osodecanela | I love my husband....

I spent my day in the kitchen. You see I don't have a functional desk here at home, so when I decided to work remotely from home today, my best option was the kitchen table. I got a lot done, but it was not without it's distractions. I decided to take a break at one point to empty the dishwasher, then load it with the dishes that needed doing and then later, empty those into the cabinets once they were done. It was stuff that needed doing.

Then a bird flew in through the side door. Said creature continued to flutter about the kitchen for half an hour. At first I opened both windows wide and simply tried to concentrate on what I was doing, figuring the bird would find his or her way out. After 20 minutes of fluttering, the poor thing managed to get itself behind the pantry shelves between the shelving and the windows that don't open. When I saw where where it was and that it seemed to be doing it's best to get away from me. I walked outside the kitchen up the window where the bird was and that worked. It turned and hopped it's way through the open shelving and flew out the open door to the great out doors. It spent twenty minutes in the tree just outside the doorway preening, shaking off the dust it managed to pick up in the back of the shelves.

A couple of hours ago I decided to come to the sitting room and perch on the edge of my easy chair leaning forward to work on the laptop which I had on the ottoman. Not a terribly good idea from a body mechanics point. It dawned on me that the chair, which is boxy, would work perfectly if I had a wooden shelf I could put across the arms of the chair. I spotted a piece of scrap wood on the deck, but it proved too wide and not long enough to span the chairs arms. At that point my husband walked in.

I asked if he might be able to cut me something that might work. He was in the middle of something and said there wasn't time right them, but he would look for something. Ten minutes later he walked in with a redwood 2 by 6, 6" longer than the chair is wide. Absolutely perfect for what I need.

There is a lip at the end of each arm, high enough to keep this makeshift desk from sliding inadvertently off the end of the chair, and it's deep enough to have computer sit with stability while I type. It's long enough to accommodate not just my laptop at the perfect height, but room for a small lamp, my phone and even a coffee cup.

He saw what I needed and turned right around and took care of it.