Seven Years!

Happy anniversary to us! Seven years today and going strong.

We both wished we could do something more romantic and adventurous together today, but without transport, we decided to make it a foodie day and also do romantic things like walk hand in hand along the beach. We like to make our anniversaries special and just be together.

So it all started with breakfast in bed ... and if you know me, I don't eat breakfast haha. I have coffee, which is exactly what Adoring Husband provided for me while I lay back in bed and enjoyed a slow start to the day.

It was nice to sit and watch as people logged into Facebook and saw my post about the new website. The encouraging comments and watching the numbers climb as people joined my Facebook page was quite exciting!

Adoring Husband gave me a lovely card in which he had written beautiful sentiments, as he always does on our special occasions. When I find the card that I bought for him 2 months ago, which I've hidden in a very safe place, I will present it to him hehehe.

I did spend some time in my office this morning.

We prepared a delicious smoked salmon salad with a home made dressing and a big container of fruit slices to take down to the park, where we were married seven years ago. We drank iced water, so no alcoholic toasts were made.

After lunch, on this very dull day, we decided to drive to the beach, kick off our footwear, and walk as far out along the sand as we could. It was low tide and our tide goes out for kilometres ... so far that you can't even see the water!

I attempted to take a panorama photo with my phone camera and just as I mastered it, Adoring Husband decided to be a fool and bounce around in front of me. This is the result!

He appears 'armless' lol

Here is the next attempt ...

We walked until Adoring Husband's legs hurt and then returned to the car. It was a competition to see whether the big black cloud or us would reach the car first!

Very dark and gloomy and threatening, but we won the race.

I had arranged to buy some sand crabs from The Motivator this afternoon to have for our anniversary dinner, so we picked up six sand crabs, which I spent almost an hour removing the meat from and made avocado and crab toast with the leftover salad from lunch. They were still warm, having just been cooked by The Fisher King. They couldn't have been any fresher!

It was a delicious dinner which we enjoyed very much. We've had a lovely day together. Happy Anniversary to us :)

Anyway, I forgot to show you my birthday gifts to myself yesterday! Here are all the gifts that I received - except for my jewellery organiser that Bubbles sent me (I will show you that tomorrow) -

The 'Clean Eating' recipe book and the Bambi and Thumper ornament were my gifts to myself. I've been very spoilt by my friends this year and I'm feeling the love.

This is the card that I gave myself.

I can't even explain the wonderful feeling that enveloped me when I opened the card on my birthday and read it out loud to myself. Who knew that something so simple could bring such warm happiness?

Anyway, it's time to be kind to myself and get to bed! It's way past midnight!

Nite all.

Drum Roll Please!!!!!!!!!

The psychotic dogs woke me up this morning at 4.10am for a toilet break.

I couldn't get back to sleep, so I made my way to the other end of the house where my website awaited further construction.

I discovered that sometimes it takes me a long time to use common sense, but it dawned on me where I needed to go to get the information that would fix my glitches. What an epiphany!!

This sent the adrenalin pumping through my veins and I was so excited about the possibility of completing the task today, that I cancelled all of my birthday plans, sent Adoring Husband off to SES duties and planted myself firmly in my desk chair, pyjamas and all, for eleven hours of solid website work.

I received a phone call around lunch time from The Speckled Hen inviting  me for birthday drinks at the Bowls Club with a couple of other girls. She gave me the time of 3.30pm and I figured that would take me to eleven hours of solid work and I should definitely have a break by then!

At 3.10pm, I reluctantly changed out of my pyjamas (gosh I can't even remember the last time I stayed in my pyjamas all day. In fact, I don't think I ever have!) into presentable attire for the club and the girls picked me up right on 3.30pm.

Two vodka and tonics later and after lots of laughing and nonsense, they dropped me home at 5pm. They were heading off to one of their houses for more drinks, but I wanted to get dinner done and return to my website.

So it took another three hours, and there are still a couple of problems to sort out. It's by no means perfect, BUT, it's presentable enough to show the world and I will iron out the problems as I go, because IF NOT NOW, WHEN?????

SO!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

I present to you Romance Your Life with Roz

Let the games begin!

Nite all.

I've got nothing :(

I know ...

It's still coming!

I'm working on it!

It's driving me bonkers!

I don't know how long it's going to take!

I'm doing my best!

I'm frustrated as hell!

WooCommerce needs to lift it's game!

Happy birthday to me!

Take a deep breath .. in .. out.

I'm going to bed early so that I can get an early start tomorrow.

If I can get the minimum work required done, just so that I can launch my site on my birthday, I will be very happy.

That would be the best birthday gift ever.

Wish me luck!

Watch this space!

Nite all.

Still Working on it.

Fingers crossed, by tomorrow evening, all things going well, my website will be launched.

I'm so sick of typing those words ... surely they will come true soon!

Our car is still not repaired, so we have no transport at the moment .. we can only drive around our little town because the car randomly decides that it can't go faster than 40kph.

It's my birthday on Sunday and our 7th wedding anniversary on Monday, but because of our transport issues, we haven't been able to get gifts for each other, which is fine with me.

Adoring Husband got into The Bay today via other means and bought me two bouquets of flowers. Beautiful colourful Gerberas for my birthday and gorgeous red roses for our anniversary ...

What a lovely surprise that was!

And these are the gifts that I bought myself! One, I asked to be gift wrapped when I ordered it online and the other I wrapped myself. I also wrote a motivational note to myself in a birthday card, which I'll share here on Sunday!

Now I need to sleep.

Nite all.

A Slight Disappointment

I strongly doubt that tomorrow will be my launch day for the website.

Maybe Saturday, if I'm very conscientious and very lucky.

This will probably sound like double dutch to some of you, but I updated the WooCommerce plugin and there was a problem with the update - which I discovered was a 'thing' when I went Google searching for a fix.

This meant that I lost some of the photos and all of the accompanying information from the shop. It took me more than two hours to rebuild it all and then one of the photos wouldn't load the right size. I still haven't figured that one out.

My other problem is that something has appeared on one of the pages and I can't figure out how to get rid of it.

This problem prevented me from building my jewellery shop today, so that will be my mission tomorrow, along with creating the Art and Craft page.

It's going to take longer than a day and I'm feeling the pressure!

On the bright side, the order that I mentioned in yesterday's post, finally arrived today! Wahoo!

The dining table is now covered in photography gear, jewellery, boxes, the gorgeous packaging that came in the order and some of Adoring Husband's 'stuff'. That too will be a job and a half to clear eventually. I still have quite a few photographs to take yet - but they are not urgent right now.

For now, I'm going to get my 'sweet sleep' essential oil and attempt to have a restful night. My brain wouldn't shut down last night and it took forever to fall asleep ... only to be disturbed at 1.30am by the dogs for a toilet break ... then it took forever to fall back to sleep!

I have to fit a LOT into tomorrow and my brain will need to be on the ball.

So ...

Nite all.

Woopsie!

My day didn't quite go according to plan.

I had one Le Reve delivery to make. Luckily, I didn't accept Chef Pat's invitation to 'come in' otherwise I'd have been in even more strife with my day!

From there, I stopped at the pub to pick up two big bags of chillies from Tweedle Dee. Luckily, Tweedle Dee was working, so that visit was much shorter than it would have been otherwise!

My next stop was at The Motivator's house to say goodbye to Slammin' Sam who was returning to Sydney today. Luckily, they only had one hour to spare, or my visit might have stretched even further beyond my limits!

The Motivator gave me some crab to bring home - yum.

The Post Office was fourth on my list. I checked the mail and grabbed a couple of grocery items.

I sent a text to the Blonde Bombshell to see if she was back from her holiday, so that I could deliver her some chillies. She returned my text immediately to say that she was home, so she was my next stop.

After much catching up, I bid my farewell, explaining that my website was calling and that I had lost enough time for the day.

By the time I arrived home, it was almost lunch time! Good grief!

I shelled and ate three delicious sand crabs for lunch while Adoring Husband made his own lunch with leftovers from yesterday.

So my work day got a very late start and I did not complete even half of my 'to do' list for the day. This means that I'll have to work double time tomorrow!

Ugh.

I may even get a couple of hours in tonight before bed - hence my early post here.

I've been expecting delivery of an order from the Reed Gift Fair since last Wednesday and still there is no sign of it, so I'll have to phone the company tomorrow and ask them to follow it up. That's annoying.

Another company have contacted me to say that they can't complete an order of which I've already received three quarters. So at least I'll get a refund soon.

I guess this will be a learning process - which companies will be reliable and worthy of receiving my business? It seems that my learning curve is much bigger than I at first imagined haha. That will keep me on my toes!

Anyway, I'm off to get some more work done.

Nite all.

Still Working

Coffee with the girls was fabulous! There were only two missing and I didn't get home until 11am (which is like the midnight of the daylight hours!! haha).

When I arrived home, I prepared an early lunch so that I could lock myself away in my workspace for the rest of the day.

I did some repair work on my original site shop, made a list of all the little things that I have to clear on the site and began working on them, and watched some instructional Youtube videos on some other stuff that I need to do.

Tomorrow, I'll add the jewellery shop and if I'm quick enough, possibly the journal shop as well, That will give me Thursday to work on the final Art and Craft page.

That will be enough to launch the site and I can add everything else later.

It's all going according to plan so far.

Meanwhile, I need to get to bed before midnight, so this is short and sweet.

Nite all.

Later Aligator!

It's the end of the Queensland school holidays! Yay!

Sadly, there is still a week of NSW school holidays, so I guess we will have a few tourists in town for another week.

The only time that I left the house over Easter, was to attend my Art class (out of town) on Saturday morning, so I haven't seen the crowds or dealt with the mayhem.

I'm led to believe that it was the biggest fishing classic in the 25 yr history of the event. The wind carried the announcements and the noise from the Lion's Park to our back yard on Saturday and Sunday, so I couldn't avoid the event completely.

I look forward to getting out and about tomorrow and meeting the girls for coffee.

I got quite a lot done today.

I cross matched my stock with each invoice to check the prices and then I started my inventory .. at least on paper.

I took photos of 90 pieces of jewellery, but there is more yet to do. Here are a few more.

It's a long and tedious task. Not so much the photography, but the editing to make them look presentable.

Still lots to do, but I think I have enough photos done, to at least open the jewellery shop by Friday.

It's time for me to sleep so that I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow for another day of work. I think I'll have a visitor to help me tomorrow! Fingers crossed.

Nite all.

Exceeded Expectations

I'm pretty happy with my progress today!

Adoring Husband only needed one 'Do Not Disturb' warning and he was kind enough to make my lunch and serve it to me at my desk.

Today, I designed my 'sign up' form, the confirmation email and the welcome email with the link to my ebook. It is what I struggled with at the beginning of this year, but Youtube came to my rescue and the process was so easy!

Adoring Husband was smarter than me with the Lightbox and it is all set up on the dining table ready for me to perform in the photography marathon tomorrow - the one of my own making - to photograph all of my stock.

Here are a couple of bracelets that I'll be selling ...

I need to take better photographs of them for the site.

Following that, I need to design and create the extra 3 shops for the site, which shouldn't take long.

All things going according to plan, the deadline of next Friday is looking pretty good at this stage! I can feel the butterflies!

Pretty excited about our footy tips this week.

Both Adoring Husband and I have all of our tips correct so far this week. There is one more game tomorrow and if we've tipped that one correctly, we will both be on top of the footy tipping ladder!

On that note, I'm off to bed for an early night. Another big work day tomorrow.

Nite all.

Bloody Tourists

It's Easter weekend.

Over Easter, our town holds it's annual Easter Fishing Classic, which is a weekend long fishing competition.

The population more than doubles over the Easter weekend. Good Friday is the sign up day and then each day after that has live weigh-ins and dead weigh-ins, and there are prizes for all children's age groups and also for adults. The prizes cover different breeds of fish and crab.

Each day from noon, there are rolling raffles and prizes include assorted fishing gear including rods and reels and eskies. The big prize for the weekend is a boat, but you have to be in attendance to win it.

This fishing competition has been running for over 25 years and brings a lot of money to the town and our local charities.

It is always a very successful weekend and I can't even tell you how much I dislike it!

My town fills with loud, disrespectful, inconsiderate, arrogant out-of-towners. They litter our streets, riverbanks and waterways. They take over our club and pub. They fill the seating at our local coffee shops. They create massive queues in our supermarket and shops. Their cars fill every car space in town. They provoke ramp rage at the boat ramps. They break the rules on the water. They don't monitor their kids who commit crimes late at night. They speed through our streets.

Unfortunately, they also provide enough income for our local businesses to help them stay afloat for the rest of the year, so it doesn't matter how much I bitch about them, I am constantly reminded that the town needs these tourists.

Ugh!

I do my utmost to remain indoors over Easter and avoid the ugly crowds.

I was asked to do the photography for the weekend, but respectfully declined. It's a 'love' job and takes many many hours of precious time. It's also a thankless job. I did it for the first two years that we were in town, so I know what I'm missing and am grateful for the opportunity to say 'NO'.

Anyway ... today was ART day!!

I stained my clay bust ...

... and our work will be fired in a kiln in The Bay some time over the next couple of weeks.

Our next project is a clay tile.

I selected this photo ...

I had to draw it onto a leather tile and then use a leather cutter to slice pieces out of the picture. This is the first stage.

Later, we will cover the tile with soft clay so that the clay fills the holes that we've cut out (like a mould), then we wait for the clay to dry, paint it and then fire it in the kiln. Interesting concept hey?

I just love my art class. The other girls are great value. It's very informal and relaxed and we have some good laughs at each other's expense. All very different personalities when it comes to creativity, and we each take turns to bring lunch every Saturday which is usually sandwiches with GF bread. I love that they take me into consideration and always provide something that I can eat.

After I returned home, I spent 90 minutes taking photos of my jewellery. I did it outside where the light was good, but my silver jewellery seems to have photographed more gold than silver! This is bloody annoying and means that I have to start all over again. They are also not very sharp.

Adoring Husband is going to set up my Lightbox for me tomorrow and we'll see if that makes a difference to the colour. I'm not a fan of the Lightbox, but it might be my only option. I did attempt to set it up myself a couple of months ago, but it just didn't seem right. Let's see if AH is cleverer than me ... there's a challenge for him!!

Here are some of the jewellery pics. A few of these pieces are quite large and the chains aren't included.

So many more to photograph yet! That's my priority tomorrow. Two full days to power through some work!! Wahoo!!

Enough for now. Time for bed.

Nite all.

A Good Friday

Best Cousin in the World and Marco Polo came for lunch today.

I got out of bed at 9am and cleaned the bathroom while Adoring Husband vacuumed and steam cleaned the tiled floor.

I chucked some chicken wings in a baking tray and poured a mixture of Raspberry and Chocolate balsamic vinegar, honey, fish sauce, lime juice, salt and pepper, slices of fresh ginger and one chilli roughly chopped over the top of them. Baked them in the oven at 180C for 45 minutes, turned the oven off and let them sit in the residual heat.

I made up three salads.

A coleslaw with mango mayonnaise.

A rocket pear and salty caramelised walnuts salad. I made a dressing of avocado, chilli coconut mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and maple syrup.

A salad of baby spinach, lettuce, rocket, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, boiled egg and chopped mint. No dressing for that one.

Adoring Husband cooked some steak on the barbecue.

It was an easy lunch that was prepared (except for the steak) before they even arrived so I was able to sit with everybody and chat until AH cooked the steak and we brought all the remaining food from the fridge to the outside table.

The weather was nice outside today. A sunny day with a cool breeze.

Best Cousin in the World drank a whole bottle of red wine and I drank 3/4 bottle of Oyster Bay SB over four hours.

I drank the wine because BCITW gifted it to me. I spent most of the afternoon after they left in the bathroom suffering the consequences of my actions (and no, I wasn't drunk). At the time, I thoroughly enjoyed sharing some alcoholic beverages with good company, but I guess it takes me a while to learn my lessons. Wine simply doesn't agree with me anymore.

Adoring Husband had SES duties this evening and was gone for about 4 hours. This would have been a perfect opportunity to get some work done on my site, but between my bathroom visits and the football on TV, no work was done by me.

It has been a good Friday.

Tomorrow is my art class, which I'm very much looking forward to, but I'm looking forward, also, to having no commitments so that I can focus on my work on Sunday and Monday.

Seeing that it's only just after 9.30pm and the final game of footy is almost done for the evening, I might just get an early night, in preparation for an early morning.

I just wanted to mention, as a follow on from yesterday's post, my gratitude and appreciation for the support and encouragement that I received from Happy Harry, Lady Lynn and Adoring Husband at the funeral. It was thanks to them, that I found the strength to stand up and read the tribute. Thanks guys xox

Nite all.

The Party is Over

Today we said goodbye to Mum H.

At the service, there were about 100 people in attendance and there were quite a few people out of town and unable to attend.

All the bowlers turned up in their colours and formed a guard of honour as we left the chapel.

The eulogy was lovely and everybody learnt something new about Mum H.

The TV screen at the head of the chapel showed so many photos of her with so many different people, at parties and functions and events. There were photos of her as a young child and wedding photos. A lifetime of photos that made everybody smile.

The music was amazing .. just one song to tug at our heart strings, but the rest were upbeat happy songs that Mum used to love dancing to, and the final song to say goodbye was the old classic "Eagle Rock".

One representative from the Bowls Club was invited to the podium to say a few words on behalf of the bowlers. He spoke well and only faltered at the very end.

In my purse I had a two page written tribute that I had every intention of reading. I practiced at home and I timed myself. It was just two minutes long. I imagined myself standing at the podium, strong and confident and articulating my words clearly and precisely.

As the moment drew closer, I took some slow deep breaths. My stomach and my throat felt tight and I concentrated really hard on relaxing. Happy Harry offered to stand beside me at the podium for moral support.

My biggest concern was getting to the podium and falling apart before the first word was uttered. I am such an emotional blob of jelly in these situations!

When the bowler's tribute was over, the celebrant asked if there was anyone else who wanted to speak.

This was the moment.

I stood up and walked directly to the podium. I did it so suddenly that Happy Harry didn't have a chance to support me! I glanced briefly at all of those people sitting in the chapel. All of those people who were there to say goodbye to Mum H. All of those people who loved her and wanted this opportunity to pay their last respects.

I could feel the emotion welling inside me.

I took a deep breath.

I said to myself "You can do this. Just do it!"

I looked at my printed sheet of paper, opened my mouth and through my quivering emotional tight throat, I spoke.

Almost immediately, I felt myself losing it, but I pushed myself to keep going. My voice faltered so many times and I was terrified that I wouldn't make it to the end. I heard Adoring Husband give a little emotional cough. The last line of my tribute almost wasn't uttered ... but I made it.

I made it to the end.

The people were pleased. I received hugs of praise because my words described Mum H so well and everybody could relate. I think a lot of the hugs were sympathetic hugs because I was such a wuss!

I think Mum H would have been pleased. Her family were grateful too.

It was the best way I knew how to say goodbye and I'm glad that I pushed through the overwhelm and the emotion.

Now I am drained and exhausted but unable to wind down. It's almost 1am! Ugh.

Nite all.

Boring Stuff

For the next couple of weeks, this blog is going to be a bit more boring than usual, because I'm spending most of my waking hours at my desk or with my camera.

I attempted to take photos of my stock today, but couldn't quite get the light right, so I gave up and did some research on marketing and copywriting instead. I also got part way through a course from the Academy - which is always inspiring and helpful.

The photos will need to be taken in the early morning light .. which I will try tomorrow.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to make lunch, which gave me extra time to work.

I did a proof read of the work I've done so far on the website, which was interesting, because I hadn't looked at it for more than two months. It looks pretty good!

I've now laid out a time line. It's basically a 'to do' list and each item has a 'do by' date. I'm hoping that will push me a bit harder and make me more accountable.

Every small step takes me closer to my finishing line.

I read that the first 20% of a project is easy and fast and full of enthusiasm. The next 60% is fairly smooth sailing but the final 20% is the toughest to get through. That's where I'm at.

Tomorrow is a wipe out day. Mum H's funeral is at 12pm, followed by the wake at the Bowls Club and drinks at the Pub and finally the raffle night at the Bowls Club. There'll be no work happening tomorrow.

Good Friday will be another wipe out day because Best Cousin in the World will be visiting for lunch and she will pick up her Le Reve order.

Saturday morning is out, due to my art class which hogs my time from 9.30am - 1.30pm.

Saturday afternoon, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be full time 'head down, bum up' working working working.

I am going to make it happen!

I've created a new story for me ...

"I am capable of anything that I put my mind to and I am in control of my own life. I am smart, intuitive, creative, happy, healthy and vibrant. I can create and develop my own business ideas and make my own income that will help us live more than comfortably. I have a wish list that I plan on fulfilling. Negativity is no longer an option and I will fill my life with abundance and joy. My life has purpose and meaning. I AM GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!"

... and so it will be.

Nite all.

Moving Right Along

Coffee with the girls. Always a hoot! Even if they don't care about my health concerns!! (You know who you are!).

A stop at The Motivator's house to see her and her visitor, Queen of Crosswords. I spent a couple of very pleasant hours with the girls, assisting with a crossword completion, looking at and buying beautiful handbags and chatting about stuff.

I came home to make some lunch for myself because Adoring Husband was still in town attempting to have our car repaired. He was unsuccessful ... or I should say the car yard was unsuccessful.

The rest of the day was spent at my desk where I achieved little, but it was 'quality' little. I feel ok about my progress and since my sister, Squirt, won't be visiting as planned, I have the whole Easter weekend to work on my site.

Fingers crossed!

Another delivery from the gift fair arrived today! Will they never end? Hopefully, there will be one more before Easter.

And now it's time for bed.

Nite all.

Down Time

It has been a strange day for me.

I was keen to get into my office and get started on my website, but my desk and one cupboard had become a resting ground for everything that had come into the office over the last 8 weeks, so I spent about almost 2 hours tidying, clearing, filing, labelling, sorting and culling.

I sat down and found my 'to do' list.

It was long.

I began to research computer programs for keeping an inventory of stock. Ridiculous prices.

I looked at some apps specifically designed for that. They didn't sit well with me.

I gave up on the stocktake and inventory.

I decided that photographing my stock to put on the website was my next priority.

I looked at my camera.

I thought about my stock. I thought about the seven drawers full of jewellery, the cupboards filled with journals, the shelves with wallets and purses.

Where the heck do I even start? Where do I take the photos? How do I stage the photographs? Which stock will I do first? What lens will be the best option? Where will I find the best lighting? Will I use the tripod, or just hand hold the camera? Will I photograph ALL of the jewellery, or just a select few items?

Do I write out the descriptions as I take the photos, or wait until I edit the photos, or wait until I load them onto the site?

I gave up on photographing the stock.

I made lunch. Tuna and sweet potato fritters with a spicy tomato sauce.

I returned to my workspace, turned on the magnesium lamp and put some essential oil in the diffuser.

I shuffled some papers, checked my emails, completed a couple of pages from my academy workbook and returned a phone call regarding an order.

I suddenly felt tired and queasy in the stomach.

I lay on the bed and attempted to sleep.

I read for a while.

I gave up.

Adoring Husband suggested that we go for a walk along the beach, which we did. I felt amazingly better after that! Unfortunately, it was time to cook dinner, so I couldn't even take advantage of my newfound energy and mood lift!

This evening, I've done some work on my book idea, so I feel like I've accomplished something for the day.

A good night's sleep might help me for tomorrow's attempt at working.

Nite all.

End of Tuan Time

They were very warm and fond farewells.

We were up, breakfasted (is that even a word?), cleared, cleaned, packed and driving away from Tuan by 8.35am, and what a team effort it was to have the house looking spick and span and the cars all packed with our gear in record time, so that we were ready to convoy out of the driveway earlier than planned!

Everybody had somewhere to be.

Even though we were sad to say goodbye to each other, we were all very relieved to say goodbye to the midges and mosquitoes

Unfortunately, our car suffered a recurrence of last month's medical condition and Adoring Husband was unable to pick me up, so The Nikonian, with great kindness, drove two hours out of her way to bring me home and then return to the Sunny Coast for an important appointment.

Adoring Husband greeted us with a happy smile and a small gift for The Nikonian to thank her for her kindness.

I unpacked my multiple bags ... containing food, clothing, alcohol and camera gear ... and then made my way into my workspace to edit some photos from last night ...

Suddenly it was lunch time, so I prepared a nibbles platter containing prosciutto wrapped rockmelon, smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, grapes, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, carrot sticks and guacamole dip with chilli.

We spent the afternoon watching football, until it was time to drive to the park to meet up with Lady Lynn, Happy Harry, Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver for fish and chips by the river.

The evening was so pleasant, with a soft breeze, a pretty sunset ...

... and bloody sprinklers timed to go off at the most inopportune times!! Twice we had to move when the sprinklers came on and sprayed our picnic table. Time to call the council.

Anyway, it was nice to eat with our hands, share videos of our grandchildren and spend time with good friends.

I said my second lot of fond farewells for the day and we returned home to watch a replay of the football - Sharks vs Storm - and the Sharks won!! I tipped them!! Yay me!!

I'm off to sleep in my wonderful bed that is not surrounded by buzzing mozzies :)

A big thank you to The Nikonian for being a fabulous host over the weekend, and also to JMan and Earth Mother for providing nutritious healthful meals for us.

Nite all.

Chance of Rain

It has been exceptionally windy today in Tuan.

Thanks again to Jman and Earth Mother, our tummies have been filled with nutritious and delicious paleo fare all day.

We walked this morning and we're almost blown to Maryborough!

Other than that, it's been a lazy day chatting, laughing, peeling prawns and this evening, we finally got our photography experiment right.

We had no intention of doing anything this evening and were even contemplating going to bed at 8pm, when Mellylicious jumped up and suggested we try something. We grudgingly followed her lead ... two hours later, we returned to the house having had so much fun and with some crazy photos that none of us can edit until we get home.

We were climbing stumps and traipsing through water and running along the beach and striking poses and making crazy demands of each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am well and truly ready for bed!

We will all be returning home early tomorrow morning, feeling rested, refreshed and all caught up with each other's news.

My only regret is that I wasn't at the Bowls Club on Friday night to claim my $500 badge draw money! After 9 yrs, my name was finally drawn out and I wasn't there to claim it! Ugh!

Ah well, better luck next time.

Nite all.

The Gang's All Here

Mellylicious arrived this afternoon and that makes a full complement!

The gang is all here!

We started our day with a delicious paleo breakfast of coconut yoghurt with Bircher muesli, berries, dragon fruit and banana and raw honey. Soooooooo good.

We walked along the waterfront with our cameras taking photos of nothing in particular and planning our next meal ... it seems that most of us are more obsessed with good food and good health, than good photography theses days!

The best part is that we are all pretty much on the same page and our chatter is non stop about all things that provide healing and wellbeing.

Actually, no, the best part is that Jman loves cooking even more than I do, and he has spent lots of therapeutic time in the kitchen preparing all of our meals. His amazing wife, Earth Mother, has also provided deliciousness to die for and I am in food heaven!

Lunch was liver pate, Vietnamese chicken wings, Aussie ham, tomato, cucumber, avocado, olives, a vegetable salsa, leftover butter chicken and paleo crackers that I MUST get the recipe for.

After The Nikonian and Jman returned from Maryborough where they picked up some more pantry supplies, we waited for Mellylicious to arrive and gathered our cameras and tripods for a shoot on the water.

We had a particular experiment in mind, but the light and our equipment didn't quite gel to provide the result that we were hoping for, so we returned to our deck and yet another dinner to die for.

Pulled pork, caramelised onion, cashew cheese, guacamole and marinated tofu and nuts in lettuce cups. Once again ... amazeballs!!

The mosquitoes and midgies are doing their darnedest to spoil our weekend and we are all covered in red itchy welts, but it would take a lot to dampen our spirits. It's such a beautiful, peaceful spot, the weather has been perfect, the food amazing and the company just fabulous.

It has been so relaxing and we all have so much catching up to do with each other.

I wish that I had a photo to share here, but they are on my camera and I didn't bring my laptop. I'll have to take a couple with my phone tomorrow.

I currently have the air conditioner running beside the bed to keep the mozzies and bugs at bay while I write this. It's working very well, so I think I'll leave it on all night!

Best get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Tuan, I am in you!

Here I am, sitting in the dark, the only light source is this iPad and it is attracting mosquitoes and giant bugs, so this will be short and sweet!

The weather is quite cool - almost cool enough for me to think about a jacket. That's saying something!

JMan and his amazing wife Earth Mother, cooked a delicious paleo meal for us tonight. Butter Chicken with roasted cashews, cauliflower and zucchini rice and a naan bread. OMG!! I am in heaven.

Now I really must turn this iPad off because I am surrounded by bugs and they are biting me!

I will write more tomorrow in the daylight hours.

Nite all.

Off Again

Another day gone and my website still at a standstill.

*sigh*

The day was still quite productive.

Adoring Husband and I sat down and discussed the big bash for his 60th birthday, which will be taking place in October this year.

He's been talking about it for a long time - at least the last 6 months - but so far, the only thing he's done is book the Bowls Club for the venue.

Today we discussed a budget, the food, the theme, decorations, entertainment, invitations and possible accommodation for the guests who travel.

We typed up the guest list.

Adoring Husband designed, personalised and printed out the invitations, so they are all ready to both hand deliver and mail out.

So we've definitely moved in the right direction today.

I've packed my bag for the weekend.

I did some washing and some ironing.

I cooked a big batch of lamb shanks and vegetables so the AH has hearty meals for while I'm away.

I cooked a boneless lamb roast so that AH has some cold meat for lunches.

I made a marinade for some chicken wings so that I can take some Vietnamese chicken wings away with me, along with some alcohol, mix and lime.

Now as it approaches midnight, I must get some sleep so that I can be fresh for a fun photography weekend.

Nite all.

At a Loss

A fabulous morning tea with the girls today.

We had four in attendance and enjoyed each other's company until after 10.30am.

I shopped for groceries and meat, and came home to make myself a toasted GF sandwich for lunch, then made a couple of phone calls and watched some TV for a while. I cleared some emails, charged up my camera batteries in preparation for the afternoon photoshoot and the weekend shoot, then packed my camera bag.

At 3pm, Adoring Husband kindly drove me to Craignish for the photoshoot, which went very well and very quickly. By 5pm I had edited and sent the pics through to 'Teach' who needed them for her new website.

I prepared dinner and then had to go in search of some 70th birthday pics of Mum H. Her family had accidentally left the disc of pics behind when they drove home this morning, so I emailed a dozen pics through.

It took me a while to find them because they were stored on my old laptop.

I chatted in messenger with Mum H's daughter in law in Brisbane and her niece in England, before posting details of Mum H's funeral on FB. We are trying to reach as many people as possible.

Now, before I head to bed, I have to go package and freeze the chicken broth that I've been making in the slow cooker.

It's already 11pm.

Nite all.

Back in the Groove

I didn't even know where to begin!

Finally, I got back into my workspace, but it felt like I was starting from scratch and I had so many tasks to complete, my brain completely shut down.

So, the only option for me, was to return to the Leonie Dawson Academy and find some inspiration and motivation from the guru.

It worked a treat and now I'm feeling much better about the next steps that I need to take for the business.

I'm just not sure when that's going to happen!

I seem to have booked myself to the brim and I have four free days out of the next sixteen.

It's about time that I committed myself to this task. It's time that my website became my top priority and I want it launched before my birthday, so that I can have a birthday SALE!

Commitment and dedication to the task at hand. That will be my mantra after Easter.

This weekend I have a three day photography shoot with some fabulously wonderful human beings from the original Flickr crowd. It's been about two years since we all got together and I'm really looking forward to catching up with them.

It means that I need to dust off the old camera. It hasn't seen the light of day for some time and I also have a professional shoot tomorrow, so it seems I'll be back in the swing in no time!

This is where I'm up to with my pottery bust ...

and just before I go ...

Nite all.

Quite a Sunday

As I begin to write this, the clock is ticking over to 11.15pm.

It has been a long day and I'm feeling very weary.

This morning, I visited Mum H's son, The Peacemaker, at her unit. It was emotional and draining and enlightening and interesting and heartwarming. I was only there for an hour but it was quality time and I left there feeling very different to when I arrived. They really are a lovely family.

The Peacemaker gifted me something from Mum H's wall. They were photos of her and I taken at various parties and occasions that she'd had framed. I was surprised and touched, not just by the offer of the gift, but also for the realisation that I meant that much to her.

There is no confirmed date for her funeral, but it could possibly be the Thursday before Easter.

After my visit, I returned home to make a delicious brunch for Adoring Husband and myself. The Motivator kindly gave me a diamond scale mullet yesterday, so I lightly fried it in butter, salt and pepper and then squeezed some fresh lemon juice over it. I served it with a salad and I thoroughly enjoyed eating it while AH finished mowing the yard.

He came inside and showered before I served his brunch.

Next on my agenda, was to groom psychotic dog, Colli.

Before ...

After ...

This took two hours! She is squirmy and cranky and jumpy and hates being groomed. This is a chore that I hate more than ironing!

At four o'clock, I had an appointment with The Motivator for a 'journey' and I didn't get home until after 6.30pm, at which time I had to cook a quick dinner.

It is now an hour later than when I began this post, so I'm off to bed. I think I might sleep in tomorrow morning.

Nite all.

We're Back!

Finally! Phone and internet coverage at last!

This is what I wrote on Thursday night, but couldn't post ...

********

Debbie is angry!

The warnings came out this morning and Adoring Husband was on SES duty at the shed very early.

Cyclone Debbie quickly made her way down the coast - over 1000kms - to reach us, the Sunny Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast today.

Hundreds of millimetres of rain. Winds gusting over 120kph. Incredible flash flooding, property damaged, schools closed, workers sent home before lunch, trees down, power outages, wild storms, sports events cancelled and no end in sight.

Our bad weather began around lunch time.

Right then, I decided to cook our chicken for dinner, just in case of possible power failure. That was a good decision.

We received 80mm of rain in two hours and our wind gusts were around 65kph - at a guess.

I was doing ok until the last hour, at around 2pm, when Higgins Storm Chasers put out a warning about possible tornados.

At the same time, we lost power, so there was no TV or music or anything to drown out the noise of the storm.

The sound of the wind whistling and thumping around the house was too much me me to cope with and I packed all of my fully charged devices into the walk-in robe, JUST IN CASE!

An hour later, the weather cleared, but 7 hours later, we are not only without power, but also without phone and internet service, which we lost at about 9pm!

This post will probably not even get to my blog until tomorrow. It feels weird to not have any contact with the outside world.

Luckily, we have a generator, so we get to watch TV,  have a fan, and the capability of charging the phone and iPad, although right now, that seems pointless.

It's getting late so we'll have to turn off the noisy generator soon.

The skies are clear and the stars are twinkling brightly, but the forecast is for gale force winds tomorrow. I hope they are wrong.

I feel for the people down south. The weather has now reached NSW and Lismore residents have been given an evacuation order. I understand the damaging rain will go as far south as Byron Bay. Scary.

Cyclone Debbie has been on a hell of a road trip!

Good luck to everybody in her path. Stay safe and remember ... IF IT'S FLOODED, FORGET IT!

I think it's time to concede defeat and go to bed.

Nite all

********

So, it seems that we got off lightly in comparison to many other towns and cities in Debbie's path of destruction. She has left a trail of disasters in her wake.

More sad news for our town was the passing of Mum H on Wednesday night.

I wrote on her Facebook page tonight ...

Dear Mum H,

I phoned your home number today, but no-one answered and it went to your voice message. I wasn't expecting to hear your voice and I wasn't prepared for the impact that it had on me.

Your involvement in our Burrum Heads community has been profound, your support for the town charity events has been significant and your tireless volunteer work for the Bowls Club has been remarkable.

You've been the life of many parties and almost always the last to leave. Your energetic and exuberant dancing had us shaking our heads in awe because none of us could keep up with you!

Your cheeky sense of humour and missing filter (as already mentioned by Kayla) should have got you into more trouble than it did.

You were a Jill of all trades, a fashionista, a sporting hero, a karaoke star, a dancing queen, a party animal, beer brewer extraordinaire, barrel girl, seamstress, dog and house sitter, crazy triker girl and I just don't know how much longer Home and Away will survive without your loyal following!

It will be a while before Burrum Heads recovers from the shock of your passing, because we expected that you would outlive us all.

Thankfully, I have an album bursting with nine years of fun memories and each of those memories brings a smile to my face (or an embarrassed grimace lol).

I will miss you, you crazy woman.

May you rest in peace

With Love ... Sweet Pea xo

Nite all.