Bored Bored Bored

Adoring Husband is enthusiastic and excited about the Winter Olympics claiming them to be more spectacular than the Summer Olympics (in his view).

Five minutes into the opening ceremony and I am bored out of my brain.

So here I am, writing this post so that I can go to bed. Another early night will do me good.

We had a reasonable day in the shop and The Motivator and I both had some other 'stuff' that we had to do during the quiet moments.

We both left the shop around 3.30pm and I had enough time to sit down in the lounge room for twenty minutes before getting ready for the club.

Adoring Husband chose to not come to the club tonight. He had everything ready in the kitchen for me to prepare dinner quickly - it was Parsee Chicken, which I had cooked last weekend, so he had to put it in a saucepan and heat it up. He had the food processor set up so that I could process the cauliflower for cauliflower/cashew rice which I cooked in the pan with garlic, butter and lemon juice and and then I added lots of delicious coriander.

It was quite delicious and we followed that up with some more strawberry cream pie. There is enough left for us to have a small piece each tomorrow.

I had a very successful night with a big win on the keno which was nice.

Oh, my watch alarm just went off with the message that it was time for me to prepare for bed! I will follow those instructions immediately.

Nite all.

Day of Rest

Because Sunday was my day off, but was NOT a day of rest, I decided to make today my day of rest!

I stayed in bed until about 10am and I only got out of bed because I wanted to go into The Bay to get my hair done.

There was no appointment made and my decision was to wing it. If I got in, excellent, and if I didn't, then so be it.

I was going to do a 'salon crawl' until somebody had an available appointment for me. My first choice of salons was 'Headlines' in Torquay.

I went there a couple of years ago and I liked how they did my hair (even though it wasn't quite as blond as I'd expected), but they were a bit expensive. My hairdresser in Griffith has never charged me more than $100 for half a head of foils, trim, blow dry and straighten. A couple of years ago, 'Headlines' charged me $227 for the same treatment.

Also, my hairdresser in Griffith takes two hours to work his magic. 'Headlines' has taken three hours on both my visits.

Today, 'Headlines' had an opening available for me at exactly the time that I walked in the door and they charged $203 before I walked out the door - and it's still not as blonde as I wanted it. Emma told me that because it had been so long since I'd had my hair done (over a year!) it was a major job just to cover the root growth and that as long as I didn't leave it too long, the next visit would make my hair the blond that I wanted.

Ok. We'll see.

After my salon visit, we did some Go Natural shopping, ran a couple of errands for the shop, did a Bunnings run (ew I know) and then finally a quick stop at Stocklands.

We were home by 4pm and while I packed all of our purchases away, Adoring Husband headed back to the SES shed to make a delivery.

I cooked some barramundi for dinner and served it with a light salad, followed by some strawberry cream pie with coconut ice cream. Yum!

It's only 8.30pm but it feels like it's 10pm so I think I may have an early night - I will take notice of my special alarm tonight!

Nite all.

Trivial Matters

Our team came 4th in the monthly trivia competition tonight.

There were only single points between the top four teams and we were pretty proud of ourselves because none of us felt very brainy when we arrived. We even got two perfect rounds! It was a good night.

It was also a good day at the shop.

The Gypsy was fully booked for the day, but the icing on the cake was when we had closed the shop this afternoon, but forgot to lock the door and two customers walked in to make some good purchases before they returned home from their holiday here.

Thanks ladies!

I spent the day decluttering the main draw of my desk. In the end, I had completely filled my little rubbish bin, filled a bag with books and paperwork to bring home, filled two plastic folders with other paperwork to keep at the shop and filled the draw with about eight big notebooks inside which I have begun writing some of my greatest ideas!

I found two important things that I've been searching for at home for the last four months. One was a PIN number for one of my keycards and the other was my newest SD card for the camera. It was like finding treasure!

It actually took me all day to do that - in between customers and chatting with The Motivator and The Gypsy and gift wrapping customer gifts etc.

It was a bit of a rush home to cook up a quick crispy skin chicken with salad before getting ready for trivia.

Meanwhile, psychotic dog Jack has suddenly started cramping in his legs again! I'm madly rubbing magnesium oil into his feet, legs and ears (because when he stopped having cramps from the last episode, we got slack with that chore) and I'm hoping that the cramps will quickly disappear and I make a promise to the universe to continue massaging him with magnesium oil on a regular basis.

There is no worse sound than a dog screaming in pain and no worse sight than your dog holding his leg at stiff right angles to his body. Ugh.

Adoring Husband had his first experience of Bowen Therapy today for his back - I'll let you know the result. He was told that he may not feel anything different until the next day, but I can already see that there is improvement in his movement.

The odd thing is that he forgot to take the Parkinsons medication before we went out tonight, but his tremor is at this very moment, non existent. He has decided to not take any medication before bed to see how it goes.

I wonder if The Gypsy did some extra tweaks to treat the Parkinsons? She did tell me a few things about how Chinese medicine treats that particular disease, so she may have worked some magic. I wonder.

Anyway, it's approaching midnight - which means that I must have accidentally ignored my alarm when it told me to get ready for bed at 10pm. I'm using my phone alarm to get me into a regular bedtime routine - so far it worked for one night haha. I really must be more vigilant!

Nite all.

Across the Miles

I'm posting very early today because I've received some really sad news and I'm not sure that I'll be in any kind of a mood to do much at all tonight.

My Mother-in-Law from my last relationship has been a lovely friend to me all through the twelve years that I was with 'The Pig Hunter' and for the fifteen years since we separated.

Since my split with her son, we've emailed each other a couple of times each year to share our big news and I always looked forward to our contact.

I have been incredibly lucky with my mothers-in-law from all of my relationships and Dorothy was an amazing, vibrant, strong, intelligent, funny, supportive, kind and generous woman whom I admired very much and who was a very positive influence in the difficult phases of my life.

My fondest memories are of her and I drinking wine, singing and dancing around my kitchen in Griffith while we cooked dinner together. We would sit up for hours at night having deep and meaningful conversations about absolutely everything.

She shared so many of her life stories, of which there were many. There were hilarious and hysterical stories along with the devastating and tragic.

Dorothy was always full of good advice and even though she only visited once every year (she lives in New Zealand), I was always excited when we knew she was coming.

When I separated from her son, she said "Well what took you so long!? I could never figure out what the two of you were doing together!"

After I moved to Sydney and while I was working there, she and Ric were in town very briefly, but she made the effort to contact me and we shared a fantastic lunch together where we knew our time was limited and we babbled on trying to share all our news before we were forced to part company again.

That was the last time I saw her and she was looking and feeling great. She was a beautiful woman inside and out and carried herself with such poise and confidence.

I wish I had a photo of her to put on here, but I'm at work and don't have access to them.

I sent her an email a couple of days ago to tell her about The Happy Abode and what was happening with the family and to let her know how happy my life is here in our community.

Today, I received a reply from her husband to tell me that Dorothy is terminally ill and clinging to life in a hospice near Wanganui.

My heart aches and I wish that I'd had the chance to speak to her before she'd reached this level of illness. I feel on the brink of tears and my energy level has dropped to a low that I've not experienced for quite some time.

I'm just trying to focus on the loving relationship that we shared and I want to celebrate the wonderful woman she was - especially to me.

She will know when she's ready.

I guess that this is my goodbye.

Nite all.

Checking In

Another fantastic meditation class this morning. The Gypsy always presses buttons and provides 'aha' moments every week for me. I love it.

It was a freakishly quiet day in the shop as far as sales went, but we had a lot of people coming in asking questions about The Gypsy - she is fully booked on Wednesday, asking questions about our courses and workshops, asking about our meditation classes and asking us to find and order certain items for them to buy.

The Motivator had a productive day in the shop, while my day didn't feel productive until I arrived home.

This is what I made as soon as I walked in the door this afternoon...

It's made out of strawberries, nuts & seeds, coconut oil, honey/maple syrup, vanilla extract and a touch of salt. I posted the recipe here two or three years ago (maybe longer) but I think this one tastes better than the one I made back then.

We ate a slice of it after our dinner of spaghetti bolognese with zoodles.

It's now almost 11pm and today I set my phone alarm to tell me when to go to bed. I want to start a habit of going to bed at the same time every night, so I've set the alarm to warn when I have 30 minutes left until bed time. I only have five minutes left until I should be in bed, so I'd best sign off!

Looking forward to coffee with the girls in the morning.

Nite all.

Not So Restful

My day of rest was not so restful this week.

I stayed in bed (my favourite home office) all morning doing my course work and at midday it was time to get up and start the big cook off.

I made 8 meals of spaghetti bolognese sauce, 4 meals of parsee chicken, 2 meals of curried sausages and one meal of ginger, honey and lemon Chicken Maryland. By the time I'd finished all of that, and cleaned up the kitchen, I was too buggered to make the strawberry cream pie - maybe tomorrow.

The next chore on my list was to declutter my shoes. Twenty three pairs of shoes now sit at the door awaiting removal to the nearest charity organisation. More than twenty three pairs remain in my bedroom.

Two loads of washing were hung on the line and a third is waiting to be hung out tomorrow.

I cleared out the top drawer of my bedside table.

Confession time.

The top drawer of my bedside table has not been cleaned out in the ten years that we've been in this house. It was full of old dockets and receipts, tiny little ziplock plastic bags with buttons, price tags off clothing, pamphlets, business cards, notebooks, pegs, paid invoices, coins, odd socks, charm boxes, safety pins, pens, scrunchies, paperclips, book marks, bra strap extenders, mini hair brush, mini lint remover, stiletto tips and more.

It took almost an hour to sort through ten years of accumulated 'stuff' inside one tiny little drawer!

Then I cooked dinner, which was the Maryland chicken with char grilled zucchini, grilled tomato and mushroom & onion seared in butter and the leftover ginger, honey and lemon sauce.

This is what happened during dinner ...

... but I was too exhausted to grab my camera and find a good place to photograph it! So this is from my front door and taken with my phone.

Adoring Husband required his back massage before bed - I'm not sure that it's even helping - and he'll make an appointment with the Dr tomorrow. He'll need x-rays and probably a referral to a specialist. Who knows what lies ahead of us there, but there have been too many days of pain with no respite, so steps need to be taken.

Now I need to go clean the kitchen before heading off to bed.

It's an early start tomorrow morning for our meditation class and we need to clear the room because it's still set up from last week's smart phone and tablet class.

I will definitely require a day off this week!

Nite all.

Forgetful Jones

Yep!

Completely forgot to do a post on Friday night!

You would think something so habitual would be difficult to forget wouldn't you?

Friday and Saturday were both fabulous in the shop, though February is expected to be a touch quiet in comparison to the rest of the year, so we should be knuckling down and getting some important stuff done in preparation for our courses and workshops in March.

Friday night was especially great at the club, because Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver came to town and though our time together was short, there was a sparkle and a twinkle in the air that's been missing for quite some time.

Sadly, Lady Lynn, Beauty and Leggy Blonde were out of town and missed all the fun - and we missed them too.

Rebel Mardi came to visit me in the shop this morning and we had a quality laden thirty minutes together before she had to leave to start her very full day with friends and family.

I miss her very much and it always hits me like a truck whenever I see her smiling eyes in front of me.

The weather has been WET WET WET since the early hours of this morning and it's expected to continue for the remainder of the weekend. Even though we need the rain desperately, I also desperately need to get some washing done!

The best part though, is the drop in temperature. It's currently a blissfully delicious 19C and it only got as high as 22C during the day. People were actually wearing long sleeves!

My plan for Sunday is course work in the morning, a big cook up in the afternoon and in between all of that, getting some washing done.

Included on the cook up menu is 'Strawberry Cream Pie' - Yum.

So you see? You missed nothing by me forgetting to post on Friday night. There is not a lot happening in this neck of the woods and they do say "no news is good news".

Nite all.

Gusty Thursday

Gale force conditions in town today.

Our flags almost flew away and our sign went for a tumble and almost smashed our front window.

The winds possibly kept people away because we had a very light day of customers, which, on the plus side, gave us a chance to catch up with other non-customer related chores.

We had lots of time for D&M chats and laughter and singing and a bit of dancing. We do enjoy a good dance through the shop - especially to our favourite songs "Happy" and "Shake It Off"

We made sure to leave the shop as soon after 3pm as we could because we have lots of plans for self care and study time for our course, which we are loving! It kind of strips you bare emotionally, but the other end of that is full of enthusiasm and motivation and we encourage each other along the way.

I came home and unpacked the groceries, put the ingredients for the chicken broth in the slow cooker and got that started, then sat down for 30 minutes before cooking dinner which was duck breast with stuffed zucchini.

After we cleaned the kitchen, I bottled the kombucha that has been brewing on the kitchen bench for ten days and then started to brew the next batch, which entailed boiling 12 cups of filtered water with a cup of sugar and a knob of ginger, then taking it off the boil and adding the Rooibos teabags to brew until the water cools.

I got three 300ml bottles of kombucha out of this first batch which is a bit sweet, so I've added more water and a bit less sugar to the next one.

My plan for Sunday is to do a cook up so that there are meals to heat up during the week and I won't have to come home and spend too much time in the kitchen. I'd like to cook up some spaghetti bolognese sauce, curried sausages, butter chicken and beef casserole. The spag bol will be served with zoodles and the butter chicken with cauliflower rice.

I'm also looking forward to having some bone broth every morning.

Now I have some study to catch up on, so I'm outta here.

Nite all.

Lucky Day

I had a fabulous morning in bed (my favourite place to work) and spent three hours working on the course material and playing Words With Friends (which is very much like Scrabble).

Eventually, I made myself presentable for the lady's luncheon and Adoring Husband drove me to the Bowls Club at 11am.

I wasn't the first to arrive but the first thing I did was buy myself an alcoholic beverage and check the keno ticket that I'd bought on Friday night. It was a good start to the day with an $80 win!

The pokies captured my attention (as they do) until it was time to enter the dining room. Everybody had already been seated and there was nowhere for me to sit! So I made a noise and called my friends (Tweedle Dee in particular) nasty names, stomped around like a spoiled child wondering which stranger (of which there were many!) I would have to sit with and make small talk - when Tweedle Dee got people at her table to move along and she got me a chair to slot in next to her.

I gave her a big hug and thanked her. I like to spend my lady's luncheons with my friends and not have to be friendly to people I don't know - yes it's one of my many foibles!

The next challenge was finding something GF to eat for lunch. I had one option - it was chicken and salad - which sounds nice and I should have taken a photo, because it was shredded chicken, which tasted very much like processed chicken, certainly NOT roast chicken. The salad was green leaves, 3 slices of cucumber, 3 cherry tomatoes and some red onion. A boiled egg cut in half. No dressing. I guess you can't expect too much for $8, but the crumbed calamari looked damn good!

So, wallowing in my disappointment, I bought myself another drink and headed back to the pokies where I pocketed some more winnings. I have a keno ticket to check when I return to the club on Friday night.

We had a record number of ladies at the luncheon - around 32 were expected - they were very loud and the drunker they got, the louder they got!

When I was ready to go, I called Adoring Husband to pick me up and the plan was for him to take me to The Blonde Bombshell's house for drinks, but his back was giving him hell, so I though I should probably head home and give him some TLC.

After a couple of hours worth of TLC, I jumped on my trike and pedalled to the beach to capture the so-called 'super moon' rising. It was no different to any other full moon really ...

I waited for the eclipse and captured some of it before the heavy cloud cover came to spoil the party.

This is the photo that I took yesterday of the storm across the river ...

Now it's midnight, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

And So It Begins

There was an extra person at morning tea today which gave us a few extra laughs. The JMac is always a bit of fun with her silly sense of humour and today was her first morning tea with us.

Our workshop for smart phones was held today with just one person in attendance. The Motivator was teacher extraordinaire while I manned the shop and the client left after 90 mins feeling happy with new knowledge about using her smart phone.

We had a few happy customers, old and new, come through the doors, and we recommenced our monthly FB 'photo with purchase' draw today - which means one lucky customer will win a $25 voucher on the 24th of each month.

An elderly lady visited with her artwork hoping that we might sell it in the shop. That matter is still under consideration.

We closed the shop right on 3pm, had a bit of a business meeting, discussed where we are up to with the course that we both signed up for and I walked out the door before The Motivator.

There was some heavy rain during the afternoon and just as I left the shop on my trike, there was a short sharp shower, so I sheltered under a shop awning across the road before riding along the river and getting a few good shots of the rain showers as they reached the other side of the river. Those pics are still in camera, but I'll edit them tomorrow at work and hopefully remember to post them here tomorrow night.

I'm excited that Grey's Anatomy starts again on free to air TV tonight, but I don't think I can stay awake to watch it all, so I'll have to record it.

Adoring Husband's back is still sore, however, he was well enough to not wake me to do his work this morning. Tonight, my back is giving me a bit of grief, so we are both in the wars at the moment.

Lady's luncheon tomorrow and I have the day off work to attend. I'm not even sure if there will be anything GF for me to eat because I forgot to ask on Friday night, but I'm pretty sure they'll at least be able to make me a salad.

Anyway, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Back Breaker

We had a nice group for meditation this morning and The Gypsy did a good job of explaining her meditation theories and practices and providing us with tips on how to bring some peace to our own lives.

I loved having Lady Lynn sitting beside me through three guided meditations.

I started the day feeling energised and felt even more energised at the end of the one hour session.

It was a quiet day in the shop with just a few customers coming through the door between heavy showers, but that gave The Motivator and I a chance to catch up with our news and go through some of the course material.

Unfortunately we had a blackout for at least an hour in the afternoon, which made the shop really muggy and hot, but The Motivator and I set up a new display table and moved the other one to make enough room. Now it feels like we need some more stock to fill the gaps!

I left the shop before 3.30pm and rode along the river path on the way home. The town has become quiet again and now it is the quiet season.  

Adoring Husband injured his back this morning as he put the trailer on the car to go mow lawns.

He is in a lot of pain and it's highly likely that I'll be working for him tomorrow morning, and maybe the next few mornings.

He really needs to take better care of himself.

I guess it's time to get into bed. If I have to work at 5.30am I should get some sleep.

Nite all.

Opening up to Goodness

Here I sit, on my day off, in bed working on Denise DT's Manifesting Course and clearing bad money memories that I didn't even realise that I had. Talk about cleansing and invigorating! Just the introduction week is mind blowing - week one doesn't even commence until next week.

As I sit here tapping away at the keyboard, I can hear the TV in the next room where Adoring Husband is watching 'Outlander'.

Over the top of the TV I can hear his grunting and groaning and cursing and moaning.

I sat out there briefly, about thirty minutes ago, and had to leave the room after five minutes.

Here's the thing ...

I believe that everything that you see, hear and feel has an impact on your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual being. Every tiny negative experience in your life affects the energy in and around you.

Whether it be 'real' negative experiences in your own life or dramatic visual experiences on TV (or in a book or a story or on the radio). They all have a negative affect on the mind and body, which remains with you always - sometimes on a deep subconscious level - which you don't even realise.

I also believe that if you don't deal with all that stuff that is being pushed to the recesses, it slowly but surely, over a long period of time, manifests into physical ailments as your body tries to deal with the negativity and the ugliness.

Sometimes it's released in other ways, like the subconscious build up of frustration or anger that you take out on a loved one when something small triggers the negative emotions. Sometimes it takes the form of a headache or the inability to sleep or food cravings or a skin rash. Every tiny bit of negativity weakens your immune system.

It takes a strong conscious effort to surround yourself with love and positivity and to treat yourself with tenderness and care.

With this in mind, I have made changes to my life to avoid negativity where I have the power to do so eg I don't watch any news other than the local news (which mostly tells me about the man who has been donating blood for 50 yrs or the local sports stars who have achieved something nationally or internationally).

I don't watch national or international news - for example - how scared has the entire planet been for the past year, as the media brain washes us with threats of an impending nuclear war because of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un?

What can we do about it? Does knowing of this threat change anything? Do you do anything differently with your day knowing that somebody in another country could press the red button any minute? No - you sit in your lounge chair feeling the fear rising in you as you imagine a major war and how it will affect your loved ones and your future. Needlessly.

I avoid talk back radio with people like John Laws, Ray Hadley or Alan Jones who all incite anger and division within the community and force their opinions upon their listeners, telling anyone who's opinion differs, that they are idiots.

I don't watch movies or TV shows that are filled with graphic violence or horror, or movies that retell a true historic story about wars or murders or natural disasters (I know that it happened - knowing the juicy details will not change anything except make me feel sad/angry/frustrated/depressed) I don't listen to angry aggressive music that attempts to embed itself inside my brain.

I avoid negative people. I avoid angry people. I avoid bigots. I avoid drunks (when they're drunk). I avoid disempowering males. I avoid people who thrive on being 'victims' or thrive on the dramas in life.

When I realised that I had the power to make the choice to avoid all of that and surround myself with positive happy people who want the best for themselves and for me, that's when my life changed for the better. I felt freer and lighter and less anxious or stressed.

Life brings with it, it's own share of challenges and obstacles and burdens for which we have to find a way to deal. We can surround ourselves with love and move forward, dealing with those challenges in the most positive way possible OR we can hold on to the drama that we choose to accept from artificial sources (movies/books/media) and weave it into our real lives so that every challenge seems impossible to overcome and the physical and emotional pain seems unbearable.

If I'm lucky, I reckon that I still have a third of my life left to live. Boy, I've had my fair share of challenges during the other two thirds of it and I can honestly say that I haven't dealt with most of it as well as I could have. Having cleansed as many of the toxins and the negatives out of my life as I can, I want to move forward into my future feeling happy, loved and positive about the possibilities and that means for me ... "Outlander" and it's drama, graphic torturous violence and demeaning disempowering of already powerless people, is off the table!

It's 5.20pm so I'd best get out of bed and cook some dinner!

Nite all.



 





  

Steady Satdee

The Motivator is away for the weekend, so I was alone at the shop today.

My plan was to work on the photography course and fill out a sheet from the Lucky Bee workbooks that I'm studying, but I was so busy that I only sat down for ten minutes all day!

I met some lovely people and some generous husbands, quite a few gift givers and a local who has been here for a long time but I've never laid eyes on her before. Another young woman who will return next week with some friends and without her baby. A couple of visiting daughters of acquaintances and some Australia Day weekend visitors as well.

I took a name for The Motivator's designer course in March.

There was a constant flow of people through the door and I sat down for the first time just before midday.

Adoring Husband was a great help, as usual, and assisted with opening and closing the shop.

We shut the doors at 2pm and I went for a ride along the river with my camera (to no avail) but the town is pretty busy with big groups of out of towners all having loud, musical and physical fun together. The sound of laughter was ringing in my ears during the ride, which was lovely.

AH had cooked up some lunch, so I was able to come home and sit down to watch a few episodes of 'Outlander' with him until I just couldn't stand the torturous graphic horror any longer. It left me grateful that I wasn't born into that era - although AH seems to think that I would have been the healer in the dungeon.

I left the room a couple of times and in the end, AH turned it off and we switched to watching something more demure - "Grease" - much easier on the heart and soul and a nice one for singing along. Although having listened to me for half of the movie, AH might disagree with the singing part!

I think I may have an early night tonight. It was 1am when I got to sleep this morning and 4.30am when I woke - that's not enough sleep to manage a full day effectively. I think it might have been that late cup of tea that I drank!

So I'm off to catch the last thirty minutes of Grease and then I'm outta here!

Nite all.

Best Australia Day EVER

I don't even remember what time I woke up today, but I didn't leave my bed until after 3pm!

I spent the entire day in bed with Denise Duffield-Thomas.

She is a highly successful entrepreneur and I am following her and doing some of her online workshops and courses.  You might remember me talking about her book "Get Rich Lucky Bitch" a few months back.

Denise is pretty special and I have a lot admiration for her and what she has achieved and continues to achieve.

A little while after 3pm I asked Adoring Husband to drive me to the shop so that I could pick up my trike. While I was there, I remembered a few other things that needed to come home, so I kept going back into the shop to bring them out for AH to put in the car.

After my fourth trip inside the shop, AH drove off and I rode home. I took the river path and wished I'd remembered to bring my camera ... for better quality photos than this ...

Not ten minutes after I arrived home, I received a phone call from AJ who works at the real estate office at the front our building. I didn't answer the call because I was about to get in the shower, but she left a message to tell me that she had walked past our shop and the front door was ajar.

OMG I had forgotten to lock the door!

So I asked AH to drive to the shop and lock the door for me.

Ten minutes later I received a phone call from The Motivator. She too had received a call from AJ and she had turned up at the shop not long after AH had been there to lock the doors.

What a debacle!

Thank goodness we live in such a small supportive community. I am very grateful for that.

It was another loser night at the bowls club - the usual suspects winning the big prizes. A friend won a LOT on the poker machines and the badge draw of $1200 went off tonight. Our group left at the usual time, but there was karaoke on tonight.

This is what was waiting for me when I returned home ...

What a champion Adoring Husband is!

I am sitting up in bed as I write this and it's now 11pm so it's time to sleep. I have work tomorrow.

Nite all.

On The Mend

What a dreadful night I experienced on Wednesday night.

Ugh!

I had to take pain killers twice during the night and I can't even remember the last time I took a pain killer. It must be three years or more.

It was about 7.30pm when I climbed into bed and I slept briefly until the pain woke me up. I took a painkiller and slept until about 1am at which time I took another and then slept until 6.30am.

I woke up feeling quite a lot better, though not completely well. At least I was well enough to go to work. There were a couple of times during the day that I wished that I was still in bed, but mostly I managed ok.

We had a lot of people come in for a look at the shop today including a few older men. It has certainly been a week for the men. None of them spent any money, but I'm guessing we've had about ten men enter the shop on their own this week, just for a look.

Our new chairs arrived today. Adoring Husband was kind enough to put them together for us.

The Motivator and I left work soon after 3pm and drove into The Bay where we did some organic grocery shopping and then sat overlooking the water at Enzos for an hour while we sipped on berry smoothies and shared a small bowl of chicken wings.

This was our view...

I returned home to an empty house because AH was on SES duty.

Now it's time for me to hit the hay. It's already after 10.30pm.

Nite all.

The Bus Got Me

Two days of eating prawns and my body decided that it was not at all happy!

I think it might be time to remove all shellfish from my diet. I've pushed the limits as far as I could and now my poor old body is giving me an ultimatum.

It feels like all the nerve endings in my body are exposed and my internal organs are really inflamed.

Feeling so disgusting and struggling to cope with the pain and discomfort, I booked in for a session of Zen Shiatsu with The Gypsy.

She told me, after my first experience with her, that I would feel like I'd been hit by a bus and that my emotions might feel a bit overwhelming while my body adjusted and responded to her treatmen.

I did not experience any ill effects and I felt totally amazing after that initial treatment.

Today, she found lots of pressure points to focus on and applied just enough pressure that I could feel pain, but it was bearable and I could feel it working.

It seems that my spleen and gall bladder are my main problem areas.

At the end of the treatment, she gave me advice on certain breathing techniques, drinking lots of room temperature filtered water and spending the afternoon resting to allow my body to heal and cleanse itself. She showed me how to massage my own problem areas and gave me some gentle stretching exercises to practice.

She offered the same warning as she did previously.

THIS TIME ... the bus got me!

I am aching all over!

After a warm shower, it will be an early night for me and I am going to sleep the discomfort away.

Sheesh. 7.30pm! Who'da thunk?

Nite all.

Enough

It has just ticked on to 9.30pm as I begin to write this post and I am feeling incredibly tired.

I had a shocking start to the day when I woke up and looked at the clock to see that it was 7.02am and the very important webinar that I had signed up for was due to start at 7am!!

I rushed to the loo, then ran to the lounge room to grab my MacBook and sign into the webinar. By the time I logged in and found the link to take me to the where I needed to be, it was 7.08am. I don't think I missed much, but I was feeling decidedly stressed by the time I got there.

The webinar was supposed to go for one hour but at 8.20am, I realised that I had better begin preparing myself for work, or I wasn't going to make it!

Thank goodness for portable devices. I was able to carry my laptop with me through the house while I figured out what I was going to wear and while I jumped in for a really quick shower and while I applied my make up and while I packed my bags into the basket of my trike.

Finally, I had to log out, pack my laptop away and head off to work (even though the webinar was not finished - but the most important stuff was finished).

It was right on 9am when I pedalled up the driveway at work, feeling very hot and sweaty and stressed!

A couple of the girls arrived for coffee morning before I'd even turned on the lights and thankfully, they helped set out the signs and chairs as we followed the morning routine to open up.

At the same time the air conditioning guy poked his head through the front door to tell us he was here to clean the filters in the air con. We'd received no notice of his visit, so it was an added stress to the morning.

Thankfully, from there, the day progressed on a much more positive note.

We set up our training room for the smart phone and tablet classes (knowing that it was unlikely anyone would turn up due to late advertising and promotion).

A delivery arrived from a new wholesaler so our afternoon was filled with unpacking, checking off, pricing and displaying the new stock - which is always fun.

There was also a steady stream of new customers - mostly locals who had just discovered that we are here - and everyone was in a very happy frame of mind and obviously looking to spend the cash in their purses and wallets.

The day went by so quickly and when I looked at the clock thinking that it was 3.30pm, it was actually almost 4.30pm!

So I need to go to work early tomorrow morning to vacuum all the little crumbly bits of styrofoam that came out of the packaging and to tidy off my desk which just seems to be getting 'out of control messy'.

I'll take some photos of the new stock to post onto the Facebook page too.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to repair our front door A-frame sign which had snapped from being buffeted around in the strong winds every afternoon.

And now, it's 10pm and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Mondayitis

I was awake bright and early this morning.

I was in the middle of a dream where our Happy Abode was in a giant warehouse and had grown to the size of a huge department store, which even included a pet section AND a grassy knoll in the corner of the warehouse where pet owners and their pets congregated to socialise ... although the pets just sat obediently in a line staring at their owners.

In the dream, I was walking through the building showing Jennifer Aniston what her job was going to entail as we hired her as one of our workers (no idea where that came from!). Meanwhile, The Motivator was berating some sales reps who had delivered poor quality products to our store!

All very strange.

It was 5.20am when I opened my eyes, so I jumped out of bed and into the shower to wash my hair before Adoring Husband arrived home from work.

By the time he came home, I had done enough that I could climb back into bed with my coffee and read until I was ready for the next stage of my morning.

Meditation morning at work meant that I had to leave here by 7am to get to work early enough to help The Motivator set up shop ready for our clients to arrive. Unfortunately, even though I had such an early start, I still didn't leave until 7.15am and The Motivator had already prepared everything!

It was another excellent meditation class with The Gypsy and there were two new ladies in our group this morning. I learn something new about myself every Monday morning and I love the 'after effects' of our group sessions.

We had a reasonably quiet, but steady day with customers and The Motivator had to leave just after lunch for an appointment so I was alone in the shop and The Gypsy left a bit earlier than usual because there was no appointment for the last spot of the day.

I feel like I didn't stop all day, but I can't think of a single thing that I did! Oh I did spend quite a bit of time with customers who wanted to buy a gift for somebody special and they couldn't quite decide. In the end, they were happy with their purchases.

It was after 3pm when the last customer left and that was when Adoring Husband walked in the door with a coffee in hand.  He helped close up the shop and took something to the Post Office for me and I was able to take my time riding home by visiting the beach and riding along the river path.

It's very quiet in town now, with all the tourists just about gone so it's peaceful around the water. Just a couple of weeks ago, the river bank was lined with people holding fishing rods, with groups of families picnicking or playing or swimming or boating or kayaking or paddle boarding or walking or any number of other activities. A couple of weeks ago, riding along the river path was slow going as I navigated my way through and around the hoards.

Today, the only person I passed on the path was a man on a mobility cart coming in the opposite direction.

As a resident, I love it when the holiday season is over. As a business owner, I am torn because the holiday makers are the icing on our cake.

Before I prepared dinner this afternoon, AH and I watched the second episode of the first season of 'Outlander' and we are really getting into it now.

Anyway, it's rapidly approaching 10pm and my early morning rises mean that I am getting tired earlier at night. I think I'm forming a new routine! It won't be long and I'll be awake early enough to catch the sunrise with my camera!

Enough of this frivolity.

Nite all.

Day of Rest?

That's funny.

Usually I take full advantage of Sunday as my day of rest, but today was different.

I was feeling somewhat motivated to get some 'stuff' done.

It was a slow start to the day and I stayed in bed reading until 9.30 am, but this is how my day went once I got out of bed:

• stripped our bed
• washed six loads of washing
• unpegged five loads of washing, folded it and put it away
• moved some of Adoring Husband's shirts from the back room to his wardrobe
• found and emptied a washing basket full of handbags so that I could use it to empty the linen cupboard
• emptied the linen cupboard
• filled half a sulo bin full of culled hand towels, bedding, table cloths, cushion covers, table runners, place mats etc etc
• rearranged everything else back into the linen cupboard
• remade the bed
• made lunch, including a berry smoothie (yum)
• made a kombucha
• sorted through and culled some of my old jewellery
• fed my sour dough starter
• cleared a few things out of the fridge
• ironed a few items of clothing
• made gravy for the roast dinner that Adoring Husband cooked in the barbecue on the rotisserie
• watched the first episode of the first series of 'Outlander' (thinking of you Rebel Mardi)
• now sitting in front of the television to watch Nick Kyrgios play his tennis match
• looking at my house, you wouldn't even know that I had been busy all day 

I hope that Kyrgios wins quickly tonight so that I can have an early night. It's going to be a big week!

Have a fabulous week!

Nite all.    

Weekend is Here

The fourth season of Grace and Frankie is here!

I REALLY wanted to binge watch it last night, but I knew that I had to work this morning, so I did the sensible and practical thing and went to bed with the intention of binge watching it this afternoon.

Firstly, as soon as I arrived home, Adoring Husband and I watched the movie "Ten Things I Hate About You" with Heath Ledger - Foxtel is having a marathon of Heath Ledger movies at the moment.  THEN we switched to Netflix and have been watching Grace and Frankie ever since. We are up to episode seven.

So there is not much other news to share about today.

We had a steady day at the shop. There are still a few holiday makers around - thank goodness.

The Motivator and I had a good time between customers and we actually left the shop and headed home before 1.30pm.

AH cooked up some chicken wings for lunch and I did a corned beef and cabbage dinner.

I'm not sure whether I am capable of staying awake to finish watching all the episodes, but they'll still be there tomorrow!

We have a big cleaning day planned for tomorrow, so I need all the energy I can get.

I'm pretty sure it will be an early night for me.

Happy Sunday everybody!

Nite all.

Busy and Important

Today was much busier in the shop.

There was a constant flow of customers through the door while we had to unpack, check off, price and display the new stock that arrived yesterday.

We had a visitor in the from of an elderly lady who I'll call Pocket Rocket. She isn't well and where she lives is a little isolated so she is quite lonely. This is her third visit to the shop and we hope that she feels comfortable enough to come back as often as she wants.

Adoring Husband picked up the new car today and stopped at the shop to show me. It's the latest edition of the car that we had (Outlander) and it has lots of new features that the old car didn't have, so AH is having fun reading the manual and checking out each feature as he finds it.

After he and Pocket Rocket left the shop, we cleaned up the mess from unpacking the stock and vacuumed the floors. The Motivator watered our garden and then we closed for the day.

It was busy enough that the day flew by and I left the shop not long after 3pm.

The group at the club tonight was a bit light on with a couple of people away and Lady Lynn at home sick. Get well soon lovely lady and if you need anything, let me know xo

I was a winner tonight, winning a leg of lamb in the raffle.

Now it's almost 11.30pm and having watched Nick Kyrgios win his tennis match against Tsonga, I can go to bed feeling pleased with the day.

Nite all.

Up and Down

A very quiet day in the shop.

It was a blessing in disguise because we both had so much to do behind the scenes, and we were able to do it uninterrupted and without pressure.

I left work at 1pm so that Adoring Husband and I could drive into The Bay and run some errands.

Just before I left, three boxes of stock were delivered to the shop (there should have been four, so we hope that it will arrive tomorrow), and I was disappointed not to get a chance to open the boxes to remind myself of what we'd purchased, but I couldn't ruin the plan.

AH and I originally thought that we'd have take our old car to the car yard so that they could do whatever has to be done before passing the new car to us, but as it turned out, that will happen on Friday, so today we were able to get a lot done in a short amount of time.

I printed a customer's photo (from the private photo shoot last week) ready for him to pick up tomorrow morning. I ordered 200 prints of our Happy Abode postcards which will be ready for Adoring Husband to pick up tomorrow.

I spent too much money at Office Works. I've always thought that Office Works had bargain prices, but after I'd bought some necessities there today, I discovered the same products somewhere else for less than half the price that I'd paid for them, so I was not very impressed.

It's a good lesson for me to shop around and do some research in future.

Thankfully, I did shop around for some clear cellophane. It's amazing the wide variety of prices for the different sized packages of clear cellophane! I found the best bargain at Heaps Discounts in Stocklands, which was the fifth place that I'd looked.

Before we left Stocklands, we sat down to enjoy a coffee at The Coffee Club. That was a very pleasant end to our day.

We drove home, but stopped at the shop on the way to drop off some of our purchases. The Motivator was still at work and it was after 5pm. I was happy to see the delivered boxes still unopened in the back, so we'll have fun tomorrow opening them together.

We had to rush home because AH had SES duties and had to leave almost immediately.

I've made a big salsa salad for his dinner and some salmon steaks to accompany it. I ate some fresh tiger prawns with my salad.

I'm hoping to get an early night tonight, because I had broken sleep last night and I awoke feeling tired. Tomorrow, I want to wake feeling energised!

Nite all.

Full On

Yes, today was full on.

Lots of customers. Bookings for treatments with The Gypsy. With the roof in the process of being replaced, SO MUCH NOISE! Rearranging the jewellery displays. Visiting a prospective supplier and selecting some items for the shop. Ordering online from a new supplier. Repackaging some jewellery items for display on the table. It was a big day.

The Gypsy gifted me a scobie for making kombucha and a 'starter mix' to make real sour dough bread, which, because of the natural fermentation process, is supposed to remove the gluten and make it safe for celiacs and gluten intolerance.

I'm excited to get started on both of those, but they have to wait until tomorrow when I can get the remaining ingredients while I'm in The Bay. I need some unbleached flour for the sour dough and some organic raw sugar for the kombucha.

The Gypsy also gave us some dried celery leaf in a ziplock bag and has offered us a number of herbs that she grows in her garden - all organic of course. I'm feeling healthier already!

It was 5.30pm by the time I arrived home this afternoon and luckily for me, Adoring Husband had roasted some chicken wings and all I had to do was make up a salsa salad with mango, watermelon, cucumber, onion, baby spinach, rocket, mint, coriander, the last little bit of feta cheese crumbled over the top and then dressed with ACV. It was delicious.

This evening I've done two loads of washing and brought in the load that I hung out this morning, folded it all and put it away - such a boring, time consuming chore.

I watched a 30 minute video on manifesting in business and life, cleared some emails (so many to get through) and I almost created my vision board, but the tennis won out in the end.

It's now after 11.30pm and I'm feeling exhausted - again - so I'm off to bed. It will be another early start tomorrow.

Nite all.

Thanks for Nothing

The world of business is competitive.

It seems that we have inspired people to compete with us in our field. One local business owner has changed her line of stock, which puts her in direct competition with us and has completely changed the original focus of her business which has been in existence for years.

Another has just started a new business that directly competes with our most popular range of stock. This one hurts the most because we have supported her and held her art work in our shop, promoting her and selling her wares.

Competition is always a good thing, and it will make us work harder to get it right and keep it real for our loyal customers. It will also make us a little more wary of the people with whom we do business in the future.

You live and you learn and hopefully the lessons along the way don't hurt too much!

I will RELEASE the initial negativity that has swamped me this evening.

I will wish her well and send love and acceptance her way.

Everything happens for a reason.

I will move on and only focus on my own destiny.

I will fill my world with love and light.

Meanwhile, we had a quiet sales day in The Happy Abode, but a productive day with business appointments, business planning and rearranging stock.

Now that we get to spend some quality time together, The Motivator and I can focus on the business and make some solid plans about how we are going to grow and improve and get our name 'out there'.

We have some exciting times ahead if we get this right.

But first, I have to clear my desk!

I spent the day dumping onto my desk, anything that I wasn't sure what to do with, and now it looks like a disaster area.

An early start tomorrow should get it cleared and ready for hard work for the remainder of the day.

I arrived home so late and so tired today, that Adoring Husband suggested take away! I had a GF steak sandwich which was delicious and very light. Then he made me a cup of tea, which was lovely.

I think it's time for bed!

Nite all.

Remembering

First of all ... Happy Birthday to Number One Son!

I took a video of myself singing happy birthday to him and sent it - which I won't share with you because it's quite embarrassing.

I had the day off work today and drove into The Bay with Adoring Husband to pick up some supplies for our Vision Board Workshop, which was a lot of fun because it meant visiting my favourite shop 'Office Works'!

We did an Aldi shop. They had a lot of school supplies on sale there too, so I was able to stock up on some folders and felt tip pens and other such fun stuff.

Go Natural took some of our money for some healthful items of my choosing. After watching a seminar on gut health, it was recommended that Slippery Elm, Aloe Vera, probiotics and fermented foods should be included in a diet full of whole colourful natural foods to help heal any gut issues.

It doesn't take much these days to flare up my gut issues. Every so often I have a slip up and feed on sugar - very bad move - or on carbs like potato, rice & bread (which the body converts to sugar) - also a very bad move. These are the foods that cause inflammation in my gut and digestive tract. These are the foods that cause discomfort and pain. It takes a couple of weeks for my insides to settle and then it takes extra help to heal the damage.

Of late, and over Christmas/New Year, I have been particularly bad with these foods. The pain has been 'almost' unbearable causing disturbed sleep and difficulty in focussing even on conversations. Sometimes it's difficult to even find a comfortable sitting position.

So I've decided to get serious and take better care of my health. I don't know why I felt the need to punish myself that way, but it stops today. I have all the healing tools in my kitchen and I'm going to hit the peak of health again soon!

We stopped in at Tinkerbells, on the Esplanade across the road from Enzos, to check out their selenite lamps which they have on sale ...

I fell in love and bought it. Selenite is good for cleansing and clearing the negative emissions that come from technology and in a business should be kept near the cash register to clear the way for incoming prosperity.

While I was there, I found the most amazing and beautiful large circular pendant of turquoise. For the entire time that I was in the shop, my eye kept being drawn to the pendant until eventually I had to ask how much it was and if I could get a closer look. Once it was in my hands, I couldn't bear to part with it. I put it on lay-by. It's going to take a while to pay off, but it will be worth it. It almost looks like our Happy Abode logo!

Just as we were about to return home, I decided to stop in at Stocklands so that I could get a pedicure. It's been more than three months since I had my last pedicure - I got sparkly red nail polish for Adoring Husband's big bash birthday party back then. My feet have been looking pretty terrible the last few weeks.

Now they look fresh and clean. I chose to have clear polish this time - I prefer shiny clear nails to colours.

We stopped at The Happy Abode on the way home to drop off the new white board for the training room. The Motivator was still there working hard and we caught up with each other's news, of which, surprisingly, there was a lot!

It's been a pretty big day and I STILL didn't get my chores at home done!  

Does anyone remember Val? The very elderly lady who played piano at Zabe coffee shop in Tewantin? The first time I saw her play, I went next door to the florist and bought a Gerbera to present to her with thanks for her beautiful music. This may trigger your memory ...

There was a notice on the Zabe Facebook page today that Val had passed away. She lived a full and honourable life with music at the very heart of it. She will be missed.

Rest in Peace Val.

Nite all.

Sleepy Brain

I stayed in bed until after 2pm today!

Not sleeping.

Even though I woke at 6.30am, I spent all of my time in bed watching business development videos as well as some motivational videos of Oprah (she's pretty amazing). I also caught up on some Denise Duffield Thomas manifesting exercises.

I decided that I should probably make an entrance into the living room and join Adoring Husband for part of the day.

I prepared dinner nice and early and set it aside for later while Adoring Husband and I watched a DVD from our collection. "A Knight's Tale' with Heath Ledger. It was a good movie.

Surprisingly, it's just 8.30pm and I'm feeling incredibly tired!

I think I over used my brain this morning and it just can't take in any more information or give OUT any for that matter.

All the things on yesterday's 'to do' list didn't get touched today, so I may have to fill tomorrow with those errands and chores. Nothing like a good dose/case of procrastination to make things not happen lol.

I'll be going in to work early for our Monday morning meditation class before taking the remainder of the day off to GSD.

So for now, I'm off for an early night. My pillow is calling me.

Nite all.

It's HOT!

The weather is ridiculously hot.

Uncomfortable.

Oppressive.

Steamy.

Blurgh.

Tomorrow will be even worse.

Thank goodness for air conditioning.

We had another quiet, but also productive day in the shop and again, it was good to be working together! We make a good team.

I rode directly home, because it was too hot to do anything else.

Ironically, I made a curry for dinner!

It was only Butter Chicken, but it was made from scratch and it was delicious, especially with a generous scattering of fresh coriander on top.

We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before Adoring Husband went to bed.

I then watched 'Mean Girls' - I've never watched the entire movie before and there are a lot of famous actors in it. I had a few aha moments, when I recognised scenes that have been stolen for various TV series over the years. Surprisingly, it's been fourteen years since the movie was made.

Tomorrow is Sunday and will be my first day off in ten days. I also have Monday off. I have quite a bit to catch up on, a few things that I've put off, a few errands to run in The Bay and some chores to do around the house.

So I guess they won't really be days off will they?

It's 11.30pm and feels much later.

I'm done for the day.

Nite all.

Sis Time

There I was, sitting on my couch, watching the movie "Jerry Maguire" (even though, as a rule, I refuse to watch Tom Cruise movies) and about to start writing my blog, when up popped the 'FaceTime' icon and my sister's name!

She has been trying to FaceTime me since Christmas, so it was fabulous to finally come face to face with her looking so relaxed and happy in her new house on Magnetic Island.

We chatted for about an hour - until her phone went completely flat. It was good to catch up.

It was nice to spend the day in the shop with The Motivator. We had a lot of catching up to do and a lot to plan for the next couple of months, including some workshops, courses and some business travel.

Luckily it was a slow day in the shop so we were able to achieve quite a lot. I phoned the people who had expressed interest in our meditation classes and ticked their names off the list, while The Motivator booked our flights and accommodation for Sydney. She also made up some new signs. I posted our vision board information sheet on our Facebook page and started a newsletter for our email list.

I spoke to a few people who are interested in the photography course and had them fill in my questionnaire, but I still have a few more to contact yet.

It was another nice, but losing night at the Club. The same lucky people still winning while the rest of us watch on!

Now, it's after midnight and I need to sleep. I have work tomorrow!

Nite all.

On Leave

Mother Nature is still on leave.

There is nothing to photograph with my new camera. I spent another hour this afternoon pedalling around town looking for subjects - to no avail!

Frustrating.

It was a beautiful sunset this evening, but I was already in my pyjamas so the camera remained in the bag and I remained on the couch!

No dinner tonight because Adoring Husband had SES duty and I wasn't hungry.

It was quite busy in the shop today but mostly with people who were in for a chat and a look around. No big sales but lots of compliments.

I had a photo shoot this afternoon for a customer who wanted a photo of himself wearing all of his finery from  an organisation with which he has been a member for 40 years. His finery was looking all 40 yrs of its life and had certainly seen better days.

I don't, as a rule, do private photo shoots, but this was a special case and only took ten minutes.

The Motivator will be back on board tomorrow and we will begin our 2018 as a team.

Now I'm off to bed.

Tired azzzzz!

Nite all

Old Times

Just like old times, I pedalled back and forth along the river path this afternoon with my new camera.

Before I got to the river path, I spotted some Corella in a pine tree, so I stopped and took my first pic with the camera.

Looking at those pics 'in camera' - I am very impressed and can't wait to see them on a big monitor, but the connection that I need for the camera to the computer is at work, so I can't look at them properly until tomorrow! Ugh!

Other than the Corella, there was absolutely nothing else to photograph.

No birds.

No creatures.

No beautiful light.

No sunset.

Three rides back and forth along the path, looking up into the trees, looking out into the water, looking along the ground.

Nothing.

I sat on a shaded bench seat overlooking the water, hoping that if I waited long enough, something might happen. The only thing that happened was a local came and sat beside me and we chatted for about an hour.

Way off in the distance, out on the water, there was a Tern dive bombing the water over and over again, but it was too far out even for my long lens to capture the action.

It was after 6pm when I finally headed home and as I pulled into our driveway, I noticed a bee buzzing around the Murraya flowers on our front lawn, so I stopped and pulled out the camera.

In the 30 seconds that it took me to get the camera out, the bee disappeared. There were no other bees to be seen either. Disappointed, I packed away the camera and gave up for the day.

Needless to say, it was 7pm by the time I'd finished cooking dinner - unheard of in our household, to be eating so late!

It was a good day at the shop and we had some more happy smiling and laughing customers. Of course, most people are happy when they're on holidays aren't they!?

I love our shop!

It's 9.45pm and I'm off to bed.

Now that I've felt the new camera in my hands, I'm ready to get right back into photography. Hopefully, I can leave earlier tomorrow morning and go for a little trek with the camera before work!

Nite all.

Girl Power

It was a great day in the shop.

It all started with my girls filling the shop with the sound of their chatter and laughter - which I always love!

The last of them left quite late in the morning but that seemed to open the energy flow for lots of customers to walk through the door.

Those customers were all lovely and were in for a chat and a laugh.

I stayed open for an extra hour and the last customer left well after 4pm.

Adoring Husband was there to help me bring everything inside and close the shop - he is honestly a champion and I wonder what the hell I would do without him some days (most days).

On my way home, I pedalled along the river path and came face to face with a beautiful goanna, which, as if on cue, stood on it's hind legs and looked around like it was surveying it's kingdom! Of course, no camera to be found!

I think it's time for me to get into the habit of carrying my camera bag with me again and give my new camera a workout. I'm certain that Mother Nature is calling to me!

I am feeling decidedly tired this evening, so I'm off for an early night.

Have a happy hump day :)

Nite all.

Early Start

It was tough getting out of bed so early this morning!

I arrived at the shop five minutes before the meditation began.

It was obviously too early for the kids who were going to attend the meditation but decided that the comfy spot in our lounge area would help them get the extra sleep they needed ...

Annemarie was fantastic explaining the benefits of meditation and showed us with examples how we can feel the changes in our body through the different elements that we can practice on a daily basis anywhere, anytime.

The session took an hour and we came to the end feeling calm, relaxed and motivated to put into practice what we'd learned.

There was a steady flow of customers through the door today, some just for a look, some to add to their snap button collection and others looking specifically for gifts.

In between customers, I got to work on our ad for the next newsletter as well as gather some more info for the workshops.

Everything is coming along slowly but surely.

This afternoon, our new screen was delivered ...

It makes me smile every time I look at it!

Adoring Husband picked me up early and The Motivator took over at the shop at 2.30pm so that we could drive into The Bay and check out some new cars. The trip in was supposed to be for me to look at the three cars that Adoring Husband had narrowed it down to, but in the end, we made a decision and the paperwork was signed.

On a practical level, I'm very happy with the choice the we made.

By the time we returned home, it was getting late, so we decided to get some grilled fish and chips from the takeaway. While we waited, we walked to the beach. The conditions were equal to gale force on the water, so we decided not to walk along the beach. We stood cuddling and enjoyed the view for a minute before returning to the shop. Just one street away and not a breath of wind!

It's been an easy night and suddenly it's almost 11pm.

You know what that means ... time for bed.

Nite all.

The Reason

I decided to open the shop today (Sunday).

I supposed that the holiday-makers were still around and it might be worth the effort.

I had a back up plan. If the the customers didn't come, I could spend time working on the two courses/workshops that we'll be running very soon.

The courses and workshops got a lot of attention.

At the end of the day, I did meet a new town resident who lives on my street. We seemed to click and spent a lot of time chatting about everything and anything. We got along so well that I invited her to our Tuesday morning coffee so that she could meet some lovely ladies. She has a neurological disorder, so she doesn't get out often because it takes her days to recover. I thought I should offer her a safe option to meet people that wouldn't take too much out of her.

I hope she can make it.

It was after 3pm by the time I got home. Adoring Husband came to the shop to help bring everything inside and we did a small grocery shop before he played the role of 'security' again.

I rode home and took the long way so that I could ride past where my new friend lives. Stalker much??? Nah, just curious lol.

After about thirty minutes of doing a quick tidy up, I spent the afternoon on the couch.

I wasn't hungry but I threw together a quick dinner for Adoring Husband.

Suddenly it's after 11pm and I have to be at the shop at 7.30 tomorrow morning for our first meditation class, so I'd best get to bed!

Nite all.