Last Day of Tax Year

Woop! not. I have got to do a proper kinda stock take complete with a 'closing balance'. I really do NOT feel up to this.

I walked my bum off yesterday evening (with company so that was nice). So the prospect of sitting at the comp for hours today is fulling with deep ecstasy. Double woop!

If you don't see me for a week you'll know where I am!

What a week!

Thank you to my tame accountant (you know who you are sir!) who has set me straight on a few basic principles of the trading account (oh thank heavens for that I was WORRIED folks, but now all is simple, still time consuming, but simple. Oh ok simpLER. OH bugger it, still hard but not as hard!)

Oh, good, good GOOD  accountants if you're looking ... And are in the South West (DEVON to be precise - South Hams mainly and probably Torbay) .

All shall proceed apace now that I know how detailed to NOT make my spreadsheet. Well... I still need it detailed but not in quite such an insane way. All I need to do now is finish putting it all together. Ahh that'll only take a week (or 4!)

My listing have suffered, as has my waistline. I'm not sure how the diet has come unstuck but there you go, some mystery foodstuff has derailed me. AGAIN. The listings have been put on hold in order to update my stock sheet. When that is done then it's all aboard the crazy train!

Goodbye little book... XD

I have to do this in order to work out which listings have passed their point of no profit. This really makes me sad because last week I sold a book I have been listing for FOUR YEARS! NO joke. I have made no money on it, and I really only listed it to give it one last shot at re homing, but the sense of achievement (oh ok, I know I didn't achieve anything but you could let me dream huh?? sheesh) is well worth it to me. If I hadn't it might have languished in a charity shop somewhere gradually growing more dusty and unloved SOB, I couldn't; let that happen people!!!!

And the award for best drama goes to ....? lol

Tomorrow is a fresh day at the old 'puter. Think of me you free people!

 Leave 'em laughing...
At least I'm not trying to sell the right to name my baby on here!

Painting fairies!

The men in white coats have come to do my house! It looks so lovely! Will post pics very soon! originally I thought they were here to cart me off, but no! They were here to sort out the outside of my house. It really needed doing. I manage most of the general maintenance, the paths and the garden etc (oh my garden!still have bulbs to put in and really must do the mowing!)

Just noticed how many exclamation marks I have used here. I must be really excited today. And it is an exciting day for me. Not everyday you get your house painted (and the shed and the gates!) Now if only the IR were not looming over me. I really have to crack on with the spreadsheet work but it has so far this week given me two migraines.

I still have about 70 items to update with item id's and dates and then I have to work out how to incorporate everything together. Icluding my outgoins in tissue paper and printer ink! Argh, talk about tearing my hair out! One huge upside is that Outset Torbay have been in touch and I am crossing fingers that they'll be able to help me out with some practical stuff Tax-wise. As well as just talking to someone in the same boat which will be great.

Righto nose back to the grindstone...

Sun shiny day and the IR

Oh sun-shiny-ness!

Hmm... Do I go and put my bulbs in (what I WANT to do) or do I continue my foray into the world of low-class accountancy (bleargh)  ?? Book-keeping or Gardening?? Answers on a postcard pretty please!

My deadline for the 5th of April is looming ever nearer and dammit I just want to be doing anything else! We get such short spells of good weather here that it feels wrong to be stuck indoors wasting this opportunity!

I know my garden will forgive me just as I know the Inland Revenue will not, I've already had a run in with my local ''representative''. Apparently even though I wasn't working in 2009 I still have to do a tax return! Go figure (ha, pun intended) that one out!

Boo hiss!

My grass needs cutting again....maybe I should compromise here... Book work until the sun dries off the grass then a bit of grass cutting and then more book-work later after small people are home from school. Frequent dilemma this... On the one hand there are the things that only I can do but don;t have time for and there are things that we all can do but the kids might not do it so well as I can.

Curses, foiled again!

Oh ok. Not really a dilemma is it when you put it like that. The IR wins this time bugger it.

Eh, what's up Doc?

Oh and on a completely other note... I have dropped a whole dress size finally! Hurrah for the IPD!  It's so strange, you know, I feel thinner and the energy! oh man the energy!!! People are now commenting on how good I'm looking as opposed to how shagged I looked before. All my clothes fit so much better now and I feel dead chuffed with myself for actually doing it and sticking to it. I like the food so that helps heaps. My only real bugbear is the things to snack on (I was a big snacker...not sweet things but nuts and crisps, though I cna still have the nuts, so that's not too bad) you can only eat so much celery before you feel your ears start to grow longer and your front teeth begin to stretch to Bugs Bunny proportions!

Rain rain go away,
I'm having trouble with Excel today!

Bah, bloody weather, we are NOT ducks!

I am updating all my files and my spreadsheet program for my books bugger the IR. grr) Tax return season will soon be with us. And i have neglected the paperwork side of my little business something awful.

And now I have discovered that all my record keeping has omitted lots of details I will need - eg: item id numbers to verify their listing date. Sod it.


Oh so very bored of number crunching - this'll take me till June!

And I'll have NO hair left! And I will have turned to chocolate!! Ooo I haven't had any of that for nearly 3 months now. Or crisps. Or toast. Or anything with sugar, wheat or carbs. Sigh. I miss them. Like old friends you don;t speak to anymore!

Take care out there in the wet folks. I'm off to give blood in a bit. Fingers crossed I don't pass out this time! One or two more bits on excel first though...

I'm such a goody two shoes...Or I could leave it and go read my book...

Phew, all done for today

Amazingly folks I have a small triumph (No not a pocket sized motorbike nor a tiny escape of noxious gasses!)

I have managed to list all that I set out to list today! All my hard work and effort to prep everything on Monday has paid off with dividends. The ten hours of ironing and carefully detailing the jumpers and coats (not to mention the painstaking effort of photo-ing them all!) have been worth it. I take a lot of care and I pay a lot of attention to details when i make my listings.

it's amazing that people who don;t sell on eBay think how fast the process is! I have been listing for such a long time (years, people!!!) that I feel a little like an automaton sometimes. It makes the process easier though when you have a good system in place first. Organisation, organisation, organisation. Cant say it enough! And a good camera. Nothing worse than weird looking grainy pics.

Oh and can I just say... what's with the whole BIN and bugger off thing?You were there! You clicked the commit to buy button and then the pay now button pops up but what happens then eh?? You got bored so you thought you'd wander down the park for a bit?  Hey, nothing meant to all you hard workers there browsing in your lunch hour, or mum's (bit like me, little one biting your foot, or you just wandered off a minute, mentally!) Hey guys! It only takes  a second and then I can do my big thing and get it out to the Post Office ASAP.

You know, folks,  I love that feeling when someone pays before the PO shuts and they leave me feedback the next day all awestruck cos their item has arrived in the first post of the day! That's my thing, get it out as soon as possible. No messing, no wasted time. I put as much time and effort into my postages as I do my prep and pre-listings. You'll get first class all the way. From the tissue paper (acid free, baby) I wrap your clothing items in to the brown paper (totally recycled, man) I wrap it all up in (or my grey recycled plastic bags I use if the weathers bad). I take time and care. And I believe it shows.

And besides, I like how all those brown parcels look ready to go off! Ok, ok, I know I'm sad! But I'll carry on being sad if it's all the same. xx

blush - ahem

Apologies folks. My last post was out of character and un-called for. That's why I have edited it down.  I humbly beg your forgiveness.


Righto lets resume all normal functions, pronto. Life goes on and so do I

Well now, all the melodrama aside. Busy day listing lots of jumpers. Dammit, ok, just the ironing and photos. But a gal can wish huh?

Tommorrow will be the actual listing.

Aww, happy smiley spending institute!

Watch this space folks. Or this space if you like!

I need to rant. Right now.

express yourself.

Hmm

I was listening to one of my favourite songs Cee Lo Greens' F#ck You and it really hit me that I should post this song somewhere as a tribute to my ex and his "ex-wife". The biggest cocklodging bastard the world has ever seen. May he rot in hell along with his 'ex-wife'. Darren , you know who you are.

Ad nauseum.

Work work work. Blah blah blah. Sigh. Inspiration strike me!

Please??

I'll take it anywhere...between the eyes, on my arse (lord know's you'd have a job to miss it!) anywhere. I am really struggling to get anything done. Well, I got the ironing done. All 20-odd shirts all my jeans, the kids stuff and some sheets, hot damn, but I hate ironing. Maybe I should stop putting it off for so long this time... Two months isn't that long though, I mean hey, you'd get twice that for killing someone. Wouldn't you?? Or hell you'd get life just for not paying your council tax bill.

Today, people, I am attempting to list some coats and jumpers (damn this weather). I usually don't mind listing clothes but I normally have my eldest around at some point to weigh and take photos. So... here I am>>>>schmuck<<<

Pick up the item, check it over (sigh, again), take a million photos, best to get lots of shots of various things and to not exagerate at all. One I really like to take is of the garment label because then you don;t have to prove the materials in your listing. I'm a bit nit-picky over my listings, honesty is such a rare commodity these days don't you think? And besides it's really hard buying things over the internet anyway so you need as much detail as possible right? Like the feel of a piece of clothing, whether it's soft or silky or wotnot.

Coats first, as it's the right weather, as it is sadly still for the jumpers, though I may n ot have enough time for that as school pick up in a mo.. Wish I could work out how to link to my Ebay listings so you guys could see what I'm talking about. One day maybe, when the I've-got-a-clue-fairy  pays me a visit in my sleep!

Idiot Proof Diet

Pig to Twig

I've had my lunch (homemade vegetable soup. Dead easy just boil up lots of veggies in some stock for an hour and blend with some cheese and/or cream. Mmmm). And been thinking about this bloody diet I'm on. You see I woke up one day about a month ago and I'd simply had enough of feeling fat.

Fat. It's an ugly word (and a common problem). I don't think I like the word myself. But it is fairly descriptive. I, like many other rotund people (oh ok, maybe not rotund but I feel as if I am some days) in this battle of the vulgar bulge. So I happened across in a peculiarly serendipitous purchase of the Cosmopolitan Magazine last month this book ....

I flicked through it, quite idly, without much thought to implementing it. But I was grabbed by the humour and utter, well, by the balls, human-ness of the two women who lived it then wrote it. You can check it out here if you like.

So anywaaay.. I have stuck to it with vim and vigour only to fail. Or else it's my scales? Though I did buy some new posh swanky ones, only to have them end up giving 8 different readings in a matter of seconds. Why do we do it to ourselves? I get the whole principle of a low carb lifestyle but I just can't deal with the failing. Especially as I haven't cheated! I have stuck to it through the proverbial thin and thick! I will stick it out a bit longer as it doesn't really feel like a diet.

Blah!

It's raining.

I am unwell.

I cannot concentrate on work.

And besides. I don't want to work on a sunday.

In the rain.

Whilst sneezing and feeling sorry for myself.

There must be SOMEONE out there who feels sorry for me and wishes to cheer me up by telling me how wonderful I am for not only getting up before 9 am, but also washing up (not my job, huff), drying up (sigh, not my job) and preparing brekkie (ditto job) for three sleep deprived and ravenous (pink haired) teenagers. And a nine year old?? 

After all that hooha I decided to try a new recipe. For my own brekkie. It was Almond Puff Pancakes courtesy of The Low Carb Gourmet by Karen Barnaby turned out ok, except I had to use more butter in my pan than reccomended and due to not being able to taste anything I may have used a leetle too much butter, splenda and cinnamon in my sauce!! heh heh heh

The teenagers all said it smelled lovely ( I may pass out from all the mum related approval just now) but they were rushing around getting ready to unleash themselves on the unsuspecting public go out. Words were had about finances " oh mummy I loves you soooo much (vomit) and can I borrow £3.00 for coffee?" I thought I fought a reasonably balanced and tactful argument over the fact that we already possess coffee. And of many varieties, and some terribly tasty ones for the coffee machine. And for much less cost per cup! But no, this is sadly not amusing for the average 14 year old. Yes of course I caved. I am unwell people and am therefore more marshmallow-ey than normal.

Mum still wins as it will simply be added to the growing iPod debt. }}}}evil mum chuckle{{{{

Where's the cup of tea??

Ebay defeats me today. It's so much nicer to be talking to you guys anyway. At least you stroke my forehead and bring me cups of tea ... Pretty please? Decaf please with soya milk and three splenda in it.... Oh the things we do in order to be healthy to lose weight, get fit, not be rotund, wobble less in the tummy area and happy. 

Now where did I leave the remote to mute the kids noise? Which demented person invented Playstations without including automatic weekend dis-functionality??? Sigh. I hate Crash Bandicoot.

Hurrah!

Apologies my friends, I have been struggling to put fingertip to extruded plastic. My idea for putting down my random thoughts thereby saving me from penury has all gone awry! Sadly it is because I have been working and not because I have discovered a life lurking somewhere in a previously undiscovered cupboard.

I am listing like crazy. And struggling attempting to adapt to the global market place. I thought I was moderately au fait with how to keep my listings fresh and at least passably human. I wonder have any of you found that? You go looking for something other than a pair of shoes on there and it's all trader this and powerseller that. Where has the personal touch gone to?  Where has the humanity gone to, and the humour?

Hark at me! Oooo got all whimsical just there. I must be tired.

Only one thought keeps me hanging in right now - ahhh my bed. To. Sleep. Oh how I love my bed. It's just about the most perfect thing in my world. Cosy comfy and most of all non-judgmentally forgiving. It doesn't mind if I occaisionally fart in it (not that I do! oh no not me) and if I fall asleep on it (really doesn't mind) or if I share it with a cuppa or a book (totally easy going). I may pay it a visit very soon.

All this working and dieting (no no sorry 'changing your lifestyle choices' for those that are good for you 'long term') are wearing me out. Thank god the kids are ticking along ok for the moment. Have just finished decorating Eldest Darling Daughters' bedrooom (only been in this house 2 and a half years) as she has been super patient narky, nagging, nit-picky about the whole thing. My genius lazy idea for painting it like a sketch book all white, went down a hit! Score one for MUM!

She is actually a really talented uber manga artist (ok, mixed my genres there sorry) and really liked the idea of using all her walls as a sketch book. High five! MY idea. The heady daze of finally ''getting it right'' won't last. Just like the iPod touch. Hmm dear, what was that? You love me lots, cos I'm awesome? (I give it 5 minutes)

Slice of Life

What a bizzarre thought this Blogging is:- Why on earth would anyone be interested in my general nonsense and ramblings? Well, no-one in their right minds of course (phew, left minded people are so much more interesting don't you think?)

That's a relief really. Now I can get back to talking to myself like any other sane person out there.

So here I am minding my own business (quite literally - you can find me on eBay.co.uk) and I keep distracting myself from getting on with things with the random thoughts buzzing through my head.

Generally, I quite like my random thoughts though some are troublesome. These are the ones I am most likely to share (whether you like it or not, so there :P )

I say share. Really what I mean is expunge!

Lovely word that, rolls around your tongue quite nicely I think. Like - marmalade and clunge! 

Never fear people I do have a point and in the near future I will roll it out for your delectation, debate and delight.

Until then...