Change For The Better

Reading Dr. Suess
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

I had a bit of a nutty tonight (well today, okay this whole week but cut me some slack...)
Basically I just freaked out about anything and everything and Shell had to call a time-out for me...calm down, have some dip. I've been just really feeling the stress of many things and it manifested itself in my being a complete melty-head and luckily Shell knows how to pull me back into a sustainable orbit- that's why she's perfect for me- she just handles me right- part psychologist, part lion-tamer.

One of the things that's been bugging me is our office at home. When we first bought the place I had the room to myself. It was plenty big enough for me, perfect amount of writing space, reading space, and desk enough for my usual stacks of books that I'm thumbing through- a historian needs to have volumes handy for just such an emergency.

When Gracie came along, Shell moved all her stuff out of the third room and into the office. As you can tell, Shell is a craft wizard and also an organizational Nurse Ratchet (but a nice one) and so when she moved in to share office space with me she brought a closet full of sewing, art supplies, and reams of file boxes into my office closet. Also she brought her big desk. Things were cramped but okay. Then she got her great-grandmother's antique desk AND antique Singer sewing machine....suddenly I was forced to use the desk for my new desk AND co-exist with a giant sewing machine, as well as the aforementioned gallery of bits and bobs.

Needless to say this put a dent in my feng shui and I didn't even know I had one.

She knew that the office was in part a sore point with me, but there was little we could do- we couldn't magically make another room appear- I know I said she's a craft wizard but that's going to extremes.

So when I had my little episode she decided 'that's it, we're changing the office and making you comfortable'

and that's what she did. We swapped desks and added a smaller side desk for me doubling my desk space and deepening it as well. Since we've been given a secondary computer by my father-in-law we needed some additional space anyway. When it was all put together I sat down and actually had room for my arms and am typing comfortably for the first time in almost 2 years. It's like night and day.

My side is all organized now, with just some minor tweaks needed when I get some additional cords and wires for the second computer (which is really just a second internet machine- it only has a 4GB hard drive- they don't even MAKE those anymore!).

Shell is currently working on her side so taking a new photo would not do it justice as of yet, but rest assured I will when it's all completed because it just feels GREAT.

We spend so much time in here in the evenings that it should be comfortable for the whole family. As you can see in the picture, while we were busy moving things around, GG finally made herself comfortable and enjoyed a book...she was so cute, if not a little put out by the mess at first. Now I've even got a spot for her to pull up another chair and play with her non-attached keyboard that Shell bought for her because she likes to play with the keys and 'type' like Dada.

I feel a bit more at peace tonight. (*thanks honey*)