Puss in (sparkly) Boots

I got up today with a mission in mind! A mission to sort out my wardrobe, throw out all of the old crap I don't wear anymore and to make space for my new stuff! I'll also admit that I planned my entire outfit today (black trousers & plain black top) around wearing my new sparkly boots!!! I should have asked one of the kids to take a photo LOL!

I walked Megan round to drop her off at her friend's house for a few hours, and got some great comments from her friend's mum! LOL I think the general concensus is that they are utterly fabulous and I am probably one of the only people out there that could get away with wearing them and actually pulling it off! I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing! LOL

Found the perfect boots (Dee spent money today!)

Ohhh so today was a MUCH MUCH better day!! I'd decided last night to get up early and go into Brighton first thing this morning to try my shopping trip again!! I was out of the house just after 9am and the roads were completely empty ... no trouble parking up and within minutes of being in Churchill Square I was queing to pay for my first purchases!! I bought ....

• A fabby Jane Norman dress in a black/teal/grey all over print. It's t-shirt material, high wasted with a plunge cleavage and makes my tits look fucking awesome!! £40 down to £20
• Funky long sleeve brown & white top (Jane Norman again) that ties around the back. Again very cleavage enhancing!!! It looks great with jeans. £38 down to £15
• Black strappy top - bargain of the day £1.50 from Primark!!
• Brown trousers £25 down to £12
• Few pairs of thick tights to wear with skirts/dresses during the winter - another bargain at £1 a pair.
• Gorgeous long sleeved black chunky bolero style cardigan
• New vibrator from Ann Summers cus I broke my old one :-)

I am really pleased with what I got today! I didn't waste money on things I'll never wear JUST because they were in the sale. I bought things I really really liked ... and of course a girl needs a working rabbit!!

And these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG After looking for weeks and weeks and WEEKS for the "perfect pair of brown boots", I found them this afternoon in Brantano after I'd been to Brighton!!!

I had been desperately looking for flat brown boots - something I can wear all day long and be comfortable yet still look good!!

These boots aren't technically FLAT - they have a small 2" heel, but when I tried them on I knew that they were the ones!! My other specification for the "perfect pair of brown boots" was no fuss and no frills. I don't want any patterns or fussy bits and again, although these aren't technically plain, they just fitted the bill so well - plus I loved them! There are brass studs around the top and a fake strap with a small buckle just above the ankle ... but they are just perfect!!! Best bit? They are a £65 pair of boots that cost me (drum roll!) £30 in the sale!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!

And then .... THEN I saw these again!!!!!!

I say "again" because ... well, see, these boots have been haunting me for quite some time! The photo really doesn't show them well, but they are a very pale silvery lilac colour - NOT lilac, but not silver either ... just utterly sparkly, totally gorgeous and very me! Today was the third time I'd looked at them in Brantano and they were calling my name! Seriously! They were calling "Dee, DEE, BUY US!" What could a girl do!? They are absolutely fucking gorgeous!! I'd stroked them the last couple of times I'd been in Brantano but not actually picked them up!! I had been reasoning with myself that I shouldn't buy them as I don't really have anywhere to wear sparkly boots... which is why I hadn't ever tried them on before, but this afternoon I broke down and took them off the shelf. That was it really! By that point I'd totally fallen in love with them before I'd got them anywhere near my feet!!! I swooned and admired them in the mirror, but even then I decided to be "sensible" and put them back on the shelf... but they were there for less than a microsecond before I saw someone else look at them, so I grabbed my two boxes of boots and marched myself to the checkout!!!

Very very happy Dee!!!

Failure of a shopping spree!!!!

I decided to hit the sales yesterday as this is the first time in years that I've had some cash to spare! I don't have a LOT, but have SOME and damned well wanted to spend it on myself! Mum also gave me some shopping money for my Christmas present, so off to Worthing I did go with Mum and Megan in tow (ooh that rhymes - unintentional! LOL)

What did I buy yesterday? A complete fat ZILCH!!!! Came home totally empty handed and totally deflated!

I've been after a pair of flat brown knee high boots for weeks now and not found anything remotely like what I was looking for, and I refused to buy something that wasn't quite right as that would just have been a waste of my money! After tramping around Worthing for a couple of hours we kinda gave up and went home!!! I didn't even find any clothes either - the "look" at the moment is kinda punky / emo / gothic and it just doesn't suit me. The other side of what seems to be popular right now is a sexy/chic office style but I have nowhere to wear clothes like that and again - it's not me! I've never really been into high fashion and tend to wear what I know looks good on me and that I feel good in - hence why I came home with naff all yesterday!!!

Mega Christmas Catch Up!!!!!

Christmas in the Stapleton house this year was a really fantastic one!! DH's sister Leanne and her two boys came to stay with us over the festive period and considering there was 3 adults and 4 children living in the house for 5 days ... it was a really chilled out Christmas!!!

The kids all got on so well together, especially Megan and her eldest Ethan. There is literally just a few months between Megan and Ethan and they were thick as thieves by the end of the first day!! Nathan and Dylan as the younger two did have a few "moments" mainly due to not wanting to share the PlayStation and take turns properly, but on the whole they really did get on brilliantly.

Because there was an extra adult on hand, the atmosphere in the house was so much more relaxed too. Leanne and I also had very similar "methods" with dealing with any fall outs between the kids, so it just worked brilliantly!

Cousins L-R ..... Dylan, Megan, Nathan & Ethan

It HAS to be said that I am so proud of both of my kids and the way they behaved over Christmas! Megan's behaviour was so good that I literally had absolutely nothing to bollock her for whatsoever ... and considering Nathan's ADHD/Aspergers and the very different way things were done with extra people in the house, he did so well too. I'm proud of both of them!!

Friday Five - 21st December 2007

Ooooh this weeks friday five is all about cars and driving. Gonna answer the first two questions together ....

1. If money were no concern and LOOKS the only consideration, what car would get yourself?
2. If money were no concern and YOUR LIFESTYLE the only consideration, what car would you get yourself?


Ooooh I'd get an Audi convertible no matter whether it was for lifestyle or looks! They are smart sexy cars that would satisfy my slightly snobby requirements and damn they look nice!! It would HAVE to be either red, black or silver though :-)



3. What is the best thing about your current car? I actually really love my car. I have a Citroen C3 (ok not technically MINE as it's leased but hey!) It's big enough to be able to cart all of my candle stock around to parties ... yet small enough to be able to park in tight spots without too much panic! Ohh and it's red :-)

4. If cars could be skinned the way cell phones and ipods etc can, what would be a really cool skin for your car? I'm always associated with being a bit glittery and sparkly from the candles, so I guess something with a bit of bling ... but not so much that it was tacky! I have seen a really funky yellow Beatle driving around with hot pink and orange flowers on it. That was pretty cool!!

5. If you were going to decorate a friend’s car with a custom-made skin as a practical joke, whose car would you skin and what would it be? Ooooh I don't know!! That's a tricky one actually! Ummmm I'd probably choose my friend L ... who doesn't actually OWN a car at the moment but I'd skin it in a 1940s burlesque style. Very her!!!

It's Friday already????

Crikey this week has gone FAST!!!! With the help of B and L in the workshop we had 99.9% of orders packed and dispatched by Wednesday and then we spent Thursday morning cleaning up and boxed up the last few orders!!

I honestly couldn't have got through it without L! She is a friend who just comes in to help out and wants payment in candles - she has turned out to be a real speedy packing gem too!!

THANKFULLY the problems seem to have been few and far between with deliveries. I did have one major problem where I couldn't access the Parcelforce website so I had to book the collections over the phone and the stupid bint booked them all to be collected from the customers and delivered to me!!! I did manage to discover this error and stick a rocket under Parcelforce to get it fixed in time! I haven't had any panicked phone calls from customers in the last few days and my mobile has been pretty quiet today so that is a really good sign!!!

This Christmas season has been .... well, I'm not sure. I've been BUSY definitely but I seem to have stayed on top of it and part of me can't help wondering whether it's thanks to the happy pills! God I love those pills!! I haven't been stressed or strung out in a long time, and although I still have the odd day where I am sick in the mornings, it's a very rare occurance these days. I just generally feel happier and able to tackle things head on rather than running away.

Still dreaming of a shop too - *sigh* I have spent a lot of the day thinking about all of the walk by trade that I have missed out on this Christmas and the number of people milling around town shopping. Some of those pennies could have been mine!!!

The new website is almost finished too - I have been working on that most evenings! I just need pour the Monochromatics and new message candles to to take some photos - then the new site can go live! Very excited about that!

Stick a fork in me cus I'm DONE!!!

Well the pouring is anyway!! All of the pre-deadline orders have now been poured and I had Lisa helping me out today as well as B back at work, so there was also huge pile of boxes that got sent out today!! I have both of my little elves back in again tomorrow and by then we should pretty much have got it ALL done!!

I'd set my deadline for final dispatch as Wednesday but as far as I can tell from what we did today, it SHOULD all go out tomorrow now!! Phew! I'd also anticipated having to go into work again tonight ... but I don't need to do that either!

Blimey, Dee may even actually get a Christmas break!!!!

Friday Five - 14th December 2007

Ooooh this week's Friday Five are interesting!! All about music.

What’s your favorite song about growing up? Oh there are so many that I love along this topic, but I think it's got to be "I'll be there for you" by the Rembrandts (and the theme tune to Friends on tv) because that's the kind of parent I want to be for my kids. The biggest lesson I want them to learn from me is love... ohh and I love the tune too :-)

What is your favourite song about cars or driving? Now see this is where I couldn't pick just one! As soon as I saw this question I started thinking and they just came at me ... can't pick one so here's my top 4 and I'm missing out a LOT!!! Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett, American Pie - Don McLean, No Particular Place to Go - Chuck Berry and Pink Cadillac - Bruce Springsteen. All oldies but fanbloodytastic songs!

What is your favourite song where the title is a person's name? OMG again so many! One straight off has to be Roxanne by The Police, Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly, Hey Jude by the Beatles, Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac ... and, although I really don't like Amy Winehouse, I really do like her "Valerie" song at the moment!!

What is your favourite song to get up and dance to? Ah see, now I'm going to get into trouble here because there are SO many good tunes that I would get up and dance to, but the truth is .... absolutely anything with a decent reggae beat will get me bopping my booty!!

What is your favourite novelty song? Eww I hate them! Novelty songs serve absolutley no purpose except to annoy the masses!! I'll reverse the question... I absolutely HATE "Barbie Girl" by Aqua - need shooting the lot of 'em.

K so the end isn't quite so nigh ....

I had a "faffy" day today at work where I was constantly busy but didn't feel like I actually accomplished very much at all! I also found out that Parcelforce aren't doing same day collections - whatever I book one day doesn't even get picked up until the next day! Basically the upshot of this means that I have to be finished by Wednesday next week!!

Orders have slowed up a little bit - thankfully!! It had got to the stage where I had literally run out of space to pin up the new ones! I still have a couple of days left until the Christmas deadline though.... so as long as I am motivated and keep it going, I'll do it!!!

Still beavering away on the website too :-) It's looking good!

The End is Nigh ...... LOL

Well the last party of the season is done! The drive wasn't too bad and it was a nice crowd - quite a lot of them and I've made enough money to see me through christmas and get the kids some pressies!! Goodness knows exactly WHEN I'll be able to get to actually DO my shopping though considering it's two weeks today until Christmas and I'm flat out at work! LOL I'm confident I can get everything done at work - currently - I'll have to see what comes in over the next few days before the deadline!!!

Grrrrrrrrrrr & double GRRRRRRRR!!!

Had some sad news - B's mum passed away over the weekend so understandably she's not coming into work for a while. I don't think it has really hit her yet. I'm totally single handed in there and I've been literally nonstop ALL day! Hub worked from home so I was able to stay at the workshop till late and I've been a lean mean pouring MACHINE! LOL

I got home around 4.30pm and I have to be back out just after 6pm for my last candle party!! I have a fairly long drive (hour & 15 mins or so) to Fareham tonight, but it's the last party of the season and then my website deadline is this Friday for dispatch before Christmas .... so it's just going to be madness over this next week and a half to get it all done!!!!!

Right, time for a coffee then gotta get ready to go back out again!!!!

Had a day off today!!!

Ok well technically not a "day off" as I spent it in front of my laptop working on the website, but I decided NOT to go into the workshop today. I have a hell of a week ahead of me with orders and I may have to bring my Christmas deadline forward ... but I needed a day where I wasn't faced with that place and today was that day!! I have really made a good dent into the website re-haul ... and although I need to take a TON of new photos, I'm going to go ahead with the exisiting photos for now and try to get the new ones taken over Christmas.

I have a party tomorrow, so the plan is to go into work in my overalls (damn I love them overalls!!) as soon as I am up and ready but take a change of clothes, make-up and hairbrush with me so that I can do some work, pack some boxes etc, and then change ready for the party when I get there. Talk about a multi tasking day tomorrow!!

Went to Asda with mum this evening after dinner and we were soooo disappointed with the lack of kids toys there! I charged in there armed with the kids wish lists and nada, nothing, zilch!! Rather disappointingly I just did a weeks worth of shopping!! I did pick up a few odds and ends for the kids at Christmas and something for one of my friends, but the main bulk of the Christmas shopping is still to be done! My sister in law and her two boys (slightly younger than Megan and Nathan)

I have a party tomorrow and a party on Monday night so I am hoping that the money I make from those will cover enough to buy pressies! It's been kind of the budget month from hell really this month ... hub got paid on the 21st November and by the time all the bills had been paid and we'd caught up on what we were behind on ... he ran out of money at the start of this week! Thankfully it being "Silly Season" I've had pennies available to buy the food and bits & pieces!!

Which leads me back to I NEED A FRIGGING SHOP!!! Talked to mum about it tonight actually while we were bimbling around Asda .... retail shops in the centre of the lanes in Brighton are around £20k a year and all I need is enough cash behind me to cover the shop rent and overheads for 6 months, staff costs for the shop and workshop for a few months and enough supplies to actually make the dang stuff to sell! I worked out I need - ball park - in the region of about £25-30K to set up the shop and cover everything including a shop refit and all of the overheads in advance for the first few months and give me enough left over for "breathing space" and enough supplies to then create "rolling stock" to re-stock the shop for the first few months.

Once I get through the first 3-4 months in the shop, I should have generated enough income to start making a real profit.

*sigh* that's what dreams are for!

Fart in a Trance?? Surely not!!

I think I have possibly just about recovered from my two mega late nights - or is that early mornings!!! (I didn't go right to bed last night either - I couldn't help doing a bit more to the website!!!) but I have still been a "fart in a trance" as B affectionately called me today at work!!

I showed a friend my website this afternoon and lets just say the reaction I got to it was EXACTLY why I have stayed up late over the last couple of days and been working pretty much solidly on it!!! I still have a phenomenal amount of work to do on it ... after all, it's only the front page that I've done so far and even that still needs tweaking with the final photos, but it LOOKS exactly how I had pictured it ... no, it's BETTER than I had pictured it!!

I've known this complete re-design has been needed for a while but I've just not had the motivation to do it!! It was a friend who turned around to me recently and said "you know Dee, considering you call yourself an amateur photographer and have a fucking good camera ... the pictures on your website are complete shit!"

I like to consider myself a straight talking kinda gal and if something needs saying then you can always rely on me to say it! I don't beat around the bush and I call a spade a spade ... but when my friend said that to me about my photos on the existing website, being so crappy, I realised that people very rarely talk back to me so straight!!! I've had so many compliments on the website from so many customers ... saying it's a great design, easy to navigate, easy on the eye etc, but nobody has really pointed out the fact that the photography really could be better ... and I was too "involved" to see it myself.

I just feel so incredibly motivated at the moment. I feel it in my bones that the revamped website will make a huge difference to business, and I'm all hyped up about working towards a shop!! I have been in a really good place emotionally and mentally for the last month or so. It's been a long time since I felt that way!!

I am also eternally grateful to a good friend who speaks the blatant truth!!!

It's official - I'm a genius - albeit a very tired one!!

Okay yes so I am a genius! I KNEW I would pay for my late night by being overtired today, but it doesn't matter... it was SO worth it! I had been a little worried that looking at it all in the cold light of day would reveal several errors and mistakes, but the truth is ... it looked good!!! The start that I made on the re-vamped website in the wee small hours really did pay off,so my tiredness today has been a happy balance!

B was in at work for a couple of hours, so I took the opportunity to leave when she did! I spent most of the afternoon drifting between working on the website, watching crap daytime TV and quietly drifting off to sleep! I set my phone alarm to beep at 2.50pm to get the kids just incase I fell deeply asleep instead of merely inspecting the insides of my eyelids!

I also had what would have previously been a "Major Stress Event" this afternoon when my laptop lead finally packed up! I knew it wasn't going to last forever but seriously ... when I was bang slap in the middle of a "flow of inspiration" this afternoon was a REALLY bad time! Thankfully I managed to stay calm, be resourceful and phone around local computer shops until I tracked one down!!!

A few months ago that could have been another meltdown!!! Praise be to the god of happy pills for keeping me sane!!!!

It's nearly midnight and I have forced myself to stay up to a "normal" bedtime for me ... I've got the website to the point where the main index page is totally done aside from replacing photos with new ones (a whole other new project!!) and minor tweaking!!!!

Feeling tired, worn out, baggy eyed .... but very chuffed with myself!!!

Not just any ole monkey!

OMG well after staring at a blank page for a few days, I've FINALLY come up with a basic design for the website and it's looking GOOD! We'll say nothing of the fact that it's nearly 3am in the morning though!

Ack well when a girl has inspiration, a girl has inspiration!!!

I also did a candle party at my mum's this evening (err technically yesterday but at 3am I'm not being picky!!!) and I got there early to set up for a photo shoot. I basically did a rekkie of her house yesterday and made a list of things to bring with me and OH MY GOD am I good!!!! They turned out superbly!!! I'm not going to post them here though .... gonna save them for the re-launch! Of course I need to re-photo EVERYTHING now!!!

The new version of the website is in a very very VERY rough draft state and although I've uploaded a test page, it's all staying offline for now until I am ready for the re-launch, but the best bit is that I now have a layout design and a "concept" for the site .... I've done the groundwork on the layout, made a start on the new photography and OHHHHH it's looking good!!

Well I think I'll grab another juice, have one more smoke then hit the sack!!!

Website Schmebsite!!

I've been working hard at the workshop during the day both Saturday & today over the weekend and there were a lot of new orders that came through too - always good! HAH!

And, wanna hear about my new project? I gotta revamp the website!!! Yep, bang slap in the middle of "Silly Season" - my busiest time of year for pouring, I have to start working on the re-launch for January!! I need to have my January Sale pretty much ready to go, as well as the launch of my brand new design!! All of this involves a COMPLETE re-vamp of the website. It needs a face lift and a new look. I do love how it is now, but I spent a couple of hours this afternoon brainstorming with a friend about ideas for it (and funnily enough had started working on it last night!!!) and have come away full of ideas.

So yeah, my website is great as it is, but I need a better online presence. I need a professionally designed website rather than one I build myself in notepad, but finances simply don't permit that right now! Soooo in the meantime I need a fresh and funky new look for 2008 and I have about 4 weeks to complete it in!!! Best get cracking eh!!!!!

Okay, so my new line of candles! I haven't come up with a final name for them yet, but for now they are called "Just Say it" and feature original (ie written by yours truly!) funny poems in 8 different designs (with candles poured in complimentary colours/scents) and I will be launching them in January!! I've already made up a prototype label and figured out the packaging ... just gotta finalise the label, but PLENTY of time to do that!!

I also need much better photography on the website to suggest the impression of "lifestyle" with my products. I asked my mum this evening if I could use her house (as it's recently all redecorated and usually immaculate!!!) for a photo shoot in return for the candles used and she jumped at it!!! I did a "rekkie" of the rooms I want to use this evening while I was over there for dinner (yummy!) and made a list of the things I need to make. I'll be aiming to do a photo shoot within 2 weeks so I can have proper photos to work with for the new website!!!

So yes ... lots to do! Busy, busy, busy!!!!!!!