North End of Workspace
My clients on fantasticfindsenterprises.com and jewelrybyfay.com can’t see my messy workspace. I’m glad! Truly, finding anything in this mess is really a fantastic feat! On occasion, I have stumbled upon things that have been missing for months! Surely any logical person would question my rational state of mind if I was seen trying to accomplish anything productive with such clutter and poor space. I have heard it said that “a cluttered desk is the sign of a creative mind.” In that case, no doubt I’m a genius!
My 12′x25″ counter workspace holds a phone answering machine, various size containers, a half eaten cookie, paper clips, mouses (or mice), business cards, stickies, and undescribables, such as ring sizer, and a huge magnifying glass, last years electric bill, a McDonalds receipt from 2001, and other such stuff. But I have that wonderful invention–”the grabber” for things out of reach!
Dominating the scene is my 24″ Mac monitor surrounded with stickies reminding me to be efficient and do what I am supposed to do. Sitting majestically alongside the monitor is my Mac Pro computer with enough data in its drives to collapse the government in Washington. Attached to the computer are various kinds of holders for cameras, headsets , connectors, cords, bottles of stain remover, etc. On the front of the computer I posted “The Warning Signs of Stroke” and I check them daily to make sure this mess has not taken its toll! Then there is the space on the counter behind the computer–Well, there is too much variety in that space to describe it!
If you are looking for a cord, be assured it is there! Just plan to spend a couple of hours untangling the mess, unless that cord feeds down through a desktop hole to the floor. In that case, be prepared to crawl under the counter, lay on your back and fish the errant cord down through the desk top hole. You might as well save time by doing your daily push ups and other gymnastics while you are on the floor. Then a ten minute snooze wo uld not be out of order. I keep a pillow handy for just such needs. Also be sure to pick up all the scattered papers and trash that couldn’t be reached with the grabber. Now for me, comes the greatest challenge–getting back up with the prized cord. This is quite another problem, since I can’t walk. But with the help of a crane from the fire department, I am soon back in my wheelchair writing blogs!
My workspace continues southward with 3 12′ long bookshelves up the wall to the ceiling. The shelves not only hold books, but CDs, nose drops, income tax reports and other “gems” of a creative mind. On occasion, books, etc. gets loose and clobber me on the head! I once dodged a stack of blank CDs, falling without warning, spreading themselves all over the counter, me, and the floor. When the room stopped spinning around, I spent the next hour using a grabber to pick up each one and place it back on the shelf! What a mess! The only worse catastrophe was when I forgot to pull out the printer paper catch tray, and with the help of the spinning ceiling fan, scattered 3 copies of a 40 page document all over the room! As the pages floated down, they picked up what was left of a slice of pumpkin pie and emptied a full open bottle of Coke on the carpet! This required a very unhappy cleanup crew! The city of Normal has threatened to declare my workspace a hard hat area.
South Area Workspace
Looking at this disorganized mess, one would wonder how anything beautiful could emerge. However, on the table are multiple trays of pendants, earrings, rings, and bracelets that I have carefully crafted, set and polished to a shining glimmer. Gemstone Creations is the brand name chosen to market these treasures. In my collection of beautiful, unique gemstone jewelry, we feature birthstone jewelry, fashion rings and pendants. We continue to expand this collection to include more affordable jewelry as I continue to create. Any one of these “gemstone creations” could be your next family heirloom that would outlast me, you and the people who read this blog. If a messy desk really IS the sign of a creative mind, I have the world beat on creativity.
I have been spending a lot of time being completely frustrated. Working on the computer is both necessary and enjoyable–like working on the websites, Photoshop, databases, bookkeeping, and writing articles. I even play games! However, almost every time I get really engrossed in a project, I look at my legs and they are swollen like weather balloons. ( I hope the weather service does not read this. They might figure out a way to use me as a substitute for their balloons.) When my legs swell up, the only remedy is to get my feet higher than my heart. They can be swollen for days or weeks. Meanwhile, my projects just sit there waiting for me to get upright again and I feel guilty for not getting things done. So, I lie in the recliner chair and feel sorry for myself.
“Let me see your MacBook Pro for a minute,” I asked my daughter yesterday. “What are you up to, Mom,” she asked. I put her five pound light power book on my stomach, opened the screen, pulled up my project and started working on it. However, after a while it did get heavy and I got tired.
“Have you seen those new airbooks? I asked her. “I wonder what they weigh and if they get hot on the bottom.”
“I can see the wheels turning in your head. What are you up to?” she responded. “Is it legal?”
“I think they have the new MacBook Airs at the university computer store,” I responded. “Let’s go see.” I came home with a 13″ MacBook air weighing a little more than two pounds and seated myself in the recliner again. Laying back with my feet up. I placed it on a pillow and began working away! I don’t call it a MacBook. I named it Skinny Minnie and designated it a “tummy computer” instead of a “laptop.”
People laugh at my set up. I don’t mind. It is just one more thing I can laugh about and keep my sense of humor about my inconvenient disabilities. When you laugh about things you can’t change, you can’t cry–and the whole world looks brighter! Laughter is a wonderful thing. It brightens the world just like my handcrafted Gemstone Creations.
Gold everywhere! There is a little known gemstone in the quartz family called rutilated quartz. It is a unusual stone. The gem itself is clear (or sometimes light yellow) with golden rods passing through it, criss-crossing in all directions. These rods are bright gold and reflect beautifully on the clear background of the stone.
It occurred to me that with enough of these stones I could affect the gold market! What a prize! However, my fantasy came to a swift end when further study revealed that these beautiful rods were only fools gold! What a disappointment!
One thing was saved out of my fantasy. Let’s think about this a little bit more! There are not many gemstones that are completely unique. There are never ever two of them alike. Also, they are quartz! Quartz is plentiful. That means that in terms of gemstone prices, rutilated quartz will remain one of the lowest priced gemstones. None of that distracts from the beauty of the golden clad gem that still makes up into gorgeous jewelry, unique gemstone rings, pendants and earrings. So maybe I really have struck gold!
There are a few pieces of rutilated quartz rings and pendants in the Gemstone Creations Collection. When I find the right settings, I will be making more. So keep an eye on the websites!
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