A Good Friday

MORE stock arrived today!

Between the many customers who entered our premises today, I unpacked the new Serenade stock and went through the process of checking the invoice, pricing and displaying all the lovely products, then cleaning up all the mess that was left behind.

Yet another local came through our doors saying "I didn't know you were here! How long have you been open?"

I wonder if, in five years time, there will still be locals uttering those famous words?

By the end of the day, I was feeling absolutely exhausted - but I think it was the prawns that I bought for lunch that did that to me. I've noticed that when I eat shellfish, I have an overwhelming feeling of physical tiredness a couple of hours after eating it. Shellfish don't have a very good filtering system in their bodies, so toxins tend to accumulate and effect we humans - and some of us are more sensitive than others.

I still found the energy to attend the Bowls Club for the usual Friday night raffles and socialising, but I was a big loser. I think everybody in our group won something except me!

The first football match of the evening did not go my way so I have slipped slightly on the footy tipping ladder. I still have one more chance to return to my second spot this weekend because the leader has chosen one more different team to me.

Fingers crossed.

I just looked at the clock and can't believe that it's already well after 11pm! Gotta work tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep!

Oh and I just thought you would like to know that there are just 123 days until Christmas!

Nite all.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work we go.

It was a steady day in the shop.

Somebody, who I met many many months ago ... probably about ten months ... and who I ran into at the hairdressers last week, came into the shop to order a large photo from my sunset collection.

We sat in the lounge area and had a great conversation which lasted about thirty minutes before her illness began to take it's toll and she had to leave. She is pretty amazing and it's a bit sad that her illness prevents her from spreading her laughter and joy through the community because she could bring happiness on a daily basis!

There are still quite a few holiday makers in town and some of our regulars/locals came into the shop knowing that we had lots of new stock arrive last week. There will be more tomorrow and we have to order some more hemp hats because we are running very low.

I left work at around 3.20pm because Kiwi Bernie was at our house to discuss the build and landscaping in and around our planned new pool.

Adoring Husband had already shown him the plan that I had sketched, so he had a fair idea of what I had in mind, but he still had some questions to ask and it was interesting that he brought up some necessary things that we hadn't considered so our expenses may be a little higher than we originally thought. Having said that, I think we both expected that there would be costs that we hadn't thought of.

Obviously, this is not to scale and we haven't firmly decided on the pool shape yet, but this is a rough idea of what I have in mind ... aside from this, Adoring Husband has an outdoor kitchen planned to the right of the pergola which will be built into part of the existing shed. You can't see it in this plan.

It will be interesting to see how it pans out!

The pool still seems like a long way off and the reality of it hasn't really set in yet.

I must remember to take a photo of the next stage now that the trees, fence, chook pen and passionfruit trellis is gone and the timber has been removed from the raised garden beds. Adoring Husband has been working very hard and is well ahead of his planned work schedule/time line.

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

Nite all.

Day of Ms

It was another day off work for me and it started with Meditation, which, as always, I enjoyed.

Meditation.

Straight after meditation, I asked The Gypsy if I could take her first appointment for the day and I spent an hour on the table enjoying a Zen Shiatzu Massage.

Massage.

It certainly slowed me down for the day because it took me 90 minutes to get ready for the lady's lunch and that didn't even include a shower! I was totally Zenned out!

I can't think of a word that begins with the letter 'M' that describes the lady's lunch!

How about Midday Meal!! There were about 18 of us gathered at the pub for lunch. I ordered Lamb Loin Chop with salad and GF gravy. 'Something' wasn't GF because I spent a good portion of time in the bathroom after I got home.

However, I had a good time with the girls and it was my first lady's lunch for a few months. I'm glad I got to attend this one.

Midday Meal.

Adoring Husband spent the entire day at home waiting for the repair guy to arrive to fix our oven. We've only been waiting for about five weeks for this 'part' to turn up from overseas and it was terribly nice of the guy to turn up at 6.15pm to take over our kitchen - right on dinner time!

$380 later!!

Mad.

At the original service call, he told us that it wouldn't cost too much. His idea of 'too much' and my idea of 'too much' are completely different 'too muches' obviously.

Much.

Now I'm off to bed because I am BACK AT WORK TOMORROW!! WAHOO!!

Makes me happy.

Nite all.

Day of Bliss

After five days off, I had a great return to the shop today.

It started with big hugs from The Motivator, followed by setting up the second attempt at birthday morning tea for Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced), then we enjoyed our morning tea with the girls before the day went crazy.

So many customers and so much to do, with all the new stock, some of which is still waiting to find a home, some to be stored out the back until another day, some to be tidied up and some to be rearranged or redisplayed.

We, with Adoring Husband's help, re-organised the the storage cupboard. AH took away all of our empty cardboard boxes that had accumulated over the week with new stock arrivals. We opened up the box containing the brand new vacuum cleaner and cleaned the floors. I did some dusting. We priced most of the new Cenzoni bags, wallets and purses. We selected a new tote bag each from the Ivy's collection.

We had to clear the training room, which had been used to unpack some of the stock, so that The Motivator could run a training session for laptops this afternoon and also for the meditation class tomorrow morning.

It was a little bit frantic for most of the day, but not frantic enough to cause stress.

A gentleman (and I use that term loosely) had been in the shop while I was away and returned to ask where he might find some birdlife in the area for him to photograph.

His main question was "Do you buy your photos?" When I asked him what he meant, he asked "Did you take the photos yourself or do you buy the images from somewhere else and claim them to be yours?"

That's when I knew that I wouldn't waste much time with him and I certainly wouldn't give him any credible tips about where to find birdlife.

Then he asked "How much does it cost to frame your $90 photos?" I replied that I didn't know because I'd never had one of them professionally framed, but probably between $150 - $200. He then said, with an air of arrogance, "So you're selling them at a loss!"

"No" I replied "I sell them backed with mat board, not framed."

"Oh" he said and then turned a walked away.

"And don't come back!" I though to myself!

We left the shop after 4.30pm and even though I have another day off tomorrow, I think I will attend the meditation class in the morning before attending our monthly lady's luncheon. I've missed the last three lunches, so I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone this month.

Here is Monday night's sunset ...

Best get some sleep now.

Nite all.  

I Refrained

It's Monday.

It was another day off for me.

As difficult as it was, I refrained from visiting The Happy Abode.

I stayed in bed listening to my book and continued to have my mind blown.

I made a concerted effort to get out of bed, have a shower and go visit The Blonde Bombshell for the first time since she returned home after her accident.

We did spend an hour or so, standing in the ocean water a few days after she returned home, which was some months ago.

I DID go to her house with all our friends to attend an essential oils party last weekend.

But I haven't been to her house just to visit as a friend, so today was my day to do that.

I met her carer, Shane, for the first time, who obviously loves Molly almost as much as The Blond Bombshell and Grumpy Pants.

Molly ...

Two glasses of wine and a bowl of potato chips later, The Reality TV Queen and I left.

I rode to the beach and took some photos of nothing much ...

It was dusk when I arrived home and not realising that I hadn't zipped up my camera bag properly, I picked it up to hear an almighty crash as my camera fell onto the concrete floor of the garage.

Ugh. (I said a word much worse than 'Ugh')

It still works. (Thank goodness!)

Phew!

I'm going to have an early night so that I can return to work refreshed tomorrow!

Nite all.

Booked it in and did it!

I told you that Sunday was going to be my day.

I spent about five hours listening to my book "You are the Placebo" which is absolutely blowing my mind and I feel like, by the end, it will change my life!

I did get out of bed to make myself some breakfast of crispy bacon and toast to have with the coffee that Adoring Husband brought to me and I took it all back to bed with me so that I could listen some more.

At about 1pm I got up again.

I cut open the 30 passionfruit that had been sitting in a plastic bag on the kitchen bench for a week - some from Best Cousin in the World and some from one of our customers - and put the flesh into a number of small containers to put into the freezer.

Then I mixed up a small batch of dog food. I mixed the 500g of beef mince with an egg, a handful of finely chopped spinach, a handful of shredded broccoli, a small grated carrot, a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of hemp seeds and some Himalayan salt.

That made up two days of food for the three psychotic dogs.

THEN I watched the second half of the football. Canterbury Bulldogs defeated New Zealand Warriors, which put me in clear second place in the Footy Tipping comp! Of course there are still a few weeks to go, so I could lose that position BUT right now I can brag about it and enjoy the moment!

I drew up a rough plan of the pool and the surrounding landscaping.

I made dinner for Adoring Husband and crunched my way through the remaining crispy bacon before watching one of the saddest movies I've ever seen "A Little Bit of Heaven". My face was very wet at the end of that one.

Monday is my last day off, so I still get to sleep in and I'll probably finish the book.

Before I head to bed, I'd like to wish Adoring Husband luck on this special day. Not that he needs it. I'll expand on this in a few days.

Happy Monday! Have a fabulous week!

Nite all.

Why wasn't I told?

I have discovered audio books for the first time.

Why wasn't I told about how fabulous audio books are?

I was once a voracious reader, but somewhere along the way, about eight or so years ago,  my brain was triggered to fall asleep after 3-5 pages of reading, so I conceded defeat and gave up. 

A few days ago while I was searching online for an updated copy of a book that I already own, I noticed that there was an audio version of it, so I downloaded the 'audible' app and by doing that, I received the audio book that I wanted for free.

It took three days for me to listen to the seven hours of audio by the actual author and I LOVED it!

Today, while enjoying a very lazy morning in bed, on my third day off work, I was browsing through pages of audio book titles and selected some of them to purchase.

The first one I selected is titled "You are the PLACEBO making your mind matter" by Dr Joe Dispenza. I was hooked after seven minutes and that is why I'm writing this blog post early ... so that I can spend the evening listening to the book while watching Super Saturday football!

Adoring Husband was tied up with the First Aid training at the SES shed today, so I had to pedal to the shops to get my own morning coffee. I listened to my new book on the way there and then of course I had to visit The Happy Abode and check out some of the new stock.

The Motivator already had about five items set aside for a customer who was returning later to pick them up, so I was lucky to see them before they went to their 'forever home'.

Lots of lovely glass figurines, mostly fish and shells, but a really cute little pig too. 

It was difficult to leave, but even though I was wearing my daggy yoga pants and singlet top, I helped serve a couple of customers and then made my merry way down to the beach, where I sat in the shade on a bench seat enjoying this ...   

while I listened to my book.

I was also lucky enough to spot this ...

... which proves that I need to get out more with my camera because I NEED the practice!

It was almost 2.30pm when I arrived home and while still listening to my book, I decided to make a chicken curry with the chicken that had been sitting in the fridge for three days.

All in all, it's been a very pleasant day for me. All that fresh air has tired me out, but at least AH got a nice curry for dinner and I didn't have to lift a finger.

I'm feeling a bit creative but I'm not sure what to do with the feeling. So many options.

Anyway, I'm off to read/listen to my book. Have an amazing Sunday!

Nite all.

I Took Control

Yes, I did visit The Motivator at The Happy Abode, but I didn't stay long.

I need to take 'time out' so, taking The Motivator's advice, I left the shop and rode along the river taking a few photos, sitting for a while enjoying the sunshine and admiring the crystal clear waters of the river.

There are a LOT of pelicans about at the moment and even though it was the wrong time of day and the light was way too bright, I decided to photograph some of them anyway ...

It was 1pm when I arrived home and it was almost a 'tag team' situation when Adoring Husband received an emergency call and had to leave the house. He returned a while later, only to leave again to greet the First Aid trainers at the SES shed.

Next, it was my turn to leave and attend my usual Friday night at the club.

Lots of new stock arrived at the shop after I left, so there will be plenty to play with next week!

Right now, I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Can't Help Myself

I didn't get out of bed until about 9.30am.

I needed coffee and I needed to talk to The Motivator, so I pedalled to where I needed to be, got my coffee and then rode to The Happy Abode.

Ivy's stock and Cinnamon stock had arrived before me so it was my idea of Christmas as I walked through the door!

The Motivator and I hugged hello, discussed some stuff and then I began helping unpack the stock while she was serving customers.

Four hours later ...

A couple of times The Motivator said to me "Rozzy, it's your day off. You don't have to do this."

But I DO have to do this! I LOVE doing this!

I forced myself to leave a little after 2.30pm.

I'll be back tomorrow.

There may be MORE stock arriving!

Honestly, I really can't help myself.

Our planter pots and bamboo sheets arrived today - the first step in the progress of the famous pool!

For an early dinner (because Adoring Husband had SES training tonight) I cooked some snapper fillets in lemon butter and served them with sweet potato mash, snow peas and char grilled zucchini. It was good.

Now I'm watching The Bachelor and then I'm off to bed.

I know it's self inflicted, but I'm worn out and will have an early night.

Nite all.

Full Of It

It's been a 'full on' Wednesday.

It all started with a great hour of meditation and conversation where everyone got involved and had lots to share.

Then there was a flurry of sales before everyone left, as well as some fond farewells for some ladies who are leaving for home this Saturday after about six weeks holiday.

Even though I wanted to buy my morning coffee and check the mail, I had to wait for quite a while as customers came in one after the other after the other!

My 'to do' list was ridiculously long today but my biggest priority was getting our ad written up and sent out to the three area newsletters. I knew that because I was on a deadline, that the universe was going to test me today with this one ... and I was right! So many interruptions!

But I did it.

I still had to finish with yesterday's stock arrival, pay some suppliers, pay a bill, help a young male customer choose a gift for his new girlfriend, transfer some funds, speak to some suppliers over the phone, speak to a possible supplier who cold called in the shop, a new delivery arrived just after lunch so I had to unpack, check and figure out where it was going to go in the shop (I didn't quite finish that one).

Adoring Husband arrived at 2pm to take care of our customers while I enjoyed a one hour treatment from The Gypsy.

After that, it took me three hours to tidy up some loose ends and make everything presentable for The Motivator and write a three page story detailing everything that she needed to know for tomorrow when she arrived at the shop.

I left the shop at 6pm.

What a day.

My treatment was almost wasted. The order was to go home and rest and drink lots of water. Instead I frantically ran around the shop for three hours trying to remember all the little details that I needed to tidy up while finding lots of extra little things along the way. I actually believe that the treatment gave me the energy to get it all done.

I have to admit, by the time I arrived home in the dark, on my little red trike with it's rear flashing red light, I was feeling well and truly worn out and even a little bit fragile. Thank goodness I get to sleep late in the morning, but I will go to the shop to have a chat with The Motivator about the three pages of notes that I left on her desk.

I had a very interesting hour long chat with Vegan Chickie tonight. The last time we spoke was at the airport in Brisbane when Chicklet left our care. That's more than three months ago! So much has happened since then. One hour really wasn't long enough to share all of our news, but it was great to catch up on some of it. The most interesting bits!

Right now I need to package up all the bone broth in the slow cooker before I collapse into bed.

Nite all.  

Birthday Absentees

Happy Birthday Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced lol)

I arrived at the shop early this morning so that I could blow up some balloons, cut some cakes and slices into bite sized pieces, put a candle in a chocolate muffin and create a little birthday nook for Tweedle Dee before everyone arrived for morning tea.

Just before everyone arrived, I received a text from poor Tweedle Dee telling me that she had hurt her back and was unable to make it for our regular coffee date.

So everybody ate the deliciousness on the plate, played with the balloons, blew out the candle and we sang Happy Birthday on a little video to send to her.

But we were sad that she had damaged herself and disappointed that she wasn't with us for the morning.

We expect a better effort next year!

It was a slow day at the shop so I created the new flyer for the next photography workshop, designed the new ad for next month's newsletter (which is now a week late because the first of the month was a Wednesday so I should have had the ad in last Wednesday!), covered a cheese board with clear cellophane and unpacked, checked off, priced and displayed two boxes of stock that arrived this afternoon.

Just as I was about to leave, I realised that meditation is on first thing in the morning, which meant that I had to clean up all the debris from unpacking the stock - and it was messy! Then I remembered that I had eight pairs of pre-loved shoes sitting in the meditation room waiting to be priced for our 'Pre-loved' area of the shop, but they needed to be removed from that room.

By the time I'd finished, it was well after 5pm.

At home, I headed straight for the kitchen to prepare dinner and at the same time, I filled the slow cooker with all the ingredients for my bone broth.

I made cauliflower puree, butter mushrooms and duck breast for dinner. It was pretty good.

I edited some photos that I took of the stock that arrived today.

Now I'm off to bed for an early night because I have an early start tomorrow for meditation.

The other birthday absentee was my Dad. He would have been 78 today and this year he has been gone twenty one years. Such a long time but it doesn't feel that long at all. Happy Birthday Dad.

Nite all.

Hello Monday!

I struggled getting ready for work this morning and only arrived at work ten minutes before opening time.

I chatted with The Gypsy for twelve minutes before realising that it was after nine and I still needed to open the shop!

It was a busy day with lots of customers all spending very small amounts of money.

I squirrelled (aka 'started many projects without finishing them') all day long.

I began covering the timber cheese boards and bread boards with clear plastic and yellow raffia.

I began making a new sign for the next photography workshop.

I began changing our ad for the next newsletter.

I began making a 'pre-loved' sign for my shoes that I took to the shop today.

I began pricing some jewellery and displaying it.

I began replacing the buttons that were sold from the display stands.

I finished making an order of leather glasses cases and business card holders.

I finished making a 'to do' list so that I can finish all the things that I started today!

Adoring Husband began pulling our back yard apart in preparation for the pool. He has a schedule and already, he is ahead of schedule, but feeling it in his body tonight.

I took some 'before' photos of the back yard this morning and will take progress shots over the coming weeks. I'll share them here, but the today's shots are still in camera, so they will have to wait til tomorrow.

The day, for me, went very quickly and I got very little done.

Tomorrow will be a better organised and more productive day. Hopefully I will actually complete most of the tasks that I began today.

Now I need some sleep.

Nite all.

Day of Rest

I've got three days off at the end of this week and I plan on spending one entire day in bed.

It's been a very busy four days and I haven't had a chance to plant my butt on the chair or remain in bed for my usual day of regeneration/slobberdogging.

Right here, right now, I'm booking next Sunday as my regeneration day.

I AM excited to get back to the shop tomorrow. I even have a new top especially for the occasion of my return! Haha.

We left the house this morning at about 10.15am and drove to Gundiah with the lovely chookies tucked snug in a box.

When we arrived at the farm, Adoring Husband and Marco Polo drove them out to their new home, which is a caravan with a special electronic door that locks them in for the night and they are guarded by Maremma dogs by day as they wander freely on the farm foraging for their yummy worms, grubs and greenery.

They will be happy with their new friends and their freedom.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of pork chops cooked on the barbecue, sweet potato chips cooked in the pizza oven and a delicious fruity salad with a variety of fresh greens from the garden, blood orange, apple, shallots and cranberries awash with a tangy poppy seed dressing. Absolutely delicious. Not to mention the gluten free home made crackers dipped in home made cashew cheese.

It was a really pleasant four hours spent on the farm. The weather was glorious, the drinks were cold, the food was good, the conversation flowed and the time passed quickly.

We had to leave so that AH could see our 'pool guy' and pass on some requested information, so a quick twenty minutes in Best Cousin in the World's garden harvesting lots of green stuff and some sweet potatoes was how we said our goodbyes.

We stopped at Oliver's on the way home for a coffee that tasted like it had about 5 shots in it. Ugh.

When AH returned from the pool guy's house, we stepped outside to measure up our pool area, so that I can start planning the landscaping and figure out exactly where we want the pool to go.

Hopefully I will find the mental energy to do just that, during the week.

At this very moment I am watching the movie "Jaws" and it is reinforcing our brilliant plan of having a pool in the back yard, even though we live 400 metres from the beach/river!

I'm off to bed. Thanks to The Blonde Bombshell for sharing this lovely quote on FB today...

Nite all.  

Catch Up

I'm still attempting to catch up.

I didn't realise how far I'd fallen behind with everything in the last month and how many things I'd put off until I had more time.

Not only that, but trying to fit in all the 'things' that we want to do in the time that we have available is positively wearing me out!

Knowing that I'll have another three days to play with next week certainly takes the pressure off.

Today, while Adoring Husband ordered our coffee, I spent a short fifteen minutes at the local markets where I supported some local stall holders (aka spent money!).

We drove to Springvale plant nursery where we priced some big buddhas, water features and plant pots for landscaping around the pool. We found a large water feature buddha that we love and it currently sits on top of our wish list.

While we were there, I fell in love with a mirror that I simply had to have! You know ... sometimes you see something and you know it was meant for you? This was it for me ...

I know that you're a little surprised by this purchase because you probably don't consider me to be a 'bee' person. This is my symbol for 'Lucky Bitch' and I am definitely one of those!

After we finished viewing and pricing their vast array of garden statues, water features and pots, we drove to another location where we checked the prices of some of the same items. I was surprised to discover that the supposedly cheap shop "Truckloads" (you know ... the equivalent of Flash Harrys) was $300 dearer than any of the other five suppliers so far!

They did however, have an amazing metal dragon almost as tall as me, made out of shiny silver metal. If the price was more reasonable OR if it doubled as a water feature or did something interesting, it would have gone to the top of my wish list. The price was astronomical for what it was.

While we were at the shopping mall, which is one that we rarely get to on our trips into The Bay, I simply had to slip in some personal shopping so I bought myself three tops and two pairs of shoes.

A quick trip to Stocklands to purchase some desperately needed bras, then a stop at Harvey Normans to pick up the photos that I ordered yesterday and we rushed home to make it to Blonde Bombshell's house for her La Reve party which began at 1pm.

I did enjoy myself while I was there - of course a couple of glasses of wine helped! I ordered some more reed diffusers and a couple of gifts to put away for Christmas. I made a wish list for the next party which will probably be at The Happy Abode in September.

There was good food, good friends, some good laughs and more than two hours later, The Motivator dropped me home.

I'm feeling pretty exhausted after such a busy day. I've been awake since 5.45am and tomorrow we are taking our chooks to Gundiah, where Best Cousin in the World is going to take possession of them. Lunch will be served and we'll have to return mid afternoon for Adoring Husband to meet a commitment.

It's only 8.30pm but it feels like 10.30pm. That'll teach me for drinking wine! It's been a long time since I drank wine.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Nite all.

Day Out With My Man

There was no sleeping in this morning.

I had to put all the photos that I wanted to print onto a USB stick to take into town with me and I had to hang a large load of washing on the line and then write a 'to do' list so that we didn't forget anything while we were in The Bay.

The 'to do' list was left at home *rolls eyes* so I had to rely on my memory, which surprisingly, did not let me down!

First on our agenda, was to go to the cinema to see 'Mama Mia! Here We Go Again'

It was amazing and I loved every second of it! I can't wait to see it again!

From there, Adoring Husband and I went in search of some interesting things to add to the landscaping of our pool. I've decided that, if possible, I want something completely different.

My original plan was to have a big buddha in the corner, but I'll try to find something else that is unique and beautiful that still invokes a feeling of peace and harmony. We'll see what pops up.

Tomorrow, we will visit a couple of the big plant nurseries that stock large water features and statues to see what they have to offer.

Eventually, time was running out, so we did some grocery shopping and then headed to Harvey Norman so that I could order some new photo prints for the shop. It's time to change things up a bit and add some new prints to our walls.

It's also time for me to get out and about with my camera to capture some more local images, as well as put together a calendar of local pics for 2019.

So much to do!

We arrived home in time to feed the psychotic dogs, make a quick change and AH drove me to the club for my usual Friday night.

I had some luck on the pokies and it was a quiet night up there for the raffles with lots of empty tables.

I posted my sunset photo onto the Flickr website yesterday and as I type this, it has had 23,000 views!! My phone buzzes every time somebody adds it to their 'favourites' and almost 300 people have done that. The buzzing is becoming quite annoying ha.

It's just gone past 10pm so I'm off to bed. I have a big day planned tomorrow, including a party at 1pm.

Nite all.

New Hair Day

I didn't have to get out of bed until 11am.

I had a midday hair appointment, so I had to get up at 11am to make myself presentable for public viewing.

Adoring Husband dropped me off at the hairdressers so that he could pick me up afterwards and drive to Bambooland to price their bamboo sheets, with which we are going to line two of our existing fences around the pool.

But firstly, I have to say that my visit to the hairdressers was fabulous. I love my hair, but I just happened to run into a lady that I met almost a year ago, who lives in our street, but her illness keeps her indoors the majority of the time.

She had her back to me but heard my voice and called me over, introducing herself to me again. We spent the next two hours chatting up a storm, talking about everything and anything. It was thoroughly enjoyable and it was very noticeable how the energy in the shop changed when she left.

My hairdresser told me that she thought my son was 'hot'.  She saw him with us outside the cafe one afternoon and then she almost accidentally ran him over as she left her driveway another time. She said it wouldn't have mattered because she'd have gladly given him mouth to mouth to save him!

Almost three hours later, I left the salon with my lovely new hair and feeling very happy.

At Bambooland, AH and I found some stunning planter pots and I selected three different sizes, a 'possible' buddha water feature and a Bali bench seat that is also on the 'possible' list.

If I was 'into' elephants, there was an amazing elephant water feature that was reasonably priced.

We weren't there very long but saw and priced everything that we were interested in and can now compare prices elsewhere.

When we returned home, we did some grocery shopping and then I spent the next hour and a bit in the kitchen making cauliflower patties and a chicken curry. The cauliflower patties took a lot longer than I expected, but they were delicious.

Adoring Husband headed off to SES for the evening and I did some washing, cleaned up the kitchen and then sorted through my photos so that I could put them all on a USB stick and will decide tomorrow which ones I'll print for the shop.

My hairdresser said that she is interested in doing my next photography workshop and she thinks her girlfriend would do it with her. But first, she needs to get a camera!

Anyway, it's now after 11pm. Adoring Husband is home and trying to sleep while I tap away on my keyboard, so I'll sign off here.

Nite all.

On A Break!

That's me.

I'm officially on a break.

How funny that I'm hesitant to take this break! I love The Happy Abode and while I know I NEED to take this break, I certainly don't WANT to take it.

It's a forced, self imposed break so that I don't reach a point where I'm not having fun.

It was a slow day for sales in the shop until the last half hour, when a few customers came in and then right on closing time, one lady asked if she could have a look. She found much to fall in love with, so piled the items on the counter and lifted our sales to better than acceptable!

The Motivator and I had some fun and practiced some silliness. We made another stock order and listed some stuff from another supplier. I think we're going to busy next week when all of this stock arrives at the shop. Trying to figure out where it goes will be fun.

Adoring Husband made a casserole in the slow cooker today, so I didn't have to prepare dinner at all and could spend the afternoon and evening relaxing. He's definitely a keeper.

I had another look at the photos of the sunset last night and came up with this ...

Now I think it's time for bed. I have a hair appointment at midday tomorrow and I intend on staying in bed until the very last minute!

Nite all.

This Close!

We began our Tuesday in the usual way ... enjoying coffee and a good laugh with the ladies in our lounge area. There were eight of us in attendance.

It was 11am when the last lady left and by then I think we'd had one small sale in the shop.

One of our suppliers of local art/craft came into the shop at that point and spent some time chatting and showing us some of his new work.

It was after he left that things began to pick up big time.

We were so close to breaking our highest sales record today.

It was such a slow morning, I wondered if we might break our lowest sales record!

By late afternoon, we were feeling confident enough to begin an order with a new supplier, so we did a quick search and selected some items that we thought would serve us well for Father's Day.

At the end of the day, we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, so it was hugs all round and smiles on our dials as we said our goodbyes.

This is the first Tuesday of the month, which means our monthly neighbourhood barbecue at the river, so Adoring Husband and I did a quick grocery shop and headed home to prepare our salad and stack our esky with all the goodies to take with us.

Because I'd had the photography workshop on the weekend, my camera gear was all packed in the bag and ready to go, so I took it with me hoping that our sunset would be worth the effort.

Just when it felt like the cloud cover might smother the colour, it gradually changed and became brighter and more fiery by the minute ...

What a spectacle! With every minute that passed, the colours and the light kept changing.

There were lots of people out with their phones and their cameras capturing the beauty of it. It triggered lots of conversations between strangers and all of us agreed in the glory of Mother Nature.

Soon enough after we ate our barbecue dinner, it began to get quite cool and we headed home, but it was nice to catch up with our neighbours, who, surprisingly, we really only see once a month at these barbecues!

It's after 11pm and I need to be up early for meditation tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Let's Go Shopping!

The Motivator has returned!

It was the slowest day in the shop that we've had for weeks, so The Motivator and I went shopping!

We spent the entire afternoon online ordering new stock. Some to replace the stuff we've sold out of and some new stuff to cater to Father's Day and some new stuff 'just because'.

Some Pure Essential Oils, new handbags and wallets, a new black and red scarf for someone special, some Intrinsic affirmation cards and some men's wallets, man bags and bumbags.

The Gypsy was booked out today, but customers were few and far between. The two who came rushing into the shop just after 3pm when we were closing, made up half of our sales for the day!

The supermarket and the butcher complained loudly about how quiet it was for them too, so it wasn't just us.

I'll probably take a couple of days off at the end of the week to catch up on some housework, deliver our chooks to Gundiah and set out a plan for Adoring Husband to start clearing the yard in preparation for the pool.

I'm looking forward to coffee with some of the girls tomorrow morning and probably ordering some stock from some new suppliers with The Motivator.

Meanwhile, I'm off for an early night *yawn*

Nite all.

Missing in Action

This month's photography workshop originally had seven people listed, a family of three pulled out due to a death in the family, one woman had to withdraw due to her work roster, one man pulled out but asked to do the next one and another lady just never returned my calls. This meant that just three days before the workshop was to commence, I had ONE person left!

After a few phone calls, a few emails and an announcement at my talk the other day, two more came to the party and I could still run the workshop with three fabulous participants ...

It was another great workshop and they were lovely people whose company was a real pleasure, which made the weekend really enjoyable.

I would like to share this story highlighting my weak (some might say 'complete lack of') organisational skills.

I was running a 'Photography for Beginners' workshop this weekend.

On Thursday afternoon, I began setting up, but couldn't find my worksheets or course material.

I searched all through the shop to no avail, but wasn't too concerned, believing that I had taken it all home after the previous workshop.

That evening, I searched all through the house to avail, and this time I was very concerned because I had no idea what had happened to it all!

Nowhere to be found.

Back to work on Friday where I logged into the Photography Course file on my iMac and discovered that only about one third of it is stored there.

Ugh.

So I printed out what was there, knowing that the remaining two thirds was on my MacBook at home.

Still not concerned, I came home on Friday afternoon, got ready and went out for my usual Friday night at the club.

We came home from there a bit after 7.30pm and cooked dinner, sat down to eat it while watching the football, after which (by this time, it's 10pm) I put my MacBook on my lap and began the search for the remaining course material.

To my dismay, the information sheets were there but my 'example' photos were not.

Ugh.

Seriously?!

I spent the evening printing the info sheets and then searching for new photos to print. My originals were not on file, so I had to search for and print new example photos.

Then I had to put it all in order in preparation for day one of the workshop.

I made extra copies to set aside for future emergencies.

It was 1am when I finally made it to bed.

Hence no blog post for Friday night.

Day two of my workshop is always only partially planned because the participants always ask at least one question on the first day, for which I do not have an answer, so I write the question/s down, research the answer and provide new information sheets on day two.

One of the participants this weekend was a little more advanced than the others and asked questions that a true beginner would not think of, so Saturday night was about creating a new information sheet for day two.

While I was doing that, I thought of something else so I worked on that to add to day two.

It was after 11pm when I headed to bed, hence no blog post on Saturday night!

Ask me where all of my course material is right now? Right now, as I sit here writing this blog post, I have no bloody idea where my course material is ... not even the extras that I printed for emergencies!

There is no hope for me.

Nite all.

Who Knew?

Who knew that this time of year would be so busy?

September was our first month of business last year and it was crazy busy for two weeks of the school holidays, but this past three weeks has been totally unexpected and so much better than we could have hoped for.

Thankfully, it has come in the form of a steady flow of customers through the door, and at no time was there a long queue of people becoming impatient with me because they weren't getting served quickly enough!

So even though it's been busy, it has also been easy and enjoyable and quite fulfilling.

The fact that it's all been so manageable without The Motivator on board is both a surprise and a relief.

Today was another great day for business.

Adoring Husband came to cover for me at The Happy Abode this afternoon when I had to attend the Friendship Group at the local hall to give a talk on photography. I was gone for an hour and by the time I'd returned, he had taken a sale and closed the shop.

What a legend.

I think my talk went well. There were a few questions and everyone was keen to look at my photo book and touch my camera. There were a couple of enquiries about the workshop this weekend, so maybe they will come see me tomorrow to book in and fill my class.

I had a rough night last night with cramps. The toes on my left leg were all sticking straight up, my foot was cramping to the right, my calf and my shin were cramping to the left and my thigh was cramping to the right.

I couldn't walk, I couldn't stretch anything because all the muscles were cramping in opposite directions and try as I might with breathing and focussing, I couldn't relax any of the muscles. It lasted for about fifteen long minutes and I almost woke Adoring Husband to help me!

While sitting on the couch tonight, I've had some more cramps in my feet, so AH has filled a small square tub with warm water and dumped some of the magnesium mineral salts that our pool guy gave us into it and my feet are now soaking.

It feels so nice.

AH also made a hot honey and lemon drink to help with this stupid runny nose that is annoying me. It comes and goes during the day, so it doesn't even feel like a cold ... it feels more like an allergy of some sort, but I can't pinpoint what it could be. It seems to be worse at home, so I need to be more aware of what I'm doing and where I'm doing it!

We're watching the first NRL game of the week and my Broncos are losing at half time to a team that is equal second last on the ladder! I'll watch the second half and then head to bed.

Big day tomorrow, so hopefully cramps won't disturb my sleep again tonight.

We didn't win OzLotto OR Powerball this week, but they've jackpotted and are now worth $70million and $80million so I'm willing to win one of those next week. I still promise to share with a LOT of people.

Nite all.

  

Quietly Does It

After Monday and Tuesday madness in the shop, it was a very quiet Wednesday.

I priced some new stock and rearranged some displays, chatted with The Gypsy, met some new customers and this afternoon I welcomed The Motivator for her first, but brief visit to The Happy Abode, since she returned from Sydney with the flu.

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop and I rode home to make an early dinner so that we could attend the trivia night at the club. I have no idea where we came out of the eleven teams, but I have one thing to say to Adoring Husband ...

CUBA!!! (you had to be there)

He did a really good job on the final round, which was a picture round of 'tools' and he named them all.

We've come home to watch the iconic movie 'Mean Girls'

Tomorrow, I have to give a talk to the local 'Friendship Group' so Adoring Husband will look after the shop from about 2.40pm so that I can walk over to the hall and talk about photography! I have no idea what I'm going to say, but as usual, I will wing it and it will all work out in the end.

I think it might be time for me to climb into my warm bed ... there is a definite chill in the air tonight.

Nite all.

Not According to Plan

My day did NOT go according to plan.

I mentioned yesterday that I would leave early enough to visit the Seat of Knowledge this morning, but it was so cold, I wasn't prepared to slide out from under my toasty warm doona until the very last minute.

So, I arrived at work with just enough time to go buy a coffee before opening the shop.

Three of my girls arrived right on time - just as I received a phone call from OzCare confirming that they were bringing a group to the shop for morning tea and a shopping trip!

What?

It seems that 'someone' had spoken to The motivator about whether we had the facilities to accommodate a morning tea group which would be followed by a shopping spree in the shop. She confirmed that we did, but there were no concrete arrangements made.

A month ago, The Blonde Bombshell told me about the OzCare newsletter that stated there was going to be a trip to Burrum Heads to have morning tea at The Happy Abode, followed by shopping, followed by lunch at Lions Park.

The Motivator and I had a discussion and I assumed that someone from OzCare would contact us to verify the trip before the date.

That did not occur. Instead, they phoned the shop at 9am today, to confirm that they would arrive for morning tea at 10am!

*Panic*

No need to panic. They brought their own food/tea/coffee/cups, so all I needed to do was set up a table in our training room, and they did the rest. They cleaned up their own mess and then filled the shop with their walking sticks and wheelie walkers as they shopped until they almost dropped.

One gorgeous lady, who was wearing a big purple woolly coat, was a hugger and she and I shared three very long cuddly hugs before she bought one of our little frog ornaments.

Another lady wanted a snap button glasses hanger but the conversation consisted of :

Her - 'I would like a glasses hanger with that owl button'

Me - 'Yes of course. Here you are' as I handed it to her.

Her - 'So I just wear it as a necklace?'

Me - 'No, you wear it like this' I demonstrate on myself how it is worn.

Her - 'Oh how marvellous! So I just wear it as a necklace?'

Me - 'No, it's a glasses hanger. You wear it like this' I demonstrate again.

Her - 'Oh what a wonderful idea! So I just wear it like a necklace?'

Me - 'No, you wear it like this.' I put it on her blouse and hang her glasses on it.

Her - 'Oh that's wonderful! Do you just slide the necklace through the hook?'

Me - 'No, you just wear it on your blouse. It's like a brooch with a loop to hang your glasses from'

Her - 'Oh what a marvellous idea. It's such an unusual necklace.'

She was such a lovely thing and terribly happy to have a new necklace that wasn't a necklace at all.

Having said that, both of the carers saw the glasses hanger and decided that they needed one each for themselves.

Three ladies chose bright colourful scarves and put them on before they walked out the door.

One of the ladies dropped her wallet on the floor, which I discovered just before they left the carpark, so I was able to run outside and hand it back before they disappeared.

During all of this, Reality TV Queen arrived late for morning tea and sat in our lounge area waiting patiently for everyone to leave so that we could catch up. It's been a long time between visits and there was plenty to discuss, but we were interrupted often by a regular stream of customers.

Adoring Husband visited as she was leaving and did a lunch run.

The Telstra guy arrived to instal the new NBN modem which won't be connected for some weeks yet.  He gave me a list of worst case scenarios and what I should do if they occur.

I received a phone call from a lady wanting to enrol in my photography workshop.

All the while, I was rapidly using up a box of tissues as my nose was running like a tap! It's ok because I feel well enough, I just have a runny nose. Most annoying!

My last customer left the shop at about 3.30pm. I cleared the table and chairs from the training room in preparation for meditation tomorrow morning. I priced some new jewellery stock and rearranged some displays to fit them in the shop. I added up the takings for the day. I dropped off some mail to The Motivator on the way home.

Adoring Husband had helped me close the shop, checked the mail with me and we grabbed a late coffee. He brought home a bag of goodies for me and dropped off our signed contract to the pool builder.

I arrived home and sat for an hour before making a roast pumpkin/roast cauliflower/spinach and pine nut salad with crispy skinned chicken for dinner. What a bloody mess I made of the kitchen!

I broke my own sales record in the shop today, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself, but it was so busy and mostly unexpected and unplanned.

In spite of all that, I loved every minute of it. It was a great day that had me smiling most of the time and I am feeling incredibly grateful for the life that I have right now.

My Adoring Husband is amazing and every day I feel lucky to have him as my partner and friend. He makes everything so much easier (most of the time), he fills my life with love and I feel totally nurtured.

While the word 'Fearless' had centre spot on my vision board this year, the word 'Happy' has been pretty much first and foremost and centre stage in my life.

Life is good.

Nite all.

Manic Monday

I assumed that today would be very quiet in The Happy Abode.

I thought that everybody would have spent all their money at the Childers Multicultural Festival and that people would be having a very quiet week, not spending money and staying at home to recover.

I was wrong.

Today was non stop busy until the afternoon. Not a soul walked through the door in that last 90 minutes, but it didn't matter. It was nice to just sit and breathe and tidy up and fill the gaps that the customers had made in the displays when selecting their purchases.

Adoring Husband brought the vacuum cleaner to work this morning so that I could vacuum the very leafy floor. The guy from the real estate office chopped down some branches from the trees last week and for some reason, dragged them to the front of our shop to put them in a trailer, which left a trail of dead leaves to blow through our doors.

It felt much better to have a clean floor.

Some more snap buttons arrived in the mail, as did some lovely earrings.

The Gypsy had a busy day and is almost booked out for Wednesday as well.

We are having perfect Winter weather at the moment and I might make a quick visit to the Seat of Knowledge on the way to work tomorrow, so that I can check out that gloriously crystal clear water in the river.

I'm looking forward to seeing the girls at coffee tomorrow and at the end of the day, I'm looking forward to winning $50 million in Oz Lotto. No, really! I can feel it in my bones! I promise to share!

The Motivator is still under the weather and won't be at work for a few days. I visited her this afternoon and got her up to speed with what's been happening while she has been away, caught up on some gossip, swapped some important 'stuff' and hugged her germy body!

I'm off to bed now - after a quick dose of warm lemon and honey - just as a precaution haha.

Nite all.

Multi-fun Day

The 'Happy' song blasted me awake this morning at 6am ... and I mean BLASTED! It was a sudden awakening and there was no going back from there.

We showered and gathered our goods, drove to our regular coffee haunt (just in case we couldn't get a  good coffee at the festival) and then headed off to Childers for the Multicultural Festival.

Our usual parking area was open and we were given the perfect parking space which was beautifully shaded when we returned three hours later.

We (meaning 'I') spent a lot of money on some wonderfully unique, hand crafted pieces that were obviously made with love, and for the creators I feel much respect and appreciation.

Adoring Husband bought me a fork.

A fork lovingly treated and polished and shaped into the most beautiful bracelet ...

I love it ... even though AH declared "it's a &%#$ expensive fork!"

He also bought me a clay fish ...

... to replace the fish that suffered an unfortunate accident at The Happy Abode recently. I couldn't get exactly the same colour, but I think I prefer this colour anyway. It can be used to burn mosquito coils or citronella candles and it will look fabulous in the area around our new pool when it's built!

We made the decision, just this afternoon, to purchase a concrete pool and the build will commence at the end of September. How exciting!

Back to the Festival ... I bought myself a new wallet, which can also have a strap attached to make it a cross body bag. It's hand crafted leather and I looked at these last year, but didn't buy. I'm really happy to have this one now ...

I also bought a new evening bag.

I found a deliciously big citrine crystal, a blue kyanite and a jade buddha. I've been searching for a jade figurine for a while, so I was pretty chuffed to find this one today.

I also bought a few gifts for special people, which of course, I won't share here.

We ate German Kransky for lunch and drank fresh iced lemon and ginger tea (AH had mixed berry).

It was a glorious day and thank goodness we got there so early because by 11am, the crowds were crazy and it was difficult to move freely, so we escaped and arrived home by midday with a fresh coffee, again, from our local.

The Motivator arrived home from Sydney today, but sadly, she is sick with the flu and won't be at the shop for a couple of days.

Psychotic dog, Jack, has been having trouble with muscle cramps again and the magnesium oil wasn't working as well or as quickly as we hoped, so our pool people gave us a bucket of mineral salts. We gave Jack a warm bath in the laundry tub with half a cup of the mineral salts in it and he seems to have settled considerably since then.

I think he might be having regular swims in our pool once it's in the ground.

Now, I think it's time for bed. It's been a big day.

Nite all.