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.