To The End

I think I'm a bit exhausted.

It's been business as usual, but also a long and tiring week, especially trying to complete the final day of the photography course today so that I could present it to Ms Extraordinaire after work this afternoon ... and that was difficult because I'd only just completed Day Two of the course the previous day.

Yes, yes ... I DO my best work under pressure, but once the pressure is released and complete, I fall into a screaming heap and really require some 'time out' to rejuvenate and regenerate.

That's what Sundays are for, and boy am I looking forward to this Sunday. I'm going to withdraw from the world for about six hours and be very gentle and kind to myself.

It was another quiet Saturday at The Happy Abode. Again, with the Baker and the Dress shop closed, people are going elsewhere to do their shopping and the rest of us are suffering, but as I've mentioned before, we need to figure out a positive plan of action to bring the people to us - all of us who are attempting to run successful businesses need to work together.

At least I had time to create the final part of the photography course, paid some invoices, prepared the banking for Monday, chatted with a couple of customers, emptied all of our bins, tidied the kitchen and cleared some work emails.

Adoring Husband came to the shop just before 1pm to help me close up and take home the cash tin, so that I could go straight to Ms Extraordinaire's to present the remainder of the course before she goes on holiday on Monday.

The more I learn about that woman, the more in awe I am and I shake my head in disbelief at how talented, creative, organised and efficient she is and her humility and honesty are heart warming. I like her a lot.

To give me time to wind down from work, she showed me through her house, pointing out different things that she had changed since moving in, showing me her AWESOME craft studio and all of the amazing creations that she had taught herself to make.

Her home is like a treasure trove, with surprises around every corner, stylishly decorated and with so many practical features to make life easier as they pass out of middle age and tread lightly into their twilight years. Her confidence that she will reach the age of 100 also makes her excited for all the creative pursuits she can follow and all the holidays and adventures she can experience.

After I finished showering her with accolades, we sat down and concentrated on what was left to learn about her camera and about photography. We reviewed the last two weeks of lessons and then went into her garden to practice some of the theory that she'd learned.

Her garden was another of her creations full of treasures and unusual plants, thriving with beneficial insects and birdlife and obviously the love of her life.

So my afternoon was thoroughly enjoyable. I was there for an hour longer than necessary, but I didn't look at my watch once, because I was very much enjoying my time with this lovely lady.

I finally found my way home to Adoring Husband who had prepared dinner for us and we sat down in front of the football with a plate full of delicious food to relax for the remainder of the day/evening.

Super Saturday football will finish earlier than usual tonight, so I expect to be in bed early.

I am feeling decidedly weary.

Nite all.

Another Woopsie

Adoring Husband informed me today that I didn't do my blog post last night!

That would be because I was frantically trying to finish creating 'day two' of my photography course - as you know, I do my best work under pressure - and even when I went to bed at 11pm last night, I still hadn't finished and had not figured out how I was going to fill three hours today.

This morning, I had an epiphany and it all fell into place perfectly.

Another lady joined my class today and I love the group who are incredibly keen to learn and are very proactive as they search through their cameras to find the various settings, helping each other and asking all the right questions.

One of the ladies is off on holidays on Monday and can't make the final week of the course, so I have volunteered to present the final three hours at her house after work tomorrow. She is a very good customer of The Happy Abode, was the first to put her name down for this course and was the first to pay in advance to ensure her place in the class. I'm happy to be flexible and accommodate her needs.

Hopefully, it will make all the difference for her holiday photos!

There is a camera to which I've been introduced in this class and two of my ladies have one. The Nikon Coolpix P900. It's worth around $600 on sale and from what I've seen, it's pretty amazing. The lens is 24-2000mm and takes amazing photos of the moon! It's very light and compact and I believe it would be a great camera for travel - especially for a less experienced photographer.

I never thought I'd be one to promote a Nikon, but so far, I'm very impressed with this one.

Because The Motivator is currently in Sydney, Adoring Husband was kind enough to 'man' the shop while I taught the class today. Unfortunately, he didn't make a sale, but luckily the day improved as far as sales go!

It was a pretty quiet night at the club tonight with only two of the usual crew in attendance. I won a little on the pokies but the ticket seller for the raffles forgot about me tonight and before I knew it, they were drawing the raffle and I didn't have any tickets to check.

It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.

Before I go, I thought you might be interested in this video.  We are ALL deficient in magnesium - even if your Dr tells you that your blood tests show that your magnesium levels are good, this is not correct, because a blood test cannot measure accurate magnesium levels.

You might have trouble absorbing magnesium from food if you drink a lot of alcohol, if you have kidney problems, take certain medications, are Celiac or have long-lasting digestive problems.

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency are nausea, poor appetite, sleepiness and muscle weakness. Extreme cases can cause muscle spasms, cramps and tremors.

Over time, low magnesium can weaken your bones, trigger bad headaches, heighten your nerves and can damage your heart. It can also lead to low levels of calcium and potassium. Surgery can significantly reduce magnesium levels in your body.

Sooooooo ... here is a video to demonstrate how to make your own Magnesium Oil, which is the quickest and easiest way for your body to absorb magnesium - through your skin.



Easy peasy!

Nite all.

Windy Wednesday

Cyclone Linda has been downgraded to a Low, but she is still packing a bit of a punch with gale force winds causing havoc in the area.

The winds are strong enough to keep people inside, which is not so good for business and it's a struggle to keep our signs upright - even the A-frame on the footpath was blown over a number of times.

Gusts over 60kph have been recorded today, which is a bit scary and can be quite damaging. It was strong enough to blow open our big glass shop doors.

Only three people braved the weather to become my customers today, but that gave me lots of time to tick a few things off my 'to do' list including contacting the Amateur Fishing Club regarding donations and sponsorship for the big fishing classic at Easter.

I feel like I didn't stop all day, but I can't even remember most of what I did!

I mailed Vegan Chickie's birthday present this afternoon - surprisingly BEFORE her birthday! I didn't even brave the wind gusts to check our mail during the day, instead waiting til after I closed the shop.

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop and picked me up from work - I decided to leave my trike at home this morning because the weather was looking ominous and I wasn't sure that I could pedal against the wind!

We did a mini grocery shop where I bought three more pineapples to chop up and freeze ready for more fruity ice whips in our future. The pineapples are still sweet and juicy, so I think I will grab another three tomorrow. Pineapples are perfect for such a short period in the season, so I want to make the most of them while I can.

Pineapples are great for strengthening liver function and my liver was weakened by the medication that I took for my thyroid ten years ago, so I'll be pumping them into my belly whenever I can, along with other yellow fruit and veg.

Pineapples contain manganese which helps develop strong bones and connective tissue.

Eating pineapples helps reduce the risk of macular degeneration. They contain significant amounts of bromelain which aids digestion, helps reduce severe inflammation and helps in treating osteoarthritis.

Because of it's abundance of Vitamin C, it helps reduce mucus in the throat and nose and even though it's sweet, it's low in calories.

They are also delicious when ripe and in season!

Adoring Husband went a bit overboard when I asked him to buy some coconut cream today, so I made a big chicken tikka curry for dinner with cauliflower rice and papadums for dinner. There was some leftover fruit whip from last night which we had for dessert.

I was thwarted in my attempts to have an early night last night, so I will attempt to do so tonight!

5 Ways To Tell If A PINEAPPLE Is Ripe

Nite all.

Not Quite!

So, this morning, I woke up with a bright and positive state of mind.

I set alarms on my phone for every hour, with special messages to myself, the first being "Have an AMAZING day!"

The second "You are doing GREAT!" The third "Get up and DANCE!" The fourth "Organise some lunch!"

and so on ... each alarm had an upbeat, happy and danceable song, so every hour, my mood was lifted and my energy increased.

I also set a total for the day's takings in my head and said it out loud many times.

The day was totally enjoyable.

Only four of us were in attendance for morning tea, but we had some good laughs and shared some funny memories from our youth. Funny and rude!

There was a steady flow of paying customers through the door, which was nice, but I didn't quite reach my imagined total ... I need to practice manifesting my imaginings!

I welcomed The Little Mermaid into the shop for the first time in five months. I feel that she is on another downhill slide, after being clean for that long. I hugged her hello and she held the hug for a long time, releasing me with silent tears in her eyes and whispering "I can't breathe, I'm having trouble breathing."

I asked her if she was feeling anxious and she listed off a few things that she had experienced in the last couple of weeks, including her stepson's wedding in Perth and a psych assessment. She did say hello to the morning tea ladies and left wanting to say more, but waving herself away and leaving abruptly.

After the ladies left, I took photos and created a collage to put into our ad for the newsletters.

I designed and finished the ad for all the newsletters and emailed it through to each editor.

There was more pricing and displaying to do with journals and jewellery.

I booked an appointment with The Gypsy for a new town resident.

I checked the mail, ordered my lunch and ripped up all the cardboard boxes to put into the recycle bin.

Our front door needed a good clean (as Adoring Husband pointed out)  but it seems that a lot of what looks like dirty fingerprints on the door frame are actually stains and I couldn't remove them ... but at least it's clean!

Another lady phoned to ask if she could join my 'already started' photography course (I agreed to accept her request).

I counted and set aside the banking.

By this afternoon, my desk was looking disgusting and I couldn't figure out where to even begin to clear/organise the horrific mess that lay before me! So I put that on my 'to do' list for tomorrow, which means that I'm going to have to work hard on the positive re-inforcement when I wake up in the morning!

Just before I left the shop this afternoon, there was some very heavy rain. The heavy showers didn't last long enough to cause any water damage in the shop and there didn't appear to be any leaks before I left. There has been no rain since - thank goodness.

AH helped me close the shop and then joined me for some grocery shopping before driving home ahead of me as I pedalled home.

Our dinner consisted of bangers (delicious pork sausages from the butcher) and mash and lots of greens, followed by a frozen fruit whip - I used frozen banana, pineapple and dragon fruit in the processor with coconut cream, maple syrup and a pinch of salt. I sprinkled shavings of premium organic dark chocolate and chopped macadamia nuts over the top. Phwoar it was good!

I expect to be in bed nice and early again tonight for another early start tomorrow, when I will ...

Nite all.

PS Happy birthday to Gentleman Jim for 13th xo

Peaceful Monday

I really enjoyed meditation this morning.

There were only four of us plus The Gypsy, but between meditations, there was some great discussions and even the newbie engaged in some interesting banter.

It was so good, we went about ten minutes over time and even then, everybody lingered.

We had three deliveries today. One was a box full of watches, one a box full of journals and notebooks and the other was just for me and had clothes and jewellery.

I didn't get a lot done today because I spent so much time chatting. I chatted with The Gypsy ...  a lot. I chatted with customers. I chatted with friends. I chatted with the insurance assessor. I chatted with the real estate agent. I chatted with the delivery guy. I chatted with Adoring Husband.

The only productivity in my day was checking off, pricing and displaying the watches.

My desk is covered with 'to do' work and the back table is now covered with journals and notebooks to price and display.

I really have my work cut out for me for the remainder of the week, including getting our ad ready before Wednesday for all three newsletters and preparing my lessons for the photography course on Friday, returning some damaged stock to suppliers, contacting suppliers re missing items from deliveries, getting the lease sorted and more.

Tomorrow is coffee morning with the girls which, as usual, I am looking forward to, but I definitely need an early night and a good night's sleep, so that I can power through the rest of the day and get stuff done.

I'm feeling rather weary!

Nite all.

 

Day of Rest

So I made an executive decision today and stayed away from The Happy Abode.

Everything that we planned to do at the shop today, can be done during the week - except the vacuuming which I will do early tomorrow morning before the meditation class.

Instead, I stayed in bed until about 1.30-ish doing my biz course stuff, which was quite draining!

I got out of bed and decluttered two drawers and the top of my dressing table - this produced three grocery bags - one for the rubbish bin and two for the charity bin! It took me about 40 minutes to do that and then I needed a nap, so I climbed back into bed and slept for about 40 mins.

There was a text from The Motivator who is enjoying some self-care time/work/family commitments in the big smoke ...

I hope she doesn't mind that I've used her photo here - she took this from the ferry this afternoon. What a beautiful day in Sydney!

It was time to remove myself from the bedroom, so I showered and washed my hair, dressed and found my way to the lounge room to watch some footy with Adoring Husband.

We prepared the leg of lamb and the tray of veg to put in the barbecue (our oven is still on the blink and we need a new one, but we can't decide whether to get a new one now OR wait for the kitchen refurb OR have gas connected and buy the big A stove/oven that we've been admiring).

Unfortunately, after we put the food in the barbecue, we both became engrossed in voting on the website for the Logies (something we have never done before!) and time got away from us. The veggies were burnt black and the meat was overdone, so then we were on a rescue mission. Ugh.

A bit of seared zucchini later, with some buttered mushrooms, mixed with the veg that could be saved and some home made gravy. We ate it with the meat which was still edible, even if overdone. It was still pretty good.

I was going to make some fruit whip for dessert with pineapple and dragon fruit, but there was no coconut cream in the pantry, so that will wait for tomorrow now.

It's now 11pm ... far out! How did the time pass so quickly???

Nite all.