Okay, I didn’t manage a Friday Five because I wrote my long post about the latest session with the Incarcerated Teens Poetry Project so I decide to post a Saturday Six instead.

1. Contest! I’ve been meaning to post this all week. [info]beckylevine is having a contest at her writing blog. All you have to do is leave a comment and you could win a copy of the Donald Maas book, Writing the Breakout Novel! (It would be nice if you read the post too because there’s all kinds of good info in there.)

2. Last night we went and picked up some wood and wood brackets for some more shelves in my office. Not for books but for baskets that I fill with junk (important junk but probably junk all the same) and papers and WIP and all sorts of things. You will see part of them the minute you look into the office so I hope they turn out ok. But I gotta have ’em. One, I need to cover the stupid in the wall air conditioner that we don’t use but can’t afford to replace yet because it means replacing a chunk of the outside wall, siding, etc. And two, I need the out in the open storage space. So we got wood plants and wood brackets and now, per the instructions at the lumber yard, they are drying in the living room. I’ll attempt the staining next week and then they will dry some more and in another couple of weeks, presto chango, I’ll have the shelves. Sigh. I have no patience. I want them now.

3. We have figured out a solution to getting me a little bit of quiet time on the weekends at least, in the morning. My husband stays up late on Friday and Saturday nights and sleeps in late too. I used to treasure that totally quiet time in the house but when Cassie came into our lives, all that changed. She is totally bonded to him (tolerates me for the stinky food treats and that’s about all.) So when he would seep in, I would shut the door and she would race up and down the stairs, ask to go outside even MORE than usual (like every 10 minutes) because of course he could have snuck out the upstairs window into the backyard without her knowing about it. Husband, who is a saint about this, as well as a very sound sleep and possessed of that ability to be awakened and then, instantly go back to sleep, came up with a solution. I just leave the bedroom door open. Cassie explodes up the stairs, pounces on him a couple of times and is told “no.” She then retreats to the top of the stairs assured that he will not be able to get out of the bedroom with her knowledge and I have peace and quiet for a few hours.

4. I have decided to admit defeat with some of the French antique pieces of furniture we bought for the living room. They were some of the first pieces we bought and while individually they are great, they do not a living room make. Least ways not a comfy come in and put your feet up kind of way and that’s the kind of people we are. So I’m working on the craigslist ads to sell two chairs, a dainty loveseat and a to-die-for coffee table though I know that trying to sell any of that sort of expensive stuff right now is probably not going to work.

5. We have had several days of rain here and the native garden looks wonderful. The plants are perking up, happy to have had a drink. Buds are forming on the ceanothus bushes and the ribes are already dripping with pink blossoms. Birds are hopping around on the ground, getting acquainted with the area. Spring is going to be grand.