Bank Holiday Drivel

Even though I technically had nothing to get up for and an empty house to wake up to, I still set my alarm for 8am because I didn’t want to waste the day! I’m getting used to my morning cuppa in bed mind you and I may have to keep that tradition going!! Anyway, I needed to get into the workshop early because I had eleventy hundred emails to reply to, orders to make & package, my stock boxes to unpack properly … plus a 3 hour round trip to collect some wax from a supplier who took pity on me on a Bank Holiday Monday! It felt good getting up early and it felt good to clear some backlog at work.

For very selfish reasons I have thoroughly enjoyed my freedom and I am now almost gutted that it’s the last night before they all come home! It has been good being able to plan my day and what I want to do without worrying about it fitting into somebody else’s schedule. Selfish yes because life like that doesn’t exist when you have a family!

I think I have made really good use of the time with work and with my clean up at home too! I’ve made some huge major decisions that I have procrastinated over for far too long and I’m feeling positive.

A 5.30am decision!!

When my alarm went off this morning at 5am for Ford Market, I didn’t even have to look out of the window to know that it was blowing a gale and absolutely chucking it down! I sleep with the window open and the curtain was billowing like a ship sale out through the window … and my bed covers were wet!

Ever the optimist I decided not to snooze the alarm and turned on the TV in the bedroom, switched my laptop on and climbed back into bed to figure it out. Car was loaded last night so I was ready to go …. I was a veritable “in bed” weather station! No matter which website I checked, or which channel’s weather report I was looking at … it said the same thing. Crappy shitty weather until mid afternoon – and as Ford market closes down at 3pm … well …. decision made (after 45 minutes of indecisiveness!)

Soooo I did this instead … LOL yeah I know – hair looks BAD and I look WORSE (puffy bleary eyes) but it was about 5.45am by then in my defence!! I was pretty awake after I’d made the decision, so I made myself a cup of coffee, took it back to bed and watched some early morning TV while I checked my email sitting in bed. Had to get a photo for posterity because it’s only ever on market days that you will see me up that early!! I finally got out of bed around 9am

I don’t want to be a “fair weather trader” and only turn up when the sun is out because if that were the case I’d NEVER be out there! LOL! I’m happy to be out there from early till late working hard, carting all the stock back & forth and putting in the effort come rain or shine. Unfortunately my stock isn’t so happy (the labels all get damaged) and I am not prepared for trading outside in bad weather and the wind … yet!

I did make a productive use of the day and I went up to the market at Ford anyway as a visitor. I introduced myself to the market manager, got all the info I need about trading there and spent a couple of hours chatting with some of the traders. It was definitely worth looking around because I had a much better idea of what I need for next week (tarpaulins, clamps and weights for starters!) to get up and running. At Worthing they at least provide the EZ up canopy for you which has at least a hope of staying put in the wind!! I only have a gazebo which isn’t as strong and weather proof as one of the purpose built ez-up tents or market stalls… so I am going to have to look at investing in one of those. I’ve done some research and they aren’t as expensive as I first thought – and certainly to do Ford Market – will be well worth it!! Fingers crossed I can organise something ready for next Sunday

After I’d got back home after my “rekkie” round the market, I started blitzing my wardrobe! What a difference! I took everything out, sorted it all, threw away anything that doesn’t fit me anymore (plus discovered I’m back into my “skinny jeans” – yeah!!) and had a major enormous shoe cull. I didn’t take a picture of the shoes I chucked out because it’s too depressing! Why I hung onto some of them I don’t know! Some of them were falling to pieces so much, others entirely impractical and I never wear anymore, and others I looked at and thought WHY? LOL

 The top shelf has now got my boots, bags and accessories (doesn’t show in the second pic) – ohh and that empty shoe rack in the RHS pic? Err it isn’t empty anymore – I have a downstairs shoe cupboard that I’ll be re-organising a bit later on … but now ALL my shoes are exactly where they belong in my wardrobe!

THEN I tackled the ironing! My house – which yesterday was spotless – now looks like a laundry service with clothes hanging up everywhere! My iron actually BROKE part way through and I had to phone Mother for an emergency “can I borrow your iron?” visit! I’ve finished for tonight and am chilling out now so I’ll put it all away in the morning!!

It was WEIRD waking up to an empty house this morning! Normally on market day – which is normally a Wednesday and a school day for kids & work day for Hub … I have to creep around like a mouse to try not to wake anybody up but this morning the whole place was mine! I didn’t have to worry about the volume control on the TV (I always have the news & weather on when I am up for market!) or making too much noise tripping over the dog … or the cat whinging outside to come in because it’s been raining! LOL It was all such a novelty! I struggled with the decision NOT to go to market today, but I’ll secretly admit it was really nice to climb back into my warm (albeit slightly damp!) bed with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning all by my lonesome!

My belligerent dog!

bel·lig·er·ent
–adjective
1. warlike; given to waging war.
2. of warlike character; aggressively hostile; bellicose: a belligerent tone.
3. waging war; engaged in war: a peace treaty between belligerent powers.
4. pertaining to war or to those engaged in war: belligerent rights. –noun

Or alternatively a dog who is now 11 in human years whose legs can’t hack the long walks her owner likes and who runs off & lays down when she has had enough and refuses to come back so you have to go find her! I think she pretends to be deaf. She isn’t deaf as she hears the call for going OUT on the walk clear enough … she just has enough half way round these days!

Also a dog who, when she cannot get into the car boot for a walk due to it being full up (and whose poor legs can’t handle jumping that high anymore) … who insists on sitting in the drivers seat of the car, despite not having a driving license (or opposable thumbs!) and refuses to move! In her defence there wasn’t much room on the passenger seat either as I’d shunted it forward to fill up the back more – and then stuffed an extra couple of shelves in the gap!!!

We went down the beach – she did her business – I cleared it up – she chased the ball a few times then took it into the sea for a good wash (she does like a nice clean ball! LOL) and refused to bring it out of the water! *sigh* an eventual lost ball when it went past “wading in wellies” depth! She then completely refused to move from where she was sitting on the sand … so I gave up and dragged her home! LOL

Now this is weird …..

Hub left with the kids at 10.30 this morning. I got straight on with cleaning the house, had a luxurious long shower with absolutely no interruptions, got dressed at my own pace without tripping over children, had a quick flit into the supermarket to get some bits & pieces and went into work. Bliss …

And then I came home after work to an empty house.

Even before I drove around the corner I was thinking I miss them. I actually miss the lot of them. Normally on a Saturday afternoon when I get back from work, before I have even put a foot through the door, Nathan calls out HELLO (without looking up from his computer but he’s the first to call out!), swiftly followed by Megan’s HELLO buried somewhere in the depths of her room … then Hub will come trundling down the stairs from where he’s been up there on his computer and come and say hello.

Today it was quiet. It was weird!

I’m going out for a meal with my mother and her friend tonight. I’m looking forward to it – no time pressure, no stress or hassle … and trying not to think about coming home to an empty house again later. I’m not sure I like all of this uninterrupted peace and quiet after all!!

Just call me Ms Productive!

Well, first of all there was a shopping mission for Nathan to get him some new school shirts, new shoes and underwear – all checked off with minimal fuss by a trip to Marks & Spencer!

Then I managed to wangle 5 solid hours at the workshop and I had the most blinding idea about completely re-working my display to give me MORE stuff in HALF as much space. It’s complicated to explain and basically involves doubling up with two votive fragrances in a basket as opposed to a single fragrance, but it works … and it works brilliantly! I tried something different with my stock shelves that I cart to events and back … and again I’ve managed to re-work it so it means I’m taking less shelves and making better use of the space that I have got! It’s just all good! I’ve been working on some new packaging ideas and the display is going to look fantastic!!

I’m nearly all prepared for my first attempt at Ford Market this weekend – and trying something different has given me a renewed sense of motivation to really crack it all out and give it a real push. I feel a LOT better about things and I have one of those weird sneaky feelings that Sunday is going to go really well! Shhh don’t tell anyone incase I am wrong!

And …. Miss Megan is back from Brownie holiday! She had a brilliant time. It is SO nice to have her back home even if the volume level in the house has increased by a few notches again! Mind you, not that I’ll have chance to enjoy seeing her much as hub is leaving with them from about 10.30am in the morning!!

A good day – I feel positive – I feel happy

So near yet so far

Number One news – Megan is coming home tomorrow! I pick her up at 7pm … I’m sure it will be 7.30pm by the time we’re out of there after she has done all of her goodbyes … and then she’ll have excitedly told me about absolutely everything by the time we’ve driven home!! I’ve missed her! It’s been nice in a way to spend so much solitary time just me and Nathan and he’s been great – hardly had to RAAAHHH at him at all this week!

Number two news – well it’s not news as I mentioned it yesterday, but OMG I am so looking forward to it that it’s worth re-iterating!! Three days and three nights of sanctuary when hub takes the children down to Cornwall to stay with his family. 72 hours of complete and utter sanctuary and pure unadulterated ME time! Ooooh thinking of it as JUST 72 hours makes me not want to waste time sleeping!! Too much to do!!

72 hours of solid …

• Me time. Nobody else to worry about, dish out ADHD meds to, make meals for, force to brush teeth/hair or wash or anyone else to even remotely consider. Totally selfish time for ME ME ME.
• Nobody hassling me about whether I have eaten today or not. Yes people I eat, I just don’t restrict myself to set mealtimes and don’t always feel hungry at 6pm when the rest of the farm my children demand feeding! Yeah okay so Mum will probably phone and ask, but that’s also probably why she’s taking me out to dinner on Saturday night too!! I eat when I am hungry and I drink a butt load of water - it’s how I’ve lost weight recently too (well, that and stress!)
• CLEAN HOUSE! This will be the most noticeable thing of all I think! I’ll scrub the house top to bottom when I get back from loading the car up on Saturday ready for Ford market on Sunday… and it will then STAY clean until the masses descend back here Tuesday late afternoon!

Anyway to change the subject … well, actually, it IS the subject – or, the title of my post anyway. So near yet so far. It seems to be the story of my life right now. I feel like I am constantly battling and constantly struggling for so very little in return and my emotions run so high on a day to day basis that it’s almost like I am THRIVING on the stress and like I can’t function without it.

I need to change that – and soon.

Well it just got interesting!

The market today was a total wash out – I didn’t cover my costs so I made a loss for the day. It’s never a good day when that happens.

I think I give up. Well, the Wednesday market anyway! The thing I really noticed today is that although there were plenty of people in the middle of town … hardly anybody was carrying shopping bags. There were also three shops within my line of vision that were closed down, and in my chat with some of the staff in the shops, they all said they were pretty dead too. It’s only the shops with huge great big sale signs and closing down signs that are doing any business and that is purely because they are literally giving the stuff away.

People just don’t have the money to spend … either that or it’s just that Worthing on a Wednesday is a pile of plop! That market used to be absolutely heaving with people when I used to go down there myself years ago and it still does have it’s regular following … BUT and although I have nothing against older people … a lot of the regular visitors are bussed down from the local elderly groups in the area. The problem my BUSINESS has with older people is that they are too afraid to light candles incase they forget to put them out… and they tell me this themselves AFTER sniffing everything and engaging me in conversation.

I have to admit - after getting up at 5am and suffering through a slow day in trading … the last thing you need is people showing interest, picking up, looking at and smelling your stuff … asking you a ton of questions so you have to ignore other people nosing around the stall (who may ACTUALLY want to ask a question and buy something) … then telling you that they aren’t going to buy anything!!  

Every trader says the same thing! Seriously people – if you aren’t interested … then just walk on by. Don’t give the stallholder false hope of a sale incase they have had a lousy day! It is SO disheartening and gut wrenching.

Or maybe I am just too cynical! There was a new guy on the market this week (says she after only being there 6 weeks herself!!) that was so up for it this morning. I looked at him with a “yeah right, don’t expect that from THIS market” look on my face. By mid morning he was asking me why he hadn’t believed me … and by mid afternoon when there was only a couple of hours worth of reasonable trade left, I was wondering what the fuck I was doing there myself.

Sooooo. We have new plans. About 30 mins away is Ford Market.

This is a really busy Sunday market that has been going for years and a few of the “hardened” traders that I spoke to today that go ALL said it was a good market. Lots of stalls and lots of trade. Sounds good to me! It’s LESS money than the Weds pitch and it’s on a weekend so no childcare issues as hub has the kids.

Hub is taking the kids away this weekend to visit with his family in Cornwall. Megan is back from Brownie holiday on Friday and then he is leaving Saturday for at least 3 days away with the kids and I am here totally by myself!! Instead of peace and solitude by myself at home, or getting together with girlie mates and getting drunk … I’m instead looking at hiring a van for the weekend so I can go to the Sunday market and possibly another market at Brighton Racecourse on the Bank Holiday Monday and pouring / packaging every spare minute inbetween!

I must be crazy!! Dagnamit (see, new word) I am just bound and determined that IF I go down then I go down kicking and screaming all the way!!!

Dagnamit

It’s my new word. It is to be used during those times when what I really want to say is fu*k, poo*, sh*t, wank*ng,  piss*ng, b*llocks but have small children around.

There are some possible lights at the end of the tunnel, so it isn’t all doom and gloom. The biggest light is that I am looking to get a night job. If I can find work in a local supermarket overnight for a couple of nights a week, I can earn a fair amount of money to supplement the summer and keep me going through the quiet periods. Plus … I am a night owl at heart so it is ideal. Whether I’ll be able to keep it up for more than a few weeks would remain to be seen. At any rate, I have to find a job first, then apply, then wait so it’s not an instant fix, but it’s one to be getting on with.

I also may potential be able to work from someone’s garage for the short term to cut down on the outgoing costs. Not too much detail yet as it’s all a little up in the air, but it is a possibility. Again – something to think about.

When I woke up this morning it was a hell of a day from the outset. I hardly slept last night with worry about just everything in general. I took three showers before even lunch time because it felt so good to just get in there under the hot water … cry my eyes out and let the soap suds wash it all away.

I miss Megan too. I really do miss her and I am glad she’ll be back on Friday! She may only be ten years old but she has a sound head on her shoulders and she gives the best advice. Sometimes the best advice in the world comes from an innocent child who can look at something and give you the most obvious and logical answer without all of the emotions attached from being an adult.

What I wouldn’t give to be ten years old again!

Life is a rollercoaster? Yer not kidding!

I need to be somewhere I can let rip, break and smash things, and above all just SCREAM and CRY and throw things that will land with a satisfying S*M*A*S*H as they shatter into eleventy hundred pieces. I need to be somewhere where it doesn’t matter if I look like crap with tears streaming down my face, where it doesn’t matter if I can’t be bothered to get dressed or brush my hair and where nobody knows me … well apart from my friend Lou. I need her to be there. She and I haven’t known each other that long really, but she tells me the truth – not just what she thinks I might want to hear.

Nowhere is sacred right now. It used to be that work was my escape from the daily monotony, and then the twenty minutes I had before picking the kids up from school once I got in from work was always such bliss! I’d have enough time to watch a bit of Jeremey Kyle (just to prove my life isn’t as bad as theirs because at least I know who the father of my kids is!) and have a cup of coffee in solitude before the masses descended on me!

I don’t get out of the house often enough to have a real “social life.” I have friends sure, but their lives are just as busy as mine, and to be truthful, even if I take a day off work… I don’t ever feel like I achieve anything at all because I always have too much to do.

The bath used to be a sanctuary too … but far too often H will knock on the door and ask “mind if I come in for a pee?” despite me checking prior to running the bath whether anybody needed to use the toilet.

“YES I F***ING MIND, GET OUT!” – Sanctuary ruined and cue soggy exit from bath.

Plus today finances took a dire turn for the worst. I can’t go into too much detail, but lets say cash flow has been a huge HUGE enormous problem thanks to middle men not doing their frigging jobs so I can’t do mine. That’s all I can say without going into a huge enormous rant here and getting into too much detail.

I am worried. I’m worried sick that it is all about to come falling down around my ears and that there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

I just hope that my children learn from my mistakes and don’t make the same ones I did. My Dad was a fantastic role model as I was growing up. He was a solid family man and a good provider – what every guy strives to achieve, right? What I missed out on from him though was quality time and hearing the words “I love you”

I KNEW I was loved, don’t get me wrong, and mum said it often enough for the two of them, but I never realised it until after he was gone. One thing I try so hard to give my kids is love. No matter what … no matter how bad it gets at home or how hard it is … they will always know they are loved.

A helpful bank? Blimey!

When the phone rang at 8.45am I looked at the caller ID with a feeling of impending doom that was justified when I saw it was an 0845 number. Calls before 9am at home from 0845 numbers never mean anything good and it’s usually a company I owe money to that is baying for my blood.

This morning it was the bank. Specifically the collections department because my small business loan payment bounced this month. Surprisingly though, the guy on the end of the telephone was actually more than helpful! He listened when I explained about the middle man bollocks I’ve had to deal with recently including the phone and internet issues in the workshop, the merchant account problems and the reasons for the lack of cash flow. I told him that I have customer card payments to process, but that until it’s all in place (fingers crossed NetBanx sort it out today!!) there is nothing I can do to get funds into the account.

He said that they realised it was pointless to keep re-presenting for the loan payment when the account is over the overdraft and until I have the payment processor set up an in place. From that point I will KNOW that as long as I have orders coming in, I will be receiving their payment within SEVEN days instead of the 28 days from WorldPay and a much better idea of my weekly numbers and where I am at.

It was just amazing to speak to somebody with the authority to help me and offer the best solutions for my business’s current problems. It’s only a short term fix that we have arranged today – basically I’ve got a couple of months off from paying the loan payment which will be added to the end of it to give me some breathing space. It’s £440 that I don’t need to find by 8th September … and instead I won’t have to pay anything except the regular £220 in October so that’s one pressure off my back anyway!

I should never have taken out the loan in the first place. Bad decision… but I did what I thought was best at the time. Unfortunately it was probably the one single thing that caused me to suffer further down the line.

Still, after waking up early this morning (well ok early for school holidays when I don’t have to *technically* be anywhere by 9am) and the feeling of anxiety I had from the moment I opened my eyes … I’m feeling a little more chilled. I’ve got a busy day ahead, but Nathan is watching the end of a film so I’m just chilling for a little bit this morning before I launch into my numbers and then head into work to send some boxes out!

A quiet house

It’s so weirdly quiet in my house right now. There’s no yelling or screaming, no yells for “Muuuuuuuuuuum s/he is hurting me” and only half as many requests for food and snacks.

Megan is away for the week at Brownie camp until Friday afternoon.

But it is so QUIET! Nathan has been quietly doing his own thing without interruption in the lounge with me and Hub is upstairs doing whatever it is that grown men do behind closed doors with a PC, computer games and an internet connection (I don’t ask too many questions!!)

And me? I’ve had almost uninterrupted time to get caught up on some emails and do a bit of work!

The wolves are beginning to bite at my heels though. If something major doesn’t happen soon then I’ll potentially be too far into a hole to pull myself out of it. The WORST that would happen is that I’d have to close down my workshop and move the business back into the kitchen & garden shed whilst circumnavigating Hub’s motorbike that lives out there too! This would immediately squash the vast majority of my outgoing costs and mean that I could operate on a lower figure to pay off the business debts.

On the downside I lose the only space that is my ONE sanctuary from the world (well, when I switch the phone ringer off anyway!!) and home becomes work and vice versa. I moved the business OUT of home 5 years ago – it would be a huge step backwards, and honestly the last thing I would want, but I may not have any choice.

The thing I found when I worked out of home before is that I never ever stopped working. I had a work phone line and I was out the back until all hours cooking up smelly stuff in my back garden, and I was then permanently on the computer. Hmmm not so much of a change there other than the location of the main operation. Maybe it wouldn’t be quite so bad after all!

Surviving school holidays (just)

It’s not like my kids miss out on anything – after all they are fed & watered, clothed and loved and I don’t lock them in dark cupboards or hit them with big sticks. Even so, all kids like to have a summer to look forward to, but  but finances have been so tight that it wasn’t even possible to muster a 3 day camping trip let alone a big holiday somewhere hot for them to look forward to.

Combine that with the fact that the British weather – as usual has been so frigging unpredictable … well, we’ve only managed ONE day out in the park for a picnic since school broke up and my plans to compensate their lack of big holiday by lots of “fun free days out” (beach, park, picnic in the woods, water games in the garden etc) have all been completely quashed by the rain. There’s only so much scrabble and monopoly they can face before they are itching to get back to their computers!

Consequently I’ve had my “I’m a bad Mother but I have no choice” hat on. You know the one. The one that allows you to let your children sit in front of their computers for most of the day, checking on them periodically to dish out drinks and snacks and force them to take a break for at least two minutes to go to the bathroom or come for lunch … all in the name of crappy weather.

Middle Man Bollocks

I could run my business a LOT easier if it wasn’t for the middle men I have no choice but to use.

My phone and Internet went down at work recently. What could I do? Absolutely nothing!! We were out of touch with the outside world for several days and had to use my mobile number to call their “free phone” number … which isn’t actually free if you don’t have a frigging working phone line … and then rely on the person on the end of the phone to actually do what they had promised to do… which … 99% of the time (in my experience) they don’t!

I used to have quite a senior role in customer services for a utility company before I started my own business. I know what these people are thinking when they get a really stressy pissy person on the phone, so I always try to be as polite as possible because it isn’t THEIR fault that they work for a company who doesn’t manage to actually provide the service you are paying them for (well ok it is – they could get another job! LOL). Trouble is, when you are polite and nice … you are also easy to ignore. On the flip side if you then GET pissy with them … ooopsie look you got cut off.

I have been trying to set up a new merchant account for the last 4 weeks. It was supposed to take a week. Meanwhile customers are placing orders but I actually have no way of processing their credit cards until the new merchant account is in place. The whole idea of switching merchant is for cash flow reasons … ie I have NO CASH FLOW right now. My old merchant account took 28 days to pay the funds into my account … the new company will be just 7 days so it will make an enormous difference to the company accounts, but damnit it is taking TOO long to set up. I have been promised faithfully that I am on the “integration list” for Monday morning … I’d better be or I’m gonna be firing rockets under people’s asses!

How can I run a business without any cash flow whatsoever? I still have invoices coming in that I need to pay and no way of paying them until I can process my own incoming payments! Thing is … I’ve been a huge believer of “if you want it done properly, do it yourself” for so long … and that combined with my serious lack of patience … well GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR is the result when it’s something I can’t do without a middle man!

The work / life balance

Someone said to me recently that I needed to make more adjustments with my family / work / life balance so that I didn’t find myself so stressed and burned out. It’s always so easy for someone looking in to suggest ways to improve yourself, but life just isn’t that simple!

My children are the most important thing to me in the WORLD! Yes, work is important and because I OWN my business … well, if I don’t do it, then nobody else does … but still, I make damned sure that I spend quality time with both my kids every single day.

It does feel like I am constantly working at the moment … if I’m not in the workshop pouring candles, packaging or packing up boxes then I’m working at home … I’m doing the accounts, getting the numbers done and trying desperately to cut out the middle men. That’s a whole other post though! I don’t have a choice but to take the children into work with me during the day for a couple of hours, then I head back there in the evening as soon as Hub walks through the door!!

I HATE the fact that money has been so tight that we haven’t been able to afford a summer holiday for the kids for the last 3 years. They want to have nice things, they want the latest this and that – and because they ARE good kids (most of the time!!) I’d love to be able to treat them and reward them more often.

Yes I know, it’s not about money and materialistic posessions – it’s about growing up in a safe and loved environment … but c’mon, when all your friends have really cool clothes and you are wearing school trousers that are too short and tops that don’t fit you anymore – then the materialistic stuff DOES matter.

I’ve felt ashamed and embarrassed some days when I’ve sent the kids off to school because their uniforms have needed replacing for so long and there just hasn’t been the money for it. Both of them have so few clothes in their wardrobes that fit properly and let’s not get started on the shoes that are falling to pieces!!

THIS is why I do it. This is why I work hard! It’s so I can turn around a flagging business, bring it right up to exactly where it needs to be and for my kids to have the benefit of it, because ONE day … ONE day I’ll be a millionaire earn enough money to be comfortable.

It is hard though … I know my family resents the time I spend out of the house, and because business has been slow recently, I’ve had to throw myself into it even more, yet I’m not even bringing in an income right now. One thing I’m NOT though is a quitter! I even talked to the children about the possibility of closing down the business.

“But what else would you do?” was the reply. Good question!

It IS a daily struggle I will admit that, but I’m not prepared to give up on my business and it’s not like I can give up on my children, so until thenI just keep on keeping on and I just live in hope that the world stops spinning for long enough that I can get off ………. eventually!

insurmountable mountains

I’ll admit I have been deeply buried in paperwork recently, especially during the day. I am trying to split my time so that during the day I am home and around with the children because I HATE dragging them into work with me and they hate being there! I’ve been doing the numbers, designing flyers, working on the website … ohh and cleaning the house during the day, and then as soon as hub is through the door at 6pm I’m off to the workshop to pour and pack orders!

It hasn’t been brilliant … but I guess that much is obvious or I would have posted about anything fabulous eh! The business is still ticking over and that is just about it. It’s very disheartening to know that I have such great products – not blowing my own trumpet, but I DO … yet people just aren’t buying. It’s the same whoever you talk to and whatever business they are in … it’s slow everywhere.

I am just hanging on and hanging on because I am still convinced that ONE day my hard work will pay off and the business will generate me some serious money!

Right, hi ho, hi ho it’s off to work I go! With a bucket and spade and a hang grenade hi ho, hi ho!