Best laid plans....

When I clerked for Judge Smith in D.C. I had something wonderful. Not just a fantastic job working with a brilliant man. Not just getting to write opinions that become part of the law of the land. Not just having a wonderful working schedule my first year out of law school. No, I had a chair that fit me. It was pure bliss!

Now you have to understand something about me. I am incredibly cheap. I HATE to spend money on things like furniture. So I will hunt for ages to find just the thing. And once I do, the checkbook flies open before the treasure disappears. Couches...everybody sees so a bit easier to spend money on. But a chair that only I will use. A desk that only I will use. Ugh. Hate it.

Another reason I hate it is chairs aren't designed for small women like me. Usually something doesn't fit. The back rest is too high. The arms don't move. The seat part is too long. I kind of feel like Goldilocks. Well, after literally years of searching and grousing, I found the right chair at a price I was willing to pay last week.

I've also found the desk set that I love and had a dear friend who's a professional organizer come over and make sure what I wanted would fit in our office and that it would work with my needs. I like to be organized, really I do. But for the last year since I've been writing in a focused way, you would never be able to tell by looking at my writing surface. It was an explosion of books and paper with my laptop peeking off the top.

Anyway, I ordered all this furniture from Office Depot .com last week -- delivery September 21. Perfect! It would be waiting when I get back from ACFW Conference and I could spend that next week getting organized.

Um, yesterday I got a call. You know, the kind that says we'll be there in an hour to deliver. I said no, I'm teaching at Purdue this morning. So I fly home from teaching at two, and start frantically moving boxes out of the closet, clearing off a huge bookshelf, pulling that into the now empty space in the closet. And out the window go my plans of careful purging and using this opportunity to cut back some of our stuff as we clean and rearrange.

The boxes get delivered and the bottom one is damaged. Sigh. So last night after Eric got home I called Office Depot and let them know. No problem, we'll get a replacement out. Fantastic. Then Eric opens the box for the lateral file, the piece I really want to start with so I can empty the laundry baskets I cleared my desk into. Yep, a broken piece. So I call Office Depot again while Eric examines the other two boxes of wood pieces. Fortunately, they're fine and Office Depot promises to send out a replacement. I feel kind of bad, because in both cases, one or two pieces are all that need to be replaced, but that's not how they work.

So we put together the desk while watching Ultimate Gift last night. FANTASTIC movie by the way. WATCH IT!!!!!

I'll post photos when I get all the other furniture and we get it put together. But let's just say I'm thrilled to have a desk that finally fits with a chair that is comfy.