Feeling Elderly

What a huge day!

As you know, I had to fend for myself this morning. Good Lord! I had to make my own lemon water and heat up my own chicken broth! What is my world coming to!?!? 🤔

I gave psychotic dog Jack his medication before getting ready for work and loading my trike basket to the hilt with all of my paraphernalia including a change of clothes to wear at the retreat in the afternoon.

There was plenty of time for me to grab a coffee before opening the shop, but as I returned with my coffee, Adoring Husband appeared! Wearing the mask all morning at First Aid training had left him feeling decidedly unwell. He pulled out of the training but still helped me open the shop.

There were a LOT of people in town today and I almost considered putting a sign up to limit the numbers allowed in at any one time!

The first two hours of visitors were mostly tyre kickers which gave me the chance to design and order a new banner to replace the one near the butcher shop and then order and pay for some new Bali flags and replace the broken flag poles.

The second two hours were nonstop paying customers who kept me on my toes for the entire afternoon!

It was an excellent day of sales and the last customer walked out the door 5 minutes before closing time.

There was just enough time to get changed and prepare a platter of vegetable sticks and guacamole to take with me to the retreat.

Adoring Husband appeared once again to help me close the shop and load the car with all of my paraphernalia so that I didn’t have to take it with me.

I pedalled my trike to the hall where the retreat had been moved to because of forecast rain and storms - it was originally to be held in the outdoor area of the property where The Gypsy resides.

The Women’s Healing Retreat was fantastic. Very emotional in parts but mostly joyful and full of love. We danced, we meditated, we moved and stretched, we smudged, we drishti-ed, we shared nutrition and we supported each other through our own private and personal healing.

I’m very happy to have participated and I knew all fifteen women in attendance.

I pedalled home at 5.15pm as the dark clouds loomed and threatened to dump some heavy rain.

AH was supposed to be out for dinner so I hadn’t planned much. Now that he was home, I threw together a chicken concoction and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.

AH went back for seconds!

For dessert, I melted 85% dark chocolate with some coconut cream and we dipped fresh strawberries into it. I also made up a batch of maple toffee to sprinkle over it. Delicious.

After all of that, I have to say my body is feeling very elderly and there are bits hurting all over the place.

My nutrition for the day (besides what I’ve already mentioned): tomato, onion, cucumber, carrot, celery, avocado, shallots, hummus, apple, pear, water.

Far out, it’s 9.30pm and feels like midnight!

Nite all.

Making Sense

As some of you well know, I have never ever been a fan of Alan Jones. I have found him to be divisive and bigoted, misogynistic, cruel and a hypocritical.

Right now though, for the first time, he is speaking my language and as much as it irks me, I totally agree with his stance on this so-called pandemic.



I have made a LONG list of all the ‘things’ that just don’t make sense, but I’m saving that list for another post which you can either open your mind and read OR choose to ignore, which of course, is your right.

I’m going to slot some short videos of Drs, scientists, nurses and frontline workers into my blog every week or so, just to give you a taste and perhaps show you a different perspective to what mainstream media are forcing down our throats.

Here is the first and it goes for three minutes ...

Dr Tamper of Nebraska

It was another great day at the shop for me today.

Even though I haven’t had a chance to even browse through it, my “Cleanse to Heal” book arrived in the mail today and I hope to spend some time reading it in bed on Monday.

There were lots of customers today, half being tyre kickers and the other half gladly opening their wallets. This week has seen lots of snap jewellery going to new homes, mostly to returning holiday makers who purchased some this time last year.

Aggie came for a visit and we stood and chatted for some time ... when I SHOULD have invited her to sit! Sometimes I’m too vague for my own good.

I sold some more art - not mine this time.

I banked some cash - wahoo!

I’ve made an extensive list of suppliers that I want to order from in the coming months.

I ordered some new stickers and created a new banner to replace the one near the butcher.

I printed some postcards to cover me until the new ones arrive.

My last customer left at 2.55pm and Adoring Husband and I packed up in a flash so that we could enjoy some down time at home.

Instead, I spent quite some time trying to get psychotic dog Jack to take two lots of medication with his dinner. Every time he yawned, he shrieked a little because obviously his mouth is still a little tender after his ten extractions.

Hopefully he will improve rapidly - as long as I can trick him into taking his drugs every day 😳

AH cooked dinner and I prepared dessert.

My nutrition for today: water, lemon water, chicken broth, coffee. Chicken wings, tomato and avocado. Chocado - avocado, natural dark chocolate, coconut cream, maple syrup blended and served with a mountain of blueberries and strawberries, sprinkled with flaked almond maple toffee.

I bathed psychotic dog Ruby’s eye this evening before climbing into bed to watch the footy and now I’m listening to AH snore his head off beside me.

AH is attending the SES First Aid training all weekend so I’ll be fending for myself.

Work in the morning followed by a Women’s Healing Retreat in the afternoon and on Sunday a fabulous lunch to look forward to. Monday will be my day of rest.

Just before I go ...

Have a great weekend!

Nite all.

Broke a Record

Not me.

Psychotic dog Jack broke the record.

Remember how psychotic dog Colli had 9 teeth removed?

Jack had TEN teeth removed!

$850 later 😳

Lucky it was Dental Discount month or it would have cost almost $1300! She clipped his nails for free too.

Jack is much happier, is drinking easily and ate two meals tonight! No cramps so far but he’s only been home for 5 hours.

Even though Adoring Husband was feeling stressed when he dropped our boy at the vets this morning, he was feeling a lot better with the outcome of Jack’s treatment when he picked him up.

I rode my trike to work this morning with the rear basket full of my wheelie case which contained my laptop, my iPad and notebooks and paperwork, a bag full of the cash tin, my lunch and my water bottle plus my handbag.

It used to be so easy to pedal that trike ... like ... no effort at all! Today, after more than a year NOT riding it, I struggled! My butt kept sliding off the seat, my right knee felt under pressure and I felt a little bit puffed when I arrived at my destination!

Back when I was riding regularly, I was obviously fitter than I realised.

It was a great day of sales AND I sold a piece of my art!! My seahorse ...

for $140.00! 🤭

Weirdsville huh?

I paid MORE bills (they seem to be never ending).

My business cards FINALLY arrived ... the first box got lost in transit, so Vistaprint had to make some more and send them express post.

I stapled a heap of cards to the small handled bags.

I’ve ordered postcards from Harvey Norman to put on the large bags.

I sent through the ads for the local newsletter and at the last minute created a half page ad for the journaling classes and even set a date!

I had an interstate customer phone and ask me to find her a stack of silk scarves - my usual supplier has no silk scarves anymore, so it was a task and a half to find some at a reasonable price and it took me a good 90 minutes including sending numbered photos so that she can easily select the ones she wants.

I closed the shop on my own and collected our ordered meat from the butcher before finally pedalling home after 4pm.

Jack got most of my attention for the first hour and AH offered to cook dinner which I gratefully accepted.

Tonight I’ve watched The Bachelor and Celebrity Gogglebox. Now we’re catching the end of the football and I’m happy because I tipped Melbourne Storm to win.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

Vet Check

Another full house for meditation and for the second time in 3 weeks I had to sit with my chair outside the training room door!

There were a couple of regulars missing too so I’m thinking that while we have social distancing requirements, we’ll soon have to start taking bookings otherwise we’ll be turning people away.

It was a great class and 8 of the ladies bought a coffee afterwards and made themselves comfortable for a girlie session in the room. They reluctantly left at around 10am.

It was another average day of sales, just a touch better than yesterday.

I paid the Men’s Shed for the sign they made for my wall (yet to be attached) and for the three planter stands that I sold for them.

I paid The Jewel for another two of her pieces that I sold.

I paid a supplier for an order.

I cleared the kitchen of all the art resources that had been washed on the weekend.

I made up a sign for the front door to explain why I closed the shop early.

At 2.30pm Adoring Husband arrived with psychotic dog Jack, who was obviously feeling very skittish in this unfamiliar territory.

We closed the shop at 2.30pm and headed in to Passionate Paws in The Bay.

Jack has been struggling to drink water for about five days. Every time he takes a mouthful, he jumps away from the bowl, circles it and then tries again with the same result.

He wasn’t eating much either so I assume that he has a problem with his teeth.

Because he couldn’t drink enough water, he has been dehydrated which causes severe cramps.

I explained all of this to Dr Amanda and she attempted to check in cranky Jack’s mouth, but he snapped at her and then tried to climb into my arms.

He is now booked in for 8.30am tomorrow for whatever dental work is required plus claw clipping. Lucky for us, it’s “Dental Discount” month with the vets! Today’s visit was a free consultation but the rest of it I calculate will be around $600+

I’ll be riding my trike to work because AH has to be at the vets right on opening time to drop Jack at the vets AND right on closing time to pick him up and bring him home.

I was so thankful that I’d cooked the chicken last night. I heated it up in some home made gravy and served it with cauliflower, broccoli and mashed sweet potato. Watermelon for dessert. That, along with lemon water, broth and coffee was my nutrition for the day.

I’m feeling very weary now so ...

Nite all.

Non-stop Tuesday

The cold weather certainly slows down the paint drying process.

Seventy two hours after we finished our workshop on Saturday and four of the pieces were still so wet that they had to remain on a flat surface for all of today and by 3.30pm, two of them were dry enough to lean against a wall. I’m hoping that the other two will be dry by tomorrow.

Adoring Husband and I cleared a space in the training room for morning tea with the girls. There were five of us around the table but lots of interruptions for me, with customers, someone picking up their art, the fruit and veg man, a gentleman looking for The Motivator and a woman wanting a vest.

The girls and I planned a lunch date and they all streamed out the door by 11am.

I received a call from a new supplier and I ordered some designer socks!

One of my consignment ladies popped in so I paid her for the three items that I sold for her.

I finished transferring my sales info to the new sales sheets.

Then it was time to properly clear the training room and set it up for meditation. It was quite the task, but I had most of it done by the time AH arrived to help me close.

Sales were average today.

We stopped at the butcher and chose lamb loin chops for dinner as well as a whole chicken. We have to take psychotic dog Jack to the vet tomorrow after work. I baked the chicken tonight so that I don’t have to spend long in the kitchen if we get home late tomorrow.

My nutrition for today: lemon water, chicken broth, filtered water, coffee. 2 lamb loin chops, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, onion, bacon. 2 strawberries.

It’s now late and I have an early start. Sleeeeeeeep time.

Nite all.

Today was a good day.

Adoring Husband waited on me all morning providing my lemon water, chicken broth and coffee while I sat up in bed like a spoiled movie star.

I had a quick catch up with The Gypsy before AH and I drove into The Bay to run some errands.

Nana’s pantry was first on the itinerary to purchase some tapioca flour, ginger and lime dressing, dark chocolate and flaked almonds.

Second was HBW to grab three different sizes of brown paper bags with handles for the shop.

Next was Stocklands to get some cheap cutlery for my personal use at the shop. The bonus for me was finding a pair of Skecher shoes, which they finally had in stock at Williams shoe store. While AH was waiting in the car, I ducked into another store and tried on a bamboo top which I bought.

That was it! Coffee at the drive through as we were beginning our journey home.

We stopped at ‘Roz’s Happy Place’ to deliver all of my purchases before we returned home.

I spent the afternoon copying the information from my old sales sheets to my new sales sheets.

Dinner was salmon steak with salad of baby spinach, Roma tomato, cucumber, beetroot, avocado, onion and a lemon wedge.

No dessert tonight.

It’s now midnight!! Sleep time for me! 

Nite all.

Perfect Sunday

Remember the Twilight series?

The books/movies about Bella Swann and her relationships with the vampire Edward and the wolf Jacob?

Well, the writer of those books has just released a new book called Midnight Sun and while the first series of books were told from Bella’s viewpoint, the new book is written from Edward’s viewpoint.

I purchased the book on Audible with one of my free credits and listened to the first chapter this morning. It was like playing the movie in my head again but knowing the reasons that Edward said and did everything.

The book is 26 hours long by narration so I’ll need to pace myself!

My Sunday was, as almost always, spent in bed.

I designed a new sales sheet for the shop, which was frustrating because I used an unfamiliar program  and it took a bit for me to figure it out. I still didn’t perfect it, but the sheet is usable.

I did some fresh COVID-19 research.

I listened to a meditation from The Gypsy and followed that up with some written and action work from her books.

I watched some YouTube news videos and art videos.

I got out of bed to briefly become Adoring Husband’s trades assistant while he attached some timber pots to the outdoor tables, after which I returned to my bed haven.

I played some games and hung around in Facebook for a while, until it was time to prepare dinner.

My nutrition for the day: lemon water, filtered water, chicken broth, coffee, the last GF cone with coconut ice cream, pork loin chop, mushrooms, onion, garlic, spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, snap peas.

Got a big day planned for tomorrow so it’s sleep time for me!

Nite all.