Work, Life, Balance???

I used to believe I could do it all. That a woman was not only expected, but capable, of doing it all. Keep a clean and tidy home, be an involved parent, nuture their children's strengths, expose them to a variety of activities and events, hold a responsible job, cook healthy meals from scratch, keep a vegetable garden, can the vegetables you grew, always have some home baking available should company stop by and for lunch bags, volunteer in the community, be a supportive and loving wife, be well groomed etc. etc. In short, put everything and everyone's needs and wants in front of her own. Sounds crazy doesn't it?

How many women still feel they should be able to do it all? How many husbands think their wives should be able to do it all, and then have the energy for some great sex at the end of the day? How many of us hear talk about finding work/home balance? You know what? It's a fallacy. There's no such thing. Something has to give, whether it is your housekeeping, your parenting, the meals you serve, or, and this is probably the most common; your own self care.

Even though our mothers probably never said a word to us about trying to acheive all of the above, we've felt the pressure nevertheless. Parenting books, talk shows, sit coms, magazines, schools all tell us how to accomplish these tasks, but they never really tell you to get them all done. But how do we choose? They are all so important, or so we are led to believe. I nearly drove myself crazy trying to meet all these expectations, many of which I eventually realized I had placed on myself. What I did learn in the end, and wish someone had told me earlier in my married life, was the following:

 Set reasonable standards and clear boundaries for yourself

Sounds simple, overly simple, but try doing it. It takes a lot of thought, of weighing of priorities, to be able to decide what stays and what stops. Where you can cut corners, where you can delegate, what you can give up. Write it all out. Give it time. Think about it. Try a change out for a day or a week before making it part of your new, and improved life. It's a work in progress, but my mantra really does help to keep me from setting myself up for failure and/or going crazy.

I had a crazy day today at work, but just writing this has made me think about it, and reminded me to get back on track with my standards and boundaries. Tomorrow will be a good day.

Why Am I Here?

As I mentioned in my previous post, we have iphones now, so this past week or so has been spent trying to figure out what it does and how this can be useful to us, then how to actually do it, of course. Seems techno challenged hubby is having a bit less difficulty than anticipated, but the kids and I keep getting phone calls or texts asking for help. 

We have a Facebook page now too:

https://www.facebook.com/WhiteshellOutfitters?ref=hl#!/WhiteshellOutfitters

 The idea being that hubby can post while he is in the bush or away at outdoors shows. At least that was the theory. The reality so far seems to be that the pics are taken and then emailed to me so I can set them up on Facebook. We have to change this as it takes some time to do it from my end.

 (This is a lot like hubby and technology)

We expected some results with the Facebook thing, but have been astonished at how quickly so many people are seeing and liking our page. Fingers crossed, but maybe something will come of this.

Why did we suddenly decide to use technology for our business? Well, hunters aren't usually tech savy, but the under 40 crowd is very tech savy and uses it for everything. When we started our business we had identified the 20  to 40 yr old demographic as our target clients. These people are no longer picking up the phone to call, asking for info to be mailed, etc. More and more, our clients were older men, whose bodies weren't quick as agile as they used to be. In short, they wouldn't be clients for much longer.


Of course, hubby didn't hear me, when I'd speak of this, but after a few of our clients spoke about it, he finally came around. The kids and I laugh because he acts as if it is a new idea, and his idea! Anyways, this Facebook thing is keeping me busy updating and learning what more it can do for us.

The next thing hubby wants to do is blog. This should be good, because he hates writing and hates computers. It is also why I finally bit the bullet and started my own blog. First, because I've thought about it for a while, and secondly because he'll be needing help with that too, so I'd best figure it out first. So, if my blog looks different or odd every now and then, it's because I'm messing around with different settings and such.

Wish me luck!

The Bushman Discovers the iphone

 

My technologically challenged hubby Mike has decided to start blogging.

 

 

 I don't think he's ever even read a blog, but that isn't stopping him. Neither is his ability to put words on paper, or his fear of hitting the wrong key and blowing up his laptop. He's also bought an iphone and has begun trying to text.

 

They say men of a certain age have a midlife crisis and do strange
things like chase younger women, buy a motorcycle, or start dying their hair and dressing young.

It appears that Mike's male menopause involves the adrenaline rush he gets from his terror of technologyThis is why I too now have an iphone and am trying out blogging. Someone has to be able to help him figure this out. If I decided out of the blue to start hunting, I know he'd do the same for me.