Dinner is in the oven (I've got visitors coming for tea tonight) so I have some time to blog and let you know how my week went last week.

After the initial not so great start to the week due to the Winz visit on Monday the rest of my week has been really, really great and very productive.

On Tuesday I sent out emails to all the people who had asked to be informed when the Rawleigh's Medicated Ointment was back in stock.  Medicated Ointment has been out of stock since before Christmas which meant we didn't have any to sell when we did all the markets over Jan, Feb and March so we collected their email addresses.  It's now back and the response so far to my email has been fantastic with the orders rolling in.  If any of you out there want to order a tin or any other Rawleigh products then please email me ;0) - nothing like a bit of free marketing.

On Wednesday and Thursday my sister came to visit and we had an awesome time together catching up, chatting, sharing, laughing and crying and just re connecting.  We went out for dinner and a movie - saw the Lone Ranger and it was great.  The next day we had a walk through town, did some shopping, had lunch out and then it was time for Carolyn to head home to her family.  Thanks sis for coming to visit, for encouraging me and for being a listening ear.  Love you lots.

One of the things Carolyn and I talked about was what I wanted to do further down the track - I've been thinking I might do some study towards becoming a Librarian - specialising in children's literature.  It really, really appeals so with a lot of encouragement from my sis I am looking into it.  I'll keep you posted.

On Thursday I received the letter from IRD that I had been waiting for so I could go and open a business account at Kiwibank.  Unfortunately it didn't contain any of the info I had asked them for so I was back at square one.  I rang IRD again on Friday morning and was told that yes they could organise what I wanted but it would take 15 days for the referral to go through and another 5 - 10 working days to receive the letter - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!  To say I was fed up would be putting it mildly.

What to do? What to do?  I couldn't be without the eftpos machine for another month so I rang my bank.  I was transferred to the local branch and an appointment was made for that very morning to see one of the consultants. She was brilliant - within half an hour of walking through the door I had a business account set up and ready to go, the eftpos machine forms where also filled in and faxed off. I was all systems go and I was over the moon.  It would seem that the lady at the other bank had it all wrong - although a new anti money-laundering legislation/regulation is now in place it doesn't apply to sole trader accounts. Phew!!

Saturday saw another 'job' done and that was to fill in the tax returns for the business for the 2012/13 financial year - my brother Ron came and gave me a hand cause I've never done them before. The things I'm learning!!  We got them all sorted and they were sent off today.  Once these have been processed by IRD the partnership can be dissolved.  I'm prob looking at a big tax bill for Roy and I'm pretty sure that IRD will not be really generous and writing it off.  They may well do that for any tax Roy might have to pay for this financial year seeing as he only lived for 2 months of it.  Oh well time will tell, I'm not going to stew about it.  At least it's done.

While Ron was here he also fixed my garage door for me so I can get the car into the garage.  It'll be so good to be able to use it again and is just a bit more secure for me.

I've had a few people ask if I feel safe living alone and actually I do.  Having Jack the dog definitely helps.  He has a great big bark and uses it as soon as anyone sets foot on the property.  I sleep well at night knowing that he'll let me know if there's a problem.  He is a brilliant guard dog.  At the moment he is a very happy dog too as I have been taking him for a walk down at the dog park nearly every day - it has been very cold the last few days as the park tends to catch the southerly wind.  Sure blows away the cobwebs and I am enjoying the exercise.    You get a great view of the Tararua ranges from the park and there is a heap of snow on them at the moment.  No wonder it so cold.

Well that was a quick rundown of my week.  I continue to take things one day at a time and I think Roy would be proud of what I have achieved over the last few weeks.  I am coping ok, I am relatively content and definitely at peace.  I have lots of people who care about me and love me, but best of all I have the Lord on my side - what more could you ask for.

Till next time.  Have a great week.  Stay warm and safe.

Love and blessings
Jolanda