That Time

Yes it’s that time of the year when we have no idea what day it is.

Even Adoring Husband was surprised when I told him that today is Friday!

The days all run into each other and our days have been so perfectly UNexciting, which I absolutely love, but it means there has been nothing to post about except swims in the pool, Christmas movies on TV and lazy mornings in bed.

I did, for the first time in weeks, begin an art project today.

Chicklet’s birthday is only 7 weeks away, so I’ve decided to embellish one of my paint pours and create a dragon (her favourite creature) for her.

It started as this ...

I began with this ...

It has developed into this ...

And I’ll show you the progress of the process as I add to it in the coming days and weeks.

So far it looks okay, but anything could happen at any minute!

The new acrylic paint pens are easy, but messy, to use, so I can’t use them in the bedroom or the lounge room otherwise I’ll end up with fingerprints of paint on the leather lounge or on the new bedroom suite!

Which is a shame because they are my favourite rooms, however, the Bali hut is a possibility because the light will be perfect out there and I need to set up my easel for this.

Anyway, that’s as good as it’s got here in our household.

AH has hurt his back again ... not as bad as last time, but enough to slow him down.

No clubbing for us tonight.

An early night to bed.

Nite all.

It’s Here!

Christmas Day arrived right on time!

I got to stay in bed until about 8am and unusually had to get my own coffee, so I dressed and sat down on the couch with my coffee while the Santa of the house distributed gifts from under the tree.

We opened gifts randomly, so he opened some of mine and I opened some of his and we opened some of our own. We ripped everything open and threw paper all over the floor so by the time we finished ...

... worse than kids really.

Here are a few of my gifts ...

Yes! I am one lucky bee!

We made our own breakfast. I had chicken liver pate on toast and Adoring Husband had a bacon and egg sandwich.

I got a call from Vegan Chickie and Chicklet. We chatted for about 40 minutes, which was lovely.

The weather forecast predicted rain a storms for today so AH and I decided to get outside and make the most of the pool while we could. We swam for a while, played catch with the ball, soaked up the sunshine until it was time for lunch.

This was lunch ...

We played trivia for an hour or so, until psychotic dog Ruby was obviously struggling with a crazy itch that was out of control, so I took her in for a bath in her special shampoo, then lathered her in special cream. It still took a while for the itch to ease, even after the bath, but eventually she was able to relax.

By now, the storms were rumbling and drawing near, so we packed everything up from around the pool and I jumped in for a quick dip - very quick! In and out, just to cool down.

The storm was very brief but there was a nice drenching downpour. We needed it to last longer, but we’re grateful for what we got.

I received a call from Number One Son. Also really nice.

We’ve watched some mindless TV tonight - currently watching a great special on NITV about Sammy Davis Jr. I loved Sammy. He died way too young at the age of 65. What an incredible talent.

So it’s 9.30 pm and we’re ready for bed. Exhausted and happy. What a lovely Christmas Day I’ve had. I wish I’d had a Christmas call with Bubbles, but hopefully we can make up for it tomorrow.

I hope you’ve all had the perfect Christmas with friends or family or even alone.

Nite all.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Eve has been a very pleasant day.

I opened the shop at 9am and Adoring Husband checked our mail and dropped in a parcel before heading into the Bay to run some errands.

He also delivered a message from my girls who were waiting for me to arrive for coffee!!

Oops!

He minded the shop for 20 minutes so I could spend some time with them - not enough time for coffee, but time for some giggles and hugs.

The shop was busy all morning and by the time The Motivator arrived for her shift at midday, I was exhausted!

There was a quiet period for about 40 minutes and we exchanged Christmas gifts and Christmas hugs and created our Christmas video. Then it was time for me to leave.

I did some grocery shopping and could barely fit everything in my trike’s rear basket. My laptop wheelie bag, one bag of Christmas gifts, one bag of clothes, two bags of groceries and my handbag. It was a juggling act!

As soon as we arrived home, we had to return to the shops to get our afternoon coffee - we doubled up because we can’t get coffee on Christmas morning - these will be gently reheated in a saucepan in the morning.

I cooked up AH’s dinner of crispy skinned salmon with buttery asparagus and salad early because I had my movie date with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet at 5.30pm.

Just in case you don’t know, on Christmas Eve, wherever we are in the world, VC, C and I watch “Love Actually” together at the same time, texting each other our favourite lines and favourite moments throughout the movie. It’s a tradition we’ve been following for many years and we look forward to it every year.

After the movie finished, AH took me outside to the pool area to show me this surprise ...

Beautiful twinkling multi coloured lights all around the fence line! How cool is that?!

It’s now 10.30pm and I’m feeling quite weary. I’m certain that the big kid in the family will have me up early to open presents, so I’d best get some sleep.

I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas enjoying time with the people you cherish. Feel the love and spread the love.

Nite all.

It Was a Bug

Well that was a nasty period of time lasting about 16 hours.

A tummy bug got me and floored me long enough to prevent me from opening the shop and working on Sunday. I sent Adoring Husband to the shop with a hand written sign and some sticky tape.

I spent the night sitting on the throne with a bucket on my lap, moving only to take a couple of cool showers to bring my temperature down.

Not a pleasant experience.

So to make up for disappointing any potential customers on Sunday, I opened the shop today for six hours and am very pleased that I did!

It was very busy and I would have stayed open until 5pm except I had four orders for photos so I had to go into The Bay to order them so that they would be ready on Christmas Eve.

Unfortunately, my regular framer is now on holidays until 7th Jan so that’s a slight problem, but fortuitously, when I phoned him to ask about his opening hours, he ordered two of my photos! He’ll be visiting The Happy Abode for the first time during his holidays so I know he’ll be sending people to us after that.

He already promotes us quite well, but with first hand experience, he’ll step it up a notch.

Our psychotic dog Colli visited the vet for some surgery today. What started out as a possible 2 teeth extraction, ended up being NINE teeth!

She has been fabulous through the entire ordeal ... and I say ‘ordeal’ because that’s what it has been for Adoring Husband ... but she has not behaved like a sick dog. She came home with a list of behaviours that we should expect after such major invasive surgery.

• Drowsy
• Will take a few days to recover - longer for older pets
• Bloody saliva
• Offer a small meal, but she will probably refuse it.
• She will probably feel nauseas after eating.
• She will probably not be feeling herself so be calm and loving

I’m here to say that she was NOT and is NOT the slightest bit drowsy. She appears to be fully recovered and is full of beans trotting all over the place. She was excited to eat her entire meal and went looking for more in the other dog’s bowls - no nausea. She is definitely herself, probably more so because she no longer has a head full of rotting teeth causing her pain!

It was a costly process, but nowhere near what we expected, so that was a pleasant surprise.

So ... 14 and still going strong.

Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we expect it to be a big one at the shop, so I’d best get a good night’s sleep.

I hope you’re all feeling relaxed and calm and looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

Nite all.