Self Management

Yes, not time management is the answer to this seemingly endless time issues battling inside my head. Issues on how I can juggle my time being a mother and temporarily a father too, of my two boys constantly demanding my attention and attending to the demands of my growing number of fans :p (hehehe I am so amused by that statement).

When I was working, I spent 10 hours a day, 5 and sometimes 6 days a week at work away from my family yet no one seemed to complain and I was healthy. There was even a period that we did not have any househelp, I was working night shifts and when I got home in the morning, prepared my Joshua for school, washed some dishes, did some cleaning, slept a little and back to work again. That went on for two straight years. I never got sick aside from common colds and cough. My Josh was at the top of his class then.

But I had dreams. It was my long time dream to be a stay at home mom and a full time wife and when I got pregnant with Joseph and hubby got a good financial opportunity, I was very lucky to have finally fulfill that dream. That's what I thought so. I don't know what has gotten into me that I started to find hobbies that I could do while tabebe was still small. I started selling ukay ukays but only got stressed out from too much physical exertion. After about 6 months, I enrolled in beadcraft workshop and had so much fun making accessories. I started posting my work in a social networking site but not too many noticed them although I have sold quite a plenty to my friends and relatives. I didn't really mind, I wasn't into serious money-making business.

Then at one point, I started to bake. I have my mom's old trusted recipes to try so it wasn't a problem. I thought that a cake would be too big for a small family so I started experimenting on cupcakes using the cake recipes I have. I sell some to our neighbors and some at my son's school. I never really thought that cupcakes were already a hit. How would I know, I don't dine out hehehe. I thought taking pictures of the cupcakes would be fun. I then opened a Multiply site to post the pictures of my cupcakes. That gave birth to Simply Kate's. I didn't really expect people to notice it especially that I don't have a network yet.

Unexpectedly, orders came in and they just keep coming in. Now, I have a big problem, some say happy problem... I can't handle them anymore and my time for my family has suffered. I know this is my own fault as I don't know how to say no. Now, I keep telling myself, this is not what I wanted when I quit work. This was not what I dreamed of. This was not even part of the plan. But I am not quitting. I guess I just need to manage myself another way to cope up with the challenges of being a mother and the growing needs of this little business.