Shaky Saturday

I awoke at 3.30am because my bladder required emptying.

Trouble was, I couldn’t get back to sleep!

By the time my alarm sounded at 7am, I was ready to sleep again.

Unfortunately, that could not happen so I dragged myself out of bed and enjoyed a nice hot shower to start my day.

Not a soul entered the shop for the first 90 minutes so I decided to sit in the sun outside the front door and catch some Pokémon. I’d only been there for 3 minutes when a group of people walked up the driveway.

It was not a huge day for sales - once again, expected because Howard markets were on - but good enough  to keep me satisfied.

AH arrived very early to help close the shop so I gave him some errands, as I do.

We were home before 1.30pm and my first stop was the kitchen to make a BIG pot of chicken and veg soup. While that was simmering away on the stove, I made some chocolate protein balls for AH to have as snacks.

Protein balls have dates, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pepitas, hemp seeds, probiotic powder, melted dark chocolate, cacao powder, coconut oil, sultanas and cranberries.

I made 44 of them.

Then it was time to remove the chicken from the pot, blend the vegetables and soup water, shred the chicken and divide it evenly between 20 containers for the freezer. I kept one out for my dinner.

Delicious.

By the time I’d finished, the kitchen was a disaster area requiring two full loads in the dishwasher and some dishwashing by hand. Thank you AH.

My feet were aching and my shirt was covered in chocolate mess.

Of course there was dessert - leftover muffins, brownie, strawberries and Zymil cream. The muffins and brownie all GF, sugar free, dairy free and made with fresh food ingredients.

We are watching Melbourne Storm play Gold Coast Titans right now, but I feel that I won’t be awake by the end of the game.

I can hear my pillow calling me and I don’t get to stay in bed tomorrow because I have a coffee date with my girls at the Lions Park where we are meeting Lady Lynn before she returns home from a brief visit.

It’s been a long day - because it started at 3.30am!

Nite all.

Surprise!

This morning was incredibly quiet.

One couple walked in before midday, wandered around for about 3 minutes and walked out.

Feeling uninspired, I decided to sit outside the front door and chase Pokémons with my phone - hoping to one day impress Chicklet with my substantial cache on the Pokédex.

I’d been out there for about ten minutes when I heard a familiar voice enquiring “Having a slow day?”

I looked up to see J&P, The Inveterate Travellers strolling up the driveway! It is just short of 2 years since we last saw each other and they brought the lovely Duchess with them the last time. I was reminded that the Duchess recently celebrated her 84th birthday! 👋 Hullo Duchess!

Their visit was short and sweet. We caught up briefly, having a few laughs and making plans to catch up again at Marco Polo’s 40th birthday party next week.

They generously kickstarted my sales by making a few purchases and we hugged goodbye as prospective customers walked through the door.

Their visit and their purchases triggered the beginning of a good afternoon of sales as there was a steady stream of people for the next hour or more.

Adoring Husband arrived early to pack up so I sent him on a couple of errands to kill time.

We were home by 2.15pm.

By 3.15pm we were both looking at the time expecting it to be close to 6pm! We are tired ... clearly.

AH cooked his usual Friday night chicken wings for dinner and I stayed up to watch the final heat for “Portrait Artist of the Year 2014” awards before dragging myself to prepare for bed.

I don’t think I’ll see out the end of the footy tonight and there is an icy breeze floating through the window - perfect for sliding under the doona and getting all snug and warm for sleep.

My lovely family in lockdown VIC ...

Nite all.

Helpful

My work day began with an early delivery of Buckley and Phillips goodies.

Essential oils, room sprays, candles, reed diffusers, hand and body lotions and incense sticks.

I checked them off the invoice, wrote out all the price tags and at that point my cleaner, The Happy Hippy arrived so I took advantage of her services and she helped me price and display everything.

She spent the remaining part of her hour dusting while I served the influx of customers that appeared and who kept me busy until midday.

A good day of sales.

Adoring Husband and I shut up shop 5 minutes early because we had errands to run in The Bay.

• Pick up the dry cleaning. ($54 to dry clean a doona!)
• Drop into Nanas Pantry for some tapioca flour and ingredients for power protein balls.
• Nick into Truckloads for some dishwasher tabs on sale.
• Since we are in the right vicinity, coffee and a green juice from Su Jus Cafe (+muffins).
• Spotlight to grab 38 canvases for art classes - also on sale.

Homeward bound but a quick stop at the shop to drop off the canvases and pick up the cash tin and my laptop.

Dinner was early because AH had SES training tonight. Barramundi and salad was quick and easy.

My footy team has received a good hiding from the Dragons this evening. Sad but true.

Now I’m feeling decidedly weary.

Nite all.

Gorgeous Day

I don’t think the weather could have been any more perfect.

I even sat on one of the chairs outside the front door for a little while to breathe in the fresh Autumn air, feel the cool breeze and listen to the gentle tinkle of the wind chimes on my outside stand.

It was quite lovely.

Almost a full house for meditation and it was quite an animated class which is always interesting.

As usual, a few of the girls hung around for a chat afterwards and I got to catch up with The Gypsy at my desk.

Everyone had left before 11am and I collected the mail which included some new jewellery stands for the shop, a necklace and some Coeliac bread pockets to safely make GF toast in a normal toaster.

I paid bills, did some filing, redisplayed some earrings on the new jewellery stands and tidied my desk. What was left of day passed very quickly and AH arrived right on time to help close the shop.

I’m so tired after my early start this morning. I really need to sleep right now.

Nite all.

Grand Start

What a grand start to my week!

Adoring Husband and I were at the shop just after 8am to clear the training room of all the art mess and set up for coffee morning and journaling class. It took us an hour to do that and then open the shop.

There were two special visitors at coffee this morning - Reality TV Queen and Mrs Bucket.

I think it was close to 11am by the time they left and it was like a tag team when Grayart arrived to deliver my Lorraine Lea gift and pick up her art from Saturday’s class.

From the moment she left, the shop was busy busy busy.

That means it was a great sales day which ended with a great journaling class.

We stayed behind once again and cleared the training room to set up for meditation on Wednesday morning.

I vacuumed the whole shop and it was almost 4.30pm by the time we arrived home.

AH dragged me in to make the bed ready for Bubbles’ visit on Monday so that meant I was a bit late putting the chicken in the oven for his dinner.

My dinner was delicious creamy veg and chicken soup - I think I could live on that stuff! I can almost feel my body sucking up all those nutrients and it’s thanking me with lots of ‘feel good’ feelings.

I made up a salad for AH to have with his chicken.

Now, at 9.30pm I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. It’s time to sleep so that I can wake up bright and early for meditation.

Nite all.

Fun With Friends

I’m exhausted after a great day with the girls.

We had morning tea at the Sticky Fig Cafe. I splurged on a lemon slice with my pot of tea which was served in a quirky little polka dot teapot and gorgeous bone China teacup and saucer decorated with yellow roses.

We popped into HBW on our way to lunch so that I could pick up some paper bags with twine handles for the shop.

Our reservation was at Aquavue for lunch but we were 30 minutes early so we went for a browse through Go Girl which is located just across the road. I found a gorgeous dress there and a beaded necklace.

We were right in time for lunch and I ordered calamari salad. Sweet Aggie ordered us some mocktails...

The food AND the drinks were really delicious, there was quite a bit of snorting laughter, some inappropriate lunchtime conversation (and activity) and the birthday girl was a cheap date!

We left there to do some more shopping across the road at Banana Bender and Go Natural, then we moved on to Stocklands where I got myself some new shoes and some singlet tops and finally we stopped at Pillow Talk to get some sheets for the bed that Bubbles will be sleeping in when she arrives next week.

So I spent too much money, but I culled another six items from my wardrobe, to make room for the new stuff.

Adoring Husband and I had a very light dinner. His was ham and salad. Mine was veg and chicken soup.

Tonight I watched the final episode of Mare of Easttown. So many twists and turns! It was excellent!

Now it’s almost midnight and I need to be at work early to clear the training room of all the art paraphernalia.

So I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Not so Restful

Last night I began watching the limited series Mare of Easttown on Foxtel Go.

A couple of names you would know from it are Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce.

I watched 4 episodes which took me to midnight and as much as I wanted to continue watching it, I made a responsible adult decision to get some sleep.

This morning I got out of bed and made our breakfast of smoked cod with baby spinach, salad and kimchi + a cup of tea, brought it back to bed and watched the next two episodes. 

There are only 7 episodes in the series and the last one comes out tomorrow so I’m left on the edge of my bed by the cliffhanger ending to episode 6!

Ugh!

Eventually I got out of bed and began my period of productivity. Very unusual for a Sunday!

First up, I pulled all of the bedding out of the linen cupboard and Adoring Husband took all the vacuumed storage bags of linen out of the back bedroom wardrobe.

Boy oh boy 😳

We filled an entire trailer with old pillows, euro pillows, doonas and covers, sheets, pillowcases, mattress protectors, valances, boomerang pillows and more!

We were brutal.

I kept only my favourite sets.

Next up, I cleared the chest of drawers in the guest bedroom.

Once again ... brutal.

Four drawers that were filled to the brim became 2.5 empty drawers and 1.5 partially filled.

After those two tasks, it was time to start dinner.

Chicken, mushroom, pak choy, pumpkin and sweet potato casserole. Strawberries and lactose free whipped cream for dessert. That Zymil cream is very nice!

I was very close to having a perfect round in the footy tipping this week - until Manly spoiled my party by unexpectedly losing to Newcastle. Not happy Jan 😡

I’m looking forward to Maid Marion’s birthday lunch tomorrow so I’d best get my beauty sleep!

Nite all.