I'm Back!

As I write this, I’m sitting in the plane waiting to leave Sydney.

I am alone in a row of three seats and once again I’m thinking about how lucky I am and how perfectly my day has progressed thus far.

As you know, from yesterday’s post, I didn’t sleep until well after midnight. In fact, it was 12.49am when I last looked at my watch and I had set my alarm for 5.15am 😳

I woke, without the alarm, at 5.07am.

I knew it was going to be a good day because I really dislike being woken from my sleep - especially by an alarm. It doesn’t matter what kind of sound I use for my alarm because even a gentle awakening is still disturbing my lovely sleep.

So I turned off the alarm before it sounded and began to ready myself. Last night, I had packed everything but today’s clothes, my toiletries and my device chargers so it was an easy and relaxing start to the day.

After big goodbye hugs with The Motivator, I left the room 15 minutes early to wait for my 6.30 shuttle bus 🚎 and to my surprise, it was already waiting for me at the door!

The very friendly and obliging driver, Henry, took my bag and lifted it into the bus and since I was the sole occupant, I had my choice of seats. He didn’t pick up anyone else on the journey and we made quick time because we literally got EVERY green light along the way!

Unheard of in Sydney!

I did a short meditation 🧘‍♀️ in the bus and thanked the universe for providing such a wonderful start to my day 😍

I paid Henry and thanked him as he lifted my luggage onto the footpath.

Inside the check-in area, I discovered that I needed to tag my own bag before checking in, which I had never done before, but after following the instructions at the computer terminal, it told me that my reservation could not be found.

Somewhat concerning 🤔

But not for long, as a staff member offered to help and took me to her monitor where she found my information, printed out my tag and my boarding pass and sent me on my way to the shortest queue in the history of Sydney Domestic airport.

Next, was the daunting task of passing through security.

By the time my turn came to place my items in the tray, there were no trays left in my queue. Fortunately, a kind man in the queue beside me noticed my situation and passed across three trays from his pile - exactly the number I required!

Despite being heavily jewelled up with bling, I passed through the scanner without incident, while the men before and after me had to strip off considerably to finally get the ‘all clear’. I told them both that this was the only time I ever felt sorry for men.

They laughed politely.

I was feeling pretty chirpy by now, with everything going so smoothly and I decided to continue my morning in a positive way and I ordered a ‘young blood’ juice from Joe’s Juice. Celery, apple and lemon. Perfect.

I gave Adoring Husband a quick call to let him know where I was, ordered a delicious coffee that came quickly.

Airport shopping was very much on my agenda, but the only thing I found was a lovely bamboo outfit, which, at airport prices was a little too steep for my liking. Especially after my extravagance at the gift fair. Comfortable with my decision, I decided to find a quiet corner in my waiting area and enjoy some peace and quiet.

It was quiet for a while. There was a young man with a baby in a pouch attached to him and a young girl around the age of 7 or 8 sitting beside him. All was going nicely until the baby began to cry.

The crying got louder as he attempted to placate her. The baby became frantic and I considered offering some assistance, but figured ... you know ... he’s a man. Deal with it.

After about ten minutes, his young wife appeared. I didn’t hear what he said to her but I heard her say “Don’t get the shits with me! I’m allowed to go to the toilet. Get over yourself and deal with it!”

Phwoar! Good on her!

Just before we were called to board our plane, I decided to use the bathroom and as I walked across the hallway, she was walking, alone, towards me, so I paused as we neared each other and said “Well done for putting him in his place earlier!” She smiled widely and thanked me.

We all boarded the plane and I was supposed to go via the rear steps but decided to enter through the front door instead. My legs have had enough exercise this week! Nobody questioned me and I quickly found my seat.

I sat and waited for the seats beside me to fill, but nobody came and now I am comfortably sprawled with my devices and my bag and my water and my tea. No need to be mindful of anyone else’s comfort. How lovely!

I can’t imagine how my day could get any better. The universe has taken good care of me.

I have had a crazy, busy, educational, inspirational and tiring week which I have enjoyed very much, but there is no place like home and very soon, that’s exactly where I’ll be!

*Later*

Adoring Husband was waiting for me at the airport and I arrived five minutes late after an uneventful flight. We drove directly to The Happy Abode. 

The carpet cleaners have worked their magic while we've been in Sydney and there is much to reorganise and rearrange. Furniture has been moved, stock has been lifted off the floor and piled onto tables and the training room was and still is a bit of a nightmare.

We spent about 90 minutes removing sheets off the display cabinets and tables (they were for protection while the ceiling holes were repaired) partly clearing the training room, removing stands and stock from The Gypsy's treatment room, removing signs and chairs from the bathroom, replacing the floor mat in the lounge corner, tidying displays etc.

There is still much to do, but I was totally OVER it and feeling bloody tired after only 4 hours of sleep, so we came home to put our feet up. I didn't even have the energy to make dinner, so AH made us some toast.

This was tonight's sunset and all I could summon the energy to do was take a photo, with my phone, through the bedroom window.

I'm so done now ... sleep for me.

Home sweet home

Nite all.

Where Am I? Who Am I?

Day Four and we are done and dusted.

This was us at the start of the day ...

Our heads and hearts and bodies have come to a standstill and all motivation has left the building - except for the motivator who seems to have, during a 20 minute nap, replaced her dying batteries and has found a new lease on life.

I'll have what she's having!!

Little Tassie Devil she is!

Quick calculation ... yes we have overspent ... ugh ... but nowhere near as much as last year. If only they didn't all charge so much for shipping, we would have come very close to budget.

So now we need to have some good sales next week to make sure there is enough money to pay for all of our orders!

We stopped briefly for a little fun ...

They kicked us out the doors at 3pm and we dragged our tired butts to the nearest outdoor cafe where we ordered two sharing platters - prawn lollipops and octopus salad ...

... along with two fresh juices.

It was so nice to take a load off our feet and sit in their comfy lounge chairs while we munched away on the delicious fare that they prepared.

This is what an exhausted Reed Gift Fair customer looks like after four days of chasing new suppliers!

We trudged our way home and The Motivator had a 20 minute nap while I packed my suitcase ready for departure tomorrow.

I had earlier decided that I wouldn't eat dinner tonight, but at 8.30pm we decided that a late dinner was definitely an option, so firstly we checked out Uber Eats, but there were too many restaurants to choose from, so we made ourselves partially presentable and headed out the door. On the way, I stopped at the desk to book the shuttle bus for 6.30am (the only time available) and then we walked the long verandah, then over the foot bridge to the plaza nearby.

We checked the first restaurant which was a burger place and not surprisingly had nothing GF, then across the way, we found a restaurant called Rashays with lots of amazing looking GF options. We took our seat and ordered what looked like a banquet of Avocado chicken with chips and salad and lamb ribs with sweet potato chips and salad.

We shared our plates of food and then shared a pavlova ...

It was divine!

On the return trip to our room, we stopped at the Instagram setup in the foyer of the hotel and while I was attempting to take a photo of The Motivator, a gentleman asked us if we'd like a photo taken together, which we gleefully accepted.

You can certainly tell how tired we are in this one!

Anyway, it's after midnight and I have to be awake in 5 hours!

Nite all.

Day Three - Mentally Exhausted

We left our room quite a bit later than planned this morning so we missed breakfast, grabbed a Boost juice and hurried to the convention centre to attend the Instagram Masterclass which was AMAZING.

Maggie Kreo, the presenter, was warm and engaging and threw a few swear words in to keep us real and laughing. She gave us some fabulous insights into Instagram and social media, including tips on posting for business purposes and building a customer base and 'followers'.

We left there feeling motivated and ready to take on the world!

Except we were hungry, so first, we needed sustenance!

We found a different cafe on our level which sold delicious GF salmon, rice and salad, a chocolate Jaffa cake and fresh juices. Bonus!

Needless to say, it was 1pm before we even began our continued trek through the remaining stalls.

We were waylaid by a psychic who literally pounced on The Motivator to tell her how amazing she was and then proceeded to predict her future. We must have been standing there chatting with her for more than half an hour.

We made some orders and took lots more information from other stall holders. Our budget has certainly reined us in this year and it's been difficult to choose who to order from now and who to hold off til later. Tough decisions, but we're still working well as a team and we have officially run out of money.

🤪

By the end of the day, my brain had completely turned to mush and I was totally 'peopled' out and needed to withdraw and shut down for a while. The Motivator, on the other hand, was wound up ready to pull another six hour shift, so she sorted through all our paperwork and we calculated how much money we had spent, decided who we would order from on the last day, who we would discard completely and who would go on the wait list.

We did this in the outdoor area of our motel as we tried to hear each other over the loud voices of some people with disabilities who were enjoying the views with their carer as the sun set.

Some time after 8pm we made our way to our room and what followed was a concentrated effort of going through catalogues and selecting items to order, then culling from the very long lists as we calculated our further spending.

At 11.30pm I suggested that we stop and go to bed - here I am writing this post very late and requiring toothpicks to keep my eyelids open.

My personal purchases for the day ...

Citrine bracelet

Magnesite meditation beads

Yellow Calcite wand

   
We stopped at a very busy outdoor cafe/bar on our way home and ordered some fresh juice concoctions and a beef salad that had pumpkin, beetroot, rocket and quinoa. A very nice meal. I had some leftover Jaffa cake with a cup of tea when I got back to the room.

Only five more minutes and it will be midnight.

Good Lord.

Nite all.

Day Two = Equally Exhausted

This was us at the start of the day ...

... and this is us at the end of the day

we couldn't take a photo of our heads at the end of the day because we were too exhausted and sore!

These were my personal purchases for yesterday ...

The blue is blue kyanite - the stone of 'intuition' and the yellow is citrine - the stone of wealth and abundance.

... and this is an example of what may be in The Happy Abode's future (a little bit down the track) ...

Dinner tonight was roasted Peking duck with garlic butter broccoli accompanied by a Margarita for me and a Golden Dream for The Motivator.

It was nice to be back in our room by about 8pm but I see that it's already approaching 11pm as I sit here yawning and feeling every bit my age.

Believe it or not, we are still only at the halfway mark of the first level!! We do have two days remaining though, so hopefully we'll make it to the end. The second level is not so important because it's mostly home wares - although it is nice to browse that section.

We've made some good contacts and we have an 'Instagram Masterclass' to attend tomorrow which will take up two hours of our time in the morning. Should be interesting though.

Anyway, time to sleep.

Nite all.

Day One = Exhausted

Crazy day on Saturday preparing the shop for the ceiling repairs and carpet cleaning while we're away.

Our flight to Sydney arrived in The Bay early, left The Bay early and arrived in Sydney 25 minutes earlier than scheduled!

Win.

The weather was horrible ... black skies, heavy rain and strong winds, making for an uncomfortable landing.

Bearable.

Caught a taxi from the airport to our motel which cost $62!!!

Lose!

We are in the same room as last year with lovely views over the harbour.

Win.

We found the perfect restaurant right next door with delicious food, imperfect wait staff who offer us free desserts to counteract any unhappiness.

Win.

Went to sleep at 1am.

Lose.

The room was too warm, not enough pillows, slept poorly - probably overtired.

Lose.

Nice cooked breakfast for an extra dollar. Bacon, sausages, boiled egg, hash browns, GF toast, fruits, coffee etc

Win.

Nice easy walk to the convention centre, no rain, comfortable shoes, small crowds, good start to the morning with a workshop on social media.

Win.

We've paced ourselves and not spent all our money in the first hour like last year!

Win.

Found some nice stuff to put on our wish list and make orders tomorrow.

Win.

Feet got really sore in the last hour.

Lose.

Met up with one of The Motivator's friends from 'The Journey' work and had dinner with her at the same restaurant that we ate at last night. Got a discount on her Accor card.

Win.

Body seized up like an old farm tractor and we literally shuffled home at 10pm.

Lose.

Booked on line to have my computer repaired while I'm here. Couldn't get into the Apple Genius Store, so am trying another Apple approved store - not feeling as confident.

Disappointed.

I actually found the motivation and the brain power to create this blog post for all of my loyal fans - haha - ok one or two loyal fans - you know who you are!

Win.

It's after midnight and I am absolutely exhausted, my body is aching, my brain is not functioning as it should and I'm already looking forward to an early night tomorrow night.

Nite all.

All Gone Away

We were up at stupid o'clock this morning to take Bubbles to the train station so that she could travel to the Sunny Coast to spend a week with her bestie before returning to Sydney to start her new job.

It was a pleasant morning drive and it wasn't too windy, but the temperature had dropped to a cooler and more acceptable number.

The train was only 5 minutes late and Bubbles arrived at her destination pretty much on time.

Meanwhile, we returned home, Knight in Shining Armour finished packing and spent some quality time with the psychotic dogs who were already missing Bubbles.

We left home at 8.45am and even though KISA was happy for us to drop him at the airport, Adoring Husband decided that we would park the car and have a coffee with KISA in the terminal cafe.

I was almost certain that the flight would be cancelled because by 10am the wind was absolutely crazy. We left KISA well before his flight and planned to spend some time in The Bay, so if the flight was cancelled at the last minute, we wouldn't be too far away to return and bring him home.

His flight had been delayed at the Sydney end so it left The Bay about 30 minutes later than planned. He informed me that even though the take off felt blustery, the flight was fine, so he arrived home safe n sound.

AH and I drove into The Bay and decided to have breakfast at Dan and Steph's on the Esplanade.  We've eaten there before and enjoyed it so we were expecting more of the same.

We sat out the front of the cafe and even though the winds were strong, they weren't affecting the eating area, although at one point the very heavy sign that was hanging nearby, came flying off the hooks and landed about 15cm from AH's foot. THAT could have been a disaster! But it wasn't.

We both ordered the same meal - it was almost a nachos - a big bowl with home made corn chips, char grilled corn, friend beans, pulled pork, avocado, cherry tomatoes, capsicum sticks, coriander and sour cream. It was supposed to be GF.

I don't think it was.

We had to drop some paperwork into our financial advisor's office, but before the lift doors even opened to take us to their floor, my stomach began doing loop the loops and churning the way it does when I eat gluten. The pain doubled me over at one stage. I spent a considerable amount of time in the nearest bathroom before we could eventually drop off our paperwork.

It was an uncomfortable drive home and I felt so poorly, I went straight to bed and there I slept for 90 minutes.

It has been 3 weeks since I spent a Friday night at the club for the raffle night and both AH and I intended on being there tonight, but I didn't have the energy.

I am still in bed as I write this!

The wind and the new Bali hut has caused us some extra work in the last 24 hours. All the loose grass from the roof of the hut has been blowing off in the strong winds and of course, going directly into the pool!

We see this as a good thing. Strong winds for a few days will clean the roof of all the loose stuff and instead of having a few months of gradual grass thinning, it will be over in one hit!

All of our furniture has been packed into the pool room, the umbrella has been wound down and tied safely, the water feature has been tied to the fence (it is yet to be secured to it's final position) and the Bali bed has been secured with special locks to the bamboo fence.

So while cyclone Oma idles over 600kms from us, her strong wind gusts are causing a bit of grief by creating 12 metre waves in some coastal areas, causing beach erosion along most of our coastline, bringing incredibly high tides to the beaches and river mouths and the windy conditions are generally making life uncomfortable - which is preferable to her making landfall and causing catastrophic damage of course.

I just hope that the winds die down a little so that The Motivator and I can fly out of The Bay tomorrow without drama!

We are looking forward to our time in Sydney and shopping at the gift fair for new and different stock  to display and sell in the shop!

I think I need some more sleep now - help my body recover properly before we fly out.

Nite all.

Mum and Daughter Day

Bubbles and I caught the bus into The Bay and spent the day shopping and lunching.

It was a fabulous day which I enjoyed very much and we got lots of shopping done at some bargain prices.

While we were there, this happened ...

... it was so nice to return home to find my Bali hut FINALLY complete!

All that's left is to place our beautiful big pots in the garden, hang my hammock and hang my crystals and lead-light decorations.

At the moment there is lots of grass blowing in the wind, breaking off and filling the garden and the pool, but these windy days should clean off all the loose grass and it should settle in a few days.

Hopefully cyclone Oma doesn't make an appearance to ruin all of our hard work!!

Fingers crossed and positive thoughts.

Once again, I'm exhausted, so I'm off for an early night because I have work tomorrow.

Nite all.

Another Day Gone

I can't believe that eleven days have gone 'just like that'!

Only three more sleeps and the house will be empty - especially for Adoring Husband because I'll be leaving for Sydney (weather permitting) on Saturday.

Today was another full one, which started with the girls for coffee. We were a bit light on and only four of us in attendance, including The Motivator and myself.

Adoring Husband, Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour picked me up at 10am and we drove to Howard to visit Vancootens, a haberdashery come gift store just fifteen minutes from here.

They sell a few of the same items as The Happy Abode, but are more expensive than us. The shop is not as packed or cramped as I remember it from when I visited five or six years ago. We bought some tea towels.

From there, we drove to "Australiana Cottage Crafts and Herb Farm" where I purchased an iPad pillow, a leadlight peace sign and two garden ornaments - a frog and a turtle.

Bubbles took these photos in the gardens ...

Coffee was our next priority, so The Coffee Club at Stocklands was our destination.  Bubbles and I purchased a healthy juice from 'Boost' while the boys satisfied their caffeine  addictions.

We did a quick Kmart run, followed by a drive to Nana's Pantry to replenish my stocks of nuts so that I can make some toffee nuts for the kids to take with them when they leave on Friday.

We did lunch at the waterpark again, though it wasn't quite as nice as the other day - different staff on duty.

I needed a new orange flag for my trike so we visited a mobility cart establishment to purchase one of those and then drove home.

An order of chicken was awaiting us at the butcher so we picked that up on the way.

We could hear the pool beckoning us as we drove in the garage so we unpacked the car and then all took a dip in the very cool water before I started dinner.

Now, I'm exhausted so I'm off to bed to rejuvenate before another big day in The Bay with Bubbles tomorrow.

Nite all.

Working the Day

Even though I got to bed earlier than usual and even fell asleep about an hour earlier than usual, I struggled to wake up this morning. I must have pressed 'snooze' eight or nine times and it was 7.30 by the time I found the motivation or the 'wakefulness' to make a decision!

Once I was up and about, things got easier.

I was able to buy my morning coffee and still get to the shop with plenty of time to spare.

The Gypsy arrived at the same time as I did and she set up her room while I took the signs and flags out and opened the shop.

She had clients booked in for the morning and I was quite busy with customers until about 11.30am. The morning passed quickly.

We made our lunch and sat in the lounge area and talked and talked and talked.

The afternoon passed quickly!

A lady gave me her details so that she could be called for the 'journalling' and 'vision board' workshops. She may also attend the meditation class on Wednesday.

Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour spent the day in The Bay, while Adoring Husband spent the day painting the exterior of our other kitchen/pool filter room.

So everybody is pretty tired from their busy days.

I think I'll do MKR again and then off to bed early.

Tomorrow, we are going to Howard to visit Vancootens and then probably into The Bay for a walk along the pier and a touch of shopping.

This reminded me of my mother ...

Looking forward to coffee with the girls!

Nite all.

What a Day!

Saturday was such a big day, with barely a moment to stop and take a breath.

We decided to take a drive to Childers.

Knight in Shining Armour has a real 'thing' for Op Shops and Childers has a couple of good ones, plus a Dimmeys AND a 'Dollars and Sense' store.

They LOVE a bargain!

Childers also has an amazing shoe shop, which was our first stop for the morning.

I tried three or four pairs and the only pair that I loved was not available in my size - BUT - the lady in charge said that next month, when I return with the girls, they will have taken a big delivery of new stock.

*happy dance*

After we visited the Op Shop and Dimmeys, we wandered across the road to the sit down cafe 'Kape`' where we intended to have coffee, but when I spotted the GF waffles on the menu, it was all over for me!

Adoring Husband, who had never eaten a waffle before, totally enjoyed his meal and even though it wasn't quite as good as the Montville version, it was still delicious and I would definitely order that again.

We decided, on the way home, to make a stop at Bamboo Land.

AH had to purchase some more oil to paint the bamboo fence - which protects and rejuvenates it.

We had a little wander around but didn't get to see much so I think we'll take the time this week to return and really look around.

There is no pic of Bubbles because she declined the opportunity to be my subject.

The bamboo was amazing blowing in the wind with the stems creaking and cracking and the leaves swishing and rustling - so tall and almost majestic.

We had to return home and prepare for Best Cousin in the World and Marco Polo.

I made a mayonnaise, a coleslaw, a rice dish, an avocado dip and a garden salad, keeping the tomatoes separate because BCITW doesn't like tomatoes. I baked two trays of potato discs in the oven and AH cooked the steaks, sausages and onion on the barbecue.

After dinner, we played Twenty Questions. AH and I won all three games because we are AMAZINGLY BRILLIANT!

Much alcohol was consumed by some and it got loud - apologies to our neighbours who may have been taken by surprise by the unusual activity that was happening in our outdoor area!

I got to spend a quiet hour with BCITW before bed, which was nice, and it was after midnight when I crawled into bed ... hence NO blog post last night!

This morning, I only got up to say goodbye to BCITW and Marco Polo then I returned to bed until lunch time. AH brought my coffee and some toast for breakfast and I decided to go for a swim after lunch.

Bubbles and I spent quite some time in the water and we played catch with the new ball that we bought in Childers. Luckily AH stayed in the area because our ball skills left a lot to be desired and he spent a lot of time retrieving our wayward throws!

This afternoon I made some GF chocolate cupcakes and some toffee nuts.

Dinner was three different meals - spaghetti bolognese for AH, 4kgs of potatoes made into baked discs for Bubbles and KISA and melted cheese on GF bread rolls for me. Dessert was a cupcake.

I made the decision to spend my night watching MKR and writing my blog post so that I can have an early night.

So thank you for listening/reading.

Nite all.

Zawsted

Translation: Exhausted

This morning, we, according to Knight in Shining Armour, had the best fun so far.

We drove to the driving range with a handful of clubs in the back of the car, purchased two large buckets of golf balls and then we four proceeded to belt the balls into the middle of the range - the boys aiming for the car shell situated at the 175 metre mark.

Bubbles had never hit a golf ball before but did very well to hit most of the balls.

Adoring Husband was belting the crapoli out of the balls and mostly hit them way past the car.

KISA was doing a good job too but mostly watching AH in awe.

Considering it's been about five years since I hit a golf ball, I was very happy with my effort. Most of my balls went long and straight, but by jingoes my body is complaining this evening! Ankles, knees, hips, back, arms and hands ... all reminding me what I did today.

Bending over 60 times to place a golf ball on a tee and then swinging 60 times to hit said ball.

Tomorrow could be telling.

From there, we drove to Pialba and did some shopping at Go Girl, Big W, Coles and Rockmans (not me). I found some beautiful shoes at Shoe Frenzy, but it was their last pair of this particular style and one of the jewelled buttons on one of the shoes was flawed, so I chose to leave the shoes on the shelf.

We then drove to a nearby op shop where I purchased an $8 dress for wearing over my bathers by the pool.

We were starving and it was almost 2pm so we drove to the fish and chip cafe at the water park.

If we had seen the cafe behind it, AH and I may have opted to eat there, but we only noticed the fish and chip shop, so we asked if they did any gluten free meals. They do GF crumbed fish and their chips are also GF, so AH and I ordered crumbed Snapper with chips.

The chips were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The crumb on the fish was delicious and the fish was perfectly cooked. I will definitely eat there again, but the furniture was not very comfortable and the area not very comfortable or clean so I wouldn't recommend it for our luncheons.

We bought a coffee from the cafe next door before we departed the area and it was also delicious.

It was after 3.30pm when we arrived home. I unpacked all the groceries and then checked to see if my workshop participants had responded to my messages about the weekend. None of them had, so I followed up, but I've only heard back from one of them.

So now I've decided to cancel the workshop and since I already have some names for March, I'll make that class a bit bigger.

This gives me more time to play with the kids on their holiday.

Best Cousin in the World is coming for the night on Saturday. We'll be having a barbecue and she and Marco will get to see and use the new pool area and we'll probably play some games like 20 questions or trivia or cards against humanity.

I did a quick chicken curry for dinner - I didn't have any because I was still full from lunch!

The rest of the family ate like they hadn't eaten for a week!

Right now, we are watching our first rugby league game for the season and it's made us hungry for the beginning of the 2019 season.

I think I'll be in bed early to help my body recover from today's club swinging.

Nite all.

Missed it by That Much

My apologies for another missed blog post yesterday.

I had a full day, a late dinner and even struggled to fall asleep, but the brain wasn't capable of creating a blog post.

I was supposed to go to meditation on Wednesday morning, and I had every intention of doing so, but since I didn't fall asleep until after 1am, when my alarm went off at 6am, I just couldn't drag myself out of bed. I've had four nights in a row that I couldn't fall asleep until after 1am and it caught up to me.

The Brains Trust picked me up at 11am and we, along with Lady Lynn and Aggie 🤣, drove into The Bay where we decided to have lunch at the Tapas Bar.

Before we ate, we browsed through a few of the nearby shops. Not all of us spent money and the four of us had a fabulous time together. We laughed a lot - including a few snorts here and there - we enjoyed good food and good drinks and suddenly it was 2pm!

Before we drove home, we checked out the location of the accommodation where The Blonde Bombshell is having her 'celebration of life' gathering next month and then we did a bit of shopping at Stocklands. I had already purchased a pair of shoes and a top at shop near the Tapas Bar, but I added another top to my collection at Stocklands.

I checked my lotto ticket and had won $10.70 so I reinvested in another lotto ticket.

It was well after 4.30pm when I arrived home and by the time Adoring Husband and I picked up the meat order from the butcher and got my desk top computer from work, it was after 5pm.

I phoned Chicklet for her 8th birthday ...

... how in heaven's name did she get so old so quick!?? We must have spent more than 30 minutes on the phone while she told me about her day and the gifts that she received - dragon after dragon after dragon after dragon! That purple hair was looking pretty cool too.

Eventually, I had to cook dinner and compared to our usual meal time, it was certainly a late dinner for us all.

My priority after that was to edit some more wedding photos, so I spent a couple of hours doing that and sent them through to the brides before I went to bed - the computer seemed to be working very slowly, which was frustrating.

I was in bed before 11pm, and I watched one of my shows that I'd missed on the Channel 9 app before attempting to go to sleep.

Try as I might, I just couldn't relax enough to sleep, so it was after 2pm the last time I looked at the clock.

Ugh.

I had a hair appointment at 9am, so I had to be awake at a decent hour.

Very happy with the result.

I got to relax for about an hour and then it was my turn to cover for The Motivator at the shop while she attended her hair appointment.

Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour joined me for the last hour of business and then helped me shut up shop.

We grabbed some take away coffees and headed home. Of course, it was necessary to go for a swim because it was stinking hot weather. We each enjoyed a beverage in the pool until it was time to cook dinner again.

On the menu tonight was crispy skinned chicken, pork, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, capsicum, brussels sprouts, green beans, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.

Adoring Husband baked chocolate brownies for dessert, which were delicious but boy did they give me a hell of a sugar hit!!

We played Trivial Pursuit and KISA won this one.

Here it is, well after 11pm and we plan on hitting some golf balls at the driving range tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Who's a Winner?

All three psychotic dogs can swim - confidently. I’ve tested them all by taking them to the middle of the pool and releasing them. They are strong swimmers and they can swim to the edge of the pool. Their tiny legs are unable to get them up the step to climb out, but I guarantee that they will NEVER voluntarily jump in the pool. They will only go into the water if we pick them up and physically take them in.

The sad humans in my family - all very sensitive and obviously terrified that the dogs may sink rather than swim, cannot let them go and literally hold them high in the water (see the video) while the dogs pretend to paddle.

Anyway, today was a fun day with the family.

After coffee with the girls, the fam picked me up and we drove into The Bay to the bowling alley where we played two games.

Adoring Husband had put our old bowling gear in the car so we had our own shoes and ball. In another life (Sydney) we were League bowlers, but since we moved here, we've bowled four times in ten years. Three times in Maryborough and once in Bundaberg - usually when we have visitors.

Today, I was the winner and bowled better than when I was in the league. I can't be bothered going in search of the score sheet right now, but I think my first game was 149 and the second game was 164. It felt good.

From there we drove to the other end of town to the Breakout Room.

I was led to believe that the Breakout Room was situated in the Cinema Complex, but I was wrong. It was on the esplanade - past where the old Shark Museum used to be.

It was a really fun hour. It was a pirate related theme and sometimes we were absolutely hopeless, but at other times we were amazing! We easily worked our way through some of the clues but others we were way off the mark and struggled.

The game requires you to break out of the room inside an hour. The record stands at 41 minutes for this particular theme. Our host told us, at the end of the hour, that we still had another 10 or 15 minutes worth of clues remaining, so we weren't even close.

We were left marooned!

After a visit to Stocklands where we needed sustenance before doing some grocery 🛒 shopping, we had one more stop before home and that was at IGA on the main drag where we hoped to purchase some of the new gluten free Vegemite.

No luck, but while we were in there, Adoring Husband made a surprise visit to the florist next door and bought me a big bunch of colourful gerberas ...

Because we had a late lunch, we opted for a very light dinner and following my hour long phone call with Vegan Chickie, we four sat down to a game of Trivial Pursuit ... where once again ... I was the winner!!!

What a successful day for me!

Actually it was an all round successful day because we all had fun together and we fit such a LOT into the day.

I have to say that I am absolutely exhausted now and desperately need a good night's sleep.

Nite all.

Catching Up

I saw The Gypsy for the first time in almost two weeks today.

So much has happened for both of us in that short period of time, we had a lot to catch up on, so there was a lot of fast chatter trying to fit as much information as possible into a short period of time.

At one stage there were nine potential customers wandering around the shop, but each of them left, one after the other, without purchasing a single thing and the remainder of the day saw minimal activity.

Bubbles had a treatment with The Gypsy at lunch time and then we got to spend a couple of hours together catching up, just the two of us, which was really nice.

At 3pm Adoring Husband came to drive Bubbles home because it was too hot to walk and he helped us close the shop. I pedalled home and it was even uncomfortable heat for me!

There was no question, I had to jump straight in the pool. I DID change out of my clothes and into bathers first, and I was joined by both Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour.

Adoring Husband provided our beverages and it was after 5pm when I came inside to begin preparing  dinner, which wasn't too difficult.

I whipped up an avocado dip to have with some corn chips, then I baked some scalloped potato and sweet potato in duck fat in the oven. while AH cooked some steak and sausages on the barbecue. Oh and I made a quick tomato sauce.

Instead of playing games tonight, I am sitting here writing this blog post because I feel really tired and want to head to bed early.

Here are all the pieces from the paint pouring workshops on Saturday ...

... and it's good night from me.

Nite all.

So It Begins

I knew that today was going to be BIG.

I woke up feeling concerned about the possible outcomes for today, knowing that there would be a lot happening with a group of people who have never worked together before, most of whom don't have construction experience, but do have a good heart and a willingness to assist.

I took the time to do two meditations to give myself a positive mindset to start the day and I wrote in my gratitude journal to show how grateful I am for all the love and care that people were bringing to the day and to make sure that I stayed calm and positive through whatever was going to happen.

This happened ...

There were five men in my back yard beginning the construction of our Bali hut.

It was such a hot day and they all worked with enthusiasm until noon and got so much more done than Adoring Husband expected. He was very surprised and happy with the progress and very grateful for such wonderful help.

Only one small mistake occurred, which apparently, was easily fixed.

I pedalled to the shop mid morning to buy enough food to feed and nourish the boys after all the sweat and toil. I fed them sandwiches and fruit and they drank a whole slab of water bottles.

They were still smiling and laughing when they left so that's gotta be a good sign.

Needless to say there was a bit of sunburn that required treatment this evening. Knight in Shining Armour and Bubbles were plastered twice with the gel from my aloe vera plant which grows like crazy in a big pot in the back yard.

Aside from the construction work, we also spent a LOT of time IN the pool.

I made up a batch of butter chicken and rice for dinner with papadums on the side. It went down a treat. The kids and I played twenty questions and AH headed to bed early.

I can't believe it's 11pm already and I have to work tomorrow!

This is my bowl of crystals by the pool ...

There are 3 x rose quartz, a blue kyanite, a citrine, a selenite and an amethyst.

Nite all.