Rain Rain Go Away

I know that we need rain.

We desperately need rain.

The whole of Queensland needs rain.

But our shop doesn't need any more rain!!

I've spent the day in the back bedroom attempting to clear out some boxes that we've had stored in another bedroom for ten years. It's been a journey back in time with some interesting memories triggered.

I was brutal and culled so much paperwork and old photos and jewellery and old purses and birthday/christmas cards from years ago. I stood at the shredder for ages shredding old bank accounts, pay slips (and we all know how many decades ago payslips ceased to be a thing), work reports and assessments, tax notices, superannuation papers, medical certificates and return to work plans.

The list goes on and on.

It took a long time because the stoopid shredder overheated every 5 minutes and needed to rest for 10 minutes before it would work again.

I did this through a wet, windy stormy day.

This evening, just before dinner, Adoring Husband suggested that he go check the shop. We were told when we first moved in, that there was a  problem in the ceiling during heavy rain, but nobody knew where it was coming from.

Well, tonight, there was no problem where they initially pointed it out that day.

But every outer wall was leaking from either the ceiling down the walls or through the floor under the walls. It's a disaster, but luckily we got to it before any stock or furniture was damaged and I lay  towels where it was leaking the heaviest, so now that the rain has stopped, there shouldn't be any further problems.

I'll be straight into the real estate office tomorrow morning to make sure they get someone out to do something about it quickly.

... and this was after I inspected the damage!

Now it's almost 11pm and I need sleep. It's been a big day with emotional memories and stressful water problems. I'll have to mop up the mess tomorrow.

Nite all.

Footy Finals

I'm sitting on my couch watching the NRL Grand Final between Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys.

It's fast and furious and sadly, there has already been a serious injury that held up the game for 15 minutes.

I can't decide who I want to win this game.

Melbourne Storm are an amazing team full of stars. The difference between them and any other team full of stars, is that they play as a team. None of those stars try to be heroes on their own. They know that they need each other to win tight games and they are impressive both on and off the field.

The North Queensland Cowboys are the underdogs. It was sheer luck and only because of the result of another game that they even got into the top 8 to make the finals. They are fighters. They play smart and hard and they never give up. They well and truly earned their spot in this Grand Final.

I know they have the heart to win, but I just don't know if they have enough in them to do it against Storm.

We are only 20 minutes into the game and Storm are winning 6 - nil.

I've had a fairly productive Sunday, waking with more energy than I did last Sunday. I spent two hours in the back bedroom and removed a mini suitcase full of paperwork which needs to go to the shop and a couple of bags of magazines, books and stock which we took to the shop late this afternoon.

There was also 2 bags and a box full of rubbish removed.

I estimate that I probably have another hour or two to completely finish the job.

I baked a chicken in the oven with some sweet potato and beetroot. I served that with a delicious home made chicken gravy for a late lunch.

From 2pm onward, I relaxed on the couch and kept an eye on the BOM because SES have been issued warnings for heavy rain and storms in our area. They seem to be very slow moving and I doubt that anything will happen before tomorrow, probably early morning.

If it's raining tomorrow, I probably won't open the shop. The rain will keep the locals and the tourists indoors, so being at the shop will be pointless.

Anyway, I'm off to watch the footy.

Go Storm!

Go Cowboys!

Nite all.

It's Beginning

Christmas shopping has begun!

Not mine.

Some people are doing their Christmas shopping in The Happy Abode because it's "not like all the other shops", so I'm thinking that's a good thing.

I had more wonderful feedback today and even had a couple of husbands sitting in our lounge area, enjoying the pod chair and a bean bag while their wives spent almost an hour choosing bags, jewellery, diaries and purses.

They were very patient and also provided positive feedback!

One of our customers went searching for our Facebook page and commented favourably.

Another local man came in with his phone, asking me to take photos of the snap button range, as well as different parts of the shop so that he could send the pics to his daughter-in-law who will be visiting soon. Then he phoned her and handed the phone straight to me!!

We agreed that he was 'special' and she said that she will visit the shop next time she comes to town.

Quite a few locals came in today stating that they had no idea we were there and they promised to spread the word.

Some wanted to bring their families in on Monday (which is a public holiday) and asked if we would be open. I think I might open for the morning - treat it as a Saturday and take advantage of the public holiday.

Adoring Husband and I went straight from work into The Bay this afternoon. We did a Bunnings run and bought some flowers and hanging baskets for our outdoor area, some paint to spruce up the concrete floor in that area and some timber to make some rails to put on the walls of the shop for my photos to sit upon.

We also drove across to Go Natural and bought some organic fruit and veg, as well as some delicious ice cream, one tub of which has already been eaten! Most of it by me!

Now I'm feeling incredibly full bellied and incredibly tired, so I'm off to bed! It's not even 9pm and I believe that I'll be asleep by 9.30pm.

So ... nite all.

  

Happy Weekend

The holidays have ended. The tourists are on their way out of town. The caravan parks are emptying. The party is over.

It's a long weekend, so let's go out with a bang!

It was a crazy day with people coming in to spend the last of their holiday money before they left town. Lots of snap button jewellery went out the door and I'm concerned that the next lot of orders won't arrive in a timely manner.

We'll have to manage with what we have for now.

I had a fight with Telstra over the phone today.

I had a fight on Monday with Telstra also, and that fight ended satisfactorily, or so I thought. The promises that gentleman made were empty and he didn't follow through with anything, nor did he log my call.

Today, I was redirected three times until I spoke with a male who wouldn't listen and was arrogant, so I demanded to speak to his supervisor. He put me on hold for 20 minutes and then handed me to a female named Charlene. She had a strong accent that almost sounded robotic.

She also didn't listen, although she at least offered to remove a $59 fee from our bill. It was the one fee that I was happy to pay and the one fee that I could see was relevant. The $250+ double fee for tech support was the one I disagreed with, but I won't go into it here.

She, like the guy on Monday, promised to email me the revised bill with the new total and agreed that we wouldn't have to pay the $15 late fee on the bill.

Just like the guy on Monday, she failed to deliver and no email arrived.

But at least I have her name, unlike the guy on Monday.

So I guess there will be another phone call on Monday.

*sigh*

I had a customer in the shop for almost the duration of the phone call. A couple walked in during the call and Adoring Husband came in near the end of it. That was all a bit uncomfortable.

The remainder of the day was happy and good. I enjoyed it and all of my customers were in a jovial mood, so that was an added bonus.

Somebody brought back a rose gold bangle because it had tarnished overnight, so I took it and refunded the money. She was grateful and then proceeded to spend more than twice that on more jewellery! I think I passed on my snap button obsession to her. Haha.

I left work at 3.20pm and it gave me plenty of time to get ready for our Friday night at the club.

Four of our group were lucky with raffles and such. I was not one of them.

Football season is over so there was no footy to watch tonight. The Grand Final will be played on Sunday and then we have to wait til March 2018 for the next season.

So Adoring Husband and I watched a movie on Box Office. 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' I enjoyed it and I hope to get the time to watch it for a second time in the next 48 hours while it's available.

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

Nite all.

End of Days

Apparently tourist season has almost ended and I should prepare myself for an empty shop.

This is possibly correct, but we've had more locals in our shop than tourists of late, so I'm hoping that they will continue to support us.

Even if the end of tourist season means the end of our current customer flow, it will at least give us time to cover the chairs and set up our training room, so there are positives to whatever the immediate future has to offer.

Meanwhile, it was another good day in the shop, with plenty of happy smiling faces belonging to tourists and curious investigations from the locals.

I locked the doors at 3.20pm, grabbed a coffee from the fish n chip shop and was home before 4pm.

Adoring Husband spent the day on Fraser Island fulfilling SES duties. It was a rough ride in gale force conditions and the tides were not conducive to a happy or productive trip on the island itself. He endured a long day, having more work to do in The Bay before he could come home.

He left at 5am and returned at 8.30pm. That's a long day in anybody's books.

We had our big sign delivered by the Fisher King and Toy Boy this afternoon.

A local lady offered and delivered some plants for our garden at the front of the shop.

A courier service delivered five boxes of goodies for The Motivator's lighting and design business.

Some of our signs arrived yesterday from Vistaprint. It was kind of funny that even though we planned on opening from 9am - 12pm on Saturdays, The Motivator accidentally put 9am - 1pm on the order ... I guess it was meant to be!

I enjoyed my day today.

The Motivator is now in Sydney for a few days so I'll be flying solo. I hope she has a good time with her family and returns to me all relaxed and happy :) She needed a break because she works super hard and at full steam.

It's just gone past 10pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

  

Happy All Round

I left home early enough to drop by the Seat of Knowledge and see the boys. It's been a couple of weeks since I last saw them and during that visit, they seemed a bit aloof, because I was hoping that they would ask about the shop, but they avoided the subject.

Today was a different story and they asked me to sit down and proceeded to bombard me with questions. It felt good to me that they were interested at last.

At 8.30 I pedalled to the supermarket to get some food for tonight's dinner, checked my PO Box and then headed to work.

It was lady's lunch day so I was only working until 11am. I made a small sale before I left and as I walked out the door, I declared to The Motivator "I hope that you have an incredibly busy afternoon and break all our sales records!"

I then rode home to be picked up by The Speckled Hen and it was my first lady's lunch for 3 months so I was pretty pumped!

Even before I reached our lunch destination, I received a text from The Motivator to tell me that she had sold four of my photos + other sales and was rapidly approaching our sales record!

That was pretty exciting.

We lunched at Goody's Restaurant in Toogoom and they had a fabulous GF menu. I couldn't eat all of my Salt n Pepper Calamari even though it was amazing. The sweet potato chips were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The salad was fresh and crunchy with a delicious dressing.

But the piece de resistance was the dessert of which I decided to partake at the last minute. A warm GF brownie with warm chocolate sauce and pouring cream. That was a plate full of heaven and I savoured every single mouthful with gusto! Yum Yum Yum

After a couple of hours, four of us drove to the Bowls Club for drinking and gambling.

That was a lot of fun and we left there at 4pm.

There was no way that I was capable of eating dinner after filling my belly with all of that good food, but I made up a big salad with a Barker's Creek pork loin cutlet for Adoring Husband.

Now it's almost 9.30pm and I'm feeling a bit peckish. Perhaps a piece of toast would hit the spot.

Anyway, I've had a fabulous day and after so much time, I loved catching up with the ladies. I didn't even think to take a photo because I was too busy yapping with everyone.

Hugs all round and feeling the love!

Nite all.

Social Work

My work morning was more social than work!

There were 9 of us for coffee this morning, although The Motivator was trying to get work done at her desk and ended up serving customers the entire time, while I socialised with my girls. It was a busy morning too.

Best Cousin in the World arrived just as everyone was leaving, so I go to sit with her for over an hour as well.

So my morning was very social.

Tomorrow will also be social because I'm getting picked up for lunch at 11.30am. I missed the last two lady's lunches while we got the shop ready so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Our LeReve goodies were delivered by Stephanie this afternoon, so I need to contact everyone to come pick up their orders.

Meanwhile, I'm still loving our space.

Even though the shop is doing so well, The Motivator and I will be even happier when we've finished organising our training room so we can get started on the courses and workshops. We have lots of names of people interested in what we are offering and lots of questions about when they will be starting so we really need to get cracking.

My six week holiday in Nov/Dec will kind of dampen things a bit, but maybe we can squeeze in a couple of workshops between now and then????

Who knows? But we are not going to stress about it. That's not what we are about.

Feeling the love.

Feeling tired!

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Manic Monday

We had our busiest Monday today!

Not just tourists, but quite a few locals who we have never seen or met before.

I love how people want to stop and have a chat about where they come from, how many years they've been coming here for holidays, where they stay, who they know and of course, how much they love our shop - "Just what this town needs!"

My third customer since we opened, strolled through the shop today and asked "Who is this photographer? Is she a local?" and then proceeded to heap praise upon me. Gives me a thrill every single time!

We completed and ordered our business cards and some of our signs today.

I spent time on the phone with Telstra trying to reduce our ridiculous bill today. I was told that an email would be sent, our bill would be frozen and that he would phone me back with the result. Surprise, surprise, he didn't send me an email or phone me back ... probably didn't freeze the bill either.

I'll follow up tomorrow.

I postponed the LeReve party that we were going to have tomorrow. It will be held next Tuesday afternoon now at 3pm.

Researched more snap jewellery sites to re-order some stock that is no longer available with my old provider.

I ordered a Cenzoni bag for a customer who was here last week.

Adoring Husband ran a couple of errands for me in The Bay.

We enjoyed GF hamburgers from the local takeaway - delicious.

Once again, we left the shop much later than 3pm. It was after 5pm by the time I got home, which meant I walked straight into the kitchen to begin cooking dinner. Bangers and mash with fresh beans and snow peas.

I ate a fresh sand crab for dinner, while AH ate my creation.

It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Nothing At All

There is still much to do at home in preparation for the big birthday bash.

In particular, there is still much for ME to do, even though Adoring Husband has worked hard throughout the house.

But today, I just wanted to do nothing at all.

I didn't want to think about anything or do anything or worry about anything or answer any questions.

I just wanted to veg.

Of course there was washing to do and some tidying to do in the bedroom and family room, but I did the minimum required.

Adoring Husband put together some IKEA drawers for a cupboard at work and we drove to the shop to install it. I didn't lock the door and some people attempted to come into the shop! I told them to return tomorrow.

We've watched a marathon of movies. 'Going in Style'  'Enchanted'  'Runaway Bride'  'Sex and the City2'

It's just 8.30pm and I feel like it's time  for bed ... even after doing nothing all day!

I made Butter Chicken for dinner tonight, which was pretty easy and I added small cubes of roasted sweet potato and grated carrot for some extra goodness and nutritional value.

Pretty happy about the Cowboys winning the footy last night. It will be an interesting final between them and Melbourne Storm. Storm are far and away the best team in the competition, but you never know how things will go on the day.

If the Cowboys can play a whole game the same way they played the second half of yesterday's game, I think they could be in with a chance, but they were 9th on the ladder at the end of the season and only made it into the top 8 by chance. For them to beat the number one team, would be pretty miraculous!

Well, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to bed. I need my beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Shorter...

... and sweeter.

It's 7.30pm and I can't stop yawning!

I was home by 1pm today.

Our little girl, Jessie, came to say goodbye before she and her parents headed back to the Gold Coast and she gave us both a hug and thanked us. She was such a little sweetie.

Her Dad, a self professed healer, gave us some advice about cleansing our training area before we begin our courses.

Our morning was quiet in the shop and we probably had about 15 people through the door. Three of them were there to ask about crab.

We had some great conversations and met some new locals.

We received a phone call from a lady whose transactions didn't go through our reader on Monday, and this means that we have now received ALL the money from my big mistake that day. It's comforting to know that people are so honest.

Lady Lynn, Happy Harry, Beauty, The Beast, Stands With a Fist and The Chief all came for a quick visit. It was the boys' first visit, so I showed them around. I'm really happy that they came!

Sadly, I watched my team lose their finals footy game last night and I doubt that I'll be able to stay awake for the entirety of tonight's game, but I hope the Cowboys win.

I'm writing this on my iPad tonight and the battery is almost flat, so this is me signing off!

It's been a big week and my energy is low, so ...

Nite all

Short ...

... and sweet.

It's after 11pm and I'm exhausted.

I can hear my bed and my pillows calling me.

We had another great day. Lots of town visitors came in for a look, all saying that someone had told them about the shop, so word is spreading fast.

Well, maybe not that fast ... we've been open for three weeks now.

We are both brain dead and worn out, working 6 days a week over the holiday period. I'm not used to working at all and The Motivator's hours have been sporadic and planned to suit her needs, so neither of us were prepared for the mental and physical tiredness that we are experiencing.

We'll get over it.

Need to work harder at self care and improve my eating habits, otherwise my energy levels will fade into nothingness and I will make myself sick.

I've got this.

Nite all.

Berry Berry Tired

It's been a BIG day.

A busy day at work, followed by a trip into The Bay.

We attempted to pick up some stock that was supposed to arrive from Maryborough, only to discover that the order hadn't been followed up by the young girl The Motivator had spoken to, so the stock has probably gone now.

Two shops that we wanted to pick up some plastic bags from, were both closed, so that was a futile exercise.

We then had to choose from two signs that we've been offered by Stocklands. We made our choice and now have to bide our time to see if we actually receive them.

Then we went shopping for work clothes.

THAT was a lot of fun. I may have got a bit carried away, in fact, we BOTH may have.

The thing is ... my wardrobe is full of clothes, but few of them are really suitable for work ... especially now that the weather is warming up. I have lots of singlet tops and shorts, but few dressy Summery clothes.

So today, I remedied that situation.

We bought some of the same clothes, so there will be days we MAY turn up in an unintentional uniform! But that's ok.

By the time we hopped in the car to drive home, at around 8pm, we were both exhausted. It's now 10.30 and I'm off to bed, completely worn out.

Here is some more of our lovely stock from the shop.

Nite all.

Humpety Hump Day

How lucky that we've been able to locate three of the four people whose transactions didn't go through our card reader properly yesterday!

It means that we are only $27 down now. We can live with that.

We had an incredibly busy day today. We met some interesting people and our patience was stretched a touch by one or two of them. The Little Mermaid was feeling and sounding fiery. We sold a lot of Cenzoni handbags, including one that I thought would never sell!

Luckily, another delivery of Cenzoni bags arrived in purple and black - they seem to be very popular colours.

I sold another photo! Woot! Woot!

I left the shop at 5pm after I'd priced my new photos, answered some freaky phone calls - prerecorded messages that were set to play when I answered the phone - one of them wouldn't allow me to hang up until it finished (I pressed the button to hang up and nothing happened)!!

I served a late customer and then packed up to go home.

I got about a third of the way home and then had this uneasy feeling that the back door to the shop was unlocked, so I turned around and rode back to the shop. When I tested the door, sure enough, it was unlocked!! 

It can't be locked from the outside, so I had to unlock the front door, walk through the shop, lock it from the inside and then leave through the front door again. 

I rode home and as I pulled into the garage, I realised that I'd left the cash box behind, so Adoring Husband drove me back to the shop to get it.

I seem to spend a lot of time back tracking these days!

I made an easy dinner of crispy skinned chicken and salad and that was it for me.

It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

I Did a Woopsie

It's been a big day full of learning experiences and fun.

Learning how to use our card reader for transactions, I made a mistake and accidentally gave away $75 worth of purchases. That was a big whoopsie.

We've figured it out now, so there won't be any more mistakes. Ugh.

I've set up my new email for the business ... if you want to contact me for any 'Happy Abode' business, my email is roz@thehappyabode.com

Adoring Husband picked up my photos from the framer and they all look fantastic, so tomorrow, I'll be pricing them and figuring out how and where to display them.

We've received almost all of our stock now and have rearranged some displays to fit everything in while trying to avoid the 'cluttered' look. I think we've done well, though it's always fun rearranging displays, so they'll probably happen often.

There were a lot of customers today. Tourists as well as some locals and also my girls who came for coffee all had a little fun shopping themselves.

The Little Mermaid made an appearance or two. The young girls came in once and bought a button.

I did have a good night's sleep last night, but I am feeling very tired again tonight and it's almost 11pm, so I'm heading to bed right now.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Nite all.

Just Like Christmas

We had boxes and boxes of stock arrive today at the shop ... it was just like Christmas!

The term 'retail therapy' takes on a whole new meaning now.

Every box is full of smaller boxes and in every smaller box is a wonderful surprise!

We each buy stock separately and we both choose items that we would buy for ourselves and have in our own homes if money and space were unlimited. We also both have very different taste, which works out well because we know that our shop will appeal to different people.

I received a box of new snap button coin purses (the owl, the bird cages and the floral on bottom right) ...

... and here is a selection of other stock that came in, but these photos don't include the the stock that arrived right on closing time.

We had lots of tourists in our shop today, with lots of kids in tow. We had two young girls in the shop for most of the day because they love the shop and one of them wants to work for us when she's old enough to work!

The Little Mermaid made an appearance and we even had a few locals who only just found out that we are in existence ... all of whom said they would return when 1. they didn't have their husband in tow 2. after the grandkids go home 3. when they have more time to spend looking around.

All of them said "This is just what Burrum needs"

I get a thrill every time I hear those words and I know that The Motivator feels the same way.

I've been awake since 2.17am. 

I have no idea why I woke up or why I couldn't go back to sleep, but it's now 8pm and I'm feeling very very weary, so I believe that I will be in bed before 9pm and hopefully will sleep solidly all night.

I'm looking forward to coffee with the girls in the morning. After that we will probably spend the entire day pricing the new stock! Maybe we'll be so busy, we won't have time to price the new stock!

Anyway, that's enough from me.

Nite all.

Halfway There

It started as a lazy Sunday morning and I didn't get out of bed until 11am, which was just divine. I even did a little meditating before I rose, because I could feel my brain starting to work overtime - and I didn't want to think about work today.

I got dressed and Adoring Husband showed me what he had been up to - cleaning out the back bedroom, a lot of which was now in the family room for me to sort through, which I did in a half hearted fashion, after I had cleaned out the fridge.

My next chore was the main toilet and the bathroom.

Adoring Husband went to the fish and chip shop for our lunch, so I was only halfway through the bathroom when he returned with a late lunch. Grilled Barramundi with chips and salad. I made a delicious salad of asian greens, tomato, roasted capsicum, cucumber, mango, avocado, onion and feta cheese. It was perfect.

Once I sat down, it was going to take a miracle to get me back up, which did not occur, so the. bathroom is still not finished and I have a washing machine full of clothes to hang out. I guess my Sunday will have a busy end before bed.

This afternoon when AH decided to have a beer, he asked if I'd like a drink, but there was no vodka and no tonic water so we rummaged through the cupboards and found a small bottle of tequila, and a bottle of grenadine. Luckily there were some oranges in the fridge, so I juiced them and made a Tequila Sunrise!!

Quite enjoyable, but halfway through it, I realised that I had no desire for alcohol, so it seemed like a wasted effort. Ah well.

I've enjoyed sitting on the couch watching a marathon of Batman movies starting with the 1992 movie with Michael Keaton as Batman and followed by the 1995 Batman Forever with Val Kilmer as Batman. I lost interest when the George Clooney Batman started.

Now, I'm wondering how soon I can get to bed tonight so that I can be up bright and early to welcome the holiday crowds into the shop. Ha!

I am happy!

Nite all.

I Wonder?

How long do you think it will take to create a new schedule/routine that is manageable?

I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed and somewhat time poor at the moment.

I have messes to clean up at home. I'm falling behind in my 'to do' list at work. Our work hours are erratic while we establish the business and of course, you can't predict when customers will enter the premises or how long they will stay or how much attention each individual requires or how distracting they will be.

While our shop 'to do' list is a priority, so are our other work commitments, as are our home commitments and our social commitments.

Finding a balance is the trick and that, no doubt, will take time.

We are both looking forward to having Sunday away from the shop, but our day off won't be relaxing because we both have other important chores to attend to.

Just to clarify ... I am definitely NOT complaining! Just trying to figure it all out so that life can run smoothly and stress free. Not just for me, but for Adoring Husband too - especially as we inch closer to his big birthday bash and our attention will need to be shared between our very important guests (being family and beloved friends that we don't get to see very often).

There is much organising and house rearranging to do prior to the big event! Slowly but surely ... small steps.

The work day, today,  started with The Motivator planting beautiful flowers in our front garden after she and The Fisher King dug out all the dead plants and grasses last night. While she did that, I vacuumed the shop and put out our signs.

It's the first day of the September school holidays in Queensland and as soon as the doors opened, the shop was busy with holiday makers, some of whom come every year, some of whom grew up in the area and are returning and some of whom are first timers.

There were lots of interesting conversations with our customers about the history of our town, who they went to school with, who they know in the area from the old days and the things they enjoyed doing when the town was much smaller.

Everybody had good things to say about the shop and we had a successful Saturday morning, remaining open until well after 2pm, instead of closing at midday as planned. Quite a few of our customers said that they would return next week.

Luckily we still have stock arriving next week, because if it continues to move at this pace, we will be empty by the end of next week!

Like I always said "I LOVE tourists!" haha

Anyway, it's almost midnight and I need sleep. I intend to enjoy a very lazy and slow start to the day tomorrow.

Nite all.

Neeeeeed Sleeeeep

It's been a big day.

All up, we probably had about 35 - 40 people through the doors. There were early morning sales and names taken for the courses in the afternoon.  Photography and journalling seem to be the most popular at the moment.

The afternoon was spent ... um ... I guess you could say 'networking' 'promoting' 'connecting' with lots of customers who will return next week to foster/nurture our relationship.

The Motivator was out of the shop for the afternoon at an appointment and I was kept busy by the people.

I could hear the alcoholic beverages calling me by the time I got home this afternoon.

We had lots of new stock arrive today and there will be more coming next week, along with more of my photos to display.

It's just like Christmas when the stock arrives! We can never remember everything that we ordered, so as we unpack it, it's always a thrill to see what we've got to display.

We know that 64 people will be checking into holiday rental houses this weekend, so hopefully they are here for the holidays and ready to spend their money in our shop!

I'm off to bed because I neeeeeeed sleeeeeeeep.

Nite all.

A Bit Discombobulated

Both The Motivator and I were feeling a bit discombobulated today and weren't really managing our day very well at all.

I spent the morning negotiating a late (by 9 hours) inclusion of our ad in the local newsletter, but I won't know how successful I was until Monday. It was not a pleasant process and I was left feeling a bit blurgh by the end of it.

Having written a full page story over two days to go with our ad, I had to quickly redesign the ad to fit a smaller space and then negotiate a permanent ad space for future issues.

I phoned a man about some signs and he hasn't bothered to respond, so it's time to research other signage options.

We met with a few customers, a couple of people gave us their names for courses, The Little Mermaid paid us a visit with a friend, The Motivator covered a few chairs, we discussed how to hang my photos and at 3pm Adoring Husband drove me into The Bay to have some new photos printed - but I realised at the last moment that I didn't have the photos on my USB stick as I thought, so I had to spend the entire trip with my laptop open on my lap, desperately searching for the photos, which just so happened to be on my OTHER laptop.

Sigh.

Luckily, I was able to access some different photos to print, in place of the ones I wanted.

Tonight I've searched both laptops and put a lot of my photos onto the USB stick so that in future, I will have all of my photos in one place for when I need to print.

We didn't spend much time in The Bay. AH ran some errands while I was organising my photos and he will drive into town tomorrow to pick up the prints and take them to the framer for mat boards.

We had to get home so that AH could go to SES training, which meant that we still didn't get everything on my list. I guess the door mat can wait til our next trip into The Bay.

Right now, it's gone past 11pm, so I'm off to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be amazing and there will be no discombobulation!

Nite all.

An Oily Day

Sadly, our favourite holiday makers have left town.

I guess it's time for the next influx as the school holidays begin next week!

We are running low on stock, so hopefully all of the lovely things that we ordered last week will be here by next week, otherwise people will be very disappointed when they walk into the shop.

We had another good day today with a steady flow of friends and customers through the door.

The Motivator spent a few hours in The Bay organising paint for the training room and buying up on some more stock items.

I had a visit from the wonderful Sex Therapist and her husband the Lab Man. I haven't seen them for about 3 years, so I felt quite emotional when I saw them walking towards the shop. We spent a bit over an hour sitting in our lounge area, catching up on all of our news.

By then, Stephanie, the LeReve lady arrived and it was time to rearrange things to fit her products,  make room for our guests and prepare some nibbles.

The party started about 30 minutes later than planned due to a couple of late comers, but it was a success and we made a couple of bookings for more parties.

With all of that action today, we didn't leave the shop until around 5.30pm.

I brought home the nibbles that didn't get eaten and Adoring Husband ate a plate full of carrot sticks, green beans, celery, capsicum and cucumber, little blocks of cheese, rice crackers and a big bowl of freshly made guacamole for dinner! Very healthy, but very lazy on my behalf haha.

Currently, my mission in life is to remember to take photos of all the activity that happens in the shop - but so far, the only event that I've remembered to photograph is our launch party. I've really got to get my act together.

I think another good idea is to ask our customers to let me take their photo with their purchases, to post onto our Facebook page and then at the end of the month, draw one of their names to win a $10 voucher for the shop.

I still have so much to do. My 'to do' list has only had one item ticked off this week!

Busy Busy Busy.

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Drinking

I need to drink more water.

I haven't been drinking enough since we opened the shop.

My big plan for this morning was to go to work early and have some time to vacuum the floors and get some work done - design and order our signs, write the story for the next newsletter etc.

My big plan was thwarted at about 2.30am.

I was woken by the effects of raw chocolate (very similar to caffeine) and it kept me awake until almost 4am. Then, just as I was dozing off, the dogs decided they'd like to go outside for a toilet break. THAT was annoying.

I was asleep soon after 4.20am .

Adoring Husband's alarm woke me at 4.45am ... because he had trouble turning it off ... so it went on and on and on.

I fell back to sleep and woke at 7.10am.

My morning consisted solely of Adoring Husband huffing and puffing all over the house desperately searching for his glasses and then for a set of keys. Totally destroyed my morning and stressed me to the max. I'm relating this story in the blog for everyone to read so that he feels guilty ... just so you know. Haha.

By the time I got to work, just a little bit late, I was not at all in the right frame of mind to do anything and I was annoyed that I didn't get to work early to do all the things on my big plan.

Luckily for me, it was coffee morning with the girls, so even though the numbers were low, I got to spend a lovely hour and a bit giggling and chatting and enjoying the company of some of my favourite people in the lounge area of the shop.

We met some new customers today and had our first big burley man buy a secret gift for his partner, which was just a little bit nice.

Our treatment room got a workout. The Motivator covered a chair (very well I might add). I wrote the story for the newsletter. We ordered more stock. We had a meeting. We left work at about 4pm.

I'm going to try again for an early start tomorrow, to do all the things in my big plan from today.

Tomorrow at 2pm we are having a LeReve Fragrance and Essential Oil party. So I need to bring nibbles and I'm looking forward to seeing Best Cousin in the World and have her see what we've done with the shop since she was last here.

Right now, it's almost 9.30pm and that's about my time to go to bed.

Nite all.

Up and Away!

An amazing day at The Happy Abode today.

Many holiday makers who are returning home this week came in to spend all of their money before they leave lol - of course we were very appreciative!

Business owners who attended our launch on Sunday afternoon, came in this morning and also spent their money!

We received such good feedback from everyone, via phone calls and with personal visits, about how much they love the shop, it's energy and atmosphere and about our launch party. Every day gets better and better.

This weeks priority is finishing the design of our signs and ordering them. Writing up our story for the next newsletter. I also have to follow up getting us into 'The Independent' newspaper. THEN I have to design the photography course.

The Motivator and I held a GSD meeting on the beach this morning before work and wrote out a list of our priorities for the week, but then we got to work and were flat out with customers until lunch time!

Our GSD lists will be slow going at this rate.

Adoring Husband and I had a meeting at the Bowls Club this afternoon to discuss the menu for his 60th birthday bash in October. We left the shop at 3.10pm and were back at the shop by 3.35pm. That's how quick and easy our meeting was. We got exactly what we wanted for an excellent price, so we're all set.

The other big deal today, was a huge bushfire on the outskirts of town. The roads were closed and 40 homes were evacuated while 16 fire crews fought the fires and back burned to stop it from spreading. It was very scary for a while, but luckily, no homes or lives were lost.

This is how close it got to some homes ...

The fires are still burning, but the SES is no longer required because the fire fighters have moved on up the road.

I had big plans to be in bed by 9.30pm tonight, but AH was out supporting the fieries, and only got home at 9.30pm so I made him some dinner and now we realise how late it is and both need to climb into bed.

So it's good night from me!

Nite all.

Happiness at The Happy Abode

I love my friends.

Lady Lynn, Reality TV Queen, Old Speckled Hen, The Whinging Pom and Maid Marian are always here to support me during my highest and lowest moments. They make me feel warm and fuzzy and I know that they don't all read this blog, but to those of you who do ... thank you so much for being with me today. I can't tell you what it means to me. I love you all.

Others like Rebel Mardi, Tweedle Dee, Woman of Many Talents and The Blonde Bombshell were not able to be here because of other commitments, but you were all sorely missed.

It was nice to meet some new people, including a couple of new customers who we invited during the week. Other business owners came along to support us, which was a lovely surprise.

We even made some sales, including five of my photos!! That was the last thing that I expected and was completely blown away by the enthusiasm and positive comments about my work.

Today was definitely good for my ego.

The best part was sharing the love with my Biz Partner, The Motivator, and with Adoring Husband and the Fisher King.

I honestly feel on top of the world and I know the our future will be bright and successful because we fill our shop with love and we love what we do. It's a no brainer really!

Five others expressed an interest in the photography courses too! That could just give me the numbers to get started ... now to get that training room up to scratch!

Anyway, here are a few pics of the day. We even had a lucky door prize, which was a $50 voucher to spend in our shop :)

Now, I am absolutely exhausted and need to sleep!

Nite all.

Counting Down

By the time you read this, it will be LAUNCH DAY!

We opened the shop this morning at 9am.

The Motivator created a gazillion 'The Happy Abode' signs and stapled them to every upright post in town. She created an A-Frame sign to position at our shop driveway and having done that, she created a trail of signs for people to follow.

It was like a humane rat trap! Haha!

Our customer numbers rose considerably for the day.

We also have the young lady who works at the bakery to thank, because she came for a quick visit after I handed her the invitation to our launch party and then returned to work and told every female customer to visit our lovely shop!

I locked the door at midday and The Motivator and I spent some time tidying up and rearranging displays in preparation for the launch.

At some point The Motivator unlocked the door to go outside for something and forgot to lock it when she returned. A couple of ladies made their way through the doors asking if we were open, and we told them that we weren't but they were welcome to come in for a look.

They spent a LOT of money while they were there and declared that they would be back before the end of their holiday.

I guess that now I am a business owner, I have to change my tune and declare my love for tourists instead of complaining about them. We will be relying on them to keep our business operating successfully throughout the year.

Anyway, I have much to do tomorrow in preparation for the launch party, as well as catching up on some housework and some washing. I have no idea what I'm going to wear! So that will take a good hour of the day!

Right now, it's 11.30pm and I need to get some sleep.

I'll see some of you today for champagne and nibbles!

Nite all.

Wonderful People

The world is full of wonderful people.

Each of those wonderful people has a story to tell.

I wish I could sit every one of them down and write or record their stories, because most of them are truly inspiring. Many of them have overcome real adversity. Many of them have really stepped up to the plate and created something wonderful from dire situations.

It's really interesting how different people deal with similar situations. Some educate themselves and become empowered enough to make strong decisions that bring positive change to their lives so that their futures look brighter.

Others feel defeated, stick with their limiting beliefs, give up,  and their lives become stagnant while they wait their situation out, and most of the time, nothing good comes from that.

It makes you wonder.

We have only been open for two weeks, but our shop has attracted many new people through the doors and some of those people share their stories. There have been some 'wow' moments.

Not only are we working in a lovely space, but we are meeting amazing new people every day!

I love it.

We still have much to do.

We hope to at least make a start on covering the training room chairs tomorrow. Even to cover one or two will be a start.

But then ... wouldn't it be great if we were so busy serving customers, that there is no time to cover chairs ha!

Our launch party is on Sunday afternoon between 4pm and 6pm. We have lots of champagne and plenty of nibbly food to keep everybody happy. There will be music (not live) and lots of happy, smiling faces. I'm looking forward to it.

I MUST remember to take my camera!

Anyway, it's approaching 11pm and I have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning. I have to meet someone at the markets at around 7am and then deliver some invitations, as well as post some signs around to attract the market goers to our shop.

So, until tomorrow ...

Nite all.

Brain Explosions

Why does everything take so long?

Every process has itself, a process that requires approval, which in turn requires time.

We applied for our business bank account on 25th August. It took more than a week for them to send us all the information/paperwork required to access our online account, even though they told us it would be ready by the following Monday.

Once we finally had that organised, we linked our card reader to our devices, so that we could have eftpos and credit card facilities for our customers, only to discover that it will take ANOTHER week for the bank account to be linked to the card reader!

Seriously, in this day and age! It's crazy!

Despite these frustrations, life is still happy at The Happy Abode :)

We had yet more happy visitors today, including the manic Little Mermaid.

Our brains hurt from trying to GSD and at the end of the day, we drove into The Bay to buy food and alcohol for our launch party on Sunday.

Now my brain is hurting from trying to organise a private event on Facebook where I can invite only special people to our launch party on Sunday .. it's just not working for me, so I'm going to take a break, get a good night's sleep and try again tomorrow.

Oh, Adoring Husband drove into The Bay today and picked up my photos from the framer who put matt boards on them all. They look fantastic and I have a couple of favourites that I was very surprised about, so I can't wait to hang them properly in the shop - that might take a few more days yet.

Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Doing It

So, suddenly our launch party is only four sleeps away!

The last hour of the day at work was used to plan the launch, with an invitation list, a food and drink list, a shopping list, designing the invitation and more.

We do our best work under pressure.

There were not as many paying customers today, but the few who visited us were very happy and vibrant. We had a customer return for her third visit and we even had an elderly male pop in and buy a couple of gifts for family. That was a first!

It's after 11pm and I didn't get to sleep until late last night, so I'm feeling a touch weary right about now.

I spent about 90 minutes on the phone this afternoon, chatting for a while with Vegan Chickie and then Chicklet.

I was talking on the landline, and chicklet didn't understand that we can't do 'facetime' so she pressed all the right buttons and I had to go running to pic up my mobile so that I could accept her FaceTime request.

She took me into the bedroom and showed me how to play one of her iPad games 'monster legends'.

She took me into the toilet while she peed. That was interesting.

She took me on a 'bit of a tour of the place'.

I took her in to say hello to Poppy Barry.

I took her to say hello to each of the dogs.

I took her outside to say hello to SEB the cockatiel.

We counted the eggs that came out of the chook pen.

After about an hour, it was time for me to cook dinner, so I asked her to take the phone to Mama so that I could say goodbye. She was a bit sad that I had to go ... but this was the photo that Vegan Chickie sent me immediately after I said goodbye ...

I loved that hour with Chicklet. To hear her voice say "It's Bozzy Wozzy!!" and to hear her giggling her cheeky little head off brought me such joy. I miss her. I miss them both. They are too far away.

Nite all.

That Happy Place

Today was amazing.

It was our best day yet as far as sales go.

But for me, today was all about the people.

The morning tea ladies all arrived in fine form and brought with them a happy and positive energy that lingered in the shop all day. After more than an hour of fun and frivolity and laughter, they wandered around the shop, some purchasing some of our wares and all leaving with a flourish!

The Tai Chi ladies arrived and were surprised and amazed at our wares. They spent a lot of time selecting just the right item to suit their personality, but some decided to come back later with friends.

The comment that still echoes in my mind is "This is just the sort of shop that the town needs!", which was uttered quite a few times today, but also ever since we opened the doors. It really tickles my fancy that the locals feel that way and I feel proud of us for being the ones to provide it.

More ladies came and went during the day, one even bringing with her, the outfit that she is wearing to a function this weekend, asking me to choose jewellery and a bag to suit. Oh my goodness! I'm now a stylist!!

There was much discussion about buying Christmas gifts for grandchildren and bringing family to the shop when they visit over the weekend. One lady plans to come in every week to buy a new button for her silver snap ring.

Another lady, who works nearby, dropped in during her lunch hour to buy a new handbag. One of her work mates asked me to hold a turquoise ring so that she can buy it for her daughter. Yet another lady put aside a bag that she wants to buy as a birthday gift for her daughter.

Everybody promised to spread the word and bring their visitors and return whenever they wanted or needed something new.

There was such a lot of positivity all day long and everybody wished us luck as they walked out the door.

I believe that tomorrow will also be a fabulous day.

We have IKEA flat packs to assemble, lights to install and signs to design and order, as well as chairs to begin re-covering - and that's just the beginning.

We are also hoping for a launch party this Sunday. Let's hope it all goes to plan. 

I'm off for an early night.

Nite all.

 

Beautiful Day

Thankfully, I was well enough to go to work this morning.

My nose is no longer running, but dripping occasionally, and is bearable. My sneezing has reduced considerably and I feel less hazy in my head.

I think it's a sign that this bug/virus is a strong one - I calculated that it was September 2011 the last time I caught a virus, so it's 6 yrs, not the 5yrs that I first thought. I'm happy with that record and I think it shows that my immune system is pretty strong.

Catching this virus should strengthen my immunity for the next few seasons.

It was a great day in the shop. There were a number of new customers and a visit by some friends, which is always lovely. It was quite an improvement on our opening day last Monday when we made $4 for the day!

I was even able to do the less enjoyable tasks of vacuuming and dusting, which surprisingly, I did actually enjoy!

Adoring Husband dropped in at lunch time, providing a delicious cold meat and salad. He even washed the dishes afterwards. What a man.

He arrived at the same time as The Little Mermaid, whose head was in a better place today, but it was still good to see her leave lol.

I found some more products that I'd like to put in the shop and registered with the companies to get their catalogues.

I found a fabulous place online to get my calendars printed.

Adoring Husband had a SES meeting tonight, so I didn't have to worry about cooking dinner. He left at 5.30pm and I caught up on some TV shows that I'd recorded.

I can't believe it's already 11pm.

I'm outta here.

Nite all.

Misery Guts

So ...

I have spent the day in bed.

I've used almost an entire box of tissues, sneezed my brains out, consumed litres of water, eaten lots of fruit loaded with VitC, had home made chicken soup, taken probiotics and kefir, had three doses of raw honey and gulped down some magnesium mix.

My nose feels like it might have dried up and cleared somewhat.

This evening, I changed the bedding and had a shower to wash the germs away. I almost feel human again!

I was a little bit productive in my sick bed by finishing the Facebook page for The Happy Abode and creating an Instagram account. I did some online training on 'product launches' which was interesting and researched places that print calendars.

I wasted a good deal of time creating a calendar, only to discover that the price was in US$ which was far more expensive than I expected! Stoopid sick brain!

Anyway, that's all for tonight. I need to sleep the germs away so that I can go to work tomorrow.

Nite all.