I wanted to be like Mom

I wanted to be like Mom, but instead I am continually finding out how much I am like Dad. Strange, isn't it? For example, Timothy and I were evaluating our March spending to see how well we'd stuck to the new budget. I had to keep explaining why certain things fell into categories that were counter intuitive (as to not go over in any one category) and why some things didn't count because I'd returned other things and why some things were purchased with monies that did not exist and yet existed. Timothy repeatedly said things like, "I can't believe I'm hearing this." Hmm. That's what you get for leaving me in charge of the finances for the past seven years. I little wheelin' dealin' whang' danglin' to get what I want. Just like me ole pappy. Who, coincedentally, just got himself a new truck. When mom was out of town. Suspicious??

We're still $400 under budget for this month--just so you don't think I run us into debt. I just massage the numbers a little.

The funniest thing that happened during our hour session? That would be my hubby, of course. Who is, if you didn't know, an incredible actor--which is why Kayli and I always play charades when we get together. Our version of charades consists of making our husbands act things out. Great entertainment. Back to the story. So I'm explaining to Timothy that four of the uncategorized checks should be in medical and he says, "Wow, we spent a lot for medical that month." I replied, "We did have a baby." Timothy looked at me with absolutely perfect incredulousness and said, "We did??!! When??!! Why didn't you tell me??" It was hilarious.

Other news: Timothy put together our second Billy Bookcase, making a grand total of two. Then we proceeded to fill the shelves. One is filled totally with fantasy/sci fi--so there's a shelf for Timothy's Orson Scott Card collection and a shelf for my Lloyd Alexander collection, plus all the fabulous fantasy--The Dark is Rising series, all my new Sharon Shinn's Timothy got me for my birthday, Tolkien, Lewis, L'Engle, etc. Then the other bookcase is all the "classics" according to Andrea. So, the top shelp is Louis L'Amours and Kjelgaards. The second shelf is Whitman, Kipling, Austen, Dickens, more poetry, Les Mis. The next shelf is more of the same: Wharton, Orwell, that sort of thing. And also--Andrea's picks. Potok, The Road Home, Mrs. Mike, The Giver, Johnny Tremain, My Friend Flicka (still one of my favorites). The next shelf has A House of Many Rooms, One Time, I Saw Morning Come Home, Voigt, Quest for a Maid, Freak the Mighty, Killer Angels, Peck, Dahl. The next shelf has my favorite King Arthur series, all my Mrs. Pollifax books (Timothy got me the whole collection one year for Christmas), No More Strangers, Please, Incident at Hawk's Hill, Under the Blood Red Sun. The last shelf has some of my favorite history books, including "Days of Sorrow: Years of Triumph" my very favorite history book. It's about WWII.

The point of all that--I'm just totally excited about my new bookcases. I love them, love them. When Timothy and I were arranging the shelves Tim looked over at me with a big grin on his face and said, "This is fun, isn't it?" For all of Timothy's and my love story being an "opposites attract"--in some ways we are very much the same. Yes, arranging books is indeed, very, VERY fun.