Day of Rest (or not)

What a beautifully lazy start to the day!

I woke up just after 8am and lazed in bed until after 10am. It felt decadent after the last 3 days of jumping out of bed early, showering, eating breakfast, preparing lunches, making ourselves presentable for 12 hour days and then navigating through 30 minutes of peek hour traffic to reach our destination!

We left the house at lunch time, test drove some cars, lunched at a pavilion full of furniture shops, test drove some lounges and outdoor settings (Adoring Husband, you almost got a phone call!) and then drove to Manly beach where we frolicked up to our ankles in the COLD sea water.

There were a hell of a LOT of people at the beach.

They were playing beach volleyball, surfing, body boarding, sunbathing, canoodling, wading, swimming and body surfing.

The tide was on it's way in and the waves were very unpredictable, sometimes tickling my toes and sometimes pounding almost up to my knees!

It was very refreshing after a very hot day. The 'grounding' was therapeutic and the wind blew all the cobwebs out ... even though we were left very windswept.

We had a few items to buy to restock the pantry before we headed home, so we stopped off at that wonderful market place again.

This was our dinner tonight, which was washed down with vodka, tonic and lime.

We have spent the evening surfing the net and listening to relaxing, soothing music.

I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now I must attempt to climb into bed before midnight! (oops! too late!)

Nite all.

The Party is Over

Well, what a weekend it has been!

Totally amazing, and I'm so happy that I made the decision to attend and then wholly participate. I cleared a lot of stuff from my past - surprising stuff that I wasn't expecting.

Three twelve hour days that completely drained me, yet by the end, left me feeling totally energised.

This is the castle where the workshop was held ...

... it's an old catholic priest seminary and was built in the 1840s.

We came straight home, prepared a dinner of pork fillet and salad, drank a vodka and tonic with lime, shared childhood photos and told funny stories from our past and then realised that it was midnight!

So here I am. Just popped in to say ...

Nite all.

Inspiring

Today has been the most amazing and inspiring day.

I have spent the last two days, with 150 other women,  on 'The Journey' with Brandon Bays. Tomorrow is the last day of this retreat/workshop. It has been everything and more than I ever expected and I feel lighter and freer than at any time of my life.

I have shed so many tears - I didn't know there was so much salty wet stuff in me - and I've cleared issues that I didn't even realise were still issues, but quite obviously have been weighing heavily in my heart for a long time.

I've met and talked with women who have stories that would blow your mind. How does anyone survive some of these life experiences and come out the other side intact? How does someone find the courage to trust and love again after that kind of hell? Where do these women find the strength to move forward and create any kind of life, let alone a happy one?

Everybody has a story. Just when you think you've heard the worst, somebody else comes forward with a story that moves you to your very core.

Today, I felt overwhelmed with love. Women from every background, from all walks of life and all age groups, holding my hands and looking deep into my eyes and making me feel like I was the most important person on the planet. I've had tears literally streaming from my eyes and dripping off my cheeks as if a tap had been turned on.

Overwhelming and honest. Intimidating and challenging. Shocking and unexpected. Inspiring and heartwarming.

People who have had an easy life are never drawn to these kinds of events and gatherings, so naturally the room will be full of people who have experienced difficulties, traumas, dramas, tragedies and circumstances that you couldn't even conjure if you were writing a horror story.

But these are the people with the most love to give and who forgive with their whole heart. These are the people who empathise, who don't judge you, who accept you completely.

I am so glad that I decided to do this.

It has taken me so far out of my comfort zone and forced emotions to the surface that have been held down with a tight lid for decades.

I am exhausted.

Tomorrow is the final day and even though I'm looking forward to what it will bring, I will also be sad to say goodbye to some of these girls and women. Women from all over the world and all over Australia.

They are all amazing and beautiful and strong and heroic.

Now I need to sleep.

Namaste.

Nite all.

Intense

Today has been intense.

It has also been confronting, challenging, emotional, overwhelming and exhausting.

We left home at 8am and arrived home at the end of the day, some time after 9.30pm, at which time we had to prepare dinner.

There was minimal debriefing, a healthful dinner, some lemon myrtle tea and a fond good night at 11.30pm.

I have a feeling that I will sleep soundly tonight.

This is inside the castle where we are workshopping ...

It's amazing. I wish I'd brought my camera to Sydney with me, but I'll take a few pics with my phone tomorrow.

For now, I must bid you good night.

Nite all.

Sydney! We are in you!

Well, after a hectic start to the day, we made it to the airport in The Bay with plenty of time to spare and we relaxed in the cafe enjoying some beverages before the flight.

Adoring Husband stayed with us until it was time to board our aircraft and then we were on our way!

The trip went so quickly!

The plane was only half full, which meant that we had a spare seat and we could spread out. We had iPads and magazines and food and cups of tea all over the place.

I had downloaded the Virgin entertainment app and watched an educational dvd with tips for writing blogs for websites and online readers. At the same time The Motivator went through her iPad finding all of her information for swimming pools to share with me.

Before we knew it, we were clearing everything away and preparing for our landing.

We had been warned that the winds at the airport were gusting at 40kph and that there was low level cloud, which meant it would be a bumpy old landing, but it wasn't half as bad as I expected.

It was a smooth departure from Sydney Airport. We stopped at the loo on the way to pick up our luggage, and by the time we got to the pickup point, our luggage was right there waiting for us on the conveyor belt.

We found our shuttle bus driver quickly and before we knew it, we were on our way through the dreadful Sydney traffic heading towards Mosman.

We travelled through tunnels and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. So much traffic. So much noise. So fast. So dirty. Ugh.

The house that we are staying in is on a very busy main road, but you can't hear the traffic from inside. It's an old place that has been beautifully renovated. Very comfortable and almost feels like home!

We relaxed for a while on the big comfy couch before deciding to go buy some groceries.

What a FABULOUS market place we found, with so much organic goodness! There was grass fed beef, pasture raised chicken and pork, gluten free everything and the range of fresh fruit and vegetables was amazing ... even plantains, which I haven't found anywhere near where we live or the Sunshine Coast!

There were all kinds of exotic fruit and vegetables. An amazing selection of cheeses, kimchis, kombuchas and coconut yoghurts. A huge range of dips and pates and pestos.

I don't know how long we were in there, but we lost each other a couple of times. It was pure heaven!

From there we headed to the 'bottlo' where we stocked up on some alcoholic beverages.

We drove to Manly, where we stopped and played on the seesaw in the park, then walked along the path that runs parallel to the beach. Manly looks very different to how I remember it 30 years ago!

We then went to look at Balmoral. I do like Balmoral very much!

We didn't get home until about 7.30pm and by the time we sat down to dinner, which was pork steaks, salad and kimchi, it was 8.30pm!!

NOW, it's almost 1am! We have a big day tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

It's Time!

This will be a very short post!

It's almost midnight and I have just about completed my 'to do' list, before departing tomorrow for twelve days.

My brain feels a little mushy, because my 'to do' list wasn't very comprehensive and I keep remembering other things that need doing!

I saw my boys this morning so that I could say goodbye. I probably won't see them again until the end of the month.

I popped in to see The Motivator so that we could discuss our itinerary, the upcoming 'Journey' weekend and to make sure that we remembered everything that we needed to bring, including the right number of outfits!

This will be our first trip away together since our friendship blossomed and we are really excited about what this couple of weeks will hold for us.

From there, I rushed home and got my suitcase out so that I could begin packing. I didn't get very far, before it was time to get ready to go into The Bay.

We had to meet Best Cousin in the World to deliver her LeReve products, and we shared a nice easy lunch at the Sticky Fig Cafe.

I was very excited to see that the shoe shop next door was having a closing down sale, so of course, a new pair of shoes was in order! Yay me!

Adoring Husband dropped me off at Stocklands and while he was enduring a procedure on two BCCs, I pampered myself and had a pedicure and manicure. I was a bit disappointed in my pedicure because the girl wasn't very good at massaging my feet and legs. (It was the salon next to K-Mart)

I will go to the other salon next time because I know that they are excellent - not as friendly or chatty, but so much better at the actual pedicure.

We returned home and I did a little more packing before making a quick dinner and then getting ready to go out to the monthly Trivia night at the club.

We picked up the Blonde Bombshell and met the lovely snorting Tweedle Dee and her husband The Garden Guru for a night of fun and frivolity.

Our night was fun and frivolous and but totally pathetic as far as the trivia goes! We came seventh out of nine teams this week. It seems we slip further and further down the ladder every month! Ah well, that's life. Adoring Husband announced that he is going to get BGWLBH (for my new readers, that stands for Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair, who is my BFF and lives in NSW) to fly up next month, because she will be the answer to all of our trivial problems!! Good luck with that darling :)

Anyway, I have almost finished packing and have made a list of everything I need to add tomorrow morning.

Now it's sleep time.

Nite all.

Brave and Bold

I have been unhappy with my local hairdresser for some time.

She had me so uninspired that I made the decision to grow my hair out to it's natural colour, however,  my natural shade of grey is equally uninspiring.

So I asked around my friends to find out who their hairdressers were and even though I seriously considered them all, I decided that I would find my own hairdresser.

Today, we had to go into The Bay to pick up my six tubs of chocolate chip coconut ice cream (that is NOT a typo) and while we were there, I walked into a nearby hairdressing salon to make an appointment for Wednesday. The woman who served me, who seemed to be about my age and very bohemian, offered me an appointment for right then and there!

I conferred with Adoring Husband who was waiting in the car. He decided to do a Bunnings run and some other errands and I told him I'd be about 2 hours.

I returned to Bohemian Mama and accepted her offer, sat down in the chair and began a twenty minute discussion about what I wanted.

What did I want? No freaking idea. *rolls eyes*

I didn't want to be a 56 year old trying to be 20 and I didn't want to look like an elderly woman. I want to be fairer at the front than at the back, more sun kissed than bleached and as natural as possible.

She showed me some pics in a hair style catalogue and I pointed to a couple that I liked.

Then I sat down and we chatted while she got to work.

We had a LOT in common, even with some of my 'out of the box' beliefs, so our discussions were interesting and in depth with both of us looking wide eyed at various times.

The first ninety minutes went very quickly and I still wasn't even close to finished! Adoring Husband came in and said he would wait in the car.

Thirty minutes later, he came in again and asked how long. Bohemian Mama said "About half an hour".

Half an hour later, I was frantically looking at my watch, realising that she still wasn't near finished and had to politely ask her to move it along!

Another thirty minutes passed and Adoring Husband came inside and took a seat to wait, while she finished blow drying my hair.

$227 later ...

The most I have ever spent on my hair, was $140. My favourite hairdresser in Griffith only charges me $90 and he does a better job than anybody.

I have to say that I do like my hair. It looks much better than before my appointment, but not quite as good as my imagination had pictured it. Bohemian Mama did a good job and next time, with a couple of tweaks, she will do better. I just need to earn enough through my website to cover my hair expenses!!

Sorry I don't have a pic to show you.

I have a scary infected right eye at the moment, which would not be pretty in a photo. I bought myself some colloidal silver gel this morning and I've used it twice during the day. It soothed the savage beast immediately and I hope that it will heal quickly from here.

We had lunch at the Golf Club prior to my hair appointment, which was very pleasant and air conditioned and delicious.

Tomorrow will involve some more pampering when I plan to have both a pedicure and a manicure, while Adoring Husband endures some unpleasantness having a BCC removed from his neck.

I know, right? There's always something!

For now, it's almost 10.30pm, it's been a big day and I need some sleep in preparation for another big day tomorrow!

So, nite all.

Marathon in the Kitchen

I spent enough money at our local shops today, to pay their staff wages for a week!

I came home laden with shopping bags overflowing with meat, vegetables, fruit, coconut oil, lemons and so much more!

Even though Adoring Husband told me not to, I spent the day in the kitchen cooking, preparing a eighteen meals to cover most of the 22 days that I will be absent.

I made 3 meals of chicken spinach parsee, 3 of beef masala, 3 of Hainan chicken, 3 of spaghetti bolognese sauce, 2 of sausages and onion gravy and 3 of lamb shanks with tomato and red wine sauce.

THEN I made lamb cutlets with salad for dinner!

I cleared the fridge and cleaned the kitchen - more than once!

Needless to say, I feel like a high achiever!

Now I have two days to get myself organised. I need a hair appointment and a pedicure.

I still need to make my 'to do' list! Ugh.

I'll worry about it tomorrow. It's almost midnight.

Nite all.

A Working Sunday

Another productive day for me in the website wilderness of my workspace.

I completed my first Recipe post, which took a good few hours, and the only one left to complete now is for the Art and Craft page.

There are still three photos in my shop that are giving me grief and it will take some time to figure that out, but I also have to do some alterations to the shop because there are a couple of things bugging me about it.

Anyway, I got enough done today, that I was able to knock up a quick and nourishing dinner of chicken spaghetti bolognese sauce with zucchini noodles and be sitting comfortably ready to watch Federer play Nadal in the Final of the Australian Open Tennis Championships.

What a fabulous match it was! They are both such gentlemen on the court and the crowd was electric! Especially in the fifth and final set when Roger Federer found something extra and won quite convincingly.

I felt very emotional on his behalf!

And then I found this ...

Roger and Rafa

A well earned and well deserved win. Go Roger!!

I only have three days left to get myself organised for a very full and busy February! I must make a 'to do' list!

But not right now, because it's after 11pm and I need some sleep!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Nite all.

Midnight Hour

Here I am, right on the stroke of midnight, just starting to write this post.

Where the heck has this day gone?

I guess three unplanned hours with The Motivator and her friend The High Flyer took a chunk out of the day that I hadn't planned, but I had a fabulous time!

This morning I designed some business cards and ordered them online and some stickers with my logo on them to put on the jewellery packaging.

It has taken me 45 minutes to write these seven lines.

My brain is far far away.

So, for the ladies who have recently acquired some essential oils from our parties, check this out ...

100 Uses for our ten most popular oils and blends

... it's written by Jessie Reimers, who is one of the top salespeople and trainers for Doterra Essential oils, but five of these particular scents are available in the LeReve brand as well.

To finish this short post, and so that I can get some sleep, I really liked this quote that I found on Facebook this evening.

On that note, I am off to bed.

Nite all.  

Too Hot for Summer

We are on struggle street dealing with this heat.

There is still two weeks until the air conditioner is repaired. Ugh.

Luckily for me, The Blonde Bombshell has air conditioning, so I got to spend three hours in the comfort of her lovely home with a bunch of crazy ladies, eating her beautifully prepared food and drinking her delicious punch while testing the Le Reve oils and perfumes.

I enjoyed my day there, especially sitting beside the snorting/laughing Tweedle Dee and had forgotten all about the heat, until I opened the door to leave! That was a shock to the system!

I made a beeline for my workspace when I arrived home, because it's the coolest room in the house, and I sat there for a couple of hours trying to work out my problem with three of the photos in my shop, which are appearing as square thumbnails instead of landscape like all the others.

I've checked, double checked and triple checked everywhere I can think of, but I can't figure it out and I'm obviously missing something!

Tomorrow is another day.

Check these out!

These were taken in Melbourne at Artvo. Vegan Chickie and Chicklet obviously had a fabulous time there and I hope to check it out for myself while I'm there in March.

Anyway, it's 11.30pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

In Straya

Yep it's Straya Day.

The best place to spend Straya Day is in your own lounge room away from the craziness.

I must be getting old and anti-social.

No alcohol. No barbecue.

Plenty of work at the desk. Plenty of tennis. Plenty of cricket. Chicken, vegetables and rice for dinner (not very Strayan).

Half a pawpaw for lunch.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my Straya Day.

I rode to the Seat of Knowledge this morning and spent about half an hour with the boys. The tide was high and the water was so clear that I could see the bottom.

The river was a rich teal blue and I walked halfway down the steps to stand knee deep in cool refreshing lapping waters while I watched the schools of pike darting back and forth near the rocky bank.

It was still mild for that time of day, with a nice breeze blowing and the outriggers, all decorated with Aussie flags and green and gold balloons, were putting on an exhibition for the early risers who were setting up their gazebos and deck chairs in the Lions Park.

I didn't even have my camera with me!

From there I rode to the supermarket to pick up some avocados and the girls who were serving were all dressed in red, white and blue. There were long stripy wigs, face paint, sequinned dresses, hats with beer cans, sparkling red, white and blue false eyelashes and all sorts of other accessories and paraphernalia.

It's one of the things I love about the owners of our Foodworks. They get involved in all of the festive occasions. Halloween, Christmas, Australia Day, Easter, St Patrick's Day and any other excuse they can find to dress up and decorate the shop.

I was home by 9am and spent the entire day at my desk.

I needed to! All those hours and I'm still trying to wrap my head around some tricky stuff that hardly makes any sense to me. I was so focused, but the jargon really has me stumped sometimes. There were a couple of moments today, when I felt excited about my progress and could see my finish line, but twice, an obstacle appeared and really slowed me down.

One of them, I gave up on at the end of the day and will return to it tomorrow or Saturday.

Despite the obstacles, I still feel like I've accomplished a lot today and I'm happy with my progress.

I did get a good night's sleep last night, which helps, and I'll give myself another early mark tonight.

The Blonde Bombshell is hosting a Le Reve party tomorrow morning, so I'm looking forward to catching up with some of the girls again.

On that note, I'm outta here!

Nite all.

A Standout

I was very impressed with our meals at the Hervey Bay Golf Club today.

I had an entree of Lemon Myrtle and Mountain Pepper Calamari, which was melt in your mouth delicious, followed by Atlantic Salmon with Pea Puree and Lemon Aioli. It was served with small potatoes and broccolini.

My plates were both completely clean at the end of my meal.

De-bloody-licious!

I am going to take Adoring Husband there for a lunch date before I go away next month.

I came home from lunch, ate a bowl full of cherries and watched the movie 'Steel Magnolias' with Adoring Husband.

It doesn't matter how often I watch that movie, I bawl my eyes out every time. Ugh. Exhausting.

I'm off to bed and it's before 10am! Let's see if my body is ready for a sound night of sleep.

Nite all.

Nana Naps

I had a lovely morning with the girls for our weekly coffee date. Today is Day 24 without coffee for me! I drank lots of filtered water instead.

It was Reality TV Queen's birthday today, so I blew up three balloons to tie to her chair and gave her a small gift which she seemed to love. This birthday is not as happy, as she still struggles with the death of her husband.

Tomorrow is lady's luncheon day, so she will receive lots of love and support from lots of ladies.

I arrived home at about 10.30am and spent a little time in my workspace before I decided that I was hungry and needed an early lunch.

I threw together a nosh up of leftovers from last night, which included some mashed potato. I've had potato three times in three days! It was one of the things that I wanted to remove from my diet and today was a perfect example of why.  Within a couple of hours of eating it, I needed a nap because I was literally falling asleep at my desk!

Potato seems to send my brain into a fog and I get really sleepy. All carbs do it to me but I don't eat other carbs - just potatoes. If I must have them, I will save it for dinner, because I don't need my brain to function at night and I can go to bed and sleep it off.

Or I can just not eat them :)

Anyhow, by 2.30pm I was snuggled in bed with two pedestal fans aimed at me and and switched to high. What was supposed to be a Nana nap turned into a 90 minute deep sleep! I felt much better for it.

So, once again, not a lot of productivity today, but I got a little bit done ... as I keep saying ... small steps.

Well, look at that, it's 11pm already! That's what happens when you nap in the afternoon!

I must go to bed, so that I look and feel fresh and vibrant for the lady's luncheon tomorrow.

Nite all.

Blurgh!

I had a terrible night!

Nightmares that had me tossing and turning all night until 3.30am. I lay awake, but with my eyes closed, until Adoring Husband's alarm went off at 5am.

I spent some time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then enjoyed a short walk along the beach. The water was much cooler, so splashing through ankle deep water was very refreshing. The beach was completely empty - now that the tourists have finally returned home - yay!!

I was completely brain dead until about noon, at which time I lay on the bed for a short nap. An hour later, I was woken by the courier truck delivering my last box of jewellery for the website.

I got a little work done over a couple of hours in the afternoon and I ordered some ring boxes and other jewellery packaging.

Adoring Husband picked up my photos from the framers ...

... they look pretty good! I'll check with the post office to see if they have a safe way to send them in the mail, otherwise, my next option is to roll them and send them (without the mat board frames) in cardboard cylinders.

I think I'm done for the day.

Nite all.

Happy Dayz

I had a productive day at my desk.

However, I am continually amazed at how one day I feel like I am close to making an announcement, only to discover that there is more to do, more to learn and the announcement is still a distant vision!

It's a lesson in patience, time management, planning, co-ordination, structure, formulation, improvisation, manipulation and visualisation.

I no longer beat myself up with each disappointment. I just have to build a bridge and get over it. Move on. Go forward.

Eventually, I will reach the finish line.

Even with 5 hours at my desk today, I felt like I had only achieved what a professional would have taken an hour (if that) to complete.

Still, I am being overly cautious and double checking everything because I don't want to have to backtrack to fix mistakes if I can avoid it.

Adoring Husband came up with a brilliant idea for lunch and we had fish and chips from the local takeaway, so I didn't have to leave my desk.

At 3.30pm I pedalled off to meet The Blonde Bombshell and Reality TV Queen for drinks.

Reality TV Queen is struggling with the passing of her husband and this afternoon was a drinking session combined with group therapy. It's a process that she is going to have to endure to get to the other side of grief, and right now she needs lots of love and understanding.

I just wish I could make it all better for her.

I think it was after 6pm when I got home and I made a quick nosh up of lamb mince with cabbage, carrot, zucchini, onion, garlic, chilli and the juices from Friday night's lamb roast. It was pretty yummy, as were the strawberries with chopped hazelnuts, shredded chocolate and coconut ice cream that we had for dessert.

It's just after 10pm so it looks like I can have an early night. Roger Federer has just won his match in the Aus Open, so I can head to bed feeling satisfied that all is right with my world.

Nite all.

Productivity Plus

I moved straight from my bedroom to my workspace this morning.

Well, I had my lemon water first.

There was much to do while the internet was moving quite a bit faster than yesterday.

I researched packaging for different sized photos framed with mat board and mounted on padded board. There was really nothing suitable, although I could have some packaging taylor made for a price.

During this research, I trawled through many many photography websites, from little known photographers, to well known photographers, to Etsy photography shops and international photographers.

All of them send their prints through the mail rolled up inside cardboard cylinders - except for soft canvas prints and stretched canvas prints and fully framed limited edition prints.

I also discovered that my prices were way lower than any of the other photographers! So I changed my prices, which meant a lot of editing on 20 different pages.

I doubled checked my sizes and discovered that I had one measurement incorrect on my larger pics, so I had to edit them too.

By this time, it was 1pm and I had a Le Reve party to attend at 2pm, so I made myself presentable and pedalled to The Motivator's house. I was a bit concerned to pull into the driveway and discover that the party presenter had not arrived yet! I was hoping that this wouldn't be a repeat of the last party that I attended where she didn't turn up at all.

The Motivator soon put my mind at ease when she explained the situation and twenty minutes later, Forgetful Jane pulled into the driveway.

There were six of us in attendance and we all had fun trying the different scents in the perfumes and roll on blends. It was very difficult to decide on what to buy and I'm glad that I have three more parties to attend in the coming months so that I can spread my spending. I really love the essential oils and the different blends.

The Motivator put up a beautiful spread at the end of the presentation with some delicious chicken wings, a cheese and veg platter, a fruit and chocolate dip platter and a GF chocolate mud cake. I filled my belly with all of that deliciousness and didn't need any dinner when I got home!

After everybody left, we discussed our flights and plans for the Sydney trip coming up soon and before I knew it, it was 6.15pm! Poor Adoring Husband was sitting at home waiting patiently for me to return and cook his dinner! It was a nice easy steak with eggs, tomato, avocado and kimchi.

Now I am enjoying the tennis with the Australian, Gavrilova playing the Swiss girl Bacsinszky. So far, a great match!

I hope that tomorrow, the internet is moving efficiently and I get to spend time getting more checked off my 'to do' list.

Tonight I'm feeling enthusiastic and motivated .. I hope the mood remains upon waking tomorrow!

That's it from me.

Nite all.

Internet Hell

That's where I was today! Internet hell!

I had a lot on my 'to do' list and I was so keen to get moving and check off as many items as possible.

The stoopid internet did not play fair at all.

It was taking at least two minutes for pages to load. It took 6 minutes to load the photography site that I needed. On the Flickr site, I couldn't even load my photos! They just froze mid load.

I attempted to create a business card on the Vistaprint site, but even though I made it to the size that they requested, it didn't fit in the frame they provided. I tried, unsuccessfully, three times ... but tomorrow is another day!

Nothing seemed to go right and I complained loudly to Adoring Husband, who wasn't the slightest bit sympathetic to my woes.

Ruby, number two psychotic dog, decided that my light box was a perfect place to sleep. I really must put that away tomorrow, so that she doesn't dig a hole in the bottom of it, the way she has with her real bed.

I registered with the Reed Gift Fair, which is being held in Sydney, and which I will be attending with The Motivator straight after the Health and Wellness Festival in Canberra. They ask for a LOT of documentation to prove that you own a business before they approve your Pass.

I hope to get some good ideas for my online shop and make some helpful contacts. A bit of networking and marketing never went astray. Hopefully, my website will be up and running by then so that I can hand out business cards (if I ever get over that little hurdle) and look like I've got my act together!

Well, it's safe to say that I don't have my act together at all tonight because it's already 11.30pm and I still have stuff to do in the kitchen before I go to bed.

So on that note, I shall bid you good night.

Nite all.

Checked Off

The Seat of Knowledge enjoyed my company for a short while this morning. There was another female there when I arrived, whom I shall name Manic Mermaid. She lives on a boat on the river and obviously has some mental issues, among other problems. She provided some entertainment and some uncomfortable moments.

In future, if she is there when I arrive, I shall continue riding and not stop. She gave me a very bad feeling and she seems to be quite volatile, so I believe she is a good person to avoid. She didn't even speak to me directly while I was there, but still I felt uneasy. Alway follow your instincts, I say.

We had to drive into town to pick up our FROG box this afternoon, so I decided to take the opportunity to have a couple of my photos printed. One in the small size and one in the large size.

We then visited my framing guy to get some quotes on mat board frames and backing. I was pleasantly surprised by his quote and left the two photos there to be mounted and framed with mat board.

I want my photos to be presented professionally, so this is the test. I just have to figure out how to ship them!

So that's another task checked off the 'to do' list.

While we were in The Bay, I received a text informing us that the FROG box was going to be delayed by at least 90 minutes! What a pain.

We drove to Go Natural to see if they had restocked their fridge with peppermint choc chip coconut ice cream, but alas they hadn't. The owner apologised because he had been away on holidays and told me that it would be the 29th January before the next order came in.

I almost fell to my knees in despair! I told him that this simply was not acceptable and that I couldn't possibly wait that long!

He then made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. He said that if I ordered at least six tubs of it, he would give it to me at a great discounted price. He didn't tell me what the discounted price would be, but I didn't care. I simply opened my eyes really wide with delighted surprise and said "Yes please!"

I still have to wait til 29th January, but now I wait with eager anticipation!

While Adoring Husband shopped at his favourite, and my most despised store, Bunnings, I shopped at Stocklands for a few grocery items. I forced myself to avoid all other shops, however, I did shop at one of the kiosks in the the walkway and bought some TurmeriX. I've heard amazing things about this product, so I'm excited to try it.

After all of that, we still had 45 minutes to kill before our FROG box would be ready, so we found a coffee shop for AH to get his afternoon fix and I downloaded the tennis app on my phone and began watching some tennis! We sat in the car with the deliciously cold air conditioning and relaxed while we waited.

By the time we arrived home, I think it was after 5pm and the house was like a sauna! Ugh! We threw open all the doors and windows to let some fresh air in and thank goodness there was a good cooling breeze coming from the south and soon the house had cooled down to a comfortable level.

We are, at last, on the list for our new air conditioner to be installed, however, we have to wait until 10th February! That's still three weeks away.

It's already after 10pm and as much as I'd like to stay awake and watch Jordan Thompson complete his match against Dominic Thiem in the Australian Open, I want even more, to get a good night's sleep so that I can be fresh for the website tomorrow. After a lost day today, I have some catching up to do.

So ...

Nite all!

What a Day!

The energy is surging in our town at the moment, and it's all bad energy.

I don't know if it's the heat or what it is, but it's not good.

The Reality TV Queen lost her husband yesterday, who succumbed after a very long illness, for which he refused treatment. So sad, but it's a blessing that he is no longer in pain. May he rest in peace.

In the street behind her house, there was a stabbing! A long running feud between neighbours came to a head when a dog belonging to one of them, escaped from the yard and trespassed onto the neighbour's property. This triggered a fit of rage and as he'd previously promised would happen, he took a knife and went on a rampage attempting to hurt the husband and wife AND dog.

He stabbed the man, and police, ambulance and news reporters were all soon on the scene.

Unbelievable.

This morning, my watch told me that I slept for 7 hours and 21 minutes. This made me happy, however, I only slept deeply for 2 hours, slept 'restfully' for about 3 hours and the remaining hours were 'restless'. I did wake up feeling good though, and I've had plenty of energy all day, so I'm happy with that.

I will attempt to make that a habit.

Now, my watch is telling me that I walked more than 4kms today and rode for 4kms, so that's good too!

I saw my boys this morning and then rode to the beach, where I walked for more than thirty minutes as the tide came in. The water was lukewarm, so it wasn't very refreshing and by the time I got to the end of my walk, I could feel the bite in the sun on my back. It was going to be a very hot day!

I decided to pick up bags full of fresh fruit from the supermarket, imagining that I would make up a refreshing big bowl of cold fruit salad. Cherries, black grapes, rockmelon, pawpaw, mango, bananas, strawberries, passionfruit and apple. It sounded like a great idea to help ease the heat.

No fruit salad was made, but I did eat half a tub of cherries and a bunch of grapes! Tomorrow is another day.

The Motivator has been home for a week and I finally got to catch up with her today. We spent two hours spilling all of our news. She gave me some more motivation and some great ideas and advice for the website.

Her house was beautifully air conditioned and I'd forgotten how hot it was until I opened the door to leave. Ugh!! I begged her to let me stay! Haha.

I was actually surprised when I returned home, to find that the house wasn't too hot. My workspace had a nice breeze blowing through the window and that, combined with my little fan on the desk, was enough to keep me comfortable.

I ate a light lunch. I edited and resized some of the photos that I'd taken on Monday and Tuesday. I priced all of the jewellery. Checked my emails and by then, it was time to cook dinner.

It was a full day.

It's almost 10.30pm and if I want to get 7.5 hours of sleep again tonight, I'd best move my butt in the direction of the bedroom!

Nite all.

Monitor Everything

I believe that there is an app for everything.

My watch has an app that monitors my exercise, my heartbeat, my activity (different to my exercise apparently), my breathing, how long I've been sitting (always too long). It tells me to stand up for a minute, and then times me. It also congratulates me for a job well done after one minute.

It tells me when to breathe and then provides a blossoming flower, accompanied by a vibration for every time I inhale. I also receive praise for one minute of breathing.

It gives me a list of various exercises and activities, which, when I select one, counts me down 3-2-1 and runs a stopwatch for the duration of that exercise. I can choose from walking, jogging, cycling, rowing, elliptical and swimming - both pool and open water. There is also an 'other' option where you can put your own exercise or activity in there.

It can tell if I'm stationary, so I can't cheat by pressing the button while sitting in my chair.

Now I have an app that monitors my sleep! It can tell 'when' I fall asleep, how long each stage of my sleep is, including REM and deep sleep. It can tell when I'm restless and when I wake up. Last night I slept for total of 4 hours and 50 minutes, thanks to a barking dog, that got tired of barking after 30 minutes and toileted where she was.

So I was out of bed in a dazed state at 4am, letting her outside, while I spent 10 minutes cleaning up her messes, toileting myself and climbing back into bed. Of course, the crappy stimulation (pardon the pun) was enough that I couldn't easily fall back to sleep and it was almost 5am by the time I did ...

... only to be woken by Adoring Husband's alarm at 5am, which he struggled to turn off, and so the further stimulation woke me up completely.

It was nice of my watch to let me know that I slept for 4 hours and 50 minutes, was restless at 3.30am (probably when the dog started barking) and only had just over 3 hours of sound sleep for the entire night.

I really didn't need to have that confirmed for me.

Well, being up that early, gave me plenty of time to iron my clothes, shower, wash and blow dry my hair, paint on my face and make myself presentable firstly for coffee with the girls and then for AH and my trip into The Bay where we met with the financial advisors.

I had lots of questions, which they answered satisfactorily, although I was left feeling like they resented the female half of this equation asking all the questions and giving them directions. It was nothing specific that they said, just their manner, however I held my ground and got the answers that I needed as well as changing part of their original plans for our finances.

I am mighty and fierce!!

Adoring Husband needed to visit my most hated shop on the universe ... Bunnings ... so he dropped me off at Stocklands where I spent money on things that I didn't need.

We were home by about 2pm and AH spent the entire afternoon in his shed working. He had bought a couple of $10 pedestal fans from Bunnings so that he could work in a degree of comfort out there.

I went to my desk where I had planned on editing the jewellery photos from yesterday, but discovered that I had thousands of unwanted photos that had synched from my other devices, so I spent an hour deleting about 2500 of them. There are probably another 4-5000 that need to go, but I'll get to them another day.

It was nice to be with Adoring Husband today and have a break from my desk, but I'm looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.

Here I am at 8.45pm, an early mark for a change, so I hope to get a bit more than 3 hours of deep sleep tonight and wake up fresh and energised, ready for a productive day.

Please let the stars align!

Nite all.

It's Tennis Time!

I didn't watch any tennis during the day today, because I must confess, I forgot that it was on!

I'm disappointed because there were some young Aussies that won their first round matches that I really would have liked to see.

Tomorrow will be another miss for me because we have a lot planned for the day.

Right now I'm enjoying a Roger Federer match.

I spent the day in my workspace, making an absolute mess of the room.

I took everything off half of the desk so that I could take photos of the jewellery. I set up my tripod, then spent half an hour trying to remember how to use my Canon 5D MarkII (my MarkIII is out of action). They are vastly different cameras to use.

I took all of the photos and then realised that the card in the camera wouldn't fit into the slot of my desktop, so I had to find the camera cord so that I could download the photos.

That meant making an even bigger mess in the room as I emptied cupboards and drawers in my frantic search. In the end, I stole the one out of Adoring Husband's camera bag. Don't tell him will you?

Finally, I was sitting at my desk ready to download, when the photos program on the computer decided it needed updating! Thirty minutes later and it had only updated 7%. I figured it was a good time to make lunch.

An hour later, I was back at the desk and my computer was ready for me. I checked the photos. Saved the ones I liked,  noted the crappy ones and did them again.

By now, it was mid afternoon and I was feeling the heat. Dripping again.

Now I have an open Lightbox on my workspace floor, my rebounder is covered in books and paperwork off my desk, my desk is covered in jewellery and cameras and my tripod is taking up one of the few clear floor spaces near my desk.

Wednesday morning will obviously be spent cleaning the entire room before I can get started again on my 'to do' list.

I'm still trying to source inexpensive, but good quality ring boxes, bracelet and pendant boxes.

This was dinner tonight. It's titled 'His n Hers' ...

It was Number One Son's 35 birthday yesterday. He spent it recovering from birthday drinks that he over indulged in the night before and preparing to return to work after 3 weeks on a yacht in Sydney Harbour. It's a tough life for some haha.

I had a chat with Vegan Chickie tonight, which was lovely. She and Chicklet have been very very busy socialising and enjoying life in Melbourne.

Well, it has just ticked past 10.30pm so I'm off to bed.

Much to do tomorrow!

Nite all.

What a Stinker

Today was a stinker of a day.

I woke to the sound of heavy rain this morning, which was lovely and very much needed, and I used it as an excuse to laze in bed for an hour or so, not that I EVER need an excuse! But the rain made it hot and steamy and muggy and humid. Blurgh!

Even though I began the day with enthusiasm and good intentions, it seems the universe was against me and my productivity levels were way down on yesterday's.

While I was at the stage of setting up shop, I came to a standstill when I realised that I had not photographed any of the jewellery to display on the site. I figured that today was as good a day as any to get that job ticked off the list.

I spent half an hour using my camera to photograph the pieces against the white desk, but I discovered that the camera's focusing mechanism is not working. I tried two different lenses and hit the same problem.

The light just wasn't right, but then I had an epiphany! I remembered that I actually own a light box. I bought it specifically for this kind of photography! So off I went in search of the light box, trying to remember the last time that I saw it and wondering where I should look first.

I looked in the spare room first without success, so I decided that before I wasted too much time, I would ask Adoring Husband if he knew where it was. That was a good move, because he did know exactly where it was and led me straight to it.

It had been tucked neatly between the kitchen cabinet and the filing cabinet that holds the printer. I'm pretty sure that it has been there for about three years. Maybe more!

So I took it into my workspace and opened it up, to discover that it had become a nesting ground for cockroaches. Ugh. What a mess. I'm not even going to describe the state that it was in.

I walked out of my room and slumped on the lounge chair next to Adoring Husband telling him my tale of woe. He said "Can't you just clean it?"

Yes I can and so I did.

"I will not let this beat me!!" I fist pumped the air as I walked out of the room.

After cleaning it as best as I could, I set it up on my desk and attempted a few shots. The camera was still failing me. The next best thing is my phone camera!

Clearly, my photography needs work. After thirty minutes of playing with the phone camera, I was dripping with perspiration, so I gave up for another day. I will try outside with better light tomorrow. I think the rings will look nice reflected in the glass of the outside table. A bit of experimenting won't go astray.

I spent some time itemising the jewellery, and then realised that I don't have any boxes for presenting and sending them, so time was spent online searching out some prices on those.

There is always something new to go on the 'to do' list!

I had a short but lovely visit from Woman of Many Talents today. We spent about half an hour catching up. It's been a few months since we saw each other so both of us had plenty of news to share.

Before I sign off, I'd like to thank Rebel Mardi for being my long distance 'quality control' person today. Big hugs to you.

I can't believe that it's already 11.30pm!! So much for an early night.

Nite all.

Productive

I had a very intense and productive day at my desk and I have plenty of enthusiasm to power on tomorrow and learn some stuff that I've had in the 'too hard' basket, which I've avoided for too long.

With my Himalayan salt lamp glowing and Frankincense oil diffusing beside me, I felt bright and alert and open to new information. Also, the sound of my door beads blowing in the breeze made for a very relaxing and calm environment.

This beaded curtain has been rolled up, wrapped up and stored in the shed for the last eight years. It was only found because Adoring Husband was clearing out the shed and decluttering! I love it!

I'm feeling quite tired, mentally, so I'm looking forward to getting some sleep so that I'm fresh to start tomorrow. Having said that, the weather is hardly conducive to sound sleep. It's very hot and very humid and our air conditioner is still on the blink. We are looking at 3-5 weeks, if we're lucky, before it can be replaced (it can't be repaired).

I've been so desperate for some way of getting cool, that I've been researching swimming pools!!

A swimming pool is on my vision board and something that I'm sending out to the universe, so that it becomes a reality in the near future (by near future, I mean this year).

I'm very lucky that my workspace is the coolest room in the house at this time of the year. A cool breeze blows through the window all day and I have a little fan which plugs into a USB port in the desktop which keeps me cool from the other direction.

I'm excited that the Australian Open Tennis starts this Monday!

It's 9.30pm and I'm OFF to bed!

Nite all.

   

Two Steps Forward

Two steps forward and one step back.

I'm getting there.

Slowly.

My Canberra Conference has been cancelled *insert sad face here*, but since I'd already booked everything AND I discovered that there is a Health and Wellness Festival being held in Canberra on the same weekend, I've decided to still fly down and make it a kind of retreat for myself.

After my initial disappointment, I'm quite excited about the trip now!

Anyway it's rapidly approaching midnight so check these out ...

That last one is so ME!

I'm outta here!

Nite all.

What the Hell!?

I'm sitting here nine tenths of the way through building this website and feeling totally overwhelmed!

Tiny details that don't quite match up the way they should, which then require hours of research or investigation or experimentation or back tracking to find the one little thing that I missed. Sometimes it only takes a couple of minutes to figure it out, but sometimes it takes a couple of hours.

Those are the times when I look at myself and say "What the hell were you thinking? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Here I am at the far end of 56, (to a lot of people this seems really young, and to many others it seems really old!) attempting to teach myself to build a website, and not just a simple one page or one subject website, but one with multiple pages covering multiple subjects and including a shop which sells actual products that I now possess.

This requires stocktaking, photographing, pricing, cataloguing, packaging, mailing, invoicing etc etc.

My future will now require, not only maintaining the website, but

• actively creating a weekly recipe (a long winded process) to post on the recipe page
• attempting weekly art/craft/DIY projects and both writing and photographing the step by step process to post on the' Let's Get Arty Farty' page
• providing weekly photography tips for the 'Photography and You' page, as well as running a competition for followers via Facebook and Flickr
• Providing weekly healthy habits and good nutrition information on it's own page
• Maintaining all social network pages i.e. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Flickr and Pinterest
• Writing a weekly blog post for the 'Life as Roz knows it' page
• Daily trips to the post office to send off the products that people buy (hopefully)
• Continuing to write daily for my old blog
• Writing more ebooks, some free and some for sale
• My other special project that I'm keeping under wraps until it's finished

Aside from all of that, I need to continue eating well and providing good healthful meals for Adoring Husband and myself.

I need to continue my gentle exercises, which takes at least forty minutes of my day.

I'd like to think that my business will make enough money that I can afford a cleaner at some time in the near future, so I don't have to worry about that. That may be wishful thinking.

Anyway, that's where I'm at and even though I'm not deterred and I'm still feeling excited about the prospect of being successful with this, I'm a little concerned that I've bitten off more than I can chew and I feel that my time management skills may need some work!

Now I'm off for an early night, so that I can put in a solid day tomorrow.

Nite all


 

No Show

It seems that we must be the only town in Australia that is not sweltering in ridiculously hot temperatures!

I admit that it is warm, but nothing like NSW and central QLD. I will, however, be putting my pyjamas under the cold water tap and wringing them out before I put them on tonight. The breeze from the fan will keep me cool in wet PJs!

Our bedroom is the hottest room in the house in Summer. It's situated on the front corner of the house, so two walls are on the West and South side of the house and have direct sun for most of the afternoon. With the air conditioning still out of order, it makes for quite an uncomfortable temperature.

I pedalled down to the Seat of Knowledge and spent twenty minutes with the boys this morning before making my way to the beach for a short walk. The tide was high, which only leaves a short stretch of beach accessible, but I walked up to my knees in the shallows and the water was very cool and refreshing.

I went to check the mail and grabbed a couple of groceries from the supermarket, but while I was there, a little old lady was pushing a trolley through the aisles and she stopped me and said "I really love your hat"

I thanked her and we discussed where I bought it and that it was on it's last legs, when she said "Every time I come here for holidays, I look for you, because you are my 'symbol' of this town and my holiday, with your hat and your trike."

How cool is that!? She made me feel very special!

By the time I arrived home, it was 11am, so after a bit of fluffing about, I made some smoked salmon roll ups for Adoring Husband's lunch and then prepared dinner - we would be away from home at Best Cousin in the World's farm in Gundiah all afternoon, and it would be too late to muck around in the kitchen by the time we returned.

We left at 1pm for Gundiah. The LeReve party was to start at 2.30pm and it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to reach their front door.

I was concerned when we drove up to the house, that Stephanie's car was not there.

Sure enough, when 2.30pm came and went, Best Cousin in the World phoned Stephanie, to discover that she had no idea there was even going to be a party today!! Eight people were sitting on the verandah in the hot weather, expecting to see and smell some oils, perfumes and reed diffusers!

Luckily, I took my catalogue with me, so everybody had a look and got to order what they wanted. Apparently, we will all receive a free gift for our troubles.

At least we got to enjoy this ...

I can't even tell you how beautiful it looked in real life, with the colourful edible flowers scattered through so many different fruits which were then splashed with pieces of, and the juice of a pomegranate.  All of the fruit was delicious, as was the cheese and dips. It really was spectacular.

While the party was 'not' happening, Adoring Husband and Marco Polo headed down to the river, where they climbed into the kayaks and paddled up the river for a spot of fishing. AH had a ball. So much so, that he has been pricing kayaks this evening.

While Best Cousin in the World is away next week, AH is going to have a day with MP on the river. He's very much looking forward to it!

We said our goodbyes at about 4.30pm and I was hoping to stop at the fruit n veg van on the way home to buy some lychees, but it was right on 5pm by the time we reached the spot and we had big trucks right on our clackers.

It amazes me how truck drivers complain when cars pull in front of them because they don't have enough room to stop in an emergency .. but it doesn't seem to stop them from choosing to sit so close to our tail that we can't even see their number plate in the rear view mirror!

Thankfully, we arrived home safe n sound at about 5.50pm.

Oh I forgot to mention that AH has finally taken down the Christmas lights from outside the house!!

Right now, it's 9.30pm and it might be time for me to head to bed.

Nite all.  

Danceless Tuesday

Adoring Husband and I had a disturbed night of sleep last night. Between the heat, coughing fits, full bladders and early alarms, neither of us enjoyed a sound night of sleep.

This means that I did not get to dance on the beach before coffee with the girls, as I mentioned yesterday would be my plan.

I was still able to make it to coffee by 8.30am but there were only two of us there until almost 9am! At that point, just one more arrived and then two 'ring ins' pulled up a seat and joined us for coffee. Beauty sat with us briefly on her way home from swimming.

Morning coffee isn't quite the same without Rebel Mardi and Lady Lynn.

I left the girls at around 10am so that I could drive into The Bay with Adoring Husband. We had to pick up some kombucha that we'd ordered in bulk and also had to restock my coconut ice cream.

My peppermint choc chip ice cream wasn't in stock today and I was SOOO disappointed! I stood in front of those glass fridge doors, looking at all the flavours for about ten minutes until AH said "Standing there staring is not going to make it magically appear" to which I replied "But if I look for long enough, something will jump out at me!"

And it did!

Hiding underneath another flavour, but a different brand to my usual choice, was another peppermint and choc chip!! I pounced on it so fast!

I tasted it after lunch today and OMG, it is now my favourite brand. I almost ate the whole tub, but AH convinced me that I would be disappointed if I didn't have some left for another time. I knew he was right.

After lunch, we watched the movie "Chaplin" which is 25yrs old this year! There are a lot of big names in that movie. I didn't see it in 1992 when it was released, but quite enjoyed it today.

I only had one hour at my desk this afternoon. Found a couple of glitches in my site, so I fixed one of them and will deal with the other one in the morning.

I thought this was pretty funny. I found it tonight ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4LnorVVxfw

Anyway, it's almost 10pm and you know where I am headed.

Nite all.

PS Oh! I bought some new shoes today!

10 out of 10

Yes, today is day ten of 2017 and Christmas is over ... except for us and our neighbours.

Our Christmas lights are still up and flashing brightly every night.

Every year I tell Adoring Husband that we MUST have all the lights and decorations down before the 6th January, otherwise we will have an unlucky year.

Every year, our lights and decorations are still up well after the 6th, but at least this year, the decorations inside the house, and the tree, are down and packed away.

For now, I will apologise to our neighbours for the annoying flashing lights that continue well into the new year.

Yes darling, in case you were wondering, that's a hint :)

I started this morning with an hour of reading in bed. It was very relaxing until Adoring Husband came home from mowing at the shops and proceeded to whipper snip and mow our lawns.

I'm not complaining about him doing this important household chore, and he does a good job, but the psychotic dogs live up to their name for the duration of the job. Jack in particular, freaks out, hyperventilates and needs to have his body touching mine until the noise stops.

Since Jack sleeps in a pen in our bedroom, the sound of his stressful panting was enough to get me out of bed to start my day.

Which is a good thing I suppose!

I showered and dressed and headed off on my trike, just as Adoring Husband completed the outdoor work.

I rode to the beach, parked my trike, kicked off my thongs and headed down the stairs towards the soft sand and the receding tide.

Nothing pleases me more than discovering that the caravan parks are emptying and the tourists are thinning, and our town is slowly returning to normal.

Except for two kids paddling in the shallows, I was the only one on the beach, so I decided to lift my spirits by singing and dancing and splashing through the shallow pools.

I sang "You are my Sunshine" and "You Make Me So Very Happy" and "Tea for Two" (a bit random that one) and I raised my arms towards the sky and spin around like Julie Andrews on the mountian in "The Sound of Music" and I skipped and side stepped and kicked at the water.

The water in the pools was surprisingly cool and I enjoyed a good thirty minutes out on the flats, chasing the water as the tide went out.

I 'ran' up the steps to my trike (and as a side message to The Nikonian, I didn't require CPR!).

From there, I did some grocery shopping and visited the butcher, then returned home.

I decided that before I could unpack the groceries, the fridge was in desperate need of a clean out, so I spent about 45 minutes cleaning the fridge and repacking it.

The slow cooker was dragged out of the cupboard and I prepared a whole chicken by stuffing it with butter, lemon and garlic then popped it in the pot for 5 hours on high.

By now it was 11am, so I spent an hour in my workspace before I made lunch.

A chicken burger with toasted GF bread. Delicious!

Before I could get back to my desk, I had to hang out some washing and bring some in off the line.

I got quite a lot done on my website in three hours this afternoon, so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, but soon I had to return to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. I made a big tray of roast veg. Parsnip, turnip, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, garlic, capsicum, chilli, cherry tomatoes and onion, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with salt n pepper and chopped fresh rosemary.

I took the juices from the cooked chicken and thickened it with some tapioca flour for gravy.

 

Presentation leaves a lot to be desired! I need to practice my presentation skills for the recipe page of my website.

That is a very large plate of food for AH, who ate the whole lot!

After dinner, I got to spend another hour at my desk before I joined AH to watch some cricket. He retired to the bedroom about an hour ago and it's now 9.30pm, so I'm going for an early night.

It's been a big day, I have achieved much and I'm feeling satisfied. I have coffee with the girls tomorrow morning, but I might make my way down to the beach for some more singing and dancing to start my day.

Nite all.

Hours of Nothing

Last night I enjoyed a fabulous eight hours sleep.

This morning I enjoyed a fabulous two hours reading in bed.

Today, I enjoyed a fabulous three hours in my workspace.

At 1.30pm I made a batch of dog food and cut Adoring Husband a piece of lime cheesecake for lunch.

This afternoon I enjoyed another three hours in my workspace.

Funnily enough, for all the time that I spent at my desk, I don't feel like I achieved very much!

I think one of my worst traits (in this particular instance) is having to know 'more'. I spend so much time googling to find out more information about what I'm doing, so that I can better understand the process.

It means that what should be a ten minute task, usually ends up being a forty minute task .. or even longer. Sometimes while I'm reading the extra information, there will be a link to even more information, which I will click on and then spend even more time reading.

Potentially, my six hours of work is the equivalent of one hour of actual productivity.

At the beginning of my day, while I was tidying my desk before starting the day, I discovered that I have accumulated a large number of journals!

I love journals.

I acquired all but two of these in the last three months, and I can't decide if it's a precious passion or a dirty addiction. I guess only time will tell.

The clean smooth feel of the pages when you first open the cover, is one of my guilty pleasures, but writing the first word in a brand spanking new journal is such a difficult thing to do! I have to remind myself that each journal needs to feel the love!

I kept two of these journals for two years because they were so beautiful, I couldn't bear to write in them, but now they have a reason for 'being' and I can tell that they are very happy!

Well, it's after 10.30pm and I'm looking forward to another fabulous eight hours of sleep tonight.

Nite all.