We Made It!

It was a quick and easy drive to Montville - says me, the passenger!

We found our accommodation easily and our hosts are super friendly and super lovely. The home is amazing. The guest house, where we are accommodated, is divine. The view is breathtaking. Anne’s little gallery, full of her pottery pieces, is delightful. Anne’s studio where she creates her art is wonderful.

I so wish I’d brought my camera. Already, the photographic opportunities have captured my imagination and I will have to resort to the phone camera. I’ll take photos in the morning and post them here tomorrow night.

We arrived after 6pm and by the time we were given the tour and chatted with Anne and Tim, it was well after 7pm and we decided to snack on the nuts and fruit that we’d packed instead of going out for dinner. We should be famished by morning!

The Motivator ran a great paint pour workshop this morning and I manned the shop. Sales were very slow until the last hour when it picked up considerably and saved the day.

All in all it’s been a great day!

This is short and sweet - just so you know we are alive and kicking.

Nite all.

A Quick Trip

Adoring Husband and I made what was supposed to be a quick trip into The Bay today.

He needed a new battery for his ride on mower and I wanted a 'golden pig'.

Chinese New Year is 5th February and this year will be the year of the pig. A golden pig would represent abundance and I wanted to place it in the money corner of The Happy Abode to bring us good luck in the Year of the Pig!

No golden pigs to be found!

I tried the Chinese Grocery and Gift store on Bideford St.

I tried Heaps Discounts in Stocklands.

I tried the newsagent in Stocklands.

I tried Mind, Body and Soul on the Esplanade.

I tried King Kong on Islander Rd.

I contacted Tinkerbell's on the Esplanade.

Nobody has any golden pigs.

So I bought two dragon eggs with dragons hatching out of them to put under the tree beside the pool - for a Chicklet surprise when she visits this year.

I bought a doorstop covered in peace signs and the word 'peace' to hold the gate open when we are in the pool so that the psychotic dogs can come and go as they please.

I bought a small sitting buddha to put in the garden near the pool.

I bought a jade buddha necklace.

I bought a new sound bar because mine is at the shop and has almost seen it's last days.

I bought a season of Grey's Anatomy, Mama Mia - Here We Go Again and The Book Club on dvd.

I checked my Powerball ticket and was pleased to see that nobody won my $80 million and now I can win the $100 million next week!

I replaced some make up that I'd run out of.

I bought some groceries - celery, capsicum, cucumber, grapes and paleo bread.

I bought some crystal rocks for focus, abundance, magical luck, knowledge, intellect, vitality and purpose. The crystals were jade, apatite, sodalite, goldstone and merlinite.

I bought two gifts to give for birthday presents this year.

So the quick trip turned into quite an expensive outing and took most of the day.

I did manage to get some washing done, but the remaining housework will wait for another day!

Our table was very lucky at the club tonight with 5 or 6 prizes being won. I didn't get any raffle tickets because they sold out and didn't have any spares to start another book! Unheard of!

I'd best get to bed because it's after 11pm and I have to work tomorrow as well as pack for our road trip to the Sunny Coast. The Motivator and I are driving down to go shopping in IKEA as well as have a quick browse of Montville where we will be staying in an air bnb.

It's been too long since we had some fun together like this and I'm really looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend!

Nite all.

Day of Mental Productivity

Even though it was my day off, I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm - it's permanently set for 5.55am.

I actually got to do some of the 'things' on that list.

I started by reading some of The Gypsy's first book and I completed some of the 'actions' at the end of the first few chapters. Actions are writing exercises, which I really enjoyed.

As you can see, my bed was covered with books, journals and laptop.

I did some journalling and wrote about six foolscap pages.

I got out of bed to cook some food and after I snacked on a couple of pork sausages, I returned to my office (aka my bed)

I flicked through the 'My Shining Biz' work book and wrote a few notes, but just couldn't get into it,

I noticed that Thor was on our bedroom window! So I found a container and thought that I'd be able to catch and release him - until I realised that he was on the other side of the window between the glass and the fly screen.

My hand is still about an inch away from Thor so the perspective still doesn't quite show how big he is.

This meant that I had to tell Adoring Husband about Thor - just in case he decided to open the window and got freaked out. I'm not sure how I'm going to free Thor from his current position - unless I can pull the screen off from the outside.

AH is not happy about sleeping in the bedroom with Thor and doesn't trust that the window is sealed. He strongly considered sleeping on his chair in the lounge room all night, but surprisingly, has gone to bed.

Soon after my re-introduction to Thor, I could hear the pool calling me, so I changed into my swimmers, put a load of washing in the machine, grabbed a towel and some of my books and paperwork from the bed to put into the Bali bed for later and quickly waded into the water.

The water was quite tepid. I swam a few laps, did my 50 jumps, 50 twists, 50 kicks and then perched myself on my meditation seat. Adoring Husband joined me on the seat for a while and after a couple of hours, I lay in the Bali bed and did some more reading, but the music was distracting me so I lay with my eyes closed listening to that instead.

It was 5pm when I came inside to prepare dinner - a salsa with mango, pear, tomato, cucumber, avocado and spring onion with a balsamic vinegar dressing. I put that on a bed of rocket and served ti with crispy skinned chicken thighs.

I made a new fruit whip for dessert - banana, red pawpaw, dragon fruit, pineapple, coconut cream, maple syrup and salt. I made a walnut toffee mix by spreading some raw walnuts onto grease proof paper, drizzling maple syrup over the top then sprinkling with Himalayan salt and cooking in a hot oven for about 8 minutes.

It was delicious chopped and sprinkled over the fruit whip.

Friday is my second day off work and I plan on getting my washing up to date and doing some housework - as long as the motivation levels remain high!

I'm off to bed and it's not even 9.30pm yet! I could make a habit of this!

Nite all.  

Such a Delight

Today was pretty full!

For the first time in a long time, I woke up full of beans this morning and was able to jump out of bed feeling motivated and energised.

It's taken nine days of Paleo eating to finally reach this point. I don't think the withdrawals are quite over yet, but they have eased considerably and I'm feeling lighter and clearer in the head! Won't be long and I'll be dangerous!

So far, the most difficult part has been remembering to drink enough water.

I got to work just after 7am and opened up ready for meditation. There were eight of us in attendance and it was a great start to the year with the subject of the day being "Be The Change". Hit the nail on the head and was totally relatable.

The Gypsy's first appointment after meditation this morning was filled by The Motivator, followed by one of the new attendees at meditation, then she had a break before I filled her last appointment for the day.

I actually didn't need the massage, but chose to have one anyway. It felt totally different. No painful spots at all and it was freeing and cleansing. I felt almost disconnected from my body as I just enjoyed the good energy.

Between the pool and the change in diet, my body is beginning to thank me.

By the time I'd finished, The Motivator had closed the shop and she left soon after I came out of the treatment room.

I stayed a while longer, did some grocery shopping, picked up our order from the butcher and mailed my sister's Christmas present (yes, just a tiny bit late).

I rode home and yessssssss, I changed out of my work clothes, into my swimmers and walked straight into the pool ... wearing my Apple Watch ... which ISN'T water proof! Ugh! It still seems to be working, but I was a bit annoyed with myself for not removing it with the rest of my jewellery when I got home.

I swam a few laps and then sat in my meditation spot, not meditating, but Facebooking and playing WWF on my phone.

After a while, I got out of the water and sat in the Bali Bed to dry off. I had music playing on the sound bar in the kitchen and the music kind of floated over the water. It was so relaxing and the weather was perfect with plenty of cloud cover.

Eventually I forced myself to go inside and begin preparing dinner. I filled our plates with a bit of everything - shredded rocket, pear strips, tomato strips, cucumber strips, mango strips, spring onion strips, celery strips, avocado strips and some sun-dried tomato. I chopped up some chicken and fried the pieces in coconut oil with some onion powder. Simple but effective.

No dessert tonight.

I have two days off now, so I'm heading to bed at 11pm. I have no solid plans for tomorrow, but you've seen my 'to do' list, so hopefully I can cross a few things off it.

Wish me luck!

Nite all.  

A Great Start

It was a GREAT start to the day having coffee with the girls.

There were lots of laughs - especially when I told the story of THOR - which I will relate here one day, when the story has more depth and a satisfactory ending.

There were lots of medical stories and fitness stories and pet stories and plans made.

Most of the girls had a little shop and our morning was done before 11am.

It was a slow but steady day in the shop with some new young faces in the mix and an unusually quirky young lady from the water who paid me a second visit today and was in for a chat.

I got quite a few chores done including cleaning the back room ready for meditation, some dusting, cleaning the loo, restocking the button trays, sending some mail, emptying all the bins ready for bin night etc.

There are still things on my list that didn't get done ...

Adoring Husband helped me shut up shop but I didn't leave until almost 4pm. My intention was to swim but that didn't happen and then I planned to float in the water at 7.30 to watch some interesting sky action, but the cloud cover put a stop to that.

We had a version of Hainan Chicken for dinner with fruit whip for dessert.

Gotta be up early in the morning for meditation so I'm off to bed.

You may or may not know who you are, but if you're reading this, I'm talking to you ...

Nite all.

First Monday of the Year

The Gypsy returned for her first day back at the shop and between customers we had some more good chats and caught up with our holiday news - of which there was a lot.

The shop was busy in the morning and in the afternoon but very quiet in the middle. Overall, it was a good sales day, but I only got one thing done from my 'to do' list, so I transferred all the 'to-dos' to tomorrow's page.

Nothing else happened today.

I shut up shop right on time because the weather was looking ominous and every other shop except the butcher and the supermarket were closed and the streets were quiet.

I didn't go in the pool - it's been a whole week since I swam! What's going on there? I have new swimmers, so I need to christen them soon.

I made an easy dinner of lamb chops and salads. Fruit whip for dessert.

Adoring Husband has been asleep on the chair for almost two hours and I've been watching The Upside of Anger, but I think it's time for me to hit the hay.

I wonder if I can get out of bed early enough to go riding with my camera in the morning? Time will tell.

I wonder if I can wake up early enough to go for a swim before work? Time will tell.

I AM looking forward to coffee with the girls in the morning 🤩

On that note, I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Remember the List?

Remember the list of things that I posted yesterday?

The long list of things that I had to choose from to fill my Sunday?

How many of those things do you think I did?

Oh you know me so well!!

Not a single one of them.

I woke up late - around 8.30am - and lay in bed Facebooking on my iPad. After about 30 minutes, Adoring Husband entered the bedroom and said "I'm going into The Bay".

I replied "Do I want to come with you?"

He responded "If you want. Let me know when you're ready. No rush."

So up I got, dressed myself to look like a tidy casual holiday-maker and off we drove to The Bay.

AH dropped me at Stocklands while he headed to the dreaded Bunnings. As he dropped me off, I said "Don't rush. Take your time Darling".

What a lovely time I had spending some of my pokies winnings.

There were lots of sales and I didn't pay full price for many items all day but I purchased a pair of flat shoes, 3 bras, 3 tops, 2 t-shirts, 1 lipstick, 1 palette of blush powders, 3 tankini tops (the top part of swimmers), 3 gifts to put away for birthdays, 4 tall plastic cups, 1 pr of 3/4 pants, 2 bling hair bands, a ticket in the $80 million Powerball and a beach towel.

Together, AH and I bought a new set of cutlery to replace the very expensive, but very breakable cutlery set that we bought about 18 months ago. It was a great price. We bought a beautiful melamine dinner set with a serving tray and salad bowl to go into our outdoor kitchen.

It was 2.30pm when we arrived home and after unpacking my shopping, I decided to empty out my dressing table drawers and do some culling. I needed space to put my new swimmers and bras! I tossed a LOT of clothes - none of them were even worthy Op Shop candidates, so they ended up in the sulo. Now I have lovely tidy spacious dressing table drawers.

I browned some lamb shanks and let them simmer deliciously in chicken broth, chopped onion and mushroom. I thickly sliced sweet potato, pumpkin, onion and carrot to bake and brown in a hot oven. When the shanks were ready, I thickened the liquid to make a nice tasty gravy and we ate dinner at about 5.30pm.

Dessert was the fruit whip that I'd made the night before - pineapple, banana, raspberries, dragon fruit, coconut cream, maple syrup and salt in the processor. I served it with blueberries and grated dark organic healthy chocolate over AH's and chopped some blanched almonds over mine.

It's almost 9pm and I am ready for bed. The Motivator has the next couple of days off and I'll be off on Thursday and Friday.

I must print out that list that I wrote yesterday so that I can refer back to it on future days off.

Nite all.