Sammy Well, this wasn’t quite the week I had planned! It actually started rather well.
Monday brought us Witch & Stitch at The Old Smithy, with the usual combination of knitting, crochet, chatting, tea drinking and projects that may or may not ever actually get finished. Which is exactly how Witch & Stitch should be.
We also had some rather lovely wholesale news. The Doggy Balm Paws and Noses, has had another reorder, and 24 tins of balm are heading off to pet shops in Oakham and Stamford!
I still get ridiculously excited about reorders. It’s one thing for someone to decide to give one of my products a try, but when they sell it and come back for more, that feels rather special.
So Monday was actually going very nicely. And then it all went a bit tits up.
The Apothecary Witch Malfunctioned
Those of you who popped past the shop this week may have noticed that I wasn’t actually there for much of it. I also didn’t make it to Ye Olde Witch Fayre in Newark on Saturday, which I was really disappointed about.
There was, however, a fairly good reason.
My body apparently decided that the collection of chronic illnesses I already have wasn’t providing quite enough entertainment and threw something new into the mix.
I’d had some pain and generally hadn’t been feeling right, but because I’m me, I did what I usually do and assumed it was ME, my back, my stomach being cross, or one of the other approximately 400 things my body likes to complain about. Turns out it wasn’t.
After a particularly horrible episode of pain and eventually admitting that perhaps this one wasn’t going to disappear if I ignored it for long enough, I ended up at hospital. There were doctors. There were tests. There was a surgical consultant. There were phone calls being made and now I’m going back in for surgery.
That wasn’t in the diary!
There is probably a little lesson in here for me, and possibly for some of you too.
I am absolutely the Queen of riding through symptoms and blaming everything on ME. When you live with chronic illness, you get very used to your body doing ridiculous things and you stop being particularly surprised by any of it.
But new symptoms aren’t always your chronic illness. Sometimes something else has wandered in and joined the party.
So, from one stubborn chronic illness warrior to another, if something is new, different or particularly horrible, please get it checked.
I shall attempt to remember my own advice in future. No promises!
So, What Happens This Week?
We’re carrying on as normally as we can for the first half of the week.
Rutland Morris will still be joining us at The Old Smithy on Monday evening, so that’s going ahead as planned. They’ll be cake!
And on Wednesday, The Hobbit Moot Party is also still happening, just without this particular Pippin!
After Tuesday, the shop itself will be closed while I recover.
The website will remain open though, and web orders will still be going out because Will, it turns out, is actually a very good packer. He’s been promoted.
I’m not sure he knows this yet.
There might be a little extra wait here and there depending on how things go, but we’ll keep everything ticking along.
Meanwhile, Pippin’s Apparently Has Other Ideas…
Because while I’ve been busy malfunctioning, Pippin’s Potions seems to have decided that this is an excellent time to get busier.
I’ve had another message from Glastonbury.
They’ve already sold out of Brigid and Lilith perfume oils!
So another five of each are being made and heading down there.
I cannot tell you how exciting it is to hear that something has actually SOLD OUT in a shop in Glastonbury.
And then there are the candles.
One hundred of them.
I’ve got a wholesale order for 100 candles to make this week, so Tuesday has officially become Candle Day.
The plan is to get all 100 made and curing before I go into hospital. Hopefully the labels will arrive shortly afterwards, and my little team of helpers can get them labelled and ready while I’m lying around being spectacularly unhelpful.
When I stop and look at it all together, it’s actually been a slightly bonkers week for wholesale.
Doggy Balm reordered.
24 balms heading to pet shops in Oakham and Stamford.
Brigid and Lilith selling out in Glastonbury.
Another ten perfume oils heading down there.
And 100 candles to make.
All while I’ve barely managed to keep the actual shop open.
You couldn’t make it up.
A couple of years ago I was making little batches of things at home, and now Pippin’s products are heading into other independent shops, people are coming back for reorders, and I’m apparently making candles by the hundred.
That makes me ridiculously happy. Even if I am about to be temporarily sent off for repairs.
So that’s this week’s Tales from the Apothecary.
We started with knitting and Doggy Balm.
We somehow acquired a surgical team in the middle.
And we’re finishing with 100 candles and sold-out perfume oils.
Standard week, really, See you on the other side!
Sammy
