Just more crap I have to do

I'm so disorganized! I mean, really disorganized. If I'm going to make a concerted effort at freelance work, I have to start taking my home work space seriously, which means it must be organized and discreet from my living space. Currently, this is my desk:

It's a pit, isn't it? And this is on a good day!

I think the biggest part of the problem is that the desk I have is too small. It's just a computer cart, and there's hardly any space on it for anything other than the computer, monitor and router. I need a writing surface, some desk top files (of the paper kind) and maybe...a picture or two? Just to give it an officey feel, you understand.

What I really want is a roll top desk, but I'm realistic enough to know I'll have to get hella lucky at the Goodwill to make that a reality. Those suckers are spendy. But I like the notion of organizing up as opposed to side to side (which would have the added benefit of closing off the view behind my monitor--currently composed of my kitchen and cellar door. Yay.) And I like the idea of being able to close it, thereby signalling to myself that a) this area is sacrosanct and not to be the dumping ground of every stray bit of flotsam that life generates (such as the bookbinding glue I've currently got on my desk, or the candy that's ended up there) and b) office hours: when the work day is done, the desk is closed and the 'office' is closed and a distant memory, and when I need to work, the office is open and I will have to be tucked up inside it. It would be like a cubicle, only without the really annoying neighbor trying to clean out their sinuses by making that nasty "schknorckanlorkcanlanork!" noise, and the other one chewing his gum with his mouth open like a yak chewing cud (without the benefit of yak fiber to spin.)

Maybe I could find a computer armoire that would serve, but I really like the feel of a roll top. There's something kind of...fitting to the idea. Oh, well. I'll have to keep my eyes open, I guess.

In other news, I found a pretty:

I love this thing dearly, and have done ever since I saw the white bunnies at Target with this design on their butts. I find this pattern to be insanely cheery, despite the fact that typically I strongly dislike bright florals. They're just so busy and visually annoying. This one, however, inspires me to smile (probably thinking about bunny butts; a thought that just shows me for the toddler that I am.) Somehow, once I got up close and read the label, I was hardly surprised that a company called Liberty of London could put out a floral anything that I love. It's a crazy floral done up Brit style, and we all know what a filthy little Angloperv* I am.

So I got two.

Bunny Butt Pink

Sunshiney Garden Mishmash.

Thankfully, I drink a lot of tea when I'm working (like I ever do that, heh) so I could justify the expense. Then, just for good measure, I got this:

A stationery set! Ok, ok, to be completely honest with you, I got it for the pen (which is cunningly disguised as a pencil). I have a thing for pens, sort of like my thing for yarn and books, so you just know I had to have this. I guess now I'll have to actually write notes or something. Pity my handwriting is crap. I suppose I'll have to practice now and actually send letters to people. Through the post. How 1940 of me!

*Something slightly more dodgy than an Anglophile, but not quite as skeevy as an Angloporno.

I had a bad day, ok?

It's been hard, adjusting to 'real life' again. Once you get accustomed to the floor not swaying and the wind not carrying sweet salt and fresh sea scent, there's really not much to recommend my present reality. Aside from Dog, that is. But he is furry and sweet and perfect, with stubby little whiskers that wiggle when he wants something. He has me so pegged.

So I decided to do some therapeutic shopping. Yes, I know it's silly and short-sighted, but I've been PMSing since the day I got back, so screw the critics. I needed some retail therapy, and I did keep it small, which is some comfort.

My local box store of choice had a massive coupon sale, so I went just absolutely insane in the yarn aisle. The photos are representative, you understand--if I'd uploaded the photos of every single yarn I bought, Blogger would explode.

I got some Sensations It's a Wrap in this pretty blue clown barf color. I like it, have been interested in it for ages, and it will make a nice warm hat and mitten set for next winter. (And if you don't know what my Box Store of Choice is by now, you really need to get out more and buy some yarn.)



Then I went wild on the Patons Silk Bamboo (Knitters Gone Wild! I wonder how that video would sell....) The picture below represents the two I got in the Sapphire colorway, I did not upload the additional four pictures of the Sea, Ivory, Moss and Orchid colors I purchased. The worst bit is, the coupons only worked on the Sapphire and Orchid colorways. Sea, Ivory and Moss were on sale--but not as steeply discounted as the coupons would have made it, so I actually ended up arguing with the cashier that they had no sign up and so the sale price shouldn't apply. Yes, that was weird. No, I didn't get my way. Suck.

But it's pretty, no?

Then, not satisfied with my yarn binge at Box Store of Choice, I ended up at my LYS. I was in a very bad state on that particular day, so bad a state that a LYS SEXpedition* did not completely cure it.

It's a beautiful yellow...well, skein hardly does it justice; it's 1400 yards of satiny Merino lace weight goodness from Baruffa. Called Cashmerino, this stuff has loft, hand and just about every other really esoteric quality of yarn you can name. I didn't realize it at the time, but it owes a lot of its new found popularity to my favorite bit of knit porn--Victorian Lace Today, by Jane Sowerby. She has excellent taste in yarn. I first grabbed it up because of the yellow, but something between the sunny goodness of the color and the smooshy softness of the yarn itself actually made me smile a bit, so I had to take it home with me.

Which is good, as I was in the midst of a seriously hormonal hate storm at the time. I haven't felt that moody since I left puberty, which, actually, probably wasn't that long ago. Anyway, between this and the two (!!!) chocolate bars I've snarfed down in the interim, I'm not quite so hateratin' on myself at the moment. Hey, that chocolate was medicinal. I don't need a prescription!

So, that's about the shape of things in my part of the world. I haven't really done much actual knitting, but then again, I've not been in a good enough mood. God, there are days when I almost wish I were menopausal. Not many, as I've come to terms with my biology (after a long, hard, unpleasant war) but this month.... OMG. I can't believe I didn't kill someone way back in the day. Like myself.

I must have had a higher tolerance for emotional pain than I knew.

*LYS SEXpedition= Local Yarn Shop Stash Enhancing eXpidition. I doubt the other sort of sexpidition would have cheered me up, either.