Next Year

A great day at the shop.

A quiet afternoon at home.

While we had every intention of making an appearance at the Street party behind us, in the end it all seemed like too much effort and instead we spent an hour in the pool drinking a beverage or two, listening to some danceable music (I danced in the water) and after we dried off, we watched a Doris Day movie.

I created and posted this on Facebook ...

My biggest plan for New Years Day is clearing out the pantry and fridge - a clean start to the year - followed by a trip into The Bay to visit my favourite shop, Office Works.

It's almost midnight so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Sensational Sunday

The Motivator opened the doors at The Happy Abode for half a day and had quite a few customers but considering how many people were on the main street and how many cars were parked on the road, filling all the car spaces, not many of them visited the shop.

I on the other hand, spent most of the day in bed. I read almost the entire year of my blog posts.

Adoring Husband brought me coffee and food and I totally relaxed and chilled and enjoyed my Sunday.

At 3pm I changed into my bathers and went for a swim. The Motivator joined me at about 3.30pm and we spent about 90 minutes lolling in the pool, chatting and floating and planning our new healthful start to 2019.

She left just after 5pm and I dried myself off and began making dinner. I fried up some zucchini and carrot fritters and made a mushroom sauce to go on the steak that AH cooked on the barbecue.

We ate the last of our boysenberry ice-cream vowing to wipe it from our shopping list as we aim for a healthier lifestyle next year.

I've selected my word for 2019 ...

"Ease"

I plan on accomplishing all of my goals with ease, to receive everything that I hope for with ease and to live a life of ease that will result in my quiet happiness and contentment.

Reflecting on my 2018 ...

1. I began regularly attending the weekly meditation classes at The Happy Abode and now practice daily meditation at home. The benefits have been life changing.

2. I designed and created a photography workshop and successfully ran four workshops during the year.

3. Attended the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney with Tracey for the third year in a row and busted the budget!

4. Karen and Owen Appleby survived a horrific car accident and eventually returned home to us, a bit the worse for wear, but still alive and kicking!

5. Completed about 60% of DDT's Business/Manifesting bootcamp course (still a work in progress).

6. I've lost count of how many photos I've sold this year, but it's a lot, including large framed images. Every sale still gives me a thrill!

7. We had Juniper for three and a half weeks in May which was both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time! Taking her to hold a live alligator was the highlight.

8. My son, Brad, came to visit us for 5 days - short but sweet.

9. I attended and photographed Melbourne's wedding of the year.

10. I created a calendar of my photographs and printed 50 copies in the first week of December. They have almost sold out!

11. The pool!! The beautiful pool!! Still a work in progress but at least we are enjoying swimming in the cool magnesium filtered water on a daily basis.

12. On Christmas Eve, we broke The Happy Abode daily sales record!!

The year wasn't quite as full as 2017 but it was pretty amazing anyway and a nice one to look back over. - hence my reading a year of blog posts!

Anyway I'm working tomorrow and it's 11.30pm so it's off to bed for me.

Nite all.

What Day is it?

We can all relate to the meme on Facebook that says "It's that time of year when I don't know what day it is, what date it is or where I'm supposed to be."

Today was Saturday, and while there were LOTS of customers, each of them bought a small inexpensive item so our sales total for the day was quite low.

I sold another calendar 😁

I did some dusting and rearranged some displays, finished my vision board for 2019.

I've set some big goals for 2019 and I'll really need to push myself to achieve it all.

I want to get out more with my camera and add some new fresh photos to my collection.

I will add to my book and make some copies to sell in the shop.

I've been wanting to create an online course for some time so I'm going to get started on that idea too.

It's going to be challenging!

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop at 1pm and we walked to the supermarket to get our usual afternoon coffee but they had run out of milk!! Unheard of!!

Our only other option was the cafe and they were incredibly busy! Thirty minute wait for our hot chips, but we did get our coffee to drink while we waited.

AH and I watched some Netflix and I went in for a quick dip in the pool while we waited for our dinner to simmer on the stove. I didn't even get my hair wet - for the first time ever! I am going to make the most of the pool tomorrow (my day off).

"The Sound of Music" is on TV right now - AH selected it and even though I've seen it five or six times, there is a lot that I can't remember. It's 9.30pm so I might go to bed to watch the end.

I have to finish editing the wedding photos tomorrow! It's been almost two months since the wedding and even though I have sent through quite a few photos to the brides, I'm sure they must be getting impatient waiting for the remaining pics.

Nite all.

Last One

It's the last Friday of 2018.

How crazy is that?

This year has flown by - the older you get, the faster the years seem to speed by and this one has certainly done that.

The Happy Abode has been open for sixteen months! We are not even the newest shop on the block any more. It feels like only yesterday that we opened our doors for the first time and I still feel a thrill every time I walk through the door.

It was a great day for sales today and we were almost as busy as Christmas Eve!

I sold two more calendars during my shift and I know The Motivator sold at least one after I left. It would be nice to sell them all before the end of the year. There aren't that many left, so it's possible.

A lady came in with the gift that her husband bought from us for her Christmas present and asked to swap it for something else ... she chose one of my photos. It's another one of those things that gives me a thrill - whenever anyone wants one of my photos.

It's almost midnight and I have to work tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Back to it.

Even though I was in bed early last night, I only slept for four short hours.

I still arrived at the shop nice and early so I could tidy up from Christmas Eve and open the doors for the influx of customers in the first hour.

When I had a moment, I put the 'back in 5 mins' sign on the door so that I could check the mail and grab a coffee, when The Brains Trust appeared in the driveway ... so she watched the shop for me while I got us both a coffee and picked up the mail.

We got to sit for about 40 minutes and enjoy a Christmas Day debriefing.

The next influx of customers filled the time through to midday.

The Motivator arrived right on time to start her shift - we chatted for half an hour to catch up on 'stuff'  and I pedalled home to an empty house.

Adoring Husband had taken the car in for a service and while I was thinking about swimming in the pool, I received a text from Vegan Chickie recommending a Netflix movie called "Hello My Name is Doris" starring Sally Field and Max Greenfield. 

So I parked my butt on the couch and opened Netflix.

It was a great movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dinner was leftover baked dinner mixed in with some cabbage, bacon and butter. Dessert was boysenberry ice-cream with fresh blueberries.

It's just after 9pm and I'm watching "The Holiday Inn" starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire on the Fox Classics channel. I won't see the end of it because I can hear my pillow calling my name. Lack of sleep is catching up to me.

Tempting though it is to go for a swim right now, I will refrain, get a good night's sleep and possibly have a quick dip in the morning before work.

  

... and that's it from me.

Nite all.

After Christmas

I believe that the food-like substances that we ate on Christmas Day provided no energy or nutrients for our bodies and we were totally and completely lethargic today. Absolute brain fog and rock bottom motivation.

I remained in bed all day and Adoring Husband dozed on and off on his recliner chair.

At 5pm I struggled out of bed and put a chicken in the oven, put some clothes on the line and put another load in to wash then swam in the pool for about 45 minutes before adding all the vegetables to the oven with the chicken.

Hopefully baked chicken and vegetables with home made gravy has provided enough energy for our bodies to see a little more action tomorrow.

So this was perfect for my 'today' ...

I'll be working for the first half of the day tomorrow 9am - 1pm and The Motivator will take over for the second half.

AH's foot is still causing him some grief but he can walk on it, so we're not too concerned at this stage. He is also on antibiotics for an ear infection so that should prevent any infection in his foot.

I'm done for the day.

Early to bed.

Nite all.

A Most Un-Christmas Christmas

I DID get to open gifts wrapped in Christmas paper ... thanks to Beautiful Girl With Long Blond Hair.

This is a small sample of my fabulous presents ...

... and THIS one ... let me set the scene ...

On Christmas Eve, Adoring Husband and I watched the movie "White Christmas" starring Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby. Part way through the movie Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney appear in gorgeous blue dresses and large blue feathery fans to entertain a crowd.

"OH!" I gasped "I want a fan like THAT!"

The next morning, WAHLAH!! (or Voila 😬🤪😘)

I had the pedestal fan running on high at the end of the bed, so as I ripped the plastic packaging open to take out the feather fan, hundreds of tiny bits of feather went flying, got caught in the air stream of the fan and went up my nose, in my mouth, into my eyes and all over the bed! *cough*  *splutter*

It's a beautiful feathery fan ... not big enough to cover my bits ... but fabulous just the same!

So BGWLBH and I spent about an hour in FB private messenger while I opened gifts, took photos and posted them to her with an explanation of why I loved each gift ... and every one of them was so well thought out and obviously meant just for me. It was almost as good as having her here. Almost.

Adoring Husband brought me breakfast in bed while all that was happening. Ham, tomato and raw onion on toast. My fave.

Before lunch I put on my bathing suit and off to the pool AH and I went.

It was such a lovely time and a perfect way to spend and un-christmassy Christmas until this ...

AH had just finished pouring, into my new plastic glass (a gift from The Motivator),  a vodka and tonic with ice for me, and as he walked out of the kitchen to bring it to me, he tripped over the tiny step.

The tiny step has been there for about six weeks now. AH has 'tripped up it' and 'fallen down it' many times. I think the Universe looked at him and said to itself "How can I teach this man a lesson so that he stops 'tripping up' and 'falling down' this step? I know!! I'll make him injure his toe so badly that he will almost have to amputate his toe!!"

It did not teach him a lesson, because not 30 minutes later, he fell down the step again - he doesn't 'fall over' as in falling to the ground. He just misses the step and jars his body.

I also have to add that when he stumbled badly after kicking his toe on the step, he fell into the outdoor couch and he did not spill a drop of my drink. It was pretty to watch!

I shouldn't make fun. He is in pain and there may be more damage inside that toe than appears on the surface - although the surface did look pretty disgusting and I had to turn away for fear of throwing up.

I'm not good with that kind of damage - it's like I can physically feel every nerve ending and the pain shoots through my body until the unnecessary adrenalin that I'm pumping needs to go 'somewhere' and it's usually in the form of vomit.

AH cleaned the wound and began the process of bandaging - once it was covered up, I could help with the bandaging.

There were only two panadol in the house and I convinced him to wait until bed time to take them - if he took them immediately,  they would wear off by bed time and he wouldn't be able to sleep because of the pain! Common sense. He groaned then agreed.

No shops were open because it's Christmas.

In Melbourne, Vegan Chickie looked at her 'take out delivery' app and found that 114 restaurants in her area would deliver food to her apartment today.

We couldn't even get a panadol.

Our Christmas fare today consisted of Kettle Potato Chips, oven baked chicken wings and boysenberry ice cream.

It's almost midnight, so I think I need to sleep now.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Nite all.

Breaking Records

I started my day with a swim in the pool ...

I didn't start work until after midday and it was an amazingly successful day in the shop.

We broke our sales record!

Merry Christmas!

It was flat out all day long.

Every shop except the supermarket closed their doors at lunch time and I think the holiday makers were excited to see our shop still open and they came in droves.

There were lots of males in the shop too, as I predicted, doing last minute shopping for the important females in their lives.

The best part was that everyone was happy. Well and truly into the festive season and feeling the love.

I was in Foodworks at 10am and the crowd in there was suffocating! The queue in the Post Office was out the door and the noise of so many people in such a confined space was almost too much for me to cope.  I couldn't wait to get out of the place.

We played Christmas carols all day in The Happy Abode and the customers were singing along as they shopped.

The Motivator was flat out all morning and I was flat out all afternoon.

The last customer left the shop at 4.58pm.

Adoring Husband came to help close the shop and with a sigh of satisfied relief, I climbed into the car to begin our Christmas break.

Exhausted.

Tonight, Vegan Chickie and I continued our tradition of watching 'Love Actually' together on Christmas Eve. She is in Melbourne and we text each other throughout the movie - at our favourite and least favourite parts - talking about our favourite and least favourite characters. It's a great tradition and we get excited about Christmas Eve every year.

Now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Festive Sunday

On Saturday afternoon, The Motivator and I decided to open for half the day on Sunday.

Fabulous idea.

It was very busy.

Christmas falls on exactly the right day of the week this year.

Lots of people have taken Christmas Eve off work and are arriving in town earlier than usual to begin their holidays.

Last minute Christmas presents are our specialty and of course, all the men, notorious for leaving Christmas shopping til the last minute, are out desperately looking for gifts for their wives and girlfriends and mothers.

I've sold a few of my photos this week, which is really special.

Instead of closing at 1pm we closed the doors at 3pm.

I didn't swim in the pool today, but I'm considering going for a dip before bed tonight. It's already 9.30pm so a dip would be very relaxing before sleep.

I expect tomorrow will be a big day for us. We'll be open from 9am - 5pm. The Motivator will do the first half of the day and I'll do the second half. We'll have a couple of days off for Christmas and Boxing days.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

A Touch Productive

Got some storms zooming by at the moment ...

We were lucky that the worst of them skirted around us. We got some heavy rain for about twenty minutes and lots of lightning and thunder, but thankfully, no wind.

Apparently the storms will continue through the night, so it might be interesting.

It was so hot today, the pool water was luke warm, but by the time I got home from the shop, the storms were building and I wasn't prepared to risk a lightning strike in the pool!

We were also supposed to attend an outdoor Christmas party, but the impending storms scared us away from that too.

We had a good day in the shop and closed the doors at 3pm instead of the usual 1pm for a Saturday.

We did this!!

... and I did this ...

We've decided to open the shop tomorrow (Sunday) from 9am - 1pm so I'm off to bed. Feeling a bit weary.

Nite all.

Pouring the Paint

I didn't see it in action, but I did see the final results. (The Motivator took photos that haven't been posted yet, so I'll share them as soon she puts them on our FB page).

The paint pouring exercise was a success and the artwork that the Paint Pourer created was amazing.

The Motivator is now motivated to practice what she learned today!

The other ladies enjoyed the experience too and we already have names down for the first paint pouring workshop in 2019.

I arrived at the shop at 7.20am and finished pricing and displaying most of the stock that had arrived yesterday, then The Motivator and I cleared the mess ready for the paint pouring group.

It was a huge sales day in the shop and The Motivator stayed late to accommodate the straggling shoppers.

While I had every intention of swimming this afternoon, time slipped away and it was time to get ready for the club.

It was nice to have Adoring Husband join me tonight.

Lady Lynn was the only winner at our table ... because she touched my new citrine pendant and took away all my luck

🤪🤪🤪

I thought a swim might be nice tonight after we got home, but by the time I cooked dinner and finished watching the original 'Planet of the Apes' movie, I had lost the will to swim and now it's almost 11pm and I have to work tomorrow, so it's probably not worth the effort.

I'll save it up for tomorrow.

I really love that last one.

Actually, I really love all three of them.

Time to sleep.

Nite all.

Day Off

My day began at Stupid O'clock.

I could have slept until my alarm went off. I had set it for 4.50am.

Adoring Husband decided that 4.25am was a much better time for me to wake up and made sure there was enough noise and enough light happening in the room for me to wake up 25 minutes before necessary.

The Motivator arrived right on time and all of us sat in our sleepy brain blurs all the way to Howard.

I hugged AH goodbye and we left him at the station and headed home.

We made easy conversation and were home before 6am.

I rode to the shop to get coffee and then visited the boys at the Seat of Knowledge for a short while.

I returned home, sat on the couch and watched the movie "Crazy Rich Asians"

I loved it!

Money and power. Abundance. Female empowerment. Acceptance. Breaking traditions. Lots of strong female characters and if they're not strong in the beginning, they certainly are by the end.

I watched it twice.

At 10am, I rode to the Post Office and then to The Happy Abode, where I stayed, unpacking the new stock while The Motivator took care of the very busy morning of customers. I hadn't finished, but I left to ride home at 1.30pm. I'll finish it off in the morning.

The Paint Pourer was setting up the back room in preparation for her demonstration on Thursday.

I spent the afternoon lying in bed watching Netflix - The Ranch - when suddenly it was dark and Adoring Husband was tapping on the garage door to get in! I had planned on going for a night swim, but that didn't happen.

We had cheese and tomato toasties for dinner - AH had already eaten.

Now it's almost 11.30pm and I need to be at work early, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Creeping Up

My beautiful citrine pendant created by Elemental Formations in Eumundi on The Sunny Coast.

It's hand-made with sterling silver, I love it so much and feels fabulous to wear.

Citrine is one of the two gemstones that don't absorb negative energy and doesn't require cleansing. Blue Kyanite is the other - which is my other favourite stone.

Citrine is the stone of abundance. That's what I want for 2019.

It was a good day in the shop and we also took delivery of some new stock which I didn't even get to open.

I didn't get home until almost 5pm.

We had fruit for dinner.

At 7.30pm I went for a swim ...

It was so nice floating on the water and watching the clouds floating past the moon with the soft blue underwater light reflecting across the pool.

Thirty minutes of perfect peaceful serenity.

Tonight I've watched 'The Holiday' for the umpteenth time and I still love it.

Adoring Husband catches the train to Brisvegas tomorrow morning for an appointment with the Professor who is monitoring the Parkinson's. The Motivator has been kind enough to drive us to the train station at stupid o'clock, so I should be getting some sleep since I will be accompanying them.

It's my day off, and when I return home from the station, I might just grab my camera bag and pedal in search of some interesting subject matter to photograph.

Anyway, sleep for me.

Nite all.  

Tis The Season

I've noticed that there is a lot of twisted energy about.

It's Christmas and people are feeling the pressure.

Not just the pressure of having the right gift for the right people or spending just the right amount of money so as to not appear 'cheap', but the pressure of being together ... together with family ... together with friends ... together with friends of family ... together with family of friends.

The pressure of being with people that you don't really want to be with. The pressure of figuring out what is expected of you. The pressure of preparing just the right food - traditional hot, cold salads, seafood, Christmas puddings, hams, turkeys, nibbles, drinks, ice etc etc.

The pressure of where to have Christmas. Whose turn is it to host Christmas? Somebody's house? On the beach? At the river? In a restaurant or club? Dinner or lunch? All day?

I'm exhausted even thinking about it.

Adoring Husband and I plan on having a ham sandwich (GF of course), listening to Christmas music on the sound bar and maybe having an alcoholic beverage while standing in the shallow end of the pool.

No gifts. No pressure. No obligations. No stress.

We haven't even put up our tree or decorations in the house. All of those beautiful Christmas lights and blow up Santas that we've collected over the years are still packed in their boxes in the storage cupboards.

Christmas for us will be a time to reflect on what we've achieved this year and what we hope to achieve in 2019.

I've already started a list of things I want to do in 2019.

1. Learn to play an entire song on my guitar - I've had the guitar for almost two years now and even though I taught myself some basic 'finger picking' when I first got it, I've done nothing since. I can imagine myself sitting in the Bali Hut in my kaftan, with a margarita beside me playing my guitar. I don't know what song yet - another decision to make.
2. Create a vision board early in the year with all of my visions and goals for 2019.
3. Create an online course. I'm not even certain about the subject matter yet, but I have a couple of ideas swimming around in my brain.
4. Get out more with my camera and take a whole new library of photos to choose from for a 2020 calendar.
5. Create a 2020 calendar better than 2019 calendar.
6. Print some Postcards from my photos to sell in The Happy Abode.
7. With The Motivator, develop The Happy Abode so that it's even more amazing than it is right now! 
8. Start a new gratitude journal for the year.
9. Declutter my house.
10. Return to the healthy lifestyle that we lost track of during 2019.

That's the beginning of my list, and just some of the things that I'm willing to share with you here.

What are your plans for 2019? Do you have any goals, hopes, wishes or dreams?

I hope to enjoy a bumper harvest of pomegranate and avocado ...

These trees seemed to have thrived on all the activity that happened while the pool was being built and they have their best crop of fruit to date.

Avocado is my favourite!

I had an up and down day today. Part of it was very 'up' and part of it was very 'down'.

Tomorrow will be a better day! Every 'down' teaches me a lot about myself and I'm learning to appreciate the lessons.

Time for bed.

Nite all.

All The Busy-ness

Today was very busy in the shop.

The Gypsy was almost fully booked and there were customers in and out all day - it was fun helping them do their shopping - it fully satisfies my love of shopping when I do it for others and I'm not spending MY money!!

I sold two more calendars today and I know that three more will be picked up and paid for tomorrow. They are selling surprisingly well.

I edited some more of the wedding photos ...

I wonder how long it will take to get through them all ... it's a never ending job!

It was lovely in the pool this afternoon. I only got about an hour in there today and luckily, I prepared tonight's dinner yesterday, so all I had to do was reheat.

Bed is calling me now.

Nite all.

Wet Weather

My Sunday was as it should be.

Lazy and stress free.

I even swam in the pool until the rains came ... then Adoring Husband told me to get out before I got wet ... he thought he was hilarious.

While we've had some steady rain, the wind picked up tonight and we've been concerned about our umbrella over the pool.

Because of our experience with the cyclone created tornado in 2013, we opted for the strongest outdoor umbrella on the market, which cost a veritable fortune and looks amazing.

The man who owns the business where we purchased it, said that their umbrella at the shop had been up for 19 years and never folded down and was still in good condition ... they have never had a problem.

It is supposed to withstand category two winds and the guys who installed it said NOT to fold it down if it got windy.

The BOM states that category two winds equal 125 - 164kph winds. The warranty that was sent to us states that the umbrella needs to be folded up if 55kph.

Lots of different information from lots of different sources.

We have left the umbrella open.

Time will tell.

I've been reviewing my year. In 2018 my wishes and goals included:

• Enrolling and participating in DDT's business boot camp.
• Developing, improving and growing The Happy Abode.
• Creating and running photography workshops.
• Designing and printing a calendar showcasing my photography.
• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
• Becoming a magnesium filtered pool owner.
• Earning an amazingly awesome income.

My vision board for 2018 is on the wall at the shop, so I can't check that I've put everything from that onto my list here.

I did NOT fulfil two of those things on my list.

I did NOT maintain a healthy lifestyle and my food choices have been very poor this year, getting worse as the year wore on. I've gained weight, my joints ache and I wake up feeling much less energised than I did a year ago. This will probably be on top of my priority list for 2019. I liked how I felt, physically, mentally and emotionally in 2018 and I want to feel that again.

I did NOT earn an amazingly awesome income. Knowing that it takes a year or two to establish a business well enough to create any kind of income, I'm not upset about this one ... it will come ... and I will continue working on that in 2019.

I'm going to create a new vision board and choose my word of inspiration for the year very soon. There will be a new list of wishes and goals. I'm going to challenge myself even further in 2019.

Watch this space!

Nite all.

Inspired Creativity

The first couple of hours in the shop were steady with customers and sales, but it was quiet enough between customers, that I was able to join the Mandala workshop in the training room, from about midday.

I found it very therapeutic and stayed at the shop until about 3pm trying to finish my mandala. Eventually The Motivator had to leave, so we cleared the training room and packed everything away. I gathered some of the leftover paints and brushes to take home and hopefully finish my work there.

I did a little bit tonight, but my 2nd favourite Christmas movie "Elf" was on TV, so I had to stop painting and watch the movie!

Due to inclement weather, Adoring Husband didn't get the Bali Hut finished today, but he bolted the stirrups to the concrete and built the frame that the roof sits on. With that laid out on the ground, it gives a good indication of how big the hut will be and what we can fit in and around it.

It probably won't be finished before Christmas now because anybody who can help has holiday, family and Christmas commitments. A job for the new year.

Now it's time for me to sleep. I'm done for the day. It's been a pretty lazy afternoon but I feel exhausted.

Nite all.

Winner Winner

After catching the daily bus into The Bay, Mama Mia and I spent a few hours gambling at the RSL.

I was a big winner.

I shouted Mama Mia her lunch and she shouted me a a drink.

Adoring Husband had errands to run in The Bay so he drove in after lunch, and once he was finished his business, he picked us up at 2pm and we drove home.

I spent an hour at home before making myself presentable for the club raffles.

I was a big winner again.

One of us won the Membership draw (it wasn't me) but everyone else won nothing.

AH had dinner all prepared when I got home and now it's time for bed.

I'm very tired and I have to work tomorrow.

The Motivator is running this ...

... while I man the shop.

It looks like something I would LOVE to do, so I'll be watching with enthusiasm between serving customers!

Meanwhile, I'm off to bed.

Nite all.