by Tish MacWebber | Jan 11, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays
Hello Treasure Seekers! I am writing this a little late this week. How ironic is it that I design a new homepage with a table set for five less than two weeks ago for this website for me to not get this story written on time because I have too much on my plate? Very. So I should write a bit about this.
I have joined a bunch of challenges, am working on the website, still writing the blog, trying to find time to write my first book, am training and integrating for a new position at work, and maybe just maybe, I am a little bit overwhelmed. I am falling a bit behind in some areas and struggling to keep up with the rest.
This is nothing new for me at this time of year. January for the last few years has been a busy month for me. What is different now? I am fighting. I am pushing my limits and my boundaries. I am not going to just give up. I am writing today because of that. The old me would have just tried to forget that I missed the deadline and maybe started slacking off with writing. Not now. I am writing this late, but the important part is, I am writing it. I didn’t just quit. I am still working on all of the things, and have every intention to figure it out. One thing at a time.
So what should you do when there is too much on your plate and none of it is edible? You should tackle one portion at a time. I am writing this tonight and since I have the next 2 days off, I will make a plan in the morning to tackle the rest.
In terms of the Jewellery Brand Makeover Challenge, I am working on it. I am gearing up for the 2nd part of the homework. I am thinking really hard about rebranding Tish’s Treasures. With this website, I am starting something new. I think it deserves a fresh name, and brand. So I am thinking about what the new name should be. I have written a cocktail line for the Jewellery business. Here it is.
My Treasures (or Bling, I haven’t decided yet-this depends on my rebranding) are patterned with symmetry, but they are whimsical, unique, delightful and quirky expressions of my creativity, made just for the client after a consultation, often being a surprise to those who receive them , whether it is for the client or as a gift for someone else.
I haven’t ever tried to summarize my Bling Business before, let alone rebrand it. I am working on this currently, and when I make a final decision it will be a quick switch. Once I decide on what it is I am going to do, then it just happens.
I am playing around with ideas, even changing the logo just on the bling page from Always Thinking… to Always Blinging…
I haven’t decided on the name yet. I am thinking about using my pen name. Possibly just the initials TMW bling or designs or treasures. Tish MacWebber has to be in the new business name, I am just not exactly sure how it will be used.
If you have any thoughts or comments about this, please feel free to share them.
Until next time…
#TreasureSeekerTuesday (on a Wednesday or a Thursday…it is late).
by Tish MacWebber | Jan 6, 2018 | Weekend Warrior
Hello, Weekend Warriors and Weekend Warrior readers! I am writing today because I have to squeeze my whole weekend into one day. I am changing positions at work, and the transition starts tomorrow. I will have some different days off, and I don’t know yet what my regular schedule will be like. I am just happy with the change and willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.
I missed a few of my regular weekend facebook posts last weekend. I am going to fix that up starting today. I will be working really hard to catch up on everything today so I don’t fall behind. That being said, I have quite an extensive list in my head, that I should really take the time to write down. That will be next.
I am starting a different challenge this upcoming week. (Several, actually). The one I am really excited about is going to help me move Tish’s Treasures to this website the correct way! I am so excited. I never even stopped long enough to think about branding the Bling page for the website. I SO have to do this! (Guess what Treasure Seeker Tuesday will be about this coming week!) I am already thinking that the easiest way to start is to make it under my pen name, as it is a name I completely made up and therefore will make me stand out from anyone else using the name Tish’s Treasures. I have found at least one other business with that name. Expect that to happen on the Facebook page asap!
Which means new designs with my website colour palette, and that is going to be a bit of work. I will have to get back to the thought process before I update the website, but the good news is that I am working on a blank page. I can start however I want to, and build from that. I have a few parts already conceptualized, and they will be a part of what is to come when I am ready.
I am also helping friends at suppertime. I am getting the bonus of supper with those friends, too, and that is great! I like that I have to make time to help people that I care about, and I don’t have to figure out what to make for supper. Which also helps me with another weekend chore.
I am starting the new year with two challenges I have done before. Both are for cleaning and organizing. One is a 10 minute a day challenge for January, and today is my catch up day. If you want to check this cleaning challenge, check it out on youtube, Day 1 of 2018’s #31Days2GetOrganized Challenges. It is hosted every January by Peter Walsh, who used to be on the TV show Clean Sweep. I used to watch him on that show, and it is why I do the challenges every January since I found them. The other one starts Monday, and it is the spring cleaning and organizing challenge. I need time to prepare for it, and that time is today. So that is also what I am doing today. The surface clean before the deep spring clean.
I will have to figure out a grocery list today and get Roy to get the groceries tomorrow, while I am at work. It is a lot to do in one day, but I can continue things tomorrow after work if I have to.
First, I need to get ready to make this week’s coffee review video on my facebook wall. I have done this on Saturdays but may have to film on a different day of the week until my schedule settles down. Then I will have to walk away from the computer to get some other things done. That is the other reason I am writing it early this weekend. I have to get other things done and crossed off my list.
What are you doing this weekend?
#WeekendWarrior
by Tish MacWebber | Jan 5, 2018 | Trust Your Gut
This week in Trust Your Gut, I am not sure what to write about. I have done better with food choices. In fact, I tried something new. I bought Green Giant riced cauliflower and sweet potato in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store, a while back. I am not afraid to try new things, but I will admit that it sat in the freezer for longer than had I intended it to. I had some THM Crispy Lickin’ Chicken Thighs in the oven, so I decided to make this new thing my side dish.
I cooked it in the bag in the microwave. There are stove top directions, but I wasn’t ready to try frying it just yet. I cooked it, and added butter to it and mixed it in. I really liked it. I was full with the chicken and the sweet potato cauliflower rice. I have split it into 2 meals, and have my own healthy “TV dinner” packed in the fridge, ready to heat and eat.
I also finished up the loaded spaghetti squash casserole that I made last week. I had it for lunch at work the last two days. I am not sure if I am going to take the chicken meal for lunch tomorrow, or if it might be a sandwich day. Sometimes I take eggs and scramble them for lunch with cheese. Whatever I bring, I am trying to have healthier choices again.
I have not had Zumba classes this week, but I expect to have some shoveling to do for activity tomorrow. It is called a weather bomb cyclone, and there was a large snowfall warning overnight. It is freezing rain out there now, so I am not sure if there will be any snow to shovel tomorrow or not. I will see in the morning. We have a late start time, and work was closed early today, which is very unusual, that does not happen very often. Neither does a bomb cyclone. It is the first time I have heard of a winter storm with that name.
I am also trying to get more sleep in. It has been a busy December with building the website in all of my free time. Now that it is here, although not finished, it is not the cause of stress to meet the launch deadline. I know that 6 hours of sleep is technically enough to squeak by on, it is not ideal. I am trying to get in more sleep when I can. I don’t want to get sick, and I know I will have a better chance at being healthier if I make sleep more important in my goals for a healthier lifestyle. I have been pushing my limits. I know I need to slow down. Just a little.
The website is launched. The Holidays are over. Now is the time to continue to work on living a healthier lifestyle. I keep working towards my goals. When I start seeing results, it will be just the incentive I need to keep going. My defining word for 2018 is SUCCESS. I plan to make it happen.
#TrustYourGut
by Tish MacWebber | Jan 3, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays
Here is the first Treasure Seeker Tuesday from my NEW WEBSITE! What do you all think? I have worked really hard to get it this far, and I am not even close to being done. As I wrote somewhere else, earlier this week, I knew it was time to launch, even if it is not perfect. If I wait for that I will never launch it, and if you want to know the other truth from behind the scenes, it will never really be done. If I stop working on it, stop changing and updating it, it will be a dead website. Why? Not because I have a burning desire to constantly work on it, although at some point I will be working on it from a maintenance perspective, rather than a building & construction perspective. No, Treasure Seekers, the reason for that is you. I do not want you to leave out of boredom. I try to keep things interesting on the blog, but I realize that there is more to experience here on the website, and I am just testing the water with my big toe right now. Once I dive in, it is going to cause ripples, waves and splashes that you will never see coming until they are in your face.
Photo of a wave splashing in the Atlantic Ocean. Location Chimney Corner, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Photographer Lisa Hill.
That picture is one that I have had for several years, and a friend took it. She shared it with me, and I treasure it so much! It is one of the things that I am happy to use over and over again, because it speaks to my soul, and my soul is in constant longing to be near the ocean. Seeing this picture makes me happy.
Why just my big toe? Well, if you grew up in Cape Breton like me, you know that in the deepest part of winter, the ocean actually freezes every winter. Locals say, “The Big Ice is in,” when it freezes over. Seals sometimes wander too far inland following the ice up a river, and if they are lucky, people help steer them back to the ocean. I am sure some of them make it back on their own. The Big Ice does thaw and melt every year, but the ocean is never warm like bath water where I am from. There is a coldness to it year round, although it is warm enough to swim in from the middle of June to the middle of September, in a good warm year. So I have learned at a very young age to always test the water before diving in.
Here we are. I am beginning my new adventure, and I am so happy that you are here, reading, and joining me on this next big leap. I am never going to say that I know all of the answers, and that is why I am known for asking so many questions. It is how I learn. If I get stuck, I will keep asking until I sort it out, or until I finally understand. There is a story about this. What is a Brain Pretzel? is a Tish-ism, and they are stories about things I think up that need a bit of an explanation. I have had a few of those while building the website, and I am sure they weren’t the last ones that I will have.
I would like to officially welcome all of you to my new website, and I wish for many returns!
#TreasureSeekerTuesday
by Tish MacWebber | Jan 2, 2018 | Weekend Warrior
Hello Weekend Warriors! I know I am a little late posting this, but I am happily writing this for my new website location. My Blog has moved, and although I am in the process of organizing the new website, I am happy to be able to post my new stories from the new location.
OK. My weekend was busy, and I did more than just launch my new website, and close the old Blog with an invitation to join me here at the website.
Saturday started with a late breakfast out with friends. I like Skillets for breakfast. They consist of hashbrowns, grilled with onions, or deep fried, with scrambled eggs, sometimes veggies, choice of breakfast meat, and cheese. If you order one that is an Eggs Benedict style, then it will have Hollandaise sauce. I fell in love with them years ago at a Restaurant called Smitty’s. They no longer have a Smitty’s here, but there are other places that serve Skillets for breakfast.
A few weeks ago, I had breakfast with my husband at Cannon’s Cross Pub. Their Skillet pleasantly surprised me, and I quite enjoyed it. Since then I have had one at The Coffee Mill, and this past weekend, at Porter’s Diner. The last two did not impress me nearly as much as the first one.
If the onions are not cooked, it takes away from the meal. If the potatoes are fried and almost burned, it’s no good. I will not order a skillet at either of these two places again. They have other items on the menu, and I have liked other meals in both restaurants. I will not go back for a Skillet, though.
Smitty’s has a Texas Skillet that I make at home. It is like nachos on hashbrowns. I love it, and make it frequently for us as a supper, without the eggs-at his request. So there is taco meat, tomato, green onion, (eggs – I scramble them when I make it with eggs) cheese, salsa, and sour cream. It is delicious.
Saturday after we got home, we didn’t do too much. I worked on my website, and he watched tv and occupied himself on his computer. Typical night home for us, we do this a lot.
Sunday we got our candy wrappers together and cashed them in for 2 free admissions to go see a movie. We went to see Star Wars. I do not want to spoil it here, and it was good, but there were some things that didn’t seem to fit with the Saga. It was bittersweet, seeing it so close to the anniversary of the deceased Carrie Fisher, who played the iconic role of Princess Leia. It was nice to see it, but sad knowing that she is gone.
Sunday night we went to a house party to ring int he new year with friends. I had made deviled eggs, and we also brought cheese and Triscuit crackers to share. There was chili, but the chili there is always too spicy for my taste. There was a table full of food, and we ate, drank, and played Toto’s Africa almost on time to wish the Blessings of Rain to Africa (a line in the song) at exactly midnight. There was a 5-second delay. I hereby declare that it was an unintentional Broadcast Delay, like the one for Live TV. 😉 I really tried, but the whiskey caused a delay in me getting it to start on time. Yeah, that was it, the Whiskey Broadcast Delay. LOL!
I had the Gibson’s Finest Rare Canadian Whiskey ( there is an age verifier on their website…) which I mixed with both Pepsi (OK) and Sussex Golden Ginger Ale (amazing) which you can only buy here, in the Maritimes. Canada Dry is my 2nd favourite Ginger ale. I do drink Zevia Ginger ale when I am trying to be smarter with my choices, but not on New Year’s Eve.
I had also brought the bottle of Pollen Angels Scuttlebutt Mead made locally here. I brought that one to share, and a couple of my friends sampled it with me. Now I know that sounds like a lot of drinking, and I was a little wobbly after midnight. However, I have a secret weapon for surviving a night of partying. I make sure to have water, and an electrolyte drink before going to bed. That usually does the trick for me and since a hangover is basically a major case of dehydration, I have found this to be a trustworthy cure for the avoidance of a hangover. It is never good to drink in excess, of course, and you should be mindful of snacking while drinking of you are a diabetic like me.
We rang in the new year with friends, and as my husband is not as fond of drinking as I am (I am from Cape Breton, it is kind of a requirement) and also because he had to work on New Year’s Day ( I am so thankful that I didn’t have to!) he was my designated driver that got us home safely. I am also a strong advocate for planning ahead, to make sure that people travel safely. Better safe than sorry. It is too bad that people still think it is OK to drive after drinking, I don’t. If you ever wondered about it, try having a few and playing a racecar video game. Unless you are some kind of unique person, you will see why it is never good to drink and drive. On a video game, you can start over. Not in real life.
Monday was still the weekend for me as I had the holiday off. I spent the day doing laundry, running the dishwasher, and building my new website. I am happy to be able to share it with you all and look forward to watching the stats climb here like they did for the blog, on the old blog site.
How did you ring in the New Year?
#WeekendWarrior
