Remodeling the Cave

One can only hide in one’s cave, living in denial, for so long. It’s time. I’m being rousted from my quiet, extremely cluttered office in order to replace the last bit of carpeting in our house with the new wood flooring.

I’ve been dreading this. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love my new floor in the rest of the house and I know I’ll love it in here, too. But it’s the process.

My office/cave is small, yet it contains some of the biggest furniture in the entire house. Namely my computer desk, a set of bookshelves, and two sets of cabinets, courtesy of IKEA. There’s also a table that’s supposed to be my writing desk, although I can never find space on it. I started de-cluttering it yesterday and still don’t have enough clear surface to so much as write a check. There’s a small metal file cabinet and a stand that hold sentimental knickknacks and photographs, too.

And there are a LOT of books. How to write books. Writing market books. Crime writers’ reference books. Grammar and style books. Books on editing, revising, querying, freelance writing, and formatting. Plus a couple of shelves of yoga books.

Packing all those books and all my writing files will be a pain. Unloading my cabinets filled with writing supplies will be aggravating. But none of that is why I’m resisting the job.

The real issue is my computer. I have to disconnect my computer, my two printers, my modem, and my router and move everything into the living room while the work is being done. THEN I have to move everything back. And remember where and how all those wires were connected before. AND pray that once it’s reconnected it still works!

I don’t know why I’m so worried. It wasn’t all that many years ago that we transferred all this stuff from a corner of the living room (my former workspace) into this office. I had to disconnect and reconnect everything then, too, and it was fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine this time, as well.

I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

If I say it often enough, maybe I’ll believe it.

In the meantime, be forewarned. I may drop off the face of the earth on Saturday. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep the modem and router up and functioning so I can at least use my laptop to stay in cyberspace during the down time.

Of course, if the computer doesn’t go back together the way it’s supposed you, I won’t NEED the Internet. You’ll be able to hear me screaming without it.

Comments

Jason and I have IKEA shelves and desks in our office/library too. And, I feel for you about being uprooted from your work space. It won't feel right to you until you're right back in there.

Good luck!
Jemi Fraser said…
The thought of unhooking and rehooking all those wires is terrifying. I'd suggest you draw a "map" of the back of the computer before you unhook anything. Then you just have to follow the map. It's worked for me before. Good luck - I'll cross my fingers for you on Saturday :)
Annette said…
Heidi, exactly! When we were doing all this in the rest of the house, I'd hide in my cave/office. Now I have nowhere to go.

Jemi, I did a map when we did the living room and had to move the TV. I'll do it again for my computer. Plus I think I'll put tags on all the wires, indicating where they go.
Ramona said…
Annette, I hope you are moved and resettled.

This reminded me of something I read recently, about men and their "man caves." Usually, a basement all fixed up for working out and watching sports. From how much talk their was of beer, I think there's a lot of elbow exercising in those man caves.
Annette said…
Ramona, my hubby has an entire workshop out back as his cave.

I'm back in my office. The floor is done. But I'm far from being re-settled, though. I'm taking tomorrow off from writing to unpack all the boxes I filled with "stuff."

The good news is my computer is back up and running. Yay!

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