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Everything has changed forever.

Everything has changed forever. I think you have still got a few more weeks of me being obsessed by the new website! Orders have actually doubled and it's changing how I view my work as well as the day to day running. The system is much easier but I am still getting used to it and of course I am rushed off my feet trying to organise the bugs for my two weeks away. Lots of things have sold out but my bug house still looks full, I really did have too much stock. I now spend each morning Monday - Thursday packing and sending off orders and then when I return from the Post Office I start the feeding and cleaning regime. Somehow I seem to have less time than ever but I'm sure things will settle down soon. All the bugs are doing fine, I have a beautiful Chile Beauty spider with an egg sac and I am still in the process of mating several of my tarantula species. So far so good, none of the males have been eaten (thank goodness). It is such a shame when I have obscure adult males and nobody has a female. I have a couple at the moment that matured ages ago so I think they are with me for life. I'm sure financially I should 'bump them off' but I couldn't do that. I'm never going to make a great business woman, I can't help looking after everything equally well. My husband is always telling me that I should prioritise but I can't! The new website has certainly taught me that I should be more open to new ideas. Clearly I should have had an automated website years ago but I wouldn't listen and it's only fair that people are now saying 'I told you so'. That's the problem with working on my own for all these years, all the decisions are mine alone and I don't always make the right choice. My hubby tries to help but he has his own demanding job (and who listens to their husbands anyway).

We managed to sort out the special offers last weekend, they are now listed twice on the site but they are 'linked' so the stock list is the same for both. I keep finding that things have gone off the site when I still have them in stock. I will have to get used to checking stock levels to make sure this doesn't happen. Several people have asked for the dates that I am away, this made me realise that the calendar on my home page wasn't obvious enough. My web guy has now sorted this by making it more prominent and changing the wording. I am still getting lots of questions asking if I have got something particular in stock. I don't want to be rude but I am using the delete button a bit more, if it isn't on the site, I clearly don't have it. I have also added it to my FAQ page. I intend to make more of this page as I go along. PayPal ECheques have proved a problem this week, so much so that they have been blocked. My system does not allow me to send out items before the ECheque has cleared. It also doesn't take the items off my stock list and they can therefore be sold out by the time it clears. I'm not sure how to solve this problem at the moment, hence the block on them.

Last but not least, great excitement when I went to Asda to get some photos printed last weekend. They actually had a whole carrier bag full of film pots and the guy said he would save them for me in the future. I am getting through a lot of film pots at the moment due to the number of spiderlings that I am posting out. I have reduced the mantids this week and thankfully I have sold quite a number of them. They are too time consuming to leave my family caring for them all, while I'm away. That leads me to the people that are worrying about me giving out my holiday dates. The house will not be unoccupied at all. Someone needs to be here at all times for my animals, big and small.

Still hoping the postal strikes won't go ahead in the end but my Post Office says that Special Delivery items will be delivered by managers if necessary!


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