Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Friday, December 15, 2017

Fifteen Minutes

That's how long I've got until Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion starts on Foxtel and I am going to watch it (for the millionth time).

We all saw Star Wars at the cinema today.

It was like all the other Star Wars movies. Lots of action. Lots of characters. Lots of comedy. Lots of drama. Lots of killing. Lots of bad guys. Lots of good guys. Lots of special effects.

One notable difference - lots of strong female characters - which I liked a lot.

After the movie, we shopped and Primrose and I attempted to print out some photos from our USB sticks. I took the wrong one and Primrose's USB couldn't be recognised by the Harvey Norman computer, so that was a big fat fail.

Meanwhile, The Motivator was breaking sales records in the shop all by herself! We hope to break her new record tomorrow!

Primrose and I headed to the Bowls Club for the raffles tonight and neither of us had any luck at all.

Adoring Husband stayed at home and kept an eye on dinner which was a made up dish - chicken with garlic, chilli, honey and lemon. It was disappointing, but edible.

I think it's time for me to sleep now ... I can't even stay awake for Romy and Michelle.

Nite all.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Presentation Skills

I love 'The Happy Abode'.

The Motivator has had some time off to spend with her lovely Mum who is visiting from Sydney and today I was alone in the shop.

It was very busy in the morning and they were all lovely customers with big smiles and warm positive wishes for our success, all buying Christmas gifts for friends or family.

It was quiet enough in the afternoon that I could actually eat some lunch and go check the mail afterwards. I did some tidying up and put the extra stock away, replaced the buttons in the trays that I'd sold in the morning, made up some bracelets to replace the ones that I'd sold earlier, took some photos of the handbags and posted them on our Facebook page (as promised to one of the customers yesterday, who wants her daughter to choose one for Christmas) and messaged Primrose to come to the shop at 4pm.

That's the time that I closed the doors so that we could take the yellow cover off the display table and replace it with a blue one, swap the blue buddha for the white one and then change up the presentation of the stock on the main table. We also changed positions of some of my photos around the shop.

Adoring Husband will be mounting the photo display shelves on the wall this weekend so it will all change again after that.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the finished display because I think it looks pretty darned good. I think Primrose enjoyed the process and she has a pretty good eye for presentation so we left feeling good about our work.

We decided to take the long way home, walking along the river path. The tide was high and the water was very choppy with the moored boats rocking back and forth over the choppy waves.

Primrose had prepared dinner earlier, so we had a delicious cold meat dinner with three different salads before doing a quick clean up and retiring to our respective evening positions in the house. She, in her bedroom to watch the remaining ER series and me to the lounge room to do this blog post and watch some reviews on Canon Mark IV cameras.

In the middle of doing that, I had the inclination to clean the main toilet and bathroom - much to the horror of Primrose who is always disturbed when I do something out of character like that. Cleaning the bathroom at 10pm and still wearing my work clothes is definitely out of character.

We are all off to the cinema in the morning to see the new Star Wars movie. Primrose and Adoring Husband are very excited about this, so I'd best get myself some sleep!

Happy Friday!

Nite all.

    

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Night Sky

It's 10pm. Primrose and I have just returned from the beach where we watched the sky for an hour to see some of the Geminids Meteor Shower in the night sky.

We saw four bright meteors shoot across the sky and a few small ones.

It was the most beautiful clear night and the sky was brilliant with stars. There was a soft breeze blowing and as the tide was receding, the water was gently lapping the beach. If I'd had a more comfortable resting place, I could easily fallen asleep in the mild night air.

It was well worth the effort, not just for the serenity of it all, but for the bright meteors that made us gasp in awe and if Primrose hadn't been here, I probably wouldn't have made the effort, so I thank her for her enthusiastic motivating pull (aka harassing lol).

I was booked in for a Zen Shiatsu session with Annemarie at the shop this afternoon. I took her last appointment for the day and it was my first experience with this form of remedial therapy. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that I would be fully clothed and that it would be similar to acupressure.

It was wonderful and the hour went so fast! Into the first ten minutes and I was feeling very very relaxed. By the time she'd finished, from top of my head to the tips of my toes, I felt amazing. So many tight and tense parts of my body were relaxed and moving better than they have in years.

The base of my spine and my hips were moving easily and pain free and I felt so much lighter than before we began the process.

She gave me a few stretching exercises to do before getting out of bed in the mornings and then explained what to expect in the coming 24 hours with my emotions and moods. Releasing the pressure on so many parts of my body might trigger some unusual or unexpected 'feelings' and 'emotions'.

So far, the only emotion I've felt is pure wonder that the stiffness has gone from my hips and I can move freely!

I think I'll need to make a standing fortnightly appointment with her. The best part is that all I have to remove is my shoes.

Annemarie is both gentle and strong in her movements and actions. I felt safe and comfortable the whole time and I can confidently recommend her Zen Shiatsu sessions.

At the shop, it was a quieter than usual Pension Wednesday.

Adoring Husband and Primrose had dinner all organised, so I didn't have to put too much effort into it. We make a pretty good team!

I'm off to bed to take advantage of a relaxed and clear body. I feel that sleep will arrive quickly tonight.

Nite all.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Zawsted

I am exhausted.

In the last 2 days, I've opened eleven boxes of stock, checked them off against the invoices, priced each item and then rearranged the displays in the shop so that I could fit everything in.

There was not enough room for storage so I had to reorganise the snap jewellery drawers.

The new display trays arrived and that meant rearranging all the buttons and removing them from the old trays and putting them in some kind of order on the new ones.

It's bin day, so I had to cut up all the boxes to put into the recycle bin.

Of course, in between all of this, there were customers to serve.

Our new business cards, address stickers and other printed paraphernalia arrived today too.

There should be one more delivery this week and that should be all before Christmas.

We were very light on for the usual Tuesday morning tea. The lovely Tweedle Dee was the only one to appear and it was great to have some one on one time with her.

It's that time of the year when everybody has something going on, like babysitting duties, holidays, illness and other commitments.

Adoring Husband, Primrose and I drove to the river to check out the sunset, but it was a fizzer, so we drove around the parts of town that we missed last night, looking for Christmas lights.

Not many of the usual suspects have their lights up this year, so it was a disappointing drive.

Primrose had prepared all the salads for dinner and AH cooked our meat on the barbecue - so thankfully, it required little effort from me and I enjoyed a delicious, healthful meal.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to massage my feet for me while we watched a movie.

Now I'm off to bed because I can barely keep my eyes open.

Nite all.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Tourist Season

It has begun.

The first day of Queensland school holidays brought me a busy Monday at the shop.

Not only did the tourists come for a visit and buy lots of jewellery, but I took delivery of ten (10) boxes of stock!

I assembled the new hat stand which now displays many hemp hats and a bag or two.


... and then this happened ...


I've unpacked one and a half of those boxes, so there is much work to do this week!

It may seem like a difficult task, but it's FUN! It's like Christmas because we never remember everything that we order.

I got to spend a lot of time playing with the snap button jewellery today, which is always enjoyable for me. I don't even mind when customers take a long time to choose their buttons and it's so interesting to watch them create their perfect 'piece'.

It was after 5pm when I arrived home.

Adoring Husband had already left for an important SES meeting, so Primrose and I sat down to an early dinner and then jumped in the car to try and catch the sunset on the river.



It was worth the effort.

I've got to be at work bright and early tomorrow so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Date Day

Adoring Husband and I had a bit of a date day today.

I had a few errands to run in The Bay, including picking up a couple of Christmas gifts, so we left home at 9am only to realise that the places that we needed to go didn't open until 10am!

We decided to have some breakfast and tried the new Enzos on the Esplanade. It's certainly a lot different to what it was originally, but I love the style of the place and the food was prompt to our table and very tasty.

The view was pretty special and the restaurant was open and airy with lots of tall tables, high benches with stools and low benches facing the water with low stools. There was even a sand pit with bean bags to relax in.

There is a bar for alcoholic beverages, of which we didn't partake at such an early hour!

We shopped well and before returning home, we perused Harvey Normans for kitchen 'stuff' including ridiculously priced stoves, fridges and washing machines and selecting our next lounge suite which has all the bells and whistles.

We were home by about 12.30 and after lunch, Primrose and I spent the afternoon outside being creative and artistic.

Primrose painted, sanded it to a rustic appearance and then painted the words of a quote on a square timber board for me.  She also painted a "Come in, we're AWESOME!" sign for the front door of our shop. She's a marvel.

Adoring Husband drilled approximately 20 small holes into a piece of silverware that I got from an Op shop while on our road trip and I began threading beads and charms onto it. It was a pleasant surprise opening each container full of beads and rediscovering some of the special bits and pieces that I had stored away.

I needed a short nap this afternoon and afterwards, Primrose and I walked to the supermarket to grab a couple of things for dinner, which we threw together without too much effort.

Adoring Husband has not been feeling the best this afternoon so he napped on and off in his lounge chair and had a fairly early night.

It's now after 11pm and I'll be opening the shop in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.