Back to Work

Back at work today and I've been flat out busy. It pissed down rain all day and i really thought there would be no one about and it would be an easy day. Instead I had customer after customer and a million emails and admin jobs to catch up on.

Not that I'm complaining. Being busy is good. The day flew by and before you knew it I'd picked up Emily, served take-away chicken for dinner, bathed her and put her to bed.

I've been playing with logo's for the new shop all night and my eye's are beginning to get sore. Do I do a colored logo or a black and white logo? Do I put a picture on the side or faded behind the name? So many options and I'm terrible at making up my mind on these things.

I'm so excited about the Melbourne Kids In Style Expo coming up on 3rd August. I've booked Mum and I into the Art Series hotel - The Cullen. Mum was an art student and teacher back in the day and it's right up her alley. She'll love all the art deco furniture and original works on the walls.

Tomorrow I've got a little more stock ordering and re-organising to do, and endless amount of paperwork and hopefully get this artwork sorted. It's going to be a really busy 6 weeks ahead so this chest infection better hurry up and get better!



TFIF!

What a massive day......or not really.

It started with a semi successful drop off of Emily to her new day care center. All was going well until I put her bag in her pigeon hole and she realised Mummy was leaving. There were tears and the poor childcare lady could barely pry her arms from around my neck. I sat in the car, told myself to get it together and took off for work. I hate leaving her like that.

Coffee in hand I was determined to get a heap of pricing done today and was also hoping my three boxes of winter Eternal Creation clothing would finally turn up. After the morning rush of sales (yay! I love meeting my target by 11am) I received a much awaited package from one of my organic clothing suppliers. I won't name and shame......you can figure it out by yourself. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I had to return some stock from this supplier due to imperfections and marks. There were about a dozen pieces and one in particular looked like it had been dragged across the factory floor before being packaged and sent to me. So when I received my replacements I expected to find perfect pieces all ready to hang.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I think they just re-packed the pieces I returned and sent them back to me! A pair of pink footed tights for a newborn had dirty marks on one of the feet and all the cream tops had small red marks. Two of the items were listed as no longer available but there was no credit on the invoice. I was slightly fuming.

OK, stay calm I thought. I filled out new return forms and repacked the stock to return for the second time. Then I called my agent to tell her that for a second time I'm returning faulty or marked stock. When she called me back she was apologising profusely and also wanted to let me know the Production Manager wanted to call me personally to apologise. Quite frankly, having come from a manufacturing and logistics background I understand that the owners and reps are not responsible for this kind of thing and as much as they try, it's the guys on the ground who make it happen. Unfortunately the guys on the ground are in China and their Quality Control sucked. I also wrote a long winded email (well they did ask for my complaint in writing) expressing my "disappointment" at the lack of attention to detail and difference in quality from last year.

The fact is this brand is extremely good and apart from one line everything else is perfect and my sales reflect how good they are. So I'm not going to hold it against them, but I'm allowed to be pissed off that I wasted an entire morning and half the afternoon sorting it out and I only got one tub of stock priced for the shelf tomorrow.

Hubby was home sick today and apparently too sick to pick up Emily from childcare so at 5pm I rushed out the door, stopped by the butchers on the way to the car park, picked up some stir fry and raced to pick her up before they closed at 5:30pm.

By the time I got home I had a splitting headache and no motivation to cook a rousing stir fry and rice. It's Friday night for FFS! Pizza! So I called the new pizza delivery up the road while hubby lay moaning on the couch and Emily tugged and cried at my legs for a bottle of milk that we're desperately trying to wean her off. I swear you'd think she was coming of heroin the way she carries on.

The pizza was disgusting and hubby complained the whole time about it and how sick he felt. Emily finally went off to bed crying herself to sleep because she wanted a bottle and we're trying hard to stick to our decision to get her off them.

Then I sat down, opened my laptop, checked my Facebook and what do I see? Mrs Woog shared a picture of me in my short condom dress. You can see it here https://www.facebook.com/woogsworld. Thanks Mrs Woog, as one of my blogging hero's you made my day!

This is my little munchkin all ready for day care today. I think she thinks she's driving the Mazda.....

Who's your Blogging hero?

Super Mum

Why is it that when a Mum is sick, she's still a Mum? When my hubby is sick he's just plain sick and can't even look after himself.

Yesterday he came home at 3pm with a migraine. He walked in the door and went straight to bed, much to the confusion of Emily. "Daddy nigh nigh?" she asked and then looked outside at the sun shining.

At 4am he woke and couldn't get back to sleep. He tossed and turned until I kicked him out of bed.

Today he was sent home from work with a viral infection and high blood pressure and was straight back in bed. He could have had Emily with him today as all he'd have to do is supervise, but instead he sent her to Mum and Dads so he could rest.

A couple of months ago I had a very severe case of bronchitis (something I get a lot of in Albury thanks to pollen hanging around for 9 months of the year). I couldn't call in sick to the shop, who was I going to call? Myself? So I go to work, sick as a dog apologising to customers all day for my incesant coughing. That night I pick up Emily from childcare, take her home, bath her, make her dinner and put her to bed. I crawl on to the couch for an hour or two watching SVU or NCIS until I fall asleep and hubby wakes me to get into bed.

All night I cough and splutter and just as I fall back asleep Emily wakes crying and wanting a feed. I go back to bed, coughing again and hubby complains that I'm too loud and wants me to stop coughing. I would if I could! I go back to the couch until I wake to Emily crying in the morning.

My point is, when I'm sick I suck it up, I do what I have to and get on with it. On the other hand I also take so much longer to get better. Tonight hubby is already feeling better and has let me sit on my ass and blog instead of doing dishes and cleaning the family room (after cyclone Emily was there earlier).

Sometimes I feel like telling him to "suck it up princess", then when he's feeling better I just want to hug him and kiss him because at least he tries to make up for his winging and inability to do anything.

Sometimes I think I should stop trying to be such a super Mum and let others handle it for the day, even if I don't exactly like how they do things.

Hubby and Emily playing games on the computer tonight while I cooked dinner. Obviously he's well enough for that! 

FIGJAM

My weekend was pretty uneventful.......

I weeded and harvested the vegie patch before the deluge of rain hit.

Then I made a lasagne with the herbs and a salad with the lettuce we'd picked.

Then I made some cheese and chive muffins....



Then I organised my new sewing and craft chest of drawers....

This was my fathers chest of drawers and his mothers before that. There is a stamp on the back of it stating it was made in 1923. I just love it.

Then I made a dress for Emily......

Then I made a pair of denim pants for Emily......

A bit daggy but suitable for Childcare I think

Then I made some Oat Bran Biscuits for hubby's lunches this week.....







Then I made a Silverbeet and Potato Gratin with Pork Chops for dinner.....

I really did mean to take a photo of this but.....

With all the housework, washing and ironing done I'm now sitting back tonight thinking I can achieve a lot when it's pissing down rain and you can't go out!

How was your weekend?

PS> My thoughts tonight are with the flood affected areas of NSW, VIC and ACT, especially my hometown of Urana NSW which is being air evacuated as I type this.