Running your own small, flexible business from home, to fit in with still being a full time, stay at home mum should be simple, shouldn’t it? Having biggish ideas to expand the business and be able to afford that extra caravan holiday in the summer as well as at Easter shouldn’t be a problem, should it?

Unless, of course, you have five children and a husband living at home and constantly demanding your attention, have a house that still hasn’t learnt to clean and tidy itself, dinner that hasn’t learnt to cook itself, have commitments to the PTA and the church, and are still trying to sort through the boxed remnants of a past life destroyed in a house fire two years previously (possessions only-fortunately no loss of life).

Ok, maybe then it’s not quite so simple…

Wednesday 11 March 2015

The First Hint of Spring



This morning, for the first time this year, it actually looks as though spring may finally be around the corner. Although the sky is hazy, the sun is shining through, and although still quite cold, the real bitterness isn’t there after being so dominant throughout the winter. My eldest girl took her little sister to school again today as she is on a late shift at work, so I haven’t yet ventured out to see it for myself, but for once there was no icy blast coming in at me when I waved them off!

With the washing up done, and the washing machine happily working away, I glance out of the window while waiting for the computer to load. I’m tempted to think about maybe putting some washing out on the line today, as I can’t wait for the lovely ‘air dried’ smell that the laundry takes on, not to mention the fact that I can’t wait to not be surrounded by washing drying everywhere indoors! By this time last year I’d been hanging certain items out to dry for about four weeks, and so far there hasn’t been a single day when I could have. By the time the washing is ready, the weather may well have changed, but it’s a happy thought to start the day with.

Both my elder girls went off on the ten o’clock bus this morning, so between interruptions to see them off and to answer the phone to say they’ve got to town, I check my emails, website and Facebook page. Yesterday I did some work on my google ad for the charity dress, and added some more keywords to the campaign in the hope that people’s attention would be drawn to it as it’s Comic Relief night at the end of this week. Although I still haven’t sold any of the dress, its cheering to see that it has had far more interest over the last few hours than previously- hopefully now I will sell some.

By the time the washing’s finished, as I suspected, the feeling for hanging it out has waned. It’s still bright out with a hazy sun, but when I open the door and take a peek outside I can tell it’s still a little too cold for the washing to actually dry at all out there. If I had a load of bedding or towels I’d still be tempted, but with school uniforms and PE kits I’d only have to bring them in later and hang them on the airers anyway. Never mind, it won’t be long until I can put my washing out to dry… maybe.

Now that I have a bit of ‘spare’ time that has just been freed up I decide to have a quick run around with the vacuum cleaner. One major problem with keeping the cleaning nicely up to date is the fact that every tiny speck of dirt then shows up more- maybe a dirty house is easier to look after! Of course, the lovely early spring sun shining across everything only serves to show up every tiny speck of dust in detail- I can see where the idea of spring cleaning came from, as dull days just don’t show up dirt!

With downstairs once again dust free for a few minutes, and after a quick lunch I turn my attention once again to my sewing. I’ve still got the fabric for a little sheet cut out and ready, but that’s all. I’m not going to get a lot of time this afternoon for sewing, as once again time is running away from me but I decide to get some more cutting out done first as there’s one order still outstanding from when I was poorly. I’ve kept in touch with the customer, so there’s no problem, but I do want to just get it made up and sent out now. As part of the order is for a top and trousers set, I’d like to get the top made up as soon as I can as it’s one that will need me to hand sew a popper onto it as soon as I find a free evening.

With the fabric cut out, I manage to grab just enough time to make the little sheet. I’m not going to manage to get it out in the post this evening as everyone’s home too late, so I don’t bother with parcelling it up just yet, and anyway it’s time to fetch my littlest girl from school. They’re doing a week long project in school this week on African Animals, as some of the older ones are off on a residential tomorrow. My little girl is mad keen on elephants, so was very excited when she heard what they’d be doing! She chats away excitedly all the way home, telling me what they’ve done today, and then follows me around filling me in on extra details. Somehow I don’t think I’m going to get much more done today, so I lead the way into the kitchen where I can start preparing dinner, while she tells me all about how to make a paper-mache elephant…

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