Beleve It or Not

Believe it or not, folks, I am writing from the comfort of . . . my BED, laptop with WIRELESS MODEM (I know - gasp!) actually w-o-r-k-i-n-g!  Granted this is the dinosaur HP laptop that is so slow that it, quite literally, has taken me about 10 minutes to get to this point and have this much text register on the screen . . . but, at least, it's WORKING!  (I uploaded the photos earlier today from my office, in case you were wondering.)  And, in sharp contrast to last night when I was lying here, not so comfortably, sweat building up in various unpleasant places, tonight I feel a LOVELY cool breeze blowing in the window directly behind me.

I expect that the dogs will be a little whacky tonight - they already are, Maisy barking at blowing leaves, and Tucker looking up at me, just before I came upstairs, with a "What?!" expression . . . pretending I DIDN'T see the mouse tail hanging out the side of his snout. (Apparently Annie Blue had just brought her best buddy a "toy" from outside.)  Well, the full Sturgeon Moon will do that to critters, I guess.  Even Bonzee (how should I spell that?!) was farther down the driveway than I expected to see her tonight when I drove in.

Even though my office is still a mess and the gallery room not yet ready for its unveiling, it's been feeling so good to go in, sit down at my desk, and actually attack the jobs that have been waiting in the wings for so long.  I'm waiting to hear back from the longest-waiting customer to make sure she still wants me to relocate and redesign her website (she and her husband raise Fjord horses).  She's been EXTREMELY understanding through these past months, and so I did begin the work today, expecting that she'll want me to continue . . . but it will be good to have the confirmation from her, obviously.  And, I will feel so much better, finally getting the first of these "constantly in the back of my mind" projects started, finished, and then filed away!

It sure is a good feeling, too, to be almost excited to leave the house in the morning because I know that I'm going to work at a place that is nothing but positive (or, if it's not, it's only MY fault)!  Yeah, there's that HUGE part of me that is fairly terrified that I will fail, but there's not much point worrying about that until I've given it enough of a go, time-wise.  So, the sooner I put those negative thoughts behind me and move ahead with what's at hand, the more success I'll have, all the way around.

No segue, but . . . I thought I'd give you a glimpse of my drive each morning.  As you'll see, it's hell.  Ugly as all get out, too.  And, the traffic is insane.  (Before I forget, I saw 3 foxes and 1 nice looking yearling bear on the way home tonight!)

So, my drive in to town takes me down a quiet gravel road to a larger gravel road to the highway.  Here goes.

The quiet gravel road:

The larger, busier gravel road:

The bottom 3 miles of the larger, busier road are blacktop:

And, finally, the highway & the big lake.  Tough, isn't it?

Oh!  And, last but not least, my constant driving companions

(one slightly less interested than the other):

And, with that, I'm going to treat myself to a few pages of the most recent Keepsake NeedleArts catalog.  G'night!

So Much Time!

I know no one's going to believe the title of this post, but, honestly, I didn't quite know what to do with myself tonight!  Now that a few things are shifting around at work . . . and I have the information finished in order to print commission checks for June . . . I didn't have to work until the wee hours tonight!  Matter of fact, I left at (gasp!) 8:30!  8:30?!!  It was still light out!  

Dad met me in town and helped me unload some larger things that I'd brought from home in the truck for my new office space (from which I'm currently writing, thank you very much).  Then, he & I rendezvoused at Mom & Dad's house.  I grabbed a beer from their refrig, a pair of gloves from Dad and headed back outside to load the truck up with a heap of scrap lumber that I'd been "storing" in their back yard for the last several weeks.  After doing his final chores of the day, Dad came out to help me finish the loading . . . and none too soon since the skeeters came out juuuust as we were finishing.  After a short visit with them back inside, it was back into town for me to deal with the things we'd unloaded here at my office.

"My office."  Ohhh, that has a nice ring to it!  Even tho I probably haven't even spent 10 hours here yet, every time I AM here, I feel better and better about the space.  I think it will be a GOOD fit.  I never seem to have a computer, my camera, and the camera's USB cable in the same spot at the same time anymore, but pictures ARE soon to come.  I promise.

You might notice that I sound a lot happier, my load quite a bit lighter as I write tonight.  The reasons are two-fold.  One, the dear friend (deer friend?) who I'd gone 'round with about my recent (complaining) posts and I talked again yesterday.  I had some things that I had to get off my chest and we both tried to explain our positions a little more.  Eventually, the dead horse was beaten to a bloody pulp, but I did feel better.  And, while I'm not sure she felt "better", I know she's glad that *I* felt better!

Secondly, I'm precipitating (oooooh, good word!) some changes at work.  The boss lady and I went to lunch today and had a good, albeit still a bit ambiguous, talk about it.  I'll write about that elsewhere so that I can protect the innocent, and all that rot.  But, in short, I finally told her that I just can't do it (or, more to the point, TRY to do it) all anymore.  Manage the new space / business, that is.  I see it as divided into two main jobs:  the schmoozing, the meeting with vendors, the dealing with employees, blah, blah, blah and (the other half) all the deskwork, paperwork, forms, finances, etc.  And, because we "manage" in two such very different styles (neither better nor worse than the other), I choose Door #2.  So, we're going to make some changes and see how it plays out.  Stay tuned.  I'll fill you in as I can.

Okay, I still have to drive home, so I'm off.  Sorry for the lack of pictures lately, but we're gettin' there . . . !  Thanks for listening . . . and putting up with me while I got my mojo back.  ;) 

Much to Celebrate!

Good morning!  I have much to celebrate, but no time to spend doing it . . . at least, not until the holiday weekend is over!  Still, here's the good news:  I paid my first month's rent & picked the keys up yesterday to my NEW OFFICE & GALLERY IN TOWN!!!!  Whoo-hoooooo!  Can you believe it?!  

The landlord says that the space is 300 square feet, but I think it's way more than that - it will be interesting to actually measure it.  The anteroom is the larger of the two, and I will use that as the gallery.  There are no windows in it, but that's okay because I was actually worried about sunshine bleaching out any of my prints and canvases that I display there.  The inner, smaller room has a nice, albeit small (but large enough to open & put a plant in) southeast-facing window.  And, the neighborhood, just a block up from the main drag and yet still zoned Commercial (it was grandfathered in) is a nice one for walking the dogs.  Unfortunately, Maisy & Tucker can't come inside with me . . . but considering all the other positive characteristics this particular space offered, I couldn't say no just because of that.

I'm hoping to get out of work early enough tonight to go spend some 1-1 time in there, just sitting and soaking it in.  If I do, I'll surely take pictures . . . even tho there's not much to see right now.

But, finally, my own PROFESSIONAL business space!!!!