Great Start

They say you should start the year as you wish to continue it.

Well I certainly don’t plan on spending my entire year in bed, but I DID spend the entire first day of the year in bed. 

I did absolutely nothing productive.

Adoring Husband made my lemon water followed by chicken broth with toast.

I napped often.

I played Words With Friends.

I browsed through Facebook.

There were lots of New Years messages passed back and forth between friends in messenger.

I selected a couple of books on Audible by sampling a good number of them. My audible library is substantial so I guess that’s something else I can do once the shop closes!

It was nice to listen to the rain during the day and the temperature inside felt really mild.

At 5pm I got up and made a chicken and vegetable dish for dinner. It included celery, onion, sweet potato, potato, garlic, three different varieties of mushroom and chicken. Quite tasty.

It’s almost 11pm and I think I’m ready to sleep - yet again.

I hope to feel a bit more motivated tomorrow and I have a few things I’d like to tick off my ‘to do’ list but we’ll wait and see. No rush lol.

Nite all.

Goodbye 2021

May 2022 surprise us all with miraculous changes to the global narrative, numerous arrests and guilty verdicts for those who deserve it, celebrations by the once powerless as they become empowered and joyous reunions as the vaccine-free are permitted to cross the borders to reunite with friends and family.

Today was much quieter in the shop than I expected but sales were still good.

I had some fabulous conversations with some new and old acquaintances.

Adoring Husband and I attended a funeral via ZOOM on my desktop computer at the shop. It was moving, as funerals are, and difficult because I still had to serve customers during that 45 minutes. We really wanted to attend in person but between us, the zoom option was the best for us.

I spent about 30 minutes clearing out some drawers, brought another 25 timber coat hangers home and met for the last time with a sales rep from Brisbane. 

She is also vaccine-free and has lost some of her clients - pharmacies - if she is sick and requires medication for any reason, she IS allowed into the pharmacy to have a script filled or to purchase any other medications BUT as a healthy unvaccinated person, she is not allowed into the pharmacy to provide them with stock.

😳

Does that make sense?

Knowing that our time as colleagues is up, we exchanged private numbers and will remain in contact as like minded acquaintances with the possibility of developing a friendship.

Unfortunately her husband was waiting in the car for her so our time was very limited.

A quick shout out to Lady Lynn and Happy Harry who are celebrating an anniversary today!

Dirty Dancing is on telly tonight so I believe I shall climb into my cozy bed and fall asleep to the sight of Patrick Swayze’s gyrating hips!

I’ll see you next year!

Nite all.

Here We Are

Here we are at New Years Eve and time to reflect on 2021.

What was memorable about this year?

1.    I had the first couple of weeks in January with Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair in residence.

2.    My second grandbaby, Hazie, was born early April.

3.    I got to meet her and cuddle her two weeks later (in between Melbourne lockdowns)

4.    I met my new son-in-law for the first time (after 3 years!)

5.    I spent five days with the family and saw Chicklet for the first time in 2.5 years! 

6.    Bubbles visited in June and returned home just in time for Sydney lockdown!

7.    I ran 22 art workshops.

8.    I increased sales in the shop by 30%

9.    I enjoyed numerous lunches with my girls before mandates locked me out of cafes and restaurants.

10.  I made the decision to sell/close the shop to escape the covid BS mandates.

11.  I sold 8 pieces of art and 6 photos.

12.  I continued practicing meditation on a daily basis.

My plans for retirement include cleaning and decluttering the house, photography, art, cooking, swimming, meditation, riding my trike, walking on the beach and to finish creating my online course.

Today was another great day of sales in the shop with lots of tourists still about.

In a bid to reduce next months workload, I brought a few things home that are not needed in the shop anymore.

I had to restock the button trays because at 50% off, they are selling like hot cakes!

I started to make a ‘to do’ list of everything that needs doing for the next month. It’s going to be a long list.

There wasn’t much energy flowing through me today so the day wasn’t too productive.

I brought twenty timber coat hangers home and swapped them in my wardrobe for the plastic ones. The local op shop will be receiving a box full of plastic coat hangers very shortly.

We had pork medallions and salad for dinner and now it’s after 11pm so I need to sleep.

Nite all and Happy New Year!

A set of Good words to follow!

Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle commented a few days ago on the Covid situation: 

"This moment that humanity is living through can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or go through the door is yours.

If you consume information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.

 But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, you will go through the door.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of others at the same time.

 Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Adopt the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader vision.

There is a social demand in this crisis, but also a spiritual demand. The two go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility. 

You are prepared to go through this crisis.

Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal. Learn to resist by the example of the Indian and African peoples: we have been and continue to be exterminated. 

* But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting fires and having joy.

Don't feel guilty for feeling lucky in these difficult times. Being sad and without energy doesn't help at all. 

* Resilience is resilience through joy! 

You have the right to be strong and positive. You have to maintain a beautiful, cheerful and bright posture.

This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It is a strategy of resistance. 

When we walk in the door, we have a new view of the world because we have faced our fears and difficulties.

This is what you can do now: 

- Serenity in the storm, 

- Keep calm, meditate daily, 

- Make a habit of encountering the sacred every day. 

Demonstrate resilience through art, joy, trust and love. " 

😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊

It was a great day in the shop with fantastic sales, lots of happy visitors and lots of animated conversations.

We closed late because of some stragglers that wanted to spend their money. 

I gathered all of the loose coat hangers from the change room to bring home - it will be the first time in my life that I’ve had all matching coat hangers in my wardrobe! I’m a bit excited about that!

I started sorting through the artwork in the training room.

I found some extra stock in the drawers and cupboards so I priced it and put it on display.

Clearing the shop is going to be a hell of a job!

Clearing space in my house so that there is somewhere to put the stuff from the shop is also going to be a hell of a job!

And that’s only the stuff that is not for sale!

😳😳😳

So far, this week has been pretty damned good.

I hope yours has been good too!

Nite all.

Boxing Day

Today was officially the Boxing Day holiday, but I opened the shop anyway.

It was worth the effort with good sales in the shop and via the Facebook page.

I only had one visitor for coffee and it was really nice to have some quality time with Maid Marian. I don’t think we’ve ever had time with just the two of us before. We had about an hour.

I made some 50% OFF signs for the snap buttons and snap jewellery and taped them where they’ll be seen.

I prepared the “closing down” sale signs for next week - I still need to laminate them.

I began gathering a few things to bring home. If I bring a bag of stuff home every day, the job won’t be so big at the end of January.

I packed away the macrame wall hangings ready to hand back to their owner.

I met a lot of holiday-makers, but they were new - not the old regulars - which was also nice.

The weather was a bit unpredictable with a few short sharp showers appearing out of nowhere, so that may have kept a few people away. The forecast is for much of the same this week so it’ll be interesting to see what affect it has on sales.

I feel like it’s going to be a good week.

Nite all.

Self Care

I needed the break.

It has been five days since I looked at anything covid or vaccine related.

Sometimes it just gets too much.

Today was my last day of self indulgent misery.

I should have practiced some self care and self love but mostly I sat around feeling a bit angry with the world.

We watched the third Matrix movie which was better than expected. 

We found a series called “Dash and Lily” which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I’ve just discovered that there won’t be a 2nd series. That makes me sad.

We watched some cricket too.

Some time after 5pm I decided to go for a swim.

Big mistake.

It was surprisingly cool and I swam three laps before I decided to find some warmth under a hot shower!

I researched some raised garden beds. Once I’m done with the shop, I’ll get back into some fruit and vegetable gardening - on a smaller scale than our last “mini farm” pre-pool. I’m looking forward to growing some sunflowers too.

I’ve ordered some sour dough bread starter and will make our own bread.

I have big plans for the kitchen and paleo cooking - which I’m sure Adoring Husband will enjoy. I’ve been going through some old recipe books. We are going to be super healthy!

I’m going to spring clean the house and brutally declutter.

There will be plenty to keep us busy, which we’ll need since we’re not allowed out in the real world. We’ll have to provide our own entertainment!

In the meantime, I have about five weeks left of my happy place - depending of course on whether there is another lockdown.

It’s way after midnight and I’ve got work tomorrow!

Nite all.

Misery Guts

Despite my best efforts to remain positive and uplifted this season, it has been an absolute struggle to find any semblance of ‘happy’.

I was grateful for a low key Christmas Day in hibernation where I could get sucked into the vortex of Netflix - although a couple of my choices such as The Matrix and Don’t Look Up were too close to actual reality and didn’t help improve my state of mind.

Grey skies, missing friends, minimal or nonexistent family contact, imminent life and lifestyle changes, local and global events and an uncertain future, among other things have all contributed to my low energy and negative vibing.

I’m reminded of a weekend in 1977 when my mother spent an entire weekend in bed refusing to speak to anyone and her only words were “it’s a case of stop the world, I want to get off”.

I’m the only one that can lift me out of this.

I think I’d like to dwell here in my self indulgent misery for another day and then I’ll take positive steps toward putting some colour back into my days.

Today I stayed in bed until 5pm.

There were storms about so I avoided the pool.

At lunch time, I shelled the remaining crab and stuffed my face.

I wrote a very long message to a friend who wanted some information and when I was 3/4 of the way through it (that took me 40 minutes) my battery went dead and I lost the entire thing. My motivation to retype it was at zero level so she still hasn’t received the info.

At 4pm I received a phone call from The Motivator and we chatted for an hour.

I made ham and salad for dinner and we watched the 2nd Matrix movie - which consisted of many long laborious choreographed fight scenes and car chases. It was everything it’s fans warned me it would be but I persisted because I want to watch all of the Matrix movies in succession - but not in one day.

And by “it’s fans” I mean Number One Son and Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair.

We watched a 2nd movie “A Street Cat Named Bob” which was very nice and had a warm and fuzzy ending … until the credits ran and it said “In Loving Memory of Bob The Cat” ugh 😩 

It’s now almost midnight so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Another One Done

Another Christmas done and dusted.

Adoring Husband liked his new Cronulla shirt …

I loved my new amethyst crystal lamp …

I love all the gifts so carefully selected by Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair. Here are a few including these cool hippy pants …

The weather was hot and muggy.

The storms kept us out of the pool.

We watched The Matrix on Netflix, followed by “Don’t Look Up” a parody of our current circumstances with some big names like Jennifer Laurence, Meryl Streep, Leonardo Di Caprio, Jonah Hill and Cate Blanchett. Depressing and poignant.

After that we watched an Aussie movie called “Drift”. 

I’ve just finished watching “Tick Tick Boom” 

Now I’ve started “Wide Open Sky” but it’s well after midnight so I doubt I’ll get through it tonight.

I made ham, eggs and tomato for Adoring Husband’s breakfast. I had ham steaks and caramelised pineapple - my favourite breakfast as a young child.

We totally missed lunch.

I did a quick potato salad and coleslaw to have with ham, crab, prawns and salad at dinner time.

Oh and I made a prawn cocktail for AH’s entree.

BGWLBH and I texted often during the day - both of us feeling a bit sad.

Vegan Chickie texted photos of their day as she and Mr Perfect hosted Christmas doing all of the catering themselves. It looked like a great day and Chicklet loved the lamp that I selected for her …

I hope you all enjoyed your day. I’ve seen some pics on Facebook and everybody looked happy and loved up, which was great to see.

Now we look to new year!

Nite all.