a peek inside the fishbowl

Some of my Facebook friends already know this, but I wanted to share the news here as well.

For the past year and a bit I have been secretly toiling away on a special project.

Longtime Fishbowl readers will be familiar with a family challenge I issued and undertook a handful of times starting back in 2006; we called it the Shopping Embargo. The Embargo is essentially about curbing impulse shopping and being mindful about the things we did buy. We’d pick a period of time (usually one or two months right after Christmas) and refrain from making unnecessary purchases for the duration. Well, on the tenth anniversary of the Embargo, Mark and I decided to challenge ourselves to a Shopping Embargo for an entire year.

YES. All of 2016!

While we were busy avoiding the siren song of the mall, I wrote about our experience and what we were going through at the time to form the basis of an e-book: what worked, what didn’t, what my triggers are, where we slipped up and what helped me climb back on the wagon. I learned so much about myself during this process. I know I’m not the only one who is overwhelmed by the STUFF we have accumulated over the years. I know I’m not the only one who hates storing and organizing and dusting all of this stuff. I know I’m not the only one who heads to the mall when I’m feeling crappy, or feels pressure to look a certain way at the office (with matching accessories, of course!). I also know how much money we can save by being a little bit more mindful about how we spend our hard-earned money.

I wrote every day (more or less) for the entire year. In fact, I am still writing! My hope is that the book will serve as a guide for people who want to shave down their personal debt and live a little lighter on the planet. I believe it will help people reevaluate their relationship with their belongings and shift a few of the dollars from items that will eventually just end up in a landfill to more meaningful pursuits. 

I have a quickie giveaway for Toronto area folks! My friends at Rethink Tires have given me a pair of tickets to Canada Blooms to give away to one Fishbowl reader.

Did you know Canada Blooms is the largest flower and garden show in Canada? I’ve always wanted to go but have never had the opportunity. But YOU do!

Throw your hat in the ring by leaving a comment below. Just for fun, I’d love to know what kind of thing interests you the most about garden shows. Landscaping ideas? Learning from the experts? Floral design? Learning about new cultivars? Or maybe you just want a taste of spring? :)

Interested? Please read the following before entering:

• This giveaway is for a pair of tickets to Canada Blooms (March 10-19) and will be awarded to one winner. Please make sure you can attend before entering.
• One entry per email address, please!
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.

I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on Friday March 10, 2017. I’ll contact the winner via email, who can pick up the tickets at the “will call” desk at Canada Blooms.

If you’re attending Canada Blooms, be sure to visit the Rethink tires booth for some earth-friendly ideas, especially if you are looking to renovate your front or back yard this spring

As I mentioned in this recent post, our firstborn is off to school in the fall, which will leave us minus one child here at home during the school year. If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw some photos from the different universities we visited awhile back:

I can hardly believe it. Sigh.

Where is she going to study? Well, we don’t know yet. She’s been accepted to three out of five schools she has applied to so far. She’s relieved to know someone out there wants her, but she is also waiting to hear back about one particular university.

Not that I would file any of these points under the “Parenting Regrets” column, but can I take a moment to make a few observations about this new chapter in our lives?

Career discussions with teens can start early, I mean REALLY EARLY

I knew I wanted to do be a writer in second grade, but not everyone is like me. That’s why it’s helpful to plant those seeds early and chat with teens and tweens about career options as soon as they start to develop their own interests. I understand that kids may not know exactly what they want to do the rest of their lives, but they are probably passionate about something: animals (future vet!), books (librarian, author, editor!), computers (programmer, game designer!), doodling (graphic design!), lemonade stands (app developers, entrepreneurs!), arguing about why they don’t need to make their bed in the morning (HELLO LAW SCHOOL). So making observations about their interests and helping them pursue them in bigger ways might be a good idea.

You know, I really don’t think young people have an idea of the thousands of different kinds of jobs there are. Many jobs escape our notice because we don’t understand them or even know they’re out there. You know what might be helpful? Going through job ads with your teen. Sit down together and head over to a site like Monster.ca or Charityvillage.com and just see what’s out there! Good topics to discuss while you’re there could include salaries, taxes, and cost of living.

Related to this: I spotted this in my Twitter feed recently. It’s also worth checking out:

What are the jobs & salaries of recent post-secondary school graduates? Use the Career Tool to find out. https://t.co/5MKlcrlb7J

— Job Bank (@JobBank_GC) February 28, 2017

Pay attention to that high school course catalog

Here’s a worst case scenario to think about. Imagine you’re a teenager who decides, in the early part of grade 12, that you want to pursue a field of study at a particular school. You look at the school’s course requirements and realize that you should have been taking math all along because now the options are (a) rethink your career aspirations or (b) take a year off and do nothing but study math. If you’re that teen I bet you are devastated. That’s why those career conversations need to start early and course selections need to be to be made strategically. Related to this, of course…

Grade evaluation

What grade average does your kid need in order to get into the school of their choice? In no way am I advocating helicopter parenting here, but it’s important to have this info at hand even if your child is doing well in school. Let’s look at the real life case of Frannie Goodstudent (not her real name). Frannie always brought home good grades, in the 80s. Her mother, Mrs. Goodstudent, also did well in high school and university and was pleased that the apple did not fall far from the tree. Frannie’s father, who was not a high-achieving student in high school, was DOUBLY proud of his daughter’s academic achievements. No need to worry about this one! And no one gave her grades a second thought until Frannie decided she wanted to go to Niche Program at Big University. They looked into it together and to their dismay, found out that it’s such a desirable program, Frannie will need high 80s or 90s to get in. Suddenly, those great marks aren’t good enough. What’s a girl like Frannie to do?

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