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I've been absent a lot lately. And I have a myriad of excuses.
The dog didn't really eat my homework - although when we first got him, I accidentally left the door to the cake room ajar and he snuck in and ate half a Gryffindor-coloured Harry Potter-themed cake. Lesson learned very quickly and there is an awful lot of OCD door checking that goes on as the room has two internal doors to it!
Anyhoo, I have to apologise. I turned down an awful lot of orders over the summer. I'm gutted as there were lots of wedding and christening celebrations - which is fabulous news in a not-quite-post-Covid-world. The reason? Our kitchen is meant to be being totally refurbished.
But of course, we're not quite in that post-Covid world. In fact I finally got it myself a few weeks back. Unfortunately, this means the kitchen rebuild "might" be starting the week after I originally wanted it to start. The week that I was told I couldn't possibly have because the builder was fully booked. But as it is with one thing and another, it's been pushed back a couple of weeks, costing me hundreds in lost revenue and lots of potential new clients. Which is really annoying for everyone.
One saving grace was that I did manage to sneak in a big delivery for my lovely youngest cousin's baby's baptism on one of the hottest days of the year. 60 gorgeous florals driven from Bristol to Southampton in 30C heat. Thank the Lord (and BMW) for excellent car air-conditioning.
Unfortunately, it now means that I can't plan any orders in September; or even book in any more live classes. I should have been in a position to be able to do private lessons and schedule my pre-Christmas adult and kids classes. To say I'm frustrated is an understatement.
In amongst all of this, I've also changed my day job. That massive renovation isn't going to pay for itself! I've gone back to working full time - the old job made me so miserable that I had stopped working Fridays which meant I could faff around in the kitchen completing weekend orders, making reels and taking a tentative step into the world of online teaching.
I still have a long list of classes I want to develop - but oddly, now I'm happier in my day job, I'm more inclined to enjoy relaxing during my shorter weekends. Before the switch, I was channelling the negative energy and anxiety into never sitting still and constantly being up to my ears in buttercream or editing videos or watching other people piping. And if the kitchen does happen sometime this decade, the cake room will be packed to the rafters with all my kitchen paraphernalia for the duration which means there will be no availability for orders, no ability to film new reels and no new online classes.
So over the next few weeks, I will be trying to divert some time into planning new content (and finishing off the two courses I've mostly filmed) trying new designs out and mostly keeping my fingers crossed that the next time Whatsapp pings with a message about the kitchen, it's "we'll be here on Monday and in three weeks time, you'll be plastering your lovely new kitchen all over Instagram".
Here's hoping! Becca xo