Frantic Friday

It may have been a frantic Friday for The Motivator, but for me it was highly unproductive.

Apart from some more Trades Assistant work and waiting in line for a long time to get grilled fish and chips for lunch, I didn't get a lot done.

I completed an online quote form on an insurance company website and when I finished, it gave me the message "Thank you for completing our survey. We value your opinion."

What the???

So I back pedalled all the way through it and there was nothing anywhere mentioning a survey. The heading definitely said "Get a Quote". All the questions were definitely relevant to insurance quotes - just like all the other websites.

If I haven't heard anything by Monday, I guess I'll email them OR (heaven forbid) phone them and speak to an actual person 😲😳.

Some jewellery that I ordered a few weeks ago FINALLY arrived today, although only about one third of it came in today's mail. The remainder should turn up next week, which is good timing for our opening.

I had a couple of visitors today. Tweedle Dee popped in for a hug and to purchase a pearl and diamonte button to go with her birthday outfit for tomorrow night. Lady Lynn popped in for a hug and to say hellooooooo.

It took me about an hour, fiddling with all sorts of buttons on my iPhone and my laptop, to get my 'hotspot' to work so that I could get internet on my laptop. That was annoying! My hotspot has always appeared on the dropdown list in the past, so I don't know why it was such a difficult task when I needed it most.

Adoring Husband and I caught the courtesy bus to the club tonight and what a lovely surprise to see Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver there! They have travelled up to attend Tweedle Dee's birthday party tomorrow night (or tonight as you are reading this) so we'll get to catch up properly tomorrow.

I hope that they can squeeze me in, between their many social engagements, and come to see the shop tomorrow morning. Such busy possums trying to catch up with everybody over just a few days.

Having cooked dinner and then given AH his nightly massage, I've watched the football and I now have to clean the kitchen and then climb into bed. I wonder if I'll get there before midnight?

Weariness has descended upon me!

Nite all.

We Love Our Space

It's going to be a while before we can open the shop and we are not even close to having everything the way we want it yet.

The new room and walls are almost finished (thank you Adoring Husband) and then we need to paint a couple of the walls. Today, we decided on the colour. We also have four IKEA cabinets to assemble, three of them being all glass.

Our office area needs some work - we rearranged the furniture into a configuration that looks quite presentable, but we have to figure out some storage ideas and we're still unpacking our gear. We're also waiting on some wall art to arrive which will bring one wall to life.

While Adoring Husband is still drilling and sawing and hammering and making a dusty mess, we can't put too much out in the open yet.

The Motivator is going to re-cover two of the chairs.

Then we need to figure out how we want the layout of the shop. That part is going to be fun!

We had an elderly couple wander past our door today and I called out to ask them what they were after. They assumed, by the signage which belongs to the previous tenants, that we were opening a craft shop.

We explained what we were doing and the women told us that she grew up in Burrum Heads and then described what the town was like back then. She knew The Motivator's parents-in-law from those days too!

The couple didn't stay long. They didn't seem too interested when they realised that we weren't selling craft lol.

Anyway, The Motivator and I both agree that WE LOVE OUR SHOP and it's not even open yet!!

Far out, it's already after 11pm. I need sleep.

Nite all.

Neglectful Me

My poor website romanceyourlifewithroz.com has been on the back burner for quite a few weeks now and I'm feeling like a very neglectful mother.

Hopefully, once we've settled into the shop, I can devote more quality time to that baby of mine!

I spent a few hours this morning getting online quotes for small business insurance. There is quite a wide gap between the most expensive and the least expensive, even though the cover is exactly the same.

I spoke to one insurance company 'in person' because our diverse range of services makes cover pretty tricky. What they come back with tomorrow, will be interesting.

I've written up a rough draft of a story for the newsletter and a also a rough draft for a flyer to pass around to different shops, clubs, groups and organisations in town.

Got a meeting tomorrow morning with my biz partner to discuss our next moves this week.

Still trying to get a decent logo designed before any of our flyers or stories can go out anyway, so I hope that doesn't take too long!

I did some more trades assistant work today, not much, but worth mentioning lol.

I cooked up a nice lunch for Adoring Husband and delivered it to him, before sitting at my desk to write, then I bought him a coffee before heading home.

I packed some more stock ready to deliver to the shop. I worry that I won't have enough to fill our space, but I'm worried about buying more stock in case I have too much already. Ha! What a dilemma!

With both AH and I working on getting the shop ready, our house is looking decidedly messy, so I did some washing and tidying up this afternoon before cooking up a tray of baked veggies with chicken and gravy for dinner. We enjoyed berries with citrus sorbet for dessert.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I gave AH a shoulder, back and leg massage to calm his muscles before he went to bed.

It's been a fairly busy day, although I must admit that while getting all the online quotes, I was sitting up in bed!!

The Motivator found some more display pieces today. She's incredibly busy with her own business at the moment and it's fabulous that she is busier than ever, building a good reputation and being recognised for her good work.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Need to be up early for the biz meeting. I'm a workin' girl now!

Nite all.

Weirdsville

It's been a strange kind of day.

I started my Business Bootcamp this morning by watching the opening webinar while I got ready for the day and continued to watch it while I rode my trike to meet the girls for coffee. It finished just as I pulled up to the shop, which was lucky!

I enjoyed my morning with the girls and I visited the shop when everyone left. Before I reached the shop, I ran into The Yachtsman, who is the husband of Queen of Arts.

Queen of Arts was the lady with whom I shared the Art/Photography Exhibit five years ago.

So I took him to the shop and showed him around describing what we were planning for the space. He was surprised and impressed with the size of our premises and wished me luck before leaving.

I decided to head home and pack the big tubs that I bought at Office Works yesterday with the remaining stock and other items that I need to take to the shop.

I jumped online and ordered the glass cabinets from IKEA and arranged for them to be delivered to the pick up point at Dundowran.

I made lunch for Adoring Husband and delivered it to him at around 1pm.

I attempted to get some work done on my laptop, but the mobile hotspot kept disappearing and I didn't get anything completed, so I played Tradies Assistant again for AH, climbing the work horse to hold things while he nail gunned and holding sheets of timber while he hand sawed or chiselled.

Just before I left to come home and feed the dogs, I bought AH a coffee, then gathered my goods and rode home.

I tidied the kitchen, cleared some old food and drinks out of the fridge, did two loads of washing, tidied the lounge room, photocopied some receipts and printed out some invoices, emptied the garbage, packed some more 'stuff' into the tubs.

I had just sat down when Adoring Husband returned home, so we chatted about the work he'd done and our plans for the week before he turned on the television.

It was time for me to make dinner so I cooked some lamb loin chops with a huge array of salads. Tonight's meal was the biggest I've eaten for quite some time and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I cleaned the kitchen, served AH his dessert, hung out some more washing and loaded the machine with more clothes ready for tomorrow and then made the bed (yes a bit late, I know).

I began researching small business insurance, but was distracted by a movie on TV called 'Swiss Army Man' with Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano.

I won't share the video, because you have to input your date of birth before it will allow you to watch the trailer and frankly, it's one of the strangest movies I've ever seen. I almost turned it off about 30 minutes in and I really should have because it got weirder ... but it was like a train wreck and I couldn't take my eyes away from it!

I saw the interview that Graham Norton did with Daniel Radcliffe when the movie was released and I wrote down the name of the movie so that I could search for it and watch it ... but I never did ... so when I saw the title come up on the screen tonight, it was a must see for me. Haha.

I would really like to meet the person who wrote the story and ask him/her what drugs he/she was on when it was written!

So it's rapidly approaching 11pm and I am off to bed. I'm feeling decidedly weary and I have a lot to do tomorrow. Beauty sleep is essential!

Nite all.

PS I began all of those sentences with 'I' on purpose!  

Upgrading the Specs

So The Motivator and I spent the entire day together in The Bay.

We had a long list of business to attend to, and we got quite a bit of it done, but not all.

We organised our phone and internet to be connected ... goodness only knows IF and WHEN it can be done, but they'll let us know sometime inside the next 21 days.

We bought landline phones, so let's hope we haven't wasted our money!

We gathered information regarding business partnership bank accounts.

We bought some storage tubs and other minor accessories for the shop.

We bought some work clothes!!  Eep! WORK!!

I've been wearing a pair of prescription sunglasses that are nine years old and my other glasses for distance and for reading are five years old, so my eyes desperately needed testing and my glasses updating.

So I was lucky enough to land an immediate appointment at OPSM where the optometrist was incredibly thorough, paying special attention to the eye that received a minor injury a couple of months ago.

Apart from a lot of deterioration to the sight in in my left eye, both of my eyes are healthy in every other respect, including the injured one. I was even able to see the floater in my eye, which, she tells me, probably won't go away now, but doesn't and shouldn't affect my sight or the health of my eye.

I spent some time choosing three different frames for my three pairs of glasses. Prescription sunglasses, distance glasses and a pair of reading glasses with graduated lenses so that I can read my monitor AND any paperwork on my desk without changing glasses.

We were there for more than an hour!

We were able to sneak in an Aldi shop and a quick trip to Office Works before heading home and it was about 7pm by the time we pulled into my driveway.

I had little time with Adoring Husband before he headed to bed and I gave his back and sore shoulder a good massage before leaving him to sleep.

It's now well after midnight and I have spent the evening editing and playing with our business logo.

I'm feeling quite weary all of a sudden.

Nite all.  

Inspiring!

Oh dear! I just realised that I didn't post anything here yesterday!

That must be why I couldn't get to sleep until almost 2am - I just couldn't relax, even with meditation and my sleeping app!! It must have been my subconscious trying to tell me that I hadn't done the blog lol.

We had an interesting day yesterday, when a stranger walked through the door asking what we were doing. She then told us that she was a qualified trainer and was looking for a space to rent for some training that she wanted to do for people recovering from mental health issues. THAT was an interesting turn of events! We exchanged information and will make contact again in a few weeks after we've settled in.

Adoring Husband and The Fisher King got a LOT done on the new room that we've added, while The Motivator is enjoying having her own space to get work done uninterrupted - well, uninterrupted, until 'I' interrupted her haha.

This morning, Adoring Husband and I disassembled my big table and took it to the shop, along with my desk, wall unit, chest of drawers, all the coloured framed drawers on wheels and lots of other bits and pieces, including my iMac.

We put together my new yellow office chair and did a bit more on the room, with me serving as tradies assistant again. We still have LOADS to do, including painting walls and re-covering office chairs - the list seems to be endless!

To make matters worse, I have paid for a business/money boot camp/course that I need to do for the next 6 weeks on top of all this! It's only held once a year, so I couldn't put it off until next year ... I need to do it now to make sure we can hit the ground running and be as successful as possible!

I am crazy I know. Or I will be at the end of all this haha.

Anyway, it's a slow process, but we can see progress and it's still fun and challenging and an adventure worth experiencing. It's especially great to be doing it with AH and The Motivator.

My brain feels like it might explode with everything that's swimming around in there at the moment, so I need to go get everything down on paper right now.

Tomorrow is a big day in The Bay with lots of errands to run and business to follow up. I'm off to make a list and gather everything I need so that I'm not rushing around tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, I have discovered the three women whom I most admire are also doing this course that I'm in. Well, one of them is running it and the other two are participating. This makes me VERY excited because I'll get to interact with them forever more and gain some great insights from them.

They are successful authors and entrepreneurs already ... but as they say ... you NEVER stop learning and discovering. The world of business and technology is always changing and women are the new game changers!  

They already own and operate million dollar businesses and will have advice to share and expertise to pass on. The group involved is amazing and supportive and happy and at varying stages of success in their own business. I'm excited for it to start tomorrow morning!

Now I'm very busy and important, so I'm off!

Nite all.