Should I close my Shops for the Summer Holidays?

School holidays started here yesterday and my two little munchkins are very happy to have 6 weeks off:

Yesterday we ran some errands in Gloucester (and had Slush Puppy treats) and went to the local open air swimming pool:

Both of which were fun and lovely, but it did mean that there was very little 'work time'

What I wonder is whether it would be better to close up shop(s) completely over the summer holidays and just concentrate on being a Mummy and enjoy the time off, or whether, like most self employed parents, to struggle through and do as much work as possible in moments, like now, when the little darlings are otherwise occupied (mine usually in front of the telly!)

What do you do?

Last summer, I put all my shops on vacation for a month before doing the Harrogate Home & Gift Fair

So after that had ended, which coincided with the school holidays I felt I needed to re-open my shops and get going with some work. I don't remember struggling too much last summer, which is good. I do remember spending a good portion of the holidays in the swimming pool with my two little fish!!

This year though, we will be going away for 2 weeks over the holidays, so I will have to make a decision.

I hate the idea of all the hard work I do during the rest of the year, building up followings on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger, Google+, etc all dwindling down to nothing if I go on radio silence for 6 weeks and then having to really work hard again in the run up to Christmas, typically my busiest time, to build up interest again.

BUT.... I don't want to end up stressed out completely because the kids want to do stuff and I'm trying to manically keep up with everything. That leads to  A LOT of Mummy Shouting (we've learned the hard way!)

I think for this summer break I'm going to take it as it comes and if I'm struggling too much then put my shops into 'vacation mode' for a couple of weeks.

Maybe I'll just concentrate on getting some more patterns in the shops and then deactivate everything but those (as they don't require any input from me)

Decisions Decisions!

I'll let you know when I decide on anything!!

In the mean time - enjoy the sunshine!

The Reality of Being a Work At Home Mum

A couple of weeks ago I was asked a series of questions by one of the lovely Mollie Makes journalists, about how Social Media affects one's creativity.

Before I really stopped and thought about it, I always viewed social media as a stupendously good thing.

Okay, yes, there is the fact that I have limited time to work and spending 79% of my time oggling beautiful images and adding them to my boards on Pinterest isn't really a productive way of spending my time... but it does get me in the mood for creating beautiful things. Even if I then remember that I have zero talent to create half of the beautiful things I've just seen as I don't know one end of a glass-makers-tool-kit from another and I totally failed woodwork at school. But still - they're SO pretty!!

But then I started to honestly think about what social media does to our creativity.

Take Facebook for example. In my news feed there are always at least two or three other WAHM's who not only have 16 more children than I do, but they also seem to find time to bake with their children (their beautiful efforts then being shared on FB), they manage to develop, create, product test, beautifully photograph and add to their websites new ranges of products on what seems like a daily basis. AND they also manage to find witty things to say, throughout the day, which generate loads of comments and likes, from around the same number of 'fans' as I have on my page.... all whilst apparently not even breaking into the nearest box of chocolates!

I on the other hand, never manage to get more than 10 minutes peace and quiet before WWIII breaks out in the playroom over whether the kids are watching CBeebies or CBBC (I know, I know - not to mention the guilt that I'm once again using the telly as a babysitting device so I can have some 'work time') and then when I do get some time to myself, I waste it turning green with envy over these 'oh-so-much-more-successful-and-productive-and-professional-and-well-put-together-domestic-goddesses' all whilst munching my way through a sneakily grabbed packed of chocolate hobnobs (hidden in part because a) Weight Watchers' doesn't really approve of eating a whole packet in one go and b) because the children aren't allowed chocolate during the week and certainly never at 9.30am!!!!)

Then once WWIII has threatened to break out more than 4 times in half an hour, I give up yelling down the hall for them to 'play nicely together or else!' and resort to stomping in (whilst brushing biscuit crumbs from around my mouth) and screeching loudly that I'll bang their BLEEPING heads together if they don't pack it in!!!

Then stomp back, feel totally horrendous for shrieking at them, email my husband and complain that the kids are behaving like little toads and that I have far too much to do in my busy, busy day and then get back to reading a blog post, showing a wonderfully put together tutorial for something I'd thought about doing, but once again hadn't gotten around to and realise it's pointless trying to get anything creative done now, so I might as well go to the shops for more hobnobs!

Okay. Some of that may be a teensy bit exaggerated. I mean, obviously, I'd never eat a WHOLE packet of chocolate hobnobs without being found out (my youngest has a homing beacon like nothing you've seen when it comes to the rustle of a packet of something yummy being opened!) but really, other than that, it's pretty much spot on.

The problem is, I suspect, we ALL feel like that quite often. What gets reported online is often not the actual truth, but the sanitized, more idyllic version of what we'd like our lives to be like. Like the advert for a national hotel chain says... there's the real you and then there's the online you.

But when everyone else seems to have got their shit together and you're having a pants day, it really does zap a lot of creativity out of you.

So, the end result is often that I give up on trying to get the children to entertain themselves, end up taking them out (because they behave so much better out of the house) for the day, sneaking emails and a bit of social media time in on my smart phone from the playground and then trying to make up for it in the evening, after they've gone to bed and when I'm tired and not feeling much like doing anything except for slobbing out in front of Nashville with yet more chocolate and some wine!

Don't even get me started on where to fit in some exercise in all of this hive of inactivity... that's simply too much to bear.

Giving up the Day Job...

... Means that I can do all those really exciting things like:

- The laundry
- The weekly shop
- Go to Weight Watchers
- Tidying the house.....

But it also means I can spend more time doing cool things like making these gorgeous baby booties (these are actually for a friend's baby, but they will also get listed as a made to order item in my shop):

 and then embellishing them with rockets and planets :-)

It is SO nice to be able to say 'I LOVE my job'!

Now I've got to get on with my tax return - I've been putting it off!

But in between I'll be catching up with everyone over on the Handmade Monday link up :-)