Time and Cost of Fabric

I have recently joined a couple of English Paper Piecing (EPP) groups on Facebook and what I have found is, so many people thing saving a little bit of fabric is worth so much of the cost of the material. I know that for me I am the happiest when I can cut a 2.5-inch strip of fabric and then make it into 2.5-inch squares. 

I have seen too many people show that how they cut their fabric is laying out and tracing each template, including seam allowance and they put each of them up again the next one and trace around each of them. I know that might say a little bit of fabric but now much time are you spending tracing the motifs and cutting out the motifs versus maybe waiting a little bit of fabric.

When I do English Paper Piecing, I cut 2.5-inch stripes of fabric and then I cut each of them into 2.5-inch squares and that works for me. I am not going to waste the time to make sure that each side only have the 1/4 -inch seam allowance because then I need to ensure that I have placed the template in the exact right spot. For me I have my squares and I can quickly fold the fabric around the templates, and I am ready to do. 

For me I might have to buy a little bit more fabric to accommodate what I want to achieve but the cost of the fabric is a lot less than my time and that is what is important. If I wanted to spend hours tracing templates, sure I would do that but that isn’t what makes me happy. For me making sure that I can get the squares cut out and then start making the motifs is what makes me happy. I know that there are going to be some people that want to spend the hours cutting out each piece of fabric separately but that is me. If you tell that is how EPP must be done, I will tell you that isn’t how it works for me.

For me making my motifs using 2.5-inch squares is what makes me happy and I haven’t found an issue so far, so why should I spend all the extra time making sure that I only have fabric a specific size. I thought EPP was something that was to be relaxing and fun to do, but making me ensure that every piece of fabric that I use is a specific size, doesn’t work for me and I have a major problem with that.

For me, EPP is about enjoying the time making my motifs and attaching them to a project that I want to make, so maybe for some people it won’t be perfect but perfect isn’t what I want. My entire EPP journey, is good is good enough, and that is what makes me the happiest.

When tapping to pay when you get on a vehicle doesn't work

There are quite a few times when we have been on transit and see how see people that just simply just get on a vehicle especially on the back door and don’t pay. People wonder why they have transit security around and I totally agree with it. People get on especially transit with multiple doors (more than at least 2) and think they will never get caught 

Recently we were on a streetcar here in Toronto and there was someone that got on one of the other doors and clearly didn’t pay for him and his bike to ride on the transit. Once he got on, he was taking a wheelchair area, and his elbow hit the call for getting off the streetcar. He never realized that he had hit this button and of course that meant that the driver had to get off the streetcar and open the door and tell this guy he had hit the button. Of course, he had no idea that he had hit the button and of course didn’t understand what he had done. So, this is a clear example of something being able to get onto the transit without paying and in a lot of cases never being asked to show proof of payment.

What really bothers me is that these people are the ones that mean that transit costs are going to go up for the individuals that are honest and tap every time they either board a vehicle or transfer between vehicles. It is hard to accept that the individuals that are honest have to deal with the individuals that are cutting the costs.

I do know that one of the ways the people are cutting the costs are when drivers open the back door and they trust that the passengers will tap and pay the fairs. I have watched so many people just simply get on and never tap their car therefore they are riding for free. It doesn’t matter f you are at a transfer point you need to ensure that you have tapped your card to ensure your route has been tracked.

The overall enforcement doesn’t seem to be working and all we keep hearing is that there are more enforcement officers, but I have yet to see one of them. We travel the lines during some of the busy times, and you think we would at least seem them sometimes. So here we are paying our fare each time we use the transit but watching too many others that don’t. I think there is a problem, but the other problem is that they cannot or don’t want to confront something as the issue doesn’t turn out well.

Being someone that is honest that the taps everything they are transferring between vehicles can be a bit of a challenge, but we also have know that we are doing what is right and what is expected of us and only hope the ones that are trying to cheap the system get caught.tr

Hotels and their service

Something that I have started to notice and maybe this is the hotel chain that I have been staying at is there are times when customer service and just service in general seems to be going downhill while the price of staying at the hotel is going up. Maybe we are just getting the hotel when they are having a bad weekend but that seems to be happening more and more.

• Breakfast area – not keeping items stocked so that the guests can grab their food and coffee and be on their way. This time at the hotel the coffee was running very low when we got ours and then I think it ran out not long after but it took a while for it to be restocked. The sausages were low (only 2 left when we got our food), so none left after we got food and the plate area was empty in one section for empty. It took quite a while to get any of these items restocked and some people did without sausages and probably coffee as they were in a hurry.
• Cleaning staff – they were very impatient with the elevator. One of the elevators was out of order so it meant only one was working. One of the cleaning stuff was constantly pressing the button to call the elevator as if that would make it come faster. This is just after 8am and lots of people would be leaving at that time. When the elevator finally arrived it was full of guests leaving with their luggage so that is why it took a while. One of the cleaning staff walked by us and I thought she was going to try and get on the elevator before us but she waited otherwise she would have heard me.
• Cleanliness of the room – when putting our shoes in one of the closets discovered a part of a cracker on the floor. Have no idea how long it has been there but it shows that the floors of the closets are not cleaned on a regular basis. We didn't have crackers so it was there before we arrived.
• 
  Recognition of being a member of the chain – this is something that has happened a few times. Yes, we are recognized as a returning guest to the hotel but not as a gold member of the hotel chain. When you get the survey that is one of the questions that you are asked and again this time I will be stating not recognized as a gold member. Sure, when I get into the room it welcomes me by name and as a gold member.
• Caution pylon - this pylon was in the one elevator that was working the entire time we were in the hotel. The floor wasn't wet as it wasn't raining out and we didn't see anyone washing the floor at any time we were around the elevator.

These are some of the issues that we saw on our latest stay and something that chains need to understand that can impact of a guest continues to start with a specific chain of hotels or is it time for them to try a different chain and see if that chain has better service.

Something that we are going to be doing is trying a different hotel chain to see what they are like. Being able to have the flexibility to try and different chains and not just stay with one does help quite a bit. We will see how that stay goes as we have already booked a trip and I will make sure that I write up about that experience.

40 years

Here I am sitting and writing about a date that was 40 years ago, and the date was September 8, 1986. This is the day when I started my first full-time job and it was for a company that I continued to work for until October 31, 2001. Yes, that seems like a lifetime ago and in some ways, it has been a lifetime ago and it’s been for me most of my working life. When I sit back and think about how things have changed since that date, I know that both the world and I have changed. 

In 1986 after just finishing college, I had no idea what working full time was really going to be like and how your free time is limited because of the basic things that you need to do everyday. Sure, I had gone to college but there were long breaks between classes and if you didn’t want to attend a class on a specific day you didn’t have to. Now, working meant showing up at a specific time each day of the week and then leaving at a specific time. Things sure did change but it was something that I enjoyed, and I know that I learned a lot working at that first company.

Things are so different now compared to when I started working and the use of laptops and cell phones are just a couple of the things that have changed. Overall, the way that we work on is so different, but the job still needs to get done and demands of your time are still here. Now, the means of communicating has really changed and now when you haven’t answered a text message or a voice mail, someone will call you and ask why.

Our free time now is so different, because now we can order online our groceries and meals and they will be delivered to our house without in a lot of cases talking to anyone. For some people their free time is spend scrolling on their mobile device and losing hours watching different things that are posts on social media. Growing up we could only watch a program on the television at a scheduled time and now it’s whenever we want to watch it.

I know that I have changed from being that scared individual that walked into an office to start her first job to someone that now is a partner of a business. Sure, there are times when I wish I could go back to the easier ways of life, but I am enjoying my life as it is and if I hadn’t started working for the company that I did, things might have been very different for me. Forty years really isn’t that long ago when you think about things and sure things that changed and life is different, but I can still look in the mirror and see that person that I was.

Fast Food Establishments

This blog is being written after we were trying to enjoy lunch at a fast-food location and things just didn’t go as well as it could have. The food was fine so that wasn’t the issue, it was the other customers that weren’t considerate while they were in the location. Here are some examples of what happened:

1. Two high school students were sitting at the table next to us and they are picked up 99% of their lunch at Metro (one of our local grocery stores) and then came into this location so that they could sit down and eat. One of the girls had purchased a pop from the fast-food location but that was it. So, they were sitting at a table for four and had only purchased a pop during a time when the location was busy. Also, they had purchased some potatoes at the grocery store but needed salt so they walked up to the counter and asked for it as well.  If you are going to sit in a location when it is busy, make sure that you have purchased move than 50% of what is on the table from that location.

2. A group of four girls come in, and they placed their orders and then they are trying to figure out where they want to sit. One girl goes down to the back of location and gets a table and then one of the girls waiting for her food starts chatting with this girl sitting at the back of the location. It was pretty busy and that type of chatting isn’t something that should happen when there are lots of other people in the store. This group did seem to get organized and had their lunch without much of an issue other than they didn’t clean up their table when they left. Everyone else made sure their tables were cleared off.

I understand that when a fast-food location isn’t busy you might have a little bit of something from another store but not most of your meal and make it clear that it was from somewhere else. This fast-food location didn’t serve pizza in bags or broiled potatoes in a plastic container or pop in bottles. So this was one of the issues that really bothered me.

Something else that maybe the location would improve is how close to the end of the counter the first table is. When people leave the counter, they go past a wall, and the first table is right there and if you are sitting there isn’t like people are almost coming into your space when there is a lot of open space around that table. If we sit at this table again, I will be making sure that I sit at the other two seats so that we are a little further away from where people and their trays seem to be.

So, when you are visiting a fast-food establishment when it’s busy please be considerate of the other customers as they want to enjoy their meal. I understand that students want to have lunch outside of school some days but if you are purchasing your food from a grocery store, you need to figure out a space outside to have your food. I understand it is difficult for fast-food locations to monitor the customers sitting in their store and in a lot of cases they don’t want to approach a customer as they don’t know how that customer is going to react.

When communities work and when they don't work

A lot of us are part of some online communities be it for work or pleasure and there are times when things run smoothly and then there are times when things just don’t work. I think we have all seen that happen to at least one of the communities that we are involved in. 

One of the key factors for a community working well is have leaders/administrators/moderators that are part of the community. If the key people are not posting and seeing part of the community that is when things start to fall apart. Those individuals don’t have to be posting all the time, but they at least have to be making comments to posts and at least being visible within the community. If these people either never post or hardly post it makes it difficult for some communities to continue to be effective.

Another factor that can determine if a community to going to work or not is having community members that post and what to be involved. I have seen too many communities where only a few members do the majority of the posting and everyone else just sits back and just lurk. It is important for a community to work well there needs to be conversations. It’s important to have members that want to engage and be part of the community because if everyone just lurks that isn’t a community at all.

Online communities be it for work or pleasure can help you figure out issues or provide you with information about things that you are interested in. I know that I have been involved with communities for both work and pleasure and some have been really good, and others haven’t helped at all. Communities do have a life span and some of them with last for years while others may only last for a few months, as it depends on the purpose of the community and the type of members that are involved in it. What is really sad is when you find that a community that was a wonderful place to participate is slowly fading away. It can be hard to realize that this community may not last much longer but if you enjoyed it when it was in it’s peak, remember to enjoy it and know that you were part of it during it’s good times.

 

 

Sharing on Social Media

If you are going to share other posts on social media, please explain why you are sharing a post. If you are just sharing a post without explaining why you are sharing, you are just spamming everyone.

There are so many times when I am looking at Facebook, and I am feeling that I need to try and control a bunch of things because I am feeling like too many people are just sharing posts and not explaining why they are sharing the posts. I understand that you might think the post is important, but you MUST explain to me why it’s important.

I have seen lately quite a few of my friends just sharing posts without any comment and that is getting very frustrating because I don’t have a clue why they are sharing the post other than spamming everyone. There are so many posts that you see so many ways that if you are going to share something you need to explain why you are sharing on your page.

I have times where multiple friends have shared the same post and none of them have given me the reason why they are sharing. It might be something that I might/should pay attention to but if everyone isn’t giving me a reason to look future into the issue regarding the post I am just going to ignore it.  

So, if you would like me to pay attention to something that you are sharing, you need to explain to me why you are sharing something. Just a simple share doesn’t tell me anything and if you continue to do this type of sharing you might end up not being someone that I see your posts.

For a lot of us we need to understand and only see posts that are important to us and when friends or family just share without a reason that can limit how much of them, we see. I have already limited what I see for some people and if you are one of those that just keep sharing things without explaining why, you are probably going to go into that category of those that I don’t see your posts and I will only check on what is going on in your life occasionally.     

Being a blind sharer means that you aren’t respect or care about others in our circle so why should we care about what you post. You aren’t caring about those in your group because you don’t explain why you share something that doesn’t us give a reason to care. Hitting just a share button means that you don’t care enough to give me a reason why I should care.

Apps and promos

How many times have we received a promotional code through one of our apps that we have on our mobile device, and it just wants us to purchase something that maybe we looked at once and decided it wasn’t worth it. I know for me, I have seen this too many times when I have received a code or the “you need to purchase immediately for this discount” when the discount wasn’t even a discount. 

What everyone needs to be aware is that some of these promotional codes or buy now to receive the best discount isn’t really a discount, it is a business or app that is just trying to make sure that they pressure individuals to feel that the purchase is a now or never. What they don’t think about is just trying to show maybe someone how an item might help the individual.

I know for me when I get this immediate promotional code or you must purchase now, my decision is I am going to walk away from that item because that business is demonstrating the need for sales instead of trying to meet the needs of the potential consumer. I recently signed up for a fast food chain for some of their promotions but what I found out is that they are going to both blast me through the app and the blast me through emails so why should I want to purchase from them just to meet a promotional requirement. For me, I will purchase at the various fast-food chains when the chain meets my needs not when there is a promotional item that I MUST purchase.

What a lot of the apps and promotions need to realize is that just offering me a discount isn’t going to make me jump to purchase your item. The location of the store is going to be a major deciding factor and if you aren’t with my immediate location I am not going to drop everything to drive miles just to get a discount. Businesses need to understand that a discount might be nice when I am close to the actual location but if I have to drive miles to receive the specific discount it is no longer a discount it is an expense to me.

When the app gives you a time sensitive promotion you need to look at the cost of getting this promotion versus not getting the discount. In some cases what you save by not getting the discount is more than the discount you could have received. Act now, don't think, as we need your money more than you do.

 

Why should I move?

Recently I was seeing that there was an event that was asking attendees if they would be willing to move from the hotel from where the event was being held to another hotel that was a little bit of a distance from the location. Yes, I understand that the event hotel was going to make sure that you were transported between the two locations but that doesn’t matter.

Something that we need to understand that there was a contract (separate to the specific event) from January through March for a group of rooms that were to be vacated prior to the event that was to happen at the end of April and early May. Well, what happened is the long-term contract was extended without looking at what other contracts were signed and suddenly we had a major issue. So, what happened was the hotel where the event was contracted, they were able to find another hotel within the same area that was able to find accommodations, but they could accommodate people that were willing to have a king bed so that really did impact a lot of people. Yes the original hotel was willing to make sure that they could transport the individuals back and from the new hotel but there are still the challenges.

Something that a lot of organizers don’t think about is how many individuals will be going up to their room for just those few minutes to escape the sounds of the event space or what happens if I forget something in my room and need to do a quick run up to the room to get that specific thing that I need to continue to move a specific project forward. I don’t want to have to give out how to get to my new hotel to just spend a few minutes in my room and then turn around and get back to the event hall.

For a lot of attendees at an event, we have to understand that moving from one hotel to another might seem easy to some but can be a challenge to others. How do I move between the two hotels because do I always want to spend the time and energy going between the two hotels. Sure, the event hosting was willing to pay for the transportation, but they didn’t think about the time and energy that was going to happen for the different attendees.

I understand that there might have been an issue between an existing long-term contract and a signed contract that was done a year ago, maybe what should have happened is the people that there at the original hotel should have been the ones moved to accommodate a contract that was signed a year ago.

There seems to be a lot of there long-term contracts that are around in the hotels, but we also have to think about the contracts there were signed a year ago and how it looks for individuals that want to stay at a given hotel. Why are there so many less rooms available and maybe that is what we need to look at.

Edit: there is an update and it ended up that the hotel was able to resolve the issue and the attendees of the event didn't have to move to a different location. I am happy to hear this because it shows that hotels need to understand that a contract that was signed should be respected.

A community is only as good as the weakest link/member

There are so many times when you are part of a community especially those that are online that you have to step back and not say things because of the questions or comments that have been posted. Recently I saw on a community group that someone was asking a crochet designer to help them figure out a pattern that this designer had no involvement in. The person (designer) that they contacted very nicely told them that they needed to contact the original designer to request the changes she needed. 

When you have an issue with a pattern be it knitting, crocheting or cross stitch you need to contact the original designer to ask them the questions and not ask someone else for help. There are so many times that we have to think about copyright laws as well because patterns that are designed by an individual do have copyright laws that will impact the sharing of the pattern with others.

If you are sharing a pattern that you purchased that is a pdf you cannot share it at all even if you are asking someone for assistance in figuring out the pattern. The pdf is licensed to you along and you are not allowed or entitled to share this pattern with anyone else even if you are having issues with it. I know that I have seen a lot of people want to share a pattern for help or even just to give it to others and those are not allowed. I have also seen someone say that if you send me the pdf I can make it compatible for a specific program and once again this isn’t allowed because you are sharing a pattern with someone else and how does the designer know that you will delete your copy of the pattern after you have made it work for the original purchaser.

When you are part of community you need to understand that there are rules that everyone needs to comply with and if you don’t it could cause a lot of issues for the group as a whole. When you keep asking for help and aren’t realizing that you are breaking copyright laws that doesn’t help the group. I know that the groups that I am either a moderator or an administrator of if I see these types of requests I immediately delete the message and let the individual know they the post has been deleted. Making sure that you are not the weakest link/member of a group is extremely important and always make sure that you are not breaking any copyright laws when you are asking for help.

When you demand that the group provides you with help and you don’t understand how to communicate within the group you are causing lots of issues. A group can only provide the assistance that is available to them and without breaking copyright always. A weakest link is someone that demands help and doesn’t care if they are breaking copyright laws or causing other issues. Next time when you see this happening make sure before you try and assist you understand and respect the copyright laws that could be being broken.

Slowing the brain down

 For a lot of us there are times when we don't know how to deal with getting the brain slow down before we go to bed. I know I'm one of those because there are times I just want to continue to write. Some cases it's just too many ideas running around in my head just can't seem to get the words into one format so that when I go to tuck in everything seems to happen and I can get the ideas.

Tonight, is just one of those nights where I want to be able to make lots of notes and see that I have been able to accomplish something before I tuck in might not be a lot but at least being able to start an idea some of the words down is going to help a lot.

How do you slow your brain down:

• There are times when I can just and relax my brain starts to know that it's time to wrap up all the various thoughts and ideas for the day before I go to bed.
• There are times when I am about to tuck in all the various thoughts and ideas start bouncing around and I just need to slow them down. Sometimes just being able to close my eyes and focus and relax helps. There are times when I try to relax, and my brain seems to have too many ideas. One thing that I have found that does help me sometimes in the evenings is taking either a St John's Wort or a Gaba does help because it helps me relax enough and I've been able to get things done.
• I think everyone has a different way of slowing their mind down when it starts to feel like everything is just racing around. Right now, I'm sitting here on the bed writing this before I try and get to bed because my brain bounced around this idea, so it was time for me to at least try and get some of it out. If things go well, it will be posted without a lot of edits, but we will see how it goes. I guess tomorrow look at this document and see what it looks like and maybe add a little bit more, but at least I know able to slow my brain down a little bit through getting this idea out of my head.

Being able to figure out different ways to slow the brain down when you are trying to get some sleep is important. For me, most of the time I can just close my eyes and relax, and I can fall asleep without too much of an issue. Knowing how to slow your brain down can be a challenge sometimes but I think everyone finds what works for them for most of the situations. 

Flashing images

How many times have you received an email and there is a flashing image in it. I know for me it has been too many times, and it isn’t something that I appreciate happening. I think some businesses think that the flashing images in emails will get your attention and help you remember them. For me it does the opposite as it quickly makes me close the message and quite often delete it. 

Images in emails should yes communicate a message but not distract the reader from seeing what you are saying. For some individuals this could be a health risk because of the flashing that they see when they open an email. Understanding what good communication is when it comes to emails is important.

Now when it comes to presentations, presenters or designers or presentations need to understand that having those flashing images that repeat over and over until the next slide is clicked doesn’t help with the message. What is does is makes me stop listening to your message because that flashing image is extremely distracting. Also, when you have these images that are flashing you are once again potentially causing a health risk to individuals. If you are going to have those flashing images in your presentation you should say it upfront so that something with health issues can be prepared for them. These flashing lights or images can trigger seizures in some individuals and impact individuals that suffer from migraines, dizziness and other health issues.

Being aware that flashing images can cause harm to other individuals is something that you need to be aware of when you are trying to communicate your message. I know for me as someone that suffers with migraines it is difficult for me to remain focused on the message you are trying to communicate and too often, I end up sitting with my eyes closed for quite a while hoping that there won’t be a migraine abut to happen. So next time you are putting together an email or presentation, and you think that flashing image is cute think about those that don’t think they are cute and end up dealing with issues because of that “cute” image you inserted.

An interesting phone call

I recently received a phone call from an individual and it ended up that they were looking for some contract work and thought our business might be interested in hiring them. Well even before he started speaking to me, I was wondering what the purpose of the call was because on my caller id it showed “TORONTO ON” as the caller ID. This isn’t normal unless the person is trying to hide their identity. Well, that was just the first thing that made me wonder about things. 

The person asked to speak to either of us and when I said speaking, he seemed a little confused but that didn’t bother me too much. Sometimes when people are calling a business, they don’t think that an owner is going to be picking up the phone. When it’s a smaller business there are going to be lots of time that the individual answering the phone might just be an owner or key person of the business.

The person then went on to say that they have found our company on-line and was wondering if we needed any project management assistance. They were looking to assist us if we needed that type of role. This is when I started to wonder about the individual, so I asked them if they had looked at our website and saw what I did as a role. His comment was yes, “You’re a jack of all trades and don’t do anything”. Well, that is one way to make sure that you don’t in my good books especially when Project Management is one of my roles that I do for our business.

So, when I continued to speak to the individual, they said that they were calling to see if we were overwhelmed with projects and needed help with them. My simple answer was no I can manage the projects that we currently have and if I needed assistance, I would be looking for help through LinkedIn and our personal connections not someone just doing cold calling.

Now here are some of the red flags that made me wonder about this individual:

1. Call display hiding the individual’s name
2. When I said it was me speaking, they never said their name.
3. Sure, they looked at the website, but you should never say someone you are speaking with is a jack of all trades because in small businesses a lot of us do multiple jobs.
4. He didn’t like it when I asked if they were from a business or were they looking for contract work, and they had a hard time saying that they were a consultant and they were looking for some work.
5. He didn’t appreciate it when I said I don't appreciate cold calls from individuals looking for work.

It is so important when you are calling a business and looking for work, you are prepared to show you are confident in who you are as well as you have done your homework about the business. Telling someone that they are a jack of all trades and don’t do anything isn’t a great way to make a good impression. As you can probably guess it, I didn’t ask the individual to send me their resume because they didn’t make a good first impression.

Doing little things that make you happy

For everyone, we have things that make us happy and it can be something as simple as just curling up with a good book and finding that bit of time where the world just seems to disappear. There are times when even just spending those few minutes just escaping from the demands of life can make you happy because you have forgotten everything that is demanding some of your attention 

There are times when I can sit and just look at a flicker of a candle and that makes me happy because I can focus on the flicker and forget about everything that I should or need to do and it just helps me relax even if it is only for a few minutes. A candle can be a simple escape because it seems to help at least me relax a little bit and that helps to make me happy even if it is just a little bit of time.

There are so many different things that can help make someone happy and it depends on everyone as well as what has been going on around us. Here are some simple things that can make me feel happy even it that only happens occasionally.

• Curling up with a good book and little the book be your escape from things that are going on around you.
• Sitting and enjoying some quite time with someone that is important to you or just alone where the sounds around you just seem to disappear.
• Sitting and enjoying a nice glass of wine where you can sit and savour it and let the different things that are bothering you just be forgotten for a little bit of time.
• Going for a drive into the country where you can escape the sounds that are normally happening around you.
• Going for a walk in a park or near the lake where you can listen to the sounds of nature and forget about all the normal sounds that we listen to.
• Putting in some earplugs or noise cancelling ear buds that block out all the sounds around us to give us that bit of time when it is just quiet.

There are so many things that we can do to make us happy and being able to figure out what makes you happen helps. Of course, there are going to be times when things aren’t going to help and then something else will and we have to be available to accept that a solution that worked today might not work tomorrow. We have to be flexible and figure out when a solution works well for us and when we need to figure out some other solution and leave what works for us and makes us happy.

Everyone is going to have different solutions, and we have to accept that, and we also have to accept that something that makes you happy today might not make you happy tomorrow. Being flexible is very important and knowing that finding the little things that make us happy is extremely important.

 

When life overwhelms us

For some of us the simple sounds around us can start to get overwhelming and we need to figure out just how to manage everything. The sounds that I am talking about is traffic outside where to live to even the sounds that are within your home. I know that living in an apartment building it means that we deal with quite a few sounds that we don’t have any control over. For someone that have very sensitive hearing these sounds can seem to be extremely loud even when they aren’t even audible to others around us. 

I know that there are times when I am sitting here at my desk, and I can enjoy listening to the little bits of sounds around me and then there are times when things just seem to start to escalate and I am not certain how to manage them. Living in an apartment building I know that I am going to hear the sounds from the units around us which normally aren’t too bad but there are times when a unit is getting renovated that the sounds seem to be extremely loud. Other sounds that we hear quite frequently while living in an apartment during are:

• Doors slamming because people don’t think about how them dropping their door will affect others.
• Crossing guard whistle during the day so that children and adults can cross the street. It used to be that the crossing guard only blew their whistle for children but now it seems they do it for everyone.
• Emergency vehicles sirens seem to be quite frequent and that is probably due to living in a high destiny area.
• Van doors slamming – this is due to veggies vendors being able to a park in a regular street parking park and sell their veggies for days/weeks/months on end.
• Car’s backfiring – this is due to cars not being tuned correctly so everyone has to listen to cars backfiring and almost sounding like gun shots around us on a very regular basis.
• People – children/adults thinking that bouncing on the floor is fun because that makes them happy and it doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is.
• Music playing – people not understanding that the sound of their stereo especially the base sound is going to be heard through multiple floors because where they stereo or speakers are located. Speakers on the floor are going to transfer sounds through multiple floors even if you don’t think that they do.

I know for someone like me there are days when I think I can manage everything just fine and then all of a sudden, the sounds seem to escalate and what I thought I could manage isn’t manageable any longer. The sounds that each person hears is going to differ and you have to understand and respect that when you live in a high destiny area even what you think might not be a loud noise could possible bother someone else.

As I am writing this blog there is someone on one of the floors above me that things that bouncing on the floor is a lot of fun. This sound is travelling through at least a floor or two and they don’t understand how others hear the sound. The other thing is when someone decides to knock on their wall because it just seems fun. The unit beside you is going to hear is so be prepared to get someone knocking back to let you know that you are heard.

Of course, there are going to be sounds that overwhelm us sometimes and then other times those same sounds are something we can manage. We just need to know that being able to escape from the sounds is something that we need to do and we also need to know that we have the method available that allows us to escape them.

I am going to post x number of days in a row

How many of us have heard someone on YouTube say that they are going to post x number of days in a row. I understand that is what you are going to try and do but maybe instead of saying “I’m doing to do” people need to say, “I’m going to try and post”. I think when you can be honest with both yourself and your followers it is going to go a long way.   

There are a lot of reasons why someone cannot post each day as they said they would, but they also need to understand that making a promise or commitment and not being able to achieve that isn’t good either. If you made that promise once and couldn’t maintain it that is one thing but if every time you say to your subscribers “I’m going to post every day” and you, don’t it doesn’t look good on your because you are not keeping that commitment that you promised. It would be better to say that “I’m going to try my best to post everyday through x”. Being able to tell your followers that you are going to try your best is better than doing that you are going to.

I have seen a number of YouTubers say that they are going to either post every day or every specific day and it doesn’t work and all they say is, I’m sorry I couldn’t do it today. Maybe they should think about rewording their promise because in too many cases they are over promising and under committing and that doesn’t look good on them. It is better to under promise and overachieve then letting your viewers/followers down because you haven’t been able to maintain your commitment/promise that you made.

I follow a number of YouTubers and so many of them don’t guarantee when they are going to post and what they say it make sure you hit the notification button so that you are notified when we post. That is the best way to ensure that you maintain your followers especially because life can happen and a post might not happen when you said it was going to happen.

So instead of saying that you will be positing x number of days in a row, you need to say that I am going to try my best to post during these days. It makes it so much better your subscribers because you aren’t letting them down because you said one thing and something else happened.

Presentation courtesy

When you are going to a presentation that is for a community, please remember that there are certain courtesies that you must consider because yes, the event might be free to attend, but there are guidelines that you should respect because there are others that are attending the event as well.

1. Silence your device – it is important that you silence your device so that it doesn’t interpret the presenter or any other attendee. Just putting your device on vibrate and then putting it on a table isn’t respecting those around you because it will disturb others around you.
2. Food and how much to take – yes, the food might be available for free because you are attending the event but make you that you are taking just a reasonable amount and not taking what could look you are taking stuff home to have later on. For example, if the pizza is party size, please remember that taking over 4 slices are going to be noticed even if you go back two, three or four times because people will notice you. When you end up taking 12 pieces of pizza people are going to wonder where you are putting all of that.
3. Arriving after presentations have start – mark sure you walk in quietly and DO NOT go and pick up pizza and pop because you are interfering with the presentation and not showing courtesy to the presenter or other attendees. Yes, you might want to have some pizza, but you are going to have to wait until there is a break and then you can get some pizza. I know, it is going to be cold by then, but you know when the presentations start so if you want to ensure you get warm pizza make sure you show up early. If you are thinking that the pizza is so important, it isn’t because you are not just showing disrespect to the presenter you are also disrespect to other attendees because you are blocking their view of the presentation.
4. Getting pizza at break or just before presentations start – if you are someone that is taking some pizza but before presentations start or during break make sure that you close the lid of the pizza box because you are blocking part of the screen from others that are attending the presentation.
5. Clean up after yourself - another thing that is extremely important is to make sure that you clean up after yourself at these events. A lot of the spaces are donated and one of the rules is leave the place as you found it. If the garbage can is full in the room where the event is being held, take the garbage out and find another garbage can because there are going to be other garbage cans out in the hall.

Yes, a lot of community presentations are there for a community, but you also have to show that you respect both the presenter and other attendees. Make sure that if you want to be part of the community make sure you show up ahead of the scheduled presentation time and if you can’t do that just come in quietly and take a seat and at break you can then enjoy any pizza and/or pop that remains.

 

  

I know

When you keep telling me that you know, doesn’t tell me that you have heard what I have said. We have a friend that when he talks to us his favourite words are “I know”. I think there are a lot of times he doesn’t have a clue what he has heard because he is too busy trying to figure out what he is going to say next.

This person that we know comes to an IT event that we are part of and a lot of me thinks that the only reason he comes to the event is to have the pizza that is provided before the event starts. I have seen this guy take between 10 – 12 pieces of pizza (not all at once but he comes back to the table quite a few times) and I am not certain if he eats them or if he packages them up to take home. He also never says to the end of the event and always leaves during the break so that kind of tells us where the importance is for him.

I understand that there are times when you are trying to just be friendly with others around you, but you have to listen to those that are you talking to because just saying the words “I know” don’t help at all. I have also had to deal with this same person waving their hand in my face without realizing that they are getting very close to hitting me. They are too busy talking to my husband and not seeing that I am sitting right there and needs to be considered.

I am extremely happy when he doesn’t decide to eat a slice a piece around me because he almost sounds like a cow when he eats. Yes, he is extremely noisy when he eats his food and that makes it difficult to manage as well. Hopefully, me getting upset with him has let him know that I don’t need to see/hear him eat.

When you say the words “I know” make sure that you are being honest with what you are saying and not just using those words as a filler. What makes me laugh is when my husband says something this guy listens to him, but when I say something, the immediate response is “I know”.  Well, that really tells me how much attention he pays to what I say, so that is the amount of attention/response I will be giving him in the future.

Membership renewal

I recently decided to let a membership that I had go because it wasn’t meeting my needs, so I figured that the cost of the membership wasn’t worth it. I decided to see how long it would take for the association to let me know that the membership had expired and I needed to act upon it to make sure that it didn’t expiry.

Once my membership passed its expiry date, I did receive a reminder that I need to renew to keep my membership status (no expiry date was given). Of course, with no end day for that reminder given why would I do anything because of course, I could still sign in as a member so there was nothing urgent that I needed to do. If you want someone to act within a specific time you need to tell them the specific time and not just assume that they will jump on it because of the reminder.

Here it is 30 days after my membership expired, I can still log in with my existing membership. Sure, my membership card it says it expired 30 days ago, but I still have the access that I didn’t think that I should have at this point. A day ago, I received a reminder that my certification would expire in 60 days but given that I haven’t paid my membership my certification should have become void. I know that I have let both my membership and certification expiry and a lot of that is due to the cost/benefit that I was finding for this association.

If I am paying $400 Cdn. a year for a certification and I am required to do 20 hours of professional development; you better make sure that the professional development is worth it. Of course, there was one ethical training that was required but the last time I say that training was in October 2024 and there hasn’t been once since. That training was not recorded so that meant that if you weren’t able to attend the training you were out of luck. Also, the CPE’s that I was required to achieve meant I had to continually hear the same things over and over again. A lot of the sessions where vendor specific and sometimes they didn’t meet the needs of my business.

Yes, it was a difficult decision to walk away from the association and my certification, but I had to make a decision and to the cost and the benefit for my business. If I was having to pay a lot of number and also spend a lot of time trying to maintain a certification that didn’t benefit my business, it was time for me to walk away. It was a hard decision to make but I made it for both my business and for myself because what was the benefit I was receiving?

 

 

Writing and the challenges

For someone that tries to write every day there are going to be challenge and some of the challenges is just getting the words down so that someone else can understand the feelings and thoughts that you are dealing with. It doesn’t have to be any major it is just sitting down and being able to write about the various thoughts and feelings. 

This evening, I was listening to a bunch of songs about feelings and being there and understanding what someone else is going through, but we also have to think about what we are going through at the same time because we might be able to be there for someone else but we also need to be there for ourselves.

As I am sitting here trying to get a bunch of thoughts, ideas and feelings out of my head, I know that there are a bunch of others that are trying to do the exact same thing and it can be such a challenge. Being able to sit down and just write and not let what anyone else says get in the way can be such a challenge and I know that I have done just that. I let some simple get in the way of me being able to write but I am now working on getting back to the writing that makes me happy.

When you are a writer and you want to write because that is what makes you happy you need to understand that even if someone says something that you think might be negative you need to step back and think about what the person might be saying. The person might be surprised at the amount of writing that you are able to accomplish, and they just messed up what they are trying to say. You also have to accept that a person might be jealous of what you are able to accomplish on a daily or weekly basis and you just need to accept that and move forward.

There are a lot of challenges that a writer needs to deal with and being able to accept the various comments either good or bad doesn’t matter because as a writer we need to do what makes us happy and if you let someone else’s comment stop you from writing that is a major problem. I know that I started to let a comment stop me from writing like I did before but after a simple conversation I have learned that the comments came out the wrong way and this person is encouraging me to write because that is what makes me happy.

How social media can impact people

Have you ever looked at social media and thought, boy would I love to have their life because it looks so much better than mine. Well, what you aren’t seeing is what the individual or family is going through outside of that post or video that they just posted. Everyone is going through some sort of challenge, and we must remember that that post or video is just a glimpse of a person’s life.

There have been times that I have watched videos and said they seem so happy during these few minutes of their life, but what is happening outside that bit of time. Some posts can show a happy person and that is the few minutes of happy they had for that day.

During the time that I have been watching YouTube videos I have seen a lot of heartache that is also shown and I think that makes the people true to themselves and true to their audience. If you are also showing the few happy moments, you are not even being true to yourself. What someone that posts on any type of social media is to lie to their audience. If you say one thing on one video and then you say the opposite on another video your audience is going to pick up on that.

 Inn one case, I was watching someone and they said they chose to leave their position and then suddenly they are saying that the company made the decision to let them go. Instead of saying they chose to leave their position, they could have simply said “it was decided it was better for me to leave my position”. This adds a level of untrust to the person because they aren’t being true to their audience.

Social media in some ways can show a false sense of always happy when the truth is that everyone has their good days and bad days and at least mentioning a little bit of the rough times will show an audience that you are human instead of showing them the false side of you. 

Something else that you must remember especially looking at Instagram posts there are a lot of filters and image correction that can be done to an imagine so the person lots different than they do in real life. Being able to look at some of those pictures and understand that they aren’t a true imagine goes a long way of realizing that the individual in that post is just the same as everyone else. Thinking that everyone on social media is beautiful and always happy is so wrong and I have heard people say that x person is always happy and is so beautiful, but when you look at them in real life, they are just the same as everyone else.

When craft stores become a spot for too many premade items

I think for some crafters, we are finding that the stores that were the spots where we would pick up supplies to make things have turned into places that sell mostly premade items. Where did the supplier of arts, crafts framing floral and home décor go? 

I agree that there are going to be items that a store might want to promote a premade item. I should be able to find the supplies available in the store to make this item myself. If you are showing me floral arrangements or display pieces, I should be able to pick up the parts of this piece to make it work for me and not just accept that the display is in the store is the only way that this item is to be sold.

It has become a challenge to find supplies to make different items because too many of the stores think that they can just sell the item and everyone is going to just purchase it. For me, when I look at a lot of the premade items in these crafts stores, I find that there are things that I would like to change in my version. It could be the colour or even some of the items that have been selected. When, I am in a store that says there are craft supplies, I should be able to find the supplies to make the item that they have on display with my variation to it.

One of the things that I have been finding when I got into the specific store that I am writing about is there are just too many premade items and not the supplies to make the items. If you are going to show me the premade items, please ensure that I can pick up the supplies to make this same idea my own. I might love the overall idea of the piece but the colours that you are showing me aren’t my colours, so I want to pick up the supplies and make that same my own.

For someone that is looking for items at Christmas that are teal, it is going to be a challenge to find something premade but if you can provide me with the pieces, I know that I can sit down and make something very similar. So next time you are in a craft store and see all the premade items, remember that there are a bunch of us that would like to be able to make a version of that same item but meeting our colour requirements.

Please, craft store understand that there are going to be individuals that want to just pick up the premade item that you are showing but then there are those of us that want to make that same item our way. I like seeing the various ideas that those stores show but I would really like the opportunity to make this item my own. Let me pick the colour or items that I want in my display because not everyone is doing to fit into a mould that you are trying to fill.

Your planner

A lot of us use a planner to stay organized and see that we are getting things achieved. I know for me I have found that the planner helps me know what needs to get done as well as what I have been able to get done.

Over the last couple of years, I haven’t been able to find a planner that I liked and was the size that worked well for me. So many of the planners don’t have a lot of space to write notes for each day which makes it difficult when you are managing both work and personal life. I decided last year to set up a calendar that I thought that would work on me and I found it did so once again this year I set it up and it has been working great.

Something that I have realized through having a planner is I need to have some fun in the planner as well otherwise I am just looking at boring pages each day and that doesn’t help at all. What I have found is if I can add some stickers to some of the pages it makes such a difference. I have a variety of stickers from quotes, birds, animals and even just some borders and that makes the planner a little more me.

I don’t add a lot of stickers to the pages, but it is fun when you can do it ahead of time so when you turn a page you may see something a little different. As you can see, I have one day on a page and that gives me space to make all the various notes that I need to make without feeling like I have to write too small to get everything in.

My current planner is using the ARC books (5.5x8.5inch) that were available at Staples, and it works for me and 2026 is two books so that I have the room to flip the pages and not feel too overwhelmed with the size of the planner. Sure, I probably could have made the planner thinner by using a bigger (8.5x11 inch) book and half a page per day, but this is a nice size for me, and it is something that is easy to take with me when I know I will need to make notes in it.

Being able to have some fun with your planner especially if you use a paper planner can help a lot. You can find stickers in a lot of places so just picking up a few different ones can make such a difference to your planner. Don’t be afraid to have fun with your planner because it is something that you will be using every day so enjoy it.

 

 

When "Your Better Half" should not be used

Recently I was in a store which I have frequented for a number of years with my husband and I heard something that I didn’t think was appropriate from one of the staff. Both of us were there at the event and we were not standing together so this one staff said to my husband where is “your other half” and his comment was she is upstairs and you have probably walked by her.

Well, this staff member came upstairs and finally probably after another 10 or minutes finally decided to see me and said to me oh, I saw “your better half” downstairs. This same staff member had walked by me quite a few times before even saying hi to me and I had tried repeatedly to at least get a hello to her, but she seemed to avoid any of this type of recognition. At one point she was within maybe three feet of me and still didn’t see me and there were other times she seemed to be looking in my direction but didn’t see me or just didn’t want to acknowledge that I was there.

Hearing the words “your better half” is extremely bad and the only time “better half” should be said is when it’s from your partner not from anyone outside of the relationship. When you, someone outside the relationship, are referring to someone as “your better half” you are degrading the person you are talking to. You are implying that the other person, is a better person and who you are talking to doesn’t matter. 

What bothered me so much about this comment was I was the main reason that we go to this store, not my husband and I have known this person longer than I have been in a relationship with my husband. Maybe, now what I am seeing is what she currently thinks of me and that is fine because she won’t be getting my business any longer. I am very thankful that she no longer owns the business, and I get along very well with the new owner.

When you are talking to someone that you know both sides of the relationship, please refer to the other person as your “other half” instead of “better half” because when you say better half, you are implying to the person that you are talking to that they aren’t equal to the other person in the relationship to you.

Taking some down time

For a small business owner, it can be a challenge to take some time off when you have clients that need your attention. Something that you must do is try and take some down time when the clients are taking their break. 

For us one of the challenges of working in IT is that most projects that involve working on servers are going to be completed during the business down time which means normally around the Christmas holidays. It is something that we understand and have been dealing with since we incorporated but it is nice when things work out and no client schedules server work during the holidays.

This last Christmas break we found out that all our clients were taking the week between Christmas and New Years off. All the clients were also not going back to work until January 5^th so that was a nice break. What this meant was we were able to have some downtime where, yes, we were available in case of an emergency, but we weren’t having to do the server projects that normally happen.

This past Christmas break was so different for us because it was time where we could do the little around the house projects that haven’t got done and we enjoying doing some of the things that are normally just done on weekends. It was different not having the normal routine for those 11 days, but it was nice as well. The weather wasn’t the best but at least we were able to do some of the other things that we wanted to do.

It felt different not having the server projects, but it was nice as well because it gave us time to stay home and do things that we wanted to do. Now we will see what this coming holiday season will be like, and we will just deal with it as it happens. Knowing that there are years when all clients need help over the holiday season and then times when it is just one or none is something that as a small business owner you have to deal with, and you must be flexible.

Making sure you take the down time when you can be important, and you have to enjoy it when it happens. It may be a little different than you first thoughts but knowing that you are only around for emergencies for a few days is so nice.

Patreon and YouTube Memberships

I am finding that more people are either setting up a Patron account or setting up YouTube Memberships for their YouTube channel. It can get extremely expensive if you were to have the various memberships because if you want some of the benefits.

If you were to join a bunch of YouTube memberships and then patron accounts, it could get very expensive quickly.

Here are some examples of YouTube memberships for people that have FlossTube channels

1. First one
1. $4.49/month CDN

                                                              i.      Benefits are you get a member shout-out on videos

                                                            ii.      Priority replies to comments

                                                          iii.      Loyalty badges next to your name

2. Second one
1. $1.99/month

                                                              i.      Weekly blog

                                                            ii.      Loyalty badges next to your name

                                                          iii.      Custom emoji to use in comments

2. $4.99/month

                                                              i.      All previous perks

                                                            ii.      Twice weekly Vlogs

3. $14.99/month

                                                              i.      All previous perks

                                                            ii.      Twice monthly live stitch with me sessions

                                                          iii.      Quarterly gift charts

 

One of these Flosstuber also have a patreon account so here is one of those with the costs of the patron account as well as a count of other patron accounts that doesn’t have a YouTube membership.

1. First one (also has YouTube membership)
1. $7.50 CA/month

                                                              i.      A day in the life – weekly vlogs, weekly blog post and discord access

2. $14.50 CA/month

                                                              i.      All previous tier benefits

                                                            ii.      Hang out live for filming of Live FlossTube

                                                          iii.      Quarter Patreon Gift chart

3. $22 CA/month

                                                              i.      All previous tier benefits

                                                            ii.      Monthly Zoom chat

4. $29 CA/month

                                                              i.      All previous tier benefits

                                                            ii.      Sneak peeks of upcoming designs

                                                          iii.      Monthly Gift chart

2. Second one
1. $10.50 CA/month

                                                              i.      Monthly PDF small chart

                                                            ii.      Sneak peek of upcoming designs

                                                          iii.      Access to patron only posts, vlogs, and updates

                                                          iv.      Participate in Polls

                                                            v.      5% off purchases on website

                                                          vi.      Early access to purchase fabric via Patreon store

2. $22 CA/Month

                                                              i.      All previous tier benefits

                                                            ii.      One large PDF chart

                                                          iii.      10% off purchases on website

                                                          iv.      Monthly stitch and chat

3. 57.50 CA/Month

                                                              i.      All previous tier benefits

                                                            ii.      2 Fat quarters of fabric send 4 times a year

                                                          iii.      15% off purchases on website

4. $208 CA/Month

                                                              i.      All previous tier benefits

                                                            ii.      20% off purchases on website

                                                          iii.      A yard on Hand dyed linen per month

3. Third one
1. $3.50 CA/month

                                                              i.      Exclusive content and more

What I am trying to show is that Patron memberships and YouTube memberships can cost quite a bit depending on what you want to receive each month as the benefit of being a member. If there are a few designers that you like their designs and you would like their month benefits it is going to cost you quite a bit on a monthly and you need to think about, are you getting the real value for the cost.

I recently received an email from someone that is now changing their Patron benefits and as soon as I looked at the benefits, I quickly said that I would stick with the free Patron membership that I have as the levels where just too much for what I saw as the benefits I would get. Being able to look at the cost and the benefits that you receive is very important because it can help you determine if being a YouTube member or a Patron is worth it.

Each person must make their own decision if they want to be a Patron or a YouTube member and no one can tell you that you should or shouldn’t have a specific membership. For me, I have the YouTube channels that I enjoy and am a member of one of those channels (not cross stitch) and I don’t have any Patron memberships currently but am looking at maybe joining one to just see what the benefits really are.