Afternoon tea at my new desk

Today my new desk arrived! 

I have needed a new desk for a few years now because my 50-year-old formica-topped table was starting to fall to pieces. The back extending flap was beginning to fail, and I was in danger of losing my computer monitor which was sitting precariously on it.

Over 2 years ago I saw this desk online and fell in love with it. I dreamed of owning it and put a picture of it in my One Notes dream list app.  At the time the price was too high, for me, and I didn't think any more about it. Then at the beginning of this month, while I was browsing online, I saw that the desk was on sale with 40% off the original price. I couldn't believe my luck. 

The desk is made of solid oak and has 3 drawers. It is not as deep as my formica table, but it is much wider. 

I have also pre-ordered an oak floating shelf, for the back of the desk, to sit my monitor and speakers on. This will enable me to store my keyboard and mouse underneath the monitor when I want to do paperwork or crafting. The floating shelf should arrive mid-to-late August. Something else to look forward to 😊

After the delivery men assembled my desk and placed it in my room, I couldn't wait to set it up with my ornaments and computer monitor. There is plenty of room in the drawers for my A4 folders, notebooks, pens and anything else I am not using at the moment. 

The desk is a little bit high, so I added a cushion to my chair, and it is very comfortable.

Once everything was set up on my desk, I decided to have my afternoon tea there. I had English Breakfast tea in my Redoute Roses teacup, which my sister-in-law gave to me. And with it I had a couple of pieces of Ginger Slice which were yummy. It was lovely and I am so happy. 

I hope that you have kept well since my last post in April. My chest infection and collapsed lung cleared up after a couple of months and the x-rays came back normal. No more patches on my lung which is a big relief. As a result, things have been rather quiet here.

Winter is here now, and we have been experiencing some really nice days in-between the rainy squalls. The plants in the garden seem to think that it is Spring and we have had daffodils (Earlicheer) already flowering. And anemones, freesias, ranunculi and bluebells are poking their way through the ground.

I have been yearning to start gardening again due to the warmish weather. But the frosts are still to come (if we get any). A few days ago, I took some fuchsia cuttings from unusually early, new growth. The cuttings are keeping warm inside the house. I used rooting hormone to help them along. At least it has satisfied my gardening urge. 😊 On the next sunny day, I plan to take more cuttings of different shrubs to see what happens.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Lots of hugs, Rose xxx

Thriving in my lockdown bubble

I thought that I would share with you some little things that have helped me to survive life in a lockdown bubble here in New Zealand.

Being in a bubble of 3

I am not isolated from absolutely everyone. I am fortunate enough to be in a bubble shared with my elderly parents. We live in a house with two living rooms and are situated on a 10 and a 1/4 acre lifestyle block. So I feel very privileged compared to those having to go through lockdown by themselves.

Being an introvert

I am also lucky in that I am an introvert and find pleasure in the smallest of things.

Computers, Apps and phones

I still miss being able to visit the rest of my family and friends. To solve the problem of being totally isolated from others, I downloaded Zoom onto our computers. This has been great. Mum, dad and I have been able to hold 40-minute chats, for free, with the rest of the family. It is lovely to be able to see people at the same time as talking to them.

Mum also has FaceTime on her iPad for talking, with video, one-on-one with family, again for free.

Before lockdown I had never used those Apps. I was even apprehensive (pun intended) of using them at first. But they have been wonderful to have. I also talk to my sister on the phone daily. She is not so computer savvy, so we find it easier to chat this way. Together with texts and emails.

Daily routines

Early on in lockdown I realised the importance of setting myself a daily routine, to keep some structure in my life, as I was starting to spend too much time napping. I made lists of things I like to do by myself and with my parents. I also made lists of things that I needed to do.

Online shopping

After the craziness of trying to do my grocery shopping in-store when we first went into lockdown, I decided to try online shopping.

The grocery store that I usually shop at only had online click-and-collect shopping, with no option for home delivery. So I had to choose a more expensive supermarket.

It was difficult to get a delivery slot at the beginning of lockdown. But later on I found that I could get delivery bookings 7 days later. I got into a routine of planning our menus for the week 2 weeks in advance. Then ordering our groceries to be delivered and then quarantining them for 3 days before using them.

We have been able to buy most of the things that we needed with the exception of wholemeal flour and desiccated coconut. Some weeks I have been unable to get chicken for some weird reason I don't know of. And thank goodness there has been no difficulty in buying food and cat litter for my cats.

Online shopping has also come in very handy for birthday and Mother's day presents. These can be delivered directly to whoever you want them to be given to. Albeit that the postal services are slower due to the lockdown, so planning way ahead is necessary.

Some of the things that I have enjoyed that pass the time are:

Colouring in books

I have been busy with my Johanna Basford Lost Ocean colouring book, colouring in a few fish, copying colours used from internet searches. (I wasn't quite confident in choosing my own colours).

eBooks and eMagazines

Mum and I love reading, however our libraries are all closed due to lockdown and we only had one book each left to read.

The problem was solved for mum after she mentioned this dilemma to my brother. My brother kindly couriered mum an old iPad that he had. He pre-set it with an App compatible with downloading eBooks, for free, from our local library.

While I was downloading books for mum I noticed that there was also a smartphone-compatible App on the library's website. So I set it up on my smartphone and hey presto I am now able to read eBooks on my phone....Yay!

I then looked further on the library website and discovered that it was possible to read eMagazines on my computer, full-screen size. Another big yay!

OneNotes and moodboards

I invented a new hobby for myself using the eMagazines, the snipping tool in Microsoft Windows and my Microsoft OneNotes program. Making moodboards and daydreaming about my future home! Lots of fun and a pleasant way to pass the time.

Television on demand

Watching television is not something that I usually spend much time doing, but I have enjoyed watching Escape to the Chateau and Gardener's World on demand TV.

There are so many programmes to choose from for free here in New Zealand. On TVNZ On Demand, Choice On Demand and HGTV On Demand. Plus I get free access to Lightbox through my Internet Service Provider.

Our Auckland library also has free films that can be watched online, but my internet speed isn't fast enough for the library films for some reason.

Phew this is a long blog post!

I hope that you are managing to cope with lockdown isolation/quarantine. I would love to read your comments about your coping strategies in this strange new world.

See you again soon.

Hugs

Rose xxx

Arranging Christmas decorations on my desk

I enjoyed myself this evening decorating my desk for Christmas and lighting candles.

My cat Oscar supervised the proceedings as always.

I swapped things around here and there until everything felt right.

And here is the final arrangement on my desk.

I love the little silver mercury glass tealight holders that I found on Ebay a few weeks ago. And I thought the shape of the starfish looked Christmassy too. They seem to fit in with Christmas in summer.

Yesterday was spent writing Christmas cards and wrapping all of the presents while listening to Christmas music on YouTube. I can't wait to give the presents to everyone. I gave mum hers a few weeks ago, but I have something else to give her at Christmas :)

I hope that you are enjoying your week.

Hugs

Rose x

My thrifty bedroom makeover continues

Here are a few more vignettes of my thrifty bedroom transformation.

I found this lovely picture frame in my favourite thrift shop for $2. I thought it would be perfect in my room. It was quite funny because when my mother saw it in the shop she didn't like it as it had an awful picture in. However when I showed the frame to mum again with the picture of the butterfly in she loved it :) The butterfly picture only cost me in ink and paper as I printed it from the internet.

The tiny fishbowl vase was half price at $6 from a local shop, and I picked the beautiful blue cornflowers from my wildflower bed.

I already had the little ceramic sea urchin tealight candle holder which had been put away as it was broken. Just a bit of super glue and it is like new again.

I am very happy with how this little scene turned out :)

Then I hung a pretty night dress on a padded coathanger behind my door to finish off that corner. They were both presents.

I found this auricula painting on the internet and printed a copy to fit a frame that I already had. I think this picture is gorgeous.

Here it is, my new picture, hung on the wall.

On my wardrobe door handle I hung a pyjama case which my sister gave to me with some gorgeous pyjamas from Wallace cotton. My sister said that the pyjama case was free!

Then I added a little white metal bird ornament, which is really a Christmas tree decoration, that I bought for $5.

And the thrifty makeover continues...

See you soon.

Hugs,

Rose x

My thrifty bedside table makeover

This month I decided to do a makeover of my bedroom to make it look more restful, but I wanted to see if I could do it frugally.

Here is the thrifty makeover of my bedside table. The lamp and escritoire remain in the same place as before and I kept the cane table. I bought the distressed painted wirework candle holder from a Thrift shop for $2, cleaned it up and put a candle inside it that I already had. It was a perfect fit! The little box with the bird and nest picture on holds note cards and was a Christmas present.

The picture frame on the other side of the table was also a Thrift shop find for $1. The glass just needed cleaning up and I didn't mind that the pressed flowers had faded as they match my decor. I printed the bunny picture that I put in the frame from the internet.

The white ceramic trinket box was a candle holder with a candle inside that I was given a few years ago. In front of this I have placed a L'Occitane soap which was also a Christmas present. You can see the soap in the next photo.

On the bottom shelf of the table I placed a while oval bowl which is actually a platter from the kitchen. I decided to keep the bowl empty as there was so much on top of the table. Quite often I will collect different items from around the house and re-arrange them in different rooms giving them different uses.

I really enjoyed myself with this makeover and have been working on little changes in different parts of my bedroom.

Lots of smiles and hugs,

Rose x