The story of you can't be complacent

Conversation over coffee drifted into internet service or providers to be more exact. Here is the story of what you should not do (well not the first sentence).

Once upon a time you purchase an internet/cable/phone bundle for six months to a year which is a good deal.  After the time frame you pay the "regular" price. You see deals enticing new customers after your deal is completed and you call to see if you can get a new deal or even a slightly better price. Being the loyal customer you are. No, you have a great deal. Nothing for you. Oh.

So you go along with life and make the occasional call or drop into the store when in the mall, you know just to check to see if you can get your price down. Nope. You got a good deal. Then it happens, you receive a good deal in the mail from a competitor.  You head over and sign-up. You don't bother checking your current provider as for the past year deals have come and go and you just couldn't access them.  You are happy and saving money. Then they call. Yes, your old service provider "why are you leaving us?" WHAT! Now there is a deal - too late as new guy is here.

We realize you have all heard and lived this story. The big guys want us to be complacent - they count on it no profit on it! So have a good look on what you currently have. Can you get a better deal? What items i.e. cable? home phone? could you get rid of?  Don't be complacent - they don't care and won't do anything for you.  Only you can take care of you.  Our rant!

#Loveuary Challenge

We are participating in  But I Smile Anyway Loveuary Challenge.  Pop over to her site and get the low down on love for the month of February or Loveuary!!  

Is love too strong a word to use for an inanimate object?  Before that decision was made the definition of love was discussed at nausea. Summary is love should invoke a rush of warmth for starters and are you willing to fight for this love? That discussion brought out yes I’d fight for the last piece of chocolate or good coffee, but in the end it was decided no. We might say we love coffee/chocolate and yes we might get a warm feeling when we are enjoying it, but fight for it?  Hmmm…….not in the way we would fight for a loved one or even a sense of justice.  

Are we too casual about tossing the word love around?  We quickly check a Thesaurus and came away with adore, fancy, like and appreciate for other words for love. Final decision was we appreciate good chocolate and coffee and might go as far as adore it when it is melting in our mouth, but we’ll save the love word for something more substantial.

Pinterest or burst. Are you actively using your Pinterest Account?

We are well into winter now. No going for leisurely walks after supper or sitting outside while you BBQ (we realise die-hard BBQ all year long). 

We started discussing what everyone was up to over coffee. Pinterest came up. How many boards we have and what we pin was put on the table. There are a wide variety of boards from travel, beauty tips, fashion, DIY, crafts and more. So, with all this pinning is anyone actually doing anything with the ideas? Or are we just accumulating ideas on our boards and for what? One person said their travel board was for retirement. Really? This person, who will remain nameless, does get vacation time so…… Someone had tried a few beauty tips but admits she hasn’t popped into that board for a while. A few of us have craft and DIY boards, but have been lazy. There are so many great ideas just sitting there waiting to be tackled. 

The decision. Winter is the perfect time of year for purging and organising. We agree to go through our Pinterest boards and pins and clean up any that are no longer relevant. Second part is to actually do some of the projects we have pinned and report back. Do you have Pinterest boards you haven’t opened for a while, but continue to just randomly pin ideas to? Think about sitting down one evening and start to go through them. Seriously look at your pins and if you know you will never tackle that. Delete it. For others write down what you need for supplies and go for it. We would love to hear what your plan of attack is for Pinterest.  

PS we all love Pinterest just in case it didn't come across in the above!  xo

Having your coffee table your own way

We thought we’d tackle the coffee table.  Or aka the dining table, craft table, sort your crap on table or just put your feet up table.  Any of the above – you know what table we mean. There is a variety of opinions at the current table (which is not a coffee table but coffee shop).  

One of us is a bit of a décor diva (no names) so her coffee table, the majority of time, is styled. What we mean by this is it has the remote on it, maybe a current read and a candle, but you can see the majority of the coffee table and you don’t have to move anything to place a cup of coffee or beverage of your choice on the aforementioned table. A few of us said that is not realistic. It doesn’t look “lived in”. Big sigh. Not that we don’t appreciate having a place for our glasses when we visit, but please don’t expect it in return. The crafter at the table takes care of her mess by having a basket which she can quickly toss her papers, scissors and glue in when someone arrives.  The rest of us, well – the supper dishes have been taken to the kitchen before quests have arrived – a start. 

Yes, to having a beautiful decorated coffee table but really is that practical all the time? No. Okay, if we were having a photo-shoot we could pull something together (maybe).  People have lives and the coffee table is a working piece of furniture in a home.  Don’t beat yourself up if your coffee table doesn’t look like the stylish ones on Pinterest/magazines – those are styled that way and maybe by professionals.  Look close at the stack of books, tray of beautiful knick-knacks and you will often see NO room for a coffee cup. Really. We are all for doing what we can – yes to having a tray and/or a basket to place items. We want to enjoy our homes and coffee table. Make it yours with all your stuff that makes your life easier and happier.  

New Years Resolutions - we think not

We have all been there.  The start of a new year - to be healthier, travel more, get a better job, be a better partner, parent, friend or complete that project under the bed.  You know which one I mean - the quilt, applique or the great gothic novel.

Well, the Coffee Cluster had a group consensus of no resolutions this year (this alone was big!).  None, nada, not for me or you or you. We are all tied of failure and beating ourselves up over unreal expectations.  This year we are just putting it out there to try and do better in all aspects of our lives.  To be kinder, work harder and most important be more gentle and forgiving with ourselves.  To realize we are not perfect and that is okay as long as we are trying and being our best selves and knowing we will not be at our best all the time and no beating ourselves up over that.

So that is how we are starting the year - how about you?

Taking blogging to the next step !

The Coffee Cluster is just starting to dip our toes into the blogging community, but so far we are finding it very supportive.  We participated in our first blog party and it was great.  Check out http://www.scaleitsimple.com. There were lots of neat blogs and bloggers who were so supportive, creative and encouraging.  Plenty of liking, commenting and sharing at the party and of course coffee.  

There was no competitiveness there – which we found a bit surprising.  Really, people only have so much time and energy so where do they want to spend it?  If they choose that blog, they are not spending time on my blog. So why would anyone encourage their competition?  Oh right, we are bloggers, this is a community not a sport field! 

There has been a shift in mentality to when I do well we all do well and that there is enough success out there for everyone and their blog (or whatever floats your boat).  Can you imagine if the rest of the world were like bloggers?  Sharing information freely, encouraging each other, being each other cheerleaders!  No competitiveness as no need – we are a community and what is good for one is good for all.  WOW what a world that would be.  Let's take what we have as bloggers and start putting it out there to the greater community.  We (bloggers) rock.  Thank you and we are looking forward to doing our part in this fab group of individuals!  

Simplify Christmas

The Coffee Cluster discussed how overwhelmed people get at this time of year.  The discussion was all over the table with “its a yearly event so it shouldn’t come as a big surprise” to “this can be such a sad time of year for people”.  Well, there was no disputing either statement.   Yes, the holidays arrive every December but people are also living lives the other 11 months a year.  Not everyone one (hint at the table) is a planner.  Others rush and are stressed this time of year and there are even a few people that get off being overbooked and having too much on their plate.  Yes, there are those people.

How can we get to a happy medium and enjoy the season?  What can we do to take some stress off?  A few ideas batted around the table were lower expectations, set a limit on gift giving and start earlier.  It is all easier said than done for some people.  The planner said create lists early – most of us know who we purchase gifts for so look all year around for that unique item.  Another idea was have a discussion about purchasing family gifts or donate in someone’s name to a charity. 

What about cutting back on decorating?  There were moans around the table, as there is an expectation of pulling it all together for people.  In that case get “these people” to help decorate if they want the place to look like Christmas.  Yes, we can be brutal at the table.  What about a tree decorating party – we did have that one year and it went over well.  Make it a potluck of course!  Delegate was tossed around to frowns and smiles.

Recap of what we went away with was to have a tree decorating party one evening next week for someone overwhelmed.  Another person is going to bake a large batch of short breads and divide up.  We are all going to go through our decorations when we pull them out this year and toss anything we feel is no longer us and simplify.  A few of us are going to go shopping one evening right after work next week. 

So is there anything you can give up?  Delegate?  Get rid of?  Simplify this holiday season?  Do it.