Friday, December 5, 2008

Will I Survive?

This holiday season is trying to kill me. We still have three weeks to go and I’m not sure I’m going to survive. The house decorating went smoothly and the Christmas shopping even got off to a good start. But something happened along the way and chaos broke out. I am working just about every waking moment of the day. Between my real job, my freelance jobs, and my side business there just aren’t enough hours in the day. On top of that, I’m getting requests from more people to do more work. I’m just about to my breaking point.

Last night I got an order for not one, but seven items that I didn’t have in my inventory. I still have a lot of handmade items for sale (which seriously needs to change) and the smart thing would have been to contact the customer and explain that we sold out of that item. But I knew the purchase was for Christmas presents and I felt like Chris Cringle. I couldn’t let her down. So I proceeded to spend half the night hand-making these items. I need my head examined. I ran back and fourth between the office (where I was printing out shipping labels and packing the rest of the orders that came in) and the kitchen where I had the counter covered with paper, scissors, glue, paint, wire, etc.

Poor Karlo came into the house after two hours of chopping wood, hungry and ready for dinner. Dinner? Who has time for that? The poor guy had to make himself some eggs. I felt terrible. I really need to figure out a way for my side business to stop ruining my Christmas holiday.

It would be nice if my upcoming trip to Florida could serve as a nice break for me, but I know that I’ll be completely stressed about the orders coming in and not shipping for a week. Every time I check my email my blood pressure will rise. Well, at the very least maybe my skin will get some much needed sun exposure. Hopefully some of next week’s postings will include sunshine and palm trees, but very few. Most of the time I’ll be trapped inside an air conditioned convention center – wearing fleece.

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