Little Things that Make Me Smile

 
As you may recall, Verizon replaced my phone under warranty. They gave me a serious upgrade, which was nice, but no one seems to carry cases for it, and of course the previous case did not fit. I went hunting on line.

I found this one, leather, for under $10. I did have to pay shipping, but still, very reasonable. There were many, many choices that did not look as nice for up to $50. As part of level five, I'm trying to buy things that look nice, but still don't break the bank.



It has a magnetic catch. That could be a tiny bit stronger, but it's not terrible



I'm especially happy to have a case for the protection, but also to prevent more funny stories like what happened on my walk the other day. I had the phone, sans case, in my pocket. The slapping against my leg did a lot of strange things. It changed some of the settings I had chosen. But the funniest was that it sent a weird text message to a random person from my contact list. It made no sense at all- just some letter combinations and some suggested words- but she said she was glad my phone had chosen her to send nonsense too!

In other news: I was at a small vendor event all day. Did quite well for the venue, but we were freezing! I think that's my last one without heat this year. (It was inside the Shagway barn, so we weren't out in the wind, but no heat.) I'm trying to thaw out now. Maybe early bedtime.

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I Bought My Office a Gift

 
I didn't want to show you this until I was sure I was going to keep it. Now I'm sure. It lives here. I had to put it together in the kitchen.



My old office chair was 27 years old and hurt my back. Its one redeeming feature was that it was small, and fit in my space nicely. This one is bigger.



But it does work. I wasn't sure it would pull close enough to the antique desk I use which I like a lot.



The bottom line is that it doesn't hurt my back.



It's nice to be able to work in my office again. Makes me feel a little more professional.



Got it for 40% off, but even so it cost a lot more than the last el cheapo one.

In other news: I wrote all morning, and did errands and other stupid stuff in the afternoon (if only it looked like I did anything), and then worked on my trailer in the evening. I'm not quite ready to show you that yet. Soon, but tomorrow is supposed to rain again.

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Commence Level Five

 
First day of level five- Joan the Author! It came in with a whimper because I had to get up without enough sleep after last night. Now I feel like you-know-what, but I'm going to bed very early with the hopes of being able to operate at rocket speed tomorrow.

You saw the little notebook that I purchased over a year ago to replace the level four one. Today I ordered a new messenger bag. I won't have it right away. I had it shipped to Loretta's and I'll pick it up there on my trip because I'm leaving Monday. Yikes! That's why I need rocket speed tomorrow. Anyway, with careful shopping, I think I've got myself a really nice leather messenger bag for a very reasonable price. This is my retirement/birthday present to myself. I think it looks like it cost about twice what I paid. This is just the online picture.

It's smallish- but big enough to fit a clipboard. That was critical. And it will contain those pesky things that are too big and numerous to stuff in pockets, and tend to slither away when stacked on the clipboard.



Here's why I needed it. On the way out the door this morning, I was struggling to find a bag in which to put my little notebook, checkbook, clipboard, etc. I've totally finished off two book-backpacks at the most recent job. They were both already well-used when I put them into service at the paper, but between the dirt and rough handling at the Daily News, one is completely done- trash can level.

The other was already beyond looking good enough to look professional. It's still OK for some things. It was actually a good-quality backpack that I bought at the beginning of level four- grad school. But I've repaired it several times and replaced the main zipper once. It's great when filled with books, but is just an off-balance wad when filled with odd-sized things. And filthy. Not going to give me a professional look. And that's a look on which I need all the help I can get. My favorite small tote bag is also beyond hope for looking good. Needs repair, badly stained and beat up. Diagnosis- new bag time. One good enough to make me look and feel more like I know what I'm doing.

I had also purchased, in the middle of level four, a Duluth Trading Post Engineer's bag. I really liked that, and carried it a LOT, but the canvas gets dirty and some of the hardware wore out. I still store some things in it, but it's also beyond professional.

I'm hopeful this new purchase will stay cleaner. I carefully avoided any canvas or polyester exterior surfaces because we know what I can do to them. A little treatment of the leather on occasion should keep this looking good.

So where was I going this morning? Out to the Shagway Arts Barn to do paperwork for the current season and spend a couple hours with cleanup and organization. Enough people showed up that we really got things in pretty good shape.





It's ready for artists to start bringing their items in for display. I'll do that when I get home from this trip.

Now it's back to bed. Groan... but I am cheered by knowing that there won't be any more Saturdays like this!

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The Road Ahead to Level Five- It's Official

 
I've made a commitment to what the road ahead will look like for me this year.



No, probably not snow covered for the next twelve months! But I find that photograph very appealing. (Johnson Road, a couple of miles from me.)

And the personal picture I'm trying to create is going to get very real on April 20. That will be my final day of work at the paper (in the mailroom- I'll still write my column). I talked to them yesterday, so I can now give this information publicly.

I'm going to be a full-time writer and adventurer- Level Five of my Life. Let's hope I really can sell enough books to make this work. I've got some money saved to allow me to finish the trailer, and begin to do more author events and things. But it won't happen without a lot of commitment and work on my part.

I'm SO ready to do this, and a tiny bit scared too. I'm willing to be frugal, but don't have a burning desire to live in abject poverty all the time.

In other news: there's not much other news. I was tired after work and haven't done much the rest of the day. Watched a movie, and am baking something to try to stay ahead of that huge fruit basket gift!

Winter Cobbler: Apples, pears, grapes

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A Piece of the Next Level

 
A writing friend posted a meme on Facebook a few days ago that says "Every next level of your life will demand a new version of you."

That sort of spoke to me since I've been somewhat in transition to what I'm defining as level/version five, and I don't know exactly what it looks like yet. But, oddly, saying goodbye to a small mundane piece of level four was more emotional than I expected. You will chuckle at me. Go ahead. I had no idea myself that it would feel so sad until I tossed the item in the trash. So I hauled it out to take a picture and document this passing.

Here's the item I'm saying goodbye to.



Yup, it's just a small notebook. But I kept all my calendars, personal records, to-do lists-- all that stuff-- in there through level four which included grad school and being totally self-employed.

I've tried to use electronic calendars. It's not that I'm a technophobe (not at all, you know), it's just that my life and the way I work doesn't fit into ordinary calendars. I'm a project person. I've devised a personalized project planner over the years, and it doesn't work like a calendar.

Anyway, I did find one on-line calendar that was working pretty well for me, but every time my browser updated it would dump all the data, and I'd have to go recover it. At first this was just annoying. Then I missed an important meeting, and also A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT because of that fatal flaw.

That did it... back to paper for at least that part of my life. But the little gray notebook, which I love, has reached the end of its life. It's only fake leather and the finish flakes off on my hands whenever I pick it up (feels nasty). The binder rings still work, but the spine is broken.

I started looking for a replacement months ago, but the company I got it from only makes one style and color now, neither of which I like. A few days ago I decided to see what I could find on eBay. Score! It had to fit all the blank notepages I already have (and I have the hole punch to make any kind I want). It had to have some pockets in the cover. It had to be at least fake leather, because the cheap vinyl covers just don't last and they don't hold as many pages. It had to not be black (ick). OK, it's red, which is pretty low on my list, but it's not bright red; I'm thinking of it as cordovan. Humor me. It's used, but in great shape and even with shipping was under $20. Lots less than the new one I didn't like. Also fake leather, but it looks and feels pretty nice.





Both notebooks photographed on my newly cleaned-off desk- part of the big sorting project I've been doing this week.

Now if I could just get all the rest of level/version five to come into focus...

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