What a Life!

I got the desk cleared yesterday. It took me most of the morning to get it done. But doesn’t it look nice?

Note the goose sitting on the right corner of the desk – that would be Ben’s.

I must say, it’s nice having the grey desk as a place to put the printer. Other than that, though, I don’t really like it. My theory is that the more space you have to clutter, the more clutter you will have. I have enough trouble fighting clutter without that ugly grey desk.

The other thing I hate about our office is where the file cabinet is at.

If you wanted to file some things, where would you stand, and where would you put your stack of things to file?

When the drawer comes out, there is not enough room for you to stand at the end of the drawer. So you have to stand beside it and crane your neck to read the folders. If you pull the drawer out part way so you can stand where you can actually read the files (and I do keep my most oft used files in front just for this purpose), where does your stack of stuff go? On the shelves next to the filing cabinet? You can’t reach it there. On the desk behind you? Then you have to do a 180 every time you pick up the next thing to file. On top of the files in the back of the drawer? Then the drawer has to be open further and you cannot stand where you can see the folder labels. Ugh! Hate it!

We used to have the filing cabinet to the left of where the printer is on the grey desk. I liked it there because I could open the drawer all the way and put my stack of stuff to be filed on the desk. It worked like a charm. But Steve didn’t like it there because “it was in the middle of the room.”

Needless to say, filing is something I would theoretically like to do every week. But considering the trouble it requires, usually it’s once every two or three months that I actually get it done. Hate it!

Here are the shelves behind the desk. Note the toys that have been confiscated for various reasons up on top. The xylaphone is up there on the right (half hidden by the boa), and the legos and the barn are on the right. I don’t remember all the reasons for why they were confiscated. I think we were tired of listening to the xylaphone, he kept getting mad at the barn because it wasn’t doing something it was supposed to do (exactly what, we may never know), and the legos…he has this thing with throwing and letting him have the legos was just adding fuel to the fire. What is it with boys and throwing anyway?

After I finished working in the office, I went upstairs and did some more holiday baking. I made Holiday Fruit Cookies – they have the fruit that you use in fruitcake in them but taste nothing like fruitcake. I also made Schnitz Soup to eat over my granola. And I made cherry pie with a lattice top for Steve’s birthday. I still need to make fudge and White Chocolate Chip Craisen Cookies. I think I’ll leave the can of pumpkin for a pie next Christmas, though it will bug me having that can in my way all year. I don’t have loads of extra space in my pantry.

Yes, I know, Steve’s birthday was five days ago, and he requested cherry pie for his birthday way before that. But my birthday is next Friday, and we’re going to be celebrating every day for at least a week. Just trying to keep things “equal” around here…

I’ve already ordered myself some birthday presents which are slated to arrive next week. My menu for next week will include some of my favorite foods. And I’m planning fun activities for myself that I don’t generally indulge in but I long for just the same. Secret fantasy type stuff. Like going to Starbucks and sitting down and enjoying my coffee instead of buying it and drinking it while I drive. I will have to find somebody to watch Ben while I do that, and it would be fun to bring a friend along so we can “chat over coffee” – like, chat about whatever comes to our minds, nothing in particular, but I’m not sure who would be interested in coming with me just for coffee at Starbucks. [Maybe someone will read my blog and volunteer?]

My other secret fantasy which I’m not sure I’ll actually manage to pull off for my birthday but I’ll fantasize about it just the same…going to Kansas City and faux shopping at Nordstrom. Yeah, it’s a 2 1/2 hour drive. My car has 160K miles on it, so I’m becoming more conservative in how I put miles on it so I’m hesitating on that part. What I’d really like to do is rent a Chevy Impala and listen to XM satellite radio (like Oprah and Gayle on their road trip), but I don’t know if I’m vain enough to pay for a rental car, even just for one weekend day. But it would be so much fun to get away and drive in the city (Kansas City is so much more fun to drive in than Lincoln or Omaha) and go to Einstein Bagels and eat at the Cheesecake Factory and savor a cup of coffee at Starbucks and faux shop at Nordstrom (as well as other stores in a mall ritzy enough to have Nordstrom grace it’s lineup). Again, I would love to bring a friend along too, but I’m not sure who would be silly enough to want to go faux shopping at Nordstrom? I’m not going to spend anything. Joey would come with, but he’s easy at this age. I just want to have fun looking. And since it’s my birthday, I want to be the one who choses the radio station and makes the agenda. Like I said, I don’t know if I’ll actually manage to pull this one off. Maybe later as a reward for being a good girl and doing something I’m supposed to do. I’m telling you, it would be a great reward!

Okay, enough now. Must get back to real life. Ben is hungry, and I think Joey is awake now too. I need to finish making my grocery list so I can head to town and get my shopping done. And my computer keeps pestering me that it needs to restart so it can finish installing some things. Hate it when it does that, but I’m tired of arguing with it already…