Bookshelves

I bought a dresser today. I know, I know: big deal. But here's the thing. It kind of was a big deal. When my husband and I first married, we were both grad students and dirt poor. We made bookshelves from cinder blocks and pieces of 1x8 planks of wood because, really, bookshelves weren't optional for us. We shuddered at the expense, which could have bought us a week's worth of Mac-n-Cheese and hot dogs and Cheerios.

Before too long, we bought a "do it yourself" wooden table with a drawer which was big enough for both of us to use as a study desk if we sat kitty-corner. Then came a long stretch of no furniture until we had our first kid. Friends lent us a changing table and a crib, we were given a rocking chair, and my husband took a woodcraft class to make a futon couch for us. (I sewed the futon cushion. Yes, you can do that.) Oh, and we bought a chair at St Vinnie's for $6 so I'd have somewhere to feed the kid. I guess our family members got tired of not having anywhere to sit, because we acquired assorted hand-me-down furniture from them over the next few years.

But there was one thing we always found spare change for. Bookshelves.

We built our first (non cinder-block) pair between kid one and kid two. Rubbed it down with beeswax and used heater-vent sheeting for cool looking doors. Sweeeeeet, we thought. Then a couple more moves and we needed another bookshelf. And then another. And another couple. And then two more. The ratio of bookshelves to any other single piece of furniture in our home is really astounding. And we still don't have enough.

See? Here's proof: my writing desk as bookshelf.

So, you might expect that on a recent trip to IKEA, I would buy something useful for shelving books.

Only I soooooo didn't.

I know a dresser's not much, but I used WRITER INCOME to buy it! I've been working (writing) without a paycheck for twenty-five loooooong months.

And then, last month, my books caught some serious notice and suddenly I've been selling, selling, selling.

I wanted to celebrate, to mark the moment. I know bookshelves would seem like an ideal way to do that, and it was tempting!!! But the thought of buying myself a dresser felt so utterly frivolous, and after a bleak twenty-five months sans paycheck, I was ready to rock me some frivolity. What's your fave piece of furniture? Does it have a story? Tell me for a chance to win your choice of one of my e-books!

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