Tag Archives: fun

April Showers Bring May Flowers? – Update April 2021

Life, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here we are another update. And honestly I couldn’t be happier. Hopefully by the time this goes live we actually will have gotten our official message confirming that we are moving back home to Nova Scotia and we are no longer waiting to put offers on the houses we would like to purchase. Let’s talk about the month that passed and the month ahead!

House hunting is stressful in today’s economy in Canada. I will be writing a blog post about that in the coming month so you can hear all about how whacked the housing market is especially in Nova Scotia where we will be moving! Every single house we seem to favorite seems to be sold before the next day and normally WAY over asking price too. Due to out of province buyers as well. We still are a mentally recovering from the house we were “promised” and then them going back on their word. Karma will get them that’s for sure. But until then all we can do is favorite homes that have potential and hope for the best as we wait and hope our offers are high enough for the seller to entertain and accept.

Being another month down it also leaves a lot of hope for us due to the fact that we are edging closer and closer to moving back home. I am so excited to have my parents meet my son as they have yet to meet him in person. Out of my family he has only met my Uncles who life about 40 minuets away and even that wasn’t so often with all the restrictions that are posed on Quebec in hopes to curb the Covid-19 spread (Which obviously hasn’t been doing a whole lot as they just recently added church gatherings to be a max of 250 people in time for Easter *Insert eye roll here*). My mom also keeps mentioning that she wonders if our son will recognize her based on the video chats and things which I think he will based off of their voice however you know how babies are, they do cry with new people!

I also have some AMAZING news that I cannot share just yet though. One more month and I can share it, Maybe not for the May update but a little bit afterwards I should be able to do something for it! And as a little secret I have already started working on that announcement post as well! Maybe you can guess what it will be about before I announce it!

As for the move and prepping for that, I am slowly but surely trying to go through the basement of my home. I am trying to go through different bins and organize and throw things away for the trash. As I believe I had mentioned in previous posts it is a lot easier to get things to throw away here in Quebec then it is in Nova Scotia. They have much stricter garbage rules including clear bags so they can see what you are throwing away and if there is anything recyclable they don’t accept it and you then have to go through the bag again before the following week. Ive been trying to go through and make 2 small garbage bags to throw away each week which I hope to push a bit more and really work hard at doing this. I don’t want to be left bringing a bunch of junk we wont be needing again, We did that when we moved here and I would rather leave things and have a somewhat fresh start for the new home!

Easter has also been coming up, This will be published the day before and Ill be publishing the Easter blog on the upcoming Tuesday after it happened. It was still a bit challenging doing something small for my son since he is only a year and a month. He doesn’t really need the chocolate and things but I wanted to be creative in thinking of stuff to fill his basket. Ill go into detail more about what we really put in there and thought about doing on Tuesday’s post! I am also excited to share that with you too!

Book writing has been going well. I need to really focus on that a bit more in April and be more self disciplined. There is so much I am learning when it comes to writing a book that it really is like taking a school course. I am excited though for whats to come and I hope I can be a successful writer though. I have one book I have been kind of editing and continuing to change a bit with the help of my mom’s friend who is an established writer. I keep writing down the notes and editing she has wrote so I have my own cheat sheet as I keep growing my skills as well too. It is coming back to me from when I was in school though all the rules and regulations to make a proper story.

As far as streaming goes, I think streams have been goign great! Ive been tryign to gently push myself to stream longer and a few bonus streams. My average viewers have also been climbing steadily which also terrifies me for moving because I will be taking time off and when you take time off from streaming you basically become irrelevant and have to start over again. I hope to put things in place to not have this problem happen though. And if it does well, back to square one again.

Anyways I must leave with this update, Prep yourselves for some interesting and exciting updates in the coming month! I know I am getting excited and giddy just thinking about writing them for you!

What are your April goals?
How did your March go too?

Let me know in the comments below!

– Stacey


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Why Tim Horton’s Sucks Now

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I think it is safe to say that most people in Canada or even some parts of the world knows what Tim Horton’s is. Tim’s would be the Dunkin Donuts equivalent to the United States, or even the Krispy Kremes of the United Kingdom. And whatever else you would consider a big chain coffee shop with pastry delights in them. Tim Horton’s is a coffee shop. Chances are if you live in Canada you can get to one within a 30 minute drive if not far far before. Some streets go as far as having a Tim Horton’s every so many blocks. In gas stations, stand alone, in malls or in other stores as a side spot too.

Photo by Ahmed Raza Khan Films on Pexels.com

I think one of the biggest issues that I have with Tim Horton’s, and I would say a lot of Canadians have the same issue, it is that the company is not even Canadian owned anymore. The company was sold to Burger King or Wendy’s or whatever have you but the company that every Canadian knew of is no longer the Canadian company that we once knew and loved. I would even beg the idea that the quality has gone down as well. Everything pre-made and packaged and bakers simply throw in the oven. Or at least that is the way it tastes, like it has come off a factory line. Not to mention the regular things people once loved like coffee and things have changed. People are reaching for the cheaper counter part at McDonald’s which need I mind you in the summer has the dollar menu for drinks as well too.

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My personal gripe with Tim Horton\s was when they took my beloved Cinnamon Donuts and Timbits off the menu. That was my all time favorite flavor of donut and they took it away. It was a flavor that I had known and loved from when I was a child to the moment they removed it from rotation. This particular item isn’t even out in particular seasons or anything they are just gone. Now I have not found a spot that has these items still but if there is a place out there I urge you PLEASE comment where and if I am ever around hopefully they have that there when I arrive. It was such a simple flavor where they have taken it off and have put on more complicated flavors such as Oreo. Do we really need an Oreo flavor baked good from Tim’s, I think not!

Photo by Erik Mclean on Pexels.com

Another memory of my childhood that has been gone and I am unable to find is the “Gingerbread Figure”. See how progressive Tim hortons used to be? And now what, Nothing! This was just as it explains, a gingerbread person with either just icing or icing and a harden sugar head. Sometimes it was based on holidays or a generic girl or boy person. It really depended. Sometimes it was cartoons of popular movies or kids shows or even just animals too. I always loved going with my grandparents to Tim Horton’s in the mornings when I stayed the night there and looking through the glass case at Tim’s to see that they had some made! I would choose this one every time. I would always pick off one of the legs and then the arms and then save the sugar head for last. I know this probably sounds super morbid then it really is but honestly I was a small child and it really isn’t that bad!

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I will say even though they have basically sold out the heart and soul of Canadians that they still do a lot for the country. Especially for the children. For the supporting minor hockey, the Timbits so to speak or their camp day and smile cookie day too. They continue to help our programs that are impacting the kids of the country’s lives daily and helping the art of sport be more accessible. And their camps that are including everyone no matter their abilities.

I’m sure, after I have tried to rip into the Tim’s you are asking yourself, Wow, Does she like anything there? I do actually. I enjoy having their iced coffee made with chocolate milk and I also enjoy having an Iced Capp also made with chocolate milk. Sometimes I don’t mind a sour cream glazed donut or a chocolate chip cookie, Only if they are chewy though! As far as anything else I really am not a fan of their bagels that i once loved. I avoid that. Tea biscuits cheese no ham or just plain are also good however microwaved with butter is how they are enjoyed best!

Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com

Even though they continue to do things that tick most people off. I probably will still enjoy their products here and there. I know it sounds cray why would you still go there when you have a lot of negative to say. I still enjoy some of their things, however if they were to change their iced capps that would be extremely hard for me to go there really. A major point we go there is because of their convenience. When I go for a road trip we always stop their first for their quick eats and coffee even if it doesn’t taste very good which is happening more often than not.

I am all for supporting Canadian shops however the more time passes they seem to be becoming less and less of what my memories are made of. Something that was a part of nearly every shift on my way there has become a few times a year. I just am not interested in going out especially with Covid let alone for their maybe okay tasting drinks. We have recently upgraded our home coffee in the previous year to a Nespresso and with the Cold Wave system that nearly instantly cools hot coffee, I would say that there really is no need.

Is there something that you really liked when you were younger from a restaurant or shop that has changed and you find yourself avoiding it

is it only known in your country or worldwide

Let me know as I am curious if anyone else has experienced this as well too!

Holiday Baking + Recipes!

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As the holidays are fast approaching and I am sure they are well welcomed this year due to 2020 not being the most pleasant of years to date in my life time anyways, I think most can agree that holiday baking is one of the things we all look forward to the most. There is probably some recipes that have been handed down that you may make yourself or you just wait for a loved one to make. For me I think I kind of wing it but I also have some recipes that I make that my mom has made too! Let’s dive in shall we!

Pretzels. Pretzels. Pretzels. This is a staple for my holiday baking. I love to make chocolate bark. Normally I use chocolate wafers for this however this year due to the virus I decided to get milk chocolate since it was at my local grocery store. I always start with a layer of pretzel on the bottom and melt whatever I am using, whether it is chocolate or the chocolate wafers (Which are cheaper if you are looking to save money!). I typically make two kinds, the first one I chuck some holiday M&Ms so red and green, so it adds a bit of color, sometimes I swirl different colors on it as well like white chocolate in there. The 1st is more about salty and sweet than anything so I try to keep it simple. The second one I did this year was a peppermint one. To do that I just lined pretzels on a tray with melted milk chocolate and put some candy canes on the top. Normally they are crushed but this time I just put them hole and would break them as they would be cut, and then I took girl guide mint cookies and cut those into pieces to put on the top as well! It seemed to work well and they look great too!

Next I make peanut butter balls. Funny enough, my mom called me the other day asking for the recipe and I really don’t have one. But for the sake of this I will do my best here.

2 Cups of Peanut butter
3/4 cup of butter/margerine
3-5 cups of icing sugar (Til the mixture becomes clay? It should not stick to your finger if you touch the mixture)
1-2 cups of Rice Krispies (Depending on how crunchy you would like your balls to be!)

For Dipping
Dark Chocolate
Vegetable oil OR paraffin wax
Sea Salt (Optional)

Start with the peanut butter and margarine/butter and melt it in a pot.

Once everything is melted and mixed start adding icing sugar, You will know when you have enough when the mixture will no longer be sticky. It will almost form kind of a ball or clumps. When it starts to get this way slowly add icing sugar as to not add too much that you are unable to incorporate it in. The point is when you start to make the balls the dough/mixture will not stick to your hands because the icing sugar will be there to keep it not sticky.

Once you hit this stage it should be a bit tough to even stir to be honest, and you can start adding rice krispies to your mixture/dough. You can add as little or as much as you like.
(My mom does this step backwards where she will add the rice krispies before the icing sugar and it just turns out fine I suppose. For me I like this way as it really makes things blended and not clumpy).

Once you have everything combined, start to roll the mixture into balls and put them on a tray with some sort of protective layer like foil, or parchment paper or wax paper. (Remember they have to be dipped in chocolate so bigger is not always better!)

Once you have them rolled throw them in the fridge.

Melt your chocolate on a double broiler on low heat. I use a touch of vegetable oil when the chocolate is melted just to slightly thin it out and make it easier to coat. After you dip the chocolates you can sprinkle some sea salt over the top (Flakes or rock). I didn’t do this as there was none in the house but it is possible to do!


Next I make a whipped shortbread cookie. This is by no means my recipe nor is it a family one or anything. It is one my mom uses from a Companys Coming cookbook. Im sure you know someone who has this book as there are legit SO MANY different collections. The recipe that I use is here:

Whipped ShortBread Cookies

1lb Butter (2 Cups)
1 Cup Icing Sugar
1\2 Cup of Cornstarch
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Cups Flour

Beat all ingredients until it looks like whopped cream. Drop by the teaspoon on cookie sheet. Bake at 350f for 10 minutes. Add chopped red or green cherries on top before baking.

I think this can really go any way you wish. I dont do the cherries however I do roll them into balls. Then I use a fork to push it down too, since if you dont do this they will not level out on their own! This year I also dipped them into red sugar and sprinkles before pressing them down with a fork too. It really depends you also could probably roll them out and use cookie cutters too if you wanted to also! Use your imagination!

And lastly but certainly not least, My world famous Bits and Bites mix! Okay, Maybe they arent world famous (Yet) And they are a knock off of the recipe on the box of Crispex but I have dont the same modified recipe since I was a kid. This was one of the first things for baking that I was able to do since I loved them so much my mom let me take the reins. This is how I made it this year, Obviously things are inter changable and optional. Ill write what I put in and what I have put in also so you can build your own mix!

1 Box Crispex Cereal
1 Box Cheese Nibs
1 Box Swiss Cheese Crackers
Pretzels (To your liking)
Peanuts (To Your Liking)
1 Box Cheese Bits

Sauce
1 Cup Butter\Margerine
1 Small Bottle Worsherchire Sauce
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
(I put a lot of each, Way more Onion Powder than Garlic Powder as I find it makes the mix a touch sweet, however if you find baking that you didnt add enough you can always shake some more of which ever you want as it is baking since you have to mix every 15 minutes)

Preheat oven at approx 325f, Once all the ingredients are added and the sauce mixed in. Place on a deep dish baking tray. Not small but enough that it can be easily mixed without making a mess too. Baked for 45 minutes stirring every 15. I also taste along the way to check flavors normally trying a piece of each I put in just to be sure coating is good.

Things that I have seen added are:
– Different types of nuts
– Gold Fish Crackers
– Cheerios
– Popcorn (popped obviously after by adding it.. Do not add this to the oven for obvious reasons.. HAHA)

And that is the extent of my baking this year! I may make more when we hopefully move back home but right now it is basically myself and the boyfriend eating things and I didn’t want us to have so much stuff. Also have to save a few recipes for next years blog post too! Can’t spoil it all! If y9ou found this helpful or you have slight variations let me know! I am always curious about what people add for their recipes too!

-StaySeeJ08

Twitch, They continuously miss the mark.. Time and time again.

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I think its safe to say that people who know of the streaming community can agree that twitch is dropping the ball in terms of their many misses in recent months. From their emote add ones to running ads in the most absolutely wrong way, here is some specific things as well as suggestions from the community. Just because Twitch is the biggest streaming platform whose rival appears to be YouTube gaming OR Facebook who recently worked to get their Partners free from some DMCA claims, the way Twitch is NOT handling situations is really making them stand out for all the wrong reasons.

First let’s begin with their ever so invasive ads that would essentially force the streamer to either run them on their own or be forced for a picture in picture experience for the viewer. Why is this bad because they happen at the most inopportune times for the streamer, From beating a boss or an epic kill in a battle royale game, it really is not helping the viewer experience in any way, shape, or form.

A particular streamer is also not happy with these ads and rightfully so. Quiltoni is a quilter and educator on the platform. While streaming and running a family friendly PG stream twitch decided (Or whatever the algorithm is) to run a Trojan (Condom) Ad during this time. This is a detrimental part of their stream due to the fact that it can and is broadcast in quilting supply stores as quoted by;
Quiltoni:
“They also may have just killed my relationship with a store that has me live.”
Quiltoni also mentioned that their channel does not have the 18+ (Mature Audience) Filter on either. However by having that type of system in place Twitch can use that to help filter ads that can be damaging to a streamers channel. And I couldn’t agree more. If Twitch is going to force ads on the streamers we should at least have a say in what type of ads are shown on their also. An 18+ channel would be better suited for the beer and condom ads instead of a family friendly stream for other types of things.
( You can find their twitter here for all links: https://twitter.com/quiltoni )

Then there was the emote add-ons by twitch to celebrate the Hispanic Community on the platform which was met with IMMEDIATE backlash due to their extremely stereotypical designs. Now, I myself am a White Female and have never been met with racism before therefore I obviously am not going to speak on that. However I will say this, Why is it that it took a community backlash to prevent/remove these from being released? How many people did this particular change have to go through in order to have them approved? I feel like as a company as large as Twitch or even Amazon that there are some obvious marks about cultural appropriation that have been missed here. Why are people not informed on these particular issues OR better yet, why was the community not all asked on what they think could be a great way to start in terms of adding content to the platform that showcases this.

I also would like to mention that after year and year and year on the platform why has the support system not been updated? The ticket system is flawed at best and there is 0 live support for something that might be needed such as the hate raids that have been popping up in streams more and more frequently. This is where particular streams are targeted with bots or actual people and spamming hate speech where the mods are banning and constantly trying to rectify the situation and making chat safe again. There still are MANY MANY user names that are coming out and “beating the system” so to speak with their way of being written so that they are still allowed in chat. I feel like as a company there should be better ways to make this change happen to prevent so many names from being allowed on the platform. This would go along the lines of why are people who are banned from the channel still able to search and view the channel? (This was mentioned by a tweeter saying that Mixer when it was live actually had a feature that you could not see a channel had you been banned from it). Let along do we need to talk about view bots and how they are still around the platform CONTINUOUSLY!

I think the most frustrating thing from a streamer perspective is that Twitch as a company appears to be a) all about money (as most large company’s do), b) They appear to be more and more about “Smoke and Mirrors” in terms of trying to make it seem like they want the community involved when they really arent involved at all. Case and point would be when they wanted to bring a diverse group together as part of this Safety Counsel however all it was doing was to protect the company by creating policies, Oh and did I forget to mention how one prominent member thought they would go on a bit of a rant about how they were protected from anything and were near “God-Like” due to being on this counsel.

As for streaming asking for things something as seemingly simple as discoverability for the content creators on the platform Twitch doesn’t really do a whole lot their. They took away the “Communities” feature and decided to go with tags which is still again, extremely challenging to find up and coming creators. Why is something that could greatly benefit the streamer community as a whole something on the back burner or not even thought of?

Should we even mention the Sub-tember that focuses on new subscribers and not old ones. I get it, From a marketing perspective you want to bring new viewers in to subscribe for you to make money, And the people who continually sub already will keep doing so, But why not please both? Is that a difficult task to do? Or is it still about money here?

Not to mention, Kudos to Twitch for doing SOMETHING among the sexual abuse accusations that are happening. My only thing is I believe they should be more transparent with what is happening here. They are banning permanently people who have a lot of evidence for them and the crimes that they have committed. They have taken the accusations towards people seriously. I do believe that people are slipping under the radar because they are “bigger” streamers and pulling in viewers. Not to mention their viewers are also harassing the people who have proof and accusing them. The fact they are doing things I will say is progress for sure. Especially for such a delicate issue.

I guess as you can tell there really is some major flaws with Twitch and the direction that they are going. When it comes to listening to the streamers across the platform they really aren’t doing a whole lot to keep them around or offering anything more that other platforms are now. I hope that they do see this and the suggestions and work towards trying to make Twitch a safer place. Also Twitch, Remember, Just because you may be the leading platform in streaming currently, Doesn’t mean that you are going to stay there OR that you can and should slack on what the greater community would like to see.

-StaySeeJ08



YouTube Adventure.. Send Help!

Life, Streaming, Youtube, , , , , , ,

YouTube can be stressful. From thumbnails to clips to help promote your video on twitter, editing, recording, etc. For someone like me I felt it was something I would hold off on. Though I know that to grow on twitch you have to plant the content seeds on other platforms to drive traffic to your channel. I’m slowly figuring out with the help of some reading and thing from a streamer AshnieChrist that it is important to go into! Here is my thought process to taking this plunge.

What do I make videos of?
I have a 6 month old so something easy would be great. I wanted to start with 2 types of videos. One more of a help or thoughts focused on streaming where I take blogs I have written here and bring them to video in a series I’d like to call “Backseat Blogger” Things I have learned or things that I have thought about the industry. I will be going more into games once I start doing more gaming or dead by daylight blogs. That will be one type of video. The next type of video will be something I like to call “baked beauty” where I smoke weed and do funny makeup videos and things while baked. Thirdly I was thinking about doing a video when I have enough clips a series in Dead by Daylight where I am jump scared multiple times, this is more of a “when available” basis because I need to have enough clips per killer to make that. Plus the occasional fun games like no headsets which can be used on my channel for redeeming channel points.

When do I want to upload?
I want to upload at least 2x per week Mondays will be my backseat blogger videos. And then the “Baked Beauty” will be coming out on “Fr-HIGH-days hahaha.. see what I did there. Then the dead by daylight content will be out on Wednesdays when Available. Same with compilations for The Society, they will be once a month as well when enough clips get put in discord.

When do I record?
The Backseat blogger ones are easier in a sense. As soon as my son has a nap I can hit record and have a blog turned video entry ready to be edited. That is the simple part of recording. However what I did last time was I recorded about 4 videos in the span of an hour or so one evening and then I have them ready to be edited which I can do on the fly when I am free of housework or when the little fella is sleeping for a nap. Baked Beauty I normally record on Fridays or Thursdays or even Saturday night after my son went to bed because I am able to have puff. Before there are judging eyes since I am a parent there is one person sober in the house (My Boyfriend) who is able to take care of things if things happened. Those are harder to edit because I am hilarious and I don’t know what to cut haha.

How the heck do I edit?
Slowly. I edit slowly. I have never edited videos IN MY LIFE! Seriously, NEVER! I use a program called Divinci Resolve. It is a free software with a paid version as well and I edit them on that. It is a lot to learn from someone like me but with the help of YouTube tutorials I am able to do a quick search with a step by step process on how to do what I want. I typically also edit when my son is sleeping. And as I do more videos it is getting a bit quicker or I will be editing during Community Hangouts on Thursdays as a bit of downtime to connect with other society members!

What is the hardest parts so far?
I would say editing and recording. I knew that I wanted to be fully prepped for when I started youtube. One of the hardest things I think in any content creation is having the ability to plan and schedule things while being consistent. No one really follows someone who has never posted or when they do it is all over the place and not consistent. My boyfriend and I used to watch someone named Ray William Johnson, He had a show called Equals 3 when he would go through a few youtube videos per week or every other day or whatever. We watched him religiously. Then he stopped. Just like that. And we never looked back. Unless you can be consistent you cannot or will not see growth in my opinion. I think I have a pretty good handle on this to be able to do it properly AND even maybe bank some youtube videos so that I am able to have some relief. I dont want to spend a lot of time editing and recording and things but with the plan I have in place it seems to be going well.


Before I finish I will say this, AshniChrist (I know I talk about her a lot!) recently has had a YouTube FREE training session in her discord. She has VOD links and a few other things in there. I will be adding the link here so you can feel free to check it out. She is even offering a course in how to do YouTube better. She basically solidified that I am on the right path for my plan for YouTube. If I didn’t have a son and was regularly working I would be probably signing up for the course but due to limited funds I just am not in the financial position to do so. Discord here: https://discord.com/invite/ashnichrist

When it comes to investing in education to make yourself set up for success or learning new things about an industry that you love, DO IT! If you are financially able to of course, You would if you were trying to become a doctor or nurse, the same applies for content creation too!

Happy Creating and Good Luck! (Myself included!)

-StaySee xo