I issued a blogging challenge to myself about 6 months ago: write a blog post every week. I wrote 4 posts in 6 months. :(
Life is all about second chances though, right? None of us are perfect and very (VERY) few people (if any at all) get anything done perfectly the first time. So now that the Christmas rush is over, and the kittens mentioned in previous posts have healed from their spays and been adopted, I have a little more free time. In fact, this time of year, which I call "the post-Christmas blahs", I have a lot more free time than I'd like. Oh, sure, there is always something to do at the store: paperwork, ordering, restocking, rearranging, dusting...I miss the hustle and bustle of the Christmas shoppers though...and not because the store makes more money at Christmas time (although I appreciate that too; like most retail shops, the busy Christmas season keeps me in business), but also because I like the excitement and energy of the season. This time of year, it's easier for a sensitive person like myself to feel a little more "down" and pessimistic and stressed: Did I make enough during the busy season to actually stay in business until sales pick up in the Spring? How much can I spend on replenishing stock and how much should I set aside in case business is slow to improve? Will the Canadian dollar ever recover enough so that I can reorder items from my few American suppliers without taking a 30% hit? See? Stress!
And then there are the rescue cats. I certainly didn't intend to get into rescue; it's hard on the heart and on the wallet! Yeah, taking in a stray off the street is completely "free", but having them tested, vaccinated, treated for fleas and worms, and spayed or neutered certainly is not! We also tend to take in a lot of the "special cases" who've had illnesses or injuries, which requires more vetting than usual before they're able to be adopted, if at all, as we've also taken on a few "long term" rescues who have various chronic issues (one that will likely require a leg amputation at some point, another that just had his third surgery, another with a chronic allergy, an unadoptable feral...). Vetting our foster cats costs money of course, which means continued fundraising, which takes my focus off of my retail business. But fundraising is only part of rescue; getting the adoptable ones into the right home is another, and we are full at present. More stress!
One thing I'm not going to stress about, however, is blogging. Yes, I like to write, but I don't have a lot of time to get into a good "writing groove" (I started this post three days ago...that should tell you something), so I'm just going to write when I can, no matter how sporadically that may be.
Thanks for "listening".
~ Leesa
