Tuesday, January 31, 2012

What my six year old neice did today....

I was going to write about my day today. I was going to tell you how when I got to work I decided to put together the new Ikea bookcase that I drove 3 hours and battled crowds in a hot smelly warehouse to get, only to find that one side of the box had been damaged by what looked like a forklift tyne.




I was going to tell you how I ended up putting it together anyway because it would cost me more money and hassle to return it and just put the damaged side on the floor. It turned out pretty good!



I was going to tell you I put together a new window featuring Eternal Creation which is now on sale at 50% off and how proud I am to stock such a great Australian label that is Fair Trade certified.



I was going to tell you that on the way home I saw the most amazing site. Five grey kangaroo's eating green grass on an empty block in a residential street. Truly amazing that they weren't even freaked out when I pulled over, rolled the window down and started taking their photo's.



I was going to tell you that I am now relaxing with a Vodka, lemon and lime, blogging whilst my hubby sits next to me watching Star Wars (he's a massive nerd!).



But then I got an email. It was an invite for a blog. It was my 6 year old niece's blog! I'm not even going to debate whether she's too young to have one, I think it's cool. Six years old and already writing.

This is today's post....

The best friend club
In a school there was a girl. her name was Sarah. her best friends name was Milly.her 2nd best friend was Isi well also 1st!they were in the best friends club.they made necklaces.

One very proud auntie here.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Wingman

I've been a bit quiet the last couple of days because I was down in Melbourne on my first buying trip of the year for the shop. I love these trips because they give me a chance to catch up with friends as well as work.

This time I had to go to Ikea to get some fittings for the shop and see a couple of suppliers to view summer 2012 kids clothing collection. After that was done I decided to stop for a late lunch on Bridge Road in Richmond and get a bit of shopping in before checking into my hotel.

Did I say hotel? It was actually supposed to be a serviced apartment with a 4 star rating. I drove up Arthur Street in South Yarra to find a circa 1970's yellow brick apartment block and the sign said to check in at a backpackers on Toorak Road. What??? Sorry but the photo's on Wotif.com were so different. Deciding it was way to hard (the Australian Open is on in Melbourne at the moment) and I was way too tired to try and get my money back and find somewhere else, I decided to risk it. The backpacker reception assured me it was freshly renovated inside and beautiful.

Inside it was clean, renovated but definitely not 4 star. Silly me for accidentally booking something that was self-rated. It didn't even have a full length mirror!

This is what they advertised

This is the actual bedroom..... and the bed is more like a sofa divan with the thinnest


Anyway, my girlfriend Ms L and I decided it didn't matter, it was just a place to sleep for the night, and several vodka, lemon and limes later we were standing on chairs trying to see our outfits in the tiny bathroom mirror.

Dinner was at a restaurant and bar called Hoo Haas. We were meeting a couple of old friends of mine, one of which is bravely battling breast cancer at the moment. My friend who I'll call Ms D has incredible spirit considering what she is going through, and she's able to make light of the most terrifying situations. She refers to her surgeon affectionately as "the butcher" ("Well she had three goes at the sucker!" she pointed out) and explained that loosing your hair is actually really painful and her partner would let her lie with her head in his lap while he pulled out the loose hairs like a monkey grooming his mate. Truly she is an amazing woman and such an inspiration to me.

My other friend is single and bought her roommate along (also single) so after Ms D went home we decided to hit a bar. It was there that I discovered a whole new concept on the singles scene, the wingman for women. Basically the wingman befriends the target man, has a casual conversation with him finding out if he's married, attached, has kids, occupation etc etc and then steers him towards the single female. It seemed to work quite well and we were all in awe and wishing we had thought of this when we were in our twenties.

About 10 minutes after our arrival the four of us were standing in the courtyard chatting when a very tall and good looking man came over and casually asked how we were doing tonight. We all replied well thanks and he proceeded to make casual conversation at first with all four of us before concentrating on Ms L (who is gorgeous by the way but also very attached with two gorgeous boys). She was polite but made it quite clear that she wasn't interested. He complained that he couldn't catch a break, she was so beautiful and if he went to the bathroom could she please call her partner and break up with him by the time he got back. I muttered "oh smooth" while my friend said "what?!" and the other two girls had already turned their attention to a group of guys behind us. Just as we were about to give him a serve he says "oh and here's my girlfriend, good night ladies!" and that was it. He walked over to a very attractive blond lady, put his hand on her ass and gave her a kiss. We stood there stunned at the gall of this guy. We also took that as our signal to leave our single friends and head back to the safety of our pretend 4 star apartment where we agreed we were very glad not to be on the singles scene any more.

Waking up the next morning I was looking forward to breakfast on Chapel Street, but I was also really anxious to get home. I love getting away from it all and the opportunity to mix work with pleasure, but I really missed Miss E and hubby.

After a delicious breakfast I headed off on my 3 hour drive home. Pulling up in the driveway it was so good to be greeted by my little girl who clearly missed me. There's nothing quite like the love you get from your child is there.


Ms L & I at breakfast on Chapel Street

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Shopping with a Toddler

Is it me or is shopping at Aldi the most stressful experience? Add to that a hungry tired toddler and you just spelled disaster.

I mean, first you have to find a $2 coin (which I never have) to get a trolley out, then negotiate with said toddler to sit in the damn seat. She was not cooperating at all today so I just let her pretend to push the trolley. The problem with that is she's really strong so I'm madly grabbing items from the shelves and she's pushing hard on the trolley and I'm hoping I've got everything. By the time we get to the bread and milk just before the registers she's really over it. I let the couple with three things go first because I know the race is now on to get the trolley empty and all the items on the conveyor belt so I can get it to the guy on the register who swipes the items through like a machine and I'm now madly trying to put the heavy items on the bottom and not squish the bread!

Whilst I'm doing all that Miss E has run out the front door and I can no longer see her. Shit! Now what do I do, leave the trolley and race after her? I apologise to the line behind me for holding them up and race out the door hoping no-one steals my handbag which I just realised I left in the trolley. Luckily I find her just outside and quickly scoop her up and race back inside. I pay for my groceries, still apologising, and then I'm madly trying to unload the trolley again and fill bags before Miss E decides to go on another exploration of the shopping centre.

Why on earth do I have to pack my own bags? The check-out operator gets paid the same amount as the ones at Woolworth's but they get a chair to sit on and don't have to pack bags.

Anyway now that the bags are packed and in the trolley you think my expedition is over? No! Aldi doesn't stock all the groceries I have so I now have to make my way to the other end of the shopping centre to Woolworth's to get cornflower, carpet cleaner (Miss E decided to paint our carpet with Sudocream the other day) and one of those magic eraser things (this morning Miss E decided to get in touch with her artistic side and drew on our dining room wall in black pen).



On the way to Woolworth's there's two of those rides little kids go on. Miss E loves them. Unfortunately I'm in a hurry to get through Woollies before she has a complete meltdown, but I can't chase her and push the trolley so now she's on the ride I can't get her off. $6 later and 2 minutes of going around in circles I yank her off the Koala's lap and she's kicking and screaming and arching her back. I break open the box of Anzac biscuits and offer her one. "Two" she says. Unbelievable! I give her another and she smirks and walks off towards Woolworth's with a biscuit in each hand.

We get through Woolworth's relatively unscathed and now we're making our way to the car park. Miss E is running ahead as usual. "Slow down!" I yell, "Wait for Mummy". I can see she's about to run straight in front of a car so I race in front of the still moving trolley and grab her arm. She screams and drops to the ground......in the middle of the road! I scoop her up apologising to the cars that almost ran her over and manage to grab the trolley just before it runs into one of the stopped cars.

Now I have her on my hip and we're walking to the car and I'm giving her a lecture about how when we go to the shopping centre she has to hold Mummy's hand and not run off (like she understands me). I load up the boot of the car with the groceries and return the trolley to get back my $2. Blocking my way to the magical Aldi chain that will give my back my money is a whole stack of Woolworth's trolleys so I spend the next couple of minutes pulling them out of the way.

Next I have to get Miss E in the car who is way overtired and is in need of a midday nap. She has decided she wants to sit in the front seat ...... seriously ....... the front seat. All my efforts to get her in the back and in her chair are useless. She's screaming, arching her back and people are starting to stare. Finally I go to the boot, pull out another two Anzac biscuits and give them to her. Naturally she easily sits in the seat and starts chomping away on the bickies.

By the time we get home she's fast asleep and I carry her into her room and pop her down gently into the cot. I unload the groceries and put them away, make myself a sandwich and sit down on the couch. I open my laptop and aahhhhh, peace and quiet.........for now.

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!!

Today was so much fun! This is the part of my job I love.......getting new season stock.

This morning I thought it was going to be another boring day of bookwork and then the delivery guy came with four massive boxes from WALNUT Melbourne. Whoop! Now I have an excuse to procrastinate on the bookwork.



I had honestly forgotten what I ordered so it was like opening Christmas presents today. Gorgeous fuchsia pink Mary Jane's, classic french navy Cruise shoes, little chocolate boots and warm winter tights. I was having a serious problem because all I wanted to do was put them on the shelves immediately.



Halfway through the day I gave in to temptation and put the Mary Jane's and Cruise shoes on the shelf and website. By 2:30pm I was showing a regular customer the ballet flats that aren't due to go out for another month. I'm really bad at the surprise thing!

I have a huge love of beautiful shoes and when I find a label I love, I tend to buy it in excess. Children's shoes can be so cute, but they can also be so expensive. When I discovered WALNUT Melbourne I was so pleasantly surprised that they were not just very stylish and functional but also very affordable.

Miss E was recently out at our local park in her new Chilli Red WALNUT Mary Janes and what's the first thing she did? Jump in a brown muddy puddle! "Noooooo!" I screamed as I ran accross the playground. When we got home I popped them in the washing machine on wool cycle with a bit of wool wash and they came up good as new. See, stylish but functional.

Anyway, I managed to get all the stock into the computer and put away in storage until their time to go out (except for the Mary Jane and Cruise shoes of course) and now all I can think about is how I'm going to display them.

I think I'll leave that for another day........


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Another Productive Day

I feel a bit like I'm back at school today. I spent the afternoon sticking pictures of the stock I ordered from Eternal Creation into a scrap book which will become my Bearly Worn Look Book. It's a place where I can refer when ordering stock because sometimes you want your kids clothing labels to mix and match, sometimes you have jackets in one label but no hat so you might need to order that from another label. Mostly it's because I order stock so far in advance I forget what I'm supposed to be getting.





This season is going to be so exciting. There's lots of navy, red, black and white and greys coming in. I love strong winter colors. It makes the wet, grey days bearable. Last year I complained that I couldn't find a decent winter coat for Miss E so I'm extra excited about the ones I've ordered as they'll definitely keep out wind chill.

It can be very tempting to raid the shop sometimes for gorgeous outfits for Miss E. This is easily fixed with new stock as I just order double of her size  for that season. However when it comes to the handmade children's clothes, I'm in big trouble. I had two delivery's of stock today. The first was from C for Cat and she makes the most adorable reversible dresses in quirky and vintage style fabrics. I'm so low on her stock as it practically walks out the door as soon as it arrives, but today I really was tempted. Seriously who can resist this little number??



Next I had a delivery from A Dor able. Now this lady is particularly difficult to resist. Apart from her generous nature (she made my daughter a Christmas present "just because"), her choice of fabrics and the way she meticulously puts things together is unbelievable. She bought in this skirt with matching hair ties today. I'm pretty sure it won't last long....


Anyway that was my day. Resisting temptation and looking at beautiful things. Gee it's a hard life sometimes!

What did you do today?


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Handmade SquigglePop

Why is handmade so damn popular at the moment? I would love to be creative and make something divine that people loved and wanted and I could sell in my little children's clothing shop. I can sew, I can copy, I can color, but coming up with an original idea is something I would struggle with.

I have several handmade suppliers in my shop, all of whom I love. The way I usually choose what to stock is common sense. "Would I buy it?" is first and foremost. Sometimes they're items I've purchased at markets and fallen in love with and then approached the creator to see if they want to supply. Most importantly it has to be original. There's no point in me stocking something everyone else has.

I think this blog I read today said it perfectly:

The tale of the grey Rhombus! (why copying matters in the handmade world)


Mrs SquigglePop also  makes gorgeous terry backed bibs. Now there's nothing different about that I hear you say. But when she puts them into cute little noodle boxes with her bungy cords they all of a sudden become this very original baby shower gift idea!

So now here's what happens when you hand make something and it becomes a hit. I now have mothers coming in saying "so-and-so i my mothers group had this gorgeous bib and matching dummy cord by SquigglePop and she told me you sell them" Viola! The rest is history.

I've just put a big order into SquigglePop as her bibs and bungy cords were so popular in the lead up to Christmas that I've almost sold out. Every time I receive a parcel from her it's like opening a present because unlike buying from big name labels, I never know what designs I'm getting. I can't wait for this lot to arrive!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Birthday Boy

Today I would normally have off but my Saturday girl had a wedding to attend so I worked. It's also my Mr Mummasphere's birthday today so even though I've been away for most of the day at the shop I wanted to do something special for him.

Firstly though came work. I'm so excited because today I've ordered stock for my third clothing label Mizzle. Mizzle is a gorgeous baby basics range that is mostly organic cotton and manufactured under fair working and pay conditions. It fits perfectly with my other baby clothing lines and the ethos of the shop.

I really think it's so important these days to buy fair trade and ethically made products. I would hate to be walking around in something that was made by a 14 year old girl who got paid $2 per hour and worked in horrid conditions for over 16 hours a day. It's not right and I wouldn't want my daughter working like that, so I wont support anyone else's daughter doing it.

So here's a sneak peak at what's coming...














I can't wait to get it in and on the shelves!

So now I'm home and since Mr Mummasphere is from Ireland and it's his birthday I've decided to cook him something traditional from home. He doesn't do sweet food so getting him a cake is pointless. His favourite foods are home cooked comfort foods like good old Irish Stew and Mashed Potato. His mother taught me this recipe and I'm experimenting a little with a twist of my own.

1kg of Osso Bucco in either veal or beef
3 carrots chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 brown onion sliced
500g mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of HP Sauce (my own twist)
1-2 teaspoons thyme
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup of water
salt & pepper to taste



Add all ingredients into a big pot and bring to the boil. Once the liquid is boiling reduce to simmer and put the lid on. Stirring occasionally, leave to simmer for 2-3 hours or until meat is tender and falling off the bone. All the marrow should be dissolved into the stew. Serve with mashed potato and some gorgeous Irish Cider. Delicious!







Thursday, January 19, 2012

Fresh

Sometimes it's hard to come up with new ideas. Yesterday I spent most of the day trying to decide on what to put in my window. It shouldn't be hard to do a window. But when it's the end of a season and you've seen the same Gaia Organic Cotton and Eternal Creation Clothing for the last 6 months it's hard to decide what to put in it.

So this is what I picked:


I decided on a handmade mixed with the current season. I have Walnut Melbourne Cruise Shoes in Taupe, a Skeanie cowboy hat, Gaia Organic Cotton Bodysuit, Handmade by Terri Applique singlet, Eternal Creation shirt and shorts, Three Potato Four dress and C for Cat reversible dress. The Mummy and Bubby owl set by A Dor able is one of my favourites. The baby owl has a rattle in it and the mummy owl is the perfect size for a cot throw cushion. The teddy has been with the shop since I bought it last year.

In my quest to increase sales for kids clothing online I went to see Mrs Doodlebug to get some artistic help with drawing a bear and coming up with a color scheme for the shop. After we'd told each other our life stories, ate a bowl of cherries, played with her gorgeous baby (who coincidentally has the same name as mine), wondered about how she's English born in August married to an Aussie and I'm an Aussie born in August married to and Irishman who we both met our husbands whilst on holidays immediately getting pregnant and both our husbands have their birthdays in January, we finally put pen to paper and drew the most quirky, whimsical bear I have ever seen. She truly is talented. Mad but talented! We also picked out a new color scheme for the shop but you'll have to wait to see what that is.

Next I helped her with deciding on a Madeit.com shop, Etsy shop or Pinterest. It can be so confusing when you have a great product that your ready to take to the next level and there are so many choices. I suggested she stick to Facebook and Madeit.com and the rest would come when she perfected these. So I was wrapt today when I got and email to say she had opened her Madeit.com Doodlebugs shop!

I think it's great that we can help each other with our businesses. We get to double up on promoting our business through each other and our networks so it's win win.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Potty Talk

This morning my 18 month old started pulling down her pants, doing this strange dance and making this weird whiny sound. "Muuummmmyyyy" she was whining. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. So I ignored it.

Half an hour later and I'm in the shower and the same whiny "Muuuummmmyyy" comes through the door. This time the pants are off and she's almost got the nappy off. Next thing she lifts up the toilets seat. I bolt out the shower screaming "noooo!". She of course started crying. Could she want to sit on the toilet? I pop her on and voila! She wee's!

This is something I wasn't prepared for. Talking, yes. Moving to a big bed, yes. Toilet training......seriously at 18 months?? I really didn't think I'd be dealing with it for another 6-12 months. Plenty of time to read up and learn all about it. Plenty of time to stock up on training pants and buy a potty. And I thought it would be me showing her what to do, not her showing me that's she's ready.

Maybe it's because when they stop wearing nappies they're no longer babies. Miss E is the only baby I'm having so I'm trying to hold onto those baby years for as long as possible. On the one hand I'm really proud to have such an advanced child, on the other hand I'm sad that she's growing up so fast.

So tonight I'm spending time researching toilet training and potty's. Fun!

Soon she'll have her own blog!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

One Hell of a Day!!!

Seriously what a day! Dropped Miss E off to childcare only to get a phone call an hour later saying she had fallen off a chair and hit her head really hard on their floor and although there was no lump, she was very tired and very unhappy. So I called the only person I could, my Mum. Thank goodness for Mums. She came into the shop immediately and took over so I could race to childcare and find a perfectly OK little girl. But since Mum was already there and I had turned up to collect Miss E, I thought I might as well take her out for the rest of the day and she can spend it with my Mum.


Before we leave it's noted she doesn't have her cardigan and it happens to be one of the coldest summers day since I don't know when (it actually snowed on the mountain today). I was informed she was eating strawberries straight out of the garden and got juice all down the front so they have it in the laundry soaking. Who the hell supervises these kids???


Anyway back to my little shop which was dead from wind, rain and cold to find Mum giving out all the wrong information to a prospective supplier of recycled children's clothing. Great! I inform Mum that Miss E has no cardigan and is cold, hasn't had a nap yet and it's way past her bedtime, and has had three helpings of lunch so no need to feed her. I ask Mum to swing past our place on the way home and pick up a bottle, nappies and cardigan so Miss E would be comfortable, fed and warm for the rest of the day. "Try to get her to bed as soon as you get home because she'll be going mental from being over tired" I say.


At 2pm the phone rings and it's Mum. "I just got Miss E off to bed now. We stopped at the supermarket on the way home because I realised I didn't have the key to your house with me, and I bought some nappies, a bottle and some size 1 winter PJ's because I thought they'd be more useful than a jumper. It's really strange but she didn't want any lunch." The nappies and PJ's were too small and the bottle was the wrong brand! By the way so you think she heard me about Miss E having 3 helpings of lunch so no need to feed her??? Aaarrrggghhh!


At 4pm I close the shop after having a whole 2 customers for the day. I call Mum on the way who informs me Miss E is up and fine. I ask her does she think she's up to getting the groceries if I take her to Aldis now and Mum replies "yes". Wrong!! She was grumpy, tired, running green snotty nose and red swollen eyes. Poor bub. I finally placate her with my wallet. She loves to pull the cards in and out of their slots.


On the way home I get McDonald's because hubby is buggered and there's no way I'm cooking after that. Miss E refuses to eat, insists on sitting on my knee watching Ra Ra the noisy lion over and over, and then refuses to put on her PJ's. Following her down the hallway she sees Daddy and makes a dash for him. She tumbles down three tiled steps before I could stop her and pierces her lip with her tooth. Bugger!!! We spend the next hour with a cold face washer, dummy, bottle, stuffed toys and Ra Ra trying to calm her down. Thank God it only took 10 minutes to actually get her to sleep.

A bit of a fat lip :-(

Tomorrow she is supposed to get her 18 month vaccination but somehow I think I'll be rescheduling. All I can say is Thank God today is over and now I'm off to bed........Goodnight!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Al Olio

It's been a gruelling couple of days at the shop. I have my summer sale on and people have been going crazy over the recycled children's clothing. Weird because it sat there for the last 4-5 months and didn't budge, now all of a sudden it's on sale and they're swarming like bee's. I don't think I could have fitted any more women in my shop this morning. Mum's with kids, there mum's tagging along watching the little ones who insist on trying to run off out the door (luckily I have a child gate locking them in).

By 11am (I open at 10am) I had met my sales target for the day. Brilliant! Now I can sit back and relax. Wrong, wrong wrong! I check my emails and 3 suppliers want me to go to viewings of Summer 2012/13 stock. What! This summer is not even over. This is something I've learnt. You buy 6 months in advance and designers design 9-12 months in advance. Lucky I'm an organiser so planning this far in advance is kind of fun. Although I've already forgotten what I bought for winter 2012.......

Hubby had an overnight installation job (he works in IT) so I feel like I've hardly seen him the last couple of days. We wave at each other in the driveway and kiss each other when we get a second. Because of the type of work he does and who he works for he often has trips away. Unfortunately we are both away one week or another for most of February and Miss E will be in a one parent household for most of the month. Great timing since she's decided to be super clingy now.



So to unwind tonight I thought I'd make myself a late supper of Spagetti Al Olio with a little chilli, relax in front of my laptop and catch up on my blog. I love cooking. There's something so relaxing and cathartic about creating something special to sit and enjoy at the end of a hectic day. Well I put way too much chilli in the spagetti and now my mouth in on fire! All I can do is laugh.

Life is busy and throws us challenges every day. It's how we handle them that matters.  How do you unwind?

Monday, January 9, 2012

Frustration

Anyone who's ever had their own business knows the frustration of having little to no money for the first 12 months. They say in retail that if you can't make it work within the first 2 years, you should spend the third selling off your assets and getting out.

I'm still in my first and it's a trying business. My husband is the sole supporter of the household financially and every week we add up the bills, and every week there's little to nothing left over. Every week I promise him things will get better but I see his frustration building.

I have to remind myself why I'm doing this. I want to be able to support myself and my family so that if anything happens, if hubby looses his job or gets sick, I can look after us. I want to have something for our baby's future. I want her to go to a good school and to be able to afford ballet lessons and piano lessons. All of these things cost a bundle so we need two incomes.

My reason for working my ass of for little financial reward....

I also want to enjoy what I do and to make something that I'm proud of. I want to stand back and say "look at what I achieved".

I'm determined to succeed with my little shop. My husband may have to learn some patience, but that's OK, he'll be proud of my end result.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Webisphere

Why do teenagers persist in hitting my light box sign out the front of my shop? Is it because they can reach it when they jump high enough? Is it because it's so boring walking down the street with a bunch of hormonal, pimple faced friends and that's the only exciting thing they can think of to do? It drives me crazy! I'm just waiting for it to explode one day and fall all over their little heads.....wishful thinking.....

This is the front of my little shop Bearly Worn in Albury

Speaking of the shop, I spent about two hours yesterday conversing with my favourite web geek Fiona who gave me loads of tips and tricks to organically get my website on the first page of the Google searches.

Two days ago I wrote down some goals for 2012 and one of them was to get at least one online sale per day. Children's clothing on-line is incredibly competitive so it's great to find out exactly how Google works and how to get my website up there without paying Google $500 a month for AdWords.

Basically it's a popularity contest and the more my site is written about and linked to the better. So now I'm trawling for kids fashion reviews and blogs that I can leave comments on and link to my site to get it up there. I've also got myself a gravatar (globally recognised avatar) so that every time I do make a comment my picture comes up.

So my next step is modernising my logo and home page. I'm starting with my Bear. It's not that there's anything wrong with the little fella but he's just a bit drab and watercolor-like. Maybe old-fashioned is more the point. I inherited him when I bought the shop and if the rest of the place can have a face lift, so can he! So, I'm calling on my friend Mrs Doodlebug who does amazing work and hopefully she can come up with something for me. God I haven't even asked her what it'll cost me yet!

Step 3 is to get my web geek Fiona  to update my artwork and logo on-line. I've decided to change around some of the wording so that it says New and Recycled Children's Clothing instead of the other way around.

Which brings me back to my damn light box.....what to do with that? Do I bother being charged a fortune to change it or will people not really notice it or care? Is it more important to update what's on-line and my business cards etc? Or should I be a perfectionist and update all of it?

At the end of the day it all comes down to dollars and cents so I guess I'll prioritise as usual and start with "A" and move my way down the list.

Best case scenario the ratbag teens hit it and it breaks and the insurance company pays for it........but that is wishful thinking!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Goal Setting

Today is all about goal setting. I'm reading lots of "I'm not doing New Years resolutions" on a lot of blogs at the moment and it got me thinking. In my head I know what I want to achieve this year but I've never publicly written it down and ticked off what I've done.

I have some personal goals (the usual) and some business goals I want to achieve so I'm writing them down and I'm going to tick them off as I achieve them all.

Here's my personal list:
  1. Loose 10kg (I think I start all lists like this!)
  2. Sort out my superannuation
  3. Pay off credit card
  4. Change Miss E from disposable to cloth nappies (she's incredibly tall and needs a narrow width so it's actually harder than it sounds)
  5. Finish the back garden beds
  6. Go on a holiday!
Here's my business list:
  1. Finish my 2012 Business Plan
  2. Finally conquer the paperwork and bookwork mountain
  3. Get one on-line sale a day
  4. Fix website so it's "prettier" and easier to use
  5. Add two new brands into the "New" section of the shop
  6. Sort out a new advertising budget and advertising that is consistent and targets the audience I want
  7. Become the Number 1 destination in Albury Wodonga region to buy kids clothes!
I really love the idea of sitting back at the end of the month, quarter or year and saying "Wow! Look what I did!". My list will probably grow and evolve over the course of the year and that's OK. As long as I have goals to achieve I'm moving forward rather than backward.

Heatwave!

Just as I plant the new vegie patch we get a heatwave! By heatwave I mean 3-4 days of 35'C plus.

Today it hit the incredible 40'C and it was my first day back at work. No problem I thought, Miss E will be in childcare all day and I'll be at the shop. Wrong! Turns out the airconditioning at the shop isn't so great in 40'C. So sweltering away I managed to change the old Christmas window to a SALE! window, update the website and still met my sales  target by 12pm. Not too bad although I was very glad when 4pm came and I could close the doors.

Picking up Miss E and I notice that she's as cool as a cucumber but with major cabin fever. She's been stuck inside all day so the minute we get outside she goes mental and runs straight into the carpark. Thank God there were no cars!

Too hot to cook and too hot to eat. Is it acceptable to just eat ice-cream for dinner?

Managed to get Miss E off to bed however not without a bottle of milk (we're trying to wean her and so far we're hopeless at it).

Out to water the garden and it seems 3 sunflowers and some peas are so wilted I doubt they'll bounce back. I strangely feel sorry for them.

Back into the airconditioning and that lands me here....on my laptop.....blogging away while I watch Nigella's Kitchen and thinking of yummy dishes to create.