A Day of Wonder

Another glorious Winter's day!

The water in the river was a deep and beautiful shade of blue at high tide this morning. I spent ten minutes with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge, admiring the water, before buying my coffee and heading over to The Motivator's house.

She was preparing breakfast for herself and a morning visitor, so we all sat outside in the alfresco area, them eating a big breakfast, and me with my coffee. The conversation flowed easily as we all shared our thoughts about business ideas, previous experiences & successes and plans for our futures.

It was interesting to note how very different we all were in our beliefs and in our approaches to bringing our dreams to fruition.

By the time I arrived home, it was almost lunch time, so I prepared a salad for Adoring Husband to have with his protein, which he cooked when he was ready and I spent the afternoon at my desk, watching some academy videos, taking notes and printing out the business diary.

At 4pm we drove to the shop for our coffee and then on to the beach for our afternoon walk.

I remembered to take my camera and was hoping to get a decent shot for the flickr challenge this month. The theme is 'Looking Down'.

But the one I selected for the challenge was this one ...

It's the skeleton of a stingray!

We walked for an hour because the tide was out and there was plenty of beach and sandy flats to explore. It was still a beautiful day with the perfect breeze, a few friendly dogs walking their owners, some kids using the wide expanse of sand as a golf driving range, a solo curlew and a couple of oyster catchers (birds) and a fisher person standing in the water as the tide rose around them.

As usual, it was most enjoyable and by the time we arrived home, I had to prepare dinner, so no more website or academy work for me. It's been a very slow week for the website and I feel like I'm falling behind. Tomorrow I have a fracking meeting to attend, so I will lose even more time.

It's way past midnight so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

 

Psychosomatic

Psychosomatic - adjective - relating to the interaction of mind and body.

After my appointment with the doctor yesterday, I woke up this morning with not a flutter to be felt. For the entire day, not a flutter to be felt!

I'm certain that it has been mind over matter. My mind needed to hear the diagnosis so that it knew which part of my body to focus the healing towards!

I'm feeling fantastic.

It's been an interesting day.

It's been a beautiful Spring day.

I saw the boys at the Seat of Knowledge before I bought my coffee this morning, which I took with me to The Motivator's house, where I sat enjoying it while she ate her delicious, healthy big breakfast.

We did some catching up for an hour or so and I left her house with a bag full of sand crabs, and for anyone who cares, this is the last weekend for sand crabs from this fishing family, until next year, so you'd best get in quick!

When I arrived home, I hopped online and ordered my new Apple Macbook Pro, which I expect to receive in two to three weeks. Apple launched the upgraded version overnight and it has some new features that I'm excited to check out.

I have to thank Vegan Chickie who stopped me from ordering a new laptop about six weeks ago, when she advised me of the impending launch. Now I'll have the new, you-beaut, top of the range machine that will be brilliant for my photo editing and website building and ebook writing and blogging and business building and anything else that I can think of!

It will be a long 2-3 week wait.

I spent some time in my workspace, then helped Adoring Husband make some lunch. At about 2pm I visited The Motivator again and returned home with just enough time to shower and make myself presentable for the club.

We were all lucky enough to be graced with the presence of AH at the club. He joins us so rarely, and everybody gets very excited and animated when he does. It's like having a movie star in our presence!

He must have brought some luck with him because just about everybody at our two tables won a prize tonight. Meat trays and free drinks and pokie wins and keno wins. It's been a long time since the luck stirred in our corner.

I cooked up some delicious duck breast for dinner, which was served with a big tangy salad.

After Adoring Husband retired to bed, I switched the TV channel over to the TCM (Turner Classic Movie) channel and for the first time in my life, watched 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' which stars Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor.

I was so certain that I'd watched it in my past, but was surprised to find that I'd never seen any of it. I quite enjoyed it too. The movie 'Casablanca' followed it, but I've definitely seen that one before .. a couple of times, so the TV is muted as I finish this post and head to bed before the clock strikes midnight.

I may actually get to work on my ebook tomorrow. My fluttering has made it a slow week for my website and ebook, so there is a bit to catch up on.

As I sign off, I'd like to wish Jolly Jack (the name that I have appropriately given Happy Harry's and Lady Lynn's daughter) a very happy birthday. It was a pleasure to have her smiling face at our table tonight and now that I think about it, it may have been Jolly Jack who brought the luck to our table!!

Nite all.



  

Believe It Or Not

Yep. I did it.

I decided that after five days of fluttering, without any sign of it letting up, and feeling such discomfort that I couldn't even prepare dinner for two nights, that I needed to do something about it and find out what was really happening.

Firstly, I phoned a medical help line and spoke to a registered nurse, who was very thorough and asked me lots of questions about my medical history, both personal and family related. She had no idea what my diagnosis might be, but suggested that five days was too long to have symptoms that could possibly be heart related, so I should see a doctor within the next twelve hours.

Who here has ever been able to get an appointment with a GP inside twelve hours????

She wanted me to ask for an ECG and for blood tests to check my thyroid function.

The way I saw it, I had two choices. I could go to the local doctor surgery and see one of the doctors there - all of whom I have heard negative stories about and none of whom I have ever laid eyes upon - OR I could go to my old doctor, who I haven't seen since May 2009 and who I don't trust due to his poor management of Adoring Husband's health at certain times.

I chose the latter and made the call. The receptionist offered me an appointment for next Tuesday, so I explained that the medical line said it had to be inside twelve hours and without hesitation, she said "How about 2.30 this afternoon?"

"Perfect!" I replied.

I described my symptoms to Dr Dubious, who was much less thorough than the registered nurse who I'd spoken to earlier on the medical line. I told him it was suggested that I have an ECG and blood tests, so he confidently declared that he believed it was my thyroid that was giving me grief, but just to rule heart problems out, he wanted me to be fitted with a halter monitor to get a 24 hour record of my heart activity.

For the twenty four hours on the monitor, I have to do things that put stress on my heart. They said that I'm not allowed to use my electronic devices .. no iPhone, no iPad, no laptop, no PC .. THAT is going to put stress on my heart!!!

I have to wait til Tuesday to get this thing fitted, so I need to survive five sleeps and then after they take it off, a further six sleeps before the doctor receives the report. Let's hope I don't have a heart attack between now and then!

A lovely lady by the name of Lee, the most efficient vampire I've ever come across in my life, took quite a bit of the red stuff out of my vein, while being very friendly and welcoming. She made the experience surprisingly pleasant and I praised her and thanked her profusely.

They will be testing my blood for thyroid function, liver function, magnesium and potassium levels, vitamin D levels and other stuff that I can't think of right now.

So that was my day. As you know, I do not like, nor do I trust doctors, so for me to take this step is a big deal! Needless to say, the flutters have been fairly mild and infrequent all day today!

Oh and Dr Dubious told me to cut back on my coffee. "ARE YOU KIDDING???" I replied "I have the cleanest diet in the history of mankind and have removed everything that is bad. I only drink two coffees a day .. and NOW you want to take them away as well????"

So as Adoring Husband and I drove back into town, I said "We need to stop for coffee!"

We stopped for coffee, and for the third day in a row, drove to the beach and walked barefoot through the incoming tidal waters. I hope we make this a habit, because I absolutely love it!

Last, but not least, when Dr Dubious took my blood pressure, it was sky high!! 156 over something equally stupid. I said "Don't be ridiculous!! I have never had high blood pressure!! I've been monitoring it for 5 days and it hasn't been higher than 120/80 at any time!"

I actually had a slip of paper in my purse with the last ten blood pressure readings that I took, so that I could show him, but I didn't show him because he said "Let's put it down to 'White Coat Syndrome' and not worry about your blood pressure for now."

And that was that.

I found it pretty amazing that my Dr's appointment was for 2.30pm, after which, we drove to the pathology rooms where I booked my halter fitting and had my blood taken. From there we drove to Takura to pick up the FROG box and we came into town and drove past the pub at 4pm.

Very time efficient.

I think seven years and five months is a pretty good record to hold for avoiding doctor's visits. Let's hope when all this is over, I can break that record again.

Nite all.      

Across the Water

We had a great day!

The weather was glorious as we travelled across the water on the Burrum River Quest to Woodgate Beach. The tide was too low for the boat to drop us at the boat ramp, so we were dropped at the beach  and had to hike quite a way to reach the bus that would take us to the Woodgate Pub.

It took quite a few boat trips and bus rides to get us all there, but it was definitely worth it. Even though the pub is looking a bit tired and in need of a facelift, the staff were very friendly and the food was great. There were lots of gluten free options and the pub had a nice atmosphere.

I was lucky enough to make it for the first boat ride and the first bus, and returned on the last bus and last boat trip.

My only complaint was my fluttering that hardly let up all day and got worse when I returned home, so I have been in bed since 5pm and am typing this in bed, on my iPad. It seems to have settled now (at 11pm), so I'm going to get some sleep and tomorrow I'll decide whether to see a doctor.

I'm looking forward to spending the day at my desk, so I hope my body behaves itself.

Nite all.

Working On It

My flutters did not bother me all day, until approximately 3.45pm.

There was absolutely no trigger for them because I was sitting at my desk all afternoon working on my ebook. I was having a lovely time and being very productive with no interruptions. Then the flutters began.

Adoring Husband interrupted me at 4.15pm and said "Come on. We're going to get coffee and then go for a walk along the beach."

What's amazing about this particular moment, is that the chapter I was in the middle of writing, was about walking along the beach with bare feet and 'grounding'!

Very freaky.

I jumped at his idea because as I was typing, I was imagining splashing my feet through the beachy waves. I also wanted to prove that grounding had some real benefits! It was a beautiful day ...

So we bought our coffee and headed to the water. The tide was very high and there was not much beach left to walk along, but I climbed out of the car leaving my shoes behind and we went for a bare foot stroll along the shore line.

The water was incredibly warm, almost like a bathtub, and Adoring Husband found a friend!!

Before we'd left the beach, my fluttering had disappeared again. I was so relieved, but I breathed my sigh of relief way too soon, because within 45 minutes it was back!

It wasn't as bad as last night and I was at least able to prepare and eat dinner.

It's now almost 11pm and the flutters are still with me, so I'm off to bed to sleep them away and hope that they leave me alone for the lady's luncheon tomorrow.

Nite all

Over it!

Yes, you guessed it. I'm still fluttering.

I woke up with the fluttering, but it disappeared fairly quickly and I was fine until about 1pm when I began to prepare myself to attend a 'Scentsy' party. By the time I arrived at the party, the fluttering was building and increased steadily over the two hours that I was there.

I was the first to leave the party and as I rode home, the fluttering disappeared again, so I assumed that it might have something to do with anxiety. Unfortunately, after I arrived home, the fluttering returned and caused me considerable discomfort all evening .. bad enough that I didn't make dinner and for a period of about thirty minutes I strongly considered finding a doctor!

I know right?!

Five times over the duration of about an hour, when it was at it's worst, I checked my blood pressure and heart rate, and they were normal each time. On average 112/73 (within the normal range) and heart rate around 80 (normal is between 60-100).

As I sit here at almost 11pm, the fluttering is still annoying me, but is much much milder now. My blood pressure and heart rate are still normal.

Anyway, back to the Scentsy party.

I had never heard of Scentsy, but with hindsight, I think my sister may have gifted me a warmer with melts for Christmas one year. I used it once and decided they were a bit too toxic for me.

Scentsy is a party plan business that sells diffusers, warmers, scented wax melts, scented oils and a few essential oils as well as other cleaning products and perfumed wardrobe and car hangers. There are shaving lotions, face creams and hand moisturisers, among other things.

I think I sniffed every single scent available and only found two that smelled acceptable to my nose. In the end, even though I considered buying a diffuser, I left empty handed and without putting in an order.

When I arrived home, I did some research to discover more about them. The party operators were obviously well scripted and fluffed around some of the questions that were asked.

My most important question was "what are the ingredients?" The print on each item was so tiny, and with colour combinations that made them impossible to read. The only answer was "all natural" which immediately rings alarm bells because that usually means "far from natural".

Having scoured the website, I could not find any information about the ingredients of any of their products. Apparently they once declared that Scentsy used a secret combination of ingredients, but now there is nothing on the site (that I could find). At the party, it was stated that Scentsy use 100% natural fragrance.

That tells me that if they are not willing to disclose the ingredient list, then I don't trust that they are providing a safe product. And please explain how you put 100% natural 'By The Sea' in a melt, or 100% 'Clean Breeze' in an oil, or 100% 'Skinny Dippin' in a room spray ... please? That's just plucking a few from the list.

They must use chemical compounds to create the scents, as most fragrance oils do (pure essential oils SHOULD be closer to all natural) and they also usually contain ethers, amines, terpenes and many other toxic ingredients. Once those are heated, they release toxins, despite what the Scentsy people tell you.

Obviously, there are many customers and potential customers out there who trust that the Australian Government would never allow a company to sell us dangerous, toxic or fraudulent products. These people never think twice about the health risks and always believe that 100% natural means 100% natural. They might even get annoyed with people like me who ask the hard questions.

Those are the people who keep the money rolling in. Ignorance is bliss and all that jazz.

I, however, chose to let this one pass and after biting very hard on my tongue during a conversation about the fabulous the new boat ramp and after sitting in front of plates loaded with gluten and sugar, I was happy to be feeling unwell enough to leave early.

It must be time for me to go to bed and rest my body from the fluttering.

Nite all.

Still Fluttery

I'm still feeling a bit fluttery.

I attempted to ignore it by working on my website, but I just couldn't focus. Even though the fluttering is not as bad as yesterday, it's still annoying and I'm wondering if it's the caffeine!

There was no fluttering until I had my coffee this morning, so tomorrow, I will forego my coffee and see how I fare.

How lovely to wake up to rain this morning. It was fairly constant all day. Nice soaking rain that began to clear right on dusk to produce this ...

It seems that there were beautiful sunsets all over Queensland as people were posting photos from all along the coast.

I made a delicious salad to accompany our protein at lunch today. In the food processor, I tossed in

• 3 florets of cauliflower
• 1 carrot (chopped into chunks)
• 1 large bunch of parsley
• 1 red onion
• half a fresh beetroot (peeled)
• 1/4 cabbage

With the chopping blade, I processed until it was all chopped, not too finely, but about the size of KFC coleslaw, then I poured it into a bowl and added a dressing that I'd made for a salad on Thursday. I can't remember the measurements, but it had lemon juice, ACV, lime oil, honey, grated ginger and chopped coriander.

So we had lamb rack, the chopped salad, tomato wedges, avocado slices, some fermented sauerkraut and a sprinkle of persian feta cheese. Yum.

I had a big mug of chicken broth for dinner.

I hope that tomorrow, my fluttering will be gone and I can spend the entire day focussed on my website. I'm hungry to make some more good progress. I'd also like to make a start on my ebook.

It's just after 10.30pm and I am gone!!

Nite all.

Being an Activist

This morning I attended a meeting in our local hall about fracking.



There is a company called blueenergy.com.au that is currently exploring our region on behalf of shale gas fracking companies who want to mine in our area. By 'our area' I mean from Tiaro to Bundaberg and including Maryborough, Hervey Bay, Burrum Heads, Childers and many more small communties.

With the assistance of Lock The Gate Alliance, we can unite as a community, and like many other small communities throughout Australia, keep these huge international companies from destroying our environment, waterways, health, other industries like tourism and agriculture in the region, our property values and our air.

Living in the suburbs does not make us immune or safe because even suburbs in Sydney have coal seam gas wells currently in operation and fracking and drilling  occurs regularly.

Mining companies can, without your permission, enter your property to drill for gas - unless your gate displays a 'Lock The Gate' sign.

I will find out more about our local situation at the next meeting which is being held in the coming weeks, for people who want to get involved.

Adoring Husband did not accompany me to this meeting because he had SES commitments at the local Lions Park for the town's official opening of that horrible boat ramp that I told you about last week.

I'm not sure that he would have accompanied me even if he had been free to do so, but I like to think he would have supported me.

I attended another of Mrs Bucket's gatherings this afternoon but had to leave early because I wasn't feeling too well, experiencing flutters in my throat and above my chest and feeling a little breathless. It seems to have eased considerably, after I had a short nap this afternoon, but it's still there and I'm hoping that after a good night's sleep, it will disappear by morning.

It's already after midnight, so I should get to bed.

Nite all.

Birthday Boy

It's been a rather pleasant kind of day.

Before we drove into The Bay, we stopped to get coffee at our 'local'. I announced that it was Adoring Husband's birthday, so three of the staff sang .. YES .. they SANG happy birthday to a very embarrassed Adoring Husband. It was very funny and very nice.

AH checked the mail to discover a parcel containing his first Grand Final purchase, a black t-shirt with the Cronulla Sharks emblem, the team they defeated, the year and the score. He tried, unsuccessfully, to convince the manager to display the shirt over the cash register.

We had an easy drive into town and arrived at the cinema quite early to get our tickets for 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children'. Surprisingly, they allowed us into our theatre very early, and there were only six of us in attendance to watch it .. plus two ghosts who walked in ahead of the last two patrons.

I told AH that two ghosts just walked in and I pointed to where they were sitting. He thought I was crazy and gave me the strangest look while making some derogatory comment about my sanity, but they really did walk in and they made their way down the aisle, sat down and then faded to nothing almost immediately.

The weird thing was that I wasn't even afraid! It felt really normal. AH didn't think so lol.

We watched the movie and I believe that AH may have had a little snooze in the middle of it. It was quite good, a little slow in parts, but interesting. The special effects were good and I was left wondering what sort of drugs the writer must have been taking to conjure up such crazy characters with such peculiar traits!

After the movie, we visited JB HiFi and bought 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and the latest 'Independence Day - Resurgence' movie (which we are watching as I type this).

We enjoyed a GF steak sandwich at Aquavue for lunch, and what a beautiful day it was. The tide was in and the water was a beautiful deep blue colour, and was glistening in the sunlight.

It was around 2pm by the time we pulled into our driveway. I presented AH with his surprise chocolate fudge brownie birthday treat ...

and we had a relaxing afternoon watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, before I made myself presentable and Adoring Husband drove me to my favourite Friday night haunt.

It was an unlucky night for us all in the raffles and the keno but we had fun and as always, enjoyed each other's company.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day, so it's an early night for me.

One final "Happy birthday Adoring Husband" xo

Nite all.

Under Productive

There wasn't much productivity in my day, that's for sure!

I was awake unusually early for me - 5.30am! I stayed in bed until 7am and then enjoyed a leisurely shower, washed and blow dried my hair before visiting the boys at the Seat of Knowledge.

The Motivator had to put up with me for three hours and I brought a lot of sand crabs home, which I shelled while Adoring Husband's butter chicken was cooking.

My desk enjoyed my company for about two hours, during which time, I changed a couple of things on my website and then my brain felt like it was going to explode, so I conceded defeat and joined AH in the lounge room until he had to leave for SES training.

After he left, I spent some time in the kitchen preparing a birthday surprise for him.

As you read this, he is celebrating number 59 on the Richter scale. Happy birthday darling.

Today is your day so plan it well ... make it a good one!!

Nite all.

Hump of a Day

Today's coffee with the girls was a little more emotional than usual.

We all have concerns for each other as we deal with medical, mental health, marriage, 'in limbo' and family issues. Clearly, we are all dealing with our issues as admirably as possible, but sometimes we let our walls down and share our fears and insecurities.

Today was one of those days.

We even had a 'non-regular' sit with us and share some news that had us all picking our jaws up from the floor.

Needless to say, it was quite late by the time I made my way home, although I did stop off at Beauty's house on the way, to raid her beautiful garden of so much lush healthful greenery, a good portion of which Adoring Husband and I enjoyed for lunch.

By the time I'd finished preparing and eating lunch, I was keen to withdraw to my workspace and get started on the website building again, but my brain just couldn't find the right track to take. Eventually, I glanced at my Himalayan salt lamp, which always provides a positive change in the room when I turn it on.

Twenty minutes later, I was on the right track and my afternoon was filled double checking all the steps in the build so far. It was a good move, because there were a couple of steps that I hadn't quite completed properly and I know exactly where I need to start tomorrow when I sit at the desk.

I should also mention that Adoring Husband has been fairly busy in the house today, doing a touch of cleaning here and there, including the bedding ... and you know what that means? Yessssss! We all agree that there is nothing nicer than sliding between clean crisp fresh bedding at bedtime!

So much so, that it's 10.30pm and I'm heading there right now!

I have a morning of visits planned for tomorrow, and I want an early start, so seeeeeeeya!

Nite all.

  

De'liver'y

I know some people who have problems with their livers. I know a couple of them who have either a 'fatty' liver or cirrhosis of the liver as non drinkers. I know some big drinkers with serious liver issues. I also know some big drinkers who have perfectly healthy livers! So they tell me anyway. So, I found this video that might help in some small way.  



In case you're wondering, arugula is known as rocket in Australia.

Adoring Husband and I enjoyed a movie date today and saw Bridget Jones's Baby. It was fabulous and I think it's as good as, if not better, than the first two.

Being in town, I got a little carried away with the retail therapy (how unusual!) and bought Season 11 of Grey's Anatomy and the latest Ghost Busters movie. From there we headed over to Stocklands so that Adoring Husband could do some man grooming at the hair salon.

I was going to get a pedicure at the same time, but I broke a toe nail very close to the skin yesterday and wasn't willing to risk infection, so have postponed my pampering for another day.

Instead, I decided to window shop. Three tops, a rubber shark head (for Chicklet) and two floor rugs later, we left the building. I don't think I quite understand the concept of 'window shopping', and once again .. self control flew out the window!

I steered clear of website building today and avoided my workspace, choosing to spend the afternoon with AH, catching up on some TV and DVDs, which was both relaxing, and a good laugh.

Strangely, it is just after 10.30pm and I'm heading to bed. Apparently, being in a sound sleep between the hours of 1am and 3am, gives your body the best opportunity to repair itself. I've had a LOT of 2am bed times lately, so I'd best get myself into a healthier habit.

Nite all.

Introverted

While studying the psychology of colours for my website today, I stumbled upon a test, where you had to select one of three shades of a certain colour to describe an emotion (joy, sadness, anger etc) that was matched against them. My results showed that I am a 'Radiant Introvert' ...

"You are one of the most positive people! While you exhibit qualities of a true introvert, you still radiate a powerful encouraging aura to those around you! While you may not be the biggest fan of social situations, when you are in those situations, you are known as a ray of sunshine! People will come to you if they need some positive energy."

That's me!! A veritable ray of sunshine!!

I finally reached the end of the instructional video for building a website but there were a few things that it hadn't touched on, and which I needed to know. There are a few pages that I still need to include in the site, so I moved to the next video .. only to discover that it is four hours long AND it includes instructions for other features that I hadn't even thought of, but which I need!

If it's taken me eight days to get through 2.5 hours of instruction, how long is it going to take to get through 4 hours and when I've completed all of these instructions, will there be MORE???

It seems that I may need to rustle up some heavy duty stamina for this task!

No matter how much stamina I can muster, I believe it's important to have regular breaks to keep my brain fresh, so Adoring Husband and I are having the day together tomorrow for haircuts, pedicures, movies and maybe even some lunch!

We've had some nice heavy rain tonight, as a line of storms passed along almost the entire Queensland coast, so I'm hoping that it will still be raining as I climb into bed ... 

I hope you all have an amazing day.

Nite all.  

Hourly Rate

If I was getting paid an hourly rate, I would have made a pretty penny today!

I have invested eleven hours of my valuable time into the website today, and I'm a bit annoyed that I have to go to bed now!

I'm enjoying this process so much and what a learning curve! This is my eighth day. I still can't see the finish line and I'm wondering how long it takes a professional to complete a job like this? I'm guessing it's probably only a couple of hours!

Adoring Husband brought me my coffee in bed this morning, so it meant that I could get started early at my desk. He spent most of the day outside in the garden.

We no longer have a peach tree. Except for the very first season, when it produced beautiful sweet juicy fruit, each year since, the fruit has been full of fruit fly larva. Since we don't spray, the only other option was to chop it down! We'll replace it with another fruit bearing plant, but we're not sure what yet.

It's well after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Interrupted Pleasures

I was awake very early this morning, so I left the house not long after 7am, bought my coffee, visited the boys at the boat ramp and then reluctantly pedalled to the new boat ramp to check it out.

I had been stopped by about six people, all singing the praises of the new boat ramp. The boys at the Seat of Knowledge were raving about it and four people stopped at the seat to discuss the benefits and the beauty of the new area.

So, before I came home, I rode to the Lions Park to see what all the fuss was about. During the months of construction, as my own private protest, I did not go there to check out the progress the way everybody else in town did.

I admit that I had a negative preconceived idea .. and nothing that I saw today, changed my mind.

The Lions Park and it's surrounding area was THE spot that Adoring Husband and I fell in love with, nine years ago, during our first visit to this town. It's rustic charm delighted our souls and was one of the key reasons that we sold everything in Sydney and moved here eight years ago.

Until they began work on the new boat ramp a few months ago, I visited the park every day, just to sit for a couple of minutes and enjoy the view over the river.

Six years ago, Adoring Husband and I chose that very spot to be married in front of 50 friends and family.

Almost four years ago, the park was my place of therapy after the trauma of the tornado.

I have hundreds of photos of the beautiful sunsets with the glorious natural backdrop, taken directly from the tip of the park.

Now it's surrounded by a massive dark asphalt carpark big enough to accommodate 45 single cars, 3 disabled spots and 48 car-trailer parks. There are concrete paths filling any area that the carpark misses. A huge rock wall juts out from the end of the park, followed by the boat ramp itself and then a long floating pontoon.

The toilet block that was once painted with tacky, but charming pictures of pelicans and sea life and for me was a symbol of the simple life that we chose for ourselves, has now been painted over with dull grey paint.

The barbecue areas and other seating, that were once painted in varying shades of blues and cream are now a dull grey. The shrubbery that once separated the park from the carpark area has now been removed and concrete path has replaced it.

It makes me sad and angry to see it and nothing will convince me that it has value.

This town now has four public boat ramps. According to the Fraser Coast Council website,  two of the existing boat ramps (Ross St and BH Rd) will be monitored, and depending on their use, a decision will be made as to whether or not they remain open. The caravan park also has a boat ramp that is classed as 'public use'.

My opinion means little and there is nothing I can do about it now, except to accept the changes and listen to everybody rave about it. Progress can't be stopped. Trees will be chopped. Grass and dirt will be concreted. Waterways will be manipulated. Landscapes will be altered. Strangely enough, humans look on in admiration and marvel at the changes.

I don't get it.

Anyway, once I recovered from my momentary distress, I pedalled home and retreated to my desk where I enjoyed some very successful website creating time.

Unfortunately, I had to shut down before 2pm because I was due at Chef Pat's house for some eating, drinking and laughter.

In this photo, Mrs Bucket asked me to hold her neck to hide her double chin!

I remained alcohol free for the day and was accidentally fed gluten, which meant an unpleasant evening at home for me and no dinner so that my body could recover.

Considering there were only five of us there for most of the day, it was very noisy! My ears hurt and it was difficult keeping up with all of the conversations as people competed for 'talking time'.

As always, Chef Pat provided delicious food, and her hospitality was warm and welcoming. She's a lovely lady and I always enjoy time spent with her.

Tonight, Adoring Husband and I watched the Aust vs NZ rugby league game that was played in Perth. It was a good game - especially because Australia won!

Now, I am heading to my desk to continue building my website! It seems to be never ending! But I am enjoying it very much!

Nite all.

 

  

A Bit Bumpy

So far, this website stuff has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride!

A good day is always levelled off with a bad day and just when I think I know what I'm doing, something happens to bring me right back down to earth. Two steps forward, one step back .. which is much better than one step forward and two steps back!

Still, after a crappy day at the computer, I got to spend some time with lovely friends at the Bowls Club and then return home to a delicious dinner with Adoring Husband.

In need of an early night because he has a big day of SES training tomorrow, he was soon in bed, so I took the opportunity to come into my workspace, hoping that my luck had changed, and attempted to continue with the site.

Thank goodness the internet gods were much more relaxed tonight and allowed me to fix today's mess. I achieved some positive results with the 'home' page and the 'about me' page ... except it's a bit too late at night to think of an inspiring summary of myself and the website.

Here I am rushing to write the Friday night blog post, so that I can go to bed and dream up something brilliant to write about me, tomorrow.

I recently bought a small box of inspiration cards for myself. I'd sent the same cards in a care package to BGWLBH and I liked them so much, I returned to 'Tinkerbells' to buy some for me.

Today's card read

"Imagine"

Clearly visualise the life you want.

Feel it in your heart and soul and so it will come to be.

It was the perfect card to push me to the next level.

Speaking of inspiration, I just have to Congratulate Vegan Chickie for her semester results of High Distinction AND her invitation from the University to join the 'Honours Program', which is only available to the top 7.5% of students.

She also received amazing feedback from her teacher acknowledging her brilliant work.

I am a proud Mum.

Well, it's rapidly approaching 1am so I really must end here and get some sleep.

Nite all.



 

Progress at Last!

I feel that I have moved ahead in leaps and bounds today!

A wonderful young man from Melbourne created a step by step video, which he shared on Youtube, teaching the clueless (that's me) how to create and build a website.

I play some of the video, pause it, follow the instructions, play some more of the video, pause it again, follow the instructions etc etc etc. It has taken me three hours to get through one hour of the video, but I have achieved so much in that three hours!

He provides four websites that give you access to free stock photos. He provides a website that gives you computer codes for every shade of every colour and it allows you to try different colours together to see how they work. He also provides a website that tells you the psychology behind each colour, so that you can choose appropriately - whether you have a business site, a food site, a health site etc etc.

So I achieved more in three hours today, than I achieved in the last seven days!

I will go to sleep tonight feeling both satisfied and eager to wake early tomorrow and get started on the next stage of the process.

Yes, I banished Adoring Husband and the psychotic dogs from my workspace, so AH decided the next best thing would be to remove an old hose reel and replace it with a new one on the outer wall of my room.

The other distraction for the morning was the water pressure in our sprinkler changing so suddenly and with such force, that the water sprayed through my window, drenching the side board, along with my scarf curtains, two framed pictures and my timber box of essential oils. Oh and my yellow dream catcher. It just missed my salt lamp.

Luckily I was in the room and closed the window fairly quickly. I hate to imagine the disaster that would have been, if I was in another part of the house when it happened!

It has been a beautiful day, but it seems the weather is changing and there is some nasty stuff coming up from the south. This is a good thing because the delicious strong breeze is wafting through the bedroom window.

For a change, it is just after 11pm and I am off to bed!

Nite all.  

The Girls

Ours was an extended coffee date this morning.

There were nine of us in attendance, which meant LOTS of people talking at once, which meant plenty of noise and also meant it was difficult to focus on single conversations! But we had lots of fun and plenty of laughs. Beauty handed out lovely holiday gifts to us all and it was almost 11am by the time the last of us said our goodbyes.

A visit to the butcher and a stop to pick up some egg cartons before heading home to make an early lunch for Adoring Husband.

I fried up some onion, garlic, shredded cabbage and fresh asparagus, then added some chicken broth, mashed pumpkin and some leftover beef curry sauce. I cooked up some beef sausages and then added them to the mix.

It was quite delicious and AH enjoyed it.

The chicken bone broth was ready, so I filled the storage containers and loaded them into the freezer and then I had some more time in my workspace to work on the website.

This did not last very long. I think I need to lock my door and banish all psychotic dogs and Adoring Husbands from the website creation area! I CURSE my easily distracted brain and it's poor ability to focus for extended periods!

Here are some of my purchases from Office Works on Tuesday ...

I confess that I am feeling overwhelmed with my 'to do' list for getting the website up and running. I keep finding more elements that I need to take into consideration and extra components to improve the effectiveness of the site.

If only I had more tortoise-like attributes and less of the hare's - this challenge would seem less intimidating!

I just need to breathe.

There is no rush.

I've set a date of 1st December - THAT is the date that I hope to be finished.

There! I've said it! Now I have to be accountable!

Nite all.  

What Did I Do?

We all know how dangerous it is for me to step foot inside 'Office Works'.

All I wanted was a small set of coloured calligraphy pens. Instead I bought one black calligraphy pen (because they didn't have any coloured ones), two packets of coloured felt tipped sketching pens, two sketch pads of differing paper types, an A5 sized 2017 diary, a small purse sized 2017 diary and a large packet of AA sized batteries.

I'm not even going to tell you the cost of that little bundle, but it was quite shocking!

We'd already spent a small fortune at the Go Natural store.

After that we spent another small fortune at Coles in Stocklands.

We were home by midday.

I unpacked the groceries.

I chopped up a whole pumpkin and put it in the pot to cook, so that it will be ready to make the dog food tomorrow.

I put two of the six organic chicken carcasses in the slow cooker with carrot, onion, celery, garlic and ACV to do a batch of chicken bone broth.

I hung out a load of washing and put another in the machine.

I thawed out a big container of beef curry sauce (from the last time I made curry) and then chopped up and added two big grass fed steaks to the sauce and slow cooked it on the stove for dinner.

I unpacked my Office Works goodies and sat at my desk doodling and attempting to create a logo design. So far, not successful.

I added some more to my 'Welcome' blog post.

I watched a few episodes of 'Big Bang Theory' with Adoring Husband (he'd bought the latest series on DVD today).

I hung out the second load of washing.

I made some cauliflower fried rice to go with the beef curry.

We ate dinner and AH cleaned the kitchen.

I watched X-Factor and the movie 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'.

It's now rapidly approaching midnight, so I feel the need to sleep.

Coffee morning with the girls tomorrow.

Nite all.

Bed Sitting

Not really.

I'm actually sitting up in bed writing this blog tonight.

I brought my laptop into the bedroom and placed it on the bed while I tidied things up in the lounge room, but as I walked out of the bedroom I heard a crash and turned to see the laptop on the floor! Heaven knows how that happened!

I picked it up and the screen was black. I touched a few keys and the touch pad, but nothing happened. The light was still on where the cord was attached, but that was it.

I did what we always do when something is not working - I turned it off and then back on.

That was a relief! Except for that blue screen that first appeared and reminded me of the blue screen of death on the old PCs!

Obviously, my laptop is still working.

I spent most of today learning more about setting up websites and began writing my welcome page. I'm still a long way off completing the site and I'm glad that tomorrow I will have a day in The Bay away from my desk. I need some space to clear my head and will press the 'reset' button for my brain on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I have to create a logo! I have to find that little seed of creativity that has been lurking beneath the surface and come up with something that represents the wonder that is me! I have the beginning of an idea, but I'm not sure where to take it yet.

I also have to build an image library specifically for the website.

Even though my brain hurts from the intensive learning process, I really am enjoying this little challenge and I can't wait until it's done so that I can share it with you all! Don't hold your breath though! I'm taking my time and I'm doing it properly, but once I'm finished, you will be the first to know!

Oops! It's just about to hit midnight! I'm off!

Nite all.

Slow and Steady

That is my new mindset while creating the website. Slow and steady.

I usually go at things like a bull at a gate and I always want everything finished 'yesterday'. I have little patience during long detailed learning processes, but in this case, I have to make an exception. There are no short cuts if I'm going to do this on my own and do it properly!

I didn't get to spend much time in my work space today because we had a lunch date with Mrs Bucket down the road.

We were supposed to take our own food because she doesn't cater to anyone's dietary requirements. I planned on taking some marinated chicken wings and some devilled eggs with crab, but then I decided that I wanted to spend what little time I could, working on the website and NOT in the kitchen preparing food that everybody would eat.

Instead, I chucked the chicken wings in the oven and cooked them early, so that we could eat our lunch BEFORE attending the lunch!

So we attended the lunch empty handed - aside from half a bottle of wine that I had in the fridge.

It turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon. I really enjoyed catching up with Woman of Many Talents and The Reality TV Queen's BFF, Care Bear. The rest of us had some good laughs over nibbles and drinks.

We returned home at about 3pm, in time to feed the psychotic dogs and in time for Adoring Husband to watch the end of the Bathurst car race.

I spent a little time in my workspace,

but after that half a bottle of wine and a couple of bites of food that doesn't usually hit my tummy, I was left feeling well and truly 'done in', so I caught myself a short nap in bed until it was time to prepare a quick bite for dinner.

I hope to spend the entire day at my desk tomorrow and hopefully will have achieved something worth bragging about here!

In the meantime, I think I'm ready to continue that nap.

Nite all.

Brain Explosion

So ... I'm attempting to build a website.

I think my head is going to explode.

I spent the morning at our local markets. I like to support our local stall holders, but always get carried away, spending way too much money.

This month, I decided to go with minimal funds. I intended to buy a couple of home-made cards and a hanging stained glass animal (I buy something from this lady every month).

Unfortunately, I have no self control and unfortunately, some stalls use eftpos machines. Two necklaces, one bracelet, two notebooks, five cards, a hand towel, a stained glass owl and a 'no fracking' sign later ...

After all that spending, I had to withdraw money from the supermarket ATM so that I had cash to buy the sand crabs that I had ordered from The Motivator!

From The Motivator's house, I had to rush to the chemist to pick up Adoring Husband's script and while I was there, I found a beautiful little box of note paper with a meaningful quote on the box. Of course, I had to buy it!

By the time I arrived home, it was lunch time, so I reheated some Hainan Chicken for Adoring Husband, and for myself, I stood at the kitchen sink shelling my sand crabs and filled a container with the meat. I took that and a bottle of kombucha to my workspace, where I spent the entire afternoon learning how to create a website.

There was one short interruption when Mrs Bucket came for a visit. She was actually next door having a social afternoon, when she decided to pop in and see Adoring Husband and to confirm that we were attending her lunch tomorrow (Sunday).

I returned to my workspace and spent more time frowning at my monitor, trying to understand the website jargon that the course teacher was describing. By 9pm I decided that it was in my best interests to remove myself from the room and have a long break until tomorrow.

A rested brain and a fresh start tomorrow might help.

Nite all.

How Many?

Some days there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.

Admittedly, I didn't get out of bed til 9am. I washed and blow dried my hair, pedalled to the shops for my coffee and to pick up some meat that I'd ordered. I visited The Motivator and she did indeed, motivate me. I left there at noon and came home to put my duck broth into containers to freeze.

I did a load of washing and then Adoring Husband arrived home from his visit to the SES shed. While he began to peel a giant bucket load of onions, I put chicken wings in the oven for lunch. I spent forty minutes in my workspace doing 'my new thing' and while I was waiting for the chicken to finish cooking, I assisted AH peel those pesky onions.

AH used the food processor to slice the onions and we bagged them so that he could take them back to the SES shed ready to use at the markets tomorrow.

While he tidied the kitchen, I made a fruit salad with papaya, blueberries, apple, watermelon, banana and lemon juice.

We ate lunch (chicken wings followed by fruit salad) - by this time it was about 2pm I think.

I got ninety minutes in my workspace to do some more of 'my new thing' until it was time to get ready for the club!

It was very busy at the club tonight, which made it really LOUD. Noises always make me uncomfortable. Sensory overload. I'm looking forward to the club's renovations, which will include a raised roof and hopefully the acoustics will be much more conducive to friendly conversations.

We almost didn't need to catch the bus home tonight, because there were actually enough giant mosquitoes to lift each of us separately and fly us home to our respective addresses. The bus driver had locked the bus, so we had to stand outside waiting for him and it was a most uncomfortable experience with those nasty scotch greys.

Sadly, football season is over, so there was no game to look forward to tonight and we had to search long and hard to find something on our hundreds of TV channels to watch. We settled for a movie, an oldie but a goodie "The Untouchables" with Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro and Sean Connery. Can you believe that movie is 29 years old?!? It's still a good movie today.

Here we are, once again, well after midnight so I'm off to bed. Tomorrow will hopefully be more productive in my workspace and I also hope to nab some delicious fresh crabs from The Motivator.

Nite all.

A Focus Day

Sleep came to me much easier last night.

Adoring Husband woke me at about 5am as he leaned over the bed to kiss me goodbye. He had an appointment in Brisbane with his specialist today, so he was catching the early train.

I was wide awake at 7.00am but stayed in bed for an hour making notes and checking my emails.

It was a glorious day outside, so the ride to the shops for coffee and checking the mail was very pleasant. I didn't know at the time, but the box that I collected from the Post Office contained Adoring Husband's Mum!! I'm sure that she enjoyed her ride home in the trike.

On the way home I dropped in to see The Motivator who was on her way out. This was probably a good thing, because it meant that I didn't waste any creative hours.

I came straight home and decided to make bone broth with the carcass of the duck that I cooked yesterday. I also made a big batch of Hainan Chicken which was easily reheated for AH when he arrived home late this evening from his day in Brisvegas.

I spent a few fabulous hours in my workspace learning a lot and being creative.

Then I remembered that the FROG box needed to be collected, so I sent a text to The Blonde Bombshell and asked if she would be kind enough to drive me to the pick up spot which is half way between here and The Bay. Thankfully, she agreed to do this big favour for me, so she and Molly arrived at 2pm and we enjoyed a leisurely drive and a friendly chat.

Molly sat on my lap and caused a hell of a ruckus with the farm dogs when we arrived - the farm dogs are normally so calm and disinterested!

So a big thankyou to The Blonde Bombshell and Molly.

It was good to have Adoring Husband arrive home safe n sound at 9.30pm and he is now tucked up in bed sound asleep. Which is where I am headed right now. The psychotic dogs are telling me it's time!

Nite all.  

Over Active Brain

I think I over-used my brain on Tuesday.

It took forever for the thoughts in my head to wind down and it was after 2am when I finally fell asleep. I slept restlessly and I was wide awake at 7.15am. It didn't feel like enough sleep.

Luckily, my first commitment for the day was to meet the girls for morning coffee. They always forgive me when my brain doesn't function at full speed. Thanks girls.

Mrs Bucket is in town. It's been 9 months since she was last here, so she is catching up with all her old mates, including us this morning.

There was kind of a tag team operation going on. We started with two, which increased to three when I arrived, then a fourth turned up, then one had to go, then another turned up, one more left, then two more arrived.

It was 11am by the time I returned home.

I had taken a whole duck out of the freezer for dinner and I've never cooked a duck before. Pinterest is my site of choice to find all manner of recipes, so I found my iPad and began my search. I quickly found the perfect recipe.

Who knew, that it takes four hours to cook a whole duck????

There is piercing and scoring and salting and turning and basting involved.

I was very happy with the outcome. Crispy skin and tender meat and a bowl full of duck fat to use in my future cooking.

While the duck was cooking in the oven, I watched the final of the seven episodes of healing autoimmune disease, which was fantastic. I began a short online course which I hope to complete tomorrow.

I remembered that I had committed to a trivia night with Tweedle Dee and The Blonde Bombshell, so it was time to prepare Adoring Husband's dinner and get myself ready for the evening.

AH and I picked up The Blonde Bombshell from her home and he dropped us at the club just after 6.30pm. I knew quite a few people there, which surprised me, so I got to chat with a couple of old friends whom I haven't seen for quite a while.

The trivia started a little late and our team 'The Fab Five' began with a flourish! We were in the lead for every round until the final one when we were pipped a the post! Bugger.

It was a good night. We had some good belly laughs, even without alcohol, and we all contributed in a positive way to the answers. We were home by 9pm.

Unfortunately, due to some major renovations about to commence at the Bowls Club, trivia nights have been suspended for five months, so it will be March before we have the chance to play again.

It's now well after midnight .. I've been catching up on the TV shows that AH recorded for me tonight. You'd think, after only five hours sleep last night, that I'd have been ready for bed well before now!

Really gotta get some sleep!

Nite all.

New Routine

Today was the first day of my new routine.

Well, it's not actually new. It was my old routine that I've let slip over the past year or so, but I've decided that I need to get back into it.

Getting out of bed earlier. Riding my trike in the sunshine. Fetching my own coffee. Starting the day with lemon water and broth. Putting some small semblance of structure into my days and getting more hours of 'stuff' into my day.

Every so often, I will still remain in bed until lunch time ... because I can.

This morning, I got my coffee, dropped the repaired and printed photos to a customer and then visited The Blonde Bombshell before coming home and preparing a big pot of curried beef which Adoring Husband and I had for lunch.

I spent a few hours in my workspace being creative and learning and writing and planning, which was incredibly satisfying and uplifting.

This afternoon was our monthly barbecue near the water. It was our final gathering at Traviston Park because the Lion's Park barbecue area will be reopened this month and so we will return to our old stomping ground.

Even though we were almost carried away by swarms of extra, extra, large scotch grey mosquitoes, it was a very pleasant evening and it was nice to catch up with good friends. Adoring Husband got to boast about his winning football team and everyone got to congratulate him. I think he loved that part the best.

I didn't drink any alcohol tonight and instead, took some ginger kombucha to drink out of my wine glass. I also didn't feel like eating after my big curried beef lunch, so the only food we took was the leftovers of said curry for AH to enjoy.

That's the long and short of my day.

It's almost midnight, and you know what that means.

But before I go, I wanted to share a few fond memories ...

1927 - If I Could

The Beach Boys - Kokomo

Jimmy Soul - If you Want to be Happy

Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton - You Don't Own Me

My Best Friend's Wedding - I Say a Little Prayer

Nite all.

You Little Beauty!

How amazing!

Sharks won their first ever premiership last night!

It was a nail biting finish and Adoring Husband and I were standing beside each other in the lounge room, just feet away from the TV screen, hands clasped tightly and arms linked, screaming at the Sharks to TACKLE!!! Willing the final 20 seconds to pass without incident!

SO NERVE WRACKING!!

When the siren finally sounded, Adoring Husband and I turned to face each other, threw our arms above us and screamed in celebration! We wrapped our arms around each other, jumped up and down on the spot, gasping for breath, with tears of pure joy and happiness flowing freely.

Then came the emotional phone calls with fellow Sharkie fans and family. AH could barely get the words out. He played the Sharks theme song and his friends sang it loud and proud as he answered his calls.

We watched the emotional scenes of celebration at the ground and then we watched the replay on Foxtel - much less stressful the second time round!

I'm so happy for AH. He has been a proud Sharks supporter his whole life - even when they gave him little to be proud of! He has worked at Shark park and attended many many games over the years.

I will always remember that feeling last night - seeing the joy on his face and expressing that raw emotion. His reward, at last, for being a loyal and dedicated fan.

I'm glad that he changed his plans (he was going to attend the game until a few weeks ago when he decided to cancel his flight and accommodation) and I got to share this moment with him at home.

What a moment!

What a feeling!

What a rush!

Up! Up! Cronulla!

I've spent the afternoon editing the final photos from Rebel Mardi's family shoot. I thought I might share a couple more here ...

The Rebel Mardi family have been very understanding and very patient, waiting almost 2 months for their photos! Thank you my lovelies xo

Tomorrow, I only have one very small task to complete and then I get to embark on my new venture! I'm excited!

Nite all.

The Big Day

It's Grand Final day!

Adoring Husband's beloved Cronulla Sharks are about to play, so I need to focus on giving them some positive vibes.

We've been sitting here watching all the preliminary rubbish ... drives me to distraction ... JUST GET ON WITH THE GAME!!!

I've spent the afternoon editing photos for the lovely Rebel Mardi and her wonderful family. Here are just a couple...

Now, the Sharks need my support.

Nite all

Today is the Day!

Today, I made a decision.

It's a new beginning.

You will be the first to know when I'm ready to share more information, but I've spent three weeks researching, brain storming, soul searching and finally, actually making the decision. This is what I wrote earlier today ...

I sit here at my desk eating my home-made liver pate with some disgusting GF crackers (that were left over from a recent dinner party) looking at the email that contains the link that will transport me to my exciting and creative, yet unknown future.

At the same time, I'm looking down at the 'to do' list on my desk which I made last night, that contains eight items.

Dilemma.

I know that if I click on that link, the eight items on my 'to do' list will be buzzing around my head like annoying flies and that will be detrimental to my focus on the new venture.

IF I don't click on that link right now, does that mean that I am procrastinating? Does it mean that my doubts and fears are already sabotaging my exciting new plans?

Alternatively, if I complete the 'to do' list, it will give me a fresh, clear head to focus completely on the job at hand AND it will be good practise for my future 'to do' lists, which I expect will be numerous!

...

So I decided to complete my 'to do' list.

But in the middle of all of that, I received an email which led me to a live stream seminar regarding my new venture. Ugh! The seminar lasted for three hours! Ugh!

It was very interesting and I learned a lot.

Upon it's completion, I returned immediately to my 'to do' list and eventually ticked off six of the eight items. This means that I only have two items remaining and I'm certain that I can knock them off before lunch tomorrow.

After that, the fun begins!

Two years ago, Adoring Husband planted the top of pineapple in a pot. We knew that a pineapple takes between 18 months and 2 years to bear fruit and for this guy, the two years was just about up. I had given up all hope and was preparing to throw the plant away, when suddenly, out of nowhere and without warning, this appeared!!

I'm not sure how long it will be until it's ready to pick and eat, but I'm so excited!!

At the end of our lady's lunch on Wednesday, I took this photo of The Designer and her close friend Organika ...

They are both lovely ladies. Quite beautiful inside and out. Organika is new to the group and expects to be attending more of our luncheons in the future.

It's time for me to sleep. I have a big day planned for tomorrow AND the NRL Grand Final is being played tomorrow evening. GO SHARKIES!! I need to find my very old, very large Sharks shirt to wear for the occasion.

Nite all.