Super Saturday

Beautiful Winter's day today!

It was busy for a Saturday, which was surprising considering the big Coal Fest was on in Howard today.

I met and had a long chat with an amazing 85yr old woman. I guessed her to be in her early seventies, so when she told me her age, I was truly amazed! Very strong and fit. Sharp as a tack and bright as a button, with fabulous stories to tell about her life ... and what a life she's lived! We only talked for about 30 minutes but I could have comfortably spent the day with her.

I thanked her for coming into the shop (she contributed nicely to our takings for the day) and told her how much I enjoyed our chat and how pleased I was to have met her. She said that she would return and wished us the best of luck with our shop.

She was the best part of my day.

Adoring Husband and I closed the shop a little after 1.30pm and did some grocery shopping before he drove off for home.

As I was pedalling back past the shop, two ladies came out of the cafe and were walking towards our shop and expressing regret that they were too late and the shop was closed, so I stopped and offered to open up for them.

They happily came inside and did a little shopping with the money they had with them and one of the ladies asked me to set aside a couple of items promising to return on Tuesday to purchase them. It was worth the effort to open up and we had some good laughs, making fun of husbands and old friendships.

I arrived home in time to put away the groceries, watch the end of a movie with AH and then settle in for Super Saturday football.

Sadly, I was unlucky with he first game and my selected team lost, but the game I was most looking forward to was first place on the ladder, South Sydney Rabbits, playing 10th placed Wests Tigers. I tipped the Tigers for an upset win because I felt like their two top players had found their mojo in their last couple of games and had a big win in them.

I was right!

I was the only one in the tipping comp to select the Tigers, so their win helped me move up a position on the ladder. Wahoo!

Now I'm off for an early night. The big week has worn me out.

Nite all.

Under the Weather

My apologies for not posting last night, but I was feeling a bit under the weather.

I climbed into bed well before 7pm and was asleep by about 8.30pm.

After a good night's sleep, I woke up feeling refreshed and healthy, so here I am!

Adoring Husband had a trip down to Brisbane today for a 2yr bladder cancer checkup.

He got the 'all clear' *happy somersaults and cartwheels*

It was another big day at The Happy Abode with lots of tourists spending their money today but a sales rep cancelled her appointment with me, which was disappointing.

This is the second time a sales rep has cancelled our appointment - I think it's when they realise how far out of the way we are, they decide to put it off til next time.

It didn't really matter to me because it gave me a chance to restyle one of our displays ...

Actually, those two bags on the right were removed after this photo and replaced with a purple/orange backpack and a small purple leather bag.

I also packaged up about 30 silver chains into ziplock bags to sell with the snap pendants.

The snap buttons were very popular today, which I love, because my favourite thing to do is play with the snap button jewellery!

It was about 3.20pm when I locked up the shop and pedalled home to get ready for my evening at the club.

Having been without AH all day, the psychotic dogs were excited to see me arrive home and I fed them before they chewed my leg off.

It was an unlucky night for all of us with no wins in the raffle or keno or pokies. One lucky member won the $600 membership draw, but it wasn't one of us!

It's almost 10pm so I'm off to bed. My beloved Brisbane Broncos have had a good win tonight so I can sleep with a smile.

Nite all.

This ...

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others won't feel 

insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others

permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically

liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

The Gypsy introduced me this author today and I had to share her inspiring quote because it moved me.

Today was much busier in The Happy Abode and people were still strolling in until about 3.30pm. I didn't wait for more and locked the door after that. 

The other businesses on the street were complaining about how quiet it was, but they got the traffic early in the week when it was quiet for us.

The Gypsy was fully booked and speaking of 'authors', she sold five copies of her own book today! She was so busy that we hardly had any time to chat.

I was definitely ready for home and rather than sit down, I went straight to the kitchen to get started on a big pot of parsee curry chicken. I knew that if I sat, I wouldn't get back up! 

Dinner was delicious served with cauliflower rice and followed by fruit whip ice cream.

It's now 9pm and I'm off to bed.

I've slept soundly for the last couple of nights, but it's difficult to get out of bed in the mornings because it's so chilly! It was 2C this morning and I have a very limited selection of warm clothes. I still didn't wear sleeves today, but I did wear a light vest over my shirt.

Anyway, I still love the cold nights because it's so much easier to sleep snuggled down under the bedcovers.

Nite all. 

A Lull in the Season

After two big and busy weeks, there seems to be a lull in the season.

QLD public school holidays are over, however, private schools still have another week of holidays and NSW schools are still on holidays, PLUS the grey nomads are still booking out the caravan parks.

So there are still a lot of people in town, but they haven't visited The Happy Abode in the last two days.

Morning coffee with the girls was much more enjoyable for me today because it was so quiet in the shop and I wasn't interrupted by customers. The last few Tuesdays have been so busy, I haven't got to spend much time with the girls.

Luckily for me, this afternoon, I got a delivery of new stock, so I was able to spend the afternoon unpacking, pricing and displaying the new stuff!

That's it for the big deliveries, but over the coming three weeks, there should be lots of snap jewellery stock dribbling in each day.

I had to rush home before 4pm to be here for an appointment with a 'pool guy'.  We spent more than an hour with him getting a quote and having him answer all of our questions. The quote was still the same as 16 months ago but we had lots more questions.

We will get more quotes, but combined, Adoring Husband and I have some ideas that might look pretty good together. The tricky part will be doing it on a budget - "champagne taste on a beer income" comes to mind haha.

This company can't commence the project until October, but expect it to be complete inside 4 - 6 weeks, so we can be dipping our toes by November.

Aqua-aerobics at my place everyone!!

After the pool guy left, AH and I spent some time in the garden discussing our ideas and taking some measurements. We had another look at the quote and two styles of pools for which we were quoted.

Now we need to research all the landscaping ideas that we have and try to get the best prices for everything. We are going to recycle all the sleepers that we built the raised garden beds with, so we will save a lot of money just by doing that.

This new project is going to keep Adoring Husband very busy over the coming weeks!

I'm off to sleep on it.

Nite all.

Monday Meds

We had eight ladies in our last Monday meditation class this morning.

As of next week, our meditation classes will be held on Wednesday mornings ... because it's too hard to start the week so early on a Monday!

The ladies were all lovely and shared some really personal stuff today. It was a real hug 'fest' at the end of the session and we were all feeling the love.

It was a slow day in the shop which gave me a chance to do some more dusting and cleaning, pay a couple of bills, create a new sign for our changed meditation details, display some more stock from in our drawers and I was even able to make myself some lunch!

The Gypsy and I had some more interesting psychological chats - ALWAYS enlightening!

It was a beautiful sunshiny Wintery day, so I guess everybody was out making the most of it instead of shopping. We DID have a couple of people drive all the way to our town especially to come to The Happy Abode because, they said "We love your little shop."

That's a feel good moment.

By 3pm, every shop except the butcher and the supermarket was closed. There were three groups of people walking along the street looking for something to do and complaining about the fact that the street was dead.

Hopefully, they'll return tomorrow.

Adoring Husband helped me shut up shop and we did some food shopping before coming home.

We had an easy dinner of lamb chops cooked on the barbecue and salad.

I declined an afternoon coffee and am feeling decidedly tired tonight.

For the first time in a long time, I used my Sweet Sleep essential oil last night and slept soundly for over seven hours, so I'm going to do the same thing tonight. I don't understand why I stopped using it a few months ago. It's been sitting on my bedside table the whole time and for some reason I ignored it. I've had very broken sleep lately, so I'm pleased to have found the solution.

I need to sleep well so that I can enjoy morning coffee with the girls tomorrow. I always look forward to Tuesdays with the ladies.

Nite all.

Oops!

I’m in bed and have just realised that I forgot to blog!

So just a quickie to say that my day was pretty normal for a Sunday.

A few hours in bed.

We briefly visited friends who have a new pool, so that we could check out the handywork of the company we are using.

I made a big batch of spaghetti bolognese sauce.

Watched three games of football and was bitterly disappointed in my team who spoiled my perfect round.

Came to bed early, but now it’s late and here I am!

Early meditation in the morning so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.