Nesting, Books, and Backaches

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: The trouble with having lots of books is that when you have to MOVE them, say, for a baby's (or two's) new nursery that doesn't need a lot of dusty old grown up books in it, it takes a lot of effort. My office has these long adjustable shelves on the wall, so the fiction books that we want to keep (paperback & hardbacks) are now mostly lining the shelves in here. It looks kind of cool and "library ish". I'm going to add a couple of shelves in here, that are pretty high and hard to reach, for stuff we don't need very often. Relax, I'm going to get someone ELSE to do the hard work on that shelf-installation part, even if I have to pay them.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the non-fiction, academic scholarly stuff. I think I'll put it neatly in boxes in the garage until I get my "official" office at school (the one I won't have to move out of every other semester, which as an adjunct is normal). (Which might be a while, but still). I'm getting rid of a bunch of books, too, since Andrew's gone. He likes to hold on to everything, but I have a big stack of books I can do without for one reason or another. One reason: I didn't much like the book, but read it anyway. Another: since I have a book reviews website, I get sent some books sometimes for free that I wouldn't read even if someone paid me to do it. Some are books other people have given me, or Andrew, thinking we like that sort of book (for the record, Andrew doesn't read military suspense books. Just cause he does it for a living [maybe BEcause he does it for a living] doesn't mean he wants to read about it.) Blech! But they're not inherently bad books, just TOTALLY not my style and a waste of time and space for us. Still, I'm a bit of a book pack rat, so there are soooo many books in here. There are some that I certainly wouldn't part with, and just seeing them there in their spot on the wall, a favorite title read many times, makes me smile. Happy Sigh. Nothing like a room full of books to make a bookworm happy. One day, I want an entire room devoted to books, a real library. With comfy chairs with good lights next to them, and tables to put a cup of hot tea, and maybe some board games & quiet activities, and nice rugs. You know, snobby, like the library in the game "Clue."

But those "never even read them" "didn't like 'em but read 'em anyway" books, and a bunch of CDs I haven't listened to in at least two years, are going away. A used book store, perhaps? Maybe if I can do that, I can get some exchanges and get some cool kid's books to line the nursery bookshelves (of which there will be two) with. I already have a half dozen or so books I've picked up over the years, but it would be cool to get some more of the classics I'll be reading to two little faces in the next couple of years.

But man, is it a big old mess right now. Books all over the floor. Dust flying. My back hurting (last night) so I had to quit. Being unused to having to stop working, I was surprised to get a pregnancy backache so soon. But as I told Veda when she dropped me an email-- I am actually only 16 weeks pregnant, but look about 5 1/2 to 6 months. (And yes, if anyone is wondering, everything on that front is still super. I'll keep you updated.) :)

It's gonna be a wild ride, folks. So that's why this book moving project had to happen now-- while Andrew's gone & the backaches haven't completely immobilized me yet, I've got a weekend to kill (I don't write the dissertation on weekends; it's a rule!) I can get some quality nesting done.

But now, to shower off the book dust and go drop some unsuspecting used book store clerk a load of work to do. Mwah ha ha ha ha! Happy Sunday everyone!