Cheap Solution

I heard a blurb on the radio today about the annual Ikea catalog coming out. Apparently over 500,000 people in the metro get this catalog and they run out of copies of it at the store. I guess there's also a rush at the store around this time of year, and moms wait in line over an hour to get their kids into the child care area (maybe they just need a break from their kids and they're not all that interested in Ikea furniture after all...or maybe they are just going to grab 3.99 Swedish meatballs sans kiddos). I guess there is a lot of interest in cheap, modern, assembly-required furniture in the metro.

I really don't like shopping - especially when it's busy - so I'm lucky that I had my random urge to reorganize last weekend before this rush at Ikea starts. I had just returned from a weekend at the cabin and I was completely unpacked. As I sat down at the desk in the office to get ready for the work week, I felt totally unsatisfied with the space. I've felt that way for awhile and my roommate has expressed a desire to also have a desk in the office (I have been using her desk because she wasn't using it when I moved in four years ago), so I knew I needed to shop for some kind of work space solution in the near future. Either I was trying to procrastinate what really needed to be done or I was feeling extra motivated, but for some reason I dove into rearranging the office at 9 on Sunday night. After I adjusted the existing furniture, I made a stop at Target, Office Max, and Ikea on Monday to accumulate a new lamp, a new desk chair, and a new work table all for less than $100! And I'm so glad I didn't have to fight the Ikea-catalog-release crowds! The assembly for the chair and table I got at Ikea were amazingly straightforward, and by 7pm on Monday, the office had a whole new look! I'm excited about my great buys and the reorganized space, and my roommate is excited to set up an office space again. We're hopeful we'll have lots of productivity in our "new" office.