Journal Prompt: Dream Jobs as a Kid and an Adult

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 Today is Journaling Day.  I am loving this day. 

In case you are new here, this is the day where I give you a journaling tip and journaling prompt.  It gives you ideas on what to journal on in case you get stuck.  It is not a requirement to read this blog as I have other days that have no participation.  It may change once I have this new website online.  Just Kidding, but I will have more things that you may want to do in your journaling journey.

Tip for Today: Do not hesitate to convert an old planner into a journaling planner.

I find this to be a much-needed idea because I am starting to become a hoarder of notebooks, planners, and journaling books.  I still journal online (actually, in MS Word), but I also am finding myself making journals on gratefulness, blog posts that I want to write about, and so forth. 

A type of journaling I also do is called list journaling.  It started out, I think, as a way to making a bucket list, but for me, it has become much more.  I write down things in the following list order:

·         Books I read

·         Library books I looked at (which is different then the books I read)

·         Things I want to do for my business

·         Crafty things I want to make

·         Future blog posts so I will repeat the title of the subject

·         Vacation points

·         Being grateful

Some I check off, while for others, it is a list. 

Currently, I use anything from journals from Dollar Tree, Target, and Erin Condren.  I talked about the Erin Condren Petite Journal in a video two months ago, and I absolutely the smallness of the journal.  The journal do not too many pages, which is good for short-term journaling.  Sometimes you may want to journal events such as a wedding you are planning, a pregnancy, or even a trip of a lifetime.

Today’s prompt:  Employment

Question from 300 Writing Prompts:  As a Kid, what Job did you Dream you would have as an ADULT? What job do you have now?

Yes, it is one of those two-part questions, but I like this question because again, it makes you think about what is going on in your life.

This is an optional question from me:  Are you happy in your current position at your job? 

This is even harder to think about because you are deciding if you should change your future.  There is always something you can change about your jobs, such as hours worked, the location, or even your boss.  Some are easy fixes while others are harder to fix.  It may mean that you have to leave your current position, ask for a higher raise, or add on new responsibilities.  Remember that one year, 5-year, or 10-year plan?  It might be time to dust it off and take action.  Remember, talk is cheap, but the action is expensive.

So it is my turn….

I was first asked this question at the age of 6 years.  I had 3 dream jobs:  A teacher, an Actress, and a dancer.  I took the lessons for dance, I learned all I could to become a teacher, and I thought I would wing it as an actress because I thought that I was a natural at it, thanks to mom, who thought I was.  I was so dramatic as a child.

Later, around 8, I added nurse and model to my list of occupations that could go after.  By 12, being a mommy was added.  Before you ask, nothing was achieved by the time I was 25.  I was a preschool teacher for a few years, but the others, it was a no, and you can read about what I did in my life over several blog posts.

What am I doing now, and am I happy with the outcome…

I am a single person with no children.  That I am not happy with.  I am in marketing, a graphic designer, a writer, and a stationer.  This I am happy with. I am finally doing what I was meant to do in the beginning.  I do not think I would be happy as an actress, I am too short as a model, and I still can be a teacher, just not a teacher of children.  I am still holding on to be a mommy.  I am an aunt at the moment. 

As a person who can do all that I am doing at the moment, I can teach a person how to do what I do.  I am teaching now as I write this.  I am giving you tips on how to journal, such as what materials to use, and what I use.  Teachers make you think, which is what I am doing now.  Teachers give students ideas, which is what I am doing now.

One last tip:

If you think what I wrote is short, it is, because I have written my employment life story throughout this blog, My Ambiance Life. I do not like to repeat myself unless it is necessary. Besides that, I want you to write your own work life story.  What you have to offer people, especially young people?  I want everyone to remember this as you are writing your work life story:

Your story can make you or break you.  you can see your way through or get you to change.  The results are the teachers that allow you to tell your story.  Your story is not fiction, it is a true story.  Talk about the time that you did not have any money and when you were ready to give up, a job came along and save you from doing something that should not be doing in the first place.  Talk about the time when you wanted a raise in position, but the supervisor thought you were not ready and why.  Talk about the customer that you help, and you felt grateful for your job, but also talk about the customer who made you so mad that you had to remove yourself.  I had one such customer when I was working for Archiver’s, a Memory Store in 2009.  Your story may be someone’s saving grace and to let them know that they are not the only one who has not gone through that. 

That was my takeaway for this post, and I will leave you for right now.  May God bless you on your journey to journaling, on your job, and in life in general. 

Blogmas day 5: Behind already, Yikes!

Welcome to Blogmas day 5, and no formal intros, except the one with me making the announcement that I am doing one.   How silly of me?

Let’s see….

First off, there is the preparation of getting ready for Blogmas and Vlogmas (Heh, did I mentioned I was doing that too?)  I did not realize that there is so much prep work going into these things.  There is the mental prep and the emotional prep.  You must be ready to think on your feet at all times.  Heh, no problem.  OK, did I also mention that I have my normal Christmas, plus a cruise to prepare for?  Yep, that’s me in a nutshell, always ready to think at the last minute on how I am doing something.  You would think that in the nine years of blogging I would be prepared mentally, and really I am, but it is the organizational part that worries me.  Don’t worry, I will do fine.  I am getting used to this all over again.  I would not be doing this if I thought I could not handle it. So that is the end of that subject.  On to the next thing smoking.

Shopping for decorations

This is a tip for those of you who, say, misplace your decorations from one year to the next, or have very little to would with:  Dollar Tree and 50% off sales.  

50% off sales have been going on (at least in the United States) for a couple of weeks, and you have to act fast.   I was late this year because I was a late bloomer (meaning I am now discovering this myself).  I went to Hobby Lobby Saturday looking for the sales.  It also helps that I was out of money as well. The shelves were almost empty when I got there.  I am looking for a color scheme of red and silver, with maybe a touch of blue here and there.  I am abandoning my traditional colors of burgundy and gold, with a touch of mauve or rose pink, whichever color name you choose.  It is only for this year (maybe). My plan is to look at Michaels this week. 

Unless you plan on keeping your decorations year after year, including the same color scheme. Dollar Tree is your friend.  In fact, this store is your BFF.  I have found more items that are as good, if not, a little better than name brands.   Now, a word of caution:  There are some items, like electronics, I do leave to the bigger brands like Target and Walmart, but since I am a crafter, I will upcycle the item.  That is another tip:  Upcycle when you can. I plan on posting this as one of my Vlogmas Videos, hopefully, this week. 

When you upcycle a less than perfect product, there are some tools and supplies you will need:

·         Adhesive

o   Wet Glue

o   Tape runner

o   Painter’s tape (blue- I use 3M)

o   Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

o   Double-sided tape (I use Scor-Tape, although there is a cheaper tape at Tuesday Mornings

o   Scotch Tape

·         Stapling gun (one for light projects and one for heavier projects like wood)

o   Staples

·         Paint

o   Gesso

o   White paint

o   Black paint

o   Mediums

§  Gel-to dilute the paint, available in Gloss, Semi-Gloss, and Matte.  You can also use Gel mediums to adhere things to the paper or other materials

§  Texture-to modify the texture of the paint.  Use as Modeling paste, which can be sanded or painted on. Use also with pastels,

§  Flow increase- it allows the paints to flow better on the canvas or wood

§  Slow drying- it allows you to blend colors.  The reason is acrylic paint dries fast, allowing you more time to blend your colors.

·         Paper-I will not go into the different types, but this is something you will need on hand.

·         Fabric-same advice.

·         Sewing machine.  Some people like to upcycle clothing

·         Scissors

·         Markers and pens

These are the basics.  I will have more in a future post or Vlog.

More Decorations…..

I mentioned that I am on a last-minute hunt for decorations.  I went with my folks to look at the different neighborhoods in the city at lights.  We have done it each year when I was a child, and for some reason, I want to start that tradition with my niece and nephews.  Tonight, was not a good night to look, everyone does not have their lights up.  We will try again later.

My plan is to keep the Blogmas blog post short and sweet.  I also will not put a takeaway element at the end of Blogmas posts unless, I decide to combine the two.

Have a good evening.

Day 21: Making a list, checking it twice. Maybe more.

(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

The original title was Making a List.  I added the last part, because of a boo-boo I made with this computer.   My computer is having a search engine crisis.   It all started with me clicking on a link to check the authenticity of the link to a document on a series I will disclose later.  Now for internet security people, this link did not originate from an email.  It originated from a document I found on Google, so it was legit, and whatever else they called it.

Anyway, I received a note that said that my organization did not authorize me to click on the link, and I must contact the help desk.  “Huh”, I thought as I read the note on One-Note, a note-taking product from Microsoft Office (I have the full suite).  I never encountered this before.  Later, I encountered the same thing in Outlook, where I get and read my email.  First off, the desktop is mine, not a work computer.  Second, I use it to work in my own business.  Third, it is in my home, I am my own help desk.  As I started searching my way around the situation, I realized that I have been here before.  Let me explain.

Microsoft does this real clever but annoying little thing:  it makes sure you are running only their products.  Crazy, huh? Windows will set it so that if you are running, say, Google Chrome, and you set it as a default search engine, Microsoft programs are not allowed to open links.  At least that is my belief.  So I have to default to Internet Explorer, uninstall Google, reinstall, then set it back to default. (I cannot stand IE).  Now here is where it got worst….

I went into my usual routine; Read Facebook, have Blogger.com on another page, Pinterest on another, My Longaberger website on another (in case you have not been following my blogs, I am an Independent direct selling consultant for them), Etsy on another (I have a P. Lynne Designs shop on Etsy and Amazon), Youtube on another, and Cricut Design Studio on the last page. Except it did not go to these pages at all, it defaulted to Yahoo.com.   What’s worse than that, Google Chrome defaults to Yahoo as a search engine default. 

I have done the following:  ran a PC cleaner I got from HSN (Home Shopping Network), ran my antivirus.  Nothing….

(12 hours later….)

Day 22: checking it twice

It has been 12 hours later, and I could have submitted my post, but I did not want to risk affecting anyone, so this is why it is a double post.  I originally had something else in mind for Checking It Twice, but this happened.  It was going to be more on the side of holiday/Christmas, but my motto has always been, “God has a sense of Humor”. It means to be flexible, because your plan is not God’s plan, and God’s plan may not be what you want, but it is what you need, and as Mama Ode from Disney’s Princess and the Frog says, “Dig a Little Deeper”.

The computer is now clean, thanks to two agents at Geek Squad.  I had something called an MBAM virus that affected the Google Chrome program.  It is so funny to see these people work as they have remote access to your computer.  Just to be clear, this process cost about $199.99 for a whole year of help.   In case you are outside of the United States (and maybe Canada), Geek Squad is Best Buy’s answer to a computer tech, and instead of coming to your home, you give them permission to gain access to your computer via the internet.  Don’t worry, the purpose of me watching them while they work is if I see anything suspicious on their part, I had a little red “x” to click on to terminate the process.  I was so glad that my choir rehearsal was canceled because I would have lost more control over my computer, if I had left my computer on while they worked on it.

Anyway, I gained two new programs because if it, and a full year’s protection.  Basically, this virus would not let me have access to my internet without an ad coming on the page, and a fake Microsoft page warning me that if I turn off my computer, my ID was compromised.  I knew right away that I had to call someone or risk yanking my 1 year, 6-month old computer out of the socket and drop-kicking it into the nearest dumpster.   Now it is time to upgrade it to Win 10 January 1.  I know some of you Mac users are laughing at me right now, saying, “just get a Mac”, well, I have an Ipad Mini 3, and that is good enough for me.  Plus, I like to keep my options open.  Maybe when I am ready to change computers.

Tips for your new Christmas computer present:

·         Run a virus program the moment you turn it on.  Make sure that the computer sold to you do not have any malware or viruses on it.  You do this by installing yourself a fresh copy of your favorite antivirus software.  Do not go by the experts, unless this is your first computer.  I like Norton (old school), but do not take my word for it, because I have not had Norton Antivirus in a while.

·         If you are not sure of the person sending a link, DO NOT OPEN!!!

·         If you did not request any information in email or text form, DO NOT OPEN!!!

·         DOWNLOAD A PROGRAM FROM THE SOFTWARE’S WEBSITE, NOT CNET OR ANY COMPANY WEBSITE CLAIMING TO HAVE THE PROGRAM.  That is what happened to me.  When I downloaded the new copy of Google Chrome, I was not paying attention to where it was coming from.  I needed to download it from Google.com. I thought I was doing that.   The difference is when a person claims to have a program other than the program’s originator website, they can place malware in the coding.  Well, when I finished installing it, it looked normal. And the only thing I did in the installation part has declined some programs, but it still overwrote the original program, and started overwriting my search engines’ (Google Chrome and Internet Explorer) programs to accept the malware as part of the norm.  When I would click on a link or did anything that I normally do on the interwebs, a new program’s advertiser’s page would pop up instead of the article I wanted to read.  I was so frustrated until, at one point, I wanted to cry, and toss the computer in the dumpster. That was when I had to call Geek Squad.

So the checking it twice part comes today, 2 days before Christmas, is to make sure you have dotted all “I’s” and crossed all “T’s” in the technology world. 

One other thing...

There is one more virus you need to check for, but it is not run on computer, tablet, or smartphone.  That virus is called the Hate virus. I will speak more on this virus through 2016.  It has an even more mean virus called Racism, whose sister is called intolerance.  There are ways to use and not use them, but the current way is not the answer.  Stay tuned.