Bigger Than Ben-Hur

Two of my art girls arrived bright and early to help set up the training room for today’s art workshop.

Thank goodness they did because it took three of us 90 minutes to set workspaces for 14 people.

After they left, I had a visit from The Motivator and we chatted for 90 minutes. It was a nice morning.

There was enough time to make a quick lunch and cup of tea before the art class participants all started streaming in.

What a crowd! It was loud and funny and joyful. Everybody was fabulous and they were all happy with their results thanking me profusely as they finished cleaning up and took their leave.

The Motivator returned at 4pm to pick up some chairs to use at her Lorraine Lea party tomorrow.

It was 5pm by the time AH and I got home.

I knew if I sat down I’d never get up again, so I went straight into the kitchen to make stuffed mushrooms for dinner.

That’s when I sat down and my poor tired old body collapsed gratefully into the chair.

That was 5 hours and 3 fluffy Netflix movies ago.

Now I can hear the bed calling me.

We waited in vain for a very large storm system to hit us this evening, but watching it on the BOM, the storm veered left just before it hit and I don’t think we even got a shower of rain.

I am feeling very weary.

Nite all.

Never Forget

Today, I was shocked to discover that somebody with whom I had a four year relationship with, passed away in 2013.

It was a volatile on again off again relationship fuelled by drugs and alcohol but it was also passionate and hilarious and fun and exciting. We learned a lot from each other and experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. To quote Charles Dickens ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’

We tried so hard but the relationship was absolutely destined for failure and I’ve thought of him often and fondly over the years.

He made very brief contact via Facebook in 2012 when he simply apologised. Not for anything specific. He simply stated my full name (his term of endearment for me in the past) and then said “I’m sorry”.

I responded with “you are forgiven”

With hindsight, I wonder if he knew his days were numbered and needed to make peace?

He was married but never had children and was 51yrs young when he passed.

Our relationship ended in 1991 (30yrs ago!) but my heart still hurts after this unexpected news.

RIP Hollywood 

It was a quiet day at work and I took it pretty easy. I started to set up for the art class but am getting help in the morning so I didn’t knock myself out. I did some banking, checked the mail, filed some paperwork and checked my emails.

I created my sign to advise customers that the shop will be closed for a week ...

Adoring Husband arrived early to help me close the shop and it was nice to come home and watch some fluffy movies on Netflix until bed time.

AH cooked the usual Friday night fare (my favourite part of the week) and now I’m ready to sleep.

It’s going to be a big day tomorrow!

Nite all.

Time Flies

The day started with a hell of a downpour and I wondered if the whole day was going to be a complete washout, but it was all over very quickly.

I spent the time sorting through my blue and brown acrylic paints in preparation for Saturday’s art class and trying to figure out how to fit 12 people comfortably in the training room.

Once again, I have overbooked and nine of the twelve have prepaid! The other three are regulars and unlikely to drop out. It will be an interesting class.

After much thought and planning, Adoring Husband and I arranged the tables in a way that will accommodate everyone comfortably. I think it will be ok.

During the last class we had a mini disaster because one of the glass cabinets was not level and the paint literally slid off some of the canvasses placed upon it to dry. AH helped me level it up so that we don’t have the same problem this week.

It was an average day of sales.

I washed the dishes, cleared and cleaned my desk, reorganised the packaging area behind the counter and cleared the empty boxes as well as picking up all the shredded paper that fell out of the delivery on Tuesday.

The cleaner arrived and I let her choose what do while I waited for a rep to arrive.

This was a new rep who handles Sassy Duck bags as well as lots of Australian Made products like hand creams, moisturisers, room sprays, reed diffusers, candles, baby products, ocean themed gifts like shell mobiles, hanging art, decorative shells among many more different products.

There really wasn’t enough time to go through everything with her but I made a Sassy Duck order and committed to other orders for when I return from my week off. It’ll be nice to have new brands to try out.

It was 3pm when we arrived home. We watched the first movie of a trilogy that we’d already seen the 2nd and 3rd parts of. I hung out some washing, took some off the line and threw another load in while AH cooked snags on the barbecue and we enjoyed a Bunnings dinner - snags in bread with onion and sauce.

It was exciting to watch the first episode of the new series of Gogglebox tonight! Love that show!

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Bizzy Az

My morning was full on hectic!

I had a pleasant half hour with The Gypsy before the people came knocking for meditation.

There were 5 newbies and I had to add 2 more chairs to the room, which left me sitting in the doorway! Lucky for me that 3 regulars were absent this week or I would’ve had to turn people away.

After meditation, the newbies all made purchases AND signed up for the art class this weekend. I now have 12 people on the list and 9 of them have prepaid. It’s going to be a bit squishy!

By 10.30am my sales for the day were amazing and for the remainder of the day I only made two more mini sales. I thanked the universe for making it such a successful day.

I had time to make myself some lunch and sit quietly enjoying it without interruption.

I unpacked, priced and displayed a box of stock that had arrived yesterday.

Before I knew it, Adoring Husband was walking through the door and it was time to come home.

We watched a fluffy Netflix movie and I cooked barramundi for dinner.

I’m keeping an eye on the Nadal vs Tsitsipas tennis match - looks like it might end up closer than we thought.

Meanwhile AH is snoring like a steam train and I am considering moving into the back bedroom.

I’ve already made too many plans for my time off next week and I’m reconsidering my options 😳

It’s very windy out tonight and we’ve had a few showery scuds throughout the afternoon. Strange weather.

I’m feeling a bit weary so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Unexpected That Was!

As well as the local cafe being closed, there are also roadworks happening at my end of the street.

This is not conducive to high sales.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by my final tally of sales at the end of the day.

The universe was kind to me!

Morning coffee was light in numbers but the quality was high and it was almost 11.30am by the time all the girls left. I got to spend lots of time involved in the conversation because few people came through the doors during the morning.

The day passed quickly because before I knew it the first participant came through the doors for journaling. Even that session went quickly! We did 3 x 20 minute speed writing sessions and lots of recalling memories from our early motherhoods.

Adoring Husband appeared at 3.30pm and we set up the room for meditation.

I got dinner on early - Peking duck, bok choy, cauliflower and sweet potato/potato mash. It was bloody delicious! 

It’s 9pm and I’m yawning uncontrollably!

We have fresh bamboo sheets on the bed tonight and they feel cool and clean on our skin. I think we will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

Fine Art

We have our shopping trips down to a fine art.

We list the shops we need to visit from furthest away and work our way back through town.

Today we started at Go Natural in Torquay, Nana’s Pantry, Bunnings, Stocklands (Jeans West, KMart, Coles) and finally Spotlight.

We remembered just as we began to drive home that we wanted to check out the takeaway shop in Point Vernon because they stock GF Beefys pies, so we did a U-turn and even though we had no idea where that shop was, we found it inside ten minutes! They had only two GF pies left (frozen) so I took them.

We left home at 10.30am and returned before 3pm with a carload of groceries, baby clothes, “me” clothes, and art supplies.

Adoring Husband and I had a competition to see who could guess the closest to our grocery shopping total and I won! I was only $2 out 😃

The weather seemed threatening all day with low, dark clouds and I was expecting heavy rain to hit us at some stage, but not a drop fell from the sky.

Nothing exciting happened during the day - even the clothes I bought were just cheap PJs and a t-shirt from Kmart.

I reckon it’s going to be a good week!

Nite all.

Move Along

Nothing to see here.

No productivity.

I finished watching all the New Girl series ... I feel a bit sad that it’s over 😕

I ate prawns for breakfast and snapper for dinner.

Late this afternoon, the pool water felt perfect for swimming, but the clouds were dark and looming and I didn’t want to be in the water if it became stormy so I think tomorrow might be a nice swimming day - after we return from The Bay.

I need to get supplies for the next art class and pick up a top that I’ve ordered through Jeans West.

I’m feeling very weary tonight so it might be time to sleep.

Nite all.