WTB structure.

Now that my little hobby is about to become officially "work"", I need to structure things a little better. I need to spend some time updating the (separate) blog, the website, Facebook, Folksy; I need to spend some time creating stock, orders and speculative pieces; and I need to spend some time on... ugh... paperwork.

So my plan... ha, my plan. My plan will likely go out the window within a week. MY PLAN! is to sacrifice sleep if needed to get this all done. Not the best plan, granted, but we shall see how it goes. Certain things I can do when the baby is awake, and certain things I cannot. Planning, typing, most things that involve computer things I can do with a baby sleeping or feeding on me. So these are the things that will take priority when TODDLER=ASLEEP AND BABY=AWAKE. If a situation occurs where TODDLER=ASLEEP AND BABY=ASLEEP then I go straight to the practical stuff - making things!!! If both are awake then I've basically no hope of being any kind of business productive, so I'll wear the baby, stick the toddler in the high chair/garden and concentrate on house stuff. Yeah, that'll work, right?

Busy Bee.

Since starting the process to make The Unloveables a genuine enterprise I have been almost literally run off my feet. The toddler is delightful but too clever by half and finds a new way to get to things we previously regarded as "safe" each and every day. The baby is gorgeous but poops an awful lot and recently it's become too voluminous for his diapers which has caused me much personal grief and discomfort (though thankfully it's all been private). The housework... meh, that can wait (she says, thinking about the SIX loads of laundry waiting to be folded upstairs on the bed).

I've had some orders for my beasties which I've been happy enough to do as they've enabled me to try and cost them a bit more accurately, but my customer was SO happy with what I presented her with that I got a HUGE order the next day from her, and that's when I realised how many spaces I could comfortable afford to promote in my books for custom orders. Yikes! Because although the toddler goes to sleep sweet as a nut these days, there's no guarantee that the tiny milk vampire will afford me the same courtesy. The UBER upside of the recent busyness is that it has provided another option for my business (see what I did there?) insofar as there may be a collaboration in the future between me and a lady who does hand stamped jewellery! Exciting times :D

Not so exciting is the paperwork. I am now covered for oddles in terms of liability insurance, and I have a small earnings exemption certificate for NI contributions, so I'm not going to get in trouble there. I now need to go over my paperwork for HMRC (*gulp*) and make sure everything is in order.

Then I make some things to put in my new (and as yet unstocked) Folksy store, and give WordPress one last-ditch try before having to go with an alternative platform to host my website (coming sooooon).

Not related to business - renewed our car insurance. Fully comprehensive was CHEAPER than 3rd party only. Go figure!

SRS BSNS

I own a company.

That is all.






Nah, just kidding. But...

I do actually own a company. Registered it yesterday (*buffs nails*) and will start trading at the end of August. Making stock until then. When I can. This may mean no sleep for a while, as the only time I have to do stuff not child/house related is when everyone is asleep. Which is when *I* should also be asleep.

Look, I didn't say this was a perfect system, ok?


Point is, my little Unloveables are now official. I'll be creating a separate website to the Facebook page but will run both rather than quit FB. Social media is important, y'all.



Baby crying. Later, folks.

long time no write...

It's been rather hectic here of late. When Taylor was born I was still able to play the occasional bit of WOW, only letting my sub lapse when he was about a month old. Kaiden PLUS Taylor however??? I'm lucky if I get to check anything interwebby on an actual computer maybe once a week. You see me on Facebook? Yeah, I'm checking it on the phone whilst breastfeeding the smallest and persuading the biggest not to break stuff AT THE SAME TIME. Or I'm sitting on the loo. That is pretty much the only child-free time I get in daylight hours.

Yes, the new arrival is here, born on the 29th May 2014 after a pretty damn terrifyingly painful labour (induction + SPD = swearwords I never knew existed). I'd still do it all again though. Babies are teh kewt.

The jump from 0 - 1 is NOTHING compared to the jump from 1 - 2. For a start, when you're a first-time parent you don't have a mini tornado wrecking the place, demanding god only knows what in a range of increasingly whiny voices, kicking, screaming, hitting, headbutting, throwing, and all when you're trying to clean a poopy bum or feed an insatiable little milk vampire. It's a balancing act, and I'm not very coordinated. When one of us is having a bad day it then transfers onto the rest of the family like cat hair on clothes. It means that at any given point in time at least 25% of the family is piss-ass miserable about something and - this is the worst part - there is cock all that can be done about it because the reason for that misery is either innate or outwith the subject's control. OH FUN.

The weight that dropped off after the birth has stalled, but I've found that "dieting" seems to make for a grouchy and perpetually hungry newb, which is bad news for my nipples. Sorry. I know you didn't want those in your head. So I'm watching my portion sizes and trying not to go overboard, but if I'm hungry? I'll get me a bowl of cereal. Thirsty and grouchy? Milkshake it is. As long as I don't gain, I can get me some spandex and a nicely pleated dress and fake-a-figure for my brother's wedding in September. It's mostly boobs anyway. SORRY AGAIN. (But seriously, they're massive.)

In a bizarre twist of events, I've watched more football this season than my other half, mostly because toddlebutt is sometimes tricksy about going to bed (and Daddy is on bedtime duty because of the aforementioned insatiable milk vampire), so all of the second half and most of the first half is often missed. I'm very tempted to try the "stay up as late as you want and faceplant from exhaustion" technique when the more interesting games are on.

And that's about it!

Until next time, dear reader...