I'm Back!

Well, here I am again – back in the land of the blogging. Where have I been I hear you ask????? Buried under the huge rocks of work, family, sickness, etc, etc.

Here’s a the short version of what’s been happening since my last post, which was all the way back at the beginning of October . Actually, the day after I made my last post, I got sick and didn’t fully kick that nasty bug until the end of November. It took 3 different medications, litres of cough medicine, countless throat lozenges, an endless amount of tissues to kick that nasty little sucker but it’s finally gone. Most mortifying moment - getting sick on the train, jumping off at Mitcham station to RUN to the toilets only to find them occupied and throwing up out of the front of the station, in front of EVERYONE arriving. So not fun!

I also got a new job after that long search. It was in North Melbourne. Hours of work: 8.30 am to 5.30 pm. Daily routine: 5.30 am – get up & get both myself & Harry ready to leave house at 6.30 am. Drop Harry at Childcare and catch 7.02 am train to City. Work from 8.30 – 5.30. Catch 5.49 pm train to Spencer St, arrive home between 7.15 and 7.30 pm, just in time to give Harry his bath and spend a bit of time with him before he goes to bed. Have dinner, do dishes and go to bed ready to do it all again the next day.

Notice I say it WAS in North Melbourne. That’s because I resigned! It just got too much. I didn’t realise how much it would affect everything around me. Things that I used to do during the week, like grocery shopping, washing, ironing and other home tasks all got pushed to the weekend because there just wasn’t enough time during the week to fit it in & I was just too tired. I ended up not having any sort of free time at all and it took its toll on myself & my family. Things all came to a head the week before Christmas, where upon I handed in my resignation effective end of December. I was told to take some time to think about over Christmas period. I did that and we compromised and I agreed to work until the end of January or until a replacement was found, thinking said replacement would be found before then! Not so, I’ve been working 3 days per week since February (T, W, T) which has allowed me to catch up on some of the tasks around the house that have been requiring attention since I don’t know when.

I’ve taken a new position, which I start next Monday, March 3, 2008. It’s only 10 minutes from home, hours are 9 – 5. NO MORE 5.30 AM STARTS!

I realise I have neglected many, many things over the past few months. As you can see, I’ve not updated by blog, I haven’t done any stamping since my last workshop (which was in October). I’ve neglected keep you all up to date with the promotions and whatnot that have been happening at Stampin’ Up! I’m sure all of you know that Sale-A-Bration (SAB) finishes this Friday (February 29, 2008), that the Summer Mini finishes March 31, 2008, that the Retired Stamps & Accessories list has been released early (ooops) and that the brand spanking new 2008 Stampin’ Up! Catalogue begins April 1, 2008. I will be posting the Retired Listings here later today and will endeavour to keep you updated on stock levels.

I will also be pre-ordering 2008 catalogues. If you would like to secure your copy, please drop me a line at jo@maximpact.com.au. I sell my pre-order catalogues for the special price of $9.95 + shipping (usually $13.95 + shipping). If you like, you can pick catalogue up from me to save on shipping! However, if you’d like to earn yours free – I’m taking bookings again for workshops. I’m really excited to see what SU! have in store for the 2008 catalogue, my fingers are crossed for the Scalloped Punch, the Star Punch, the new Ribbons just to name a few things! (Stamps set names have completely gone from my head at the moment)

And most importantly, I must apologise to my wonderful downline, who I have neglected terribly. To Anna and my new recruit Christine, who signed up in October, I promise that I will be more diligent in keeping contact with you. Anna, I hope you haven’t felt too abandoned during this time. I know that you have also had a lot going on with the kids being on holidays and Michael starting school this year - I’ve been reading your blog updates during my lunchbreak! This year should be an exciting time for our little team, which is slowly growing – a big hello to my newest recruit Kristine, who signed up on Friday – I know that you will love being a part of the SU! family. This means that at the end of this month, I will FINALLY promote to Supervisor and get to choose a name for our little team. Yay!

Well, that’s it for now. Since I haven’t done anything remotely crafty in the last 5 months, I don’t have anything exciting to show you, but that should change soon.

Cheers

Jo