What habits do you want to learn?

Oh --- running short on time this morning; I'll deal with the comments tomorrow. I love comments, so thanks for sending them along. 

We all know that you must be careful when searching the internet as sometimes you don't necessarily get what you want. At least my secondary search was CLEAN but unexpected. 

I was searching for the power tower, so I could figure out where to buy it. This is what I wanted. I love the bilingualism in the photo. The measurements on the left are in inches, and those on the right are in millimeters. A true Canadian measurement!

A power tower

But I also got this! I laughed about it, but they also call these power towers! 

A power tower

FINALLY, after four days of back and forth, I'm happy to report that we finally have all fifteen codes for future Virtual Challenge walks in ONE e-mail. I have no idea why that was so difficult, but they kept forgetting one or two. They wouldn't swap one, even when someone else had said YES, they would do it, but because of a price difference, I had to pay an extra $5, which I did. But at last, they are all together. Now I need to get my legs in gear and start walking! I never stopped, but now they can be used towards a challenge. I'll be signing up for a specific challenge, something I haven't been doing since July of last year! I've been doing the yearly distance, but not a specific one. 

Connection!

I found those calendar sayings when I was madly trying to find the piece of paper with some of the codes. I KNOW exactly where I kept that darn paper until the day I wanted it. In the meantime, I had to search through a mass of paper where it might have been and found those sayings. I ended up finding the e-mail on my computer, but I know I had made a note or two on the paper. 

How can I make notes on a piece of paper and keep the page electronically? Maybe I'll take the data and move it to a word document. I'll keep the original e-mail, but then I can mark the start dates on the paper. I don't know if I even need to do that. I'll think about it. The start dates will show on the computer -- probably don't need it. 

But I also did this. I'm a paid member of The Conquer group, which allows me to map my 2023 (and the previous yearly challenges) onto a map. I walked coast to coast in Canada for the first two years (2020 and 2021 - over 8,000 KM). Last year, I started in Cairo and started walking down the center of Africa. I've extended the walk for two more years and hope to make it to Cape Town by December 2024 (over 16,000 KM - but some of that was done on the bike!). What I love about this is that there are some images along the way with Google Maps, so it makes it interesting to check out the terrain or the view as you walk. 

My personal mapped route for 2023 and 2024

I got LOADS done yesterday, but I can't share yet! I made many phone calls that needed to be done. I called the city about the leaning tree, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember the name of the wooded area. I could remember my street, but not that forest. Thankfully, the lady helped me on the phone. Good grief -- am I starting to lose it? No, I was distracted trying to do two things at the same time, and I got caught! I took tons of pictures and wrote, but that challenge e-mail got me, and at one point, I was so frustrated I became not so productive. Hopefully, today will be an even more productive day.

I'm not a fan of most fancy teas, but when I found Davids Tea at Rexall, I decided to try it again. I got the Forever Nuts which is actually quite nice. So it's a good alternative when I want something other than black tea. 

Forever Nuts by David's Tea

It's not enough to have signs everywhere on the side of the road, but now we have TRAILERS with signs everywhere! Good grief!

A sign trailer

That sewing machine is packed up and ready to go in a couple of weeks. 

The sewing machine is ready to go!

As I madly went through that stack of paper, I found a few things that needed to go downstairs. So I put them in this large tub  - the one without the lid. I have a plan for that tub, and I'll share that tomorrow. 

The large tub is now downstairs

And I removed more of the stabilizer. I'm ALMOST done. I have about two more hours of work on it!

The stabilizer is almost completely removed!

The nice thing is that with the stabilizer removed, it's become soft like fabric again. That stabilizer can make things very stiff! 

I came across this video yesterday. The message in the video is what I KEEP telling my students. You have to PRACTISE -- you have to DO; you can't just think about it or plan it. Thanks to Sara for making the video. It's 12 minutes long but well worth watching. 

The only way to learn is by doing and making mistakes. The more you do, the fewer mistakes you make, and things become so easy that you do them without thinking. Yes -- you still make mistakes, and sometimes even seasoned people (like myself) make some pretty dumb and basic mistakes. But it happens. Do I care? I'm so over that!

I also found this other video made by Sara (from Sewing Mastery.com), the owner of an actual store in South Dakota. In the second video, she talks about having good habits. I couldn't agree more. Good habits are sometimes hard to make happen, but she talks about the habit of sewing. Yep --- sewing for me is a habit. I MAKE time for the things I love and want to do. Hence, I walk and sew every day because those are the things I love and want to do! I'll chat more about Sara tomorrow. 

I have that little blue book she talks about, but do you think I can find it? I started writing in it but lost track of the book. I LOVE the colored pen idea. I'll have to treat myself. But my writing could be better. I'll take a picture and show you something I found yesterday. 

Habits (good ones) are so important to keeping your studios and sewing spaces neat and tidy. If that doesn't become a habit, you are doomed. You can clean up as often as you want, but you will always have to do it again. Find homes for things and make it a habit to put them away, and you'll never have to tidy again! 

I got a before and after picture yesterday and will share that tomorrow when I have more time. I'm off to spin class this morning. So you get ONE more day of reprieve from decluttering but think about your habits. Perhaps you can list the habits you would like to have. This is NOT a resolution, and it might be easier to start with ONE habit. Now we have to figure out how to make that habit stick. Do you need to write a note to yourself and stick it on the fridge? The bathroom mirror? The computer screen? Often, we get excited about doing something, but before it becomes a habit, it gets set aside. Like writing a sentence daily in that little blue book. How are we going to make that a good habit? And that's totally different than making a resolution! 

So get those thinking caps on and PICK one new habit you'd like to form this year. I want to find my little blue book and write in it. First, I need to find it. I thought I knew where it was last night --- OH --- I think I just remembered. I know the area it is in, but not the container, but I think I just remembered. 

On that note, I'm out of here and off to see Joseph. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!