Saturday, October 1, 2011

New Stash & A New Start!

Life has been complicated and stress-inducing as of late at my household.  I am redoing my home office and it has caused me much headache because I have to have everything just so.  I mean, I spend 10 to 12 hours, five days a week in there.  New desk, new keyboard, new mouse, new office chair, AND new stitching/reading chair!

Since my office is a spare bedroom in our home, and not very large, I have purged and organized like there is no tomorrow.  I do have a large closet in this room, so that has been immensely helpful.

The new chair was probably the easiest of everything, although today I am removing the arms from it.  I have had the chair in use all week and am finding that every time I use the arrows on my keyboard or use my mouse, my arms hit the sides of the chair.  Highly bothersome.  It's like I am boxed in by the arms.  So off they come off this morning when BF gets up and hopefully that will solve that problem.


Finding the right desk was difficult.  When I tell you I looked at every desk online at Office Depot, Staples, OfficeMax, Walmart, and Target, I am not exaggerating.  That is basically what I spent last weekend doing.  I told BF, I have to see these in person before buying one, as it was going to be a substantial purchase.

So, off to Office Depot, where I am armed with tape measure and paper and pen.  The salespeople took one look at me and walked the other way.  LOL.  I was in that section for a LONG time.  And I found one!  Nice and heavy and sturdy, black, bigger than the one in my office now and even has a file cabinet drawer on it, so I can get rid of my plastic file box that had been sitting on my office floor for two years now.  And the drawer in the middle opens up to become a keyboard/mouse tray!


The whole spark for the office renovation was us shopping for new den furniture.  We found a sofa and loveseat that all recline and will be perfect for our basement, where we watch television in the evenings and spend quite a bit of time down there.  The set also comes with a recliner.  I sat in it and I was a goner.  But to have said chair in my office I would need to get a new desk, as it would not fit in the room with my current desk, an L-shaped metal/glass combo that I have had for about 7 years.  And I have needed a new office chair for forever.  My old one was just purely awful.

Now, let me preface this by saying my current stitching chair in my office is a chair that belonged to BF's mother before she passed away in 2009, and that also belonged to her mother.  This chair is over 100 years old, people.  Creaky, not very comfortable, but served its purpose for me having a chair in my office to stitch on my Stitchmate or read in peace if I wanted to. 

So, in about a week this will be my new stitching/reading chair, and my old chair will reside in our bedroom by a window.  This chair reclines, folks, and is plushy, and has a corduroy look to it, but is completely soft and wonderful.


Now, what has caused me great pains and sleepless nights is finding the perfect keyboard.  I work on a laptop, and have found that over time reaching for the keyboard to type has caused me upper back pain.  So, I decided to get an external keyboard and mouse.

Well, for my work I type, A LOT, so finding a keyboard that I can easily type without fatigue is a must.  I swear that over the past two weeks I have bought and tried and returned more keyboards than I probably will own for the rest of my life.  Last night I was just done with it all.  Frustrated.  I am trying one more keyboard and then going back to typing on my laptop keyboard.

I finally did some research on the best keyboard for typists and discovered the IBM Model M.  Now, this keyboard has not been made for some time, but Unicomp bought the technology and they are manufacturing them again.  I remember typing on this kind of keyboard in my early 20's when I worked as a receptionist at a law firm.  Your fingers fly over the keys.  I ordered one last night.  My Hail Mary.  My last shot.

The key to this keyboard's greatness is buckling spring technology, where each key has its own mechanism.  Keyboards made now are made cheaper and are akin to pushing a marshmallow, as I heard someone describe it.


Now on to the stitchy news!  Down Sunshine Lane was having a grab bag sale where you spent $36 and received a grab bag of items worth $100.  Resistance was futile.  Here were my favorite items I received in the grab bag, which arrived in the mail yesterday.


I also purchased Little House Needleworks Little Miss Sunflower.  Just love this one.


And my new start, purchased fresh from The Stitching Post yesterday morning, Shepherd's Bush The Journey.


I have also been wanting a new tote to store and/or transport my smaller stitching projects.  I decided to visit the local Goodwill and see if I could find anything.  And I came upon this beauty, for $4!!!  Tan corduroy, Aeropostale brand, and I love it.  There were a few spots that I cleaned up on it, but it looks practically brand new.  I love thrift stores!


My final piece of news is that yesterday I received my Witchy Kitty ornament back from Deb at Artistic Needle.  She did a tremendously fantastic job!!!!   I especially love the backing fabric.  So appropriate!!!!



Have a good weekend, everyone!

10 comments:

Parsley said...

Grab bags are fun! Love the stash.

Denise said...

Where to start? Love your new desk - sleek/modern but still comfy and warm. No desk should be without a filing drawer. Your new chair - looks huge! And I can see why you would melt into it - you may never get out of it!! Good luck with the keyboard.

Now the stitchy stuff - Witchy Kitty is awesome! The backing fabric is PERFECT! That grab bag -- hehe lucky you!! Have fun with the new stash!

Kaisievic said...

Great post - full of lots of interesting news. Your new desk looks amazing and your new stitching chair looks so comfy. Love all your stash items and your ornie finish is wonderful, too.

Hugs Kaye xoxox

Lesleyanne said...

Lovely grab bag items. Witchy Kitty is stunning. The backing fabric is perfect. Love the new desk and chair. Hope the keyboard is okay.

Daffycat said...

Ooo, love that desk! Redoing the office is expensive so you are justified taking the time to find exactly what you want.

You Halloween ornament turned out darling. The backing fabric is perfect and I love the loopy trim around the edges.

CalamityJr said...

Love your "new" office - maybe I'll be inspired to actually make mine more user friendly! And such great patterns in your freebies; enjoy!

Pumpkin said...

LOVE your kitty finish! SO, SO cute! I finally got my threads to stitch him. Your backing fabric is perfect :o)

Nancy said...

Love your new desk! Hope that keyboard works out for you...I remember working on one of those myself years ago...they were very comfortable to type on for hours! Witchy Kitty is finished beautifully! Wow, you got so much in your grab bag, might have to try one next time around! Almost forgot, your new chair looks so comfy!

Deborah said...

The office is going to be beautiful and the new stitching chair looks like heaven. Love the kitty ornie.

Denise said...

Witchy kitty is so adorable!