Where Mama Works

Goodness, it's the end of April.  And we're moving (by) the end of June.  Yikes.  I have a lot to do.  Even if we weren't moving I'd still be able say that I have a lot to do.  Not too much.  Just a lot.

It just occurred to me yesterday that I also have to pack up and move my school office stuff.  I'm planning on coming back 1-2 nights a week fall and maybe winter quarters (even though I'll be 'on leave').  I'll be couch surfing rather than living here in Davis--and I guess I'll also have to desk-surf in my building, too.  As is always the case there are more students than desks and I've been very lucky and grateful to have always had my own work space.  

Before we starting renovations on the Coast House and before we started packing anything at the Davis House, I took pictures of everything (inside cupboards and closets...everything).It's one way of documenting our life.  Hopefully Eddie and his future siblings will like looking at the photobook I'll (someday) make of each location.  

And for posterity, here's my work space as it stands now.  I've been at this desk since January 2010, when I returned to school from a quarter off of 'maternity leave.'  There are other pictures from January 2012 of my office in this post.

My desk area.  After I passed my quals in August 2011, I bought myself a new book bag (better than the hot pink backpack I used to use!).  Except it's really a diaper bag.  But the lady at the baby store said most of them she's sold are used as laptop bags by working mamas.

My wall of Eddie, crooked as it might be.  I actually hate it when pictures hand lopsided, but this wall jiggles every time someone enters/exits the adjacent men's restroom so keeping them straight is impossible. Plus, while sitting at the desk I can't see them anyway.

There's a table behind me that Hannah and I share.  Here you can see the booklet of tattoos she bought for Eddie, my mason jar lunch, and a stack of quals study materials.  I find that I return to this stuff again and again--this week to remind myself of clay-organic matter interactions and clay elemental structure so I can (try) to explain my isotope results in the manuscript I'm currently working on.

This is the crap in my desk-height filing cabinet drawer.  This is a piece of office furniture that has mostly been replaced by cloud and hard drive storage.  I have very few papers filed away in this five-drawer monstrosity.  One draw is old and stuck closed (no idea what's inside), one contains actual files, one contains snacks and canned food for emergency lunches, one contains crap (see above pic), and one contains scrap paper.

I make a to do list on a Post It note nearly every day. These are today's.

Crap under my desk.  That cracked Tupperware canister is my footrest; rain boots and leather shoes for lab work; a stack of journals from last quarter's class that I can probably throw away because the students never came to pick them up; a blue bin used for class assignments.

More notes and my much-used stack of Post Its next to the desk. I bought coffee yesterday but since Eddie was with me I didn't have enough hands to actually get any coffee.  So I'll use it today maybe.

That reminds me...yesterday was Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day--a tradition started in 1993.  I picked Eddie up after his nap time and we walked the two blocks back to campus.  We met my friends for a snack in the Coffee House and then went to the discussion section for my class.  This year (thankfully!) the other TA and I are sharing discussion teaching responsibilities.  Other years I taught all 3 sections each week; this arrangement is much nicer.  It was her week to teach but since the topic was insects of the forest I took Eddie so he could see the trays of mounted insects and the live Malaysian walking stick bugs that we borrowed from the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

Eddie wanted to wear a skirt because I was wearing a skirt.  It was perfect for the insect class he attended, too, since it had butterflies all over it.

He rode on the lab cart on the way to class because the other TA asked me to bring it.

After the class, Eddie and I went back to my office.  He and my friends spent a while choosing and applying tattoos.  Two labmates happened to walk by and came into say to Eddie.  And of course they were game for getting tattooed, too.  

Jennifer, Jordon, Toby, and Hannah showing off their tattooes.  At this point Eddie was being shy and was out in the hallway.