This weekend my cousin and her Fiance are coming for a quick visit. They will be coming up from Boston to look at some potential wedding venues and they are going to show me how to properly cook in my Instant Pot. I got my Instant Pot two years ago, but honestly, I don’t know how to use it. Seeing as my cousin and her Fiance use theirs all the time I’ve asked them to finally show me how to use mine!
After my cooking lesson, I’ll work off a good meal with a Vermont tradition, wood stacking. Perhaps this isn’t an actual tradition, but the work needs to be done none the less. Our woodstove isn’t our primary heat system but we do enjoy the added warmth when the cold weather really sets in.
Thank you for reading,
Emily & Mike
STM Blazer Laptop Sleeve for 11inch Laptop – Black
GoPro HERO6 Black
Seagate Wireless Mobile Storage 500GB – Black
Beats by Dr. Dre Powerbeats 2 Sport Earphones – White
Dear Friends,
This week we saw snow flurries just about every day, a sure sign winter is coming. The higher elevations have snow sticking to the mountain tops and the trails are turning white at Sugarbush. We have been taking advantage of the still somewhat mild weather around my house and working to get the horse barn ready for another winter. Our big fall project this week was fixing a water line issue, our barn hydrant failed part way through last winter. We had assumed it somehow froze but why June when water still wasn’t coming out we knew we had bigger problems. Thankfully, we have a second water hydrant so it was just an inconvenience for several months. I’m happy we have finally fixed the issue.
We are eagerly anticipating Apple’s announcement next week. Customers are always surprised to hear that we do not have any special intel when it comes to Apple product announcements. We have to do what everyone else does, guess. Added excitement to this event is a new location and time zone, we all want to know what Apple has to reveal.
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive special is a Philips Hue bundle. Philips Hue is easy to set up and works with Home Kit and smart speakers. I have just installed this set up in my own house, it’s perfect for those with older homes and wants smart home conveniences without costly installs and wiring projects. This starter bundle can easily be set up within a few minutes and it’s as easy as switching out a few light bulbs. Give it a try, I’ve discounted this bundle and thrown in free shipping
iPad Pro 12.9-inch 256GB WiFi + Cellular – Silver – Dented Carton
Screen Time
While I run beta software on my computer, I do not yet run Beta software on my iOS devices. Screen Time was one of the features I was looking forward to (for the kids) when iOS 12 officially released last month. Regretfully, my kid’s devices are too old to run iOS 12, so that meant the test runs were up to me. I’d like to share how much I love Screen Time, but I can not. Why you ask? My reasons are obvious, it totally sells the user out on how much they do or do not use their phone!
Joking aside, the information it collects is revealing and useful for how we use our phones. I can clearly see how much time I spend checking on the news or listening to a favorite podcast. I’ve learned I check the weather a lot and my kids sneak my phone more often than I realized to play games. Texting is clumped into social media, so if you are someone who uses messages a lot you might feel it’s not fairly accounting for your time. None the less, I do find this to be a valuable feature. Just like the fitness features of Apple Watch, what you get out of it is up to you. You can choose to look at the statistics and make changes or you can choose to just ignore them. I am someone who does both. Some weeks I’ve made conscious efforts to adjust my phone use and other weeks I pretend my phone isn’t tracking me! I do suggest that everyone gives it a try, you can easily turn it off.
Get Started with Screen Time
To enable Screen Time, go to Settings > Screen Time and tap Turn on Screen Time. After you see an introductory splash screen, tap This Is My iPhone to go to the main Screen Time screen.
Two options on the lower portion of this screen help you customize Screen Time overall. Tap Use Screen Time Passcode to create another passcode that controls access to Screen Time settings and lets you extend time limits. It’s designed for parents who let their children use their devices, you could use it as a speed bump when overriding your self-defined limits. If you use both an iPhone and an iPad, enable Share Across Devices to aggregate your usage. This syncs settings between your devices. This is useful if you are trying to keep yourself honest. However, you do not need to enable this setting.
Downtime
To limit your usage according to a schedule, perhaps so you don’t get caught up in your favorite Netflix show before bed, tap Downtime, turn on the Downtime switch, and set start and stop times. Unfortunately, you can’t create multiple schedules for different portions of the day.
App Limit
When you tap App Limits and then Add Limit, Screen Time presents you with a list of categories and examples of your apps in each one. Select one or more, say Social Networking and Games, then tap Add. You can then set the amount of time you want to allow yourself overall for apps in that category. You can create multiple category limits with different amounts of allotted time. App limits can also help with Downtime because you can specify by category. This is another means of ensuring you perhaps don’t stay up later than you wish to.
If an app category is too broad, you can limit a particular app. Tap the Screen Time graph at the top of the screen, scroll down to the Most Used section, and tap an app in the list. At the bottom of that screen, tap Add Limit and specify a time limit.
There are a few exceptions to the apps limited by both Downtime and App Limits, regardless of your settings. The Phone app is always available, and Clock, Find my iPhone and Sarari. For other apps you never want limited, tap Allowed Apps on the main Screen Time screen, and then tap the green plus button next to any app you want to allow. Apple adds FaceTime, Maps, and Messages to the Allowed Apps list by default, but you can remove them if desired.
Living with Screen Time
Screen Time alerts you 5 minutes before a time limit expires and displays a Time Limit screen when time runs out. Although the point of Downtime and App Limits is to help you stop playing a game or reflexively checking Facebook, you can tap Ignore Limit to keep using the app. You can choose to ignore it for 15 minutes or just tell it to ignore it for the rest of the day. With many features, it’s all about deciding what you want to get out of it. If you find you are just always hitting ignore for the rest of the day, perhaps Screen Time isn’t right for you.
I have only been using Screen Time for a few weeks, there are days I do choose to just ignore it and there are days I consciously adjust how I am using my phone. One of the unexpected benefits, I am finding myself using my phone more. I know, that sounds strange. However, knowing my phone is tracking my usage is subconsciously forcing me to explore forgotten apps and to remind me my phone does more than just keeping me connected.
Give it a try, even if it’s just for a week!
