Busy, busy, busy, week!

Busy, busy, busy, week! I was delighted to receive a large number of orders over the Bank Holiday weekend. I'm assuming everyone has returned from their holidays and of course the schools and colleges are just about to begin a new term. My hubby and I had a good time in Brighton on Friday and Saturday. We visited our elderly ex-neighbours from way back and my cousin (who recently managed to break her leg at the same time as her German Shepherd dog, both are recovering nicely). I love Brighton, it is so vibrant and 'different' and it's got the only Debenhams store that I know with a sea view. My patient hubby also stood by and let me spend about an hour on the pier, playing the 2p slot machines (his job to go and get me another £1 of coins as I can't leave 'my' machine and it may have been a little over an hour!). I love them, it's such fun and I won three key rings!

Yesterday was spent at the hospital with my poor mother in-law. She needed a second hip replacement as last year's operation had failed. She was quite perky after the operation but we are told it will be a long road to recovery. I am anticipating that she will need a lot of help from me over the next few weeks. Her flat is five minutes away from us and unfortunately she has no other friends or family in the area, having moved here from Kent in an already poor state of health.

Now back to work - Monday was of course a dreaded Bank Holiday (totally mucks up my week), I then spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing and posting all the orders that had come in over the weekend. They were long days and I didn't get much else done but I was very pleased to actually make it and get all the orders off. I looked like a donkey on Wednesday as I struggled from the car park with two sacks and two large boxes. I was shattered when I got to the Post Office counter (it's a good job I go in the gym).

The bugs all seem to be doing well. I really wish I hadn't left the lid off of my Red Runner cockroaches the other day. It was only about an hour but they are now absolutely everywhere in my bug house. I have hoovered the floor and put down sticky traps but I think I will be finding stray ones for some time to come. I need to get the bug house clearer and cleaner as I have a couple of customers coming to visit today and tomorrow and then next week I have a lot of new stock coming in. I need to wash all the boxes and cages that have been vacated this week in anticipation of filling them all up again next week.

I have done a u-turn and decided that I will have a stand at the Autumn AES exhibition after all. I think it is important to be seen, I speak to lots of people on a daily basis by email and on the phone but it is good to meet people face to face. I'm not sure what I will be taking with me but it certainly won't be everything that I sell. I think it will probably be limited to mostly animals that I have bred myself and have lots of e.g. various cockroaches, stick insects and millipedes. Perhaps some of the larger spiders but I don't want to be spending hours packing and then unpacking again. It is so difficult to know what will sell at an exhibition and I haven't had a stand for several years. My main aim at the exhibitions these days is to buy in new and exciting stock. I will be relying on my daughter to man the stand for some of the day but she only gets paid if I make a profit!

We had yet another power cut at the end of last week. I have never lived in an area with so many problems with the power supply. It is crazy, as soon as the power is off, that's it, no contact with my customers. Everything is on my computer, I cannot inform anyone of anything, I cannot work in the bug house as it's too dark, it truly is a nightmare. We bought a generator some time ago but it takes time to set up and sounds like a tractor. I could only really use it in an emergency as I have done in the past, when the bugs were in danger of getting too cold in the Winter. I do wish more people would pick up the phone, especially if they don't get a reply to an email but most people especially youngsters just won't. Do I dare put this? It seems there are a number of young men (sorry they have all been male in my experience) these days who prefer to use emails, social networking sites and forums. They appear to be testosterone fuelled and full of angst, they want to 'win' at all costs and cause a great deal of upset to people. I have suffered from this but I am not just talking about me, I speak to lots of people who have been hounded and feel overwhelmed by their spitefulness. These people generally hide behind a pseudonym and quite frankly I loathe them. I cannot imagine that these young men would fare quite so well in a face to face confrontation.

Ok rant over, it's all going wrong and I have got to get a move on. My customer/friend forgot she was at work later so I need to get her order ready earlier (I'm still in my dressing gown, the joys of working from home). I need to ring the hospital and check on my mother in-law and my MOT is about to run out, I must ring the garage and plead with them to do it today before hospital visiting this afternoon. I never suffer from boredom, I had lots more to say but it will have to wait until next week, I will continue the story of 'must win' young men but the last thing I want to do is set them off again. People regularly say "how do you find something to write each week", I can honestly say I never have a problem!