I haven't posted much lately, but we've been burning the midnight oil. Tis the Season, and oh....what a Season! Here's Jory washing dishes one evening after cutting & stacking 150 lbs. of the previous day's soap, cutting labels, taking inventory, filling beaucoup orders before the UPS man comes at 5pm (I believe there were 31 on this day), and then whipping up no less than 150 lbs of new soap stacked up on the table, all while building his own house after hours and starting a sustainable farm! Jory is an incredible cross between the Energizer bunny and a Timex watch. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking ....day....after day...after day.
I hope our other son Cael and his wife Tina will be able to join us out here some day too, cause I know they'll work just as hard! Our grand daughter Aubrey sweeps impeccably and she puts on a mean body balm label. I'll bet our new grandson Caden will help out here when he grows up too. Well, first he's got to be born, but I digress...
On this particular evening I was in the office doing paperwork ...the never ending, nagging, brain-numbing paperwork. My typical work day begins around 5am when I get on Twitter and Facebook on my home computer, catching up on the news of the day and interacting with fans while slowly sipping my only cup a joe. By 7am you can usually find me in the soap shop office answering emails and sifting through junk mail for an hour or two. Next I type up the sales orders of the day so that Jory (and lately Jory's girlfriend Jackie) can start filling them around 10am or so. After 9 the phone begins ringing, setting off a steady cycle of customer inquiries, phone orders, and annoying unsolicited calls. (If Leapfish calls me one more time, I swear I'm going to hurt somebody!)
In between calls I'm pecking away at designing labels and custom soap formulas for private label and custom order clients, meeting deadlines, landing new accounts, maintaining 2 websites, 2 blogs, 2 Twitter and 2 Facebook accounts, printing product labels (there's never enough), plus ordering supplies, keeping the shop reasonably tidy and organized, and addressing the other routine problems and golden opportunities that arise each and every day. I much prefer the golden opportunities, but problem solving can be rewarding too.
Somehow, I also manage to wash the pile of dishes at home on lunch break, swipe the vacuum across the floor, hang out a load or two of wash, or sweep the mud and leaves off the sidewalk. All the little daily tasks that life requires. Our home and lawn are far from immaculate by the way, but we do keep them down to a dull roar. Some of the time. My husband does the cooking and the grocery shopping, thank goodness! He also runs errands for my business, picks up local supplies, handcarves our soap rocks, gardens, and acts as a general fixer upper and handy man for our 20 acre kingdom. He has his own full time lawn maintenance business too, so it's not like he's sitting around twiddling his thumbs. No siree.
By the time I walk the narrow wooded trail back home, usually well after dark (and I always booger myself), about all I can do is have a glass of wine (or not), enjoy a little conversation and a home cooked family meal (a priority), and vegetate for a short while in the overstuffed recliner before falling asleep during a netflix movie or PBS show. I never ever skip the overstuffed recliner. It's got to be one of life's most marvelous inventions!
Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining about our hectic schedule and we do manage to get away every now and then for a short escape (usually as a family, but sometimes individually). No, I'm lucky. I absolutely LOVE what I do. In fact I end each day by looking forward to what tomorrow will bring. Burning the midnight oil is a way of life for the Hanus family. While we don't actually work until midnight, we DO put in a good honest days work (and then some).... and we're SO very thankful to be able to do so! Life is only as good as you make it. What will you accomplish today?
About this time every year, our winter skin starts feeling parched, rough and downright itchy. Most people reach for the lotion, but there's so much more you can do to keep your skin soft and supple. Besides, most commercial lotions contain harmful petroleum based synthetic ingredients which can easily be avoided. Follow these easy tips to help ditch the itch:
