As part of my updates, I wanted to do a little bragging about the work I've done in the last while. I'm rocking the work-from-home thing (okay, "rocking" is a bit strong; I'm accomplishing it with varying levels of success) and finally even have a babysitter three days a week to make it happen (thank you, Elyse!)
I've mentioned this before, but after my job with the scrapbooking/crafting magazines disappeared, I took some time off to have a baby and then started doing freelance and contract work. It was stressful to start working for myself that way, but the miracles flowed in (and then again) and it's been a great experience, even if the stress of working from home gets me down on a regular basis.
Between my 3 1/2 years with the magazines and the 1 1/2 years of freelance work, I can say I've been writing and editing professionally for 5 years, which is awesome and sort of amazing to me still. This is what I wanted to do, career-wise, and I am making it work the way I wanted to do it - at home, part-time. English major victory!!!
At least half of my jobs have been to write content for various websites, so I actually get to see my name in (digital) print, which is really cool! (My next goal is getting published for something I wrote creatively for me and not for a job.)
First, my stint with writing for eHow last year, which did not pan out but I completed my 3 articles and got my $50 bonus so, sweet, right?
How to Make a T-shirt from Fabric
How to Make an Adult Tinkerbell Costume
How to Make Accordion-fold Books
Second, I spent last summer writing company reviews for thebestcompanys.com, though sadly, none of my reviews have my name attached. If you care to browse, I ended up writing about DNS providers and life insurance, business loan, personal loan, and payday loan companies (don't EVER use a payday loan company is the moral of that story).
And third, my current really awesome job is writing content for ASecureLife.com and I've had a couple of articles go live already. These have actually been really interesting to research, as I've covered a pretty wide range of topics in just the two months since I started working there. These are just the start of many articles to come:
Do Security Systems Really Work?
Funding Circle Reviews: An Exceptional Loan Experience?
Updated: Prosper Reviews: Our #2 Pick for Peer-to-Peer Lending
More updates:
Best Smart Locks: A Look at the Top Locks on the Market
Best Digital Door Locks: Security and Convenience
Best Wi-Fi Baby Monitors: Peace of Mind from Far Away
Lending Club Reviews: Our #1 Peer-to-Peer Lending Company
All this researching random topics makes me feel like a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none. Except, of course, for the researching and writing part. I've got that part down.
P.S. I should mention that the other half of my freelance work has been writing educational materials (another job where I got to research all kinds of random stuff in order to write reading passages for various grade levels) and editing all kinds of papers. I worked for an online editing/proofreading company (don't anymore, I just quit last month) that accepted almost anything, so I got to edit (mostly poorly written) essays about a huuuuge range of topics. I mean, everything from marine biology to emergency room procedures to the materials used to make dentures to Italian painters to health administration reports to literature reviews to the best bituminous mixtures to make asphalt, which, funny enough, I though was another paper about dentures for the first 2 pages. I don't miss that particular job but it definitely kept me on my toes!
Showing posts with label Kate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kate. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Monday, February 2, 2015
"Goals" for 2015
I, like many others, love setting goals. Or rather, I love planning, and goal-setting is just another way to make plans. Forget the bass; really, it's all about the organization. "Give me organization, or give me ice cream to help me cope with the chaos!" That's the saying, right?
Anyhow. I, like many others, also have a hard time following through on my elaborate and extensive goal-setting. Usually because once I start thinking of the things I want to do/change/improve/learn, I think of all the things and the list becomes overwhelming, and then one or both of the children start crying and I just skip straight to the ice cream.
So I intensely admire the people who made and posted their New Year's goals, and I intensely want to be that put-together someday. But this year, I recognized that trying to add in more stuff to my life would be futile and frustrating. I am just barely keeping up with the rhythm we've got going, so rather than adding an extra step here or there, I am focusing on improving my dance skills right where I am. (Too much metaphor?) To that end, I made only two officials "goals" for 2015:
1) Be more present with my kids. Originally, I wanted to spend at least twenty minutes of one-on-one time with each of my girls every day. But between all the getting sick and fluctuating nap schedules, this actually got kind of tricky. So instead of setting a specific timed goal, I just make sure that I connect with my kids every day. Some days, that means that all three of us are playing and laughing and being present together. Other days, that means coloring with Georgie while Rosie naps and snuggling with Rosie before bed. Some days are filled with lots of good moments, and on other days, we (read: I) struggle. I think this might be par for the parenting little kids course, so I am just going to keep at it. I also started keeping a journal solely about the girls, which is helping me focus on the moments of connection. I keep it in the main part of our apartment so anytime Georgie says something funny or brilliant or Rosie does something new, I can jot it down right then and there. It's both sweet and fun, and I definitely recommend this.
2) Make healthier choices. When it comes to setting health goals, there are many many ways I can improve my fitness: losing weight, eating right, drinking water, exercising, getting enough sleep, taking mental health breaks, etc. etc. etc. I tend to feel like I have to do it all or it's wasted effort, which does not motivate me. So this "goal" is just to start taking steps. Scaling back on the ice cream, for example. Noticing what, when, and how much I'm eating. Making it easier to keep track of how much water I drink. I'd love some dedicated exercise time, but I haven't figured out how to make that fit with our routine yet, so for now, I take the girls for walks when the weather is good. I am also trying to make time for myself everyday to preserve my mental and emotional health, and that is still a work in progress. Though blogging is a small step in that direction. (Too bad it comes at the cost of going to bed on time. Baby steps...?)
Easy peasy, right? Almost? Maybe? I guess the truly nice thing about these goals is that every day is a chance to achieve them. Every day I can start over and try again without keeping score. And sometimes, as a mom (and as a human being), that is my mantra. It has to be, really, because otherwise what I feel are my "failures" will haunt me forever. So this is what I tell myself: Every minute is an opportunity to be better, to make a better choice, to be a more patient person, to respond with love instead of frustration or anger. And my hope is that all those better minutes will start to add up to a better person. So I guess that my 2015 goals are as grandiose as I usually make them, after all. They just leave room for some human-ly error along the way. And, of course, for ice cream.
Anyhow. I, like many others, also have a hard time following through on my elaborate and extensive goal-setting. Usually because once I start thinking of the things I want to do/change/improve/learn, I think of all the things and the list becomes overwhelming, and then one or both of the children start crying and I just skip straight to the ice cream.
So I intensely admire the people who made and posted their New Year's goals, and I intensely want to be that put-together someday. But this year, I recognized that trying to add in more stuff to my life would be futile and frustrating. I am just barely keeping up with the rhythm we've got going, so rather than adding an extra step here or there, I am focusing on improving my dance skills right where I am. (Too much metaphor?) To that end, I made only two officials "goals" for 2015:
1) Be more present with my kids. Originally, I wanted to spend at least twenty minutes of one-on-one time with each of my girls every day. But between all the getting sick and fluctuating nap schedules, this actually got kind of tricky. So instead of setting a specific timed goal, I just make sure that I connect with my kids every day. Some days, that means that all three of us are playing and laughing and being present together. Other days, that means coloring with Georgie while Rosie naps and snuggling with Rosie before bed. Some days are filled with lots of good moments, and on other days, we (read: I) struggle. I think this might be par for the parenting little kids course, so I am just going to keep at it. I also started keeping a journal solely about the girls, which is helping me focus on the moments of connection. I keep it in the main part of our apartment so anytime Georgie says something funny or brilliant or Rosie does something new, I can jot it down right then and there. It's both sweet and fun, and I definitely recommend this.
2) Make healthier choices. When it comes to setting health goals, there are many many ways I can improve my fitness: losing weight, eating right, drinking water, exercising, getting enough sleep, taking mental health breaks, etc. etc. etc. I tend to feel like I have to do it all or it's wasted effort, which does not motivate me. So this "goal" is just to start taking steps. Scaling back on the ice cream, for example. Noticing what, when, and how much I'm eating. Making it easier to keep track of how much water I drink. I'd love some dedicated exercise time, but I haven't figured out how to make that fit with our routine yet, so for now, I take the girls for walks when the weather is good. I am also trying to make time for myself everyday to preserve my mental and emotional health, and that is still a work in progress. Though blogging is a small step in that direction. (Too bad it comes at the cost of going to bed on time. Baby steps...?)
Easy peasy, right? Almost? Maybe? I guess the truly nice thing about these goals is that every day is a chance to achieve them. Every day I can start over and try again without keeping score. And sometimes, as a mom (and as a human being), that is my mantra. It has to be, really, because otherwise what I feel are my "failures" will haunt me forever. So this is what I tell myself: Every minute is an opportunity to be better, to make a better choice, to be a more patient person, to respond with love instead of frustration or anger. And my hope is that all those better minutes will start to add up to a better person. So I guess that my 2015 goals are as grandiose as I usually make them, after all. They just leave room for some human-ly error along the way. And, of course, for ice cream.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Is there anything better than a summer haircut?
I submit that there is not!
Before:
After:
Before:
P.S. Rosie's hair needs a shout out, too, I think.
Still growing in very light and it sticks up and out on the top no matter what I do, so I usually try to work with that. The big questions is, will it be curly like Georige's? The answer: Dunno. It could go either way. Georgie's didn't get mega curly until it got longer so we'll just have to wait and see!
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