Saturday, January 2. Juggled Office Furniture. I didn't make a life-altering list of New Year's resolutions. But a few days ago I did decide that the clutter in my office must be resolved. What I need is a new file cabinet. Today will be the day to get it.
First, though, Mary Ann came along to join me for breakfast at the Courtyard, where the chef made her usual spectacular omelette for me. Then, to the nearby Office Depot. After she figured out what I was looking for, she began suggesting other places where such items might be on sale--including a going-out-of-business furniture store. But I am a guy, and the standard male method of buying things is to go to a store where you know those things can be found, find the one you want (usually the third or fourth option, if it even goes that far), and just buy the damn thing. Which I did, for $94.
I spent the afternoon moving furniture around in my office. I removed a little desk I built for the kids about twelve years ago. It began as an old counter Mary Ann bought from a store that was going out of business. It's much heavier and sturdier than it looks, and that surprised us once again as we hauled it upstairs, to Jude's abandoned room. That effort had my eyes bulging.
MA also suggested that I bring down from up there an old dresser drawer unit that her dad built for her when she was a girl, and use that to store all my junk. This actually worked perfectly for my needs, and even fit right in (in terms of space, not decor--about which I don't care anyway).
Then I built the new file cabinet. I was barely into the assembly when it turned out that I had an extra of one piece and none of another. Mary Ann stormed back over to Office Depot, where they mumbled something about having to contact the company and have them ship out a. . . before MA let them know that what they'd be doing instead is opening up another box of file cabinet and swapping wrong part for the right one, right now. Having a five-foot-eleven, strong-willed wife is a wonderful thing.
We were all sufficiently stuffed from our surfeits of food at the Acme that I continued my office renovation all the way until bedtime, while listening to my last evening this year of Christmas music. It's not finished, but it looks much better. I will at least begin the new year with a better place to work.
While I worked on all this, I enjoyed a couple of cups of a chocolate mint coffee from Joe Muggs, the coffeeshop in Books-A-Million. When I autographed cookbooks in their Biloxi store in late 2005 (when most of the rest of the shopping mall was still in Katrina shambles), the manager gave me a bag of the stuff as a gift. Flavored coffees are not my cup of tea, but I like this stuff. And the Marys--neither of whom drinks coffee--say the aroma when brewing delights them. Anything to please the girls. I've used about a pound of this stuff a year ever since the first one, and I was running low. Books-A-Million is next door to Office Depot in Covington, so while I was there. . . But the chocolate-mint coffee was on a clearance rack at half price, and Joe Muggs didn't seem to have much bagged coffee at all. This may be my final year of this little treat. Aw. But you talk about microscopic sorrows!
Courtyard Cafe. Covington: 101 Northpark Blvd. 504-871-0244. Breakfast.
