Thursday 29 March 2007

Everything always happens at once...

Well, it's been a remarkably busy few days since I last had a chance to update these messages... at the weekend, it was Courtney's (our Number Two grand-daughter) first birthday - so we had a house full of family on Sunday for her party.
Then Monday and Tuesday were hectic with work - packing and despatching our Incense Man orders from the weekend, and receiving deliveries of new stock - and on Wednesday we had a sudden urgent call to go and help my elderly Mother, who'd managed to fall out of bed, twice in the space of about 6 hours!
She couldn't get up off the floor, but she managed to crawl to the phone to summon help - luckily she only lives about 15 miles away, so we could get there in 30 minutes or so...

Friday 23 March 2007

Instant karma's gonna get you...

Grrrrrrr!... I'm sorry to say that there's been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Incense Man office this morning - and it's all down to a certain Japanese printer manufacturer, who for the sake of my karma will remain nameless!
OK, the problem I've had isn't really that big a deal... but very irritating - I MUST calm down, or I'm sure that bad karma will come right back and bite me on the butt!
(The problem arose when I installed a new ink cartridge in the printer... which then kept insisting there was NO cartridge installed. After re-installing it about six times, it STILL wouldn't play ball - so I had to use ANOTHER new cartridge - which worked fine, first time. What REALLY gets me is the fact that the cartridges are £10+ a pop... so I hope I can get a refund for the dodgy one!)
OK... think calm thoughts... and chant a mantra... hmmm - should I go for the Simpsons-inspired "trout" mantra, "Homer loves Mindy, Homer loves Mindy...", or the more traditional "lotus" mantra, "Om mane padme hum, Om mane padme hum..."?
Heh heh heh...

Tuesday 20 March 2007

Busy, busy, busy...

Wow! Where does the time go? Well, I know where it goes really... it gets worked to death! I've been spending so much time just getting on with running my business (the Incense Man website) that I've had no time to add to this page... until now.
The main problem I've had has been with Royal Mail - trying to start franking all my outgoing mail, and then getting them to come and collect it... it's taken 11 days for them to arrange, with me chasing them every 2 - 3 days... sorry guys, that's not terribly efficient!
On top of that, I'm continuing "de-cluttering" my house, in preparation for putting it on the market in late Spring - not only is it easier to sell a more "minimal" house, it also means you've got less stuff to be packed and taken away when you actually get round to moving... and anyway, it's a good excuse for a clear-out of 20 years worth of accumulated odds and sods...

Sunday 11 March 2007

Oily Sunday

A VERY oily Sunday... I've just spent a couple of hours trying to sort out an oil leak on my car - and now I KNOW I'm getting too old for all that laying on the drive nonsense - I could barely get up once I'd finished! Still, hopefully the problem is now fixed...
Next job for this afternoon: Decluttering my bedroom cupboard - I'm gradually working my way through the house, getting rid of 20+ years worth of accumulated stuff that I really don't need any more...

Thursday 8 March 2007

The junk of life.

Isn't it amazing how much "stuff" you accumulate over the years? And of course most of it eventually ends up in the back of a cupboard somewhere, or stuck in the garage gathering dust and cobwebs... and you don't realise how much you've got until you're thinking about moving house.
Well, I'm in just that situation, and desperately trying to get rid of a lot of my clutter - aka the junk of life - so I've been posting loads of items on my local Freecycle website (with varying degrees of success), and I've just taken boxes and boxes of stuff to my local Cancer Research charity shop. (There's a bit of self-interest there... as a smoker, there's always a possibility that I might need their services at some time in the future!)
I suppose that now the weather's improving, I should think about having a stall at a car-boot sale too...

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Well... at last I've been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century... I've actually decided it's time to write a blog! I'll try to keep my posts fairly lucid... but I'm sure you'll let me have the odd rant from time to time - after all, I'm old enough now (fifty-something) to qualify as a grumpy old man...