That Time Of The Month

No, no, not THAT time of the month. I'm talking about my least favourite time of each month, the last day of one transitioning into the first day of the next.... which means doing the invoices/statements for our business. Booooooo!

Yes, I know they have to be done if we want to get paid, but its just so tedious. Even though I elect to print them alphabetically from our accounting software, they still come out of the printer in order of how overdue the account is; then I have to sort them back into alphabetical order; then I have to sort out the individual con-notes for each individual delivery we've done that month ( just as a reminder, we own a courier business, so every package we delivery has its own paperwork ); then I have to match them, staple them, fold them, envelope them and stamp them.

If I was lucky, I used to be ale to get all that done in two days whilst looking after Flynn. Now that I have Tully it takes twice that long because I have to breastfeed/nappy change/settle most of the day and the invoicing gets done in between. Double booooooo!

So guess what I was doing today? And will do some more of tomorrow? And hopefully finish tomorrow? You guessed it - triple booooo!

Super Wa-waah Freak Out!

Good gravy - i was doing my usual blog reading this morning and i realised i havent posted for a week. Its not like i'm a daily poster or anything but a week is too long. I want to post more regularly, i really do.... its just lately i havent found myself with all that much time, and thats becoming a problem.

See- yesterday? I had a super huge hormonal freak out. I'd gone to bed a bit upset because for the umpteenth night in a row it seemed like Mick and i hadnt connected because one or the other of us has been " too tired ". I feel like he goes to work, comes home, he bathes Flynn while i cook; we eat together then i do paperwork while he washes dishes; then when i'm finished he does his stuff on the computer and then we go to bed. There isnt much connection - physical or verbal - going on and its been bothering me.

So Tuesday night i went to bed upset and yesterday morning its like i'd woken up a thousand times worse. I just barely kept myself together while Flynn and i ran errands down town; we had morning tea with my Mum where i barely uttered a word and fobbed her off with a " oh, i'm just tired "; and then when we came home and the first thing i saw was the books and the toys and the crap all over the floor... i lost it. I made Flynn his lunch through a blur of hiccupy tears. He looked at me a bit funny, like he wasnt quite sure what was going on, but he just sat and watched Sesame Street quietly. I sent my mum a text to apologise for being so glum and when she called a few minutes later to find me sobbing on the other end of the phone, that was that.

She rang my Dad who came round on his lunch break from work. We chatted politely until he finally cracked me and i got all my pent up "whatevers" off my chest. He called his work and arranged the rest of the afternoon off - then he packed up my son, told me to have a nap, that he and Flynn would hang out at his house and came back in a few hours ( which would give me enough time to do some of the backlog of end-of-month paperwork i had ), and that when they got back we'd all get stuck into tidying up. I protested because as much as i needed it i dislike being helped ( it makes me feel like i'd failed to do things by myself... ) however you dont argue with my dad - what he says kind of goes.
So i did as i was told. I slept for an hour then got stuck into my paperwork. I took a short drive to check our PO box and clear my head a bit and managed to finish up a few spreadsheets before they got back. Mick arrived at around the same time and with 4 adults ( me, Mick my mum and dad ) we managed to pack up books and toys, sweep out kitchen and bathroom, clear the dining table ( am i the only one who ends up with various odds and ends all over the dining table? ) and vacuum within half an hour. I still was on edge and tired and had developed a killer stress headache so we ended up having takeaway for tea, but by bedtime i felt better. About myself and my situation.

I knew it was going to be tough to be a pregnant woman with essentially two jobs, a toddler and a house to look after - i'm just glad to know i have such a great support team to fall back on when i do go off the rails!

Taking Care Of Business

So the first week of running our new business has been .... interesting. There have been a few tanties thrown, a bit of crying, one " i cant do this! " and a whole lot of phone calls for help.


Its not that anything is overly hard, as such - its just that for me, EVERYTHING is new, and though Mick may be an old hand at the physical aspect of running the business, he's never had to do it all by himself. Which means ( as i expected ) that this week has been a little tricky for each of us. Like i said, Mick has been running around town doing all the physical stuff on his own ( though i did give him a hand on Wednesday morning, not that i did it very successfully ) and i have been doing the "paperwork " of an evening when he gets home.

He apologised to me last night because it seems, to him, "so hard ". But its not hard, just time consuming - all i am doing at the moment is basic MYOB data entry, its just that i dont know delivery prices for thngs yet, or the correct address for every customer, or what the hell half the stuff we deliver some days even is! So i have to keep referring back to the notes the precious owners generously made for me, or calling someone who might have a better idea. Plus, i have to set customers up in the system as we sell to them, so i have to do that before i can register a sale. Suffice to say ( without going into further very boring detail ) all that takes a while.

But its all good. Mick seems to be stressing a bit, but i'm keeping my head up and knowing that this is only the first week - check back with us at the end of the first month and we'll be much more comfortable. Plus, as time-consuming as it may be to learn now, getting a handle on how our business is run, and then being able to run it the way that works for us will benefit our family for years to come. We need to forget the first week jitters and concentrate on how good it will be in a year, or 5 years or 10. Onwards and upwards i say!