Not enough hours in the day

Not enough hours in the day, I'm not sure where my time goes but there is never enough of it, or perhaps it's just there is not enough of me to go around! I seem to be chasing my tail each and every day. There is so much admin to do, bugs to feed, bugs to send out, bugs arriving and I am constantly washing out cages and containers. I honestly don't know anyone else who runs an entire animal based business on their own. Most people really appreciate how hard I work but some people just expect too much. I am often moaned at for not posting something on the day it is ordered, I am highly organised, I need to be and each day is planned, I cannot slot in extra jobs or I would never get to bed at night.

I feel that I have been super efficient this week. I have been desperately trying to get on top of things and to a certain extent it has worked. I have finally sorted out my 'shipping' page (information box on left of site), it now shows the countries that I post to. I managed to sort out a second bank card so that I can log onto my bank account without searching for my handbag. This may not sound like much of an achievement but believe me it has made me very happy. I bank with Barclays and cannot get into my online bank account without putting my card into the Pin-sentry (little gadget that selects numbers to enter online for authorisation). The problem is that I need my Barclays Connect card in my bag as I use it most days to pay for work items and it is a real pain to find I have left it on my desk when I am in the post office or a shop, especially if I am at the front of a queue with no money! Now I have a card in my bag and a card on my desk - perfect.

I have decided this week to make it my mission to rid the bug house of Pallid cockroaches over the winter. The little monsters are everywhere and there are so many in my Hissing cockroach tanks that I am spending quite a bit of money feeding them. They don't actually cause any harm but they run fast, climb well and make the place dirty. They love the heat mats and get down behind all the tanks and shelving. Yesterday morning I discovered Hissing cockroaches everywhere. I soon realised why, they had staged a mass breakout from one of the tanks. When I went on holiday I thought it would be easier for my daughter to tip food into the tank via a funnel through a hole in the lid, rather than open the whole lid up and have cockroaches climb out (they are always on the underside of the lid, waiting for their moment). Unfortunately last night the cockroaches managed to dislodge the bung that I had covered the hole with and I think the majority of occupants then left via this door. On the good side, they are large enough to see and slow enough to catch. I will be having a big clear up today as there is no posting to do on a Friday. I need to get on top of things as I am attending a reptile show on Sunday and expect to buy in quite a bit of new stock. I already have on order some Train millipedes, spiders and possibly scorpions too. I must try to be sensible this time, I have a note on my computer saying "No more leaf eating bugs until next year!!!". I put the note on my computer after the AES show a few weeks ago. I ended up seeing so many beautiful stick insects that I just couldn't resist buying them. However the weather has now turned colder and I can see the error of my ways. I have far too many things that require me to traipse out in the cold and search for food plants (bramble, privet, ferns, etc). Hopefully some of the stick insect eggs will wait until the Spring to hatch - now that would be good!

I had a call this week from an educational establishment saying that their order had only just arrived after being posted two weeks earlier. Unfortunately I was out at the time so I couldn't look on my computer but as soon as I got in I checked the Royal Mail website to see what on earth had happened. Occasionally a Special Delivery item may be delayed by a day but never ever by two weeks. It turned out that the parcel had been delivered on the correct day but then held in the school office. It was a sad tale as some of the animals had perished (amazingly most had survived). If only someone had seen my despatched email they would have realised there was a problem and contacted me. I use Special Delivery because it is a very good service, almost all orders arrive the next day and by checking the tracking number I can see when it was delivered and who signed for the parcel. Sometimes people contact me and say that their order hasn't arrived, I immediately check the website and more often than not Royal Mail has attempted to deliver the parcel but nobody was in. When this happens a card should of course be left. I haven't had a chance yet but I will be adding a note to my terms page asking people to let me know if their order is delayed. I won't know it has been delayed unless my customer contacts me. I certainly don't have the time to check each parcel that I send out and in most cases it isn't necessary as the vast majority arrive on the correct day.

Another week nearer Christmas, I must start thinking about the photo set up for this year's Christmas card. I think it will have to include Teddi as we didn't have her last year. She is a good dog and pretty obedient but I'm not sure how happy she will be if I cover her in Christmas decorations and moving bugs. I had enough trouble keeping everything together last year and the bugs were on a stuffed toy that didn't move. I had better get practising, there is not a lot she won't do for a frankfurter (horrible smelly things, I wouldn't eat one).