Things that we have learned to choose to do solo:

1. Grocery shop--Loy sort of cramps my style. He doesn't always think we need what I think we need.
2. Kayaking--the time we did it and shared a kayak was not good. He kept telling me I was doing it wrong and I kept telling him he was supposed to follow my lead (I WAS in the front, after all!) (BTW, I liked the kayaking. I just think we need separate kayaks in the future!)  :)
3. Traveling to places where there are loud people and lots of spontaneous events--that effectively bans Loy from any Rogers reunions!! :)  
4. Moving furniture--Loy has the mistaken idea that you need to know where everything is going to go before you even move the first piece of furniture. And he also doesn't feel the obsession to do it NOW. He may want to wait a day or two. When that creative rearranging muse hits you, you've got to obey!!

So, that's why I was moving furniture around by myself yesterday. 

I had ordered a new TV stand. Well, more than just a stand. It's like a sort of tall dresser, 48 inches wide, with drawers and openings to fit the DVD player and satellite box. Really cool. Really heavy.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it just takes one little thing to make you want to redo the whole room? That one thing, this time, was the new TV stand. It fit so well in one corner, if only I moved the six foot tall shelves that were there. Where would they go? Dining room. But, there is not room, so I scooted it in there and just left it sitting in the middle of the room. I had an idea, but couldn't pull it all together by myself. Drat. (There is one shelving unit that I need help with, darn it.)

The old TV stand, a sad little formica affair, is extremely heavy and hard to move because it has a swivel in it. I got the TV off of it and did a makeshift deal of putting it on a chair that had wheels so I could move it. (It's a flat screen, not that heavy, but is big, so is awkward to do anything with. Usually I wait for two people, but I just couldn't stop myself this time.) 

But then I had to scoot the old stand. I am very creative in my scooting. I don't lift furniture. I scoot it. This wasn't scooting. So I sat down and was pushing with my feet. Not realizing my back was against the chair with wheels. I gave one terrific push and...you guessed it...the TV came crashing down on my head. 

I said, "Ouch!" Then, even though I was all alone I said, "Kitt, are you OK?" I just sat there for a bit. Then I thought maybe I should lay down, just in case something bad happened. But, you know what? Nothing bad did happen. After about 5 minutes I got up and pushed the TV stand some more. And finished the living room. 

And have I mentioned that a month ago I had a bulging disc and could barely walk and am still going through physical therapy?  I am dumb. 

But that incident has bothered me. It scares me at what could've happened. I could've been lying there dead when Luke came at 4:30. I could have brain damage. (Maybe I already do!) But, in one crazy incident things could've changed. I was thinking all about taking Luke to a birthday party that night and I could've been hospitalized. 

Luke 12:16-21

¹⁶ Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. ¹⁷ He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. ¹⁹ And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

²¹ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Just goes to show you...you don't know what tomorrow will bring--or even today!

But, back to my story. I got the room done, took the fake plants (the only kind I can grow) in and gave them a much needed bath, got things all rearranged and looking good. Vacuumed and dusted. All in the living room. I still have one set of shelves to trade out--dining room to living room--and one set of shelves to move to Loy's office. But, the living room looks great. And I love the new TV stand. Much easier to see the TV!

I'm wondering if I'm getting too old to be doing all this furniture moving. But, what's the alternative? I don't have boys around anymore who will move things for me. (Unless, Corey, you want to come over and help today???)  :)  There are all sorts of jobs that are kind of hard for me, but I've always done them. Should I give them up? 

It makes me think of my wonderful father-in-law. He has certain limitations lately, things he's had to give up because of age and health. It's easy for me to sit here and say that, "Of course he should give this or that up. It's just smart." But when it's me having to give things up for good, I'm not so quick to release. I don't want to be a burden and make people help me all the time. I don't want people to say that it's a bad idea and not do exactly what I want. I just want it done now, on my time, not at your convenience. I want people to marvel at how independent I am--and I am!! Mom said that from the start, when I was two and decided I no longer needed a nap. (What kind of fool was I, anyway??? I LOVE a nap now!)

Today the top of my head kind of hurts. I scraped my knuckle and whenever I bend it, it starts bleeding. Poor pitiful me. But, I've still got those shelves to move and those big rocks in the backyard that need to be moved and the garage to sweep and I've promised a certain 7-year-old a bike ride in 22 minutes. 

But my living room looks tremendous, if I do say so myself!

Kitt.

This picture has nothing to do with my story. I just love it. My little Sweet Patootie after giving herself an oatmeal hair masque. Maybe if I had this on my hair the TV wouldn't have hurt so much!!  :)