Nearly Christmas, well it is certainly December
Nearly Christmas, well it is certainly December now, the weather has
turned very cold but the sun is nice to see. We had a lovely couple days away
in Brighton last week. I finally started some Christmas shopping (had no idea
it was Black Friday when we booked the trip, hubby was not impressed). We
actually spent several hours in Carphone Warehouse upgrading our phones! Sorry
if you were trying to contact me, because I was changing providers I ended up
without my number or emails until Monday. It was a pain but at least I am free
of Vodafone at last yippee! (no signal in our house and when the booster box
broke I had to stand out in the street to make a call). We were supposed to be
collecting new stock (spiders, scorpions and millipedes) on the way home but
unfortunately this did not work out. I heard yesterday that I won’t be
receiving these animals now. This is a good example of why I never put anything
on my website that I don't physically have, I ordered the animals weeks ago and
certainly didn’t foresee this happening. I’m not happy about it but
perhaps it’s for the best as I would probably have been left looking after most
of them during the festive break and I am going away for a few days this year
so it would have meant my daughter having more to care for while I’m not here.
We heard yesterday that she has been successful in finding a place to live with
her best friend, moving out at last! (she is 24). I will miss her (not when she
wakes us up at 4am at the weekends) but she will still be in the village (I
told her we wouldn’t help with the deposit if it wasn’t within walking distance
– not that I’m a control freak – yes, you all know I am).
I have been changing things around in the bug room this week. I was
worried that some areas were getting a bit too cold and damp. My hubby wired in
some tube heaters a while ago and they have worked really well so we plan to
get a couple more. Radiators in the middle of the room really get in the way
and make it difficult to manoeuvre the boxes and cages around when I am packing
orders, cleaning or feeding. I have lots of millipede boxes which are full of
heavy substrate so I definitely need room to lug them from the shelves to the
tables. Millipedes seem to have been the "must have pet bug" this
year. I wonder which bug will be most popular next year? I think it was fruit
beetles last year but they completely fell out of favour this year, hence me
dropping the beetle category from my website. I certainly need to move with the
times, hopefully my Ginny's Jungle parties will take off in the new year
(fingers crossed). When I went to the post office yesterday I discovered that
there is a job going. I was chatting to my friend behind the counter and I
seriously considered applying but then I went into panic mode, maths, handling
other people’s money, queuing people tutting – no, I will keep trying with the
bugs for now. This is always a bad time for my business but generally it starts
to pick up in the new year and I will certainly be restocking in January.
Two things that are driving me bonkers at the moment people wanting to
cancel orders (why has this become acceptable?) and almost everyone demanding
female tarantulas. I don’t know the sex and neither do most people. I’m
considering dropping my USP (I don’t lie) and going with the flow. How about, all
my tarantulas are potentially female, very likely female, I expect to be
female, almost certainly female. Yes, I am well aware that everyone wants a
female, so do I! Ok rant over.
This will probably be my last blog before 2017 so I certainly want to wish all my customers a Happy Christmas and a super New Year. I know I moan a lot (“really” I hear you say) but I am extremely appreciative of my customers, many have become good friends over the years and I love all the friendly thank you emails that I receive, I couldn’t keep going without you. This has been a very tough year for my family so I’m planning on New Year – New Start. Come January I will hopefully be up to full strength again and resume my First Bug Lady status!