Fun With Friends

I’m exhausted after a great day with the girls.

We had morning tea at the Sticky Fig Cafe. I splurged on a lemon slice with my pot of tea which was served in a quirky little polka dot teapot and gorgeous bone China teacup and saucer decorated with yellow roses.

We popped into HBW on our way to lunch so that I could pick up some paper bags with twine handles for the shop.

Our reservation was at Aquavue for lunch but we were 30 minutes early so we went for a browse through Go Girl which is located just across the road. I found a gorgeous dress there and a beaded necklace.

We were right in time for lunch and I ordered calamari salad. Sweet Aggie ordered us some mocktails...

The food AND the drinks were really delicious, there was quite a bit of snorting laughter, some inappropriate lunchtime conversation (and activity) and the birthday girl was a cheap date!

We left there to do some more shopping across the road at Banana Bender and Go Natural, then we moved on to Stocklands where I got myself some new shoes and some singlet tops and finally we stopped at Pillow Talk to get some sheets for the bed that Bubbles will be sleeping in when she arrives next week.

So I spent too much money, but I culled another six items from my wardrobe, to make room for the new stuff.

Adoring Husband and I had a very light dinner. His was ham and salad. Mine was veg and chicken soup.

Tonight I watched the final episode of Mare of Easttown. So many twists and turns! It was excellent!

Now it’s almost midnight and I need to be at work early to clear the training room of all the art paraphernalia.

So I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Not so Restful

Last night I began watching the limited series Mare of Easttown on Foxtel Go.

A couple of names you would know from it are Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce.

I watched 4 episodes which took me to midnight and as much as I wanted to continue watching it, I made a responsible adult decision to get some sleep.

This morning I got out of bed and made our breakfast of smoked cod with baby spinach, salad and kimchi + a cup of tea, brought it back to bed and watched the next two episodes. 

There are only 7 episodes in the series and the last one comes out tomorrow so I’m left on the edge of my bed by the cliffhanger ending to episode 6!

Ugh!

Eventually I got out of bed and began my period of productivity. Very unusual for a Sunday!

First up, I pulled all of the bedding out of the linen cupboard and Adoring Husband took all the vacuumed storage bags of linen out of the back bedroom wardrobe.

Boy oh boy 😳

We filled an entire trailer with old pillows, euro pillows, doonas and covers, sheets, pillowcases, mattress protectors, valances, boomerang pillows and more!

We were brutal.

I kept only my favourite sets.

Next up, I cleared the chest of drawers in the guest bedroom.

Once again ... brutal.

Four drawers that were filled to the brim became 2.5 empty drawers and 1.5 partially filled.

After those two tasks, it was time to start dinner.

Chicken, mushroom, pak choy, pumpkin and sweet potato casserole. Strawberries and lactose free whipped cream for dessert. That Zymil cream is very nice!

I was very close to having a perfect round in the footy tipping this week - until Manly spoiled my party by unexpectedly losing to Newcastle. Not happy Jan 😡

I’m looking forward to Maid Marion’s birthday lunch tomorrow so I’d best get my beauty sleep!

Nite all.

Snug Azzz

I am snuggled up in bed like a bug in a rug.

My new bamboo super king doona arrived today.

I can’t tell you what a struggle it was for Adoring Husband and I to put the cover on the damned thing!

So now I have a coral fleece mattress protector, a bamboo mattress topper, a thermal balancing topper, delicious linen sheets, bamboo doona, a lovely wasabi green cover and the ocean themed quilted coverlet.

My beautiful big bed of deliciousness has wrapped itself around me in a warm hug of love and I didn’t think I could love my bedroom anymore than I did before, but now I’m swooning.

Today was pretty amazing.

Adoring Husband helped me set up the training room for art on Saturday afternoon and then checked the mail where he found two big packages of new stock for the shop.

Knowing that I had some big bills due at the end of this month, I sat down at my desk and checked my finances. The results were a little disturbing, so I spoke to the universe.

I announced, out loud, the outstanding balance still required to meet my responsibilities and respectfully asked if today could provide it.

It was a very big number that I haven’t come close to all month, so I didn’t believe for a minute that my request would be met.

Obviously my day was very busy unpacking, checking, pricing and displaying new stock, but even busier serving a steady flow of customers.

With one hour to go, sales were SO close to that crazy figure that I’d discussed with the universe earlier! I couldn’t believe it and I was certain that there would be no more sales for the day. The last hour is always very quiet.

But the universe hadn’t finished and by 2pm closing time, I’d finished the day just $32 short of that magical figure!

Un-freaking-believable!

Adoring Husband was late coming to help close the shop because he was feeling very poorly, so I made him sit down and drink some water while I closed up. I had some banking to do before we came home.

I only had an hour til I had to be somewhere so AH put our chicken wings in the oven to cook while we put all our new bedding on our beds. His new doona (Cronulla colours) ...

I munched down my food, got changed, grabbed a bottle of bubbly, kissed AH goodbye and pedalled over to Reality TV Queen’s house where Mrs Bucket was hosting a ‘not really surprise’ birthday gathering for Woman of Many Talents who turned 60 on the 23rd this month.

It was really nice to catch up with people I haven’t seen for a long time, especially the birthday girl.

I stayed for less than two hours and it was dark as I rode home.

AH and I watched some footy before we both retired for the night.

Now it’s time to sleep. It’s been a big day!

Nite all.

Making Time

A wise person once said “If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness”

It makes a lot of sense.

This also appealed to me - posted by someone in my business education group ...

This is an iron ingot. It’s value is about $100.

If it was ‘used’ iron, it’s value would be $25.

If you decide to make horseshoes with it, it’s value would rise to $250.

If you decide to make sewing needles, the value would rise to about $70,000. 

If you decide to make watch springs, it’s value would rise to about $6 million. 

Your value is not only in what you are made of, but above all, in the ways you are able to make the best of what you are 🙏

I had a good day at the shop. Very busy, lots of visitors, good sales and highly productive.

All of the crystals have left the shop, which made lots of space for the new bags that arrived today.

The Brains Trust and Aggie popped in (not at the same time) but they didn’t stay for long because I was busy with my crystal lady or serving customers.

I made a sale over the phone early in the day and mailed the package this afternoon.

I actually brought some work home with me and spent some time sifting through some jewellery, selecting a few pieces to sell in the shop.

I cooked some duck with a mandarin sauce for Adoring Husband. He had to leave early for an SES meeting so I served that with a big bowl of diced radish, tomato, cucumber, onion, capsicum, avocado and pear splashed with green goddess dressing.

I made myself a green smoothie and later in the evening heated up some of that delicious vegetable and chicken soup.

My body is thanking me.

Now it’s time for me to switch to the Foxtel Arts channel and watch “Landscape Artist of the Year 2018”

Nite all.

Looking Up

Today was an improvement on the last two days.

I can feel my energy improving and my body responding to the nutrients I’m choosing to feed it.

Such a simple solution.

Cut the crap and add real food.

Lunch was grated lactose free cheese and carrot, diced tomato, cucumber, avocado and shallots with tuna.

Dinner was vegetable and chicken soup (I boiled 3 chicken thighs, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, mushroom, celery, spinach, onion, garlic and lentils with salt and lots of white pepper. Removed the chicken, blended the rest until it was smooth and creamy, then shredded the chicken and added it afterwards. I filled 8 containers for freezing)

I’ve consumed 1.5 litres of filtered water, an English Breakfast tea and a licorice tea.

It was a good day at the shop. Busy. Good sales.

Meditation was great although there were 6 empty chairs! Strangely enough, during the day, I received 6 enquires about meditation, so those chairs could possibly be filled with newcomers next week

A few girls stayed behind for a chat afterwards, The Gypsy and I caught up with our news at my desk and everyone had left by 10am.

There were a lot of male customers today.

Very unusual.

A gay couple.

A writer who claims to have knocked JK Rowling off the number one spot in Australia for 2.5weeks.

A sweet man with the most joyful laugh and polite manner who came in with his Mum.

A man who claimed to be related to the bush ranger Ben Hall - his wife scoffed at his claim.

Another elderly man buying gifts for his granddaughter who was arriving this afternoon.

I finished packing all the consignment crystals for the lady who will be picking them up tomorrow.

My new super king sized quilt covers arrived in the mail and I’m hoping my Lorraine Lea Bamboo super king sized doona will arrive tomorrow. Soon my bedroom will be GORJUSS!

It’s already 11.30pm.

I popped outside a few times tonight to check out the lunar eclipse. I couldn’t quite find the motivation to dust off the camera to take pics but I’m sure there’ll be a million pics on Facebook tomorrow. This pic was posted by Humans of Melbourne FB page ...

Time to sleep.

Nite all.

Just Quickly

Monday was a write off for me.

Totally lacklustre. Low energy. No motivation. Miserable. Pyjamas in bed. Hide from the world and let me know when the day is over.

Today (Tuesday) was better, although my energy levels were lower than usual.

I concentrated on my nutrition and filled a huge bowl with shredded lettuce, grated carrot, chopped cucumber and shallots, cubed avocado, diced strawberries, tinned tuna and sprinkled with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.

I drank almost 2 litres of filtered water.

Sales were below average but the day passed quickly.

It was an extended morning with the girls for coffee. It had been so long since we were all together at once, there was a lot to catch up on!

The journaling class was great but I found myself watching the clock in the last 30 minutes. 

Afterwards we set up the room for meditation.

Dinner tonight was fritters made with leftover roast lamb, zucchini and onion, served with tomato, cucumber, avocado and spicy kimchi. 

It’s now midnight and I need to be up at 6am 😳

Nite all.

Sorry Sunday

It all started so well.

I was up early, showered and dressed, straight to the kitchen to make chicken balls for the Lorraine Lea party.

I gathered my drinks, a glass, plate and cutlery, food covers and a table cover and arrived right on time for the party.

I was the first guest to arrive and eventually there were nine of us.

The weather was cool and windy but not too uncomfortable.

The consultant had set up her wares and we used another table to lay out our food and a third table to sit around to listen to the LL spiel.

The hostess poured us all a pina colada each to get the ball rolling - at 10am 😳

While we were all ordering LL, we arranged the food for easy access and filled our plates with all the goodies. Everybody brought GF food so I felt really special! One of the girls even made an orange and almond cake with dairy free cream which was ‘to die for’. We all requested the recipe.

We don’t look very happy in the pics but we were actually full of beans and giggles and it was a great day.

I spent way too much money! But I know it’ll be worth it.

Adoring Husband picked me up at 1.30pm and by the time a arrived home I was feeling decidedly unwell.

I unpacked everything and put it all away, got changed and lay down on the bed.

The footy was about to start so I hooked into Foxtel on my iPad and set it on the stand on my mattress ... and promptly fell asleep!

I think I roused 4 or 5 times during the next 4 hours and I glanced at the footy score each time and fell back into a deep sleep.

At 6.30 AH brought me a couple of chicken balls.

Our original plan was to cook a baked dinner together but obviously I wasn’t capable of contributing so that idea was put off til tomorrow.

It’s now 10.30pm and I’m feeling much better, but I’m wondering if I’ll be able to sleep tonight!

Let me try.

Nite all.

Pretty Average

Except for the last hour, I was very busy in the shop today.

Yet I still only just passed my magic minimum number.

Every day this week, except for one, I’ve passed my magic minimum number, so even though it’s been on the quiet side in town, I’m doing ok.

A lady, on holidays, made a purchase yesterday and asked me to hold onto it until she returned that afternoon or today. Well she did not return! I’m certain she’s travelling home on Monday so I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that one!

The weather was super windy today and just before closing time there was a very heavy downpour. Certainly not pleasant for fishing or beach walking.

Tomorrow I need to be up early to prepare food to take to a Lorraine Lea party at the Lions Park. So many factors to consider - the wind, the rain, other people taking over all the public tables. Plan B is to use my training room but let’s hope for a glorious day with everything going according to our plan A. It’s not my party but I’ll be purchasing some bamboo products.

I had two puppies in the shop today. Poppy and George. Both from different families and visiting at different times but both beautifully natured dogs.

My shop neighbours, Alfie and Conan (the guard dog), are moving to Howard. They were my security system so I’ll miss them, but apparently there is a lady with two dogs making enquires about renting the property so I may have a double security system if I’m lucky!

I have some new pics of my favourite young people ...

It’s rapidly approaching 10pm so I’m off to meditate myself to sleep.

Nite all.

Filling Up

The caravan park filled up today so I’m thinking the Fraser Coast Show public holiday has brought people/families to town for the long weekend.

It was busy in the shop and it was a good day for sales.

Lots of people vowed to bring their other family members in when they arrive on Saturday so I’m expecting an influx tomorrow. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Besides serving customers, I can’t even remember what I else I did today!

I had a couple of visitors. The ‘Heart of Art’ came in before lunch to pick up her art from last weekend. She stayed for about half an hour. ‘Little Miss Chatterbox’ lingered for over 30 minutes. ‘Aggie’ popped in for a while too.

I didn’t eat any food all day so by closing time my energy levels were really low. Adoring Husband suggested I retreat to my bedroom and rest, so instead of eating something nutritious to help energise my body, I lay on the bed studying, drinking tea and water, dozing and playing until he served my dinner just before 6pm.

Perhaps I’ll think smarter and actually eat some nutritious food while I’m at work every day so that my brain and my body function at an optimum level.

I’m smart enough to know better than to try and run on empty.

Footy was good tonight and tipping has been easy so far. Me, along with everybody else on the planet, are three from three this week.

Now I’m going to fall asleep to the sound of my audible book called “Profit First”.

Have a great weekend.

Nite all.

Open Arms

“I am open to welcoming wealth and abundance in my life.”

I wrote that down in fancy letters and I uttered them out loud so that the universe could hear me.

Co-incidence or not, sales improved once the universe heard me. After a very slow start, I was a bee’s knee away from my magic minimum number by the end of the day.

I spent a good portion of my day rearranging displays to fit the new bags that came in on Tuesday.

Because I want to do some study at work while it’s quiet, I attempted to clear my desk, but the more I cleared, the messier it got! I’ll try again tomorrow.

I’ve packed up some of the crystals and jewellery that will be picked up by their owner next week.

I’ve packed up all the jewellery and display coral for another lady. She doesn’t know it yet but I’m asking her to collect because I’ve sold more than half of her pieces, but these have been here for a long time and aren’t moving.

The Happy Hippy came and dusted for an hour. She’s a powerhouse and gets a lot done in that hour.

I had a couple of locals come for a visit just to say g’day.

There was a short, sharp, very heavy downpour of rain at lunch time.

I sold my first wind chime.

Despite today’s rain, I was able to take my clothes off the line this afternoon, unlike yesterday when the rain drenched them and I had to leave them there for another night.

By the end of the day I felt like I’d been running around all day and couldn’t wait to put my feet up!

That’s exactly what I’m doing right now and it feels lovely.

Adoring Husband has just served me my early dinner and I’m hoping I can stay awake long enough to watch some football tonight.

Maybe I’ll get my second wind.

Nite all.

Gonski

Another photo is gonski!

A Vanilla Orchid photo! I sold it! Wahoo!

Time for me to print a new selection of photos because there are gaps in my display.

I had to order new ponchos today because I sold so many in the first 24 hours that they were in the shop! Unheard of!

I received a pair of jeans in the mail today. They were supposed to be white - they were moonstone cream. They were supposed to be size 12 (I’m usually 10) but they were approximately size 16 from the hips down and size 8 at the waist.

Ridiculous! Especially because of the price I paid. Luckily, the company has an excellent returns policy and it won’t cost me anything to return them.

Sales were pretty low in the shop but the day passed quickly.

This afternoon while Adoring Husband napped, I studied ... or should I say ‘re-studied’ part of my business course. It was a pleasant hour using my brain in a very quiet house.

For dinner I made a creamy vegetable soup out of the leftovers of our beef casserole. It was REALLY delicious! So full of flavour and very nutritious.

A Big Brother fix and just as we were heading to bed, we got sucked into “You Can’t Ask That”. The questions were aimed at people who, for various reasons, had missing limbs. Interesting answers to some strange questions.

I can’t believe it’s already after 11pm.

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Friendless!

This is me with all my friends at coffee this morning ...

Everybody had stuff happening this morning, which worked out quite well for me because I had a big box of stock to unpack.

Between serving customers, it took me almost three hours to finish that task.

There were eight ponchos in the box that needed to be steamed - you know how much I love steaming clothes. I had to remove some of the Summer tops from the rack, to make space for the ponchos.

I remembered that I still needed to finish the journaling lesson and print it out. That took another 30 minutes.

In today’s mail, the order of new paints arrived from Spotlight, but before I put them in the paint box, I culled all the ‘almost’ empty tubes (I’ll scrape the tubes out to save the paint) and there is JUST enough room in the box to fit all the new paint.

I finished that task just in time for the journaling class.

The only good thing about there being no meditation on Wednesday is that we didn’t have to stay late to set up the room!

Adoring Husband and I enjoyed barramundi, prawns and salad for dinner.

Now it’s time for bed.

Nite all.

Perfection

Today was such a perfect day.

The weather was glorious. It was a cool start all snuggled down under the covers but once the sun was up, it was very comfortable for wearing sleeves, jeans and boots.

The sky was clear, the breeze was slight, the waters were calm and blue and there was a pleasant ‘calm’ all around in The Bay.

Adoring Husband and I had a lunch date at Cafe Balaena.

Dean, the owner, greeted us and took us to our table. I could see that he had a vague recollection of seeing me before but he wasn’t certain so I pretended that we knew each other and I formally introduced Adoring Husband to him.

He replied with “Oh Adoring Husband! I’ve heard so much about you! So nice to finally meet you and put a face to the name.”

Truth is, I only met Dean once last week when the girls and I were there for my birthday lunch. He sang and danced “Happy Birthday” to me - only because the customer he had planned on singing to had to leave unexpectedly. 

We’ve never had a conversation about Adoring Husband or anybody else for that matter.

But he meant well and made me laugh.

Our lunches were delicious ...

... and the service was very friendly and efficient.

We bought dessert to take away and we were so keen to eat it tonight, I didn’t get a photo! I can’t remember what they were called. One was a cheesecake and the other a torte but that’s the best I can tell you. They were freaking delicious!

After lunch I needed to hunt for canvases and paint. I couldn’t find any canvases at a reasonable price, but luckily, I have just enough for the next workshop. I bought a LOT of paint, a couple of sketch pads and some paint brushes.

We did some grocery shopping and on the way home stopped off at Craignish for some fresh seafood.

There was enough time to unpack our shopping, get changed, feed the psychotic dog and drive to my shop to clear the training room and set it up for morning coffee and journaling.

We picked up the mail which included even more paint and a big box of Ivys bags, wallets and purses which will be my main chore tomorrow, checking, pricing and displaying.

Dinner was dessert.

We are now watching Big Brother.

Both of us are feeling weary, and at 6.30pm we were surprised at how early it was because we thought it was closer to 9pm!

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Nothin’

I got nothin’

In bed til 2pm.

Washing.

Put food in the slow cooker - oxtail casserole.

Watched some footy.

Made reservations at Cafe Balaena for Adoring Husband and I to have lunch tomorrow.

Now, at 8pm, I’m ready to return to my bed.

I think my sister got a perfect round in the footy tipping this week! Clever Squirt.

Adoring Husband mowed the lawns. They look good.

That’s it from me.

Happy new week!

Nite all.