Father's Day Flop

As you read this, it is Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the people who fill a 'father' role in their lives!

We stocked up on male oriented products especially for this big day. We still have at least two thirds of it on the shelves. We sold:

• "Gone Fishing" sign
• 2 wallets
• 3 leather wrist straps with snap buttons
• A metal motor bike
• A pen
• A 'Dad's Garage' sign

That was not today, but over the last three weeks. So I'm thinking that Father's Day is not much of a 'thing' around here OR it's a much bigger thing than we can provide at The Happy Abode. I'm pretty certain that Bunnings, Dan Murphy's, Super Cheap Auto and Lowe's had much better sales than us.

It was another steady Saturday morning where we made higher sales than the number that I predicted on my notepad this morning. I'm practicing the art of manifesting!

It's exciting that my photography is selling well and I feel pretty chuffed knowing that there are houses all over the world with my photos framed on their walls.

Ok, so not ALL OVER THE WORLD, but New Zealand, Hong Kong and England count as PART of the world! I know for certain that they are hanging in four different states of Australia too and I think that's pretty special.

I am a legend in my own lunch box.

Our new Happy Abode signage should arrive next week. I paid for it all today, so I'm thinking delivery should happen around Thursday. Wahoo!

Adoring Husband finished lining the fence with the bamboo sheets today. This photo was taken yesterday of the first section that he did ...

Kiwi Bernie finished as much of the kitchen as he can until the electricians complete their work ...

It's all coming along nicely.

I'm looking forward to having a quiet Sunday. There is 'stuff' to do and while I have some big jobs that I want to get started on - like a massive decluttering of my clothes and shoes - I'm going to play it by ear and see how I feel in the morning.

I haven't been sleeping very soundly lately, but last night I used my 'Sweet Sleep' essential oil and slept like a baby, so I'll try that again tonight.

By taking some big risks with my footy tipping this weekend, I have ruined my chances at winning a prize, but Adoring Husband is doing very well and is currently sitting in second position. Still a few weeks to go and you never know what will happen!

The pressure is on!

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Quietly Does It

I actually did some housework this morning before I left for work.

Unheard of!

Adoring Husband beat me to the shop and opened up for me by setting out the flags, signs and chairs, then he collected the mail and bought my morning coffee.

Yes I know.

He's a good man.

It seems to be a common occurrence where people go for a walk empty handed, see our signs so come for a look. Today was one of those days - lots of empty-handed potential customers.

More often than not, they return later that day or the following day, so I expect Saturday morning will be busy for me.

I photographed a few pieces of the lovely new jewellery ...

In between visitors, I did some solo dancing around the shop to my favourite tunes and I don't mind admitting that some singing happened too.

Adoring Husband spent the day working in the yard while Kiwi Bernie continued his work on the 'outdoor' kitchen, which is actually more like an 'indoor' kitchen. It will be Adoring Husband's domain and I'm keen to see how the final product looks.

AH lined the western fence with bamboo sheeting and it's looking great.

It's very exciting watching everything slowly come together.

My evening was spent at the Club where I won a Bakery voucher, so there will be morning tea available at our Tuesday coffee morning.

While I was enjoying a beverage or two at the club, Adoring Husband was busy at home preparing a delicious dinner of roast lamb with baked potato, sweet potato and onion. He prepared some broccoli and when I arrived home, I made gravy with the flavoursome juices that came from the lamb.

It was absolutely delicious and I savoured every last mouthful!

Thank you Darling.

I am feeling incredibly tired tonight, so I'll be in bed before 10pm to get a good night's sleep before work tomorrow.

As you read this, it will be the first day of Spring!

Have a lovely day.

Nite all.  

Officially Huggable

As you know, Adoring Husband has been a member of the SES, in some capacity, for about five years now.

He applied for the position of Local Controller for the Fraser Coast and had an interview a couple of weeks ago. Today, it was confirmed that he won the position.

Wahoo!

Congratulations Darling. Best man for the job.

At The Happy Abode, it was a fairly slow day, but we decided to accept some beautiful jewellery from an interstate artist, to sell in the shop. I wish I'd taken some photos to share here - I'll try to do it tomorrow. They are truly lovely. Vibrant and colourful and obviously made with love by a very nice woman who deserves success.

I sold two photos today!

I need to get mat boards on the photos that I printed last month because stocks are getting low at The Happy Abode.

Most of today's visitors were people waiting for their fish and chips to be cooked and they were not the slightest bit interested in spending money on anything other than food, but they DID enjoy browsing and made lots of nice comments about the shop.

The Motivator is, as we speak, boarding her flight to Bali!

Kiwi Bernie was here today and started the build on our outdoor kitchen by the pool area, so the back yard is looking quite the disaster at the moment.

Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced) came to the shop for a quick visit and a hug today, which was nice because our coffee morning was cancelled this week and we all missed out on our weekly hugs.

Another long hug was given to a lady who works for an Aged Care facility. One of the men she cares for passed away two days ago and she was so affected, she took the week off work. She came to us last week asking for a donation for their fund raising raffle, so I've only met her once before, but she really looked like she needed a hug so I wrapped my arms around her and she shed a tear.

Adoring Husband received a long hug this morning too.

It's been a bit of a huggie kind of day!

Now I need to go fix my MacBook Pro because it has black lines across the screen and I'm going to try all the suggestions that my Google search suggested!

Happy Friday to you all!

Nite all.    

Out of Time

It's almost 10pm as I write this and once again, I have been sucked into the television screening of "Pretty Woman"

I've lost count of how many times I've watched this movie, but I think it's the connection that it gives me to my mother - she loved it and every time her favourite line is uttered "Cinderf___inrella", I can picture her face telling me about it after she first saw the movie herself. It's the only time she ever said the "F" word out loud.

The movie never gets old for me. Even if I watched it last week, I just can't bring myself to change the channel this week.

This morning I attended meditation class, followed by the most perfect massage ever. My neck has been playing up for the last couple of days, even causing me to feel a bit dizzy at times, so The Gypsy worked hard on that part, but all of my body seemed to be very tense and many of my muscles were tight and needed work.

She told me at the end of the massage that I would feel sore and sorry because she worked so hard on me, but I feel pretty good tonight. She gave me some more exercises for various parts of my body - I feel that I need to set an early morning routine to stretch everything before I start each day because as I get older, all of my muscles (the few that I have left) are feeling kind of seized up.

I needed to rush home to get ready for my movie date with Adoring Husband, but everybody that I know in this town was in my path this morning and by the time I stopped to chat with them all, I had ten minutes to get ready when I finally reached home!

Luckily, we had a smooth run into town and even the roadworks didn't hold us up.

AH got our tickets and I got our chips. Our favourite seats were still vacant when we entered the cinema and the previews had just begun when we took our seats.

The movie was "The Book Club" and it was full of famous names, all over the age of 60, the oldest being Jane Fonda who turns 81 this year! I loved it.

After the movie, we picked up some things for the shop, priced a bar table in Hervey Norman ...

... ordered a photo print, bought the winning tickets for this week's lottos, bought an outdoor fan for our pool pergola and finally headed home.

There was no time to rest because the dog food needed to be made up and having sat in the fridge for a couple of days, couldn't wait another day to be prepared. Then I had to cut up a giant pawpaw that had been sitting on the kitchen bench for a couple of weeks. The Gypsy had given it to me when it was completely green and after two weeks, it was looking a bit dodgy. After I peeled it and cut it up, it was good enough to freeze in packs for smoothies.

THEN I had to batch up my chicken bone broth which had been simmering in the slow cooker for the last 20 hours.

It was after 6pm when I finally got to sit down and by that time, my tummy had started to play up (perhaps it was the chips at the cinema?), so I wasn't in the mood for dinner. AH cooked his on the barbecue.

Gogglebox was our TV show of choice this evening. I recorded, then watched The Bachelor and now it's almost 10.30pm and I'm ready for some sleep. I'll be in the shop by myself for the next couple of weeks so I need to have my game face on!

Nite all.

Spontaneity

While I was having my lazy start to the day, I was surfing the net, looking at outdoor lounge settings.

It seems that we've been doing that for days now and not having much success.

You've seen one outdoor lounge setting, you've seen them all, and the wicker look is all the rage at the moment. The idea of black Burrum dust filling all the cracks of wicker furniture doesn't thrill me much and I wanted something more sleek and a bit different.

The reason that I had this time to spare, is because Adoring Husband realised last night that he had an SES meeting early today, so we had to postpone our movie date.

Anyway, I found this great outdoor lounge and excitedly sent the link via email to AH, then got up, dressed, and was just about to walk out the door to get my morning coffee, when Adoring Husband suddenly appeared. His meeting was much shorter than expected so I suggested that we drive to Bundaberg to view this fabulous furniture.

He changed out of his uniform, we stopped to get my morning coffee and off we drove north to Bundy.

It was a beautiful day and not much traffic on the road, so we made good time. Driving through Childers, we agreed to stop on the return trip so that I could check out the wonderful shoe shop. It's probably been about 2 yrs since I got to visit this lovely shop because we always seem to be in town outside of opening hours.

We got to visit quite a few furniture places in Bundaberg, but the original lounge that the trip was for, was our final choice and we purchased it while we were there ...

The service was fantastic. It was fast and efficient and friendly. We left the store feeling happy and satisfied.

As agreed, we stopped at Childers and while AH ordered a couple of takeaway coffees, I rushed across the road to visit shoe heaven.

Wouldn't you know it, the universe conspired against me today! On Tuesdays, the shop closes at 2pm. It was 3pm so once again, I missed out.

Ugh!

By the time we arrived home, it was nearing 4pm and neither of us had eaten all day. I was famished! While I prepared the vegetables, AH cooked the steak on the barbecue and we ate our dinner before 5pm.

Here we are at 9.30pm and I am definitely ready for bed. While I have tomorrow off work too, I want to attend meditation early in the morning and then I have a 9am massage booked. After that, AH and I are going to the movies and among other things will be printing some photos that a customer has ordered. So it will be another big day.

Have a lovely Wednesday.

Nite all.

Happiness

Today has been one of those days when I felt amazing from the second that I opened my eyes.

You know, the kind of amazing when you sing along to every song and dance to every tune and raise your arms and punch the air just because you feel so good and you don't even care who's watching you?

I didn't have to be at work until midday, so I slept until about 7am. Adoring Husband brought my warm lemon water to me, followed by my bone broth while I selected upbeat, happy music to put onto a playlist for the shop (yes another playlist).

This time I selected the 60s decade for some fabulous tunes, added the sound track to "The Greatest Show On Earth" and then a few others just for good measure. My playlist is almost six hours long! The perfect length for a day at The Happy Abode!

I have spent the afternoon singing along and dancing through the shop and continuing that feeling of fabulousness.

The Motivator and I swam in some money.

She sold her old car, so we lay the money on the floor in the training room and both rolled around in it and pretended to swim through it and giggled ourselves silly like a pair of teenagers.

THAT was fun!

As you read this, it is the 28th August, which means that The Happy Abode is ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Happy birthday to us!

We will have birthday celebrations a month late because The Motivator will be out of the country for a while and I have a photography workshop coming up, so after that, we will party and celebrate.

I have a couple of days off again now and I have so many ideas about how to fill my time, but I can't do it all, so I need to be selective and I guess there is some housework and stuff to fit in there too *insert sad face here*

So it's the end of this beautiful Winter's day that had me feeling super happy and now it's time for bed.

Before I go, we had a storm on Sunday afternoon and this is the result ...

Nite all.

Thank You Mother Nature

Thanks to Mother Nature, I was not required to do the dirty work today.

Adoring Husband's foot has much improved - thanks to my essential oil cure of Frankincense mixed with fractionated coconut oil.

Yesterday, he was limping badly and unable to put any weight on his left foot. He wondered if he may have broken a bone. There is a hard lump underneath his foot, well below where the crow bar hit the top of his foot.

I rubbed the essential oil on his injury twice yesterday - the last time, just before he went to bed.

Frankincense is supposed to cure everything except death!

When he woke this morning, although he was still limping, he was walking much easier than last night. I've added the oil twice again today and as the day wore on, his walking got better and better. The hard lump is still there and some bruising has started to appear around the injury, but he seems much better.

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

It was a rainy, stormy Sunday, so no dirty outside work was done and I got to spend my day in bed.

I listened to the last three chapters of the book "You are the Placebo" and wrote lots of notes, then downloaded three meditations from the author.

While doing that, I discovered, much to my disappointment, that the author is running a five hour workshop in Melbourne two days BEFORE I arrive!

Then I discovered that he was running a five day retreat on the Sunshine Coast in October!! I got so excited and thought THAT would be perfect!

Unfortunately, the retreat is sold out and the 300 long waiting list was filled and now closed.

How disappointing.

I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe next time.

I created a playlist via Apple Music, full of happy, upbeat songs that I can play in the shop - even some Country music!! I don't know what's wrong me!! Just feeling the love.

Twice I got out of bed.

Once to make lunch - chicken and vegetables in creamy garlic and white wine sauce.

Secondly, at 6pm to make a salad to go with Adoring Husband's steak and to make a fruity, chocolate ice-cream for dessert.

I stayed up the second time and now it's almost 11pm so it's time to return to my favourite place.

I don't have to be at work until 11am tomorrow, so I can sleep in and take my time welcoming the day.

Nite all.

There You Go

Sadly, my position on the footy tipping ladder has already dropped to third place.

Adoring Husband has caught me and we are equal third together. We are two points behind second place and four points behind first place.

There is still a slight glimmer of hope.

My team is playing right now and I've tipped against them. I'll be happy if they lose. If they win, yet another tipper will catch AH and I on the ladder!

Adoring Husband damaged himself today.

I think we need to set up a camera to record his activity in the back yard over the next two months, because his story about today's injury sounded very much like Wile E Coyote attempting to set up his 'ACME' equipment to catch the Road Runner, which is then followed by the domino effect of disasters!

He lifted the frame of the chook pen to move it, realised that he wasn't going to be able to do it so he dropped it, forgetting that there was a six foot long crowbar on the ground (which he had used to lever the frame up). The frame then landed on the crowbar, flipped it in the air and the crowbar landed on AH's foot.

AH, whose career included many years as an OH&S trainer was NOT wearing protective work boots, just some canvas shoes. He also lucky that the crowbar didn't land on his head!

This afternoon, he has been unable to put any weight on the foot and it's in quite a deal of pain. It's slightly swollen but as yet, there is no bruising. He sat with an ice pack on it for a couple of hours.

This is very inconvenient because he still has some work to do 'on' and 'in' the shed before Kiwi Bernie begins construction next week. I guess it means that the onus is on me to GSD on my Sunday off.

*Sigh*

*Groan*

*Whinge*

*Bitch*

*Complain*

*Mumble*

You get the gist.

It was a very quiet Saturday morning at The Happy Abode. Lots of people, but most wanted to chat or just browse while they waited for their fish and chips.

I decided to try manifesting. I chose from our stock, an orange and purple Cenzoni backpack and wrote it down on a piece of paper. It's value was $128. I said out loud "somebody will come into the shop today, fall in love with this bag and buy it".

A little over an hour later, two ladies walked into the shop together and spent quite some time browsing and pointing out all the things that they loved. After about twenty minutes, one of them left and the other remained in the shop for another ten minutes or so. She picked up the orange and purple Cenzoni backpack and brought it to the counter. She announced "I just love the colours in this bag. I have to own it!"

And WAHLAH!! Manifestation successful!

I'm going to try that trick every day!

I doubt that my Sunday will be relaxing or peaceful, but I guess that's the price I have to pay for manifesting my pool!

I hope YOU all have the perfect Sunday.

Nite all.  

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.