Well, while Neel didn't come home and put the numbers on the house, measure for shelves, or hang shelves, he did help me take our bed apart for staining.

It was kind of fun to sleep like this last night, mattress and box spring on the floor. I told Callum that I felt like Ma in Little House on the Prarie when they make their beds on the floor of the newly-framed house. We've slept like this, camped out in our own bedroom, a couple of times before. Once was when Neel was in graduate school, and he and our pup Phoebe and I were all kneeling (well, maybe Pheebs wasn't kneeling, exactly) on the bed to look out the window at a bird. The slats of my grandmother's bed failed somehow and we all came crashing down.

The second time was after our move to California while we were waiting to purchase this very bed that I'm staining today. Our mover wanted to set up Grandma's bed in the master bedroom for us, but I knew that we'd be getting another bed soon. I wanted the mattress and boxspring on the floor while we waited. He just did not understand this or me, and since I pretty much just want everyone to be happy, I let him set up the damn bed. Good grief. What a pushover.

Lucy is really concerned about these latest developments. (I'm sure she thinks it has something to do with that dog she met yesterday.) She has a routine, you know. Every night she comes upstairs with us and crawls under the bed to wait while we brush our teeth and settle in. Only after we're both tucked in does she come out and put her paws up on Neel's side for him to lift her into the bed. She can get in herself, but just won't. Not at bedtime. She had the most pathetic, confused look on her face last night after she hopped up onto the bed and watched us in the bathroom getting ready. Today she's been following me most carefully as I go to work on the staining. Keeping tabs.

So here we are, past the point of no return, right in time for my panicked second thoughts. Oh little bed, how I loved you just the way you were. Seriously, sometimes I am impossible to live with. I know. But I do like the stain, and I think it'll look really nice. I've been wanting to do this for years. It's just the transition, I suppose that has me overwrought.

That's what we're up to today. Staining and knitting or reading in between coats. Trying not to think about little doggies or all the other stuff I want to get done.