Viva Carlos blog hop: Home office edition

Big thanks to LWilliams for the blog content inspiration!  

I've been having a hard time sitting down to write anything here.  In fact, I'm contemplating not blogging any more.  At minimum, I want to change my url and blog title, but haven't come up with an alternative yet.  Until I decide and/or get some inspiration, I'll try and keep hacking away here.

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This whole WFH thing is pretty new to me - my work didn't really support it in the past. This year, however, has proven that most of us can and will work quite well from home, so that has been nice.  Cutting out my 45 min each way commute has been one of the few things I'm grateful for during this pandemic.

When we first moved here in 2012, I had my desk upstairs in the spare room (found a pic from 2013 on my old blog) but ended up moving it downstairs due to crappy internet.    Note the clutter and the all important orange cat in a box.  :-)  The bookshelf is also downstairs now with my horse show trophies and a few token books.

Kinda messy, but lots of space to spread out. I could always close the door to hide the mess!

I kind of like having my desk on the main floor now and have taken over part of the living room.  I've contemplated moving back upstairs since we have marginally better internet, but being down where I can get to the kitchen easier has its perks now that I'm working from home all the time!  LOL

This is the same desk and filing cabinet from the first pic - I've had both for ages and decided to paint both items blue a few years ago to update things a bit.  The only catch is that the paint was supposed to be navy, but it came out more blueberry than navy!  I keep meaning to repaint both, but haven't got around to it yet.   My chair is ancient and the arms fall off from time to time...lol My work chair is the only thing I miss from the office - I have a nice Hermann Miller aeron chair - and I kind of wish I could have brought it home back in March!

Also pictured is my ancient Mac desktop - it is from 2011 or maybe 2010 and is still holding on. I'm nursing it along as long as possible.  My work laptop has been dumped on the floor for some reason.  

Archie keeping my chair warm...

I usually have a collection of cats around my desk during the day - they come and go on their own schedule, of course.  Sophie also likes to sleep on my chair legs (no idea why!) so I have to be careful moving my chair. 

I got up for lunch or something and came back to this...lol

I thought I'd show you a close up of my "decor" in this area.  The wall is blank - I keep flip flopping on what to put on this big wall.  My desk tends to have a rotating display of little trinkets and stuff that amuses me.  Currently, I have my "I was normal three cats ago" sign that I did at a paint night last year. I've left it there since it is fairly accurate.  ;-)  

Also included is a little trinket from my time in the Yukon. Every time I think of how annoying my job is, I look at that little dude and realize I don't work in a mine, so life isn't so bad.

Knick-knacks and DIY crafts

The latest additions are the two little baby Yoda (or the Child(TM)) watercolour prints I did. I bought a big digital pack of Star Wars and Disney images on Etsy, printed a few and then watercoloured the little dude.  For some reason watercolour "painting" (I'm not an artist, more of a crafter) is quite relaxing and fun, so I do a few little pieces from time to time.

I cleaned out the drawers of my desk so I can put work away every night and keep my desk a bit tidier.  I don't quite have enough room for work stuff and my craft supplies, so I need to work on that a bit at some point.  

We have no indication yet of when we will be allowed to go back to the office, so I expect I'll be using this setup for a few more months at least!

2019 Year in Review

2019 - what to say about this year? I always get my hopes up about a new year and then my plans don't always align with what life throws at me.  2019 was a year of rebuilding and moving forward, after our crappy 2016-2017 and tentative "things might be ok" year in 2018.

In March, we spent 2 weeks in Hawaii and it was fantastic.  It was a big trip for us to celebrate our 20th anniversary (May 2019) and to celebrate the hubby's recovery from cancer in 2016.  Maui has kind of ruined every other beach vacation location - Cuba, the DR, Mexico?  Pffft. I'd rather save up and go to Maui.    We'll see if we ever get back there - the cost and the logistics of a trip like that are hard with the little farm of creatures that I seem to be collecting.

An attempt at an artsy photo.  West Maui

Then, also in March, I sprained my ankle.  Or so I thought. Turns out it was actually fractured.  Which explained why it hurt like hell for months. Ahem. Anyhoo, the lesson here is to trust your gut that something more is wrong and insist on an x-ray.

I spent a lot of time watching the horses from the window.  Fred and Copper had fun playing.

March through June were pretty quiet and low key, as I couldn't do much. I volunteered on the board for small show club and that slowly fell apart as no one would pull their weight. I resigned in September from that club and do not regret it one bit!

In June, I took Fred to a schooling show, but my leg wasn't up for the task. 

September was a bit melancholy - I had been pondering what to do with Spencer - retire him, sell him...?  A solution presented itself with a therapeutic riding center falling in love with him. He went to live there in September and is doing ok, by all reports I've been getting. I miss him a lot, but he is helping people that need it, so that makes it a bit easier.

Farewell,  for now.

In October, I got a new cat! Archie was about 7 months old when we got him and he is fitting in well.  He is super affectionate and playful and maybe a little bitey (!) and I'm so glad I got him.  Does anyone know the # of cats that make you a crazy cat lady? Asking for a friend... 

3+1 = numb legs... lol

Fred also had a rider up and was backed in October.  Things haven't progressed to far in his under saddle training due to life, but I'm hoping to pick up where we left off over the winter.

October was also the month of the new (used) truck and many, many purchases, including paying for a stud fee to breed my friend's mare!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November rolled around and I went to Disneyworld for a week with my Mom and cousin. We had fun, but the place was PACKED with people, so that made things a bit tough. I enjoyed a lot of snacks, bought silly hats and got to see a lot of giraffes, so that sort of made up for it.

December is usually pretty quiet in my world. Mostly because it is dark and cold and we are all just trying to survive the weather and the holidays. 

Snow and cold make for pretty sunrises

 Christmas is almost here, so I'm listening to my odd playlist and wrapping presents. I have to work over the holidays (not Xmas day and Boxing Day tho), but that is ok, since I had 2 big trips this year. 

eclectic Christmas playlist

I also take some time to start planning for the new year, without putting a lot of pressure on myself to drastically change things.  I have to say, I'm kind of excited for what 2020 will bring. My hubby and I are finally starting to feel like we have our lives back and my anxiety is slowly fading away.  I feel more like myself than I have since 2016 and that in itself is a very good thing.

Treat yo'self - mega edition

I've been trying to keep my horse "stuff" shopping to a minimum lately.   I was able to get away with it over the past year as I wasn't riding or showing much and all the horses had what they needed.

Until Fred grew. And grew. And continues to grow. And stuff gets old and needs to be replaced. And then before you know it, I'm on a full out shopping spree. I even ordered a couple of things from the UK - or at least tried to - one site with a lot of cool stuff didn't ship to North America! (the nerve!)

Started filling this out before I realized they don't ship to NA - they actually have Lord and Lady to choose from! LOL

Fred really needed new blankets this winter - his butt was hanging out of his size 81s from last winter. And he didn't have a rain sheet, so he now has a nice new wardrobe of green and matching blankets! I bought an old green/blue plaid stable sheet from a friend for $20, so I saved some cash there.

winter pjs

I also couldn't find what I was looking for here - green blankets for a reasonable price - so I broadened my search to the US.  Shipping to Canada is super expensive for some reason (it's not like I'm that far away) so my friend and I planned a trip over to NY state to pick up our items at a UPS store that holds items for desperate Canadian shoppers.  (yes, this exists!)  I also ordered myself a new pair of winter gloves, a winter coat and a new stretchy hose from Schneiders.  I'm only about 1hr from the border, so this is a fun option, as we make sure to hit up the TSC and a grocery store for my vanilla coke fix.

so cute.  And there is a heavyweight t/o in green too!

Copper didn't go neglected, don't worry. I got him a nice new rain sheet to hopefully keep his thick coat dry so he doesn't get rain rot again.  The thick coat he gets is a good and a bad thing, it seems.

I'll probably  cave and get him the matching purple winter t/o 'cause I'm a sucker!

I also got a few sweet things from going through all of the used tack at the therapeutic riding centre.  Maybe volunteering to help them re-sell old tack wasn't so smart, since I've been buying most of it!!!  I found Fred a 5.5" bit to tide him over until his 6" ones arrive from the UK.  He wasn't doing great with the copper rollers - too much for him to play with - so I'll try the full cheek snaffle.

Ahem - need to clean this tack at some point...

I also snagged a BoT dressage pad, a rambo newmarket fleece, old woof wear tendon boots, eskadron wraps, two wool coolers (I like to have spare coolers in case a horse is sweaty/colicky/cold) and a few other odds and ends.

Not green and a tad small, but for $20, good to have around.

So, after my little mega shopping spree, the boys should be good to get through the winter.  And while I bought a few things I needed, I still have a long-term wish list that seems to keep growing...but I'll try to hold off until the new year to shop!

BoT pads, coolers and not shown: all kinds of other stuff.  Omg my barn needs to be cleaned out big time!

Oh and since I started this post, I have ordered more from the UK (omg this is a dangerous trend) and I got a new cat!!!  Meet Archie - he is 4-8 months old and is from my friend who volunteers for a rescue and had a bunch of kittens.  Yes, I already have 2 cats, but I could not pass this guy up.  He is very sweet and affectionate and fitting in well around here.    Be prepared for lots of cat pictures moving forward, as we are heading into winter, so reading books with cats on my lap is my main goal  ;-)


Edited to add:  And I have two more big purchases to announce later this week.  OMG  Money floweth like water around here!  LOL

The tongue out kills me...lol





Archie and his ear floofs