Beds & Books

This week we continued work on Zoe’s bed, which was in pieces in my garage. Zoe and I resumed our wood staining and I had an idea to try to paint a Harry Potter logo or two with the stain, making the desired picture darker than the rest of the wood. We tried making the deathly hallows sign but didn’t leave it on long enough. Then Zoe had an idea to draw Harry Potter glasses and a scar above a picture of a snake with the words “the one who killed Nagini” to celebrate Neville Longbottom because Zoe doesn’t think he gets enough praise for killing You-Know-Who’s snake. Once we finished, we can see the snake clear enough but you really have to squint to see the writing; that’s okay, we know it’s there. We had tried to re-sand and re-stain some of the leftover pastel colors, but couldn’t get rid of it all. However, the way the pastel specks peek through the wood stain reminds me of the Aurora Borealis. Either that or of some Gryffindor kids having a paintball fight in the dorm.

I am happy to report that Zoe’s bed is now reassembled (complete with a ladder, Gryffindor bedding, and one house-elf) thanks in no small part to my husband, who did 99% of the work. Luckily, this project was completed with no injuries and minimal swearing. Once the bed was in place, Zoe and I hung 18 pictures of Gryffindor witches and wizards beneath it. They are all equally crooked because Zoe and I hung them…because I’d promised Nik I’d try not to ask for any more “honey-do” projects…which left me pondering which projects I was actually capable of finishing on my own. It would probably be easier if I could remember all the half-finished projects I started. I need to make a list…and remember where I put it.

One of the first unfinished “projects” I’d thought of is the ever-growing mental list of books I’ve wanted to read. Okay, let’s face it, that list will never get finished, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cross off a few titles. As an English major, I’ve always felt like I should have read all the classics, but I haven’t (although I have read some). Then after I got my degrees, I was too embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t read all of the most obvious classics that people would have expected an English major to have read, like Shakespeare, Chaucer, the Bronte sisters (one of whom I named my dog after), Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens – ugh. Do you see how uncultivated I am? I’m also worried that once I start reading some of the classics, I might find them boring and I absolutely hate it when I finish a book and realize I didn’t enjoy it.

I’m still embarrassed by my lack of culture, but now I have one more book to add to my “completed” list. A few months ago, I bought Bram Stoker’s Dracula on Audible and it finally came up as my last Audible download I hadn’t listened to yet – unintentionally quite apropos for October. P.S. I love Audible because I find it hard to set aside time to sit down and read because I usually feel guilty that I’m not doing something else productive. However, when I can play an audio book in my car, I feel super tricky because I’m multitasking and I don’t mind if traffic is bad because I’m listening to a good book, so win/win.

I finished listening to Dracula yesterday and I am happy to report that I liked it. I didn’t realize how large a part Van Helsing played in the original story (honestly, I had almost forgotten about him until he was mentioned in the book because the first reference of him that I’d heard was from the movie “Van Helsing” with Hugh Jackman and I figured the movie wasn’t particularly accurate to the original story). I also didn’t realize that Van Helsing’s first name was Abraham. Admittedly, Van Helsing was my favorite character in the book, although he presents more like Albert Einstein than Hugh Jackman. At any rate, this week, 1 bed and 1 book – now finished.