Dispatches From Hellpeckersville- Workspace

Things are on the move here at chez triv. I had a complete meltdown at Cleetus about my lack of workspace, so now I’m clearing a spot for a corner desk unit. And when I say I, I mean mostly Baboo. I knew I had a lot I wanted to get done today, so naturally I woke up with one of the worst migraines I’ve experienced this year. I wasn’t three sips in before I lost my coffee, and the day went downhill from there. Still, it needs to be done.

First up, there’s a baker’s rack in the corner on the short wall. It used to be somewhat of a display piece for various knick knacks, but over the years, it’s become a catch-all for an amazing collection of unrelated household minutia. There’s the cat’s hairball goo, my box of checks, a couple decks of cards, a pin cushion, a memo pad, and this is all wedged in here and there between the two angel water fountain thingies my mom had on one of the shelves. The fountains on the damn things haven’t worked for years, they would run dry and make a hideous warbling noise until you filled them up or turned them off, then one day they would just die. Mom originally had four, we’re down to two, and I remember the one falling and breaking, but for the life of me, I do not recall what happened to the second one. They all look like variations of the same thing to me, an angel in a grotto with some woodland creatures…how many of those do you need? My answer is somewhat less than two, but out of respect, I’ll be putting them back up after we move that rack.

The bottom portion of the rack has been holding a neat collection of matching black snap storage boxes for years. When they’re not accompanied by a massive collection of whatever junk, catalogs, and books that will fit in with them it looks perfectly presentable. That’s not the case right now, of course, because it is stuffed full of whatever junk, catalogs, and books that will fit in with them. I can throw the catalogs away, but I have no idea where to go with most of it. My bookcases are already bursting, I have two shelves double lined because they’re deep. I guess it’s time to donate to The Care and Share again. Parting with books, even one box, reminds me of when I had to part with my entire library, and that sucked…hard.

We’re only half-way through this damn rack. This damn rack is only half of what we’ve got to get through to make space for the desk. The desk is only half of what I need to set up in order to work. I don’t even care. I feel like crap, the kid feels resentful, and I don’t blame him, but we’re still plugging away at it. I’m confident that by the weekend I will have a workspace.

I looked all around these illustrious internets for this space before we started too. Pinterest, google images, all the great “hacks,” I cannot tell you how many dream set-ups I looked at, what I can tell you is that most of them would have run me into hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. In the end I decided on an 89 dollar glass and metal corner desk, and another 50 for a shelf and a paper sorter. I’m pretty sure I’m set. If all goes well, I’ll be back to work by Sunday. I hope to have pictures for you next week.