Everything Snoskred

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My Saves

3 Comments Posted on February 11, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

My Next Confession –

I save links, to go back to when I have more time and/or to share them here on the blog.. forgive me internet for I have saved, bookmarked, and foldered my way into one heck of a mess..

I have already confessed to you that I save recipes. I usually try to have one folder for recipes and one for other stuff but lately I have been failing to keep them separated..

Here is my present saves folder – this one scrolls down for 3 more pages past what you see here –

Yes, I like my chocolate peanut butter fudge with a side of Confessions from a Mortician. Don’t judge me, mmkay?

Even worse, here is a folder from the start of 2013!

I don’t need to tell you it is now 2015. But perhaps I need to tell *me* that. :)

Anyway I think the time has come for a clean out. So over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to post a selection of my saved links along with why I saved them, if I can recall that. This week it is NON recipe links.

10 Snoskred Saved Links

1. 5 ways I stay sane online – I saved this because I think I could use these ways to be more sane online, especially the first one, pocket, that could be super helpful to me now I will be out at school. It is essentially my saves folder made mobile.

2. Last Minute Gift – DIY Coasters – I saved this because I think I could actually make this and it would be awesome.

3. This Woman Creates Something Phenomenal Out Of A Family Photo And Wood – I saved this for the same reason as above. Love!

4. Easy Valentine Necklaces – Speaking of love, I saved this because I had never heard of this form of Mod Podge before and I deeply love the form of Mod Podge I know about, so this is a reminder to hunt down this dimensional magic.

5. 25 plus size bloggers to follow on Instagram in 2015 – I saved this because while I do not instagram, there are some people here I have not seen before and they might have blogs I can subscribe to.

6. Mötley Crüe are calling it quits. – I saved this to send to The Other Half, plus, Tommy Lee has a drumming rollercoaster? I will like to know more about this! That shiznit I got to investigate further.

And I did google that, and I found out it is the slowest rollercoaster of all time, but it does some neat tricks. I even have a video for you but I warn you of two things – the sound quality is terrible so turn it right down and/or hit mute – and there is some swearing at the end, which won’t be a problem if you did hit mute or turned the sound right down. Tommy Lee Drum Rollercoaster

7. Post Crossing – I saved this because it might be awesome.

8. Coronial Findings NSW – I saved this because these are always interesting to read and I did work experience in a Coroners Court, many years ago.

9. Emergency Department Waiting Times
– In Major NSW Public Hospitals – I saved this because handy to have just in case.

10. Boot Camp: About keyboards and key assignment for Microsoft Windows – I saved this back when I had a Mac. I think I can delete this now. But anyone reading this with a mac might find it useful.

And a special bonus link –

Who’s Laying, Who’s Not – for anyone who keeps chickens or is considering keeping chickens this is worth reading, especially the last two paragraphs.

Next week – Recipe links. I might post more than 10, because I have a lot of them. :)

About Snoskred, get organised, internet, Linkage

Vitamin Regime

4 Comments Posted on February 6, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

I’ve mentioned before that when I stop taking my vitamins daily, that is a signal to me that I am on the road to depression. I take 5 things daily – 1x multivitamin – 1x hair, skin and nails – 2x Echinacea – 1x Mucus Relief Guaifenesin..

The Echinacea comes from Vitamin World – I bought a large quantity of Echinacea from there when I was on Oahu in 2013. The multivitamin in the middle is from Aldi. They are reasonably priced and I find them to contain everything I need in a multivitamin. The Hair, Skin and Nails is from Costco. 250 tablets last me 250 days and cost me less than $20 from memory, which is awesome value.

I don’t think any human being is capable of creating a diet that gives them every single nutrient they need on a daily basis, which is why I supplement with vitamins. I wrote before about having a warm feeling in my leg which was caused by a lack of vitamin B.

In Australia vitamins can be costly so I often seek out more cost effective options. Once a year, if I am not going to the states that year, I’ll do a big order from Vitamin World.

I’ve posted about that before – Vitamin Delivery. Their vitamins are excellent and though shipping is not cheap it still works out cheaper than buying the vitamins here, unless I get them from Costco.

Sephyroth sent me a couple of bottles of the Guaifenesin which is not readily available in Australia, certainly not in a tablet format. It can sometimes be found in cough syrups. I’m just about out of them, sadly. I do believe they assist me, especially when taken in combination with allergy tablets during hay fever season.

Why do I take the Guaifenesin? I have a problem with fluid in my middle ears, which can cause dizziness and reduce my hearing to a level not acceptable to me. If I run out of Guaifenesin I can take Bisolvon which is used for chest mucus here in Australia but it also dries up my ears.

So I make up these 7 day packs every couple of weeks, and each day I just open the flap and take the vitamins for that day. I can’t fit the blue ones in with the others, so they reside in their own container and I take one of those out each day.

Vitamins are considered food by customs so if and when you bring them back into Australia you need to declare them. :)

What vitamins do you take, if any? :)

About Snoskred, depression, food, health, Vitamins

Believe Them.

6 Comments Posted on February 2, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

I have always been someone who says “three strikes and you’re out” – as in, if people cause a major issue or cross boundaries I have set, I have allowed them two more chances before I write them off forever – that means I “defriend” them and have nothing more to do with them..

Looking back across my 39 years, any time I have given someone a first chance, they have taken that second and third chance and if I have given them the opportunity, a fourth and fifth chance! Then I have had to remove them from my life, sometimes having to make difficult changes in my life in order to do this.

Sometimes the time between the first and third occasions can be a matter of years, which makes the “defriend” -ing difficult.

So, why on earth am I giving people a second and third chance? It has been my experience that the first chance tells me everything I need to know about what their future behaviour will be. Why put myself through the turmoil?

I now believe I have to rethink my three strikes policy, going forward. I think I have to change it to a “when people show you who they are, believe them” policy.

Does that mean in future I should stop at one chance?

I think what it really means is – one strike and I am very wary, two strikes, we’re done.

I’m just thinking about this in preparation for going back to school because I will meet new people there and I want to give them a decent opportunity to show me who they are. When they do, I intend to believe them the first time.

About Snoskred, Annoyed Snoskred, life lessons, Who Is Snoskred, Worried Snoskred

Before and After

6 Comments Posted on January 30, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

So you might recall my clock post, and my paperweight post. Here is how the area looked before..

And here is how it looked after I used a table runner to cover the top of the cupboard. The golden sleigh was a Christmas present and I am going to use this to keep all my whiteboard markers and scissors in one place.

This is the area just inside our front door, and it leads into the kitchen. There is a large whiteboard which we probably need to redo from scratch as we made it back in the days we had other people living with us and we used it to track where everyone was going to be each day. what the meal was going to be and who was going to cook it, etc.

I still use the whiteboard for meal planning and we use it to write in things like appointments. I am a huge whiteboard nut, I love the things. I just bought my fourth one, which I will also share with you as a surprise shortly! ;)

The blue bowl I made myself in Ceramics a long time ago. I presently use it to hold the wax melts once I’ve used them in the oil burners several times but they still have some scent left, so I don’t like to throw them out right away.

About Snoskred, Happy Snoskred, Home, Snoskred hearts, yay

Broccoli On Pizza

6 Comments Posted on January 28, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

Yes, it is awesome.. :)

Would you try this?

cooking, food, Snoskred hearts, yay

The Timer

1 Comment Posted on January 26, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

I am a massive sucker for time management games, the kind you get on your iphone like Diner Dash and Hotel Dash and Wedding Dash. But when it comes to time management in real life, I’m not so good at that. So in 2014 I set myself the goal of becoming better at managing my time.

Last year I had a daily schedule which involved two focused 2 hour sessions – from 10am to midday, and 2pm to 4pm. In some ways this was great but in other ways I found it very limiting. I wanted to set myself a third session in the evening but there were always interruptions in my two hours which sometimes made focusing on a task really difficult..

Sometime in December I stumbled upon a site that mentioned using shorter timed focus sessions. This was actually a pretty revolutionary concept for me and getting annoyed with the limits of 2 x 2 hour sessions, I thought I would give it a try.

There are six basic steps to a short timed session:

1. Choose Your Task

What do you want to achieve today? It could be anything. I’ve set the timer for –

– editing photos
– writing blog posts
– feed reading
– surfing the web
– cleaning and/or decluttering
– household chores
– exercise
– organising the fridge
– cooking
– gaming – especially those addictive can’t walk away from games
– watching the chickens

The last two are especially important to set a timer for, because I can lose hours in a game or just watching the chickens be chickens out there in the yard.

2. Set the timer

I use my mobile phone timer but you can use any kind of timer you like.

I like to set a minimum of 25-55 minutes for most photo editing or writing tasks. You don’t seem to achieve very much in less than 25 minutes at those two tasks. For kitchen or chore tasks I might set 20 minutes with a seated 10 minute break to make a nice round half hour, and then I can catch up on my email in the break.

I am flexible with how long I set the timer for, too. If I have to leave for a appointment in 20 minutes, then a 15 minute timer with 5 minutes of getting ready time means I don’t waste 20 minutes waiting for it to be time to leave.

3. Focus on your task

And ONLY that task. Phones off. Email off. Internet off. TV off. If the doorbell rings, you don’t answer it. I find this freeing in so many ways, especially ignoring the doorbell. I know if it is the package guy because right after the doorbell rings, there is a beep from his scanning the package. That one I’ll get up for. Everyone else can come back another time. No interruptions.

4. Timer Goes Off! Take a short break

If this was a seated writing or computer related task, save what you were working on before you turn off the timer. I’ve lost 55 minutes of writing thanks to a lightning storm before.

This step is *absolutely critical* – I cannot express to you the importance of taking the break the moment that timer rings. . I also recommend getting out of the room you were working in. You are giving your mind a chance to fly free and getting the blood flowing to your limbs again if the task was a seated one.

5. Take a longer break

You’ll find focused timer tasks can be quite tiring mentally. If you kept going for 4-6 hours at a time, not only will you get tired mentally but you’ll find it harder to focus.

6. Plan a reward

You’ve put in the effort so you deserve a reward once you’ve done at least 2 rounds of timed sessions then your break in a row. Your reward could be anything. Mine tend to range from playing a game to a snack to watching a tv show..

Group associated tasks together –

If I gave you 3 tasks that involved three different rooms, and you had to spend some of your focus time moving from room to room to room and back again, you’d find quite a bit of your time spent in moving about.

If you moved those 3 tasks into the same room, you’d save yourself a lot of time.

But only do one task at a time

You’d save even more time if you focused on just one task at a time.

The same goes for almost any task – it is quicker to do one task over and over than to switch from task to task. I find this especially true with things like image editing, writing, taking screenshots for my Breaking Bad episodes.

You can break tasks apart

I might break some tasks down into two separate timed sessions – for example – with the photo editing –

First session = 55 minutes of going through the photo folders, picking out images I want to edit and saving them into one folder

When the buzzer goes for the break, I get up and make a drink or have a quick walk around – my mind by this time has probably already moved onto how I want to edit those photos I have picked,

Second session = 55 minutes focused on image editing.

And even within this session I may break this down further. EG cropping all the images *then* making all the images the size I want *then* using tools to enhance the focus or colour *then* saving them all.

Because I have broken the two tasks into separate sessions, I find I get a lot more done.

About Snoskred, blogging tips, life lessons, Snoskred hearts, time management

My Paper Weight

10 Comments Posted on January 23, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

During a family visit a few years ago, we went to this little shop called Global Contact in Berry. It is the kind of shop you’d recognise by the smell, which is a blend of sandalwood and patchouli and various incense scents..

You are either a person who loves that kind of shop, or you hate this kind of shop. My Mother is the only person I know who does not love a shop with incense, crystals, jewellery but I assume that there are other people who are not related to me who also may not like this kind of shop. :)

Berry is this quaint little country town with a shopping strip, all different kinds of shops. You can find everything from cuckoo clocks to sausages, from candles to teatowels, from artisan wool to artisan gelato. It is an absolutely delightful place to wander for an afternoon and window shop, but if you have some money to spend it is even more awesome.

For some reason I was drawn to this paperweight. Well, if you know me well enough you’d instantly know why I was drawn to it – because this thing marries two elements I very dearly love. Cobalt blue, and gold. You’ll note the blue is almost exactly the shade of blue which makes up the background of this blog.

It is not actually scratched. I had just cleaned it before I took these photos and I have gone back and double checked it since seeing these photos, and there are no scratches. Weird! But I do think some of the bobbles you can see here are caused by the liquid on the glass wipes I used.

Anyway, while I was cleaning this area I noticed that the top of this cupboard is stained from the whiteboard eraser which has sometimes rested on top of this cupboard. So, I decided to re-do this area and I’ll post about that another day. The photo you see below is after a *lot* of cleaning.

I’ll head over to Berry soon and take some photos and write an actual post, or even a series of them, because Berry is the perfect driving distance from Sydney for a day trip. You can also catch a train there, and the main street is a very walkable distance from the train station. Bring a tote bag in case you shop up a storm, though!

And to end this post on a weird tangent, Berry was the location for Village Vets Australia, which was a fantastic tv show on the Lifestyle Channel on Austar, and if you missed it, the episodes are sometimes on youtube for a couple of weeks, until they are taken down again..

The show was awesome for so many reasons – I learned a lot of new things about cows. They did a rumen contents transplant on a cow which was absolutely fascinating if terrifying for a germophobe. But be aware the show does contain some surgery on animals, and some very sad moments, in among the great moments of which there are also many.

Australia, Berry, Happy Snoskred, Home, New South Wales, Snoskred hearts

Going Back In Time

1 Comment Posted on January 21, 2015June 2, 2015 by Snoskred

I mentioned recently that an item on my to-do list was to go back through the oldest posts on the blog. I know there are plenty of dead links and videos which no longer work and I’m fixing them if possible – finding another video of the same thing, or finding a similar link which still works..

In my review, I stumbled upon – This message may come to you as a surprise.. – where one of my clocks had fallen off the wall while I was at work. I said in that post that I would love to get a clock like the photo above..

and I look up from the laptop and see this – it turns out, I did get one exactly like that – it has the same model name and everything! Not a floor clock like the one above, but the clock I did get was a smaller wall version of the floor clock. It was an insane bargain when the store decided to clear that brand out. I think it retailed for over $300 and I got it on clearance for $30 or even cheaper.

You probably are wondering what is that thing in front of it – tis a paperweight. I’ll write a separate post just about that item, where I got it, and what it means to me.

An interesting side effect is – going through my old posts is like going back in time through my mind. It also shows me how much I have learned about blogging, which is a post for another day. :)

About Snoskred, Happy Snoskred, Home, Snoskred hearts

Wax Melts Sample

4 Comments Posted on January 19, 2015June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

Snoskred received a free sample which any PINCHme member could receive as long as they answered the survey questions and qualified for the sample.

So let me say right up front.. Nobody is paying me to write any of this, though I guess that will become somewhat self evident as you read on.

PINCHme had a survey you could fill in to see if you would qualify for a “secret sample” – so I filled it in, and I got an email telling me I qualified and I would receive a sample of Glade Wax Melts.

So they were aware, from my answers to this survey, that I burn wax melts regularly, and that I have never bought their wax melts before. I looked at them when they first came out and there was a special pack with the burner but they were all sold out when I went to get one. I had picked them up and smelled them, and there were a couple of flavours I would be likely to purchase.

I was extremely excited about this sample because I am a wax melts girl. I love those things. Here are some of the Yankee Candle ones I brought back from Hawaii last trip..

I am now able to source the Yankee Candle melts here, though at double the US price. You can buy them too – most Spotlight stores now stock them. I’m here to tell you from a lot of testing these personally, they smell amazing, the scent lasts a long, long time, and there is a huge range of scents to choose from. The candles are awesome as well but not at all cheap.

I also brought back a bunch of Essenza candle melts and a bunch of Better Homes and Gardens wax melts. And even though I have been using them regularly I still have quite a few of these left.

With all that said, I like to mix it up and have as many different scents to choose from as possible – because who knows if I will be in the mood for Red Delicious or Black Coconut or Spiced Rum Cake.

So here was a chance for a new company I do not usually buy product from to win my regular wax melts business. They were sending me a sample! YAY! I was very excited.. but day after day went by, and no sample appeared. The date for me to give feedback on the sample was getting closer and I was starting to think I might not be able to leave any feedback this time. Then I got an email advising me there was a delay with the sample and it will arrive sometime in January.

And eventually, arrive it did.

And then I wondered why they even bothered to send me this stingy one little wax cube.

Glade, you are asking me to spend $8.99 for 6 wax cubes on an ongoing basis, while sending me one, tiny, little cube.

I think, perhaps not.

Samples are a great chance for company and consumer to try each other out, see if maybe a relationship can develop. I took the time to fill in the sample and qualify for you that I am a potential customer, and then you scrimp on the sample you sent me? Stingy much?

For your future reference, Glade. Fairy sent me 3x dishwasher tablets. Pantene sent me enough shampoo and conditioner for 5 washes. If you are going to send out samples, I think 2-3 squares in different scents is the minimum you should aim for.

Sephy you ought to get this – Better Homes and Gardens Wax Warmer Starter Set, Woodland Deer – next time you are at Walmart, if you can’t find an Essenza kit at Costco.

Here are some closer views of the Yankee wax melts.

aromatherapy, PINCHme, reviews, shopping, Snoskred hearts

Those Girls

9 Comments Posted on January 17, 2015June 2, 2015 by Snoskred

Just a couple of weeks ago I was at Aldi. This poor guy was trying to load the skinny but long boxes Aldi uses to hold the coffee pods into those large box containers they use to hold all their empty boxes. The boxes fell on the floor and I said to the guy – don’t pick them up, I’ll get them – I could see a perfect use for them at my place. You’ll remember the Chicken Merge – I used baked bean trays from Aldi to hold the treats. These long boxes are better suited to the task.

Todays treat – baby spinach and rocket, apple, tomato, tuna.

Chickens like to scratch with their feet when they are eating. With the wider baked bean boxes I used, two things would tend to happen – they would tip the whole box onto its side, or they would get in it and scratch around in there.

These long skinny boxes are perfect for chicken treats. I now bring a minimum of 3x those home each time we visit, Because they are long, there is room for all the girls to check out the treats without anyone having to get pecked. Because they are not very wide, the chicken scratch the ground and then eat the treats, and there isn’t much room for the chickens to get inside them or tip them up onto their side.

You can see how perfectly the girls arrange themselves around these thin, long boxes.

It always amazes me how much chicken behaviour is learned from other chickens.

These new girls did not have the foggiest idea where to lay an egg. When they first merged with the older girls, you would find their eggs on the ground, just randomly. Now, they lay in the laying boxes.

They did not make the Egg Song, ever. They were not very vocal at all. Now, they’re joining in with the egg song, and they are trumpeting and bagerking and making all the chicken noises.

They had tried to dustbathe but were not especially great at it, mostly because they did not grasp what the kitty litter tray full of sand was actually for. They also struggled to make dirt holes in the grass. Now, they are in a yard where everything is dirt, which by the way is exactly how chickens like it, and they spend a good couple of hours a day dust bathing with their new chicken friends.

Lizzy, Mary and Kitty get to share a treat box.

Speaking of chicken friends, how are they going together? Because they have so much space, this merging process is a lot longer than it would usually be. The three newbies still sleep out on the roost in the run at night.

During the day, White Sussex is Queen of the Castle, with the three new girls slotting in just under her, then the game hens, then Redcomb and Rosie are at the bottom of the pack.

Rosie Rosecomb

Redcomb and the two other game hens got a bit confused with all the rain in December – their bodies thought it was winter again, and they went off the lay and moulted as a surprise to themselves, especially as they had only moulted a few months before. They are looking a bit ratty at the moment as the feathers slowly grow back in.

Chickens, country life, shopping, yay