And breathe ....

Whoooooo .... that is the sound of me exhaling air.

So I've been just a little bit busy! Actually I don't think I've ever worked as hard as I have done for the last couple of months. Working seven days a week from 7am to 1am has not been unusual and I've loved it .... mostly. 

The things I've not loved is that the house is a tip, all table manners have completely disappeared, I mislaid my patience weeks ago and my friends are all wondering if I will ever talk/see them again.

Things I've learnt over the last few weeks.

1. Some customers are lovely beyond belief and others are so annoying you'd like to tell them that you'd rather not fulfil their order and could they just go away. Wish people would realise that the nicer you are the more others will go out of their way to help you and the ruder you are the less you get ... simple.

2. People who can't read descriptions or fill in boxes or write the correct details are really annoying.

3. Dirt/mess/clutter in your house can be overlooked. I found walking around with eyes half closed is fine and as long as no-one apart from your family comes round it's OK.

4. A husband that can cook is a wonderful thing .... now if he can just get his timing sorted out so that we eat before 9 he would be amazing ♥

5. I could not have fulfilled my orders without the help of my husband, mother and children who have helped me when I really thought there was no way I could get everything done.

6. Asking for help is easier than I thought when you know you have absolutely no choice.

7. Royal Mail can't be relied upon to get first class mail to the intended recipient within 1-2 days at Christmas.

8. Having a few evenings out in the diary is essential. Book nights out but keep all days clear and do not commit to anything.

9. Not going to watch rugby on a Sunday is not OK and I've missed that more than anything else. 

10. Next year I should completely finish Christmas shopping in October. I have done all my Christmas shopping online this year with notonthehighstreet and John Lewis and although I had done a lot of it I still had a few people left - this is not a good idea and added to stress.

So now I can relax and reintegrate back into the family. I am beyond excited about a certain family flying in from Australia on Saturday and I can finally start to look forward to it. I CAN NOT WAIT FOR SATURDAY :-)

It is going to feel a bit weird not rushing, not mentally trying to work out how many extra orders I can do before the school run. I will miss seeing the lovely accounting totals each week but when I get that first lovely no alarm clock lie in (scheduled for Christmas Eve) even that will be fine as I drift off back to sleep instead of forcing myself to get up.

It's been great but exhausting, tiring, stressful and exhilarating and if I don't see another Personalised Initial Tag until the New Year I will be quite happy. I'm already thinking how I could improve it for next year ..... roll on 2013.