I think I have a problem.

GIVE ME THE CHOCOLATE AND NO ONE GETS HURT!!

I just stuck this picture in for fun because my camera is still not charged and too much text looks boring. A baby in one hand a gun in the other. My kind of man.

We were eating cherries and Kateri and Audrey stuffed their cheeks full. They remind me of the bunnies in Wallace and Grommit.

Shane has been telling people at work I am leaving him for craigslist. He backed up the accusation telling them first thing in the morning instead of making him coffee I am checking craigslist. Before getting in bed I check agan. If Iam woken up in the middle of the night I check just in case someone listed the perfect bookshelf for Kateri's room at 3am. And all throughout the day I send him links to some hidden treasure I found asking,

" Can you pick this up for me?"

I am starting to think he is right and at the moment I am a little tired of it - although I did do a quick check before I started typing this confession. Nothing. Actually that is a lie. Maybe I should be worried. I did find a foosball table which I am thinking might be easier to arrange the garage around than an 8' pool table. But Shane is gone to the movies so I can't ask him right now.

My last adventure with craigslisting turned out to be a lot more than I expected- by at least 3 inches. And although it was free, it was not without some expense- mostly Shane's brawn and my nerves.

I was browsing the free list looking for more storage for the school room and I came across three solid maple book shelves all with cabinets on the bottom. I really wanted something with doors so I could secure the little kids things when I was not there to supervise but with shelving on top for the big kids books. They looked perfect so I e-mailed Randy and said my husband has a truck and he blackberried back and said that's nice for him. And also that the shelves were still available what time could we retrieve them and I said around 7 and he said call when you are on your way. I forgot to mention that before I said we'd be there at 7 I e-mailed Shane and he gave me the go ahead.

I had a few hours to kill before Shane would be home so I copied down the measurements and got the measuring tape and went up to figure how I'd configure them. At 4' wide they were too wide to all fit on one wall and the heighth was exactly the floor to ceiling measurement. And at 18 inches deep I was thrilled with the endless possibilities of storage options. What wouldn't I put on those shelves? And then I had a horrible thought, what if they are TOO tall? I called Shane and told him the measurements and he said it should work fine and if not we can put them somewhere else. I felft better and got to work on some shish kebobs so we could eat before going.

Everyone ate well so I was really surprised that Cyprian was really fussy on the way down. Luckily, I had the foresight to bring some dark chocolate to keep him distracted but it was all gone before we even got to the exit- which was only 20 min away. I was thinking earlier today when he was extra sensitive and fussy he might be teething and I was mad at myself for not giving him some pain killer before leaving. I was also hoping he would fall asleep at some point but he didn't.

We got to Randy's and I was already feeling worn out and ready to be home. Randy was having some couches delivered at the same time so he asked Shane to help move them up some stairs, which he did. There were two of them and it took awhile and all the while I was trying to distract and keep Pippin happy. We sang songs, told stories, made faces, I gave him my cel phone. All for naught. I was explaining to Shane what it is like for a mom to hear her baby cry and I said it is like every wail is a pile drive to the face and you can't just tune it out. I definitely felt beat up by the time we got home. The crying continued while Shane loaded the shelves- all three barely fit-and the entire drive home. I smartly remembered the drugs and eventually he calmed down and nursed to sleep. I'l try and remember tomorrow morning.

Cameron came over to meet Shane for the movie and helped unload the shelves. I wish my camera was working. They are enormous and honeslty they scare me a little. They take up half the garage and even in the big expanse look intimidating. I got the tape measurer out and sure enough the shelves are 96" but the molding on the top adds another 3 inches. I just never imagined a bookshelf could ever be too big. But Shane says we can lower the trim and it does have an added block on the bottom so we can fix any height problems. They will need some work. I'm not sure what all I want to do with them. They are a clear maple now and I think it looks nice but there are some scratches and I want to put handles on the doors so I can lock them. I would never try to move one of these on my own- like I did with the pine shelf. I am glad I learned my lesson on a lighter shelf.

I admit a few times during the whole operation I thought let's just go home. My baby is sad and tired. My nerves are fried and those shelves are gargantuan. If they don't fit I don't know what we'll do with them. Maybe this is a mistake. A big one. But now that we are home the kids are sleeping and I can relax I am happy with them and am looking forward to having a project with some problems different from just needing a refinishing. Some of the backing needs to be tacked on and the trim is loose in afew places. And I get to pick out some pretty knobs for the doors. I told Shane on the way home we would be set in the school room storage department for years to come. He is such a Sweetie putting up with all my wild schemes. I could never have done any of them without him.

I just went out to take a last look before retiring for the night. I looked out and surveyed the vast sea of wooden projects in various stages of doneness our garage has become. I still need to finish the pine shelf- I did finish sanding now I can move on to staining. Then there are the slideouts for Shane's desk. I got those stained now I need to polyurethane them. There is Kateri's dresser partly stripped by Trudy. The little wood shelf I had to sand to get the ink stains out of but now needs a protective coating. And last but certainly not least the three Goliath-sized shelves that actually look pretty good out there. I suppose we could even just keep them out there. We need more shelving in the garage to free up some floor space. For a foosball table. If it is still available.