I know there was a sunset photo on yesterday’s post, but I couldn’t help myself.
This happened last night. ‘Spectacular’ comes to mind.
And all I have to do is open the kitchen door and pop my head outside. Snap.
I’m in the middle of my 4th mystery by Susan Hill. (I’ve ordered the next two and am crossing my fingers they arrive by the time I have to leave for Hartford.) Note the interesting mix of patterns here. The rug, in red, green and gray and the quilt that Scoutie uses when she’s in the ‘tunnel’ – red, black, green, blue, orange.
No one has ever accused me of not liking a mix of patterns.
That girl you see in the picture? Stay tuned…she has a big birthday coming up on Monday.
The other side of our shared space. That desk is actually half of a dining room table. I bought it when I first moved to San Diego. The style is Renaissance Revival and I love it. It’s been our desk for years. It’s flanked by our necessary, but not very attractive, file cabinets, the copier, the modem and router and our phone.
Big Boy was found at a yard sale. It’s Don’s, but we both have memories of dining at that establishment. In his neck of the woods it was Bob’s Big Boy. In mine, it was just Big Boy. The gorgeous old black and white photo of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans was a find from Heidi’s shop and I grabbed it for Don. (Don met Roy Rogers once and got his autograph…which he eventually lost.) The desk chair is an old one from IKEA that I hastily recovered because it was black and covered in Scout’s dog hair. Don’t look too closely.
The wall between the windows is still in progress. Right now we have an old bedside table there holding a lamp. We’d like to hang a great print on the wall and find a vintage love seat.
I spent several hours yesterday going through old files and shredding bills by hand. For some inexplicable reason, our fairly new shredder is not working. More hand-shredding today, along with the beginning of my work on Romeo and Juliet.
Can I just say that I don’t want to go away to Hartford in the winter time? Or be away from Scoutie when she’s so frail? (Or Don, but he will be fine.) I’ve now worked in Hartford for several weeks at a time at least 6 or 7 times. I’ve seen everything there is to see. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to blog about. None.
Obviously I’m grateful for the work and I love working with Darko. But, man! I do not want to go.
Happy Saturday (Yes, I’ve finally figured out what day it is. Yesterday, I thought it was Saturday all day long.)
Claudia I too have been a day ahead but I am sure today is Saturday!! Love the desk/old table. So pretty. Your office is coming along so nicely. I remember Bob’s Big Boy and how big those statues were in front of the restaurants. I know how much you want to be home but I know you will go and do a great job. I rested all day yesterday and I’m starting to feel a bit better. I may venture out of the house today.
hugs,
Linda
I’m resting today, Linda. I’m really tired! Have a great day.
Just e-mailed you!!
The office is amazing now – know you two will be churning out great work at those neat desks!
Lovely pic of Scout – paper hats and birthday treats ahead!
Hugs – Mary
She’s almost ready for her birthday, Mary. I keep telling her it’s in two days!
I used to sit at my Mammaw’s house when we were visiting for the holidays and while everyone walked to church down the road, I would stay at the house and watch reruns of The Roy Rogers Show. I was so in love with him. I’m often confused about the days of the week since I’m not working and my son has been on break for the past two weeks. It happens! Sorry to hear you aren’t looking forward to your time away, but I have no doubt you will find something to blog about. Best wishes, Tammy
Right now, finding something to blog about seems virtually impossible. Sigh.
We used to watch Roy Rogers, too!
Yesterday…I felt like it was a Sunday. So glad I still have 2 more days to goof off…I’m so good at that! I like how Don’s personalized his side of the office…did you buy the dining room table already cut in half? Brilliant! ;)
It was already cut in half and I thought it would make a great desk. It does!
I was sure yesterday was Monday…..even put out the recycling. My first crush was Roy Rogers. I had a 45 of Happy Trails (it was yellow, like Trigger) and I would play it and imagine Roy riding down the road to me. Sigh. It never got past that point because I was too young to know what to do if he ever arrived! Ingenious idea for the desk!
I can still hear that song in my head, Kathy. Such a great memory!
Claudia, I hear you. I have been at sixes and sevens for a weeks now. I think it all started the Sunday after Christmas, We usually have pizza on Sunday. That started years ago we would watch Perry Mason on DVD on Sundays. It became Pizza and Perry day, then after we finished all the shows, it was still pizza night. Well the the Sunday after Christmas we had ham salad sandwiches, My husband makes the best, so from then on my schedule was confused, I still did the regular schedule, Mon & Thurs laundry day. Although that little snow “storm” we had on Tuesday messed up grocery day to the next day….so total confusion! I cannot wait for normal days. I am such a creature of habit. Like Martha Stewart’s calendar in her mag. used to say ” this is the schedule unless something better comes along”, or something like that.
I’ll be glad when it’s Monday and I hopefully know what day of the week it is!
To me, it seems like today is the SECOND Saturday of the week [holidays always feel like weekends to me]. So I was a little confused when I woke up today myself. All I need to do is some kind of normally-Saturday job – laundry should do it – and my equilibrium will return. Then poor old January will be well-underway. I always try to think of something – anything – new to do in January, since it seems so dull after all the Christmas excitement of December. Have a great weekend… ☕️
January tends to be gray and not-at-all shiny like Christmas is. My sister says I should do some writing while I’m in Hartford. Hmmm.
What a great idea for a desk!! It is all coming together!
I, too, thought it was Saturday all day yesterday. When some friends asked if we wanted to go out for fish last night, I was totally lost. (are Friday night fish fries only done year-round in the Midwest??)
Writing sounds like an excellent outlet to take advantage of during your down-time in Hartford.
Do you have any breaks when you can get a quick back-home run or are you there for the duration?
Only 2 more sleeps til the Birthday!!
I have Mondays off. If I get out of rehearsal early enough on Sunday, I can drive home for a little over 24 hours and I will probably do that. I’m taking the car for just that reason. Crossing my fingers that the older car stays in good health and that there are no emergencies, but if either happens I’ll be able to get home in a couple of hours.
Yeah, I wondered, too, when you mentioned the upcoming away-trip that it was a long time to be away from Scout but you can’t turn down a a job for pay like that and you have to keep your resume active and updated so, Claudia, you just have to go and we’ll say our prayers for the dear old sweet dog who we’ve come to know and care about, too. It’s not like you’re leaving her with a stranger; she’ll mostly sleep, no? It’s the iffy weather and time of year which isn’t the greatest for her. If it’s snowing, and Don is out with her, be sure to remind him to always have his phone with him! I would worry about you so much in that winter when he was gone and you’d be out there chipping ice/snow off the roof or out with Scout. Should you have fallen and not been able to get back inside, DISASTER. This happened to my uncle on the cold West Texas prairie some 15 years ago and he could only haul himself onto the porch after a fall (couldn’t make it the rest of the way into the house)…he spent the entire night on that icy porch til the cleaning lady discovered him and he had to be hospitalized although he was eventually okay but I’m sure he’d suffered from the plunging temps more than the fall (just can’t recall all the details at the moment, but it was a near-fatal incident).
Watch the hand-shredding. I did that at my workplace when our shredder was out of whack and I was under a deadline…and much younger; clueless about repetitive motion injury. I permanently ruined my hands, seriously. I developed a carpal tunnel condition and, back then, the surgery for that was not too perfected so they treated it with massive doses of ibuprofen and hand therapy which didn’t do a lick of good. It has plagued me for 25 years and I was left with forever weak hands which can get flare-ups very, very quickly. I cannot bear down, like to scrub; tearing at things, like opening a small parcel, can set it off; I can’t lift much with my hands; it’s a big inconvenience and the flareups, if I’ve abused my hands (not abuse to a person who doesn’t suffer from this problem…to anybody else, it wouldn’t be abuse!), the pain and dysfunction can last for months and I have to then wear hand splints at night to keep my hands from curling or bending. Like an idiot (young and stupid) I didn’t file for Worker’s Comp because I worked for a manufacturing facility and too many WC claims could shut the factory down…and the boss would make a VERY BIG DEAL about the ‘hit’ of those kinds of claims to where more than one legit claim never got filed because they made you feel just awful if you filed. Today, I’d look out for myself…but, back then, I also didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my job. I look back on this and it was all so wrong, wrong, wrong. An employee should never feel singled out or intimidated in the workplace. Anyway, just be careful with that hand shredding. I really urge you to go buy another electric shredder. I shred a lot of paper; they give out. Off my soapbox, but I’m just worried for you. I can’t do any sort of enjoyable work with my hands anymore; it’s hard to even thread a needle…and I formerly did a lot of art work which I can’t do now. Gardening became too hard, too. I’ve had an ortho surgeon tell me that it’s too late for me to have carpal tunnel surgery although I have thought I should revisit the situation and get another opinion (but it’s tricky, as I’m also a anesthesia risk). It’s hard for me to even manipulate a hardcover book in my hands and I of course resist a Kindle; just don’t want to go there…yet.
I’m only doing it for about two days, Vicki, so don’t worry. It’s not as if I’m going to be doing it repetitively for days on end. I do a little at a time and then stop and do something else.
Your shared space is looking good, Claudia. It’s amazing once we make up our mind to organize an area of our home, how it just comes together..it’s getting to the want to do point that is difficult!
What a lovely sunset and any picture of Scout is always a welcome sight.
Hope your Saturday is coming together nicely.
Exactly – you have to get to the point where you’re ready to move on it and then things start coming together.
Seems like every year at this time the days get all mixed up. It’s 2 holidays close together and not quite happening on a weekend that does it.
Yes. I think I’ve grasped the fact that this morning is Sunday morning. I think my mind will be much clearer once we hit Monday.
How about telling us how you prepare for your assignments.
dq
I’ve talked about that in the past. I coach the actors in the text and the way they speak it, which involves researching the meaning of all the words and the sense of the text, as well as the rhythm and meter.
While in Hartford you could give us a new twist and share what you wear, what you eat, and what inspired you that day. I know how hard it is to blog when you’re not in your own space :)
Jeans and a sweater or sweatshirt. That might get boring pretty quickly! Maybe what I eat, though….xo
That’s funny ~ David and I both thought yesterday was Saturday. In fact, he turned on the radio yesterday afternoon in anticipation of hearing Prairie Home Companion, and couldn’t understand why the line up had changed. I think the holidays throw us all off. I am going to ask God to keep a special angel watching Scout while you are gone. Happy New Year!
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
Thank you, Susan. My little girl needs an angel watching over her.
Your office space is really looking nice. I like Don’s “table” desk and the photo of Roy and Dale. I remember watching them when I was small. I can only imagine how hard it will be to leave Scout and Don. It was -3 here this morning. Is it still warmer where you are? I’m very ready for spring.
Blessings,
Betsy
No, it’s much colder now, Betsy – I suppose the temps are where they should be for this time of year.
You can show me those “spectacular” sunsets anytime Claudia…I will enjoy seeing “the birthday girl” on Monday…That half table is great for a desk..did I ever tell you that my desk is a vintage red Formica table?..I have two of them…one in my office for my desk and one in the dining area off of the kitchen that has two of the fancy red chairs to match…I also have an old enamel top table that sort of sits between the two areas and can be used for either room as needed…I got good prices on all of them which is why I have all of these old treasures that I love…Your office is really coming together…your side is so girl like and Don’s is looking so guy like…I know that you really do not want to go away at this time and I also wish you didn’t have to..I hope you find something to keep you busy and make the time seem to go faster…See you tomorrow….which will be Sunday..lol..
I had a desk that was a vintage formica table once – actually it was when I lived in Cambridge. I found a photo of it the other day. But darned if I can remember where I got it or what happened to it! It was vintage and had a great pattern. I love those tables and also the enamel top tables. Lucky you!
I love the way you both have office spaces together…we would like to have a space like that here, too.
I am so mixed up on my days…I thought yesterday was Monday, and today was Sunday. I know, it makes no sense…just my weird inner calendar.
I know it is hard for you to be away, Claudia…I hope the time goes quickly for you!
I hope it does, too. Once I get into the rhythm of rehearsals, that will help – but truly…I’d rather be home with my dog and my husband.
Hi Claudia,
I live about 20 minutes south of Hartford; have been a reader of yours for maybe a year or so, and would love to invite you to my house for lunch or dinner. I also love pottery, antiques, all the tchotchkes … feel free to get in touch.
Tisha
Thank you, Tisha! Hopefully, I’ll have some free time when I’m there!