Sleepy Saturday

It's easy to blame other businesses in town for our very quiet Saturdays.

When people know that the bakery is closed and they want fresh bread, they will go somewhere else for that bread ... if they also require meat or groceries, then they will do that shopping in whatever town they're getting the bread. They will browse other shops and spend their money away from their local community.

So our bakery, which doesn't open on Saturday mornings, is damaging business for everybody else in town.

However, instead of playing the blame game, we should be putting our heads together to come up with a way to attract people to our shops - the shops that are open on a Saturday morning - to improve  business for ourselves.

We need to band together and come up with a plan.

Watch this space.

It was a very sleepy morning with low sales, BUT I got two more names for my big DSLR workshop in June - the course that I am most excited about! It's filling up fast.

I also had a brief chat with The Motivator on messenger and I can't wait to see her tomorrow to talk about all the inner work she's done this week!

I drew the winner of the $25 Happy Abode voucher for this month.

I did a little work on the photography for beginners course.

I rearranged the displays while the shop is in a bit of disarray and emptied the bins because the shop will be empty for a few days.

I laid towels in all the danger areas just in case it rains before the repairs are done.

I filled a bag with some important stuff to bring home, just in case of a worst case scenario.

Adoring Husband picked me up at 1pm and we did a quick grocery shop, got some lunch (GF steak sandwich from the take-away - for which I'm developing a bit of a weakness!) and then came home to

• eat lunch
• unpack the groceries
• watch a quick movie
• prepare a baked dinner for the barbecue (lamb & veg)
• whip up a quick strawberry cream pie
• unpack the work stuff out of the car
• do a load of washing
• make the gravy & greens for baked dinner
• write up a packing list for tomorrow morning (See Lady Lynn? Still not packed lol)
• do the blog post
• go to bed!

It's right on 10pm so I'm off to bed now. I have much to do tomorrow morning and it will be a tiring day, so I need a good night's sleep to get me through it.

If you see anything that takes your fancy ... Reed Gift Fair ... text me and I'll check it out!

I will do my best to write a blog post every night while I'm away, but I can't make any promises.

Nite all.

Noooooo Not Again!

Adoring Husband had the car booked in for it's first service at 8am, so because of the terrible weather, I decided to get a lift with him to the shop at 7.20am.

We parked the car behind the shop and AH helped me carry all of my gear into the shop. Two Happy Abode bags containing the cash tin and lots of paperwork, folders and course work, my small suitcase on wheels that contains paperwork and my laptop and finally my handbag.

Within a matter of seconds after walking through the front door, AH said "Is that floor wet?"

It certainly WAS wet! So wet!

Such a mess and so much worse than last time, plus a whole new leak above our blue wall in the training room.

If we get the same sort of rain over the weekend that we had last night, I would not be surprised if the ceiling collapsed.

After the last event, our roof was replaced so I assumed that there would be no further problems.

The owner's best mate (who dealt with the problem last time) came today with the guy who replaced the roof and they inspected the roof and our damage. They said that our internal damage was not listed on the 'scope of works' that they were given last time, so they only repaired or replaced what was listed on that document.

They said that if they had known about the internal stuff, they would have know what needed to be fixed.

The Landlord's best mate knew exactly what the damage was internally last time because I walked him through the shop and showed him, so I am suspicious of his story.

Sadly, they advised that nothing could be done about this problem until the middle of next week. They also did nothing to protect the damage that had already been done nor to prevent further damage, and with the forecast of more torrential rain over the weekend, well, who knows what could happen.

We've moved all the furniture and stock away from where the ceiling could possibly collapse.

I've taken photos of all the stock and the displays and the cabinets and furniture and I took a video of the damage, the running water down the walls and the droplets of water coming from the ceiling.

I don't know what else I can do except bring home any important paperwork so that if the worst case scenario should occur, it will be safe n sound in my house.

Needless to say, AH cancelled his appointment for the car service, so that he could be with me and help move the stock and furniture as well as be present when the guys came to assess the damage.

It was a long day, but one exciting thing did happen ... I received the first advance payment from a lady who now holds the title of 'first student' for one of the photography courses! *happy dance* I knew that she would be the first through the door once the newsletter was published, but now I have to phone the other twelve people on the list to invite them in next week to register.

I also have to hope like hell that the training room will be repaired and dry by the 9th March. Ugh.

Anyway, it's almost 11pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Up n At Em

Well that was a most unpleasant evening!

But I slept well and I'm feeling 98% better now. Another early night should see me at a full 100%.

I just emptied our rain gauge and it had 94mm in it. Admittedly, we haven't emptied the gauge for quite some time, but Bundaberg (one hour north) received 81mm overnight, Hervey Bay (thirty minutes south) had 40mm and Maryborough (40 mins southwest) received 137mm so I'm guessing that our rainfall was pretty high too!

Unfortunately the heavy rain has stopped customers walking along the uncovered driveway to our shop, but this morning before the rain came, two ladies walked up with three puppy dogs. One of the ladies stayed outside with the dogs while the other came inside ... so I offered to stand outside with the dogs while the ladies looked around the shop together.

They were gorgeous dogs but obviously a little stressed that their owners had walked through a door without them! I sat with them for about ten minutes until one of the ladies came outside and took the dogs, telling me that the other wanted to pay for something.

My ten minutes of dog sitting proved very much worth it!

The remainder of the day was very very wet, so I got plenty of work done in my training course ... NOT my photography course ... I'll work on that some more tomorrow.

Adoring Husband drove psychotic dog, Colli, into The Bay to the beauty parlour. She was desperately in need of some beauty treatment and here are the results ...

AH brought her to the shop on the way home so that I could see how pretty she looked.

Two hours later, he returned to the shop to help me close up and we were home by ten past three. I put dinner in the oven (ginger, honey and garlic chicken Maryland) and AH had to leave early for SES duties.

I had bought two and a half pineapples from the supermarket yesterday, so I chopped them up, bagged them and put them in the freezer for our next batch of pineapple whip. The pineapples are so sweet and juicy at the moment! Yum.

I am now sitting in my pyjamas thinking about climbing into bed to watch MKR.

Three more sleeps til the Gift Fair!

Nite all.

  

Cancelled

Tonight's blog post is almost nonexistent.

I'm tired and my belly hurts and I have to package up my next batch of chicken broth before I go to bed.

All I want to do is climb into bed and sleep the night away.

Nite all.

Like a Baby

That's how I slept last night.

Thankfully, the psychotic dogs didn't wake at all during the night and we both slept soundly.

It was still a struggle rising this morning and even though I planned on getting to work early, I didn't unlock the doors until right on 9am.

Morning tea with the girls was nice, with Reality TV Queen joining us for the first time in months. She has been away and is soon going away again, so we won't see her for quite some time. She's happy and her life is full!

Unfortunately, Lady Lynn couldn't join us, Beauty is still away and Maid Marian is either away, or she forgot again haha.

But it was a nice group and Vampira (aka The Blond Bombshell or YipYip) brought a big basket of clothes that she was culling from her wardrobe and we all took at least one item to add to our own wardrobe.

I received an email from The Motivator today. Her retreat sounds amazing and I feel very envious of the emotional work she is doing on herself.  Even though she is feeling wiped out from the intensity of it all, she is also feeling positive about the impending results in a few days time.

I made a couple of small orders to tide us over until the gift fair. We currently only have two leather handbags in stock and the shelves are looking a little bare. It's funny though, how some items that we've had in stock for five months have suddenly walked out the door since I rearranged a few displays!

During our road trip in November, I walked into a shop full of beautiful big art pieces and struck up a conversation with the owner of the shop. He told me that he had JUST opened the previous day and we discussed the excitement of having a new business that we loved.

He asked me for advice and I told him to rearrange his stock regularly because customers have blind spots and may not notice the 'perfect piece for their wall' even though it's been on display up the back of the shop for 6 months ... until the day he moves it even two places along the wall ... and suddenly they are saying "Oh this is new!"

Like the red and black leather handbag that has been in the shop since day one and nobody even picked it up in that time, until a week ago when I created a new red and black display. Since then three people have picked up the bag and carried it around the shop to buy, but changed their mind at the last minute. Today it was bought and an hour later, one of those three customers returned looking to buy it! Alas they were disappointed.

The heavens opened this afternoon and we had some heavy rain for an hour or so and then another hour of steady rain, which was nice, but rain always stops people coming up the driveway to our shop.

I took advantage of the quiet and created the flyer/registration form for the Vision Board Course and filled one of our windows with the information flyers for all of the courses.

I registered with a couple of suppliers - like Serenade - the same company that my beautiful purse is from. They emailed through the catalogue and price list and I can't wait to see their stock at the gift fair and then being with Tracey to put in our first order!

Speaking of which, just five more sleeps until the trip to Sydney!

I'm trying for another early night and another sound 'like a baby' sleep. It helps that the temperature has dropped to a comfortable level.

It's good night from me.

Nite all.

Sleepless in the Heads

FOUR!!

That's how many times the psychotic dogs needed to go outside during the night between 11.30pm and 4.45am.

I got up the first three times, but on the fourth, I nudged Adoring Husband very heavily. His alarm would be going off at 5am anyway, so I figured he could do the honours for the final outing.

ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED!!

That's what I was when my alarm went off at 5.30am so that I could get to work early enough to open the shop for meditation classes.

PRETTY CREATIVE!

That was me when I realised that our meditation signage was looking tattered and unprofessional at our 6th week of classes. I created new signs and then laminated them ready for Monday week (we are closed next Monday).

TICKLED PINK!

That's how I felt when one of the meditation ladies said that she played the "Happy" song all week and danced to it with her grandchildren and it made her feel wonderful! That was the result of us dancing to that song at the end of meditation last week and of me telling them how I set my alarm to play it every hour on the hour so that I could feel good and dance just for one minute.

TOTALLY ENGROSSED!

Thats how I was when The Gypsy and I got into a really interesting conversation about life and all it's challenges and the choices we make and how we deal with the results of those choices ... and so much more.

FULL OF GRATITUDE!

I felt that from my heart when Adoring Husband heated up my chicken broth and brought it to me at the shop for morning tea. He also delivered my phone which I'd left in the bathroom this morning.

PROUD AS PUNCH!

Is how I felt when three ladies made a special trip to The Heads and came into the shop because somebody in The Bay had told them about the beautiful new shop in The Heads that they should visit.

SUPER SURPRISED!

When Adoring Husband walked through the door at 2.50pm and I looked at my watch, I was super surprised that it was time to shut up shop already! Some days just fly by so fast!

SELF SATISFIED!

Is the overwhelming feeling when I walked into the house and remembered that I had removed the curried sausages from the freezer this morning and they were thawed out ready to heat up for our early dinner. AH was being picked up early for an important SES meeting out of town, so an easy dinner, followed by the strawberry cream pie for the dessert, was just what the doctor ordered.

SLIGHTLY ORGANISED!

I have my outfit laid out ready for tomorrow, including accessories. My carry bags are packed with all of my work and course 'stuff' to take tomorrow morning. The folder full of paperwork for our Sydney trip is in my suitcase which is ready to be packed in the back bedroom. I am in my pyjamas ready to climb into bed as soon as MKR is finished.

STILL ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED!

With so little sleep last night, the day has caught up with me and I am back to feeling absolutely exhausted. If the psychotic dogs wake me up tonight, I'm going to give AH a swift kick to deal with them. Otherwise I'm going to be tired and crabby and he will have to take the brunt of that!

WARM AND FUZZY!

Is how I feel when I remember on Monday nights that it will be coffee morning with the girls when I wake up.

See you tomorrow girls!

Nite all.

R&R&S&W

Rest. Recreation. Study. Work.

That was my Sunday.

I made myself breakfast of bacon, tomato, onion and avocado. I reheated the coffee that Adoring Husband had bought earlier for me and climbed back into bed for Sunday brekky in bed.

Adoring Husband was committed to SES duties until almost 1pm, so I had the house to myself.

I gathered all my study gear and loaded it onto the bed, making sure I had a couple of good pens and some spare paper, my laptop on my stable table and my folder full of course lessons.

Two hours in and I needed a break, so I got up and did a load of washing then cleared the dining table of all the 'stuff' that I had dumped there each afternoon as I arrived home.

I followed that with another two hours of study until AH arrived home just before 1pm.

He had a shower and was kind enough to surprise me with a cup of tea.

We watched some mindless TV together for a couple of hours and while dinner was heating up (pre-prepared spaghetti bolognese with zoodles) I cleared all of my jewellery making paraphernalia off the outdoor table.

I really should have taken a 'before' photo because it was pretty scary! It didn't take that long to stack and pack it all up, but underneath the mess was evidence of rodent activity! We know that there are mice about and they like to spend time in the bottom of SEB's cage at night. AH has set traps and caught a couple of the little blighters, but I'm certain that there are more.

Not to mention the 15 geckos that were on the ceiling of the outdoor area when I took the dogs out to pee before I put them to bed tonight - yes, I counted them!

It's 10.30pm and I need to be up EXTRA early tomorrow morning because I desperately need to wash my hair before getting to work by 7.30am for meditation.

AH reminded me that there is only a week until I leave for Sydney, so I have a lot to get done before I leave - including finishing the design of the photography course. I'm torn between wanting a busy week in sales and wanting a quiet week so that I can get other work done!

Anyway, have a happy Monday everybody!

Nite all.

Weeks End

The end is here.

Of the week, that is.

It's been a pretty big week. I achieved a lot, but also still have a lot to achieve next week so there is no rest for the wicked!

It wasn't very busy in the shop today and in between customers, I rearranged a few things and displayed them a little differently. I designed the flyer for the next Vision Board workshop and I made a small order of new stock to tide us over until March.

I closed the shop at 1.30pm and on the way home, knowing that Adoring Husband had pigged out on our lunch, I got myself some food from the Takeaway.

I watched some mindless rubbish on TV for a couple of hours before making my way to the kitchen where I packaged up the chicken broth that had been cooking for 22 hours, made some cauliflower rice to serve with the chicken curry and then made another strawberry cream pie.

In the middle of making the pie, I realised that I had no honey, so I put the call out on Facebook to see if anyone in town had some real honey on hand. When I got no quick responses, I sent a text to The Blonde Bombshell who was able to come to my rescue.

After I'd finished making the pie, The Leggy Blonde (my back neighbour) called me from her back yard to say that she was standing there ready to hand some honey to me over the fence! Even though I had already taken possession of some honey, I took her up on her offer because the honey was straight from the hive. I couldn't resist and it is indeed, absolutely delicious!

Her reward will be two pieces of pie when I make the next one.

My phone didn't tell me that it was time to go to bed tonight, so here I am, almost half past midnight and having just watched a terrible movie about giant tornadoes (no, not Sharknado), I'm definitely ready for bed.

I really love those words. We need to remove those self imposed demands on ourselves and free each other from those horrible rules that restrict our freedom.

That's enough from me tonight.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Nite all