A Few Random Things

This is kind of a miscellaneous post since none of these things alone are enough for their own post.  Of course, like all of my random things posts, there will be cat (and other) pictures sprinkled throughout. 

Howard

I’m trying to reply to all of the comments now.  I’ve posted about it before, and the opinions seemed fairly mixed.  I replied to comments when I first started blogging, way back in 2012, but just stopped somewhere along the way.  I’ve decided to try it again for now.  I can always stop if no one seems to read them, or if I don’t really have anything to say.  I haven’t responded to some of the comments on my photography post because they were really long when I started to, and I’ve decided to just write a post instead.  I’m hoping to have that finished soon.

Mortimer

My best piece of random news is that my dad got his first dose of vaccine last week.  My parents live in South Carolina, so my dad got vaccinated shortly after they opened up appointments for people 65 and over.  They’ve lowered the age limit now, so my mom has an appointment scheduled for next week. 

We’ve had almost a week of wonderfully nice, warm weather, even getting up to 70 degrees.  The daffodils are starting to bloom  I’ve been wishing the tree hadn’t destroyed the hammocks when it fell!  Today is the last of the good weather.  It gets rainy and colder, even going down to highs in the 50s for all of the 10 day forecast.  I hope that will be the last of the colder weather, but I’m not counting on it.  March tends to lose its ever loving mind every year and torments us with another bout of cold weather.

The company, Corel, that owns WordPerfect has absolutely terrible customer service.  We’ve been trying to contact them for over two weeks about an issue with the program. They take a few days to respond to every email, and it feels like they’ve been deliberately dragging it out.  Nick sent them all of the information they might need in the first email, but they’ve been emailing and asking for the same information he already sent, one thing at a time.  Email on Monday asking how many systems it’s installed on, email a few days later asking for a screen shot of the error, etc. 

Their latest response is that we have a pirated copy of the program and need to buy a new one.  We most certainly do not!  We bought it brand new, from Best Buy.  It’s old, but it’s not pirated or stolen.  When we first started having problems with it, I was mostly prepared to buy the new version of it since ours is old.  It seemed worth checking to see if we could get a little more life out of ours first, though.  I really, really like WordPerfect, a lot more than Word, so I wasn’t opposed to replacing the program.  Now that they’ve been so obnoxious, I’m less inclined to buy their product.  Bad customer service is bad enough, but I really don’t like being accused of stealing, which I feel is what they did when they said our program is pirated.  I use Word every day on my work computer and if the Corel people want to be jerks, I can certainly use Word on my personal computer. 

 

Caroline

I’m making mask adapters again.  One of my coworkers asked for one for his wife.  She works in retail, and had one of the ones I made early on, but it disappeared at work.  I made a few for her, and some extras for her to take to work as well.  I was really happy that someone asked for them.  I’ve been telling people to let me know whenever they need them, and I’m glad someone finally did.  My sister has handed out all of the ones I sent to her a few weeks ago, so I’m working on another batch to mail to her. 

I found a new chiropractor that I’m extremely happy with.  I hadn’t been since before the pandemic.  The chiropractor I had been going to has been open, but I won’t be going back there, ever, because of their COVID behavior.  I kept putting off finding a new one, but persistent headaches are a good motivator.  I Googled “chiropractors in my town” and then looked for Facebook pages to see what their practice was like.  I had never realized how helpful a business’s Facebook page could be!  I eliminated two from my list immediately, and found what looked like a solid first choice and a decent second choice.  I called the first choice to ask about their mask policy and ended up making an appointment for the next day.  They are awesome!!!  The practice reminds me a lot of the one I absolutely loved when I lived in SC.  I’ve been going weekly and feel so much better. 

Dogs make people smile.  Especially friendly, happy three-legged dogs.  Since almost everything is curbside or drive-thru now, I’ve been taking Duke with me almost every time I go anywhere.  He loves going for rides, and I think he misses seeing other people and going places.  He’s always so happy when I get his leash out.  And people are always happy to see him.  Everyone just seems much happier when I have Duke with me. 

Duke

So what about you?  Have you been enjoying warm weather?  Do you have a favorite word processing program?  Have you found it helpful to look at a business’s Facebook page?  

The Lilac Bush, Three Years Later

I usually love it when the “you have memories” notification comes up on Facebook.  Most of the time it’s kind of fun to see what was going on exactly a year, or several, ago.  Sometimes it’s a good way to measure progress and see how much has changed.

This picture popped up today, from three years ago.

In 2015, the attorneys in my office gave me a gift certificate to a local nursery for Administrative Professionals Day.  That was a good year in the yard, so I was delighted with the gift certificate.

One of the things I bought with it was a lilac bush to plant in front of the house.  I had forgotten how small it was when we first planted it.

As you can see from these pictures, taken today, it really has grown a lot in three years.

I really, really like the bush, so I’m very happy it’s doing so well.  It smells great, and I love the flowers on it.

So what about you?  Do you like lilacs?  Do you enjoy it when Facebook informs you of memories for a specific day?

Facebook - The Status That’s Becoming More and More Tempting to Post

Let me start off by admitting that I’m kind of addicted to Facebook.  I spend much more time on it than I should.  I post tons of pictures of the fur kids, the garden when things are blooming, and some food pictures.  It’s a great way to keep up with people I don’t see regularly.  And I’m a sucker for cat videos.

It seems like periodically, though, there’s a rash of people using Facebook as a way to sell (or harass you to buy) whatever home based or direct sales product they’ re selling at the moment.  Some of them border on stalker behavior trying to get you to try their product, buy their product, or have a “party” to sell their product to your friends.  Lately, the trend seems to be to add you to a group or an event about it.  It fills up your news feed, and you constantly get notifications about it.  It’s annoying.

I first had the idea for this a few months ago when the “Make Facebook Fun Again” photo went around in response to people’s behavior on Facebook concerning politics and other controversial topics.  I liked it.  I thought it was a fairly lighthearted way to make a very valid point.

I have no artistic abilities, so I just wrote something out with markers.  I haven’t posted it on my Facebook page, but it’s becoming more and more tempting.  Unfortunately, everything here has been something that has been an ongoing issue.

The leggings: For some reason, I took an instant and intense dislike to these.  They remind me of the stirrup pants craze of the late 80s/early 90s.  As a child, I took an instant and intense dislike to those.  As a kid I was more of a jeans and button down kind of girl.  Today I’m more of a Worthington pants and top or sweater for work, and jeans and t-shirt or sweater for time off kind of person.  Leggings just don’t do it for me.

The habit with them seems to be for people to add you to groups and events for them.  You then get tons of notifications and reminders.  Sometimes there’s a blurb about why the person selling them needs your support.  I just don’t think that’s appropriate.  If you’re trying to sell me something, at least focus on why I need the product, not on why you need the money from selling me the product.

The miracle weight loss programs: This has probably been the most egregious one.  The worst person by far, is a former co-worker, who started messaging me every single time I got on Faceook about trying it.  EVERY.  SINGLE.  TIME.  Early in the morning, late at night, it didn’t matter.  Every time I logged into Facebook, she was there on Chat, telling me how her program would transform my life, make me skinny, and make me a millionaire so I could quit my day job.
I finally told her that I didn’t try weight loss products that are soy based, or that have any soy at all, so if hers did, I couldn’t try them.  Most of them do, so I thought that would get her to leave me alone.  I have to avoid soy for medical reasons.  I have benign tumors that are estrogen fed.  Because soy mimics estrogen, I have to avoid it.  It can cause the tumors to grow, which increases the chances of them rupturing and causing internal bleeding.  To put it bluntly, and dramatically, consuming large quantities of soy could actually kill me.

You might think that would be enough to make someone back off, but you would be wrong.  She went on to tell me how their soy is different.  Okay, sure.  I’ll ignore what medical professionals have told me because you (with no medical training) think I should try this program.  I don’t think so.  I turned off Chat and stopped reading her messages.  She then added me to a group detailing people’s success stories.  It took me a while to figure out why every time I logged into Facebook I was inundated with pictures of half naked strangers.   I finally figured it out, removed myself from the group, and chose the option to prevent anyone from adding me back in.

The cosmetics and skin care: This seems to be the latest trend where the people selling them send you friend requests and messages because you’re friends with a friend of theirs, and they just know you’ll love what they’re selling.  Really?  You know my skin type and cosmetics preferences just based on my being friends with someone?  Do you also happen to know the winning lottery numbers in the next drawing?

The other trick is that they add you to groups to teach you how to apply cosmetics, take care of your skin, etc, once again filling up your news feed and sending you tons of notifications.  No thanks.  I’m 35.  I’ve been wearing makeup since I was 14.  I’ve figured out how to apply it over the two decades I’ve worn it.

The accessories: In my experience these are usually the most blatant appeals for money.  The sales pitches usually come with appeals along the lines of “I just need to sell X number of dollars worth per month to be a stay at home mom”.  Again, if you’re selling a product at least focus on why the potential buyer needs it rather than why you need to sell it.

I’m sorry, but I’m just not going to part with my hard-earned money for overpriced handbags, hair clips, nail polish, whatever the product of the moment is just because you want me to.  That’s not why I get up and go to work every morning.

Like I said, I haven’t posted this on my Facebook page, but it becomes more and more tempting every day.  I’m just not sure it would actually make a difference with some people.

So what about you?  Are you inundated with people trying to sell you things on Facebook?  Have you found a good way to convince people you’re not buying?

I realize this post was a little bit of a rant, and I promise that tomorrow’s post will be much more positive.  We all need a good rant every now and then, though.  So feel free to rant away in the comments.  I’m honestly kind of hoping I’m not the only one.  

Sharing Pictures

Does it sometimes seem like the internet can be a really bad place? Some days it seems like all you see are news articles about really bad things happening, your email doesn’t bring good news, and your Facebook feed is a steady diet of negativity. But sometimes there are days when the internet is a tool that reminds us that, yes, there are good people out there. People who maybe want to make the world just a tiny little bit better if they can.

Today was one of those days for me. One of my rescue friends posted a really cute picture of her dog and little boy on a Facebook page, Photo Doggies for Anthony. Apparently the page was started on behalf of a boy named Anthony who’s going through cancer treatment at a children’s hospital in Arizona. They have therapy dog visits some days, but not every day. Evidently those visits are a very big deal to Anthony (because who doesn’t feel better with a dog around?), so someone decided to start a Facebook page asking people to share photos of their dogs. The idea was that he’d at least get to see dog pictures every day. 

The page seems to have gone viral, with people all over the world posting dog pictures, and encouraging their friends to post dog pictures as well. It’s a really small thing. It really doesn’t take long at all to post a picture on Facebook, but maybe it’s something that makes it a little easier for a kid to deal with something that no one wants to face. It has to feel good that so many people who will never meet him care enough to try to brighten his day just a little.

If you’re on Facebook, I encourage you to check it out. There are a lot of cute pictures, and the comments all seem to be positive, coming from a place of kindness and hope. If you’re so inclined, take a minute to share a dog picture. (Cat people, take heart, there are a few cat pictures as well.) If there’s anything to the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s a page with millions of good words, and that’s something we can probably all use a little more of.

My Day of Freedom

I did get my day of freedom yesterday.  I didn’t go anywhere.  I didn’t even talk to or see anyone other than my husband.  I didn’t go on Facebook, and I completely ignored the phone.  It was wonderful.  I may have to do it more often.  I was able to get quite a bit accomplished too; not as much as I would have liked, but definitely enough to call it a good day.

I cleaned out and organized the refrigerator.  This always makes me happy and makes me feel like a success in the kitchen, so that was excellent.  

I caught up most of the laundry, including putting it away (that’s always the really hard part for me for some reason), and some of the ironing.  I am beginning to think that the cats pull clean clothes from the closets and dressers and toss them in the hamper while we’re gone.  I think it’s possible; our cats can behave very badly sometimes, and we seem to generate an exorbitant amount of laundry for just two people.  

I submitted a poem to an online publication.  I had been meaning to do this for about two months, but between procrastination and a fear of rejection I just hadn’t gotten around to it.  It’s submitted now.  It will be about three months before I hear anything back from them, so now that it’s done I’m trying not to think much about it.  Yes, I am aware of the fact that if I’d submitted it when I first decided to I’d only have about another month to wait before hearing from them.  Live and learn.

Continuing on the writing front, I organized my partially written posts into folders within my folder on the desk top, and named them appropriately.  I will be happier because I can find things now, and my husband will be happier because they’re organized and not all over the desktop.  (He has this theory that you shouldn’t save everything to the desktop and that that’s what folders are for.)  I also worked on a few posts for later on, though not quite as many as I had hoped.  

I also scrubbed the kitchen floor; the on your hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water kind of scrubbing, instead of using a mop or Swiffer.  I haven’t done this in a while, and let me just say that almost every inch of my body is screaming “WHY???  WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” today.  But the floor looks really, really good.  

The floor scrubbing was good too because, being a mindless activity that kept my hands busy, it gave me time to think about some things.  As I mentioned Tuesday, I’ve been edgy and snappish lately, so I spent the time trying to figure out some solutions.  I concluded that at least part of the trouble is that I’ve lapsed into a very disorganized state.  I am happiest when I know what I’m making for dinner every (or at least most) night for the week, when my work clothes are laid out the night before, and when things are just generally well-organized and planned.  This hasn’t been happening lately.  I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it’s due to a combination of poor time management and a general lack of organization.

I found some great articles on organization with some tips and ideas that I plan to try, and I’m working on a plan for getting some things organized.  I’ll probably be writing more about that later.  

The time management part is harder.  I seem to have a pattern of saying yes to everything I’m asked to do or participate in, getting burned out that way, and then saying no to everything.  I’m still working on a solution for this one.  Most of the things I commit to seem important at the time, so I’m having a hard time figuring out what to say no to.  How do you prioritize?  Do you have a daily/weekly/monthly limit for things you’ll commit to?  Do you have any suggestions at all for better time management?

I also came to the realization that I spend (okay, waste) a lot of time every week on Facebook and talking on the phone.  I realize that not all phone conversations are a waste of time, and there are definitely people that I need and want to talk to.  I need to stop answering my phone any and every time it rings and staying on the phone until the other person needs to go.  I plan to start utilizing voicemail and prioritizing whether or not a call needs to be returned immediately, based on the voicemail and what I’m currently trying to accomplish.  And I think I’m going to start setting serious limits for my time on Facebook.  I’m also considering whittling down my friends list.  Have any of you tried this, or had success in limiting phone and Facbook time?

I hope you all had a safe, wonderful, and happy Fourth of July.