Vote Me Out

Considering it was voting day, it was not as busy in The Happy Abode as I expected.

At one point there were about eight or ten people wandering around, but by the time they'd all left, they had spent a total of $23.

As happens often, ten minutes before closing, a customer walked in stayed until ten minutes after we would normally close, but she boosted our sales by a LOT and made me a happy Chappy celebrating a good sales week.

From there, Adoring Husband and I had to vote on the way home.

Nobody was worthy of my vote, and while I really wanted to insert an unmarked ballot paper into the box, mine was a valid vote for what I considered the best of a very bad bunch.

At home, I made lunch and sat by the pool while I ate it, went knee deep into the icy waters just to get the blood circulating and then sat with AH to watch the football.

Chicken with baked veg and greens for dinner.

I've looked at my art a number of times and considered doing something, but my heart wasn't fully in it, so I chose to steer clear. Tomorrow will be another day.

Now we decide whether to watch the election results or go to bed and read.

I vote 'read'.

The TV is on and all I can hear is BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.

May election week be over before we know it.

Nite all.

Winners!

Who’da thunk hey?

Nobody would have tipped my Broncos to defeat the Roosters tonight! What a fantastic game!

I’m thinking of Happy Harry who is a big Broncos fan too, and whose position on the footy tipping ladder was precarious. If he had tipped his team (which I know he won’t have) his position would have improved exponentially . His only saving grace is that nobody else would have tipped Broncos either.

This is another short post.

Quiet day in the shop.

I decided to attend the club raffles tonight (for the first time in about 6 or 7 weeks) and I had a nice win on the pokies. No raffle wins though.

I’m off for an early night because I’m hoping for a big Saturday to end the week on a high!

Nite all.

So It Begins

The Motivator got away quite late, but she popped into the shop to say goodbye which was nice and she caught me up on a few notes that she had left in the day book and then headed off.

It was a VERY quiet day in the shop with just two customers all day. Not even a browser to brag about!

I sent our ad through for the local newsletter.

I made an order for some snap buttons to fulfil a customer's needs.

I checked our financial situation.

I ordered lunch from the cafe.

Adoring Husband arrived at 3pm to help me close the shop.

I came home and started some art. I know it's not finished, but I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it yet.

Adoring Husband cooked dinner of steak on the barby, baked veg, cauliflower, broccoli and home made gravy.

It's going to be an early night and we'll watch Britain's Got Talent in bed.

AH has a bit of nasty cough at the moment and we're trying all sorts of natural things to alleviate it, like essential oils, raw honey, lots of water, extra fruit and veg, chicken broth etc. He's already on a very strong antibiotic for another problem, which has weakened his immune system, so we might have to go hard on this one and I'll need to creates some strong witchy poo potions to help fight this one.

Anyway, time for bed.

Nite all.

Three out of Five

Three out of five ain't bad.

This is our fourth lunch together. Two of us are currently away travelling, so there were three of us today.

We went to the cinema and watched "Top End Wedding". There is a story attached to that, because there were four movies from which to choose and we gave the original decision to The Brains Trust, but she chickened out at the last minute, fearing fallout if she didn't choose wisely.

So I jumped in with a decision because I don't care about fallout lol.

I have to say that the first twenty minutes were very slow and I was concerned that I'd chosen poorly, but the movie picked up after that and I really enjoyed it. It was funny in parts and sad enough to produce a tear in parts.

After the movie, The Brains Trust and I wandered the shops while Aggie went for a dental x-ray.

Aquavue was our restaurant of choice for lunch and even though it was a grey overcast day and the tide was out, it was still pleasant and not too crowded. The food, as always, was good.

The Brains Trust had to pick up her car from being serviced, so Aggie and I dropped her off at the car yard and drove to King Kong where she met up with us soon after.

We all drove to The Brains Trust's house with hopes of enjoying a coffee from her brand spanking new coffee machine that she received for Mother's Day but alas there were some hiccups that prevented that from happening. I enjoyed a lemon and ginger tea instead, which was much nicer than I expected.

Aggie dropped me home at about 4.30pm and Adoring Husband had bought me a coffee earlier, so I reheated it and got to have my afternoon caffeine hit anyway.

I'd planned on doing some art, but by the time I'd unpacked my art shopping and then spent time putting our bedroom back together after spreading almost my entire wardrobe over it trying to find something to wear this morning, I just wanted to sit with my feet up.

So I did.

AH and I both had big lunches today, so we decided to not make dinner tonight.

Sadly, I didn't get to say goodbye to The Motivator before she leaves for her big road trip to Sydney early tomorrow, so if you're reading this TM ... "Safe travels and enjoy your road trip!! Make the most of your solo time! Big hugs from me."

Now it's time for another early night. Big work days ahead and I'm hoping for some record breaking, amazing sales days this month.

Nite all.

Girl Power

We were light on numbers at coffee this morning.

Just six of us including The Motivator and I but it was still a good morning.

Everyone had left around 11am and I stayed to chat with The Motivator til around noon.

I did some grocery shopping and then pedalled home to spend some time with Adoring Husband. We watched the new Ted Bundy movie "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy.

It was interesting to see Ted Bundy from a different angle and hear the story from his partner's point of view.

Poor woman.

Then it was time for ART.

I added more to the canvas from yesterday ...

... and this is what the floor beside the dining table looks like ...

... and this is what the dining table looks like!

Adoring Husband wants the dining table back BUT I NEED somewhere to create!! So it's either the back room or a new studio *insert evil witch laugh here*

I've got a big girlie date tomorrow, so an early night is on the cards again for me.

But first I'm watching House Rules.

Nite all.

Beautifully Brief

Just a quickie so that you know I’m alive and well.

A very slow day as far as sales go, although there were quite a few people walked through for a ‘browse’.

The Gypsy and I caught up on our news for the week.

I finally priced the ‘pre-loved’ clothes and wrote the sign.

Created some art ...

Adoring Husband cooked dinner - chicken Maryland, baked veg, cauliflower, broccoli and gravy while I continued creating.

I’m going to add more to this one tomorrow. It’s a big one!

Now I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

A Day for Mothers

I hope you all had a happy Mother's Day.

I was asleep before 10pm on Saturday and slept soundly until 7am today. NINE glorious hours!

When I woke, a voice kept telling me to open the shop.

I didn't want to open the shop! I wanted to stay in bed and enjoy my Sunday!

The voice nagged me. It was after 8.30am when I got up, got ready and Adoring Husband drove me to the shop.

In two hours, three people came through the doors. Not one of them bought anything.

As AH began bringing in the flags, five people walked through the door. They browsed happily and walked out empty handed.

We were just about to give up again, when two males sped up the driveway on their bicycles, parked at our front door and came inside.

They were the husband and son of a very sick friend of mine who has been so ill, she hasn't left her house for months. Her husband told me that she was at home feeling very disappointed because she hadn't received even a card for this special day.

This was the reason for that voice in my head this morning.

This could be her last Mother's Day and now because I opened the shop, she received two beautiful gifts to make her feel special ... on a day when she really needed to feel special.

So even though that was my only sale for the day, I'm very happy that I spent that two hours in the shop.

Just as we pulled into our driveway, I realised that there was nothing at home for lunch, so we reversed out and returned to Foodworks for food.

We ate lunch, watched the footy and I am now considering doing some art.

This came through in an email today. Dr Terry Wahls was diagnosed with MS and when top drugs under the top specialists did nothing for her condition and she was so bad that she used an electronic wheel chair and needed help to eat, she changed her diet with miraculous results.

This is her story.

She is amazing.

My Mother's Day included a very long and very interesting phone call from Vegan Chickie. Nothing from my other kids yet, but I expect they'll call later. They usually do.

This is an early post because I plan on another early night for another nine hours of sleep.

Nite all!

Saturday is Super

I drank a cup of tea at the art class last night. Drinking tea at 9pm is NOT a good idea.

The last time I looked at the clock, it was well after 1.30am and I certainly didn't fall asleep immediately after that.

Surprisingly, I woke five minutes before the alarm went off this morning, at 5.50am and I was alert and fresh to start the day! Weird.

I was in the shop by 7.30am clearing what we had left in the training room on Friday afternoon, so that The Motivator had a clean room to commence her class.

There was still lots of stock to unpack and price and display. Other stock to re-price and re-display. Other displays to fill with stock. Clothing to price and move onto a different rack.

There are so many empty spaces now that we have moved furniture and stands around and it's tricky finding the right spot for the right items.

There was a steady flow of customers through the day and our takings were better than most Saturdays which was satisfying.

The Motivator held a great workshop for paint pouring with some fantastic results ... I was inspired to come home and make my own art...

After work, she headed home so that she could attend a big concert in The Bay with a bunch of excellent old bands and some excellent old friends.

AH and I sat in the pool area for a while, I in my egg chair which has been removed from the shop and I don't even think AH actually sat down. He cleaned the pool with the scoop net because we had a really windy night and there were a few stray grasses from the Bali hut floating around and a couple of leaves.

The psychotic dogs always get excited when we go into the pool area. No idea why but they run outside to the gate wagging their tails and jumping up and down waiting for me to open it. It's not like they go into the water or do anything exciting.

After I did my art, we sat in the lounge room to watch Super Saturday football, which has been enjoyable. AH had a simple crispy skinned chicken and salad for dinner. I wasn't hungry.

It's now 8.15pm and I am off to bed to hopefully catch up on the sleep I missed last night. I haven't had any caffeine since 11am so there should be nothing in the system to keep me awake. Wish me luck.

Nite all.  

Busy Business

My day did not start out as planned.

I went to bed early last night, I slept soundly all night for probably 7 hours and when my alarm went off at 6am I hit the snooze button twice before turning it off.

The trouble was that after I turned it off, I fell back into a deep sleep!

It was 7.39am when I woke. That meant I had slept for almost 9 hours! Unheard of!

So my intention of getting to work early so that I could unpack some stock that had arrived on Thursday before I opened the doors for business, did not come to fruition.

I was so stressed and panicked that I'd woken so late that I forced myself to stay in bed to do a ten minute relaxation meditation so that I could start the day with some control.

Thankfully, Adoring Husband drove, dropped me off to get my morning coffee and then opened the shop for me while I collected the mail. Two more deliveries of stock were waiting to be picked up so that meant I now had three lots of stock to mark off, price and display.

My stress levels rose slightly.

Fifteen minutes later a supplier arrived with some more stock and to discuss how we would do business with her in the future. I phoned The Motivator to come in for the meeting too, which was lucky because customers needed to be served so she took over with the supplier while I served.

After the supplier left, TM and I spent some time trying on the beautiful linen clothes that had arrived. TM spent up a storm and I must say we enjoyed modelling and mixing and matching the different items.

I finally kicked TM out the door at about 12.30pm (on her day off mind you) and between a steady flow of customers, Adoring Husband and I rearranged some of the display stands in the shop and I priced some stock and displayed it.

We gave up after 3pm, which was when the last customer walked out and it was almost 3.30pm when we arrived home.

TM and I had an art date in The Bay and we had to leave at 5pm. I hadn't had lunch and needed to shower and wash my hair, so there was a lot to do in a short period of time.

We attended a 'Shiny Happy Art' class which was being run by a lady from Toowoomba and her speciality is water colours which TM and I have minimal experience with.

It was a great class and we enjoyed it very much. There were nine of us.

Anna was the teacher and was very good. She was passionate and confident and gave us lots of information.

It went for 3 hours so we didn't arrive home until almost 10pm. Now it's almost 11.30pm and I need sleep because tomorrow I'm DEFINITELY leaving early for work. TM has a PaintnCreate workshop and there is much to do before it starts.

Nite all.  

Time Please?

Where does the time go?

My days off just seem to speed past with little to show for them ... although today wasn't that bad as far as productivity goes.

I did some more study and research in bed this morning and while doing so, I missed a phone call telling me that our IKEA packages had arrived, so Adoring Husband gave them a call and headed into Dundowran to pick it all up.

With a few long interruptions, it took AH almost all day to put this together ...

I helped put one nut/bolt into one table and then announced that I helped AH put it all together!

This one is so much nicer than the crappy old grey aluminium framed, glass topped monstrosity that we had before. It's three tall bar tables bumped up against each other so they can be moved to the pool area separately, if necessary.

It also matches perfectly to the timber panelled walls that AH designed and built in this outdoor area.

While he was putting this together, I was putting this together ...

I love the colours and the delicious cells that came up in the paint.

I made myself presentable and AH dropped me off at the shop so that The Motivator and I could catch up and I could look at the changes that she has made so far.

The space looks so much bigger now! It really changes the flow of energy and feels good, but it also feels like we need more stock to fill up the gaps!

Still more changes to happen yet, but I'm confident that it will be fabulous when we're finished.

TM had already set up the training room in preparation for Saturday's workshop.

We discussed the next step in the changes to the display area and our office area.

AH pulled everything into the shop and closed for us, then pulled apart the clothes hanger to take home and loaded the car with some of my belongings that are no longer required in the shop.

It's all happening in The Happy Abode.

Tomorrow is a work day for me and tomorrow evening, TM and I are attending an Art Class in The Bay with Shiny Happy Art.

So I'm off to get some sleep.

Nite all.

Middle Day

I was inspired to begin creating my online health challenge today, which I hope will also be a weekly workshop in our training room.

I watched a video on how to move forward with my ideas, took lots of notes, made lists, ran out of paper, worked out some logistics and some content and then sought some advice on which platform to create the challenge.

Who knew that there were so many choices for designing and creating online courses and challenges?  The costs involved also varying on many different levels.

I have some research to do and some decisions to make, but I HAVE made a start.

Adoring Husband drove into The Bay while I was busy and then phoned to say that the plumber was coming today to fix the new toilet that came loose.

Luckily he didn't arrive until after AH returned home, but I took all my electronic devices and paperwork to the pool area with the psychotic dogs so they wouldn't go ... psychotic ... when the plumber turned up.

I waded knee deep into the icy waters of the pool. Too cold to go any further than that, but it certainly got the blood circulating!

At 4.30pm it was time to come inside because the midgies were on the bite.

AH and I watched a movie and he had brought a cooked roast pork home from Woollies. I have to say that it was delicious! Very tender and full of flavour. We only had salad to serve with it, but it didn't matter.

I am off work tomorrow and The Motivator has already started rearranging the shop to make room for our new stock, so it's all beginning to happen at The Happy Abode.

It's 10pm and I believe my brain needs to rest now.

Nite all.

Energy Plus

There is no logical reason for my lethargy yesterday.

Today was completely different and I had energy to burn.

I did my kinergetic exercises before I got out of bed ... which for the first time in about ten days, I forgot yesterday! Perhaps that's why my energy levels were so low?

I also did a ten minute energy meditation before I rose.

Good thing I did because it was a hectic morning!

I checked the mail while I was ordering my coffee and found two parcel slips. One needed to be "returned to sender" because it was from a company whose order we had cancelled back in February, but they decided to charge our card and send the package anyway.

They received some stern words in an email from me and they apologised promising to refund our money as soon as we returned the goods. How rude!

So I had to use a trolley to take the other big box of stock, which I knew was Go Girl clothing, to our shop and parked it in the training room while I enjoyed morning coffee with the girls. After a while, The Motivator opened the box so that everybody could have a look and try things on.

We sold two tops (or four, if you count the two that The Motivator and I bought!). Almost the entire morning was filled with half a dozen ladies trying on clothes left right and centre and the rear of the shop looked like a tornado had gone through it by the time we finished.

In the middle of all that, another lady arrived for a pre-arranged appointment (which we had obviously forgotten) to show us her home made hats - she is a Milliner - which were very colourful and very well made. So we accepted her offer and took them on consignment.

Then the little fruit and veg man arrived with his esky of goodies. I purchased some Roma tomatoes from him.

The last of the ladies left the shop at 11am.

TM and I hung half of the clothes on one of the new clothes racks and stored the others in our new drawers.

We placed the newly constructed cube cupboard (TM constructed it before I arrived this morning) in position and put together the drawers that went with it.

We screwed together the IKEA hat rails ready for Adoring Husband to attach to the walls some time this week.

Then it was time for me to leave - around 12.30pm - so that AH and I could drive into town to run some errands, including restocking some art supplies for both the shop AND myself.

I was keen to get started on some art when I got home because I wanted to try my first triptych and this is the result ...

I quite like it.

I'm wondering if there will ever be a day that I am absolutely over the moon happy with something that I do. We are our own worst critic but I still have a lot to learn and I reckon it will take a lot of practice before I start producing fabulous art, if ever.

I love doing it so I'll continue to do it until I no longer enjoy it.

Our dinner was leftover meatloaf with sweet potato mash and zucchini. I made a chilli mushroom sauce to go with it.

Tomorrow is my day off and I'm considering whether to attend meditation in the morning or whether to stay in bed and enjoy the coolness of the morning air.

I'll decide in the morning.

Nite all.

Labouring the Day

I have to say that today was hard work!

I opened the shop from 9am - 1pm and it was pretty quiet - unlike Sunday which was, apparently, almost as busy as Easter!

The first two hours today were ok because a steady flow of customers came through the door, but the last two hours were the slowest ever.

I could barely keep my eyes open and I was counting the minutes until I could come home and put my feet up!

Adoring Husband dropped me at work because I was running late and so he returned to pick me up and helped me close the shop ... as he does. We did some grocery shopping and I came home to lay in my recliner chair.

I didn't want to sleep this afternoon because the last time I tried that trick, it was after 1am by the time my body was ready to sleep again.

The Gypsy was booked out today so we didn't get to chat much.

Aside from that, it was a glorious day outside! The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The air was clear and cool.

Adoring Husband was feeling the cold weather this morning. He tells me that it was 13ºc outside but I still had the fan going and had the windows open. I thought the weather was perfect, especially for sleeping.

Now, it's 7am and I'm ready for sleep. It would be terrible to get my second wind!

To BGWLBH who is too far away to celebrate her birthday with properly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY,  I raised a glass of cool filtered water to 'cheers' you today 👼🏻 🕊 💐 🥂

To Grannymus, I hope that you are recovering well from your surgery and are feeling healthier and stronger by the minute.

To Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour, congratulations on successfully preparing my crispy skinned chicken for dinner yesterday.

To my brides in Melbourne, thank you for loving the photos that I finally finished and sent to you in April and thank you for being so patient with me!

To Adoring Husband, thank you for being you.

I am respecting my body and going to bed.

Nite all.
 

An Anxious State

Today is Sunday.

I spent this morning sitting up in bed watching youtube videos to work out what method of paint pouring I wanted to spend my day attempting.

It was 1pm when I finally made my decision, excitedly got up, changed into daggy paint clothes and announced to Adoring Husband as I opened the blinds and slid the windows open ...

"I am going to open all the windows to let fresh air into the room so that I don't suffocate on paint fumes while I create art."

Within five minutes he was outside starting up the whipper snipper.

😳

Chopping up the grass. Raising the dirt and dust.

I slammed the windows shut.

I cursed like a wharfie.

I moved myself to the lounge room feeling resentful that I now had to wait, not just until he finished mowing, but until the dust settled.

So I found a movie and a big packet of crisps and sat down to enjoy some emotional eating for an hour!

I should have spent the entire day there because my resentment obviously remained in my body and there was no love in the art that I created ...

Disappointment.

So I headed to my fifth favourite place in the house ... the kitchen ... and made a meatloaf and a spaghetti bolognese sauce.

Roz's favourite places in the house:

1. The pool area
2. The bedroom
3. The lounge room
4. The art space/dining room
5. The kitchen
6. The family room
7. The toilet
8. The bathrooms
9. Bedroom two
10. Bedroom four
11. The laundry
12. The ironing room/bedroom three

Ok, it's after 10pm and I'm off to bed because tomorrow is Labour Day and I will be opening the shop for four hours.

I promise to focus on happier thoughts tomorrow and not be so petty about such small things. I will act like a grown up instead of like a spoiled child.

Nite all.  

27 Hours Full

What a jam-packed period of 27 hours it was!

My alarm woke me at 4.30am on Friday morning.

I had intended to wash and blow dry my hair on Thursday afternoon/evening to save time, but that didn't happen so I had to set my alarm an hour earlier than planned so that I could do that before we left at 6am.

I also hadn't packed my overnight bag, so that had to be figured into my preparation time too.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to purchase my morning coffee and was home just before The Motivator arrived to pick me up. Thank goodness!

There was only a slight glitch in our plans ... when I realised, before we'd left my street, that I didn't have my ticket to the event we were attending.

Ugh.

So, we returned to the house ... luckily we caught Adoring Husband as he was leaving because I also didn't have my key to get in!! I grabbed my key and searched for the ticket to no avail.

We drove to the shop and I found the ticket inside the daily planner.

This meant that we left town about 20 minutes later than planned. It wasn't a problem because we had hours to spare before the event so that we could drop into IKEA beforehand.

It was a smooth, uneventful trip to North Lakes and we parked outside the IKEA lifts before 9.30am.

We knew exactly what we were looking for and were pretty efficient with our time and our searching - except for that 20 minutes when we stopped to discuss rearranging the displays and lounge area in the shop - that set us back.

I kept an eye on the time and announced every 15 minutes how much time we had to spare.

With 30 minutes left on the clock, we arrived at the storage area where we had to locate the aisle and shelf position for each item we had on our list. We had two trolleys full of boxes by the time we reached the self serve checkout.

I scanned my personal purchases and The Motivator scanned hers, then together we rushed through the shop items, restacked them on the trolleys, finished paying and rushed to the lifts.

Twelve minutes til we had to leave the carpark and we were clearing out the back of the car and laying down the seats, stacking everything in as compactly and efficiently as possible.

Six minutes remaining and I changed my top in the middle of the carpark!! Can you believe that!? The Motivator changed her bottoms in the middle of the carpark!!

I ran back to the shopping centre to purchase some sushi because we weren't going to be anywhere near food before we would be sitting for two hours with empty bellies at the event. The Motivator ran to the nearest bathroom to change her top and freshen her make up.

We left the carpark four minutes later than planned.

Thanks to The Motivator, we turned left instead of right as we drove out of the carpark. That lost us two minutes.

Thanks to me, we took another wrong turn at a set of traffic lights and by the time we found somewhere to turn around, it meant we lost another four minutes.

We arrived at the location of the event and it took us five minutes to find a parking space. We were rushing into the cinema complex, where the event was being held, five minutes after it was supposed to start!

We were seating ourselves in the event seven minutes late, but Denise Duffield Thomas had only begun to speak about two minutes earlier.

Talk about a close call!

It was a value packed seminar and over so quickly! We stood in a queue to meet Denise, chatting with a lovely young lady and then briefly talked to Denise and got this ...

The Motivator and I slowed down a bit and began to wander the Westfield Shopping Centre. We stopped at 'Secrets' Jewellers and The Motivator found a ring that she liked, got some information about it and we decided we needed coffee.

We shared a couple of small GF slices and drank some delicious coffee while we chatted about the event and talked about the shop.

We returned to 'Secrets' where I found a beautiful ring that I decided would be the perfect ten year anniversary gift from Adoring Husband. So I put the ring details on a wish list and told them that I would get Adoring Husband to call them some time in the future to discuss purchasing said ring

😁🤪😍

The Sheridan outlet in Aspley was our next stop, which was a 12 minute drive from Westfield. I purchased a set of bath towels. Their original price was $99 for the pair and I paid $36 for the pair! I also bought AH a beach towel at 60% off. Don't you love a good bargain?!

We scoured an outdoor centre for bar settings and then spent some time in Freedom Furniture. I love that shop, but found nothing that we need in there.

It took us an hour to drive to the motel that I had booked us into and we arrived there just after 6pm. At 6.30pm we went in search of some food. We were both exhausted and didn't want to travel too much further so we discovered, just around the corner from our motel, the Woombye Pub.

It had a great little restaurant and we enjoyed Crunchy Crackle Pork Belly with kipfler potatoes, broccolini and blueberry jus. We had a beverage each and shared a dessert of pavlova. The staff were lovely and the food was fabulous, but we were exhausted and were back at the room by 8pm.

The motel's free wifi was pathetically slow so we didn't get to play online or do any work related activities as planned ... probably a good thing because our brains were mush by then anyway.

Our room had two queen beds so it was lovely to really spread out and I slept soundly all night. The motel was right on a main road, but the noise was minimal and the bed was sooooo comfortable.

We woke early the next morning and were on the road a little after 6.30am. AH was opening the shop for us so that we didn't have to stress about being right on time.

He did a great job taking care of the shop while we were away, without too many hiccups, and it was nice that so many people cared enough to check in on him, provide him with fresh coffee and deliver some food. He is well loved and respected I think.

The Motivator worked today and I returned home with AH. 

I planned on creating some art, but ended up in bed at 12.30pm and slept for more than three hours! 

That 27 hours wore me out!

It's almost 10.30pm and I think I might return to bed now. The art can wait til tomorrow.

Nite all.  

A Good Day at the Office

It was a good day at the shop and I gave Adoring Husband some training because he is manning the shop for the first time, on his own, tomorrow, while The Motivator and I spend the day in Brisbane attending a seminar.

I hope we are set up well enough that he will manage ok. I have faith in him but since the shop has been run by The Motivator and I for almost two years and we know the 'ins' and 'outs' and are not set up for somebody else to come in and easily see how things work, it might make things tricky for him.

BUT it won't be the end of the world if it gets tricky. He will do his best and we will be grateful for that.

It's going to be a good day!

We are excited about our seminar.

We are excited about another visit to IKEA.

We are excited about not having to drive all the way home after the seminar and will be staying overnight in Nambour.

We are excited about having 24 hours of girl time together.

So I guess I should get some sleep since I'm being picked up at 6am!

I hope that some of you girls will go visit AH to check that he is ok during the day!

Have a happy Friday.

Nite all.

Art for Art's Sake

Adoring Husband drove into The Bay this morning.

I got out of bed late and opted to NOT attend meditation today. I also opted to NOT attend the lady's luncheon.

I think I'm a bit 'peopled' out this past week and needed some quiet alone time inside my own head for a while.

I decided to get arty farty.

I was still playing with my art when AH reminded me about this being the first Wednesday of the month.

It signals trivia at the club and our usual group of five came fifth out of eleven teams. Not as good as last month, but we did win one round ... we actually tied with three other teams for that round, but we got the closest correct year for the 'decider' question which was ... "What year was Albert Einstein born?"

None of us knew the correct answer, but I guessed 1887. He was born in 1879. We won a bag of lollies.

Now it's almost 10.30pm and I'm working tomorrow, so I'd like to get some sleep now.

It's been a nice day and I'm looking forward to being in The Happy Abode tomorrow.

Nite all.

Quick Hello

It's late and there is not much to tell about today.

Coffee with the girls this morning and then The Motivator and I sat down and ordered some clothes, hats and bags to sell in the shop.

We met with the man who does pyrography on cheese boards, bread boards and lazy Susans but declined his request for us to sell his goods in the shop.

His work is very good, but we would then be in competition with Burrum Traders and we try to avoid that when possible. I purchased a lazy Susan from him on the spot and we'll display his business card in the shop.

He and his wife were lovely people.

Tonight I've booked some accommodation on the Sunshine Coast for Friday night so that The Motivator and I won't be driving for 4 hours to Brisbane, attending a seminar for a couple of hours, stopping at IKEA and then driving 4 hours home all in one hit.

We'll leave early on Saturday morning to reach home before 9am and open the shop.

Now I need to sleep. My intention was to attend meditation in the morning but I think I'll stay at home and have a lazy morning. I'd like to spend the day at home.

Enough of this frivolity.

Nite all.

Crazy? Maybe.

I had a fabulous day today!

I wish every day was so good!

Adoring Husband drove me to work because I didn't wake up until 7.50am! He helped me open the shop, as he does. What a man.

The Gypsy was in-house today and we each had verbal diarrhoea between her customers. It's been a couple of weeks since we were together in the shop and she wasn't booked out with clients, so there was plenty to catch up on.

There was only one customer ALL day, but it was one hell of a customer! I am still gobsmacked!

The Motivator came for a quick visit and spread some love.

AH came at 2.35pm, bought our afternoon coffee, chatted for a little while before helping me close the shop, as he does. He's still the man!

We came home and sat for a little while in the pool area.

We watched a movie called 'Suburbicon' which was very very weird.

I cooked a butterflied lamb with roast veg and gravy for dinner.

It's now 9.20am and I'm off to bed for an early night so that I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed for coffee with the girls in the morning.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

Adoring Husband and I started very early this morning.

I had fifteen ladies coming for a Nutrimetics party in the pool area at 2pm.

We drove to the shop to pick up five chairs and a couple of plastic drinking vessels.

We had to go to the supermarket to grab a few more items for my food preparations.

We rearranged the furniture under the Bali hut and added some little tables and chairs and a bigger table with table cloths.

We vacuumed all the grass and dirt from the ground around the pool and under the hut.

We set up the tea and coffee corner in the outdoor kitchen.

We set out all the plastic wine glasses and tumblers.

We filled the metal tub with ice and some bottles of wine.

We baked cupcakes and iced them.

We made two platters with cabanossi, cheeses, grapes, raspberries, sun-dried tomatoes, carrot sticks, pickles, dips and crackers.

We filled a container with grapes, raspberries and slices of watermelon,

We made a dip with avocado, creamed cheese, capsicum, shallots, lemon juice and salt and pepper.

We made a jug of margarita mix.

We made a jug of alcohol free punch.

We filled a bowl with chips.

We cleaned the bathroom.

We vacuumed the floors.

We did two loads of washing.

We mowed a small section of front yard.

Aggie arrived while I was still in the shower so AH showed her to the pool area and she began setting up before I joined her.

Everybody else arrived on time and found a seat while I managed to provide a few drinks until I had to take my seat ready for a facial!

A few of the ladies joined in and either gave themselves a facial or gave the person beside them one.  There was a bit of giggling going on and I felt quite naked being with so many people and not a skerrick of makeup on my tired old face.

I must say that my face didn't 'feel' so tired and old after the facial!

While everybody made their orders, I brought all the food out, refreshed some drinks, waded in the pool, chatted with a few ladies, went right into the pool - only three other ladies brought their swimmers but they all went in.

I wanted to sit with the girls and have a chat, but Aggie asked me to sit with her while she calculated my sales and then I had to go through the catalogues to select my purchases. I got $200 worth of products for $100 plus I received a $50 voucher which I spent on bronzer and soap.

It was a pretty successful day for Aggie AND for me. The ladies had a good time and Aggie was driving away just after 5.30pm.

It didn't take long for AH and I to clear most of the pool area. I washed all the dishes and AH brought the shop chairs into the house so that he can return them tomorrow. I cleaned the outdoor kitchen and AH vacuumed (and by 'vacuumed', I mean 'ate') almost all of the leftover food.

We didn't have any dinner.

Now, I am exhausted. It's time for sleep. I am working tomorrow.

Nite all.