some things the small brain has learnt

This could have been a boring entry about the setting up of your own business, however the small brain wandered so you now have a list of things learnt this year!

1. No mattter how fabulous your yoga teacher is there are some bends that are just impossible, and her giggling at you while struggling does not make you feel better 3/10 must try harder
2. 20 pairs of shoes do not fit into a bottom of the stairs basket without them escaping just when you go to find the matching pair - and you are always running late when this happens
3. Home made wine tastes a lot better with someone else to share it with
4. Your girlfriends can always be relied upon to remind you of the gaffs made - Ivor Novello, I rest my case and trump you the Normans
5. You will always forget what presents, decorations etc have been purchased during the year and suddenly find that you possess 3 sets of christmas crackers hidden in a box
6. Your cat will always want a cuddle with muddy wet paws just as you are ready to go out in your best party frock - safest to just buy animal print fabric and say it's part of the design!
7. No matter how you dress it up, camping is still cold and wet - but good fun so you still go and immediately remember how cold and wet it actually is!
8. When someone tells you it's complicated - that's code for I can't be honest enough to tell you the truth and run away, preferably to the girlfriends who will remind you later while howling at the gaff - again I trump you the Normans!
9. Spamalot audiences do not dress up, and you will stand out while clinking coconuts through the foyer and asking where the grail is hidden
10. When combing two households into one - where do all the lightbulbs come from??

And now some resolutions for next year - probably all be forgotten by February, but the act of blogging about them offers a level of guilt and reminding that they may make it till April!

1. Remember to post more blogs - some of the lovely comments received during the year made me realise how many people actually read these ramblings, so thank you x
2. Create a range of products that more accurately fits with the Hippo home, there are interests which we haven't explored and should have - again, thanks for the feeback from those of you we've had chance to discuss the ideas with x
3. Might sound silly, but try to enjoy it a bit more - yes, it's a business but also meant to be a way of life and that old adage of working to live not living to work runs true

Daren't make any more - 3 already takes me way over my usual limit! And as for the personal ones, they'll probably be chuntered about on twitter or facebook but am not brave enough to have those laid open to public scrutiny!

Hope you all have a fabulous 2012, Angie xx

Scary and exciting times ahead!

Oops, now have to put on serious business woman head, this could be dangerous!

The New Year is going to be terrifying and exciting at the same time, I'm currently employed on a temporary contract which ends in December so intend to put all my energy into making this a really successful business. I don't want to look back in a few years and go 'but it could have worked' that isn't my style. My close friends will tell you this, words like fearless come to mind in terms of me saying 'right, this needs to be done' and off I toddle and get it done. But as many of you know, it's a terrifying prospect! What if people don't buy things? What if the kiln breaks? What if there are no craft fairs suitable?

However, and I shamelessly draw on Pooh Bear for this - things have a way of working out right if you put the right energy into it. You could spend hours filling a whole notebook of all the things that could go wrong but then it could go right and you get to do what you love doing, you get to potter round making lovely things for lovely people and they pay you to say thank you that piece made me smile. And that's not a blinkered Pollyanna approach, just a realistic one of put the hard work in and get the pieces and the marketing right and you can make it work. Yes, there's lots of small businesses that fail but there's also ones that succeed - and unless I try I'll never know which camp we're in.

Been getting pretty good with the clay lately - made these for tree decorations:

but this is the one most proud of:

my poor tutor has so much patience - however on telling him that I'm going to bore you stupid as want to get better he just said go for it as he's a thrower too and loves teaching others to throw - result!! Really must try and get some pictures of his work because that's a definite we're not worthy when you see what he can do with a lump of clay and make it look the most natural thing in the world. One day in about twenty years time I may get somewhere close to his skill level (I hope!)

The one aspect of working from home that scares me most is that I must make the effort to get dressed and not spend the whole day pottering around in pjs while sending out parcels to customers. Perhaps I need to do some research into day time pjs? Angie xx

Do I like cheese??

I sense that this will become the catchphrase that the boy has to forever live with! It came about while we were doing his food stock up before sending him off to uni, while trundling round the supermarket he picked up the cheese and said "do I like this?" from the child that lives off cheese on toast, omelettes etc etc. While they carried on I was unable to move due to howling with laughter. In his defence he didn't realise there were different types of cheese, thought there was just one - the one in the fridge! He does know now.

We could have been really adult about a red cross parcel to him, however it seemed a wasted opportunity on our part not to enjoy it! So, this is the contents of the parcel sent to him!

There are some sensible things, but also the day to day essentials such as kinder eggs, pink wafers, haribo, Beano plasters, cheese - but only the stuff he likes!

Oh, and those are real smarties with E numbers from my secret stash!

Day 8 - must have a triangle

This is an idea we've been working on - glass tea light holders, and look get four triangles into the photo! Should be on the web site soon, just playing about with colours

And yes, for the observant amongst you that is a photo in the background of me and my brother - outside No 10 Downing Street, so even when little was political :)