DryFeb: Pressing pause on alcohol for 28 days, again.

Inspired by my folks, one of whom is a cancer survivor, I’ll be participating in DryFeb. The Canadian Cancer Society asks people to consider giving up alcohol (getting sober, drying out, abstaining, whatever you wanna call it) for any length of time during the month of February to raise awareness and funds for the Cancer Society.

To learn more: Click Here.

Goes without saying how much I hate cancer. Most of us have had a close encounter and/or lost someone because of it. Could there be a future without cancer? I think so. I do.
Trying something healthy to help people living with cancer for a few weeks: sign me up! Join my team & let’s document our experiences.

Join the “Dry Babies” and get a little dry, have a little cry! Let’s go! I’m ready!

This is my second year participating in DeyFeb. Last year, the team was called “Oh God, What Have I Done?” and we raised a wack of dough and got healthier together.

The first few days of DryFeb 2021, I actually got quite sick. Hoping for a different outcome this year. Follow my progress and consider trying it yourself as part of Team Dry Babies!

This year, I will also be trying to lose weight and improve my overall health with DryFeb. My physical health has been in decline the past few months because of my rheumatoid arthritis. I am awaiting ortho surgery & have near-future plans for a double hip replacement. These procedures and my recovery will be aided by me dropping a few excess pounds. Since weight loss is a typical side effect of cutting alcohol from one’s diet, I’m excited to see where DryFeb 2022 takes me.

Check out our past achievements:

Vocal Issues and RA

My voice is affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis. It just is. I can’t “take a lozenge” or realistically do anything to improve the strain on my voice due to inflammation and pain. Not exactly ideal when you’re meal ticket IS your voice, which it is for me.

I’ve been living with Arthritis virtually my entire life (diagnosed in 1988) and I talk about it more now in hopes of letting other kids know that they are ‘normal’ and can achieve what others think is ‘impossible’. It’s not a matter of ‘thinking positively’ either, though I’m sure that couldn’t hurt. It’s about finding the right medical team, appropriate treatments (which can take years and do more harm than good), surgery and other methods of accommodating the painful, draining disease which often causes other painful, draining diseases or infections. If the RA itself doesn’t, the medicine almost certainly will.

My voice is struggling this week. I feel okay, overall, but it’s grading - to be told that my product (my voice) isn’t cutting it and to try again, try again, try again. The truth is, the more that I re-record or re-attempt something: the worse it will get.

If you accept me for my personality, you must also accept me as I sound. Some days I sound smooth. Other days, I sound rough. It has been this way my whole life and awareness is appreciated. You don’t have to like me or accept me, we all have our preferences and there’s nothing wrong with that, but at 35 - this is how I sound.

Windmill Cottage

The sun is setting on our third (!!!) year hosting guests at the family cottage. It’s been a pretty great experience overall. Most importantly, the bills are being paid which is the whole point. When you think of spending time at a cottage you don’t own, it can be easy to take advantage. It’s innocent enough, right? You’re on holiday! Becoming the official owners of the cabin (which was originally bought by my granny in 1975, then my uncle in the early(ish) 2000s) has taught me some things:

• Hydro bills come every three months.

• Monthly mortgage payments (it’s a second home).

• Monthly tax bills.

• Garbage disposal is not free; you take it to the dump yourself.

• Wood costs between $300-600 annually.

• Road repair cost $1,000 this season.

• New electric fireplace + removal of old wood burning insert cost over $2,000.

This doesn’t cover the supplies provided, propane, upgrades/repairs/general maintenance and what I pay per turn-over (when a guest leaves, the place gets cleaned and ‘reset’ by my parents or by me). Maybe one day when the finances are right, we won’t have to rent it out anymore. We’re pretty lucky, though. We’ve got a good group of repeat guests who respect the property and ‘leave it how they found it’. Strangers have become friends, while still remaining strangers… if that makes sense.

I’ve increased the nightly rate for 2022 as we’ve applied for Starlink highspeed internet. We haven’t received the hardware yet but got an ETA of ‘mid to late 2021’ and the latter is approaching. It’ll cost around $130 monthly. With our current cellular ‘mobile hotspot’ internet, I’m billed anywhere from $850-1,000 per month. This is why we don’t offer the WiFi to guests at the lake. It’s also why we can’t wait to get Starlink up and running.

I’ll be at the lake later this month for some solo time during which I should have the opportunity to take some updated photos. Until then, you can follow our cottage on Instagram: @WindmillCottage and browse through the history, rules, rates and more at: WindmillCottage.ca or by clicking the Cabin Rental text at the top of this page. If you’re reading this on mobile, click the + at the top right of your screen.

I’ve been working on updating the website to ensure that there’s enough information available to guests (new and returning). I’ve been fortunate enough to have nearly booked all of 2022’s vacancies and several new guests are friends! Thank you, you know who you are, for choosing my special place for your holiday!

That brings me to my next point: I’m so not a ‘businesswoman’. I hate sales. I hate talking about money. I hate TAKING people’s money, too. Especially when it’s friends or family. I’ve really had to put it in perspective: if I want to keep this cottage (and I do) then I have to charge a set rate and stick to it. I also have to enforce some basic ground rules for all guests. There are only four biggies:

1. No pets. My daughter and I are allergic and we’re here a lot.

2. No parties. Don’t be super loud from 11PM-8AM.

3. No smoking inside the cabin. Smoke outside all you like, just be responsible with butts.

4 No burning during a Total Fire Ban. Because forest fires, duh.

I’m not a super huge fan of picking up roaches. Haven’t had any issues with cigarette buts but damn, the roaches are real. Roaches, btw, are essentially the butts of rolled tobacco or marijuana. It’s been in your mouth and now I get the pleasure of touching it! Yum! We’ve had some people have outdoor fires during bans, too. If you get caught doing that, the fine is hefty let alone the absolute risk of sparking a forest fire. We installed a security camera to monitor the firepit for that reason.

I think the worst experience I’ve had hosting was in the first season. Took on a stranger from AirBnB who rented the place to ‘unwind’ with some of his work colleagues. It’s a remote cabin in the woods with no internet, far away from the city. It’s not a party place but they managed to blast music so loud, so late into the night that not only did they wake the neighbours resulting in a (minor) confrontation but they also blew my soundbar. Funny enough, the neighbour who ask the guest to turn it down is good friends with that guest’s boss. Maybe one day karma will be served? I don’t know. That group also broke a bunch of stuff, left behind four XL garbage bags FULL of trash (they were there for two nights), left the garbage cans full inside with used tissues all over, stained my couch, smoked inside and left ash all over. There was also trash along our shoreline and food mushed into one of the kayaks.

Absolute bummer but a lesson learned, I guess. That person gave me a bad review/rating on AirBnB which was one of the many reasons I’m moving away from that platform. They did have my back though in recouping some funds to help cover the damage. The bad reviews are permanent, though. So that’s neat!

We are pretty exclusive with who we rent to now and even more private about it. I don’t accept bookings right away from strangers and offer previous guests the option to book in advance. It doesn’t mean I won’t get burned again. People have very different ideas as to how a rental cottage should be treated; if they’re paying me to be there or not. I always try to instill the mantra that ‘this is my second home. This is not a hotel.’ Most people are respectful, tidy and take good care of the place. The one’s that don’t won’t be coming back.

If you have any questions for me as a host, cottage owner or whatever, please ask away! Don’t be shy! Renting is absolutely worth the the stress and anxiety. I do honestly enjoy sharing my family cottage with people who help me take care of it. If I can’t be there, why not?

Under the Influence

Social media influencers are generally popular or trusted online profiles of people who’s taste you share or trust.

Their job is to essentially be a living, breathing advertisement. Since traditional methods of advertising (cable TV, radio, print media) are competing with the online world, companies vying for your business are paying for the oldest method of advertising in the book: word of mouth.

Now, I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in a town of 600 people in rural Ontario but to this day, I always trust the ‘word of mouth’ method. It works both ways… if my buddy tells me they got bad service somewhere; I’ll spend my money elsewhere. If my buddy tells me they got great service somewhere; I’m gonna check it out & likely, even before checking it out, I’m gonna pass that ‘good service’ rumour on.

The thing that bothers me about online influencing is that, in my opinion, these profiles turn real people like you and me into actors expected to play a role. They are PAID to paint a product, service or brand in a positive light. For example, if Company X gives me $1,000.00 to “share my opinion” on their thing, it better be a favourable opinion. Right? That’s the rub.

There are some questionable methods about how influencers are recruited, too. Have a lot of followers? You’ll need to to get the job. However, a popular method of gaining loads of followers is to pay for them or enlist the use of bots (not real people or cloned profiles) to make it seem like you have legions of fans watching, sharing and consuming your content. This is why hired ‘Word of Mouth’ social influencers, by law, must express that they were paid for their opinion.

Lots of people in my line of work are hired as influencers and it’s not an inherently bad thing. It’s a smart way to market a product and it’s the future of advertising. How does it make you, the consumer, feel about that person? What if you try the product and had a bad experience? Who loses: you, the profile of the hired influencer but not the company who’s product YOU bought or service YOU tried because someone you' trusted told you to.

That’s the issue I am struggling with in terms of being an influencer. I don’t have to worry about it too much though as I don’t have a zillion followers. No one’s knocking at my door to shill their ‘things’. To be honest, I have more than enough people paying attention to my social profiles and this very blog (hi!)! I’m always surprised that that many of you are interested in what I have to say. Flattered, for sure, but surprised all the same. Everyone who follows me is a real person or represents an account or brand (mostly local); someone who is genuinely interested in what I have to say. I have never paid for followers. I have never participated in a ‘follow for follow’ situation. I don’t want fake followers and I don’t ever want to post something persuasive that I don’t genuinely believe in or stand behind.

The internet is not real life. I’ve been lucky enough to be granted opportunities to work with and learn from online marketing agencies and to have been shown the ins and outs of what it takes to be a Social Media Influencer (and the money to be made is pretty wild). I have only ever personally promoted things that I have typically paid for, feel strongly about sharing or positive experiences I’ve had with companies X, Y and Z that align with my interests.

I’m curious to hear about your experiences with Social Media Influencers. Here’s some feedback I’ve received through Instagram when I asked “What has your experience been with Online Influencers? Good, bad or neutral"?”

“Irritating. Fake. Buying followers and using filters.” - Kim, describing a potential consumer’s perspective.

“Good for a small burst of sales… but it doesn’t necessarily create repeat sales or long time customers… a lot of online “influencers” are ridiculous and it can be hard to choose who to work with. But if you can choose someone who authentically lines up with your brand and has the type of followers you want, then it’s worth a try for some sales.” - Caree, with a potential marketing perspective.

Leave a comment below if you have something to say on the topic of being ‘Under the Influence’.

Free Unicorn NEEDS Accessories!

Gave away a number of free toys this weekend. From my front lawn in Hintonburg, someone grabbed the singing unicorn but neglected to also grab the accessories needed to make the toy work!

Please pass this on to anyone you think might need them!! I’m going to save them in hopes of reuniting the set to make some local kid happy!