We Moved In!

Heaps has happened in the last two months. I haven't had the time to tell you about living at Erik's house, nearly breaking my legs moving into our new house, the dogs adjusting to Ferguson, and a couple adventures out on the water. There's been Christmas decor, bathrooms to paint, cookies to bake in a scary new oven, and lots of time spent running errands with Mama. 

Approximately 3 hours after moving in, friends arrived with Indian takeout and games to play. 

Due to the ever-evolving nature of a new home, I haven't dared photograph things yet. We're still waiting on a few cabinet doors, light fixtures, the kitchen island, etc. Things that were there yesterday are in this room today. Technically this new house has an extra few square feet on our old place but because its all one big room, we have less space for furniture because there are only four walls available. Subsequently Brett and I have had a real time working out the office space (also the laundry room). Seeing as I "work from home" 5 days a week and Brett works from home on 1, it made sense that we prioritize MY office setup, but, thrilled by all the possibly of a new workspace, Brett felt his desk deserved a prized position as well. Only one desk will fit in the sunny laundry room so we elected to share one. 

Ferguson joins Brett at the office despite Brett's best efforts to make him uncomfortable. 

It was here I learned a lesson about the upbringing of boys and girls. I set my single monitor and basket of papers to tend to on either corner of the desk, and I worked there Monday through Thursday. On Friday, Brett arrived with a double monitor setup, a clunky keyboard and a mouse with an interminable chord. He had books and files and a big pad of graph paper. He balanced my monitor on a nearby window sill as he clamped the one oversized monitor around the overhang of my desk. He brought in a surge protecter that he filled with an assortment of electronic gadgets and then slowly lowered over the side of the desk to sit on the ground beneath his feet. My basket of "to-do" papers wound up on the floor near the washing machine and my desk chair was wheeled into the middle of the room. 

The first morning in their new bedroom.

Now first let me say that I welcomed Brett into the office. I happily cleared a corner of the desk for him and helped wheel in his office chair. Fridays are a light day for me - it made sense to let him take over. 

However, on Monday all of his chords and oversized monitors were still mounted to my desk. Where was my notebook? And the papers I needed to file? I rearranged the desk again, taking my monitor off the windows sill and replacing my file basket to its usual corner. Brett began working from home more than normal, thrilled by his new digs. I was glad he was thrilled, and I welcomed having him home with me. My monitor wound up back on the window sill and my basket off near Fergusons litterbox. I began using a file cabinet as my desk and holding my keyboard in one hand while typing with the other. I wasn't getting any work done most days. So I'd leave Brett in the office and go paint trim until his lunch break. Then I'd scamper in and fire off a few emails. I was honestly happier to have him home than not, even it if meant I got pushed out of my office. 

But then one day, I nearly missed a bill due date because he kept shuffling my papers around and disregarding my system - the system I use to keep our life running. I'm the CFO and COO of this family. For four years, Brett has never had to worry about bills being paid on time or taxes being filed. I'll make the call, wait on hold, send the email, etc. I'm glad to do it and I do it well.
But on this day, he had the nerve to suggest I need to organize our office space. "Lue, this shouldn't be on the floor," he told me, holding up our property tax information. "You need to come up with a better system."

Brett now works in the guest room, which is where I had suggested we put his desk long before we even moved into this home. The point though about raising boys and girls; Brett loves, respects, and considers me everyday. I know he never once thought, "Lue's stuff is less important than my stuff." Instead he thought, "I need a space to unroll these plans," and in the moment he put an obstacle (Lue's stuff) somewhere else. 
Meanwhile, my gentle ladylike upbringing never thought to say, "Hey Bubb, I need some space too." Instead I unconsciously decided it would be easiest if I work around the inconvenience. Don't cause a problem. I'd rather have Brett happy and home. 

I realized that fellas are encouraged to win - to come in and take what they need, while girls are encouraged to be peacekeepers, to wait and see if there is room or time for their idea. This is less of an attempted statement on feminism or "the patriarchy" and more of an observation of the stereotypical roles we see in movies and media, etc. Obviously Papa Union encouraged me to kick down doors and ask for what I want... I'm just much more inclined not to. A lot of that is my laidback weenie personality, but another part of it is worrying about being bossy, whiny, or a nag - words we rarely use to describe menfolk. 

An average evening these days.

What was I supposed to be writing about? Oh yes, we moved into our new house. 

And we love it.