We're Ba-ack!

What an exhausting but fabulous trip!

This is "Anne's Place" on Main Street in Montville.

A beautiful home perched on the edge of the mountain with amazing views ...

... including a guest house, an art studio and a gallery for sales of her beautiful pottery.

Anne and her husband were warm and welcoming and very accommodating - especially regarding our dietary requirements and the guest house had everything we needed, was very comfortable and we could easily have stayed there for a week.

There were no TV stations, but there was a good selection of DVDs in the cupboard to keep us amused for hours.

It was only half a kilometre from town, so after a delicious breakfast overlooking those views, and purchasing some of Anne's wares, we made our way to the Main Street of Montville early on Sunday and began our little shopping spree.

A pair of shoes, a bracelet, another birthday gift later we were trying to decide whether to leave for IKEA or have an early lunch ... when we remembered that Anne had told us about the Waffle House that served GF waffles and that they had received rave reviews.

The Motivator and I have been following our fresh food policy for twelve days and were hesitant to break it, but ... WAFFLES ... so we found the little gem of a cafe and each ordered a GF waffle with bacon, banana and maple syrup.

OMG ... TO-DIE-FOR! I would take a day trip to Montville just to sit down to those waffles again.

From there, we had made appointments with a Tarot Reader, so The Motivator went first while I wandered through the shops. I bought a top. I wandered through the Landscape Photographer's gallery, found a jeweller who designed and created his own pieces and ALMOST ordered a pendant ...

... but I need to ask for something a tiny little bit different to this.

By then it was time for my appointment with the Tarot Reader, whose name I cannot for the life of me remember, but The Motivator has her card and details.

She told me lots of stuff that I wanted to hear and some things that I didn't want to hear - nothing bad though - and she was a fabulously wild and energetic and enthusiastic and flamboyant and a beautiful mature woman in her 60s. So glad that we had the readings!

From there we really wanted some fresh juice, but surprisingly there was nothing available in Montville, so we jumped in the car and drove in the direction of Northlakes and IKEA. It took an hour but it was a good run and thankfully there was a Boost Juice in the shopping centre near IKEA so we grabbed a Mint Condition juice each, got side tracked by Skechers shoe store where I purchased ANOTHER pair of shoes and eventually made our way into IKEA.

We hadn't left ourselves much time so we rushed to the sections that we needed, had a short browse in a couple of other sections and as we wheeled our giant trolley to the checkout, the announcement came over the loud speaker that the store was closing in 15 minutes.

We had a momentary panic attack when we realised that we hadn't taken any notice of where we'd parked the car - but thankfully, between us, it didn't take long to figure it out and once we found it, we very efficiently folded the back seat down and packed everything in beautifully.

It was another easy run home and I must say that it's exhausting being a passenger!!

We arrived home at 8pm. I had put all of my bags of shopping in one section of the car, so it was easy to unpack. I did end up with a couple of The Motivators shopping bags, but I'll deliver them to her tomorrow.

It's now after 11pm and I have to work tomorrow, so it's bed time for me. Being out of my bed last night, and even though it was very comfortable at Anne's Place, I did not sleep well, so I'm feeling very weary tonight.

Welcome to Monday!

Nite all.

We Made It!

It was a quick and easy drive to Montville - says me, the passenger!

We found our accommodation easily and our hosts are super friendly and super lovely. The home is amazing. The guest house, where we are accommodated, is divine. The view is breathtaking. Anne’s little gallery, full of her pottery pieces, is delightful. Anne’s studio where she creates her art is wonderful.

I so wish I’d brought my camera. Already, the photographic opportunities have captured my imagination and I will have to resort to the phone camera. I’ll take photos in the morning and post them here tomorrow night.

We arrived after 6pm and by the time we were given the tour and chatted with Anne and Tim, it was well after 7pm and we decided to snack on the nuts and fruit that we’d packed instead of going out for dinner. We should be famished by morning!

The Motivator ran a great paint pour workshop this morning and I manned the shop. Sales were very slow until the last hour when it picked up considerably and saved the day.

All in all it’s been a great day!

This is short and sweet - just so you know we are alive and kicking.

Nite all.

A Quick Trip

Adoring Husband and I made what was supposed to be a quick trip into The Bay today.

He needed a new battery for his ride on mower and I wanted a 'golden pig'.

Chinese New Year is 5th February and this year will be the year of the pig. A golden pig would represent abundance and I wanted to place it in the money corner of The Happy Abode to bring us good luck in the Year of the Pig!

No golden pigs to be found!

I tried the Chinese Grocery and Gift store on Bideford St.

I tried Heaps Discounts in Stocklands.

I tried the newsagent in Stocklands.

I tried Mind, Body and Soul on the Esplanade.

I tried King Kong on Islander Rd.

I contacted Tinkerbell's on the Esplanade.

Nobody has any golden pigs.

So I bought two dragon eggs with dragons hatching out of them to put under the tree beside the pool - for a Chicklet surprise when she visits this year.

I bought a doorstop covered in peace signs and the word 'peace' to hold the gate open when we are in the pool so that the psychotic dogs can come and go as they please.

I bought a small sitting buddha to put in the garden near the pool.

I bought a jade buddha necklace.

I bought a new sound bar because mine is at the shop and has almost seen it's last days.

I bought a season of Grey's Anatomy, Mama Mia - Here We Go Again and The Book Club on dvd.

I checked my Powerball ticket and was pleased to see that nobody won my $80 million and now I can win the $100 million next week!

I replaced some make up that I'd run out of.

I bought some groceries - celery, capsicum, cucumber, grapes and paleo bread.

I bought some crystal rocks for focus, abundance, magical luck, knowledge, intellect, vitality and purpose. The crystals were jade, apatite, sodalite, goldstone and merlinite.

I bought two gifts to give for birthday presents this year.

So the quick trip turned into quite an expensive outing and took most of the day.

I did manage to get some washing done, but the remaining housework will wait for another day!

Our table was very lucky at the club tonight with 5 or 6 prizes being won. I didn't get any raffle tickets because they sold out and didn't have any spares to start another book! Unheard of!

I'd best get to bed because it's after 11pm and I have to work tomorrow as well as pack for our road trip to the Sunny Coast. The Motivator and I are driving down to go shopping in IKEA as well as have a quick browse of Montville where we will be staying in an air bnb.

It's been too long since we had some fun together like this and I'm really looking forward to it!

Have a great weekend!

Nite all.

Day of Mental Productivity

Even though it was my day off, I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm - it's permanently set for 5.55am.

I actually got to do some of the 'things' on that list.

I started by reading some of The Gypsy's first book and I completed some of the 'actions' at the end of the first few chapters. Actions are writing exercises, which I really enjoyed.

As you can see, my bed was covered with books, journals and laptop.

I did some journalling and wrote about six foolscap pages.

I got out of bed to cook some food and after I snacked on a couple of pork sausages, I returned to my office (aka my bed)

I flicked through the 'My Shining Biz' work book and wrote a few notes, but just couldn't get into it,

I noticed that Thor was on our bedroom window! So I found a container and thought that I'd be able to catch and release him - until I realised that he was on the other side of the window between the glass and the fly screen.

My hand is still about an inch away from Thor so the perspective still doesn't quite show how big he is.

This meant that I had to tell Adoring Husband about Thor - just in case he decided to open the window and got freaked out. I'm not sure how I'm going to free Thor from his current position - unless I can pull the screen off from the outside.

AH is not happy about sleeping in the bedroom with Thor and doesn't trust that the window is sealed. He strongly considered sleeping on his chair in the lounge room all night, but surprisingly, has gone to bed.

Soon after my re-introduction to Thor, I could hear the pool calling me, so I changed into my swimmers, put a load of washing in the machine, grabbed a towel and some of my books and paperwork from the bed to put into the Bali bed for later and quickly waded into the water.

The water was quite tepid. I swam a few laps, did my 50 jumps, 50 twists, 50 kicks and then perched myself on my meditation seat. Adoring Husband joined me on the seat for a while and after a couple of hours, I lay in the Bali bed and did some more reading, but the music was distracting me so I lay with my eyes closed listening to that instead.

It was 5pm when I came inside to prepare dinner - a salsa with mango, pear, tomato, cucumber, avocado and spring onion with a balsamic vinegar dressing. I put that on a bed of rocket and served ti with crispy skinned chicken thighs.

I made a new fruit whip for dessert - banana, red pawpaw, dragon fruit, pineapple, coconut cream, maple syrup and salt. I made a walnut toffee mix by spreading some raw walnuts onto grease proof paper, drizzling maple syrup over the top then sprinkling with Himalayan salt and cooking in a hot oven for about 8 minutes.

It was delicious chopped and sprinkled over the fruit whip.

Friday is my second day off work and I plan on getting my washing up to date and doing some housework - as long as the motivation levels remain high!

I'm off to bed and it's not even 9.30pm yet! I could make a habit of this!

Nite all.  

Such a Delight

Today was pretty full!

For the first time in a long time, I woke up full of beans this morning and was able to jump out of bed feeling motivated and energised.

It's taken nine days of Paleo eating to finally reach this point. I don't think the withdrawals are quite over yet, but they have eased considerably and I'm feeling lighter and clearer in the head! Won't be long and I'll be dangerous!

So far, the most difficult part has been remembering to drink enough water.

I got to work just after 7am and opened up ready for meditation. There were eight of us in attendance and it was a great start to the year with the subject of the day being "Be The Change". Hit the nail on the head and was totally relatable.

The Gypsy's first appointment after meditation this morning was filled by The Motivator, followed by one of the new attendees at meditation, then she had a break before I filled her last appointment for the day.

I actually didn't need the massage, but chose to have one anyway. It felt totally different. No painful spots at all and it was freeing and cleansing. I felt almost disconnected from my body as I just enjoyed the good energy.

Between the pool and the change in diet, my body is beginning to thank me.

By the time I'd finished, The Motivator had closed the shop and she left soon after I came out of the treatment room.

I stayed a while longer, did some grocery shopping, picked up our order from the butcher and mailed my sister's Christmas present (yes, just a tiny bit late).

I rode home and yessssssss, I changed out of my work clothes, into my swimmers and walked straight into the pool ... wearing my Apple Watch ... which ISN'T water proof! Ugh! It still seems to be working, but I was a bit annoyed with myself for not removing it with the rest of my jewellery when I got home.

I swam a few laps and then sat in my meditation spot, not meditating, but Facebooking and playing WWF on my phone.

After a while, I got out of the water and sat in the Bali Bed to dry off. I had music playing on the sound bar in the kitchen and the music kind of floated over the water. It was so relaxing and the weather was perfect with plenty of cloud cover.

Eventually I forced myself to go inside and begin preparing dinner. I filled our plates with a bit of everything - shredded rocket, pear strips, tomato strips, cucumber strips, mango strips, spring onion strips, celery strips, avocado strips and some sun-dried tomato. I chopped up some chicken and fried the pieces in coconut oil with some onion powder. Simple but effective.

No dessert tonight.

I have two days off now, so I'm heading to bed at 11pm. I have no solid plans for tomorrow, but you've seen my 'to do' list, so hopefully I can cross a few things off it.

Wish me luck!

Nite all.  

A Great Start

It was a GREAT start to the day having coffee with the girls.

There were lots of laughs - especially when I told the story of THOR - which I will relate here one day, when the story has more depth and a satisfactory ending.

There were lots of medical stories and fitness stories and pet stories and plans made.

Most of the girls had a little shop and our morning was done before 11am.

It was a slow but steady day in the shop with some new young faces in the mix and an unusually quirky young lady from the water who paid me a second visit today and was in for a chat.

I got quite a few chores done including cleaning the back room ready for meditation, some dusting, cleaning the loo, restocking the button trays, sending some mail, emptying all the bins ready for bin night etc.

There are still things on my list that didn't get done ...

Adoring Husband helped me shut up shop but I didn't leave until almost 4pm. My intention was to swim but that didn't happen and then I planned to float in the water at 7.30 to watch some interesting sky action, but the cloud cover put a stop to that.

We had a version of Hainan Chicken for dinner with fruit whip for dessert.

Gotta be up early in the morning for meditation so I'm off to bed.

You may or may not know who you are, but if you're reading this, I'm talking to you ...

Nite all.

First Monday of the Year

The Gypsy returned for her first day back at the shop and between customers we had some more good chats and caught up with our holiday news - of which there was a lot.

The shop was busy in the morning and in the afternoon but very quiet in the middle. Overall, it was a good sales day, but I only got one thing done from my 'to do' list, so I transferred all the 'to-dos' to tomorrow's page.

Nothing else happened today.

I shut up shop right on time because the weather was looking ominous and every other shop except the butcher and the supermarket were closed and the streets were quiet.

I didn't go in the pool - it's been a whole week since I swam! What's going on there? I have new swimmers, so I need to christen them soon.

I made an easy dinner of lamb chops and salads. Fruit whip for dessert.

Adoring Husband has been asleep on the chair for almost two hours and I've been watching The Upside of Anger, but I think it's time for me to hit the hay.

I wonder if I can get out of bed early enough to go riding with my camera in the morning? Time will tell.

I wonder if I can wake up early enough to go for a swim before work? Time will tell.

I AM looking forward to coffee with the girls in the morning 🤩

On that note, I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Remember the List?

Remember the list of things that I posted yesterday?

The long list of things that I had to choose from to fill my Sunday?

How many of those things do you think I did?

Oh you know me so well!!

Not a single one of them.

I woke up late - around 8.30am - and lay in bed Facebooking on my iPad. After about 30 minutes, Adoring Husband entered the bedroom and said "I'm going into The Bay".

I replied "Do I want to come with you?"

He responded "If you want. Let me know when you're ready. No rush."

So up I got, dressed myself to look like a tidy casual holiday-maker and off we drove to The Bay.

AH dropped me at Stocklands while he headed to the dreaded Bunnings. As he dropped me off, I said "Don't rush. Take your time Darling".

What a lovely time I had spending some of my pokies winnings.

There were lots of sales and I didn't pay full price for many items all day but I purchased a pair of flat shoes, 3 bras, 3 tops, 2 t-shirts, 1 lipstick, 1 palette of blush powders, 3 tankini tops (the top part of swimmers), 3 gifts to put away for birthdays, 4 tall plastic cups, 1 pr of 3/4 pants, 2 bling hair bands, a ticket in the $80 million Powerball and a beach towel.

Together, AH and I bought a new set of cutlery to replace the very expensive, but very breakable cutlery set that we bought about 18 months ago. It was a great price. We bought a beautiful melamine dinner set with a serving tray and salad bowl to go into our outdoor kitchen.

It was 2.30pm when we arrived home and after unpacking my shopping, I decided to empty out my dressing table drawers and do some culling. I needed space to put my new swimmers and bras! I tossed a LOT of clothes - none of them were even worthy Op Shop candidates, so they ended up in the sulo. Now I have lovely tidy spacious dressing table drawers.

I browned some lamb shanks and let them simmer deliciously in chicken broth, chopped onion and mushroom. I thickly sliced sweet potato, pumpkin, onion and carrot to bake and brown in a hot oven. When the shanks were ready, I thickened the liquid to make a nice tasty gravy and we ate dinner at about 5.30pm.

Dessert was the fruit whip that I'd made the night before - pineapple, banana, raspberries, dragon fruit, coconut cream, maple syrup and salt in the processor. I served it with blueberries and grated dark organic healthy chocolate over AH's and chopped some blanched almonds over mine.

It's almost 9pm and I am ready for bed. The Motivator has the next couple of days off and I'll be off on Thursday and Friday.

I must print out that list that I wrote yesterday so that I can refer back to it on future days off.

Nite all.

Time to Stop

As is typical of our Saturday mornings, it was very very quiet at The Happy Abode. It's almost enough to just stay at home, but we DID get a lot of 'behind the scenes' work done, so we feel like we achieved something.

I only have one day off and my brain has a million things spinning around trying to prioritise. This is some of what I want to do ...

• Get out with my camera for some photography practice
• Edit some photos
• Cook - like - for hours in the kitchen, because I have a LOT of recipes to try
• Clear off the dining room table ... again
• Get my washing up-to-date
• Clear all of the spare bedrooms (or should I say 'junk rooms')
• Tidy my dressing table
• Wash the windows
• Clean the bathrooms
• Swim in the pool
• Stay in bed all day
• Do some study
• Read books
• Watch DVDs
• Cull my emails
• Design my online course
• Add more to my book
• Play my guitar
• Go to the movies
• Go out for lunch
• Write up a new post for my website
• Update the statuses on all of the social media accounts that I have, including Instagram, which has been totally neglected for almost 18 months

What to choose ... what to choose.

It's well after 11pm and if I don't get to sleep now, I will be tired tomorrow and just stay in bed all day  - where I can actually do some of the stuff on my list, like read, study, edit photos, add more to my book and design my course, so I guess it doesn't matter.

I'm really tired. Still suffering withdrawals while my body adjusts to no potato, bread, sugar, dairy and only drinking one small coffee per day. It's day 5 and I'm guessing I'll struggle for another week or two but it will be worth it.

So I'm off now.

Nite all.

Fabulous Friday

It was a busy day in the shop, not just with sales, but with all the other stuff that The Motivator and I were trying to do - still playing the numbers game and searching for missing links - feels like it's never ending! But when it's all done, our minds will be lighter - especially The Motivator's, because she's working bloody hard to get it right.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to come and close up the shop by bringing all our paraphernalia inside, pulling the blinds and changing the sign, while the two of us finished up and packed our gear to leave.

I was home by 3.30pm so I sat down for 30 minutes before getting ready for the club.

I had some luck on the pokies and quite a few at our table had wins in the 'lots of pots' draw and the raffle, so we all left feeling happy.

There were not quite so many people at the club tonight, so the noise level was much lower than it has been over the past few weeks. Much nicer for me.

AH had prepared some chicken wings for dinner and I had some lychees for dessert.

He had spent the day trimming the Lilly-Pilly trees that grow along the fence line at one side of the house, so he was exhausted and went to bed early.

I sent the psychotic dogs to bed and then phoned Vegan Chickie, who had messaged me earlier in the day to chat, but I was at work. We chatted for about 45 minutes - well SHE chatted for about 45 mins but her stories were hilarious and by the time I hung up, my cheeks were sore from laughing and smiling so much.

It's now approaching 11pm but it feels like midnight or later, so I'm off to bed because I'm working again tomorrow.

I got a giggle out of this ...

Nite all.

Togetherness

The Motivator and I shared some togetherness today - that is, we were both working in the shop at the same time.

Unheard of!

The Motivator, in between a few customers, spent the entire day doing bookwork, matching invoices, checking totals and bank statements and generally hurting her brain.

I paid some bills, served customers, packed up the Christmas baubles, cleaned out my desk drawers, 'attempted' to clear my desk, photocopied receipts and filed them, did some searching for The Motivator and gathered bags of stuff to take home. Stuff that I've had at the shop taking up precious space and never used. Now I have the precious space.

We both left the shop late and I arrived home at 4.45pm.

I went straight to the kitchen and began preparing dinner.

I've had some ox tail in the fridge for a few days, so that HAD to be cooked today. I dragged out the slow cooker and threw a heap of vegetables and stock in with the oxtail. I'll have to package that up before I sleep.

For dinner, I char grilled pumpkin, beetroot, carrot, onion, capsicum and zucchini. I lay them on a bed of baby spinach which had scattered sun-dried tomatoes with it and sprinkled them with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. That was accompanied with duck breast.

Very nice I must say.

For dessert we had a bowl of watermelon slices.

I didn't eat anything all day, so I was starving and I ate so much, I was in physical pain! I climbed into bed before 7.30pm and 90 minutes later I still feel very uncomfortable, so I'm making this post short and sweet so that I can sleep it off.

In future, I shall practice some self control and only eat until I'm satisfied!

Time to package my oxtail.

Nite all.

Improving Health

Adoring Husband and I drove into The Bay today to restock on foods that suit the Paleo lifestyle.

The initial expense is always quite high, but once the pantry is stocked, eating this way is not expensive and the health benefits show why it's value for money.

End of Day 2 and my body is already beginning to feel the withdrawals from sugar, carbs and coffee. I haven't quit coffee yet, but am attempting to wean myself off it slowly. I was up to three cups per day and I hope to put off my first cup as late as possible every day until I can go without altogether.

We stocked up at Go Natural, Nana's Pantry and the supermarket. I also bought a new top and two pairs of 3/4 pants - navy and white (of course) and I bought a day book at Officeworks.

It was crazy busy in The Bay and we couldn't wait to get out of there. It took us 4 hours from when we drove 'out' of our driveway to when we drove back 'in' our driveway.

It took forever to unpack everything because I had to cull the 'no longer on the menu' food and the 'out of date' food from the pantry to make room for the new stuff. It was after 3pm when I whipped together a quick lunch - lucky I did because it was trivia night at the club, so that sustenance tided us over and our brains functioned kinda sorta a little bit.

I believe we came third out of 14 teams tonight, which is much better than we've done for some time, so it's a good start to 2019.

AH rushed home to watch the season final show of Dr Who, but fell asleep in the chair before it finished ... he is still there now!

It's also well after 11pm so I'm off to bed because I have to work tomorrow.

Nite all.

  

First of the First

There are simply not enough hours in every day to do 'all the things'.

I want to read The Gypsy's books ... I've had them for almost a year, but sometimes I start to read them and then get interrupted and obviously never get back to them. There is always something else more important that needs to be done like ...

Continuing the business/manifesting course that I started, but I never seem to have a long enough block of time to get into it properly and there is always something else that needs to be done like ...

Writing up a new post for my website. It's been so long since I worked on it, I've forgotten how to do it and I know I need a couple of hours to sit down peacefully and totally focus on learning how to do it all over again.  There is always something more important to do like ...

Maintaining the Facebook pages for 'The Happy Abode', 'Romance Your Life with Roz' and 'Images by Roz G'. I have neglected two of those pages because there is always something more important to do like ...

Writing up the new advertisement for The Happy Abode, to go into the local newsletter. There is always something new happening in the shop, so each ad has to have changes made to it which means lots of edits. It's mostly done at the very last minute because there is always something more important to do like ...

Adding to my active journals such as

• New ideas for blog posts
• Finding affiliates for the Romance Your Life website
• New questions for the 'all about me' book
• Recipes for the Romance Your Life website
• Additions to the 'Beginners Guide to Finding Your Happy' book
• My gratitude journal
• Ideas for online courses
• Reviews of new products to put on the Romance Your Life website
• Updating the list of suppliers for The Happy Abode 
• Photography challenges for the photography groups
• Workshop ideas for The Happy Abode
• Health plan
• Food Diary
• Book ideas

and the list goes on, but there is always something more important to do like ...

Watching my large supply of educational dvds on medicine, nutrition, vaccinations, health, conspiracy theories proven true etc etc. They are still sealed in their packs because there is always something more important to do like ...

Cooking bulk meals to freeze so that I don't have to cook every afternoon when I get home from work, but I can't do that until I do something more important like ...

Cleaning out the fridge and the pantry which I'm pretty sure that NOBODY does often enough. There is always food in the fridge that shouldn't be eaten lest we die!! Especially in my house, but there is always something more important to do like ...

The washing, ironing, vacuuming, sweeping, bathrooms, toilets, dusting, windows, dog grooming, decluttering wardrobes, cleaning out the junk room, filing the paperwork, tidying and clearing, but one procrastinates over these things because they are not at all fun and there is always something more important to do like ...

Sitting with Adoring Husband to watch meaningless, mindless TV that stops us from having meaningful conversations, but there is even something more important than that to do like ...

Looking up recipes and writing out shopping lists for our return to the Paleo Way lifestyle and there are only two things more important than that like ...

Swimming in the pool or writing a blog post!

It's exhausting just thinking about all the things that never get done, but it's nice to know that the choice is mine to do the things that I love the most and the rest of it really doesn't matter - it will still be there tomorrow if I choose to do any of it!

If and when I choose to do them, I will do them with ease!

Today, I did some washing, emptied the bad food out of the fridge, made a paleo coleslaw, a salsa, a roasted pumpkin and spinach salad, crispy skinned chicken, celery juice and avocado ranch dressing. I selected some recipes from my paleo books and made a shopping list for tomorrow. I posted on two of the Facebook pages, watched some meaningless TV, swam in the pool and did this blog post!

There are simply not enough hours in the day to do 'all the things'.

Nite all.

Next Year

A great day at the shop.

A quiet afternoon at home.

While we had every intention of making an appearance at the Street party behind us, in the end it all seemed like too much effort and instead we spent an hour in the pool drinking a beverage or two, listening to some danceable music (I danced in the water) and after we dried off, we watched a Doris Day movie.

I created and posted this on Facebook ...

My biggest plan for New Years Day is clearing out the pantry and fridge - a clean start to the year - followed by a trip into The Bay to visit my favourite shop, Office Works.

It's almost midnight so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Sensational Sunday

The Motivator opened the doors at The Happy Abode for half a day and had quite a few customers but considering how many people were on the main street and how many cars were parked on the road, filling all the car spaces, not many of them visited the shop.

I on the other hand, spent most of the day in bed. I read almost the entire year of my blog posts.

Adoring Husband brought me coffee and food and I totally relaxed and chilled and enjoyed my Sunday.

At 3pm I changed into my bathers and went for a swim. The Motivator joined me at about 3.30pm and we spent about 90 minutes lolling in the pool, chatting and floating and planning our new healthful start to 2019.

She left just after 5pm and I dried myself off and began making dinner. I fried up some zucchini and carrot fritters and made a mushroom sauce to go on the steak that AH cooked on the barbecue.

We ate the last of our boysenberry ice-cream vowing to wipe it from our shopping list as we aim for a healthier lifestyle next year.

I've selected my word for 2019 ...

"Ease"

I plan on accomplishing all of my goals with ease, to receive everything that I hope for with ease and to live a life of ease that will result in my quiet happiness and contentment.

Reflecting on my 2018 ...

1. I began regularly attending the weekly meditation classes at The Happy Abode and now practice daily meditation at home. The benefits have been life changing.

2. I designed and created a photography workshop and successfully ran four workshops during the year.

3. Attended the Reed Gift Fair in Sydney with Tracey for the third year in a row and busted the budget!

4. Karen and Owen Appleby survived a horrific car accident and eventually returned home to us, a bit the worse for wear, but still alive and kicking!

5. Completed about 60% of DDT's Business/Manifesting bootcamp course (still a work in progress).

6. I've lost count of how many photos I've sold this year, but it's a lot, including large framed images. Every sale still gives me a thrill!

7. We had Juniper for three and a half weeks in May which was both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time! Taking her to hold a live alligator was the highlight.

8. My son, Brad, came to visit us for 5 days - short but sweet.

9. I attended and photographed Melbourne's wedding of the year.

10. I created a calendar of my photographs and printed 50 copies in the first week of December. They have almost sold out!

11. The pool!! The beautiful pool!! Still a work in progress but at least we are enjoying swimming in the cool magnesium filtered water on a daily basis.

12. On Christmas Eve, we broke The Happy Abode daily sales record!!

The year wasn't quite as full as 2017 but it was pretty amazing anyway and a nice one to look back over. - hence my reading a year of blog posts!

Anyway I'm working tomorrow and it's 11.30pm so it's off to bed for me.

Nite all.

What Day is it?

We can all relate to the meme on Facebook that says "It's that time of year when I don't know what day it is, what date it is or where I'm supposed to be."

Today was Saturday, and while there were LOTS of customers, each of them bought a small inexpensive item so our sales total for the day was quite low.

I sold another calendar 😁

I did some dusting and rearranged some displays, finished my vision board for 2019.

I've set some big goals for 2019 and I'll really need to push myself to achieve it all.

I want to get out more with my camera and add some new fresh photos to my collection.

I will add to my book and make some copies to sell in the shop.

I've been wanting to create an online course for some time so I'm going to get started on that idea too.

It's going to be challenging!

Adoring Husband helped me close the shop at 1pm and we walked to the supermarket to get our usual afternoon coffee but they had run out of milk!! Unheard of!!

Our only other option was the cafe and they were incredibly busy! Thirty minute wait for our hot chips, but we did get our coffee to drink while we waited.

AH and I watched some Netflix and I went in for a quick dip in the pool while we waited for our dinner to simmer on the stove. I didn't even get my hair wet - for the first time ever! I am going to make the most of the pool tomorrow (my day off).

"The Sound of Music" is on TV right now - AH selected it and even though I've seen it five or six times, there is a lot that I can't remember. It's 9.30pm so I might go to bed to watch the end.

I have to finish editing the wedding photos tomorrow! It's been almost two months since the wedding and even though I have sent through quite a few photos to the brides, I'm sure they must be getting impatient waiting for the remaining pics.

Nite all.

Last One

It's the last Friday of 2018.

How crazy is that?

This year has flown by - the older you get, the faster the years seem to speed by and this one has certainly done that.

The Happy Abode has been open for sixteen months! We are not even the newest shop on the block any more. It feels like only yesterday that we opened our doors for the first time and I still feel a thrill every time I walk through the door.

It was a great day for sales today and we were almost as busy as Christmas Eve!

I sold two more calendars during my shift and I know The Motivator sold at least one after I left. It would be nice to sell them all before the end of the year. There aren't that many left, so it's possible.

A lady came in with the gift that her husband bought from us for her Christmas present and asked to swap it for something else ... she chose one of my photos. It's another one of those things that gives me a thrill - whenever anyone wants one of my photos.

It's almost midnight and I have to work tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Back to it.

Even though I was in bed early last night, I only slept for four short hours.

I still arrived at the shop nice and early so I could tidy up from Christmas Eve and open the doors for the influx of customers in the first hour.

When I had a moment, I put the 'back in 5 mins' sign on the door so that I could check the mail and grab a coffee, when The Brains Trust appeared in the driveway ... so she watched the shop for me while I got us both a coffee and picked up the mail.

We got to sit for about 40 minutes and enjoy a Christmas Day debriefing.

The next influx of customers filled the time through to midday.

The Motivator arrived right on time to start her shift - we chatted for half an hour to catch up on 'stuff'  and I pedalled home to an empty house.

Adoring Husband had taken the car in for a service and while I was thinking about swimming in the pool, I received a text from Vegan Chickie recommending a Netflix movie called "Hello My Name is Doris" starring Sally Field and Max Greenfield. 

So I parked my butt on the couch and opened Netflix.

It was a great movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dinner was leftover baked dinner mixed in with some cabbage, bacon and butter. Dessert was boysenberry ice-cream with fresh blueberries.

It's just after 9pm and I'm watching "The Holiday Inn" starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire on the Fox Classics channel. I won't see the end of it because I can hear my pillow calling my name. Lack of sleep is catching up to me.

Tempting though it is to go for a swim right now, I will refrain, get a good night's sleep and possibly have a quick dip in the morning before work.

  

... and that's it from me.

Nite all.

After Christmas

I believe that the food-like substances that we ate on Christmas Day provided no energy or nutrients for our bodies and we were totally and completely lethargic today. Absolute brain fog and rock bottom motivation.

I remained in bed all day and Adoring Husband dozed on and off on his recliner chair.

At 5pm I struggled out of bed and put a chicken in the oven, put some clothes on the line and put another load in to wash then swam in the pool for about 45 minutes before adding all the vegetables to the oven with the chicken.

Hopefully baked chicken and vegetables with home made gravy has provided enough energy for our bodies to see a little more action tomorrow.

So this was perfect for my 'today' ...

I'll be working for the first half of the day tomorrow 9am - 1pm and The Motivator will take over for the second half.

AH's foot is still causing him some grief but he can walk on it, so we're not too concerned at this stage. He is also on antibiotics for an ear infection so that should prevent any infection in his foot.

I'm done for the day.

Early to bed.

Nite all.

A Most Un-Christmas Christmas

I DID get to open gifts wrapped in Christmas paper ... thanks to Beautiful Girl With Long Blond Hair.

This is a small sample of my fabulous presents ...

... and THIS one ... let me set the scene ...

On Christmas Eve, Adoring Husband and I watched the movie "White Christmas" starring Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby. Part way through the movie Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney appear in gorgeous blue dresses and large blue feathery fans to entertain a crowd.

"OH!" I gasped "I want a fan like THAT!"

The next morning, WAHLAH!! (or Voila 😬🤪😘)

I had the pedestal fan running on high at the end of the bed, so as I ripped the plastic packaging open to take out the feather fan, hundreds of tiny bits of feather went flying, got caught in the air stream of the fan and went up my nose, in my mouth, into my eyes and all over the bed! *cough*  *splutter*

It's a beautiful feathery fan ... not big enough to cover my bits ... but fabulous just the same!

So BGWLBH and I spent about an hour in FB private messenger while I opened gifts, took photos and posted them to her with an explanation of why I loved each gift ... and every one of them was so well thought out and obviously meant just for me. It was almost as good as having her here. Almost.

Adoring Husband brought me breakfast in bed while all that was happening. Ham, tomato and raw onion on toast. My fave.

Before lunch I put on my bathing suit and off to the pool AH and I went.

It was such a lovely time and a perfect way to spend and un-christmassy Christmas until this ...

AH had just finished pouring, into my new plastic glass (a gift from The Motivator),  a vodka and tonic with ice for me, and as he walked out of the kitchen to bring it to me, he tripped over the tiny step.

The tiny step has been there for about six weeks now. AH has 'tripped up it' and 'fallen down it' many times. I think the Universe looked at him and said to itself "How can I teach this man a lesson so that he stops 'tripping up' and 'falling down' this step? I know!! I'll make him injure his toe so badly that he will almost have to amputate his toe!!"

It did not teach him a lesson, because not 30 minutes later, he fell down the step again - he doesn't 'fall over' as in falling to the ground. He just misses the step and jars his body.

I also have to add that when he stumbled badly after kicking his toe on the step, he fell into the outdoor couch and he did not spill a drop of my drink. It was pretty to watch!

I shouldn't make fun. He is in pain and there may be more damage inside that toe than appears on the surface - although the surface did look pretty disgusting and I had to turn away for fear of throwing up.

I'm not good with that kind of damage - it's like I can physically feel every nerve ending and the pain shoots through my body until the unnecessary adrenalin that I'm pumping needs to go 'somewhere' and it's usually in the form of vomit.

AH cleaned the wound and began the process of bandaging - once it was covered up, I could help with the bandaging.

There were only two panadol in the house and I convinced him to wait until bed time to take them - if he took them immediately,  they would wear off by bed time and he wouldn't be able to sleep because of the pain! Common sense. He groaned then agreed.

No shops were open because it's Christmas.

In Melbourne, Vegan Chickie looked at her 'take out delivery' app and found that 114 restaurants in her area would deliver food to her apartment today.

We couldn't even get a panadol.

Our Christmas fare today consisted of Kettle Potato Chips, oven baked chicken wings and boysenberry ice cream.

It's almost midnight, so I think I need to sleep now.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Nite all.

Breaking Records

I started my day with a swim in the pool ...

I didn't start work until after midday and it was an amazingly successful day in the shop.

We broke our sales record!

Merry Christmas!

It was flat out all day long.

Every shop except the supermarket closed their doors at lunch time and I think the holiday makers were excited to see our shop still open and they came in droves.

There were lots of males in the shop too, as I predicted, doing last minute shopping for the important females in their lives.

The best part was that everyone was happy. Well and truly into the festive season and feeling the love.

I was in Foodworks at 10am and the crowd in there was suffocating! The queue in the Post Office was out the door and the noise of so many people in such a confined space was almost too much for me to cope.  I couldn't wait to get out of the place.

We played Christmas carols all day in The Happy Abode and the customers were singing along as they shopped.

The Motivator was flat out all morning and I was flat out all afternoon.

The last customer left the shop at 4.58pm.

Adoring Husband came to help close the shop and with a sigh of satisfied relief, I climbed into the car to begin our Christmas break.

Exhausted.

Tonight, Vegan Chickie and I continued our tradition of watching 'Love Actually' together on Christmas Eve. She is in Melbourne and we text each other throughout the movie - at our favourite and least favourite parts - talking about our favourite and least favourite characters. It's a great tradition and we get excited about Christmas Eve every year.

Now I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Festive Sunday

On Saturday afternoon, The Motivator and I decided to open for half the day on Sunday.

Fabulous idea.

It was very busy.

Christmas falls on exactly the right day of the week this year.

Lots of people have taken Christmas Eve off work and are arriving in town earlier than usual to begin their holidays.

Last minute Christmas presents are our specialty and of course, all the men, notorious for leaving Christmas shopping til the last minute, are out desperately looking for gifts for their wives and girlfriends and mothers.

I've sold a few of my photos this week, which is really special.

Instead of closing at 1pm we closed the doors at 3pm.

I didn't swim in the pool today, but I'm considering going for a dip before bed tonight. It's already 9.30pm so a dip would be very relaxing before sleep.

I expect tomorrow will be a big day for us. We'll be open from 9am - 5pm. The Motivator will do the first half of the day and I'll do the second half. We'll have a couple of days off for Christmas and Boxing days.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.