Arted Out

A busy and good morning in the shop.

Probably a bit above average for a Saturday where our markets are on.

Adoring Husband arrived early to man the shop for me so that I could leave for my art class, but my lift arrived 15 minutes late THEN sat in the car punching the address where we were going, into the GPS, so we actually started driving at 12.50pm which was ten minutes before the class was due to start.

The class was 40 minutes away 😳

My driver, Mz Merc, apologised for being late and in the same sentence said “I’m always late” like it was a badge of honour.

Good to know for future reference!

The class actually waited for us before they started and of course this meant that the class finished later than planned. Adoring Husband came to pick me up at 5pm but the class didn’t finish til 6pm.

The butterfly effect.

ANYWAY ... the class was fun!

Charcoal drawing is quite a bit more difficult than I expected. There are many layers of work involved and spraying each layer with a fixative before doing the next layer.

Even after the first three layers, it still doesn’t look like the pic that you’re drawing. It’s not til the final 2 layers that the details get added and it begins to look like something interesting.

It’s VERY messy work!

I’m not sure that it’s my cup of tea, but I’ll play some more before I decide.

We practiced the layering technique on an apple first ...

Then took the scary step of creating our giraffe on a big board ...

It hurt my brain 😳

Maybe that was the wine!

The organisers provided nibbles AND there were GF options which were delicious! bonus!

All 12 of the ladies in attendance were lovely and supportive and talented so I felt completely comfortable as soon as I walked in. The teacher and her assistant were positive and encouraging.

I had a good time.

And now I need to rest my weary brain and get some sleep because I have a party to attend in the morning (another Lorraine Lea) and I’m yawning just thinking about it.

Nite all.

Tyre Kicking

It was another good day of sales but there were also a LOT of tyre kickers.

I opened the shop at 8am today because Adoring Husband was taking the car into The Bay early for a service, so I took advantage of him and his macho abilities before he left and he did all the heavy lifting and carrying for me ... as he does.

I feel like I didn’t stop all day but I cannot for the life me tell you what I achieved.

After we closed the shop, I came home and made a bottle of pina colada to take with me to Blonde Bombshell’s house where a few of us were meeting for drinks. In the end, there were only three of us but it was a good afternoon nonetheless.

Friday night is AH’s chicken nibble night so I didn’t have to worry about cooking. I’d only had one glass of my concoction and that, combined with my busy day, left me feeling very very tired.

I am now in bed watching the Penrith Panthers vs Canberra Raiders NRL game. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stay awake for it all.

Bubbles messaged me this evening and made tentative arrangements to visit us after Mother’s Day in May/June. That makes me very happy 😊 

April, May, June will be big months for us.

I’m excited about tomorrow because AH is going to man the shop for the last 30 minutes so that I can attend an art workshop in The Bay ...

Looks like a nice location for creating art!

I’ll be taking my bottle of Riccadonna and spending 4 hours with like minded women relaxing and getting my art on.

I think it’s time to sleep now.

PS. NOT getting naked with you girls lol

Nite all.

A Biggie

It was another big day at the shop.

Everybody who walked through the door today wanted a handbag. I sold 7 bags and five of them were the Sassy Duck brand. I’ve never had a day like that before.

I was flat out for 3 of the 5 hours that I was open. My cleaner came in the last hour and I asked her to steam the remaining clothes in the store room. She saves me so much time with the amount of work she gets done in an hour. She is fabulous.

Everything seems to be going nicely for the new improved family ...

Vegan Chickie is already home and they are all feeling very loved up.

I have booked return flights and received my permit to enter Victoria so I will be catching up on cuddles with my grandies for a week in April.

I

CANNOT

WAIT!

Meanwhile, I’m feeling my age and these big days are wearing me out! So it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Happy Day

Last night (Tuesday 6th) while I was creating my blog post, Vegan Chickie was very quickly giving birth to my new grandchild ...

7lb 6oz

49cm long

8 days past her due date

Hazel Joan Griffin Hodder

Perfect

Mum and Bub healthy and happy.

Dad floating on cloud 9

Sister jumping for joy.

This grandmother very teary and emotional 

While I was waiting to hear the good news, I kept myself occupied with this ...

And then after I received the happy news, I was too hyped up to sleep and it was well after 2am when I finally fell asleep and my alarm went off at 5.30am to get ready for meditation.

As you can imagine, it’s been a long day.

A long BUSY day as finally holiday sales have exploded and I was run off my feet until the last hour of the day!

I’m exhausted and ready for some deep sleep.

Nite all.

Hullo Out There!!!?

The caravan parks are full.

The holiday rental homes are full.

My shop has not been full 😳

Sales have been steady but nothing like I expected.

Very strange.

This time last year we were closed due to Covid and we were all in isolation so the usual holiday makers couldn’t leave their homes.

They are back this year feeling very grateful to have the freedom to do so, but annoyed that masks are compulsory attire - I know how they feel.

The Gypsy and I decided to run the meditation class tomorrow with reduced class numbers and with everyone wearing a mask. Hopefully, by next week, the mask rule will be dropped, but I have a sneaking suspicion that The Gypsy is about to pull the pin on meditation.

She is in the process of moving to Dallarnil (west of Childers) and it’s a 2 hour round trip. That’s a long way for a 61yr old with health issues and if she’s kind to herself, running a free meditation class an hour from home is not the right thing to do.

We’ve discussed this possibility a number of times in the last 4 or 5 months and she knows that even though I’ll be really sad to lose her and the classes, I’m ok with her decision. 

Wait and see.

Last night before I went to sleep, I did some more doodling/sketching/playing ...

I was going to do some more tonight but it’s already 10.30pm and I have to get up early in the morning.

Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Reverse the Plan

My original plan was to open the shop today (Monday) but the weather forecast was so bad and the predicted heavy rain and winds scared me off.

Sunday’s rain kept everyone away and I figured heavier weather wouldn’t change things so I posted on Facebook that I would be closed and made a sign for Adoring Husband to put inside the front door.

Things changed overnight and the weather cleared somewhat so at 9.40 this morning I changed my mind AGAIN and decided to open.

I’m glad I did.

The last hour was very quiet and I was pacing the floor counting the minutes so that could come home at 2pm and participate in a photography challenge that was posted in Facebook. The challenge was posted at 1pm and was open for two hours so I thought if I got home soon after 2pm I would have enough time to squeeze something in.

At precisely 1.56pm, two elderly ladies walked through the door.

Ugh 🥴

It was 2.15pm when they left and it was 2.20pm by the time we locked the door behind us.

We had to stop at the supermarket so by the time we arrived home, the photography challenge was off the table.

We sat down with some nibbles and watched the old 1965 movie “The Great Race” before the football started.

Right now, the rain is pelting down and by the look of the BOM, it will rain for most of the night, which is lovely.

By the way ... still no baby ... seven days overdue and she has a checkup appointment tomorrow (Tuesday). Watch this space.

I purposely did nothing extra at work today because working for two weeks without a break is already more than I’m used to so I’m being kind to myself and taking it easy where I can.

I’m going to bed now to watch MAFS and then fall asleep to the sound of rain.

Nite all.

Too Weathery

While I was keen to open the shop today with a plan B for using my time productively if the people did not come, the weather decided to put on a miserable performance which kept most of the world indoors.

The two highlights of my day were a phone call from my friend Rebel Mardi and a visit from Aggie.

I spent the rest of my time serving a few customers and working on my newsletter.

I took photos of the art from Saturday’s workshop ...

that’s just a few of the feathery pieces.

It was nice to come home and put my feet up to watch the football this afternoon and I baked a leg of lamb with baked veggies and gravy for dinner.

One of my art ladies gave me some gluten free brownies so I had three little pieces with raspberries and whipped cream. It was delicious but the dairy has given me a runny nose. There’s always something.

Adoring Husband and I both went to bed at 8.30pm and while I watched one of my favourite movies, “The Holiday”, I did some doodling ...

I reckon with a bit of practice I could improve and get something decent happening with the doodle technique.

Anyway, it’s almost midnight so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.