It’s not exactly getting my heart’s desire, but I did express a yearning recently to rearrange my furniture, and I granted myself that wish last night. First, as you know, I’ve had two couches in my great room since some time last fall. Now I have only one. The one that used to be Mom’s and was going to be Eric’s has been donated to charity. My particular reason for wanting it to be gone rightthisminute will be revealed in due course. Eric, good soldier that he is, even dropped by to help me move it outside, where it was picked up earlier today.

So with one couch gone (going back to last night), it suddenly seemed less than ideal to have the remaining one take up half the room, diagonally arranged to split the space for no really good reason. So I moved it in front of the bookcase that was along the wall with the two big windows, because that’s where the other couch had been (temporarily, as it turns out).

I wasn’t quite satisfied, though, so I started moving that bookcase around, and after several back-breaking (because I refused to remove the contents before pushing it over the carpet) maneuvers, it ended up on the other side of the room entirely. That’s where my couch (the one I’m keeping) was, but the bookcase is shorter and lower and less obtrusive there, so it seem I’ve gained quite a lot of space in the great room, at the expense of my back and legs.

There was still some tweaking to do, because I now had the couch in a spot where it kept the front door from swinging all the way open. We can’t have that, because soon (a) I will have a new screen door, and (2) it will be warm enough to leave the front door open most of the day while I’m working. And I had to think about easy access to all the blind pulls (there are four sets of blinds and one piece of drapery to open every morning and close every evening), so I kept moving things around (and kept wearing myself out) until I was satisfied.

(As if. Well, I was more or less satisfied at the time, and now inertia and lethargy will do their duty and keep me from any further tweaking of the feng shui.)

And what plans do I have for all this extra space? (Because, after all, nature abhors clear access to the back door.) It’s for my new (wait for it) ... treadmill! I want to be around long enough to dance with Kylie at her wedding, so I’ve taken active steps to save my life and reverse the aging process by making a major investment in my own fitness. I’m gambling that I’ll stay interested long enough for it to pay off, but the incentive is high. Don’t even bother trying to talk me out of it. More to follow, when I actually get the durned thing.