Monthly Archives: January 2021

My Previous Jobs

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It may come as no surprise but I really havent not had that many jobs in my lifetime. Besides the odd one like shoveling snow or raking leaves of babysitting when I was younger. An official job where I was on a pay roll I really have only ever had 3 of those in my life. Well, three types of them anyways!

My very first official job was at Burger King. It was your typical job for a teenager. I worked after school starting anywhere from 4 or 5pm until 9pm to closing time. Though weekends I would work til close since it was a lot of hours in one shift. I worked an average of part-time hours and when I had holidays and things I typically volunteered for those as well too. Because why not right? Looking back I think it was a great job fir a teenager. I was never interested in a job at Tim Hortons or a coffee shop or a “regular” restaurant. This fast food worked. It was relatively easy to pick up and it wasnt very demanding mentally or physically. I started in the back making the foods and then I worked my way to cashier and drive thru. Not to mention the store I worked gave employees 50% off when you worked and whenever your family went in you got a 25% discount too. Funny enough, for working at fast food, I was my skinnest in highschool working at burger king then I was later in life not working fast food. I will say now I feel a bit tainted, I very rarely eat at Burger king. Food prob is the same, but eating so much as a teen I think of it as a very very rare treat now!

My second job that I got was at a gas station. This was super convient since it was right across the street from my community college housing. I was pumped to get this job as I had quit my burger king job. When I moved to college which was 45 minutes away I had the ability to switch burger kings so I was working at a new one. This one was across town though which was quite the cab ride in a town with no busses. Not to mention they also had been really harsh with shifts for me knowing I was in school. For example, I was susposed to work a 11-2pm, 3 hour shift. They were calling me at 10am telling me I was late (I wasnt and showed them once I seen the schedule which I was right) And then I was off for 2 hours, and I worked 4-7pm. Two split shifts on a Sunday where I obviously didn’t drive so I was taking a cab there and back which why would I spend money on a cab to go back home for a few minutes and what not. That did not make any sense. I left that job and was hoping I could get one at this gas station and I did. It worked out great and despite working til 10pm often since I was in school all day, it was a convenient place to make money especially since I could see the building from my dorm room as well. My second year in college I had moved home because my ex and I had wasted money and I was able to transfer to a different gas station. It was on a major bus route so I was able to travel on my own most times even though my parents did pick me up and drop me off when they could help. Especially when I was working a closing shift at 10pm by myself. That way I wasn’t there alone for long and I had someone to could get me instead of waiting for the bus at night. I quit this job because the boss was a bit of a jerk. I did really well with the secret shoppers, in fact I had won 2 secret shoppers previously. Then apparently I had failed 2 suddenly which I wanted to see the paperwork for and he wouldn’t give me. I was at this time doing a work placement for college and was essentially going to school, doing this placement nearly 40 hours a week, and then picking up weekends and evenings I wasn’t doing placement at the gas station. He offered me to quit or be fired. I quit for how it would look on my resume if they were to be called for future jobs also.

After this I continued placement in a group home for at risk teens, there is no pay for placement for school. Afterwards when I had graduated though I had briefly worked at a hotel in Halifax. The Westin to be exact. I only worked here for a month however it was a very physically high demanding job. It probably was the most demanding job physically that I had ever done up til this point. I would take the bus and get up about 530am and be out the door by 6am to work for about 730am or 8am. I would work right til 330-4pm and would bus back home. If it was a morning on the weekend though, my parents would typically drive me due to buses being not the greatest on weekend mornings and not connecting very well at all.

My last official job and probably the one I will go into more detail in a future blog was being Support Worker for people who have intellectual and physical disabilities. This job was inspired to me by a family friend, (more like a sister and our old babysitter) which motivated me to check it out. When I went to college I had originally taken the Human Services route with a concentration in Child and Youth. I loved it. However getting your foot in the door for those organizations you need to have some experience and working with disabled adults was similar and you needed basically the same credentials. I loved this job. It was shocking to my parents and family friends since I was a pretty rough teenager and this job was helping people. It was one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs I think I will ever have to do. Going back to that will be near impossible until my boyfriend and I are dont having a children and they are in school because that type of work is shift work.

And now I am a stay at home!

What are some jobs that you have had growing up?
Did you hate them or love them?

Let me know in the comments, I am curious which you enjoyed!

-StaySeeJ

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Why Celebrity Bloggers Grind My Gears

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Now, Before you say,
“BuT StAcEy ThEy ArE CeLeBrItIeS”
Yes. I understand. I follow quite a few of them on social medias and I have no problem with that, This is one of the only things that I find to be super annoying when I see a celebrity I follow do this.

It really grinds my gears when celebrities are posting promotional items and they are far beyond the price point for the average consumer.

There I said it. I absolutely hate it. For example:
I follow a hockey wife on Instagram. I enjoy a lot of her content from the little things she does with her kids and the time spent juggling between the USA and Canada. What really is annoying though is she will promote all of these things. Mind you, she never normally uses the “#Ad” but she will write in different promo codes for people to use. Which is great! But when looking at the price of things before they even have a discount, I quickly discovered that the discount code would MAYBE pay for taxes. She even had this natural baby and child care line. I thought, oh hey let me check this out, I am a mom now after all! So I went to check it out, It was even a Canadian company. Well, I nearly fell over. The products that they were promoting were a few hundred dollars and the very least was about 70$ per item. There was no way I could justify spending that type of money on skin care and what have you for my son. Considering we are currently a one income house hold with one of my goals for 2021 being to gain some sort of an income financially. Even if I achieve my goal of 250-500 dollars per month financially I don’t even think that I could justify buying those.

And before, People are sitting there and saying in the comments that these people can buy what they want and blah blah blah. I understand that these people have a family income of tens of thousands if not more per month. From endorsements, to salary, to sponsorships and whatever else they are doing to bring money in. I just am a firm believe that if you are in a position of influence like you are trying to market yourself to the average housewife then putting things only for the higher income houses is just not something I am personally interested in. It will make me un-follow someone quickly.

I think this also plays into marketing as well. If you want to make the public see yourself as a brand that is marketed towards the typical housewife who stays at home looking after kids and has business ventures coming and going from time to time, marketing yourself with products that the average woman cannot afford is tough. I say this as I think to myself often that if I was to have sponsorships or endorsements come my way, I would like to think if this blog were to blow up with thousands of people following myself that I would make sure I was able to appeal to the general person who is reading this. Not someone who is making a 6 figure income. I would make sure that even if I was making money that the person who is at house taking care of children relying on just one income would be able to afford a purchase with little saving if they wanted to do so.

Obviously get sponsors and get endorsements from who you want even if you are catering to readers who are in the higher income household. However I would have a lot more respect if these people also offered a cheaper alternative. I see this a lot with clothing and it is one thing I do enjoy about the blog of this particular celebrity wife. I think it is great that they show a type of clothing that they have gotten and the cheaper price tag, or if people show an interest they even post the original and a knock off piece that looks the same. This is a great thing to see when influencers are trying to appeal to everyone.

Another thing that grinds my gears is a lot of these celebrity bloggers want to appeal to the general population. not other celebrities. I understand that they want to look professional as a blogger. I know I do. However, when they put photos on their blogs, they have perfect makeup, clothes, children, hair has not one strand in a different place. It is obvious that there is professional photography and sometimes they even mention it as well about having a photo shoot that day. The reality is that there is no perfect day. I know I am starting to try to include photos about my blog and relating to the posts however I know for a fact if I ever start taking photos that are perfect looking rest assured that I have not gotten a photographer. Not to mention my boyfriend has a pretty decent camera so if for some reason my phone camera photos are not good enough then I will start to ask him to take these photos.

Before I finish this, Don’t get me wrong. Whatever pays the bills you do it. But if you are a celebrity and you are trying to have this fake face about marketing to the population that is a lower income or a “normal” household than do so! If you want to market to fellow celebrities, DO THAT TOO! It just is extremely disheartening when you are looking at a celebrity who is claiming to be down to earth and living a “normal” affordable lifestyle and when you click on the product you would like to purchase with their discount code of affiliate link only to find the product so over priced that you no longer can afford it. It really makes you feel bad when you cant do something you had a little bit of excitement for.

If you could have any sponsorship or endorsement what would it be?
Is there any you would avoid? Or know that you would decline?

Let me know in the comments below!

-StaySeeJ

I Want to Write a Book

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This may or may not come as a surprise since I have in fact mentioned it before in previous blogs, in fact the most recent time was here, When I talked about my New Years Resolutions that I would like to write a book or even books. I have a few ideas that are floating around the universe that I legit have to sit down and really think of a plan. As you know I am for sure a planner. So before I even was to begin writing I would like to map out a story, plot, some twists and see where we go from there. I don’t want to just sit down and write and write and write and hope inspiration comes. I want to have a base line and hope that in the process I can add some bells and whistles and see how it goes from there.

First I would like to start with some short stories. I went and found different type of mythical creatures or monsters. Like Vampire, and Witch or Werewolves, and found different characteristics about each. And roughly wrote different stories, dark and horror type ones since I have been on a binge of these types of shows for a while. Id like them to be on the slightly longer side of short stories between 8000-10,000 words however I think if I did approximately 5 stories per book I could do a nice collection. I just have to really take time even if I have to schedule it to write down time in my life i want to spend to writing whether that be when Vincent sleep’s one day, or one evening I end stream a touch early and write, Or I take a weekend my boyfriend is with the baby and take an hour or two then.

Next I would like to write a book that becomes so big movies are written based on them. Think Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter big. I have some bits and pieces for these books. I feel like I really want to have a good base down as far as chapters, characters, scenes before tackling this type of book series. That would be so much for me to really put together and make it all connect correctly. I also feel like if I write the mini/short stories first then it will help me understand stories a bit better and what it takes. I have never really written something this big before in my life so I kind of want to work my way up to that as well too. All it really takes is an amazing book to make yourself known. Or even think Stephen King big!

I have also thought about doing a poetry content book. I say this and the term is probably wrong however I never really researched it. I just thought maybe a romance poetry book, or moving collection of poems could be a nice thing to do. When I was younger I always really enjoyed writing out my feelings. Types of things that were suicide related, I know topics we never talked about ever. And it was a great release. Now that I am older I don’t feel those feelings however I would like to revisit that side of my life in a different light. I loved poems that could rhyme and what not as well. I think it could be a great little side of writing that I could put out to the world. Even motivational or seasonal. I would however have to look a little bit though in terms of structure or patterns you can do since it has been so long. However I would love to explore that area again too!

As you can see there really is a lot that I would like to write about. And I am sure that any writer would also feel overwhelmed by this. The hardest part which I’m not even thinking about is the process of publishing it when it has been written. How much does it cost? Where to go? How to market the book? What about a proof reader? Or editor or whatever else. I have no idea where to begin with this. There is some help though. On my Facebook some of my mom’s friends have in fact published books. When the time comes Ill probably ask both of them and see where that can take me. Money may be a factor but if so I will just have to save save save! Like honestly, how much does it cost to have a whole book printed? I have no idea but some books are expensive to buy! Which type of book would be easier to print? Do I want a hard cover or soft cover or both? The more I sit here I find more and more questions to ask. Good thing Ill have this blog to refer back to for when I have to ask them I wont be forgetting anything.

I have yet to decide how I will be going about this. Do I want to set up goal of writing so many words withing a time frame? Do I just want to schedule time in and write for the period? Would it be better if I set a monthly word goal so I can kind of have a bit of a relaxed but still have a goal for the end of the month? And what would a reasonable amount be! I guess I really need to be sitting down and figuring out these before the end of the month and the beginning of 2021. That way I can know the expectations I set on myself before hand and hopefully wont be dreading them in the process either. But I know this is something that i really want to do for myself. If I wait I am afraid the longer I go without planning to write and be an author the less likely it will be to happen. This year I would like to be something at home. Hopefully make some what of a financial income even it it might take a bit to get there.

What is something you always wanted to do in your life? Did you end up doing it or holding off?

Let me know in the comments below!

-StaySeeJ08

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Weight Loss Wednesday #1 – Jan 14th-Jan 20th[6 Days]

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I need to be held accountable. Simple as that.

I have decided to do so, I will be bringing you along the weight loss journey. We recently have gotten AMAZING News about moving back to my home province so that means weight loss before baby number 2. And I mean I have to hammer down NOW! I will be writing blogs every other Wednesday til about June or so when we move. Every 2 weeks I will update (with pictures!!)

Three criteria: Days I smoked weed, Days I exercised, and Days under calories (Max 1500). Along with triumphs and struggles, and updated side and front photos too. Normally I pick subjects and write about them and if they become relevant schedule them or write about a current subject as it pops up. Not this time. Chances are you are reading this blog and it was written last night. I will have photos of calendars that I will be filling out to see things easier and an overview of how I am doing. I wont be typing up what exactly I eat in a day as I do not have the time to do that but this will be a good overview for all you visual readers! Simple “X” Day’s mean that I failed at the calendar’s goals. While if I pass I will briefly fill it in. If I am under my calories I will Highlight it with a marker, if I don’t smoke weed it will be colored in, and if I exercise I will briefly write it in ie: Elliptical 40 mins, Exercise DVD, etc. and I will write a reflection on each calendar and then a brief spot after for my struggles and victories of the week!

If you are someone who is familiar with my blogs you know that I struggle with weight loss, I have most of my life and recently wrote about it too, You can read that blog here.

My low goal is to lose 30lbs before we move. Which is no over-reaching. If I lose anywhere from 30-50lbs that would be a major bonus for me. My starting weight is 242.4lbs. I know. I feel like a whale and need to take control of myself again. The goal before baby number 2 is cooking in there is under 210lbs. It is totally doable I just need to hammer down and stop eating my feelings, good and bad.

These are my before photos. I am unhappy. I hate how I look. And I am ready to be healthy once and for all. My current weight in these photos (Taken on Friday, January 15th, 2021) 242.4lbs. I feel like even if I was to drop below 210lbs that would be a huge accomplishment for me.
Measurements are:
Waist -47.0 Inches
Hips- 54.0 Inches
Bust – Over – 46.0 Inches
– Under – 39.5 Inches
Thighs – Left – 30.5 Inches
-Right – 30.0 Inches
Arms – Left – 13.5 Inches
– Right – 14.5 Inches

I always do measurements only because I know sometimes I haven’t lost really any pounds and I have lost inches and that is a little extra motivator!

Exercise Log

No description available.
Any exercise is good, but ideal would be a Workout DVD or 40 minute Elliptical workout!

Obviously I need to majorly up this. However I find that I struggle if my son doesn’t sleep very well during the day. That being said my next goal for the following 2 weeks is to workout 8 days out of 14. That would be every other day or any day I don’t stream. Which is doable since I can do it once he (my son) falls asleep at night. If his dad is off in the afternoon or only has to go in for the afternoon then I will be doing a workout while he is home. Unless I have a feeling my son will have an extra long nap then I will try to get the 40 minute Elliptical workout there!

Under Calories

No description available.
Check with a ? Means that I assume close or under, but I ate something I’m not entirely sure what the calories were as I couldn’t find anything with the exact number.

Again. You can probably see this as being a direct result of me smoking weed and munching out. The goal is to have 10/14 days under calories in the next 2 weeks. If I need to go to bed early after I make my Son’s bottles are made for the following day so be it. But I need to stop the late night snacking and munching because working out doesn’t mean a free pass to eating as much as someone at an all you can eat buffet.

Days Smoked Weed

No description available.
X = For sure smoked a joint that day.. LOL

This is also obviously a problem as well too. When I do so well during the day time I completely ruin it at night by smoking and munching on so many calories in such a small amount of time. My goal ultimately is to smoke weed MAXIMUM of 4 evenings. My goal is to only smoke on Saturday’s however there is an occasional day through the week where I would like to smoke it will be before a bath or bed so I am away from the kitchen!

Struggles

Weed is a constant struggle for me. Would I say I am addicted? No. Would I say I love getting high. Yes. But if I am going to lose weight I need to really cut back. My goal for the next 2 weeks is to smoke no more than 4 days in 14. I smoke at night when my son goes to bed but I need to cut back. And if I need to switch work outs to as soon as he goes to sleep to get there that is what I will have to do! Getting into the habit is hard for me because with being in quarantine I am unable to do anything. However I need to focus and really have some self discipline and not give in to temptations.

Victories

The fact that I worked out I would consider a victory for me. Working out normally is not a huge problem for me but to be able to do a few days instead of none is also great. Another would be that I do have some under calorie days which again, would be considered a victory for me.

Reflection

I know I can lose weight. I have done it before. I feel extremely nervous though sharing everything about me physically and basically opening myself up to you all. I think it is a way for me to be held accountable though and I am looking forward to where it takes me. I hope if you are reading this and made it here that you know that you are not alone in this. You can do it and even if you have a bad day it doesn’t mean all of your progress is gone!

-StaySeeJ

PS: I am new and trying this out for the first time!
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When To Let Go Of a Friendship

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Letting go of friendships can be one of the hardest things you ever do. Evidently enough it is even harder the longer that you have been friends with them. The fact is, it is okay to outgrow a friendship. Whether it be for different reasons such as drifting apart or your goals and dreams both change, or it even be because they are creating a toxic environment in your life.

For a long time I was HORRIBLE at ending a friendship. I was the type of friend that would give any friend the shirt off my back. The problem with this is that I was blind to just how I was being treated. I was the “too nice” friend. I was the person who would drop anything in a heartbeat if you needed it. The problem was when I did this it was normally for people who would use me and take advantage of my kind heart. Eventually when you are in these kinds of friendships or even relationships you have to end it because you are mentally drained with nothing left in the tank to give anymore.

There are many subtle red flags so to speak when it comes to a friendship not being as genuine. These are just some tips that I have noticed when looking back over the years why I have drifted apart with people in my life. It can happen really rapidly or it can happen super slowly over time. For me I would say the majority of these things happened when my boyfriend pointed out to me that some of my “friends” were not even friends at all. They were people who just wanted to take whatever they could from me.

One red flag that I think just about anyone can relate to is “The Convenience” friend. This is the type of person who expects you to be around any time of day or night for whenever they have some crisis or life event happening. However, whenever you need someone to talk to or vent or even just hang with they are suddenly busy or no where to be found. They also typically get mad at you when you are unable to be there for them. Often they hold a grudge at you and if you even think about mentioning to them how you felt when they were “inconveniently” unavailable during the time you needed some help and someone to talk with, they suddenly have this huge problem to deflect from the fact they were a crummy friend. Eventually you will grow apart with this person because nothing is more of a bummer in life is having a friends who only thinks and cares for themselves.

The “Ultimatum” friend sucks. I don’t really think there can be anything more blunt than this. This is the type of friend who gives you an ultimatum in friendship. When I first started dating my boyfriend, I had a friend like this. I had been really close with them for the past 2 years or year whatever before I met him. When we were dating he was not a fan of smoking weed. I smoked it though being with him I slowly stopped (Now it is legal in Canada no problem). He was worried because his job didn’t allow this and he didn’t want to get in some sort of trouble. This friend and I smoked a lot of weed, and I mean a lot. We went through some tough times and helped one another. When I told her I was slowly stopping weed not because I am trying but because being with him made me not want to be stoned as much. She gave me an ultimatum. Either stay friends with her, or leave my boyfriend who we had just moved in together and the amount of good he had and still brings to my life. Naturally I left that friend. Why would I stay friends with someone who makes me choose? That didn’t even make sense. And low and behold I am still with my boyfriend after all of those years. Did I ever stay in touch with the friend? No. They moved across the country and had their own things. Any time I reached out I was met with ignoring messages and not even acknowledged. When you have a friend like this chances are they are telling you this because they know that you are drifting away and this is their last ditch effort to bring you back in to their circle. Most times it isn’t worth it and you shouldn’t have choose between a friend and a relationship.

The “User” friend could also be considered in the last friend I talked about in the ultimatum part. The problem with these types of people in your life is that they don’t normally take everything at once. They take little by little and then they never give back. Ive had people like this who use my kindness and use me for things. This became ever so evident once I got my license. People would always call when they want you to drive them somewhere but they would conveniently pay for gas on pay day, they would say they would give you something in return but not have that at the time. It is always a “Ill hit you back next time” when that next time never comes. Typically when they have acquired enough debt so to speak (Not necessarily money) they disappear. I seen this with people who used others as it is a lot easier to see them do this to others than to yourself. The faster you see this the easier it is to let go and move on.

Regardless of which friend you are walking away from or whatever the reason may be. It sucks. There is no easy way to do it. Some people I stopped talking to I had talked to for years. And it is hard. Especially if you talk frequently or daily. You grab a phone to dial their number or text or message online, and you stop yourself because you don’t want to bring that back. I will say though, The longer you aren’t talking to this individual, the easier it is to not talk to them again. It may be a struggle at first and you have to take every inch of will power to not contact them. But after time passes and you can look at it with a fresh perspective, You will be so happy to be gone!

Do you have friends you have left before? What were your reasons and do you regret it?

Let me know in the comments below!

-StaySeeJ

Reasons Why I Do Not Like Quebec

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I have a feeling this may turn into a bit of a rant but you know what I am going to try to do everything in my power to NOT let it get that way and actually have a structured stance on the reasons why I do not like Quebec.

1st, I don’t like it because it is french speaking. JUST KIDDING. I will say though in the nicest way possible. I get that Quebec is French Speaking. That is true. And I respect that they are trying to preserve that in a country that is predominantly English. However, It is extremely frustrating when we first moved here and I would go to a grocery store and a person would speak to me in French when I would respond in English. I would like to think that the person who normally is young. I would choose a young cashier more often than not since they for sure would have known English from being in school. Would speak in French to me. Don’t you think that if I knew French I would be trying to speak it. As someone who just moved here I also find that people are not as friendly as they would be in Nova Scotia.

In order to get anything done I had to jump through hoops. For something as simple as a medical card for example. I have always lived in Canada my entire life. I just used to live in Nova Scotia. I have never, seriously NEVER lived in another country. The only time I even left was for 3 weeks to babysit my neice and nephew in England. Other than that I was always here. For me to get a medical card I had to get the proper forms. This included that I lived in the province. I get it. I had to get a piece of mail with my address. My boyfriend even went as far as getting our housing people to provide a letter stating that I was on the lease for the home we were renting too. Which in the end wasn’t even good enough proof that I was permanently living here. After doing this a few times with a run around of different papers I then got a temporary card. This was only good for so long and after so many months I was sent another letter asking me if I could send mail for the previous 6 months PROVING yet again that I lived in the address that I had said I did. Luckily i had mail from school since I was paid to go (More on that coming up) so all I had to do was take my pay stubs from the time frame that they wanted and got to send those in. Which is pretty hard to do, partly because it was 2019 at the time in a world that encourages paperless living. I don’t really receive any mail now that I am not in school either.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I was in french school for a year and a half. In order to get on this course I basically had to convince someone I wanted to take this. Which was a feat in itself. I want to remind you before I begin, If you are a person coming from a different country you simply can fill out all of this paperwork online and start the process super easy. For me, A Canadian, it was a completely different story and in telling said story to a friend of mine she had said that her experience was not this difficult at all! I had to get paperwork. Fill it out. Bring it back. Sit with someone and explain to them why I wanted French courses where I was told that I could do “warehouse work” with English. Then I was told that I had to wait to meet with a counselor or something. I met with them. Then I had to go back to be told if I was accepted. All of this to do a course in French while being convinced along the way that I didn’t need it to work in Quebec which is a lie. You for sure need to know both languages or they won’t even really look at you.

And lastly, The difficulty it was in the hospital having my Son and nurses either do not know English or they did not want to speak it. My boyfriend had to translate nearly everything. Not to mention the hospital that we ended up being was a hospital that was in a town that was known for being bilingual. It wasn’t a small town but was known for being both languages. As frustrating as it was was having some nurses not respond when we asked questions was insane. And even in instances where my boyfriend would specifically ask for an English speaking nurse we were told at times that “the particular nurse was on lunch so we would have to wait an hour for that person”. Which is absolutely insane. We have this new baby and have questions and we aren’t allowed to answer? Really? Needless to say the other challenge was also trying to find my Son a family doctor. A friend of mine even had to find one on the Island of Montreal since there is no available ones around. The clinic that we went to for pre-natal appointments doesn’t really do anything to check up after the birth on the mother or helping in finding a family doctor for the baby. it really is once that baby comes out you are kind of on your own. Needless to say I will be able to go back to my Family doctor in Nova Scotia and things we assume will be far easier than they were here.

As you can see these are pretty big things for someone not to enjoy Quebec. I’m sure that there are things that we have enjoyed. Like Krispy Kreme or things along that way of food. However with issues like this along the way, even though my boyfriend is from Quebec, we both are anxiously awaiting the call or message telling us we will be moving back home. To a simpler place!

-StaySeeJ08

Living with Allergies

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It all started when I was younger and slowly getting sick every single Christmas. Til I was about 9 years old my family even had a real Christmas tree. Mind you I had already been diagnosed with asthma so my parents kind of chalked it up to that during the winter months however my symptoms would go away mostly after Christmas. When the tree was taken down I seemed to be fine. Piled on by a bunch of weird things I would do like snuggle a friends litter of kittens to playing in the woods my parents had no idea what would suddenly make me sick and then it would go away, Not without most times triggering an asthma attack though. It wasn’t until someone had suggested that I should get an allergy test and see what really is making me have these fits of coughing and sneezing and whatever else there was.

If you aren’t familiar with how an allergy test works I will explain. First of all I only really had this done when I was about 9 years old. I know they perhaps could have changed how things are done but as far as I know they still may be doing this. When I went I remember my mom had to take me. We had to wait for a specialist for it. They talked to my mom about things that could potentially be most of what I think was checked was environmental allergens. Like trees, grass, cats and dogs, maybe even peanut butter too. Just certain things that were typical of triggering allergies. I had to take off my shirt and lay down face down on a table. I could feel cool drops of what felt like water on my back. After I felt pin pricks. The specialist was then picking where different drops were. You leave the drops on for so many seconds and then when they are wiped away you can run your fingers along the dots to see which is raised for an allergic reaction. For me the biggest ones were, pine trees, cats, straw, freshly cut grass, dust and a few more which I think I have grown out of.

As a child, I think living with allergies was hard. Mind you I never had food allergies which I think would be even more challenging it was a bit frustrating not to have a real Christmas tree after I was 9. Now it doesn’t bother me as much since no one really has a tree that is real now a days, but before it did. It was frustrating to have friends whose cat had kittens and after cuddling them I would be wheezy and have the sniffles from them rubbing all over me. Especially if one of them scratched me while playing and that scratch was a raised bump as well too. Or having the windows closed while my dad mowed the lawn so the house wouldn’t become filled with the scent.

As an adult, I don’t think living with allergies was all that hard. I know that i just normally avoid things. When my boyfriend and I adopted our cat. For a while he made us both sneeze and sniffle. However now that we have had him for nearly 8 years he really doesn’t bother us anymore. Though when he cuddles up and gives me a hug (Yes, my cat really does that!) or he drools on my shoulders he does still make me a bit itchy or my eyes feel like sandpaper. As far as scents go, I am still very much allergic to the smell of a Christmas tree. I buy scented wax to warm in warmers and one is called “Iced Pine” I can very rarely put it on and even if I do it is only for a little while as I typically start coughing or sneezing a lot! But I still enjoy that.

My mom has an allergy to penicillin and phosphates as well too. At least that’s how I think you spell them both! One of them is a preservative in foods which I bet you can image it is in a whole load of foods. Whats worse is she could eat something many many times before but if something slightly changes in the food itself she could become allergic to it. She can’t or shouldn’t eat the coconut chocolate snow balls. However if she eats one she is normally okay any more and she will start to get hives or her allergies will be triggered. Though her allergy was and is far more intense then my own are for nature and the outside world. Something with too much of that could really be bad for her or have her throat even close over.

My dad also is lactose intolerant. Which is a type of allergy and was something the had start later in life. I remember him always drinking milk and enjoying milk all the time only to later in life not be able to eat it anymore or it really upsets his stomach. I think when it comes to food allergies it is one thing have them your entire life but another thing when you are so used to eating a particular food to have you unable to digest it properly. I know for me, if I was suddenly unable to have milk I would be devastated. Especially since I do drink and consume a lot of products that do contain it.

At the end of the day, as many allergens I have to things outside and in my environment I would much rather have those types of allergies then ones to food. That would not be a fun time I don’t think. Especially if you always had to check out food labels for the specific ingredient and ensure you are able to eat them though. And though I don’t really consider my allergies to be severe to live with, maybe even calling them mild would be pushing it too. They could always be a far worse and for that I am okay with it!

What are you allergic to? Do you even have any allergies? Did you know about them your whole life or was it something that you developed later?

-StaySeeJ08

My 31st Birthday!

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I can’t believe it has been an entire year since I have done this! Like actually a whole year! So much has changed and I barely know where to begin. Hopefully I don’t go on rants or story telling here but honestly if it happens it happens. I also hope that this is not going to be something similar to my resolutions or anything because that would equally be awkward for you to read this. Here it goes though!

I AM A FREAKING MOM! LIKE MY BIRTHDAY WILL BE CELEBRATED WITH MY SPOUSE AND MY SON!! HOW FREAKING CRAZY IS THAT HUH?! It is absolutely mind blowing to think that I have a birthday with my son. Being a parent is extremely hard and will probably be one of the most difficult things I have ever done before. There is so many things to learn and so much advice and tips floating around that you have to find out what works for YOU. I know my partner and I have for sure butt heads when it comes to certain things but you really have to experiment. Find out things and not get stuck in a loop. Schedule is important but so is trying new things as your child begins to grow and learn more things too!

Covid has really sucked. It sucked because I have basically been trapped in my house since my Son was born. It sucked because I wasn’t able to go to his doctors appointments, not just because his doctor was french but because they only allow one parent and I just don’t have the french vocabulary that my boyfriend does to be able to ask the questions we want to ask. Not to mention My son wont be able to meet my parents (His grandparents) probably til we end up moving back home since we live in a place that is really high in Covid cases and my parents don’t. Travel is basically not happening anywhere and especially for them or us. We couldn’t even go to my Uncle’s house for Christmas that just passed due to different restrictions which also sucked too. Covid really made is so anything you wanted to do you really couldn’t. We have family from my boyfriends side constantly asking to hang out which we don’t do since Covid is pretty scary and we don’t want to take the risk. I have asthma and our son is only 10 months old. We just cannot afford to take the risk so we limit our seeing the public to very little.

I am most looking forward to moving. I know I am probably jinxing it right now but honestly that is the most important thing for me to look forward to right now. I cannot wait until we have our own space again, our own spot to decorate as much or as little as we want. I want a fence and a pool to be able to veg around. Some privacy would also be great hopefully we will have that. I also cannot wait to be close to my family again. Since moving to Quebec I only have 2 uncles here, that is all (They are married so its technically one house though!) Not that I would visit often. I mean it was only a 35 minute drive away but I am lazy and don’t go there much though. However the option to drive to my parents whenever I wanted even if I didn’t would also be great too. When we lived in Nova Scotia I never really went there all that much as I was still 30 minute drive away but the point is that the option would be there. I would love to be able to go back and have that in my life. I want my parents to meet their newest and youngest grandson.

Weight loss is something I have been open about struggling with. I want to get that under control finally. If you are people who have read my blog previously you know that this is something I talk about quite frequently. I really want to get a handle on this. I will do my best to slowly stop smoking weed so often which has been really going well when I put my mind to it. I just have to keep busy and not fill the void of boredom with food. Even when I am baked I should be doing things that are useful with my hands instead of eating and eating. I am eating when I am bored and that is not a good thing. Especially when this happens at night which is more often than not. I spent a lot of money on David’s Teas and that is what I need to focus on when I want something a bit sweet is something like that. I also am going to be starting on Jan 11th a weight loss group. Where you pay 20$ and you try to lost the highest percentage of body weight and see whoever win’s takes the pot. I think it will be a great start and a friend is also doing this as well too so it will be a nice help. I hope I could win it because it would be a nice little treat for myself too!

Baby number 2 is going to be a huge motivation. Not saying my son isn’t but I would like to majorly lose weight for the next pregnancy. I would much rather get pregnant and the max weight be the weight I am not then gain weight to be 275lbs again. That was extremely hard to do and I look back and am wondering how i even did that! Not to mention the amount of candy and chocolate I eat now would not be acceptable with a baby inside especially if I get worried about gestational diabetes which is a worry that I think I will have for all of my pregnancy’s. I know that I have to do this as I don’t want to be old and struggling to keep up with my kids, especially since we would like a few more!

There you have it though, My updated reflection on my birthday! It has been a crazy year, I am for sure feeling my age by the looks of the grey hair that are sprouting from my roots. But I couldn’t think of a more wacky and exciting year it has been! Here is to the next one!

Also I am PUMPED for ice cream cake too 🙂

What do you look forward to when your birthday comes around?
Do you like doing anything? Or do you just do something low key? Or not celebrate at all?

Let me know in the comments below!

-StaySeeJ

Financial Goals For 2021 And How To Get Them

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Before I even begin, I am going to be completely honest with you. I am scared poop-less in hopes that this works. Thinking about becoming financially independent by doing it online is actually insane to think about. Since moving to Quebec I would say this is one of the things that has scared me the most when it comes to moving was losing my financial independence.

Streaming will probably be the easiest for me to make some sort of income with since I already make some money per month. Ideally I would like to get the threshold of 100$ per month so that I can consistently get paid through streaming however I am going to start with a slightly lower one. For streams you are able to put in a subscriber goal for the month. I am going to do 25 sub points which is not far off of what I have now which is approx 19 subscriber points. If I can hit this I think it will approx give me 40$ per month. I also am going to add a bits (Twitch currency) or monetary goal of about 10$. This should bring me up to 50$ per month with a pay out every 2 or so. I know that I will be able to keep this going and hopefully raise it up with the content I am going to be putting out as well too. I know it is achievable and I hope that by sharing these little widgets of sorts to my stream overlays that my community will see that I have new goals and that would be to become financially independent. I think this could help as I begin to grow my brand so people can see the direction that I would like to be taking with this.

Fiverr is something I am scared to try but I think I could be able to do great things with it. I have an idea for a specific type of poem I would like to offer to make for people. I think this could be a great avenue for a source of income. I know very little about the site though and I know they do take a commission but I think it could be a start. I have to really sit down and think of what I would charge for someone who would like to hire me for a “gig” and what not. Look at the types of people and if anyone is offering something similar either. All of these things I think will be more towards the end of the year goal financially. I think if I work with what I do know now then I can get things going and add as I go. I do think it could be extremely useful though since I do love poetry and it could be another creative outlet for me to create and make a few bucks that would be even better!

Art Work is something that I have a challenge with. It inst so much about me trying to create pieces for sale, it is more or less about me trying to reach people who would like to buy these pieces. A big part for me will be to use my Art Instagram and my Art twitter accounts a lot more when putting pieces up for sale as well as here on the blog. I think it could be a great way to bring in potential customers when I have finished a piece as well too. For me to predict the type of money I could make form this I really have no answer. I will say though that if I was able to make even 50$ per month on this that would be key. I also have to figure out shipping costs and to begin with I would probably only be selling pieces to Canada and United States since it may be challenging and costly to send pieces to Europe currently. I would like to expand but how to get there is just a bit of a mystery to me. I know it obviously can be done it is just making the point of putting it forward!

Patreon I think is something I could do quite well but geared towards different crafts or items hand made per month. Like say a card of the month where I design a card and send it to you for 5$ or something. And the next set would be a bit more include other things as well. The hardest part of this would be similar to the Fiverr problem which is sitting down and weighing in the cost of materials and seeing how I go from there. How much does it cost to send and how much does it cost for materials. I think if I was to sit down and plan this out it could be a solid choice if people showed interest in this per month as well too.

Tutoring is something I would like to attempt to start to do since I am living in a french province and I could be teaching English. However this is something I would need to put out a post on Kijiji or something like that. I don’t even know what I would charge per hour but I think I could also do this which could be useful in making a few bucks. Even if I charged say 15$ per hour of teaching and speaking English, and I had 3 students per week, that is nearly 45$ per week of income that I could be making as well too! I may have to put out feelers for this on websites to start the year and see where we go from there!

Blogging would be something that could be seemingly simple for me since I already do this. I have thought since I have purchased the personal blogger package (You know since I’m taking this way more serious than last year) that I can add that feature in. I haven’t really researched it before but I would do something along the lines of a few blogs per month being uncensored. I think it could be really neat but I am not even thinking about that until i have some decent growth on my followers here. Maybe when I start to have 250 followers and things will I start to consider that. It wont be very expensive only a few dollars per month if that is how you bill things and see where we go from there!

Ill update this in about 6 months with a new post about how my financial stability and independence is coming along. No point in updating this every month since there are things I wont be implementing!

Are you a stay at home parent? Do you have an income by working at home?

Let me know in the comments below! Maybe you have a different way I haven’t thought of before!

-StaySeeJ

January Update 2021

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Naturally I’m slacking at anything and everything. But, don’t we all during the holidays? I feel like this year I completely was in a “screw it” mindset. From being on lock down and unable to go anywhere for Christmas, not even to my Uncle’s house to celebrate. I have felt like just kind of going into a minor sad sack party for one where I just don’t do anything at all. This has been basically all. Here is an update though however horrible it may turn out due to the fact that I am kind of hoping writing about it and prepping for this will help me get into a great mindset! As normal I am writing this a few days before it is released due to the fact that well, I have a 10 month old son and it is a lot easier to prep myself for blogs coming out then struggle to get it out on the exact day I release them to you all! So here we go into our update!

Weight Loss and Workouts have been non-existent. Going forward obviously I am going to be starting a new workout schedule. I am going to try doing the Elliptical 5 days a week, These will be on Saturday and Sunday, And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Monday and Friday will be off days for Elliptical. I also would like to introduce some workout DVD’s into the mix. My goal is to do those about 4 or 5 days a week as well maybe Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday’s. Those will be just to change things up a bit and I’m able to put my son in his play pen while I do them. Obviously I wont be doing them if my Boyfriend is home because I find it embarrassing to do something like that if he were to watch. They also are about 30 minutes and I am sure my son will find it funny to see Mommy jumping around and or dancing and things as well too. I think by changing it up I wont get so bored of working out. As far as calories goes, I am sticking to anywhere from 1250 to 1750 calories per day as well. I know it will be hard to do but I have faith I can do it though. I have only allowed myself about 7 days to smoke weed and if I count my birthday in the beginning of the month as well as every Saturday it really only leaves me with 1 flex smoking weed day. With this goal munching and sabotaging myself will probably be non-existent I hope.

Streaming is something I am really looking forward to this year. I am loving the Art streams on Sunday’s and hope to incorporate more into the schedule as well too. I am going to start with streaming 4 days a week again and have a bit more structure. I am confident I can make this work because I wont be smoking as much weed either. When I smoke too much before a stream I get lazy and end streams way too early, or I just am not in a good attitude. And even if I am I just want to munch and I’m not putting my all into content creation like I should be doing. i want to make the channel more of a brand and not just a person playing video games. I would like to convey to people that I am taking this content creation thing seriously and that I would like to make some sort of “Job” out of this as well too. In order to do that as “Easy” as it might be, I need to treat it like a job and I wouldn’t be getting high or leaving work early right!

Art is going to be a bigger focus in my life and streams. Everyone needs some sort of creative outlet. This is what I am going to be doing. Sometimes Ill be doing artwork for when (Hopefully this year) we move back to Nova Scotia. Sometimes Ill be doing art work to go up on my socials for sale and hopefully make a few dollars that way also. I will be using this as a creative outlet and hopefully become more zen with myself. I find I can let a lot of little things effect me and make me angry when they shouldn’t. I lash out at my loved ones of I bottle things up til I get really mad. I shouldn’t be doing this. Not to mention being stuck inside due to COVID certainly has not helped anyone either. This is a way for me to really start to be in touch with my creative self again. Whether it be beginning to write in my books or whether it be drawing or writing. This is something growing up my parents would always nurture. Whether they gave encouraging words, or they were buying me different and new art supplies they always wanted me to be doing something like this because they knew I was able to. Even crafting and things as well. I need to do more of this in my life and streaming and sharing it with others is exactly how I am going to do that!

Financial Independence is something that I would like to get back. Being a stay at home mom is great but I miss being able to have some type of an income coming in. Whether it be with streams or the blog or some premium content in the future I know that I would like to make a monthly income of 250-500$. I don’t think that is unreasonable with what I am doing now its tweaking and making things more accessible to what people may be wanting in their life. I will be giving myself til the end of the year to try to make a somewhat steady income.

This is a super rough over view of my update for January.

What are your goals you would like to achieve before the year is out, Are they different then last year.

Let me know what your helpful tips are when you are trying to keep on track of things.
I am always looking for different ways to adapt my own too!

-StaySeeJ