…finally I am coming to the end of a nasty bug that I’ve had since before Christmas which has zapped all my energy and caused me to lie around reading books all day, cancel most of our  social engagements, cease all exercise and have lots of early nights – shame! Now I am going to have to play “catch up” as I have about 10 weeks to make all my candles ready for March 31st/April 1st, re-do all my peagreen paperwork (which I have realised is not quite up to scratch since attending two HMRC new business courses in January) and move my office from the garden shed (too many spiders) into the spare room!

peagreen packages ready for delivery....

After a hectic run up to Christmas I managed to get all my parcels/orders sorted by Christmas Eve, when we had 30 people descending on us! Christmas Day was calm as we went to my folks, Boxing Day we visited  Shaldon (as usual) for the annual three legged race and a drink on the Green then off to Birmingham on the 27th for some retail therapy and a visit to the in-laws.  Shamefully we only managed one “family” day out, to Woodbury Hill Fort and Budleigh Salterton before it was time for the kids to go back to school BUT thankfully due to my bug, they didn’t return more exhausted than they were when they broke up – which is what normally happens, caused by too much socialising!

at Woodbury Hill Fort

My eldest daughter was fourteen yesterday and the day came and went fraught with the usual dramas!  Would her ASOS  dress arrive in time? Could I drop it off for her in Teignmouth (so she could get ready at her mates in order to catch the train to Exeter)? They were going to eat at Pizza Express, apparently one of them had booked a table using their mobile phone during a lesson on Wednesday!  Then they had to be back at Exeter Central to meet a limo at 8pm, which one of the other Mums had arranged as it was her daughter’s birthday too.  Anyway, she was home by 9.30pm and we felt very old as she strutted around the kitchen in a pair of my old Gucci sandals, telling us about her night. . .  I suspect she won’t   experience quite that level of excitement this afternoon when we go to Exeter to see Sherlock Holmes, then out for something to eat with our neighbours – oh well….

fourteen....