Busy week at work

For a change, I've been really busy at work all week. It's those brackets we produce - they come from production into the store, all covered in oil, and I need to count and weigh them as I pack them for delivery to our supplier, who then plates them; and they come back - clean - but again I need to count and weigh them as I pack them for delivery to our client. With most of our products, I can use the scale to 'count' in batches, so I don't actually count every single product, but these brackets are so inconsistently manufactured, that I get variances at as low as 50! So I end up having to count ... all 3000 of them ... twice! And we did 2 x 3000 (= 4x counting!).

Another fun part of that job is, since it's physical work, I get hot ... which triggers hot flashes! So, I take a lot of breaks to get out of the hot store, cool down, then start again!

I'm also busy designing yet another spreadsheet - this time one to gain some control over finances; summarising all income so we don't spend more money than is coming in! Yes, I asked the same question: this business has been 'running' for more than 3 years - why is nothing in place? The best part is: the information is all on our server - every single expense in a separate file, spread across literally dozens of folders and sub folders! Which means that I must now 'capture' all that information into one single spreadsheet, to turn it into meaningful data! I still haven't finished capturing all the delivery notes, yet - now I'm starting on purchase requisitions?

Anyway.

At home, I've been spending my evenings weeding! It's been raining over the weekend as well as Monday and again on Tuesday, so the ground was lovely and soft. I took advantage and cleared out the patch between the flat and the little bench around the back. I'm thinking of turning that into a succulent garden. A rockery would be ideal, but I don't exactly have any rocks. Hmmm ... as I'm typing this, I start thinking ... Nah! The ground there is almost perfectly level and it turns rock-hard without rain. I think I may bury some cardboard first, if I can dig deep enough to completely cover them. That would give the ground some moisture retention - but that's about as much as I'm willing to do there. Oh, I'll mix some fertiliser into the ground and some of that potting soil I've still got - need to get rid of that, as it isn't really very good in pots. It, too, turns level and rock hard without regular watering. But that will be perfect for succulents! I've got all those varieties I got from Rose - and the desert roses are really multiplying! I started with 3, there are now 15!

Mippies have been well behaved - well, sort of. Mew-mew took another turn at my curtains, both the bathroom and the bedroom ... right next to my pillow, too! Yuk! The clay I got for their piddle box is no good. Yes, it clumps, but it's basically the same as the fine sand: heavy and messy. I'd better get another large litter box and stick to the eco fibers!

They still like to wake me in the mornings, but at least Mini has given up her dismantling act! She did try playing with the cables one evening - yikes! That's all I need! Electricity plus water plus mippies! Nightmares!

My groceries finally arrived today (Friday). Now I can bake muffins or cookies again, if I choose! Just a pity the white bread flour was out of stock! I've been thinking of trying the pizza-omelette for dinner tonight. Basically, it's simply bread dough, you fill half with pizza toppings, then fold it over - just like an omelette - and bake the whole thing. That should also give me enough dough for some bread rolls for the weekend. I'm thinking jam rolls for breakfast! Haven't done that in quite a while!

I've also been thinking about some organisation to this blog ... adding tags, only this time, not so haphazardly. Tags like: photo's, or maybe even photos-cats, photos-ocean, etc. Using recurring themes like menopause, cats, garden, cities (PE, Pretoria), shopping-in store and shopping-online. I did add labels at one point, but it was so ... disorganised ... I really think I should fine-tune it a bit. Maybe have more labels, being more specific. Like with cats, divide into behaviour, health, nutrition? I've also been thinking of adding something from the past - like the journal I wrote in East London, for example. Or maybe some excerpts from past diaries? Just an idea ... before I go delving into the far past, I should first upload the photos from the past year, though! Ha ha! Poor Mini still hasn't appeared on this blog at all! And she is such a beautiful cat!

This weekend I will need to tend to my budget, though. The cat food prices have all gone up and so have the road tolls. I need to know what I can afford before I spend ...