Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Scene of the Blog-- Alyce of At Home With Books


This week, we're visiting with Alyce of At Home With Books. Formerly in sales for a publishing company, she now stays at home in Oregon with her two boys and reads in her spare time. (How do you have spare time with two children?) Another book blogger I met through LibraryThing, the one thing that impresses me about Alyce and her blog isn't her reviews or giveaways or participation in memes (although they're all great), but the genuine caring that shows through in her posting. Are you new to book blogging and wondering how many of us seem to get all these advance reading copies? Alyce will show you where to go to get your share, too. Blogger recently changed the "Following" feature on everyone's blogs. All of a sudden, things weren't working properly and people were confused. Alyce posted information on how to fix this. She's one of the exceptional bloggers that make our community such a great place to be.

It seems I had psychic abilities this week in choosing Alyce. Today is her birthday, so let's all wish her a fabulous birthday!

But I digress. Where does she do her blogging? Tell us, Alyce!

[Click on the photos to view them full size.]


Alyce's blogging space

The picture of my blogging workspace is exactly how it appears on most days, give or take a stack of books or a pile of papers. I didn't clean it up for the photo shoot. My workspace is in the corner of our dining room, and right in the middle of traffic. The kids like to come by and chat with me, the dog is always wanting me to let her out since I'm conveniently next to the door to the backyard, and the cat likes to sneak up on me from behind and use my backside as a scratching post when I'm deep in thought.

The knitted hat on the filing cabinet is my bad hair day hat. I'm sure that everyone in town knows me by that hat because I always wear it in the wintertime. It's so much easier than doing my hair first thing in the morning, and I keep it handy so I can pull it on quickly if a delivery person shows up. Don't ask me why, but yes I actually care what the delivery people think of my hair. In the summertime my knit hat will be replaced by a pink rhinestone-studded breast cancer awareness cap. I've never had breast cancer, but I'm all for being aware - especially if it involves a cute cap!


Items of interest in my workspace: On the top shelf is my wedding picture, which was teetering on the edge when I took this picture, but has since been pushed back to avoid any unfortunate accidents. The yellow box to the left of the picture is leftover TNT Pop-Its from last Fourth of July. On the second shelf is a can of orange spray-on hair color that my husband purchased for football season and forgot to use. I think it would be fairly safe to say that it will still be sitting there when the next football season rolls around. On top of the printer is a collection of all of the kids' pictures, school programs, and newspaper photos from the past three years. The Tupperware container on the desktop contains my seven-year-old's rock collection.


The rest is just sheer clutter, and I shudder to think of what's hiding behind the wedding picture on the top shelf, since I am too short to look behind it. The rest of the house does not look this bad (at least not most of it) but the computer desk seems to be a catch-all for random items with no home.


So that's it, that's my workspace. I could have also included a picture of my couch because my husband bought me a laptop this week. Now if I want to I can blog in the living room, but I still do the bulk of my blogging at my desk. I'm sure that will change over time as I adjust to the new laptop.



Alyce in her work space


I think Alyce's blogging space looks great for being in the main flight pattern of the house, don't you? And for some reason, I can just picture the cat using her as a scratching post while Alyce is deep in thought!

If you're not familiar with Alyce's blog, please make sure to check it out! If you'd like to be included in this weekly feature, tell me in a comment below this post, or use the Contact Me tab up in my header. I hope all of you are having as much fun as I am!


32 comments:

  1. I love it, especially the picture of Alyce in her cute cap! I don't know how I'd concentrate being in the main flight pattern of the house though. It would take a lot more concentration than I have!

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  2. Wow - that was great schelduling! Happy Birthday Alyce :)

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  3. Great blogging space, and I love that someone else has a bad hair day hat. I'm always reaching for a cap or a headband or something when I answer the door.

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  4. Happy Birthday, Alyce!

    Love the hat! I need to knit myself a bad hair day hat, but I'm sure my daughter would snag it like everything else that belongs to me. ;)

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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  5. Happy Birthday Alyce...how perfect to have you and your blog featured today!!!

    I love your blogging space as it's real life in action! I can relate to the clutter as we have sections of the house where it piles up more also. We often have a stack of my son's pictures and projects on top of the scanner as well! That's too funny about your bad hair day hat...great picture!!

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  6. I love Alyce's pictures and her great explanation! I agree, Alyce is one of the gems of the blogging world.

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  7. Happy birthday! I love how she described some of the things on her desk!

    My desk is so so so so so messy, if I'm allowed to be different I would love to submit an illustration instead :P

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  8. Happy birthday Alyce! How brave of you to show your desk "as is"! I cleared mine off!! I loved your write-up.

    Thanks Cathy for hosting this!

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  9. Thank you Cathy for all of your kind words and hard work putting together this feature every week!

    Meghan - Sometimes it's hard to concentrate, and I don't get much done until the kids are in school.

    Lenore - Thanks for the birthday wishes!

    Nicole - How neat that you have a bad hair day hat too!

    Anna - I wish I had the skills to knit myself a hat. I got this one at the farmer's market last year. I need to go back and get one in a different color for variety. :)

    Bonnie - I'm so glad that I'm not the only one dealing with clutter!

    Kathy - Thank you so much for the compliment - that was very sweet!

    Alea - I'm impressed that you could do an illustration. My art skills are not that great.

    Beth - I think my photo had a little more to do with laziness on my part than bravery, but we can pretend, right? Thanks for the birthday wishes!

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  10. Oh... Alyce.... I actually did straighten up just a tad for my interview (blush).

    Cathy... I'll work on your badge before Sunday (weird week for me).

    Sher

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  11. Alyce, I love the fact that your desk is as is and not decluttered for the picture. (I will do the same for mine!)

    Happy birthday and that's such a cute picture of you!

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  12. Alyce, Great hat and happy birthday!

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  13. What a fantastic description of the blog space - I just visited Alyce because I had to ´check her out´, and I was so amused by her description that I forgot to wish her a happy birthday :O

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  14. Oh I love it and I love Alyce too! She has been beyond kind to me as I've gotten into book blogging and it is always a joy to visit her blog. And I love the photo of her with her hat--so cute! I do the same thing (disguise bad hair days with hats) so I'm thrilled I'm not the only one! This has been such a fun series. I love it!

    And I have to say, I just took a break from typing my comment to look at your dragons and damsels slide show -- really gorgeous and I love the little star shooting thing!

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  15. This is fantastic. I agree Alyce is a treasure in blogland! Love the work space by the patio door... and congrats on the laptop! What a great post!! oh yes... absolutely love the knitted hat.

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  16. Sheri - I know, I'm just shameless! :)

    avisannschild - Thanks! I can't wait to see what your clutter looks like!

    Melissa - Thank you for the birthday wishes and the compliment!

    Dorte - Thanks for the birthday wishes, and for visiting my blog!

    Jenners - Thank you for all of your kind words! I agree about Cathy's dragonfly slideshow. I've been here dozens of times and just noticed it yesterday. It's lovely!

    Toni - You're so sweet! Isn't this an awesome series that Cathy's doing?

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  17. Alea--if you'd really rather have an illustration instead of a photo, go for it!!!

    Beth--you're welcome! This feature just gets more fun as the weeks fly by!

    Alyce--You're welcome! This feature may have some work involved, but work doesn't matter when it's something I'm having so much fun with!

    Sher--Thanks! I know all about real life getting in the way sometimes. 8-)

    Jenners--thanks for noticing the new slide show. I'm glad you liked it. I don't mention them "up top"...just change 'em out on the first of the month. :)

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  18. Cathy- Ooooh really! I like to be different/hide some of the mess with a drawing!

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  19. Hi Cathy,
    Great job on this post. I went and checked out Alyce's place and wished her a happy birthday. I've been following your Scene of the Blog. I've also been lurking, so thought I would jump in this week. Have a great evening!!

    Sherrie

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  20. Alea--that's it...dare to be different! I just wish I could draw, too!

    Sherrie--thank you for coming out of lurkdom!

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  21. Loved your work space, Alyce. My favorite part was the rock collection. I still have my son's in my study - he wanted to get rid of it when he turned sixteen, but a lot of my blood and skin went into finding those things, so here they stay!

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  22. Susan - That's great that you kept your son's rock collection! My son's is still a work in progress, but he's only seven, so we'll see what it's like in a few years.

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  23. Happy Birthday Alyce! You are so cute in the hat!

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  24. Cathy- Hehe, by draw I mean trace! We'll see what happens :P

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  25. Happy Birthday, Alyce! It's nice to see someone else with a little clutter - I was beginning to worry that I'd have to submit a picture of someone else's house when my turn came around! =)

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  26. Great pics! It's nice to finally see what you look like too Alyce, happy birthday!

    I was going to clean my desk for the photo but maybe I shouldn't, it would be more real. But mine's way worse!

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  27. Teddy Rose - Thanks for the birthday wishes!

    Elizabeth - I'm glad to hear that others are as messy as I am!

    Callista - I think that real photos are the way to go! :)

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  28. Fun Alyce! I've been using a laptop for over six months after our desktop died and I've been cleaning it off today. Everything from the past six months has landed there.I know how it feels.

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  29. Nice hat Alyce! Happy (belated) Birthday!

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  30. I searched out this post to link to my "about me" page, and was stunned to see how much of the same junk is still on my desk. It's absolutely embarrassing! :)

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