Project: Office Relocation – Part Two

July 19, 2011 By 6 Comments

Our office spaces have been successfully relocated to our bedroom. We are very happy with the end result of our new set up. We were a little worried that our bedroom might feel too crowed after adding all this extra furniture, but it doesn’t feel that way at all.

As soon as Part 1 of the office project was finished, Jesse couldn’t wait to get our brand new desks put together. Although our old desks had been working out alright, they were anything but ideal.  Even though I still love my old desk, and we’re still keeping it, it was never meant to be a computer desk. It was very awkward to use as a computer desk and I never had enough space to work. Jesse’s old desk had been taken apart and put back together so many times in our attempts to make it more functional and efficient. So… these desks were very much needed.

Jesse’s original plan for that morning was to get some work done and then spend the rest of the day assembling the desks. I guess he just couldn’t wait that long. Every time I came into the room he had one hand on his phone checking and responding to emails while the other hand used the screwdriver. What a multi-tasker!

Jesse multi-taskingJesse finishing the desks

Our bed used to be against the wall where the desks are now. We moved it to the window wall and even though it’s not ideal to be partially blocking the windows, I really like the new layout.

New bedroom layout

We both have plenty of space to stretch out whatever we’re working on at our new desks. We got matching desks with a coordinating file cabinet. The original goal was to try to match the desk color to the color of the rest of the bedroom furniture. That didn’t really work out. The color seemed like it would be much closer in the store, but it was completely different when we brought it home. Oh well.

New office layoutMy desk spaceJesse's desk space

The picture hanging turned out to be the most difficult part of the whole project. We had to argue over what should be allowed to hang over the desks. I had planned on putting back the pictures that used to be hanging over our bed when it was on that wall. However, Jesse claimed there was no way he could get work done with flowers over his work space. He wanted to randomly put whatever pictures and posters he wanted on his side. I’m sorry… when did random picture hanging get added to my dictionary? No, not when the office is part of our bedroom. We came to a compromise and it was all water under the bridge after I laughed my head off at the way Jesse was standing to hang the pictures. He insisted this was the easiest way to do it even though I tried to tell him it would be easier to stand on the ground.

Jesse hanging pictures

My best idea was to print out our logo to hang in the middle of our “office.” Jesse really likes that touch.

PMG logo

Now that it’s all said and done I have one very happy coworker who was eager to get back to work.

Finished officeHappy working Jesse

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Project: Office Relocation – Part One

July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The projects continue around our house. They are equally exciting and exhausting. I really do love the opportunity to get things organized. It’s amazing to find what things we have shoved in drawers or in the back of closets that we have no reason to keep. I think our trash man might start to hate us. We have had several garbage days with abnormally large piles waiting for him. And we’ve only lived here a few years… it doesn’t seem possible to have accumulated so much junk already!

Our home office used to be located in one of our spare bedrooms. Although it was working out as a nice setup, we now want to be able to use that space as a bedroom for when we become foster parents. So, we decided that the best place for our new office space is in our master bedroom. Our bedroom is pretty big so there is plenty of space for our desks, it’s working out quite nicely.

Step one involved choosing a paint color for the bedroom. I guess this wasn’t actually a necessary step, but it seemed like a good time to go ahead a paint.

Paint choices

Since we had to rearrange our furniture layout in order to accommodate the desks, it was now or never. There is now way we would have wanted to move out even more furniture to paint in the future. Now that its done I’m glad we did the painting, but it sure was a lot of work! I moved all the small items out of the room to make for a very cluttered hallway.

Cluttered hallways

Then I used lots of sheets and blankets to cover up our big pieces of furniture. I love our bedroom furniture! There was no way I was taking chances with getting paint on anything, every little part was well covered.

Ready to paint

Our room was extra tricky to paint because it has vaulted ceilings. We had to borrow a taller ladder to reach the top of one wall. Kinda tricky to concentrate on painting when you’re that high off the ground. Once I got the first, big wall done I knew I liked the color I chose. It’s definitely dark enough that you notice the color without it being too dark and feeling like a cave. I really thought hard about the color, especially since we now spend so much of our time in here.

First wall done

I had been planning on doing all of the painting myself. I finished with all the priming in one day. That night I was so sore and worn out, I knew there was no way I could paint again the next day. Jesse was so excited to move the computers in that he wasn’t willing to wait the extra recovery day so he decided to do the paint coat himself. It’s just as well, he did a very nice job.

Me paintingJesse painting

While he painted the top coat, I worked on painting all the outlet covers. Those are always fun to paint. Plus it makes such a huge difference to have them matching the walls in the finished room.

Painted outlet covers

Check back soon for Office Relocation – Part Two, pictures of our finished office spaces…

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MAPP Lessons: Attachments

July 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Completing a MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) class was the first step on our road to becoming licensed foster parents. The course took place every Monday night for ten weeks, three hours each night. It was so much information over a short period of time. We really did enjoy the class, but I also felt like my head might explode by the end of each class. Since Jesse and I are both people who take time to digest information, we though it might be helpful for us to review some highlights of things we learned at a slower pace. Plus there were extra reading materials given out each week that I didn’t have the brain power to work through at the time. So, as I review I thought I would share some of the fascinating and helpful things we learned.

Maslow's Hierarchy of NeedsMost people are at least somewhat familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We understand the concept that higher level needs cannot be thought about until lower level needs have been satisfied. The lowest level needs are physiological and survival needs. One can’t think about their need to make friends and feel good about themselves if they are worrying about getting enough food for their next meal.

The same idea applies to the way that a child works through the stages of development. When a baby is born, the baby must fully rely on the fact that someone will be there to take of him. The baby learns to trust that the same person(s) will be there every time he has a need. Obviously, for a child to be coming into the foster care system that trust has been violated for one reason or another. Development of that child is pretty much on hold until he reestablishes at least a basic level of trust in a new person.

Erikson's Psychosocial Development

When we talk with people about our foster care plans, people tend to tell us that we will just have to learn how to not get attached to the children we care for. However, we learned that it is critical that we do form an attachment because it is the only way that the child can learn to trust us or anyone else again. This will probably be the hardest part for us, but know that we can do it.

I can’t imagine how scary and confusing it must be for a child to be picked up from their home and their parents and dropped of at a stranger’s house. When this happens the child’s attachments are broken and a grieving process begins. When an adult is going through a grieving process we give them space to deal with their grief the way they feel like they need to. While a child might have different ways of expressing their grief, we need to recognize that they are grieving and be extra patient with the behaviors and other challenges that result.

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