Once Upon a Time a couple of very nice work friends had some extra spending money. They wanted to sponsor a few artisans who could use the money, but they couldn't decide who would build the best project. So they held a competition and asked all the carpenters and artists to make a case for why they should get some extra money to build a summer fun house. After all the competition entries were tallied, four teams won some summer building money. The only catch: Keep everyone involved in how you plan to use your summer lottery winnings, be done by the middle of September, and turn in all your receipts so that you only use as much money as the summer gift.

So Kari, Cat, and Cindy won one of the summer money packages. The ladies proposed to build a bookcase. A very nice bookcase. A bookcase for our very own living room. They hired Mike to draw a bunch of really pretty architectural plans. Mike drew some wonderful plans. Then the ladies handed Mike's drawings to Steve. Steve took measurements, used the wood we already had in the garage, used the tools we had in the garage, and built a very pretty bookcase. At one point, he asked for Cat's help painting and decorating one of the corners, and with some bright blue and bright yellow paint, she made the corners look nice. Once the bookcase was built, Kari and Cat found some nice books, some pretty photos, a couple of those animated digital photo frames, and a couple of pretty nick-nacks. They arranged some things on the bookcase, to make it look pretty.

Then the ladies threw a nice coffee party and invited some friends to the party. They put out some extra seating, plumped a few throw pillows, and mingled with the guests. They said, "See? We built a very nice bookcase. Steve was a very good woodworker. Mike drew beautiful plans. Cat knew how to paint intricate pictures on the bookends. Kari found some wonderful items to decorate our bookcase. See how nice it looks from this side of the room? Come over here, it even looks good from another angle. And now when friends come to our living room, they can use our very nice bookcase. They can find books here, and add new books here. There's room for nick-nacks, decorations, and even photo frames. We might even have new friends who'd like to have a whole new shelf for themselves some day. Steve made it easy for us to add new shelves, anytime we like."

And some of the coffee party guest had questions. "Is this bookcase for sale at IKEA?" one person asked. "Um, no -- but if they want to buy our plans and carry the bookcase design, that's possible some day later." Another person said, "Did you talk to the woodworkers across the street?" The ladies replied, "Not really. The summer lottery money was for us, for us to shop and build something at home for our living room. If the woodworkers across the street want to see our bookcase, they're welcome to come to coffee some evening." A supervisor from the town next door asked, "Did you file a form in triplicate with the labor union?" The ladies politely responded, "We just had summer lottery money to have fun in our own backyard, using our own garage, to build a pretty bookcase for our living room. We did just that, and even on time and within budget."

After the coffee party, the ladies washed the dishes, vacuumed up the crumbs, and wiped down the water rings from the coffee table. The chairs were straightened, and the garage was cleaned up too. And they were very proud of their very nice bookcase. They might curl up in a comfy chair and read a book sometime soon.