Happy Saturday

Yes it was a happy Saturday!

Some of our favourite people came into The Happy Abode today and we had some long and funny conversations as well as some deep and meaningful discussions.

We were only in the shop for four hours but those hours passed so damn quickly, and we had to hang around for an extra twenty minutes to finish some important 'stuff' that we'd started earlier.

It was voting day, so Adoring Husband came to the shop to help us close, then he and I walked to the hall to vote for our Mayoral candidate of choice.

From there, we walked to the beach, took our shoes off and spent almost thirty minutes walking through the shallows of the receding tide.

I like to stand knee deep in ocean water and take the 'Super Hero' pose (like the surgeons do in Grey's Anatomy) looking out to sea. I stand strong and announce to the Universe that I am strong and healthy and powerful and capable of succeeding at everything on which I focus.

It took me a while to convince Adoring Husband to do the same thing. He kept asking me WHY and laughing at me and telling me I was mad. I told him that we weren't going anywhere and I was prepared to stand there all afternoon if necessary! FINALLY he took the pose for all of twenty seconds!

I was happy with that.

It was a beautiful afternoon and it was after 2.30pm by the time we got home.

I'm considering opening the shop tomorrow - Sunday - because it's a long weekend and there are a lot of tourists in town. I think it might be worth it, especially with Mother's Day coming up next weekend and even if it's quiet, I still have some photo editing that I need to finish, so the time won't be wasted.

On that note, I am off to bed. Look at me doing the 'adultie' thing and going to bed early on a Saturday night!! After all, a superhero needs her sleep too!

Nite all.

Just Like Old Times

For the second morning in a row, I chose to get out and about on the trike with my camera.

It was, without a doubt, a glorious morning. The weather was close to perfect with the sun shining brightly and twinkling reflectively on the high tidal waters of the river.

There were a few scattered clouds to make the sky interesting.

The birds were all out in force:

• The current high population of lorikeets making a racket in the treetops.
• Whistling kites perched in pairs in the tall trees lining the river bank.
• Tawny frogmouths also in pairs snuggling each other on lower branches.
• Plovers strutting around on the grass piercing the soil with their beaks for bugs.
• Terns, seagulls and oyster catchers jostling for position on the sand banks near the beach.
• Blue faced honeyeaters chasing each other through the big fig trees.
• Kookaburras lining up on the street lamps.
• Cormorants diving in the river for fish.
• Galahs waddling through the long grasses feeding on the seeds.
• Corellas trying to out-screech the lorikeets. 
• A white bellied sea eagle soaring high over the boat ramp.
• Not a pelican to be seen!

There were a lot of people out and about riding bikes, boating, kayaking, fishing, walking, swimming, chasing their dogs on the beach, eating their breakfasts in the park, drinking coffee at the cafe, pushing prams. Lots of smiling and laughing and chatting.

As you can tell, I really enjoyed my morning and took a lot in.

It must have been about 11.30am when I rode home and went straight into the kitchen to cook a hearty early lunch.

Chicken, pumpkin/spinach/roasted capsicum/pine nut salad and a salsa of tomato, cucumber, shallot, avocado and grape.

For dessert I made an apple crumble.

I stewed green apples with water, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice.

The crumble was a combination of raw cashews, raw macadamia nuts, raw almonds, raw walnuts combined with coconut butter, a touch of maple syrup, a pinch of salt and a couple of tablespoons of banana flour all whizzed in the food processor.

I scattered the crumble on top and then sat them under a grill until they browned slightly.

I served it with soft serve ice cream fruit whip - frozen pineapple, frozen banana, coconut cream, maple syrup, a splash of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt all blended into a smooth icy mixture.

Needless to say we didn't need much for dinner tonight!

I had a losing night at the club tonight, although I do have a keno ticket to check. You never know your luck.

It's almost 10.30pm so I'd best get some sleep. Back to the shop tomorrow!

Nite all.

Changing Habit

I bet you're thinking that I spent my day off in bed.

My usual habit of staying in bed and studying and reading and playing in Facebook did not appeal to me today, so I was on the trike with my camera bag in the basket before 8am.

I visited the boys at the Seat of Knowledge.

I picked up a take away coffee.

I dropped in to see The Motivator at the shop.

I checked mail.

I walked bare foot along the beach.

I triked along the river and found these guys ...

I followed a Sea Eagle but he did all of his exciting stuff at a distance too far to photograph.

I did some grocery shopping.

I arrived home some time after 11am.

I watched the movie 'Girl on a Train'.

I cooked stuffed mushrooms, roast pumpkin spinach & pine nut salad and crispy skinned chicken for lunch.

I edited some photos from last week's photo shoot.

It's almost 11pm and I think my day is done.

I have a lot planned for tomorrow, so it's bed time for me.

Nite all.

All The People!

My belief that the town would be empty today, due to the big funeral, was unfounded.

There were a lot of holiday-makers through the shop today and I was kept pretty busy almost from the moment I opened the doors.

The people were very excited to find us and even more excited about the goodies that they found inside, so it was a pretty fun day for them AND for me!

Adoring Husband had some shopping to do in The Bay, but drove me to work first because it had been raining and was threatening to rain some more. This meant that he had to pick me up this afternoon, so he helped me bring everything in before I locked up and left the premises.

We had a bit of shopping to do at the Butcher's and Supermarket before heading home.

There was no time to sit down because I had to package up the dog food. I have decided to add a bit of extra goodness to the mince that we feed them.

I'm not going all out like I used to, with a recipe that was absolutely exhausting to put together once a fortnight. Instead, I simply add grated carrot, some finely chopped baby spinach, some diced cucumber, two raw eggs, some turmeric and some Himalayan salt.

I mix it all by hand and then weigh them into three equal portions per Chinese container.

I began doing this while AH was away last weekend. The psychotic dogs suddenly became very excited about dinner time and gobbled up their portions with lightning speed!

After I finished the dog food preparation, it was time to chop up the pineapples that we'd bought and then package it for the freezer too.

That took over an hour and it was almost 5pm, so I had to sit down for a while. I watched MKR from the previous night's recording and at 5.45pm we remembered that it was trivia night at the club!

It was a mad rush to make a quick dinner and freshen up to leave at 6.30pm.

I am happy to announce that we took third place and it was a fun night with a bit of snorting laughter and a few "I told you so" remarks when we got answers wrong.

It's now well after midnight, so I'm signing off ... even though I have two days off work ... things to do, people to see, places to go!

Nite all.

Catching Up

How good was it to catch up with Reality TV Queen today at morning coffee?!

It's been about ten weeks since we've seen her and she has been travelling through the Eastern states in a caravan with Mr Pedantic and doing some house sitting along the way.

There was a lot to talk about, which was lucky, because Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be discovered) was running late due to visitors.

Nobody else was available today.

Three ladies were at their husband's side in hospital for various surgeries, one has just returned a day ago from a long holiday, another was at a Drs appointment in The Bay and another two were missing in action.

It was 11.30am by the time we had finished our coffees and the girls walked out the door.

Another great morning.

The remainder of the day was quite slow and both The Motivator and I had things that needed doing, so it suited us not to be too busy.

We closed the shop and I left very soon after 3pm.

Adoring Husband spent the day on Fraser Island performing SES duties and didn't return home until around 7pm, so it was a late dinner for us.

I'll be on my own in the shop tomorrow and I imagine that the town will be very, very empty.

There is a funeral happening in the middle of the day to farewell a very much loved community member. The Motivator will be representing us both as she attends this farewell. A life to be celebrated and many hearts will be struggling to let go of this beautiful woman.

RIP Lee Dart x

Nite all.

The Procrastinator In Me

I am a champion procrastinator.

I even bought a book on overcoming procrastination, but I procrastinated over finishing the book, so I still don't know how to overcome procrastination!

I'm so good at procrastinating that most of the time, I don't even recognise my actions as procrastination. I believe that what I'm doing is legitimately necessary, but in actual fact, I'm doing it to avoid what really is legitimately necessary!

The truth of the matter is that there is so much that now NEEDS to be done in my home, that there are no procrastinating activities left to do! So I am a frustrated procrastinator!

This is funny because it's true!



Ok I've added enough exclamation marks in this blog to last for the next three blog posts!

It was a crazy start to this Monday morning. We received a text from The Gypsy to say that she was sick and unable to attend the shop, which included meditation. The trouble was that we didn't receive the text until 4.45am which was too late to contact our ladies to tell them not to come.

We winged it.

I thought we did a great job and I'm pretty sure everyone left feeling happy and uplifted, especially after that last dance around the room to the "Happy" song.

It was encouraging to have another lady sign up and pay for the photography course in June, so the class is looking very healthy.

The remainder of the day was steady and there were lots of sales made for Mother's Day gifts.

Adoring Husband arrived home safe n sound around lunch time and dropped into the shop to get his welcome home hug and kiss.

We left the shop very soon after 3pm today and I came home to cook an early dinner - because AH and I were both starving after missing lunch.

Now it's after 11pm (how did that happen so quickly?) so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Love and Friendship

I have had a divinely perfect Sunday.

I didn't do anything that NEEDED doing. I only did what I felt like doing in the moment.

I ate a lot. I drank (coffee and water). I made some fruit whip ice cream (pineapple/banana/blueberry). I watched youtube videos. I listened to music. I played with the psychotic dogs. I watched the football. I fed the chooks and the dogs (ok, THOSE two things needed to be done). I thought about all the things that NEEDED to be done and relished the fact that I wasn't doing them. I stayed in my pyjamas all day.

Having enjoyed a big weekend of birthday celebrations, Adoring Husband should be home fairly early in the day tomorrow. Back to reality for him.

So this was one of my favourite videos from youtube. I have another that I will share in tomorrow's post.



Two of my favourite famous people. Jane Fonda is 80 yrs old and Lily Tomlin is 79 yrs old. They are pretty amazing women and I have a lot of admiration and respect for them.

It's now almost 10.30pm and I need to be up early to do AH's work before heading to the shop early for meditation. It's going to be a tight squeeze!

Have a fabulous Monday.

Nite all.