Where the Magic Happens
I’m sure you’ve picked up on the fact that I work from home and have for most of my adult life. We live in a small two bedroom house, with one bedroom is set up as our office. Unfortunately there’s only one window in this bedroom and it looks at our garage, as a result our office is not very bright. I’m a big window, sun streaming in, bright room kind of person, so being stuffed back in my corner office can get a bit depressing, especially on these dark winter afternoons!
This is what my desk space in my home office looks like; you’ll notice how dark it is (it was 2 in the afternoon when I took this photo)! I admit, the dark green paint was a really bad choice, especially since we spend so much time in here. The thought of taking all the cabinets down off the wall to repaint is too much, so it stays.
When I started working for Ethel, I bought myself a little laptop. I knew it would be the easiest way to keep my on-line identities/lives separate. So now I am able to spend some of my work hours in the sunny living room. This is where I spend my time when I’m writing, blogging and social media management. I should say this is my Ethel Gloves office.
By some of the comments I hear from those around me, I think there are people that think my days are leisurely and filled with reading, cooking, gardening, blogging, and photography. In reality, the majority of my time is spend at my computer doing accounting, managing a few different businesses, writing, invoicing, taxes, editing photos, and all the fun stuff that comes along with being self-employed. I don’t blog about that because really, who wants to read about all of that! I really do enjoy what I do, it is work after all and there’s a reason I get paid to do it.
My desk isn’t as dreary as it could be, I have a Chiot’s Run calendar hanging beside my desk, along with a little magnetic board that’s filled with quotes and other things I love (a quote by Thomas Jefferson taking center stage). Beside my keyboard is my to-do list, which is divided into quadrants, one for each job. One of my friends gave me this idea, I print it out each week and populate it with what I need to get done. When you are juggling as many jobs and hobbies as I am you need something like this to keep it all organized so you don’t forget anything! (you can download it here if you’re interested)
If I could have the “perfect” work space, it would have a lot of windows, south facing preferably (with blinds for the summer months). It would be filled with lots of plants, have a big comfy chair in the corner and a few big photos of my garden on the walls. Alas, that is not my office, until I have that (if ever), I’m stuck in the corner in the darkest room of the house knocking out my work from day to day – just as many of you are. I think that is one of the things that drives me outside into the garden every chance I get?
If you could start any business at all what would it be?
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An Inspirational Tale
Mr Chiots and I have been spending a little time each evening watching through the Lord of The Rings Trilogy. I bought him the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions on blu-ray for Christmas (well worth purchasing if you’re a fan). He’s a HUGE fan, having read the books a few times and all the related books as well. I like the movies, but haven’t been able to sit through the books for some reason.
I find myself paying close attention to words and quotes as I watch movies. As I do when I read, I’m always writing down quotes and this movie has some great passages. A few times Mr Chiots had to stop it, rewind and let me listen to the quotes a couple times to make sure I got them down just right. Here’s one of my favorites sections, inspirations words to remember:
Frodo: I can’t do this Sam.
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding on to Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.
I like to pair quotes with images too (hence the quote calendar), I thought this image from yesterday’s post was perfect for the last part of this quote:
This is a winter tradition for us, after we’re done with the 007 Days of Christmas, we move on to the Lord of the Rings. One of the things we really appreciate about winter is the little extra down time we have. We sometimes use this to sit down in the evenings to watch something entertaining. Now that this series is done, there’s nothing on our list. We don’t have cable, and we live in a rural area so our antennae doesn’t work so well. We prefer waiting till shows are over and on DVD to watch them so we can get through them quicker.
Do you have any great recommendations for us of interesting documentaries, movies, TV series that we should add to our list?
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Better Late Than Never
The day before yesterday, we had my family Christmas dinner & celebration. It’s a bit late because my mom’s being treated for breast cancer. As a result our holiday celebrations have been been worked around doctor’s visits and other appointments. After being postponed once, we were finally able to get together to celebrate on Monday. We’ve never been big on going all out, generally a simple affair is what we like. We gather for a meal, a few small gifts and then coffee and conversation.
Since I’m usually in charge of most of the cooking, it’s a deliciously local affair. This year the main star of the meal was a nitrate free ham cured by Whitefeather Meats from a hog raised by some friends of ours. There were au gratin potatoes and brussels sprouts that were 100% local. The rolls weren’t all local, the flour came from King Arthur, but the rest of the ingredients were local. (here’s my recipe for dinner rolls if you’re needing a good one)
My sister also brought mashed potatoes, homegrown green beans and corn, but I somehow didn’t get a photo of those or the HUGE plate of cookies and treat she made with the nieces & nephew. Probably because as soon as the ham came out the oven everyone descended on it like vultures. It was quite delicious, both of my parents said it reminded them of the ham they enjoyed for the holidays when they were kids.
Then we gather round while my dad reads the Christmas Story from the Bible. Then we go around and open gifts one at a time starting at the youngest and working our way up to the oldest. After the gifts were exchanged, we made some homemade ice cream to eat over the pie I made. It was a simple celebration just like all the years gone by and it was nice finally be able to celebrate this milestone even if it was a little later than usual. Since we were so late in celebrating our Christmas, we also postponed our New Year’s meal (Mr Chiots and I had the traditional meal by ourselves here at home). We’re planning our New Year’s meal of sauerkraut & pork in a few weeks, better late than never I guess. After all holidays aren’t about the specific day of the week/month/year, they’re about spending time with those you love!
Does your holiday meal consist of the same dishes each year or do they change? Do you have specific dishes made by specific people?
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Behind the Scenes
If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know that Mr Chiots and I own a business and are self-employed (our business is 2nd Mile Productions). Mr Chiots does websites (new Chiot’s Run blog in the works) and we do video production as well. We love being self-employed, but sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge as well. Last week we spent the better part of two days filming and editing a couple videos for Ethel Gloves. I had to laugh when I came out of the office and headed down the hallway to the kitchen; our kitchen had been turned into a set.
It’s not just for our video jobs that this happens either, since almost every thing in our lives is photographed for this blog, you’ll find me taking photos of our food right before we eat, the garden while I’m working, and my life in general as things happen. I sometimes wonder if my family gets sick of seeing my camera more than they see my face! My life is definitely not “normal”, but then again, who’s life is?
What would you like to see us make a video about?
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Before I Gardened…
Mr Chiots and I were talking the other day and I said “what did I do with all my time before I gardened?”
Before I gardened I ran, lots of and lots of miles and I spent time lifting weights. I trained and ran races and I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise. Then I started having to decide whether I should spend an hour weeding the garden or spend that hour logging some mileage. More often than not, the garden came first and soon enough I had to retire my running shoes for my wellies. I don’t really miss it though, I feel like I’m actually in better shape from gardening that I ever was from running. Gardening provides such a wide variety of activities to work all your muscles including your heart. I could still run in the winter when my garden in sleeping, but I now choose to do yoga instead because it keeps me in better condition for gardening chores than running does.
Had cable TV and enjoyed watching shows. Then little by little I spent more hours in the garden and had to spend my evening getting my work done (I work from home). Of course I should attribute this one to this blog too, as blogging takes up much of my extra “free” time nowadays. I don’t mind though, I cancelled my cable and save myself a good chunk of change each month.
Before I gardened I sewed and did other fun crafty stuff. Then my winter slowly became engulfed in ordering seeds, reading gardening books, and tending to tiny seedlings in the basement (my seed starting begins in January with celery, leeks and onions). This year at least I’ve been able to do a little more craftiness because of my job at Ethel.
Before I gardened I kept my floors clean enough to eat off of. I started choosing to spend my time cleaning out the flower beds instead of cleaning the floors. Instead of sweeping and mopping twice a week, the floors only get it once a week or sometimes every other week! With a big dog and three cats running around it can get a little “furry” in between those cleaning times.
Before I gardened I kept my home much neater and more organized. I used to hate clutter, it drove me crazy. Then my seed collection started to grow, I had flats of seedlings that wanted to be warm upstairs instead of cold in the basement, and the stack of gardening books on the table started to grow. I acquired miniature indoor citrus, ginger, figs and too many potted herbs. I started blogging about my garden and spending my spare moments snapping photos of everything. Now my house is much more “lived in” that it used to be, but I’m learning to be OK with it. I now am happy that I have some clutter and hope it makes people feel more relaxed when they come visit.
The truth is that I could still have time for all these things if I hadn’t chosen new hobbies. If I didn’t blog I could still run, if I didn’t take as many photos I could still sew, if I didn’t garden I could clean my floors several times a week. My priorities have changed and thus my time is spent differently. My job is also more of a priority than it used to be, I’m focusing on turning what I love into a career. I think that many of us mature into adults between the ages of 25-35 and this is the time I happen to have lived here at Chiot’s Run. As a result I have hone in on those things that make me happy and have learned to make time for them.
Have you given up any hobbies for more time in the garden?
