Category Archives: Designed To A Tee

I Am Not A Farmer

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I do not live in Scotland.

But, please, read these two blogs: –

Awful News on The Farm at the back of beyond

21st Century Clearances on Salt and Caramel

The first is written by a fellow MN blogger who lives on a tenant farm in Scotland. Thanks to the meadeval Scottish land tenancy laws, she is about to lose everything due to a negligent landlord. Her roof has, literally, fallen in, she has no clean water, no heat. Her husband’s family has been on the land since the 1800s and their house is about to be declared unsafe and they will be forced to move. She has very little legal recourse.

The second is also written by a MN blogger. She has some more details about the plight of the farmer and some ideas on how to help.

I am feeling fairly helpless. I often do in these situations. I am not a citizen of the UK so feel I can’t really write my MP/MLA as I am not actually represented by them.

If you are a citizen of the UK, please Tweet, using #21stcenturyclearances as your hashtag. Even if you’re not, let’s get the word out. Let’s get the world watching.

Let’s get this powerful internet tool working. My farmer friend has made the decision to go public, even if it’s too late to help her and her family.

Let’s see what we can do to help her.

“If You Don’t Know What Work To Do, Do the Work That’s In Front Of You.”

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The title of this post was said by an American President. I am just not sure which one. It might have been Hoover. I’ve tried look it up on the ‘net but I am not getting anywhere. I know I read it in a Cook’s Illustrated Magazine but I am not sure what issue. If anyone knows who said, do please put it in the comments.

Anyway, whenever I am feeling overwhelmed by life, which happens quite a lot with a toddler, a company and house to run and constant aches and fatigue, I pull that quote into my brain and look around. And I find the thing in front of me that a) most needs doing and b) I have the spoons for.

Today it was folding the laundry mountain. My laundry mountain comes out of the fact that I have combination washer/dryer and the dryer takes, literally, hours to dry things. So if I put a load on in the morning, it might be dry by lunch. But it might not. So then I have to wait to fold it. I know a lot of people will do things like that after their child is in bed. I am not a lot of people. By the time Adam is in bed my spoons are gone.

Now, this was a particularly high laundry mountain. You see, in the last 14 days I have taken 2 days to be ill. One day with a migraine and one day with just general” OMG I hurt”. And those 2 days off put me about a week behind. Due to my fibro I can’t really count on being able to do a lot all at once, so I do it in small bits. I “do the work that’s in front of me”. And doing nothing for 2 days really got things piling up.

So today the thing in front of me was the laundry.

Tomorrow it will be work I am paid for and (hopefully) some work on the marketing I am trying to get together for the company.

After taking Adam to nursery and having a cuppa at my favourite coffee shop.

Also, remember this?

After a boil with a dishwasher tab, a scrub with bicarb, a boil with bicarb and another scrub it now looks like this:

So I live in hope.

Hey! Thanks For The Blog Post Topic!

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Due to a variety of stupid (a word I never use, but this was) and asinine posts on Mumsnet last night, my Twitter feed exploded.

A new member of the Mumsnet bloggers network decided she needed to introduce herself by announcing that everyone of course knew who she was (never heard of her) and that she’d be happy to help all us poor, new, ignorant bloggers learn how to blog. O_o

It didn’t go down well and I started the push back.  She got my back up. And I said so. I didn’t call her names. I didn’t do anything but be my usual honest self.

And then the Twitter attack followed. I had hidden the thread because once the arguments start going in circles I get bored and move on and yet her and her followers decided to take the conversation to another medium. And attack me. I have been called a bully, told I should be ashamed of myself and other things.

I went to bed. I did say I wouldn’t remember any of this by today, which of course was hyperbole to show how much I didn’t care. And I don’t care.

But one person’s form of attack was to Tweet that someone should teach me how to add pictures and a ‘good header’ to my site. And that made me laugh (have you heard of my company? No? Designed To A Tee? We do graphics. Including internet ones. I own it.).

Anyway, that one I responded to. Because while pictures are nice, they are hardly required. Oh and I like the design of my blog. Or I’d change it.

And I was told blogs need pictures.

Okay then. Tell me…what picture would you use when writing about fibro? Or diabetes? Or Depression? Or this post right here?

Writing about my son? Okay, maybe a picture would be nice. But I don’t just write about my son.

I write about me. And sometimes me is not graphical.

Even if I am a graphic artist.

PS I have asked MNHQ for some clarification as to what the network is for. I thought it was for the MN community along with some ‘famous’ bloggers to give it umph. I didn’t know they were inviting random bloggers to join. I haven’t heard anything back yet, but I may be dropping off the network as it is apparently not what I thought it was. I also may not. I’ll keep you posted.

Let The Games Begin…

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So, as promised last entry, I’ve been working away at starting my online marketing for Designed To A Tee.

So far I have a: –

Twitter – DTATTweets
Facebook (11 likes to a pretty URL, so like me!!)
And a Blog

Stop on by, see what I have to say about design. As opposed to over here, where you can see what I have to say about evvvverything else!

Trying To Find My Mojo

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So I went to a seminar on Thursday about Online Marketing. I mostly went to support my friend Cathie, who owns and operates Pulse Online Productions. She and I used to work together at The Northern Ireland Science Park. We’ve both moved on now and started our own companies but we keep in touch.

I was only marginally interested in the topic as I haven’t really been marketing Designed To A Tee due to lack of time and because I thought I was going to have another client soon. But I went.

And I loved it. I loved being in a room with people who are interested in some of the same things I am. I met a few interesting people. And I got some ideas for increasing the marketing for DTAT.

One idea was a DTAT Twitter. You can follow that @DTATTweets. I am also going to be launching another blog, to talk about design, digital media and things like that.

So watch this space. Big things are coming.

Time to get my mojo back.

So, Do I Have Any New Years Resolutions?

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Not really.

I mean, I have plans and goals for 2011 but I wouldn’t call them resolutions.

I want us to move to a house, probably rented but buying is not off the table right now.

I would like at least one more client for a few hours a week or to create a website for someone from scratch.

And that’s about it, really.

It’s been a good year, just past.  With Simon getting a great job advancement and my company doing fairly well.

So I don’t really have any resolutions.

And one wish…for an entire month, just one month, of no illness for Adam. 🙂

My Totally Craptascular Week

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Monday – Actually not too bad, as I went to the Pain Clinic and have been scheduled for Acupuncture after the 1st of the year.

Tuesday – Washer repair man suppose to be here between 8 and 10.  At 9 my phone rings telling me the repairman is ill and won’t be here until Friday.  So we enter week 2 with no washing machine.  And I’m off to an evening gig, that I was 20 minutes late for because it took 30 minutes to get from here to the client’s in the pouring rain in a taxi.  Because it never rains in Belfast so no one knows how to drive in it. O__o

Wednesday – Horrible nights sleep but swamped with work, processing the video from Tuesday night, so can’t have a rest while Adam is at Germcare (TM).  At about 10 there’s a knock on my door.  It’s the plasterer, who was suppose to be here Tuesday afternoon, to take a  look at the paint that is bubbling again in my hall, assumed to be from a leak in the heating pipes as it was fine until the heating was turned on.  He has no idea what he’s suppose to do, so I tell him landlord said he’d cut a small hole in the wall to look for a leak.  He starts banging away and I try to get back to work.  Suddenly it goes quite so I go to look.  He’s left, leaving the front door open, and half my wall is stripped to the breeze block.  Angry email to my landlord with a picture.   He’s suppose to be back Monday morning at 9.

Thursday – Diabetes Clinic.  With Adam in tow.  Who was, as always, a star.  Except when the blood pressure cuff was ripped off my arm.  That scared him and made him cry.  Adding more Metphormin to my daily dose and see them in 6 months.

Friday – Washer guy shows up at 800.  By 9 he insists it’s fixed.  I ask him to let it run a bit longer but he insists it’s fixed and hauls ass.  By 915 washer was having the same fault.  Rang the repair company.  They ring the repair guy to get him back but he tells them he’s been gone for 40 minutes and can’t come back. I tell the repair company that’s bull.  They say too bad, but that he said to turn it off completely and unplug it, run a new cycle and it should work, but they’ll book in a repair visit for Monday morning.  So I did.  And it still doesn’t work.  So I haul 2 weeks of wash, in a duffel bag with wheels my mum left when she never returned in June and two Tesco bags, pushing Adam in his pram with one hand, up to the nearest launderette, in a hail storm.  3 hours and £20 later I’m home and the wash is done.  Of course, if it wasn’t for our service contract on the washer, it would have been about £200 later with no working washer as that was how much the repair guy said the new part and labour would have been without the contract.

This weekend can only be great, right?  RIGHT?

Oh Right. I Have A Blog

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Apologies to everyone who checks regularly to see if I’ve updated.  (in other words, Hi Mom!)

I’ve been incredibly busy with work stuff and a boy who walks and doesn’t want to do anything else and baby proofing more and all that boring life stuff.

This coming Monday, 1st November, Adam starts all day daycare on Mondays, so I’ll have some extra time.

I do have a blog post about my trip to Dublin.  It’s just in a notebook.  In my sloppy handwriting.

But I promise it is coming.

Along with a special post about a special person who is going to kill me for writing it.

Speaking of him, he’s just accepted a job as a Teaching Fellow.  We’ve all been walking 3 feet in the air.

So, Monday

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I do my first ‘hire me, I rock’ pitch to a potential new client.

I’m not as nervous as I might be as the client is someone I’ve known for years and consider a work friend.  I mean, we’ve never gotten together away from The Science Park, other than Science Park parties, but we chat when we see each other, catch up, enquire about our kids, that sort of thing.

Its not even really a pitch, more of a ‘hey, wanna have some coffee and I’ll tell you what I can do for you, if you’re interested?’  His company already has a fairly decent website, it just needs updating.  And maintained.  I am hoping he may need a brochure or two as well.

So keep an eye on my website.  I’m about to add a gallery page and maybe, just maybe, a new client to the list.

I Have Been *So* Bad About Updating

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My life in bullet points: –

  • Designed To A Tee started its first contract on 1st June.  Some kinks to work out, but mostly having a blast working for myself doing nothing but web/graphics.
  • Mum and Step-Dad are visiting.  Arrived on 3rd, heading to London tomorrow then back on 10th until 15th.  Adam is basking in the never ending attention.
  • Adam stood up!  All by himself.  We even had 1/5th of second of no hands before he landed on his bottom.  First steps can’t be far behind.
  • Next Friday, 11th June 2010, Adam will be 1.  This has been the fastest year of my life.  And the most fun.
  • I’ve lost a total of 10 pounds on Weight Watchers, for a my 5% loss star.  Go me!

And that’s the news.  I’ll try to be better at this again!!