Life behind the SQUARES with Sarah Anderson
-
Reviews - they can be damaging in some cases.
Then there was a local business who, wanting to push their own newly opened business to the top of the Trip Advisor list, intentionally slandered our business online writing multiple reviews with negative content... all the while, never actually stepping foot in the shop or trying/buying any of our products. The reviews were concocted as lies, no truth behind them whatsoever. I confronted them and they removed their own reviews, but Trip Advisor didn't follow suit and they stayed there for the world to see. Still yet to receive an apology from them either. -
Unschooling
We are quite new into this world, having only withdrawn Alfie from the public education system in May this year. He had only two months of schooling before we stopped for him to enjoy the summer holidays, and another couple of weeks done and dusted this month. It has definitely been an eye opener though! There is no one way to do this, every person's journey is different, and that has made it a learning curve every step of the way.
-
Snow or Sun???
I'd have to say I'm a bit of both. Nothing beats that winter sun beaming on your face whilst hearing the crunch of freshly fallen snow under your feet at the same time. It could have been like that for us on our recent getaway to Austria. When I've been at this time of year in the past it's been a nice 16-20° and there's occasionally September snow fall... but, this year, we arrived to severe weather warnings, absolutely freezing, and ended up getting to the point of abandoning our pre-booked accommodation for somewhere warmer (poor Michael's credit card!) -
Charity requests
If we donated to everyone who asks, with the number of requests we receive, I don't actually think the business would be able to survive at all ... remember that every single item we create here is handmade, hand crafted, hand topped, hand wrapped and hand packed. Not only do we lose the income to keep us afloat, but we also lose the time. It's a lot. It's just a lot. -
Thermal Spas, what are they?
Have you ever been to a thermal spa?
We recently visited two different ones in Austria - not particularly because that's what we wanted to do, but because the weather forced us into it, being so severe it left little room for anything else.
Anyway, I digress.
In hindsight I'm quite pleased we ended up with no other options because the experiences were just amazing. Alfie absolutely loved being there, spending three hours in each one. We all really benefitted from it, and came out of them feeling so, so good... body, mind and soul. Being completely immersed in and surrounded by water, it was a given that our phones and technology was kept well away, so we really had the chance to switch off and be in the moment, enjoying it together.
What is a thermal spa?
Think outside of the British box with this one, where a "thermal spa" might describe some hot or cold treatments you receive as part of a spa experience, or a soak in an artificially heated chlorine-filled pool. A traditional thermal spa is a spring water pool, naturally heated to above 20°C
Where does the heat come from?
It actually comes from the Earth itself. Now, I'm no scientist so I'm not going to go into great detail here and speak way out of my scope, but the springs are heated by activity within the Earth... no heaters in sight.
The benefits of a thermal spa
Because of the higher temperature of the water, a thermal spa pool can hold more vitamins and minerals in the water in comparison to its cold counterparts - soaking in the water for such a prolonged period of time really gives your body the chance to soak up all that goodness. I don't think I've ever had skin so soft as it was when getting out of the pools there.
The heat of the water can also significantly help relax the muscles in the body - reducing stiffness and relieving those aches and pains.
Social aspect
One of the things that became really apparent to us when we were there was the way the pools are used for socialisation. There were people there on date nights, a group of a few female friends, mixed groups, groups of men ... some swimming, some relaxing, some just breathing it all in and taking a moment. Conversations being had by everyone, connecting. Nobody sat on their phones. It was so refreshing to see this way of living. That "getting together" means doing something to benefit your mental and physical health, and not drowning in alcohol, spending loads of money to regret it the day after.
It's a real shame there aren't more of these places accessible in this country though I imagine, like everything else, they'd end up becoming a massive profiteering money-making scheme ran by people with already deep pockets 🤦♀️
Sat talking to Michael now about how I wish I had millions in the bank to create one, free of charge for people to attend, just to relish in those benefits of being in one.
-
Home Ed - finding our tribe at last
In the last week I've gone from feeling like I was a one-man band running the show, to having a wealth of support behind me. Just like when at school we have the WhatsApp groups and social media pages to turn to now, to ask the questions and to come up with ideas and plans together. -
Advent Calendars - what's your favourite?
Christmas is definitely our favourite time of year at the factory when it comes to making your goodies. We sell a huge range of festive chocolate from stuffed bars, Christmas trees (ooh they are thiccccc) and truffles, to our best-selling advent calendars. This year we have 5 variations. Four of these are individually packaged discs. -
Living in an AI world now....
Technology is advancing every single day and is doing the most wonderful things but there's something about witnessing AI holograms in the flesh th... -
Book Review - Under a Summer Skye
Though the running theme of this book is predominantly "loss", it also ends up being quite well balanced, with moments of feeling just about every emotion there is to feel. I cried, I laughed, I felt sad for her and happy for her. The main twist in the book had me *shooketh* and I audibly gasped when it came to light. You don't finish the book without closure and it doesn't leave you on a heavy cliffhanger, despite being the first of three in this series. Though it definitely does make you want for more. -
Favourite Film
Despite being a grown woman, owning a house, running two businesses, and raising a child for the last nine years, I have to be honest and tell you that my absolute favourite film of all time has to be Ratatouille.
Of all the films in the world that I've watched and loved, nothing comes close to that little rat living his best chef life.
-
Who am I? Find out how I set the business up!
It was a Sunday and I'd actually promised him his favourite roast dinner if he helped me, which he was conned out of in the end as we ended up working a solid 8 or 9 hours to get it done so ordered in a takeaway... oops! -
Buying Followers
In a world where those numbers hold so much value, it's easy to fall into the trap of buying followers and likes. Though not something I've ever re...
- Previous page
- Page 2 of 9
- Next page