new shelves & an eye patch

This weekend started with a friday find so big that until now, I haven't even had time to post it. It ended with a call to poison control and an eye patch on my right eye. If you're thinking that those two things are unrelated, you'd be wrong.

Goodwill was full of great stuff last friday afternoon. We've been looking for some nice storage to use in our office, but we haven't been able to find anything in our price range until now. To my delight, I found these two Danish wall units for $39 each. In our old house, we had three rows of shelves above our desk that were about ten feet long, but we had to leave them when we sold the place. For the last few months we have been temporarily storing all of our art tools, books, and office supplies on a steel shelving unit. It has been a complete eye sore, but it was either that, or keep them in boxes and rifle through the piles every time we needed something.

Re-organizing the office has been a huge undertaking. We have piles of old artwork, sketchbooks, and paperwork that goes back who knows how far. The new shelves have a nice balance of drawers and cupboards for hiding the unsightly airbrush hoses and kids play-doh, and open shelves to display items like books, and Patrick's pipes.

Part of the sorting and storing process was examining our art supplies to determine what was still usable and what had dried up. As I was editing my box of oil paints, I came across a full bottle of linseed oil. At first glance I couldn't tell if it was still the same consistency as it used to be, so I gave the bottle a little shake and a squeeze (don't ask me why—I don't know). The plastic bottle instantly cracked and the oil exploded... right in my face. It wasn't just a little squirt, either. The oil shot about three feet in every direction. Fortunately, I was wearing glasses, which managed to protect my left eye, but somehow it made it into my right eye.

After a quick call to poison control, a few minutes of hot saline flushes, and an hour of sporting an eye patch, I'm back to normal. Now it's time to get back to organizing. Hopefully I'll finish up this project tomorrow and I'll be able to post some pictures.