What a Team

Adoring Husband did a stellar job manning the shop today while I took the art class.

It wasn’t overly busy, just average for a Saturday, and he sold one of my photos!

We arrived at the shop early to fill the table buckets with water, add silicone oil to the paints, set up morning tea and make some last minute purchases.

Everybody was on time for the class and all paid upfront, finding their seats and chatting amongst themselves while I checked my notes.

The art class was a lot of fun with some new faces and they were so clever, following directions and instructions so well, that we were finished an hour early! Most signed up for the next class and all were happy with their results.

I used that extra hour to clean up most of the training room so we’ll only need to fold the plastic sheeting and the tables on Monday.

AH and I closed the shop right on time, picked up our order of hot chips on the way home and parked our butts on the couch for the remainder of the afternoon.

We are both done for the week and I am so looking forward to a lazy day at home tomorrow. A bit of R&R is definitely in order.

I’m off to bed now.

Nite all.

Short and Sharp

I spent the morning in the training room finishing the setup for Saturday’s art workshop.

Not a soul came through the doors until after 11.30am and the first six people who walked in, walked out empty handed.

By 12.30pm I had sales totalling $24 and was feeling quite dejected. It has been such a good week and I didn’t want to finish it on such a low.

At 12.32pm there was a sudden influx of spendthrifts!

For 90 minutes I was hammered! By the time I got to sit down, I was exhausted!

The change of fortune helped me end the day on a high and I definitely needed to attend the club tonight for some down time to zone out. I was lucky enough to have a small win on the pokies.

I still have a couple of things to do in preparation for the workshop so I need to arrive at work a little earlier in the morning, but I’m excited about leading the class. Four of our usual ladies cannot attend so there will be some fresh faces and they are very keen to try this method of painting for the first time.

Adoring Husband is coming to the rescue to man the shop for me and it’s market day in town so there may be a few more customers than usual! He can handle it 👍

It’s 9pm and I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Go to Woe

This was my day ...

• Opened the shop
• Checked the mail
• Set up the tables for art on Saturday (with Adoring Husband’s help)
• Drew diagrams and instructions on the whiteboard for art class
• Lay out the rotating tables (lazy Susans) at each place setting
• Gathered all the tools for each place setting
• Assigned a canvas at each setting
• Served customers ... all day
• Mixed 2 small containers of paint for each colour and lay them along the centre of the table
• Wrote out a ‘to do’ list for what still needs to be done before Saturday morning
• Cleaned my paint mixing mess and tidied the room
• Came home and checked all the food that came with our first Coles delivery
• Sat on my butt for an hour
• Gathered the newest paintings to take to the shop tomorrow
• Cooked dinner
• Made dessert
• Folded clothes and put them away
• Made the bed (a bit late)
• Wrote this blogpost 

Now I’m off to bed to watch the footy.

I’m exhausted!

Nite all

Manifesting Again!

It was a special meditation morning where The Gypsy announced that she was ending her time as a massage therapist at The Happy Abode at the end of this month.

The initial reaction was horror because everyone thought she was leaving meditation as well! But once they realised that she would still be running the med class every Wednesday, there was a collective sigh of relief, and everyone was excited for her next venture.

It was a much more interactive session than usual and a few of the ladies went for coffee together afterwards.

The Gypsy and I got to chat until her first appointment and from that time on, it was very busy in the shop.

I had set my predicted sales total in the morning and by 3pm I was $17 short of that total.

AH and I locked the doors and as we began to walk away, a car with two ladies sitting inside pulled up to the door. With distressed looks on their faces they asked “Are you closed for the day?”

I asked “Are you desperate?”

One of the ladies would be returning home tomorrow and hadn’t got to see the shop while she was here so I invited them in.

Thirty minutes and more than a hundred dollars later, they left the shop and we again locked the doors. My predicted total was smashed! Wahoo!

I was feeling absolutely exhausted by the time I got home, but I had to cook up some dog food before I could sit down.

It was difficult not falling asleep but we had to attend the monthly trivia night at the club so there was not enough time for napping. It was worth attending because we came third, which is the best we’ve done for a while. Not the we received any prize for our effort, but it was a good night with The Brains Trust and The Garden Guru. We make a good team 🤗

Now it’s 11pm and you know where I’m going next.

Nite all.

Eventful!

Knowing that I had hoop dancing class this afternoon, I rode to the shop this morning.

Most of the girls were late for coffee this morning and the most we had at any stage was eight talking, laughing and snorting ladies.

I got to enjoy the first hour, but then I got busy in the shop and I missed out on the second hour. It certainly sounded like they were enjoying themselves anyway and it was after 11am when they all left the building.

It was incredibly busy until 1pm and I’m pleased to say sales were good!

In the afternoon I had a visit from a lady whose husband has Parkinson’s and she just needed to vent. She comes to see me about once a month to get stuff off her chest and she’s a lovely lady and doesn’t expect me to fix anything - I’m really just a sounding board, which I don’t mind.

I also had a visit from ‘Beauty’ who apparently had forgotten about coffee this morning! She’s been away for a few weeks AND she has her very elderly mother in law staying with her at the moment, so her mind was obviously elsewhere.

Adoring Husband came to help me close the shop and I rode to hoop class.

It was a lot of fun and we laughed hysterically through a good part of the hour. I’ve got most of the tricks mastered and I can’t wait to receive my own hoop so that I can practice at home! We definitely worked up a sweat and I had to rest twice because I pushed myself harder than usual. I love it.

I pedalled home and I knew that if I sat down, I’d never get back up so I headed straight into the kitchen to make dinner. I still had rice leftover from Sunday, so I threw together a quick fried rice and we sat down to dinner at 5.30pm.

I’ve been sitting on my butt ever since.

I’m exhausted!

Now I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Uneventful

A busy Monday with lots of sales, but all of low value.

I took three of my varnished paintings in to display for sale in the shop.

The Gypsy was in and, as per usual, we chatted non-stop between hers and my customers.

The day passed quickly and happily.

I came home and put the first coat of varnish on six more of my paintings, spent some quality time in the kitchen chopping a heap of raw veg to put into rice paper wraps and then prepared a dozen of them for our dinner, as well as a hot chilli dressing.

Now it’s 8pm and I’m feeling very weary.

But before I go, I’m publicly thanking my Adoring Husband for washing the shop windows on the weekend and for vacuuming the floors. I had told him that I wanted to get in early on Monday morning so that I could vacuum, but he took it upon himself to do it on Sunday.

Every day he makes me feel like one lucky lady (and I use the term ‘lady’ loosely). Thanks darling 😘

Now I’m off to my warm and snugly bed for a good night’s sleep so that I can be bright and breezy for coffee with the girls in the morning. Oh! And for hooping tomorrow afternoon!

Nite all.

Sweet Sunday

It was so nice to stay in bed this morning, but I did get up to make breakfast - mushrooms, leeks, baby spinach, garlic on toast - and then took it back to bed to eat it!

I watched paint pouring videos on youtube until I heard music coming from the lounge room which I recognised as “A Star is Born” and it lured me out of bed. It was already an hour into the movie, so I set the reminder for the +2 channel and went to my studio to kill an hour until the movie started.

Adoring Husband watched the movie with me and he too was impressed with Lady Gaga’s acting.

After making a 3 day batch of dog food, I made us some fried rice for dinner.

So I didn’t use my brain very much at all today. I didn’t use my body either! I just vegged all day.

I’m ready for bed now.

I reckon it’s going to be a big week at The Happy Abode and I’m going to be ready for it!

Nite all