Inspired Creativity

The first couple of hours in the shop were steady with customers and sales, but it was quiet enough between customers, that I was able to join the Mandala workshop in the training room, from about midday.

I found it very therapeutic and stayed at the shop until about 3pm trying to finish my mandala. Eventually The Motivator had to leave, so we cleared the training room and packed everything away. I gathered some of the leftover paints and brushes to take home and hopefully finish my work there.

I did a little bit tonight, but my 2nd favourite Christmas movie "Elf" was on TV, so I had to stop painting and watch the movie!

Due to inclement weather, Adoring Husband didn't get the Bali Hut finished today, but he bolted the stirrups to the concrete and built the frame that the roof sits on. With that laid out on the ground, it gives a good indication of how big the hut will be and what we can fit in and around it.

It probably won't be finished before Christmas now because anybody who can help has holiday, family and Christmas commitments. A job for the new year.

Now it's time for me to sleep. I'm done for the day. It's been a pretty lazy afternoon but I feel exhausted.

Nite all.

Winner Winner

After catching the daily bus into The Bay, Mama Mia and I spent a few hours gambling at the RSL.

I was a big winner.

I shouted Mama Mia her lunch and she shouted me a a drink.

Adoring Husband had errands to run in The Bay so he drove in after lunch, and once he was finished his business, he picked us up at 2pm and we drove home.

I spent an hour at home before making myself presentable for the club raffles.

I was a big winner again.

One of us won the Membership draw (it wasn't me) but everyone else won nothing.

AH had dinner all prepared when I got home and now it's time for bed.

I'm very tired and I have to work tomorrow.

The Motivator is running this ...

... while I man the shop.

It looks like something I would LOVE to do, so I'll be watching with enthusiasm between serving customers!

Meanwhile, I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Lovin' Life

A day of rest for me.

While Adoring Husband was mowing the lawn this morning, I rode to the shop to check the mail, get my coffee and visit The Motivator in The Happy Abode.

We had such fun helping a lady from Childers do some Christmas shopping and then gift wrapping her purchases. One of my customers earlier in the week actually recommended our shop to her so she came for a special trip today to check us out!!

She said that she's planning a tour of the area for locals who don't get out much and will bring them to The Happy Abode for a visit and a shop.

Before I got too involved in the day... I just can't help myself, and actually The Motivator and I are both a bit that way inclined on our days off, because it's difficult to leave somewhere that you enjoy being so much ... I forced myself to leave.

It was lunch time when I arrived home so I cooked up the mushrooms that I bought on sale at Foodworks and had creamy mushrooms on toast.

I did a load of washing and then watched a 'made for TV' movie, which was not very good.

The pool was calling me and I'd invited The Motivator and Mama Mia for a swim after work, so I cut up some lemons, put some ice into a container and carried the vodka and tonic out to the pool kitchen before gliding my way into the water.

I did all my exercises and some laps before they arrived and then we spent about an hour together in the pool.

Suddenly AH appeared in his SES uniform and he had to leave for the final SES meeting of the year. We had both forgotten that he was attending that meeting, so he had to leave without dinner. Hopefully they'll feed him on Christmas fare while he's there!

I haven't had any dinner myself tonight, so I might just grab a piece of fruit and have another early night.

If the weather is ok tomorrow, Mama Mia and I will be catching the bus into The Bay. She will be returning home to Sydney next week, so it's probably the only chance we'll have to spend the day together. It should be fun.

There's a little bit of concern happening over the weather and how it's building in the north and south at the moment. Both weather systems are heading in our direction and are predicted to meet right over the top of us in the Wide Bay.

Before that though, cyclone Owen in the north is predicted to be directly over Squirt's location on Magnetic Island at midnight this Saturday.

Wild storms hit Griffith in NSW today causing some flooding and damage to trees ... then Sydney this evening. The road in front of Bubble's house in Sydney is currently flooded and the power lines to her house are sparking.

There is a huge line of storms heading in this direction and who knows what will happen when everything collides? Fingers crossed it will be a fizzer and we will simply receive some much needed rain.

No damaging winds and no flooding.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

A Stretched Day

It was a long day.

I enjoyed it.

It started with a panic stricken Adoring Husband rushing inside and asking me to follow him outside to identify a snake ...

Luckily, it was a harmless python, so AH used a rake to put it into a bin with a lid and then set it free in the National Park bushland.

Meditation, as always, was fantastic and the strength that we talked about practicing this week was 'Calm' - which was very appropriate for me after a week of feeling the opposite of calm!

Even though the caravan park is very empty at the moment, there are a lot of holiday-makers in town and thankfully, they have been coming into the shop to purchase Christmas gifts for grandchildren.

Secret Santa gifts are still selling like hotcakes and it's funny how I can predict who will walk out the door empty handed, who will spend much less than the suggested value, who will spend EXACTLY the suggested value and who will not care how much they spend - as long as the gift is appropriate.

Adoring Husband came to the shop at closing time and brought in the flags, signs and seats before rushing back home because he was worried about the air conditioner breaking again.

What he didn't do was take the 'open' sign down and replace it with the 'closed' sign.

A customer walked in within seconds of him walking out. It was about 3.15pm.

She spent almost $100 and left, but returned about seven  minutes later with a friend. She spent another $25 and the friend vowed to return tomorrow to purchase her Secret Santa gift.

It was 4.20pm by the time I left the shop and pedalled home.

Adoring Husband had disappeared by the time I got home, so I turned on the oven and put the chicken in to cook for dinner, changed into my swimmers and headed outside to the pool. I followed my usual routine, doing my exercises and laps and enjoyed about an hour in the water.

I paired my phone to the new sound bar and played music from my playlist. The water was the perfect temperature and I only left the pool to finish preparing dinner, otherwise I might have stayed for another hour or so.

I love our pool.

Tonight, we tried the new boneless chicken from the butcher. We chose the one with bacon and the meat was very tender, but I wasn't a fan of the bacon, so I'll try the plain one next time. We had leftover mash and broccoli from last night and I char grilled some zucchini and tomato to go with it.

I think I'm ready for bed now.

Nite all.

Testing Tuesday

The air conditioning and the universe have tested us further today.

Four hours after the air con guy came this morning and claimed to have fixed the problem, part of the ceiling in the kitchen collapsed and more water leaked from two new places - one in the kitchen and one in the hallway.

The guy returned and fixed the new problem - hopefully - but now we need to repair the hole in the ceiling ...

The air con company will come to the party and pay for part of the repairs but won't take full responsibility.

Now to get some quotes.

After a very quiet morning in The Happy Abode, the afternoon picked up and one of our very first customers from last year's holiday-makers came in for a visit. She has returned for a three week holiday and was both surprised and impressed with how much bigger our range of stock is now.

I mailed a purchase to Western Australia!

It's bin night, so all the bins got emptied and Adoring Husband wheeled the sulos to the front footpath for me.

The Motivator, Mama Mia and I cleared the training room of the remaining 'paint and create' workshop mess, in preparation for the meditation class tomorrow.

I rode home and after AH gave me a rundown of all that occurred in the house regarding the air conditioning problem, I changed into my swimmers and spent about 90 minutes swanning around in the pool, doing my exercises and swimming a few laps in all the different styles so as to stretch as many muscles as possible and then floating with my ears underwater to listen to the silence and rid myself of all the negative energy that washed over me today.

Bed is now calling me - even though AH has Star Trek blaring on the bedroom TV (I'll change the channel when I get in there - he is snoring loudly) but I'll probably be asleep inside thirty minutes.

Before I go ... a big congratulations to Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver on becoming grandparents again to a gorgeous little baby boy named Jack. So wish I could have a cuddle! Big hugs to you all - especially to Mini Mardi who did all the hard work!

Nite all.

Hooray for Monday

I began my day with a celery juice and a swim in the pool with some aqua aerobics thrown in for good measure.

An excellent start to the day.

Our Mondays in The Happy Abode seem to be busy lately.

Because so many shops are either closed all day or they close early, people come to our shop because there's nowhere else to go and it's funny at the moment, because there are three different birthdays happening this week and people have been coming to The Happy Abode to buy gifts - each of the birthday girls LOVE the colour purple!

I thought all the customers were buying for the same person, but after making a few comments and asking a few questions, I discovered that they are three different people who live in three different places - our town, The Bay and the Sunny Coast! All three love purple, so almost all of our purple 'stuff' is gone from the shop.

The Gypsy was in today and we talked and talked and talked ... as we do.

There were some familiar faces come for a visit and some new faces from Bundaberg and Gold Coast.

Adoring Husband arrived at 3pm to buy our afternoon coffee and to help close the shop. He drove home and I rode home on the trike.

As I neared our house, I noticed that the electrician van was in the driveway - they must have arrived before AH because he had parked on the grass at the side of the driveway.

I walked inside to discover the place in a bit of a shambles because the ceiling had water dripping through the light fittings onto the kitchen bench - a LOT of water! AH was in stress mode.

The electricians climbed into the roof in search of the problem and found that the air conditioner was leaking from a three way pipe connection. They took towels to soak up the water that was sitting in a large puddle and to remove the wet insulation.

Thank goodness they were here. They were so helpful. They even took out the light where the water was leaking, pulled it apart and sprayed stuff through it help it dry thoroughly before being re-installed - which they will do in a few days.

The air conditioner is still under warranty, so hopefully we won't need to lodge an insurance claim.

While the electricians were here, we discovered that the pool umbrella wasn't 'grounded' when it was installed, so for legal purposes, THAT needs to be done and could be a job bigger than Ben Hur!

Ugh.

While all that annoyance was happening with dogs barking, water dripping, electricians coming in and out of the house and climbing up and down from the ceiling, AH searching frantically for our insurance information AND the phone number of the air con company and half of the power to the house being turned off for different reasons, I received a phone call from Bubbles to confirm the dates of hers and Knight in Shining Armour's visit in February.

That was a shining light amid the frantic drama!

*Happy Dance*

All that drama has left me feeling slightly drained.

On that note, I am off to bed.

Nite all.

Day of Rest

... and it was.

I remained in bed until well after midday and the only reason I removed myself from that position was to watch a movie on Netflix.

I could have watched it in bed on my iPad, but I believed that Adoring Husband would enjoy it with me, so I got myself dressed and invited him to watch it with me in the lounge room.

That was pointless.

I should have stayed in bed.

He spent 2/3 of the movie reading his iPad and the end of the movie mixing up the dog food ready to freeze in packs.

Then he politely asked "Did you enjoy the movie?"

🙄

The movie was called "Dumplin'" and starred Danielle Macdonald and Jennifer Aniston.

Yes I enjoyed it - life lessons with a bunch of warm and fuzzy and involving real people.

Afterwards I watched the first three episodes of the new season of The Ranch. One of the main characters, played by Danny Masterson, was killed off (because Masterson has been accused of four counts of rape and was sacked from the series) and under normal circumstances, I would have been sobbing at the way they killed him off in the show ... but knowing why, I was kind of numbed to the emotion of it.

The show must go on ... and I just discovered that one of my favourite actors, Dax Shepard, has taken on a recurring role in the series, so that makes me happy!

While I was in bed this morning, Adoring Husband made a run into The Bay to pick up some mulch and then created this ...

... he's a star.

Here are the rose quartz rocks that I told you about ...

Well, we're about to begin another week. I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Happy Monday 😎

Nite all.