Stand back from the chocolates......

I’m having a fairly normal Monday morning. I’ve logged into the accounts software and checked that everything is pretty much keyed in. I emailed this week’s invoice proforma on Friday so got ahead of myself there.

I need to do a cashflow forecast and go into battle with the small print on a couple of CT600 forms and then read some stuff on Sarbox so why am I currently debating whether 15% and free postage is a better deal than £10 off orders over £30, and whether the trousers I’ve been looking at are any different to the ones I already have and if I really need them?

Meanwhile I have 50 minutes until my hairdressers appointment, I could do with attempting some exercise and at 2.30 I’m off on a school trip to watch my kids tour a football ground, and whilst I don’t like football I do like to go to these things to see what the kids get up to.

I still can’t find the missing email addresses. My daughter can’t remember how to spell the names of some of her classmates. This makes it rather difficult when it comes to sending them birthday party invitations. Especially as I’m always complaining about her terrible spelling (not that mine is great, and don’t even go there on the grammar).

And yes, for once, I spell checked this post!

Oh and I love my new screensaver – thanks Gillie.

Ninja is one year old this week

Here is the birthday boy, on the left with his special scoubie toy. Ninja thinks that playing with his toys is just about the best thing in the world. He carries his toys round with him and gets most upset if I won't play.

On the right we have Cinders, who is Ninja's mum. She may be tiny but she certainly rules the furry animal department in this house. The poor dog is often seen howling and running in the opposite direction as Cinders tends to hide behind the doors and pounce on him. Unlike Ninja she does go for the full claws approach.

A few questions

1. Do you ever swap handbags just because the one you have been using has got so heavy that you can't face carrying it about all day...but you can't take anything out of it because you might need it later on?

2. Do you put things in such cunningly clever places that you can't find them yourself?

3. Do you spend ages trying to remember your super clever hiding place and then find a wonderful workaround, only to see the missing item the next time that you go into the room?

4. Do you write lists of the things your kids have done that annoyed you to see if they look as irritating when you see them written down?

5. Do you carefully write down someone's contact email and then lose it?

That's 5 out of 5 for me anyway. Today has been a particularly good day for 2 and 5. My desk looks like a bomb dropped and I still can't find my important bits of paper, which incidentally were somewhere in my incredibly heavy handbag. I'm going to leave the room now and wait for them all to re-appear.

Playing with the settings again

Another technological first, I finally found the 'publish comments' button!
Must load some pics on the blog..getting very texty methinks.

I've decided that my children have turned into early stage teenagers for the summer. I must catch them telling lies about 10 times a day each at the moment. It is getting rather tiring in terms of bothering to tell when I know they are lying. If I don't tell them does that mean that they are getting away with it....so I guess they have worn me down a bit this week in that I am now fed up with telling them off or catching them out.

The garden is undergoing an overhaul. A large quantity of railway sleepers turned up this morning and Jason is now artfully arranging them into raised beds. The dog is then tunnelling round the edges for an extra rustic effect.

It's been a while...now that everyone else has gone to bed I figured it was time to catch up on the blog. The trouble with the lighter evenings is that nobody under the age of 10 seems to realise when it is getting late and as it takes me a good hour or two of peace to wind down for the day I'm rapidly becoming completely nocturnal. Which would be great if I didn't have to get up and organise breakfast in the morning.

Mostly it has been a busy time since half term. This week quite a few extra people joined the business. And very good they are too. The chronic organiser in me wanted to get the office set up for them but it turns out they are way ahead of me. This morning a full sized fridge had appeared in the new office, complete with its own set of Top Gear fridge magnets. I certainly didn't have it on my top 10 things to get for the office but now I think of it I am rather attracted to the idea of popping in for a cool drink when I happen to be passing. I may even store something in the fridge just in case.

To show how easily pleased I am with little technical breakthroughs. I got the online BACS software working on Tuesday and it is going to save me so much time. Why on earth I ever agreed to pay everyone weekly is beyond me, but at least I don't have to handwrite all the cheques every Thursday evening...hooray. I've even set up a payment template so I only have to put in the amounts. Now this one little thing makes me smile whenever I think about it - so how sad am I?

Fudgee the dog had the op on Tuesday. Not sure if it is working yet but he is certainly very wary of going on car journeys with me.

The kids birthday party season is almost upon us so I have had my party bag planner hat on. Parties are booked and the invites are going out soon. If the kids can try to keep their rooms tidy and not wind me up EVERY evening by not going to bed they might even get to go to the parties themselves.