I spend at least 50% of my day sitting at my desk in my office. As soon as the kids leave for school I head over there (almost always in my PJs) and get to work. “Work” might involve writing for SavvyMom or the Kitchissippi Times, or working on a website as part of my design business, or trying to do a little creative writing for contests, or putting together this week’s Turtlehead Newsletter. It’s a frantic race to get as much accomplished as I can – and put on pants – before going to pick up the kids from school six hours later.

Like most people I work best when my workspace is neat and tidy and I have easy access to everything I will need for the day.

And that TOTALLY happens all the time!

Or not. Actually, for full effect, here’s my entire workspace area, featuring multiple piles of papers on the floor, because they kept sliding off the massive pile of paper on the desk. Oh yes, I am neat as a pin!

One thing that takes up a lot of space on my desk is my collection of toys, which is actually a small subset of the toys I own. The rest of the collection lives upstairs on my bedside table, where my children add to it daily (“Mom, I know you will love this Playmobil girl, she looks just like you!”). Let’s zoom in to the ones that get to be a part of the workday.

First, there’s Edward, a miniature train from the Thomas the Tank Engine line. Edward is my favourite Thomas train because he likes to help and share. Edward gets a surprising amount of play time as I roll him around my desk, putting off doing any actual work.

Then there’s my Banff Gondola paperweight – a beloved gift from FameThrowa. I saw these when we were actually at the gondola in Banff and I so very badly wanted one, but we were trying to keep the souvenir spending down so I passed, then regretted it. But little did I know that FameThrowa had snuck back into the shop later to get it for me, and gave it to me once we were back home. I love it!

Also pictured: my mouse, used exclusively by the kids to play Minecraft, shaped like a VW car of some sort; and if you are sharp eyed, you may notice a bookmark featuring kittens and puppies in the background. Because I am nothing if not PROFESSIONAL and ADULT.

I like turtles, and whenever my two daughters come across a turtle – at garage sales, in play sets, at toy stores – they get one for me. I have quite the little zoo on my desk hiding behind the computer. Also pictured: random white bead that my youngest daughter insisted I HAD to have.

You may have noticed there’s also a little hippo in there – he’s my House Hippo, also a gift from the girls, who love that commercial.

Recently my youngest got a Smurfette as a happy meal toy and insisted that I adore Smurfette (??) and placed her on my desk. She’s chilling with my favourite Hot Wheels car from my childhood, which I gifted to my son but now lives with me because he broke something on it and we were both a little stressed out about it.

Anna, Elsa, and Olaf like to answer the phone when it rings.

These two little super-smooth rocks are from the Museum of Nature and I just really like the way they feel. I often rub one between my fingers while thinking. It’s soothing, and the black one is actually a piece of obsidian so it makes me feel all badass and stuff. In a smooth kind of way.

Not pictured: a little bin I have of cool buttons, guitar picks, and little rocks (in which I just found ANOTHER turtle), a deck of cards, a container of pennies (COLLECTOR ITEMS!), and about a million pens. They’re in there somewhere – just don’t ask me to find them!