I don't make resolutions.
I do set goals. And then I try really hard to make them.
But resolutions???
Oh my stars, that's just disappointment waiting to happen.
One GOAL was to have my upstairs office join the three clean bedrooms.
Those of you who visit us in SEEKERVILLE
know that I'm taking this all step by step.
Cleaning.
Organizing.
Writing.
Have I mentioned I LOVE writing?
That I love working with Love Inspired?
That I can't wait to see how people react to this year's series:
First book due out in April, 2011: REUNITED HEARTS
Just love it.
And if you noticed that Men of Allegany County is a LIVE link, go ahead and follow it.
See where it leads. ;)
And if you noticed that Men of Allegany County is a LIVE link, go ahead and follow it.
See where it leads. ;)
So here are the"BEFORE pics of my office:
But they buzz like bees.
Anyway, I'm not going to tell you how long those bees, er... wasps have been dead.
Let me just say they are returning to their dust-like stage as we speak.
Very Biblical.
Now here are some "AFTER" shots:
Oops. There are no "after" shots yet.
I'm only half done.
Two garbage bags. Maybe three. I've stopped counting.
Three boxes of books.
One very ugly black enamel trimmed with gold gilt (Of course I'm not making that up.
Who on this earth would invent a description LIKE THAT???)
And the matching chair.
The chair is no longer with the desk by the road.
Obviously the desk IS that ugly.
Pics to come.
But, OH, what wonderful treasures I found!!! :)
Frightening, actually.
And yet, oddly redeeming!
The following is what I planned to say WHEN THE TASK WAS DONE, with
a nice 'looky here, how nice is this???' picture, of course.
I'm only half done.
Two garbage bags. Maybe three. I've stopped counting.
Three boxes of books.
One very ugly black enamel trimmed with gold gilt (Of course I'm not making that up.
Who on this earth would invent a description LIKE THAT???)
And the matching chair.
The chair is no longer with the desk by the road.
Obviously the desk IS that ugly.
Pics to come.
But, OH, what wonderful treasures I found!!! :)
Frightening, actually.
And yet, oddly redeeming!
The following is what I planned to say WHEN THE TASK WAS DONE, with
a nice 'looky here, how nice is this???' picture, of course.
A little different. Just a tad.
Now, don't get confused. I have not been working in there.
Please.
Even I have some standards.
Nope, I'm working in the big old kitchen, under the light,
with the wood stove warming the day.
And the occasional harlequin bug tap dancing around the light.
Stupid bugs. An annoyance for sure.
Destined to go the way of the bees... I mean wasps.
And yet another reason why caulk is a WONDERFUL investment.
The end.
OK, Ruthy. I feel better now . . . :)
ReplyDeleteLOL. The wasps are kind of scary. It's clear that you aren't allergic to bee stings...or do you just suffer in silence as you write?
ReplyDeleteI checked out the link. Sigh -- I'm so in love with New York countryside because of all the Trixie Belden books I read as a kid. I'll have to see if Allegany is close.
Burning question: How did you decide your locale for the next series?
I'm so tempted to show this to my hubby. Then he won't complain so much about mine...
ReplyDelete;)
When I first saw this post and the pic, I was going to accuse you of spying on me. :) I have stacks of papers to go through--daycare, church, writing...sigh, so I did the best thing I could think of--I put them in the closet and closed the door. Now I need to grab a stack and sort through only that stack until it's done, and then work on the next stack. Less guilt. Less feelings of being overwhelmed.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the after pics. :)
Oh my stars, this has been my catch-all room since the call.
ReplyDeleteI write downstairs, on the laptop at the kitchen table NEAR THE KEURIG....
'Nuff said, right????
So this has been piling up, stash after stash, for a year and a half. Besides what was ALREADY in there.
Yes, please, USE these photos as proof that you are not the worst housekeepers on the planet.
I will testify to it both in court and in print, LOL!
And Kav, when the wasps invaded last September, I just set wasp bombs and closed the door.
They didn't work.
These guys were resistant. Dagnabbit. I sprayed outside.
Nothing. They finally just died around October 31st of last year. Which means they've been on their trip to become dust again for 14 months.
FYI: Seems to be about what it takes, LOL!
Regina, honey, I do what I can! :)
And Kav, Allegany County is at the southern most edge of NYS, bordering Pennsylvania and in the Northern Tier of the Allegheny Mountain range, so it's called northern appalachia.
A lot of hardship, but SO MANY beautiful things! A great place to visit, and that Bed and Breakfast in Angelica (there's a pic in the slideshow) is AMAZING.
Carol - I'm with you. The only problem is that my area comes pretty close. lol I don't have any dead insects though... I do have a special spot where one of my cats always curls up and I haven't been able to get to it with the vacuum (because of all the other stuff) so the carpet is a different shade there than anywhere else in the room...
ReplyDeleteI started to make an attempt before Christmas but then I had to get ready for Christmas. {shrugs}
Maybe I'll try again. If Ruth can do it, so can I. :o)
You know what helps, Ruthy? Having a door to the attic storage area four feet from your desk. That's how I keep things organized--LOL!
ReplyDeleteAnd wasps? I swear they can pass right through brick walls. Sometimes they just show up at random in my office or the den. That's why I always keep a spray can of wasp killer within easy reach.
We all have "that" room. Every single one of us.
ReplyDeleteKay
Kay-Kay, if you're saying that to make me feel good, it's working!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I should be back up there working right now before I glance at the clock and decide it's 'yawn....' too late. Chatting with you guys is my stall tactic!
Myra, you're right about those wasps. They come through the tiniest places. Beth and Jon had a hive in their bricks on the front of their house. We couldn't get to it. They had an exterminator come and get rid of them, then caulked the tiny gap they found alongside the window. Persistent buggers!
Lee, hey, girlfriend!!! I closed the door for Christmas. I knew I couldn't tear it apart and get ready and do all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing, and since I'd waited A YEAR AND A HALF already!!!
Oh my stars, thank you guys for not making me feel totally alone! You guys rock.
Ah yes. The office that was once my bedroom when I was a little cherub. It's a cute room, and the bees...er...wasps were invading even 20 years ago. There's just something about that room...
ReplyDeleteOn another note, the Men of Allegany County are HOT!!!!! And so are the books. Well, the first 3 anyway, I haven't read the 4th yet. Not my fault. Ruthy hasn't written it yet. I will say that the first 3 do not disappoint! :)
Ruthy, tell me that's not really your office. Please!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, Cara.
ReplyDeleteIt SOOOOO is.
But when we get to the AFTER pics, I might be considered respectable company once again, LOL!
Oh, Ruthy, I feel so NORMAL now!! Thank you for sharing. I look forward to the after pics. I'm sure it'll inspire me to do something about my work area. :)
ReplyDeleteMissy, if I had a dry basement DUNGEON, I'd keep stuff down there.
ReplyDeleteBut just envision the basement that holds up a 156 year old farmhouse....
GULP....
Working on revisions so probably won't make significant progress until the weekend. But I will PERSEVERE.
Persist.
And eat chocolate.
Hi Ruth:
ReplyDeleteI’m just getting here and there are already 14 comments. What is it about a mess?
Be careful about cleaning it up. I have two stories.
My boss had a very messing desk, as I do. The CEO, who always had a clear desk, came into my boss’s office and said, “a cluttered desk is evidence of a cluttered mind.” Without missing a beat, my boss answered. “Then what’s an empty desk evidence of?” The CEO just stalked out of the room.
My uncle was an antique dealer from Denmark. His shop/store was below the family living quarters. Once when he went to buy furniture in Denmark my aunt cleaned his store and dusted everything until the place was spotless. When he came back from Denmark he was very unhappy. “It has to be dusty to be a believable antique shop! This place is unbelievable!”
Also there are many who believe that the world was created out of chaos.
Rule of Thumb: Think twice, clean once.
Vince
Hi Ruth:
ReplyDeleteMore more thing:
“It’s not a mess if you can find whatever you look for.”
Vince
Ah, Vince, you sage.
ReplyDeleteSo: Yes. It is/was a mess because not only could I not find anything, I REFUSED TO LOOK.
That says so much right there. Sigh....
And I'm in a 155 year old house, so I'm always in tune to the idea of what ifs.... What if there's a cool Underground Railroad diary hidden someplace?
Or what if that protrusion in the concreted over stone basement all is a PERSON?????
And what if there's a cache of money or jewelry hidden somewhere and I don't clean well enough to FIND IT????
Sigh.
So yeah, in this one case, it was time. ;)
Oh my...YES!
ReplyDeleteNow I KNOW I'm your daughter!
Dang, I only came back hoping and praying for an AFTER shot.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, Ruthy. Not wise to post a BEFORE shot if you're not even GOING to the AFTER place.
Next time, you should clear your blog posts with me.
I have a baby calf on mine this week. :)
Did you see, I brought Mary with me.
ReplyDeleteMary - did I tell you that your picture is lovely. And I mean it, stating it RIGHT HERE on Ruthy's blog.
Thanks, Pepper.
ReplyDeleteI can't really see it. I keep averting my eyes from that pixelated proof that I'm an old fat woman.
:(
Someone said they liked the long hair. I hadn't thought about my hair getting long. I may have forgotten to go to the beautician this year.
Oops.
Pep, see??? Your parents obviously STOLE you and passed you off as theirs. Cheeky people.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mary, I can't get IN THERE to finish. If I'm free, Dave's sleeping in the room next door. If he's not sleeping, we're rocking babies.
And then he sleeps again. Maybe this weekend? Maybe???? I think we should have a party when it's done. No wasps. And you should use drink cups with covers, just in case.
Because you NEVER know.
And I love that pic of you. And since you're WAY younger than I am (are you? I'm just sucking up right now because it's been a delightful day and I'm not mean... for the moment. My friend Stacey brought me a lovely caramel/mocha McCafe tonight. I LOVE HER.)I can compliment the pic with no mention of old ladies.
ReplyDeleteOld is our age plus 25 years. That's the rule of thumb.