Saturday Office Organization

Ah yes, my office.  For 5 years I've been promising myself that I would get it cleaned out and organized.  All the writing and work stuff, school stuff, sewing stuff, art stuff, etc.; a place for everything and everything in its place!  Every year I draw maps of the room, make plans, draw up lists and attempt to tackle a monumental project only to find the fatal flaw shortly after I get started.

Last summer I got the furthest into my plan when it hit me: my desk was way too big for the space and it was throwing everything off.  Another map was made and I made my way to IKEA where I figured out what I needed to do, how much it was going to cost and how many pieces I would have to sell in order to pay for the renovation.  The amount was small enough (c'mon we're talking IKEA, not hand carved heirloom quality from rosewood or mahogany here) and decided I would save up for it.  My February break would be purchasing, assembling and redoing my space.  Then fate threw me a curve with a black Friday weekend sale where I could pick up a version of the bookcases I was eyeing for 1/2 price.

Damn you fickle finger of fate!!!

A little measuring and thought had me realize that my son no longer used his desk that would fit perfectly where I needed it and it matched the rest of the set.  Between repurposing his old desk and the sale, my costs dropped to under $100, the same amount for the tax receipt for donating my old desk to the office of a local church.

Soon phase 1 was done, the work area but then things stalled with classes, work and life.

Enter kitties.  Two new kitties means looking at your house in a new way.  In this case, a giant hide and seek playground for cats.

For Data (aka Schtinky Cat) this means my office.  First he decided the shelf where the spare net book normally lived was his.  He knocked off the various cords stored there while the netbook was in use elsewhere and staked his claim.  Then he noticed that 1/3 of the office that I have been too ... scared? lethargic? disinterested? all?  none of the above? ... to attempt to get done.

Do you know what it's like to have to pull out several banker's boxes of "stuff I need to go through..." in order to find a cat?

But what Schtinky did was force my hand.  The banker's boxes are now sorted, filed, recycled or put away.  This was my second wind.  This morning a number of other "I'll deal with it laters" from the end of last semester are now filed, recycled, trashed or put away and plans for the next trip to IKEA to pick up a bookcase, desktop and media tower.

Who says cats don't know what it is you need?

This morning the room feels reenergized and that treasure map I drew up at the beginning of the year is just had a new landmark added to it.