well, the first example of the flexibility of our post-modern family life today. i nipped home this afternoon, chucked a winter-warming lamb casserole together and then scooted back to the shop to finish off a very good day's trading for a mid-week. now it's time to pick up the kids, put on the tatties and enjoy a some beautifully slow-cooked lamb, and all before 6pm (i hope).

i really haven't felt this relaxed or happy at work since... well, a very long time. even the good days in corporate world are tempered by some eejit somewhere on the planet making a mess of things and i couldn't often say i was genuinely "happy" at work. "satisfied" perhaps but not happy really. happy moments but i've been happy all day now. hmmm, maybe it'll get a little wearing and i'll start to get grumpy about being happy?

i'm sure however, that this is the honeymoon period in terms of one's emotional perspective. let's face it, it's been pretty stressful building up to opening the shop and when there were several teething problems, that didn't exactly make life any easier. however, i've found i've been able to adopt the CBT theory of "if you can do something about it, do it. if you can't, don't worry about it" far more easily than when in the corporate environment.

hey ho, we'll see how it progresses but for now, i'm looking forward to lamb stew that i cooked mid-afternoon whilst we still had a good day's trade in the shop. bingo!