Chilly Az

I would have liked to stay in my warm bed this morning.

Out of necessity, I forced myself to get up and actually arrived at work 30 minutes early!

It was a good day for sales and the morning passed quickly.

AH arrived with time to order lunch and we ate that together before we started our planned rearranging.

It was probably a mistake leaving the shop open while we worked because there were a lot of interruptions and all we got done was the shelving in the training room and by then, I was done. It was almost 4pm by the time we got home and both our energy levels were pretty low by then.

We parked ourselves on the couch and watched “Stand By Me” - I can’t believe AH had never seen it before today! It’s one of those iconic movies from the 80s with big names like River Phoenix, Kiefer Sutherland, Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell and Richard Dreyfus.

Worst of all, I don’t think he was impressed.

I made myself a delicious cauliflower and mushroom soup for dinner. I reckon it’s the nicest soup I’ve ever made and I savoured and delighted in every single mouthful.

AH had pork chops from my winning meat tray accompanied by cauliflower and pumpkin and a mushroom gravy.

It’s now almost 9pm and I’m ready for bed. Looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow and the chance to stay snuggly warm under the covers for as long as I like.

Nite all.

Pleasantness

My Friday passed very pleasantly.

A regular customer who is leaving town, came to say goodbye and partake in one last hit of retail therapy before she left. She’s a funny thing and spent about an hour with me.

Beauty has returned from her big holiday in the van, so she came to say hello too.

I had a babysitting Grandma visit with her Granddaughter, who left with a little fairy ornament in her hot little hand.

A husband came in with his wife declaring that she was only allowed to look!

Another wife came in with her husband declaring that she wasn’t allowed to spend any money today.

An elderly couple came in ten minutes before closing time and she promised to come back for a better look tomorrow.

A local, who has been promising herself to check out the shop ever since we opened 21 months ago finally came for her first visit today and was super impressed. She’s excited to bring her teenage granddaughters on their next visit which will be soon.

A gentleman came in looking for a photo album (do they even make them any more?).

The snap jewellery was popular today too.

The day passed quickly and Adoring Husband arrived just in time to provide a much needed coffee before we closed the shop.

I had a successful night at the club with a win on the pokies and a win in the raffles - a $50 meat tray!

Now it’s almost 9pm and I’m going to put on my pyjamas and snuggle under the covers to watch the second half of footy in bed.

Have a great weekend!

Nite all.

They're Baaa-aaack

I've lost count of how many people have looked at the snap jewellery and I've asked "Have you seen how the snap jewellery works?"

This week the standard response has been "Yes! I bought a lot of it here last year when we were here on holidays."

I believe I need to remove the question from my script now.

The weather has been absolutely glorious. The air is clean and cool. The night time temperature is perfect for sleeping. I love this time of year and any minute now, Winter will be upon us!

Yay!

It was a good day at the shop and the time went quickly. I spoke to a couple of suppliers on the phone but didn't make any more orders today. I put them on 'hold' for later.

I took two more names for the next art workshop. We may be able to squeeze two more in at a pinch, but right now, it's a good sized class for 22nd June.

When I got home this afternoon, it was unplanned, but I changed into my painting clothes and spent the afternoon doing this ...

These are small canvasses and it took me an hour to do both of them. Adoring Husband prefers the one on the right.

One of them I did a horizontal pour with a scoop for the greenery and the other I did a vertical pour with a scoop.

I used chain to make stems with leaves, the flat end of a bamboo skewer to do some thinner stems, a paddle pop stick for bigger droplets to start the flowers, the pointy end of a bamboo skewer to make swirly flowers and other stuff as well. There is no end to the interesting utensils that can be used for art.

I didn't eat dinner because I had a big lunch and my belly was still satisfied from that. AH and I cooked some crispy skinned chicken in the oven and AH had that with a salad. Fresh strawberries and cream for dessert.

Now I'm considering watching the football in bed tonight ... because I can.

I can tell that it's going to be a GREAT Friday and there is a possibility of me breaking sales records!

*punches the air with a closed fist*

Wish me luck.

Nite all.

Back to Normal

Life is back to normal.

Biz is back to normal.

The Grey Nomads have returned. The regular holiday-makers have returned. There is a steady flow of people opening their purses and wallets. Thank you Universe!

I can't tell you how difficult it was to get out of bed early this morning. It was 7ºc which is about five degrees lower than usual and even "I" was feeling it. I stayed in bed until the very last moment possible and then it was a smooth rush to get to the shop in time for meditation.

Meditation was great and there were a couple of new faces in the mix who even contributed to the discussions.

The Gypsy had a couple of early appointments so we didn't get to chat much, which is funny because we both had to talk a mile a minutes trying to fit all that we wanted to say into a small amount of time!

Some suppliers finally had our back orders in stock so I made a couple of payments and the stock should be arriving early next week.

I talked to The Motivator who was on a road trip with her Mum and she sounded well and happy.

I accidentally sold a piece of my art!

A lady saw it through the doorway to the training room and asked me how much it was! OMG! Totally surreal. I still have to varnish it.  Luckily, she is here for another week, so I have time to do it before she leaves.

Another lady asked for details about the next photography workshop and she will bring her camera in this week for me to look at. She'll make a decision about the workshop then.

I missed out on two lunches and a movie today. Lucky I had such a good day in the shop with lots of happy friendly people to make up for it!

I came home to watch some youtube videos on varnishing artworks and promptly fell asleep in the bed before the second video was even finished!

While I was sleeping, Adoring Husband cooked dinner of chicken and baked veg! All I had to do when I woke up was make the gravy. He's a champion.

It's now 8.30pm and I think it might be time to return to that bed. I could very easily have a whole new bed time routine soon. I like going to bed early and reading and playing and watching videos before my evening meditation puts me to sleep.

Have a lovely Thursday.

Nite all.  

It’s All Good

Thanks to my coffee girls who started the ball rolling, it was an excellent day of sales!

Lots of visitors to town. A few who came especially to check out The Happy Abode. Everybody bought something, even if it was something small.

I admit that it was a huge relief, because I was beginning to take it personally!

I ordered these last week and they were delivered today ...

At the end of the day, Adoring Husband and I cleared the training room in readiness for meditation on Wednesday. I gave the shop a much needed vacuum and then shopped for food for dinner.

I rode home and parked my butt on the couch.

AH cooked steak on the barby while made a quick salad.

I think I’m going to try for a super early night so that early morning meditation doesn’t feel like a chore tomorrow!

It’s going to be a great day. I can feel it my bones!

Nite all.

Hair Today

Got my hair done today.

Cut about four inches off the length and added a bit more blonde than usual.

Adoring Husband came to the shop a bit before 2.30pm, bought us each a coffee and then took care of the shop while I left at 2.45pm to attend my hair appointment.

It was another slow day at the shop but it was good to catch up with The Gypsy. We only had her first appointment time to chat but we fit a lot into that time.

A delivery of stock arrived this morning, so I spent the remainder of the day pricing and displaying most of that. Still a little more to unpack in the morning.

I didn't arrive home from the hairdressers until almost 6pm so it was an easy dinner of leftover curried chicken for AH and leftover cauliflower soup for me.

That's about the long and the short of it for me today.

My hair feels fabulous and a LOT lighter on my head! It's very smooth and silky too!

I wonder how many of my girls will turn up for coffee in the morning ... our coffee area is no more, so the training room will be our space for tomorrow. I have it all set up for us.

Thought I'd share this little gem, even though I have obviously failed this wife test lol

Nite all.

Speedy Sunday

Where did the day go?

I woke up late-ish because Jack, the psychotic dog, had me up during the night. Taking him outside at 1.30am kind of broke my beautiful sleep and when I woke at 6am, I rolled over and went back to sleep. Then when I woke at 7am, I rolled over and went back to sleep. I rolled over and went back to sleep at 8am and finally my head was happy to greet the day at 8.39am.

I stayed in bed while Adoring Husband brought me celery juice and then my coffee.

I watched funny videos and then moved on to youtube art videos.

AH had to go mow lawns for work so I that was my cue to get out of bed and do some art.

Firstly, I had to sit in the pool area.

I try to spend time in that area every day.

It was very tempting to go for a swim because I stood in water above my knees and it felt so good. Not too cold at all. But art won out. I sat in my egg chair for ten minutes while my legs dried and then went inside to get started.

The one I love the most, is probably the one that most people dislike  ...

... but I love the vibrant colours, the different coloured and different sized cells and all the swirls.

This is my least favourite but has already received the best comments, one from a professional artist! Go figure.

I think that before I create any more masterpieces, I need to varnish some of my favourite existing pieces, just to see whether I want to use varnish or resin. I think resin will be my final choice, but I need to try both for a real comparison.

AH brought home another coffee when he returned from mowing, so I sat outside by the pool drinking that before coming inside to watch the final footy match for the round.

For dinner, I made two meals. Crispy skinned chicken for AH. I pureed roasted garlic, cauliflower and sweet potato with lots of butter and served it topped with caramelised onion and roasted tomatoes on the side.

For me, I added the water from boiling the cauliflower and sweet potato to the puree and made a creamy soup. I put some roasted tomato in a bowl, sprinkled some raw chopped onion over the top then poured the soup over the top. I sprinkled some chopped roasted pecans over the top of that.

It was bloody delicious!

It's almost 9pm and I need some sleep now so that I can bring good energy to the shop this week!

I plan to be happy dancing all over the place by next Saturday!

Nite all.