Stepped It Up

The tourists stepped it up today and I was very busy while the happily noisy art class happened in the training room.

I came home to an empty house because Adoring Husband had a man date to watch the AFL Grand Final with a bunch of blokes.

It was nice to sit alone in the quiet for a while and I didn’t do anything productive. No art. No swimming (though the water was lovely). No cooking. No housework. No study. No creating.

I surrounded myself with books and paperwork and my laptop ready to work on my health challenge, but all motivation waned quickly and all I wanted was to sit.

The AFL Grand Final was a non-event with a massive win to the Tigers.

Now we are going to watch the second preliminary final between Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm. I might have to watch it in bed because I’m exhausted from doing nothing all afternoon!

We’ve put all our outdoor cushions in the outside kitchen because the weather forecasters have predicted storms tonight. The BOM shows some nasty weather coming in this direction and it seems to be moving pretty quickly. If it reaches us, it will be the first storm of the season which is a couple of days later than last year.

I’m looking forward to a lazy day in bed tomorrow morning and after I clean the bathroom, I’ll
reward myself with some art play.

Nite all

Working Gal

It was a steady day in the shop and I had some long chats with people from Cooktown, Cairns, Townsville and Gold Coast, including one lady who has been holidaying here for 27 years!

Over the last few weeks there have been some interesting rumours filtering through about the managers of one of our caravan parks and the changes they are enforcing which is putting regular holiday makers off side and ‘apparently’ causing people to head home earlier than they would normally.

It leaves me wondering if they are the reason that the park is extraordinarily empty for this time of the year.

I do know that since these people took over, our usually thriving holiday community has been far from thriving during the holiday periods, but I can’t determine if it’s just co-incidence or connected to the rumours.

Today was a good day with lots of foot traffic and people hoping that we’ll be open all weekend ... which we are.

Tomorrow is our fluid art workshop, which The Motivator will be running while I take care of the shop.

So I think I shall go to bed and watch the second half of the NRL Preliminary Final between Raiders and Rabbitohs. I’m barracking for the underdogs - the Rabbitohs. The score is currently 6-all.

Happy weekend everyone!

Nite all.

Shopped Til I Dropped

On a whim, I jumped out of bed early ... and by ‘early’ I mean 8am ... and decided that I would accompany Adoring Husband on his trip into The Bay to buy meat for the psychotic dogs’ food.

On the way out of town we checked the mail and bought coffee. When I dropped the shop mail into The Motivator, I took a photo of her beautiful flower.

AH and I had a list and an order to how we would shop.

You might be surprised to learn that I got carried away at the art shops. This is just a sample of what I purchased - 50% off at Spotlight ...

I didn’t photograph the rest of the stuff, but I now have 40 canvases in the cupboard of my studio waiting to be shown some love, not to mention some more metallic paints and some useful tools and containers.

I tried in vain to purchase an attachment to hold my phone on my tripod so that I can video my art processes and start a YouTube channel. Both Harvey Norman and JBHIFI sold their last clamp in the last two days.

It was mid afternoon by the time we returned home and we had a late lunch of barramundi and salad. I got the fish at Coles and I have to say, it was fresh and succulent and very tasty! I wish I’d bought more.

There was no Boost juice today because the queue was ridiculously long.

No art today because I have to clean my work area.

No swimming today because I was wearing good clothes and I was too lazy to come inside and get changed.

I’m working tomorrow (Friday) and even though the caravan park is quite empty, it’s starting to really get busy for the school holidays, which is always a good thing.

So it’s time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.

Flower Power 🌻

I dragged myself out of bed early this morning to attend meditation, even though I wasn’t working.

It was a good session and worth the effort!

Afterwards, The Motivator and I set up the tables in the training room ready to practice some art. TM wanted me to show her how to create the sunflower.

Sadly, I did not take a photo of her beautiful flower, but here is mine ...

... which is very similar to the last two flowers that I painted.

We took turns to serve customers throughout the day, so our art was interrupted continuously, which is a good thing because it was a good sales day.

We spent the entire afternoon chatting like old times and I didn’t leave until after 3pm!

I tested the pool water when I arrived home, but it was a bit cooler than the other day, so I chose to not swim today.

I have to say that I am very tired tonight. Far too much excitement for one day!

Nite all.

Made a Deal

There were only four of us at coffee this morning, but it was fun and before we knew it, it was 11am and we all parted ways.

The Motivator and I had some business to discuss AND some educational stuff to chat about AND stock deliveries to check out until it was time for me to leave.

I did a grocery shop before heading home to prepare lunch.

The pool water felt fabulous but I didn’t go in today.

Psychotic dog Ruby has gunky eyes at the moment, so I bathed her, cleaned her eyes and sprayed her with colloidal silver. I’ll try the CS for a few days to see if it makes a difference before we resort to a vet visit.

I did a bit of study after lunch. No art today. A load of washing. Picked up some stray leaves from around the pool. Watched some of a crappy movie. AH cooked dinner on the barbecue while I  prepped a quick salad.

We were both in bed before 9pm (where I am now).

I plan on attending meditation tomorrow morning so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Lapping It Up

I stayed in bed late, got up, had a shower, walked outside to test the pool water - as I do most days - and it felt so good that I jumped right in! Fully dressed.

My first swim since last season!

I stayed in the water for about 20 minutes and swam ten laps. Adoring Husband didn’t even know I was there and when I called to him from the alfresco area to get me a towel, he laughed and asked if I’d fallen in!

He tested the water himself and then asked if I was joking 🙃

He was too chicken to go in the water.

I decided, after my swim, to varnish some of my paintings, especially the ones that I’ve sold since I have to send them off in early and mid October, so they need plenty of time to dry.

By the time I’d finished, there was no room left to do any actual painting, so I embellished the crappy fish that I painted last week. It’s still crappy, but I like it better than before.

I almost signed up for an Eckhart Tolle video workshop. I love Eckhart’s spiritual and inner transformational messages and I’ve often used his quotes. I have one of his audible books too.

However, I watched the first 7 minutes of each of the five videos in the workshop (issued for free) and I have to say that he is SO BORING to listen to and I couldn’t keep my focus for the seven minutes!

His messages are fabulous but he should get someone else to present them.

Let me show you this ...

Nite all.

Where Am I?

I opened my eyes this morning and my first thought was “I haven’t done my blog for two days!”

There are no excuses.

I worked on Saturday morning and I’ve been practicing my art but have had more fails than wins in the last couple of days and today, I couldn’t even drag myself into the studio - nil motivation.

We tested the pool water and again … ALMOST went for a dip. The temp of the water is increasing little by little every day and it’s so close I can almost taste it!!

Time to share some advice. Some things that we should give up, release and surrender.

• Give up your need to control. The only thing that we can control is our own attitude and responses to life. We cannot control how others behave, what they do or don’t do, what they say or don’t say. So let go of that unnecessary stress.
• Give up self defeating talk. It’s a form of self sabotage.
• Give up blame. Your happiness, confidence and self esteem have nothing to do with others. Don’t point the finger of blame elsewhere for your lot in life - instead, change the way you view any situation, get rid of those limiting beliefs because true happiness starts from within so you have to change the filter of your inner lens.
• Give up attachment. Attachment keeps us dependant which keeps us firmly stuck in unwanted situations. Practice appreciation with an attitude of gratitude.
• Give up the need to rescue others. Rescuing or saving others distracts us so that we don’t have to face our own shortcomings. Be courageous and determined and turn inward. Heal or rescue yourself instead. You are worth it.

That’s enough things to give up for today.

I’m surprised that the pole dancer won Australia’s Got Talent tonight 😳

She was very good and Australia voted for her so what would I know? Good on her. Her name is Kristy Sellars. She worked hard and she is a winner.

Well, I think it’s time for bed. Hopefully I can summon the enthusiasm to practice some more art tomorrow 👩‍🎨

Welcome to a new week and happy Monday!

Nite all.