Fun with Art

We had another successful Paint and Create workshop at The Happy Abode this morning.

I so love seeing the results of everybody's efforts. Always completely different from each other.

The shop kept me busy with sales until about midday and then it all went quiet, but I left the shop feeling very satisfied and very tired.

It is now that my brain and body is going "Ok you can stop now. Rest."

I came home to eat a late lunch and decided to go for a dip in the very icy waters of the pool. The night time air temperatures have been somewhat cooler of late, so that in turn cools down our water. I feel that swimming might very soon be out of the question. I will push myself to the limits though because it's nice to get the blood circulating ... to a point.

The temptation to do some art was strong, but the heat gun that was 'given' to me by the Truckloads guy is leaking so I will have to grab one from the shop tomorrow and spend Sunday working some magic.

Instead, I did some washing, created our advertisement for next month's newsletter and cooked some dinner ... all while watching the footy. Another disastrous tipping effort by me this week, although I'm certain that a lot of people have done poorly because of all the top teams, only one has been successful so far.

I feel that I'll be having an early night and hopefully sleeping soundly. I've had a few restless nights lately.

So to keep you occupied for another 30 seconds ...

Have a wonderful Sunday everybody.

Nite all.

Not so Restful

I woke up this morning and looked at my watch.

9.30am!!!

Shocking!

Adoring Husband juiced my celery for me and brought me a nice big glass of fresh green liquid, followed by some Vegemite toast.

We had made plans to drive into The Bay today and at 11.15am, I thought to myself "AH has been up for almost seven hours and has been very patiently waiting for me to get my act together. If I am very time efficient, I can be ready in about 20 minutes and we can be in The Bay a little after midday."

So I get out of bed, walk out of the bedroom to face AH who says "Would you please iron my shirt while I have a shower?"

What the!?

I just looked at him blankly and he said "Why are you looking at me like that? Don't do it if you don't want to."

Seven hours!! He couldn't have had a shower and ironed his shirt in that time?

So much for being time efficient and being in The Bay a little after midday.

It was almost 1pm when we finally got to The Bay.

Then it was non-stop driving and shopping all over The Bay.

The plumbing place to order something for AH's work, Bunnings (ugh), Barbecue's Galore, HBW, Office Works, Lawn Mower place, Kmart (twice), Robin's Kitchen, Heaps Discounts (twice), Boost Juice, The Coffee Club, Truckloads, King Kong, and lastly the Clearance Centre.

All of this to purchase art materials for The Happy Abode AND for my personal use.

AH was hoping we would find an outdoor bar setting for our other outdoor area, but we haven't found exactly the right setting for exactly the right price yet and today we were unsuccessful in our search.

We drove home dropping off some of the workshop materials to The Motivator's house on the way.

Realising that we had nothing out for dinner, we decided on grilled fish and chips from the cafe.

It was 6pm by the time we sat down to eat our dinner.

AH put together my new storage centre ...

  ... and I filled it with my tools of the trade.

Crazy huh? I think I'm gunna need a bigger storage centre lol.

Needless to say, I did not attend the club tonight for the usual Friday night shenanigans and I am absolutely exhausted!

Work tomorrow while the Paint and Create workshop is being run by The Motivator and then I get four days off.

R&R definitely required.

Right now, it's time for bed!

Nite all.

It's a WOW!

What a day!

Is that how I started yesterday's post?

Today was amazing from beginning to end.

Adoring Husband opened the doors early and two kids who had been in yesterday, came in with their brother and his mate. They bought a LOT of stuff, but they didn't choose everything and then bring it all to the counter. They purchased one thing at a time, one after the other, so between the four of them, there were at least six purchases! They just kept finding new stuff to buy. They even had their Mum on the phone at one stage.

This was followed by a return customer who was about to leave for home, which is in Victoria, and she had left her boyfriend in the car so that she could come say goodbye and add to her button collection.

Next, the owner of our local cafe appeared to give me some news.

She had forgotten to tell me that she had a large group of ladies coming for morning tea and that The Happy Abode was on their itinerary. She was expecting them to arrive in about 30 minutes.

That kind of put a spanner in my works.

Remember that 'to do' list that I was going to methodically work through? Hmm.

I had enough time to iron the new clothing before the hoard of women arrived. There were at least a dozen of them and they made lots of happy sounds when they saw the shop and commented favourably about the design and layout and atmosphere.

They almost all made purchases. Some sat in our lounge area and chatted quietly while others wandered around the shop and one after the other, they brought their selections to the counter.

The leader of the group advised me that she was part of a Classic Cars group who would be gathering together at Burrum River Caravan Park in May, and that she would be organising for the wives to convoy over to our town and visit The Happy Abode.

She took business cards and some of our postcards to issue to some other groups that she is involved with and promised to spread the word for us.

At that point, it was only 11.30am and I was feeling incredibly grateful for how the morning had gone and for the sales that we had made. I expected that it would go very quiet and I could work through my list as planned.

But no ... straight after they had all left, a lady came in to purchase gifts for a special friend and for herself. She did not hold back.

Customers just kept coming.

It was almost closing time and our total was just $3 off a a large round figure and I sent a message out to the universe to send one more customer in to send that total above the round figure.

Less than five minutes later, a woman walked in and bought a $4 miniature turtle.

In between all of this activity, I did action a lot of things off my list so my day was incredibly productive and AH helped me finish off my list.

Before I rode home, I took a call from The Motivator who was sitting at Brisbane Airport waiting for her final flight home. Her news sounded very exciting and I can't wait to hear more about the course and the amazing methods she has learned for healing. I'm looking forward to being a guinea pig!

Our pool area was finally certified today.

Number One Son's footy team defeated my footy team tonight ... sadly for me. I officially withdrew from the club footy tipping competition and sent an email to the site owners to let them know how I felt about their crappy site.

Last of all, I got a call from Vegan Chickie tonight, which was much shorter than our usual call, but it was so good to hear from her.

Now it's fast approaching 11.30pm and I am exhausted.

Nite all.

... and we’re off!

Life as we know it has returned to normal.

The quiet season has passed, customers are back and sales are on the increase.

I had another busy, busy day. So busy that I still didn’t finish unpacking the stock that arrived on Monday. Small steps.

I have a ‘to do’ list a mile long now, which I will methodically work through tomorrow, so that I can take some time off with a clean slate and a clear conscience.

It’s crazy how you can have days in a row where nothing needs to be done and then suddenly there are 12 things that need to be done yesterday!

The Motivator arrives home tomorrow and will be back on board Friday. It’ll be good to have her back. Hopefully I can work efficiently enough that she can start back with a clean slate too.

Today’s busy-ness included meditation, massage appointments, child customers with generous grandparents, customers spoiling themselves, customers buying themselves farewell gifts before returning home, unpacking stock, talking to reps on the phone, paying bills, contacting workshop participants and rearranging stock.

I didn’t get to chat with The Gypsy except for her last 20 minutes in the shop.

Thank goodness for Adoring Husband who helped me close the shop again.

Now I’m off to bed because my brain 🧠 is incapable of further thought.

Nite all.

It was Big!

What a day!

It's been an incredibly busy day.

I arrived early to attempt to unpack some of the new stock before the girls arrived, which meant that I opened the shop on my own. Adoring Husband drove into The Bay early to run some errands.

I only sat with the coffee girls for about 20 minutes because there was stock to unpack and customers to serve and then some of the girls decided to make some purchases themselves.

A couple of customers came in to request some orders, which require some research before it can be done.

Our fluid art lady dropped in some more art.

Another lady, our crystal expert, brought some beautiful crystals and rocks for us to sell on consignment. She provided stands and cases and gauze bags and a thorough list of information.

A sales rep phoned to get more information about what we want to see from him when he visits on the first Tuesday after Easter.

There are SO MANY scarves, clothing items, bags and jewellery from Ivys that still have to be unpacked and priced and displayed.

Beauty visited before she left for her 7 week holiday, to spend her birthday voucher.

There were bookings for The Gypsy.

Lots of holiday customers in and out all day.

I actually did some banking.

I haven't even checked my emails today.

I did hear from The Motivator who is raving about the course that she's been doing and I'm keen to hear all about it upon her return.

Adoring Husband drove into town and bought lots of materials for my paint pouring at home, which I'll do when I get some time off next week.

He also helped me close the shop this afternoon and I chose to be kind to myself and NOT stay at the shop to finish 'all the stuff', but instead I rode home at 4pm, made an early dinner and put my feet up. I edited some extra wedding photos for last year's bride and now I need to get into bed before midnight.

Meditation early tomorrow, among other things.

I'm exhausted!

Nite all.

Good One

Yes it was a good day!

Not only for sales, but a big delivery arrived this afternoon which is still not completely unpacked or displayed, but tomorrow is another day.

The Gypsy and I had some good discussions between her appointments and there were some fun new customers coming in all day long, as well as some regulars.

My Nutrimetics order was delivered by Aggie.

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop and I ate my first food for the day as I was riding home. The green grapes did not agree with me and the pain in my belly worsened when I ate 2 GF biscuits later.

I headed to bed straight after my small dinner, but was rudely jolted out of bed when psychotic dog Jack began screaming from cramps. AH and I rubbed magnesium oil into his paws and ears and I brought Jack to bed with me.

I am in bed as I write this and I’m still feeling pretty tender in the tummy, so I am going to sign off and sleep it off.

Hopefully I will have recovered enough to enjoy coffee with the girls in the morning.

Nite all.

Sweet Sunday

It has been the perfect day of rest.

I woke at 6.30am but stayed in bed until about 8.30am.

Adoring Husband brought my coffee to me, so I got up, got dressed and met him outside under the Bali hut. After a while he decided to make breakfast, so on the barbecue he made himself a bacon and egg roll and at my request, he made me some toast.

After breakfast, it was time for a swim. For me. Not Adoring Husband. It was too cold for AH. I have to admit that I stood in the water knee deep for quite some time until I adjusted to the temperature and then gathered my courage and jumped in.

I'm here to say that it was bloody cold!

After a few minutes, my body temperature adjusted to the water and I was able to swim a few laps, do a few exercises and float around for about 15 minutes. I sat on the edge of the pool in the sunshine for another 15 minutes to warm up before I began setting up for my art morning.

I should have taken photos of the process because it got pretty messy, but this is what our dining table looks like right now ...

... and this is the art that I produced. I didn't have all the materials that I needed, so I had to modify my ideas and it's not what I had envisioned in my head, but I know, after this bit of practice, that the next one is going to be much better.

I sat down for an hour after that to mentally prepare for the baked dinner I was serving for dinner. Chicken, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, broccoli and gravy.

I'm looking forward to a good week at the shop. According to the local Traders shop, it was a busy day in town today and the Real Estate Agent announced that there were 92 houses in the area filled with holiday makers.

Let's hope they come visit The Happy Abode.

Now it's time for bed.

Nite all.