Gracious Goodbye

Well, the goodbye was difficult, my voice failed me and my sunglasses hid my tears. A tough farewell.

However, lunch was fantastic and we shared some quality time with some quality people. Most of us were there early enough to spring the surprise on Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver, and there were some good laughs and some hilarious snorting, a bit of storytelling, some inappropriate language (by me of course) and some frantic photography ...

One of the ladies who served us at Arkarra Tea Gardens, came out to take a couple of full group photos so that we could all be included. That was nice of her.

I've got a busy few days ahead of me, so I'm off.

Nite all.

Friday Farewell

I had a good day at the desk where I channelled Vegan Chickie and became a little bit more organised with my business plan, gave my work journals labels and tags, sourced some products and emailed for quotes, listed some future blog post ideas, made a couple of orders and studied some more.

There is still so much to do!

We had a good crowd at the club for Friday night raffles. It's the last Friday night before their renovations begin and the last Friday night for Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver before they head off to the Sunny Coast.

These two lovely people are such important members of our group and have been a huge support to every one of us at different times. They've been involved in all of our shenanigans in the last eight years and we could always rely on them to party hard with the best of us.

Rebel Mardi's beaming smile will be deeply missed by everybody who knows her here, and our group will definitely be poorer with her absence.

So many memories! And these are just a few!

The Lifesaver's cheeky and dry sense of humour will now have to entertain a new set of unsuspecting faces. I feel that they should be warned ... but nah ... let them figure him out, as we did!

The warmth and love that this wonderful pair wrap around us all has made the last eight years a sheer delight and we are all so grateful to have felt their friendship on a very deep level. There will certainly be a grieving process for some of us as we deal with the huge gap that they will leave behind.

I wish that I was courageous enough to stand up in front of our friends to make a speech that conveys how we all feel about Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver, but alas, I would be overwhelmed by my emotions and probably wouldn't even finish the first sentence!

So I hope that as you read this post, you understand how terribly sad we all feel that you are leaving, but also how very pleased we are to see you embracing this next chapter of your lives, and knowing that you will be closer to your first love, that being family. Your happiness will always be motivation enough for us to accept you moving on.

Take with you, our love and warmest wishes for a beautiful, happy and fulfilling life, surrounded by a whole new set of lucky friends and your fabulous family. All good things for such good people.

Now ... get out of here!  And STAY OUT!!

Nite all.

Nowhere Rapidly

So many hours at my desk and nothing to show for it!

Well, perhaps that's not completely true. I have a long list of new ideas to add to my website, which means an even longer building process than I'd originally planned.

The business program that I'm completing says to get the site up and running quickly - even if it's not what you consider as 'finished' - but I want it as close to perfect as possible before I present it to the world! I don't want to be constantly shutting it down for upgrades and updates in it's first month.

If I'm lucky I'll get another half a day tomorrow to play some more.

This was just posted on Facebook by Higgins Storm Chasers ...

***EXTENDED FORECAST THUNDERSTORM ALERT QUEENSLAND***
A week long active thunderstorm period is predicted for large parts of the state starting on Monday 7th of November. Current data suggests there will likely be a number of SEVERE thunderstorms each day across various districts with the inclusion of some potentially Very Dangerous Thunderstorms and possible Supercells.
Large Hail, Damaging Winds, Heavy Rain, Flash Flooding and Frequent Lightning will be moderate to high risks with the possibility of extreme risks in certain areas on given days.
Now would be a good time to prepare by securing loose items around your home and also having your roof gutters cleaned.

Be aware, be prepared and be safe everyone!

~ Jeff Higgins ~

My Queensland friends .. consider yourselves warned. Adoring Husband is acting in a higher role with the SES, so he might have a busy time ahead too!

Here are some giggles for you ...

That's it for me tonight. I hear a pillow calling my name. Have a fabulous Friday!

Nite all.

Goodbye Monitor

While trying to avoid losing any wires or rolling on the digital monitor box, I had a dreadful night's sleep. I think I slept for about four hours, but it was very broken and I woke at least six times during the night, each time checking that everything was still in place.

Fortunately, my reward for having had to endure the stoopid monitor, was having coffee with the girls. There were a few ladies absent, due to other commitments, but the important ones (cough cough) were there!

From there, Adoring Husband and I drove into town so that I could have the monitor removed, and what a relief it was to be rid of it!

I had a package being delivered at lunch time, so we did a quick turn around and returned home straight away.

The first item on my agenda, was to make up a batch of dog food. Next was to boil up the kilo of green king prawns that we bought yesterday. Then I did a load of washing. I made some lunch for Adoring Husband. I open my parcels which were delivered while I was busy in the kitchen (how exciting!). Finally I retreated to my desk for a couple of hours of study/work.

At 3.30pm we gathered up one of the psychotic dogs - Ruby - donned her harness, collar and leash and drove to the beach for our afternoon walk. It was incredibly windy, which I'm certain frightened Ruby a little, and she power walked along the beach with her head down AND her tail down, so we don't think she enjoyed herself much.

She was happy to walk through the water puddles and I kept leading her to the deep ones where she would stumble because she wasn't expecting the depth. It made me laugh hysterically, but AH was horrified that I could trick her like that.

Karma got me, because I either stood on a bee or it was some kind of stinging sea creature, because for half of the walk, I was in quite a deal of pain. Luckily the pain had faded before we arrived home, so it obviously wasn't too serious.

Needless to say, both Ruby AND the car, required a good scrubbing by the time we reached our driveway!

I believe that I have a free day tomorrow, so I may get to actually do some serious work on my website!!

An early night and a plan for tomorrow. *happy dance*

Nite all.

Gale Force!

We left bright and early for our trip into The Bay so that I could be fitted with the heart monitor.

The woman who fitted it was a 'little miss have a chat' and we talked about medical stuff ups (Who me?? How unusual! After 20 years in the medical industry, she shared some doozies herself!! More fuel for my fire lol). We also discussed X-husbands, the deaths of our mothers, online shopping, a serious virus that has recently been discovered in a major Brisbane Hospital and some other very interesting stuff that I can't repeat!

So I'm wearing the monitor and it hasn't really bothered me until tonight. I got to the ten hour mark when I began to feel a little uncomfortable and I needed to undo the belt for 5 minutes, just to stretch and breathe. Sleeping will be the test!

The interesting part is maintaining a diary of my activities and actions. Every time I do something different, I have to press the silver button, then write the time on the sheet, what the activity is and how I'm feeling. Fortunately, if I don't feel anything different, I simply draw a line. They should consider themselves lucky that I haven't opened one of my journals and begun diarising my every thought, action and feeling!! There have been MANY thoughts!!

I've had a pretty busy day to monitor too!

We had to do some shopping in town before returning home. When we arrived home I unpacked the groceries, prepared a chicken for baking in the oven, cooked up the pumpkin for the dog food, hung out some washing, spent an hour at my desk, hung out some more washing, rode to Woman of Many Talent's house for drinks with her and Mrs Bucket, rode home, carved the chicken, made a salad for our barbecue and then drove down to the park for said barbecue.

Tonight was a farewell for our lovely friends Rebel Mardi and the Life Saver. This is their final week before moving to the Sunny Coast, so we had a good crowd of mates gather, in dreadful conditions, to spend quality time with them before they go.

The wind was so strong tonight, that the food was blowing off plates, plates were flying off tables, glasses of alcohol were being blown over and our clothes were being swept up, around, over and across our heads and bodies causing quite a bit of discomfort.

The gale force conditions combined with the noise of so many people under the pergola caused me a great deal of stress and we were the first to leave. I apologise to my lovely friends for abandoning them and for departing in such a dramatic manner, but I just couldn't stay any longer!

My weak tolerance levels probably have a lot to do with my thyroid condition at the moment. I'm very edgy and volatile lately, much to Adoring Husband's distress.

Anyway, there were some lovely speeches where a couple of friends courageously spoke from their hearts and managed to trigger some emotional tears all round. Speeches need to be very short in these circumstances, because emotions run high and voices quickly crack and that brings us all to our knees.

I know that I will not be able to share my feelings out loud. I'd end up a blubbering wreck and nobody wants or needs to see that!

Now, I'm off to bed before midnight (best put that in the diary!). I'm looking forward to coffee with the girls tomorrow before heading into town to have this darned monitor removed!

Nite all.

    

Happy Halloweeeeeen!!!

First of all, happy birthday to my Jamie, who would have been 38 years old today, had he lived.

Next of all, happy halloween everybody!

I had a fairly productive day, although it was difficult to find focus at the beginning.

I pedalled against some pretty strong gusty winds, to get my coffee this morning. The winds were crazy today and gusted above 40km/h. Paperweights were required to stop paperwork from flying across my desk!

Being Halloween, I wanted to put together three bags of goodies for Lady Lynn's and Happy Harry's grandchildren, who were given prior permission to come knocking for trick or treating tonight. Most of what I gathered, was stuff that I already had in the house and I bought some chocolate treats, some inexpensive toys and some bits and pieces that I thought the kids might have some fun with.

Last year, we spent a fortune on lollies that went to thirty odd kids, most of whom we had never even seen in the area before, so this year we decided not to feed the unfamiliar children and spend half as much on just three special kids.

This fabulous family have a lot of fun with halloween and put in such a good effort with their costumes ...

After I finished putting together the bags of goodies, I prepared some lunch and then hibernated in my workspace until 3.30pm, at which time Adoring Husband and I drove to the beach for our afternoon walk. We bought our coffee on the way and spent 45 minutes walking barefoot over the sand flats at low tide. It was very windy, but not unpleasantly so.

I love our afternoon walks.

I was supposed to play golf with the Old Speckled Hen after lunch, but decided almost at the last minute, to pull out. As Adoring Husband suggested, perhaps it's not a good idea to lug a golf bag around for nine holes of golf, the day prior to being fitted with a heart monitor!

Speaking of which, I'd best get some sleep since we have to be in town early tomorrow morning for the fitting.

Nite all.

 

Active Again

A great group of people attended the first meeting for the 'Fracking Free Burrum Heads' group this morning.

We're in a good place and can hopefully have Burrum Heads on the 'mining free' list very soon.

That was my morning filled in a very constructive and interesting way.

When I returned home, I cooked up a big batch of curried chicken and then retired to my desk to increase my website and business education.

Time flies so fast when I'm in the zone and before I realised, it was after 6pm! I served Adoring Husband a big bowl of curried chicken and rice and we sat down to watch X-Factor. He headed off to bed early, having spent the day exerting himself with some heavy manual labour fulfilling his role as maintenance worker at the local shopping centre.

I can't believe it's already after midnight!

I need to get some sleep so that I can spend the day at my desk tomorrow. If I have to avoid all electronic devices while I wear the heart monitor on Tuesday, I'll be making up for that lost time tomorrow.

Nite all.  

A Day of Wonder

Another glorious Winter's day!

The water in the river was a deep and beautiful shade of blue at high tide this morning. I spent ten minutes with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge, admiring the water, before buying my coffee and heading over to The Motivator's house.

She was preparing breakfast for herself and a morning visitor, so we all sat outside in the alfresco area, them eating a big breakfast, and me with my coffee. The conversation flowed easily as we all shared our thoughts about business ideas, previous experiences & successes and plans for our futures.

It was interesting to note how very different we all were in our beliefs and in our approaches to bringing our dreams to fruition.

By the time I arrived home, it was almost lunch time, so I prepared a salad for Adoring Husband to have with his protein, which he cooked when he was ready and I spent the afternoon at my desk, watching some academy videos, taking notes and printing out the business diary.

At 4pm we drove to the shop for our coffee and then on to the beach for our afternoon walk.

I remembered to take my camera and was hoping to get a decent shot for the flickr challenge this month. The theme is 'Looking Down'.

But the one I selected for the challenge was this one ...

It's the skeleton of a stingray!

We walked for an hour because the tide was out and there was plenty of beach and sandy flats to explore. It was still a beautiful day with the perfect breeze, a few friendly dogs walking their owners, some kids using the wide expanse of sand as a golf driving range, a solo curlew and a couple of oyster catchers (birds) and a fisher person standing in the water as the tide rose around them.

As usual, it was most enjoyable and by the time we arrived home, I had to prepare dinner, so no more website or academy work for me. It's been a very slow week for the website and I feel like I'm falling behind. Tomorrow I have a fracking meeting to attend, so I will lose even more time.

It's way past midnight so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.