Sleepy Productive

I slept so well on Friday night, I was up before 8am Saturday.

Breakfast under the Bali hut and I ALMOST jumped in the pool. The water has warmed up considerably and tomorrow could be the day!

I removed all of my washing from the line and did another load. 

BGWLBH was doing the ironing so I gave her 5 items of mine to do and I did some myself.

I decluttered my wardrobe of 8 items. I could probably do more.

I prepared a nice lunch for Adoring Husband and BGWLBH.

After lunch, I returned to bed for a Nana nap and watched a couple of episodes of White Lotus. Strange show that one.

For dinner I made vegetable laksa with crispy skinned chicken.

We played trivia for an hour until the footy started and we watched a disappointing game between Penrith and Souths.

I’ve watched another couple of episodes of White Lotus since coming to bed and now it’s almost midnight!

Nite all.

Upanattem!

Much more energised today, although not too productive.

I finally unpacked my suitcase and did two loads of washing - one bag from the trip away and then a few bits and pieces.

I made breakfast and sat under the Bali hut because it was such a beautiful morning.

Adoring Husband had a coffee date so BGWLBH took advantage of us not being inside the house and vacuumed and dusted.

The two of us formed a team and did the side cabinet with all of the photos.

Because I had a 2kg bag of chicken thighs to use, I decided to make a big batch of butter chicken which I offered to my team for lunch and there was still enough to freeze two containers.

I made BGWLBH a juice of pineapple, orange, apple and passionfruit with coconut water and iced water.

We played “Who Am I?” trivia for about an hour until my quiz shows started on TV.

I made the sauce for Friday night chicken wings and marinated them for an hour before AH started the oven.

We played TV trivia for 90 minutes before the footy started and there’s 15 minutes remaining in the game where Cowboys are winning by 2 points!

So I’m off to enjoy that last 15 minutes.

Nite all.

Recovery Day

Today has been a recovery day for me.

After such a busy and tiring holiday, then arriving home and spending hours in the kitchen I felt completely drained when I woke up this morning.

I decided to remain in bed.

It was a rainy, stormy day so it was perfect for staying in bed.

I binge watched the rest of Cobra Kai. 

I watched some YouTube videos on unexplained excess deaths since the vaccines rolled out, on the royal family and how the global community will react/respond with King Charles now at the realm, how Biden has declared the pandemic over but Australia is still under emergency laws and how something BIG is going to happen 24th/25th September - something that everybody will remember where they were when it happened.

If this is true (and they don’t specify what it is), I believe it will have something to do with:

• finances, stock market crash, digital currency or banks taking control of our money to save themselves.
• perhaps something to do with the royal family
• Putin vs Ukraine (aka USA)

I hope that on 26th I can say “well that was much ado about nothing!”

I got out of bed at 5.15pm and attempted to prepare a stuffed sweet potato with bacon, onion, garlic, kale, tomato, zucchini, spinach and pulled chicken.

The team ate all of it, even though I was disappointed with my efforts. I ate an orange for dinner.

I returned to bed straight after dinner.

Tomorrow is another day.

We picked all of these tomatoes from the garden yesterday and there are this many to pick tomorrow.

This is one of my purchases from Montville on Monday …

The garden loved the rain today.

I’m outta here.

Nite all.

A Warm Hug

Last night, my bed wrapped its loving arms around me and welcomed me home by providing nine hours of solid sound sleep. The comfort factor was off the charts and I was SO happy.

I woke before my alarm sounded and I was feeling refreshed and ready to start my day.

We met the girls at the Lions Park for two hours of giggles, whinging, venting and full belly laughter.

We handed out produce from our garden. Kale, lettuce, basil and lavender which was very much appreciated.

After a couple of hours, we said our goodbyes and instead of going straight to the Post Office, BGWLBH walked and I rode home so that we could drive to the supermarket for all the goodies required for my planned afternoon of baking.

We prepared coleslaw and garden salad for lunch with tinned tuna on the side and a nice citrus dressing.

At 2pm I started to make a paleo lemon cake. The list of ingredients was a mile long and it took me a full hour to measure out everything and prep the tins. Things like 1T of lemon zest, 3T lemon juice, 1/2 cup honey, 1t baking soda, 2t baking powder, 1T collagen, 1C coconut flour, 1/2C tapioca flour, 10 eggs, 1T vanilla extract and so much more.

First I had to make lemon curd which took 15 minutes of whisking while it heated and then I had to cover it with plastic and let it set in the fridge while I mixed the cake ingredients.

I put it in the oven at 4pm and started preparing the meringue.

Then I began on dinner.

Chicken drumsticks done in the oven on a bed of onion and sliced pear and sprinkled with lime and chilli salt and thin slices of lemon wedged between each piece of chicken. Fried rice and a garden salad.

When the cake was done, I swapped it for the chicken dish and when the chicken dish was done, I swapped it for the meringue and turned the oven down low.

By the time I’d finished everything, I had been in the kitchen for four hours!

My back and my feet are complaining loudly BUT my bed has once again welcomed me and is easing the pain.

It’s been a long day and I’m ready to sleep.

Nite all.

Return of Us

We are home safe and sound.

We decided to forego a morning with Bubbles and leave the Sunny Coast early.

Thank God we did!

The roadworks were horrendous and our trip home, which would normally take 2.5 hours, took 4 hours.

If we’d spent the day with Bubbles and left at 3pm as originally planned, we’d have arrived home at 7pm after dark which would have been problematic because BGWLBH has night blindness 😳

It was a long arduous drive and at one stage we were stopped for 30 minutes on a stretch of road where there was no phone or internet coverage and the hot sun was streaming through the front window.

People were out of their cars and standing around waiting while hundreds of cars were driving past us, very slowly, from the opposite direction.

You could feel the tension in the air.

It would have been so much faster to come home via Maryborough and Hervey Bay.

Luckily we had stopped at Kunara Organic Markets in Forest Glen where we enjoyed a delicious organic bacon (nitrate free) and egg breakfast with pots of tea, so we were energised for the first two hours of the trip.

That’s where I purchased a native bee box.

We have native bees nesting in our front door step and they are buzzing all through our avocado tree so we are going to hang this inside the avocado tree and hope that they move in.

I bought a plant to put in the pot that I bought to put in the macrame hanger.

I got some Neem oil.

In the supermarket I purchased 2 x bottles of my Lamav BB cream. I had JUST used the last of mine that morning and tossed the bottle in the bin and I was unscrewing the top and scooping the last of it with a cotton bud!

I also bought some Vit C face serum, some night cream, a face mist, some purifying essence and a new brand of natural toothpaste.

We stopped at Beefy’s and got three frozen GF steak pies. When we arrived at the Torbanlea turnoff I phoned Adoring Husband and asked him to turn on the oven and as soon as we arrived home, I popped them in and they cooked while we unpacked the car.

I unwrapped all my goodies to show AH, put all the foodstuff away but still haven’t unpacked my suitcase.

BGWLBH and I could muster no energy this afternoon and it took every effort to prepare sweet potato chips and salad while AH cooked lamb cutlets on the barbecue. I didn’t eat any dinner but sat with them while they ate.

I came to bed at 6.30pm but got up twice to attempt to unpack - I’m halfway there - I have to mention how wonderfully comfortable my bed is after spending five nights in those dreadful beds in the apartment - which I mentioned on their feedback sheet so it’ll be interesting to see if I hear anything back.

Now I’m going to close my exhausted eyes and hopefully sleep very soundly for the first time in five nights.

Nite all.

Need Another Holiday

We need another holiday to recover from this holiday!

Today was Montville day.

I usually visit Montville every three or more years and I swear that hill gets steeper with every visit!

We picked Bubbles up from an agreed location at 9am and drove straight to Montville where we enjoyed the views and breakfast at The Edge Cafe …

From there, we walked across the road to visit the first crystal shop and slowly made our way down the hill, stopping at different shops along the way.

We searched high and low for fresh juice, to no avail.

Before we’d stopped in all of the shops (after about 2.5 hours) we were buggered and could do no more.

We decided to pack all of our purchases into the car and drive to Buderim but changed our minds halfway there and drove to Sunshine Plaza instead - where we knew we could get fresh juice!

We sat outside drinking our juices and reminiscing then went inside searching for bike shorts and capris pants, which we found.

It was time to drop Bubbles off where she would claim a lift home with her BFFs husband and we headed back to our apartment.

Sadly, our Asian Restaurant wasn’t open tonight so we decided to try the bistro at the RSL Club. We enjoyed butterflied chicken breast with pepper sauce and salad. Delicious and tender chicken with a pepper sauce packed with heat. Most enjoyable and only a seven minute drive from our accommodation!

It was so nice to spend quality time with Bubbles today and she gives the longest warmest hugs ever. We had lots of giggles and big belly laughs that almost made me pee my pants! Dangerously close!

Now BGWLBH and I have partially packed and will be making our way home tomorrow. We have a couple of stops planned along the way and will take our time getting there.

It’s been a great day but I wish we’d taken a selfie!!

Nite all.

Hitting the Wall

Exactly how far can we push ourselves this holiday?

To the absolute limits!

We left home this morning at about 9am with the intention of walking the 2.1kms from our apartment to Zara Shoes on Brisbane Road, Mooloolaba.

We were looking at lots of other shops too, but Zara’s was the furthest location.

There was a hell of a hill to climb at the mid point and the temperature was reaching 26°C, the traffic was hectic, there were people everywhere and we (especially me) are not as young or as fit as we once were!

By the time we reached the shopping area, we were very hot and sweaty and we stopped for a juice, water and sit down rest before we moved further towards Zara’s.

Being the first Sunday of the school holidays, the street was crowded with tourists. The beach below the street was also packed. The street in front of the shops was bumper to bumper with slow moving traffic.

Gasp!! 

People!!

I didnt purchase any shoes from Zara’s. There was one pair that I loved but they were very dressy and since I don’t go anywhere these days and don’t get included or invited to birthday lunches anymore, I have nowhere to wear them so I showed restraint.

There was a shop where the least expensive item on the racks was $295 and it was a plain t-shirt. I browsed through all the racks and only found one top that I liked - $495. I didn’t even try it on, but the last time I was here with Adoring Husband, I tried three different tops on. I didn’t love any of them enough to pay the high prices.

From that point on, we found lots of fashion stores with more affordable prices. We each purchased some lovely linen items and I returned home with four new tops.

With all of my new purchases, my wardrobe will, once again, require decluttering!

I tried lots of beautiful pants on but none of them fitted well. One size 8 that were too big!! All of them, the smallest sizes were either too baggy around my bum and thighs or they were a weird length on my legs.

Disappointing.

Once we’d had our fill of shopping, we considered catching a taxi or Uber home but decided to risk the walk 😳

I reckon we walked a good 5kms today.

On the return home, we stopped twice for a rest and rewarded ourselves with a cup of ice creams and sorbets which we ate part of and then stored in the freezer until this evening.

It was a glorious day …

… but my body has been suffering. My shins, knees and hips have been giving me “what for” all day.

After a light lunch, we lay down for a nap and slept for about 30 minutes.

Dinner was light too. We couldn’t even muster the energy to walk to our favourite Asian restaurant tonight so it was toast and tea for us.

Tomorrow, we are meeting Bubbles and doing Montville. Again … God help us!! Talk about gluttons for punishment!

Time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Even Older and Even More Tired

Five hours at Eumundi 🤪

Totally wiped us out.

It’s 6.15pm and I’m in bed.

We found a great parking spot in the school grounds for $6 so we did the rounds of the covered shop markets, put our purchases in the car and went for the kill in the other section.

Part way through our shopping spree, we stopped to sit and have bacon and eggs in one of the cafes on the main drag.

I wore my new runners - big mistake - after two hours my little toes were screaming at me and I went in search of new comfortable shoes to change into. I already have two pairs of these runners and have walked all day in both of them without an issue so I certainly didn’t expect a problem today.

I selected a pair of white moulded cell foam thongs with arch support. They cost $40 and are worth every penny! Very comfortable - even for walking distances. They are snug in the sole, very light weight and the top straps hug your foot perfectly so you don’t have to use your toes to keep the thong from slipping.

This meant we could carry on shopping.

My list of purchases include:

• A planter pot for my macrame hanger at home.
• 2 x pottery frogs for the garden.
• Three cakes of hand made scented soaps.
• Balsamic vinegar.
• Salad Dressing.
• Lemon Myrtle salt.
• Wired hair strap.
• A top.
• A 6 pack of fermented ginger beer.
• A shell macrame hanger.
• A metal hanging spinner with a gecko in the centre.
• Some GF donuts.
• A pendant.
• A pineapple, mango and passionfruit smoothie.
• Two mineral balls - one to cleanse the pool and one to wash clothes to replace detergent.

I think that covers it (just off the top of my head). Retail therapy complete!

It was tough dragging our sorry butts and all our paraphernalia from the markets to the car. We filled the boot and arranged everything so as not to destroy our goodies on the trip home.

We decided that if we sat down at home, we’d never get back up, so the only option was to walk (yes more walking) the one kilometre to our favourite Thai restaurant at 3.45pm to order our takeaway dinner, eat exceptionally early and then climb into bed.

We are too old for all this physical activity!

I doubt I’ll still be awake for the footy at 8pm.

It’s been a big day.

Nite all.

Old and Tired

Falling asleep not long after 7.30pm last night, I did not sleep soundly - pretty standard for a first night in a strange bed - and was awake at 5am.

The noises from the main road outside our apartment, while they weren’t loud or invasive, they still disturbed my sleep because there are NO sounds at home. At home, I sleep with my window open and all is silent from about 6pm!

BGWLBH and I walked around the man made lagoon behind our apartment at about 7am. It has two islands in the middle. One has a bridge leading to it and the other is inaccessible and has two giant bird statues - a swan and an egret - on the edge of it surrounded by lush vegetation.

There is also a community vegetable and fruit garden beside the lagoon which we investigated during our walk.

There were lots of birds including this swan and two cygnets …

There were people with dogs and elderly couples and gardeners getting the grounds tidied before the school holiday crowds arrive.

We returned to our room to make poached eggs with tomato and avocado for breakfast, then we got ready for our big shopping day at Sunshine Plaza. I really didn’t think we’d be at the plaza for long and planned on visiting the boutique shops at Mooloolaba in the afternoon. But nope!

We had to stop for five minutes every hour because our fitness levels leave a lot to be desired! Even though we have most of the franchise shops in Hervey Bay, there are still a good number of lovely shops that we don’t have. And of course, there is Myers and David Jones. We didn’t even get to DJs!

I purchased a top, a necklace, 2 bars of soap, some tea towels, a game and three GF donuts. I attempted to purchase some GF heart brownies but they wouldn’t accept cash for payment (only card) so, just on principle, I said that if my cash wasn’t good for them, they would lose the sale. I’m not going to make the planned ‘cashless society’ easy for anyone.

We didn’t eat lunch but did sit down to a green juice for me - kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple and mint - and a mango, pineapple and passionfruit juice for BGWLBH. We people watched for about half an hour while we sipped on our drinks.

It was around 4pm when we arrived home. We dumped our goodies and went walking in the opposite direction to yesterday looking for food. We found a Thai restaurant about ten minutes away where I selected red curry with duck and fried rice with veg and chicken. BGWLBH selected Thai beef salad with fried rice and veg.

It was the best Thai food we have ever eaten!

You know when food is so good that you can’t stop eating and you go back for seconds even though you can barely move because you’re so full? I haven’t felt that way about any restaurant food for years! I can’t wait to go back tomorrow and try a different dish from the menu!

At 6pm we said good night and went to our respective bedrooms.

Absolutely shattered.

Tomorrow is Eumundi day - god help us!

Here are a few pics of our apartment.

No pic of the bedroom and ensuite that BGWLBH is in - thought I would leave her in peace. She has the double bed and huge ensuite with spa.

We are very comfortable.

Nite all.

Trippin’

Today marks 19 years since Adoring Husband and I met face-to-face under the clock at Central Station in Sydney.

Having met in an ‘over 40s’ MSN chatroom three months prior to that, we had been chatting on line and over the phone for that time.

I remember our meeting as if it was yesterday. My heart was all a flutter and the adrenalin was pumping through my body like nobody’s business!

Happy memories.

Yesterday, AH bought me two bunches of flowers. One was a bunch of my favourites - sunflowers - and the second was a bouquet of Gerbera - my second favourite! Under my bedroom door this morning I found a beautiful card, so he really put in some effort this year.

BGWLBH and I left home just after 9am and had to first drive into The Bay to run some errands before starting our holiday. We left The Bay at 10.20am and due to roadworks EVERYWHERE, we arrived in Gympie just under 2 hours later!

We investigated the ladies clothing store that I mentioned yesterday but it was disappointing. They had lovely clothing but nothing that tickled our fancy.

We found a little cafe and ate a disappointing lunch before hitting the road again.

Yet more roadworks made for slow going and we reached Mooloolaba at 2.30pm to pick up the keys to our apartment. It took us a while to find our apartment but eventually we dragged all our gear from the car to the lift and hauled it all inside. 

So much crap for five nights!

We have great water views with a nice little balcony, a bedroom each with our own ensuite, a huge modular lounge to laze on and a well stocked kitchen - there was even a packet of TimTams in the fridge with a little message written on it. I’ll take photos tomorrow to share here.

After we unpacked, we decided to go walking to check out the food situation. We found a Mexican restaurant and decided to grab takeaway to eat in our apartment. We were too buggered to consider anything else.

By 5pm, we’d eaten our very ordinary dinner and BGWLBH headed off to bed. I am currently laying on the couch yawning my head off and contemplating my own bed.

Yep, I think I will climb into bed and hopefully wake up refreshed for a big day tomorrow.

Nite all.