I Laughed and Laughed!

Because I watched the Venus Williams match last night, I didn't go to sleep until about 2am, so waking at 7.30am was not ideal.

Adoring Husband took Jack (No 1 Psychotic Dog) to the vets today for his teeth extractions and hair cut, and had to leave at 7.45am. Jack doesn't like to get out of bed unless I'm getting out of bed, so it was a bit of a struggle for both of us!

After they left, I returned to bed and was still there when AH returned from dropping Jack at the surgery.

It was definitely time to get up and make myself presentable for public viewing, so I showered and washed my hair, added a touch of make-up and headed out into the big wide, sunshiny Winter's day on my trike.

I had mail to collect, groceries to buy, more coffee to drink and soup and jewellery to deliver to a sick friend.

It was really nice to catch up with The Motivator. It's been more than 6 weeks since we've seen each other, so there is a lot to catch up on! A couple of visitors dropped in while I was there, so we still didn't get a lot of time together. She needs to rest up and recover from her nasty cold. There will be plenty of time for catching up later.

I came home and put my next batch of chicken broth into containers and prepared our Hainan Chicken dinner.

There was only an hour to play with before I got ready to go to the club and Adoring Husband dropped me off on his way to pick up Jack from the Vets. Unfortunately, we received a phone call from them as we drove into the carpark, so say that they were running late, so he had to kill another hour before driving out there.

I had a lucky night at the club winning on the Pokies and then winning the final raffle prize of the night, which was a voucher for the local bakery.

Surprisingly, Adoring Husband was only just picking up Jack as I was leaving the Club!! So I arrived home before him.

As he pulled into the garage, I opened the door to greet he and Jack. I took one look at Jack with his shaved face and burst into laughter!! He looked so different and his face looked so tiny and his eyes looked so big and he had such a pathetic look. I laughed and laughed.

I'll wait until he has recovered and his mouth is not feeling quite so tender before I groom the rest of his body.  How sad does he look? Awwww.

I wonder if I can stay awake long enough to watch Roger Federer play tonight.

It's already 10pm and I'm feeling a bit weary. I think 5 hours of sleep last night, was not quite enough.

Nite all.

In a Flash.

The day has gone in a flash!

I spent the first two hours of the day writing a four page inspirational letter to a friend's daughter with an accompanying card, after which, I rode to the post office and sent it in the mail with a parcel containing a gift that I hope will cheer her up.

While I was at the shops, I picked up our regular order from the butcher, as well as some chicken pieces and some pork chops.

The kitchen is where I spent the next hour or so, preparing a paleo chicken dish that Adoring Husband had found on Facebook and making some chicken soup in the slow cooker, which I hope to deliver to The Motivator who has been sick for the last couple of days. So full of organic goodness, she should be pepped up in no time!

I was sitting in the lounge room with Adoring Husband when he threatened to turn on Star Trek or Dr Who, so I retreated to my workspace where I finalised the challenge/competition details for Romance Your Life and I posted it to the Facebook page.

I added a photo to Images by roz g Facebook page too ... something that I haven't done for quite a few months!

I finished listening to a webinar that I'd started on Tuesday afternoon and then served up that paleo chicken dish for an early dinner so that Adoring Husband could attend SES training. It was delicious!

After Adoring Husband left, I watched a training video on creating videos for marketing, taking a gazillion notes and completing the work sheet that was provided. That will be my next challenge ... creating a video ... although it might be quite a while before I build up the courage for that one!

One of the psychotic dogs, Jack, is headed to the vet tomorrow morning for some surgery to remove some teeth and while he's under, the vet will give him a bit of grooming. Adoring Husband is fretting and worrying over it. We all know there are risks involved when anesthetic and surgery are involved and Jack is 12 years old. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

I will attempt to be the strong one, or the rock, to support AH until it's all over.

Right now, I am watching the Women's Semi Final tennis match at Wimbledon, between Venus Williams and Johanna Konta. I hope the match is fast with an early result because I'm ready for bed!

It's already midnight.

Nite all.

Bingeing fun

Remember how I said I wanted earlier starts to the days?

Well, I've managed that, and this morning was a 6am start. I should clarify that I WOKE UP at that time, but I did not get out of bed. It was too lovely in that room, with the delicious cool breeze floating through the window and all my pillows piled around me.

I read for a while and then I watched a few episodes of 'The Ranch' on my iPad through Netflix. I got out of bed to get my coffee and then returned to my nest for another hour of shows.

When I decided it was time to start the day, I emptied the clothes line of Adoring Husband's entire wardrobe ... or so it seemed ... folding as I did it! Did my own washing and then as I filled my water bottle, I noticed a pineapple sitting on the bench.

It had been there for almost a week and those little fruit flies were hovering around it, so I decided to make some fruit juice.

Ninety minutes later I had before me:

• a jug of pineapple, orange, apple and lime juice. 
• a tray of Pina Colada coconut ice cream.
• a tray of pineapple, apple and orange sorbet ... which has ended up as a big ice block because it's frozen solid haha. Ah well.
• a clean kitchen.

After a phone call from AH to say that he would be home later than expected from his SES duties, I made myself some lunch and sat down in AH's recliner to watch the 'Beauty and the Beast' DVD, which I LOVED!!

I didn't have any motivation to go into my workspace, so I headed back to my nest and watched some more episodes of The Ranch until it was time to cook dinner.

So I'm feeling very happy and very rested this evening and I'm all decked out in my Queensland gear to watch the final State of Origin game tonight, which is just about to begin.

So it's good night from me and ...

QUEENSLANDER!!!

Nite all.
 

Black Lace - Agadoo

At the request of Adoring Husband, I am posting this Youtube video of Black Lace singing Agadoo, because he has NEVER heard the song before! I don't know what planet he has been on since the 80s when this song was released but he doesn't believe many others would have heard of it either!



So feel free to add a comment here or PM me in Facebook if you know this song, just so that I can show AH that EVERYBODY knows it haha.

I've had quite an excellent day!

It started at coffee with the girls - the usual Tuesday morning ritual - which I always enjoy.

At 11am, the World Champ picked me up so that we could drive into The Bay and have the photos printed ... or so I thought!

We DID get the photos printed and they looked great! From there, we drove to Stocklands where she hoped to get some photo frames from Target. Unfortunately, that was an unsuccessful shopping trip, however, we found the perfect frames at Kmart! The photo frames cost $15 less than the photos! Ya gotta love Kmart!

Just when I thought it was time to go home, she surprised me with "I'm going to shout you some lunch."

We ate at the Bay Central Tavern.

It was such a lovely day and we got along so well! The conversation never stopped the whole time and we talked about all sorts of things.

Her story is amazing and I discovered that ten years ago, she was involved in a very serious car accident that broke her neck. She was told that she was a quadriplegic and would never walk again!

That was a prognosis which she would prove very wrong!

She left the hospital after a whole year of surgeries and hard work, but was still in a wheel chair. She worked so hard that she was able to walk in callipers and NOW is both the Australian AND World Champion Lawn Bowler (for people with disabilities).

She walks with a limp, but I had trouble keeping up with her!

What an inspiring story and as she said "The mind is a very strong and powerful thing!"

I absolutely cannot agree more!

We were home before 2pm which gave me three hours in my workspace. I listened to a webcast, typed up my next challenge to post tomorrow and wrote out my health schedule - which was given to me in February while I was in Canberra and I have never put into place!

I did all of this while rebounding at my tall desk! Three hours is a long time to rebound, even with stops and slow rebounds. My body is now complaining and seizing up while seated! I've really got to learn to pace myself!

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Feeling Insulated

I haven't even stepped outside the house today, however, I have been quite productive in the short time that I spent at my desk.

I was up and about at 9.30am ... I'm working on earlier starts to the day ... as much as I enjoy my leisurely mornings, I've decided that if I put some structure into my day, I can create good habits, reduce procrastination and fit some activity, sunshine and real study into my day, as well as keep my website moving forward with some new, more time efficient ideas that I'm thinking of.

My first chore was to edit the photos from yesterday. Here is one of them ...

When I'd finished, I did a ten minute meditation to clear my head and calm my mind.

I then wrote the next post for the website blog and dreamed of my afternoon coffee which never arrived ... because Adoring Husband and I are reducing our caffeine intake.

I created and designed my dream house, from the double white front doors filled with oceanic lead lighting, to the commercial style kitchen with plumbed coffee machine and built in slow cooker, to the massive timber deck containing a fire pit and overlooking sandy beach to the huge top story studio room that serves as my office, my studio and my workshop where I'll run all kinds of workshops and classes.

All the beautiful furnishings, pillows, cushions, rugs, artwork, colour schemes, landscaped pool area and the piece de resistance of course ... the Carrie Bradshaw-esque walk in wardrobe, something along the lines of this ...

I made my 'to do' list for Wednesday. Tuesday is already a full card and I doubt that I'll get much time in my workspace. I hope that my beautiful sunflowers last a few days longer yet, so that I can enjoy them some more on Wednesday and onwards.

At dinner time I cooked up some duck and vegetables, followed by berries and ice cream for dessert.

Now I must iron AH's good SES trousers ready for his big meeting tomorrow!

Nite all.    

Breakfast in Bed

I think Adoring Husband got sick of waiting for me to get out of bed this morning!

He brought my coffee to me, as he always does, and soon after, he brought breakfast to me as well! I think he was hoping that would motivate me to rise! Alas it did not!

Midday was when my feet touched the floor of my bedroom for the first time.

On my way out the door, I spied my new jewellery organiser and decided that I should show it to you!

How cool is that!?

I love all the little compartments and it fits all of my bracelets perfectly.

Having spent the first half of the day in bed, I didn't get as much time at my desk as usual because I was booked for a photoshoot this afternoon photographing the Multi-disability Lawn Bowls Women's National and World Champion! Who knew that we had one of those in our community!!?

She was a very easy subject - I'll show you the pics tomorrow - but she was so concerned about other bowlers thinking she was 'up herself' and 'bragging' because of her many wins. She had about 7 gold medals for various major tournaments and should have been feeling proud of herself, but instead was worried more about what negative thoughts people had about her.

I hope that my photos will do her justice and I look forward to seeing the framed result on the wall in the club. I hope that she will feel proud of herself and wallow in the glory of it all!!

Thankfully, my camera behaved itself for the shoot, although, I am a bit rusty and I can see things that I wish I could do again. Hopefully, the pics will pass ... if not, I guess we can always have another shoot!

Totally loving my new necklace, which I wore all day today. I don't want to take it off!

I used a sketch filter over the photo and then added some bokeh stars. I remembered, after editing the photos from today's shoot, and this one, how much I hate editing photos. Sad but true.

Anyway, I must get some sleep. Adoring Husband has injured his back and I may need to get out of bed early to work for him.

Nite all.    

Supporting the Arts

Adoring Husband had SES duties from very early this morning.

This meant that I was responsible for accessing my own morning coffee.

I had a good night's sleep and was awake at 7am, enjoyed my usual morning ritual of reading and working my way slowly into the day, before showering and making myself presentable for a public outing. I spent the entire day in my pyjamas yesterday, so there was plenty of prep required to face the world today!

The priority was to get my morning coffee and with coffee cup in hand I rode to the local markets and parked my trike at the front of the hall.

While I drank my coffee, I watched the stalls on the front lawn and noticed that the fruitnveg stalls were very busy, but the two stalls on either side which held hand made craft items like bag bags, pot holders, aprons, embroidered hand towels etc., were getting no traffic whatsoever.

I purposely didn't take too much cash with me, so that I wouldn't spend too much money, but I like to support the stall owners, especially the ones who create the wares that they sell.

As I walked towards the first craft stall, the married couple looked up at me and smiled. I checked out the aprons first - I do love a good apron because I often cook with turmeric which spills and splashes all over the place, staining my clothes. I selected a beautiful aqua blue apron with big white daisies all over it (a splash of yellow turmeric can only enhance such a lovely pattern!)

I wasn't going to purchase anything else, but then I noticed the bag bags and the one in our kitchen is so old and bedraggled and made of pinks, purples and oranges which just look silly in our colour scheme, so I selected a lovely aqua bag bag.

Before I'd finished, I'd added two more items to my imaginary shopping cart and  by the time I'd left, this couple were both smiling like Cheshire cats, as was I, with my little stash of home made goodies!

I visited Adoring Husband at the SES barbecue stall. He was desperate for a coffee, so I bought him a cappuccino from the coffee van on site, before searching out my next purchase!

There is another couple who always have a stall set up just outside the hall. He makes timber products like bread boards and lazy Susans, while she creates lovely leadlight and stained glass hanging decorations.

I always buy something from her because I love leadlighting and her prices are reasonable. Today, I bought a double peace sign to hang in my frangipani tree in our front yard. I'm certain that she made it especially for me! She knows that I have a 'thing' for peace signs.

Because of art classes, I haven't been to the markets for the last four months and as soon as she set eyes on me, she smiled brightly and said "Gosh I haven't seen you for ages! Where have you been?"

I made my way inside the hall and was greeted by a lady who is house sitting just up the road from us. She too had a stall, and the tables were covered in her hand made jewellery. It was beautiful! Very expensive, but the quality and the workmanship was obvious, so the prices that she asked were not at all unreasonable.

I totally fell in love with a necklace that was made with Brazilian Amazonite. I tried it on and felt a warm and fuzzy tingle as I looked in the mirror. There was a matching bracelet and earrings. It was my destiny to own these beautiful pieces!! Alas, I had spent all of my money!! I had to return to the shops to the ATM!! Ugh!!

I've been wearing the necklace since I arrived home. I love it. I love how it makes me feel. So I looked up Brazilian Amazonite, to see what this beautiful stone was bringing to my life, and this is what I discovered ...

Brazilian Amazonite protects against unfair business practices, attracts new customers and assists you in being in the right place at the right time for new business opportunities. (Who knew?! That's exactly what I need!)

It is a soothing and calming stone which imparts balance and harmony and quiets the mind. (Oh how my mind needs quieting!)

It is also empowering, facilitating self discovery and self awareness. It  helps you to shrug off the harsh judgement of others and helps you set clear, firm boundaries, as well as provide you with the strength and resolve to protect those boundaries when they are challenged by others.

It balances your intellect and intuition. With this balance, it gives you a healthier state of mind with more realistic and rational perceptions. It strengthens your self belief.

It provides spiritual healing in the areas of love and forgiveness, helping you release anger, jealousy and resentment.

It supports the heart and throat chakra, strengthening your heart, throat and thyroid.

It's especially good for people born between March 20th - April 19th (I am 4 days off!)

Who knew it was such a fabulous stone?! It was much loved and respected in Ancient Egypt and with the Amazon Tribes in Brazil.

This makes me even happier with my purchase!

I also bought these ...

... and I ordered some drawer handle decorations, with which I hope to adorn our bedside tables, after I've chalk painted them - I've had the tools and resources to do that for a whole year now!! I must get on to that!

After I'd spent all my money, it was such a glorious day, I ordered myself another coffee and rode to the beach, where I sat for 30 minutes in the sunshine, on a bench seat and remembered why I love where we live.

By the time I returned home, Adoring Husband wasn't far behind me and I made some lunch for him, then made a smoothie with carrot, cucumber, spinach, apple, mandarine, fresh turmeric and fresh ginger, coconut water, coconut kefir and water. It was delicious!

I spent the rest of the afternoon at my desk where I created the next question/meme for the RYL Facebook page and posted it.  I printed out some more paperwork for a course that I'm doing and watched a couple of webinars.

I ALMOST bought a ticket for a Women's Entrepreneur Business Conference on the Sunny Coast which is running in early September, and even though it would probably be amazingly helpful and a brilliant investment, I need to budget wisely for the remainder of the year. So I'll put it in next year's budget and definitely attend in 2018.

So obviously, I am feeling much better after yesterday's health hiccup and my intention is to have another early night so that I can spend the day at my desk tomorrow - allowing my amazonite to help me find business opportunities!!

Nite all.

One Two Three Blurgh

It is 6pm and I am still in my pyjamas.

Adoring Husband bought what he thought was a box of gluten free chocolate ice creams from Go Natural yesterday. We didn't check the package because it was in the fridge with all the other GF ice creams, so we assumed ... and you know what assuming does???

Yes you do.

While Adoring Husband was at SES, I helped myself to one of these ice creams. I was down to the final bite, when I decided to check the packaging. They were not GF.

I suffered through the night and all day today, but it was much worse than my usual reaction to gluten, so I'm wondering what else I had during the day to contribute to my discomfort. It has been incredibly unpleasant and even prevented me from attending the Bowls Club for our usual Friday night social outing.

My big plans for the markets tomorrow have also been cancelled. Even though I hadn't made contact with the market organisers, it was my plan to do so today. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

I have spent all day in bed reading and watching Netflix.

Today, my body is not my friend.

So I have nothing else to report.

Nite all.

Winter is Lost

We are five weeks into Winter and our minimum temperature has not dropped into single figures yet.

I am sleeping in Summer pyjamas without bed covers some nights!

It's almost 10pm and I am sitting in the lounge room, wearing a sleeveless top, with my laptop on my lap and the fan is on high and blowing directly on me.

It is currently 19C.

It's 10C in Sydney. It's 3C in Canberra. It's 8C in Griffith and Melbourne. It's 6C in Wagga Wagga.

I miss Winter.

Adoring Husband and I had a lovely day in The Bay together today.

I bought some hand woven fair trade baskets for presentation of my jewellery, some green bangles and a gift card made out of elephant dung! At the florist next door, I bought three beautiful fresh sunflowers, which are now in my workspace.

I bought some kefir grains to make fermented coconut water kefir from Go Natural, along with some other organic and healthy stuff - including three giant cookies which I haven't tried yet!

We decided to have lunch at EAT @ Dan & Steph's. We ate there once before, soon after they first opened and obviously we weren't overly impressed because they've been open for about two or three years now and we've only just returned.

Adoring Husband had Beef short ribs with garlic Brussels sprouts, beans and bacon which he loved and I ordered Pork belly and sand crab salad - it was HUGE and I just couldn't eat it all, but it was delicious and the dressing was amazing.

We drank cold pressed juice of apple, pineapple and lime which was fresh, cold and refreshing.

With our bellies full, we walked next door to the shop recommended by Tweedle Dee. There was not a lot in the store, but the clothes were beautiful and very expensive. I tried a top on which was priced at $140. I have one exactly the same, which I bought in Suzanne Grae's for $19 - the only difference in the two is that the SG top has a better lining.

The young woman who owned the shop was very friendly and obviously proud of her little establishment. She had a lovely range of scarves and hand made jewellery too.

Our next stop was Stocklands. I bought a necklace from Noni B's to replace one that I broke a couple of months ago. They had a 30% off sale on jewellery, so it was a bargain.

I bought what I hope will be the winning ticket in the $40 million Ozlotto draw for next week.

After we got our groceries, we drove to Craignish to pick up ours and Chandelier's FROG boxes. Quite some time ago, Chandelier picked up our FROG box when Adoring Husband was called away unexpectedly and I had no way to get it. So, this week, we were able to return the favour as she was without a car.

It was a light dinner for us tonight, after such a hearty lunch and AH had SES duties, so I've had a quiet evening at home watching the tennis.

With all but one Aussie out of the competition already, my interest has waned somewhat, so I don't think I'll have too many late nights this year. I like to follow Djokovic and Federer but with three different stations airing the tennis, it's difficult to choose which games to watch! The ladies matches and the doubles have been good to watch so far too.

It's not quite 11.30pm and I will watch the end of the Djokovic match and head to bed.

I've enjoyed my day very much. I hope you all have a happy Friday!

Nite all.

No Wonder!

Well, what an interesting turn of events!

While checking out the stats on my website, I couldn't figure out why I had so many views in my shops and so many of them filling their cart and then cancelling before getting to the checkout.

After much analysing and frowning and questioning what might be causing it, I decided to pretend to be a customer and selected an item to buy and push through the process ... to discover ... that a warning was popping up with a security error telling people that the security on this site was questionable and my security certificate wasn't valid!

It took me another hour of investigating, to figure out why that was happening and then more time to work out who I should be contacting to fix the problem ... could it be the company who provided the certificate, my host who installed the certificate, Wordpress who requested the installation of the certificate or WooCommerce who advised that the certificate was necessary in the first place?

That crease between my eyebrows is much deeper this evening, than it was this morning!

I've printed out eight pages of stats and will spend the next couple of days googling and Youtubing trying to work out what they all mean!

I need to know what they mean to understand what is attracting the most views and hits on the site and what isn't.

Anyway, that was my main dilemma today. I'm glad I found it, although I'm a bit sad that my original plans for the work day got side walled.

In between all of that, I made a batch of tomato sauce and four meals of Hainan Chicken to freeze.

We had corned beef and home made tomato sauce on GF rolls for lunch.

For dinner we had lamb rack with vegetables. The vegetables were delicious!

I used the leftover liquid from the Hainan Chicken to par boiled some small cubes of pumpkin, as well as cauliflower and broccoli. I fried some onion and garlic in ghee in the frypan, then added the pumpkin, frying a bit longer until they caramelised, stirring well, and then added one chopped tomato and tossed in the cauliflower and broccoli. Added some salt and pepper at the end. Very very tasty.

We've got a day in The Bay tomorrow. There's nothing worth seeing at the movies, so we might have a nice lunch somewhere.

An early night is on the cards for me ... and when I say 'early night', it only means that I will be in bed early ... I may still read or watch TV or play solitaire on my iPad for two hours yet!!

Nite all.

Kitchen Therapy

I enjoyed my morning coffee with the girls and there were six of us sharing the love today.

Before I returned home, I decided to visit the butcher, buy a shipload of meat and then spend the day in the kitchen cooking up a storm.

On the days when I'm working hard at my desk and I'm totally focussed on the task at hand, I get quite annoyed when I have to take 40 minutes to an hour of that time to prepare our dinner. I've had so few of those focussed days lately, and every minute of them are precious.

Today I made:

• 4 Meals of Tomato & Turmeric Chicken Casserole.
• 4 Meals of Lemon, Honey and Chilli Chicken Casserole.
• 7 Meals of Beef Casserole.
• 4 Meals of Pork Sausage in Onion Gravy.
• 3 Meals of Chicken Wings for lunches today and tomorrow.
• 1 x Corned beef which will be used for cold meat and in Bubble & Squeak.
• 2 Containers of rich sauce to add to barbecued steak or another casserole or create gravy.

Including the cleaning up, it took more than four hours, but now I have more than three weeks worth of meals in the freezer, so on my 'focussed on work' days, I can take minimal time reheating an easy meal and either steaming some veg or making a quick salad to accompany it.

By the time I'd finished, my body and my feet were protesting severely, but after a couple of hours with my feet up, it seems to have returned to it's 'pre-cooking' state and the creaks and aches have gone. Thank goodness!

At 4pm when we should have been preparing for the monthly barbecue at the park, Adoring Husband and I looked at each other and said "Nah. Can't do it. Brains and bodies will not co-operate."

Apparently it was very windy on the river, so I'm glad we decided not to go.

I'm not sure if my body will last out for Wimbledon tonight, but I'd really like to spend the day at my desk tomorrow. I'm feeling motivated with lots of ideas that I'm ready to put into practice, so I'm even willing to forego Wimbledon for a few nights before my motivation wanes again lol.

And on that note ...

Nite all.

All Clear

I believe that I have figured out what was blocking my forward progress with the website!

In the beginning, I had a plan for the site. A plan that began as a tiny spark of an idea and my imagination fanned the embers in a place deep inside of me. I wanted people to see me as 'real' and I wanted to share our health and lifestyle story, hoping that it would be helpful and maybe a little bit inspiring for others.

I wanted it to feel like they were coming for a visit before I had a chance to tidy up and maybe while I was still in my pyjamas! No airs and graces.

It wasn't long before I realised that there was more to creating a website, including utilising social media, marketing, building a tribe of followers and a database of subscribers and SO MUCH MORE! So I began to educate myself ... and that's where I went wrong.

The facts and figures, the dotted 'i's and the crossed 't's and all the theory and the instructions issued by each person whose expertise fell into one of those fields that I mentioned above. It all led me in a direction far from that place of love, where I began.

So many different people telling me what to do next and none of it felt natural. With each step, it felt like I was trying to be somebody else, following in somebody else's footsteps - very inauthentic and way too perfect.

This is what caused me to lose motivation. It blocked my imagination and caused me to avoid going any further because it was too far from my original dream.

Somehow, two days ago, I was led to a lady by the name of Eva Gregory, and in a few short paragraphs, accompanied by a twenty minute video, she steered me back to my original path and told me to focus on my 'inner guidance'.

So I went back to that place, back to the spark and the embers and I feel like I can breathe again. Amazingly, I've been more productive on the site and with social media in the last twenty four hours, than I have been for the last thirty days!

I'm feeling the love and the ideas are flowing, the wheels are turning and I'm putting pen to paper and everything suddenly feels easier again!

I did my first photography post today. It was short and sweet. You can see it here.

I also posted the first of many questions for the Romance Your Life followers on Facebook...

There was such a great response, at first from the usual friends and family, but also some names that I don't recognise, so it's nice that my tribe are learning about each other.

This will be a weekly event for the next ten weeks or until my book is finished.

This week I'll also be announcing the next prize on offer for subscribers.

I had a quick visit from Tweedle Dee this afternoon (always full of giggles), which gave me a break from my desk, where I was perched for most of the day.

It has been a great day and to top it off, Wimbledon began tonight! It's well after midnight now and there is an Aussie playing currently (Ashleigh Barty) and she's not having a great match, but hopefully the short rain delay will have helped her!

I'm going to bed to watch the remainder of her match (or fall asleep to it!). I can't stay up all night because I have a very important coffee date in the morning!

Nite all.

Big Fat NO.

Considering how late I went to bed last night - 1.30am - I was awake far too early at 7.30am!

Adoring Husband brought my coffee to me in bed, before he prepared himself for a big day of fishing.

I watched a couple of educational videos on my iPad until it was time to get ready for my movie date with Lady Lynn. We arrived at the cinema with time to spare and Lady Lynn was kind enough to shout my ticket in for the movie "Rough Night".

An hour into the movie, Lady Lynn leaned across and said "Are you finding this funny?"

"No. Not at all." I replied.

After another few minutes, I leaned over and said "If, at any stage, you wish to leave, I will be right behind you."

She said "I'll leave the decision to you."

I looked at my watch and said "We are halfway through it already. I don't think it's going to get any better. Let's go."

We left the other five patrons in the cinema - there didn't seem to be any laughter coming from them either.

Lady Lynn and I agreed that it was not the slightest bit funny and was quite offensive in some parts. Kate McKinnon, who I absolutely loved in Ghost Busters, played an Australian and her attempt at our accent was a combination of Kiwi, Aussie and American. Very off putting.

We were so disappointed and I sent a text to The Blonde Bombshell berating her for her high recommendation last week.

The best part about the day was spending some quality time with Lady Lynn who is a shining gem in my world.

We arrived home at the same time as Adoring Husband who'd had an enjoyable, but unsuccessful fishing trip. I was hoping that we would have fish for dinner! Instead, it was curried beef!

This afternoon, I've watched some football, I've done some reading and there was a touch of study.

It's already after 11pm so I think I need to be in bed before midnight.

Nite all.

Who Cares?

It was the usual lazy start to the day with coffee and reading in bed.

Adoring Husband had won a tray of pork in the raffles on Friday night, so he cooked up a breakfast of bacon and sausages with GF toast, tomato, avocado and onion and we sat outside in the warm Winter sunshine enjoying our morning sustenance, which was lovely.

While Adoring Husband cooked, I tidied my desk and emptied my waste basket in preparation for some quality work time.

We didn't finish breakfast until quite late in the morning, so it was about 11am by the time I got to my desk, where I made a 'to do' list and got started immediately.

It took me a few hours, but I finished a blog post and published it. You can read it here. It's very long, so you might need a cuppa before you start. I thought twice about posting it. I'm worrying and second guessing everything I do in this site.

I worry that I might say too much. I worry that I might reveal too much about myself or about Adoring Husband. I worry about people hating it. I worry about people thinking it's boring. I worry about people questioning my motives. I worry that people will judge me. I worry that people will love it. I worry that people will want more.

I worry that the site is not good enough or not improving quickly enough. I worry about the sort of people it will attract. I worry about so many things!

For the first time ever, I went into my host account to check out the stats and discovered that the site is receiving about 1000 hits each day, but nobody is signing up or subscribing, so I need to figure out how to get those people to hang around, to subscribe and to buy stuff!

I also need to study up on how to understand all those stats. They have weird names and are collated in strange ways and I don't understand the pie charts properly or the graphs or all the columns and I don't understand how I can use this information to my advantage.

This means I have some further studying to do and I'm hoping that my host has all that information in their video library, the first of which is titled "How to get started" haha.

So that was my Saturday.

Sunday will be less worrisome because I'm off to the movies to see Rough Night . I'm predicting some good belly laughs!

Best get to bed. It's midnight!

Nite all.

Brain Blockage

I had a whole day to GSD.

So why didn't I get GSD???

I have a definite brain blockage and I'm not sure how to clear it!

Something is stopping me from sitting at my desk. It's strong. I can feel it, but I don't recognise what it is, so I don't know how to overcome this problem.

I will give it some attention tomorrow, because once again, I have a whole day to GSD.

This morning, I received two packages. This was one of them ...

... and THIS was the packaging for such a tiny item ...

It's time to send a meaningful email to zulily and have a word to them about their environmental duty to the planet. That box is big enough to fit a pair of shoes inside it!

Anyway, it's midnight. I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Out of Sorts

I just couldn't seem to get myself organised today.

Perhaps it was because I forgot to make a 'to do' list?!

I swept the floors and then priced some new stock to put out on my table.

Adoring Husband collected the mail and one of my Pillow Talk orders arrived, so I unpacked my lovely new hand towels and aqua waste paper bin.

Beauty made a quick visit and after she left, I pedalled to Reality TV Queen's house to deliver her LeReve order.

I'd planned for it to be a short visit so that I could spend the day working, but she had invited The Blonde Bombshell (aka yip yip) to join us, so I was obliged to hang around quite a bit longer and it was almost midday by the time I returned home. It was a good visit and I had a nice time with the girls.

I made lunch for Adoring Husband while he spent a ridiculous amount of time on 'hold' waiting for somebody from Dyson to speak to him regarding our cordless vacuum cleaner which hasn't worked for some time. The wait was worth it and it seems we have a satisfactory result.

He then left to run some errands in The Bay and pick up our FROG box. This gave me some alone time to GSD.

I had no idea where to even start.

I finished pricing the last of the jewellery and I tidied my desk. Then I sat down and looked blankly at my monitor. I had one natural gemstone pendant that I couldn't find the price for, so I decided to go into the seller's website and search for the price.

Annoyingly, the site kept giving me a user error, so I couldn't go any further than the first page. I attempted a few different fixes to get past the problem, but none of them worked and eventually I gave up.

I remembered that I had some clothes in the machine and on the line, so I resorted to spending time with my washing basket and folding and sorting and hanging and blah blah blah.

AH arrived home with coffee and the organic food, so I unpacked the FROG box and then sat down to enjoy my coffee.

AH has SES duties tonight so I whipped up a quick dinner for him before he left and now I'm switching between channels on TV sharing my time evenly between the football and Big Bang Theory.

I think I'll head to bed and rest my brain - hopefully it will work more efficiently tomorrow.

Nite all.  

Lotta Ladies. Lotta Noise.

I didn't need to be ready for my ride to lunch until 11am, so I had plenty of time to get ready this morning ... in theory.

The trouble was that I asked Adoring Husband to go to the butcher to pick up our meat order and to check the mail while he was there.

He came home from the Post Office with a package for me, which was full of new bracelets and snap buttons. There were 19 new buttons (not counting the two at the bottom of the first row).

I simply had no choice but to go through them all one by one, trying the buttons on different bracelets, putting combinations of buttons together on the 5 button bracelets and creating the perfect bracelet to wear to lunch today!

Some time later, after the excitement and novelty wore off for me, I realised that it was 10.15am!! This meant that I only had 45 minutes to get ready.

Ugh.

Due to my self imposed time restraints, I had to forego washing my hair and rushed around like a chook with it's head cut off to get ready in time for my lift!

Maid Marian arrived right on time and luckily it only took me a minute to finish racing around and be ready to walk out the door.

I think there were 23 of us at lunch today. We were the only people in the restaurant and made a hell of a noise all talking over the top of each other attempting to catch up on our news.

I had to put my fingers in my mouth to whistle very loudly and capture their attention for this photo!

Beauty was nice enough to get this photo of me with the lovely Tweedle Dee...

Lunch was interesting. It was at an Irish Pub and I don't think I've ever seen so much food served on such large plates for each person. Very few of us were able to eat everything on our plates (as you can see by the plate in front of me).

I had Chicken and Prawns with mash and vegetables. It was nice and I received the pensioner discount without even asking for it! I'm thinking that I should probably be insulted lol, but grateful to pay $27 instead of the price on the menu which was $30. My vodka and tonic cost me $6 and my coffee only cost $3!

After we all parted ways, a few of us took a slight detour and spent some time at the local Bowls Club before returning home.

It was a good day and I'm glad that Tweedle Dee convinced me to go.

Next month will be a trip across the river on the barge to Woodgate, where we will have Christmas in July at the pub. I'm looking forward to that one and we've already fully booked the boat.

I'm looking forward, also, to a quiet day at home tomorrow, although I have a few visitors coming to look at my jewellery and Reality TV Queen will be picking up her Le Reve order that was delivered while she was away.

I may even have an early night tonight!

Nite all.

Will I? Or Won't I?

I had decided to NOT attend this month's lady's luncheon because the GF options on the menu of the selected restaurant, were very limited.

However, Reality TV Queen is back from her extended holiday and will be in attendance, along with 21 or 22 other ladies. That's a big crowd and the only really important person who will be missing from this lunch, is Lady Lynn (sad face).

So I've decided that I WILL attend and to take a piece of cooked chicken with me and order a garden salad to have with it.

Adoring Husband seems to think that I could be asked to leave if I do that. If that's the case, I have a back up plan haha.

It's my little secret.

We had a great coffee morning with seven of us all cackling like mother hens around the table and I didn't get home until after 11am.

I wasted an hour fluffing about until Adoring Husband returned home from SES duties and then made him some lunch before retreating to my workspace.

I watched some training videos in the Academy, researched some additional plugins for my website and partially wrote a post for the Life As Roz Knows It blog.

It was great to receive a phone call from Number One Son this evening and we talked for about 30 minutes before dinner. He has applied for a job in Sydney and it's looking pretty positive at this point. Good luck to him!!

That's all folks!

Nite all.

A Little Surprise

I just happened to be browsing through my 'saved' posts from Facebook and found one that I posted way back in 2009.

It was a photo of the front of our house just after we moved in...

Then there was a series of photos taken after we landscaped the front garden ...

So I headed out the front with my phone and took photos of what it looks like today ...

There are lots of dead frangipani leaves over the front lawn at the moment because it's Winter and that's what they do! We are not the kind of people to make it spotless every day and the only time our front entry gets used, is when people visit us unexpectedly.

If we know people are visiting, we usher them in through the garage and into our dining/family room area, so our front porch and entry are always a bit of a mess with dirt and leaves and stray gravel from the garden.

It's kind of embarrassing because everyone we know has a lovely entrance to their home, but it is what it is and we don't care enough to give that much of a rat's pizzle haha.

Anyway, the point of the photos is to show how things have grown and changed in nine years!

My day has been filled with things OTHER than what I'd planned! No decluttering and no work at my desk. I was easily distracted today.

Adoring Husband decided to work on the back lawns, including whipper snipping and mowing, so this meant that I had to remove all the clothes from the washing line. Of course, this meant folding everything (remember, there was all the bedding from yesterday + more) and putting it all away blah blah blah.

The bath mats were still a little damp, so when AH finished the laundry area, he called me from my desk to let me know I could rehang these items. By this time, the next load of washing (which included all the ekoWorx cloths that I've been using in my cleaning frenzy) was ready to hang out. *sigh*

I decided to pedal to the Post Office to check our mail. No mail, but I browsed through the supermarket and discovered that cauliflowers were on sale. Cauliflower and leek soup sounded like a delicious idea, so I bought everything that I needed and headed home.

The first thing I did was make lunch for AH who had done as much of the lawn as he was capable of for the day.

Then I got started on the soup. It took much longer than I expected and by the time I finished packaging it and cleaning up the kitchen, it was after 3pm and I felt the need to put my feet up.

I am now in my office, where I was going to do some work, but once again, I was distracted by this blog post.

It's time to cook dinner, so here is where I sign off ... with a little side note to say that I did NOT get a perfect round in my footy tipping this week, because the last game of the round yesterday brought great disappointment to me. *another sigh*

Nite all.

Declutter Day One

I woke up late, relaxed in bed until 10.30am and decided that I would spend the morning doing the last thing on yesterday's declutter list that I told you about. That is, clearing the dressing table and culling my jewellery.

I decided to spend the morning doing that and then the afternoon at my desk.

What a joke.

I spent two and a half hours clearing and culling, then stopped to make lunch. Adoring Husband was working, mowing the lawns at the shops so he needed sustenance in between jobs.

Before I got back to the culling, I had to package up the chicken broth that I'd had simmering overnight, so that took up a bit of time - especially because I spilt half a container on the floor!! I called the dogs in to do some of the cleaning job for me, but only one of them was interested in licking it up and she took too long, so I had no choice but to do the entire job myself.

 
After that, it took me more than an hour to finish clearing and culling the jewellery.

I threw away a whole shopping bag of jewellery, cardboard tags off clothes, jewellery cleaning cloths, Friday night raffle tickets (that I'd been saving up to put into the bucket for the end of month draw - but I NEVER remember to take them so they are GONE now), pens and old make up.

I tossed all of those single earrings that I'd kept in case I ever found it's partner. I got rid of broken chains, or chains that I hadn't worn in years. I threw away all the old rings that I'd bought at markets and crystal shops - the ones that I never wear because they require constant cleaning. Everything that was broken - that I intended on repairing, but never got around to it  -  is now gone.

I'm certain that I could probably go through it all tomorrow and cull half as much stuff again. There are items that I no longer wear, but which have such amazing memories attached, that I just can't part with them. Quite a few pieces that belonged to my Mum and I know that my girls won't want them when I'm gone, but I just can't let them go yet. Jewellery that I made myself and I no longer wear, but 'might' in the future.

My beautiful leather jewellery box needs replacing, but this was the first birthday present that Adoring Husband gave me thirteen years ago and I don't want to let it go. Both the locks on it are broken, which means that the entire front wall of the box has to lay open permanently. Maybe AH can find a way to fix it for me.

It was well after 3pm when I finally finished this chore! By this time, the first footy match of the day was half over, so I sat down with my coffee that Adoring Husband brought home for me and put my feet up.

So far, I have all the footy tips correct this week. The game that I was worried about last night ended up having a result in my favour when they ended the 80 minutes tied and it went into golden point. My team kicked the field goal to win by one point!! The final score 25-24.

Right now, Sharks are playing Manly. I've tipped Sharks and they are losing by 7 points at half time. Eep. Adoring Husband (who is a big Sharks supporter) can't handle the stress and has opted to sit outside and read his book!

I would like, very much, to spend the entire day tomorrow, at my desk, however, my mind keeps directing me to the linen cupboard in the laundry, so I'll wait until tomorrow morning and decide then what I deem to be more important.

For now, I'm watching the end of the footy, before starting on my duck dinner.

Nite all.

Happy Dancing

Honestly, I can't recommend this stuff highly enough.

ekoWorx is my new best friend and I am obsessed!

I walk around the house with my atomiser bottle and a cloth, thinking to myself ... "I wonder if it will work on this?!"

Today, I had a massive win!

In our hallway, ever since we moved in, there has been a splash mark low on the wall. I think the builders or some kind of tradie in the house splashed something on the wall and didn't clean it off. Whatever is was, set hard and fast on the wall. It was the colour of treacle and it set like shiny concrete.

We have tried every cleaner known to mankind on that mysterious splash, we've tried steam cleaning, we've even tried to scrape it off with a paint scraper to no avail. I figured that when it was time to repaint the house, we would have to sand it off before applying the new paint.

Today, while I was wandering around the house spot cleaning the walls, I stopped at this hideous and annoying splash and thought "I doubt if it will work, but I'm going to try ekoWorx on it".

I had to apply and rub the ekoWorx three times to get it off, BUT IT CAME OFF!!

I tell you, I did a little happy dance up and down the hallway feeling very pleased with myself. Even Adoring Husband was amazed because he too had tried many different ways to remove it!

Even though I climbed out of bed with every intention of going immediately to my workspace and spending the day absorbed in my studies and adding to the website, I was very quickly distracted and ended up spending my entire day cleaning!

I made some breakfast - tomato and onion on a GF bread roll - the new Helga rolls - delicious.

I dragged out the slow cooker and put a big batch of chicken broth on for 22 hours.

I put a very large load of washing in the machine, then stripped the bed and put my new Doona cover on the Doona using this method ...

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

... it was SOOOOO easy, I can't believe how much time I've wasted over the years wrestling with my Doona when I change covers!

Even if I do say so myself, it looks fabulous!

From there, I cleaned the main bathroom and toilet with ekoWorx and then lay out my new teal bath mats, which look great.

Another load of washing in the machine, hung out the big load, took other washing off the line.

Swept the floors. Mopped (with my new ekoWorx mop) the little black doggy footprints off the floors. This morning, Colli went running in the wet grass, then across the black sand and then straight inside onto the tiles! Bloody hell!

I walked around the house spot cleaning walls and skirting boards until the Blonde Bombshell popped in to have a look at the ekoWorx bundle and while she was here, she even did some shopping!!

After all of that, super Saturday football started, so I had to sit down to watch the footy.

So far, I'm doing well with my footy tipping, although I'm not confident about this last game between Roosters and Storm. I've tipped Roosters, but the Storm are winning by 6 points at half time.

I feel it might be an early night for me tonight.

Part of my studies for working an online business includes a section in decluttering your house - which I totally understand, because some days I struggle to focus, knowing that there are chores to be done in the house.

My 'declutter' list includes:

• Clearing out the linen cupboard.
• Pulling out the washing machine, cleaning behind it and cleaning the big glass sliding door.
• Pulling out the bed and the side tables and giving it all a good dusting and a clean.
• Both the spare bedrooms need to be cleared.
• Windows need to be washed.
• Bathroom drawers need to be cleaned out.
• Kitchen cupboards need to be emptied, crockery culled and shelving washed. 
• Spare wardrobes need to be cleared and the clothes need to go to charity.
• Ceiling fans need to be cleaned.
• Dressing table needs to be cleared and I need to cull a LOT of jewellery that I haven't worn in years.

I'm sure that I have other stuff on the list on my desk. It's time to write the jobs on cards, pin them to the cork board again and work through them like we did last year.

Gawd, I'm exhausted just thinking about it!! Small steps.

What I really need to do, is earn enough money with my website to hire a cleaner!! I'll put that on my wish list :)

I'm off to watch the last half of footy.

Nite all.

 

Date Day with AH

We had an early start to get into The Bay by 9.15am for the morning showing of this movie ...



It was great. I'm not sure about Chris Pine for the lead male role, because I'm so used to him playing Captain James Tiberius Kirk in Star Trek!

There was one disappointing moment in the movie, but it was very brief.

I thought Gal Gadot was perfect for the role of Diana (aka Wonder Woman) and all of the other characters and the actors who played the roles, were great too.

Oh and the bad guy sported a moustache that was all kinds of wrong!

After the movie, I braved Bunnings!! Yes, you heard that correctly ... I voluntarily entered Bunnings!

This is where I stocked up on silicone, the squeezie gun thingo to get the silicone out, grout, tools and few tiles so that I can practice mosaic-ing during our art break. Creative Cath is having us over to her house for some creative, artistic, arty farty time.

With no art tomorrow, I hope to spend the day at my desk. I have a few things on my 'to do' list and if I can get a few hours on a run, I might just be able to achieve something!

On that note, it is rapidly approaching midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

It's here!!

I've waited, very impatiently I might add, for the delivery of my ekoWorx pack which arrived today!!

You know that I'm all about the easiest way to get housework done with the least toxic products that are available.

I found this fabulous company on a Facebook advertisement. I did my research and found so many positive reviews everywhere ... including their Facebook page, which is full of rave reviews. Every time I see a new ad, I look at the comments attached and they are always positive.

So, I bit the bullet and put in an order during their end of financial year sale.  I got my pack for 60% less than the usual price.

This is what arrived ...

6 litres of ekoWorx cleaning liquid
1 Spray mop with 7 pads
3 Atomiser spray bottles
24 Cleaning clothes with different weaves
7 Diamond sponges

As soon as I got it home, I unpacked it, changed into my cleaning clothes and started cleaning!

I started in the ensuite bathroom. I didn't take a 'before' photo because, quite frankly, I was embarrassed by the state of it and couldn't bear the the thought of anyone seeing it.

The only tine I use our ensuite shower, is when we have visitors staying with us. The reason being, it is a tiny, poky little room with minimal storage space and hardly any room to move. When they built our house, they made a mistake in this bathroom and made the shower recess too big, so there is little room to move in the space that's left.

Anyway, Adoring Husband is in charge of the ensuite, and you know what men are like. Need I say more?

It took me over an hour to clean it from top to bottom, but it is seriously sparkling clean and the only mould that I couldn't remove, is that which is under the silicone. We don't use bleach ever. I've tried so many different products, without success, but this one is fantastic.

The cloths are great. The diamond sponges excellent. The atomiser sprayers are fabulous.

It easily removed the soap scum from the glass and the tiles (and there was a LOT!)

I finished the ensuite and after standing there admiring my handiwork for about ten minutes, I returned to the kitchen and decided to test out the new mop.

I swept the floors first and then put the mop together, which was easy peasy. I filled the attached spray bottle with the ekoWorx cleaning fluid, stuck the pad to the bottom and off I went. Far out! So quick. So easy. So clean. Quick drying. Very very happy.

Fancy ME enjoying housework! Who'da thunk?! If you want to check it out go here.

I have to say that my body is not happy with all the stretching and bending and using muscles that haven't been used for a long time. I'm seizing up big time tonight!

After my cleaning fix, I headed into my office and rebounded while I watched some video lessons from the Academy - may as well completely overdo the exercising for the day!!

I created a survey that I hope will get sent out tomorrow some time.

I returned that phone call about Govt funding and now I need to draw up a business plan to go with my application - no rush for that lol - I'm not going to stress about it and will take my time.

Best get some sleep. Movie date with AH tomorrow morning.

Nite all.

State of Origin Number Two

Here I sit on my couch, wearing my State of Origin shirt and my silver Queensland charm necklace, tasting the promise of victory - it's a do or die game tonight for we Queenslanders!

Kick off is any minute, so this is a quick post so that I can watch the game from Go to Woe.

Today, I posted a recipe onto my website and wrote another post about decluttering, which I'll add to the site early next week.

I returned a phone call about the funding that I applied for on the weekend, but the girl with whom I need to speak, was not available. We'll try again tomorrow.

We had a big lunch of Honey Roasted Vegetables with roast chicken and gravy for lunch, so our dinner was a light chicken and gravy roll.

I did plenty of rebounding while I worked and feel quite energised for it! But I haven't been drinking enough water, so I've been trying to make up for it this afternoon and this evening. I knew that I needed to drink because I started to get a headache and I don't usually get headaches.

Oh my goodness that game has started. It's hard and fast. Gotta go!!

Nite all.

Kitchen Love

It was a beautiful Winter's day ... not that anyone would guess that it's Winter!

Here are the temperature ranges in other places around Australia ...

Melbourne   4 - 13C
Canberra.    -4 - 12C
Griffith         1 - 18C
Adelaide       5 - 18C
Brisbane       9 - 21C
Sydney         8 - 18C

Here            13 - 24C

Clear skies and sunshine all day long and sometimes even too hot to sit in the direct sunlight. There was a stiff breeze today, which kept it quite cool.

So it all started at coffee with Lady Lynn, The Blonde Bombshell (aka yip yip) and Beauty. Tweedle Dee was home with a cold and feeling under the weather, while everybody else is away travelling.

After another pleasant morning with the girls, I did some grocery shopping and exited the shop to be greeted by the smiling faces of the The Pom and The Crazy Publican. For the past 8 months, TCP has  endured some very heavy treatment for cancer and I must say, all things considered, is looking incredibly well! Her last results were good and she's hoping the next tests will show continued improvement.

After about an hour with these two lovelies, I pedalled home with my groceries and headed straight to the kitchen.

I had three very large punnets of strawberries, so I topped them all and brought them to a simmer in a saucepan with vinegar, maple syrup and salt to make a tangy strawberry sauce.

I had some leftover pureed cauliflower from last night, so I made a Shepherds Pie with lots of zucchini, carrot, celery, onion, spinach and garlic and then sprinkled it with Cayenne pepper which gave it a delicious bite.

Instead of making the usual Hainan Chicken with my regular order of chicken thighs from the butcher, I chopped each thigh into three equal sized pieces, then lined the baking tray with onion slices. I lay the chicken over the top, sprinkled generous amounts of (Himalayan) salt and pepper over the top, drizzled my favourite maple syrup over the chicken skin and then lay slices of lemon over the top of that.

Popped it in the oven for 25 minutes, removed the lemon, turned up the heat and gave it a further 10 minutes until the skin browned.

That was served to Adoring Husband with a salad for lunch.

Finally, I slid some butter and fresh coriander under the skin of a whole organic chicken, pierced the skin and sprinkled salt and pepper over the top. I stuffed the cavity with chunks of lemon, heaps of garlic cloves and some more butter and baked it in the oven for an hour, turned off the heat and let it continue cooking in the residual heat.

By this time, it was mid afternoon, so I only got about two hours at my desk, where I watched a seminar on 'GSD' which, depending on whether you're naughty or nice, means either Getting Stuff Done OR Getting Shit Done.

I probably need to find a year long course on this subject, because I feel that my biggest downfall is the old favourite 'procrastination' which causes me to NOT get shit done.

There is still more than two hours of this seminar remaining to watch, so hopefully, I'll take on some important motivating information which will help me get stuff done. Haha.

My plan for tomorrow is to work Work WORK!!! I'm going to Get Stuff Done!!! When I'm finished here, I am writing a 'to do' list and then I'm off to bed for an early night.

GO ME!!! *raises fist in the air*

Nite all.

Another One Bites the Dust

I'm referring to the day.

Adoring Husband and I drove into The Bay today.

I bought a couple of small round tables on which I plan to practise mosaics.

I bought some make up from Big W.

I replaced my stock of coconut ice cream.

I checked the local Art/Craft store for mosaic materials. Zilch.

Adoring Husband renewed his licence.

We were home by lunch time.

Lady Lynn came for a quick visit.

I opened my holiday money tin and was disappointed to see that it was only half full! It felt almost full to the top! There was more than $1000 in it, so AH and I packed all the gold coins into the little plastic bags and took them to the Post Office to deposit that lovely money into my safe bank account.

There were two packages at the Post Office today. One for me, which was a top I ordered a while ago, and a BIG box sealed in plastic that had "Smithurst and Griffin Retirement" as the header line on the address.

Inside the box was a wine cooler, a set of barbecue tools presented in a hard silver box with clip locks, a barbecue apron, two hats, a pen, a stubby holder and a couple of fridge magnets ... from our financial advisor.

I wonder what the really rich customers received in their retirement box????

I'm looking forward to receiving a couple more packages this week.

That was it for my day!

No work!

My Monday, which is usually my most productive day of the week, because it's the only day that I have wholly and completely to myself, was frivolously wasted. Now I have to find a way to make up for it.

Still, it was nice to spend time with Adoring Husband and it was a beautiful day, so it wasn't really wasted was it?

It's almost midnight.  I'd best get some sleep so that I can be up bright and early for coffee with the girls.

Nite all.

More Madness

Yesterday afternoon, I sent Adoring Husband to the local shops to buy some eggs (!) because our chookies have suddenly gone off the lay and they have not produced anything for over 2 weeks.

While he was gone, I made the decision to bake him some of those delicious flourless chocolate cookies that he loves so much. I printed out the recipe and checked that I had everything I needed from the ingredient list.

He walked into the house with the eggs and said to me "Sweetheart, what are the chances of you making some of those chocolate cookies that you made before I went away the other week?"

*look of genuine shock*

It's not often that we are in sync, so when it happens, it's a funny feeling!

Before I even started on dinner, I whizzed up a double batch of cookies. Instead of the usual ten cookies, the double mix multiplied into 22 cookies. I took them out of the oven at 6pm and they were cool enough to munch on for 'dessert'.

I enjoyed two of them, but at 1.39AM, I woke up buzzing! My cookies are full of raw cacao, which contains a stimulant very similar to caffeine, called Theobromine. It's (apparently) not as strong as caffeine, but it sure knocked me around last night!

I had been asleep for less than two hours, when I woke up with a start and try as I might, could NOT get back to sleep. I stayed in bed and tried for an hour to force sleep, to no avail. I decided to read and it was almost 4am when I felt tired enough to fall back into dreamland.

While I was trying to force sleep, the image going over and over in my mind, was patterns and colours and styles of mosaic-ing the bathroom bench top! Weird.

So the first thing I did this morning, was grab my leftover mosaic tiles and took them straight to the bathroom. It took me 45 minutes to create this ...

They are only placed (not glued) and it's not exactly what I want, but the colours are very close and a swirly or wavy pattern is what I want to achieve.

After I was done in the bathroom, I prepared myself a very early lunch, and in the process, discovered that there were only ten cookies remaining!!! I gave AH a rap over the knuckles and banned him from the cookie jar!! Ten cookies in 15 hours, and for nine of those hours he was sleeping!

From there, I escaped to my workspace where I made a very brave move and completed an online application for government funding to support my business website.

I know right!?

There was an initial questionnaire, the results of which gave me a total figure of what I MAY be eligible for. Surprisingly, the figures totalled a LOT!!

There were a number of different initiatives and I certainly don't expect to qualify for every one of them, but any assistance would be helpful for business education, website improvements and assistance to gain some traction in the business community.

You never know until you try. They can only say no ... and that's not going to kill me.

I printed out some more exercise sheets and booklets from one of the courses that I'm doing and listened to one of the webinars. Then I completed two more of the courses from the Academy.

I received a phone call from a customer who wanted to come buy some jewellery, which was a pleasant surprise and then I phoned Vegan Chickie and spent an hour chatting with her and Chicklet.

It's been nice to have contact with both of my girls this weekend. I must phone Number One Son this week and catch up with his news too.

Well, it looks like a reasonably early night for me. I'll try to catch up from last night.

Nite all.