I'm so annoyed with this whole filing cabinet debacle. The second filing cabinet (that I had to add my own screws to in order to keep it together, and which also has no mechanism to keep the casters on, so if you accidentally lift the cabinet at all, the casters fall off)... where was I? Oh: the hanger thingies for the hanging file folders also have no holding mechanism or stopper or anything, so when you hang your files on the little arms, and then you try to swoosh your files even a little bit back and forth (as you would do if you were searching for something), the arms pull out and fall inside the cabinet along with all your files. Great, huh?

So tonight I am loading both filing cabinets (one assembled and one partially assembled) into Lulu's hatchback, and tomorrow I am taking them back. Then I'm going to go to an office store and buy two plastic bins that hold file folders, and put them in my closet.

I hate metal filing cabinets with a passion, so I really don't want to get one. I figure plastic is sturdier than cardboard boxes, and until I find a wooden cabinet I like, it'll do.

Grrrr.

In other news, I'm going to a Montessori conference this weekend in Carmel, which should be interesting.

In better news, I had a FABULOUS time in LA and Phoenix with all my cousins and aunts and uncles and my cousins' kids. And in Phoenix, it was sunny, hot and dry, and I spent several hours by the pool at my aunt and uncle's house. I'm telling ya, I needed it. I actually got a tiny eensy bit of a tan, so I'm no longer the color of skim milk (I've darkened to vanilla soymilk). I also played guitar with my cousin's kids, I visited the oldest School of Luthiery in the United States, I helped make a birthday commando raid on my aunt's office, I sat in on my cousin's successful presentation of his thesis on status epilepsy (yay Mike!), I visited the Arcadia Arboretum and the Huntington Library, I ate dim sum (mmm, barbecued pork buns)... life was good. Mostly, I hung out with my family, though, and that was the best part.