Today was my first day working out of our makeshift home office and? It was grand.  I say that it is still makeshift because we are still in a little bit of limbo on our office equipment.  We’re waiting for some financing to come through so we can buy a new mega-awesome-fancy-schmancy-computer-of-the-gods that we can both use and some updated software and then we can really get this place organized.  In the meantime I’ve moved my laptop in here and it sits on the desk in front of Will’s current computer monitor (his computer has made a most fantastic radio today).  One of the reasons I was so excited to work from home two years ago was that I could leave the television on all day for background noise if I wanted.  It took two years before I finally caved in and admitted something major: I cannot ignore the television.  It’s like asking Will to walk through Best Buy and not stop and watch people playing the tester video games they have on display.  It’s freakin’ impossible.

The office? Will not have a television.  This is partly because there isn’t anywhere to put it (we do have a television we are not using in the closet but, conveniently, do not have a Fios cable outlet in this room) and partly because I am terrified that if we plugged one more thing into the outlets in this room we’ll blow out the whole apartment and set the building on fire.

I’d like to say that I was able to sit down in our makeshift office this morning and get right to work but that isn’t quite the case.  Because we are in flux mode, I spent most of the morning working with Fios and tinkering with the new all in one printer to get it set up as a home fax machine.  It took a couple of hours to get it all straightened out but finally, right after lunch, it started working perfectly.  And doing it this way should save me about $4 a month.  That might not sound like much to you guys, but it adds up! I’m a little bit excited that I am being so fiscally responsible.  And because we have a real fax machine now.  I’ve been using an internet based faxing service for the whole time I have been freelancing and you know what?  Having to scan everyting in that you need to fax is a huge pain in the butt.  A time sucking huge pain in the butt.

There are other changes afoot here in the Farley household (seriously I am still getting used to my new name).  We’re still figuring out budgets and banking.  We’re trying to make changes to our diet and exercise routine (also known as starting healthy eating habits and an exercise routine).   Will is back in school for the year and I’m putting my nose back to the grindstone and trying to carve out a sensible work schedule.

Who knew that getting married made growing up seem like such a good idea?

I know, I know.  I punch myself in the face for not posting more often and then don’t post anything for almost a week.  I have no excuse except to say that the business of getting married is time consuming, yo.  I know, I know, there are plenty of other bloggers who are able to come back from their honeymoons and jump right back in to posting every day while working a full day and doing all of their regular household duties (six loads of laundry, I’m looking right at you) and taking care of all of the stuff that they need to take care of after getting married, like name changes and finding health care.  As it turns out, I am not so good at the multi tasking when it comes to major life things. I decided to take this past week to focus on just getting it all done so that I could go back to working and blogging like a normal(ish) person.

In this last week I have:

Gotten a certified copy of my marriage certificate from the county record’s office

Ordered my new social security card (by paying a visit to the Social Security office and waiting for over an hour in line)

Visited the DMV to order my new ID (which came in the mail on Friday)

Went to Will’s bank to add my name to his bank account

Went to my bank twice: once to add Will to my account and once to change my name on the account (because I had forgotten my marriage certificate at home).

Spent a day and a half filling out and turning in paperwork to find out if I qualify for the discount program at OHSU.  This involved going through all of my financial records for this year, taking TriMet to the OHSU campus (which took an hour longer than it should have because none of the ticket kiosks at my transit center were accepting debit cards and I had to go get cash), getting lost on the OHSU campus for forty five minutes (in the effing rain), trying to get off of the OHSU campus and then spending a couple of hours putting together and faxing over a bunch of information that I didn’t know I had to include in my application.  I spell this all out for you because I am still kind of bitter. I also realized that, on paper, Will and I look far better off financially than we really are so I am worried that I will not qualify for a discount at all which means that I will have to apply for and find a way to pay for private insurance.

Spent a day doing the aforementioned six loads of laundry

Spent yesterday cleaning our back room up and out and getting it ready to be turned into a usable office for Will and I to share.

Spent today tracking down office stuff (namely a new printer, a shredder and some extra printer ink) and then hooking it all up in our new office.  Our new laser printer/fax/copier’s name is Pete.  And I named our new shredder Shredder.  Which sounds unoriginal but is still a kick ass Ninja Turtles shout out.

Got my hair cut! Finally!

Oh and Will started classes again this week.

This makes it sound kind of like this was a giant week of suck but you know, it really wasn’t.  Visiting the records office, the social security administration and the DMV on the same day (which meant spending most of the day on the train) was exhausting but that was the same day I got my hair cut, which was something I’ve been longing to do for months.

Friday’s trip out to OHSU was irritating as all hell (do NOT try to use Google Maps and find your way around that place.  It will be a giant FAIL.  Especially if the place you want to find is a tiny office in a huge building.  Good lord.) but that night we went out to dinner with some friends and then had them come over and play Rock Band for a little while and that was really fun.

Even today, when we accidentally blew…something complicated…in Will’s computer when we plugged too many things into a single surge protector/battery backup  and he had to spend an hour or so performing emergency surgery to get his computer working properly again (it’s an old computer) we ended up with a neat little office that I can use during the day for work and he’ll use in the evenings for homework and gaming. And then I made spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner (which turned out really well).

Getting all of the little details taken care of is kind of a pain in the butt but, honestly? I like feeling productive.  And I am really looking forward to working out of our home office tomorrow instead of trying to be productive while I sit on the couch and am tempted by DVDs, games and daytime television (hey, when you have expanded cable daytime television isn’t totally sucktastic).

And, of course, now I can get back to blogging! Woo!