Who Knew?

Who knew that this time of year would be so busy?

September was our first month of business last year and it was crazy busy for two weeks of the school holidays, but this past three weeks has been totally unexpected and so much better than we could have hoped for.

Thankfully, it has come in the form of a steady flow of customers through the door, and at no time was there a long queue of people becoming impatient with me because they weren't getting served quickly enough!

So even though it's been busy, it has also been easy and enjoyable and quite fulfilling.

The fact that it's all been so manageable without The Motivator on board is both a surprise and a relief.

Today was another great day for business.

Adoring Husband came to cover for me at The Happy Abode this afternoon when I had to attend the Friendship Group at the local hall to give a talk on photography. I was gone for an hour and by the time I'd returned, he had taken a sale and closed the shop.

What a legend.

I think my talk went well. There were a few questions and everyone was keen to look at my photo book and touch my camera. There were a couple of enquiries about the workshop this weekend, so maybe they will come see me tomorrow to book in and fill my class.

I had a rough night last night with cramps. The toes on my left leg were all sticking straight up, my foot was cramping to the right, my calf and my shin were cramping to the left and my thigh was cramping to the right.

I couldn't walk, I couldn't stretch anything because all the muscles were cramping in opposite directions and try as I might with breathing and focussing, I couldn't relax any of the muscles. It lasted for about fifteen long minutes and I almost woke Adoring Husband to help me!

While sitting on the couch tonight, I've had some more cramps in my feet, so AH has filled a small square tub with warm water and dumped some of the magnesium mineral salts that our pool guy gave us into it and my feet are now soaking.

It feels so nice.

AH also made a hot honey and lemon drink to help with this stupid runny nose that is annoying me. It comes and goes during the day, so it doesn't even feel like a cold ... it feels more like an allergy of some sort, but I can't pinpoint what it could be. It seems to be worse at home, so I need to be more aware of what I'm doing and where I'm doing it!

We're watching the first NRL game of the week and my Broncos are losing at half time to a team that is equal second last on the ladder! I'll watch the second half and then head to bed.

Big day tomorrow, so hopefully cramps won't disturb my sleep again tonight.

We didn't win OzLotto OR Powerball this week, but they've jackpotted and are now worth $70million and $80million so I'm willing to win one of those next week. I still promise to share with a LOT of people.

Nite all.

  

Quietly Does It

After Monday and Tuesday madness in the shop, it was a very quiet Wednesday.

I priced some new stock and rearranged some displays, chatted with The Gypsy, met some new customers and this afternoon I welcomed The Motivator for her first, but brief visit to The Happy Abode, since she returned from Sydney with the flu.

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop and I rode home to make an early dinner so that we could attend the trivia night at the club. I have no idea where we came out of the eleven teams, but I have one thing to say to Adoring Husband ...

CUBA!!! (you had to be there)

He did a really good job on the final round, which was a picture round of 'tools' and he named them all.

We've come home to watch the iconic movie 'Mean Girls'

Tomorrow, I have to give a talk to the local 'Friendship Group' so Adoring Husband will look after the shop from about 2.40pm so that I can walk over to the hall and talk about photography! I have no idea what I'm going to say, but as usual, I will wing it and it will all work out in the end.

I think it might be time for me to climb into my warm bed ... there is a definite chill in the air tonight.

Nite all.

Not According to Plan

My day did NOT go according to plan.

I mentioned yesterday that I would leave early enough to visit the Seat of Knowledge this morning, but it was so cold, I wasn't prepared to slide out from under my toasty warm doona until the very last minute.

So, I arrived at work with just enough time to go buy a coffee before opening the shop.

Three of my girls arrived right on time - just as I received a phone call from OzCare confirming that they were bringing a group to the shop for morning tea and a shopping trip!

What?

It seems that 'someone' had spoken to The motivator about whether we had the facilities to accommodate a morning tea group which would be followed by a shopping spree in the shop. She confirmed that we did, but there were no concrete arrangements made.

A month ago, The Blonde Bombshell told me about the OzCare newsletter that stated there was going to be a trip to Burrum Heads to have morning tea at The Happy Abode, followed by shopping, followed by lunch at Lions Park.

The Motivator and I had a discussion and I assumed that someone from OzCare would contact us to verify the trip before the date.

That did not occur. Instead, they phoned the shop at 9am today, to confirm that they would arrive for morning tea at 10am!

*Panic*

No need to panic. They brought their own food/tea/coffee/cups, so all I needed to do was set up a table in our training room, and they did the rest. They cleaned up their own mess and then filled the shop with their walking sticks and wheelie walkers as they shopped until they almost dropped.

One gorgeous lady, who was wearing a big purple woolly coat, was a hugger and she and I shared three very long cuddly hugs before she bought one of our little frog ornaments.

Another lady wanted a snap button glasses hanger but the conversation consisted of :

Her - 'I would like a glasses hanger with that owl button'

Me - 'Yes of course. Here you are' as I handed it to her.

Her - 'So I just wear it as a necklace?'

Me - 'No, you wear it like this' I demonstrate on myself how it is worn.

Her - 'Oh how marvellous! So I just wear it as a necklace?'

Me - 'No, it's a glasses hanger. You wear it like this' I demonstrate again.

Her - 'Oh what a wonderful idea! So I just wear it like a necklace?'

Me - 'No, you wear it like this.' I put it on her blouse and hang her glasses on it.

Her - 'Oh that's wonderful! Do you just slide the necklace through the hook?'

Me - 'No, you just wear it on your blouse. It's like a brooch with a loop to hang your glasses from'

Her - 'Oh what a marvellous idea. It's such an unusual necklace.'

She was such a lovely thing and terribly happy to have a new necklace that wasn't a necklace at all.

Having said that, both of the carers saw the glasses hanger and decided that they needed one each for themselves.

Three ladies chose bright colourful scarves and put them on before they walked out the door.

One of the ladies dropped her wallet on the floor, which I discovered just before they left the carpark, so I was able to run outside and hand it back before they disappeared.

During all of this, Reality TV Queen arrived late for morning tea and sat in our lounge area waiting patiently for everyone to leave so that we could catch up. It's been a long time between visits and there was plenty to discuss, but we were interrupted often by a regular stream of customers.

Adoring Husband visited as she was leaving and did a lunch run.

The Telstra guy arrived to instal the new NBN modem which won't be connected for some weeks yet.  He gave me a list of worst case scenarios and what I should do if they occur.

I received a phone call from a lady wanting to enrol in my photography workshop.

All the while, I was rapidly using up a box of tissues as my nose was running like a tap! It's ok because I feel well enough, I just have a runny nose. Most annoying!

My last customer left the shop at about 3.30pm. I cleared the table and chairs from the training room in preparation for meditation tomorrow morning. I priced some new jewellery stock and rearranged some displays to fit them in the shop. I added up the takings for the day. I dropped off some mail to The Motivator on the way home.

Adoring Husband had helped me close the shop, checked the mail with me and we grabbed a late coffee. He brought home a bag of goodies for me and dropped off our signed contract to the pool builder.

I arrived home and sat for an hour before making a roast pumpkin/roast cauliflower/spinach and pine nut salad with crispy skinned chicken for dinner. What a bloody mess I made of the kitchen!

I broke my own sales record in the shop today, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself, but it was so busy and mostly unexpected and unplanned.

In spite of all that, I loved every minute of it. It was a great day that had me smiling most of the time and I am feeling incredibly grateful for the life that I have right now.

My Adoring Husband is amazing and every day I feel lucky to have him as my partner and friend. He makes everything so much easier (most of the time), he fills my life with love and I feel totally nurtured.

While the word 'Fearless' had centre spot on my vision board this year, the word 'Happy' has been pretty much first and foremost and centre stage in my life.

Life is good.

Nite all.

Manic Monday

I assumed that today would be very quiet in The Happy Abode.

I thought that everybody would have spent all their money at the Childers Multicultural Festival and that people would be having a very quiet week, not spending money and staying at home to recover.

I was wrong.

Today was non stop busy until the afternoon. Not a soul walked through the door in that last 90 minutes, but it didn't matter. It was nice to just sit and breathe and tidy up and fill the gaps that the customers had made in the displays when selecting their purchases.

Adoring Husband brought the vacuum cleaner to work this morning so that I could vacuum the very leafy floor. The guy from the real estate office chopped down some branches from the trees last week and for some reason, dragged them to the front of our shop to put them in a trailer, which left a trail of dead leaves to blow through our doors.

It felt much better to have a clean floor.

Some more snap buttons arrived in the mail, as did some lovely earrings.

The Gypsy had a busy day and is almost booked out for Wednesday as well.

We are having perfect Winter weather at the moment and I might make a quick visit to the Seat of Knowledge on the way to work tomorrow, so that I can check out that gloriously crystal clear water in the river.

I'm looking forward to seeing the girls at coffee tomorrow and at the end of the day, I'm looking forward to winning $50 million in Oz Lotto. No, really! I can feel it in my bones! I promise to share!

The Motivator is still under the weather and won't be at work for a few days. I visited her this afternoon and got her up to speed with what's been happening while she has been away, caught up on some gossip, swapped some important 'stuff' and hugged her germy body!

I'm off to bed now - after a quick dose of warm lemon and honey - just as a precaution haha.

Nite all.

Multi-fun Day

The 'Happy' song blasted me awake this morning at 6am ... and I mean BLASTED! It was a sudden awakening and there was no going back from there.

We showered and gathered our goods, drove to our regular coffee haunt (just in case we couldn't get a  good coffee at the festival) and then headed off to Childers for the Multicultural Festival.

Our usual parking area was open and we were given the perfect parking space which was beautifully shaded when we returned three hours later.

We (meaning 'I') spent a lot of money on some wonderfully unique, hand crafted pieces that were obviously made with love, and for the creators I feel much respect and appreciation.

Adoring Husband bought me a fork.

A fork lovingly treated and polished and shaped into the most beautiful bracelet ...

I love it ... even though AH declared "it's a &%#$ expensive fork!"

He also bought me a clay fish ...

... to replace the fish that suffered an unfortunate accident at The Happy Abode recently. I couldn't get exactly the same colour, but I think I prefer this colour anyway. It can be used to burn mosquito coils or citronella candles and it will look fabulous in the area around our new pool when it's built!

We made the decision, just this afternoon, to purchase a concrete pool and the build will commence at the end of September. How exciting!

Back to the Festival ... I bought myself a new wallet, which can also have a strap attached to make it a cross body bag. It's hand crafted leather and I looked at these last year, but didn't buy. I'm really happy to have this one now ...

I also bought a new evening bag.

I found a deliciously big citrine crystal, a blue kyanite and a jade buddha. I've been searching for a jade figurine for a while, so I was pretty chuffed to find this one today.

I also bought a few gifts for special people, which of course, I won't share here.

We ate German Kransky for lunch and drank fresh iced lemon and ginger tea (AH had mixed berry).

It was a glorious day and thank goodness we got there so early because by 11am, the crowds were crazy and it was difficult to move freely, so we escaped and arrived home by midday with a fresh coffee, again, from our local.

The Motivator arrived home from Sydney today, but sadly, she is sick with the flu and won't be at the shop for a couple of days.

Psychotic dog, Jack, has been having trouble with muscle cramps again and the magnesium oil wasn't working as well or as quickly as we hoped, so our pool people gave us a bucket of mineral salts. We gave Jack a warm bath in the laundry tub with half a cup of the mineral salts in it and he seems to have settled considerably since then.

I think he might be having regular swims in our pool once it's in the ground.

Now, I think it's time for bed. It's been a big day.

Nite all.