Moving Boxes -- Again!

This morning I woke up to an order for an ephemeral item (ephemera is a word for stuff that was made that was not meant to last -- mostly paper things, fliers, programs, receipts, tickets, stuff like that).  I don't have lots of ephemeral material (though I keep hearing that that's the way to go if I want to make money .... but that's another story). I do have some National Geographic articles though, which I keep tucked safely away in a drawer by my desk.

The thing is, there are BOXES in front of that drawer.

You can see where this is going, can't you?

To get to the item I needed so I could ship it out, I had to MOVE BOXES.

Again.

It was quick though, as I wasn't LOOKING through the boxes, just moving them.

But, knowing me, I can't just move the boxes, find the item then move them back -- at least I can't without peeking into at least three of the boxes.  You know, pop the lid off, see what's on the top of the pile, wonder if I shouldn't pull it out RIGHT NOW to process... before putting the lid back on and moving another box.

By the time the item is found and the boxes are back in place (taking up space behind me and making my workroom an eyesore) I have mentally decided that 1.)  I should not buy ANOTHER BOOK AGAIN -- at least until the boxes are gone from behind my chair. 2.) WORK FASTER. 3.) Work 24 hours a day just at data entry. OR 4.) Just give up entirely and get a real job (you know one that can be left at work and not thought about until you get back to it the next day.

I officially announce that I have TOO MANY books.

There I said it.

Maybe I should rather say -- I'm a Bookaholic and I want to reform (or whatever words Alcoholics Anonymous uses).

But then, even though I KNOW I don't need any more books, what did I do this afternoon?

I went book hunting.

Luckily (for me, my house,my family and the world) I didn't find anything I really needed. So tomorrow I vow to tackle the contents of the boxes and make some progress on getting things in the database and out of boxes.

Oh, and I got another order for an ephemeral item so I'll have to move those same boxes all over again.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Christmas stuff - and data entry

Last week - I don't know if I mentioned it or not - but I spent TWO DAYS going through boxes of books that haven't made it to the database yet. I was looking for a couple of books that I thought I had so I could quote them to customers (turned out I didn't), however, in the process, I found a small bunch of Christmas books.

Every year I mean to put all seasonal books in separate boxes and enter them into the database BEFORE the season is over -- you know, to SELL the darned things -- so I pulled these out and put them in the TO DO NOW pile.  Which means clean, get pictures taken, then enter the darned things.

This isn't ALL the Christmas books I found, but a few of the cute ones that I've entered into the database so far. I do have more (and keep finding more when I go out hunting! BAD ME!)

So I thought I'd put up a few pictures for you.  ALL OF THESE ARE AVAILABLE (as of this writing).

This particular book -- The Christmas Spider is a book that's been hanging around our house for a number of years -- it's got some wonderful craft designs, etc. from Poland. My mother got this to check out the paper cutting artwork and how to do it.  We tried it a couple of times -- I might still have a box with some decorations on it, but I am truly one of the NON- Arts & Crafts creative types. My designs are sad and copyish....and... did I say sad already?

I like many of the Christmas books for children that are available. I know it's a subject that  gets DONE TO DEATH, but sometimes, good authors and illustrators can add special meaning to the Christmas experience.  Russell Hoban seems to have that knack.

Other than answer a stupid, LONG customer phone survey this morning, these books were where I spent my time today.  After this, I need to work on the DREADED TAXES (dreaded taxes, dreaded taxes...echoes off in my head) and then it's work on unpacking more boxes from September's book fairs, clean, fix dinner and do soccer practice.

I know it's a bit early for the Christmas spirit overload, but if I don't get these books listed NOW, it ain't gonna happen!

The impassable forest of boxes that is my workroom...

Right after I took the picture of son number two in his goofy sweatpants, I decided that I'd had enough of the boxes in my workroom. The pictures to follow can't really give the best idea of how claustrophobic it's getting in my workroom with rows of boxes (all organized by what they are & where they need to be in the scheme of what needs to get done next.... yes, organized!) but it's a start.

I try to be an organized and fairly tidy person (at least in my mind I am...) but this dilemma with the boxes piling up in the last month or so is REALLY getting to me. Usually I have two bookcases along the wall where there are now piles of boxes and only a few boxes in the room which are those currently to be added to the database. Say five boxes or so at a time....

NOT the 40 which are currently sitting out in areas I normally can walk through.



This is to the left side of the desk I built. It's a homemade L shaped desk that was SUPPOSED to make my life easier as it had more counter space to hold IMPORTANT things.... not the piles of papers, books and stuff that's there currently -- however, every time I dust, I find that there's NO WHERE ELSE to put the stuff, and drawers just fill up and get forgotten about. Now when I built the desk I though very hard about what I needed, then spoke to a few other book dealers for their input. I used the idea of having cabinets (like kitchen cabinets that you find at your local hardware supply store) for part of the base. The cabinets are sturdy, easily put together, for the most part, and can HOLD extra STUFF... but, it turns out, there are different heights to cabinets & I SHOULD have gotten the cabinets for bathroom use, not kitchen use, as there is a height difference of about two inches. It's not important unless you have to sit down at your desk & find that NO office chair in the world will raise you up high enough to be able to be comfortable. Thus, my work seat is a wooden stool. It works, but the longer one sits....

There. You can see the stool. I didn't take the time to completely tidy the work area as my photo snapping was a bit spur of the moment -- also, if I had started to clean before I took the picture, I would have spent all my time cleaning and not then taken the picture at all.

This is directly behind my stool. I have about 18 inches space behind me before the stacks start (these are the boxes with the newest collection of NON-FICTION books I'm working through). On the counter to the left here are the books that have been entered into the database during the last week & are waiting in alphabetical piles to be taken downstairs and put on shelves (or piled with the books that are going to the next book fair).

Hopefully, one of these days when the boxes are all gone (ha!) I'll take some more pictures & you can see the floor of the room...

Soon....

In the next year or so... :)

I KNEW it!

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I was tearing my workroom apart looking for some notes I had made (with prices I was offering) on a collection that I had looked at in November?

You do remember, right?

Well, if not, I DO.

Lo, and behold, I FOUND them.

Ha.

Not thrown out (nor will they be from now on).

Not completely lost.

Just under yet another pile of books, etc. that I was getting to.

I seem to have LOTS of these piles. I keep trying to whittle them down -- hoping that one day I'd be pile free....

Ha.

It's not to be, yet. But I did find my notes.


Now it's back to data entry & trying to whittle down a stack of boxes instead of piles of papers.

(One of these days, I'll be so organized I won't have piles of ANY sort in my workroom....yeah, right).

Enjoy your day. I am.