I am seriously trying!

I have recently learned that my husband is amazingly patient.  I always knew that he loved me more than I understood (don't hate, it's true) and that because of that he put up with a lot of my crap - both personal and all my crap.  But it dawned on me yesterday that he was so much more than I give him credit for.

So where to start with real words and information?  How about 6 years ago?  Oh... make that 7, when I moved to MD.  I went to IKEA with my parents and bought a desk.  I thought it would be the right size.  I thought I wanted something small-ish with a few shelves.  And for awhile, it worked.  I never loved it, or worked at it either.  It was too small.  But I kept it and dealt with it for 3 years!  Then Matt & I moved in together.  (Wow, that sounds so much longer ago than it feels).  And we went to IKEA, and bought me more of a table.  I used it for about 3 days.  Then I realized I hated that more.

Then, last spring, Matt's father passed away.  I don't want to get into all that, because I will cry in the next few moments if I do.  But I loved his desk.  He had a wooden roll-top desk.  It is gorgeous and I always admired it.  It was the only tangible thing of Gerry's that I loved and wanted at all.  Matt & his brother Phil went out of their ways to get that beautiful, pain-in-the-ass, heavy, wooden, desk into our house.  And here I met disappointment again.  While I loved the desk because I love (present tense) Gerry, I hated the desk because (again) the desk was not deep enough.  I couldn't open my laptop on it.  I couldn't grade papers at it.  And I filled it to the brim with stuff I didn't need and then shut the drawers.  Bad news.  Sad face.  We called Salvation Army yesterday...

...Because we went to IKEA.  4th times the charm?  Fingers crossed!!! Pray for me (but mostly my husband!!).  I told him that what I really want from a desk is something like my desk at work.  It has lots of counter space.  It has a space for a desktop computer and tons of space to grade papers.  But it is huge.  And way too big for our townhouse.  So that wasn't an option.  But then we found a desk at IKEA that fit the bill!  And it has space for two desks - so Matt (who has been using the first desk mentioned since we moved in together) and I will be sharing a space.  Now my husband is more brave than patient.

So we Matt set up the desks and the bookshelf that separates them (the only saving grace for Matt).  And 15 minutes after he was done building, his desk was completely setup.  15 minutes.  Not an exaggeration.  15 minutes.

It has now been 24 hours, and I have all but one box of crap put away.  And yes I am starting to call my stuff crap because it is what I have - crap.  And I recognize that it is crap and not necessary (except the letters or cards that people have sent us, those just make me feel good).  So I purged.  Not all, but a lot.  2 garbage bags full, well mostly full.  And all necessary.  I even made a box of books that I am donating to the library. FYI - that picture is from last night.  Right now the middle is empty, well except for my computer.

So the desks.  Let's see if it works. 

Clearly I am not being compensated by anyone.  These are my opinions (mostly of myself).  But I would love to be compensated by IKEA, I mean look around my house, I have a ton of their stuff.  So, right, just my opinions of their stuff.