MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!!!! how’s everyone’s xmas so far? ive just been cleaning my room etc… already had the big family dinner last night… realised how messy my room has become due to xmas… been shopping and just placing everything onto my desk… gosh…

Xmas Mess

Remember my jade plant, Sprinkles?

Now there’s a new addition to my little succulent family:: (this one doesn’t have a name, and yes, it’s planted in a tumbler [an Orla Kiely tumbler])

More things you can find around my office:

Jar of old buttons (next to a turntable):

Polaroid Land Camera (I saw someone using one of these a few months ago- it made me happy- and also made me wonder if this one actually works):

Colorful hanging stars:

Christmas Tree thing:

Another polaroid camera:

DIY Christmas banner:

Writing/Drawing utensil assortment:

Not in my office– but I did make these snowflakes:

Ahh… I love the pretty little things that make the work week just a little bit sweeter.

This week’s SPF is more photos of the Mini Zombuki Dal in progress! She’s going to be a miniature version of the Cherry Blossom Dal and, as you can probably see, she’s about 90% done! Right now the major x-factor is eyes, I have some glass eyes on the way and we’ll have to see if those work, if so great and if not, time to brainstorm a new plan! I still need to do something interesting with the body, a couple more coats on the white parts of the face, add the eyelashes, and seal it, but she’s really coming along!

For those wondering I will be putting her up for sale, needless to say she will be significantly less expensive than the standard Zombuki price :3 Stay tuned!

PS: If you click on the images they will open larger on my Flickr :3

I have been very careful to keep Work out of the blog spotlight, lest I find myself among those numbers they quote when the talking heads discuss “new unemployment claims” and “jobs cut” each month.  I shall still attempt to be anonymous and generic and cull that self-preservation instinct which has been gradually developing since the days of my early 20s when I would often go for 4 mile walks by myself at twilight in the shoulders of not-quite-highways.  Mr. Apron has helped me see danger everywhere.  I even asked for a Club for my car when I had my first practicum in a North Philadelphia public school.  And used it, too.

But after last Friday’s events, I’ve been stewing and I have decided to spill, as I am able.  It all began back in August.  Cue the harp strings in arpeggiated descent.  We were at last hiring new staff members after being short critical members of our office.  And, as the new person would be in the office 4 days a week, to my 2 days, she would be getting my primo real estate desk.  The official story was that she would benefit from the comradeship of a woman in the same office who shared the same job title and could offer mentorship.  It seemed an open-and-shut case.  Her needs trumped mine, but I would be getting a brand-new desk and shelves (!!!) on which to store my crap.  Then, a week before the “move” I got an e-mail telling me to put my plans into a holding pattern, that something else was coming down the pipeline.  Seems someone else wanted my new desk.  She, having, I guess, seniority, and also being in the office 5 days a week, got my new spot, someone else took hers, and I was crammed into the vacated corner desk.  I went from 4 filing cabinet drawers to 1 plus a drawer for pens and post-its.  Menial stuff, right?  I could manage.  Right?  I settled in, telling myself all the above statements calmly, rationally, and tried to work. 

Two weeks later, I was informed I would be moved again, this time to accommodate a 5 day a week-er, another new addition to the staff.  The more, the merrier!  Finally we were full enough to serve the children, yet a little short on space.  Needless to say, she was given my desk, such as it was. 

The great part is, the situation was presented to me as a “What ought we to do?” conundrum, not as a done deal.  As if I had some say in the matter, that my creative brainstorming might lend me a greater outcome than some company mandate.  I tried to be rational again; I tried to think over the options.  In truth, I am only in that office 2 afternoons a week, for a total of 5 hours.  For 5 hours, I can be nomadic if need be.  Right?  For 5 hours I can do my paperwork on the conference/lunch table, and store my files in some filing cabinet shoved in a corner.  I’m only there 2 afternoons.  I don’t have any seniority, or any say in the matter anyway.  But it all looked like my choice when I suggested I hang my shingle on the small piece of counter in the back office.  Besides, the other “option” offered to me was to work on the extra rickety computer terminal “desk” that had been relegated to a corner of the conference room.  So I prepared to move yet again, to a space I affectionately refer to as “my slab”. 

 Again, it would seem as though I were handling it like a champ, telling everyone how okay I was with it all, being so flexible and accommodating and understanding of all these logical events.  Except that I was going through some intense personal/health issues back in September, and overreacted in line with crazy woman hormonal insanity. When I heard this (or, as it would seem, when I “decided” this), I immediately broke down into tears.   Because that’s a normal reaction for being told to move your desk.   

I miss the nice community I had in my space last year.  I miss those people I used to sit and kibbitz with.  I miss how we each talked to ourselves simultaneously.  And I miss that mentorship I had with the other speech therapist in that office, because learning from someone more experienced really is important.  I had prepared to develop something similar in my new office, except that two weeks later I was on the road again. 

It’s hard enough to be an itinerant speech therapist while seeing children.  It’s harder still to feel itinerant in the office.  I’ve been stationed at my slab now for 3 months and I still can’t work back there, in the darkest corner of the smallest, darkest space.  I bring my paperwork out to the conference room.  I almost physically can’t pull my chair out enough to sit at my slab without bumping into another coworker.  And it makes me sad.  I want to feel comfortable there, comfortable to bring in a picture of my husband and dog, comfortable to bring in my own tacky mug to hold pens, but there’s no physical space for those creature comforts.  

Last Friday, another “It’s your choice” moment was presented to me.  As if the office weren’t fairly bursting with new faces and improvised workspaces, yet another coworker has been added to our ranks.  Another speech therapist who will be there 2 afternoons a week, just like me.  And.  She.  Will.  Be.  Sharing. My.  Slab. 

Because we won’t be there on the same afternoons, wouldn’t it just make so much sense for me to share it?  My response to the “offer”: If she really wants to.  If she really wants to start a new job fresh out of school being relegated to sharing a small area of countertop and being given one measly file drawer (yup – lost the one for pens and post-its) with me, I would be more than happy to do so. 

I’m very happy to see so many faces in the office.  The overall workplace feeling is very supportive and productive during those couple of hours we’re all at “homebase”.  The kids we try to serve will finally be getting all the services they need, and we’ll be providing good therapy by knowledgeable clinicians.  I’m just feeling a little slighted, and a little tired of taking one for the team. 

Though I know it’s going to look great on my yearly performance review.  

Here are a couple of the pieces I have made or refinished for various reasons, more or less its all about the fix- sawdust and aftermath satisfaction.

  Shop bench: found the drawers and made something to hold them. Everything in this was recycled, reclaimed or recovered (except the 2×6 top-what do ya do?).

  Bed:  a queen size for the new king and queen of the canyon Z/Z. In other words, a wedding gift. Long live the King!

 Old pie cabinet: probably a turn of the century, I was told the panels are zinc, but I am a wood guy. I know the cabinet is poplar, an old timer told me it was garbage wood. Still holds stain, whose complaining?

 Turned out alright, it ended up taking a better part of my middle aged years. If I was getting paid hourly on this restore I could retire right now.

   Desk:  special order for an infant from a grandma. Made to specs- oh, about this tall. Yeah, about yey wide, with a drawer and a bench, and how about pink, she likes pink. Who doesn”t?

  Entertainment center: made strictly of reclaimed wood, most of which happened to be the white picket fence that surrounded our yard. Not only did the fence look terrible, but as I was sticking up for it, I leaned upon it and it fell over.  It looks better without paint.

  Oak dresser: this was on its way to the dump when I snagged it, not sure how old it is.

  Had to make a new  dovetailed drawer, refastened the structure and gave it new knobs, stain and varnish. 

 Gave this one to some friends that had been searching for a dresser. Couple days before they picked it up the wife dropped a ladder on it, character. Hey, it was free(minus time spent).

Submitted through the FAIL Uploader

Dog Fail

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All Natural Whole Grain Granola Banana Bite

For breakfast:

All Natural Whole Grain Granola Banana Bites made right at my desk. Simple to create: Pour a small amount of Bear Naked Fit in Vanilla almond crunch in a small bowl. Peel the banana. Take a fork and slice the banana into bite size pieces. Piece by piece, take each slice of banana and roll it in the whole grain granola.

Piece by piece, take each slice of banana and roll it in the whole grain granola.

Items used in this meal:
Food:
One Banana
Whole Grain Granola (Bear Naked Fit in Vanilla Almond Crunch)

Utensils:
Fork
Small Plastic Bowl

Only two ingredients needed

My Desk Bound Breakfast

A Cat and a mouse

Someone gave me this mouse pad.  The kitty and the mouse seem to be getting along just fine…

Our Surprise for Dad:

From V.Hive

My sis and I are sharing a pretty long desk..

There’s hers..

From Ikea

Then, mine..

From Ikea

Kelvin has a black desk to suit his black sound system, black monitor and black cpu! Its too black, so giving the pic a miss for now!

Our youngest brother, Clarence took over Kelvin’s previous computer desk. Bigger table for himself!

Everyone except Mother Chew has a new thing in the house.. and how can she not have something for herself! This cute mama of mine is currently looking at dining table!

With new furnitures coming in, there’s no better time than now to DECLUTTER!

But, my stomach is growling now. I’m hungry.

With New Year’s resolutions looming, I’m continuing my quest to simplify my life and unclutter my home. To this end I’ve been reading “Unclutter Your Life in One Week” by Erin Doland (author of the Unclutter blog).

Erin suggests tackling your firsts first. By firsts she means the areas you encounter first - your closet/wardrobe, your desk at work, and the entry to your home. Uncluttering these spaces will make your firsts more pleasant and will motivate you to do more.

Your desk is the first thing you see when you walk into your office. This was my desk today:  

Not an ideal way to start my day.

Ah, much better.

I removed everything from my desk, cleaned it and then went through the miscellaneous stuff that was taking up residence on my desk. Such as:

• Electric toothbrush that needs a new head
• First grade art project (my daughter is in 3rd grade now)
• A backup mouse
• A battery and some polished rocks

I find that things accumulate on my desk day-by-day, until I have a jumbled mess and then I clean it up.

Erin’s advice for your desk:

“The only things that should be on your desk are those things that you use regularly – as in more than once per day.” Everything else should have a place somewhere else, preferably in a drawer out of sight.

Now that I’ve cleared off my desk, let’s see if I can go a week without adding anything.

Can I create a habit of keeping my desk clean?

What’s on your good habits list? - I enjoyed this post at Serene Journey. Instead of New Year’s resolutions, think about what habits you’d like to form. If you fill your life with good habits, you’ll leave no room for the bad ones.

Here’s DumDum’s progress shoot number deux! I’ve painted outlines of the remaining card suits in a mix of the other blues and filled in the white outlines from last session. Her lips have received some more refinement as well. Since I want her and DeeDee to evolve as a pair I’m going to pause DumDum at this point and start on her sister. I’m also totally overwhelmed by eye chip shopping since they’re like candies to me, lol! Clicking on them will open them larger on my Flickr ;3

I am always envious of people who’s desks are neat and tidy and eveything in place. My desk is usually a mess. The above picture is part of my work desk. I’ve got just about everything stuffed into this box in a sad attempt to make my desk somewhat less of a disaster. The box is an old tangerine box with coffee cups (I used to get my cup double cupped and always kept the double for other uses). I do like that you can tell that I am a creative person just by looking at my desk. I have everything from stamps to pencil crayons, glue sticks to white out (which has doubled as white paint on more than one occasion). 

I am going home this weekend to visit with my Mom and help her with some Christmas baking and cooking. We are going to make shortbreads, egg rolls and doughnuts! It should be a good time!

Happy weekend!

Recently moved my TV onto my desk. I had the bright idea of using it as a monitor, and maybe watching TV in the living room when I want to. Well, surprise! I can do both. I discovered that with the wonders of HDMI, I can have the HDMI feed be for my laptop and the still watch TV on the air feed. This was good news. I am now 50% happier* when using my laptop (*values may or may not be made up).

Also solves the problem of my DVD player. No more need for it, laptop plays whatever I want it to, and I can use the TV for that. Sweet. I feel the need to watch Fight Club tonight, now. Overrated or not, that movie is pretty awesome. Ed Norton beating himself up is worth watching it alone.

As for music?

New. Speakers.

SO. MUCH. BASS. But not too much. Just enough. That sweet spot where everything sounds better. And hey, they were on sale. $200 down to $125. Flawless victory if you ask me. The sub is a bit big, but still completely worth it. There is a monster living under my desk, and it thumps beautifully. I’ve been re-listening to my entire music collection, and it is a huge change. I could get used to this.

Later, internet.

This is my first contribution to dailyshoot.  (http://twitter.com/dailyshoot)  Today’s assignment is Workspace.

Working the Info Desk at the Bookstore: Book Requests

Graph by: tziva via Graph Jam Builder

Item #122880, L-Shaped Walnut Desk (2 Views)

The beautiful desk pictured above is currently available on Direct Donations (Item #122880). Below is the donor’s description:

Custom made, L-shaped walnut desk with four drawers and two side cabinets with shelves. It is 59″ along the back and 59″ long on the extended right-angle section, which has a glass top. Both sections are separated for easy transport and are easily re-assembled.

There is also an 11 volume set of books on home repairs entitled A Customer’s Guide to Easy Home Repairs by Bob Anderson (Item #122899). Topics include Repair & Maintenace, Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Lighting & Wiring, Masonry & Tilework, etc. Perfect for organizations looking to save some money by doing their own repairs, or as a teaching device.

An Example of One of Bob Anderson's Guides

Request these items through Direct Donations. If you are unfamiliar with Direct Donations, click here for an overview and directions.

I got my first Mini Dal in the mail from VOTD and I love them! Love! I started work on the first Mini Zombuki day before yesterday and I’m so excited, she’s going to be a tiny version of the Cherry Blossom Dal I made a few months ago.

First you can see her next to DumDum for scale :3 (more photos of her will be up tomorrow) and on the other side is the progress on Ms. Mini so far. I think I’ll keep her original Pisces wig since it’s such a close match but I’m on the fence about the eyes, I think I might order some other Minis and switch them out and/or look into tiny BJD eyes. It’s research time!

PS: Photos open larger on Flickr when clicked!

As promised yesterday, here’s a look at the new setup to my room.

This is the main wall which overhangs my couch.  The left is my Lawson commission of Leonardo, Middle is a Dan McCarthy Serigraph (screenprint), and the far right is my Michael Dooney Leonardo Commission.

Here’s a close up on the Dooney Commission.  This sucker is so neat!  Although, I did notice, and commented about it on Dooney’s blog, that Leo’s missing his across-the-shoulder strap.  So, his sheaths (sheaves?) are being held up by magic… possibly because Splinter taught him more mystical arts stuff than we ever could have known!

Sure, this picture’s kinda bare, but I wanted the little picture painting by Turddemon to accentuate some color on the side while not taking away from the three art pieces on the main wall.

I put this near my closet doors so that when I set at my desk it’s like the eyes of the heart are looking into the back of my head.  When I first got this off of eBay, I wasn’t much of a fan of his work, and just was happy that it only cost me a little less than $10 including shipping.  Now, after seeing this in person, it’s artistry is top notch and I would really like another one at some point.

Here’s a look at my desk.  I have my screen at an angle because it’s big and I really need a flat screen monitor, but working at an angle actually is a lot nicer than I expected it to be.  I keep all of my movies in easy reach.

Sabretooth’s been having a field day with my desk because it’s not completely organized so she likes to bat stuff off of it while I’m trying to sleep.

I had to have my “Your Ship Sank” Serigraph above my desk because it brings me such great, unexpected joy whenever I look at it.

Here’s another look at the main three.

For updates, I’m hoping to come up with a Christmas shopping recomendations list this week.

I would also like to update “1000 Things We Hate” as well as the other tabs, but that may come during winter break.

I’m staying in Tacoma for all of break, and will probably be bored out of my mind.  But, at the moment, I have to focus on finals.