DISQUS

First of all you will look back on spending time with your kids with joy and that is nothing to apologize for.
I can completely relate. Hubby took an out of town job for awhile and I'm "manning" the fort. This leaves me all of 17 hours a week to run my business.
However, I DO get to race Mariokart, watch Hannah Montana and go swimming twice a week!

This is a great summary of "Follow fails". This sort of goes along the line
of "blocked follows" like the guy who asked me if I had piercings in private
places. CREEPY!!! Did not return the follow and promptly BLOCKED!

My hubby is in the military. They have their own entire language. It isn't words though, just a series of letters strung together.
For example:
You can take your PMV on your HHT IAW QR&O and CFAO.

It took me almost 10 years to figure that one out. At least with office speak (annoying though it may be) most everyone understands it.

In Canada, this is called Poutine (poo-teen) - cheese curds on greasy fries smothered with gravy.

There is also a delicacy called "Oreilles de Cris" (translated as Christ's ears) which is made from strips of fried pig skin, rolled in salt. (i.e. deep fat fried fat).

Some people also spread "cretons" on their toast. Creton is spiced and rendered pork fat turned into a spread.

You couldn't PAY me to eat that stuff.

(heaven forbid any of the following actually happen...)

Should someone break into your house, they would probably steal the external hard drive along with your computer. - no more back up

Should your house burn down, your external hard drive would also burn. - no more back up

There are several options:
You could to do a monthly/weekly back-up to an on-line server, a virtual hard drive. There are many versions available at various costs with various security levels.

You could continue to do DVD back-ups and store them in a safety deposit box, your Mother's basement or other secure area.

Personally, I like the on-line back-up. You can usually get a pretty decent monthly price (equivalent in price of 2 DVDs). You don't have the pile of DVDs lying around that you've got to take over to your Mother's house. You can download anything from your file vault quickly in case you screw up something that you were working on and you want to revert to a previous version.

All that being said, should you decide on an on-line file storage system, do some thinking before hand to come up with a consistent naming policy for all your files.

Good luck

Great definitions...now I know I need a coach NOT a therapist (although I'm sure some people would disagree!!)

Hi Cristina,
I don't mind the ads on your blog because you can clearly see that the BLOG is what is important. I never get the feeling that you are trying to sell me stuff as some other blogs do. Also, the ads on your blog for the most part are related to your business and may be something else that I'm looking for.

What bothers me most even more than having the comments turned off is having Ads by Google (or other ads) all over the place, so much so that you can't tell whether it's a blog or a big commercial!

If people are advertising too much on their blogs I feel like we aren't having a conversation, they are just trying to make money by me being there.

Someone told me once when I said I had to cancel a client, "Well it's not like you have a real job."

I replied I DO have a real job and that is looking after my family so that my husband go off to work and be productive without having to worry about the children and their care. At which point my husband agreed and said he supported my business and was glad I had (finally) found something that made me happy and served others.

When you are self-employed you don't have ONE boss, EVERY client you have is your boss.

Giving advice is like giving a gift. Once given, it is out of your control. It is up to the recipient to decide what to do with it.

What would my dream date LOOK like?

Beauty is as beauty does.

As a professional organizer I see first hand what "buying new" does to someone's home. It is very sad that the cost of repairing an item is often more that the cost of the item itself (which is why many people buy new).

Personally I only shop when I need something. I think in the past year I have only been to the mall about a dozen times and each time we went it was because one of my kids had worn out a pair (or pairs) of shoes. Unfortunately, just like it is impossible to find used nails, it is impossible to find used kids sneakers!

This is what my Granny said about those mean people:

Hate is like an acid that does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than to the object onto which it is poured.

Happy Thanksgiving!

You are SO right!

My score was 11. It suggests that I am a very organized person and I very rarely procrastinate.
Right on target considering my profession.

I play the someday game with my clients. When they say, "Oh I'll get rid of that someday", I get out my calendar and say, "Show me what day of the year is someday". Usually they laugh and toss the stuff right away. Sometimes they pick "next Christmas" or "one year from today".
It might be awhile away but at least it's a deadline!

I was put on this Earth to accomplish a certain number of things and right now I am so far behind I will never die.

Living in Canada I speak two languages most days. If I go back to visit my family for a week (speaking only one language) then I very quickly forget how to speak the other. I maintain 2 blogs, one in each language to at least keep my writing up to par. My kids speak one language at home and go to school in the other so I get to help with homework in the other language.
Mais, j'ai des jours quand je ne me souviens pas quelle langue je devrais parler!

Great points!

"Customized solutions to conquer chaos"

I agree that post-secondary education is NOT a waste of time. It is only a waste if that person believes that post-secondary education is the ONLY education worth getting.

I was exposed to SO much while at university that I would not have been exposed to otherwise (and for that, I will always be grateful). However, I certainly learned as much from staying sober on the weekends as I did from advanced calculus and I definitely REMEMBER my weekends which is more than I can say of advanced calculus :)

Hello, I would like to introduce myself. I'm a professional organizer. My name is Jacki of All Trades.
I can hang a shelf, write a set of standard operating procedures, re-arrange your childrens' toys, build a peg board from scratch, manage your household hazardous waste and recycling and translate it all from English to French and back again.
I don't think ONE DARN THING I learned about this business came from sitting on my behind in a lecture theatre. The only thing that my M.Sc. taught me was that I was perfectly capable of learning what I wanted to learn and from whom to learn it. Which I am sure that I could have figured out without spending $$$$ and many, many months.

About the commute...
We live in a big city and could have had a less expensive house in the suburbs. This would have meant buying a second car (car payments, insurance, maintenance) as well as making long days for both my husband and myself resulting in an unsatisfying family life for us and the two kids.
We opted to rent a much more expensive apartment about 100 yards from a subway stop and 2 miles from my husband's office. His commute is about 15 minutes by bike which he rides 8 months of the year. The children's school is just across the street. We hardly drive the car anymore (which is good seeing as gas is now $5/gallon).
Yes, we could have had the big house with the yard and garden but we never would have enjoyed it because we would have been commuting all the time!

I tried both of these moves in the videos with my husband as the "attacker". (He is also in the military and has completed training as an unarmed combat instructor). While both videos have taught me new techniques, I am STILL not strong enough or fast enough to prevent my pants from being taken off by someone who was quite determined. Of course I didn't actually kick my husband in the face either. I also think that tickling is cheating...but what can you do when you're married???

I am learning SO much by watching these little videos. Could you show what happens when you are on the ground FACE DOWN with a big football player guy on you?
Many women are attacked from behind as they walk down the street (or dark alley on a dark and stormy night).
Thanks

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE your two videos!!! I am preparing a seminar for our association (http://www.organizersincanada.com) in November on Personal Security Issues for Professional Organizers. I will be searching your blog for more great advice.
Thanks!