The urge to rearrange

Early in our marriage, Bill never knew what configuration of furniture he would find when he returned from work. Looking back, I am amazed at what I could accomplish while the kids were napping, and how I could rearrange a lot of bedroom furniture in a very small room.

Picture this (said in my best Sophia Petrillo voice from The Golden Girls): Our bedroom was perhaps 10' x 12' with a double bed that had large head and foot boards, a tall dresser, a wide dresser with a hutch mirror attached, a night stand and a tall narrow cabinet. Our bed had to be nestled into a corner to make all the other furniture fit. With a door, a closet and a window to work around, the best I could do was flip placement of the bed from one corner to the other on the same wall, and switch the dresser placement. The cabinet had to stay on the wall between the closet and the opened bedroom door as it was the only piece that fit in that small space.

Occasionally I would place the nightstand in the living room (it matched the tables out there) to give the bedroom a little more wiggle room. The rearranging phenomenon was never done when Bill was home. He thought this was nuts and to say it exasperated him would be an understatement. He never complained out loud, but he did give me a look from time to time. For a while he was better at eye ball rolling than I was!

In order to accomplish the rearranging, dresser drawers would be pulled out and stacked in the living room. Some of the drawers were too wide to carry through the hallway normally so I had to side step down the hallway grunting under the load I carried. Moving the large bed and chests in a small carpeted room was not easy. This was before the invention of furniture sliders that are so commonly used today. Pull a little here, push a little there was how things were moved. The hallway was full of knickknacks from the tops of the chests and nightstand and some of the smaller drawers.

This was also before portable phones. We had a phone in the living room and one in the kitchen. Heaven help me if the phone rang while I was wrestling with furniture and had the doorway blocked. If Bill were calling, he knew it was the boys' naptime and I would likely be home. I didn't want to worry him by not answering so I would climb over whatever was in the way and try to answer the phone without sounding winded.

Bill: Are you alright?
Me: Sure (pant, pant)
Bill: You sound out of breath
Me: (with fingers crossed for fibbing) I was just jogging in place / blowing bubbles for the kids / chasing the dog to get my shoe or whatever came to mind that day.

Did I fool him? No. He would come home to find the bed in a different corner or the couch on a different wall (at least the living room was easier to rearrange) and say that he knew by the phone call that something would be different when he came home. He would guess which room on his way home and was right 75% of the time. The bedroom caused more panting. (Hmmm, that doesn't sound all bad, does it?!)
Now, even though our living room and bedroom are much larger, their configurations are such that rearranging furniture isn't easy. Besides that, I try not do anything to cause back muscle spasms.I've pretty much lost the urge to frequently rearrange things.

Except for here.

So here I am with a new blog background. I hope it is easy on everyone's eyes. I will check it on Bill's computer and our laptop later. Each monitor is different enough that I get an idea what your views may be like.

I'm off to run the vacuum now. And maybe move the basket of magazines to the other end of the couch. That will be strenuous enough for one day, after all the exertion to get that sunflower over here on my sidebar.