A Cracker

The Anzac Day service was a cracker ...

In the end, The Motivator and I decided not to open The Happy Abode today.

Instead, we went for a long walk along the beach discussing business, making some future plans and creating a mini roster for ourselves.

At 3.30pm I met The Blonde Bombshell at a specified beach spot so that we could do some 'grounding'. We were there for almost an hour and it was really nice to be 'just us' knee deep and bare foot in water as the tide came in.

She is doing so well, all things considered, and is a miracle on two legs. I look at her and shake my head in awe and admiration.

It is 8pm and I am sitting on the couch trying not to move too much because my body is protesting all the walking and grounding that I forced upon it today!!

Ugh.

I have to learn to do things in small steps when I have been so inactive for so long!

I believe that I will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

It's All About Us!

Happy eighth anniversary to Adoring Husband and I.

We finally got to go on our sunset cruise this evening and it was positively beautiful until it wasn't.

... then the seasickness set in and the final 45 minutes seemed like two hours and all I wanted was to set foot on solid ground and find my equilibrium. I was horrifyingly close to throwing up over the side. Drinking water. Taking deep breaths. Focussing on the horizon. Wishing it was over.

Such relief when we finally made our way through the channel to the marina and stopped the boat.

Prior to the sickness, the captain and his offsider were so wonderful and attentive and interested in us and the other passengers. We talked cameras and discussed the options for his needs and he guided the boat at different angles so that we could get some great sunset shots through the iconic Urangan Pier.

Nature provided an amazing back drop with a massive rain cloud in the distance.

All the while Adoring Husband was in deep conversation with fellow passengers, a couple in their mid eighties, here from Melbourne. They had been out to our town the day before to look at a house, but have decided that they are too old to move. A nice couple.

As we headed back to shore, I could see some lightning behind a mass of cloud out to the west and by the time we were in the car heading home, that storm was moving quickly beside us and putting on a spectacular light show for our benefit.

Our dinner date didn't come to fruition because I was too ill after the cruise, so we cancelled our reservation and came directly home - in time to get the clothes off the line and bring the psychotic dogs onto the storm chair before the storm actually hit.

We were lucky enough to just catch the edge of the storm and it dumped some heavy rain on us for about thirty minutes and quickly disappeared north. Thank goodness because it was looking pretty violent from here.

Now, it's midnight. I'm feeling much better and I need to sleep so that I can be up early enough to act as photographer for the ANZAC march in the morning.

Nite all.

It's All About Me!

Happy Birthday to me!

Thank you Lady Lynn for my very special birthday balloon. I *LOVE* it!!

It's been a lovely day.

I was up bright and early to attend meditation at the shop, followed by a walk along the beach with my camera for about an hour, during which I received a birthday phone call from Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.

I had an appointment with The Gypsy at 10.30am and she gave me some extra time especially because it was my birthday. She worked hard on some of my issues and I felt fabulous at the end of it.

I did some grounding along the beach for about thirty minutes after my appointment and then I returned home so that Adoring Husband could cook me a delicious lunch.

It's been a lazy afternoon - my favourite kind!

I received some beautiful birthday cards from Adoring Husband, The Motivator and The Whinging Pom.

Tomorrow, a parcel from BGWLBH should arrive in the mail - THAT should be fun!

Every phone call I received today began with the caller singing 'Happy Birthday', except for the call from Number One Son who refused to sing even after I told him he was the only one who didn't sing. I called him names. He didn't care. Grrrrrr.

My last call for the day was from Bubbles and both her and Knight in Shining Armour sang the song (take note Number One Son).

I have very much enjoyed my day and The Motivator tells me that she will have a special cake for me at the coffee morning tomorrow. I'm a bit excited about that.

Now it's 10.30pm and I need to get some rest.

Nite all.

Welcome to the Weekend

It was a fun Saturday morning at the shop with both of us on deck.

Lots of customers, not all in a buying mood, but definitely in cheeky, funny and talkative moods. A few from out of town ie Howard, Toogoom, Toowoomba and Childers. It's nice to know that the word about our lovely shop is spreading - even if the locals still don't know we're here!

As I left our house this morning, our neighbour across the road asked if I was 'off for a morning ride'. When I told him I was going to work, he said "Work?"

So I told him about The Happy Abode, and he was totally unaware of it's existence! My neighbour!

He knows about it now and tells me that he will come for a sticky beak some time soon.

The Motivator and I got a lot done today between customers and we both left right on closing time.

My first stop was at Pelican Manor for a family photo shoot. It was a spur of the moment, short notice gathering of many family members and I have to say they were the funniest, happiest group of people  to photograph.

I told them that we had a 30 minute window of opportunity so they were very compliant and moved quickly into each separate group. They were constantly laughing and smiling so the photos were quick and easy.

It took exactly 30 minutes!

I've had a relaxing afternoon and evening with Adoring Husband and I fried up some whiting fillets to have with salad for dinner.

It's now 7.45pm and I'm considering an early bed time. I've had no coffee today, so my body is running on natural energy alone. I must remember to drink LOTS of water while I'm detoxing from caffeine!

Have a fabulous Sunday!

Nite all.

Friendly Friday

It was a nice day at the shop today.

Very quiet in the morning, which meant that I could price and display the stock that arrived on Thursday. The Motivator did a lot of it yesterday and I still haven't finished, so we'll have to clean up the loose ends on Saturday morning.

The afternoon saw quite a few friendly customers, mostly people at the end of their holiday and almost all of them were in for a chat.

I didn't get to close the shop until about 3.15pm but it was worth staying open that little bit longer.

Adoring Husband appeared in his SES uniform just as I was leaving. He had been at a meeting all day in The Bay and came to see if I needed help to close.

Before I rode home, I had to go to the Post Office.

Our group was very light on at the club tonight. Beauty and The Beast were there, as was Grumpy Old Fart and Trivia King. That was it.

I was feeling quite unwell and almost called AH to come pick me up early. I started to feel a little better just before the raffle was drawn, so I stayed for that ... though none of us won a prize.

I had a bit of luck on the pokies.

It was wet and stormy as we left the club and we drove home in the rain. There were also a LOT of mosquitoes and I got eaten alive in the bus.

Of course I had to cook dinner when I got home, which was San Choy Bow made with pork mince. I haven't cooked this dish for about ten years and now that we've had it again, I think it will be a regular weekly meal.

Now I need some sleep. I have to work in the morning which will be followed by a quick family photo shoot on the way home.

It's going to be a big weekend!

Nite all.

 

Big Boost

I had the day off today.

My hair appointment was for 10.30am and I was trying a new hairdresser at my old salon. I'll call her Sely Scissorhands.

After three hours, this was my result ...

... Please excuse the 'selfie' (and I'm in my pyjamas!) but I'm very happy with the outcome and I will definitely return to Sely Scissorhands. She used three different colours for my foils, gave me a trim, blow dried and straightened my hair.

She was easy to chat with and the three hours passed surprisingly fast.

I felt totally boosted!

I left the salon and pedalled to the shop to see The Motivator to show her my hair, have a quick catch-up, check out the new stock that had just arrived - she will be having her day off tomorrow, so we won't catch up again until Saturday.

I did a quick grocery shop and returned home to spend time with Adoring Husband before he left for his SES training night.

It's only 8pm but I feel ready for bed already. I haven't done anything all day, but I feel like I've put in a full day's work! Bizarre.

Ok, I'm done.

Nite all.

Busy and Important

It's been a day and a half!

It all started at 5am when my alarm went off and I had to get up and get myself ready to be picked up at 6.10am for the Chamber of Commerce meeting at Arkarra Gardens.

I was expecting a small crowd and a boring event, but instead I found a HUGE crowd of people and an interesting morning packed to the brim with information and some Mayoral candidates actually worth listening to.

I followed The Motivator around while she networked and made valuable connections with different business owners and other important industry professionals, until we sat down for breakfast, which was enjoyable, followed by Q&A with the candidates.

They were five very different people, each with their own field of expertise and each with their own solid ideas about what they could bring to the table if they were voted into the position. They weren't given very long to answer each question so they had to provide a lot of information in their three minute response, which made for an informative meeting.

At the end, we had the opportunity to mark a ballot paper with our unofficial vote, to give them an indication of how they performed.

I'm really glad that we made the effort to attend because we got our name out there and even received some helpful advice which we will follow through on.

We arrived back at the shop before opening time and had the chance to debrief and discuss how we see our future as far as our involvement with TCOC is concerned.

The remainder of the day was quite slow because it's the usual quiet pension Wednesday where everybody travels into The Bay to do their shopping.

We did take delivery of a box of hemp hats which we'll price and display tomorrow. We should also receive one more delivery of La Vida stock tomorrow, which will be exciting!

After we closed the shop, we had just four hours to kill until we left the house again to attend the Progress Association monthly meeting at the hall.

It was our first meeting of it's kind and it was interesting to watch the dynamics of the members and see the 'power play' at work.

I don't see how they support the current businesses in town, and I know that they have encouraged 'out of area' businesses to compete at our local markets and other events, so they don't really have our best interests at heart.

It would take a lot of convincing for me to become a member or return for another meeting.

It's almost 11.30pm and I'm exhausted!

Tomorrow morning I have a hair appointment, so The Motivator is doing the early shift. I can't believe how quickly this week has flown!

For now, it's bed time.

Nite all.

All Alone

This was my Tuesday morning with the girls ...

... but gosh I got productive in that time!

At 11am, the Whinging Pom arrived with Whispering Jack and a tray of coffee because she knew that nobody had come for our usual coffee get together. I thought that was a lovely gesture!

Of course, everybody had a legitimate reason for not being at The Happy Abode ... not they even need one, because our gatherings are supposed to be fun and frivolity and nobody should ever feel obligated to attend.

It was a nice day at the shop, but it was a hot day outside of the shop! That was the general comment as people came through our doors.

The Motivator had the late shift today, so I got to leave at 1pm, which was nice.

We've decided to share paleo meals with each other. I cooked a spaghetti bolognese sauce to share with her and she cooked butter chicken for us!

I had already planned crumbed fish for dinner tonight, so it will be butter chicken for dinner tomorrow night for us, and I have some broccoli and cauliflower to make brocoflower rice to go with it.

Tonight I coated our snapper fillets with tapioca flour, then dipped them in egg and lemon juice, then coated them in almond meal/salt/lemon zest. I shallow fried them in coconut oil and served them with a garden salad and a wedge of fresh lemon.

Bloody nice!

On Wednesday morning, The Motivator and I have to attend a 'Meet the Mayoral candidates' breakfast at Arkarra Gardens. Under normal circumstance, this might be a pleasant experience, but in this instance, having to get out of bed at 5am to be ready to leave the house at 6am is not a prospect that I'm excited about!

I struggle to be 'nice' to people in the early hours of the morning, so it's going to be a hell of a stretch for me!

This being our first official event in our capacity as local business operators, means that we have to be on our best behaviour - not that it's a problem for The Motivator - but it's going to be a challenge for me! My advice to myself is "Smile and nod. Smile and nod." Ha ha.

It's now 9.30pm and I am already in bed, so it's time to sleep. Must be fresh for my early start in the morning!

Nite all.

The Beginning

It's been a great beginning to the week.

It all started with meditation this morning. More 'aha' moments for me. I learn something new about myself every week. I'm learning how to build on my strengths and work on weaker areas of myself to help bring more love and clarity to my life.

I think we all had some aha moments this morning which made the whole process more enjoyable.

There was a steady flow of customers in the morning and enough quiet time in the afternoon that we got a lot done.

I actually cleared another 3000 emails and only have 700 remaining! That's almost 8000 emails cleared in two days! I will work hard at keeping them under control from here on in.

We got to talk with a special customer who has the most amazing spiritual energy and she always makes us feel good while she's in the shop and even after she leaves.

The day was even better because we got to leave the shop at 3pm. In a business sense, the long days over the holidays were worth it, but they took a lot out of us and we are really happy to be doing the shorter hours again. It feels like we have control of our lives again.

Working from 9am - 5pm every day of the week is crazy. We love the work we do and we love being in our shop, yet working those hours was incredibly draining because there was not enough time in the day to do all the other things that we're responsible for, and no time for self care either.

Luckily for us, travel time is minimal, but people in the city have to travel about an hour each way (I remember it well) and that takes a big chunk out of your day. It takes away from your family, your partner, your social life, the housework, self-care and everything else in your life.

In this situation, we are lucky to have each other.

We take care of ourselves and we take care of each other and make sure we don't get bogged down with unnecessary stuff. We make sure we get extra time off when we need it. We've got each other's backs.

Now I'm going to bed because it's approaching 11pm and that's past my 'go to bed alarm time'! I had a late night last night and an early start, so I need to catch up on that.

I wonder how many will turn up for morning coffee tomorrow?

Nite all.

The Perfect Sunday

I can't imagine a better day off than the one I had today.

I woke at 7am, just because I was ready to wake up. No alarm, no startling sounds, no outside influence, just an easy, slow entry into the day. I lay in bed just thinking and breathing and looking and feeling for about twenty minutes.

Then I read for a while. I played Words With Friends.

Adoring Husband surprised me with breakfast in bed and a takeaway coffee. *LOVE*

I mucked around in Facebook for a long time (still in my pyjamas in bed!).

Study came to the fore at one stage and I did some work on stuff I've been avoiding for a while and using 'not enough time' as an excuse, so I'm very happy to achieved that today.

I listened to some music (still in my pyjamas in bed!) and I watched some long training videos. I created some extra content for my next photography course. I ate potato chips and I drank lots of water.

I got out of bed once to walk into the back yard and collect some chillies from The Leggy Blonde, my back neighbour and the second time, at 5.30pm, was to cook dinner.

We had pork sausages in onion gravy with potato and sweet potato mash and a big buttery fry up of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, bacon, garlic and cayenne pepper. Dessert was the usual fruit whip ice-cream.

I returned to bed at 7pm for a special reason.

There are three shows on TV at the same time. Bachelor in Paradise. My Kitchen Rules. The Voice.

So Adoring Husband watched My Kitchen Rules and recorded it at the same time as recording The Voice, while I watched Bachelor in Paradise in the bedroom.

Now I'm in the lounge room thinking back on my Sunday. So lazy and delicious and perfect.

I'm off to bed now - to sleep!

Meditation tomorrow morning!

Nite all.

Super Saturday

I'm not referring to the football.

It was a super Saturday at the shop today.

The first two and a half hours had somebody in the shop at all times. As one person left, another entered, so there was a steady flow of customers, but from about midday onwards, it was completely dead.

Nobody entered the shop for more than three hours, so I got a LOT done.

If I can remember my 'done' list correctly ...

• Dusted
• Cleared the old food out of the fridge 
• Did the dishes
• Cleared 3,800 emails
• Emptied the four bins in the shop
• Filled the gaps in the shop where sales had been made
• Took photos of new stock and posted them on our Facebook page

I think that's it.

I took my lunch of leftover chicken wings with salsa salad to work with me today - keeping our budget in mind, I'm attempting to save money by taking my lunch instead of buying it because I worked out that I'm spending over $60 week on lunches and coffee so I reckon I can reduce that and put the money towards my next road trip!

Who knows when that will be!

So the afternoon went quite quickly and around 4.15pm two more customers came through the door to boost our sales for the day.

Even so, by the time 5pm arrived, I was feeling absolutely exhausted and it's now 8pm and I feel like I need to go to bed.

Here are some photos that I took today ...

... we have two more shipments of stock arriving next week and we're not exactly certain where we are going to put it all!

I've got the day at home tomorrow, so I'm off to bed where I will probably stay for the next sixteen or more hours. Pampering myself by not having to move unless I want to!

I hope you all have a happy Sunday.

Nite all.

Gotta Go

It’s 11.30pm.

I’m tired.

Great day in the shop.

I won two meat packs at the club.

Adoring Husband cooked chicken wings for dinner

My footy tipping is going pretty well this week.

I’m working tomorrow (Saturday) and I have Sunday off.

I’m watching Crazy Stupid Love for the umpteenth time when I should be in bed sleeping.

I have nothing else to say and no photos to share. I have no jokes to tell and no lists to give you. I have no new recipes and no links for you you to look at.

So on that note, I’m turning off the TV and I’m going to bed.

Zzzzzzzz

Nite all.

Fun Fun Fun

Work was fun fun fun today!!

One big box of Ivys bags and scarves PLUS a box of Cenzoni bags, wallets and purses all arrived this morning and The Motivator and I spent the entire day unpacking, checking off, pricing, rearranging and displaying everything.

Just like Romy and Michelle, we got to fold scarves!

By the end of the day, we still hadn't finished and we may need to completely rearrange the shop to fit everything in! Not only that, but we need to make another couple of orders from suppliers that we've run out of stock.

Crazy.

NSW school holidays begin next week and we are wondering if we will have some southerners here enjoying our perfect Queensland weather.

We were so busy in short bursts today and very quiet for long spells, but that's ok because it was still a good day for sales and we also got a lot done.

Adoring Husband collected my iMac from the computer doctor but I haven't plugged it in to see how it's working yet, because we were too busy, but I'll have to check it tomorrow so that I can send our ad through to BHPA.

Here it is, almost 11pm and we are still sitting up watching Commonwealth Games events on TV.

My bed time. *yawn*

Nite all.

Rested

My question for today is ... why do we buy clothes that require “gentle hand washing”?

I have a long list of ‘most hated chores’ and hand washing clothes is definitely on that list.

It was a nice day at home avoiding people, but I still had to squeeze in a few loads of washing, some hand washing, some fridge clearing, some ironing, some studying, writing up the new advertisement for the newsletters and Adoring Husband and I sat down to start working on a budget - something that we’ve been meaning to do for more than ten years, but just kept putting it off.

Adoring Husband took my iMac to the Dr and the doctor called this afternoon to say that there is nothing wrong with it - just a memory and age problem, giving me advice on how to improve the situation. He only charged $50; so I’m pretty happy about that.

So it’s been a productive day and now I’m ready for bed.

It’s almost 11pm. Time flies when you’re having fun!
Nite all.

Bloody Hell

It was a massive 'I told you so!' moment.

My fury was immense and I had to sit with it and let it flow through me until it left my body.

My iMac (for those of you who don't know - an iMac is an Apple desktop computer) is very sick and desperately requires a doctor, so Adoring Husband and I decided to take it into The Bay today and drop it into the computer Dr to hopefully be fixed.

I told AH that I had my usual coffee date with the girls this morning and then he could pick up the computer afterwards on our way out of town.

I pedalled to the coffee date and then returned home afterwards and he asked me where the computer was... like he was expecting me to bring it home in the trike.

As you can imagine, this question confused me because my very large iMac would never fit in the basket of my trike so I couldn't understand why he was asking me.

He then informed me that I didn't need to take the whole computer, just the small box that attaches to the monitor.

I disagreed and reminded him that it was an Apple computer and I thought that everything went through the monitor including the wifi keyboard, mouse and track pad. All USB sticks insert into the rear of the monitor, including the disc drive.

So AH phoned the computer Dr and asked if we needed to bring the monitor or the box. He was told not to bring the monitor.

The only box, which is about the size of a CD cover, that is attached to my iMac is what I believed to be a disc drive, but it was the only box, so I detached it from the iMac and took it into town.

I DID tell AH that if we got all the way into town and they told us that they needed the monitor, I would NOT be happy.

Long story short ... I was NOT happy.

The language that surged through my head did not spew from my mouth and I did not shout "I TOLD YOU SO!" even though I so badly wanted to. Instead, I sat silently in the car forcing my anger to dilute, drain and dissipate.

I did a very good job of this and it only took about fifteen minutes to cleanse myself of my fury - even though, initially, I thought my head was going to explode!!

To cushion the blow, I made a couple of emotional purchases (I see you grinning knowingly) which now hang proudly in my wardrobe haha.

Afterwards, I ticked off some of the purchases from my 'to do' list, which included a couple of extras to put into The Blonde Bombshell's care package that we were delivering to the hospital while we visited her that afternoon.

I sat through a most unsatisfactory pedicure that took approximately fifteen minutes - to give you an idea - I had three turns on Words With Friends when she thanked me and began helping me put my shoes on. I questioned how she could already be finished and asked why my clear nail varnish was not even shiny or reflective.

I won't return to that particular salon, which now means I need to find a salon outside of Stocklands because both of those salons have failed the 'rQQzy' test twice each.

Soon enough, I checked my watch and was shocked to see how late it was getting, so we cut the shopping and 'to do' list short so that we could visit The Blonde Bombshell before it was too late.

We had her all to ourselves for almost two hours! It was a good visit. She talked and talked and talked, which I consider to be a very good sign. If there had been any awkward silences, I'd have been worried about her! All things considered, our friend is coping remarkably well with her current circumstances - not just her own health but also that of her Grumpy Pants husband who has his own big issues to deal with.

Before we overstayed our carpark time limit, we shared a warm hug and departed the hospital to drive directly into the setting sun.  Thankfully we arrived home safe and sound, although there were moments of doubt!

AH cooked some lamb steaks on the barbie while I made a quick fried rice with the leftovers from our curry a couple of nights ago. Fruit whip ice cream for dessert and we are both exhausted!

I'm off to bed, where I will probably remain until late tomorrow - I intend to totally enjoy my second day off work by avoiding all human contact.

Nite all.

Monday Already?

Monday arrived quickly!

I enjoyed my weekend at work, but I'm also looking forward to a couple of days off.

Meditation was great this morning and the regular ladies always get involved and make it enjoyable and a real learning experience.

The Motivator arrived earlier than expected and after we caught up with some news and work stuff,  I left the shop at 1pm and pedalled straight home. Adoring Husband had cooked lunch so I was able to collapse on the couch and relax straight away.

I'm having an early night because tomorrow is fully booked catching up on all the 'things' that require catching up, including finally visiting The Blonde Bombshell in hospital and I'm really looking forward to seeing her.

I'll be having coffee with the girls before I start my day.

On that note, I'm outta here.

Nite all.

Extraordinarily So

There were four businesses open in town today.

The supermarket, the takeaway, B Traders and The Happy Abode.

I drew an affirmation card first up ...

... that was my cue to hit my studies because I've neglected them of late due to time constraints and I figured that the quiet times between customers would be the perfect opportunity to get stuff done.

It was a very slow day. There were probably twenty people through the shop, but most of them were waiting for their food to be prepared at the takeaway, so were not interested in spending, just looking and filling in time.

This was not a problem for me because I got to complete a lot of study, watch a lot of the course videos, answer a lot of questions, clear a lot of issues and understand a lot about myself through this course.

I played some great music, did a little cleaning, vacuumed, cleaned the front glass doors, did the course, served some customers, chatted with visitors, researched some product websites and considered going home very early - but I stayed.

I don't feel like the day was wasted. I made some sales and caught up on the course content and just those two things alone were of value.

Tonight, I'm feeling quite tired and I was lucky to have some leftover chicken curry to reheat for dinner and added some rice (which is not my favourite option) and some fresh coriander.

I whipped up some fruit whip ice-cream for dessert and it was extra delicious.

It's almost 10pm and I'm ready for bed because it's an early start for meditation in the morning and I don't want to struggle to get there.

So nite all.

Weekend Working Warrior

Another big day in the shop.

No sign of The Little Mermaid because she is out of action for a while.

It was a long eight hour shift because nobody came through the doors in the last two hours, but prior to that, there were a LOT of holiday-makers out and about and admiring The Happy Abode.

I had to order some hats today because we have two left! So that means unprecedented sales in lady’s wallets AND hats! We are also running very low in Intrinsic affirmation cards and I sold the last of the pink journals, so a call to Intrinsic is on the cards (pardon the pun) very shortly.

Adoring Husband and I met the first aid trainers at the pub for dinner tonight, but it was obvious that we were all tired and the energy at our table was very low. I have to say that one of the bar attendants needs a fire cracker up her butt because she was working in slow motion and just watching her from across the room sent my frustration levels through the roof!

It’s almost 9.30pm and I’m expecting a big Sunday at work, so it’s sleep time for me. Sadly, my footy team has lost tonight, so I’ll sleep my sorrows away.

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.

Mindful Friday

The first 90 minutes of my day included three manic visits from The Little Mermaid, but after that, my day was filled with positive, happy people who filled The Happy Abode with fabulous energy and who made my work day very enjoyable.

I think the gale force winds literally blew everybody along the driveway to our door and they all walked in looking very windswept!

I worked the morning shift and The Motivator did the afternoon shift. Both of those shifts were equally busy, so we go to sleep smiling tonight.

It was necessary to order some more bags, purses and wallets today because it seems that everybody genuinely needed to replace their tattered and worn money holders this week. Unprecedented wallet and purse sales!

After such a big week, I was looking forward to a beverage at the club and spending time with the girls - even though there were only two of them there tonight. Babysitting duties, illness and holidays kept our numbers down, but Adoring Husband accompanied me tonight and between us, we were able to win 24 drinks.

The drinks can only be house wine or regular beer and since I don’t drink wine and Adoring Husband drinks lite beer, neither of us can use the prize, so we shared the cards with friends. It was still exciting the way I won it though and totally unexpected!

Now I must head to bed. My alarm told me to sleep over an hour ago, yet here I am!  The Motivator has two days off, so I’ll be working full days over the weekend. This means that I need to be on the ball. It will be my turn to take time off next week.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Nite all

Something in the Air

I had a good solid night's sleep and I didn't start work until 11am this morning, so I was able to take my time greeting the day.

But the day just hasn't felt right. I've been out of sorts. A bit weird in the head. Slightly on edge. Emotionally confused. Running on auto pilot.

I was working alone in our shop from 12pm til 4pm and in that time, The Little Mermaid came in six times - once to make sure that I had received the postcard and scratchies that she left for me earlier, twice to borrow money, once to offer me some of the food that she bought with the money she borrowed, once to use our toilet and once to ask me to phone her mother (who thankfully didn't answer her phone).

The Little Mermaid's mental state is quite fragile at the moment and I feel guilty that her constant presence in our shop today sent my mental state into overdrive.

I like The Little Mermaid and when her meds are working properly, she is an intelligent, articulate, caring and capable woman. When they're not working, or when she doesn't take them as she should, she loses all control of every aspect of her life.

There is a fine line between being the right kind of helpful and being the wrong kind of helpful in these circumstances. Some of the businesses and community members do what they can and are very compassionate, while others are intolerant and judgemental.

All I can do, is not enough and will never be enough, but the more we do, the more she will expect us to do and the less likely it is that she will get the real help that she needs.

It's a kind of Catch 22 situation.

Also, it's obvious that the 'real help' that she needs is not available in this area - because she has been trying to get help for years without success.

It bothers me that she walks directly to the area behind our counter without reservation.

It bothers me that she comes into the shop when there are other customers and begins her ranting behaviour.

It bothers me that her demeanour changes from hour to hour.

It bothers me that I hear small excerpts of her life story and I can't figure out what the important people in her life are doing to help.

It bothers me that I can't just make a phone call to fix her.

There are so many things that bother me about the whole situation.

Where is the line? How much do we help? Where do we draw the line for her? How do we help her understand that we have a line?

Aside from this extended emotional hiccup in the day, the shop did well and I came home at 4pm to make a chicken curry for an early dinner because Adoring Husband had SES tonight.

Now I'm off to bed to hopefully get another solid night of sleep, and hopefully tomorrow will feel right and I won't have to function on autopilot.

Nite all.

Faster Than ...

The day went faster than ever!

The weather was dreadful with gale force conditions and scudding rain, so it was about 10.30am by the time the first customer braved the walk up our driveway and came through our door, but the good thing was that they came in groups and supported each other in their purchases!

Our customers were very chatty today too. Some loudly chatty, which was disconcerting when The Gypsy was conducting therapeutic massage in the treatment room. I lowered my voice in the hope that they would follow my lead and do the same, but it seemed to make them louder.

The Gypsy informs me that the sounds can be heard but are quite muffled, so they are not distracting. I've questioned a couple of the regular customers and tried to apologise for the sounds, but they too, inform me that they don't hear the noises. That's a good thing.

The Motivator arrived at the shop around 1.30pm after frantically trying to get all of her errands done in The Bay and that was my cue to call for Adoring Husband to pick me up. We have trivia at the club tonight, so we've had an early dinner and have been watching some Grey's Anatomy on Binge TV.

I now have an hour til it's time to leave for trivia and while I attempt to ease my overwhelming frustration at Adoring Husband's incessant questions about everything and anything this afternoon, I shall sign off and try to be productive elsewhere.

Nite all.

All The Greatness

Yet another pleasant coffee morning with the girls - Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced) and Beauty were the only two girls available for coffee today but I totally enjoyed their company for the hour that they were there.

This is the day where all the customers who came into The Happy Abode over the Easter weekend, returned with friends and family.

So far, the pattern shows almost complete silence during the hours of 12pm - 2pm but very busy in the mornings and the afternoons.

That's how it's been since the beginning of last week.

I worked from 9am - 1.30pm and it was crazy busy from 10am - 12pm. Apparently it was also crazy busy after I left, so it's been a good day!

It was nice to come home early and just sit back and relax.

Adoring Husband wasn't feeling too well, so he went to bed for a nap and we missed the monthly barbecue tonight. The wind was pretty strong, so I think it might have been a little unpleasant out there by the water, but the sunset certainly looked spectacular from our lounge room window, so I felt a bit disappointed that I wasn't near the water to get some good shots.

After AH woke from his nap, he fired up the barby to cook our snags and I made a salsa salad to have with them.

Now my alarm is telling me to go to bed, so I'm following orders and doing just that.

Nite all.

Happy Arvo

Well, here I am at The Happy Abode and the clock tells me it's 4.22pm.

There have been plenty of customers through the door since I arrived at work just before 12.30pm and I'm expecting one more to arrive just before closing time to pay for the next Beginners Photography course.

The afternoon has gone quite quickly and Adoring Husband will arrive shortly to help me pack up and close the shop.

In the meantime, I'm browsing through some of the pamphlets that we brought home from the Gift Fair in Sydney and contemplating the sort of new stock that we can bring in with our next order.

We feel that we need to balance out our quality high end products with some fun or quirky items and I've just been perusing the 'alcohol' related products and 'caravan/camping' products.

If only money grew on trees!

Both of our donation vouchers for the fishing classic have now been redeemed - both of the indecisive winners took a long time to choose from our selection. Perhaps our vouchers should be for a lesser value next year - that should make it easier to choose!

... It's now three hours later! Beef casserole for Adoring Husband's dinner and grilled Barramundi from the takeaway for me. I made garlic butter asparagus to go with and for my dinner, I added tomato and avocado.

I need to drink more water because I think I'm a bit dehydrated - I've only had one glass of water all day - and THAT'S probably why I'm feeling so tired!

It's almost 7.30pm and I'm definitely ready for bed.

So I guess I'll sign off and lay my head upon my pillow.

Nite all.

Break Time

The morning was crazy busy in The Happy Abode.

The middle of the day was whisperingly quiet.

The afternoon picked up again and I left at 3pm, but The Motivator informs me that it was busy in the late afternoon too.

I do know that I am 'peopled' out this week.

Some people are quite draining and they suck the energy out of you. There seems to be a pattern too. You can go for days where everybody is very easy to deal with. They enter the shop on a mission, stay for a short period of time and leave on a high.

Others come into the shop intent on taking your time. They share their life story, which often includes some 'woe is me' episodes, rarely taking a breath and they only stop talking when somebody else takes your attention. By the time they leave, you feel like you need a nap or a Vitamin B shot.

Today was a bit like that!

We did sell some of our beautiful new stock today, which felt good. When our customers see the beauty and the value in something that we carefully selected for the shop, it makes me feel good.

The fishing classic finished today, so the town will be emptying out this evening and tomorrow. Some families will stay on for the school holidays and after they head home, it will leave room for the southerners and the grey nomads to fill the parks for the colder months.

There is always a steady flow of people through the town from April to November.

Adoring Husband picked me up at 3pm and I headed straight to the kitchen to start a beef casserole in the slow cooker, after which I made some chocolate energy balls. They are now setting in the fridge and I'll do a savoury mince shortly. That should feed us for the next couple of days.

I also desperately need to do some washing - there's always stuff that needs doing!

Last month marked ten years since I quit smoking - pretty happy with that, but I must say that I've actually felt like lighting a cigarette or two this week. I wonder why???

Adoring Husband is on SES duty again this afternoon and evening, so I'm having a quiet time at home watching the footy between chores.

It will definitely be an early night for me so that I can be recharged and ready for a big Easter Monday.

This is how I feel ...

This is how I want to feel ...

Nite all.