Desk Edition

I finished my desk on Sunday.

I started thinking about a place in the house that would make a decent office for me about, oh, 3 years and 4 months ago. What? That's when we moved in? Huh. Who knew.

So I've wanted a space for me ever since we've moved in. I've moved from desk to kitchen table to dining room table to coffee table. And that was, shall we say, completely and totally unorganized? But when I decided to go back to work, I decided I wanted a spot to call my own. And since I'd bought the table saw recently, I figured I should give it a bit more work to see what I could do.

I searched the interwebs for desk designs that I liked, and found one that looked nice, took up minimal floor space, and looked buildable, even for a novice like me.

This is how it ended up. It's a bit junked up right now, but I'm still futzing around, trying to figure out how it best works. But honestly? I'm quite thrilled with how it turned out. I used a few pieces of red oak veneer plywood, some stain, a 1X6 for the back, and some stainable veneer tape for the rough looking edges. I won't talk about how many hours it took, or the fact that I had to rebuild part of it because I was unhappy with how it turned out.

What matters is that it actually looks decent on the wall, is solid, stable, has even corners, and so far has been quite functional for what I need. As a bonus, I discovered last night that a tumbler will fit very nicely in one of the compartments. Not as much of a spillage chance there - SCORE!

And while I was in the middle of working on the desk, I had a brain storm. I had a few pieces of extra wood that matched my desk - and they were just about the right size to make a holder for the printer.

There's no need to mention the arguments that printer and I have had over the last few years. It's freaking heavy, doesn't operate well just sitting on carpet, and didn't really have a permanent home, so it cluttered up SOME part of the house. Not to mention the fact that the paper always wandered several rooms away from the printer, so when I needed to print something, it was an ordeal. Often, the laptop would be in one room, the printer in another, and the paper had gone AWOL. LESS THAN IDEAL.

Because this desk hangs on the wall, I didn't intend to put a lot of weight on it. So instead, I bought some casters, put them on a bottom board, and built a little compartment to hold my paper. So now I have a printer holder that matches my desk, along with storage space for the paper. And everything should be in the same place every time I need it. This makes me happy.

I like my desk. I love that I was actually able to think this thing through from raw wood to finished product. J had to help me think through what kind of support I'd need to hang the sucker on the wall - 6 large sized bolts going through 3 studs in the wall. Hanging this sucker left my arms tired and sore for two straight days - but it was totally worth it. I'm quite happy with it.

Deep Rambling Thoughts...

Or not.

The title is slightly misleading. There are completely rambling thoughts below. They are almost certainly not deep. You've been warned.

Wow. Busy week. This job thing is crazy busy. This is quite honestly fine - I'm enjoying it a great deal, I'm interacting with adults on a regular basis, and I feel like I've gotten caught up to speed very quickly. It's nice to feel useful from the very start.

It does take a lot of energy. There are plenty of nights where getting through kiddo homework, dinner prep for the next night, and whatever chores need to be done that night all feel insurmountable. The only thing I want is my glass of wine (or bourbon or scotch or whiskey or whatever - I'm equal opportunity here) and a warm bed. Damn you, electric blanket! You are killing my productivity!

What's that? Exercise? I know not of what you speak.

So, we'll probably be back to some of the "balance" type posts here. Trying to figure out how to achieve it all - which of course is impossible. But these are the times when I think 'balance' means something a little closer to cycles and pendulums, not than an actual balance.

When I started writing here a year or so ago, I had a ton of thoughts rolling around my head that I wanted to explore. And I did that, to some degree. I enjoyed writing a lot of those posts, and it helped shake some cobwebs out of my brain. These days, I'm not quite so introspective. I feel like I've spent a good part of the last year or so being introspective, and I guess maybe it's time to get out of that mode? Or maybe I just don't have the luxury of a bit of extra time to ponder those things right now.

So yeah. Not so much with the deep thoughts and introspection, but plenty with the mundane and boring. Heh. Isn't that like life, though? Speaking of cycles and all...sometimes life is just like that. Mundane, boring, monotonous, predictable. And then things change, and you're left wondering what the new 'normal' will be. I love that part of life, though - the tweaks, the turns, the curves. Change is good.

The Exercise, It Is Good

Note to self: Exercise is not an option, it is a requirement. When you have an endorphin addiction, you go slightly crazy when you don't get them regularly. Remember  this.

Catching My Breath

Well crap. I had a nice long post written yesterday that either my ipad or blogger decided didn't need to exist.

That behind me, it's Saturday. It was a crazy busy week. I ran one time. That kind of sucks.

I worked a lot, but not a crazy amount. Some of the people I'm working with appear to work some crazy ass hours. Helloooo burnout. My deal doesn't require those kinds of crazy hours, though. I'm much happier that way.

The kiddos spent the night out last night. J and I played a game, watched a Daily Show episode and went to bed. Exciting times around here, lemme tell you.

I cut my hair this week. It was long enough to donate, so I chopped it off. Considering I see the inside of a hair salon about once every 18 months, I probably needed to cut it. My hairdresser made a big deal about me making sure I wanted it cut - are you sure, are you sure? I do this every 3 years or so, so it doesn't bother me. Hair grows, right? That's what it DOES. Eventually, it will get long again, and then I'll cut it again. Have I mentioned that I like cycles?

I have all the components for my desk built and finished, now I just have to put it together. This is gonna involve some large bolts put into studs. J jokes that I'm the one that has to use the stud finder 'cause those things don't work right around him. Hah. 

OK, off to work on my desk, assuming I can find the stud finder...wish me luck!

Mispronunciation

So last night, I was reading with the girl. She's still learning a lot of sounds and phonics, and we've developed hints for certain sounds over time. For example, for the sound that "ow" makes (owl, howl, etc.), we tap her on top of the head to remind her that it says "owwww," the sound you make when someone hurts you.

This reminder worked really well for the boy, but Alyssa likes to mess around with it. So instead of saying "ow" like she KNOWS she's supposed to, she'll sub in the word "hit." I guess that's because I'm hitting her on top of the head. So instead of "h-ow-l" it becomes "hhh-hit-lll," or for mouse, "mmm-hit-sse."  Yeah, a BIT on the frustrating side.

I made the mistake last night of suggesting she use that reminder on the word "shout."

So from our room, you hear the 5 year old saying...

shhh-hittt.
giggle giggle
Shh-hit!
giggle giggle
Shit!
Laugh laugh

Me:  CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE - change subject.  Look, Alyssa - there's something shiny!

Belonging

I've written about feeling like I just don't really "fit in" in some situations. These situations usually involve moms that are much more involved than I am - the ones that coordinate class room parties and events, always volunteer for field trips, that sort of thing. That's just not in my makeup, unfortunately.

Today, I went to lunch with the main partner with whom I'll be working. She is, according to everyone I've spoken with, a wonderful attorney and terrific to work with. Cue: big BIG sigh of relief. And it was particularly gratifying to hear her talk about how much she felt that she did not fit in with groups like he ones I talked about above. Throw in the fact that she doesn't do drama?

I think we're going to get along just fine.

First Day Down

First day at work - done. It was mostly orientation, and I'm still utterly exhausted. I went to bed early last night and everything, but damn. I know full days are tiring, it's just going to take me a few weeks to get used to it.

I'm also trying to figure out how to weave in my exercising with working. I've totally fallen off the running bandwagon the last week. I ran 16 miles last Monday, and haven't touched my running shoes since then. I think my motivation wore off; I need to figure out how to get it back. I'm not TOO worried yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to only run the Little Rock half, and not the full marathon. Oh well. One of these days I might get around to running a full...

Staccato

So let's see, where did I leave off. Oh yeah, about a week ago, right? So it's a new year and all, and I've decided on the following resolutions:

• To get up earlier;
• To be more productive each day;
• To dress nicer every day;
• To not sit on my ass on the couch every day.

In related news, I'm going back to work on Monday! Score - I just knocked out all of my New Year's resolutions. Now that we have THAT out of the way...

My Christmas tree is still up, my house is in nowhere nearly the shape I had hoped it would be after I took time off, and I have a feeling next week is gonna be a major scramble around here. Regardless, I'm so ready to go back to work, it's not even funny. It's not just for the paycheck either, although that will be nice. I'm ready for some adult interaction and it will be so good to get my butt out of the house every day.

I've been making a desk for myself over the last few weeks. I've got everything cut and stained, now I just need to put it together. "Just" being the operative word. My brain seems to work in funny ways. If I try to mow through something at a decent pace, I tend to inevitably screw it up in a bad way. If, however, I let things percolate for what seems like an embarrassingly long time sometimes, the projects go much better. Maybe I need a new CPU...

Did I mention that I'm also looking forward to going back to work so I can get on a normal sleep schedule? I kind of miss the normal schedule, despite the fact that that means I'll probably be going to bed at 11 every night and getting up at 6:30. That seems to be a good schedule for me.

Anyway, there's been plenty of other stuff going on here, despite the exciting job start news and boring sleep deprivation. I just can't seem to remember what it is right now.

So cheers to 2012, bring on the new year, and hopefully the ebbing away of writer's block. Or at the very least, something more interesting to write about than today's post.

New Years, In Haiku

Happy year ended
Moving forward and ahead.
Love is a strange bitch.

Short and Sweet

I managed an almost-16 mile run yesterday. I ended up with 15.7 miles, but that's close enough to 16 for me. It was cold and windy, and I am seriously feeling it today. I'm thinking a nap may be in order, especially since this is the last week I'll have for that. I start my job on Monday of next week, so there's a serious countdown going on. In the meantime, all sorts of little errands and odd things to take care of before getting back into the fray. I'm seriously looking forward to the new job, though - I'm ready to get out of the house.