What I Did Yesterday

In addition to a couple loads of dyeing, I cleaned off the tables out here in the office studio. Yikes. It's not that bad, but because I plan to paint out here sometime in the next couple months, it was daunting, indeed, to realize how much work and time it's going to take to get everything out of this room, down to the walls and floor. I have to scrap and paint the ceiling, patch all the gazillion holes in the walls--from numerous incarnations as a stamp room, a sewing room, etc., each with its own set of shelving, each with its own flurry of nail and/or screw holes. Eeek! Then we're going to rip up the carpet and stain the concrete and put in area rugs, which I hope to find at Ikea in Dallas this weekend.

But yesterday. First, in the mess of moving and cleaning and sorting, I forgot to eat breakfast. It was noon, so I dug out some leftover saag paneer (frozen Central Market brand) to which I'd added grilled tofu. Yum. I love this stuff. The EGE thinks it looks like baby poo and won't eat it. More for me! I, not having ever had any relationship whatsoever with baby poo, am fine with the nice green spinach-y color. (Here you can also see The Evil Mental Floss with the offending page marked.)

And, yes, I always eat with chopsticks. I didn't learn how to hold a fork until I was in junior high--my parents were both right-handed, and I just couldn't get the hang of The Right Way. Chopsticks are way more comfortable and easy to use.

Then. I want to play more in my journal. I don't do much playing--it's mostly ideas and lists, which is fine. But I see other people having so much fun with theirs, and I'm envious and want to try more of that. I have tons of journal supplies scattered all over the house. For a while now, I've been thinking that I'd draw or color or doodle or whatever in the afternoons in The Voodoo Lounge, but that never happens: as soon as I go in there with my latte, Cutie Pie comes in and jumps up on the arm of the chair. Since he's not healthy, I can't not give him attention. In fact, the only time I ever sit down without a cat in my lap--or in my face--is when I'm in this chair in front of the computer. As I sit here, there's a long work table to my left, and I thought, gee, maybe I could work here if I had all my Stuff. So while I was cleaning and sorting, I thought about how I could do this without disrupting the work space.

And I remembered this. It's an Army field correspondent's desk that I've had forever. I don't think my dad brought it back from WWII, as he was a military policeman, not a correspondent. I think it may have been something they used in the field for oil exploration. Whatever--he gave it to me when I was really little. Since then, it's had dozens of incarnations. At one point, it held dolls. Then, later, little toys. Then poetry and stationery and writing stuff. When I started rubber stamping, about 20 years ago, it held my collection of stamps until the collection went nuts and exploded into the thousands. Then it held beads. For the last several years, it's been out in the Fucking Edifice, sitting empty, patiently waiting. I love that the Snoopy sticker is still on there from when? 1971? Something like that.

The front opens like this.Lots of fabulous wooden drawers. I wonder what these smaller cubbies originally held.

I'm thinking: at one time, in high school, it probably held my journal. It's not for the actual journal now, but for the other stuff--the Pearl Ex powders that were sent to me long ago, the few rubber stamps I still use, the stencils I showed y'all yesterday--stuff like that. So it's ensconced under the long table, and it's got all that stuff in it. We'll see how it goes--if I'll really change my ways and do more with my journal than use it as a secretary/assistant/companion/memory.