Record Breaking

I broke my Saturday morning sales record!

Wahoo!

It was a very early start for me because I was worried that voting would bring so many people to the shop that I wouldn’t be able to finish setting up the work stations for the art workshop.

At 7.40am Adoring Husband and I were filling water tubs, arranging cups, mixing paint, blowing up balloons, shopping for afternoon tea, assigning canvases, lining buckets with plastic bags etc etc.

Between customers, I was able to tie up loose ends and the room was perfectly ready by the time the workshop began.

It was most definitely the quietest class I’ve ever led.

Everyone was so focused on what they were doing, it was completely silent for at least half of the time.

We sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl who blew out the candle, drank the gin, ate the cake and at the end of the class she confessed to feeling exhausted from celebrating all week as well as dealing with a teething baby!

I’m not sure everyone was happy with their results this week. It was more difficult than they expected.

I didn’t get photos of them all.

But still, a good time was had by all!

At the end of the day, AH and I still had to vote so we drove straight to the hall and performed that duty before heading home.

By then, it was after 4pm and I was absolutely exhausted!

Dinner was a nosh up of finely chopped sweet potato, carrot and fresh beans with garlic, chicken, cherry tomatoes and spinach, salt and pepper. It was very tasty and hit the spot nicely.

We watched an old DVD “Some Kind of Wonderful” - probably the 30th time I’ve seen it and I loved it today as much as I loved it 33yrs ago.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Slow Start

I rode my trike to work today!

I arrived nice and early.

I opened the shop without Adoring Husband’s assistance.

As efficient as I was, it was a very slow start for business.

The final hour was, thankfully, the making of my day!

There were still plenty of people through the doors early, but they all spent tiny amounts that didn’t add up to a lot.

I didn’t get very far setting up for art because I was contacting people for their orders of my calendar and packing them up for mail outs interstate.

I changed a few displays around to make way for the two orders coming in. The two orders that I’ve had to follow up twice and which should have arrived today, but once again, didn’t. That’s annoying.

This afternoon I accompanied Adoring Husband to the Drs surgery. He couldn’t get in to see his usual Dr for 3 weeks and he needed to see someone urgently, so he reluctantly made an appointment with the local Dr and there’s no way I would allow him to step through that door without me as his body guard and protector!

It’s been four years since I visited a doctor and I can state with certainty that I don’t care how dire the situation is, I will not attend the local surgery for myself under any circumstances.

AH’s appointment was at 2.10pm. We arrived at 2.05pm. He was called in at 2.50pm.

While we were in the waiting area, a patient left the office with a prescription which he took to the pharmacy but returned 5 minutes later because it was the wrong prescription!

We were called in by the doctor and he asked what was wrong and punched all the info into the computer program (as they do), took AH’s blood pressure (which was perfect) and while the blood pressure machine was doing its thing, he called the receptionist in to ask questions about the previous patient’s computer record.

They spent a good 5 minutes of AH’s time problem solving.

When the receptionist left, he looked at AH and asked “have I taken your blood pressure?”

I mouthed “Are you *insert curse word here* kidding me?”

He ordered for some tests to be done, one immediately and two on Monday, one being a fasting blood test. He said to come back on Wednesday. He also prescribed antibiotics.

So we went to book the appointment and the receptionist began to book AH in under a different name altogether!

No wonder people are dropping like flies in this town.

In the 15 minutes that we were with the doctor, he looked directly at us twice - otherwise he was slamming the keyboard with his pokey fingers and looking at the computer screen. He slammed his hand against the printer twice to remove the prescription and the test requests that he printed out and couldn’t get us out of there fast enough.

Doctors never cease to confirm for me that they cannot be trusted to get it right.

By the time we filled the prescription, picked up my things from the shop, wheeled the trike out, we both arrived home separately at almost 4pm.

On top of everything else AH now has flu symptoms which have developed rapidly throughout the afternoon.

We’ve had a pretty relaxed evening and are now in bed.

I have a huge day planned for tomorrow which includes voting early - I’m tired just thinking about it all! 

So I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

She’s Ba-ack

I had a good day as I returned to the shop after my mini break.

Even though there is a lot to do, I didn’t overdo it. I’m pacing myself and keeping a running ‘to do’ list so that I can steadily get stuff done.

I was able to display all the new jewellery which I had priced while I was at home on my so-called break haha.

When I counted my calendars, I discovered there were only 14 of my first order which should have been 30. So I tagged them all with the names of the first fourteen people who pre-ordered. I know there are three more packs of calendars coming but they are currently at a depot in Melbourne.

I checked with the post office on prices of packaging and mailing to my two interstate customers.

I helped a Dad select a handful of gifts for his teenage 3yr old (yes ... three year old) daughter. 

It was a good sales day AND there were lots of tyre kickers who will probably return tomorrow. One of my Saturday tyre kickers returned today to make his purchases.

Adoring Husband set the tables up in the training room so that I can spend time tomorrow setting up the work stations for the art class on Saturday.

He is not in the best of health at the moment and I asked him not to do anything, but he was sneaky while I was putting out the flags and signs and chairs. 🙄

I had a great visit from Aggie too! We had some good laughs and shared a bit of venting after listening to a local bloke whingeing about his health and his life. Then I told him to take his sad stories away from my shop.

The day passed quickly and after grabbing some protein from the butcher, we came home to put our feet up.

I should have had a swim or cleaned the bathroom but I received my new Leonie Dawson workbooks in the mail this morning and I was keen to sit down and get started on  the Goal Getter Life workbook. There is also a Goal Getter Biz workbook, a weekly planner workbook, a wall planner and a list planner.

So that’s how I filled most of my afternoon.

Best get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Pain in the Rear

I was up bright and early for meditation and we had to leave 20 minutes earlier than usual because I realised that the room wasn’t ready!

It was still in the same condition as when the jewellery rep came on Friday so we had to fold up the small table, get rid of a big cardboard box, vacuum the floor and set out the socially distanced chairs as well as place the donation box in its usual position.

We had four spare seats this morning because I think some regulars may have assumed it wasn’t on due to me being closed. It was still a good lesson nonetheless.

I scooted everyone out the door as soon as we finished and The Gypsy and I jumped in her car and headed out to her home.

We didn’t waste any time getting started on the sour dough bread making lesson. I took notes as she demonstrated and explained the process. While her demonstration loaf was in the oven, we sat down to a cup of tea and chatted about ‘stuff’ and ‘life’ and all the recent lessons we’ve learned, challenges we’ve faced and tests we’ve passed.

The bread was baked, she gave me a cup full of the bread starter to take home and start my own production and cut four slices from her loaf for me to take home and share with Adoring Husband.

The fermentation process that’s involved with making your own sourdough bread removes the gluten from the flour. The stuff you buy from most bakers and supermarkets is not “real” sourdough because of the shortcuts they take in making it. So, by rights, I should be able to eat this one without issue 👍

At midday, Adoring Husband arrived to pick me up and The Gypsy and I reluctantly said our goodbyes and ended the visit with a warm hug.

We drove to the shop to wait for more nonexistent deliveries. Annoying. I’ll make phone calls tomorrow.

As we waited at the door, customers wanted to browse so we welcomed them in and at least we made some sales to make the wait worthwhile.

Before we returned home, we bought some protein for dinner and a couple of salad items. I got to see the beginnings of the supermarket staff’s Halloween costumes - they will be in full costume for the next three days. It’s always a bit of fun at this time of year in Foodworks.

We rushed home in an attempt to miss the big storms looming upon us but we were very lucky and only copped the edge of it, which provided some more refreshing rain, but not as much as yesterday.

Just as AH and I were preparing dinner, the power failed! Luckily, he was using the barbecue and I was putting a salad together so it wasn’t a disaster - however, we have now been without power for more than two hours. 

The storms have all passed now. Every so often we hear a gentle rumble of thunder in the distance but we should have a quiet night.

AH is snoring in the chair beside me and there is a soft cool breeze blowing through the front windows which makes it more bearable inside.

I’m missing The Bachelorette so I’ll have to go online and catch the episode there.

Meanwhile, I may as well go to bed and listen to a good book until the battery in my phone goes dead.

I’m looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed my two extra days of rest - although I did fill those days with plenty of activity, so I don’t exactly feel rested - but catching up socially with people who matter is oh so good for my soul.

Nite all.

Play Date

I’m worn out!

The girls picked me up at 9am.

First on the itinerary was morning coffee so we decided Aquavue would be the ideal location to commence our play date. 

I haven’t had coffee for 2 weeks and instead of ordering a tea, I ordered a non alcoholic pina colada which was refreshing and delicious!

We made our way across the road and a couple of us made a purchase from Banana Bender - the first of many! Fire and Ice was our next stop where we discovered a shop FULL of colourful, stylish, quality clothes. I tried on 8 tops and selected 3.

We drove to “Salt” for lunch, but of course we had to pop into “Luxe” next door to peruse their gorgeous linen and silk clothing lines. I tried on 4 tops and purchased none! A bit sad. I’ve never left there empty handed before. There’s a first time for everything.

For lunch, I enjoyed a spicy prawn salad with avocado, watermelon, rocket and pomegranate dressing and scattered with pepitas. I can’t even describe how delicious that lunch was. I accompanied it with an Immune Boost juice.

We all enjoyed our meals and each other’s company.

We planned our next move and made a beeline for Pialba Place where we checked out shoes and clothes. I purchased a top at “Shoe Frenzy”.

Our final stop for the day was Stocklands.

The Brains Trust was desperate for caffeine so we all trailed in her wake to The Coffee Club and we partook of tea or coffee and I ate a GF passionfruit cheesecake slice all on my own.

It was around about then that Aggie’s husband texted to say that huge storms were approaching and we should think about trying to beat them home. We checked the BOM and decided we still had a little time to play with so of course there were more clothes to be tried on.

I found another top and while I was paying for it, I was mentally searching my wardrobe deciding which of my tops I was going to reject to make room for these new ones. Turns out I could remove 8 to make way for the new 6.

On our way home, the dark and angry storm was looming from the east and the race was on!

Our first stop was The Brains Trust and we could see the black storm cell threateningly close by. A few big spots of rain hit the windscreen, but nothing too bad.

I was the third person dropped home and within 5 minutes of walking through my door, the heavens opened up! Heavy rain, lightning, thunder ... 45ml of rain in about 25 minutes. It wasn’t as bad as it looked on the BOM and not as bad as it sounded ... but fabulous soaking rain so desperately needed.

I gave Adoring Husband a fashion parade to show him my new Spring wardrobe and he appeared suitably impressed.

Thankfully, there was no power failure during the storm, so I removed a leftover chicken curry from the freezer and heated it for AH’s dinner. I mixed up a quick guacamole for myself and munched on that with GF crackers and a mango on the side.

The UK is now on daylight savings, so the music trivia show is on at 8.30pm - an hour later than usual, which is a bit of a pain. There may be nights when I cannot stay awake for it!

Anyway, it’s almost 10pm and I’m all shopped out and feeling a touch weary so I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

On The Job

This morning I began creating my next two lessons for journaling, but Adoring Husband decided he needed a nap so he disturbed the peace in my “office” (aka the bedroom) by laying down, snoring and having nightmares! 

That was the end of any work for me. I had finished the first lesson, so at least I got a start.

I got two loads of washing done, gave the celery juicer a good clean, picked up the first shipment of calendars from the post office, shopped for some lunch food, responded to some price requests on social media, watched 50 First Dates, made dinner, watched Junior Masterchef and played BBC2 Radio music trivia.

Now I am, once again, listening to AH snoring in the bed next to me.

Tomorrow I have a play date with my girls, which I am very much looking forward to.

This means I need my beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Sweet Sunday

I did NOT spend all day in bed 😮

I think it was about 10am when I got out of bed and walked outside to dip my toe in the pool. The temp was perfect so I slipped into my swimmers and jumped in. I swam a few laps, floated a bit, did some stretches, took psychotic dog Colli in for a paddle and simply enjoyed the space.

My biggest plan for the day was to photograph the new jewellery, so I took it out to the Bali hut where the light was lovely and used my phone to get some pics.

I had to edit them and post them together on the Facebook page.

Adoring Husband and I wanted to watch the movie “Red” before the women’s NRL grand final between Broncos and Roosters, but we had 40 minutes to kill so we drove to drop off a camera to a customer who had left it with me in a panic because it wouldn’t focus. She had accidentally put it on manual focus. Easy peasy.

While I shopped at Foodworks for AH’s coffee and some avocados, he drove to my shop to empty the bin in the kitchen, which I’d forgotten to do yesterday.

We watched our movie and the footy and AH cooked a leg of lamb and baked vegetables for dinner. It was delicious 😋 

We’ve just watched Melbourne Storm defeat Penrith Panthers in the men’s NRL grand final. What a game!

I’m feeling a bit weary now so I think I shall head to bed.

Nite all.