Thank you so much for all the positive comments on the new office space. I realize, of course, that it’s modest by many standards, but it’s mine and I love it. If you can imagine how tricky it was for me to work on anything in that niche at the top of the stairs – especially when it involved sewing and ironing and quilting – always afraid I’d roll my chair too far back and down the stairs, trying to move around in such a confined space, and then add to that the challenge of trying to find a place to spread papers out and do my research – well, this little corner of the room is manna from heaven.
We went on some errands yesterday and were amazed by the fog that started in the morning and stayed with us all day long. I’ve never seen anything like it in this neck of the woods. It never left! We were also amazed by how many drivers drove through the heavy fog without their lights on. Half the time we couldn’t see them until the last minute. What were they thinking?
Anyway, I got my chair mat and now I can move around to my heart’s content.
And I got a bulletin board.
Where I am going to hang it has yet to be determined. I think the wood trim needs to be painted first. Hmmm. What color? Not turquoise/aqua or things will be way too matchy-matchy. I’ll think on it.
I was reminded that another piece of Roseville sits on the shelf in that pink cabinet. I got it years ago in San Diego – there’s a chip on the handle, so it was reasonable at a time when Roseville prices were through the roof.
It’s a bowl in the Zephyr Lily pattern. I haven’t finished arranging things on those shelves. I’m putting the bride and groom cake toppers away for the time being. I’m in a ‘there’s too much clutter on the shelves’ phase.
We’re on the cusp of a new year. We have no plans for the evening. New Year’s Eve is not a big deal for us. I know for a fact that we won’t be staying up until midnight. We’ll lounge around, watching something on the television – or maybe we’ll spin some records on the turntable.
No New Year’s resolutions from yours truly, either. I’ve never made them. To be perfectly honest, every day I think of something I want to change, do better, learn. It’s an ongoing thing in my life; so making a resolution and saying it aloud simply because it’s a new year just seems superfluous.
I’m a work in progress. All the time.
It’s been a good year in some ways and very, very tough in others. As was last year, when I lost my mom. Losing both parents in the space of eighteen months has left me forever changed. How could it not?
So I’ll be thinking of them as we move from 2015 to 2016. And counting my blessings as well.
Happy Thursday.
your new office space is great … all your dreaming, planning, measuring and putting things together has paid off in a beautiful space. happy for you!
hope this new year will bring much good health, happiness and peace for you and your loves.
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy! Happy New Year to you!
love your new office space! there is something about having my own desk that makes me feel grown up!
Me too! I’ve thought the very same thing! Thank you, Carolyn Marie!
Happy New Year to you and your little family at the cottage. Love your new work space. May it be a place of peace of contentment for you as well as creativity. Thanks for being a part of my daily morning routine. P.S. I miss your posts on Through a lens..hope some come back to that.
Cindy
Probably not. I have two blogs going now – this one and the book blog and I just can’t handle 3! I can barely handle 2. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Claudia, Don and Dame Scout! May 2016 be one filled with peace, joy, laughter and everything wonderful.
I, too, love your new office space. And the TSP is going to be Amazing!!! Love all the finds/gifts that have come to you recently for that. What fun.
I woke to sun (yes, sun!) coming in the bedroom window this morning. Now it appears to have left (again). We are hoping to get out for a hike in Valley Forge Park today and then a quiet evening at home. I always make a crab quiche for New Year’s Eve and we have a bit of champagne. I rarely make it to midnight, but I’m going to try to keep my husband company (he is up later than me every night). We will try to find a movie or something to watch on Netflix or Amazon…hopefully something good…I can’t stand all the stupid (my opinion) New Year’s Eve shows on TV. Too much noise and inane chatter.
Hoping for sun tomorrow and another hike. See you in the new year Claudia. Take care.
I think they’re ridiculous, too, Vera. I’d rather watch a good movie. Have a wonderful day and Happy New Year!
Claudia, I am ready to say goodbye to 2015. The last bit has been especially hard. We will have a family get together today to celebrate a late Christmas and say goodbye to the year. I feel so blessed to have my Mom, both my daughters, my son in law and my sweet Grands surround me with love. Charlie won’t be at that celebration but he and I will ring in the new year, probably by being asleep! I’m so happy your new office space will let you be more creative in the coming year. It’s a very rainy day here but there is finally a bit of sunshine in my heart.
hugs,
Linda
It has been a painful end-of-the-year for you, dear Linda. But how happy I am to read that there is finally a bit of sunshine in your heart! Have a wonderful celebration with your family. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!! “And now let us welcome the New Year. Full of things that have never been.” May 2016 be good to us all.
Amen! Happy New Year, Linda!
Happy new year to you and your little family.
The same to you, Sue. Happy New Year!
No written down, carved in wood type resolutions here either. But for this new year I’m doing what several of my blogging friends do, choosing ‘a word’ (will do a post on that later). One special word to think on, mull over, and perhaps help me through the year when things get a bit rough. I used to be such a perfectionist in just about everything but those days are waning. We are older and wiser and realizing time is precious and not a moment should be wasted on unimportant things – such as dusting and polishing every surface, just get the darned cobwebs down from the corners now say I, LOL!!!
We are due to go into town for Raleigh’s First Night – but the rain continues to tipple down this morning as it did yesterday – with thunder and lightning (snow in a week or so perhaps?) – so depending on how it is later will mean either a few music venues, the Peoples’ Parade down the main street, and the early dropping of the huge copper acorn with fireworks (we no longer hang around for the midnight version), OR just stay home like you three and enjoy being comfy and relaxed.
Happy New Year dear Claudia, Don and Scout – this one has been hard for you and I wish for a better one in 2016.
With love – Mary (and Bob of course because he thinks about you too). XX
I’m in! I feel the same way about perfectionism, Mary. I suffer from the same problem but lately, I’ve been more willing to let go of that stuff. Life’s too short and boy, is it freeing! Have fun at First Night and Happy New Year to you and Bob!
I just found your blog the other day, and I think I am here to stay. I can’t remember how, though, Instagram? Not sure.
Anyway, I love your office, and the TSP! I couldn’t agree more about staying home on NYE. I never feel more cozy than being with my husband and our dog, Mollie, sitting at home watching TV, or better yet, when my hubby plays DJ, listening to records or watching old 80’s music videos on youtube. ha.
So glad you like the blog! Thanks so much for stopping by. Enjoy your quiet New Year’s Eve!
We’re being very social, for us; an early dinner with a group of dear old friends tonight, then in to Houston tomorrow for a late lunch with new friends. We’ ll be home well before midnight tonight, and will see the New Year in with Victor the Cat.
Enjoy your movie or records, your wonderful new studio space and each other tonight and all through the coming year.
Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve, Margaret! Happy New Year!
How about a pretty and cheery yellow frame for your bulletin board. There is just something about yellow to make you happy.
Happy New Year to you, Don and Scout. We used to go out for early dinner on New Year’s Eve, but we stay home now because I don’t have anyone to stay with Mom. Instead I plan something special for dinner.
Funny you should say that, Beverly – I was just thinking about hello!
Happy New Year! (We stay in because of Scout, as well, so I understand!)
The image of you backing up your chair and falling down the stairs was horrifying! So glad you have a space that’s more safe and spacious now.
I’m taking a family antique…a console/hall table…to a down-the-tier/distant cousin today; hate to part with it but I’m also trying to free up space and, this way, I control it, while I’m alive, knowing it’s going to a younger family member who has real reverence for things from our extremely-small family. The table is about 80 years old in our branches of family and actually at one time was in the possession of this girl-cousin’s grandmother, so I feel good about the situation.
Other than that, we tuck in by mid-afternoon…big party days for New Year’s Eve are long past us and that’s fine with me because I have always liked NYE to be one of calm and reflection…and anticipation/planning for a new phase.
Wishing you and Don and Scout a year ahead of all that’s best for 2016…and, thank you, Claudia, for a year’s worth of well-thought-out and informative posts all year long in 2015; they are always beneficial as are your reader comments. I appreciate the effort you put into your well-written posts; you have a fine blog.
I wish both my husband and I weren’t facing the year with medical procedures but, alas, it happens. We just learned yesterday that he has to be scheduled for surgery, soon, in January for a hernia operation; he lifted something too heavy, so there you are. But we’ll get through it although he’s pretty ‘down’ about it all at the moment. Our local communities are preparing for the El Nino rain event which is to commence in mere weeks and we’re going to miss an oppportunity to get free sandbags…he sure can’t be lifting on them…but we’ll somehow otherwise make do. He was in the middle of building a shed in our rear property so that has to stop as well. In the end, all a ‘minor’ inconvenience as he says (yet he’s pensive, so I’m spending the day ‘bucking’ him up!).
You’ve so motivated me to set up a dedicated work space, with new calendar for 2016, everything in place, ready to go for a new year!
I’m sorry to hear you are both facing medical procedures. Give your husband a big hug from us! And you, too, of course!
Happy New Year, Vicki! Have a wonderful, quiet and reflective evening.
Thanks; I’m glad to be home from our little trip today (table delivered safely in high wind). EVERYBODY STAY SAFE OUT THERE!! On the way back, we believe we encountered a drunk driver…already, at only 1pm! We took the back road for scenery; he obviously took it for police avoidance. We were about to call 911, hanging back…but my husband also poised to warn anybody oncoming, via horn/lights/anything (there was actually, truly, no one else on the road, thankfully!)…but then he turned into a driveway and people came out who looked ‘normal’ so we figured they’d corral him. He was going ultra slow and kept stomping on his brakes, so it wasn’t like he was speeding; the only other thing we could think of was that he was having car trouble or was otherwise ill. But, then, did that explain the swaying back and forth over the center line of this 2-lane country road? So troubling when people are stupid, risking their own lives but also the lives of others. Again, I’m glad to be home; off to make a cup of tea. That’s MY brew today!!!
That is so scary – we’ve followed someone who was clearly inebriated before…oh boy. Happy New Year, Vicki!
So fun to be at the “finishing stage” of the office project. I know you said Don has some moving in to do, too. As with all projects,,,they are fluid and seem to always be in motion, don’t they? The tweaking never seems to stop. Move one thing and then another needs to be arranged differently.
We, too, will have a quiet evening. Way too many people out and about. The dogs and the cat are so happy when we just stay home. I don’t think I have made it to midnight in about 15 years. I am thinking that …. simplicity,,,, simplify…. less is best,,,,, all as being key words for me in 2016.
Simplify may be one of my words, as well. It seems to be fueling me at the moment, Chris. Happy New Year!
Hi Claudia, I love the new office space! You’ll be zipping around on your mat, getting things done in all directions. My 2 cents’ worth on the bulletin board frame: pick up a Roseville color and the board will get your attention for all those little reminders and scenarios that will take up residence there. The turntable and records are a great gift. I never gave up my turntable and have recently been buying old vinyl, just for the atmosphere of the sound. I love my bose cd player but it isn’t the same. I like to look at the album covers! And stack them around while listening to the records! I think the sensory experience is similar for books vs nooks, too. The fewer layers between my senses and the experience, the better. A long comment here, but I’m catching up! Happy New Year.
We have the same Bose CD player and it’s very good quality, but you’re so right – it isn’t the same as vinyl.
Happy New Year, Dana!
HAPPY NEW YEAR Claudia! Wishing you, Don and Scout the very best of everything in 2016.
Happy New Year to you and yours, Cathy!
Well…2015 is coming to an end….thank goodness. I sincerely hope 2016 will be better for all of us…there’s been too much heartache in 2015. No resolutions here…except, to continue to simplify our lives. And, I need to build up my arm strength…lifting weights, perhaps? We plan on a quiet evening at home…I see movies on our horizon! I was reading the comments…Dana suggested painting the frame a Roseville color….I thought that was a great suggestion. I wish blessings and good health on you, Don and Scout. Happiest of New Years! ;)
Way too much heartache, Donnamae. Here’s to a better 2016 for all! Happy New Year to you and yours!
Your office space is coming together so beautifully! We dressed up a plain bulletin board for my daughter’s room using some some pretty fabric from Provence (gift from a friend) and painting the frame. (She likes pretty, but not fussy.)
If we’re away during the holidays we get all dressed up and go out to celebrate New Year’s, but if we’re home we stay there. Part of our loft faces the ski hill where they set up the New Year’s fireworks, so we sit in our pjs and drink hot chocolate and watch the show.
I wish you and Don (and Scout!) every happiness and all the very best for the coming year.
Enjoy the fireworks, Barbara and Happy New Year to you and your daughter!
Here’s to hoping for good things in 2016! Enjoy your new space, I am glad that you are no longer in fear of rolling back down the stairs! xx
Thank you, Amy! Happy New Year to you and yours!
Happy New Year to your sweet family. I’m going with Chris K on simplify – so I can focus on the important things!
I’d like to chime in on the color for the bulletin board frame. I think a shade of green would go well with the pink and the aqua. (Wink Wink). Look at your letter holder on your desk.
I was thinking that green or the McCoy green (they’re awfully close to each othe.r) Thanks! Happy New Year, Suzi!
Happy New Year to you, Don and Scout.
I don’t make resolutions either. But I have decided to pick a word of the year. I chose the word accept. I’m going to try to focus on accepting things as they are, not as I think they should be.
Happy New Year! “Accept” is a good word to choose, Kathy. I like that. We could all benefit from that.
I completely agree about New Year’s Eve – and resolutions too. Waiting for the first day of the year to make changes or improvements has always just seemed like a goofy concept to me. Our family has never been much for big NYE blow-outs either. My parents never went out when I was a kid. I can remember my Dad calling it “amateur night.” LOL. Personally, I’m settling in tonight with Chinese takeout and TCM’s marathon of the “Thin Man” movies. Nostalgia – now that’s what New Year’s Eve was made for! A very happy and healthy 2016 to you, Don, Scoutie and all my fellow readers here at MHC – cheers!?
That’s right – The Thin Man is on! Maybe I can talk Don into watching one or two. (He’s not a big fan.) Happy New Year to you and yours, Janet!
Happy New Year Claudia, Don and sweet Scout! we are also staying in tonight with our dogs and cats, no resolutions here either. just stopping by to wish you all the best for 2016,
and i know i will keep reading your blog in the New Year.
Thank you for sharing pieces of your life with us,
Happy New Year !!
You are most welcome, Caroline. Happy New Year to you and yours!
We don’t do a big deal for New Year’s eve either Claudia. Our best friends will be over for dinner tonight. I’m making my homemade noodles for chicken and noodle stew. Our friend Neal makes his prize-winning biscuits and I have green beans from our summer garden. We’ll play dominoes until about 10 o’clock when they’ll go home and Dennis and I will be sound asleep by the time the new year cut rolls around . This is our annual New Years tradition. We are such party animals around here! Your new office is looking quite lovely. It makes me wish for a little space like that all of my own. I share a desk with my husband and it usually works out fine but it’s much more masculine than I would like to have. Happy new year to you , Don and Scout.
Blessings, Betsy
It sounds like a great way to spend the evening, Betsy! My dad and mom loved to play dominoes and we often played with them when we were back home or they were visiting us. I brought their domino set back with me from Florida. Happy New Year!
We do not go out in the craziness of NYE either Claudia…too many people out there that get overly drunk just because they think that’s what one should do…which makes for danger when driving…also it is very cold here today…I am going to run to the grocery store and I don’t even want to go out for that…If I am up at midnight it will be because I am reading…Have a nice at home evening..
We were just out there to run some errands. Our neighboring college town was nicely busy, but pretty calm. Now we’re in for the night and are looking forward to a quiet evening at home. Happy New Year, Nancy!
I love your new office space! I’m wishing for you, Don and Scout a very good 2016. As always, I enjoy reading your blog so much.
Thank you so much, Lily! Happy New Year to you and yours!
Claudia, I truly wish for you, Don and Scoutie a peaceful and joyous New Year.
Thank you, Dottie – the same to you and yours!
We have no plans for tonight either. I am blogging and working on my shoe room and hubby is cleaning the barn. How fun are we? lol.
I guess we’re at the point in our lives when practicality wins, Dawn! Happy New Year, my friend!
Quiet night at home for us, too. We just ordered a pizza, then we’ll settle in for some TV watching. We need to start Season 2 of Broadchurch, so we’ll probably be watching that. I just might have a glass of wine with my pizza, but that’s about as wild and crazy as it’s going to get around here. ;-) Brian worked the midnight shift last night and only slept a few hours today (he just couldn’t sleep), so he’ll probably be passed out on the couch by 8 pm. Ha! Blessings, love and peace to you and Don for 2016 – and love to Scout, too.
Poor Brian! I’ll be interested to hear what you think about Season 2 of Broadchurch, Melanie. Happy New Year to you and your family!
Just wanted you to know how precious your friendship is to me. Here’s wishing a great 2016 for you, Don and Scout.
Judy
I feel the same way, Judy. Much, much love to you and your family this year and always. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you and your family, Claudia.
No huge plans for this evening here either. We spent the day with the grandchildren, one to the movies with Grandpa and one creating Origami stars with me. We will spend the evening in a quiet way and loving it!
Quiet is good, Sue! Happy New Year to you and yours!
I just love your statement, ‘I am a work in progress’. I am a work in progress, too. Sometimes I progress slowly, sometimes, I take a step back and sometimes I leap forward. Just how it should be. Thank you.
I would paint the notice board frame a bright cheerful orange, I love orange. I think it contrasts well with a turqouise colour scheme. I dream of my own space for sewing and hope that my dream comes true in the new year. I love Ikea for office inspirations, and I love your little office space.
Wishing you a Happy New Year! x
I hope you get that space, Christina! Thank you for your kind words. We are all works in progress.
Happy New Year to you and yours!