Earlier this month, I wrote a blog column about how our Spring Cleaning was going to be much different this year. After completing our Big Bodacious Painting Project last May, Spring Cleaning would no longer include rearranging furniture and switching rooms. Last week, prior to Lisa being on vacation this week, I got a lot of Spring Cleaning done. While doing so, well...
To back up a bit...
Last year, towards the end of September, I started doing a lot of my desk work at the kitchen table. The Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Project Workshop is off the kitchen. During the day, I'd get a bunch of projects painted and then work on blog columns and other work stuff at the table while I was waiting for everything to dry.
Our kitchen is the biggest room in our home and it's centralized. Not only did the kids love it when I worked at the table, it was easier all the way around. Especially because I've been spending a lot more time in the kitchen with meal prep, cooking, and baking.
When I spent time in the Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Workshop and worked at the kitchen table, I'd shut the gate to the home office.
At the time, I was using my Chromebook to type blog columns and other work stuff. However, the Chromebook doesn't have an SD card reader. I wasn't able to download photos for blog columns and my social media streams.
When I needed to do anything that involved photos, I'd have to escape to our home office for a bit. It got to be a hassle, but I didn't complain. What mattered the most was that our kids were more settled during the day.
Our kids like to be close by to wherever I am at. One of their favorite spots when I'm working at the table is on the big dog bed we have in the kitchen beside of the table. Or, if I was in the workshop, they'd lay on one of the dog beds in there. When I left the workshop to do work at the kitchen table or begin dinner prep, the kids would follow me into the kitchen.
During this entire time, I expressed to Lisa how much I loved writing blog columns at the kitchen table. Again, the kids were more settled during the day, I could multi-task, and I didn't feel as if I was confined to a single room at the other end of our home where the home office is.
The only problem...
The DIY Indoor Dog House that we made for our kids was in the home office. With the gate to the home office being shut most of the time, the kids didn't have access to it.
In addition, when I wasn't in the Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Project Workshop, that gate was closed too. The kids didn't have access to the 2 dog beds in there.
What I've never mentioned in a blog columns until now is that...
For my birthday last year, Lisa and the kids surprised me with a new laptop. When I say surprised, I really mean...surprised.
Lisa and the kids totally pulled it off.
It. Was. A. Total. Surprise.
When I opened the gift and saw the photo of the laptop on the box, I asked Lisa, "Is that what is really in the box?" I wanted to make sure before I got excited.
That's how surprised I was.
I was speechless. Lisa was in her glory because she actually surprised me with something.
Long story short, since then, I have done the majority of my deskwork at the kitchen table. The laptop she and the kids bought me is awesome. I no longer have to run back and forth to download and edit photos and tackle deskwork that my Chromebook couldn't do.
So...
Over the weekend, Lisa and I discussed the home office. Our old laptops. The DIY Indoor Dog House. Dog beds. Etc.
One of the major things that we talked about was how much more settled the kids were during the day with me doing most of my work at the kitchen table.
Especially Willa.
And, I was also able to get a lot more work done in the kitchen and Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Project Workshop.
Overall, it made more sense for me to continue doing just that. Not only was it in the best interest of our family, I actually love typing blog columns from the kitchen table.
Yesterday...
We moved a few things.
The DIY Indoor Dog House was moved into the Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Project Workshop.
We moved a few things around in the Bodacious DIY Dog Mom Project Workshop and took the gate off.
Lisa and I also retired our laptops.
I bought Lisa's laptop for her during the summer of 2011. It was a gift.
My laptop was purchased in April of 2012 when I changed jobs. The job I left had provided my laptop so I needed to send it back. We purchased a new one a couple of days before we shipped my company laptop off.
Although both laptops worked, they were starting to show their age. Aside from being 7 and 8 years old, the SD card readers no longer worked and they ran slower than frozen molasses.
We made the decision to retire both. We have no use for either and we have more than enough newer tech devices to work from.
I'm not going to lie...
Retiring both of our old laptops tugged at my heartstrings. They both held a lot of sentimental value. Memories.
I'm sappy like that.
But, after all was said and done...
We are loving the new arrangement and the few things we moved.
We kept our home office as is except we moved the desk against the wall.
We love our home office and will continue to use it on occasion, but it won't be a highly frequented room.
We are happy and satisfied with our decision.
I'm more than happy to type blog columns and get work stuff done from the kitchen table on the incredible laptop that Lisa and the kids surprised me with on my birthday last year.
I'm not going to lie. I have a hard time with change, but this is a great one all the way around.
I raise my wine glass to change.
Having tech devices that cater to work stuff and beyond.
Change. Is. Good.
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