Hours & Hours

We spent almost three hours before lunch unpacking boxes and putting stuff into the relevant and appropriate cupboards and drawers in my art space and moving my jewellery making paraphernalia from the pool pump storage room to a designated cupboard in the studio.

I actually found more beading storage containers and added them since I took this photo, as well as storing some of my used canvases on the bottom shelf.

Then we broke for lunch and caught up on recorded MasterChef episodes while we ate.

We also watched the first half of the Manly vs Wests NRL game but then we got back to work.

I took the washing off the line, folded it and then joined AH in the family room removing all the crap that covered the couch and floor, finding a home for it all.

It was 5pm when we stopped and I began preparing dinner. Butter Chicken was on the menu for AH but I was craving for a poached egg on toast - which is very unusual because I don’t generally eat eggs! I enjoyed every mouthful of that runny yolk smothered in Himalayan salt and white pepper.

Thinking that it must be at least 9pm, I looked at my watch only to discover that was 7.10pm!

😩

So at 7.30pm I came to bed and two hours have already passed. I’ve tried to stay awake for as long as possible so as not to wake up at 2am with enough sleep under my belt.

I am so weary.

There is more to do in the morning so sleep is a priority.

Nite all.

Just You

 "After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning 

And company doesn’t mean security,

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

And presents aren’t promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today,

Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans,

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure…

That you really are strong,

And you really do have worth.

And you learn and learn…

With every goodbye you learn."

Veronica Shoffstall, “After a While.”

Art by Cameron Grey

JUST YOU - R Griffin

You can rescue.

You can nurture.

You can pledge loyalty.

You can share wonderful experiences.

You can empathise and sympathise.

You can listen unconditionally.

You can laugh til you cry.

You can mock, jest and tease.

You can hug warmly.

You can make plans.

You can celebrate.

You can be honest.

You can support.

You can cry and moan.

You can defend

You can advise and be advised.

You can promise a forever.

In the end, there is just you.

You arrive alone.

You leave alone.

Be your kindest to yourself.

Love, protect, support, encourage, nurture, celebrate and choose YOU unconditionally.

YOU are the one.

When you can do that, your cup will runneth over and all the world will benefit.

There is just you.

Art by Kira Hanson

Morning all.

Calm and Peaceful

The WHO plans on 10 years of pandemics from 2020 - 2030 

We met with the air con guy, who provided a quote this morning for installing a split system air con in my new art space.

The quote came in well under the figure that Adoring Husband had set aside, so we are good to go.

I cooked a beef stew in the slow cooker for freezing.

I watched “John Wick” for the first time - only because my friend Lady Lynn has watched all of the John Wick movies, so I figured they couldn’t be THAT bad (as far as violence goes).

I was wrong.

It was very violent and in some cases quite graphic!

However, I really liked the movie and I’m looking forward to watching the sequels.

I think the last two years have hardened me.

I reckon if we could get Keanu Reeves and Ryan Reynolds together, we could rid the world of quite a bit of ‘evil’. Haha.

By the time the air con guy left, I’d put the slow cooker on and made our lunch, I was in no mood for getting to that bathroom job, so it still sits on the list.

AH and I discussed how we would rearrange the family room and dining room - probably on Sunday.

BGWLBH turned 60 today.

It was a topsy turvey kind of day for her, but we will make up for it when she returns.

My 60th was a non event too, so I know how she feels. My 62nd was also a non event. 

We will make sure that our future birthdays will be special for each other.

Well, I got distracted and now it’s after midnight! Time to sleep!

Nite all.

Not The Best

Adoring Husband woke up in a very bad way this morning.

His tremor was so strong and aggressive that he couldn’t dress himself and he woke me up for assistance.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what he had eaten or what he had done or not done to cause this sudden deterioration.

It took a while, but finally I asked him how long since he’d been for his morning walk.

1 week 😩

So I gave him a piece of my mind and he has promised to walk tomorrow.

By lunch time he had improved enough to drive to Craignish to pick up the FROG box, which we did together. We checked the mail and shopped at the butcher before heading home for lunch.

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making a big pot of bolognese sauce. I got three meals for three people to freeze for future meals and AH and I had spaghetti bol for dinner tonight as well.

I also did a chicken curry which made six single meals.

I had to cull two drawers of the big upright freezer which contained a dozen tubs of chicken stock that I had made for the dogs almost three years ago. There were two very old containers of pumpkin soup, one of beef cheek gravy, one of cauliflower soup, some frozen celery and a green vegetable mix.

That made room for the new food.

Tomorrow I’ll do a batch of butter chicken and a beef stew.

I pulled out some plants from the veggie pod today. This is what’s in our garden right now.

Tomatoes and thyme thriving in front of the pool fence.

Asparagus and dill doing nicely under the pod.

In the pod, we have coriander, basil, parsley, chilli, rocket, baby cos lettuce now gone to seed and tomatoes.

We are still waiting to purchase some more raised beds and we need to fill our potato planters with soil so we can get them started too.

Tomorrow I need to check on my ginger starter and hopefully make a jug of ginger beer. It’s been sitting in a dark warm wardrobe for 4 days now (maybe 5?).

I cleared a few things out of the fridge to fit the fresh fruit and veg from the FROG box.

So it’s been quite a productive day and I think I can spend tomorrow cleaning the ensuite. I have a special treatment for the tiles and grout and then a whitening agent for the grout which has an anti mould barrier in it. I’ve never used either of these treatments before so it’ll be interesting to see how effective they are.

We want to rearrange our family room/dining room at some stage which will give us a good opportunity to clear and clean the dining table, declutter the cabinet, scrub the hidden corners of the floor and wash the windows. Not sure I’ll have the energy or strength to do that after the bathroom but we’ll see.

I tipped against my football team tonight and they have won convincingly so I’m not happy about that!

Now I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Rampant Rona

Well, it seems Covid is running rampant through town at the moment!

I personally know a dozen people in our little village who have it. All are vaccinated.

Still, none of the 59 unvaccinated people I know have succumbed to the virus … yet.

I’m sure somebody will catch it eventually.

I was up bright and early (early for me) to meet my art girls for coffee this morning. There were six of us in attendance and we got to catch up with Little T who, in January, was bitten by a spider and spent a month in hospital trying to save her leg! 

Thankfully, she was successful, but it was touch and go there for a while and her leg is still very discoloured - a very unhealthy colour. She’s lucky to have survived.

She is still struggling health wise, which is why we haven’t seen her for some time.

Today, as she stated, was good for her soul, to get out and spend time with friends having a good laugh and breathing fresh ocean air.

It was good for my soul too. We were noisy with laughter and cursing and venting and making fun of ourselves.

What usually lasts for an hour lasted for 2.5 hours and we were reluctant to end the gathering.

I returned home on my trike with the rear basket full of packages from the post office and in time to prepare lunch for Adoring Husband who had been working hard sorting out the pool pump room storage cupboards and clearing some of the Xmas decoration boxes from the family room.

Our house is a shambles at the moment but small steps will get the job done.

Just lately I seem to be taking one step forward and two steps back!

I did a little bit of clearing today but not even enough to make a noticeable dent.

AH has a date tomorrow helping a mate with some carpentry work, so I plan on getting a lot done here at home.

I’m about to make a list but some of the jobs will be labour intensive and time consuming so it’ll be interesting to see how far I get.

Anyway, it’s almost midnight so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Musical Chairs

We were at the shop ready for the carpet cleaner three minutes early.

The carpet cleaner was at the shop twenty minutes late - I was just finding his number to call him when he pulled into the parking space beside us.

Tardiness annoys me but it seems to be a common trait of many Queensland residents so I just have to get over myself.

I expected that he would take at least three hours to clean the entire shop but he took less than two hours and he charged $100 less than I expected so that made up for his tardiness haha.

I dropped the keys off at Elders. It was all very unceremonious and quick. No time for emotional breakdowns.

Adoring Husband and I needed to drive into The Bay so it was nice to get an earlier start than expected.

We had to sign some paperwork for our financial advisors and deliver it, so we got that out of the way first.

Our goal for the day was to find some new dining chairs.

Our dining table is 4cm higher than a normal table, but our chairs are the normal height, so even a tall person feels like a kid needing a booster seat. We all sit on cushions, which is fine to eat a meal, but NOT for games sessions that can go for hours. Very uncomfortable.

We sat on at least 50 different chairs today.

Only three of them were perfectly comfortable and a good height.

One was only available in black and most of our furniture is white, brown or charcoal grey. Black velvet would be very out of place.

One was heavenly comfortable, available in multiple colours and I absolutely loved them BUT at $690 (on sale from $790) per chair when we require six chairs, a total of $4140 was just a touch more than we wanted to pay for our new chairs, especially when they don’t go perfectly with our table.

You may ask - why not just buy a new dining suite? I LOVE LOVE LOVE my table and we have a matching tall end cabinet with glass doors. The set is very much my style so it’s staying put. This is the set …

The third set of chairs were on sale in the back corner of Early Settler, but they are a silver grey low chair with a wrap around back. Not sure about the silver grey colour.

After 3.5 hours, we were done with chairs.

I should mention that in that time we selected a new lounge suite, recliner chair and outdoor setting for the pool. We didn’t buy them yet, but we desperately need a new recliner for AH - this was supposed to be a quality leather chair 3 years ago …

The descriptions ‘quality’ and ‘leather’ are both highly questionable today.

I found my dream modular lounge - oversized and cushiony and perfect. The saleswoman emailed a quote through this afternoon for that and a black leather recliner and now we need to make a decision. 

Actually, I’ve made my decision, now it’s up to AH 😜

We stopped at Pillow Talk and bought some thick chair shaped cushions to try on our dining chairs. We are going to sit at the table tomorrow on the new cushions, play some games and see how our backs and butts feel after an hour or two.

Our next option is a trip to Bundaberg.

We did some groceries, got a boost juice and headed home.

It was almost 4pm when I sat down feeling ‘done in’. AH cooked dinner on the barbecue while I did my share in the kitchen and we ate early.

Now it’s almost 10.30pm already!

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Back To It

Today was much more productive than the last few days.

Even though I still didn’t get out of bed til pretty close to noon, I was able to get a bit done.

The drizzling rain hindered my efforts to get my art space unpacked and organised.

To be able to move forward with that goal, I need to remove my trike, Adoring Husband’s bike and a few other bits and pieces to give me the room to move around and get properly organised. 

The rain prevented me from doing that today.

I unpacked one small box, cleared some paperwork from the dining table, found a home for some stuff that was delivered last week, did 2 loads of washing, watched a movie with AH, did a roast chook and veggies for a late lunch.

Oh … and I showered for the first time in three days 😳 and washed my hair.

I could smell myself 😵‍💫

Tomorrow morning I have to be up early to meet the carpet cleaner at the shop and then I hand over the keys.

All over red rover.

Last week, I sent a package to my Melbourne family and in it was a basic ‘How to Draw’ book for Chicklet who is 11 yrs of age. She has shown a real artistic talent and drawing/sketching is something she enjoys.

This is what she’s done so far and now I’m inspired!

When I purchased her book, I chose one for me too. “The Complete Book of Drawing - Essential Skills For Every Artist”.

I haven’t drawn anything yet, but have been reading it today and both refreshing my knowledge as well as picking up some new tips.

I feel like I have too many other important jobs to do before I can reward myself with some art. So my inspiration will go towards finishing those jobs first.

Tomorrow I have to be at the shop early to meet the carpet cleaner and after that I’ll be returning the keys to the Real Estate.

All over red rover.

AH and I will be making a trip into The Bay after that. Things to do, people to see, places to go.

So now I lay me down to sleep.

Nite all.

Worth It

Sunday was my bed day.

All day.

I got up to put fish in the oven and then again to take the fish out of the oven.

I binge watched the final series of Grace and Frankie … I cried.

I watched the footy.

I napped.

I played Words With Friends.

I journaled.

I Facebooked.

I interacted with Adoring Husband five times.

That’s it.

It’s almost 11pm and sleep time for me but I just remembered I have chicken stock to package up and freeze first.

Bugger.

Nite all.