MY PERFECT WORK ENVIRONMENT
If you look out the window of my sewing room and before you is the view of Table Mountain, that would be a PERFECT WORK ENVIRONMENT . This is the inspiration for writing about my sewing/craft room and home office. To my mind, the view would be very hard to beat.
I see a bit of the mountain over the many roof tops of the Retirement Home. If it were a clear view of Table Mountain I c0uld not spend the time gazing out the window and not get through the workload I have planned. However beautiful the view as there are so many projects waiting to be done.
Spring will have sprung, the grass will have riz, and before I even get to the items that need buttons, alterations, mending etc., not to mention the new clothes to make for summer. You know, the elusive “summer wardrobe” which generally ends up as a blouse or slacks, if I am lucky.
Upon waking, in the very early hours, as a lot of older people do. My mind is really active and I think of all the things I want to accomplish during that day. This is not difficult to do, the difficulty lies in the amount of time these things take in reality.
Nothing, if not Ambitious
The other morning I reached for my little book beside my bed, after making coffee and bringing it through to the bedroom, of course. As the coffee cooled, I wrote the list. It really didn’t take much time at all and I was so encouraged and feeling full of the joys (can’t say of Spring” as it is still winter here.
MY PERFECT WORK ENVIRONMENT – My List for the day
- Get washing done
- Tidy sewing room
- Dust and vacuum
- Make phone calls
- check my 920 emails
- Continue with Wealthy Affiliate training
That was as far as I got as thought I had to be reasonable, I mean, just how much can one do in a day. Breakfast and more coffee were now the order of the day. Felt the need for sustenance to give me the energy I would need.
How the day went
No problem with breakfast, in bed of course. Still feeling chirpy.
As I was taking the dishes through to the kitchen, I glanced into the sewing room and wondered about item 2 on the list. The packed alteration pile, “yes pile”, sat on top of my trusty Bernina sewing machine awaiting my attention.
Then I saw the heap of ironing waiting on the roller chair, I took a deep breath and backed out of the room and quietly closed the door.
Bathroom Blues – MY PERFECT WORK ENVIRONMENT
Get washing done. This is not as easy as it sounds due to our water shortage, my washing is done by dropping the used clothes into a bucket of soapy water each evening and when the bucket is full, which it now was, this is hand washed, rung out by hand, and then taken through to the washing machine and put in for a quick rinse and spin.
Much as it was done is what my children called “the olden days”.
The big blessing we now have is the automatic washing machine for the rinse and spin. I know, I should have bought a Spindle, it would have made my life a lot easier. The almost dry washing would not weigh as much to cart down to the washing line.
Never-the-less, this is all rather back breaking and time-consuming.
Water Pressure?
Have issues with water pressure turned down by Council to save precious water.
I can picture everyone (perish the thought) in the complex standing in their plastic baby baths, which catch the shower water, hoping against hope for enough water to come through the pipes so they can get done.
They must all be at it at the same time, as no pressure at all this end.
The drill is, with small bucket catch the cold water. Switch off tap.
Store a small bucket of cold water to put on plants which are dying in the garden or on the balcony.
Strip, stand in baby bath (which collects shower water) under the slowly dripping shower, until head and body wet enough to get up a lather with the shampoo and soap, with the water turned off.
Turn the tap on again to rinse the shampoo off. Turn the Tap off, condition hair, stand in rapidly cooling water in baby bath for as long as you can stand it, turn tap on again and rinse conditioner off.
By now folks, you feel either totally refreshed or totally exhausted. Don’t forget you must then take the baby bath out to water the plants.
This for us older folks is not that easy to do. Exciting times.
The bath still comes in handy for times like these. I Think back on those days with longing.
Spruced up and Ready for Action
Well, dear readers, my day just went downhill from there and I actually can’t recall where it went to. Am perfectly sure that I spent time on my laptop and mobile but beside that, who knows?
Oh yes, Now I remember. I spent a couple of hours on Pinterest looking at all the amazing ideas for Sewing and Craft rooms. Amazing work spaces. This really inspired me to do a lot of research.
It was all so exciting and I couldn’t wait begin.
THE SEARCH FOR MY PERFECT WORK ENVIRONMENT
How many of you are feeling bogged down with what seems like a mountain of work to do before you can even get down to sewing? I am sure I can’t be the only one.
After a fantastic weekend am ready to tackle planning my perfect work environment once again. Attempt to get it to be just as I need it to be. Fortunately I had my restorative mugs of coffee and also time in the early hours to make plans.
Decisions made about more storage. I decided that my two bookshelves, would do very well in the sewing/work room. They were emptied of their contents and put into place.
Every surface in the sewing room was cleared and dusted. The sewing machines put ready for use. So far so good.
After quick peek into the built-in cupboards and checking on my enormous stash of fabric, patterns, sewing trims etc. made me back out of the room again.
Tomorrow is another day.
Now I am sitting here at my little work table in the lounge looking at the collateral damage caused by attempting to make sewing/craft/work room into MY PERFECT WORK ENVIRONMENT. Oh my!
Any good suggestions would be gratefully received.
Hi Jill,
I know what you talk about, trying to make a sewing room a perfect environment, I try to keep my sewing room tidy and nice, but once I get there, and I look for a new piece of fabric for my new quilt, my sewing room goes back to its normal look, fabrics here and there all the time.
I look through my window and I can see the beautiful green landscape, as we have Summer time in Canada, everything is nice and green (for the moment)
The view from your window looks fantastic!!
Hi Alejandra, It is so hard to keep it neat and tidy especially when busy. I don’t seem to be a naturally tidy person. The tidying up takes so much valuable time but if I did it straight away it would be better. I do have a view of the mountain, just not the one I put at the beginning of the post.
That is what my perfect work environment would look like. All the best.
Wow, what a day! What’s it like in Summer then? That view really is to die for, I look out the window to terraced houses over the road, not much greenery and certainly nothing like your view.
I have the same issue, not with a sewing room but with my kitchen, you see i’m an artist and my stuff takes over the kitchen. I try in vein every so often to tidy it if someone’s coming round but most of the time it’s just me and the four cats and they don’t give a hoot about the mess as long as I feed them.
I think quite a few of us have days … weeks like this. It’s called procrastination. Oh and don’t get me started on Pinterest 😉
Hi Sue, I understand completely. Am also an artist and have given away most of my crockery and cutlery to make room for all my art materials. They are now stored in the cupboards. Will be looking out for you on Pinterest. All the best. Jill