Robbed.........

Last week I got the phone call I had been waiting for, the one where the caller tells me my windows have been smashed in & I have been robbed. Unfortunately there has been alot of vandalism happening in Kalgoorlie lately & with all the other businesses around me being targeted it was only a matter of time until it was my turn. What disappoints me the most about being robbed is the fact that I support & stock 8 local wahms, I am a small business woman working my butt off trying to bring something different to a small town & have to encounter such stupidity as this.

I will not be deterred & these sorts of incidences just reinforce my decisions & give me the energy & drive to succeed. It is but a small bump in the road!

Giveaway Winner..........

Eldest Sprout has been given the honour of drawing the name from his fedora.........

here he is with the winning slip

& the winner is Nicole!

Congratulations Nicole & heres hoping you get a dishwasher this year instead of washing up gloves :)

Thankyou Peeps............

Things have been a little hectic in the house of sprout the last 2 months so I would like to apologise if I have taken a few days to answer any questions/emails/enquiries etc. At the moment I average 100-150 emails a day which I try to answer on that day however sometimes I can't so I am very sorry if it does take me a couple of days to get back to you.

The shop is going great guns & the response has been so positive in Kalgoorlie I am just so happy! Lots of new handmade suppliers have come on board, a few overseas labels & ofcourse I am still sewing alot of the stock myself. I now have 3 other staff in store besides myself & I am looking at larger premises to lease later in the year & a new venture with a girlfriend of mine.

I would like to say a big thankyou to everyone who supports me online as well as in store. If anyone had of asked me 3 years ago if I thought I would be where I am today I would have scoffed. It is truly the online community that has helped me open my own bricks & mortar store & the trust & generosity of other handmade producers & I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. From my first sale of a little hand knitted beanie I made to now stocking 15 retailers plus my own store I truly thankyou.

It warms my heart to see the same customers buying from me & that inspires me to be a good business woman. I like to post up funny pics on my facebook page & love all your comments which inpsires me to be a good person. And lastly I thankyou for your understanding emails & well wishes if things are a  little delayed because I am busy with my children, which inspires me to be a good mother.

Thankyou xxx

The night I met Prince Harry & the Media fallout after...........

About 8 years ago while I was still living in Qld I met Prince Harry in a very obscure way. At the time I was working as a night manager of a surf club and one of the bar staff who I supervised was turning 18, Prince Harry attended his party & I was also invited to the party. It was a very low key casual affair at the young mans parents house & very hush hush. Some of the other staff also knew so we all arrived together.........to a nightmare!

Poor Harry was holed up in the bathroom of the house hiding while half the female teenage population of Noosa sat outside the door giggling & squealing. I felt so sorry for him & after being given access to the bathroom discovered him to be a very nice & handsome young man. I left that evening after a few drinks & chats & didnt think anything more until the next issue of Womans Day magazine hit the shelves.

Supposedly one of the girls I went to the party with & left with & spent all her time in my company with, had hung out with Harry taking drugs & having you know what on the front lawn. She even made the front cover. I was disgusted that someone would make this up just to try and get a bit of fame & that a magazine would pay her thousands for an untrue & unsubstantiated story.

The next thing I know I have reporters calling me &  putting my photo in the Brisbane papers purely because I was there & they thought I was her boss. Aaarrggghhh!

Todays royal wedding was lovely & I must admit I would love to be a princess in the sense of no cooking or cleaning but I think I can take a bit of work and dirt to have privacy in my life. Best of luck to you Kate :)

Mothers Day Giveaway..........

I think its fair to say that sometimes in life we are gifted things that are bad & in my experience this usually happens at birthdays or mothers day so to celebrate Mothers Day & hopefully ease the pain of a bad gift I will be giving away two gorgeous, yummy, scrummy handmade soaps from Inner Earth Soaps.

I adore these soaps and for your chance to win all you have to do is tell me what was your worst Mothers Day present ever. The winner will be drawn at random on Monday 2nd May 9am (aest). To make it easy for people to comment you can either leave a comment here on my blog or you can go to my facebook page and leave your comment under this photo. I can post internationally you just may not recieve the soap before Mothers Day :)

Mr Sprout goes 5 star Camping.........

Mr Sprout has been sent off to work at a mine north of Kalgoorlie for a week. He made a few obligatory grumblings about missing the children & myself but deep down I know he loves these little jaunts. He has his own private airconditioned, ensuited accommodation (okay its a donger but its still his own), 3 meals a day (hot breakfast, packed lunch, smorgasboard dinner), free phone calls nationwide & internet access.
Last time he went he gained 8 kilos, came back critiquing my food & knew all sorts of gossip from chatting to friends back east. I'm really looking forward to him coming home next week ;)

NB: I am a huge Bear Grylls fan but this photo is just too funny!

Ending Facebook Friendships..........

Last night I made the decision to delete my facebook friends. When I joined up to facebook it was for two reasons, the first so my relatives over East & in other countries could easily view photos of my children, house reno etc. The second reason was to launch a business page so customers could view new & upcoming products & see how the business grows.

I did not know that facebook would start to take over my life! The amount of time spent chatting, pm'ing, tagging, being tagged, answering posts was astounding & when you times it by two it became overwhelming. Hence my decision to virtually cancel everyone on my personal page & just go back to the good ol days when friends used to ring me or drop by for a coffee.

So if you find that you are no longer on my friend list please dont take it personally,I am still your friend but I prefer to be your friend riding rollercoasters in the real world not online.