*Power*

My word for 2020 is *power*

This word covers a myriad of strengths:

• The power to discern
• The power to co-operate
• The power of compassion
• The power of faith
• The power of positive thought
• The power to be silent
• The power to face
• The power to be present
• The power of enthusiasm
• The power of detachment
• The power to adjust

And sooooo many more. There’s plenty to share and discuss and understand about all the different ways to use the different powers.

That’s what I want to focus on in 2020 and I’ll probably share some insights here at times.

I added a bit more to the dragon today ...

Finally ...

Happy New Year!

Nite all.

In Review

I feel like this year was very much less productive than the previous two years, which were worth bragging about!

I really only had three things on my list of goals for 2019.

1. Get out and about more often with my camera - fail.
2. Add to and improve on my book to sell in the shop - fail.
3. Get started on creating an online course - not a complete fail.

What I learned this year is that it’s a difficult balancing act trying to fulfil your goals, study,  run a business, keep your household running efficiently, care for a partner with special needs and care for your own physical/emotional/spiritual needs.

Other circumstances had a bearing on all of that too!

So my top ten memories and/or achievements for 2019 are:

• Visit from Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour.
• Purchasing the Bali hut, a toilet, a bedroom suite and plantation shutters for the front windows of the house.
• Trips to Sydney for the Reed Gift Fair, to Brisbane for the Denise Duffield Thomas seminar and Montville/IKEA visit.
• Learned hoop dancing, water colour painting class in The Bay, attempted lots of different acrylic art methods and created over 90 pieces.
• Ran photography and art classes at The Happy Abode. Introduced lines of clothing to the shop. Created and sold postcards, cups and calendars.
• Celebrated Bombshell’s first year of survival after her car accident and 3 x 70th birthdays.
• Attended two local retreats.
• Sold more than 20 large photographs and six pieces of art.
• Survived two close bushfires, 7 weeks of plant based eating, 4 months of morning celery juice and 4 months without The Motivator.
• Practiced meditation every single day and used other holistic healing avenues like kinergetics (taught to me by TM), continued mini journeys on myself on a regular basis (at least monthly), grounding, swimming, hooping, journaling for life and for gratitude, listening to audible ‘self care’ books and practicing my powers as taught by The Gypsy.

So the year wasn’t a complete loss and there’s plenty to be happy about and proud of. My minor health issues have eased considerably and even though AH had a few hiccups with his health, all things considered, he too is doing well.

We’ve taken full advantage of our beautiful pool area and created our happy place in our own back yard.

We have much to look forward to in 2020.

Our 10th wedding anniversary, my 60th birthday, road trip with Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair, AH will be releasing his Mum’s ashes on south coast of NSW, hopefully there’ll be a visit from Chicklet, 2nd celebration with Bombshell ... all of that in the first four months!

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about the word I’ve picked for 2020.

Now it’s time for bed because I have a coffee date in the morning and then work in the afternoon.

Nite all.

Progress

There is no news.

I worked from 10am - 2pm and had 46 customers through the doors. Not even half of them spent money but almost all brought good energy to the shop - especially the ones who said I was an exceptional photographer haha!

My last visitor in the shop was Aggie! What a nice way to end my day!

Between customers I started on my fish ...

Here is the progress on the dragon ...

I didn’t add to it today.

This is a paint pour that I did on Saturday. Not sure how I feel about it so I might pour over it yet, or maybe embellish it. We’ll see.

Time for sleep.

I guess I’ll see you next year!

Nite all.

That Time

Yes it’s that time of the year when we have no idea what day it is.

Even Adoring Husband was surprised when I told him that today is Friday!

The days all run into each other and our days have been so perfectly UNexciting, which I absolutely love, but it means there has been nothing to post about except swims in the pool, Christmas movies on TV and lazy mornings in bed.

I did, for the first time in weeks, begin an art project today.

Chicklet’s birthday is only 7 weeks away, so I’ve decided to embellish one of my paint pours and create a dragon (her favourite creature) for her.

It started as this ...

I began with this ...

It has developed into this ...

And I’ll show you the progress of the process as I add to it in the coming days and weeks.

So far it looks okay, but anything could happen at any minute!

The new acrylic paint pens are easy, but messy, to use, so I can’t use them in the bedroom or the lounge room otherwise I’ll end up with fingerprints of paint on the leather lounge or on the new bedroom suite!

Which is a shame because they are my favourite rooms, however, the Bali hut is a possibility because the light will be perfect out there and I need to set up my easel for this.

Anyway, that’s as good as it’s got here in our household.

AH has hurt his back again ... not as bad as last time, but enough to slow him down.

No clubbing for us tonight.

An early night to bed.

Nite all.

It’s Here!

Christmas Day arrived right on time!

I got to stay in bed until about 8am and unusually had to get my own coffee, so I dressed and sat down on the couch with my coffee while the Santa of the house distributed gifts from under the tree.

We opened gifts randomly, so he opened some of mine and I opened some of his and we opened some of our own. We ripped everything open and threw paper all over the floor so by the time we finished ...

... worse than kids really.

Here are a few of my gifts ...

Yes! I am one lucky bee!

We made our own breakfast. I had chicken liver pate on toast and Adoring Husband had a bacon and egg sandwich.

I got a call from Vegan Chickie and Chicklet. We chatted for about 40 minutes, which was lovely.

The weather forecast predicted rain a storms for today so AH and I decided to get outside and make the most of the pool while we could. We swam for a while, played catch with the ball, soaked up the sunshine until it was time for lunch.

This was lunch ...

We played trivia for an hour or so, until psychotic dog Ruby was obviously struggling with a crazy itch that was out of control, so I took her in for a bath in her special shampoo, then lathered her in special cream. It still took a while for the itch to ease, even after the bath, but eventually she was able to relax.

By now, the storms were rumbling and drawing near, so we packed everything up from around the pool and I jumped in for a quick dip - very quick! In and out, just to cool down.

The storm was very brief but there was a nice drenching downpour. We needed it to last longer, but we’re grateful for what we got.

I received a call from Number One Son. Also really nice.

We’ve watched some mindless TV tonight - currently watching a great special on NITV about Sammy Davis Jr. I loved Sammy. He died way too young at the age of 65. What an incredible talent.

So it’s 9.30 pm and we’re ready for bed. Exhausted and happy. What a lovely Christmas Day I’ve had. I wish I’d had a Christmas call with Bubbles, but hopefully we can make up for it tomorrow.

I hope you’ve all had the perfect Christmas with friends or family or even alone.

Nite all.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Eve has been a very pleasant day.

I opened the shop at 9am and Adoring Husband checked our mail and dropped in a parcel before heading into the Bay to run some errands.

He also delivered a message from my girls who were waiting for me to arrive for coffee!!

Oops!

He minded the shop for 20 minutes so I could spend some time with them - not enough time for coffee, but time for some giggles and hugs.

The shop was busy all morning and by the time The Motivator arrived for her shift at midday, I was exhausted!

There was a quiet period for about 40 minutes and we exchanged Christmas gifts and Christmas hugs and created our Christmas video. Then it was time for me to leave.

I did some grocery shopping and could barely fit everything in my trike’s rear basket. My laptop wheelie bag, one bag of Christmas gifts, one bag of clothes, two bags of groceries and my handbag. It was a juggling act!

As soon as we arrived home, we had to return to the shops to get our afternoon coffee - we doubled up because we can’t get coffee on Christmas morning - these will be gently reheated in a saucepan in the morning.

I cooked up AH’s dinner of crispy skinned salmon with buttery asparagus and salad early because I had my movie date with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet at 5.30pm.

Just in case you don’t know, on Christmas Eve, wherever we are in the world, VC, C and I watch “Love Actually” together at the same time, texting each other our favourite lines and favourite moments throughout the movie. It’s a tradition we’ve been following for many years and we look forward to it every year.

After the movie finished, AH took me outside to the pool area to show me this surprise ...

Beautiful twinkling multi coloured lights all around the fence line! How cool is that?!

It’s now 10.30pm and I’m feeling quite weary. I’m certain that the big kid in the family will have me up early to open presents, so I’d best get some sleep.

I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas enjoying time with the people you cherish. Feel the love and spread the love.

Nite all.

It Was a Bug

Well that was a nasty period of time lasting about 16 hours.

A tummy bug got me and floored me long enough to prevent me from opening the shop and working on Sunday. I sent Adoring Husband to the shop with a hand written sign and some sticky tape.

I spent the night sitting on the throne with a bucket on my lap, moving only to take a couple of cool showers to bring my temperature down.

Not a pleasant experience.

So to make up for disappointing any potential customers on Sunday, I opened the shop today for six hours and am very pleased that I did!

It was very busy and I would have stayed open until 5pm except I had four orders for photos so I had to go into The Bay to order them so that they would be ready on Christmas Eve.

Unfortunately, my regular framer is now on holidays until 7th Jan so that’s a slight problem, but fortuitously, when I phoned him to ask about his opening hours, he ordered two of my photos! He’ll be visiting The Happy Abode for the first time during his holidays so I know he’ll be sending people to us after that.

He already promotes us quite well, but with first hand experience, he’ll step it up a notch.

Our psychotic dog Colli visited the vet for some surgery today. What started out as a possible 2 teeth extraction, ended up being NINE teeth!

She has been fabulous through the entire ordeal ... and I say ‘ordeal’ because that’s what it has been for Adoring Husband ... but she has not behaved like a sick dog. She came home with a list of behaviours that we should expect after such major invasive surgery.

• Drowsy
• Will take a few days to recover - longer for older pets
• Bloody saliva
• Offer a small meal, but she will probably refuse it.
• She will probably feel nauseas after eating.
• She will probably not be feeling herself so be calm and loving

I’m here to say that she was NOT and is NOT the slightest bit drowsy. She appears to be fully recovered and is full of beans trotting all over the place. She was excited to eat her entire meal and went looking for more in the other dog’s bowls - no nausea. She is definitely herself, probably more so because she no longer has a head full of rotting teeth causing her pain!

It was a costly process, but nowhere near what we expected, so that was a pleasant surprise.

So ... 14 and still going strong.

Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we expect it to be a big one at the shop, so I’d best get a good night’s sleep.

I hope you’re all feeling relaxed and calm and looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

Nite all.

Peopled Out

Today was a hibernation day.

My intention was to accompany Adoring Husband into The Bay this morning while he was taking psychotic dog Colli in for grooming. At the last minute I changed my mind because I couldn’t stand the thought of the traffic and the people and the busyness and the craziness of pre-Christmas holiday makers.

I am peopled out and I needed to spend the day hibernating from the world.

Unfortunately, while grooming Colli, the groomer found a large abscess on her face from an infection in her mouth caused by rotten teeth. Luckily, the groomer is situated right beside a vet, so they were able to get her in immediately.

Colli is now on antibiotics and is booked in on Monday to have one, possibly two teeth surgically removed.

That’s going to cost a pretty penny!

She has not and is still not behaving like a sick dog! She is perfectly happy, but AH is a little stressed.

I have to add that I would love to have partaken in some emotional eating today, but the best I could come up with was blending a mango and banana with some coconut ice cream. What resulted was two delicious smoothies that AH and I enjoyed together.

I’m working tomorrow, so it’s time for me to sleep now.

Here is our Christmas tree complete with all of our gifts to ourselves ...

There are still some gifts to arrive in the mail, hopefully on Monday.

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.

Friday with a Flourish

My day began with low energy and a few uneasy feelings that I couldn’t explain and they didn’t feel very nice at all.

So I stayed in bed until about 10.30am which is when I heard the pool calling to me.

The water was chillier than I expected, so I knew that Adoring Husband wouldn’t be joining me. I swam some laps, floated, did lots of exercises to the music, sat in the sun for ten minutes and then sat in the Bali hut for a while.

I took a phone call from my favourite Aunty because she had just received my calendar which I sent to her for Christmas. She’s fabulous and was gushing over my photography.

Eventually, I headed inside to shower and make myself presentable for a video, which The Motivator and I were going to make in the shop, to wish our customers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

By the time I arrived at the shop, TM finished serving customers and we fixed the stoopid Square Reader again, neither of us was really in the mood for making videos, so we’ve delayed it for a day or two.

AH and I both attended the club tonight and the members of our group were almost all pretty lucky. I had a nice win on the pokies, so Merry Christmas to me!

We had a late dinner. Late for us is 8.30pm because we usually eat at 6pm.

Tomorrow will be an early start because we’re taking one of the psychotic dogs in for grooming. The Bay will be chaotic on the last Saturday morning before Christmas and school holidays have just begun so ... you know ... eep!

So it’s bed for me now.

Nite all.

Spoiled

Look what Adoring Husband gave me today!

It’s a pendant and the stone is Larimar.

Larimar is said to enlighten and heal in a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual way. It stimulates the heart, throat, third eye and crown chakras facilitating inner wisdom and outer manifestation. It represents peace and clarity, radiating healing and love energy.

How special is that!?  Yes, I am a lucky person!

We drove into The Bay early this morning so that I could purchase my Christmas present to put under the tree and boy was it chaotic! People and cars everywhere! We couldn’t get out of there fast enough!

We went to two shops and on the way out of town stopped at the coffee drive through.

When we arrived home, I wrapped all of my gifts and made a big mess of the kitchen bench, which then had to be cleared to make a late lunch.

AH and I binge watched some Grey’s Anatomy until we decided on an early light dinner.

Now I’m exhausted!

Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Long Enough

I’ve been sitting here for 45 minutes trying to figure out what to write about.

I’m brain dead.

The Gypsy visited for a while his morning at the shop and the second that she left, the customers came thick and fast. I had a few locals in for a chat too which took quite a bit of time out of my day.

The day passed quickly and before I knew it, Adoring Husband arrived to help me close up.

I wasn’t in any mood for preparing a meal so we stopped and got some grilled fish from the cafe on the way home and had an early dinner.

It’s almost midnight so I’m making this short and sweet and sleep. is calling me.

Nite all.

Fully Christmas

Today confirmed for me that Christmas is definitely in full swing!

It started out a little stressful when our Square Reader (which is basically our electronic cash register)  somehow logged us out and wouldn’t accept our password to get back in!

So The Motivator came in with her laptop and after making a couple of attempts to sign in herself,  then checking that no messages had come through regarding any known problems, she changed our password and all was right with our business world again. Thank goodness!

I didn’t get to spend much time with my girls for coffee because it was so busy in the shop and it stayed that way all day. Just a constant flow of people, all in with a purpose and feeling grateful that they didn’t have to drive into The Bay.

Great for us!

I got to mail the last of my Christmas gifts before the afternoon mail cutoff so I was pleased about that.

I still haven’t purchased my own gift to put under the tree yet.

I’m feeling decidedly weary now, and I am already in bed so it won’t take long for me to fall asleep.

Happy Hump Day!

Nite all.

Morning Swim

After ten long days of pain (for both of us!) Adoring Husband returned to work today.

I would have enjoyed the sleep in but I had invited some of my tribe around for a pre Christmas morning tea and a swim, and because I dilly dallied yesterday with the gift wrapping, it meant that I had to get up extra early to bake some brownies and prepare the fruit platter, as well as clear the laundry for bathroom traffic.

I also bathed Psychotic dog Ruby again in her special shampoo to ease her grass allergy and to clean her weepy eye. Two loads of washing and a shower for me to wash away the dripping perspiration. It reached 35° here today, which is very hot for this neck of the woods.

Ironically there was no bathroom traffic and probably the reason everyone left so abruptly at noon - because their bladders were more than likely ready to explode!

It was a really pleasant morning with us all bobbing around in the pool for an hour chatting before Lady Lynn’s grandies arrived and livened up the energy. They showed off their swimming and diving skills, racing each other in the water and splashing around having fun, just as kids do.

They were a delight and their manners impeccable. They certainly warmed my heart when they each thanked me for having them over and letting them swim in the pool.

After everybody left, Adoring Husband joined me and we swam for a little while until we remembered the parcels that we had to get to the Post Office before 2pm to catch today’s mail run so that everyone would receive their gifts before Christmas.

There were ten parcels going to 6 different addresses and now we can’t afford to eat over Christmas! *joking*

AH was able to set up our Christmas inflatables on the front lawn again today. It’s a bit of a pain having to bring them inside when storms are approaching - especially painful when the storms don’t eventuate or skim past us! Storm season sucks!

😳

At about 3pm, my body decided it needed to rest, so I lay on the bed and fell asleep about 15 minutes later. Psychotic dog Jack woke me at 4pm with his psychotic bark which was aimed at nothing!

AH prepared dinner of lamb loin chops and fresh asparagus - both perfectly cooked and delicious - which he served to me in bed!

I am still in bed writing this post and thinking about my first day back at work tomorrow. I think I’ve only worked one day in the last two weeks! Crazy!

I feel so relaxed and happy right now. All is right with my world and I love my life.

Thank you universe for reminding me how lucky I am.

Nite all.

Wrapped Up

It has taken me ALL day to wrap all the Christmas presents, box them up and address them.

I had a couple of breaks in between to cook lunch and dinner and watch a movie on SBS, but I calculate that it’s taken a minimum 4 hours to complete this task. I’ve only wrapped the gifts that need to be sent in the mail so I still have more to wrap!

It’s almost midnight and here I am still sitting up doing my blog and thinking of what I have to do tomorrow morning before my girls arrive for coffee and a swim!

I’m feeling a bit peckish!

The movie that I watched was a claymation film called “Mary and Max”. It was released in 2009 and had the voices of Eric Bana, Ian Meldrum, Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Humphries to name a few. It was a combination of weird, intriguing, sad, funny and relatable.

I can’t say that it was enjoyable, but it was thought provoking and meaningful and worth watching. I’d probably watch it again.

Enough of this frivolity.

I need sleep.

Nite all.

What’s Today?

Two people asked me today if I was enjoying my Sunday.

It’s Saturday! Don’t confuse me!

I was up early to work for Adoring Husband. The work is easy. The getting up early is the hard part.

I returned home with our morning coffees and AH thanked me for doing his job. He drank his coffee and fell asleep in his chair. An hour later, he woke up, thanked me for doing his job and asked if I’d forgotten to buy coffees.

Duffer.

So we drove to the shops and got more coffee.

I prepared some breakfast for AH and we decided to go for a swim before he lay down with the TENS machine.

Needless to say, he fell asleep for another couple of hours. Sleep is good for healing!

I had a few things planned for today, but motivation escaped me ... how unusual!

I did some more doodling with lead pencil...

... not impressive. I think I prefer pen for doodling and I prefer silence and solitude. Sitting beside AH and in front of the TV is not conducive to creative, imaginative artistry.

AH and I binged on some Greys Anatomy tonight. Series 14. We probably should have started at series 13 because it was tricky at the beginning to figure out what was going on.

I get to sleep in tomorrow *happy dance* but because I was so lazy today, I will have a lot to do ... like wrapping a stack of Christmas presents to send off on Monday morning, getting the pool area ready for visitors for Monday morning coffee and doing a touch of overdue housework.

It’s already after 11pm so I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Record Breaking

Another early morning start for me - day nine of Adoring Husband being out of action due to his back.

He is on the improve and could possibly be good to go in a couple more days.

We drove into The Bay this morning arriving at the school zone at around 9.30am.

We had most of our Christmas shopping and some grocery shopping to get done today because we don’t plan on another trip in until the new year! We need to visit the fish markets on Christmas Eve to buy our seafood but we’ll avoid the main part of town over the holidays.

At 1.15pm we had completed our task and were purchasing our favourite coffees via the drive through on the way out of town!

I think I spent more money on myself than I did on everyone else. I purchased a new hand made wallet which I absolutely love. It fits my phone, all my cards, spare business cards, cash and still closes comfortably. She had so many different colours and designs to choose from, but this one was my favourite.

It’s the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, with the words “We’re all mad here”

I’ve removed 8 garments from my wardrobe to make room for the 8 new tops that I found today. I got a lovely pair of Diana Ferrari shoes on sale - like walking on air - and perfect for work.

I caught up on my collection of Greys Anatomy series on DVD. Time for some binge watching!

This weekend will be spent wrapping and packaging Christmas presents ready to send in the mail. It’s the first Christmas in a long time that we’ve put so much effort into gifts. I’m not sure why. I hope we’ve made some good choices though.

We received a nice drop of rain this afternoon as a big storm passed by and we got the edge of it. We need a lot more of course, but it was nice to hear that unfamiliar sound on the tin roof.

I decided to not go to the club tonight and because we skipped lunch, I prepared a very early dinner. We are both exhausted and I think I’m ready for bed. I’m not sure if I’m working at the shop tomorrow or not. I’ll go in anyway.

Happy weekend to you.

Nite all.

Another Quickie

Ha! I worked two jobs today!

It was a slow afternoon in the shop, so I started doodling and ended up with this ...

It turned out a lot better than I expected.

Adoring Husband was capable of driving into The Bay to check out the Harvey Norman sale today. Our DVD player died a while ago so he purchased a temporary replacement until we can find out if our main system can be repaired.

Hopefully he will be capable of driving tomorrow because there is more stuff to do.

Even though it was a stinking hot day, I didn’t swim in the pool. I tested the water and it was almost luke warm. Perfect for AH who prefers a warm bath over a cool swim.

Well, gotta clean the kitchen before bed so I’d best get moving or it’s going to be a late night.

Happy Friday!

Nite all.

Just Quickly

It’s late and I’m working tomorrow, so just quickly, our plantation shutters were fitted today and we love them!

They are in our bedroom and the lounge room.

I did a quick piece of art ...

... because I was feeling crappy.

Today was not a good day for me.

Thursday will be better.

Nite all.

Tuesday Tantrums

Adoring Husband is still out of action.

At 6am I was pedalling to work on his behalf and from there, I rode to order our morning coffees.

When I got home, I took my coffee to bed where I enjoyed a lazy hour watching YouTube videos of art, until it was time to get ready for morning coffee with the girls.

Even though there were a few missing, it was still a good morning with the girls with some laughs, some whinging, some confessions and some holiday stories. We all visited The Happy Abode before going our separate ways.

I stayed for a little while with The Motivator and we talked shop for a bit, but I had a ‘to do’ list at home that I had to attack, so I did some grocery shopping and rode home to prepare some some lunch for AH.

After lunch, I cooked up the next three days worth of dog food for the psychotic dogs and batched it up.

The plantation shutters are being fitted on Wednesday so I had to clean the five front windows of the house in preparation for the fitting. I did not enjoy that job at all.

I hung a load of washing on the line and filled the machine with a large load of AH’s clothes.

I fed the dogs and then we drove to get our afternoon coffee.

I tested the pool water and strongly considered jumping in but chose not to.

I sat with AH until it was time to cook dinner.

The kitchen is still waiting for me to clear the mess so I shall sign off. It’s already 10pm so it will be late by the time I hit the hay.

I might get to play in my studio tomorrow 👩‍🎨

Nite all.

Triggers Galore!

I couldn’t sleep last night.

I simply wasn’t tired!

My essential oil blend of ‘sweet sleep’ didn’t help. That’s only the second time in 2 years that my oils were ineffective.

My sleeping meditations didn’t work - also the second time in a year.

I felt very awake and energised and couldn’t wind down until 2am.

I was enjoying a very sound sleep and even though Adoring Husband swears he turned off his alarm last night, it went off loud and long and clear at 4.45am waking me with a jolt and it took him so long to turn it off, the adrenalin, anger and resentment welled and I began my day in a very negative state of mind.

I certainly let him know how I was feeling before I left for work hoping to make him feel as guilty as possible.

I didn’t want my entire day to reflect how it started so while I was pedalling and working, I remembered that I have control over my own thoughts and I cleared my anger and changed my thought processes. I let the bad stuff go, released my anger and focussed on how great my day was going to be from that moment forward.

After I got our coffee, I returned home, changed into my swimmers/togs/bathers and fell into the pool. I swam some laps, did some stretches, and while I floated I imagined my happy place. Surprisingly, my imagined happy place is not as great as our pool area!

I gave myself plenty of time to get ready for the retreat with The Gypsy, washing my hair, selecting my clothes, applying my make up, choosing my ‘intuitive’ jewellery, preparing the container of fruit, remembering TG’s light bulbs for her salt lamp and my thankyou card with a long letter of gratitude for her to close the year.

The Motivator was to pick me up at 8.55am. This would get us to our destination with ten minutes to spare, as requested in our acceptance email.

But she didn’t.

This triggered some stuff in me.

I am in control of my own thoughts ... clear that s&$t and let it go! Ugh 😩

We arrived with no time to spare and the retreat began immediately.

It was an amazing morning full of meditations, drumming, crystal singing bowls, qigong, sharing and offerings of gratitude.

Everyone has a story and there were 15 stories in that room all with varying degrees of emotional trauma and all from people practicing amazing coping methods successfully.

Sitting in that room with those 15 people, I would never have imagined the dramas that they were currently being challenged by.

The morning passed so quickly and it was over before we knew it.  We had all brought a plate of food which we spread over a large table and we all got know each other a little better over fresh vegetarian platters.

I couldn’t believe how hot it was when we left at 2pm. TM and I picked up AH’s and my afternoon coffees before she dropped me home.

Adoring Husband had spent a couple of hours in the pool while I was gone, but I wasn’t in the mood for swimming and plonked myself on my lounge chair until it was time to reset the outdoor Christmas decorations, which I had put off from the night before.

I prepared duck breast and salad for AH’s dinner followed by home made GF chocolate brownies with coconut ice cream.

I watched an art show on the Smooth/Art channel which was a portrait competition in the UK. Talented artists from four different areas competed to be selected in the final four to go to Paris and receive tutoring/mentoring from some highly esteemed artist (to be named next week). Very interesting show and the different methods used by the 18 artists competing was so varied.

My favourite won tonight. I would like to be tutored by him!

Anyway, I plan to catch up on some much needed sleep so I’m signing off here.

Looking forward to coffee with the girls in the morning.

Nite all.

Day Of Rest?

At 9.30am, Adoring Husband could not wait any longer and came into the bedroom asking if we could go get coffee.

Under normal circumstances, he’d have driven to to the shop at 6am and bought two coffees - one for me to reheat upon waking.

When we returned home, I received a phone call from Vegan Chickie and we chatted for about an hour.

AH’s need for lunch then had me in the kitchen cooking up some chicken and preparing a salad with a dish of fresh pineapple for dessert.

I went out to the pool area to make sure the filter was clear and picked up all the Bali grass that was lying around - and there was a LOT! These strong winds have been breaking the grass off the roof and making a huge mess!

I cleaned up the kitchen and while emptying the bin, the plastic bag burst open and I ended up with sloppy trash all over the floor. After much loud swearing and cursing, I cleaned up the mess and mopped the floor.

Ugh.

I put a load of washing on, cleaned some dog pee off the floor (psychotic dog Ruby can’t see well enough to find her way outside anymore, so she just squats in random places on the tiled floor) and I mopped up the hallway and a large area of the family room while I was at it.

At this point I decided to go for a swim. I knew that if I didn’t stop doing “the things” I would start feeling resentful, so some ‘ME time’ was necessary.

Before I could swim, I had to get all the lounge cushions and the throw cushions out of the outdoor kitchen (where we’d put them in case the storm hit yesterday) and set the lounge area up for use. It was also the only way I could get to the sound bar in the kitchen so that we could listen to music.

I didn’t get a lot of time in the pool and AH joined me, which was excellent for his back.

Ruby was crying loudly at the gate but ran away every time I opened it to let her in.

Frustrating!

Eventually, I noticed that her eye was a mess and she was scratching the back of her legs, so I left the pool and took her into the laundry to bath her with the special anti allergy soap and clean her eye. I figured while I was there I should bath psychotic dog Colli too.

After that, I hung out some washing and put on another load.

AH then appeared asking if we could go get our afternoon coffee, so I found something to cover my swimmers/togs/bathers and we drove to the shops where he then asked me to purchase some snacks aka fruit.

This annoyed me because all I was wearing was a sarong over my togs, my hair was wet and I had no make up! I was prepared to order coffee and hide quietly in a corner until it was ready. I was NOT prepared to walk through the supermarket for all and sundry to see me looking so disheveled!

We drank our coffee outside under the Bali hut, which was lovely. AH moved inside and I remained there for about 45 minutes until it was time to prepare dinner.

I had to set AH up with the TENS machine first.

More chicken and salad for AH and mushroom soup for me.

AH wanted me to set the Christmas decorations back up after we’d pulled them in yesterday when the storm was threatening, but I declined - they can wait til tomorrow!

I cleaned the kitchen and prepared dessert.

I need to get some decent sleep because I have to work for AH early in the morning and tomorrow is a half day retreat at The Gypsy’s house in Torbanlea, which I am really looking forward to.

I might even have a swim between work and the retreat.

Nite all.

It’s Time

My alarm woke me at 5.45am and surprisingly, I jumped out of bed quickly because Adoring Husband’s side of the bed was empty and I was worried that he had gone to work. Thankfully I found him sitting up in his chair in the lounge room.

I changed into some cleaning clothes and even though AH offered to drive me to work, I chose pedal power. The job didn’t take long and I detoured via the coffee shop to purchase our morning brews before returning home.

My day consisted of preparing breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for AH, packaging the fresh bone broth and putting it in the freezer, getting clothes off the line and folding them, securing the inflatable Christmas decorations and putting all the cushions from the pool area into the outdoor kitchen just in case that nasty sounding storm hit, cleaning the kitchen and helping AH with the TENS machine.

We watched a lot of Netflix in between all of that. Christmas movies.

The weather, once again, was dreadful and too windy to enjoy the pool.

It’s that time of year when I’m ready to look back on what I’ve achieved in 2019, think about my hopes and dreams for next year and to choose a word to embody what 2020 will mean for me.

I haven’t done any of that yet, but that’s my plan for tomorrow. Sometime soon, I’ll also create a dream/vision board for next year.

Right now, I’ve just got AH into bed and I’m watching the movie “Oklahoma” on the Fox Classics channel. The movie opened with “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” which is my alarm song! Great songs and big name actors, most of whom have passed on now. I think Shirley Jones is the only main character still living and she is 85 yrs old now.

Anyway, I’m off to enjoy the last hour of the movie.

Happy Sunday!

Nite all.

A Busy One

I’ve just this minute hung up from a 90 minute phone conversation with my sister, Squirt.

My day began at 1.20am when I was woken by an almighty thud as Adoring Husband hit the floor. We spent the next 20 minutes trying to get back up!

He’s fine.

His alarm went off at 4.45am which was my cue to get up and ride to the shops to work in his place.

From there, I rode to get our coffees before returning home.

At 7.30am, we realised there were no pain killers in the house and I had forgotten the Himalayan salt, so I pedalled back to the shops and stopped briefly at The Seat of Knowledge to see the boys.

I cut up a bowl of watermelon for AH to munch on while he watched iview on his iPad while in bed.

I lay in bed for a little while and remembered that I had to mail one of my calendars out today and I needed to take some shells and string to The Motivator at the shop, so I climbed back onto my trike at 10am and began riding in the oppressive heat back to where I had already been twice today.

I spent about 30 minutes with TM before Returning home to prepare some lunch for AH.

After lunch, I had to prepare the dog food, so I spent 30 minutes in the kitchen cooking that up as well as putting lamb shanks in the slow cooker for our dinner.

I attempted to nap at 2pm but the psychotic dogs woke me early because they were hungry, so I fed them.

At this point AH was able to stand upright and suggested that he drive me back to the shops to get our afternoon coffee, which we did.

AH sat in his lounge chair while I finished preparing our lamb shank dinner and we were able to have dinner together.

The weather was too miserably windy to go in the pool, so I tried to stay inside in the air conditioning for the majority of the day. I did come outside to clear all the Bali grass from near the pool area. The wind has been crazy and the grass is snapping off the roof of the hut causing a big mess.

AH seems to be marginally better than yesterday and we’ve been using the TENS machine on his back as well as rubbing Do Terra Ice Blue onto the affected area, taking mild pain killers and eating very well.

This evening I had to replace and hammer the pegs in the ground for our Christmas dragon on the front lawn before he blew away.

I’ve spent 90 minutes on the phone with my sister and now have to clean the kitchen before bed. It will be another early morning working for AH so there will definitely be a distinct lack of sleep for this little woman again tonight.

So that has been my pretty full day.

Need sleep 😴

Nite all.

Missed Again

I just wasn’t in the mood for blogging on Wednesday night.

So I didn’t!

Wednesday was a busy day with early morning meditation, followed by coffee with all the meditation ladies, a great chat with The Gypsy and The Motivator and then a trip into The Bay with Adoring Husband.

We lunched together and shopped together and arrived home just before 4pm which gave me just enough time for a swim and preparing an early dinner so that we could attend the monthly trivia night.

Out of 16 teams, we came 8th which was better than the previous month when we came second last!

It doesn’t matter because it’s always great to be part of the fun with The Brains Trust and The Garden Guru.

It was a late night to bed and unfortunately an earlier rise than expected when AH hurt his back while working in the garden and needed help to get through the back door and into the bedroom.

I got him to have a shower to relax the muscles.

I had to help him put on his swimmers and then assisted him to the pool area so that he could get into the water and take pressure off the spine, which is where he stayed for over an hour.

I prepared lunch and he ate it in the pool.

Eventually, he had to get out and it was a slow and painful process to get him to the loo and then to the couch where he voluntarily collapsed for a couple of hours.

The next part of the process was getting him to the bed.

More pain as he moved inch by inch to the bedroom.

At this point, The Motivator arrived with her TENS machine. What a life saver!

He is still in pain and still in bed. It looks like I’ll be working for him tomorrow morning and it might be at least a few days before he’s back in action 😳

Meanwhile, we have a new addition to our Christmas merriment on the front lawn ...

All in honour of Chicklet, whose favourite creature is the dragon!

Now I’m off to bed so that I can get up early to work.

Nite all.