Dire days

I am trying to work out whether it is better to be in one place all the time that people get used to you being there or whether it is good to go to different venues.  I have triend this week down at Arundel, you watch the coaches come in and you watch the coaches leave, but the amount of people who actually come into the fair is minimal on top of that they all tell me my soaps are wonderful but no one seems to be spending.  Told the girls I would give the soaps away and see if I could sell myself instead to the highest bidder, I have no doubts that would clear the streets completely.  It is soul destroying all the hard work and preparation to go for a week to a fair and then to sell over seven days what you normally sell in two fairs on a weekend.

Interesting Week

I have been five days now and just two more to go to complete the week.  Met some lovely ladies today, some from Ireland down for Goodwood racing and some from nearer home, Horsham.  Looking forward to hearing from them as they would like to have a soap workshop and learn how to make cold press soaps.  Mr Grumpy in quite a good mood as his friend has been around since 2pm, first thing he told me was that he had vacummed, I told him we only have one carpet, no fair play to him, he went around all of downstairs over the tiled floors.  Having two dogs should be great to increase the mountains of dog hairs we have already.  Looking back over the last few days it has been interesting, those parents with kids bought flip flops and cup cakes, the people childless on the whole bought cold press soaps, however, the flip flops win hands down again.

Dogs

On Sat my eldest came home to say she was rescuing the dog where she worked for various reasons.  My son, who adores the dog we have took to having the grumps all weekend, did not want another dog, don't see why we should have etc etc.  So Monday Grumpy went out and we had to turn out and pick him up at 11.30 he misses his lift home, comes back to meet the new dog and grump more when he learns the little chap is howling as he does not want to be left alone.  So Kate bless her slept down on the couch until 2.30 until he settled.  Monday, I warned them not to let him out without the lead until he got used to the chickens, did they listen no, the dog went full pelt into the chickens, I had a phone call saying they had lost Doris and Queenie, I thought they meant he had killed them, no, they were not to be found, two tins of sweetcorn, through two neighbours gardens and still no chcickens, eventually Doris was spotted pecking around on the front lawn and when returned to the back garden the others appeared, in the meantime to say that Grumpy had lost it was an understatement, the new dog Gus was sitting in his basket not moving and looking as if to say who me.   However as I am out all week with the soaps I came back to all his dishes sitting on the side, the pan from last night unwashed and he is on holiday!!!!!

Tired

I am tired and exhausted from just sitting and then trying to persaude people to buy a bar of soap.  I am spending the whole week in Arundel a small hamlet which attracts hundreds of visitors to the castle.There is not a huge lot of people through the door, but it is painful trying to entice them to buy.  I do find people interesting but I do wish if there are going to make jokes about my cup cakes, like it would be great to see so and so try to eat it, they would do it out of ear shot.  Then there are those who pull faces as if to say it is wrong to make soap into cup cakes, those that enthuse about them, I do wish they would buy they would look stunning in their bathrooms and make a great talking point.

wow

Wow what a mamouth week of making.  Finished at 10pm Friday night ready for the week at Arundel.  I hjust worry that I have enough soaps for the Sheepdog trials in three weeks.  I know I have two weeks to make lots of glycerine soaps so I should be ok.  Cold press have the main favourites drying ready in time, however, yesterday could not believe where the dog soap had gone, so quickly made some so that will be ready for the Sheepdog trials.

Christmas

Christmas, yes that word, however, it is so grey, dark and wet outside it feels like November not July.
Next week I am for a week in Arundel with the soaps, they have Jousting all week so I expect it will be busy.  The first week of the school holidays and lots of people go to see the Castle it is magnificent, so if you are in West Sussex come and see us.  Today I am going to sit and work out the smells for my Christmas soaps and make tester batches, they will be great because the weather is so wintry, perhaps I should put some Christmas decorations up to make me feel more in the spirit.  I jumped out of bed very fast this morning at 6am when my daughter informed we have a puppy coming to live with us for six months or so.  I will have to put gates up and make sure there is not soap around for him other wise he will be the cleanest puppy inside and out.  I think they are doing it to give me the shove to find a shop and move out of the house.  Thank goodness we have a large back garden, I am sure that the chickens will put him in his place.

Fragrances

Fragrances are such individual things.  Took delivery of five new smells three Christmas ones, only one smells Christmassy the other two just sounded nice.  Love spell, Gareth said it smelt of oranges and puke, great lad, then there is blue amberwood which is like aftershave, so he got that one right Snow no did not guess that one or fig and brown sugar, which has a lovely sweet smell but not sickly sweeet and Deck the Halls, which I actually prefer Applejack far more christmassy but will now take them and add some cinnnamon, clove and orange and see what we get before we make the Christmas soaps.

soap

Just made lemongrass and ginger and in panic mode as next week am at Arundel all week and been told Sat and Sunday will be manic as there is a jousting tournament.  All those lovely knights coming to save us girls.  Hopefully we have enough soaps for the week and I have six drying to take over from the ones sold so we should be ok.  Next big one is the sheep dogs in August.

Fairs and markets

Well it has been an intersting weekend. The rain was torrential at times.  Bath bombs love water, but not the rain.  Saturday we had a round robin informing us that they had a good day "in the rain".  They did not communication like the other shows that they would use alternatives to gazeboo's if you turned up so lots did not.  If they had said they had access to a hall and sports pavilion I am sure not only would more stall holders turn up but also more people - communication.  My son was great this weekend, took the time off work and carried everything and drove us to the various venues.  Sunday was a good day as we were in a very large marquee so it was not squashed and everyone had room to move.  However talking to other stallhorlders we all said it was like pulling teeth trying to get people to spend.  Over the last month, whether everyone is saving for the holidays, or parents are having to watch the pennies to afford the school holiday clubs we don't know.   I think that organisers who to me have had it easy are going to have to do more advertising, and charge less.  At the end of the day we are there to make money and when you pay out for a table and don't even make that money back and you have petrol, four hours of sitting there, Thye latest I love is that they will ask for something like £45 plus VAT, and I am sure a lot of them don't pay VAT.  I think fairs and markets may well have peaked and it will be more difficult to get stall holders.  We will have to see.  A lot that I speak to feel it is better to pay double and go somewhere that you know will be well attended, so like the Food Festivals in the high street, the large shows where you are guaranteed footfall and not hope that someone has advertised enough and some people will come through the door, and this is not just this year, that has been happening for a while, however now the people that do come through those door are reluctant to spend.  I can understand when it is something you like but don't need but when it comes to some things, my soaps, they are a necessity, ok, they are not cheap nasty liquid with chemicals and therefore you pay more but the number of people who come back to me and say how much better their skin is justifies the price, and believe you me they are a lot cheaper than a lot of soap companies.

Fairs

It is getting to a point where it is not becoming viable to do fairs.  If you sell goods priced at a minimum of £10 then ten items you have made £100 if you sell items of £1-3 then you have to sell 100 to 30 to make the money back, it seems to me that fair organisers should take this into consideration but they don't.  One told me put your prices up and then you can pay, so do I then charge £5 a bar of soap and halve the soap at the same time like some hand made soaps or do I stick to my principles of value for money.  Someone told me today that because she sells goods that she does not make she had to pay £50 for a stall, she did not go the fair as it was outside and pouring with rain so she lost the £50.  Would it not be fair to say if it was rained off we will give half back, I totally understand that there has been advertising and hard work gone into it, but if we are not using the marquee and having to take our own gazeboo why should we have to foot that bill.  I am getting to a point where the wholesale is bringing in a more regular income that I am going to look for a shop and stop paying money into fairs that you cannot guarantee the foot fall. 

Rain

Rain is always welcome for the gardens but is there someone up there who pulls a switch?  It will often rain at 3pm when the kids come out from school and a good one is Monday morning when no one wants to get up and go to work or the weekend.  You have worked hard all week, not had much time other than half an hour at lunch to sit in the sun, you get up Saturday morning and it is raining.  Not only that all the schools are having their fete's and sports days, the Villages their specail days and it is raining.  If there is someone up there please could you turn the switch to off until September now please.  I have four fairs this weekend all outside so the soaps will have to be watched as the labels get ruined, the soap gets tacky and the bath bombs will happily sit fizzing away all over the table.  I love the rain for my garden but not when I have fairs.  The cheery note is that one of the wholesale people I supply said yesterday that my soaps were flying out the door and is on her third order in two months. 

Self employed

You have to ask the question sometimes is it worth it?  I don't think any one, unless self employed, actually realises how much work one puts in.  I met a lovely lady the other day who said she was doing 17 hour days to get her business up and running, and yet how many salaried people would work a 17 hour day.  Well my eldest regularly does a 12 hour day.  Yesterday I started at 8am and was still packing soaps and running labels off at 10pm.  If we really equated how much our time was worth I wonder if we would even be earning the minimum wage.  I know in ten years time when I become another Anita Roddick I will look back and know it was worth it, but at the moment it is hard slog.  My two daughters are great, they are both working with me over the weekend doing a fair each.  Grumpy as I call my son did the shopping yesterday, the main thing we needed was dog food the main thing he forgot was dog food.   So I really really do accept that the male gender is something we ladies will never understand.  I was talking the other day to another Mum and we came to the conclusion that when their voices change they loose the art to communicate and learn to grunt!!!!

chickens

Last night went to bed just to hear my daughters talking and worrying about the chickens.  Someone down the road was having a party and it was their screams not the fox they could hear.  Anyway at midnight I am in my pj's down the garden changing the battery in the electric fence, that did not work, I am then moving the wires around so that they just go around the chickens, tried again no go.  Got to bed about 12.30 did not sleep, the eldest and youngest still sleeping at 9am.  My middle one kindly brought me a cup of tea at 7.30 so I am not awake.  Have to sort out the wire for the chickens today as my neighbour saw the fox walking the fence at 7am the other morning and there is nothing Mr. Fox likes more than fresh chickens.  In the mean time I might just let off sound loud noises to wake them up, but I need to go and make some flower bath bombs for Saturday and I enjoy the peace of no one around.

Motivation

I feel unmotivated today, put it down to the cold my middle daughter shared with me.  However, I have made twelve chocolate cup cakes, 16 pairs of flip flops and so chuffed put little flowers in the last lot.  Then had to face the face at the bank, that lady needs to learn to smile.  Anway this is my unmovitvated day, my son, eighteen, asked him before noon did he think he could clean the windows and perhaps wash the plastic facing on the garage down, yeah came the answer.  He managed the gym at 2pm then took a long shower at three and has gone off to walk the dog at four.  One wonders at what age they wake up and realise that yes everyone has to do jobs around the house for nothing, we can't get paid for the hard work of sitting on our behinds. University is where he is heading, some learn to work and play, some never do and when they come out the real world hits.  My daughter has friends with degress working in bars as it is the only job they can get and that was such a reality check as through uni the parents had paid and they did not have to worry.  How do we teach this generation that life is tough and getting worse at the moment.  I really don't remember it so bad when I was growing up but maybe because my parents had a shop and I worked in it I did not have to look for work.  Intersting!!!

Cup Cakes

Full of cold yesterday so put on a film, Calendar Girls, not watched it for a while, it did make me laugh.  I sat and made cup cake holders and fitted them onto the cup cakes ready for the weekend then sat making roses from soap, managed not to fall asleep.  I am sure the weather does not inspire and also I am trying to get my head around making Christmas soap which then acknowledges shorter days, colder nights and wetter days and I am not sure I want to go down that road yet.  23rd July I am for a whole week in Arundel with the soaps, that will be a first, I know my trouble will be that I get bored I need to be doing and sitting for a whole week with the soaps I think I will be doing impressions of spider man and climbing the walls.  I will have to take lots of bits of soaps that I can cut out and make flowers with.

Christmas

Yes it is coming around again, especially when you have to be working six to eight weeks in advance.  I need to be sorting out the cup cakes and the main soaps for Christmas.  My last order date for the wholesale is the end of September which is only about eleven weeks away.  Two of the kids in work today only grumpy at home but he is quite good on his own.  Yesterday the eldest decided it was pick on the youngest day, I ended up sitting in my bedroom eating my lunch just to get away from it.  Having two girls I am sure the hormones fly and I am in the middle of them.  I had a conversation with a friend on Sat who has two boys and they are different, they might all be quite alike up to two but then boys become a different kettle of fish, and also when they reach that hormonal state the conversations revert to just grunting.  You can sit and discuss with girls you can't with boys.  My son wants all the trappings of a rich life but hates having to help out with the business, the girls realise the realities and are very happy to work helping out with all the soaps.  Hopefully the hoover will be fixed today then it can go in the cupboard until the eldest decides to hoover again.

Monday

Monday, just checking out my email and found the one from Net Mums about blogging.  I thought it is interesting as not only am I a single Mum of three grown kids, run my own business which until two weeks ago meant there was no cleaning and hardly any cooking done over the last three months but the perspective of what it is like to have three.  When they were little I was a hands on stay home Mum.  The ex was very controlling and Mum did not work.  So when I wanted a life I divorced him and have raised the kids since they were 8, 12,14.  During the hols we always had rainy day activites I have lined up like soap making, bath bombs which have now become a full time business and dry days outings arranged.  I love having my kids around and come September really got down about them going back to school.  I still love having them around.  However, I call him at 18 grumpy bear, he is supposed to be helping me do gardening this morning, I do two days a week for other people, when I banged on the door it was a real growl that came out so left him.  The 24 is on her day off, yesterday she decided to hoover for me, whether it was the shock of her taking the hoover out of the cupboard or the fact she turned it on I don't know but the hoover stopped working and I now have to get the engineer out.  In twenty years it has never packed up!!!!!!

Rain, chocolate and films

Looking for a picture in my many I found this one and I thought if I could I would sit and eat lots of chocolate as this rain is really getting to me and what could be nicer than a film and lots of chocolate, good job it's not edible otherwise I would not get out of the chair.  Need to get chocolate making for Christmas.

Rain Soap

The weather out there as my daughter said is like a power shower, so I thought we should nominate a rain soap and I decided that we should go with Citrus Burst.  It is full of orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, the peel of orange, lemon and lime and it is full of sunshine.  The smell of the citrus fruits really picks you up and makes you feel full of life and ready to face this rainy day.  I am off to ice the fifty or so bath bombs I made yesterday, will have to make sure that the icing is quite dry otherwise it will set the bombs off.  I have had some start to do this and it is interesting as you can see when it is dry where there are tiny bubbles trying to come through the icing.

Bath Bombs

Made a new receipe the other day, came out superb, I thought I like this will use this in future.  Whether it was because I did not put them in the warm cupboard, but two days later they all developed cracks and broke.  All I can think ti was because they looked to great I did not put them in the warmth and then the damp weather came through and they attract the moisture.  I will have another go at them.  Made 50 little ones today just in case the people who I supplied ten to decide to come back and stock more in their shop. 

Networking

I went to a networking meeting today, I have to say it was great, all ladies.  Everyone was so genuine rather than I lot I go to where it is all about their own agenda and not really interested in you.  As usual they were all amazed that soap could be made to look so realistic like cup cakes.  I often say to people it is a new play on "wash your mouth out with soap and water".

Chocolate

Went to the cinema last night and had chocolate like you do, this morning all of the arthritus in my hands is showing itself, so I will have to stick to chocolate body wash with the real chocolate sprinkles and chcolate soap to get my fill.  Not the same as those chocs.  Need to make chocolate orange soap for christmas, love it or hate itl, it really was a Christmas smell.

Gardening

I love to garden, but this weather is too hot to do much, it is more about looking and sitting in the sun.
It is good weather for the soaps, they dry much quicker, in the rain I had to have the humidifer on as the house seemed to feel damp.  Looking at different herbs to use in the soaps and now thinking to the Christmas soaps.

Too many

When is it too many, when do you say enough.  I just wonder to myself if I try to do to many smells to give variety because people always seem to choose what you don't have in stock at that time.  Learning curve, learn to correct my web page, then I can put on what I want.  Wrapped fifty bath bombs last night, they look so cute in their tissue paper wrapping, I was watching swan lake ballet at the time and they all look like pretty ballerinas in the flaoty skirts with their swirled toppings.  Yesterdays are lemon, pale mauve and pink and look so pretty.

Early morning thoughts.

Soaps, I love to create soaps, I love to see them when finished and I am very very fussy about them.  I think it is really nice when someone wants to "review" my soaps, however, when two months later a review has not appeared one begins to wonder whether it was a good way to get freebies.  I get lots of people asking for freebies (sorry reveiews), I wonder if it works everywhere, if you asked Tesco/Sainsbury to "review" and have freebies what they would say?  I think it is a brilliant way to stock up on all sorts of things for free so good luck to those who manage it.  Being a small business unfortuantely if I gave to everyone, and lets face it if they are genuine and going to review it you cannot send a miniscle piece or something that is not up to standard, or an end piece, so it has to be a good piece, so do you then do this and go out of business because believe you me I get asked at least once a week or do you offer them at 50% discount, which I think is fair, and no one ever takes it up so you then again wonder were they genuine in the first place.  Early morning thoughts.