Quick Post on Thursday Morning

There was a lull in the unpacking.  I was behind on several fronts and my outside life intervened, demanding that I pay attention to obligations too long abandoned. 

Then, Tuesday, I experienced another fit of profound unsettledness and the shifting and opening of boxes, with the attendant piles of paper and general chaos resumed.  Although it was really only a brief side-line from the main activity center, the last three boxes were unpacked on the morning room, and I was able to bring in a small table and the two extra dining chairs that don't fit around my table without the leaves.  The two chairs are actually too big for the small outdoor table that currently resides in that space, but I have the table, and as the major kitchen appliances have issues and a kitchen remodel is vaguely scheduled for the next year or so, it works for now. 

In fact, aside from inability to deal with unpacked things, I am rather amazed at my ability to be patient with what is not done.  In the old house, "not right" was a burden, here it is just a meh.  The difference seems to be that this house simply feels like home to me and the old house didn't, although it took me a long time to articulate that feeling.   This house is my sanctuary and home, even unpacked and unsettled.  

But back to unpacking…

My main push on Tuesday was to find the printer and start getting the office together.  I'd been struggling with shelving issues in my office, (the Billy bookcases were a failure) trying to balance my need for bookshelves on a budget now with my dream of a future library.  I eventually realized the two commercial kitchen-style steel wire shelving units sitting unused in the garage would fit in my office space.  Even if they are too deep, at 18 inches, I already own them, and hence no additional cost is incurred.  Then I realized I had another, 14" deep unit in the basement that would work upstairs, and so the unpacking of the office began. 

I got the smaller unit upstairs and assembled on Tuesday, and got my printer, tv, and some books in place.  The plan was to spend the rest of the week disassembling the garage units and reassembling them upstairs, but I had a couple of the contractors here for another task and they helped, working far faster and more efficiently than I could have.  They even carried my desk upstairs.  Much as the sunroom was lovely, it was unpractical in the late afternoon and evening, as there was too much glare on my screen.  The room is great for reading, and needlework, and chatting with friends, but no so much as an office.

So most of Wednesday was spent shifting boxes of books, unpacking, sorting and shelving.  I will have to buy at least two more units, and for those I will buy the 14 inch shelves, which will be worthwhile even if, at some point, should my dreams of a library become reality, they need to be replaced with wider 18" utility shelves when they move back to the basement or garage. 

In the meantime there is more unpacking ahead.  My plan was that I would have philosophy, religion, classics, and literature, along with a few other small categories in my office.  History, biography, and science have been relegated to the basement to wait for that dream library.  At the moment it appears that I may have extra space on the shelves, although it is too early to determine how much extra space, or which books will be allowed to migrate up into the land of light.