My new website has gone live!
Eek! My new website went live yesterday evening. To say I am in a flap would be an understatement (I didn't get much sleep), it all looks so different. I haven't had time to try and 'work it' yet but I think today will be stressful. I have several orders in my inbox, some need processing via my old website and some are now on the new site. Thankfully my husband has today and the weekend off work so I will be enlisting his help. He is much happier with technology than bugs but I love my bugs and panic when it comes to technology or anything new. My website guy is brilliant but sadly 'not in' today. I can see so many things that I don't like about the layout but it will take time to change. It isn't easy to sort things over the phone but my web guy lives about 100 miles from me so we will have to work it out. He is really good and I know he has spent hours on it but I am not good at explaining what I want. I am such a control freak that I just want to sort it myself but I don't have the skills to do it! Patience is a virtue - or so they tell me.
Onto the bugs, all seem to be thriving, it's been a good week, so things have gone out and I can then reuse the containers for new animals. I am still trying to get straight from the AES exhibition. The bug house looks a little tidier but there is just not enough room for everything. I have boxes on top of boxes which makes it difficult to feed and clean them all. Some of the millipede and cockroach boxes are full of soil, compost and lumps of wood so they are very heavy. A lot of the boxes are on high up shelves so that makes it extra tricky. Since my 'nose incident' a few weeks ago (I lifted two millipede boxes down at once and the top box slipped forward, crashing onto my nose which resulted in a loud cracking noise) I am being more careful. I received some new spiders yesterday, among them some beautiful Gooty Ornamentals (Poecilotheria metallica). They are beautiful blue spiders but cost rather a lot so I am selling them as "collect at the door" or "posted at your own risk" only.
The weather has certainly turned colder this week, I have had to use heat packs with many of my orders. I still don't really know what I can do about postal costs? I had planned to charge £1.00 for heat packs in the Winter and incorporate it into my new website but sales have been so poor this year that I don't want to put off customers. My postal costs are already much higher in the cold weather as I need to use larger boxes to accommodate more insulation and of course this makes the parcels heavier. I should just charge more for postage but I will see how things go for a bit longer. Only yesterday I put all my small boxes away for the Winter as they won't now be required until the Spring. Oh, I hate the cold, why can't we just have summer all the year round? It would certainly suit me and the bugs too.
I am worrying about time now, I have someone calling to collect some spiders soon and I haven't really got anything done today. I wish I could type faster, perhaps I should do a verbal blog each week, I can definitely talk fast. One day I really will get around to making YouTube clips, it looks like a great way to advertise. I have decided at last that I will get an iPhone5, people have been telling me that it is little different from the iPhone4S but I think the extra centimetre on the screen and better camera will be very useful. I will order it today so guess what I will be moaning about next week!
I must just mention the news clip that I saw this week: While participating in the Midnight Madness bug-eating competition in Florida on Friday night, Eddie ate more than 60 grams of meal worms, 35 three-inch-long 'super worms' and a bucket of discoid roaches. Soon after the task he died! I don't want to make light of this story as the guy actually died but "Why on earth would you do that?" jumps to mind. A post mortem is being carried out as they are not sure of the cause of death but it makes me feel quite unwell just thinking about it.
On a lighter note, I heard a great word this week "blogosphere". So I hope all of you in the great blogosphere have a lovely weekend.