Living Life

As I was informed this evening ... my life is completely full!

There simply has not been time for blogging.

I think I've watched about 2 hours of TV in the last 8 days and that was to catch up with The Bachelorette which I had recorded.

Every afternoon and evening is full of cooking and laughing and trivia and games and planning and catching up.

It's both exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

Meanwhile, the shop is powering on and we have a steady flow of new customers on a daily basis. I took delivery of a huge box of new snap jewellery yesterday and it literally took me all day to cross check it and then rearrange stock so that it could all fit in the display cabinets and in the storage drawers.

We are still receiving lots of positive feedback and great support from the town locals, including other business owners.

We've introduced a 'sale table' which has brought great delight to a few customers ... the ones who returned to the shop to buy that purse they admired last week ... and discovered it on the 'sale table'!

We've also introduced a monthly draw. When customers agree to have their photo taken and then allow us to post that photo on our Facebook page, they go into the draw for a $20 voucher for The Happy Abode.

A lovely elderly gentleman won the first draw for October.

The numbers in our Facebook page are slowly increasing, which is also good to see.

We've had some pretty lousy weather which has caused our river to become an ugly brown colour and this is how it looked yesterday...

Strong gusty winds so bad that I really struggled against a head wind while pedalling to work. I almost hopped off the trike and wheeled it!

Later ...

I just had a call from my sister Squirt.

So much for my early night and writing a lengthy blog post ... a 2.5 hour phone call certainly put an end to that! It's now heading towards 1am and I am, once again, exhausted.

Nite all.

Lady's Lunch

Another late night and another short blog post.

I got the day off work today and spent my time on a day trip across the river to Woodgate for lunch at their local pub.

The GF options in the pub were limited and I had a choice of steak and salad or seasoned calamari and salad. It was a small meal and not very satisfying. I had to pay $9.60 for my vodka & tonic too, so I only had one drink.

Here are the only pics that anyone has shared so far ...

Now I am off to bed.

I hope to write a longer post tomorrow with pics from the big bash. Wish me luck!

Nite all.

Absence Makes ...

I must apologise for my absence over the last few days, but life has been pretty full on and the days have been long, with late nights and early mornings.

Some things had to be sacrificed, and unfortunately, one of those things was this blog.

Tonight is not the night that I'm catching up because it's already very late and I have things that need to be done before bed, but I thought I should pop in and let you know that we are all alive and kicking  and that the big birthday bash was a roaring success!!

At some stage over the next few days, I will post photos and tell you all about the few days that were full of family and friends and love and laughter.

For now, here are some photos posted by other people from the party...

We still have Bubbles, Knight in Shining Armour and BGWLBH with us, which is lovely.

The shop has been going incredibly well and we are pretty well prepared for Christmas with lots of stock arriving last week and more coming in this week.

For now, I'm off to finish my chores for the night and then climb into bed.

Have a happy hump day!!

Nite all.

Done Before It's Begun

I am exhausted!

I've used up all my spoons.

But I've got this!

Everything will be ok.

I feel a bit overwhelmed with everything thats happening and everything that needs to happen before the big night, but I've got a pretty good team beside me - especially BGWLBH and The Motivator, who are supporting me in so many ways. I would really struggle without them.

Friday is going to be a killer, trying to tie up all the loose ends and picking up people from the airport and the train station and meeting new people.

For anybody who cares, I won't be at the Bowls Club on Friday night, so I'll see you at the 'DO' on Saturday night.

It's now midnight and I desperately need to sleep!

Nite all.

So It Begins

Well, I met Adoring Husband's 'past' today and it was a very pleasant experience. Trotz and The Boot Scooter were lovely and down to earth and funny and warm and I thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon and evening with them.

In the middle of that visit, we parted ways for a while so that AH and I could drive into The Bay to pick up Vegan Chickie and Chicklet from the airport. They had a very long and very bumpy flight, but arrived safe n sound.

That beautiful bright smile when Chicklet saw me, was priceless, and I'm feeling the love! There's also nothing nicer than a long warm bear hug from Vegan Chickie.

There was quite a bit of water over the road in parts, but luckily it was all safely passable.

BGWLBH had prepared most of the dinner salads by the time we returned home so there was very little preparation required for dinner. AH cooked on the barby and our visitors returned to enjoy an easy casual dinner and we all sat around the dinner table for a few hours sharing stories from our past and present, as well as a few beverages.

After they left, VC, BGWLBH and I sat around chatting some more until we were too exhausted to stay up any longer.

The Motivator and I had a busy morning in the shop and I sold 2 more photos! Amazing!

Anyway, it's almost 1am. I need sleep!

Nite all.

Crazy Rain

More than enough rain for one event!

Will it never end?

Roads are cut. The ground is wet. The river is brown. The winds are blowing. The dogs are even more psychotic. Everyone is stir crazy. It's time to stop now.

If it doesn't stop soon, the flood waters will stop people from reaching us for the big birthday bash!

We discovered one leak in the shop. A slow drip from the ceiling in the kitchen. The other problem is the back door which isn't sealed and water accumulates and flows not only under the door but pours in through the gaps in the side of the door. That needs to be rectified.

There were a few people who braved the weather and came for a visit to the shop. Some paying customers, others just for a sticky beak, but it was a quiet afternoon when the rain really pelted down for well over an hour.

While I was expecting our first visitors to arrive today, nobody actually turned up, which was lucky because the Butcher closed early and I didn't get to buy any food to feed the hoards. I'll need to get in early tomorrow.

While I was at work, BGWLBH spent time in my kitchen to create this ...

It didn't quite look like the cake in the picture, but it sure tasted mighty fine!

We played trivia tonight (again) and I won! Woot! Unfortunately, BGWLBH continues to stay one game ahead of me! There is plenty of time to catch her.

I need to go to bed now. It's after 11pm and my body is aching a bit ... my back is struggling at the moment, but I don't know why. Probably the dining chairs where we play trivia for hours at a time.

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Nite all.

Build an Ark

I haven't checked our rain gauge, but I think we've had about 150mm in 24 hours. Having said that, it is absolutely pelting down as I write this, and it has been for some time, so that number may be rising significantly.

The wind has gusted to 57kph and while I was at work,  the rain was almost horizontally hitting our front windows and blowing our door open into the shop.

On the plus side, the only water damage was under our back door, so none of the leaks from the last rain event happened this time. This indicates that the gutters that were blocked with leaf litter were probably the main culprits for the last problem because they have since been cleared and the leaks have ceased.

Considering the horrendous weather, the shop was busy today! I guess people were sick of being stuck inside because of the rain and decided to get out and have a look at 'the new shop'.

I sold yet another photo today and a 2nd photo was ordered! I am flabbergasted! And kind of chuffed.

That takes my total to sixteen photos in seven weeks! Who'da thunk?

The Motivator and I took some photos of some new stock and decided to post on Facebook that we can gift wrap (for an extra charge) and send gifts around Australia. We've already had 4 sales via the Facebook page, so we figured it would be worth advertising that we can do a little extra.

 

We are hoping that by tomorrow, we will get to use our shop PayPal account. They've made us jump through a few hoops - nothing is a simple process when you have a business. It's enough to drive you bonkers!

It's, once again, rapidly approaching midnight and I need to sleep. The Psychotic dogs kept me awake for half the night last night and I'm hoping they will allow me to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Nite all.

Sleepy Sunday

The weather has been very wet!

So it's been a lazy, sleepy Sunday.

BGWLBH has been binge watching ER while Adoring Husband and I have been watching rubbish TV like 'Love it or List it' and an Aussie movie called 'Not Suitable for Children'.

Lunch was a big bowl of pumpkin soup for BGWLBH and AH, while I made myself a big crab salad with fresh crab, avocado, lettuce, watermelon and onion with fresh coriander and lime juice. It was delicious but too large and unfortunately my body is beginning to react to crab. I think my crab days are almost over. I will push it to the absolute limit, but my limit is frighteningly close.

I suspect that I will be in bed bright and early tonight because doing nothing all day has left me feeling exhausted!

I introduced BGWLBH to spaghetti bolognese with zoodles tonight and it seems that she enjoyed it very much. Tomorrow night will be chicken curry with cauliflower rice.

Monday marks the beginning of a very big week for us.

Vegan Chickie and Chicklet arrive on Wednesday. Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour arrive on Friday and many others will arrive from Friday onwards for the big birthday bash.

This means that I need to get plenty of sleep each night to be at my peak.

It's approaching 9pm and I think I can easily fall asleep if I climb into bed right now. The fact that the Higgins Storm Chasing mob have predicted that a significant rain even will be occurring tonight and tomorrow, means that I'd best sleep while I can because the Psychotic Dogs will get very stressed during the night. Up to 500mm inside 24 hours is very significant and a bit scary to think about.

Nite all.

The Week Has Ended

Thank God it's Sunday!

It's been a big week!

BGWLBH walked me to work this morning, but first, we bought coffee and then headed to the local markets at the hall.

I had commissioned a lady there to make me some drawer handle decorations because I'm going to refurbish our bedside tables and I want to hang these from the handle of the top drawer.

While I was there, I commissioned a gentleman to make two timber jewellery stands with whale tails as the main feature. I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I also bought some led light glass hanging ornaments from his wife.

I almost bought more jewellery from The House Sitter, but I showed restraint.

We bought a few bags of vegetables from a stall before we  returned to The Happy Abode and went our separate ways.

It was a steady morning in the shop and The Motivator invited one of the stall holders from the markets to come to the shop at midday to discuss selling her beautiful products in our shop. This person sells cards, postcards, affirmation cards, mugs and framed art, all of which is made with her own artwork.

I have bought quite a bit of her stuff in the past and still have some of her cards in my stash for when I need birthday or greeting cards. I use one of her notebooks at the shop. I love her work.

As does The Motivator!

So we now have a display of Lisa Hanrahan's products in our shop and this makes us very happy.

I didn't get home until about 2pm. and BGWLBH and I spent quite some time in the kitchen, while she made the most delicious pumpkin soup I've ever tasted and I prepared a roast dinner. Lamb, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, onion, Brussels sprouts and asparagus. I also made gravy.

We played Cards Against Humanity and drank alcoholic beverages before dinner.

BGWLBH discovered our boxed set of the TV series 'ER' so she snatched it and hightailed it into her bedroom to hibernate and binge on about 15 series of ER.

It's now almost 11pm and I think it's time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

 

Friday Frenzy

I thoroughly enjoyed my day all round.

I worked until almost 2pm and during that time, served a number of customers, had some friends come through the doors and a surprise visit by The Lifesaver!! It was a very brief visit, but how lovely to see his smiling face!

Quite a bit of stock arrived this morning. New snap button bracelets and pendants, a few snap button rings and some tree of life snap buttons. I love it when new stock arrives, but today I was surprised to discover that I'd ordered 120 pieces of one item, when I thought I'd ordered 20.  Ugh.  Luckily the items are nice and will sell well!

The Motivator spent a few hours at a business appointment, so when she returned, I left.

I had to book Bubbles' train ticket for her trip from the Sunshine Coast to Burrum Heads next week.

It was around 2.30pm by the time I arrived home.

I received a phone call from Adoring Husband to advise that there were weather alerts in our area showing that we were expecting 150mm of rain every day for three days. That's a LOT of rain!  That's a LOT more than last week when the 200mm of rain fell in 12 hours and caused damage to our shop.

Let's hope that the repairs that have been done so far, are enough to keep our premises safe and clear of water this time.

BGWLBH and I chatted for a while about the shop and the sorts of things that we could sell. She showed me her photos on her laptop, some of which were pretty amazing and then we got ready for the club.

AH decided he was too tired to come tonight. He'd spent the afternoon on the phone co-ordinating different SES groups for the coming weather event and he'd had a late night the night before, so he remained at home and relaxed on the couch.

BGWLBH and I enjoyed just one beverage at the club and then spent the evening losing. I had a win on the pokies, but keno and raffles were not lucky for us. We made it for the first bus home and I'd put a beef casserole in the slow cooker, which was ready by the time we returned.

After dinner, while AH cleaned the kitchen, we set up the trivia game for another round. Tonight was BGWLBH's turn to win.

Now it's well after midnight and I need to leave early in the morning so that I can attend the markets and collect something that I commissioned a lady to make for me, and then get to work.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

She's Here!

So I spent the morning at the shop while The Motivator sewed the covers for the backs of the training room chairs. She has done an amazing job. Doubly amazing because she has never done it before and created the pattern herself and so far, it's all absolutely perfect!

We pulled the covers over the backs of the chairs and then got to staple two of them into position so that they could be sewed, before I had to leave.

I had to leave because BGWLBH was on her way and due to arrive around 2pm. It turned out to be some time after 3pm, which was lucky because I didn't get home until 1.30pm and I wasn't quite ready for her arrival.

The Psychotic Dogs were very excited to see her and made lots of noise. Jack barked and barked (as he does) Ruby ran around in circles smiling and showing all her front teeth. Colli barked and snorted and fought to get through the others for attention.

It was good to see her and a relief to have her arrive safe and sound after such a long journey.

While she suffers a bit of jet lag trying to adjust to our non-daylight savings time, we tried for an early dinner of chicken and salad, enjoying an alcoholic beverage or two and then the standard game of trivia which I'm happy to report I WON!!!  Woot Woot!

Even more satisfying because Adoring Husband had all of his pieces of pie a long time before I did, but he couldn't answer the final question. He landed in the centre many times but we made sure we picked a subject that we knew he would struggle with and he couldn't quite get the final answer to finish us off.

When I landed on the centre the very first time, Adoring Husband chose his favourite subject (Science) for me because he knows that I struggle with it (I also struggle with History and Geography lol), but luckily it was one of the easier Science questions ... I can't even remember what it was now, because I was so excited about winning!

On BGWLBH's last visit I didn't win any games and she won them all, so we're off to a good start. Tonight she just couldn't get a correct answer for the Sports question (that's the orange piece of pie and the one that she is pointing to in the photo) to win her final piece of pie. Sports is her worst subject in trivia.

Go Me!

It's almost 11pm and I'm feeling decidedly weary, so now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Drained

It's been a mentally draining day.

I have fought with the Progress Association, Telstra and The Jillaroo Motor Inn at Glen Innes.

I have worried about BGWLBH being messed around by motels after driving for 9 hours in one day.

I have created a full page ad for the newsletter and a signature for my business email.

I posted the new Happy Abode monthly draw information on the Facebook page.

I cleared some more of the office stuff that I took to the office from home.

I made a 'to do' list of things that I need to do tomorrow before BGWLBH arrives.

I did more, but I'm too drained to think and it's time to go to bed.

Nite all.

Coffee Visits

We started AND ended our work day with visits from coffee ladies.

Of course Tuesday morning is the usual coffee crowd + Molly the dog (despite her owner believing that she is not a dog but is in fact a person!) joined us this morning. The owner being The Blonde Bombshell ...

We had some great laughs this morning and we really enjoyed the company of the girls, but all good things come to an end and after a couple of them satisfied their need for retail therapy, they all said their farewells and went on their merry way.

The Motivator covered some more chairs and created a pattern to cover the backs of the chairs. She also vacuumed the floors and cleared some rubbish from the training room while I ate my late lunch and completed some orders for stock.

I attempted to clear my desk of some of my office 'stuff' that I'd brought from home, which is a hell of job in itself with very little storage room available. I'll get it sorted eventually.

This afternoon while The Motivator was having a phone appointment in the treatment room, and I was just about to walk out the door to head home, Shelly Shirl came peering through the door with a friend, so I invited them into the shop. Shelly Shirl declared that she had another four ladies finishing their coffee at the cafe and could she bring them in too.

Of course I invited them all in and they filled the shop with their laughter and happy chatter, also enjoying some retail therapy!

I didn't leave for home until 5pm!

There was a massive storm heading in our direction this afternoon. I could hear the thunder rumbling as I pedalled home and when I looked at the satellite view on the BOM website, it was a small but nasty looking storm with a black centre.

Reports had come through that a house in Boonaroo lost it's roof in the storm, and the SES were given two warnings to be on alert, so naturally I did my own risk assessment and cleared an area in our walk in robe, filling it with my electronic devices and then sat down to watch the BOM.

Miraculously, as the edge of the storm neared our town, the storm split in two. Part of it moved north and the half that moved over us simply dissipated! It was a fabulous relief and quite the anti climax.

I've just looked at the clock and discovered that it's almost midnight.

How did that happen?

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Wizard of ZZZZzzzzz

I'm off to see that Wizard of ZZZzzzzz

The Motivator and I started our morning by navigating our way past the tree loppers so that we could have our 'start of the week meeting' on the water front.

I don't think either of us have been there on time for a Monday morning meeting, but I was the worst culprit this morning. I got side tracked by the strong smell of smoke along the way, so I had to investigate to make sure there wasn't a house on fire!

There was a metal fire bowl in a front yard that was obviously in use the previous night, and that's where the smell was coming from. Better to be safe than sorry!

Our late meeting meant that we were late to open the shop. It was about 9.15am when we opened the doors.

We spent the day confirming large orders of stock to cover us for Christmas and the holiday period, which was kind of fun.

The Motivator covered the seats of the training room chairs and now we just need to cover the backs.

Adoring Husband took a load of my office paraphernalia to the shop for me, including my iMac. It's annoying packing and unpacking the laptop every day and it was taking me 15 minutes to pack everything up and clear the desk to go home, so the iMac was returned to the shop and I'll use it instead of the laptop.

We enjoyed a nice healthy salad for lunch, chatted with and served some customers, discussed our plans for the coming weeks with visitors and holidays and then I received a phone call from AH asking me to go home and lock the house and get the dogs out of the lounge room.

He'd been called out to deliver the defribulator to help someone and rushed out the door with no time to secure the house or the animals, so The Motivator drove me home to quickly to lock up and then we returned to the shop.

I set up my happy abode email on the iMac and then began packing up my goods to come home.

Luckily AH had prepared himself a good lunch as his main meal for the day, so I didn't have to worry about cooking when I got home. After he left, I made myself a quick salad of salmon, tomato, cucumber, onion and avocado with some of last night's leftover dressing.

Now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Sunday Sad

Well, I started the day well enough.

I was out of bed early (for a Sunday) around 8 o'clock-ish.

A couple of loads of washing and then back into my old office to finish clearing it out. Remember last week when I said I only needed a couple more hours? Ha! I've worked an extra day and I STILL need a couple more hours!

I stopped clearing to make some lunch salads to go with the chicken wings that Adoring Husband had put into the oven.

I made a Kaleslaw, some pickled cucumber slices and a big garden salad with cos lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, red capsicum, mango slices, pear slices, fresh mint and coriander, toasted pine nuts and a home made dressing with chilli, coconut vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and maple syrup.

Even if I say so myself, it was bloody delicious!

Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there.

I spent the afternoon in bed and slept for more than 2 hours.

No idea what was wrong, I just felt weak, my tummy was tender and I felt a bit light headed. I know better than to push through it. I took some time out to care for myself and it worked. I still feel a bit weak, but a good night's sleep will soon fix that.

Luckily I had some casserole in the fridge to heat up for AH and I served it in a bowl with leftover salad on the side.

I had a hand full of nuts for dinner.

Now we're watching The X Factor UK (which is sometimes making me feel sicker lol).

Anyway, enough of this frivolity.

Nite all.

Productivity

Once again, I'm exhausted and ready for bed.

We left the shop at about 1.30pm and I did some grocery shopping so that I could do what I've been planning to do for the last 6 weeks, but haven't!

I planned to grocery shop every Friday so that I could bulk cook on Sunday and have all our meals prepared for the week.

But I kept missing the butcher - until this week!

So this afternoon I've prepared spaghetti bolognese sauce (which we will eat with zoodles instead of pasta), Hainan chicken and a beef casserole. That will help next week when I don't feel like spending time in the kitchen.

Since I made the decision to go into business with The Motivator, my eating habits have gone to pot.

My diet now includes hot chips, potato chips, rice, bread and GF desserts full of sugar, oh and too much coffee!

My energy levels fluctuate ridiculously with so many carbs and sugars going through my system and I'm not sleeping as soundly as I did before.

So I've decided to get back on the Paleo wagon - and I'm announcing it here to make myself accountable.

While my mental and emotional health is thriving in our self-made little slice of heaven, my physical health is slowly sliding downward and I want to feel physically strong and healthy again. I don't like feeling exhausted and unmotivated at the end of the day. It reminds me of when I used to fall asleep in the afternoons while I was playing with Chicklet. I need to feel Paleo fit again so that I can outlast everybody in the day.

I also need to be energised for the road trip next month!!

I'm a bit excited about the road trip.

The remainder of this year is going to be hectic and amazing and fabulous!

I can't wait to see all three of my kids, BGWLBH, my brother and my niece who are all coming for Adoring Husband's 60th birthday bash. Their visits will all be staggered over 3 or 4 weeks and following their departure, BGWLBH and I are off on our road trip, it's going to be epic!

In the meantime, I need to put all of my prepared food into the freezer and head off to bed.

Nite all.

Week's End

Here we are at the end of another great week and I'm feeling very tired.

So it's after 11pm and I'm off to bed.

I had a nice night at the club tonight and won a chook in the early bowler's raffle followed by a bit of a win on the pokies later in the evening.

Our table was light on friends with only 8 of our possible 18+ in attendance and none of us was lucky in the raffles. At the end of the night as we filed outside to catch the bus, we were disappointed to discover that it had left without us!

This meant hanging around for another fifteen minutes until it returned to get us. Not such a bad thing on this mild Spring night with a perfectly delicious breeze blowing in our hair.

I whipped up a quick dinner with a few leftovers that were in the fridge and then watched Graham Norton while I contemplated my possible early night ... until I was reminded that I had promised to iron Adoring Husband's official uniform for his big SES event tomorrow.

So having fulfilled my promise, I am also whipping up a quick blog post so that I can climb into bed and fall into a deep slumber that will hopefully take me through to a bright, early and happy Saturday morning.

Thanks for reading and have a happy Saturday!

Nite all.  

In Love

I am in love.

In love with my workspace.

(and Adoring Husband of course lol)

As far as sales go, it was a very quiet day. As far as visitors go, it was a very busy day! Not only friends, but previous customers came in, just to say hello! Which was really lovely and made the day go very quickly.

Mrs Bucket was the first through the door and it was a good visit with her. We had some real D&M time which was interesting and nice.

Today is pension day for a lot of the town locals, so they head into The Bay to do their grocery shopping. Originally, I thought pension day would be busier in the shop, but it's The Bay that gets busy on this day, not us.

A delivery of stock arrived and it was fun opening the box to see what was inside. I can never remember everything in the order, so it's like Christmas opening the packages.

The man finally arrived to assess the flood damage. It seems we will be getting a new roof, but it'll take 6 weeks to organise and who knows how long to actually replace. It's a big job, but meanwhile, this gentleman says that he will fix the back wall so that water doesn't seep through in the next downpour.

For now, I feel better having discussed the possibility of fixing the problem.

When there was no-one in the shop, I fluffed around and moved some stock, rearranging things here and there.

Tomorrow, I'll order some more snap jewellery. It's so popular, and since it takes 30-60 days for each order to arrive, I need to make sure there will be enough here for Christmas! (Yes, Christmas is less than 12 weeks away!)

Adoring Husband took delivery of some decorations and tablecloths for his Rock and Roll party, so things are looking good so far for the Big Bash.

The Motivator took the day to spend quality time with her niece.

Right now, Adoring Husband, having spent the night on SES duties, is snoring in his chair and the 2009 version of the movie 'Astro Boy' is on Foxtel. As interesting (not) as it is, I need to get some sleep. I've had a mild headache itching to take hold all afternoon and evening. I think a good night's sleep will kick it to the curb.

Nite all.

Almost Dry

All of our carpet, except in the training room, is dry.

The water is obviously still seeping under the wall in the training room because it's not drying at all and it's beginning to smell. Ugh.

Someone was supposed to come inspect and assess today, but they hadn't arrived by the time I left at 4pm. Maybe he arrived after that. I hope so.

The Motivator returned to work with her niece, Ruby Red, in tow, who helped out with a few chores and we asked her to give us her youthful advice on some bags, but she is obviously a different type of teenager to the ones we have visiting our town because she didn't like any of the bags that we normally sell to young women and teenagers!

We had some lovely new customers today and some returning customers as well. It was a good day.

The Motivator left after lunch for a work appointment and I spent a quiet afternoon replacing stock on shelves and making order selections for more stock, as well as sorting through some of the paperwork and office paraphernalia that I brought from home on Tuesday.

Adoring Husband took Colli, one of the psychotic dogs, into the groomers first thing this morning ...

From what I understand, she was quite well behaved and I almost didn't recognise her when AH brought her into the shop to show her off.

A H prepared his own dinner tonight. I'd eaten a big lunch, so I didn't need to eat dinner.

We picked The Blonde Bombshell up from her place and drove to the Bowls Club to meet Tweedle Dee and the Green Thumb for the trivia night. We did incredibly well and came 2nd out of a very large number of teams.

I didn't count them but I think there were about 12 teams tonight. We had one perfect round and came second by three points!

There were a lot of familiar faces there tonight, which made it even more fun and the competition was fierce! We won two of the rounds, which meant we were given a big bag of lollies for each of those rounds - woot woot!

So it's ended up being a late night for us and it's already 11.30pm, so I guess I should sign off and drag Adoring Husband, who is snoring his head off in the lounge chair beside me, into bed.

Having not had any dinner, I'm feeling a bit peckish now. Nothing that a big glass of water won't fix until tomorrow.

Nite all.

Tired Az

I'm a bit exhausted.

I think the drama and worry of the water inundation in the shop has taken its toll.

The dogs waking me up twice for toileting during the night also didn't help.

Nor did the 6 hours clearing the back room yesterday!

I had a shop full of men and women in SES uniforms this morning assessing the damage, checking out the roof and giving me some helpful advice, as well as cleaning out the gutters and talking to the agent in charge of the rental property.

Luckily the forecast storms amounted to nothing, so we didn't have to worry about more damage and there should be a gentleman coming tomorrow to work out what needs to be repaired and hopefully get started on those repairs!

The Motivator returned from Sydney and also came to inspect the damage this afternoon. As she arrived, the Real Estate Agent met her at the door and came in to have a look as well.

Now that I think about it, there was a steady stream of people coming through to inspect the damage all day!

Morning coffee with the girls was lovely, with Mrs Bucket joining us, having arrived yesterday for a few weeks holiday.

There were a lot of customers during the day with more good feedback.

Ted, a local indigenous man, dropped by to ask if we'd be interested in selling his aboriginal artefacts. His work is beautiful and we are strongly considering his offer. We also discussed the idea of having him do workshops and/or talks on aboriginal culture and beliefs. He has lectured at universities and is a very interesting man.

After my fights over the phone, on three different occasions, with 3 different Telstra officers last week, I received a phone call today from the complaints/appeals department. I told him my story and explained why I disagreed with the account AND with the the previous three decisions over my complaint.

This gentleman was far more amiable and prepared to listen and compromise with me. In the end, our bill was almost halved and we are much happier with this outcome.

So my day has been very full and I think I'm pretty much done.

It's an early night for me.

Nite all.

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.