Spending time with family

It is always important to spend time with family, and it can vary how that is achieved. Something that happened thanks to the pandemic is families figured out various ways to spend time together. Spending time together doesn't just have to be in person, it can now be through various virtual get-togethers. It can be nice to be able to spend time together when people are living in different parts of the country or even the world.

During the pandemic when people couldn't travel what we did was on Christmas Eve was we did a virtual get-together, and it involved people in 8 different locations, and it was nice. It meant that everyone could visit with each other and also not have to travel. In our case, 7 of the locations were in Canada (two provinces) and one group over in Prague. It was nice to be able to celebrate and spend that bit of time together.

Other example of spending time together through social media is my husband's family started doing a chat once a month and that was 7 people being able to chat for some time and that was 3 difference provinces. It was always nice when they were able to do this, and this has continued since the pandemic.

Sure, it is nice to see family in person when it is possible, but there are times when distance doesn't make it possible. Finding various ways to visit with family is so important nowadays given the distances between family. What I have noticed is more and more people are using various virtual techniques to visit with family on a regular basis. It does mean that when you have the opportunity to spend time together in person, that time is valued.

Spending time together even if it is virtually is still spending some time catching up and sharing different things.  So next time when you think that the distance is too far to travel to visit someone maybe try and set up a virtual chat, it can make a big difference.

Writing goals

I think the ones of us that do quite a bit of writing normally have some goals that they want to meet. It can be the number of words a day or the number of pages, it doesn’t matter but it can also become something that can affect how you write and what you write. Having writing goals can help you stay focused, but it can also impact you emotionally if you aren’t having a good writing day.

Recently I had been having some really good writing days and was seeing an average number of words that was making me extremely happy and then I had a day that just wasn’t quite as good as the previous days, and it started to bother me. Yes, I was still writing, and I should have been happy with the number of words that I achieved but it started to upset me. What I didn’t see was that the number of words that I had been writing was a lot higher than I have written most months since 2018. It did bother me when I looked at just the month of January and saw that the average was going to come down a little bit, but I forgot that just being able to spend the time what I did writing should be what makes me happy.

Setting writing goals sure can help you move things forward but when you have some exceptional writing days you have to remember to think about them as exceptional days and be happy about them. After doing some thinking after getting frustrated with what was still a good writing total, I started to look back at the number of words that I had averaged through all the months I have tracked my writing and how much I had been writing at the beginning of January was extremely high.

What I did end up doing was adjusting my writing goal a little bit and figured that I should be happy with an average that is a little lower because that is making sure that I can get the writing done that I want to do. Also, if I don’t reach this new average, I am also going to be ok with what I am able to accomplish because I am still writing each day and that is part of what is important to me. Sure, I would love to see an average like I was achieving in early 2018 and late 2017, but I also have to accept that times have changed and the how I write has also changed.  

Setting writing goals that are pushing you too hard can impact what you are writing and how you are writing, and you have to remember that. Maybe, seeing a high writing total would be nice but are you just putting word onto paper to see that total or are you writing with a focus and understanding that words are just what is important is how the thoughts and ideas are coming out.

Getting organized

 For a lot of us, the change of the calendar from one year to another results in us trying to get organized again. For some people it can be a large change in how organization work, and for others it can just be doing that bit of cleaning that you have been putting off. For businesses, it is also a time, especially If it is also their year-end, a time to get all those old files moved and new files set up.

It is always interesting when you look at some stores in the New Year and what is available, storage boxes, file folders, etc. because these companies know what people are going to be wanting to do. I know that sometimes right after Christmas all the various storage boxes are in the stores and available knowing that a lot of people are going to be grabbing those up to start that yearly organization routine.

For businesses with year-end there are a lot of different things that need to get done from setting up the new files and moving the old files, but there are also those once-a-year things that need to be completed and remembering how to do each of them can be a challenge. It can be a challenge to remember everything that needs to be completed, but that is when some good documentation comes in handy to help you get those things done on a timely basis.

Getting organized either at work or in your personal life can be a challenge and of course there are going to be things that will probably be missed but starting the year off right does make a difference. For us, in the past year I decided to set up all the standard files that I use on the computer each year for our business, what this means is that when it’s time to start the new year of financial records I just have to copy one folder and change the year, and the files are ready. Having a lot of the various standard files set up and just be able to copy them to a new folder does make getting things started so much easier.

Working on getting organized can be a challenge no matter what it is, but especially at the beginning of the year it can feel a little overwhelming, and we need to take just one step at a time and see how things go. I hope you can get everything organized the way you want it but don’t rush or get stressed because it is a process that takes some time to get done.

Cross stitch challenges

 As the new year has come and go, I am going to talk about challenges and why some of them work and some of them just don’t work. I am a crafter and there are a lot of different challenges that you can participate in and some of them are really good, and others may not work for you, and you have to make the decision.

In the past I did try and do a lot of the different challenges however I would start them at the beginning of the year because they sounded good, and I thought they would help my stitching only for me to discover that having such a routine didn’t work so well for me. It is nice that some of these challenges work for some people, and we have to understand that everyone is not exactly the same.

Now here are some of the challenges that I have found, and I will let you know my thoughts about them, and please remember this is just my own opinion.

Stitch to the Moon – let’s strive to stitch our way to the moon. The distance is 238,900 miles and 1 mile = 1 full cross stitch.

•    In this challenge you pick your full coverage projects, and you try and stitch 238,900 stitches/miles by the end of the year. For some people, it might be doable, but that would mean at least 654 stitches every day to achieve that goal. Sure, I probably have that many stitches to do on my full coverage projects, but I know that I couldn’t stitch that many stitches in a year given other obligations.

Focus on a finish – the overall goal of this challenge is to pick a project that you want to finish and focus on it over the next 12 months.

•    Here is a challenge that does start to look doable if I could stay focused and just work on one of my full coverages at a time. My smallest full coverage piece that I have on the go still has just over 28,000 stitches left to do, so that is 2,400 stitches a month to get it done.

25 in 25 – the goal for this challenge is to pick a project and stitch 25,000 stitches on it by the end of the year.

•    Again, this is a challenge that I look at and say if I could just work on one full coverage at a time, I might be able to stitch that much, but again it is just over 2,000 stitches a month on that piece. I might be able to do this if I said

Stitch from stash – the goal of this challenge is to set a budget for your spending (no more than $25 a month) through one half of the year, and that is all you can spend. You can earn money to spend by finishing things, as there is credit for getting things finished.

•    I did participate in this challenge for a couple of years, and I did find that it helped me from just buying patterns, fabric etc. even through I had lots of stuff already in my stash. It was nice to give myself a budget, and it helped me to think about did I really want or need something before I just quickly bought it.

•    What I didn’t like about how some people did the challenge was they would work on a project really hard to almost a finish and would then do a large finish just at the beginning of the half year so that they always had a large amount they could spend. Sure, it was they own money that they were spending, but I know people started to complain but of how people started the time, and it didn’t help motivate others. You are also only going to get a small credit for something that you finished, and it is based on the size of the finish.

WIPGO – the idea behind this challenge is you select either 24 or 25 projects that you want to work on during the year and place them on what looks like a bingo card. You can also set the goal that you want to achieve on each of these projects, so it is up to you how you really work on it. Just before the beginning of each month, two numbers are randomly chosen, and the idea is for you to work on the projects and goals that were chosen. Now for a lot of people they will choose 24 projects so that the number 13 is considered a free space. If you happen to have 25 projects, the month that number 13 is called, you are going to have three projects to work on. The basic idea behind this is to work on moving projects that you selected forward.

•    I wasn’t sure if I was going to do WIPGO in 2025 as I have never done it, but I decided to try and see how I do on it. I selected 4 projects that I want to focus on and each time the project is called I am going to stitch 500 stitches in the piece. I think this is something that is doable given I have 4 large projects that I want to work on in 2025. So, the first two numbers were chosen and now in January I have to add 1,000-stitches to one project because that is how the numbers happen to fall. Now to see how it goes for the rest of the year.

As you can see, I have just shown a few of the cross stitch challenges that are out there for people to try and use to move specially large projects forward. I didn’t even look at all the different stitch alongs that are happening because that is something else that you can do.

Something that is important to remember when it comes to your cross stitch, or any craft, is that it is supposed to be something you enjoy doing. Some challenges because more of a job, and that is when the craft isn’t a craft anymore. So, when you think about participating in any type of challenge that involves something that is supposed to be enjoyable, make sure that the joy remains. We will now see how I do in 2025 trying a different challenge because it just might help me move four projects forward some.

Niagara Falls in the winter

 If you are thinking about travelling to Niagara Falls, Ontario in the winter, there are a few things that you should take into consideration when planning your trip. Niagara Falls, Ontario in the winter is so different from what it is like in the summer. Here are some things that you will need to know:

1.    Weather – the weather in Niagara Falls can change pretty quickly in the winter, as it can get quite a bit of snow in a very short amount of time. This area can get snow squalls, and you will also find that there is a wind-chill that you are going to have to take into consideration. If you are going to want to see the actual falls during the winter, be prepared to get wet from the mist, and it is going to be very cold.

2.    Attractions – if there are specific attractions you want to see, make sure you check to see if they are open all year round or just at specific times. Also, if they are open all year round, make sure you check the hours because that will certainly be different from the summer hours. Another thing to check is if the attractions are only open on specific days in the winter because the number of visitors is way down compared to the summer.

3.    Restaurants – if there are certain restaurants that you enjoy going to make sure that you have checked their hours and even check what days they are open because some will only be open during part of the week, usually Thursday – Sunday, when there are more visitors.

4.    Hotels – this one is to check for deals that you can possibly find because the prices of hotel rooms will be considerably cheaper during the winter than in the summer. Also, if you can travel during the week, the prices will be cheaper than weekends rates as well. If you are driving and will be parking a vehicle, make sure that you check the price of parking at the hotel because that can really vary. Some hotels may charge you $20 a night during the winter, and other's may cost you $80 a night even in the winter.

5.    Parking – if you are just visiting for a day, make sure you check around to see the price of parking because it can vary. Parking right at the Falls is going to be more expensive than if you decide to park a little further away and do a bit of walking.

Going to Niagara Falls in the winter can be very enjoyable, but you just need to be prepared for things being different than they are when there are more tourists visiting. So, if you are considering a visit to Niagara Falls in the winter, make sure you do your homework first to ensure that you get the experience that you want out of the trip.

Television stations in hotels

Have you noticed that there are hotels even in Canada that don't have any of the Canadian sports networks available? You would think that even if the hotel chain is an American chain, that they would consider that Canadians would like to enjoy sports like they do.

Recently we were in Niagara Falls and I decided that it would be nice to watch a hockey game that was going to be televised on Sportsnet. Well, I turned on the television and scrolled through all the available challenges, and what I discovered was there weren't any Sportsnet available at all. It can be disappointing when you want to watch something, and it isn't available. This hasn't just happened in Niagara Falls, it has happened in St Jacob’s as well as Belleville.

I have written a number of emails and reviews about this being something that needs to be considered because there are a lot of sports fans that travel and watching sports in the evening is something that a lot of them would want to do. Yes, I might be able to find a local restaurant or bar that is broadcasting the sports that I want to watch, but there are times that relaxing in my room and watching sports is a lot more enjoyable.

Being a sports fan and travelling, at least here in Ontario can be a challenge to watch the sports that I want to watch. What this is showing me that investing in a streaming channel that does the sports broadcasts is something that I am going to have to look into. The streaming channel would work at home, and it would also work when we are travelling, so maybe to get around hotels that don't think sports fans travel we will get the streaming channel.

Welcome to 2025

 It is hard to believe that we are a week into 2025 when I am putting this post up. This year I am going to try and continue to have blogs posted on a Tuesday, so that means that I am going to have to work on getting some blogs written. Being able to have a post up on a regular basis, makes me happy because it shows I have been able to get the ideas out of my head.

I am not certain what the topics are going to be in 2025, but I would like to try and post some about some of the crafts that I do as well as maybe some other topics. I do have some ideas about some travel blogs as well as some other things, so I will just need to work on figuring out how to get everything written. The list of blogs ideas is rather long list that I just need to write, so I just need to sit and get some of them written.

I am going into this year just like I did in 2024 and that is not having a list of blogs that I want to write in a certain order. Not only that, but I enjoy writing the blogs that I feel like writing, and then I can schedule it to post when I want it to post. Sometimes these blogs get rescheduled for something else if I think it would be better at a different time, or a current topic gets a blog.

I hope that you will enjoy what I am going to be writing about in 2025. The list of ideas is long, and it keeps changing based on everything that is going on around me. So, now that the calendar has changed, and we have started a new year, I hope to get lots of blogs written and posted.