I was rather overly optimistic to think I could have my office set up by Monday. I spent all day Friday putting together the new office furniture. Saturday I shelved some books but mostly took it easy because I had a dinner party to go to that night, and I was really tired from the previous day’s work. Sunday I painted my filing cabinet. It was that dull beige government office color, and I painted it to fit better with my new office decor, in an “oil-rubbed brass” color that matches the door hardware in my house. I’ve spent the past couple of days arranging my office stuff. The new bookcase I bought has drawers, so I’ve been moving things out of the plastic drawers I used with my old desk and into the bookcase drawers.

I thought I purged about six years ago when I reorganized my office in my old house and then again before I moved away from Texas, but I still had more stuff than I realized. I seem to be hoarding memo pads and paperclips. Memo pads are a standard writer gift, so they tend to come in the goodie bags I get when I speak to writing groups or libraries. Then there are the promo giveaway pads from conventions and conferences. I also can’t seem to resist hotel memo pads. When I have a meeting at a hotel and they have a memo pad at each place, I can’t just leave it behind when I’ve written on one page. I should never again need to buy a notepad for making grocery lists.

I’m not sure where all the paperclips came from. I don’t even use them anymore. I might have bought one small box, but I practically have a crate. They must be reproducing. I wonder if I can put some of them in metal recycling. Or I could string them together to decorate an office Christmas tree.

I also have a surprising amount of stationery. When I was in junior high and high school, I had some long-distance friends I corresponded with (pre-email), so I have a few sets of notepaper from that, and I know I got some stationery sets as gifts. For some odd reason, I have two sets of Garfield stationery, and I was never a big fan of that comic strip. I don’t remember the last time I wrote a snail mail letter (probably when my grandmother died. I used to send cards and letters to her when she was in a nursing home). I have used some notecards for thank-you notes, but that’s about it. I have a few sets of notecards with frog princes and high-heeled shoes that were gifts from people who associated that with my Enchanted, Inc. books (some of these may have been speaker gifts). I guess I need to find someone to write letters to, or else I’ve got even more stuff for making grocery lists. I’ll roll into the store with my Garfield note paper.

My old office had an entire wall of closets, and this one doesn’t really have a closet. There’s an alcove for a closet, but they removed the door and clothes rod when remodeling the house, so it’s just an alcove with a shelf. One of my bookcases slotted into the alcove. A lot of the stuff I used to store in the office closet will go in the basement, but I still have office stuff with no home. I may pick up some bankers boxes and put them on that upper closet shelf.

I have got all the office furniture and equipment in the office, and I put up the last set of blinds in that room so I’m not visible from the street while walking between my bedroom and the bathroom (not a huge concern, as there’s nobody directly across the street and there are trees in front of that window, but still it’s nice to have total privacy). I mostly need to finish shelving books and then sort out the other stuff. Then I may have a more or less functional office. I may need a couple of smaller bookcases, one to hold my CD player and some CDs for my working background music, and it’s possible I’ll need one more place to store copies of my books.

After the office is done, I need to finish setting up the den and deal with the clothes, which will help me know what I need to do in the spare room, which is going to be mostly storage, with what I hope will be enough open space in the middle for a yoga mat or an inflatable bed if I have guests. I still need a sofa/loveseat for the den. I’ve been sitting in my patio lounger to watch TV. I’m hoping to make a trip to Ikea next week to round out what I need. I’m looking forward to having everything all set up so I can just live and work without spending my days unpacking and setting up.