How to Survive British Weather

I managed to escape the heat of Texas by moving across the pond to Scotland…and not just any part of Scotland, but one of the northern-most parts of the coast, which puts us as far north as Moscow.  Wow.  Now, you’re getting it.  Surviving the cold, dark winters is a matter of focusing on summer, just warm enough to shed a coat and tons of daylight.  And, I do mean tons.  By mid-summer, the sun is up at 3 am and doesn’t set until 11pm.  At first, we reveled in this new-found freedom to stay up late and enjoy being outdoors longer.  However, the inevitable came and we also woke up earlier…at about 4am.  There’s something about the sun shining in the window that has been dark for half the year that triggers your body to rise and shine, whether you want to or not.  And, interestingly, your children are not immune to this phenomenon.  In fact, they experience it first, which might be the precursor to the sun waking you up.  It’s only fair, I mean, you’ve been telling your kids all fall, winter, and spring that it’s dark and time for bed.  In your kids’ mind, the opposite must be true: it’s light, therefore it’s time to yell, “I’m awake!”  How do you fight the inevitable?  How do you beat the natural order of things?

Fighting Mother Nature

Unlike most, I am not a respector of “Mother Nature.”  I know that in times past, you just slept more in the winter and less in the summer.  Since I only function on a certain amount of sleep, this just won’t do…not when we have such great technology.  Here are my 2 favorite life-saving and sleep-preserving gadgets:

1. 

   Sound Oasis Travel System

   Black-out Blinds.  We had some in my daughter’s and my son’s rooms from the last people who lived in our flat.  They were ill-fitting and only blocked out part of the sun.  My daughter was not fooled and was up at 6am no matter what, which had the tendency to wake up my son when her light streamed into his loft.  When we got new windows, the old blinds had to go and we bought new ones, including some for our room.  We have never slept better.  Truly, the total darkness beckons me to sleep much faster than a light-infused bedroom.  And for our daughter, we added a tiny nightlight that kept the room mostly dark.  She sleeps well past 7 every morning. *Tip: the key is how you mount them.  You must go past the window itself to ensure black-out.  I also recommend the kind that only requires one side of velcro.  That way you can take the blind off and on very easily without worrying about the adhering piece of velcro ripping off at an unexpected time.

2. White Noise Generators. I love it.  We use 3 white noise generators: one in each bedroom.  I turn the kids’ machines about halfway on so it’s not too loud, but they get good coverage from each other.  I turn ours on pretty low- that way it blocks out the noise of people staying up later since it’s still light out, but we can still hear our kids if they need us.  *Tip: I love nature sounds and portability so we can pack them when we travel and not sacrifice too much space or weight.

Last summer, we just didn’t sleep well and assumed that was just the way it had to be.  This year, we learned how to reclaim our rest: black out blinds and white noise.

Losing Your Mind

Have you ever been in the middle of your greatest thought and then just lost it?  We’ve seen it happen in dozens of movies- the hero or heroine is just about to accomplish something great, something that will change the world, or even just their own lives, when something grabs their attention and the moment is lost forever.

We all know that distractions have a cost.  Sometimes it’s a chance at a relationship, sometimes it’s catching a flight or even a phone call.  Sometimes, it’s loss of productivity, and therefore money.  This is the case with office distractions.  Whether the distractions are welcome or a nuisance, they all have a rather large price tag: $650 billion.  That’s right, distractions cost businesses hundreds of billion of dollars in just one year.

2 Tips for Avoiding Distraction at Work

1. 

   Some people have to book a conference room just to get work done.

   Time Block.  The basic idea is to cut away from all the turmoil in your office and devote a specific block of time to working on a project.  You set a start and stop time and during that period you focus on your work.  This means you shut down any unnecessary electronics and anything that rings.  You can do it, I promise.  With fewer (or no) distractions, you should be able to make some progress.

2. Use white noise.  For all the other times (the times you’re not time blocking), consider covering office distractions.  With a simple desktop generator, you can block out office noise and get to work.  The advantage to white noise over headphones is that you won’t be adding to the office noise by singing louder than you realized (or start typing lyrics).

Half the battle at work is having a game plan.  By time blocking and covering noise, you allow your brain much needed-time to process and recalibrate,

Protecting your home from floods may seem like something you might not need to invest in, but if you own a home or business that is located in a place even a little bit at risk of flooding, you need to sit down and consider if what you have is worth protecting in case it does flood. You see, glass flood shields are special devices that prevent water from seeping into your home or business, protecting you, your family, and your valuables.

Most of the time, flooding is a risk anywhere. Many people who live in dry areas don’t think they ever need to worry about flooding. However, this is a dangerous misconception, as dry areas are extremely prone to flooding. In any given year, billions of dollars of damage are done to people’s homes, and many even lose their lives in flood-related deaths. Think of all the things in your home you would never want to lose. You probably have at least a few, so aren’t these things worth protecting from the worst case scenario? Don’t let one bad storm take away what’s dear to you.

A whole variety of flood protection products exist that make addressing your flood problems easy. Taking your specific circumstances into consideration, you should decide whether you want to opt for permanent or removable barriers. This is an important matter to consider, as you want to be sure you have protection ready and reliable at all times.

Glass flood barriers are made of glass and lightweight aluminum. While serving as a flood barrier, this design also serves as hurricane protection. This type of barrier is permanent. While you may have qualms about permanent protection being applied to your home or business, these barriers are made to integrate into your building’s design. They are made to not look out of place or bulky. There are many benefits to having this sort of flood protection barrier. First of all, you won’t have to worry about attaching and detaching the barriers whenever they are or aren’t needed. Also, you won’t need to handle specific tools, parts, or pieces. Another benefit is the fact that you will not have to find storage space for your flood mitigation while they aren’t in use.

The lightweight Aluminum material that these barriers are made from makes them easy to maneuver and install. Weighing in 60% less than steel flood barriers, you won’t have to worry about hiring someone to help you install them or struggling with them during a nasty storm. Because they are so lightweight and easy to move, they aren’t a pain to store and maintain.

Make sure you get barriers that stand up to all of the certifications and standards established by professionals. You don’t want to end up with a flood protection system that fails you in the middle of a storm.

Keep you, your family, and your home or business safe. Don’t risk losing everything to one bad storm. You see, flood control barriers are designed to keep the storm from infiltrating your home. While the storm may only last for a couple of hours, it still has the potential to wipe away some of your most cherished property. Take the time to look through some flooding mitigation and see what’s right for you. Choosing the right one based on your particular location and situation can end up saving you from a disaster.

- Ben Pate

I usually focus on noise, and specifically conversational distractions, when I talk about office distractions.  Today, however, I thought I’d share some other common office distractions and  issues in addition to noise.  As a matter of fact, I believe we are often our own biggest distraction.  So, here are some tips to accompany common office issues.

Lack of organization.

When we can’t find papers, emails, or other important work-related documents, we not only lose valuable time on the hunt for said lost items, we also ooze unprofessionalism.

• 

  Make sure there's a method to your madness.

  Organize your desk.  I think Friday afternoons, 4-5 pm, are ideal for this.  Most people have lost focus by then, but still have to be “on the clock.”  Why not pass that last hour cleaning up your desk and getting things ready for the next week?  It may be that you need to set aside more time the first time you organize as you do a more major overhaul.  However, if you keep up with it on a weekly basis, staying clutter-free should be quite manageable.

• Similarly, organize your email.  Make folders, such as Project “____”, personal, need to respond, important information, updated information, committee, etc.  It’s up to you what the specific folder will be, but by filing emails in a thoughtful way, you stay organized and know what you need to respond to and/or keep and what you can discard.
• File your papers.  Keep some trays or a file box nearby for things you need to reference frequently, copy, fax, scan, or file more permanently.  Once you have done what you need to with each document, you can file it more permanently.
• Set aside specific time to respond to email and other correspondence.  This may be once a day or several times a day.  Just having a set time helps to relieve feelings of being overwhelmed.

Office Noise

Yes, you knew I would get around to it eventually.  Distractions, namely conversational ones, cost us tons of time every day at work.  Just like you added structure to your daily routine, you also have to purpose to deal with office noise.

• It may be that you can hunker down to work and your co-workers get the picture that you mean business.
• However, if you have a chatty co-worker, it may be time to (wo)man up and say something.  You’ll have to decide what you need to say and how you’ll do it, but do it tactfully.  No need to burn any bridges or be rude.
• Try white noise, like this free white noise generator.  If you can’t beat ‘em, tune ‘em out.   Plus, you can enjoy nature sounds while you work.  Just thinking about being outdoors might motivate you to work more productively anyway.

Regardless of your method, just make sure it makes sense to you and helps you stay on top of important work and within reach of anything you might need.

The only thing more maddening than writer's block is when other's don't have it.

Writer’s Block

So often we think about office noise as a bad thing, a major distraction of people talking too loud or making personal calls or some other obnoxious habit that forces us to lose our focus.  But what about our own distractions?  The ones we can’t really fault on other people as much as we’d like to.  For example, let’s say you’re my husband and your office mate is typing more productively than you (remember, this is just hypothetical, my husband would never be unproductive…not when we uprooted and gave up everything for him to do his PhD…)… Back to our pretend world, let’s say your office mate is just typing away…type type type…and the sound of him getting further along on his own dissertation as you sit stagnantly on the same sad paragraph just slays you.  Hypothetically, mind you, if this should happen, even the sound of someone else’s productivity can be just as distracting as any other office noise…and can frustrate your wife who just wants you to find your groove.

Drown it out, my friend.  Drown it out.  For all mankind who has ever struggled with writer’s block, I present you with white noise because it might just help you forget those who have found a muse so you can find your own.

Creative Play

Tea Party

I have 2 young children (ages 2 and 4) and one of my favorite things has been watching their imaginations develop, especially in their creative play.  I am one of those moms who believes in independent play and play that requires thinking.  All I mean by that is that you don’t need to buy a set of toys to replicate a scene, such as the grocery store or a tea party.  It’s great fun to have those toys, but how much better is it when your child takes some other container and dubs it a tea cup and saucer?  Regardless of where you get the toys or how many you have, or even of how much you spent, your children have all the resources they need in their little heads!

Our 4 year old daughter has had an active imagination for quite some time, and we are starting to see our toddler’s develop, too!  I copied her preschool program by setting up a play area with a specific theme: tea party!  While I pulled out a card table and the basics, I really enjoyed watching the kids add the details, such as sugar, milk, and biscuits.   Our toddler was an eager party attender, as well, and LOVED pretending to pour milk and dump sugar in his “tea” cup.

How to set up play themes

Grocery Store

There aren’t a lot of rules per se, but here is what I would recommmend:

• Think of a theme {see below for ideas}
• Look around the house for items you can use {very frugal, I know!}
• Have the child help you set up and think of ideas
• You set the boundaries, such as in their room or for a set amount of time
• Play with the children and allow them to play alone
• Ask the kids for new ideas or ways to enhance the current one.

Possible Themes

While I do have some of the following props, we often use something else in its place- by helping your child be imaginative in their play, you are fostering creativity and frugality in their little hearts and minds!  It has never occurred to our children that we don’t have exactly what we need to make an idea come to life!  In fact, most of their jerry-rigged contraptions are better than a life-like toy, like today when they pretended their room was a park and used a nature sounds white noise generator to make it rain!

• Tea Party- table, chairs {edge of bed!}, tea set, pretend food
• Kitchen- a play kitchen, or just the top of a dresser, pretend food, a grocery cart, a cash register
• Nursery- dolls, baby accessories, crib/bed, high chair, stroller, diaper bag
• School/ class room- teacher desk, student desk, paper, colors {if you dare!}, chalkboard/dry erase board
• Pet Store- stuffed animals, price tags, cash register {teaches them about money, too!}, play money
• Restaurant- table and chairs, pretend food, plates, plastic ware, menu, bill,cash register, play money {You could even fold a dish towel and tuck the edge in your child’s waist band for a waiter “look”}

*If you do want to buy some things, check out Craig’s List, FreeCycle, eBay, charity shops, Good Will, and consignment shops before you run out to Target- you’ll be amazed at how many things you can find cheap!

As I was perusing one of the blogs I read, I came across a link to a very helpful article.  This gentleman has adopted as one of his mottos the phrase, “if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”  I have heard this before, but this time it really made me start thinking. I am always so hesitant to ask people things because I don’t want to inconvenience them or I don’t want anything to be awkward–even if I don’t know the person I am asking and will most likely never see them again.

I also started thinking about how this might relate to you. How could you use this to help yourself be less distracted by your coworkers and more able to focus? I thought of a few ways.

• Tell your boss you are having difficulty concentrating due to all the conversational distraction and ask for help in this area. You could mention how beneficial sound masking has been in other places. Perhaps your boss didn’t even realize how big of a problem it is.
• Nicely ask your coworkers to please not disturb you. This could be done in person or with a sign on your cubicle or on the front of your desk. A funny sign can get the point across without being offensive. (Passive-aggressiveness pays off sometimes!) Perhaps your coworkers don’t know that their constant chatter is really bothering you.
• Are there other things keeping your from being able to concentrate besides your noisy coworkers? Sometimes changing the way your desk is set up so that it is more ergonomically correct can help to get rid of all those aches you get from sitting in front of a computer all day. Its hard to concentrate when your shoulders are killing you. You might want to ask your boss for a better chair or a different keyboard to help with this.

So, what is keeping you from a less stressful and more productive day? It might be just a simple question to the right person.

Thus, increasing your productivity means decreasing distractions and work stress/strain.

My History with White Noise

I imagine you already know that my 2 kids love white noise.  While they can sleep without it, they don’t sleep as well, and they usually ask for it!  Maybe they just enjoy turning the knobs, but the truth is, white noise has brought house-wide peace to our family.  I don’t have to worry about phone calls interrupting naps or one child awakening the other too soon.

White Noise for Babysitting

That said, I am also a lover of white noise for babysitting!  Why I occasionally take care of extra children is a discussion for another day, but there is something wonderful about feeling confident that adding in the noise of an extra child or two will not end the peace we have been enjoying, or make the added child uncomfortable.

In fact, there is one little girl in particular that I have kept 5 times over the course of 18 months.  The first time I kept her, she was a mere 6 weeks.  The second and third times she was just shy of a year, and this last two times, she was 18 months.  All 5 times, I had the responsibility of feeding her, playing with her, and putting her down for a nap that she wasn’t necessarily excited about.  Sweet as she is, this little girl is not known for her sleeping prowess.  All I can say is that our white noise generator encouraged some sweet sleep for little A.  When she was 6 weeks, I swaddled her, rocked her a bit, and put on some soothing sounds.  By a year and a year and a half, I transitioned her to waterfall sounds.  Either way, Baby A could sleep while my older kids were able to play without me “shhing” them all afternoon.

A Shocking Result

Her parents were shocked how well she slept!  As a matter of fact, they have been sharing their bedroom with her for the past 18 months, even though they have a spare bedroom!  Unfortunately, that spare room is directly off the living room, and rather than chance her awakening early, they’d rather put her in their more secluded bedroom.  Interestingly, we had the same set-up the last place we lived.  I was unwilling to co-sleep, though, which was why we invested in portable sound machines.  I couldn’t be happier with the result…because when baby sleeps well, we all benefit.

Dear Schipol Airport in Amsterdam,

I love you. I will pay more so my connection will have me stop in Amsterdam. You are so much better than the other European hubs. (Yes, I am referring to Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle. Bleh.) Your fun motorized sidewalks that say “Mind Your Step” and brightly colored cows sitting around make me happy. I fell in love with you all over again when I discovered on my last venture through your shiny doors that you offer a baby care lounge. Not just a baby care lounge, but a beautiful and oh-so-stylishly designed lounge. (Beautiful and practical. Makes my heart go pitter-pat.) Not only that, but next to the lounge is a playground! This is all located in the really cool space by the name of Holland Boulevard. My family could have happily hung out there all day.

However, I do have just one bone to pick with you. My child fell asleep in his little sleep pod after a few minutes of crying. However, he was awoken by the next person who came in to change their baby. Could you please install some sound masking? Please? I so appreciate that the lounge was even there, so please don’t think I am being ungrateful. I just think the only way you could make it better is some effective sound masking.  That way if all seven sleep pods are being used there is a chance that all the babies could actually sleep, instead of just listening to each other cry.

While I’m mentioning it, I think the whole of Holland Boulevard could use some, since that is where people usually go if they have longer layovers and I saw a lot of people snoozing. I think we’d all be much more comfortable if there was a little sound masking to cover up people’s conversations and the sounds of kiddos playing on the (awesome) playground.

Thanks for listening, Schipol Airport.

I remain faithfully yours,

Kate from the Noisy Coworkers blog