My corner of my world...

Mornin, Mornin... I am not cheap, but I am certainly frugal with my monies when there is no need to be otherwise... I'd prefer to think that I am just careful in what I spend... If someone thinks I am cheap, so be it... LOL... 

That having been said, I have been struggling again with my little corner of the world in our home... I took over the living room long ago and put my computer between two HUGE windows so I could see out when I wanted to... 

Each time I get to workin' on my corner of my world, something comes up and stops me... It has a greater need and so I stop, get done whatever needs to be done, and once that is completed, go back to finishing off the reorganizing of my area... 

I have a computer desk that is quite a few years old now, but it never was built for the kind of storage I need... And it was certainly never designed to be a corner desk... I expanded the desktop part of it with a nice piece of 3/4" plywood... I must have carried that piece back out to the garage 10 times or more as I had to cut it to fit around a post in the computer desk... I didn't want to clean up the sawdust in the house, but in retrospect, I certainly could have done it much easier if I had!... Oh well... Not all of my ideas or ways of doing things are the best, but I just keep on trying!   :)

From time to time, I'd price new desks on the Internet and would just 'choke' on the price they are asking for them... I need space AND storage - not an easy combination... I do a TON of work on my computer and in my area... I like things organized and in easy reach... And I HATE searching for crap... 

And wherever I am, so are the dogs and they really like laying in the sunlight sunbathing in the mornings... So I couldn't get too far away from the Chihuahua penthouse idea or else they would be underfoot... But they did take over the shelf underneath my computer desk by my feet - I just gave up eventually and put doggie beds in there... (smile)... It is also a nice feeling to wiggle your toes in the belly of a soft Chi too, so it is a win-win all the way around... 

For a few weeks, I have been sitting at my desk and looking at my area since Paul's office is now done... He's got a really nice area to work in and I probably do 150% of the computer work he does here at home... I started thinking I was working in a dark, dingy store room, ya know?... I like open windows and breezes - I detest the AC being turned on - and finally I just gave in and realized I could put this off no longer... I needed to pick up this 'yoke' of getting my working area into shape that I liked and could live with... 

But how?... How to do this without having to pay out a gazillon dollars to get what I needed and wanted?... The more I thought about it, the more I realized that a desk is just a desk and I am a creative sort of person... I'm not unhappy with my computer desk now that the desktop has been expanded and I sit in a corner of two large windows... 

Two things kept nagging at me... My chair and storage... 

My computer chair was OK and probably better than other ones I have had... I wore the wheels out and my "fix" was not a good one... A good effort, but in the end, I made the area around the chair just too large to work with the set-up... Besides that, if I had to put in large amounts of time sitting in it, my back would just ache and ache until I could no longer 'out-think' the dull and annoying pain I was feeling... An hour or two was fine, but much more than that in one day and it would certainly ruin my mood and attitude!

Last week, I had finally decided on what I was going to do in here... I LOVE those steel open shelves that are in restaurants - know the kind I am talking about?... They are on wheels and you fix the shelves at the heights you want them to be by clipping the rubber stops around the poles... Costco has them for $84 and we bought two for the garage to store stuff... Certainly uncluttered and organized that area really fast... 

And I was thinking if I got two of them and intentionally left open the area around the window, I could built a 'picture window' of space to see out the window, but have the storage above for me and the shelves below for the Chihuahuas to sunbathe in...   Another win-win as far as I was concerned... 

So last Sunday, I engaged Desiree to go run errands with me, intent on getting two sets of those steel shelves and get this area organized this week... We had a few shopping errands to run, so we hopped into the truck and started off... While at Costco for the shelves, I sat down in this office chair and fell in love... Leather, it is made of that foam they make beds with - the memory foam?... And for a change, the lumbar support part actually fit me... Usually it is too high, or the seat is too wide, or my knees run short for the chairs are made for men moreso than women... 

I really 'choked' on the price - $179... No gimmicks, no internal back massage-rs, bells or whistles that you wind up to take you to the moon, etc... Just solid support and comfort in a size that fits my back and body well... I had not intended to purchase a new chair at this point, but there was only one left in the box and with Costco, you can just never tell when they are going to sell out on something you like... 

Desiree and I debated back and forth on it... She neither tried to talk me into it or out of it... The more I sat in it and thought about the past week of computer work and back pain I'd gone through, the more I realized that what price to be a bit more pain free?... Earlier that morning I had asked Desiree and Paul to carry his "throne" out onto the patio (now Desiree's "throne") and absolutely soaked it with water than enzyme cleaner after years of being inside the house, sat on, smoke absorbing, etc... So I did have room to do a bit of juggling around while it sat outside and dried out fully for a few days... 

OK - sold... Now to see if it would fit inside the cab of my truck as we had a few more stops to make... 

Desiree and I managed to get it into the truck - she more than I as she climbed into the cab backwards and pulled it in... The chair (still in the box) practically took up the entire back seat of The Beast, but we had it in there!... (We are Women - We are Strong... ).... 

The two sets of steel shelving are in the bed of the truck, so off we go to finish our errands (i.e. OMG Walmarts)... I attempted to park The Beast in a handicapped spot, but the pole is in the center of the parking spot and my mirrors can't see it... So Desiree sticks her head out of her window (and then most of her body) as she watches the pole while I am backing up... 

She tells me I have it, then I put The Beast into park and start getting ready to turn off the engine, grab my purse, thinking about all of this and how I am going to get it all off the truck, put together, etc...

As a matter of habit and not thinking, I automatically reach for the window buttons and push all four up and closed... To hear "DAUGHTER STUCK IN OPEN WINDOW~!!!" from Desiree as she is stuck hanging out the window and it is closing in on her belly... LOL... 

Desiree and I have had some really funny moments together - she's a great cohort to have in crimes for she has a quick and funny sense of humor... She's gonna miss me when I am gone and hopefully she tells the grandchildren all the funny stories (and none of my bad traits!!)...

Monday I spent tearing down my area of the world, and then slowly dragging in the steel shelves one by one with my handy dandy doiley, assembling the shelves and putting them in place, then rehooking up my computer, sorting out stuff, etc... 

I have my nice open space and can open the window to get in the breezes, everything is in easy reach and although it probably looks cluttered to someone else, it 'fits' me quite nice... The dogs have their pillows and doggie beds by the window and can sunbathe every morning --- or snooze in the afternoons if I am working on the computer... I use the bottom step of their doggie steps to lean back with and take a bit of the pressure off of my back at times... And amazingly enough, everything that is connected to my computer (except the sound which didn't work previously) once again works!... How about that??!!!... LOL... 

So this is where the Press is written and I do all of my computer work... I am finally a happy camper as to my working space and although it took me years to actually finish this to the point I liked it and it did what I needed it to do, it was well worth the time, sweat and energy to get it to this point...

Yesterday I worked on scanning stuff for the rescue for the better part of the day... And it was SO nice to have the window open and the breeze coming in...

SWEET, yes indeed!

As Always,

The Lady