Brains and Muscles

I’ve been on my feet a lot this week - hence my tired leg muscles.

I’ve been calculating and thinking a lot this week - hence my tired brain.

A hot shower called to me this evening and I followed that with massaging a body cream of magnesium, lavender, patchouli, rose and geranium into my thigh and calf muscles.

What a difference! Totally soothed and calmed my legs which were feeling restless and almost on the verge of cramping so that I couldn’t find a comfortable sitting position.

Now they feel calm and rested.

I did lots of brain work and calculating today so I plan on falling asleep to a guided healing meditation to help me fall into a peaceful sleep.

It’s all about self love and self care.

Sales were slow today which gave me a chance to continue with my tax paperwork and also to sit for a while with The Brains Trust when she visited.

I do like the new layout of my work area. It feels very comfortable and practical.

There is an art and craft expo being held at the hall tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 am - 3pm so I’m hoping that the visitors to the expo will trickle over to me.

This is the start of school holidays but covid has once again caused havoc in NSW so the borders are closed to residents of greater Sydney, fear is stopping some people from crossing the border and there have been a few booking cancellations so it may be less profitable than expected for the entire area.

It was nice to have AH prepare dinner tonight and since there is no footy this weekend, I believe I shall climb into bed and wait for the rain to come.

Nite all.

All Done

It has taken almost 3 days and the shop is now decluttered and clean and rearranged where I wanted.

It feels good.

I was very productive this afternoon and got some ‘stuff’ done in preparation for tax time.

It was a good sales day.

Adoring Husband set up the tables ready for art on Saturday.

He has gone to SES training tonight so I cooked an early dinner for him - duck breast with salad.

There is no football and no Big Brother on TV so it’s time for me to climb into my lovely comfy bed and call it a night.

Nite all.

Almost There

There were only 6 of us in meditation this morning but it was deep and emotional for most of the regulars who attended and there were a few tears quietly rolling down some cheeks

Those are the best classes because it means there are shifts happening and people are healing old wounds, recognising their triggers and figuring out how to use their powers. You can feel the amazing energy at the end of the class as people leave.

While The Gypsy and I were chatting in my newly created little nook behind the counter, The Polish Princess burst through the front door and fell into The Gypsy’s arms crying some angry tears - so much emotion and she hadn’t even attended meditation!

She sat with us for a while and had a short vent, but soon we found reasons to giggle and look at it from a different angle. She left with a smile on her face thanking us for changing her mood.

The Gypsy had to leave then so we never got to finish our conversation. We really must catch up some time outside of work so that we don’t get interrupted and can talk freely.

I had some good sales with lots of new customers and unfamiliar faces through the door.

There was time between customers to finish setting out the displays after the carpet cleaning as well as rearrange behind the counter. It’s still not completely finished but very close! There will be pics when I’m done.

I think I’d like to try for a quiet day tomorrow.

On Friday I need to set up for art class on the weekend. There have been a few drop out due to work and holidays so at this stage, there will only be four in the class! Think I need to do a quick recruit!

It has already been a trying week. Lucky I had my Sunday in bed, but Monday was essentially a sick day and then Tuesday was a moving day that lasted for 12 long hours. Today was a 7 hour work day. I’m feeling it.

It’s now after 10.30pm and I need some sleep.

(MOT = Ministry of Transport in UK and they conduct annual safety tests on cars)

Nite all.

Everything Hurts

Except for a lovely morning with the girls, I have spent all day moving ‘stuff’ from one room to another and back again.

At 2pm today, the meditation room looked like this …

… and the shop, ready for the carpet cleaner, looked like this …

By 8.30pm, the meditation room looked like this …

Adoring Husband and I came home and went straight to bed.

We are exhausted and sore.

We are too old for this!

My area behind the counter will require a lot of time and effort tomorrow because it is a shambles and I’m not even sure how I want the layout yet, but hopefully when I get there in the morning, I will have an epiphany and it will all fall into place.

Sales were low and very few people came through the door, but it was very windy and cold so smart people would remain in the comfort of their own home.

The Happy Hippy came to clean.

It has been a really long day. It’s now 11pm and I’m ready for sleep.

Nite all.

Wasted

My Monday was kind of wasted.

I stayed in bed til quite late and Adoring Husband made some GF pancakes for breakfast which my tummy did not like.

I got out of bed to help AH clear the lounge room in preparation for the carpet cleaner who is coming on Tuesday.

I don’t think I even lasted for 30 minutes and I had to lay down. When standing up, I was wracked with pain, but no pain when laying on my back.

I fell asleep at about 2pm and woke at 6pm.

I risked an apple and a mandarin for dinner and a bit later had a chicken wing but now my tummy is cramping even while I’m laying down.

Ugh.

I hope a good nights sleep helps me feel better tomorrow.

This my new woollen throw rug that I purchased from Lorraine Lea for my bed. The colour is delicious!

This is little Hazie smiling beautifully for her Dad while sporting her glowing red locks of hair …

Nite all.

A Bit Productive

I didn’t get to stay in bed all day, as I’d planned.

When Adoring Husband left the house to get his coffee at 6am, I got out of bed and made myself some tea and a small ham salad for breakfast. I was a bit peckish because I didn’t eat dinner last night.

I returned to bed with my goodies and watched a Netflix movie called “Irresistible” which I quite enjoyed.

After that I signed up for and did an online Masterclass Workshop about Launching an Online Course. It was interesting - I knew most of it but picked up a couple of interesting titbits which is always a bonus.

AH asked about lunch so I dragged myself out of bed and cooked up some barramundi and salad for us both. I sat with him and watched the end of a documentary on Stan about pangolins …

Interesting little creatures which are highly endangered in both Africa and Asia thanks to illegal trafficking.

I returned to bed and watched another movie on Netflix called “An American Pickle” which I also enjoyed.

Then it was time to cook dinner which was a whole roast chicken with cauliflower au gratin made with Zymil cream and lactose free cheese. It was surprisingly good! I also baked some potato and sweet potato.

While that cooked, I watched Manly annihilate Gold Coast in the second half of their game.

We had strawberries and raspberries with Zymil cream for dessert. I might add that AH had TWO servings of dinner before he had dessert!

I watched Spicks and Specks before once more returning to bed.

It’s already after midnight!

Nite all.

Sorry Not Sorry

I was so exhausted, I was asleep before 9pm last night!

Here is my token late post for yesterday.

I found this on Facebook and just had to share …

*** The bicycle is the slow death of the planet.

General Director of Euro Exim Bank Ltd. got economists thinking when he said:

"A cyclist is a disaster for the country's economy: he does not buy cars and does not borrow money to buy. He does not pay for insurance policies. He does not buy fuel, does not pay for the necessary maintenance and repairs. He does not use paid parking. He does not cause serious accidents. He does not require multi-lane highways. He does not get fat.

Healthy people are neither needed nor useful for the economy. They don't buy medicine. They do not go to hospitals or doctors. Nothing is added to the country's GDP (gross domestic product).

On the contrary, every new McDonald's restaurant creates at least 30 jobs: 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 dietary experts and nutritionists, and obviously, people who work at the restaurant itself."Choose carefully: cyclist or McDonald's? It is worth considering.

P.S. Walking is even worse. Pedestrians don't even buy bicycles.”***

So true don’t you think? I’d rather be a healthy rider 👍

Anyway I had good sales at the shop on Saturday and a very relaxing afternoon at home. Today is Sunday and you all know where I’m going to be for the entire day …

🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌 🤷🏼‍♀️ 🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌  😎 🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌  📖 🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌 👩🏼‍💻

I’ll do my usual blog tonight.

Have a happy day!

Sad and Sorry

Sad and sorry that Bubbles left today.

I really enjoyed having her here for 12 days. She has matured so much in the 13 years since we moved here and her confidence has grown as she has taken on more responsible roles with her employment. She’s also very funny and gives great hugs. She seems a lot calmer and she has a lot of love to give. I’m glad I get to receive some of it.

Sad and sorry that I had zero sales today! 

Twenty six people came through the shop and not one of them looked like they might buy something. They all looked like browsers from the second they walked in the door. It was very strange.

Sad and sorry about tax time.

Although I have been very good at keeping my records and filing up to date, tax time has my brow furrowed as I gather it all together and decide whether to tackle the task myself or recruit a professional.

Sad and sorry about the end of life.

The Brains Trust lost someone important in her life and the sadness in her eyes is very evident. I wish I could hug away the hurt.

Sad and sorry about the end of marriage.

I discovered today that an old friend of mine is going through a tough marriage break up which takes it from what seemed like a partnership made in heaven to the extreme opposite. I pray that the outcome is positive, common sense prevails and loving peace shines through in the end.

Sad and sorry about getting ripped off.

Vegan Chickie had a bad experience today that left her feeling quite shaken. Nothing physical, but something none of us want to experience. I like to think that most people are honest but unfortunately there are some out there who take advantage of good people. We can only hope that there was an acceptable reason for the deception.

Happy and grateful for Winter weather.

I love to wake in the morning to feel the cool winter air on my cheek and have the luxury of snuggling under the doona and waking up slowly and gently.

Happy and grateful for visits from friends.

It’s so nice to have my day interrupted by friends, hugs and good conversation.

Happy and grateful for safe journeys.

Bubbles arrived safe n sound at her destination and now gets to spend an extra day with her bestie.

Happy and grateful for warning dreams.

I dreamt about my friend which triggered me to make contact and learn of her marriage break up. Even though I am a distance away, I can now offer her some much needed support.

Happy and grateful for Adoring Husband.

Friday night is AH dinner night. I can come home on Friday afternoon and put my feet up knowing I can totally relax and I have no responsibility except to find my way to bed at a reasonable hour.

We are watching a great game of footy right now. AH’s team is currently winning against the Cowboys but the Cowboys are making a comeback. I’ve tipped the Sharks! Fingers crossed.

Sharks have won!! Woot woot!!

Nite all.

Little Ones

I made lots of little sales today but it was still a below average day.

The glass cabinets full of jewellery received a ‘going over’ from me and I rearranged some of the displays, changing the levels of some and displaying them differently so I was left with a whole shelf free for my next order when it arrives.

I made some new signs and laminated them. Now I need to figure out where around town to put them to help lure customers to the shop.

Some new jewellery display stands arrived in the mail but I’m not sure where they’ll go yet. They were very easy to assemble but are a touch too big to fit in the glass cabinets. Adoring Husband should be able to remedy that by chopping about a cm off each end of the shelving boards.

The weather has warmed up again and the temperature reached 25°C which is warm for winter! I had the fan on in the bedroom last night.

AH and Bubbles both arrived to close the shop but before we closed, Bubbles had to post some of her clothes home to make enough room in her suitcase! 

AH got his afternoon coffee and promptly dropped the entire cup right inside the door of the shop! What a mess!! 

Ugh!

As he was returning from buying a second cup, there was a commercial carpet cleaner parked outside the real estate, so he grabbed the guy and asked him to provide a quote. He will be cleaning my carpets on Tuesday afternoon.

I did the banking and we were home before 2.30pm.

We played trivial pursuit all afternoon - I won 🙌💃🏼🤗

We munched on my version of guacamole dip while we played and I also made my way through four mandarins so I was not in the slightest bit hungry for dinner. I cooked up barramundi, leftover mash and salad for AH and Bubbles.

Now I’m in bed watching my team receive a thrashing in the first footy game of this round.

I should save myself the pain, turn it off and go to sleep!

Here is a photo to show how much my little Hazie has grown … 

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

The Lull

I’ve realised today, that school holidays begin at the end of next week.

It means this is the lull before the storm.

There was a thick pea soup kinda fog this morning. The type of fog that hid everything from view - the sky, the river, the bush, the road … it was especially bad for The Gypsy who had to travel for an hour through it.

We all arrived safe n sound where we had to be, but we hope there won’t be too many mornings like this one.

There were three empty seats in meditation this morning and The Gypsy provided a great class but couldn’t stay afterwards because she had a class to run at the Bay library.

There were seven ladies hanging about afterwards for a chat which was quite enjoyable and we had some good belly laughs between us all.

A couple of regulars came for a visit and we chatted for quite some time.

I attempted to print out my PayPal transactions for tax purposes, but my printer didn’t want to play the game and would only connect for one out of every three or four requests which was very annoying so I gave up and will try again tomorrow.

I received a Peter Pauper catalogue in the mail so I browsed through that, marking items for my order Wishlist. I recruited Bubbles to find the prices of all my picks and mark them accordingly so I can figure out what I can afford.

It was a below average day of sales.

Adoring Husband and I very efficiently closed the shop and rushed home so that I could bake some GF cupcakes for afternoon tea and prep the potatoes for a big batch of mash - which Bubbles loves.

We played Five Second Rule all afternoon. I won two games and Bubbles won one.

I crumbed some chicken tenderloins with a combination of GF breadcrumbs and almond meal which were delicious.

I was too full to even have my daily ice cream in a cone for dessert!

After my Big Brother fix, I came to bed and suddenly it’s almost 11.30pm!

Time for sleep.

Nite all.

Two Timer

I’ve worn a dress two days in a row!

Unheard of!

It felt good.

Morning coffee with the girls was loud and unfortunately I was interrupted often by pesky customers, most of whom didn’t make a purchase, so I missed a lot of the conversation. I still love to hear the girls chatting away while I’m serving people.

Today was an average day of sales.

The Happy Hippy came to clean.

The Landlady (for those in the know she was once Mrs Bucket’s landlady) came by with her crafty work. She creates animals, candles and other beautiful things out of books and their pages. 

These are not hers, but something like this …

Her work is quite lovely and I’ve kept some to sell in the shop.

I paid a bill.

I received a bill.

I cleaned the kitchen of all the art mess from Saturday.

I vacuumed the floors.

There was no journaling today, so I set the room up for meditation and got an early mark.

Bubbles, Adoring Husband and I played Yahtzee this afternoon and I made butter chicken for dinner - I had my delicious soup.

I got my Big Brother fix before bed and now it’s already 11pm!

Time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Mother Daughter Day

Bubbles and I planned on catching the bus into The Bay today, but it was raining when we woke up and Adoring Husband offered to drive us in. 

We were especially grateful for his offer when we passed the speeding bus that would have taken us. Crazy driver!

I wore a dress today! 

I know right!? Me!

We all started at Su Jus Cafe for breakfast. I had a chicken crepe with mushrooms and avocado and my drink of choice was a green juice.

AH had a healthy roast pumpkin, poached egg, halloumi and cashew cheese with a giant coffee.

Bubbles had the standard bacon, poached egg and avocado with a fresh tropical juice.

It was a good start to a busy walkathon, shopathon kind of day.

AH left us there and we checked out the shops in the mall. I got a couple of things at Truckloads for the art classes, we looked but didn’t purchase at Shoe Frenzy and then decided to get our hair done at the hairdressing salon.

My hair hasn’t been touched by a hairdresser in 18 months! I’ve been allowing the ‘ala natural’ greys to grow out but it was looking long and dry with straggly ends and desperately needed cutting.

I asked the woman to slightly layer it so that my natural curl could be seen.

She told me, ten minutes in, that until six weeks ago she was the Manager at Just Cuts.

To me, that’s exactly what my hair looks like … like I’ve been to Just Cuts.

Not completely happy, but I’ll wash it tomorrow and allow it to dry naturally. My natural curl might actually make it more acceptable.

We couldn’t find anything we wanted in Big W or Rivers but there is a ladies fashion store near them where I found a hippy duster jacket in black. I bought one the same at the Childers Multicultural Festival two years ago in a cream colour which I have worn often so I was excited to see this one.

The shop had a lovely range of linen blend clothing. Tops and pants in different colours and designs which were very tempting but my wardrobe is already bulging at the seams so I refrained.

We attempted to Uber from there to Stocklands but the 3 Ubers that were available earlier all inconveniently disappeared when we needed them so we called a taxi instead.

Stocklands had nothing much to offer either. I was lucky enough to nab a white short sleeved shirt with a collar - something that I’ve been looking for - and a couple of t-shirts from trusty old Kmart.

I got a Boost juice because I desperately needed a boost!

All I need is to win $20million Powerball. I would like that very much.

I ordered our personal Uber (Adoring Husband) to come back to pick us up. We were at our last stop in the supermarket when he arrived and we were able to get home before the sun was low enough to risk our safety on the road. It’s a bad time of the year because the sun sets directly into our eyes in some sections of the road.

Dinner was Peking duck with vegetables for AH and Bubbles. I enjoyed some of my soup.

It’s been huge and I loved our mother/daughter day but I’m  exhausted! My feet are aching from being on them for six hours and I need to sleep.

Work tomorrow! There will be coffee with the girls but no journaling for a couple of weeks. 

I just realised that I still need to clear up from the art class so we’ll need to go in early! Ugh!

Nite all.

Feeling it

My age … I’m feeling my age.

As much as I love the Winter weather, my bones are aching from the cold.

I haven’t had a Sunday in bed for 4 weeks and I think it will be another week before I can enjoy that luxury.

No days for relaxation, rejuvenation and regeneration which is wearing me down a bit.

Today was very busy in the shop  with good sales + the art class which was a lot of fun.

I prepared an avocado dip for the girls to have with their crackers while we enjoyed our beverages after art. We also savoured some spicy carrot cake.

There wasn’t too much mess and we were finished the class much earlier than usual. We all chose an easy technique with pretty good results.

We were home before 5pm.

We bought frozen snapper from the fisheries freezer but the weather is so bloody cold, even putting it outside failed to help it thaw. I threw my hands in the air and declared “you can just fend for yourselves!”

No dinner for me - I just couldn’t be bothered and I wasn’t hungry.

I am in bed typing this and I expect to be asleep in about 30 minutes.

Have a happy Sunday.

Nite all.