The Week Has Ended

Thank God it's Sunday!

It's been a big week!

BGWLBH walked me to work this morning, but first, we bought coffee and then headed to the local markets at the hall.

I had commissioned a lady there to make me some drawer handle decorations because I'm going to refurbish our bedside tables and I want to hang these from the handle of the top drawer.

While I was there, I commissioned a gentleman to make two timber jewellery stands with whale tails as the main feature. I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I also bought some led light glass hanging ornaments from his wife.

I almost bought more jewellery from The House Sitter, but I showed restraint.

We bought a few bags of vegetables from a stall before we  returned to The Happy Abode and went our separate ways.

It was a steady morning in the shop and The Motivator invited one of the stall holders from the markets to come to the shop at midday to discuss selling her beautiful products in our shop. This person sells cards, postcards, affirmation cards, mugs and framed art, all of which is made with her own artwork.

I have bought quite a bit of her stuff in the past and still have some of her cards in my stash for when I need birthday or greeting cards. I use one of her notebooks at the shop. I love her work.

As does The Motivator!

So we now have a display of Lisa Hanrahan's products in our shop and this makes us very happy.

I didn't get home until about 2pm. and BGWLBH and I spent quite some time in the kitchen, while she made the most delicious pumpkin soup I've ever tasted and I prepared a roast dinner. Lamb, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, onion, Brussels sprouts and asparagus. I also made gravy.

We played Cards Against Humanity and drank alcoholic beverages before dinner.

BGWLBH discovered our boxed set of the TV series 'ER' so she snatched it and hightailed it into her bedroom to hibernate and binge on about 15 series of ER.

It's now almost 11pm and I think it's time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

 

Friday Frenzy

I thoroughly enjoyed my day all round.

I worked until almost 2pm and during that time, served a number of customers, had some friends come through the doors and a surprise visit by The Lifesaver!! It was a very brief visit, but how lovely to see his smiling face!

Quite a bit of stock arrived this morning. New snap button bracelets and pendants, a few snap button rings and some tree of life snap buttons. I love it when new stock arrives, but today I was surprised to discover that I'd ordered 120 pieces of one item, when I thought I'd ordered 20.  Ugh.  Luckily the items are nice and will sell well!

The Motivator spent a few hours at a business appointment, so when she returned, I left.

I had to book Bubbles' train ticket for her trip from the Sunshine Coast to Burrum Heads next week.

It was around 2.30pm by the time I arrived home.

I received a phone call from Adoring Husband to advise that there were weather alerts in our area showing that we were expecting 150mm of rain every day for three days. That's a LOT of rain!  That's a LOT more than last week when the 200mm of rain fell in 12 hours and caused damage to our shop.

Let's hope that the repairs that have been done so far, are enough to keep our premises safe and clear of water this time.

BGWLBH and I chatted for a while about the shop and the sorts of things that we could sell. She showed me her photos on her laptop, some of which were pretty amazing and then we got ready for the club.

AH decided he was too tired to come tonight. He'd spent the afternoon on the phone co-ordinating different SES groups for the coming weather event and he'd had a late night the night before, so he remained at home and relaxed on the couch.

BGWLBH and I enjoyed just one beverage at the club and then spent the evening losing. I had a win on the pokies, but keno and raffles were not lucky for us. We made it for the first bus home and I'd put a beef casserole in the slow cooker, which was ready by the time we returned.

After dinner, while AH cleaned the kitchen, we set up the trivia game for another round. Tonight was BGWLBH's turn to win.

Now it's well after midnight and I need to leave early in the morning so that I can attend the markets and collect something that I commissioned a lady to make for me, and then get to work.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

She's Here!

So I spent the morning at the shop while The Motivator sewed the covers for the backs of the training room chairs. She has done an amazing job. Doubly amazing because she has never done it before and created the pattern herself and so far, it's all absolutely perfect!

We pulled the covers over the backs of the chairs and then got to staple two of them into position so that they could be sewed, before I had to leave.

I had to leave because BGWLBH was on her way and due to arrive around 2pm. It turned out to be some time after 3pm, which was lucky because I didn't get home until 1.30pm and I wasn't quite ready for her arrival.

The Psychotic Dogs were very excited to see her and made lots of noise. Jack barked and barked (as he does) Ruby ran around in circles smiling and showing all her front teeth. Colli barked and snorted and fought to get through the others for attention.

It was good to see her and a relief to have her arrive safe and sound after such a long journey.

While she suffers a bit of jet lag trying to adjust to our non-daylight savings time, we tried for an early dinner of chicken and salad, enjoying an alcoholic beverage or two and then the standard game of trivia which I'm happy to report I WON!!!  Woot Woot!

Even more satisfying because Adoring Husband had all of his pieces of pie a long time before I did, but he couldn't answer the final question. He landed in the centre many times but we made sure we picked a subject that we knew he would struggle with and he couldn't quite get the final answer to finish us off.

When I landed on the centre the very first time, Adoring Husband chose his favourite subject (Science) for me because he knows that I struggle with it (I also struggle with History and Geography lol), but luckily it was one of the easier Science questions ... I can't even remember what it was now, because I was so excited about winning!

On BGWLBH's last visit I didn't win any games and she won them all, so we're off to a good start. Tonight she just couldn't get a correct answer for the Sports question (that's the orange piece of pie and the one that she is pointing to in the photo) to win her final piece of pie. Sports is her worst subject in trivia.

Go Me!

It's almost 11pm and I'm feeling decidedly weary, so now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Drained

It's been a mentally draining day.

I have fought with the Progress Association, Telstra and The Jillaroo Motor Inn at Glen Innes.

I have worried about BGWLBH being messed around by motels after driving for 9 hours in one day.

I have created a full page ad for the newsletter and a signature for my business email.

I posted the new Happy Abode monthly draw information on the Facebook page.

I cleared some more of the office stuff that I took to the office from home.

I made a 'to do' list of things that I need to do tomorrow before BGWLBH arrives.

I did more, but I'm too drained to think and it's time to go to bed.

Nite all.

Coffee Visits

We started AND ended our work day with visits from coffee ladies.

Of course Tuesday morning is the usual coffee crowd + Molly the dog (despite her owner believing that she is not a dog but is in fact a person!) joined us this morning. The owner being The Blonde Bombshell ...

We had some great laughs this morning and we really enjoyed the company of the girls, but all good things come to an end and after a couple of them satisfied their need for retail therapy, they all said their farewells and went on their merry way.

The Motivator covered some more chairs and created a pattern to cover the backs of the chairs. She also vacuumed the floors and cleared some rubbish from the training room while I ate my late lunch and completed some orders for stock.

I attempted to clear my desk of some of my office 'stuff' that I'd brought from home, which is a hell of job in itself with very little storage room available. I'll get it sorted eventually.

This afternoon while The Motivator was having a phone appointment in the treatment room, and I was just about to walk out the door to head home, Shelly Shirl came peering through the door with a friend, so I invited them into the shop. Shelly Shirl declared that she had another four ladies finishing their coffee at the cafe and could she bring them in too.

Of course I invited them all in and they filled the shop with their laughter and happy chatter, also enjoying some retail therapy!

I didn't leave for home until 5pm!

There was a massive storm heading in our direction this afternoon. I could hear the thunder rumbling as I pedalled home and when I looked at the satellite view on the BOM website, it was a small but nasty looking storm with a black centre.

Reports had come through that a house in Boonaroo lost it's roof in the storm, and the SES were given two warnings to be on alert, so naturally I did my own risk assessment and cleared an area in our walk in robe, filling it with my electronic devices and then sat down to watch the BOM.

Miraculously, as the edge of the storm neared our town, the storm split in two. Part of it moved north and the half that moved over us simply dissipated! It was a fabulous relief and quite the anti climax.

I've just looked at the clock and discovered that it's almost midnight.

How did that happen?

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Wizard of ZZZZzzzzz

I'm off to see that Wizard of ZZZzzzzz

The Motivator and I started our morning by navigating our way past the tree loppers so that we could have our 'start of the week meeting' on the water front.

I don't think either of us have been there on time for a Monday morning meeting, but I was the worst culprit this morning. I got side tracked by the strong smell of smoke along the way, so I had to investigate to make sure there wasn't a house on fire!

There was a metal fire bowl in a front yard that was obviously in use the previous night, and that's where the smell was coming from. Better to be safe than sorry!

Our late meeting meant that we were late to open the shop. It was about 9.15am when we opened the doors.

We spent the day confirming large orders of stock to cover us for Christmas and the holiday period, which was kind of fun.

The Motivator covered the seats of the training room chairs and now we just need to cover the backs.

Adoring Husband took a load of my office paraphernalia to the shop for me, including my iMac. It's annoying packing and unpacking the laptop every day and it was taking me 15 minutes to pack everything up and clear the desk to go home, so the iMac was returned to the shop and I'll use it instead of the laptop.

We enjoyed a nice healthy salad for lunch, chatted with and served some customers, discussed our plans for the coming weeks with visitors and holidays and then I received a phone call from AH asking me to go home and lock the house and get the dogs out of the lounge room.

He'd been called out to deliver the defribulator to help someone and rushed out the door with no time to secure the house or the animals, so The Motivator drove me home to quickly to lock up and then we returned to the shop.

I set up my happy abode email on the iMac and then began packing up my goods to come home.

Luckily AH had prepared himself a good lunch as his main meal for the day, so I didn't have to worry about cooking when I got home. After he left, I made myself a quick salad of salmon, tomato, cucumber, onion and avocado with some of last night's leftover dressing.

Now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Sunday Sad

Well, I started the day well enough.

I was out of bed early (for a Sunday) around 8 o'clock-ish.

A couple of loads of washing and then back into my old office to finish clearing it out. Remember last week when I said I only needed a couple more hours? Ha! I've worked an extra day and I STILL need a couple more hours!

I stopped clearing to make some lunch salads to go with the chicken wings that Adoring Husband had put into the oven.

I made a Kaleslaw, some pickled cucumber slices and a big garden salad with cos lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, red capsicum, mango slices, pear slices, fresh mint and coriander, toasted pine nuts and a home made dressing with chilli, coconut vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and maple syrup.

Even if I say so myself, it was bloody delicious!

Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there.

I spent the afternoon in bed and slept for more than 2 hours.

No idea what was wrong, I just felt weak, my tummy was tender and I felt a bit light headed. I know better than to push through it. I took some time out to care for myself and it worked. I still feel a bit weak, but a good night's sleep will soon fix that.

Luckily I had some casserole in the fridge to heat up for AH and I served it in a bowl with leftover salad on the side.

I had a hand full of nuts for dinner.

Now we're watching The X Factor UK (which is sometimes making me feel sicker lol).

Anyway, enough of this frivolity.

Nite all.