Half term mayhem

Half term mayhem but I haven’t done too badly this week, I am slowly but surely getting back on track after the exhibition. I didn’t go too mad there but I did get a fair amount of new animals and it takes time to house them all and get them entered onto my stock list and then uploaded to the website.

My computer froze this week and the only thing to do was turn it off and on again. I’ve no idea why it happened but some applications that were ‘open’ had not been saved correctly so I was totally freaked out when I thought I had lost my current stock list. My husband did manage to retrieve it but by then I was a nervous wreck. Everything is on my stock list, it tells me what I have, how many I have, how much I paid, how much profit I have made (or how little). It tells me where I got my stock, who from and when. If I had lost it I would have been stumped, honestly it is probably the most important document on my computer. It took hours to enter all the animals on there after the exhibition and I couldn’t imagine having to start again. I know I’m not the calmest of people (understatement) but this was true panic and I am SO glad my hubby was home to sort it!

I have managed to have some fun this week too. Last Saturday we went up to London to celebrate my mum in-law’s 80^th birthday. She loved the champagne treat on the London Eye and we then went to a posh restaurant near St Paul’s cathedral. I have had my nephew’s kids for a couple of days, they have been helpful so we are going up to London again today. I won tickets to Madame Tussauds, they have never been and the last time I went was about 12 years ago (I won them that time too). Oh I love my competitions!

It’s not all skiving off though, I did work hard on bank holiday Monday and I will be working most of this weekend too. I am trying to get my Ginny’s Jungle parties off the ground but there is so much to do. I am waiting for the print guy to sort the art work, I spoke to my web guy yesterday and I have made a start on the Facebook page. The only person who has liked it so far is my hubby. Talking of likes, I asked my web guy about the reviews on my site. I really appreciate it when somebody takes the time to write a review on something that they have purchased. Unfortunately, although I get a constant stream of emails telling me how happy people are with their new pets, I really don’t get many people writing a review. I’ve said before that I don’t want to bribe people into writing one, it just seems fake but I’m sure more people would participate if it were easier to do. Simon (Super Simon – my web guy) has now managed to do just that! It is at last possible to add a review without being logged onto the website. I hope this works, I think it will but Simon is worried that I will get reviews from people who haven’t purchased from me or just weird and wacky emails. I get to monitor reviews so I don’t see a problem, if it looks dodgy I won’t ok it, sounds simple?

I know I said I have loads of stock and I do! But sometimes I need to get things when they are offered to me as the opportunity may not come round again. With that in mind, I have ordered in some new millipede species (they are popular pets at the moment), some big black scorpions (also in demand and I have just sold out of the babies that I bred myself last year) and a few more favourite tarantulas but then that’s it.

I still haven’t had time to sort out the photos that I took in Cyprus. I saw so many cute bugs and have lots of pictures. I also need to sort out at least some of the things that I keep planning to post on Facebook. I’m going to put out a plea for some corrugated iron. I only want a few small sheets to attract reptiles in some of my favourite wildlife spots. It was so exciting to find snakes in Cyprus, I’m sure there are some locally, I just need corrugated iron to attract them. I know I’m a bit nuts but who needs gold and silver when you could have corrugated iron? I need to take some better photos of my Madagascan millipedes and put them on Facebook too. I seem to have lost all interest in Instagram, I can’t remember the last time I posted on it. I don’t really see the point of swapping pretty pictures with people? (I know I’m getting old). Perhaps when things settle down a bit I will get back into it but for now I’ve got enough to do.

I’m not sure what has happened to summer? The weather is cold, wet and miserable here. I read in the paper yesterday that the day before it was colder than Christmas day, that is terrible. Thank goodness I am going somewhere indoors today but we will obviously have to lug jackets around with us all day. It will probably be lovely weather next week, when the kids go back to school.

Anyway better get going, I need to walk Teddi first. If you come across any corrugated iron, think of me. You would need to live nearby as I think it might be a bit difficult to post!