frustrating work life

I am really finding work hard this week. My employers are soooooooo unprofessional. I am used to working for companies who for example have a problem with their orders or equipment breaks and they usually dump the nasty job of explaining the problems to the irate customers onto me it seems. This company though do not do that. Nice not to be dumped on but they just dont tell their customers at all which means we are getting a very bad reputation for being unreliable and I have to say the company deserves it! thats besides the fact our products are second rate in quality anyway. Obviously this means if I answer the phone at all I get shouted at and I have to be honest I dont blame em! On top of this I was told in mid October we would be on holiday from 19th December. As of 4pm yesterday we are apparently now working next week. I wouldnt really mind but its very short notice and I have actually arranged to do stuff every day up till xmas! No idea if I have a leg to stand on if I query it since as I have previously mentioned I have no written contract! Might have to check this one out tho cos as of end of today have been working here for a whole year which does finally give me some rights. Friday 19th is payday so shtum till then! Bombshell brewing!

weekend

Well its monday again. We did another market at Wellingborough. Have decided we will continue there till Christmas Eve and then try some others. Made only £6 after fuel to get there and the hire of stall so not a good day and a complete waste of time really - stood out in the cold. A guy on an opposite stall was £1100 down on the same saturday last year so it must be bad. Not a good time for me to be considering going solo maybe. Difficult to decide what to do. The place was empty. Good for us to actually do that day tho cos we proved we can do high winds and rain. Not that anyone but us actually cares but really its good to find these things out. If we had not done it I would have wondered if we are just fine weather market traders but we are not. We can survive adverse weather. Stayed there till about 4pm and then spent £16 of takings on supplies at local Tesco. Going to enquire about doing Coventry after xmas. For now will continue where we are and maybe those few days before xmas will make it all worth while. We will see. Sunday parents came over with tons of stuff they have cleared from my Grannies house. Its goes up for sale 1st January. There are loads of big garden pots, a tumble drier ( could actually save us money cos right now we have to have a dehumidifier on constantly due to drying washing inside and its working out more expensive than using a tumble drier!) Loads of bath towels which we really need - dogs can now have old ones which will be good for them and us. Tho Grandma apparently didnt go in for big bath sheets which we prefer but then they are all free so we will manage and there is a whole suit case full. Also a washing machine which is great cos mine is dying and best of all a wooden bench which my paternal Grandfather bought for my Nanna in 1952 and then when she died she left it to my Grandma ( my mums mother). All slightly strange but now I have it. Its in great condition considering its loads older than me. Apparently I have to oil it every year so will have to remember that. I think once the summer comes we will put it next to the pond so we can sit and feed and watch the fishes. Lovely! Only problem now is we have limited time to get the house sorted and have 2 huge TVs in lounge and boxes everywhere. I am intending to try and freecycle the old one. It works perfectly. Is larger than the new one and is a Sony Trinitron so surely someone will want it. Seems criminal to go sending it to landfill and we have another almost as good in the garden shed. Maybe I should freecycle both infact! Only keeping new one cos in theory being several years younger it should ultimately go for longer. I hate taking risks with this sort of thing but we cant keep them both and there is no where we can store it so one of them has to go! Still no word from the local council about giving mediation between us and next door over this hedge. I just wish I could see her face when they tell her if she carries on shes going to get an ASBO - whether she works for a solicitor or not. AND whether she thinks we are scum or not. hey ho. I `d like to be a fly on the wall for that one. What we will do if she does continue wrecking our lovely garden after that tho I really do not know. Nearly Xmas. Break from boring work on friday but have markets saturday, and right up till xmas eve. Then if all is ok will have 2-3 weeks off and then start up again in different town. I do hope 2009 is a good year for us.

hood finished at last

Well I have finally finshed the hood on my new jumper. Very pixie-ish. Really have got to post a photo. Will have to get M to take it. More than likely will need to wear the thing too so you can see tho would have prefered to remain faceless. Still here we go........Just gotta do the sewing up / construction bit now and round the neck!

And I have one whole ball of lime green and two half balls of both lime and turquoise to find a use for. Legwarmers????? Scarf?? Dont really need any more scarves since have enough of one type of another to fill a large suitcase so maybe legwarmers or even socks or gloves. Dont usually go for matching stuff either tho seem to be getting lots that matches with this venture.

The yarn is actually DK tho I have been using double to give me chunky and it also means I get solid turqoise and lime and a marl version too with only needing the two colours so works a treat. I will have to have a think about this cos looks like I am getting a whole look for very little work really. I will pick up round the neck tonight.

Today is going to be a really long day cos was up at 5am to make bath bombs to stock up for markets. Dogs were happy tho cos they got to go our very early. Reggie actually kept jumping up and kissing me. Very cute so long as he doesnt break any teeth cos his head is very hard and he keeps jumping into my face and it wouldnt be the first time!!

I have started my 2nd 25kg bag of bicarb too so now wondering if I should buy more. It took so long to come last time that it might be best to get it in early rather than have no stock. I also need sweet almond oil and cannot get any. It used to be cheapest in Tesco but they have stopped selling it so now I will need to find a supplier fior that to and need to do asap since have only about 100ml left. Cant get over how quick I am getting thru supplies now I am actually trading. Still I am selling lots so should be very happy about that.

I want to experiment with Eco soya candles next. We will have to try em out so could be a good one to do over Xmas hols since we will get round to actually lighting them then! usually we seem to have candles lying around for ages till Xmas comes along. It would be nice to have some natural Eco candles rather than the usual parafin wax. We need another line for the stall too. Intending to make some new soap over xmas too. Will need the forum to give me feedback too since I will hopefully add it to the range if any good. Also got to think of a new bath bomb mix for spring / easter since cant have the Christmas ones too much longer. Its a shame cos they are selling like hot cakes - mind you probably thats cos they smell Christmassey. Mind you maybe I can do same perfumes for both soap and bath bombs. Christmas will be fun I reckon. Lots of experiments. Maybe a citrus mix for spring???? Hmm. Also I would like to make some soap with my own special mix of essential oils cos I have been trying several out for months now and finally I have come up with a really nice mix. I have already made moisturiser with it so going to try to do it as soap and bath bombs. A complete range maybe like a signature scent - or am I getting silly now?? After all I am just a market trader in the end!

councillor

The councillor came round yesterday. I was out but M was there. She has confirmed the neighbour cannot/ is not allowed to cut our hedge. They are going to put us in touch with someone to try and sort it out before its gets any worse. Thank goodness for that at least. All we want to do is live there and not have hassles. Hopefully the neighbour will decide to leave us in peace. I have a suspician she will not be happy tho. I think its some sort of mediation but if it enables us to all get along ( after all you dont have to LIKE your neighbours just be able to live along side of each other) then all will be fine. I am dreading her finding our we went to the local council tho. Councillor had a look at all of our garden and likes it even with it being messy and half finished so it cant be that bad whatever next door says. Thats a relief anyway cos you never do know what the council will say do you. Anyway hopefully this problem will get sorted. Also councillor has confirmed the neighbour has stolen one of our trees and part of our garden!! She planted this hedge the day after we moved in and I did think it was on our land but I am pretty easy going usually and didnt want the hassle but anyway she did steal our land. To be honest we cant be bothered with the hassle so long as she leaves our hedge alone but if she keeps up with this shes going to seriously find herself in it now. Anyway all we need to do is to wait a couple of years for her hedge to grow, remove our fence which keeps the dogs in and put up wirwe netting against the hedge she planted which is right on the boundary line and we get 99% of teh land back again. She can keep the tree. Its a leylandii and will be more hassle than its worth in a few years when folks make her get it cut down!

good weekend

Well markets went well. Saturday was pretty quiet but Sunday was so shockingly busy. Everyone else reckoned they did badly next to last year. We did very well. But then tis coming up to Xmas and we were not there last year so we dont know what we might have made had we been. I am encouraged anyway. On the other hand most of the stalls were selling things for £100 plus and we are pretty cheap at £3-4 for most expensive soap and £1.49 for a giant bath bomb. Maybe even in a recession we will be competitive enough that people will buy since they are comparable items to many that cost a lot more! Had to make bath bombs for 2 hours before work today and M is going to buy some ingredients to enable me to be able to make more tomorrow cos we sold so much stuff I need to try and replenish for next weekend! have so far found we sell tons of lavender, floral and geranium bombs. I should ofcourse find this wonderful but having to work makes it hassle to make bombs! I suppose when I am finally self employed I will get a routine and it will al get easier. Right now I am trying to juggle a regular and very boring job with my own companys needs and its not easy fitting it all in. I need an accountant I reckon but no idea if we will make enough to justify the expense! I am now so far behind with company books its getting scary! Anyway the best sellers so far are packs of 3 mini bombs for £1 and the floral and Christmas bombs. Not surprised about the Christmas ones it coming up to Xmas but I am very surprised no one is interested in the Orange or Lemon bombs cos I love them and so does M. Still if there are some left we will have luxurious baths at xmas. Tho to be honest if there are none left I shall make us some! I am considering doing a promotion this week to get pepes spending something like spend £8 and get a free - something tho not sure what yet! Will have to see what we have lots of thats near end date maybe. Or maybe promote either the Lemon or the Orange bombs cos I reckon if I could get people to try em they would come back for more! Then I could promote something different the week before xmas! As for work ......am still not going to lunch in cafe and have started to go out now. They do not like it. Surely tho you should have freedom to relax away from work during your lunch break! It really is just too much being stuck in a greasy spoon ( tho they call it a Bistro! but really its a bacon sarnie type greasy spoon!) I think perhaps I am just an antisocial git maybe! Ah well. Why should I be forced to spend my precious lunch time with folk who cannot be with me when I eat without insulting me for being a veggie. I have put up with it for a whole year in an effort to try and be normal if thats the right word. I hate the food - they have hummus or hummus for me! They have poisoned me 4 times and definitely given me "off" hummus more than once and I hate spending my time there. Its just not a break. Besides the fact you come out smelling like a chippy! The problem is we are expected to go cos the company pays for lunch! I prefer to bring my own sarnies and have been eating far more healthily since I have started to so do not want to go back to their greasy food. Also the weight has just fallen off me and I have not even cut down. If anything I am eating more! Its simply unreasonable to be forced to go every day. If it was just one day a week I wouldnt mind. In my previous job I used to go to the pub with work mates every friday and it was a team bonding type of effort. It was not every single day tho! Its not as if I like any of em. I dont hate em either just dont really care! Other than that I am finally on last few stiches of my hood - for the jumper I have been knitting. It now has a tail like a pixie hat developing and I am really looking forward to wearing it. Then just got to sew up and do the neck edging and will have matching jumper and hat for xmas - well if I get it finished in time anyway. I am aiming for that. Then will start on this recycled sari yarn for a spring top of some sort tho unsure what exactly to knit as yet! Infact I have some piccies of jumper so will try to attempt to post here later. Hey life can only get better!!!!!!!!

Friday at last

I forgot to set alarm last night and didnt wake till 7:55 today. Lucky to get to work on time. Mind you feel better than have felt for weeks so probably good to sleep longer occassionally. Have been averaging about 5 and a half to 6 hours a night and I know I do best on 8-10 hours so no wonder have been feeling a bit knackered. 95 pepes get laid off at today at Unipart where M works. All temps but very worrying. I feel so sorry for em at xmas. They have little chance of another job right now I suspect. They are talking about redundancies in January too. M will more than likely be on the list since hes only been there for 3 and a half years. We are going to be stuffed unless our markets take off big time. Still I suppose it could really be a new beginning for us if we can just stay positive. The Govt breaks will more than likely not apply to us either cos it turns out altho we got our mortgage thru Alliance & leicester its actually with a company called SPML and they are part of Lehman Brothers group who went down in the US. No idea if we will be able to defer our interest for 2 years like every one else. Anyway other than that tis friday, tis a market day tomorrow and sunday and tis only 20 days till xmas. cant wait. We are not going to do any markets from 25th to 3rd or even possibly 10th Jan so we will actually get some time to look after our dogs properly ( they wont get a decent walk this weekend since we will leave and return in the dark poor lads) and have a rest. have a big xmas market on sunday so hopefully we will take lots of money and then we can realy start to plan and to believe in the business. Right now its hopeful but has yet to prove itself. I have so much to sort out tonight for it..........even taking a heater that I bought last year for the sheds. Strangely - cos its work- I am dead excited about it. Its our 2nd week and I just have this feeling we are going to do really well...........
Ive been considering my own options jobswise. Well who knows what the future will hold. I dont think I would be able to go back into a lab now..........altho apparently cos I am a manufacturer of soap etc I can apply to be a CChem which I may have to do. Well have to comply with GLP etc and theres quite a lot of routine chem in my chosen profession even if it is basic such as pH testing and H&S and COSHH and interpreting stuff like allergens for labelling etc. You know I do like that "my chosen profession " bit!!!! Its all an accident but it really really is my chosen profession isnt it! How weird is life. I left chem for ever to do office work only to find a way to do permanent real chem. Now that has encouraged me that has. Have to get round to doing company accounts soon tho.........hate this bit......cos have now over 6 weeks to sort and the hours are mounting up. There have been lots of transactions in and out too so its going to be hassle. A month of receipts usually takes me at least a day to sort out. Still I am off at xmas tho will have to do at least 1 days accounting. I need to find an accountant too now I think since this I feel is going to be big. Its just a shame I had to waste money doing the PGCE year really cos that is draining my current income. Tho if I had chosen a different pathway maybe I would not have found my way to where i am now.......Hmmm...... yes getting a bit mystical here. I dont really believe in fate as such but I do beleive you get to chose a pathway from several possible ones and the choice you make causes where you finaly end up.........if you see what i mean. Mind you I am no where near to the final end yet. This is just the begginning. Hey I am so happy today. I think the hard bit is deciding where you want to head for and once you take that desicion the going there is just easy. For months I have been wanting to give up the job and do markets etc but it was just a dream -now I am doing both ( job and markets that is!) and have already made the desision I needed. I just have to wait for the right time and carry the plan forward. Maybe its the risky nature of it all that makes it so exciting. I think I just dont want to live in a safe nice comfy world. I have to risk everything on a reasonably regular basis. Thats who I am. Either I will end up very rich or very broke but then I came from the bottom of the pile living in a homeless persons shelter and no qualifications etc so who knows so far so good. I just dont believe we are going to go under. There is a way of thinking that you make your own luck in life. I always believe stuff and it happens so maybe that is true. So in that case all I have to do is put in the hours, believe and make it happen and we will have our freedom ( as much as anyone in this world does) and be self employed and make lots of money or at least as much as we need cos I have no particular need to be a millionaire. Just to be free. Its friday tho and I am going to make it happen tomorrow onwards. Wait and see. Incidentally "Make it Happen" is a song by a band called A Look Inside. they didnt get very far, they are/were all very close mates of mine. ( My Ex housemate is best known and currently having a revival as Guitarist in the SECT) and this song inspired me to do just that. I went and got GCSE Maths and then my degree ( all because of a song and something quite psycadelic - I was young then tho and it was the 90s!)
But it still changed me and my life forever..............The POWER OF MUSIC!

blogging and eating cheaply

I am making a very early new years resolution. By Making it now it gives me time to get it right! Anyway I can get to proctice being good. I am going to try to blog at the very least every 3rd day. Every day if possible. Maybe I should invest in some sort of mobile internet so I can do it during my lunch hour. Cant really afford anything right now tho! And hopefullty soon I will have my own time back during my lunch hour ( or half an hour as it has turned out..........but then I have no contract) I am dying to blog whats happeneing at work but cant right now due to possibly dropping myself in it since this blog is live on the web. Theres lots afoot tho! Once it actually happens I will blog the whole story cos it wont matter anymore then. In meantime I have to be sensible and stay quiet. Tho i am BURSTING! Owls Wings again is inspiring me and also Lunaea Weatherstone`s blog. Never been there before. Great tattoos. I really need to get my own rubbish 1980s mess updated. I still have what has been described as a coughing corgi with wings on my shoulder - meant to be a bat with blood dripping from its fangs - from my goth days! Not that I have ever really stopped being a Goth/Punk just I am abit old for most of the clothing these days and really I think most of it is a rip off. Occassionally you see something and its lovely. I have a beautiful black velvet top with floaty sleeves from Dare Gothic in Cornwall thats just lovely ( and very goth too) and also very wearable. Anyway that aside I think you remain inside what you are as a teenager unless ofcourse it was really just a fashion. For me it way a way of life. And I have never really left it behind me. Tho nowadays I dont just wear black. Infact nowadays I think I mostly wear homemade or cheap and when I buy new tends to be fair trade etc so I dont afford much new! One thing thats good, Christmas wont cost too much this year since all relatives, male and female and kids, are getting soap and bath bombs etc. -has to be the way. My dogs are turning veggie as of today too. Not thru morals but cos its cheaper...........well when your whole house is the same its cheaper than buying and cooking 2 different types of meals. I dont suppose they will be veggie forever since it seems wrong but we are too poor to feed em expensive meat now and they are not eating the rubbish that is pet food especially now I have been told it actually contains dogs and cats! You know I hate the insert button, just wiped half of this post! I have no prooof it contains dogs and cats but I have been told it does and have no reason to doubt it. After all in the 1980s it was common knowledge that human biscuits containing so called " animal fats" contained dogs and cats so why not pet food now! Anyway my dogs absolutely love Redwood food lincolnshire sausages ( so do we) and currently you get huge packs of em for just £5 ( direct from redwoodfoods.co.uk and they have an offer on their roasts too!). Even if we get thru 2 packs ( dogs have a bit more than just one pack a week cos I am worried they will suffer and be underfed - hopefully they wont get fat but we have problems getting thru a whole pack so it will work out to be 2 packs a week approximately between us and the dogs) thats still less than food is costing right now. We are going to eat sausage everything. I made sausage casserole with em last night and was yummy. Bonus is they are ready to eat so if you fancy a quick sausage sarnie you dont have to cook em! Or cool em for dogs! Looked up vegetarian dogs on internet and most pepes give em dried food but i dont want to do that so we will see how they do on the same as we eat. They already have beans and veggies sausages occassionally ( in can). Its a good quickie for when things are running late and they love em! Other than that till now they eat meat and veg meals - human style but its costing too much. I feel they should really be veggie too or at least we should try them on it since we are both vegans and have been for years. And there will be no guilt at teh checkout when I have meat in the trolley which is a real hassle for me to cope with. Am a a wuss? Maybe! Other than that we are continuing our dried pulses extravaganza that we have been on for last couple of months. I seem to have usually 3 pans of different pulses soaking and cooking so we get a constant stream of chick peas, white kidney beans, pinto beans, aduki, lentils etc. Much cheaper than buying beans in cans and we get loads for our money. And other than that we will be eating whatever is cheap vegetable wise at tesco, aldi and sainsbury etc.

following blogs

Been so busy recently have had no time to read other blogs. In have just spent today catching up. Read a great article at Owls Wings about lighting candles each week till the winter solstice. Its basically a spell and half the planet or at least any followers of Owls Wings are getting involved. I have missed the first 2 sundays but I suppose that wont really matter. A world spell has to be much more powerful than a single persons spell. I didnt know either that November 30th was Hecates day. I will remember that for next year. I am learning so much by reading this particular blog. Its pagan and different. magical. Or Magikal! anyway worth a read if you have the time and happen to come accross what I am writing. I need to make a wreath I think. This time last year I was well into wreaths by now. This evening I will try to cut some evergreens. The main trouble will be that its pitch black when I get home. may have to cut them in the morning and then make the weath itself tomorrow night. One things certain too I need to clear all the clutter we have collected off the lounge table. Our Dining Table is the "lounge" table since our house is very small. Its an Ikea drop leaf jobby that breaks down very small. About 30cm wide and made I think of Birch so it is quite beautiful and small when collapsed which means we can just about fit it in. It only gets used for xmas or the odd sunday dinner due to the rooom it takes up when its put up. Sad really cos its lovely. The lounge is full of clutter right now cos of doing the markets and we have no where else to store the boxes. It is certainly not ideal. I have decided if we start to sell steadily I will have to pay for a storage unit to stick all this stuff into. At least then we will get our house back again.

Tuesday at work

Well work as usual is totally boring. Did a market on Saturday and it was ace. I reckon I have found what I am meant to do in life. Didnt make loads but did make a small profit. Ofcourse by the time fuel to get there and back is accounted for I probably still made a loss but we got a lot of interest so I think this is more than likely realy a viable option. It was our first week too. With me I have a look and if teh stall is there again I try it out and then if its good \i go back. Again and again! I have built a great website whilst on my evening course - last lesson was last night so either I post website now which cant do as yet since dont have a program that supports CSS. My dreamweaver program is MX and wont allow anything in CSS. When I decided I prefer to use CSS to the normal HTML templates I had no idea about that so now I really need to buy a newer copy of dreamweaver. Next part of the course begins on 20th January so its quite a few weeks away yet and that means my lovely website ( which actually works!) is stuck on a pen drive and I cant upload till I get it all sorted. Made bath bombs this morning and am packaging and labelling liquid soap tonight for this weekends markets. We are doing a big xmas market on Sunday in Towcester so hopefully that will go well ( it cost £60!!! so really hope we at least sell that much of stock!) and doing Wellingborough again on Saturday. We intend to do Wellingborough every Saturday now right thru to xmas and have actually signed up to do the week immediately before xmas too. Then we are taking the bit between new year and xmas off and then we will start again as regulars in Wellingborough i reckon on second week of Januray or maybe even on 3rd we will have to see. I dont want a Jnauary sale tho so not too sure about this really. Mind you my Mini bath bombs seem to be really popular which is great since I have a much bigger profit from them than from the large ones. maybe straight after xmas anyone who was given them will want some more and buy lots off us. Weird tho that people seem to prefer 3 small ones to one giant one. I personally go more for luxury rather than quantity. Tho I suppose 3 mini bombs for £1 is pretty good as a stocking filler. I will see how this week goes but really I think we may actually be on to a winner here. Work is boring me to death and starting to get eye problems with looking at a PC constantly. Never had such a PC oriented job. I mean I am literally chained to it it seems. They dont even like you to do the look away from the screen every so many hours which I have always been told to do in other jobs. I have been here a year on 18th December and never had a workstation assessment or an eye test and I am sure you are meant to have both of these by law! I have always had them in other jobs even when I was temping. I saw an optition anyway a couple of weeks ago now cos I am worried about this problem with my eye. I had an operation as a kid so I have to watch it cos dont want to have to have another. Anyway work is getting no better. Since I am bringing my own lunches now and no longer going to the cafe with everyone else they have got very weird with me. I really dont want to go tho. The food is the same every day and to be honest having eaten Hummous every day for a year I am sick to death of the stuff. I actually love hummous but variety really is the spice of life. I feel much better eating what I know is a healthy lunch tho rather than sarnies coated in marg!!! Also I know this cafe have poisoned me 3 times. I know when hummous is off ( I eat it lots and it goes sour after about 3 days). They have given me off food too many times. I reckon more than 3 day old food too! Once I would ignore cos it happens - tho no excuse really - but 3 times is just too much. Anyway I am once again self sufficient with lunches and it feels great. Eating daily in a cafe stops being a treat after awhile. It only takes 5 minutes to make a couple of nice healthy sarnies and I have different fillings every day now. Great! Sadly I simply do not belong here. Tho no it isnt sad at all. I dont want to belong here. I have alwasy got on with folk and usually been the person organising the Friday lunchtime pub visits in other jobs so no idea why I just do not fit in here. It must be them thats weird. I have never before worked anwhere where you have to socialise with the work team outside of work either. We have no contracts so theres nothjing to say i must go along but I am made to feel I have to. Not a nice feeling. They are all saddo apparently who have no life or even friends outside of work. well I do. Not hundreds of mates but I have them and they are nice people and I really do not want tyo spend every weekend and half my weekday evenings seeing people I see all day. Not that I hate em cos I dont but we are just work colleagues and really have nothing in common. Also they can never ever even of a minute it seems forgive or forget that I am veggie. What is their problem? veggies are the fastest growing food choice? Doesnt sound right but the numbers of vegans shot up to over a million last year and the numbers of veggies or meat avoiders are now huge. I am not unusual and I have no desire to try to convince any of em to change so why do they have to take exception to me all the time!