Olive Hope » Misc

I procrastinate

olivehopedesign — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:51:54 +0000

I admit it. I procrastinate.

I procrastinate when the task feels overwhelming.

I procrastinate when I don’t feel like doing something.

Mostly, I procrastinate because the task feels overwhelming, and so then I don’t feel like doing it. That’s likely why I can’t manage to succeed at blogging every day

I put off updating my website. It seemed like an overwhelming task. I thought it would take me a good chunk of the day. I’ve put this off for a couple of weeks, but yesterday I decided that it was going to get done, and I would start my week off by completing this task. I knew it wasn’t difficult, only time consuming (and monotonous). Well, after finishing up washing the dishes that had piled up over the weekend, doing the vacuuming (hmmm, sounds like I was using housework to procrastinate even more, doesn’t it?), I sat down at the computer to begin the daunting task.

I started at 9:25, and at around 10:30, I was done uploading my website changes. This daunting task that I’d put off for weeks, done in about an hour. And yes, I do feel silly.

A Blanket of Fresh Snow

olivehopedesign — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:56:21 +0000

I know spring is officially only a few weeks away, but I love a good snowfall. And we had another one last night. I enjoyed watching the big snowflakes start to fall as I was beginning preparations for supper. The snow continued all evening, and when I headed to bed last night at 1 am, it was still coming down. Beautiful!

I’m able to enjoy these snowfalls best when I have no where I have to be, like yesterday and today. Often I’ll plan to curl up on the couch with my knitting or stitching, but last night I decided to read. I still can’t believe I finished the book in one evening, but I just couldn’t put it down! I was reading The Breaking Point by Karen Ball. A really good read, and I highly recommend it.

Email Woes

olivehopedesign — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:16:35 +0000

Well, I’ve experienced my first issue with Vista – I just lost 2 weeks worth of emails We got Vista about 2 months ago, and ever since I’ve had some quirks with my business profile set up through Outlook. Our personal profile worked fine, but for some reason, anytime I would open my Outlook business profile, I would have to leave it open for a few minutes before actually hitting send/receive, or basically doing anything with it. Otherwise, Outlook would “quit working.” Annoying, but I could live with it. Then, on Friday, Outlook “quit working” again, and when I tried to re-open it, it could no longer find any of my email files. After repeating the process several times, including re-booting the computer (it wouldn’t be the first time that helped, LOL), I gave up. My personal profile would still open up, but my business one wouldn’t. I finally thought to check the *.pst file (the one that stores all the emails), and it was at 0 kb. That was definitely not right. My husband was kind enough to look at it the other day, and found out that something happened at 9:55am Friday morning that wiped out all my emails. I don’t know what I did, but thankfully I did have a back-up from 2 weeks ago that I could use to restore most of the emails. Still, I lost 2 weeks worth of email. On the bright side, the quirk I was experiencing seems to have disappeared. I can actually send/receive immediately upon opening Outlook. Yay!

School’s Out!

olivehopedesign — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:39:15 +0000

Today was my son’s last day of school. They had quite an active morning, and boy was he tuckered out! We’ve got a busy July planned, but I’m not sure what I’ll do to keep him busy in August. That being said, I know that my blogging will fall to the bottom of my to-do list, at least for the month of July. Between DVBS, a bathroom reno (our only bathroom!), a fishing trip, and a trip to San Francisco, I think finding time to blog might be difficult. I will do my best, though.

The picture above is one of the first roses blooming on my rose bush for this year. I’m pretty lucky to have these few, as the cankerworms have been feasting heartily on the leaves and buds. I do apologize for the quality of the photo – I ran out between rainfalls, and the mosquitos were very hungry!

Have a great summer!

Mother’s Day Gift

olivehopedesign — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:36:00 +0000

I received my son’s gift for me for Mother’s Day today when I picked him up from school (I think it’s a marigold plant):

The poem on the paper watering can reads:

I planted a seed, and watched it grow. I watered it daily, so you would know, that this flower for you is to show, how much “I Love You So!”

I just about cried when I read it. I love the gift, especially since my son had a part in making it!

Happy Easter!

olivehopedesign — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +0000

I know it’s late in the evening on Easter Sunday; in fact, one more hour, and it’ll be Monday, but I just wanted to wish everyone a “Happy Easter!”

We had a wonderful church service this morning. While I did miss singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” we sang another favorite of mine, “Low in the Grave He Lay.”

Although I did not have Easter on my mind when I created this design, the message I hoped to convey is the reason we celebrate Easter. His death on the cross, and then His resurrection, make it possible for us to have new life. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Spring is on its way!

olivehopedesign — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:36:00 +0000

My last post (in February!!) was about snow, and we did have quite a lovely snowfall that day. In fact, we’ve had a few since then. This week, though, the weather has been warming up. It finally feels like spring is on its way, although I know from experience that we could still have more snow on the way.

I really thought I was making some progress toward regular blogging. Now it’s mid-March, and my last post was in February. I can’t remember what happened the first week of March that prevented me from posting, but last week was incredibly busy and emotionally draining, and I didn’t even want to answer the phone when it rang, never mind posting to my blog. I even had pictures taken and ready for posting, when my aunt passed away on March 9. Last week was filled with funeral arrangements, and many, many phone calls for planning the service and determining what needs to be done in regards to her estate. Unfortunately, she passed away without a will, and last week was a serious reminder how difficult things can be if you don’t have a will in place (and no immediate family capable of taking over). However, we are slowly making some progress, although this will likely be a long road yet. Last week felt so busy, that I didn’t feel like I had a chance to start grieving until the funeral this past Saturday. I have to keep reminding myself this week to slow down; I find it too easy to fill up my day so I don’t have time to think or grieve.

I was going to post more, but I think I will leave that, and some pictures, for another day.

Snow!

olivehopedesign — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:20:00 +0000

It’s snowing big, fluffy snowflakes!! Yea!! Ever since I heard the forecast last night for 5 cm of snow, I’ve been looking forward to it. I find these snowfalls so pretty to look at. I know that tomorrow it means I’ll have really poor driving conditions, and my husband is not looking forward to driving to and from his meeting tonight, but for now I’m going to enjoy watching it snow.

One Week Later…

olivehopedesign — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +0000

…and not much has changed. I still don’t have a laptop, and it’s still quite cold outside. I guess I should clarify – I do have a laptop, it’s just sitting in a box, waiting to be picked up and sent for yet another service repair. We got it back this morning, had it running for about an hour, and it powered off all on its own twice during that time. Frustrating, but I’m very thankful my husband had the foresight to get the extended warranty.

I’m trying to remain positive, and am now focusing on designing without a computer. Hey, designers did it for years before computers became “the only way.” I did it before I even knew there were design software programs out there. So I know it’s possible. It’s just different than I’ve become accustomed to, and it seems like it’s less convenient. But I’m hoping that in altering my design process, I’ll grow as a designer, and hopefully become a better one.

I haven’t forgotten about posting pictures of my latest projects; I just haven’t gotten to it yet. I’ll even have another project to add. I started my first Christmas ornament for the year, although I’m not sure how well my progress will show up: so far it’s white on white. Hopefully later this week I’ll get some pictures up.

Brrrrr!

olivehopedesign — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:08:00 +0000

The city where I live is definitely living up to it’s nickname “Winterpeg.” We’ve had some pretty cold weather over the past while, with temperatures dipping down to -45ish Celsius with windchill. We did have a few nice days over the weekend, and yesterday it was a wonderful -5 C. Unfortunately, a blizzard blew in last night, dropping the temperature down 40 degrees. The car finally warmed up this morning on the way home from dropping my son off at school. No playing outside in the snow today!

I could use the extreme cold as an excuse for not posting sooner, but although I have felt mostly like curling up with some hot coffee and a good book, my laptop has been the main culprit for my not posting more often. My laptop has served me well over the last couple of years, but decided it too found it too cold to work. It was randomly freezing (no pun intended), and so I sent it in for servicing 2 weeks ago. It came back last week, only for us to discover on Saturday that instead of freezing, it would completely power down without warning. So yesterday afternoon, my laptop once again was making its way in for servicing. Thankfully, it’s all covered under an extended warranty.

Now I do have a back-up computer, which I’m currently typing this post on. Unfortunately, it’s not as conveniently located as my laptop, so I can only do my computer-related work while my son is either at school, or sleeping. I have realized over the last couple of weeks just how much I rely on my computer, and I can hardly wait until my laptop is back home, in working condition. I have found that I’m not too stressed right now about it though: I’m trying to use this opportunity to explore different ways to express my creativity. So far, I’ve been sketching designs for punchneedle, scrapbooking, sewing, crocheting, and attempting to teach myself to knit. I’ve been amazed at how forcing myself to do something other than cross stitch, has actually given me so many ideas for new designs, both punchneedle and cross stitch, that I will need to do some rough sketches of all of them just so I don’t forget any.

Coming soon: pictures of what I’ve been working on the past couple of weeks!