Like a Lizard

That's how flat out I was today ... like a lizard drinking!

Lots of people in town and each person that came in today said "People have been talking about this great little shop behind Elders!" and they all gasped and admired our beautiful Happy Abode.

So many of them also said "Your prices are so low!" and then they proceeded to buy birthday and ... wait for it ... Christmas presents!

One man suggested that we put a flashing light out the front to attract attention, so now I am researching solar powered flashing lights - NOT a red one! What a great idea!

Both of our caravan parks are full at the moment and some people have attempted to extend their stay, but their site is booked out for weeks in advance, so they have to leave.

It's pretty amazing how steady the stream of people has been and all of them are incredibly friendly and warm and happy and chatty.

As tiring as it's been, I've really enjoyed this week and I can't wait for the remaining deliveries to arrive. I'd really like some time to fluff around the shop and change some displays.

These are some of the scarves that have arrived this week, as well as some cushion covers ...

Just before I head to bed, I'd like to mention that I am missing Lady Lynn very much these holidays, but I hope she's having fun with her grandies and the fambam.

Nite all.

Hellova Hump Day

Today was busy and went oh so fast!

I chose to stay back for two hours to finish unpacking yesterday's delivery.

I've checked everything off the invoice, priced it all and displayed some of it, but not all.

Some stock was sold as it came out of the box!

It was nice having The Gypsy at work to chat with between customers and unpacking.

There should be more deliveries this week, so I need to be on the ball and pace myself to get it all done without overdoing it or getting stressed.

It's important to remind myself that this is the fun part and I don't have to have it all done in a time frame. I'm the boss and there is nobody riding my butt to get it done quickly - just enjoy the process.

Like Romy and Michelle in that fabulous movie, I thoroughly enjoyed folding scarves today!

So many beautiful scarves came out of the box and I can tell that they will be walking out the door quickly.

Right now, it's State of Origin time, so I'm going to watch my team defeat the Blues ... hopefully ... maybe ... gawd.

Nite all.

Pow!

What a crazy day!

I sat down for the first time today at 2.30pm. It lasted for six minutes before the next customer walked through the door!

Morning coffee with the girls was, as usual, full of fun and frivolity, even though I didn't get much time with them because the shop was busy.

A delivery arrived at about 9.30am and before I had even unpacked the first box, I'd sold a couple of fabulous frogs posing in crazy positions (you know who you are!).

So we have a shop full of turtles, owls, frogs, cats, trees, pin boxes and trinket bowls.

I met LOTS of holiday-makers from South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria and NSW. It seems that the town is FULL of interstate travellers, all of them incredibly friendly and very happy to be here. A couple of them have even bought blocks of land hoping to retire here in the near future.

It was a colourful, busy and happy day in The Happy Abode.

Thankfully, Adoring Husband arrived at the shop at 3pm to help me close and to put the bins out.

As he left, I received a call from Telstra asking if we had received our new modem for the NBN yet, so then I had to go to the Post Office to check. It wasn't there, but a big box of Ivys products was waiting instead.

I needed a trolley to wheel the very large, very heavy box back to the shop. Unfortunately, I had placed my handbag in the trolley before I dropped the box in, so when I returned to the shop, the box was too heavy to lift to retrieve my handbag, which meant that I had to open the box and empty half of the contents before I could lift it!

I now have new stock EVERYWHERE that still needs to be checked against the invoice, unwrapped, priced and displayed. I guess I'd best get to work early tomorrow! I also need to return the trolley from whence it came.

Our Ivys order is full of beautiful scarves, purses, wallets, handbags, cushion covers and hats.

Question is ... where is it all going to be displayed???

There are three more deliveries due this week so the pressure will be on to find display space!

Sleep will definitely come easily to me tonight. I feel very tired even though I slept a solid seven hours last night. I have to package up my bone broth and then I'm heading to bed - all things going to plan, I should be asleep before 10pm.

I'm all done in.

Nite all.

Too Tired

I can’t believe how tired I’m feeling tonight!

So this is just to let you know that I’m alive and well.

It’s been a good day at the shop.

I’ve got bone broth on to brew.

Adoring Husband cooked dinner on the barbecue.

I’m feeling the chill in the air and wearing my ugg boots.

I am going to bed right now - it’s 8.30pm.

Nite all.

Laziest Sunday EVER!

I didn't even do anything productive in my bed today.

I played word games, watched youtube videos and read some health information.

Adoring Husband brought me food and fluids.

He asked me for assistance in the kitchen while he cleared out some cupboards.

I did some washing.

It has come to my realisation that Sundays are my 'de-peopling' days. The days when I can hibernate and regenerate and not have to deal with humans or responsibilities.

These days are vital for my mental health and I didn't even know how much until today. The idea of getting out of bed this morning filled me with dread, but as the day wore on, I could feel my being fill with positive energy and motivation and lightness.

Generally speaking, I don't mind people, but this week has been pretty draining with some long winded customers who had sad stories and who obviously needed to purge.

At the end of my Sunday, I'm feeling much better and ready to face Monday.

Even better that my team won their NRL match 34 - 0 today.

Right now. Adoring Husband and I are watching the movie "A Wrinkle In Time" - I'll give you my review tomorrow.

Welcome to Monday!

Nite all.

Wet But Not Wintery

The temperature was mild but the atmosphere was humid and the rain came down very heavily quite a few times during the morning. This meant that the customers came in fits and starts.

In the long quiet spaces between customers, we ordered new stock. New lady's handbags and wallets, new snap button jewellery, new bamboo products, new knick knacks and pretty home decor products.

The next couple of weeks will be so much fun as the stock arrives. The Motivator will miss it all because she will be in Sydney having different kind of fun with family.

I kept the shop open for another hour after The Motivator left for home and a few people came in but they were all tyre kickers. They were all couples, so it's highly likely that the ladies will return next week while their husbands are fishing. That seems to be the norm around here - especially in holiday season.

When I got home, Adoring Husband and I began watching movies.

Shaun of the Dead - recommended by No. 1 Son. His only other recommendation was DeadPool and we all know how dreadful THAT was! Shaun of the Dead was not so horrific but it wasn't great either.

The second movie was The Greatest Showman. It was just as fabulous this time, as it was at the cinema the first time I watched it. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

The third movie was Georgia Rule with Jane Fonda and Lindsay Lohan.

The fourth movie is about to begin - Pretty Woman. I'm not sure if I can stay awake for all of it, but I'll give it a red hot crack!

If not, I'll go to bed and watch some Wimbledon until I fall asleep.

It seems there is a good little Aussie player by the name of Alex De Minaur playing Nadal and the commentators and other players have been raving about how great his potential is. I think I'll have to check him out and see if his demeanour is better than Kyrgios and Tomic.

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday.

Nite all.
 

Talking A Lot

That's what happened in the shop today.

Talking. Talking. Talking.

I don't mean The Motivator and I - although we DID talk a lot too - but we had very talkative customers today.

A couple of them took up a good chunk of our time telling us about everything and anything in their lives.

Comparatively speaking, it was fairly quiet in the shop today.

The Motivator worked on another project.

We put in an order with Luvnlife.

We registered with a new lady's bag/wallet supplier.

There was quite a bit of business talk so that I could catch up on all that's happened since Tuesday when I was last at work ... especially NBN stuff.

Adoring Husband turned up just before 3pm and helped us close the shop.

He dropped me at the club for my Friday night ritual, but their ATM was out of order and they tightly limited how much we could take from over the bar, Beauty and Beast were the only couple from our usual crowd in attendance, so I decided to return home. AH picked me up and I was sitting in my lounge chair well before 6.00pm.

I munched on some leftover chicken from last night's dinner and at 8.30pm I am now contemplating an early bedtime.

*yawn*

I was hoping to share a joke on here tonight, but I've lost it. Bugga.

Instead, here is a tiny snippet from the Tim Winton interview with Andrew Denton last week ...

Nite all.

My Weekend Has Ended

It's 4.37pm and I am still in bed, having worked all day on various things.

• Partially written our first newsletter
• Edited some of our website and watched some tutorials on the inner workings of it.
• Did a little research on creating my online course.
• Selected a date for a one day photography workshop.
• Read some more of one of The Gypsy's books.
• Started to write a description of the damaging rain events in our shop - to hopefully get things moving with our repairs.
• Had a mini nap
• Edited a couple of photos.
• Writing my blog post for the day.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the day, however, I didn't get any washing done ... oopsy!

It's been warm enough today that I've had the pedestal fan on since lunch time, but thankfully, Higgins Storm Chasers have advised that the weather will be taking it's second stint at trying to be Winter this weekend!

I'm excited.

It's time to climb out of bed to cook dinner - think I'll make a chicken curry.

Might throw a load of washing in the machine first.

I'm looking forward to being in The Happy Abode again tomorrow. Even though I enjoy my days off, I actually miss being in our shop.

Have a fabulous Friday!

Nite all.

One Down

I stayed in bed until 1.30pm today.

I made a 'to do' list which included things like

• work on The Happy Abode website
• work on the romanceyourlifewithroz website
• read Annemarie's books
• do some more DDT manifesting course
• create the next workshop
• create a newsletter for The Happy Abode
• do more with THA's instagram/twitter/pinterest accounts

... there is more on my list, but you get the gist. There is a LOT to work on. It's just a matter of time ie finding the time and using it effectively. I seem to get more done while sitting up in bed during the day, than at any other time!

The only reason I got out of bed at 1.30pm was because I had an appointment with The Gypsy to have a Zen Shiatsu massage at 2.15pm.

I was surprised at how many tight spots I had and how tender certain parts of my body were. She worked on all the parts that needed it and then gave me some stretches to practice to help gain more movement in the tightest parts such as my neck, hips and groin.

It seems that my kidneys, bladder, liver and heart are struggling at the moment. I will follow her advice and work on fixing these areas.

After my massage, Adoring Husband and I went for a short stroll along the beach so that I could do some grounding. We were only there for about ten or fifteen minutes, but I could feel the benefits, especially after taking my superhero pose in ankle deep sea water!

We did a little grocery shopping and then came home to rest for an hour before making a quick dinner and then getting ready for our trivia night at the club.

As always, we had a really enjoyable night with Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be decided) and the Garden King. None of us was feeling very clever tonight and came somewhere in the middle of the pack. The teams are only supposed to be four strong but there were a lot of teams with seven and eight members ... difficult to compete against.

Having said that - feeling clever helps - and we were not feeling it at all.

Tomorrow is my Sunday and I'm not sure how I'm going to spend it yet - perhaps I'll work on the websites.

The Motivator had a great day in the shop today and I hope that she can repeat that tomorrow.

I'm off to bed now.

Nite all.

My Weekend

Today is my Friday.

Wednesday and Thursday will be my weekend.

My plan for tomorrow is to stay in bed for as long as I want. Do some washing. See The Gypsy for a massage and perhaps go for a grounding walk along the beach.

Today was incredibly quiet in the shop for the first half of the day because there was a 'timbola' at the local hall from 9am - midday, so there were over 100 people in attendance there, which meant that they were NOT in our shop.

The afternoon was quite different as the people trickled in through the doors declaring that they'd heard about us at the timbola or saw somebody with one of our carry bags.

A large group of about ten people filled the shop for half an hour bringing an interesting energy and lots of busy chatter and noise.

One member of that group was a man with cerebral palsy in his 30s who lectured me because our pens didn't all have prices on them. We have the pens grouped in similar styles with one price placed in front of each group. He didn't like that idea and told me how it should be done. I thanked him for his excellent advice and agreed that we should do exactly as he suggested. He bought one of the pen sets.

I spent a lot of time cleaning all of our silver chains (about 20 of them) which took a bloody long time because I had to take the price tags off them first and then remove the hexagonal clasps. I dipped them in the silver cleaner and swished for ten seconds, then rinsed them under cold water, dried them off with a soft towel, reattached the clasps and replaced the price tags.

It took about 90 minutes, but now they are so shiny and sparkly clean!

I cleaned out one of the cube displays, dusted and replaced the stock.

One of our local artists, whose art we sell, dropped in some more of her work and I fell in love with and bought this ...

... it effects me emotionally! I just had to have it! The colours and the textures are stunning and I have no idea where I'm going to put it, but it's now MINE! I'm not sure about the black frame, so I'm going to look into some other options - I might visit my framer in town and see what suggestions he can come up with.

I'm happy that Wimbledon has now begun and I'm going to watch some of it before I head to bed tonight. Kyrgios is playing right now - I'm not his biggest fan, but he IS Aussie, so I will barrack for him.

Nite all.  

All Done In

It's been a big day!

I had a very early start for meditation, but along the way, I rode past Kindly Kel and had to stop to give him a hug. His eyes were looking so sad just a week after his Garden Fairy passed from this earth, so I needed to stop.

After a hug and a short chat, I had to cut the conversation short to get to work because I knew that The Gypsy was waiting for me to open the doors for her.

We had a good meditation class this morning that generated lots of conversation and triggered some great revelations.

It was a very slow start to the day, but by 10am the customers were coming thick and fast.

Adoring Husband came to visit twice, but I was too busy to stop and chat.

Considering most of the businesses along our strip were closed today, we had a very successful Monday in the shop and I seemed to spend a lot of time chatting to the male partners as the women browsed and made their selections.

I put together a box of goodies from the shop, valued at over $100, that we are going to give away as a prize on our Facebook page.

We have almost reached 300 'likes', so to promote our page and our shop, we are going to challenge people to share our post and tag their friends until we reach 300. At that point we will choose a winner.

The Gypsy's last appointment went a little over time and by the time I pulled everything in, closed the door and did my groceries, I didn't arrive home until after 4pm, by which time Adoring Husband was all dressed up and ready to leave the house for a big SES meeting tonight.

I made myself some stuffed mushrooms with a pork snag for dinner which was very satisfying and now I'm ready for bed at just after 8.30pm!

I'm well and truly done in and I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep ready for coffee morning with the girls tomorrow.

Nite all.

Unlazy Sunday

There was no lazing all day in bed today.

The date was made with friends to attend breakfast at the local cafe at 8.30am, so we were up and at'em much earlier than the usual Sunday.

I enjoyed a plate of bacon and fried mushrooms with GF toast and a GIANT mug of latte. Everybody ordered something different and it was a really enjoyable and relaxing morning with good food, good coffee and good friends.

We said our goodbyes and both Adoring Husband and I had missions that we needed to complete before we return home to enjoy a relaxing Sunday.

We needed to take photos of the communal toilets at the shops where lots of repairs, repainting and renewing need to be done. AH had to send them through to the 'powers that be'

Following that, we had to attach a big Happy Abode sign to a fence near our shop, so that took about twenty minutes and then we were free to enjoy our Sunday.

Our day was spent on Netflix.

It was great!

Yesterday I got a message that it was the last day of our Flickr challenge, so I logged into Flickr to find out what the challenge was. It was 'Negative Space' so I put a quick pic together and submitted it. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm having an early-ish night ready for an early meditation start tomorrow.

Nite all.

Super Tired

This will be short and sweet because I am super tired and I'm off to bed.

I left bright and early for work this morning and got to spend twenty minutes with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge.

They were being harassed by a little 14 month old girl 'Crazy Z' who was as bright as a button, giggling all over the place and full of beans. They were loving every minute of it! It was a happy start to my day.

There were customers waiting well before 9am so I opened early to serve them.

The next hour was dead as a doornail, but from there we were kept pretty busy with a steady flow of people through the door.

There was enough time between customers or with both of us taking turns to serve them as they came in, to work on our vision boards. Mine is almost finished, with all of my pictures, words and quotes glued in place and all I need to do is add my own creative artwork.

The Motivator made great inroads into her vision board too.

We've been trying to create these boards since around February!

We made a big order of Ivys bags, hats and scarves which we hope will be delivered by the end of next week.

Our doors weren't closed until around 2.30pm and it was almost 3.30pm when I arrived home.

We have a breakfast date with friends in the morning so I need a good nights sleep to be up bright and early again.

Have a great Sunday.

Nite all.

Farewell Lovely

Today, we farewelled the Garden Fairy.

It was a lovely graveside service and her husband, Kindly Kel, was surrounded by friends and family as we fondly remembered her beautiful smile and bright loving eyes and we heard stories about her life, her garden and her family.

It was a glorious day with clear blue skies, the birds were singing loudly in the trees and there were kangaroos grazing all around us. A picture perfect day.

From the cemetery, we drove to the HB Hotel where there was a spread of nibbly food, tea and coffee and where everybody mingled and explained how they knew the Garden Fairy and gave a short history of their friendship. It was quite lovely to hear their stories.

Adoring Husband and I didn't stay for long and after we said our goodbyes, feeling quite peckish, we decided to lunch at AquaVue. I had an all day breakfast of GF pancakes with bacon and banana, while AH enjoyed GF salt and pepper calamari with salad.

We walked across the road to the crystal shop where I purchased some selenite, citrine and smokey quartz.

We walked to Go Natural, but first stopped at 'Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves' where I bought a top that was on sale at 50% off. A Ruby YaYa top that even at 50% off was still pricey, but beautiful.

We stocked up on organic salad items, GF coconut ice cream, hemp and blueberry coconut yoghurt and chunks of organic 70% dark choc for grating over our desserts.

The day passed so quickly and we arrived home at 3.30pm which gave us an hour to unpack our goodies and get ready for the club.

No luck for me, but it was nice to sit with the girls and get poked and prodded by Beauty while she checked out my new top. Freaky girl she is.

I'm looking forward to my Saturday morning at the shop, but I'd best get some sleep. It'll be midnight before I know it!

Nite all.  

Rapid Rate

That's how fast the day went ... at a rapid rate.

The Motivator was back with a vengeance and there was a slow but steady flow of customers through the door.

I've set the date for my next photography workshop ...

I've also planted the seeds for the newest workshop which will be 'Take Control of Your Health and Happiness" but it probably won't see the light of day until the end of Winter. I'm working on it.

I've got ideas popping up everywhere.

They will always be slow going as I precariously balance my time between work, family, friends and me. If the balance isn't right, nothing else will work. Patience is a virtue.

It would have been my Mum's 78th birthday today, so I created a Facebook post especially for her.

She would have rolled her eyes and shook her head at that.

Here it is after 10pm so I'd best get some sleep. I have the day off tomorrow and there is a funeral to attend.

Have a fabulous Friday everyone!

Nite all.

Another Hump Day

It was a very slow start to the day in the shop.

Our first customer didn't walk through the door until about 11am. The first customer was actually a group of eight ladies who were in the shop for 45 minutes and, between them, spent $15. They did, however, bring lots of positive happy energy.

They had visited our shop the day before and they spent a lot of money on that occasion. They brought more ladies with them today, so they are spreading the word through the caravan park and that means a lot to us.

There was a steady flow of customers throughout the afternoon but I still had enough time to create a new flyer for the photography workshops, print out the latest ad from the newsletters and replaced the one on the front window with the latest copy.

My plan is to create our first newsletter to send out to our email list. I guess that now we are almost a year old, it's time to get into some kind of schedule of news/events for the shop and let everyone know what's going on.

The Gypsy was in the shop today and I always enjoy our chats about anything and everything.

The Motivator popped in briefly this afternoon and I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow in the shop with her. There is so much to catch up on!

I've taken two new names for the next photography workshop and the town Friendship group has asked me to be their guest speaker in August or September, to talk about photography. That was a bit of a pleasant surprise!

So it's all happening in my world!

I found this to be absolutely hilarious and I wish I'd been able to use it with my kids when they were little ...

Now it's time to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.

Nite all.

Crazy Busy

It was a crazy busy day in the shop.

I barely had the chance to sit with the girls for coffee again - that’s two busy Tuesdays in a row!

There was no chance to sit down at all until well after 12.30pm and even then, the rest periods were brief.

I had a lot of fun with some of the ladies who came in groups and who will be returning in the coming days.

I heard lots of stories. Funny stories. Sad stories. Family stories. Holiday stories. Medical stories. Death stories. Life stories. Animal stories. Weather stories. Shopping stories. Husband stories.

Everybody was on a roll today.

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop today, which was very much appreciated, because I had the pleasant task this afternoon, of delivering some photos from a shoot I did a couple of months ago. Thankfully my client was happy with my efforts thus far - I still have a few more pics to edit yet.

I am watching an interview with author Tim Winton, who is talking about males/boys/men and their attitudes towards/about females/girls/women. This is the first time that I’ve seen him or heard him speak and I’m warmed and inspired by his words of wisdom. I like him.

It’s already 10pm. I need sleep.

Nite all.

I Do Like Mondays

I was excited to go to work this morning and I arrived bright and early - though not as early as The Gypsy!

She was waiting in the car park when I parked my trike at the back door.

Even though I went to bed early last night, it was stupid o’clock by the time I fell asleep.

I listened to 2 x twenty minute meditations, but even with my mind quiet, my body felt energised and I just couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep. I refused to look at the clock, for fear of adding pressure, because I knew I had to be up extra early for meditation.

It felt like I was asleep for about 20 minutes when the alarm woke me and it was difficult to climb out of bed and get moving, but I got to work with time to spare.

It was another good day in the shop and still the annual holiday makers are strolling in and admiring our space.

Queensland had a disappointing loss in the State of Origin last night - but at least we got to see some rare NSW Blues supporter’s smiles, including Adoring Husband’s!

Now I need some sleep to make up for the lack of it last night.

Nite all.

Exhausting!

Twenty minutes in and I'm exhausted!

State of Origin - QLD vs NSW - Game two

A vital game for QLD because we lost the first game. We need this to keep the series alive.

I'm wearing my QLD dreads and my silver QLD charm necklace that my sister 'Squirt' bought for me years ago.

It's even more exhausting when you have a NSW Blues supporter sitting beside you in the lounge room!

Ugh!

I have done exactly what I planned to do today ... all of my washing ... and nothing else.

I needed a 'think nothing, do nothing' day.

Thank you Universe for providing it.

I do have everything prepared for my early start tomorrow morning, so there will be no rushing or stressing before our early meditation.

I'm looking forward to a fabulous week at work.

Nite all.

My Pleasure

It was so nice to be back at work today.

There were lots of customers to fill my morning and in between, I wandered through the shop admiring our wares and feeeeeeeeeeling the serenity.

More annual visitors are arriving in town and questioning whether we were here this time last year, which of course, we were not BUT we are getting close to one year open!

I guess we should start thinking about a birthday celebration to share with the community!

Adoring Husband dropped me off at work this morning but forgot that we close at 1pm on Saturdays and I had to message him at 2.30pm to come get me. It was ok because I had plenty to do and a couple of late customers dropped in before I brought in the flags and signs.

I was very spoilt this afternoon, when AH cooked roast chicken and vegetables in the barbecue. He did the chicken on the rotisserie and made some gravy with my chicken bone broth. We had potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, onion, asparagus and broccoli.

He still has great cooking skills and it was delicious!

He's in bed right now and I just took the dogs in ... he was laying in the bed with the lights out and no TV (very unusual) but said he was listening to some hooning in the distance and was waiting to hear a crash. I hope not.

I received a private message on Facebook today, from a friend's daughter (who I also consider a friend) and she is marrying her girlfriend in Melbourne in November this year. She has asked me if I will do the photography for her wedding!

I feel incredibly honoured that she has asked me, but I haven't made a decision yet. There is much to consider and a few questions that I need answered, as well as discussing it with some important people who will be affected by my decision.

I am strongly leaning towards a 'yes' but we will see.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I have some washing to do, but aside from that, it's going to be a lazy day for me. I can't wait.

I'm even having an early night tonight!

I just saw an ad for Fox Classics movie channel having a Doris Day week of movies next week! OMG I love Doris Day. I'll be watching!

Enough from me for now.

Nite all.

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet!

That's how fast the five days went by!

We left a bit too early to drive No. 1 Son straight to the airport, so we stopped at Hervey Norman's to pick up my photos.

While we were there, we looked at some toasters, because two of the four slots in our ten year old toaster no longer work.

We happened across some 'end of the range' kitchen appliances on sale for less than half price and decided to buy a matching kettle and toaster in this gorgeous yellow ...

... unfortunately, when we arrived home, we discovered that one of the elements in the new toaster also didn't work, so Adoring Husband took another trip into town to return it. We were told when we bought it that it was the last one in the shop, so we were expecting to have our money returned, but it turns out that Bundaberg has one there, so it will be sent down next week.

From there, we drove to the airport and enjoyed a coffee while we waited with No. 1 Son for his flight to depart. The plane arrived at the time when he should have been boarding but we said our farewells and AH and I left the airport as the plane landed on the tarmac.

We drove across town to Tinkerbells where, on Wednesday, I had seen a ring that I thought would look fabulous with the turquoise pendant I bought a few months ago. I took the pendant with me today because I wanted to check that the colour closely matched it. It wasn't a perfect match, but was close enough for me, so I bought it. It was on sale at 40% off so that was my second bargain for the day!

After my time off this week to spend with No. 1 Son, The Motivator is going to take a few deserving days off, so I'd best get some sleep so that I can be bright and breezy for work tomorrow.

I'm excited to be returning to the shop.

Nite all.

Feelin' Racy

Today was RACE DAY!!

The challenge was on!! Had to triple tie my hair in a bun, zip up the jacket, double hair net for extra protection, squeeze on the helmet, slide the sunnies through the eye slot...

... struggle to get down low into the go kart seat ... then to discover that the pedals and steering wheel were in a position that my dodgy knee couldn’t manoeuvre around.

So my money was refunded and I had to watch Adoring Husband and No. 1 Son from trackside.

The boys chased each other around the track for thirty minutes, both of them experiencing mishaps on the track, but nothing to cause injury.

I had psyched myself into enjoying this adventure for what it was, so I was quite disappointed when I couldn't fulfil the challenge.

Afterwards, we shopped til we dropped - for stuff that we needed at home and also for the shop. We grabbed some sushi for lunch while we were at Stocklands and on the way home, we planned to go fishing on the beach.

We stopped at the shop to drop off the mail and the purchases that I'd made at Office Works while AH ordered our coffee and No. 1 Son bought some bait for the fishing trip.

After I unpacked the groceries and AH organised the fishing rods and tackle box, we drove to the beach where the boys fished and I walked the sand with my camera ...

No fish were caught but we felt the serenity, breathed the fresh air, felt the sand between our toes (well I did anyway) and enjoyed the beauty of nature for almost two hours.

Empty handed, we returned home to prepare an easy dinner of steak on the barbecue, buttered mushroom and onions, boiled potatoes in the jacket and a big garden salad.

Fruit whip ice cream for dessert followed by disappointment that the usual football is not on TV this weekend!

I'll be requiring another early night to bed and tomorrow we will be farewelling No. 1 son because his five days are all over red rover. How quick was that?! Crazy quick.

I think he had a good time. There was not a lot of excitement, but I think that's the idea of having a holiday from Sydney ... the serenity and the laziness and the stress free environment. It was all about the food and the complete lack of pressure.

I've enjoyed having No 1 Son here and I hope he doesn't leave it another five years before visiting us again. AH has enjoyed No. 1 Son's company as well. Even though the boys ganged up on me a bit, I'm tough and can handle it! 

Bloody Blues supporters!

Nite all.

Whaaaaat????

I had a boy's look.

Go-carting was on our 'to do' list this morning. I checked the website which said 'Open 7 days week 9.30am - 5.30pm' but what I failed to notice was that those hours are only during school holidays!

The remainder of the year, they are open Thursday - Sunday. Today is Wednesday.

Ugh.

So, we decided to have an early lunch at Enzos on the Beach before heading out to Gundiah to visit Best Cousin in the World on the farm.

Adoring Husband and I chose the Nachos Moo because it was one of the few GF options available. AH loved it but I thought it was a bit ordinary. No. 1 Son had the curry of the day and even though it tasted good, it was a small serve for the cost of $24. The view and the perfect weather made up for any food shortfalls.

It seemed like a long drive to Gundiah and I thought it would never end, but we finally made it and were greeted with the sight of these gorgeous little fluff balls.

I had a very long cuddle with one of them, which I named Trevor, and he was the only puppy still available, but thanks to Adoring Husband, common sense prevailed and no deal was done! (That's Trevor lying down right at the back)

The boys went for a drive around the farm while BCITW and I chatted over a glass of wine.

After a couple of hours we headed home where AH cooked our steaks on the barbecue and I prepared a couple of salads to go with. After dinner I made a big batch of chocolate soft serve ice cream.

Here it is, almost 9pm and once again, I am feeling very weary.

I've accepted No. 1 Son's challenge to race the boys in the go carts tomorrow, so I'd best get an early night so that I'm fresh and alert for the big event!

Nite all

It's Cold

For the second day in a row, I wore clothes with sleeves!

That's when you know it's cold.

Number One Son walked beside my trike to work and helped me open the shop, which was lovely.

We had another full house for morning coffee with the girls, but it was so busy in the shop that I didn't even get to sit with them, which was kind of bitter sweet.

When it got quiet, a delivery of stock arrived, which meant there were two deliveries to process because one had arrived the day before as well.

I had time to price yesterday's products, but The Motivator will have the happy task of pricing today's delivery.

The last hour was filled with a grey nomad couple who were in for a chat. No 1 Son chatted with the husband while I tempted the wife to purchase. I failed, but they are here for another six weeks and I think she will return this week to buy a birthday gift for a family member.

Tonight was an easy dinner of take away from the cafe which we ate at the Lions Park on dusk. It was very mild weather and the colour in the sky was pretty. We sat there for about thirty minutes enjoying our food until we could feel the chill in the air and we decided to drive home to the comfort of our lounge room.

We've lived here for ten years and this is the first time that we've used the air conditioner for heat. Apparently Adoring Husband used it once while I was away on a road trip, but it's never been used in the house while I've been at home.

We turned the heat on tonight for a while, but AH turned it off when he went to bed an hour ago and now I have the fan directly aimed at me ... go figure.

There are plans afoot for tomorrow and it's now almost 9.30pm so I'm off to bed. I feel surprisingly tired.

Nite all.

He's Baaaa-aaaack!

After five years, Number One Son has returned and arrived safe n sound.

We picked him up from the airport at lunch time.

Because the light is so bright behind the entrance tunnel to the airport, everybody is a black silhouette as they enter the terminal so I had trouble recognising him from all the other big tall men with hairy faces!!

We decided on Aqua Vue for lunch, ran some errands around town, stopped at Dr Dan's, ordered some photo prints from Hardly Normal's and drove home where we gave Number One Son a tour of the shop, introduced him to The Motivator and helped bring everything inside so that she could shut up shop.

Finally, we made our way home.

The Psychotic dogs gave him a loud and crazy welcome, but have settled now and spend a lot of time staring at him.

I think No 1 Son has brought the Winter weather with him because even 'I' am wearing long sleeves today and tonight!

After such a big day, everyone is now snug and warm in bed and I am about to follow suit. I'm working in the morning and I'm looking forward to having coffee with the girls.

*yawn*

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

It was another AMAZING day of the workshop and now it's all over.

The ladies were fantastic. Their camera knowledge improved so much over the weekend as they shared information and supported each other. Then we enjoyed time on the beach putting everything into practice.

It really didn't feel like work at all and I was impressed not only with the way their photography improved over two days, but also by their warmth, laughter and generosity.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire weekend and feel so grateful to have been able to inspire these ladies and share the time with them.

Over the years, photography has brought me so much joy on so many levels, and now I've found yet avenue to enjoy the craft. I really hope that this is the beginning of many inspirational weekends of photography pleasure!

I got an early night last night and was in bed well before 9.30pm and asleep before 10pm. I didn't set my alarm because I always wake at 6am, at which time I can decide whether to go back to sleep or get up.

As Murphy's Law should dictate, Adoring Husband had to wake me at 8am!! This meant that I had slept for ten hours!! Unheard of, and it also meant that I had to rush around like a chook with it's head cut off to get to the class on time!

Ugh.

I arrived at the shop at 8.50am and the ladies all arrived smack on 9am, so it all worked out in the end.

Tomorrow, Number One Son arrives for a five day visit!

It's been four years since BGWLBH and I visited him in Oakey during a road trip and it's been five years since he was here for a visit.

That's a LONG time!

I'll have Monday, Wednesday and Friday off to spend some time with him.

So I'd best get some sleep so that I can be bright and breezy when he arrives tomorrow!

Nite all.