Magical Day

It was a terrible start to my day .. that seems to have been a common thread this week .. and we left home for our adventure much later than planned.

We needed to leave by 9.45am to be at our intended destination by 10.30am, as per the email instructions.

My day began with opening the laundry door for Colli (it is where she sleeps at night) to discover that she'd had diarrhoea during the night, so a clean up job was to be had for me and then I needed to bath the dog. NOT the most pleasant way to start my morning, by any stretch of the imagination!

To save time, AH was going to buy my coffee while I had a shower, until he reminded me that the staff at Foodworks were dressed up for Halloween, so I wanted to go with him and take photographs.

 
There are other photos to show in tomorrow's post.

Then we drove by the Seat of Knowledge to call out good morning to the boys but they told me that the Tawny Chick was out on a branch, so I climbed out of the car with my camera to capture the image, however, I had the wrong lens with me and didn't get a good enough pic to share .. hopefully tomorrow will be my lucky photography day.

AH then decided to park the car and visit the boys while I photographed - which we simply didn't have time for!

By the time I dragged him home, ironed his clothes, washed and blow dried my hair, applied make up, filled my handbag with essentials, located my glasses and swore at AH for dropping my camera lens, it was 9.55am!

Of course Murphy's Law dictates that the traffic in front of us should drive at least 10km below the speed limit, just to slow us up a bit more!

As we finally approached the Boat Club, our luck seemed to change. We found a 'rock star carpark' and made our way to the function.

Obviously everybody else was running late and as seats were not allocated, we selected a table right at the front of the room and chose seats that would face the small stage. We were very happy with our timing and selection.

Others soon arrived and asked to join our table. We had some lovely friendly couples seated with us and I enjoyed some light conversation with them before the first speakers took the podium.

We had to listen to an hour of 'financial planning' information, but the speakers were entertaining and and it was much more interesting than I expected.

The main meals arrived before the speeches were finished. I had beef cheek with mash and asparagus with a red wine jus. AH had a stuffed chicken breast served on rice and roasted capsicum.

Soon Wayne Bennett arrived and stood up to speak.

He was hilarious and related some funny stories about his coaching and some less than intelligent footballers. He then compared coaching with financial planning. He talked about risk and comfort and ethics and honesty and being accountable. He was warm and engaging, funny and light hearted, honest and inspiring.

He spoke for about an hour, but it seemed like only twenty minutes! When he called for questions, I told him about AH being a staunch Sharks supporter and I asked him if he would consider moving into Cronulla Sharks territory to help the Sharks win their first premiership. He responded with the fact that even the great Jack Gibson was unable to help Sharks win a premiership!

AH got to ask him a question about his 'father-like' role with young footballers.

Dessert was then served - we were given a GF chocolate mousse with strawberries and cream - then we were all invited to come forward with any paraphernalia that we wanted signed and to have our photos taken with Wayne.

I didn't have anything to sign. If I hadn't been running so late in the morning, I may have remembered that I had Wayne Bennett's autobiography in my bookcase. I could have had that signed.

Ah well.

Prior to this function, I already had the utmost respect for Wayne Bennett, but now my admiration has increased beyond my expectations. He really is a great and honourable man.

I hated to leave and would have loved to hover and stalk him for another hour or so after the function was over, but we had errands to run.

While grocery shopping in Coles, I assisted a lost looking young man choose some sanitary napkins for his wife who recently had their first baby and wasn't prepared for a 'mishap' during their first outing as a family. That was another highlight of my day! He was most appreciative :)

We were running so late coming home, that AH dropped me off at the club on the way. It was an enjoyable, but not a winning night.

Just three more sleeps til I make my way south to have some quality time with my little Chicklet!

Right now though, I am going to make my way to the bedroom and sleep soundly til morning.

Nite all.

A Gathering

What a day!

The Motivator and I had organised our first Jeunesse presentation for today and I was feeling very nervous because my favourite girls weren't involved.

The first thing I did when planning this gathering, was create a preferred list names of who I knew I would feel most at ease with, and who I knew would not feel obliged or pressured by the occasion, so that I could relax and practise.

Unfortunately, the first two I invited, already had other plans and simply were not available, so I decided that if I couldn't have them all together for my first presentation day, I would invite a different group and save my favourites for the next one (you know who you are .. so don't dare believe that you've escaped my clutches!).

In my discombobulated state this morning, everything I did took much longer than it should have. I was supposed to prepare two dips and some sweet energy balls, but I only 'just' managed to make the dips and I still couldn't get to The Motivator's house (where the gathering was taking place) until an hour later than I'd promised.

The Motivator was struggling to be organised and The Holistic Healer, who was supposed to be leading this presentation, was also  running late!

Then two of my guests arrived 10 and 20 minutes late! What a crazy start to the morning! Worst of all, I left my all important folder and Ipad at home! *sigh*

Amazingly, the tricky start didn't deter us and it all ran fairly smoothly from there.

The Holistic Healer kicked things off and The Motivator and I both had input. Through it all we learnt a lot and I think that the two of us working as a team is going to suit us well.

While I expected to be out for approximately 3 hours, the day ran much longer than that for The Motivator and I! After five hours, I finally departed and headed straight for a coffee .. funny that I should need coffee and NOT alcohol to unwind!

I arrived home just in time to help Adoring Husband prepare for an SES meeting, so we barely crossed paths today.

Tomorrow, he and I have a big day planned. Lunch with The Brisbane Broncos coach, Wayne Bennett. I am very much looking forward to that!

It's fast approaching midnight and I believe that I can hear a pillow calling my name!

Nite all.

Nerves NOT of Steel

What a great day on the Sunny Coast browsing and spending at Eumundi Markets.

Adoring Husband drove me, The Motivator and Mum H to the service station at 6.15am where we boarded the bus.

It seemed to be a pretty quick trip down there and the weather was mild and overcast which made the drive very comfortable. There was lots of chatter going on as everybody caught up with each other's news.

We arrived at about 8.45am and all excitedly spilled out of the bus to, firstly, use the rest rooms, and then to scatter in all directions in search of bargains and any lovely goodies that took our fancy.

I stuck with The Motivator for the day because it was her first time with the lady's group and also her first time at Eumundi. She had a great day and declared that she would like, very much, to join the ladies every month for our luncheons.

I bought some jewellery, a top, two hats and a slate vase .. very difficult to describe, but I will create some floral art with it and take a photo over the weekend to post here. It is Adoring Husband's christmas present to me - even though he had no choice in the matter! I did text him to get his ok, but he didn't respond quickly enough, so I had to make an executive decision.

We were very lucky that the rains didn't come until we were leaving the markets. It was certainly coming down as we arrived at the Noosa Yacht Club for lunch! It rained the entire time we were there and was still raining lightly for most of the trip home.

I sit here in my lounge room now listening nervously to a very nasty storm descending upon us. The storm caused a lot of damage in Chinchilla earlier today with large hail stones and strong winds and has taken a few hours to reach us.

The Higgins Storm Chasing site has warned that there could be tornadoes lurking within this storm, so I'm about to go store my electronic devices in the walk-in wardrobe and prepare for the worst. I'm using the power of my will to force the storm to weaken before it reaches us, but I don't like my chances.

We experienced a brief but wild storm during the night last night. We had three dogs huddled in bed with us for two hours as we waited it out.

I'm not keen to end such a lovely day on such a scary note. Wish us luck!

Nite all.

Happily Productive

A visit to the Seat of Knowledge.

Morning tea with the girls (minus Lady Lynn), including some yummy coconut lemon balls made with love by Mardi.

I arrived home a little after 10am and popped a whole chicken in the oven so that it would be ready to eat for lunch. First I slid some butter, garlic and thyme between the skin and meat of the breast, then stuffed the chicken with some lemon wedges, sliced garlic and some butter. After the chicken was cooked, I used tapioca flour to thicken the juices that were left in the pan. Delicious.

While the chicken was cooking, I purged two extra large garbage bags and one small grocery bag full of expired, stale and unwanted items from the pantry. Yes!! That's right!! I finally cleared the pantry!!

I completely filled the dishwasher with 'locknlock' containers after I emptied their contents into the bin.

At the same time as all of this was in progress, I made up another bottle of colloidal silver.

Once that job was complete, I had to make up a batch of dog food, so I chopped and cooked a giant pot of pumpkin and made 16 days worth of doggy goodness.

My plan for this evening's meal is to make some chilli chicken meatballs.

It will be an early night for me tonight because we will be on a bus tomorrow at 6.30am heading south to Eumundi Markets! I'm looking forward to a great day with 21 other ladies. We will shop til we drop and then eat lunch at Noosa Yacht Club before heading home mid afternoon.

That's it! My day here is complete.

Nite all.

Honest to Goodness

This is legit ...

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Here is something that I read today, and I know that there are a bunch of you out there who can SO relate to everything I'm about to write ...

You may be diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. (Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder)

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my flower tubs.

As I turn on the hose, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

I go to get the car keys off the hook and notice the mail on the porch table.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the bin under the table, and notice that the bin is full, so I place the mail back on the table and take out the rubbish first.

But then I think .. I can run down to the post-box when I take out the rubbish, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my cheque book off the table and notice that there is only one cheque left. My extra cheques are in the computer desk. So I go into my office to my desk, where I find the can of soda I've been drinking. I'm going to look for my cheques, but I need to push the can of soda aside so that I don't spill it.

I notice that the soda is getting warm so I decide to put it in the fridge. As I head toward the kitchen with the soda, a vase of flowers on the window sill catches my eye. They need water.

I place the can of soda on the ledge and discover my glasses that I've been looking for all morning. I'm going to put the glasses away, but first I need to water the flowers. I set my glasses back down on the window ledge, go fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone has left it on the kitchen table. I realise that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, so I decide to put it back in the living room where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water into the vase, but some spills on the floor, so I set the remote back on the table, get some paper towel and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

The tubs aren't watered.
The car isn't washed.
The bills aren't paid.
There is a warm can of soda on the window ledge.
The flowers don't have enough water.
There is still only one cheque in my cheque book.
I can't find the remote.
I can't find my glasses.
I have absolutely NO idea what I did with the car keys.

Then when I try to work out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all darn day and I'm really tired. I know this is a serious problem and I try to get some help for it, but first I check my email!

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Adoring Husband had an uneventful return train trip to Brisvegas today for his specialist appointment.

On impulse this morning, I walked into my hairdressers and I explained that I wanted to make my grey hair stand out more by highlighting it without making it 'obviously' coloured. So she gave me an appointment for 1pm and I walked out at 2.40pm feeling slightly disappointed. 

She changed my greys to ash blonde.

Luckily, she only put in minimal foils, so most of my original greys on the top of my head are still there, and luckily the ash blonde doesn't look terrible, but I'm disappointed that my greys at the front of my head are now slightly hidden by the blonde.

I wish I'd made the effort to get my old hairdresser in Griffith to do it while I was down there in August.

Ah well. I don't hate it.

Time for sleep.

Nite all.

A Cure for All

This is what I learned today.

Two thirds of the immune system surrounds your gut. Antibiotics, while they destroy the bad bacteria, they also destroy the good bacteria, which weakens the immune system, which in turn, slows or stops your body from healing.

It's important to eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables (preferably organic) and include celery, broccoli, sweet potato, pumpkin seeds, berries and citrus fruit. Sugar impairs the immune system so it's vital that you reduce your sugar intake to the absolute minimum.

Strong, good quality probiotics are very important to help rebuild the good bacteria, which in turn strengthens the immune system to help you heal quickly.  

A healthy human body is self regulating and self repairing. It will protect itself from infections, slow down the ageing process and if it finds cancer, it will eliminate it. It will keep the blood vessels open to prevent headaches and it regulates blood pressure.

When your immune system is strong, your body will always be healthy.

I learned lots more, but this is all that I'll share today.

I enjoyed my evening at the neighbour's house last night. I caught up with friends and with neighbours who I see rarely and even met one couple for the first time. I heard some interesting life stories, discussed quilting and patchwork, talked about travel and health and drank a whole bottle of wine on my own!

I'm surprised that I wasn't more inebriated! I was louder and happier than usual, but I wasn't alone there and I was capable of riding home on the Leggy Blonde's trike. I guess I drank it over a period of 4 hours, which helped.

I wasn't hung over this morning and spent three hours clearing out the middle bedroom.

On Wednesday a guy from the blind shop is coming to our house to measure our windows, and to quote for exterior blinds on the western wall. We want to be able to open and close the blinds from the inside, so we needed to clear the room so that he could access the far wall.

What a job!! It had become a storage room for bedding, clothes, photos, books, dvd players, cushions, wall art, jewellery, toys, dress up paraphernalia, mail boxes and padded bags, you name it! Like I said .. what a job!!

He will also measure our outdoor area for screening.

I think I will finally attack the pantry tomorrow. I'll see how motivated I feel in the morning. Adoring Husband has to travel to Brisbane for a specialist appointment tomorrow, so I'll be to doing his job in the morning before I attempt to get motivated for anything!

Finally, I got a fabulous phone call from my little Chicklet today. Just one more week and I'll be with her for almost 3 weeks. I think there is a lot of fun stuff planned and I can't wait to see her!

I have an early start, so I'd best sign off an get some sleep.

Nite all.