One Down, A Few To Go

Another day down and one day closer to opening the doors!

Today, all the painting was done and dusted. I did the skirting boards and a tricky strip between doors. I cleaned the toilet and hand basin. Cleaned the other room divider, emptying out the drawers and cleaning out all the fine dust that floated and landed in them from the sanding and planing.

We cleared a lot of rubbish and The Fisher King did a tip run. He also finished painting the architraves and the doors, as well as filling more holes.

The Motivator and I moved some furniture and cleared some space so that the cleaners can do the carpets on Tuesday, although we MAY get them in earlier yet.

The Motivator vacuumed the carpets and cleaned a few of the bigger items in the space and we figured out what we didn't need, so that we could remove it from the space.

We planned our launch day for 2 weeks after our opening day, to give us time to make it enjoyable instead of rushing it for this weekend.

At 4pm I did a coffee run and came home to cook dinner.

I'm feeling a bit weary tonight and I don't think I'm capable of any further brain work. It's time to rest.

Nite all.

Busy Weekend

I only spent four hours at the shop today.

The Motivator and The Fisher King were there when I arrived at 10am and only left at 8pm!

Progress today includes all the holes in the walls filled, more skirting boards and architraves painted, one door painted, white walls received their final coat, shelving painted, 30 odd hooks attached to cabinets, one side unit cleaned from top to bottom, some dusting done, 2 logos designed, table and chairs selected for meeting area and all the sheets and covers removed from the furniture.

There is still some painting to do tomorrow including some skirting boards and a door.

The chemicals in the paint are really affecting Adoring Husband and his tremor has been off the charts for the last three days, getting worse with each day, so I am banning him from the shop tomorrow.

We left early to attend Dirty Old Man's 80th birthday party at the club. It started at 3pm and we were home before 7pm. There was no gluten free food for us to eat and the music was so loud, it was impossible to have a conversation.

The entertainment was very good, but too loud. Everybody was up dancing and seemed to be having a fabulous time, but we just couldn't get into it. We chatted with everybody that we knew and there were lots of questions about the shop, so it was fun catching everyone up with that.

We've watched the football tonight and it's only 9.30pm, so I may have an early night. I have some paperwork to catch up on, but I might leave it til morning.

I'd like to stop thinking for a little while - rest my brain. I'm going to start the day tomorrow with some meditation.

Nite all  

Breathless

We've all been breathing in paint fumes for two days. This is not a good thing!

One more day of painting and we should be done!

The name of this paint is 'Good Karma' and the white paint is called 'Love Story'.

How can we go wrong with names like that?

The Motivator and I painted eleven chairs today. Adoring Husband was at the shop before everyone and did stuff that I don't even know about and he and I also painted the yellow wall. The Fisher King painted the white walls, started the gloss on the architraves and filled all the holes in the walls.

I organised cleaners to come in and do the carpets and the windows on Tuesday, because I just can't bear the thought of doing all that myself.

We had visits from five different people during the day, which slowed us down a bit, but it was great to show off what we've done so far and I love that everyone is so interested.

I left the shop at 3pm.

The Motivator and The Fisher King drove into The Bay for supplies.

I enjoyed an alcoholic beverage at the club. Didn't win a thing on the pokies, keno or the raffle.

Adoring Husband had dinner ready when I returned home, which was lovely.

Tonight, I've been writing up some of the course material for the photography course that I'm putting together. I'm quite excited about that, but I'm looking at the time, which, as always, is approaching midnight, so I'm putting everything away and I'm off to lay my head down.

Nite all.

Wiped Out

My body is feeling a little weary and a bit the worst for wear.

End of day two of painting, although I did have a big break in the middle where I went into The Bay with Best Cousin in the World to get more supplies from Bunnings (my favourite shop - NOT).

I also acted as gopher and did a morning tea run and a lunch run, so I didn't do as much physical work as everyone else. I washed the lunch dishes,  put undercoat on four walls, helped paint one wall and then undercoated the treated pine frames with The Motivator.

The electrician arrived today and did the work we needed on the lighting. Thanks to The Motivator who knew exactly where to put lights and which lights to use, the job was pretty straight forward.

The Telstra modem and other paraphernalia arrived by courier today too!

Marco Polo assembled all the flat pack cabinets - because he hates painting lol - but they look fantastic. 

The Fisher King helped The Motivator sand the legs of our training room chairs and then undercoated them all ready for the final coat tomorrow (all 11 of them) plus he did lots of undercoating and sanding walls.

The Motivator didn't stop all day and pushed herself probably beyond her limits.

Best Cousin in the World did lots of undercoating and driving and helped me with the lunch run.

Adoring Husband worked hard, as he always does with paint brush and/or edging tool in hand.

We hope that it will only take one more day to finish the painting.

We will definitely need to have the carpet professionally cleaned before we open the doors and even with sheets covering all the furniture, there is so much fine dust on everything, it will take some cleaning.

So, tomorrow is another day which we will attack full on after a good night's sleep.

Nite all.

Wipe Out!

I had a list of six things that needed to be done today.

Yes! For the first time in ages, I had a 'to do' list!

How much of my 'to do' list do you think got done?

Well, you are all very clever aren't you? You are correct! Zip!

Adoring Husband phoned me quite early in the day and asked for some help. I got ready fairly quickly, but one of the Psychotic Dogs had a pooping accident and required bathing immediately! As you can imagine, that delayed my arrival at the shop.

I checked the mail first and then stopped at the Butcher to see if my usual order of chicken was ready, which it wasn't.

I walked into the shop and all was quiet. I called out to AH, but there was no response. Then I heard some hammering coming from the Treatment Room, so I waited until it stopped and then called out again, louder. No response.

I stood for a minute or two expecting him to leave the TR, but all was quiet and there was no movement.

I looked across to the older counter and saw 3 bells. A blue bell with a plastic ringer, a brass bell with it's own ringer and a little chrome shop bell so I stepped across and hit the shop bell.

I waited.

Nothing.

The reason I did this, is because AH is VERY jumpy and if he walks around a corner and I'm there, he jumps in fright and grabs his heart, so I didn't want to scare him - especially since he is working with tools!

I rang the bell again, louder.

Nothing.

*sigh*

Just as I was trying to figure out my next move, AH came out of the room. He saw me and said "Oh you snuck in didn't you?"

Um ... well ... no actually lol

Anyway, from there, we went into the training room and he showed me what needed to be done. I had to sand the lumpy putty where the nail holes were filled, so we attached the sandpaper to the electric sander (a very tricky job that one), and then I spent about an hour climbing up and down the ladder and sanding all the lumpy bits.

I also had to sand the architraves and AH suggested that hand sanding with the little manual sander would be easier, so that's what I did, but thought it was pretty stoopid advice!

After the sanding was done, I got the big brush and once again, climbing up and down the ladder, brushed all the dust away from the wall and architraves.

This is what was left when I headed off to 'A Taste of Burrum' to order some fish and chips and salad for lunch.

We sat down to enjoy lunch before getting stuck into the work again.

Two undercoats later, with a roller on a long handle, but a paint tray too narrow for my roller, I was absolutely done!

All that climbing and arm lifting and muscle using and being down on my knees. My stomach muscles are hurting (who knew I even had stomach muscles????!!) and the rest of my body is seizing up. I can't remember the last time I performed manual labour!

So, as you can see, it's only 8.30pm. Adoring Husband has been in bed since 6.30pm! I have to clean the kitchen and do a couple of things before I can climb into bed, but I'll be there as soon as I am capable of doing so!

Tomorrow will be a big day on a working B at the shop with a few people who have generously volunteered their time for the cause. I have also posted a shout out on Facebook with the hope of recruiting some more help. There is a LOT to do.

So I'm off.

Nite all.

Voluntarily There

I voluntarily went to Bunnings today.

It was a long and very expensive visit!

Aside from the usual tools that you need for painting ... of which we needed little, because between us, we already have some of the tools of trade ... we got a lot of undercoat, a lot of white paint, a little yellow paint, some gun metal grey for the chairs in the training room and some gloss white for the doors.

Unfortunately, we were served by a young girl new to the paint section, so she had to ask her work buddy lots of questions. We asked her work buddy a lot of questions too!

By the time we got the paint, the belt for Adoring Husband's sander and unsuccessfully sourced some metal hooks, we were in that painful store for about 90 minutes! Ugh.

We drove to Stocklands where the Motivator had her eyes tested while I picked up my new glasses that I ordered last week! I bought some new knickers and put Ozlotto on (I've won twice on the same ticket!).

We had a light lunch at The Coffee Club.

We went to Office Works for some printer ink and some pretty new desk decor - a pen holder, some pens, a notebook and a book/folder holder.

I got some new new shoes.

We visited Go Natural where I stocked up on my ice cream, milk kefir, fresh fruit and veg and some wild caught salmon.

I purchased some beautiful sunflowers from the nearby florist.

Before we returned home, we managed to secure the last appointment for the day at Shine Nails at Stocklands. I selected gold for my nail colour - to reap in abundance!

It was 7pm by the time we pulled into the driveway and it took ten minutes to unload all of my purchases from the back of the car.

After we exchanged pleasantries, I cooked up one of the wild salmon steaks for Adoring Husband to eat with a fresh salad and then we ate fresh strawberries and chocolate coconut ice cream for dessert.

As the time rapidly approaches 11pm, I'm pretty much done in, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Hammer Time

I did a bit of hammering today. Cleaning up Adoring Husband's mess with the nail gun haha. All my fingers are still intact, no breaks, no bruising!

The Motivator and I put together an Office Works chest of drawers on castors. That was interesting and much less stressful than doing the same thing with a male ... in my experience! Sorry AH.

We discussed the different logos that have been provided by 4 different designers - none of which are close to perfect, but we have learned a lot and know exactly what we want now. We just need to find a designer who can see our vision.

AH measured the walls, so we know how much paint to get tomorrow ready for the painting on Thursday.

A list was made so that we can make the most of our trip into The Bay tomorrow.

I covered all the furniture with sheets so that when Adoring Husband is sanding the walls tomorrow, the dust doesn't land on everything.

The Motivator contacted Telstra, who were supposed to connect our landline and internet last week (surprise surprise), to find out that they can't find a port for our address. They were supposed to get back to us by close of business today, once again, surprise, surprise, they haven't.

We left a message for the Real Estate Agent to come into the shop to discuss the dirty carpet, the holes in the walls and the signage that should have been removed by now. She came and went without a word ... she has to walk right past our door and didn't even have the decency to say "I'm too busy, but I'll catch you tomorrow".

I picked up some crab from The Motivator's house on the way home .. you can guess what I had for dinner. For Adoring Husband, I cooked up some duck breast with orange sauce (which surprisingly, he loved!) with a salad.

I can't believe that it's already 11pm! Far out, time flies when you're having fun.

Nite all.

A Perfect Ending

It was a perfect ending to the day...

Lady Lynn, Happy Harry, Rebel Mardi, The Lifesaver, Adoring Husband and I met at the park for fish and chips at sunset to witness the beautiful light on the still water and enjoy each other's company. Just like old times.

Love you guys so much.

I worked in bed this morning until Adoring Husband came home for lunch, so I prepared some food before he returned to work at the shop and I continued with my work on the couch.

At 3pm I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I reclined my chair right back and napped for about 20 minutes.

AH came home and sat watching TV with his earphones on, while I continued to work until it was time to get ready for our date at the park.

It's a bit tricky now that I don't have an office at home to work in!

So, it was quite uneventful. Nothing to brag about. Nothing to report.

I've written up a story to go into the local newsletter ...


“The Happy Abode” is coming!!

“The Happy Abode” will soon become a favourite drop in point for residents and visitors of Burrum Heads.

Roz Griffin and Tracey Hemmy will be opening this space, which is located on Burrum Street (behind Elders) and they hope to provide a variety of services to benefit the community.

A bit about the girls …

A lot of you know Roz from her photography, her red trike and her hat! Roz has lived in Burrum Heads for 9 years with her husband Barry, who holds the position of Deputy Local Controller for Fraser Coast SES.

Roz exhibited her photography at Gattaker’s Art Space in Maryborough in 2012 with local celebrity artist Jackie Brennan. It was a record opening night, many in attendance being supportive Burrum Heads locals.

Roz’s work history includes conducting public seminars and in-house training within government departments, but the last ten years has seen her being more artistic and creative with jewellery creation and photography.

Roz brings her love of photography, social media, shopping, personal development and Burrum Heads to the table in this venture.

A lot of you know Tracey from her fiancé, Tony Simpson’s seafood operation out of Riverview Drive, but not many of you know that she is very accomplished in lighting, styling and design, with 27 years experience behind her.

Leaving her busy and well-established business in Sydney, her impressive resume includes massive projects like Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney Theatre Company and the Presidential Suites of the Portman Ritz Carlton in Shanghai China, as well as a number of hospitals including Westmead and Concord in Sydney.

Her achievements are too numerous to mention here and since moving to Burrum Heads 10 yrs ago, she has designed and run Interior Styling courses in Hervey Bay and in Sydney.
She also has 12 yrs experience in Natural Healing mediums such as Reiki, NLP and Journey work.

Tracey brings her love of lighting, design, styling, personal development and natural healing to the table in this venture.

At The Happy Abode, there will be a training room where courses and fun workshops will be available.

In the pipeline are beginner’s workshops in photography, photo editing, social media, journaling, meditation, creating dream or vision boards and mini courses in using devices such as tablets and smart phones.

Other courses include an 8 week Interior Styling course (with homework!).

If you have any ideas about workshops that you would like to see and do, your suggestions are welcomed and encouraged.

A treatment room has been built in The Happy Abode space, where Reiki, Journey work and other healing treatments can be accessed.

For your shopping pleasure, a wide variety of jewellery, purses and handbags, journals and notebooks, Roz’s photography and other bits and pieces will trickle in over time.

Finally, a small comfort area. Grab yourself a tea or coffee from one of the nearby shops - Foodworks, Burrum Heads Bakery or A Taste of Burrum - and head over for a relaxing chat about what’s happening with the girls.

Roz and Tracey’s friendship has flourished in the past three years, and they decided when this space became available, to combine their skills and bring something new to the community.

This space will be filled with love and friendship and kindness to hopefully strengthen the community bond that currently exists.

The girls are aiming to open the doors around 28th August.

So now you don't have to get the newsletter to read it haha!

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

In The Dark

It was a funny way to start the day.

Just as I was about to walk out the door, I received a phone call from Adoring Husband who was already at the shop.

"Where are you?" he asked.
"I'm just about to walk out the door" I replied.
"Good!" he sounded relieved.
"Why?" I responded.
"Because I've shut myself in the treatment room and I can't get the door open." there was an almost frantic tone in his voice.

Adoring Husband is claustrophobic.

I laughed.

"It's NOT FUNNY!!" he shrieked.

I laughed again.

"Hold tight. I'll be there in a minute." I tried to sound reassuring.

My ride was uneventful until I was about 2/3 of the way there.

The markets were on this morning and there were people strolling along the path that I was trying to ride along. The road was busy with market traffic, so I couldn't detour via the road. So I had to ride at walking pace for a good portion of time .. all the while wondering if AH was climbing the walls yet!

Suddenly I saw Rebel Mardi walking quickly towards the path and saying "Look at you go!"

I called out that I couldn't stop because I was off to rescue AH from his prison, so she waved me on calling out "I'll see you tonight then!"

Finally, I reached the shop and as I opened the door I hear AH mutter "Hurry up!"

I gave the door a nudge and he pulled it from it's position and took a deep breath, almost like he had been holding his breath since he called me!

Considering his fear of enclosed spaces, he did very well to remain so calm. Later, I changed position with him so that he could see how well the door closed from the outside. There is no light in the room yet, because we are waiting for the electrician to do some work for us, so the room is completely black. Even 'I' felt my heart flutter with just a touch of fear and I don't even consider myself claustrophobic.

Because I left the house in a hurry, I didn't take any work stuff with me so no work got done.

I assembled The Motivator's yellow chair, played tradies assistant for a bit, then rode to The Motivator's house to buy some crab and spend a bit of time ... always enjoyable.

At lunch time I returned home, where AH had already arrived and I made some lunch. We watched a movie and then some football, until it was time to get ready for Tweedle Dee's birthday party.

We were running late ...  because of me ... but it was ok. Everyone was there and we were sitting at the best table, with all the funniest and most beautiful people! It was a fabulous night and AH got to dance the night away with Rebel Mardi, while I laughed my butt off with Tweedle Dum who tells the most hilarious stories with her cheeky accent. My cheeks are still aching from laughing and smiling so hard.

Happy Birthday was sung. Candles were blown out. Speeches were made. So much love was shared. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time and we left a bit after 10pm.

Here it is after midnight again and I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Frantic Friday

It may have been a frantic Friday for The Motivator, but for me it was highly unproductive.

Apart from some more Trades Assistant work and waiting in line for a long time to get grilled fish and chips for lunch, I didn't get a lot done.

I completed an online quote form on an insurance company website and when I finished, it gave me the message "Thank you for completing our survey. We value your opinion."

What the???

So I back pedalled all the way through it and there was nothing anywhere mentioning a survey. The heading definitely said "Get a Quote". All the questions were definitely relevant to insurance quotes - just like all the other websites.

If I haven't heard anything by Monday, I guess I'll email them OR (heaven forbid) phone them and speak to an actual person 😲😳.

Some jewellery that I ordered a few weeks ago FINALLY arrived today, although only about one third of it came in today's mail. The remainder should turn up next week, which is good timing for our opening.

I had a couple of visitors today. Tweedle Dee popped in for a hug and to purchase a pearl and diamonte button to go with her birthday outfit for tomorrow night. Lady Lynn popped in for a hug and to say hellooooooo.

It took me about an hour, fiddling with all sorts of buttons on my iPhone and my laptop, to get my 'hotspot' to work so that I could get internet on my laptop. That was annoying! My hotspot has always appeared on the dropdown list in the past, so I don't know why it was such a difficult task when I needed it most.

Adoring Husband and I caught the courtesy bus to the club tonight and what a lovely surprise to see Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver there! They have travelled up to attend Tweedle Dee's birthday party tomorrow night (or tonight as you are reading this) so we'll get to catch up properly tomorrow.

I hope that they can squeeze me in, between their many social engagements, and come to see the shop tomorrow morning. Such busy possums trying to catch up with everybody over just a few days.

Having cooked dinner and then given AH his nightly massage, I've watched the football and I now have to clean the kitchen and then climb into bed. I wonder if I'll get there before midnight?

Weariness has descended upon me!

Nite all.

We Love Our Space

It's going to be a while before we can open the shop and we are not even close to having everything the way we want it yet.

The new room and walls are almost finished (thank you Adoring Husband) and then we need to paint a couple of the walls. Today, we decided on the colour. We also have four IKEA cabinets to assemble, three of them being all glass.

Our office area needs some work - we rearranged the furniture into a configuration that looks quite presentable, but we have to figure out some storage ideas and we're still unpacking our gear. We're also waiting on some wall art to arrive which will bring one wall to life.

While Adoring Husband is still drilling and sawing and hammering and making a dusty mess, we can't put too much out in the open yet.

The Motivator is going to re-cover two of the chairs.

Then we need to figure out how we want the layout of the shop. That part is going to be fun!

We had an elderly couple wander past our door today and I called out to ask them what they were after. They assumed, by the signage which belongs to the previous tenants, that we were opening a craft shop.

We explained what we were doing and the women told us that she grew up in Burrum Heads and then described what the town was like back then. She knew The Motivator's parents-in-law from those days too!

The couple didn't stay long. They didn't seem too interested when they realised that we weren't selling craft lol.

Anyway, The Motivator and I both agree that WE LOVE OUR SHOP and it's not even open yet!!

Far out, it's already after 11pm. I need sleep.

Nite all.

Neglectful Me

My poor website romanceyourlifewithroz.com has been on the back burner for quite a few weeks now and I'm feeling like a very neglectful mother.

Hopefully, once we've settled into the shop, I can devote more quality time to that baby of mine!

I spent a few hours this morning getting online quotes for small business insurance. There is quite a wide gap between the most expensive and the least expensive, even though the cover is exactly the same.

I spoke to one insurance company 'in person' because our diverse range of services makes cover pretty tricky. What they come back with tomorrow, will be interesting.

I've written up a rough draft of a story for the newsletter and a also a rough draft for a flyer to pass around to different shops, clubs, groups and organisations in town.

Got a meeting tomorrow morning with my biz partner to discuss our next moves this week.

Still trying to get a decent logo designed before any of our flyers or stories can go out anyway, so I hope that doesn't take too long!

I did some more trades assistant work today, not much, but worth mentioning lol.

I cooked up a nice lunch for Adoring Husband and delivered it to him, before sitting at my desk to write, then I bought him a coffee before heading home.

I packed some more stock ready to deliver to the shop. I worry that I won't have enough to fill our space, but I'm worried about buying more stock in case I have too much already. Ha! What a dilemma!

With both AH and I working on getting the shop ready, our house is looking decidedly messy, so I did some washing and tidying up this afternoon before cooking up a tray of baked veggies with chicken and gravy for dinner. We enjoyed berries with citrus sorbet for dessert.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I gave AH a shoulder, back and leg massage to calm his muscles before he went to bed.

It's been a fairly busy day, although I must admit that while getting all the online quotes, I was sitting up in bed!!

The Motivator found some more display pieces today. She's incredibly busy with her own business at the moment and it's fabulous that she is busier than ever, building a good reputation and being recognised for her good work.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Need to be up early for the biz meeting. I'm a workin' girl now!

Nite all.

Weirdsville

It's been a strange kind of day.

I started my Business Bootcamp this morning by watching the opening webinar while I got ready for the day and continued to watch it while I rode my trike to meet the girls for coffee. It finished just as I pulled up to the shop, which was lucky!

I enjoyed my morning with the girls and I visited the shop when everyone left. Before I reached the shop, I ran into The Yachtsman, who is the husband of Queen of Arts.

Queen of Arts was the lady with whom I shared the Art/Photography Exhibit five years ago.

So I took him to the shop and showed him around describing what we were planning for the space. He was surprised and impressed with the size of our premises and wished me luck before leaving.

I decided to head home and pack the big tubs that I bought at Office Works yesterday with the remaining stock and other items that I need to take to the shop.

I jumped online and ordered the glass cabinets from IKEA and arranged for them to be delivered to the pick up point at Dundowran.

I made lunch for Adoring Husband and delivered it to him at around 1pm.

I attempted to get some work done on my laptop, but the mobile hotspot kept disappearing and I didn't get anything completed, so I played Tradies Assistant again for AH, climbing the work horse to hold things while he nail gunned and holding sheets of timber while he hand sawed or chiselled.

Just before I left to come home and feed the dogs, I bought AH a coffee, then gathered my goods and rode home.

I tidied the kitchen, cleared some old food and drinks out of the fridge, did two loads of washing, tidied the lounge room, photocopied some receipts and printed out some invoices, emptied the garbage, packed some more 'stuff' into the tubs.

I had just sat down when Adoring Husband returned home, so we chatted about the work he'd done and our plans for the week before he turned on the television.

It was time for me to make dinner so I cooked some lamb loin chops with a huge array of salads. Tonight's meal was the biggest I've eaten for quite some time and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I cleaned the kitchen, served AH his dessert, hung out some more washing and loaded the machine with more clothes ready for tomorrow and then made the bed (yes a bit late, I know).

I began researching small business insurance, but was distracted by a movie on TV called 'Swiss Army Man' with Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano.

I won't share the video, because you have to input your date of birth before it will allow you to watch the trailer and frankly, it's one of the strangest movies I've ever seen. I almost turned it off about 30 minutes in and I really should have because it got weirder ... but it was like a train wreck and I couldn't take my eyes away from it!

I saw the interview that Graham Norton did with Daniel Radcliffe when the movie was released and I wrote down the name of the movie so that I could search for it and watch it ... but I never did ... so when I saw the title come up on the screen tonight, it was a must see for me. Haha.

I would really like to meet the person who wrote the story and ask him/her what drugs he/she was on when it was written!

So it's rapidly approaching 11pm and I am off to bed. I'm feeling decidedly weary and I have a lot to do tomorrow. Beauty sleep is essential!

Nite all.

PS I began all of those sentences with 'I' on purpose!  

Upgrading the Specs

So The Motivator and I spent the entire day together in The Bay.

We had a long list of business to attend to, and we got quite a bit of it done, but not all.

We organised our phone and internet to be connected ... goodness only knows IF and WHEN it can be done, but they'll let us know sometime inside the next 21 days.

We bought landline phones, so let's hope we haven't wasted our money!

We gathered information regarding business partnership bank accounts.

We bought some storage tubs and other minor accessories for the shop.

We bought some work clothes!!  Eep! WORK!!

I've been wearing a pair of prescription sunglasses that are nine years old and my other glasses for distance and for reading are five years old, so my eyes desperately needed testing and my glasses updating.

So I was lucky enough to land an immediate appointment at OPSM where the optometrist was incredibly thorough, paying special attention to the eye that received a minor injury a couple of months ago.

Apart from a lot of deterioration to the sight in in my left eye, both of my eyes are healthy in every other respect, including the injured one. I was even able to see the floater in my eye, which, she tells me, probably won't go away now, but doesn't and shouldn't affect my sight or the health of my eye.

I spent some time choosing three different frames for my three pairs of glasses. Prescription sunglasses, distance glasses and a pair of reading glasses with graduated lenses so that I can read my monitor AND any paperwork on my desk without changing glasses.

We were there for more than an hour!

We were able to sneak in an Aldi shop and a quick trip to Office Works before heading home and it was about 7pm by the time we pulled into my driveway.

I had little time with Adoring Husband before he headed to bed and I gave his back and sore shoulder a good massage before leaving him to sleep.

It's now well after midnight and I have spent the evening editing and playing with our business logo.

I'm feeling quite weary all of a sudden.

Nite all.  

Inspiring!

Oh dear! I just realised that I didn't post anything here yesterday!

That must be why I couldn't get to sleep until almost 2am - I just couldn't relax, even with meditation and my sleeping app!! It must have been my subconscious trying to tell me that I hadn't done the blog lol.

We had an interesting day yesterday, when a stranger walked through the door asking what we were doing. She then told us that she was a qualified trainer and was looking for a space to rent for some training that she wanted to do for people recovering from mental health issues. THAT was an interesting turn of events! We exchanged information and will make contact again in a few weeks after we've settled in.

Adoring Husband and The Fisher King got a LOT done on the new room that we've added, while The Motivator is enjoying having her own space to get work done uninterrupted - well, uninterrupted, until 'I' interrupted her haha.

This morning, Adoring Husband and I disassembled my big table and took it to the shop, along with my desk, wall unit, chest of drawers, all the coloured framed drawers on wheels and lots of other bits and pieces, including my iMac.

We put together my new yellow office chair and did a bit more on the room, with me serving as tradies assistant again. We still have LOADS to do, including painting walls and re-covering office chairs - the list seems to be endless!

To make matters worse, I have paid for a business/money boot camp/course that I need to do for the next 6 weeks on top of all this! It's only held once a year, so I couldn't put it off until next year ... I need to do it now to make sure we can hit the ground running and be as successful as possible!

I am crazy I know. Or I will be at the end of all this haha.

Anyway, it's a slow process, but we can see progress and it's still fun and challenging and an adventure worth experiencing. It's especially great to be doing it with AH and The Motivator.

My brain feels like it might explode with everything that's swimming around in there at the moment, so I need to go get everything down on paper right now.

Tomorrow is a big day in The Bay with lots of errands to run and business to follow up. I'm off to make a list and gather everything I need so that I'm not rushing around tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, I have discovered the three women whom I most admire are also doing this course that I'm in. Well, one of them is running it and the other two are participating. This makes me VERY excited because I'll get to interact with them forever more and gain some great insights from them.

They are successful authors and entrepreneurs already ... but as they say ... you NEVER stop learning and discovering. The world of business and technology is always changing and women are the new game changers!  

They already own and operate million dollar businesses and will have advice to share and expertise to pass on. The group involved is amazing and supportive and happy and at varying stages of success in their own business. I'm excited for it to start tomorrow morning!

Now I'm very busy and important, so I'm off!

Nite all.

Check Check Check

Today, I contacted, via the website 'Fiverr', the girl who designed my Romance Your Life logo and described to her a basic design that The Motivator and I agreed upon for The Happy Abode.

This girl lives in the Canary Islands, so the communication process is a little slow - taking the time difference into consideration and all - but hopefully, by Monday, we will have a new logo that we are both happy with.

I applied for a partnership ABN for The Motivator and I, which took a ridiculously long time. So many questions! So many pages!

I investigated a number of Telcos for our phone and internet requirements, but it looks like our only option is Telstra. Bugger. (Only because their plan is the most expensive)

I taped newspaper to our shop windows for privacy and security.

I registered with two wholesale providers and am waiting for their reply, which should take about 48 hours.

I made Adoring Husband's lunch and delivered it to him, touching base with The Motivator at the same time.

I waited for the Real Estate Agent to get back to me regarding my two messages yesterday, and even though she was in the office and approximately ten steps away from our shop, she did not make an appearance. It's time to keep a record of our interactions I think.

I spoke to the electrician who turned up at the request of the previous tenant to explain that the wiring and work done on the removed lights was safe and secure. (This means that she received my message, because that was one of my questions)

I cleared some more of my workspace and took two boxes of 'stuff' to the shop.

I played tradies assistant again.

I went to the club for raffle night - won nothing - but did have a little luck on the pokies.

I cooked dinner.

I gave Adoring Husband another leg and back massage.

I cleaned up the kitchen.

I watched the football.

Now I am here, signing off, because it's midnight!

Got stuff to do tomorrow!

Nite all.

Work in Progress

Adoring Husband worked his little butt off today moving an entire wall.

He fixed the dodgy work done by the previous tenant and reconstructed the wall so that it's safe and strong .. not quite finished yet, but very close.

The Motivator worked her butt off today, cleaning all the messes that were left behind by the previous tenant, like paint in the kitchen sink, messes in the drawers and on the tiled floor. She filled the kitchen with crockery, cutlery, food, tea, sorted out her work space, moved furniture and tried really hard to motivate me to do stuff too. She did a lot of other stuff too and filled her day completely with productivity.

I did not work my butt off today.

The following list seems long and makes me look like I was flat out, but seriously, each of these things took a couple of minutes, so it's not as impressive as it looks!

I phoned St Vinnies to buy the door that we looked at yesterday and make sure that it was delivered with the rest of our goodies.

I partially cleared my desk, packed one box with the purses, wallets and some journals, filled my trike basket with framed pictures and quotes, a floor rug and a teal table cover.

I helped The Motivator fill a bean bag with 4 bags of beans - which was ridiculously hilarious because I totally lost control and we ended up with half a bag of beans on the floor! I wish I'd taken a photo! The Motivator came up with an ingenious way to pick all the beads up ... which didn't include a vacuum cleaner, so we cleaned it up much faster than expected.

The Bunnings delivery man thought we were the funniest thing he was likely to see all day!

I tried to speak to the Real Estate Agent twice, but she didn't come into the office today.

I tried to speak to the previous tenant to find out how she had her phone and internet connected, but we didn't have her current phone number, so I left a message on the number attached to her website AND I sent her a message via her website. Hopefully, she will contact me.

I made lists.

I rode home and collected a kettle, an extension cord, the box of purses and some cups and a teapot. While I was there, I made a quick cold meat and salad lunch for AH.

I acted as a tradie's assistant a couple of times.

I bought AH a coffee.

I helped The Motivator move some furniture around.

I looked at a wall mural website with The Motivator and we selected a couple of murals.

I rode to the water and photographed the gorgeous sunset ... I can't show you now because the extension cord to my monitor is at the shop, so I can't download the pics from my camera. I can't do it on my laptop either.

I came home and cooked dinner.

I cleaned up the kitchen - giving AH the night off considering all his hard work today.

I gave Adoring Husband a leg and back massage to ease his aching muscles.

I cleared some emails.

That's it.

Now it's almost 11pm and I am ready for bed.

Tomorrow, I'll get to that list I wrote.

Still a work in progress ...

Nite all.

Another Day Closer

I wrote this about my Adoring Husband and posted it in Facebook early this morning because I wanted him and every one of my Facebook friends to understand how wonderful he is...

"I'm not generally one for sharing deep feelings on Facebook, but I just have to tell the world how freaking amazing my Adoring Husband is.

I have not consulted him throughout the process of creating this website business or even in the decision of opening the bricks and mortar business (because he has this habit of saying BUT and then coming out with lots of negative stuff, which I know is not meant to dampen my spirit and he believes he is being helpful and real - but it kills me!) so I have made decisions, which ultimately will affect 'our' lives and 'our' futures on my own.

If he had done the same thing to me, I'd have been pissed off and offended and resentful.

But my Adoring Husband has stepped up big time.

He spent all day at the shop yesterday measuring and listening to what Tracey and I envision. He began pulling down walls and reconstructing the mess that the previous tennant left behind. He cleaned up his mess and vacuumed the floors at the end of the day.

This morning, he has calculated our costs and written up a quote and then discussed it with me.

He has taken 2 weeks off from SES duties, with the intention of giving us all of his time, energy and skills so that Tracey and I can open our dream space and become entrepreneurs.

He is an amazing, loving, supportive, selfless human being and I am so grateful that I am on the receiving end of his love and attention.

I love you Barry Smithurst ❤️ Thank you xo"

Today, he and The Fisher King spent the entire morning, taking a few loads in the ute, including desks, bookcases, tub chairs, lamps and other bits and pieces that we will use for displays and furnishings in the shop ... all from The Motivator's house.

We had all of that done by noon and then AH drove into The Bay to Bunnings to order all the timber and gyprock and other necessities for building walls in the shop, and organised for delivery to happen tomorrow.

Not far behind him, were The Motivator and I. We were pricing chairs to put at the tables in our workshop room and needed 12 of them. The best price we could come up with, for our requirements, was $65 each - which meant just under $800 in total! I suggested that we try St Vinnies and the Op Shops, so that's where we went next.

Sitting right outside St Vinnies were two piles of metal framed chairs with padded seats, 11 in total, at $10 each! We looked at each other, decided that we could make them look as good as new with a little TLC and immediately purchased them!

We decided to scour inside to see what else might be worth snavelling and discovered two very old single seat sofa chairs, possibly from the 50s or 60s, in excellent condition. We sat in them and loved them. $37 each! THAT was a fabulous bargain! We couldn't believe our luck!

Next we found two fabulous pieces of furniture, which we know have been sitting in that shop for a few months. The prices had been reduced back then and were reduced even more today. We loved them back then and we loved them today ... so we got them to reduce the price by a further $40 AND waive the $30 delivery fee.

We left St Vinnies doing some more *happy dancing*

From there, we drove to Office Works and I got myself a beautiful bright yellow office chair. I plan to stand at my desk most of the time, but I know that I'll need to sit sometimes and my old office chair is literally flaking and falling to pieces. We priced some excellent tables for our workshop room and will consider them over the next couple of days.

While we were there, we purchased our Square Card Reader - the newest alternative to cash registers and eftpos machines. 

Our next stop was Bunnings to get some paint swatches, price some paint and get some new blinds for the shop windows.

We went from there, to the Optus Shop, to find out how to get our new phone and internet connected, but we were somewhat disappointed to hear that, according to them, there was no connection available for our shop - so this may require a bit more effort than first thought!

We did a very quick grocery shop.

By now, we were desperately in need of a beverage, so we made a brief stop at The Coffee Club for some sustenance before purchasing some bean bag beans and a couple of hand towels. 

Finally it was time to head home, so we dropped all the purchases off at the shop and then The Motivator dropped me home where I only had about 40 minutes until Adoring Husband and I had to leave for our monthly trivia night.

It was a fun night, but we came second last!!! I think that is our worst effort yet!! We did win two bags of lollies and chocolates, which were no good to AH and I because firstly, they weren't gluten free and secondly, they were full of sugar!! Ah well.

It has been another full day and I am exhausted! It's almost 11pm and I am ready for making some ZZzzzzzs. 

No doubt it will be another big day tomorrow!

Nite all.

Woopsie!

Ok, so I apologise for yesterday!

I posted the video on here, but forgot to take it off 'private' setting in Youtube, so nobody was able to view it!

So here is the link, so that you can view it 'Business Eve'

I took another video at the shop as soon as we entered the premises today.

We were disappointed to walk in and find a big mess.

The carpet hadn't been vacuumed, let alone cleaned. The previous Tennant hadn't repaired the damage that they had done to the walls when they did their renovations and they didn't repair the ceiling where they removed their lighting. They'd left boxes of rubbish on the floor, there were a lot holes in the walls where they had removed shelving and pictures ... and the list goes on.

The previous Tennant offered us the glass topped counters, a desk, the bench that held the cash register and the cash register, which we accepted with gratitude. She left all of those things except the cash register, which was very generous of her ... although the shimmer of our gratitude was dulled by the mess she left behind.

Our original plan for the layout had to change considerably when we discovered a couple of problem areas with the air conditioning outflow and wall mounted power boxes, so this new video tells you our original plan. I hope to show you the revised plan in the next couple of days.  



I had left our coffee morning earlier than usual this morning to meet with The Motivator to get the keys, so about an hour later, the girls all turned up to have a look at the space and wish us luck, which was lovely and it felt good to share it with them.

Adoring Husband has already started work on the walls and The Motivator and I have made a 'to do' list and 'to buy' list and a 'to acquire' list.

We have a big day planned for tomorrow, so I'll be heading to bed very soon.

AH and I were only home a short time before we realised that it was our monthly barbecue at the Lions Park, so we didn't even have time to prepare food to take. We took some alcoholic beverages, planning to have drinks with everyone and then come home to eat.

We were having such a good time, that we sat through dinner with everyone. I ate some of the delicious salads that everybody else had prepared, but AH decided to wait until we returned home.

I had two glasses of wine while we were there too, which has made me very sleepy.

I'd partially prepared a baked dinner, so the boneless leg of lamb was almost cooked in the oven, as were the baked vegetables. It only took another 30 minutes to finish up and we had a delicious, if late, dinner.

I have to say that I am mentally exhausted after such a big day. I've been awake since 5.19am, so I'm ready for bed right now.

Yay for day one! I apologise if this is difficult to read, but my brain doesn't seem to be working very well this evening. I'm definitely done for the day!

Nite all.

It's me!

So I've been wanting for some time, to make my first video.

The very idea of it scared the 'you know what' out of me! Eventually, when I've practiced enough and know what the hell I'm doing, I hope to post videos and Webinars on my website and on the Romance Your Life Facebook page. 

Quite obviously, I'm not ready to do that yet - you are my guinea pigs!

This one is done in very low light in my lounge room and using my iPad. I'll try again, on my next courageous day, using my iMac in the daylight hours and in my study where the light is much better. I also need to work on the sound - the volume is a bit low.

I thank you in advance for your patience and tolerance while I find my way in my little video world and for being my 'safe place' to build up my courage!

By the time you even see this, I will probably have already done the happy dancing and the champagne drinking and the measuring and the journey will have begun!

It's all happening! 

I'm off to bed. Big day tomorrow!

Nite all.

A Festive Day

It was so worth getting out of bed at 6am today.

We arrived in Childers before 8am and our car was the first through the gates to park in the Church grounds, which is a 5 minute walk from the main street where all the stalls are displayed. There was one small disadvantage to that. We were parked furthest away from the road, so I had to walk across wet grass for quite a distance in my leather sandals, and my feet were cold and wet by the time we reached the road. Hardly worth complaining about really.

There weren't too many people at the Festival at this stage, so we got to see all of the stalls without having to fight the hordes of people. We received the undivided attention of the stall holders and I got to spend my money freely! Ya gotta love that!

Before the crowds arrived ...

After the crowds arrived ...

We found some gluten free food and sat down to listen to the live music. It just happened that our favourite local musicians, The Twine, came on to play about ten minutes after we sat down, so we listened to them for the duration of their set before moving on.

There didn't seem to be quite as many stalls there this year and I really wanted to find a brass singing bowl, but none of the stalls had them. We also wanted to find our favourite curry man, but he too was not in attendance. There was a message on his website, which we checked when we got home, to say that he wasn't doing markets any more and that all sales could be made via the website.

We will do that.

My purchases included a new hat...

My old hat is beginning to fall apart and has a hole in the top of it. I don't want to part with it because I love it so much, but it's not going to last much longer.

I also bought a cross body bag and a backpack, along with two pairs of shoes ...

I got this beautiful blue Kyanite pendant which was hand crafted by a guy from Elemental Formations ...

Some Citrine ...

and I got two tops made with hand printed fabric. I didn't try them on, because there were no facilities there to do that, so one top looks fabulous and I'm extremely happy with it, but the second one is a bit tight. I might be able to fix it if I find the inclination.

We were on our way home at 10.30am and by that time, the crowds were overwhelming. The queue of cars coming into town was crazy and the road out of town was completely clear.

Adoring Husband decided, without consultation, to turn right at our designated turnoff, instead of left and we drove to Bamboo World. It was a good decision on his behalf.

It's been a few years since we were last there and it's changed a lot. A lot more work and landscaping has been completed and it's a lovely area. I think it would be a great location for weddings and wedding photography.

We were there for more than an hour walking around and taking in the sights ...

At the end of all that, AH bought two lovely plants for us to use in the new shop and I bought a timber bowl come basket, which I want to use on the counter top for some 'special deal' snap buttons.

The girl in charge took me to a shed where they store some beautiful bamboo and timber sculptures ...

... and I was chased by a crazy ape!!

We were home by 12.30pm but it felt like 5pm!

Adoring Husband then hooked up the trailer and spent the afternoon mowing and edging at the shopping centre. Needless to say, he is exhausted and was in bed by 7.30pm.

Only two more sleeps until we get the keys to the new premises!! Woot! Woot!

I'm off for an early night too!

Nite all.