What I’m working on

I JUST finished the bibs for our friend who has still not gone into labour but I expect a call literally any minute. I can hardly wait to meet little AJ.

As for the house, not a whole lot of progress on this front as I’m still not lifting anything, but it’s staying relatively neat and that’s a great thing!

Trying to find time to read the books I have on backlog on my Kobo. I bought a few over the past month or two and with everything going on have fallen behind on my reading. Quality time with said Kobo is on-tap asap.

What’s on my mind

Well, it’s that time of year again, property taxes. How to finagle this payment worked out ok but I am starting planning  now for the next 3 so I don’t end up panicking. If I plan I know it’ll be ok. I’ve done it before and that worked really well actually. The joys of growing up and owning a home!

Growing this blog. After getting inspired last week at Social Media Week I have now started the NonMom Google+ page. If you search it will show up but I’m still working on it so be kind! I do look very much forward to interacting there with you all too!

What I’m proud of

This blog. Maybe it’s the fact that winter has relatively passed us by, but I am so energized and as a result there have been more posts and I’m finding I’m getting into a groove with my writing and posting. What do you think? Am I doing ok?

This week the scale said my new total is -29.1 lbs. I am OVER THE MOON! I’ve been wearing cute dresses (thank you Laural!!!!) and my adored but not worn in ages favourite heels to celebrate. I even did my nails last night. Pink! I can now look at the past couple of years and see that I really was putting in very little effort into myself, that has changed. I feel better, I know I look better and I’m going to keep it up. This goes along with my personal campaign to invest in myself and my betterment. I am the girl who always puts herself last, but no more, I have needs too and it’s Amy-time! . Celebrations once my goal is reached will include the purchase of a certain blue dress. Or a reasonable facsimile of it. I’m flexible.

Fun Stuff

This weekend I’m going to go check out one of the Beyblade tournaments happening at Toys R Us (they’re at stores all over). I am really looking forward to seeing how this all works. For us non-parents I will explain what these are, and for the parents, I will check out what the latest and greatest info is and share it with you all.

That’s all for now! What are your plans this weekend?

Seattle’s Best have five different blends that go along with this and NonDad and I decided in order to be fair, to try them out, all of them, in order. So we did. Not all at once, I would have been on the ceiling, but we took a week and tried them out instead.

My personal favourites were 1, 3 and 5, and NonDad was into 3 and 5 but would probably drink any of them. I like a mild coffee, but I also like a rich coffee., am I coffee-polar? Perhaps. That’s probably why I loved 1 and 5 so much. 1 was nice and light and 5 was rich and full and I could actually taste the roasting and it was really nice! 3 was in the middle in all ways and that’s why I liked that one too.

If that sounds confusing, it’s not meant to. It really is a progression as you move up towards blend 5. I really enjoy when I can taste the roasting and I really can with these.

Seattle’s Best Coffee and Mac’s Convenience Stores have teamed up to help Ontarians save time and money this winter. Until March 25, you can pick up any size Seattle’s Best Coffee for only $1 (plus tax) at your local Mac’s store. The offer also extends to their hot beverage selection, including Tazo® tea, hot chocolate and cappuccino.

That definitely fits in my budget, and there’s two stores within about 4 minutes of my house so I know I’ll be heading over.

Give it a try, I was surprised and impressed. And I’m craving blend 1 right now .

In case everyone is confused as to who Lucy is, Lucy is my car, yes, I’m one of those people who name their cars .

Doesn't she look wonderful?

1. I cannot thank David and the crew at Assured Oakville enough for the hard work and amazing job they did to get Lucy back to herself. She came back to her mama driving smooth, handling awesome and looking utterly fabulous. The professionalism, attention to detail and actual pride in their work is why there was absolutely no hesitation on my part that she was going to them. THANK YOU!!!!!

2. Believe it or not, but I am thankful to my insurance company. I know, unheard of, but Intact have been fantastic and very helpful. I was nothing but open and honest with them and they’ve been on the ball and efficient and I am pleasantly surprised and impressed.

3. Dr. Jenn, Kate and Pat at Dynamic Health and Performance in Oakville. They got me in right away and have been taking care of me and I’m really noticing a big difference. I’ve been doing my stretches as much as possible and following their directions. They are fantastic!

4. To my darling hubby. He has been a gem with all of this and the extra ferrying of me and wonky changes to my schedule. Thank you dear!!!!

5. I am thankful to myself for sticking with my plan during this whole ordeal and still managing to stay on track. It would have been very easy to get frustrated and just go back to my old ways and not care but I have kept my head up and today am rewarding myself with wearing my super-cute shoes and I feel great, like the me of old. It’s amazing how a pair of shoes can do that, but with me, they can .

What are you thankful for this week?

We have cats, two of them, and sometimes I avoid the basement because of them. Trying out the new Glade scents therefore appealed to me. Plus, there is something about walking into a space and being greeted with a pleasant scent, it makes the place seem warmer, cleaner and more homey.

I love fresh scents, always have, and there is something about the smell of fresh laundry that just totally relaxes me, perhaps it’s the ‘Martha’ in me but I do love it. One of the sprays is Cotton and Italian Mandarin and it does indeed give off that feeling. I know my neighbour will love it, she is all about fresh scents and always seems to find the best ones too, I’ll have to take this over to her to try out! I know she’ll get hooked.

The sprays now come in a dispenser that can be re-used with the new bottles and looks similar to a lily or tulip in design so it doesn’t stand out. And it’s easy to use, I tried it and succeeded so I know you can too! And the diffuser is also designed to blend in with your decor. It comes in a woodgrain or white design and I have it sitting on my oak wall unit and it blends in perfectly! I have the Pineapple and Mangosteen scent in there at the moment and every time I walk in the house I smell it, not overpowering, but enough, and it’s so light and cheery! These also come in Lavender and Juniper Berry which will make sleeping ideal for me! Again, simple to use and set-up, you simply pop the card into the top of the oil and it’s good for 30 days +! If it’s complicated or I have to watch it I tend to not use it, this makes maintenance a breeze, another fun pun, sorry, couldn’t resist!

They are all on-sale at the moment at Wal-Mart Canada (at least I saw them on the weekend and they were) and are worth checking out. We all get sick of the dreary days that this time of year brings and lack of fresh air in the house so these are a great substitute and really brighten you up!

Enjoy!

Am I ever glad I went. It was one of the best talks I have ever been to, hands down.

Mary Henige took the stage for the talk and was very up front and honest about GM’s approach to the constant state of change that social media is in as it evolves and how they went about building their online presence post bailout.

In order to survive, GM needed to ‘humanize’ itself and show that real people who care about their jobs and community work at the company, they are not a faceless, heartless corporation, quite the opposite in fact! How to get this message out? Social media.

One of the wonderful examples used was how GM started their ‘Faces of GM‘ blog. They intentionally kept production values to a minimum, they even used a FlipCam to put together the first installment. This may sound insignificant to most, but to me, this immediately showed genius on their part. If the piece had gone out with a full-production team behind it, looking like it had been made with the top camera equipment and digital editing, it would have completely backfired. GM needed to show that they were making changes and this  simple act showed that indeed they were thinking about costs and the image being projected to the world of the company. What does this kind of production say to the public? It says we are using our money wisely, these are not paid actors, this is not a set-up being designed and orchestrated on Madison Avenue, this is real.

GM are using the site and its stories as a ‘gateway to get those overlooked stories out’ to the public. Did you know GM employees raised $95,000 for Toys for Kids last year? Did you even know that their employees and company did any of this? I didn’t, but I do now. Was I impressed? Again, yes.  How did they get this story out? They used their blog!

Social Media and GM’s approach to it: Focus & Engage.

Is there social media fatigue out there? For me, definitely. I’m always trying to keep up with the latest outlet for content and it is a struggle. Mary talked about how this isn’t just the case for us bloggers, GM too had to look at which outlets would be most effective and focus on them. Even they can be spread too thin and when you’re everywhere but there’s no current updates, it does not project a positive image does it? So they worked and focused and looked at the question ‘what value can you add?’ to determine which channels made the most sense. They determined their social media purpose was to build relationships and they kept that in mind in all of their platforms.

I tell people when they ask me that you need to look at your audience and determine where they are and go there. GM did the same. They are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. An example I use often is teenagers. If you want to reach teenagers or engage them on social media platforms don’t focus on Twitter, they are always on Facebook though! If you want to reach the 25+ groups, they’re on Twitter, I know, I’m one of them.

Keep in mind you can be on these channels but still not be effective if you’re not actually doing the work. People again ask me ‘how do I get followers?’, ‘how do I stand out?’, the answer is simple in concept, time-consuming in application: You have to put in the work, you have to actually be there and talk to people. When you see my tweets, my posts and my reviews, it’s me doing it. Yes, I do in fact try everything out myself, how else can I expect you to trust me?

GM approached this as more companies should. They are being authentic (which I learned about at BloggyCon), and true to the company. They have a team monitoring the accounts and their response time, by actual people, averages just two minutes! Is that realistic for all of us? Not necessarily, but sending out personal responses sure is! This is why I don’t use automatic responses, they are not authentic.

Would I have looked at a GM vehicle 4 years ago? No. Would I consider one now? Absolutely.

Building Loyalty.

Companies that take the time to build a relationship with me, talk to me like a real person and respond to me are companies I do take a look at. I hate being ‘a number’. I had an experience with that as a teenager with an optometrist I tried out after I was too old for Sick Kids. She barely even looked at me other than to check my eyes and never chatted with me like my previous doctors. I never went back. Just about 2 weeks ago now I saw my optometrist who I have been going to for, he noted on my file, sixteen years now! He chats with me, makes me feel like my eye health is a priority so I’ve always gone back to him.

Google+

Fairly new to the social media mix is Google+ and this was one of the key reasons I went to the seminar in the first place. I wanted to learn more about how to use it for my blog and to engage more people.

Again, GM approached this with a well thought out plan. Mary calls it ‘piloting’ when she tries out something new, I hope she doesn’t mind but I’d like to borrow that term from time to time, and they piloted their presence on Google+ and are now very successful with it. How have they done that? They’ve used the circles to segment with the customer as the centre. I was having trouble with my Google+ and how to use it effectively for NonMom’s continued evolution and just the way she described this process it clicked for me. Use NonMom, aka moi, for the centre of my Google+ world and have the parents in one circle, non-parents in another and the curious in another. There is a lot of overlap content-wise, but there’s also content that can be segmented and this is the way I can do that. I am so excited about this evolution so stay tuned, I’ll get that up and running asap!

As you can tell, this presentation made quite an impression on me. I think Mary got a kick out all the head-nodding I did during this presentation too, I did a lot of it, but it made so much sense and it was so wonderful to have my thoughts and feelings re-affirmed by someone who is actually doing what I dream of doing and am trained to do. Is NonMom a blog designed and purposed to make money? No. Its purpose is to inform, engage and share information between parents and non. What does that mean to my social media presence? It means ‘piloting’ new mediums to see if my audience goes there and if they do, joining them there and building more relationships.

I hope this post gets you thinking on how to use some of these tips for your growth online too. I found it illuminating and inspiring and empowering.Thank you Mary, GM, Chevrolet and Social Media Week!

I’m hoping to put things like projects I’m working on, updates and fun stuff here and keep you all in the loop and get your input. I’m a talker, so let’s talk!

Without further delay, here we go!

What I’m Working On

A set of bibs for a friend’s daughter who is about to give birth to her son like at any minute. I’m mad-scrambling to get them done but wasn’t allowed to pick up a hook after my car accident so I begged my Dr., she rocks, and after promising to take many breaks and keep stretching and sit properly, she gave me to go-ahead. Woo hoo! Being separated from crocheting was almost as bad as the whole ordeal LOL.

I’m also working on getting my house organized and neat. Again, I can’t do any heavy lifting or anything at the moment, but I did get NonDad to help me on the weekend and he vacuumed for me and helped me set up a few things. The house has been an on-going thing for far too long so I’m determined to get it back to its former glory. When I get some serious progress made I’ll post pics.

What’s on my mind?

So many things that my sleeping is back to being off again. Thank goodness, with the help of their twitter account, I was able to track down and get another jar of the only thing that will consistently get me to sleep, Badger Balm, which is helping but I’m still waking up far too early for my schedule. It’ll get better.

Why am I having trouble sleeping again? The usual and all too common stress items of bills, bills, bills. This month is property tax month and while I LOVE where I live, we really do pay a premium to live there. It’s manageable, but man, is it every close to not being so. We’ve cut down the bills again to the minimum but really, nothing else big better come up. UGH!!!!!!!!!! And we’re two people with two cats, I can only imagine and send hugs to all of you with kids and grandkids. You get gold stars from me!

This winter has been utterly fabulous. I know, global warming, but honestly, being able to wear my favourite high heels on my birthday in January because there was no snow was an utter delight.

Just when I was getting ready to tweet about the steady disintegration of highway 410, southbound, left lane, edge (gee, can you tell I drive it a lot? LOL), I notice that a stealthy road crew must have been reading my mind as the holes seem to be filling themselves in. Hmmmm. I wonder if I start planning tweets that comment on how much I want to meet/tweet with the cast of Burn Notice will someone read my mind and make that happen too? *HINT HINT* A mystery.

What I’m Proud Of

I am down over 25 lbs and the fact that I can wear a lot of my favourite clothes (I buy classic so thank goodness it’s all still mostly in style) is awesome! My self-esteem is rising steadily and I have plans for a special reward when I get to my goal. Hint, it’s blue, flowy and very very British.

Fun Stuff

If you follow me on Twitter or know me on Facebook you will likely have seen how excited I was that I got my VCR hooked up again. Yes, me, techno-loving-can’t-live-without-her-beloved-Blackberry-girl was like a kid again putting in the cassettes and watching such favourites as ‘George of the Jungle‘ (who doesn’t enjoy Brendan Fraser in that one?) and a couple of my Disney movies including Robin Hood (Oooda-lally!) and The Emperor’s New Groove (Beware the Groove!!!!). Next up: Sixteen Candles. Oh yeah, Jake Ryan. Mmmm.

I am aware that if the VCR ever dies I’m screwed, however, I have 2 and they both work so I will ration them as I am so not looking forward to re-buying 300+ movies.

What are you up to? What’s new? Exciting? Let’s chat!

So here we go with this week’s installment:

1. I am thankful there is more work for my hubby this week. Whew!

2. I am thankful to my wonderful neighbour for giving me a much-needed and well-timed ‘kick’ in the fall which has resulted in me being down almost 28 lbs now! She is a gem and I cherish her friendship and support. By the way, she looks flippin’ awesome too!

3. I am thankful for my networking group and its members. They are such a great support and sounding board and really help me focus on my skills. Yes, I do have skills, lots of them.

4. A  big one: I am extremely thankful for my friend Laural. She has no idea how she influences me in such positive ways but she has and does and every time I see her I feel inspired. I am so thankful she emailed me about Social Media Week and that we could both get time to go to a seminar together. Big hugs & lattes again soon!

5. I am thankful that both Laural’s and my hubby’s are so patient with us that they are cool with the way we both (well, I assume she does too) get so hyper when we’re going to hang out and then of course they get to deal with us afterwards LOL. Good job boys!

Ok, a shorter installment this week, but very important nonetheless!

What are you thankful for this week?

Before we get to the fun part, the new toys (which are soooo cool!), a little background on why this post excited me so much.

My sister and I are HUGE Star Wars fans, the original three are the ones we grew up with and are still my favourites to this day. I remember going to see Return of the Jedi with my dad and her at the mall theater back in ’83 in fact. We also I think drove our mom nuts when we watched ‘A New Hope’ on a daily basis for like 6 months. No, I’m not kidding. We knew every line by heart and I still know about 95% of it. I was actually royally miffed at the editing in the ‘new’ versions when they came out and it cut my favourite line at the Cantina when Han shoots Greedo.

So, moving on from my mini Geek-out, the movies are being re-released again, this time in 3D for a whole new generation to enjoy and with that comes the new line of toys and I was sent a sample of them to try out for you, my readers! As a cute side note, when the box arrived and I told NonDad he couldn’t open it until I got home. I think he pouted for about 2 hours and then his face lit up like a kid when he saw item number 1: The Darth Maul Double Light Sabre.

Yes, even I admit that when I first saw this one in theaters (when I was in high school, ugh, now I feel OLD LOL) it made my jaw drop and Darth Maul scared the youknowhat out of me. It was awesome on-screen, it’ll be even moreso in 3D, and now you can own it. The ‘blades’, which are collapsible plastic, when fully extended reach to over 1.5m so be sure to play where you have room, and if you are tight for space, you can open one blade at a time with the buttons in the middle of the toy. The fact that they are not rigid also make them a lot less ‘ouchy’ when play gets ‘enthusiastic’. NonDad has of course been receiving notes on his Facebook page about friends coming by to ‘liberate’ it from us, but so far we still have it. They retail for about $30 CDN, but they are on-sale this week if you poke around a bit. See the grin on my face in the pic? Yeah, that’ll be the last time I get to play with it since NonDad has indeed claimed it LOL.

And we also have the newest installment of action figures that go along with the movies. We received Darth Vader and a Clone Trooper so a mix of original and new movie characters. Both have movement features and are incredibly detailed. The designers definitely didn’t skimp on the finer points of Vader’s suit or the helmets. They are priced in the $10 range and that’s pretty much in-line with the other action figures of this quality I’ve seen. Note that they have been seen on sale this week for 50% off if you search the ads .

Fellow Geeks please note that they are in the original packaging in the above pictures. I can’t guarantee they are still, but I figured this would make everyone stay calmer .

Can we tell NonMom is having far too much fun with this post?

So, if you’re a Star Wars fan like in my household, or you have any special munchkins who you are wondering what to get for them for birthdays or even for Family Day fun this weekend, check out the new line and have them act out their favourite parts…and since I know an awful lot of Non’s in my age group and older will be all antsy to play too, feel free to join in! They also make great Valentine’s Day presents for the geek in your life .

May the Force be With You, Always.

Coming up is the relatively new holiday in Ontario deemed ‘Family Day’ and there are activities taking place all over, but some of us like to spend time together in simpler ways like being at home and enjoying being comfy in our comfy clothes and watching movies or playing games.

NonDad and I are board game fans so I know I’ll be pulling out our favourites such as Monopoly (though we may play the Wii version again since we both loved it so much), Scrabble, Battleship Live (we love the recon jet!), Clue (We have both the classic and the uber-cool Harry Potter edition where you travel by Floo powder!) and maybe some good old Cribbage. We love card games, we even have a cribbage table, you use golf tees to move, it’s awesome. In fact, this past Sunday we spent several wonderful and relaxing hours playing Monopoly on the Wii. We now both have the Potato Head’s as our tokens, much laughter ensued.

Family time is important, we all need a break from the hectic every day and a check back to what really matters and who we are working for, us. Hubby and I work opposite schedules more often than not and sometimes it’s nice to just sit beside each other and chat. And I must say, since the switch over to digital we no longer have a tv working in the dining room so we do talk more and connect. It’s nice.

And who knows, we could get some ‘white stuff’ possibly showing up so it may be a perfect time to get outdoors and enjoy a taste of winter too.

Really, it’s all about taking a breather, spending time with loved ones and having some fun!

Enjoy!