Note To Self...Be More Prepared For Christmas!

Remember me? I'm that sporadic blogger who is currently in the throes of a mental breakdown!

I am an organised person...no seriously! My sister in law, Liz will vouch for the fact that I could change a nappy, cook and serve dinner to my sprogs, wrap presents...you name it I could do it all while talking to her on the phone.

I start shopping for Christmas in the January sales, I have my Christmas cards written in November and as for groceries, eight weeks before Christmas I start adding one or two items to my trolley for Christmas day.

Life was organised and rosy....

...note the past tense.

Then came 2011, Funky Sprogs and chaos...all in that order!

For some bizarre reason I was under the impression that I would make some lovely dresses, booties and t-shirts and sell them, all very simple.  What I didn't take into account was that I would do a successful fair, and then spend the next week in a mad panic making stock for another fair the next weekend, alongside my other job of Sprog Carer.

Don't think I'm complaining, I love that Funky Sprogs is doing so well, it's exciting and satisfying and exciting and fulfilling and exciting...did I mention how exciting it is?

Then Funky Sprogs hit October, The Hampshire Baby and Toddler Exhibition loomed and the three stages of panic (as Long Suffering Husband named it) emerged.
Stage 1  -  'Oh God, Mothercare will be exhibiting and I am just a little business'
Stage 2  -  'Oh God, it's been open 20 minutes and I haven't sold anything'
Stage 3  -  'Oh God, I'm running out of stock and I have another fair in a week'.

Since October I have been fortunate to get a pitch at the Winchester Art and Design Market (3rd Sunday every month!) and along with the other fairs that I had booked in the run up to Christmas I was still feeling pretty organised (minus the above mentioned glitch). Then LSH announced he was away in November/December for a dry dock in Hamburg, I calmly sat down (with a glass of wine) and perused the calendar...this absence would cover three fairs, two party invites (for the sprogs obviously!), a choir rehearsal, our daughter's birthday, our daughter's birthday party, and obviously the normal stuff that goes on in our hectic lives.

More wine please!!!

So now I am running around like a headless chicken, packaging up orders (I am now on first name terms with the girls at the Post Office!), sewing like a demon and preparing for my four year old's fairy birthday party. I haven't yet written my Christmas cards and have delegated gift purchasing to LSH (apologies in advance to those recipients...lol).

Oh...and I am now vice chair of the school PTA.

Francis Ford Coppola once said 'Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos'

All I can say is that I am obviously very passionate...and I wouldn't change that for the world!