July 17, 2020 -- I don't know when I've been more excited to share something. . . . Shane and I have been working in this space for over a month.  The beginning of June, it had unfinished drywall and was full of JUNK -- nothing but storage!   Much of the space was still raw lumber.   We finished putting up drywall, finished it out, painted, cut trim, put down flooring, and made this beautiful space happen!  My husband has worked so hard to give me a space of my own to write and think and dream and read, and it may not be perfect, but it is so perfect for me!  It is a lovely space which has taken lots of blood, sweat, tears, a few temper tantrums as he tried to get things as level as possible (I wrote a blog post about that. . . .)  I helped all along the way, but he did the hard stuff -- the heavy lifting, the thousands of trips up and down the stairs cutting and hauling.  My mother-in-law and niece came to help for a few days -- we painted together.  She brought me the recliner and the lamp, which saved me lots of $$. Other pieces in here came from her directly or indirectly.  I went "shopping" at my mom's earlier this week for some of her yard sale treasures --so much love and kindness and help have created this lovely space, and I am humbled and oh, so grateful!

I've chosen a name for the space.  I've tried a few things, but nothing that really seemed "right".  When my sister (who helped me with her artistic eyes in choosing colors for the desk, shelf and frames) came up for a visit, I was pondering the right name.  We consulted with Google, and found what I think is the perfect name for this place of work and inspiration and words and writing and love and craftmanship.  I'm calling it The WordSmithery.  The name is perfect for a few reasons.  For one thing, wordsmithing is what I do here, obviously.  My mother's family name is Smith and just like the "smithy"s of her ancestry, this is my place of work and crafting with my hands.  (And this house is old, and, can I just tell you that even with our brand new A/C unit up here, it still feels like a smithery some days :-O)  It's been a long time coming, and I have a long way to go, but I am a wordsmith -- and this, my friends, is my WORDSMITHERY.  Welcome!    
Here's a 5-ish minute video tour or you can click through the pics at the bottom.  Forgive all my "favorites" in the video -- they really are all special "favorites", but a bit redundant to be sure :-O
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