A room of her own– the guest room office

Just because I have stopped renting the Little House in Sunflower Valley, doesn’t mean I don’t need my own office space. Of course, I’ve had to be adaptable. Or rather, we all have had to adapt.

A few weeks before we moved, my laptop started giving me issues with the Zoom program that my online classes are taught through. I know the moment it happened, since the class prior to the Zoom update was fine and the class immediately after was not. I tried contacting Zoom who said it was either my computer or my internet.

So I decided to order a new computer. I bought a refurbished all-in-one computer at Amazon and I had it a few days later. The problem with Zoom persisted. Plus the computer would randomly turn off. So I shipped the computer back to Amazon.

Instead of buying yet another computer, I ordered a camera and started using my son’s custom built computer for classes. I was still having problems, but now I was sure it was the internet. This issue led to the quest for the internet. Then with the purchase of another battery, making the current number 4 batteries for our solar setup, we made the move to La Yacata. 

The room that was our bedroom prior to the upstairs remodel became the office and guest room. My son’s computer and a desk are in the corner of the room. The huge blue screen that the company I work for requires as the background is suspended from the ceiling. We have a twin bed set up in case of a guest. There is also another smaller desk that holds all La Yacata community paperwork because I am still called on at times to take care of that business. I hung a blanket on the wall to help with the microphone echo. I had my husband move the fan light from upstairs to into this room. The lighting still wasn’t very good for the video I need to teach classes, so I bought a floor lamp as well, which seems to help keep me from looking so washed out. My husband ran the cable from the modem perched in the second-floor window to the office area.   

After all the work, here I am sitting at the upstairs table on my laptop writing instead of the office. It’s just too dark to be in there all the time, although it works wonderfully for my classes since most of them are scheduled after the sun goes down anyhow.

My son and I are sharing his computer. I use it to teach classes, sometimes up to 6 hours a day.  I know he’s a bit frustrated with that. My laptop is over 2 years old and just hasn’t adapted well to the Zoom updates. It still works for everything else I need it for though.

My son’s computer time has also been limited because of our off-grid setup. With just 4 batteries, we aren’t sure of our electric budgeting yet. Yesterday we did two loads of wash and filled the tinaco on the roof using the pump and used some power tools so by the time evening came around, the charge indicator was orange and my son wasn’t permitted any computer time.

In case you missed it, we did two loads of wash yesterday! With the pure sine wave converter, our washer works just dandy. Our other small appliances also work better, the blender, popcorn maker, and fan. So while we still have hopes of a few more batteries, we are delighted with our current creature comforts here in La Yacata.

That hasn’t stopped my husband’s drive for change though. He’s got a few more projects underway.