When too many distractions get in the way

For some of us there are times that there are just too many distractions that get in the way of getting what you want completed. I know that I have challenges sometimes when everything around me seems to be a distraction and I cannot regain a focus on what I would like to try and get accomplished. It doesn’t matter if it is work related or not there are times that distractions just seem to make it difficult to focus on anything.

Trying to limit the number of things that are getting in the way of accomplishing what you want or need to accomplish can be difficult. If you have ways of turning off the distractions that would be good because that can help you regain that focus. Here are some distractions you might want to turn off:

• Music
• Email notifications
• Social media

Here are some distractions that you might have to handle differently:

• Phone calls
• People interrupting you
• Other sounds around you

When things just seem to get overwhelming and you lose your focus here are some ideas on how to manage those distractions and help you regain your focus:

• Looking out the window and not really focusing on anything.
• Putting in earplugs to limit the sounds around you.
• Finding something you can look at that isn’t too repetitive or too distractions (I watch the Port of Miami on YouTube as my way to help regain my focus).
• Get into a location that helps you focus (different room or entirely different location).
• Do something different for a few minutes to get away from the immediate task.
• Allow yourself time to just breath and get the focus back.
• Change how you make the notes, maybe change from computer to tablet or to paper as that might help you get away from the distraction.
• Change up your routine so you aren’t doing the same thing at the same time everyday.

Something that I find that helps me regain my focus sometimes is just to allow ideas to just happen and capture them in point form, or whatever way helps. When you are capturing the ideas don’t try and edit the thoughts, just allow them to happen, as you can edit them later. We also must know that there are times that no matter what we try and do it isn’t going to help at all. Another thing we have to realize is that something that works today may not work tomorrow to help you regain your focus so you will have to try different things.

We all deal with distractions and sometimes they don’t seem to be an issue and then there are going to be times when they are an issue, and we must learn how to deal with them in different ways. I know that some of the ideas that I have recorded aren’t going to help everyone, but these are some of the ideas that I have found work for me, so I wanted to get them down.

If you have any other ideas of how you regain your focus after dealing with distractions, please comment what works for you as I would be interested in hearing different ideas.

Your keys should be kept out of sight

Recently on Facebook was someone asking where they could get keys cut as they needed an extra set. That is a normal request because not everyone knows where you can get that done. People were giving lots of great suggestions and then I saw a comment that made me very concerned.

If you send me a photo of both sides of your key, I will let you know if I can cut it for you.

The reason I was so concerned about this is this is a major issue because someone with a 3D printer and a photo of a key could make a copy of the key very easily. Of course, as soon as I saw this comment, I sent a private message to the individual asking where to get keys cut to not send a photo of her keys to anyone especially someone you don’t know.

It has been shown that from a picture people (bad actors) can make copies of keys and the type of keys that can be copied very easily are the ones that use the standard blanks. It is always important to make sure that you don’t have your keys visible for someone to take a photo of them.

There are so many times that I have seen people either wearing their keys or a fob on their bag or their belt, and I think they are calling for someone to take a picture of their keys. We have also seen pictures of a security office with a window that showed all the keys that they needed to use and of course that meant the people (bad actors) could copy those keys without any problem. So, remember when you are out in public or asked to provide a picture of your keys it isn’t a good idea because that person that is right near you might not be acting in your interest but in theirs.

Seeming invisible

Lately there have been times that I have felt that I am invisible and people around me don’t seem to see that I am around. This has happened quite a few times and I am going to be highlighting a couple of these instances to show that I have been around but just not seen.

1. I opened the door at a fast food restaurant to enter.
1. The result of this was the person that was going to exit thought that the door automatically opened, so that they could leave, and they didn’t see that I was entering. I did let them know that I had opened the door for me and they just needed to wait.
2. Attending a monthly IT event and seeming invisible to someone saying hello to my business partner.
1. This has happened a number of times and this individual will walk over and reach past me, invading my person space, to shake hands with my business partner. This individual would say “Hello Sir” and doesn’t understand how he is disrespecting me.
2. I have finally called this individual out because this has happened a number of times and he needed to leave that saying “Hello Sir” doesn’t acknowledge me at all. His comment was, I said “Hello Sir” so I was saying hello to everyone.
3. Working a booth at an IT Security conference.
1. Here is another instance when I have found that I have been invisible to an individual even when there are four of us working at the booth at the same time. I must say that the individual that I am talking about is the same individual that attends a monthly and does see me. This time there were four of us at the booth and he made sure that he shook hands with the other three individuals of the booth but avoided even acknowledging me. I was standing between two of the gentlemen that were working the booth with me. One of the gentlemen noticed how I was avoided and asked why that was. My only reply was, I am not certain but maybe it’s because I’m female.

Something that I have noticed over the last little while is it depending on the individuals that you are dealing with. I have found that some individuals will acknowledge me without any issues at all and then there are the few that seem to think I don’t deserve to be respected. When you are at events or even out in public remember that everyone should be treated with the same respect.

Challenges in life

There are going to be times when things just don’t seem to go according to plan and you have to accept that things are going to be different. In our case what happened was a skin infection which changed how we handled a bunch of things.

 Of course, the skin infection came out of the blue and it resulted in three separate visits to emergency to get antibiotic injections to get the infection under control. It wasn’t just the injections it was also the various blood tests as well as a blood culture test and an ultrasound to make sure that everything was ok.

 One of the things that we weren’t prepared for was to be given a note after our first visit that we could show the triage nurse that would move things along a little faster. What the note basically said was when we got into one of the departments was we needed the doctor to look at his leg and then order the antibiotic injection so that we didn’t have to wait as long as we did the first day. Of course, the first day was a lot of test sot see if they could figure out what was happening and that didn’t bother either of us because it was normal to see what was happening. The second day was very quiet because we got into one of the emergency sections and the leg was checked out and then the antibiotic injection was given, and we were sent home.

The third injection day was when it took a bit longer and that is because the doctor decided it was time to do a few more tests to see if anything had changed. The first test was some more blood work to see if things improved and the results were the infection had improved, which was good. The other test was an ultrasound to ensure there wasn’t a blood clot and that also came back clear which was also a good sign.

Summary:

There was a skin infection which meant that there was going to be the three antibiotic injections followed by 7 days of antibiotics before going back to the family physician for another evaluation. The result was another 7 days of antibiotics and hopefully things clear up after this but only time will tell. What this basically means is that we have to try and monitor the infection the best we can and if it gets worst we need to go back to either emergency or the doctor.

When a pen colour/thickness doesn't work

This last little while I have been working on getting a to-do list written out in a journal book and I figured it didn’t matter what colour pen I used. Just moving  the list forward that was what was most important. Well, I found out that the colour of pen that I was using to write out my list did make a big difference. 

What happened was when I decided to start to rewrite my to-do list, because it has been a month since I did that I just simply grabbed a pen which I thought was similar to the one that I had been using to write out my list. I found it was black instead of blue and I figured it wouldn’t make a difference. Well, that is when things started to not go as well as I had hoped.

What I didn’t realized is that the colour of the ink does seem to make a difference, but I can’t explain what it is. It would be nice if I could figure out why I hated the black pen. It could be because it is a medium point and most of the time, I am either using a fine or a .38-point pen, so they are a lot finer than the one that I was using. What I did find was those letters seemed to be overwhelming me, and I just couldn’t seem to see what I was writing, the words just seem to take up far too much of the page and that didn’t help at all.

It ended up that I decided to step back and figure out what colour pen and what finest I wanted to work with, and I finally figured out that I needed to use a blue pen with a .25 point and that made me happy. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work but I ended up testing a bunch of pens and this was the pen that made me the happiest so that is what we went with.

I didn’t think a pen colour or thickness was going to make such a difference but what I did realize is that I need to use the pens that make me the happiest. Even if I think a pen is ok for a while, what pen do I want to use most of the time? I know that I am one of those that like the very fine pens and I am going to go back to using just those pens for most of the stuff that I do. Those pens make me happy and that is what is most important.

 

Postal Strike

Edit: This post was written during one of our many postal strikes we have had.

Here we are in a middle of a postal strike and there are going to be a lot of challenges that we all need to deal with. There are so many challenges that we need to deal with, and it will depend on who you are, what your requirements are with regards to the postal system 

Here are some of the challenges that everyone is dealing with:

• Senor citizen – if you are someone that receives either CPP or OAS cheque through the mail you will continue to receive these cheques because the government has made a progress that these cheques will continue to flow.
• Credit card statements – if you receive your credit card statements through the mail you will have to figure out how to get them electrically because they are not going to be mailed to you while the postal workers are on strike.
• New credit cards – here it is a challenge that I am not certain how it is going to be handled because there are a lot of individuals whose credit card is up for renewal, but we are uncertain how or when we will be receiving our new credit card.
• Parcels in the process – if you have a parcel that was shipped prior to the strike the parcel is currently sitting at a facility waiting to be released once the strike is over.
• I want to order something – here is a challenge that some of us are going to have to deal with and that is wanting to order something but knowing that the parcel isn’t going to be shipped for a while.

Yes, it can be a challenge when we are all dealing with a postal strike and we have to deal with a bunch of issues that might not make us happy. We might want something quickly and we have to decide if we are willing to pay the additional cost to have it delivered through courier or not. Of course, there are going to be the challenges and additional costs that we might have to incur but we need to figure out is the cost worth it or can I just wait and order it later once this issue has been resolved.

I understand that the Canada postal system is on strike because there are issues that they have issues with, but I also must say that we need a postal system that works within Canada and if it isn’t what you had in the past but something that will work in the future we need to accept the new normal. For me if I need to go a short distance to pick up my mail versus having at home delivery, I am willing to accept that. I know that there are a lot of individuals that don't want this change but when you look at a lot of the newer developments, they have to walk to a community box to pick up their mail and that is the normal for them.

Our postal strike is about the community boxes versus at home delivery and maybe what we need to see is that community boxes is what we need to keep our postal system viable. For a lot of us that are use to being able to go our own persona mailbox (at home) to get our mail is what we dealt with in the past but maybe just going out for a bit a bit of stroll to check our box is going to become our norm. I don’t mind that new option because it means that I will figure out what I get in the mail and I can get some exercise when I need to go to that box.

When juggling cross stitch projects doesn't work

I have been watching a lot of people that say that they would like to get some progress on projects, but then they bounce between multiple projects and then get frustrated that they don’t seem to be making the progress that they would like to get done. They are bouncing between the multiple projects during a week which given everything else in life, it is hard to see any progress on anything this way.

Something that I have found that doesn’t work for me is bouncing between multiple projects either daily or even weekly, because I don’t seem to see any progress on anything and that doesn’t make me happy. Sure, I might be able to get a couple of hundred stitches in a project but when I am bouncing over multiple projects in a week, when I look at the progress for the week, I don’t see much progress at all. 

What I have found is if I can focus on a project for even multiple days at a time or better yet a week at a time, I an see some good progress on the piece. One of the things that I have figured out is that each day of the week I will have a various amount of time to do the stitching so I can’t say I will get the same number of stitches completed each day. A workday of stitching versus a weekend day of stitching without obligations can really vary with the amount of time I can work on a project.

It is amazing how many people have said that they don’t seem to see a lot of progress on their stitching projects and all I can say is instead of bouncing around so much maybe spend a week working on a project and see what progress you are able to make.

I understand that depending on the project the progress from week to week isn’t going to be the same. I know that for me when I pick up a project for a week, I can quite often get just over 1,500 to around 2,000 stitches completed for the week, and I can see some good progress on the project. This is what makes me happy and I am seeing progress on a fewer number of projects.

So, if you are not seeing progress on the projects that you are working on maybe look at how often you are changing what you are working on. If you don’t give a cross stitch project enough time to even see some progress, you aren’t going to feel good after a week when you sit back and say what did I work on this week and what progress did I make on my projects.

 

Why are you asking me for details, I have posted multiple times

For people that are posting within a group please remember that admin/moderators cannot track every single person that is posting things. Recently I was told that someone had posted multiple times providing information so I shouldn’t be asking for info. Well to it put it plain and simply “we cannot track every person that is posting and who provide good information and who doesn’t”

If you are posting in a specific group, remember that posting the normal things over and over again is very important. You may think it isn’t important for each post but there are too many people that just think they can post a minimum amount of detail and that is accepted. It might be something that you don’t think is important to post each time to post a picture whoever n this group that information is extremely important.

Within a lot of groups when the admins/moderators are asking for details to be posted for each post they are asking this because too many people are not providing information. If you happen to miss posting the information and get a question about the details don’t get upset because the admin/moderators cannot track every person and every post that they are posting in the group. If you have missed providing the information either edit your original post or provide the additional information to help everyone in the group.

This is a comment that I received in a group, and I was just asking for them to show that they were using the app the group was about:

"sorry, but posts go so quickly, there’s no way someone would see if you posted a request and it gets buried in posts. It’s not in the group rules - it may be something to add (from someone who admins multiple groups myself). I’ve scrolled down through the group quite far and see no posts requesting this so maybe add to the rules or pin it or something. One would think that people wouldn’t post or even be in this group unless they were using the app. Not trying to be difficult at all, but please understand as an honest person it was really jarring to be questioned like that instead of celebrated. Leaves a really bad taste."

There is a new rule that has been added to the group that people must provide information about the pattern they are using and if they are using the app. 

People think that some people will only post within a group if they are using the app but there are too many posts that show that people are not using the app but just want to try and promote a pattern, a designer or something else. It is rather difficult as a moderator/ administrator of a group to totally manage everything and when we ask a simple question, we are just trying to protect the group.

I understand that you might think that you are posting correctly but remember that the admin/moderator of each group is going to have different times that they can allocate to monitoring the group so if they ask you to provide information, please just do t hat because it is in the interest of the that group not every other group. You might have provided the designer but not the actual pattern name so that is something else that you have to be aware of.

It is rather difficult for a group admin/moderator to be able to track everything so yes it might not be in the rules currently but if they are asking for some more details don’t assume that everyone else is doing thing correctly. Simply provide the information and then privately message the admin/moderators to let them know you noticed something that was missing in the rules. Being polite and part of a group can make a big difference, if you star to challenge ethe admin/moderators you might find out that this group isn’t for you.

When a team jells

There are going to be times when a bunch of people that have different skills get together to form a team. It doesn’t have to be a formal team but is a group of four individuals that get together to be a team when there is a booth that needs a team.

This team that I am talking about is a group of four of us that jelled together to make sure that we were able to form a team that was able to be there for a booth and we all have different thoughts and ideas and knowledge so that means it is going to be challenge in some areas. It can be a challenge to make sure that everyone can work together to make sure that the booth functions to the level that is required but it doesn’t take long to see when a team starts to jell.

It is easy for a lot of people to jell as a team and one of the biggest things is knowing that everyone has the same common goal. The goal can be as simple as promoting a community group or any thing else, but you need to know that the goal is the same for everyone that is part of the team.

In our case it is promoting a community group where there are a lot of individuals that might now know about the group but have told to come by a booth to find out about this group. There are also the people that have heard about the community/group but haven’t joined because they aren’t certain if the group is a fit for them.

What is extremely important to say is that you need to figure out how to join a group and then after that figuring out if this group meets your needs. Not every group is going to be there for you or your needs, but you need to give it a bit of time because what you see in social media immediately after joining might not be what you see moving forward. Being able to make sure that you have been able to evaluate the group outside of a couple of ports is very important. A couple of posts might make you feel unwelcome but after that you might feel like you are part of that group and you have found a group that you enjoy participating in.

Dementia/Alzheimer's journey times 2

For those of you that have gone through a Dementia and/or Alzheimer’s journey once I am going to say I know that it can be a challenge, because we have been through that and we understand the challenges. We aren’t going to say that we know what you went through because every journey is different, and we have seen that. What we have been through is two different journeys and both of them have been so different.

The dementia/Alzheimer’s journey is going to be different for everyone because there are signs that we may have missed and different routes that this journey is going to take moving forward. I know for example we have gone through two journeys, and both have been entirely different. We went through a journey through Covid that was extremely fast, and it went from first being diagnosed with dementia in a March and then losing my dad in the January of the next year.

The first diagnosis was frontotemporal dementia (FPT) and that is something it can happen rather quickly and that is what we experienced. We went from having a dad that was able to manage his life and understand all the different things to someone that wasn’t able to understand that we were there visiting him. My dad was always hungry no matter what much food he had because his system wasn’t able to communicate to itself that he had food, so he just wanted to keep eating.

The second diagnosis of dementia wasn’t fullly diagnosed until very later in the journey because no doctor wanted to say that my mom had dementia because that was something they didn’t want to sign on a dotted line about. The basic thing we heard was given my mom’s age she was just old, and all the symptoms pointed to her age. What is funny about all of this is during all this my mom was living on a memory care floor which was for someone that had dementia or cognitive impairments. She hadn’t been diagnosed formally with any of this until I had to talk with a geriatric nurse who finally said that yes, mom had dementia, and it was recorded as a formal diagnosis.

I had been fighting through the system to figure out what was wrong with my mom because no one wanted to say yes, she had dementia/Alzheimer’s even through she was showing all the signs. If someone is put onto a memory care floor in a senior’s care residence, make sure you ask a lot of questions because they are there for a reason.

One thing to be aware of is that if someone is getting a lot of medial assistance make sure you have got the written/official diagnosis as it can make a big difference with regards to income tax. This at least applies to those living in Canada.

When writing doesn't seem to work

For someone like me who enjoys sitting and writing it can be a challenge when the words just don’t seem to come. Sometimes not writing is because I keep getting distracted on a bunch of other things and that breaks my train of thought, so it takes me longer to get anything achieved and I do get frustrated when that happens. I have found out that there are times when I can just sit and write and lose myself in my writing and then there are times it’s a challenge to even get a few words done. 

Something that I have found sometimes helps me get back to the writing that I want to do is give myself a time limit. This time limit is I need to write for x number of minutes before I can do anything else. I know it sounds a little crazy, but it is amazing how much writing you can achieve when you give yourself that block of time. For me, sometimes it is even 10 or 15 minutes before I can even think of checking email or anything else, but it does work. Quite often that 10 or 15 minutes turns into a lot more writing because I get on a roll and the words then seem to flow. During this block of time, I also try not to think about the punctuation because I can do back after this time and make sure that I have all the commas in the right places.

Another thing that I find helps me get back to the writing level that makes me happy is to put my earplugs in and just let the words flow without all the various sounds around me. I have different earplugs that I use depending on what I want to achieve. I have some earplugs that block out most of the sounds around me and then I have other ones that will block some of the sounds. When it is very windy out, I quite often put the earplugs in just to block out some of the whistling that happens.

When writing doesn’t work it can be a challenge but knowing different things that help you get the writing done that you want to achieve does help. Another thing that I do is change where I am sitting when I am trying to get the writing done because sometimes a different location or a different device makes a big different. I normally do most of my writing on my computer, but I also have my tablet and a keyboard that I use. The different devices can make a difference and sometimes just being away from the multiple screens that I have when at the computer helps a lot.

So, if you are finding that writing doesn’t seem to work maybe try one of these ideas and see if it helps you. I know that these have worked for me and I get back to the writing that I want to do. This entire blog post was written when I was finding it difficult to write so I said 10 minutes and then you can do something else. Well, it was more than 10 minutes, and I was able to get back to writing which makes me happy.

 

Social media and drama

I have been watching a family channel on YouTube, and I have some to realize that both kids that are on the channel need some education on how to manage things. Part of these kids have been home schooled all their life, and their mother doesn’t seem to have the discipline to manage that.

The girl has just started college, and I don’t think she understands the demands on her time because after her fist day it was total drama because there were things that she needed to get done in the next week. She has 5 courses and four of them are online so that means she doesn’t have to sit in a classroom for four of them, but she was complaining because she didn’t know how to manage the courses. Her questions were should I do all of one course, on one day a week or should I try and work on a bunch of them each day. I think part of the issue is because she has been home schooled, they haven’t had to learn about having glasses a couple of times a week depending on the schedule.

The boy that is shown in this family seems to be able to get away with way too much and if he doesn’t want to do the home schooling, she seems to let him get away with it. Of course, letting him get away with not getting everything done isn’t helping him at all and he seems to spend quite a bit of time playing videos games or knee hockey. Once again, the discipline of making sure that school is getting done each day and he is up and ready for school at a specific time doesn’t seem to be happening. He also never seems to clean up after playing knee hockey in the living room, so that to me is also showing that he isn’t learning how to clean up after himself.

Yes, it is a channel on YouTube so I understand that they are paid per views to the challenge but when you have two students that are complaining about having to do homework or schooling why should I continue to watch you. I have now decided that it is time for me to walk away from viewing this family channel because when your children/teens don’t understand the demands on life it is showing that it’s ok for them to behave like this and get away with it.

Watching YouTube channels that only show the drama within a family isn’t what should be happening. Yes, all families are going to have challenges, but you also need to show that the children/teens behave nicely, and they don’t always complain when they are asked to do something. Also, showing children/teens that appreciate things that are done for them is also important.

I am not always available

When you are managing a booth there are going to be times when you cannot just simply walk away from the booth to meet the demands of someone else. What I am trying to explain is when some has taken it upon themselves to try and get possible sponsors or speakers for a community.

I understand that we are always looking for the various sponsors or speakers, but you also have to understand the people that are running or involved in the booth cannot simply walk away from their duty at the booth to talk to someone that you think might be a possible sponsor/speaker.

Last year when we were at the booth there was someone from within the community that took it upon themselves to talk to various booths. At first it was nice when he would come back to the booth to get some to possible scan the person but after a little while it started becoming that he was demanded our time when he had someone that he thought we could talk to.

The outcome of all these conversations what that we didn’t get any possible sponsors or speakers which didn’t help at all. So here we are going into the next year, and this same person has demanded me to give him a list of the people that he spoke to last year. Well, there is a huge problem with that as we do not keep track of when we scan someone and who is doing the scanning. There are times that we are scanning a bunch of people, and it might be at the booth, and it might be somewhere else, but we don’t know where it is happening.

If you want to help, find possible sponsors or speakers and the best thing you can do is to talk to a booth and pick up a business card and give them to me, so that I can get to speak to them when I have time to walk away from the booth. Also, I never said that I would get you a full pass, all I said was I would try and see what happened. If you didn’t get a full pass maybe that is because there were other things that happened that you didn’t see.

Cross stitch - where to start on the fabric

One question that comes up in a lot of groups on-line is: I am new to cross stitch and where do I start the pattern? 

There are so many different spots that you can start a pattern and in a lot of cases the pattern itself can sometimes help you determine where to start it. I have my preference, but it does change depending on the pattern because sometimes I just start in my normal spot.

Here are the standard stops that you can start a cross stitch pattern:

Centre – starting right in the middle of your pattern and your fabric means that if you have cut your fabric correctly you will make sure that the design is centered on the fabric which is a good idea sometimes. Some patterns are best to start in the middle and those are patterns that don’t have stitches close to the edge of the design. Some stitch-alongs will start in the middle so that is where you will need to start unless you wait until your preferred location is released.

Upper left corner – I see a lot of people start here and it is one of the corners that is good to start with. In a lot of cases this means that you will be working from the top down on your pattern and that is a good place to start. This is a good spot to start for some stitch-alongs because they normally provide pages in this layout.

Bottom left corner – this is another spot to start, and it is where I do most of my starts. It means that I can work across the pattern of the design, and I can then if using a scroll frame roll it up as I work. This works good for a lot of patterns except for when doing a stitch-along and the design is released from top down or center out.

Upper right corner – I don’t see a lot of people starting here but there is nothing wrong with starting in the upper right corner and working done. This could be a good spot to start if you have the top rows of a stitch along and the right is where you like starting. Some people that stitch in hand will stitch from right to left, especially if they are right-handed.

Bottom right corner – this is similar to the bottom left corner as it means you can scroll your work up when you finish the lower pages of the design. This has the same benefits and challenges as a bottom left corner start.

Summary

As you can see there are five spots that are generally where you can start a pattern, but it is entirely up to the individual where they start. If you get the pattern stitched on the fabric and have enough fabric around the piece for finishing it, you are doing what is right for you. Knowing where to start a project really does depend on the pattern itself as well as who is stitching it.

 

Why a free SAL isn't a free SAL any longer?

A lot of groups will have a stitch a long which will be free for a specific amount of time but once that time is over it isn’t free any longer.

It is amazing how many people will say that they have missed a couple of the sections that they expect someone to just send them the prices they are missing. Well to put it cleanly, if you are sending parts of a pattern to someone else you are breaking copyright laws.

It may be difficult to tell someone that either that they missed the pieces totally or not they have to purchase the entire pattern, but it is something that needs to be done. A lot of the stitch a-longs (SAL’s) have an end date, and you must understand that once that date is passed that pattern is no long available for free. It is amazing how many times I have seen on Facebook someone that says that “I have missed section x and can someone send it to me.” Well, to make it very simple, no one should be sending you that section because they are breaking copyright laws. I have seen too many messages on Facebooks that have said “I will send you that section.” If you are publicly telling someone t hat you will send them the missing section or sections, you are cleanly breaking copyright laws.

I understand it can be difficult when someone is saying that they are just missing one section of the piece to not immediately figure out how to get them the missing section but we all have to understand that patterns are only available for a specific amount of time and if someone missing the opportunity to acquire the pattern for free we can only provide the information of where to get the entire pattern or let them know that they have missed those sections and there is nothing that can be done to get those missing sections.

I know that I have seen quite a few times that people have said "just message me and I will send you the missing sections". If you are doing that you have now just reported to everyone that you are willing to break copyright laws. I normally will try and let these individuals know that they are breaking the law but I also know that they will probably ignore me and just continue to break the law whenever someone asks for help.

Remember that a free SAL is normally only free for a specific amount of time and if someone is asking for a piece or pieces after that deadline you cannot share those parts even if you think it is just between the two of you. It is still breaking the copyright laws, and you can get into a lot of problem if you are discovered to be providing pattern without the right to do so.

When you are in a group but you aren't within the area

As a moderator of a community group, I have found that so many people don’t understand what within an area means. 

When a group says “We are happy to allow local business owners and content creators to post here for exposure *on Thursdays only* and meeting the following criteria: For business owners – it is a physical business, ongoing service or charitable organization location in and/or at least primarily serving the * area. Or for content creators – the purpose or theme of the content has a significant relation to *. Content considered to be unrelated ads or spam will be removed”. Why do people think they can post and not have their posts removed?

What I have noticed while being a moderator is so many people think that they can post within multiple communities within a region and think they are local for each of the areas. It is very interesting being a moderator within the GTA and people think that areas 30 km is still within the area but is isn’t within the focus group. It can be such a challenge to figure out who is local and who isn’t because people have started hiding their location. As a moderator what I have started to do is when I see you post in the group, I am part of I will also search your name to see where else you are posting. If I find you are posting outside the area and especially outside a few minutes of this group, you will be removed from the group because you are no longer considered local.

I have found that so many people will join multiple groups within a region and not think that someone will do some homework to see there they are located. If you are posting in multiple areas and the rule is your business must be local, know that you are going to be deleted and banned from a number of groups. A number of groups within Facebook do not do automatic approval so you need to understand that someone is going to be checking who you are. I know that that there are lots of groups that if you answer the questions correctly you will be automatically approved but there are still groups that have a human that does the actual approval.

So, if you are posting a job/service within multiple areas please know that there are going to be groups that have someone that will do the occasional search and see where else you are posting. If you are removed from groups because of this understand you cannot complain because you are the person that broke the rules.

 

 

Why I write

Why do I write is very simple and that is because I love writing about the different things that are going on in our life. Of course, some of the blogs that I write are not entirely non-fiction, but I try and give the feeling of what is going on around me and what are some of the thoughts and feelings that I am dealing with.

For me writing is something that I have enjoyed doing for years and years and I hope to be able to continue to get more writing achieved in the next while. I do have some goals that I would like to achieve with my writing so that is something that I am going to be working towards in the next little while. I am going to say what it is because I don’t want the pressure as I don’t know how long it is going to take me to get the goals achieved. 

My writing is a way to sometimes escape from the daily routine as I can sit and put my earplugs in and just write and let the rest of the world disappear. Of course, there are times when the rest of the world is part of what makes me write more because of what is happening around me at a given time. I am someone that normally has something to write on with me when we are out and about because I never know what a thought or idea will hit and I need to get it down.

I try and capture a thought when I get it and even if it isn’t a big idea when the thought initially hits it can sometimes grow into something a lot bigger so that is why I try and capture even the smallest of ideas. I do have a document with a bunch of blog ideas that I would like to write and if I could sit and write all those ideas, I would probably have blogs written for at least a year or more.

My writing in some ways is my escape and a way to relax, and I do enjoy it a lot. Knowing that I have been able to continue to write at least a little bit each day for almost 12 years makes me feel wonderful. Probably by the time this entry is posted I will have surpassed the 12 years of not missing a day of writing. The total might not be the greatest some days but at least finding that little bit of time to put some words down helps a lot. My writing is what brings me joy and just continuing to write the different blogs and such makes me happy and that is why I write.

Parking/entrance lighting

What we have been seeing lately is that the lighting in a neighbouring apartment building leaves a lot to be desired. When it comes to safety when either walking into the apartment building or parking a vehicle in the visitor parking area I would be extremely concerned. 

Imagine trying to park your vehicle and there are no overhead lights within the area so that means that once you leave your vehicle you have to hope that any other vehicle coming into the area has their full headlights on. We have seen that quite a few vehicles will come into this area without any lights on not even the daytime running lights. 

What bothers me is there are three lights that are from the building and two of them don't shine very well and the third actually shines onto one of the balcony units on the main floor so that isn't helping anyone else at all.  You can see the outside light that shines on the balcony on both of these pictures but that isn't helping anyone other than disturbing the resident that lives in that unit.

When you are looking at moving into an apartment building what you need to ensure you do is park close by and then try and walk up to the entrance after dark and see if you feel secure doing so. It can make such a big difference because just seeing what an area looks like during the day and than after dark can really impact where you move.

Whenever you are thinking of moving into an apartment building you need to look at the areas both during the daylight and at night because that can give you an idea of what you might be dealing with. This building isn't our building and the pictures we took don't show how dark it was because the camera adjusted for some of the other lighting around. 

What this post is showing is that you need to be aware of your surroundings both during the day and in the evening because it can make a bit difference. If you don't feel safe walking into a building in the evenings when lighting isn't the greatest what would you feel like walking into that building if there was a power failure? These are all the different things that need to be figured out before you move into a building and then find out you don't feel secure.

Why shouldn't I take the offer

Recently we watched someone that had an offer given to them and they simply walked away because they figured that they could do better than the offer. Well, I can honestly say that if I had of known that the patent was running out in the next 5 years, I probably would have taken the offer and run away happy. 

If you are saying that you can make $10,000 in profit in the next year but someone is offering you $100,000 for the business I think I would be thinking very hard and probably taking the offer because yes it might be something that I am attached too but can I make that profit quickly compared to what I could get right how.

One of the other issues that I have noted is that the patent is going to run out within the next 5 years so that isn’t going to help you at all and there are already people trying to copy the device so that isn’t good either. What you aren’t seeing is that you could walk away from this idea and then spend the money figuring out a new project where you could get a current patent and move it forward.

When I first found out about this product, I thought it was a newish idea, but little did I know that the project has been around for at least 19 years, and they haven’t been able to make a name for themselves. Sure, you can do the local markets and hope that you can sell some products, and you can also do some trade shows but what is the post of each of these booths versus the revenue to you making for each of these events. My biggest question is where I can purchase this project when I cannot attend an event. If you are saying that your product is only available at specific markets, you are eliminating a lot of people.

If you have a product that you would like to sell either through markets or online, you need to ensure that you have an online presence otherwise you are going to be eliminating a lot of sales. If I was to purchase an idea at a market, and I like it and want to share it with friends and family, I need to know how I can purchase the item online other wise it is a failure. If I can only purchase at item at an event/show that you are attending that doesn’t show that you are willing to make it available to a mass market.

In this case, we watched someone appear at Dragon’s Den and simply walk away from an offer because they felt they could make more money. The offer was something that I probably would have accepted because the cost versus the project wasn’t worth the time and energy.

 

Hearing the works "thanks"

It can be such a challenge when you are working within a community group and hearing the works “thanks”. It doesn’t have to be publicly but at least hearing it from someone that it from the committee can make a big difference.

What made me happy is someone from within the community thanked both my husband and I for the work we do for the community and that makes me feel so good. It shows that someone sees what we are doing and appreciates it. I know that is just such a small thing isn’t that major but when you haven’t heard from the committee or other individuals for a while it makes such a difference.

We have been involved with this community for over 15 years now and we do spend quite a bit of time working on various things and donate quite a few hours a year to helping them out. I know that not everyone is going to fall all over and thank us for what we do but at least getting an occasion thanks would make a bit difference. There are times when we either can't be at a meeting, or we get to a meeting a little later than planned because of work or transit so we can't help that time and it needs to be understood that we cannot do everything every time.

I know that a lot of people think that it is a given that you are thanks for what you do, but honestly if you don’t hear the works “thanks” it is hard to know that you are appreciated, especially when someone else is fallen all over for the little bits of stuff they do. Hearing the words “thanks” or “thank you” can make a lot of difference. There are going to be times when you cannot help at an event for a given reason and needed to know that the committee understands why makes a big difference instead of feeling that you should be helping no matter what.

Yes, hearing the works “thanks” does make a big difference and it can either keep someone helping within a community or the lack of thanks can make the person walk away because they don’t feel they are being appreciated.

 

How I start most days

People have asked me how I start my day and most of my days are very simple unless we are heading out to meet clients or go to a conference. I do like my morning routine, and it has been something that I have been doing for quite a few years now and it has helped me get things achieved most days.

Once I am up and ready to start the day, it’s important that I make my cup of tea which is normally English breakfast tea. I don’t have this everyday and, but we are going to be home, I am going to be starting my day with my 16-ounce cup of tea. Once the tea is made it is off to my desk where I will start the computer and open the documents that I normally use to start my day.

Here is what I will start with each morning when I start the computer:

• Writing outline – word document
• Word count – spreadsheet
• YouTube – Port of Miami Cruise Ship Terminals (BLC Streams)
• Email accounts

These are what I will have open before I start by day and yes having two monitors, but my laptop screen helps me be able to have all these things open and available for me to check things. Now a couple of these things that I open by sound a little different, but they help me with my focus.

• YouTube – Port of Miami Cruise Ship Terminals – this is a live stream of the cruise ships that sail out of Miami, so it is a nice to have a nice relaxing view for my day. This is normally open most of the time as I enjoy just having something to look at and I usually refer to this as my window. Also, the weather is a lot nicer to Miami than it is in Toronto in the middle of the winter.
• Word count – spreadsheet – this is a document where I document the number of words that I write each day and the total word count for each blog that I write. It is for me just a fun way of tracking how the writing is going each day.
• Writing outline – this is the document where I do my journaling and I say it daily so I can see what I was thinking and feeling that day. It is also where the raw blog posts are written so it is fun to see when specific blogs get written.

So, my morning routine is quite simple, with my cup of tea sitting in front of me I start to work on my daily journal and that normally lasts for about the first hour or hour and a half of my day and then after that is when everything else happens. I enjoy having this time to myself and I must admit there are days that most of the writing for the day is completed in this time.

My routine is quite simple, and I love it because it helps me get the focus for the day and then I can move other things forward. Of course, during this time I do quickly check email to see if there is anything that needs my immediate attention otherwise, the emails wait until after I have got my writing done completed. My daily planner is also checked but again it is just to make sure I know what the day ahead looks like.

I think most people have their daily routine and it how they start their day and for me I am happy with my routine and quite often this routine also happens on the weekends, so it is nice to have that consistency. If you have a similar routine, please let me know because it would be interesting to compare them.

What Nashville Needlework Market means to a stitcher

Of course, if you are a cross stitcher and follow some designers you are going to hear the term “Nashville Needlework Market”. This is an in-person market for designers, dyers and accessories supplies to have the chance to show their projects in person to shops. This is an opportunity for you to support your local cross stitch ship or online shop and purchase the various projects that are going to be made available at this show. It isn’t a market where individuals can attend but it is a great way to ask your local shop if they are going and if they can pick up the various projects that you might be interested in. 

Shops will travel from distances to be able to see the products in person and be able to purchase the items and bring them back to their shops. Designers, and dyers are going to the market so that they can show their products in shops to leave the show with no products remaining because the shops have purchased all their products. As designers and dyers say prior to Nashville Needlework Market, we go to the show with cars and boxes full of product and we hope to leave the show with empty cars, etc because all the shops are leaving with full cars and boxes.

If you are a shop that is going to be attending the Nashville Needlework Market, make sure that you communicate on your site and with your customers that you are going and will do preorders for the various patterns that designers are making available. What I have seen is that there are shops at the last minute say that they are attending Nashville Needlework Market but don’t let their customers know how they can either request patterns to be picked up or what patterns are available for preorder.

For local shops that are attending the Nashville Needlework Market you need to ensure that you have communicated with your customers so that when you go down you have an idea what your customers are wanting to you to bring back. Sure, you might think you know what your customers want to see in the shop, but you also need to figure out what they want from the various designers. There are designers that never release a pdf version of their pattern so being one of the first people that get the pattern would be nice.

Something that you have to think about is maybe last time you went to the Nashville Needlework Market, your customers wanted a certain set of designers but have times changes and the designers wanted are different. The only way you are going to be able to determine this is by asking your customers what they would like to be made available in the shop right after the Nashville Needlework Market. The other thing that you need to do is have a special event the event after you return to showcase the projects that you brough at the Nashville Needlework Market for those that didn’t have a chance to preorder the charts that they liked and hoped you bought back.

Why "might" isn't a guarantee

There are so many times when you are saying that I "might" be able to do something and someone else thinks it is a guarantee and isn’t happy when the "might" doesn’t happen.

I have been part of community for a while and there was one person that was trying to assist in the group, and I said to them that we would see, and we "might" be able to provide a bit of a benefit for them. Well, the benefit never happened, and I never said that I was fighting for it so was surprised when this person asked me if I had been able to get them a full pass. I had never promised that at all and hearing them say that caught me totally off guard. If I had of been able to get a full pass for this individual they would have heard from me way before the event, so I was a little frustrated.

There are going to be time when someone will say to you, I "might" be able to assist in something, but you must understand that the "might" isn’t a guarantee. The "might" is saying that I will try and see what I can do but you must understand that there is no guarantee.

Also, if you are trying to assist with some things within a community, please remember that the person that you are dealing with isn’t going to be totally available when you want them to be available. It can be a challenge for someone that is doing their own duties to be available when you expect them to drop everything and just do something.

There are so many ways that someone can help within a community and just knowing that people do appreciate your assistance, but you also have to understand that there are limits to everyone’s availability to walk away from their duties just because you think it "might" help the community.

So, if I say I “might” be able to do something, please remember that I used the word “might” as that is not a guarantee that I am going to be able to do something and don’t expect me to drop everything when I do have my other duties and responsibilities. Any individual can only do so much and you cannot expect them to do more than that and don’t get upset if the “might” doesn’t happen because there are other things beyond the control of this individual.

Knowing when to slow down

For a lot of us knowing when to slow down and take some time for ourselves can be a challenge. I know for me being able to understand that I have just been doing too much and giving my time to everyone else can be such a challenge.

There are times when you are going to have to just slow down and understand that you have to be there for yourself and that is the most important thing. It might not be on a schedule that you want it to be on, but you still need to understand that you are going to have to slow down no matter what. It is better to see it coming up so that you can start the slow down before your body just says I have had enough, and you are slowing down if you like it or not.

For a lot of us there are things that we want to keep doing and you don’t want to accept anyone telling us it’s time to slow down even just a bit because we think we know better than anyone else, well including our body. There are times that people around us are going to see the warning signs that we are starting to deal with burnout before we know that we are dealing with it.

Being able to understand that we all need some time to just slow down and do some of the things that we enjoy doing, such as crafting, can make such a difference on how to handle the stresses and demands that life throw at us on a continual basis. In a lot of cases being able to set aside some time each week where we do something that we enjoy can help us from totally burning out and that is, so important.

For me, I make a point of a few days a week to find a little bit of time to do some crafting, so that I can make sure that I have taken some personal time. It doesn’t have to be hours but at least knowing that you have taken that bit of time away from the demands that we all deal with is important.

If you are someone that keeps going until you totally burnout, remember that just taking bits of time for yourself no matter what you do is important. I know people that will just curl up in front of the TV and binge watch something as their break. At least it is taking some time to do something that you enjoy doing and making sure that you are recharging your personal battery before it tells you it’s empty.

Why some companies are still encouraging remote working

Something that has happened over the last couple of months is some companies have required employees to return to the office. In some cases, it is all 5 days a week and others are requiring all employees to at least be in the office Tuesday through Thursday. One of the situations that has happened is some companies have resized their office space so that few employees can be in the office at the same time.

Being able to figure out what is best for the business is very important. Do you need the employees in all the time or can you have them working remoting part of the time and then in the office at other times. So many people over the last few years decided that they wanted to escape the big city and they moved away from their office location because they figured they would be working remoting and only having to go to the office occasionally. This has happened for some people, but a lot of people have found out that they are required to be in the office more often.

What has happened to some companies was that given the change in business they had to downsize their location and that means that not everyone can be in the office at once. This is something that companies had to consider but, in some cases, it was either downsizing their location to stay in business or keep the big fancy offices and possibly must close the business. For businesses that had to downsize their location this means being flexible with how staff are going to be working.

We know businesses that have done both things of getting people back in the office either full time or most of the time and then companies that have downsized their space and now have a routine set up for various groups of individuals to come into the office or a specific day or two during the week. By doing what works best for the business is what every business needs to do. Some staff may not agree with the decision that is being made but they must respect the business owners as they are doing the best for both the staff and the business.

Being able to understand that not every business is doing to do the same thing is something that everyone must understand. Of course, there are businesses that are people facing businesses and yes, those people need to be in the office where people come to do business. For employees that have had to make decisions about their jobs because they have moved away from their former location that was something they did and must accept that will have to either move back or maybe find another position that is closer to where they now life.

The new business operation is going to depend on the actual business, and everyone must accept that there are going to be times when employees aren’t going to be happy because they must commute again maybe every day or even a few days a week. One thing employees must understand is that at least they still have a position given how many companies over the last five years had to close their doors.

Parking Garage - why should I scan?

There are so many times that I have watched to see cars run into issue because they haven’t scanned their fob before going into a parking garage. There are some of the reasons why you should scan your fob no matter if the door is open or not:

 Part of the reason the door is open is because someone has either got into the garage or out of the garage, but you haven’t seen them either exit or enter. You don’t want to have issues when you try and enter the garage.

1.     Am I willing to pay for the damage if I hit the garage door? There are times when you think that you might be able to get into or out the garage door without it hitting your vehicle, but are you willing to pay the damage to either your vehicle or to the door because you are going to be liable for that damage.

a.      If you hit the door you are going to probably have to pay for the damage to the door that you damaged.

b.     If you damage your vehicle during this time you are going to have pay for the damage that was incurred to your vehicle.

When shouldn’t I scan my fob when entering or exiting a parking age is easy. You should never not scan your fob because you do not know when someone may have triggered the device and are you within that time. You may not be certain of the timing between the scanning of the fob and when the door will close. Unless you are 100% certain that someone has either entered or exited the garage immediately when you arrive, you should always scan your fob.

For me, I will normally scan my fob unless I am either following someone into the garage or I have just witnessed someone coming out of the garage.

Making sure that you scan your fob when you either enter or exit the parking garage is extremely important. Know that you have done what is right where you live is important. We have heard people complain that the garage door has damaged either vehicle but what they haven’t said is if they scanned their fob before entering the garage So if you are going to complain about something please make sure that you aren’t the issue because it can make a big difference.

So next time you are thinking of getting upset about something, you should make sure that someone has either entered or existed the garage recently enough and make sure that you aren’t someone that is causing them an action.

 

 

Food allergies and hearing the words "Oh good"

For people with food allergies, hearing the words “Oh good” can be a hard thing to hear, especially when you are out in a restaurant. Sure, that comment might mean something entirely different from how it comes out, but it doesn’t help the person with the food allergies.  Here are some other ways that statement could be worded:

Oh good, I appreciate you letting me know – the staff stating they are happy you let them know about your allergies so they can make the necessary adjustments and let other staff know.

Thank you for notifying me – this one is an ok statement because at least you know that the server understands that you have food allergies.

Oh, I’ll be sure to let the kitchen staff know – this is the statement that I appreciate the most because the server has heard what you have said, and they are going to notify the staff that are involved in making your food.

Oh, I’ll be sure to let management know – this statement is OK, but is there a policy to let management know, and they let the kitchen staff know. This statement can be a little difficult to handle, especially when the restaurant is busy. Your food might be being prepared before the manager is notified, and they can let the kitchen know.

The words “oh good” when said alone can sound like I’m glad it’s you that has the allergies and not me. Having food allergies is a challenge enough when you are in a restaurant, especially when you have one of the common allergies, and it is in the restaurant. In a lot of restaurants that have the electronic ordering system, they have a button that they can press and enter the allergies that you have and that is sent along with your order to the kitchen.

So, if you work at a restaurant, please remember that saying the words “Oh good” can have a very negative impact on the person you are saying it to. If you can figure out a nicer way to acknowledge that you have heard what the person is saying and how to communicate it to the rest of the staff, please try and do that. It is a challenge for both the person with the allergy and the serve to figure out just how to manage saying it and acknowledging it.

Being invited to a wedding

This year we have been told to save the date to two different weddings and our reaction to both of those weddings were entirely different. One was for something that we are very close to and the other was to a wedding to a couple that we are not close to, and the bride doesn’t appreciate when people do things for her. 

The first wedding that we got the save the day for was our nephew and his finance and they are both appreciate for even the very small things that we do for them. It wasn’t just saving the date; it was they made sure to call us to let us know that they were engaged. The other thing that makes us happy about this wedding is they have made sure to let us know the date, time and location of the wedding and that made us both very happy.

Now the other save the date we received was an email from a new Gmail account that went into our spam account. Of course, this made us double check to see if it was a legitimate account and it was from …wedding@gmail.com. So, this email account was very new, and it is going to be use just for the wedding and that’s it. The other thing about this wedding is we haven’t had any communication with this couple other than through her parents since before the pandemic. We did get to see them once since then, but it was a quick dinner. So, this couple, we do know the bride, but we haven’t really had a chance to get to know the groom at all. Now the other thing about this wedding is the location isn’t close to a lot of things so that means we would have to either say at the resort where it is being held or figure out another spot where we can stay. I looked up the location, and we could only book a room at the resort within three months so it isn’t something that we could book now and know we have a place to stay. I then decided to try and figure out a location close to it and there aren’t very many places to stay so that would mean over an hour drive each way to the wedding which isn’t something either of us are really happy about. 

The wedding that we will be attending is going to be held in downtown Toronto and the reception is also downtown so that means it is easy for us to get to and from without having to figure out a place to stay other than at home. It is nice to know that we can get ready for the wedding at home and we can then return home after the wedding and that is nice.

So, if you are going to be inviting someone to a wedding there are a few things to think about:

-        How often have you seen the people you are inviting

-        Is the location of the wedding/reception easy for everything to get to and from.

-        How are you communicating the save the date, as a brand-new Gmail account could result in a lot of those messages ending up in spam.

-        How far ahead someone book accommodation at the location, lots of people want to know they have accommodations and cost of accommodations well ahead of the wedding.

These are just a few things that you need to think about when you are planning a wedding and starting to think about communicating the date with everyone. So, when you are planning your wedding make sure you have quickly communicated to the people you really want to attend and figure out any possible accommodations as soon as you book a venue if not before.

Being invited to a wedding isn’t just attending the ceremony, it is getting a gift (knowing what the couple wants), making sure you have an outfit to wear and if you need place to stay knowing here that location well before the wedding. If you are going to be sending a save the date email through a brand-new Gmail or any other email account understand that a lot of those messages could end up in a junk/spam account.

Getting in a good step count

Some days it doesn't take much to get a good step count in especially when you normally don't do a lot of walking. Recently we went for a trip to Niagara Falls for three nights and doing a lot of sight seeing wasn't one of the goals as we have been Niagara Falls quite a few times. That is the advantage of living withing two hours from here we can go whenever we want. We do try and not go down to Niagara Falls in the summer as that is when it's the busiest and most expensive. Our goal for this trip was to see a concert on a Saturday night and relax and do things that we wanted to do.

Here is my step counts for the four days of being away and two of those are travel days when we don't get normally as much walking in as the days we are staying in Niagara Falls.

• Thursday - 7,580 steps (this was a travel day and we also did do some walking along Clifton Hill and also a bit of walking around the Outlet Mall)

• Friday – 10,194 steps, this is one of our full days in Niagara Falls and even going to and from Tim Horton's for breakfast accounts for 1,700 steps so that does help. We also walked over to the old Casino and walked around Clifton Hill so that also helped with the step count.
• Saturday – 13,624 steps, this is another full day in Niagara Falls, walking to Tim Horton's for breakfast and then to Niagara Casino Resort to see a concert and back. Let's see what the step count is because seeing a total that makes me happy would be good.
• Sunday – 4,296 steps, this is walking to Tim Horton's for breakfast and then the travel day back home

Of course, we may not be reaching the 10,000-step count that some people say that you much achieve each day, but we are making sure that we can get some walking in and that is the most important thing.

Being able to see that we have been able to get some steps in each day is very important and we have to accept that not every day is going to be the 10,000-steps but at least if we have been able to continue to move our body and get some steps in it is better than nothing or just getting in 1,000 steps.

 

Vacations as a small business owner

So many people ask us how do we take a vacation as a small business owner? 

I can answer this question for us because every small business owner will do things differently and that is expected. We have friends that just take a week or two off and they hope that someone can help support their clients. Of course, that should be scheduled with the person that you are hoping to support your clients because that person might also be away at the same time. Giving notice for any vacation for support coverage is important.

Our business is in IT consulting so it will be different than for an accountant, lawyer or other types of small businesses. Each business is going to have a different way of handling vacations, and no method is either right or wrong. If the clients/customers you serve are served when they need you that is what is important.

How we manage most vacations is to take a few shorter vacations and have them either start on a Wednesday or Thursday and then be back by the end of the weekend. We are fortunate that we have clients that are great hands and eyes if something were to go wrong. We can also remote into client sites from locations in Canada to assist if something major was to happen.

We have taken a couple of longer vacations, but we have arranged for people to assist with support of our clients if it was needed. This scheduling was done at least 3 months before we went away so that we knew that we would have people available to support our clients. We also made sure to let the clients know that we were going to be away for a week, but we did have support for them if needed.

It is very important as a small business owner to understand how vacations will work for you as well as your clients. Making sure that you communicate with our clients IT department is important to ensure that you aren’t away while the main IT individual for a client is away. Sure, vacations can be different as a small business owner, but it is up to you how to manage them.

 

Why can't I write

There are so many reasons why I cannot write, and I just need to figure out how to get back to writing like I have done in the past. What I would like to do is document some of the reasons that I cannot write and maybe that will help me get back to writing.

1. I cannot find the time to put the writing as a priority. I know that I have the times to do that but I just don’t give myself permission to do the writing that I want to achieve during a specific amount of time.
2. I have other things that I need to get done. Have you figured out the priority of all the other things and do they need to get done today or can you schedule them for a different day so that you can get them done without destroying your writing time.
3. I cannot figure out to get the writing done that I want to do. Here is one of the biggest issues and it is not knowing how to get the writing done. It can be a challenge when you cannot think how to put writing as a priority.

Not being able to write can be such a challenge but you also need to figure out what is the block for getting the writing done and how you are going to manage everything that is currently being thrown at you. What people have said is that they have not been able to deal with the blank again and what I have done to give myself a break from that empty page, is set up a page that I can open up at the beginning of each day and it starts me writing without looking at a blank page. Before I do any writing for the day, I quickly open up a blank/formatted page and then I can start to get the writing done. I understand that there are going to be days when I can’t get a lot of writing done even with the formatted page.

I think for everyone there are going to be days or even weeks that you cannot get the writing done that you would like to achieve, and you just have to give yourself permission to accept that writing isn’t going to happen each day and we need to deal with that. It would be nice to be someone that can just write off thoughts/stories a day but there are going to be times what we all need to step back and understanding that I can’t write today and no matter how I try and get more things written it just isn’t going to happen.

This winter

Here we are the end of January, and I think a lot of us are saying when it is winter going to end. What has made this year so different is we have been having major snow falls and extremely cold weather. Here in Toronto, we have broken records for the most snow fall in one day and the coldest January on record. 

In some cases what we haven’t said anything about is the areas just outside of Toronto that have broken records of their own. Barrie, Ontario which is roughly an hour north of Toronto has set a record with getting move than 300 cm from November 1, 2025 – January 28, 2026, which isn’t a record I would like to say we achieved. So, 300 cm of snow is 118 inches of snow which is 9.83 feet of snow. I wouldn’t have wanted to deal with that amount of show and thankfully it didn’t come all at one time but having to continually have to shovel our driveway would become a little much. We have friends that live up in Barrie, and they are saying “enough is enough”.

It isn’t just Ontario that has been getting the extremely weather as there are people in Texas, that has seen snow and then areas like Atlanta, George that have received ice storms which are extreme for both of these areas. I know people in other of those areas and they have commented on how different this has been.

Here we are the first week of February and I am not certain what this winter has in store other than the next couple of weeks are going to continue to be very for us here in Ontario and I just hope things will star to warm up even a little bit for areas to the south of us. Seeing the temperatures are levels that not what we normally have doesn’t make me happy. This morning, we awoke with a temperature of -1F feeling like -28F wasn’t a good thing. Now I am looking at the forecast over the next 14 days, but we might not reach the temperatures that we did in the last couple of days, but we are still cold and that doesn’t make me happy.

We might not be reaching the lows that we have reached this past week, but I have to admit that I am very tired with the snow that we have got in the last couple of weeks (12 inches, and then an additional 22 inches) as well as the cold temperatures. I guess all we can do is except that this is the weather that we are going to get in the next couple of weeks and then hope it warms up soon.

It might not feel that we are getting a break from this cold and fridged weather but we also have to remember that in the middle of July when we are complaining about the heat and humidity we have to deal with extremely cold weather as well.

 

Are you present when out for a meal with others

How many times have you seen a bunch of people at a table for a meal and all of them are on their devices. It is always interesting when a bunch of people seem to be together, but they also seem to be separated because of how little they have communicated with each other.

I know that there are times when we might spend a bit of time checking our phones, but we also spend quite a bit of the time chatting and spending time together. There are also times when we will sit and just spend time together and totally ignore our phones because that is what we want to do. It is nice when people can go out, and our devices are put away and they are present with the company that they are with.

When you go out with a bunch of people it is important to ensure that you are spending some time with those that you are with. I understand that you might have to check work e-mail especially during the week but making sure that you can enjoy the company of those you are with is also so important.

If you want to spend all the time on your device, it is probably a good idea to just stay home and do that, because you aren't good company for other around you. If your device is more important than the company, you are with you are communicating quite a bit to those other people as well. You are saying that their company isn't worth your time or energy and those that are messaging you are very important.  

When you are out with others it’s extremely important to make sure that you put your personal device away a while so that you can enjoy the company you are with instead of the company that might be part of your phone. It might be hard to walk away from your device totally but remember we need to be present with those around us because there might be a time when other individuals are no longer around.

I know for use, we have made it a rule to make sure that we have found time to be present with who we are with because that is who we are having a meal with. Sure, we might need to check our device due to work demands but other than that we try to be present in the moment and enjoy the company we are with.