The Next Cross-Stitch

After finishing the wedding sampler, I went a good three months without cross-stitching. It was about reading and making good on my goal to read through all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. But the itch, so to speak, needed to be scratched. Picking out the next project also gave me a chance to organize the box in my closet.

I dragged out all the crafting books and pamphlets and dumped them on the living room floor.

I decided my next project would be to liven up the bathrooms at work. We have no art in the office, beyond what people have in their personal offices. I have art, my boss has art, but that's as far as it goes. In the women's bathroom, we have some knick knacks representing the beach. I decided I needed to do a beach cross-stitch. Finding something was going to be the adventure. Oh sure, I could have googled "beach cross-stitch" and come up with something, but why do that when I'm sitting on hundreds of patterns? Plus, the box needed to be organized and this was a prime reason to do so.

Viola.

The pattern on top is not the one I chose. It's cute, but I felt it was a bit too detailed for what I can do. My goal was to find a pattern which used full cross-stitches as opposed to one, like this beach scene, which uses half, quarter and three-quarter stitches. I'm not good at those and they frustrate me. If I'm to get this done with any speed, it must be something I'll enjoy doing.

I also discovered I need a bigger box. I still have magazines piled on top of the box in the closet. One of the issues is the floor space where the box is stored. A box which will hold all my cross-stitch or craft magazines probably will take up all of the floor space. I'm not sure that's entirely what I want. I have, however, decided not to renew a couple of the magazines I get. One was expensive, even with a discount and the other was veering into non-cross-stitch crafts more than when I subscribed to it. I think I will continue Just Cross-Stitch because that's all I want. As it's published 6 times a year, I'm not adding to the pile quite so quickly.

After a couple days of looking through everything, organizing and contemplating what I wanted to do, I decided on this pattern.

It's all full cross-stitches. The header, "Home is where the Beach is" will be removed. I might do "Life's a Beach" or I might just redo the cloud lines above the clothes line. There is also the ability to shorten the sides so there's no white space when the wording is removed.

For the guy's bathroom, I found this.

My office mates probably aren't going to care, but I really like our office. I like how we were allowed to personalize our spaces. This simple act makes going to work so much more enjoyable and I see this art as part of that. Plus, if you'll allow me to be a bit selfish, it leaves a bit of me behind. Our lease is for 7 years so we'll be here awhile. I can see this being our office until Mike leaves and that should be after I leave.

The fabric count was for 26-count linen with the cross-stitching done over two threads. I have never, ever been able to master that. I always work in 11-16-count. It's easier to see and I don't have to worry that I'm not stitching over two threads. But I had no idea then, how much cloth to buy. My local cross-stitch shop came to my rescue. When it's 22+ count fabric, halve the stitch size and use whatever fabric amount is closest. It's the same size. In my case, I'm using 14 count. In my head, it doesn't seem to  work, shouldn't it be double the amount listed? So far, it's working out just fine.

Ivory material was suggested, not white. I'll go with that, but I didn't have any ivory material in my stash. The shop said they aren't stocking much in the 11-18 count fabric. Stitchers have gravitated to the higher thread counts for more detailed images. That makes me sad. "You can find all sorts of 11-18 count online," the proprietor said. Well, yeah, but that's not the point. I want to shop local when I can. She had a piece of fabric which she thought I might like.

It's kind of tough to see the pattern on the fabric. It's a white with a faint sandy wave-like pattern. It's perfect for a beach pattern. With fabric in hand, over Labor Day weekend, I jumped in.

You can see the fabric pattern a bit better in the images.

Cross-stitching is the best thing to do on the deck, I tell you. I made great strides in September.

I would come home from work, grab the stitching and go out on the deck. An hour of stitching made the troubles of the day just melt away.

This represents three days in September. I'm much farther along with this than these photos show. I'll be posting more as I get to them. Lots of photos yet to blog about. The green stripey thing is a pair of men's swim trunks, in case you're wondering.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

The Things I Save

In the ongoing slow process of decluttering, I found these.

These are "bunny suits" or, as they are more properly known, "Clean Room Suits". The blue one I had to wear then I went into the surgical area of a hospital where we had a seismograph, to download said machine way back before we had reliable remotes. The white one I wore when I had to download a machine in an animal testing facility. According to the Internet, the moniker "bunny suit" was applied because, once you have all the accouterments on, you resemble a rabbit.

When I pulled the machines from these locations, I was allowed to keep the suit. The hat, gloves, mask and booties which went with these in order to access the clean room area, had to be chucked but I could keep these since people knew I wasn't coming back. They sat on a shelf in my old office for years; mementos of a couple of very interesting jobs, but jobs I don't want to have to do again. We haven't had a need for instrumentation to be in clean room areas since, thank goodness.

I kept these because I always thought I'd use them for Halloween costumes. In reality, they simply took up space. I brought them home last year, when we moved and stuck them on a shelf. When I cleaned that shelf, looking for something else, naturally, there they were. I added them to a give away bag. There wasn't much angst in parting with these. I knew I wasn't ever going to use them. Sometimes the cleaning kind of does itself.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Flying

Bits and pieces of the house are undergoing transformation. I don't have a lot of time to do things and, lately, my stamina has been suspect, so I look for small projects which accomplish a couple of goals. 1) They make a section of the house whimsical or more enchanting and 2) They help me continue on the long journey of tidying up. Last month, I did another small corner.

This is the end of the hallway. To the right is the back bedroom. To the left is my bedroom. On the wall to the right are photo collage frames containing a wide variety of photos of my life; both family, alive and deceased, and friends, alive and deceased. Above the chair is framed The Simpson's "Wanted" poster from TV Guide from the two part "Who Shot Mr. Burns" episodes of 1995. Below that is a plaque which reads, "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup." The chair was owned by my mother's father. His third wife did the needlepoint chair seat. It is very worn and I think, some day, I'll have the seat recovered. In my fantasy life, I actually do the needlepoint for the seat but reality usually points out that I don't know how to needlepoint.

On the left used to be a drawing of a sunflower. I did it years and years ago, when life wasn't sunny. It was to remind me to turn and follow the sun; follow the light; be open to the light. For the last few years, that's felt rather 'new agey' to me and I've wanted to replace the piece, but didn't know what to put there. So, this corner was ripe for a minor redo.

In the winter, I ordered a poster which featured the cover images of the Cedar Rapids Gazette's coverage of the Iowa Hawkeyes 12-0 Big Ten football season last year. I got a frame for it and took it to the office, intending to put it up on the wall next to the Fantasia poster for which I did a frame make over.

It's a big poster.

Fantasia is the only thing I want on this wall. The Hawkeye poster would go on the right wall, above the bookcase. The more I looked at the poster, as it leaned against the wall, the more I realized I didn't like it over the bookcase. I moved it to the wall where the large Hawkeye wall decal is.

But I wound up not liking it here either because it's big. The other side of the pass-through window doesn't have enough space unless I want to hide the poster behind the office door. I never close my office door. I have no reason to close it. The poster came home. Maybe I can...wait...it can go on the wall in that spot where I'm removing the drawing. That's what's up against the wall on the left, in the top photo, the framed poster.

The best thing I did to this corner involved some stuffed animals.

I got the little orange bird, named "Pepe", and the black and red dragons back when I went to BlizzCon last year. Dragons feature in World of Warcraft extensively. These represent baby dragons, called "whelplings".

Essentially, the stuffed animals just sit around. I don't do anything with them, other than move them because where they are sitting is in my way. Blizzard released the green dragon in April and, well, there are some things one simply must have. That means I have to move all four of them around when I need the spot where they were sitting. Such a pain. Then, I had a singular idea. They are flying creatures. What if I had them fly?

I bought some neon bright variegated yarn and crocheted a thread for each dragon, Pepe, and Figment, a dragon I got from Walt Disney World back in 1990. I bought cup hooks and screwed those into the ceiling. The thread was looped around each character and then tied to the cup hook in the ceiling. Viola. Instant flying bird and dragons.

Now, the plaster ceiling holds the cup hooks, but I was surprised they didn't screw in as tightly as I would prefer. Right now, nothing's fallen, but I kind of expect one of these guys to wind up on the floor if we have a really windy day and the windows are open. At that point, I'll have to evaluate this arrangement and consider how else to anchor them.

The poster went up on the wall. You can see the hanger to the left in the above photo.

I'm very pleased with the overall result. The drawing wasn't applicable to me anymore and these items reflect who I am.

Beverage:  LaCroix raspberry seltzer

Deb

That's Up

Finally got one poster up on the wall in the office.

No, it's not square in the middle of the wall. I'm going to put a couple of photos near the right corner; photos of the girls. I got the cutest frames. I am still debating about the Iowa football poster. I may bring it home and put it on the wall in the back room. Originally, it was going to go on the wall to the right, above the cabinet. Now, I'm thinking that corner will be too cluttered. I love the Fantasia poster on the wall, however. It came out exactly as dynamic as I thought it would.

I tried to hang one of the items on the wall behind my desk. The press-on hangers will stick to the wall but not the back of the cross-stitch I have for that wall because the back of the frame is fuzzy. I am going to need to put a nail in the wall, something I was hoping to avoid. I need to get a couple more hangers like I used to hang the framed poster. What I have won't hold what I have left to hang. I need to find a plant stand for the aloe and the geranium in my window. I really should transplant the geranium into something else. Spring is here which means I start contemplating what plants go on the deck. That will spur me to repot the geranium.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Red

It's time to get the Fantasia poster framed for my office wall. It started with a black poster frame.

The frame came apart very easily, even though there is printing on the instructions not to remove the plastic "glass" part from the frame. It's just glued in in strategic spots around the frame so it didn't require much muscle to pop it out.

Since the frame was black and I needed red, I had to consider how to change that. If I wanted to custom frame the poster, with costs upwards of $250, I could get a red frame. I just want to spend $20. Black seems to be your only choice, unless you take your problem to an art supply store.

Violå. Originally, I expected to have to buy a tube of red acrylic paint and a brush and then spend hours meticulously brushing paint across a frame. It would require quite a bit because there would be, inevitably, brush strokes to hide and I couldn't be completely certain the paint would adhere. I put the problem to my local Dick Blick art supply store and he suggested red spray paint. I could get exactly the color I wanted and other than needing to not do this all in one shot because, you know, paint fumes, this particular paint would be perfect. This brand is made for spray painting on anything, from plastic poster frames to brick, concrete and steel. It's the preferred spray paint of outdoor artists. And here I thought they just went to the hardware store and bought a can of Rust-o-leum. It was $6 for this.

The hard part was going to be the actual spraying. If it was spring, summer or fall, I could take the frame out to the back yard, spray it and let it dry and air outside. Since it was February and I wanted this done, I needed to come up with some way to do it without making myself sick.

Step 1 was commandeering some cardboard from the office.

We have a TV in the office for training videos and this was the box in which it came. I pulled it apart and took it to the basement. 

The frame fit nicely inside this "L" shaped box. I wouldn't be spraying the whole thing at once. 

Every time I went into the basement to do a load of laundry, I worked a bit more on the frame. First one side was painted, and then the other. 

I had to make sure the inside of the frame and then the outside were painted. The box worked like a charm. The biggest problem was the smell. If ever I needed an example of how scents travel it was this. I'd do a section of the frame and let that dry. Then the heat would kick in and I'd smell the toluene or whatever it is in the can, in the home office. It had been sucked into the air vents and sent around the house. After a couple tries, I learned, very quickly, that I could only do one side of the frame at a time. This would lengthen the time it took to get it done, but I wouldn't be coughing for a couple hours later due to the smell. 

It came out very nice. 

Now to see how it looks assembled. 

It's perfect. I matched the red with the color of the words. It's at the office, but not hung. I need to get more of those instant hanger things that don't damage your walls. I'm happy. It did use about 3/4ths of the can of spray paint to do this, owing to all the sides in a frame. That's fine. Realistically, what am I going to do with a can of red spray paint? I did think, since this is made to be used on any surface, I could use it up on the deck come spring, maybe paint the bottom lattice part. I just don't want a partially empty can of paint in the basement for the next 15 years. 

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Framed-Part 1

In spite of the fact that I have more things up on my new office walls than anyone else, I still have quite a few things sitting around. I'm working on painting a poster frame red for the Fantasia poster. That will be done next week. I can only do a bit at a time because I have to spray the red on just a part of the frame owing the the acetone in the can. I do one side and call it quits. Then, I can smell patches of acetone wafting up from the basement. I was sick the one weekend this year when I could have done some spraying outside.

I also have to purchase more of those 3M nailless picture hangers. I really like those. I have had a couple prints up in the house for over 5 years now and they have not fallen. I bought hangers for the posters but I need more for the actual photos I intend to hang.

And then there was the need to get frames for some photos.

Part of the adventure of having a character breakfast at Disneyland or Walt Disney World is having your photo taken with whomever the character is your breakfast is tied to. For Ashley, Liz and I, our breakfasts were with Goofy and Ariel, the Little Mermaid.

Once you check in, you're shepherded to a holding area (Disney does holding areas very, very well.) where you wait for people in front of you to have their photo taken. Cast members ask, as you walk up, if there are phones or other cameras you want to use for photos. Then, as you eat, someone comes around with the photos and you can buy a package. Each one was $35 and we got enough photos for us to have our own PLUS a code we could use to purchase other sizes.

In late December, I took advantage of after Christmas sales and coupons and got a bunch of frames for a variety of photos. These two are for the Disney photos. There is an issue with the aqua frame. the cardboard holding the glass into the frame is stuck. I need to bring a utility knife home from work or bring the frame to the office (which is probably the better thing since these are going in the office, but, you know, remembering) and score the back to get it out. I can tape the back into the frame since I'm not going to want to remove the photo once it's in the frame. The frame is the perfect color.

These sit on the printer next to my home computer. I look at them and remember the fun. The Goofy breakfast was absolutely amazing. It was huge and there was so much great food available. The Ariel breakfast, while limited in food, had an amazing view and all these princesses came through to say hello. Ashley was thrilled and that made Liz and I happy. Yeah, they get you with the photos, but for an event like this, I'm willing to shell out a few bucks for a lovely memento.

Beverage:  Raspberry Seltzer

Deb

Done Done

The former office keys. Yes, there were two of them. We had the building doors to pass through before getting to the office doors. The locks were changed twice in the 16 years I was in the building; the first time when we moved across the hall and took over the space vacated by some real estate company, and the second time when an employee was fired. This new space has one key. We have a front and a back door, but they are keyed the same. AND, that key is a much lighter weight silver-colored thing. The change in weight of my key ring has been very noticeable.

We hired a cleaning company to clean our new offices twice a month. They also do close-outs so we hired them to clean the old space. It was amazing. The building owners were responsible for the cleaning company and we must have gone through at least 8 different companies in 16 years. You saw the ants on my windowsill. Yeah. They just didn't clean everywhere. This new company cleaned the faceplates on the light switches, dusted and washed all the walls and cleaned blinds. When I met the cleaning company's estimator at the old office she looked at me and asked when the last time was the blinds were cleaned. Darned if I know. We had vertical blinds in the old office and some of them were not working properly. We gave up trying to get them fixed. They were not wiped clean.

I had this corner office on the first floor. It's a southwest corner, but those windows leaked so badly. My office was usually 8-10 degrees colder than the other offices. I would have a space heater under my desk in the summer, too, because the AC seemed to think it was cooling the entire Chicagoland area and blast on high all day. In the winter, the space never heated up. It would be 78 in other offices and 68 in mine. It's tough to type when your office is 65 when you walk into it in the morning.

This is the front door. In the fall, the leaves from the vines growing on the wall would collect in front of the door. It was kind of interesting from a science standpoint because the design would cause air to swirl in front of the door. You'd get this great pile of leaves in that nook, leaves which would then stick to your shoes after a rain and get tracked into the building.

The current landlord has been trying to sell the building for 3 years. We almost never saw anyone from the management company and I often felt that when we would call about replacing lights or fixing broken things, I was being an annoyance to them. It wasn't unusual to come to work and find the building locked up. Maintenance hadn't gotten over to unlock the doors. This building was also last on the route for snow removal. They considered tossing buckets of salt on the walk, "clearing the snow".

I got the "honor", if you will, of doing the final walk-through, since I'd been in the building the longest. The cleaning company had done a wonderful job. There wasn't much of a deposit to get back, but Mike wanted every penny. The air still smelled of lemon cleaning products. Yes, 8 years of wear on the carpet showed and there were a couple of corners which were dinged, but the space looked great for as dirty as we could get it. The gal who walked through the space with me seemed more annoyed at having to do this than really looking at what we'd done. We made small talk about our move and parted. I did one final walk around. I mentioned this back in December when we officially moved north. I didn't feel attached to the space as I thought I would. 16 years is a long time, any more, to be with a company AND to be in one space. Yet, I don't miss it.

I come here every morning now. We have our number on the door, which helps because each one of us had driven by the office trying to find it. I have a nice east view out my window. Squirrels cavort in the pine tree. It just feels more pleasant. I don't mind the drive each way. It's actually quite relaxing.

Running errands over the past weekend, I wondered if my keys would still work. Our lease at the old space ended last Sunday. I was tempted to swing by the building to see if I could still get in. How often do companies change locks, I wondered? The building isn't on any closed circuit security camera so I could let myself in and out with no problem. Would they rekey the outer door, too, if they rent the space? Could I get in over the weekend to use the bathroom, say?

We've all put our old keys in our desk drawers. I think Gene actually tossed his, but the rest of us have a bit of nostalgia for those keys. Eventually, I'll recycle them or give them to someone doing a craft project with keys. For now, they are a reminder of where I spent 16 years of my life.

Beverage:  Raspberry Seltzer

Deb

Evolution-Part 1

Furniture and 90% of the office was moved on Saturday, December 12th. Our computers stayed behind because we didn't have service in the new space. At noon, my new office looked like this.

"Yeah, those bookshelves were in my old office so I guess just put them in my new office."

Originally, we were going to use the extra office we have as a library, of sorts. As you can imagine, we have a lot of reference material for construction, mining and demolition. It's a very narrow slice of the publishing world, but there are books printed about these topics and we get a couple every so often. As our area of work is not taught in universities, much of our knowledge comes from on-the-job experience and the rare tome or paper detailing the effects of ground vibrations on structures. Books tended to be scattered about people's offices and we thought it would be better if we had one spot for them.

But, files this idea under "best laid plans". That "library" is going to be someone's office in the next few months so the shelf units were stuck in my office until further notice, since that's where they had started in the old space. On Wednesday, December 16th, with Internet up and running, we moved completely and my computer was set up.

Things are a mess, as you would expect. I had to empty the desk so I tossed all my files and stuff into bags and boxes. The shelf units were moved away from the hole in the wall where the sliding window was to go so I could see anyone who walked in. At this point, I have sorted through the empty box to find all my files and at least get back to working, sort of.

Since mid-December, things have come along. The corner cabinet was moved into place and my photos and mementos placed on it.

That's a paper recycling cube to the right. Our cleaning service doesn't quite understand that we actually recycle here so all of our carefully sorted recyclables have been dumped into garbage bags. But, they are new and we are new and we'll get this sorted out.

The bottom of this unit now has my rocks from various projects. That might seem weird but I've been on some big jobs and I have rocks or chunks of concrete from Soldier Field and 1930's-era Sheridan Road, terra cotta from a building that once stood where Prentiss Children's Hospital is now and rebar from Michigan Avenue. These pieces were scattered about my old office. Now, they have a place to be. The piece of rebar is going to hang on the wall, but I need to get my posters and other wall things up first.

They finally got the window installed right before Christmas. At one point, I was kind of sad to lose a whole wall of potential display area, but I have to say, being able to see people coming in is huge. We don't get many people here; UPS, the mailman, building maintenance; but seeing them and my co-workers come into the building is very important. The other thing that I've discovered is how expansive it makes the office feel. I have huge windows to my east but being able to look out of the office in what amounts to another window is wonderful. I generally don't have claustrophobia but extra light is a good thing.

Two of the bookshelves, of the four I had, were commandeered by Tara. I still have one plus this corner unit. I really had no use for the other ones. I was kind of amazed at how much stuff I kept because my former boss said "It will be useful sometime." Um...no...not really. Back in October, when we started the packing process, we took 8 construction garbage bags of garbage to the dumpster. Since moving and, as we've all settled in, there have been 8 more bags of garbage out the door. In a typical week, we don't generate much. Our data is 80% digital now. Our cleaning service comes every other week. It works.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Evolution-Part 2

In getting my office set up, one of the things was going to be the big tiger hawk on the wall behind me. My boss nixxed that idea. He said it looked like a recruiting statement for Iowa and that's not what he wanted people to see when they walked in. But, I was allowed to put a large tiger hawk on the wall with the window. I was disappointed. I had my heart set on displaying my team. He acknowledged my disappointment but it just wasn't want he wanted our first impression to be. I guess I can see his point. 

In December, while watching the Big 10 football title game, there were ads for Fathead wall decals. I had looked at wall decals but I wasn't about to spend $110 for a logo. On a whim, I checked out the site and discovered their decals were 20% off with free shipping for the holidays. That put the decal I wanted at $60. I thought about it. Was it worth it to me to spend $60 for the immediate ability to festoon the wall with a tiger hawk? Yes. Yes it was. 

I had no idea how big this thing actually was. This is the box. 

It arrived the Monday before Christmas. You might have heard the squeal as I came home and saw it on the front porch. 

The next day, I took it to the office. The decal comes in a heavy duty cardboard tube inside the box. 

You know how you'll still bonk people on the head with an empty cardboard gift wrap roll? You don't want to do that with this. It's really heavy duty and would hurt. Inside the tube is the rolled up decal. 

Again, there might have been a squeal of delight which evolved into a bigger squeal when I unrolled the decal itself. 

It's beautiful. Gene happened to be in the office at the time, so I had him help me apply it to the wall. It couldn't be easier. You peel it off the backing and position it on a clean wall. I admit to having something of an advantage because the wall was a bit over a month freshly painted but you should have a clean surface to adhere to. We had to move it a bit to make it square, but once on the wall, you just press it down. I have other icons on the decal I could use. 

The Iowa name and the tiger hawk "I" don't really go with anything else at the moment. I'm thinking of offering them to siblings for their walls. 

This is what my wall looked like before the decal. 

I have "Historic Chicago" 2016 calendar to the right of the window. The orange cone says, "Give me all your chocolate and no one gets hurt" and my business cards are to the right corner of the window. 

This is post decal. 

I would have spent hours and hours trying to trace something onto this wall; trying to get the colors right, the angle right. I would have put it off because I knew how long it would take me. I am thrilled. 

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Evolution-Part 3

So, what does the office look like now, right now. Well, looking east northeast, you have this view.

There is a clock radio and an old lap top computer sitting on top of the bookshelf. I'm taking the clock radio home with me. I thought it would pick up my jazz station but it doesn't. We are very close to the transmission tower for WBBM radio but that shouldn't matter with the signal. It's all staticy. I have several bags of give away stuff to which I'll add it. The framed photo is from our first trip to Walt Disney World back in 1990. It's of a sign we saw in what used to be MGM-Hollywood. We were in line to see the Muppet Babies show. It says, "You are neither here nor there". So many days feel like that.

I have photo albums from old jobs on the second shelf. The third shelf has a clipboard and yellow legal pads for when I go into the field, as well as a dictionary. The bottom shelf has my work boots and my safety vests. That blue bag you see on the floor has a couple awards and a framed cross-stitch. Those were behind me in the old office and will go behind me here. I need to get more of those 3M picture hanging things which simply adhere to the wall. I use them at home and they are wonderful. I don't feel like putting holes in the new wall to hang my stuff.

Here's looking east southeast.

You can see how well the decal works. That's my aloe and geranium in the window. the sill is very wide and they would work to sit there forever, but I really want a decorative plant stand. I have an elephant-shaped watering can and I could put that on the bottom shelf of a plant stand. Right now, I take the geranium to the sink in the kitchen and drench it. I should put it in something other than the green plastic container it was in at the nursery.

I'm not sure about stenciling something along the wall. I had thought of a row of small tiger hawks right under the sill. Then I though about flowers above the window. Right now, I like it plain. The yellow is bright and sunny and is such a mood elevator, even on these bitter cold or heavily overcast days. I like being able to look out and across for a good ways. The sun is in my eyes for about 15 minute in the morning now, but I don't mind. I didn't have much more than a parking lot view in the old office and I didn't put my desk where I could see out because that put my back to the door, which I did not like.

This is looking west northwest.

I love the dark gray. Black would have been way too dark. I got paint to paint the frame for the Fantasia poster and just need to get that done. Once it's done, then I can bring the Hawkeye 12-0 season poster and Fantasia and figure out where to put them. I think I want the corner to be my picture area. I've got this huge ivory wall behind me, but I don't want to fill it completely with stuff. I have a panoramic photo of Chicago that I'm just not sure where to put. I need to get the posters up first and then I'll have a better feel for where to put the Chicago poster.

Believe it or not, my office is the most personalized. Other people just don't seem to be into hanging stuff other than phone numbers on post its, on their walls. Gene is a new dad so he has photos of his daughter on a bookshelf in his office, but he has all this wall space and there's nothing on it. Maybe it's me in that I like to be surrounded by things that make me happy.

You can see into the main office there, a bit. We had a long discussion about the color of that space. Mike had picked out a more muted blue; one that had more gray in it. I wasn't sure that was a good color and suggested the color we ultimately chose. It works perfectly. It's bright and inviting but not loud. We have a skylight in that main area and this blue works perfectly with the natural light. If you're looking for paint, well, they left us the unused gallons.

So, I went from this...

(Those are the awards and the cross-stitch I have to put up.) to this.

(Nancy, your design suggestion was perfect.) Yeah, I think this works.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Stage One

Saturday, December 12th. That was the day the office began the process of moving. We had to come in early so we could supervise the movers, who were slated to arrive at 8 a.m., and finish packing. Here was my space for 10 years.

This was the northwest corner.

A lot of stuff wound up shoved onto the shelves. The former boss was well known, within the company, for saving everything. "Oh you'll have a need for this some day," he'd say. Never mind that new technologies made instruction books for old equipment obsolete or that the company developed newer PR materials. You couldn't toss anything unless you did it on the sly. By this date, obsolete stuff had been purged off the shelves leaving only the things we felt we wanted to save or were my items.

This is the southwest corner of the office, with my leaky windows.

The corner sill was great for displaying photos and mementos. There are two certificates of excellence and a cross-stitch above the Hawkeye "license plate". My desk was something of a mess. Even knowing I was moving didn't really improve the piles of stuff. I know the aphorism, "A messy desk is a sign of a creative mind", but I do need to be able to find things without having to move stuff to the floor.

And here's the door to the office.

Some things just aren't going to be a part of the new office. There was a photo on the wall to the right, of the rear of cows and an approaching thunderstorm. I don't remember how long I've had it. It was a Christmas gift from people I haven't talked to in years. Giving that away. Most of the stuff taped to the door is gone. There is one photo, taken at Walt Disney World, which has been framed and is in my new office. And there is the Fantasia poster. I got the materials to actually frame it and that's this weekend's project. Next week, it should, along with my certificates, the cross stitch and the license plate, be up on the walls in the new office.

For 10 years, I've called this room my office. For 10 years, I've walked in here every day, walked around the corner of the desk and sat down to work. I started packing up the last of the things I really didn't need, taking down all my wall items. I wasn't sad. It felt like it was time to move on.

We did not have internet at the new office. I would need to be in this space until that was hooked up. So, once I had removed everything from the desk, my computer was moved to a card table.

This is my grandmother's card table. It comes with 4 chairs which are horribly hard to unfold and fold up so they stay in my basement until I'm really desperate for seating. It worked fine for the few days I needed to still be in this space. The only issue we had was cords.

This mess was difficult to sort. This is why I love my Mac. One power cord. One cord to the keyboard and one cord to the mouse. I have a cord for my external hard drive and a cord to download my digital camera. And there is one USB slot left to plug in my cell phone if I want to charge it or download photos off it. There is still a mess of cords in my new office. Thank goodness for zip ties.

Once the movers were done loading things up, my office looked like this.

I loaded up the Jeep and headed north to the new space. One load fit nicely in this corner.

Yes. My Fantasia poster is going to look fabulous on this wall. Next step is painting the frame.

One thing I won't miss.

Doesn't look like much on the sill but those are ants. We've had a horrible ant problem for years. I think they have found their way into the walls and, when they do that, can be extremely hard to eradicate. I know from experience, but seem to have the home ant problems under control, thanks to Terro.

I had water seep in one year after some particularly heavy rain storms. The carpet was soggy under the window. The building owner had to do some excavation by my office and caulk the windows. The water warped the cheap laminate on the sill so it bowed up. Ants would get under this in the spring. All I'd have to do is rattle the top and they'd come streaming out the junction between the window and the wall. Call the building owner and they'd come over and...spray. That's it. The ants would move from my office to Tara's, which was next to me. We finally decided we'd just put out Terro ourselves because the building seemed to not care. And the cleaning company would not dust the window sill, so if ants came out of the sill and died, well, they stayed there. Needless to say, I will not miss this battle at all.

Beverage:  Irish Breakfast Tea

Deb