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Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto

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Getting organized

March 8, 2007 by Tricia

Thirteen Things about re-organizing my days

This is Thursday Thirteen #36

1…. Get a better sleep schedule – because of my illness I tend to stay up late or have trouble getting to sleep at night. As a result I tend to sleep in late in the mornings. I have to get out of that cycle in order to get organized. A better sleep cycle might also help make me feel better too.

2…. I want to dedicate at least one hour a day to visiting the blogs and web sites that I enjoy.

3…. Several reasons to visit other sites – one of them is that I don’t want my friends to think I’ve forgotten them. Bloggers like feedback, and I can’t expect to keep getting comments on my sites if I don’t start getting into the habit of visiting sites and letting other bloggers know that I like what they are doing.

4…. Another main reason to leave comments on sites that I visit (new and old) is of course to help bring some visitors back here. People do click on links in comments, or visit people that leave them comments. I’ve discovered some bloggers that I really like by clicking on comments that they’ve left me.

5…. I feel that some of my sites – this one is the worst- are getting cluttered, and I’d like to set aside at least an hour each day to work on maintaining my sites. Some are going to have new themes installed soon, but if I don’t make the time to do it, it will never get done. My gigantic web site needs a total overhaul. It’s so big it will take a solid week to redesign. I need to get working on stuff like that.

6…. It’s still winter here, but it is warming up. Again, I’d like to set an hour aside each day to get outside for a walk or bicycle ride. If I’m ever going to get back to work I need to get back into shape. As a nurse I lift, turn and even catch people all the time! I’ve got to be in shape so I don’t injure myself too! Plus, getting outside and getting some exercise will be good for me not only physically but mentally too. I spend far too much time indoors lately.

7…. If I can’t get outside for a walk or some outdoor activity because of weather or because of how I’m feeling I still need to try to do something indoors to increase my activity. I have one of those balance balls – maybe I should start using it?

8…. As the weather gets even better and my garden starts to come back to life I’ll need to add at least another hour to my schedule for garden work and garden maintenance. Gardening is good for the soul. It’s also good exercise- at least the way I do it. Remember I’ve coined the phrase “Extreme Gardening”.

9…. Since I’m still not back to work, the internet is my work place. I need to set aside a specific amount of time to work on my sites and to work on the type of things that help me earn money. Namely paid blogging. so ….

10…. I’ll set aside at least three hours each day to write articles for my various sites. I have 7 blogs and 2 websites that I actively work on (ok the websites aren’t daily work, but they do need some attention). My husband only has two blogs but I do help him maintain their design etc. I like to write articles in advance when I can. Why? Well some of my sites need me to stay on top of things – like the gardening site for example. I need to put a little research into some of my posts if I want to have quality information on that site. So setting aside some time for research and writing articles in advance helps me ensure that the quality of posts on each of the sites is good. I don’t like posting just because I should – and I don’t like posting drivel.

11…. Having articles for my sites written in advance helps on those days when I’m not feeling well and just can’t make myself write anything. It also helps when I’m working on my paid blogging posts because I have some good posts already in draft to put around the paid work.

12…. Working on the sites in order to make money needs at least three hours a day. At least on good days when there are decent writing opportunities available. I haven’t been doing as much paid blogging lately because I’ve gotten very picky. I want to write about things that suit my many sites. So hunting down worthy items that I think my visitors will appreciate takes some time.

13…. Ok so how many hours do I figure my days have to be? 1 hour for commenting and socializing, 1, hour for exercise, 1 hour for site maintenance, approximately 6 hours for writing, researching and paid blogging and an extra hour during gardening season so that I can keep the garden in top shape. That’s not too bad. 9 to 10 hours a day working from home and improving my health. That’s not too bad. Notice I didn’t list house-keeping? Oh oh … well some days there won’t be as much maintenance or writing needed on the sites so those days will have their extra hours devoted to keeping the home clean etc.

Sounds like a plan. I already do a lot of this, but it’s scattered throughout the day. Some of it, like the paid blogging will still be scattered here and there because the opportunities to make some money pop up at different times of the day. I think that if I can get myself to start working on this schedule I’ll feel a little more organized and perhaps a little healthier.

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Filed Under: Gardening, Health Fitness and Beauty, Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, Thursday Thirteen, Web and Technology, Web Design Tagged With: Gardening, Health and Fitness, Home and Lifestyle, organize, Recreation, site maintenance, Thursday Thirteen, Web and Technology, Web Design

Slush, Margeritas and the Ocean – a salty bunch

March 3, 2007 by Tricia

I should have looked at this weeks Photo Hunter theme earlier. The theme this week is Salty and I’m having trouble figuring out what I could post for it.

We just had a snow and ice storm so I suppose that I could take a photo of the slushy streets as I’m sure the melting snow contains some salt. Yes, when we have ice storms I think they still use some salt in the mix when the city clears the streets.

My brother came to Toronto from Vancouver with his wife. He’s here for a business conference, but his wife just tagged along so that she could shop and visit with us, my sister and one of my other brothers.

Chris and I will be getting together with them this afternoon. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing – perhaps some shopping, maybe just walking around downtown and seeing some of the sights. Either way I plan on bringing my camera along. Perhaps I’ll find some interesting things to take pictures of. Toronto is an interesting city … and now that I know that next weeks Photo Hunter theme is architecture I know which Toronto building I’d love to get a shot of. You’ll love it!

Later this evening we’re going to meet up with my sister and my other brother and perhaps some of my nephews and nieces for dinner in a downtown restaurant. Maybe I’ll order a margarita and take a photo of it’s “Salty” rim? That would work!

I’ve been feeling so rotten lately that I haven’t been out much. It will be nice to get out and visit with my relatives as well as just be out of this house. Of course I think I’m going to be out for 10+ hours, so I hope I’m up for it. It’ll be a drag if I’m feeling horrible by the time our dinner out rolls around.

I’ll leave you with this photo that my friend Jordan sent me. It is Salty since it’s a photo of the ocean:

IMG_0211

Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Family, Photo Hunters, Photography, Recreation, Socializing, Toronto Tagged With: camera, Canada, digital camera, Family, Photo Hunters, Photography, Recreation, Socializing, Toronto

Snow,Ice and no Internet – Oh No!

March 2, 2007 by Tricia

We had a huge snow storm yesterday!

It was so bad that it knocked out my internet AND cable connections at about 5:30 pm yesterday afternoon. Thunder, snow and Ice … that’s what yesterday was all about!

We had well over a foot of snow and got some freezing rain too.

I actually wrote the bulk of this post yesterday in notepad while I was waiting for the internet and cable to come back on. This is what I was thinking about:

I should go out and shovel. I really should. The only problem is that I’m feeling just terrible and I’ve got yet another fever. I’m afraid that if I bundle up to go outside and start pushing the snow around I’ll feel even worse.

You’d think that maybe, just this one time our neighbors would have at least shoveled the snow from the sidewalk in front of our house? Chris does most of the snow shoveling for our house. I used to do my fair share but when I’m sick I just can’t.

When Chris gets out and shovels he always does our two elderly neighbors sidewalks and the walkway leading up to the front of their house. He also often does the sidewalk in front of the house that is attached to our own. That means he shovels from the corner and the fronts walks and sidewalks of four or five houses! He does this almost every time he shovels.

I looked outside and two of the neighbors have shoveled but they didn’t do our sidewalk or my stalker elderly neighbor Sofie’s sidewalk.

Darn … I think I just talked myself into shoveling. I can’t leave it that way. I guess I’ll go bundle up and see how far I get. I am most definitely not shoveling for the neighbors who already did some of their own shoveling … the ones that we often shovel for normally.

So yes, I did end up going out to shovel. Darn neighbors! Five years of helping people out and when I can’t get out to do it because I’m sick and my husbands at work they don’t bother. I’m tired of being nice and getting walked on. No more!

Our internet and cable returned about four hours after it had gone out. What a frustrating day it was.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Home and Lifestyle, Toronto Tagged With: Canada, Entertainment, Home and Lifestyle, Toronto

Protecting our pampered car

February 28, 2007 by Tricia

You know, when we bought our house and moved in one of the only regrets that I had was that our new house didn’t have a garage. You see, we’d lived in an apartment before getting our house and our car was always kept in an underground garage.

This was great for both the car and for us. The car always started well in the winter, we didn’t have to clear snow off of it, and it didn’t get bird do do all over it either. Our car was pampered.

Now, our car sits at the beginning of our long and narrow driveway. The driveway that is a wind tunnel in both the summer and winter. The driveway that the birds fly along in a repeated path, often leaving signs of their passing on our cars hood or windshield.

In the summer time, because of the wind tunnel effect that our driveway has, I find that our car gets awfully dusty. So whenever I’m watering the lawn and garden I tend to lightly spray the car in order to get some of the dust off of it, and well, to remove the bird droppings too.

I’ve even gone so far as to think about getting some type of cover for the car. I was reminded of this a little while ago when I came across wolf car covers. The site has a large selection of custom and universal car covers, car bras, Tonneau covers for pick up trucks and a number of car, truck and even boat covers, mats and related accessories.

I actually found both custom and universal covers for our cars make and model and the prices are reasonable. I’m actually considering getting one for our car as it will help protect it against bird droppings, rain, snow and ultraviolet rays.

Our car will continue to look nice for a lot longer – less chance of rusting, scratches or other types of damage. I’ll have to see what my husband thinks when he gets home. I’m pretty sure he’ll think it’s a good idea.

If you’re interested in getting a car cover or a car bra for your vehicle check out Wolf car covers.

Filed Under: Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, Shopping Tagged With: car bra, car cover, Home and Lifestyle, protect against bird droppings, protect car, rain, Recreation, scratches, Shopping, snow, ultraviolet light, Wolf car cover

Greek Food

February 22, 2007 by Tricia

Since I’ve been having kind of a bad week Chris and I decided to order some take out food from one of our favorite restaurants. We haven’t order from that restaurant for a long time, or treated ourselves to much take out since we are trying to watch our money, so it was quite special.

We ordered the vegetarian Mousaka, Spanakopita, Saganaki, and lamb chops. The two meals came with their yummy Greek potatoes and rice, and a nice tossed salad.

Mousaka is similar in some ways to Sheppard’s pie. The regular version has a ground meat at the bottom. Since it’s Greek food I doubt that it’s hamburger. It’s probably ground lamb or pork. The top is mashed potato. The vegetarian version is what we ordered and the bottom is made up of grilled veggies- mostly eggplant.

Spanakopita – is Filo (light flaky pastry) wrapped spinach and cheese.

Saganaki – is a type of goat cheese that is very lightly breaded with cornmeal and then they pour either Vodka or Ouzo on it and set it on fire – lightly toasting it. Yum.

Right, so it probably wasn’t the healthiest meal for me to have. Especially since I seem to have problems with corn meal. I had awful pain after eating dinner for hours and hours, but you know what? I loved the taste of it and that’s all that counts. I have to treat myself occasionally even if I have to pay for it.

If you’re curious and you’d like to see what food we ate, you can visit the Omonia Restaurant and look at their menu. I’ve eaten in the restaurant twice, but for some reason I enjoy their food better as take out.

What do you know- I checked to see if I spelled the names of the various foods we ate properly and I did spell all of our menu items correctly. This Greek neighborhood must be growing on me.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Family, Shopping Tagged With: Canada, dining in, Entertainment, Family, Greek Food, Home and Lifestyle, restaurant, Shopping, take out, Toronto

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