My Computer Cubby

I figure a lot of you are dying to know where I type my amazing blog posts. Well the pictures are finally downloaded off the camera and can now be shown! Pay no attention to the many baskets of (clean!!) laundry piled near my open cubby door! See what looks like a little black box just outside the door? That's my trashcan. On top of it rests my powerstrip, my only source of power. Yes, this is often unplugged by laundry baskets and children's feet! (Ok, I've just maligned my poor children. Tonight it was Hubby's feet that kicked the trashcan when he kissed me goodnight before going to bed. Luckily for him it did not unplug my computer causing me to lose this ever so important historical documentation!)


For those of you that can read floorplans. This shows my charming Computer Cubby under the stairs. At the doorway the room is 5'9" tall (not including the doorframe which is 5'8"). The door itself is only 22" wide. The room drops off at a dramatic slant down to a height of merely 18". There is just enough room for my little "desk," my office chair which rotates so I can get out (unless I gain a few more pounds then I don't fit in the remaining space between my doorway and desk - as it is I have to make sure my hips go under the lip of the desk as I lever myself out), and 2 milk crates stacked on top of each other full of files. In the vast space beyond (down to the 18" wall) I keep various odds and ends (more on my transdimensional engineering later - think Tardis and Mary Poppin's carpetbag).

So you won't think I'm completely out of the loop when I'm "working," here's a photo of the view I see through the door of my cubby. Notice that I have a perfect view of the doorway into the kitchen and, more importantly, I can see the TV in my artfully arranged decorative mirror. Luckily, I can read backwards quite easily.

There is one small downside to this arrangement. All it takes is one child standing in my doorway and I am trapped. For as long as they stand there. And I can't see the TV!

I know. You are incredibly envious of this space where I can be totally alone (no one else will fit!). And my vasts amounts of storage space. Yes it really is vast. On the wall in front of me are 2 pieces of paper pinned up with dressmaker's pins with inspirational sayings. Ok, it's one, the other fell down a week or two ago, but I'm going to put it back up. Soon. Really.

Then there's my broken desk lamp (it has no base) that I've attached at the highest point of my cubby with a nail. To illuminate my work. Attached to the door is a storage device with computer software CDs, an unmade felt Christmas stocking, all the remnants of the made Christmas stockings, a fire extinguisher (isn't that where you keep yours?), a package of lavendar scented shelf paper (it was a gift), a half eaten bowl of Goldfish crackers that I confiscated from an upstairs bedroom, chopstick, black ribbon, a silver polishing cloth, and a package I've been meaning to send to my friend Lisa.

On my table/deskthere is of course my monitor, mouse with my deserted tropical island mouse pad, speakers, network thingy, and keyboard. And an empty drinking glass, a bottle of Delsym (Kitty has a nasty cough), an unopened jar of odor absorbing gel that I haven't put in the Kid's bathroom yet, self-stick tape for Bear's healing removed tattoos, a metallic gold painted homemade clay bell in the shape of a pumpkin, a multi-colored clay creation that is a mouse or a puppy I don't remember which, the charger for my laptop I haven't started using yet, Cindy Lou Who Candy cane headband, my yearbook (I wanted to look up some people before my high school reunion), 2 plastic bags full of things I took out of the car before the holidays - 1 cute empty Christmas bag, one Christmas bag with hot cocoa and tea in it, printer ink cartridges that we were going to take to Office Depot to replace, Bear's report card with all As and accompanying certificate, business cards, little pieces of paper with notes and numbers scribbled on them, the girls' holiday schoolwork assignments, the digital camera I got as a free gift when ordering office supplies, children's artwork, every FAIR Club assignment they've ever written, important adoption paperwork, a Weight Watchers microwave brownie package, tons of pictures... and NO PENS! (where do they all go?)

In the huge storage area beyond my desk are pieces of carpet, tube lightbulbs for the kitchen lights, holiday bouquets that didn't make it to the attic storage, and anything else that could be stuffed back there. Under my desk is my CPU, a milk crate I sometimes rest my feet on, and tons of spilled food.

Of course the most important thing in my cubby is the contraband food. I began hiding the bulk bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in here about a year ago, hoping to be able to slow down consumption enough that we'd have some when I actually wanted to bake with it. Didn't work. For example, tonight, when Hubby came to "kiss me goodnight" he snagged a whole handful! It is a good way to get affection and snuggles from the kids - as they reach across me to get at the chocolate. *sigh*