Winners are Grinners

We didn't win any of the $80million but we consider ourselves winners in life so we are happy 😁

All I can hope for is fame and fortune with my art - haha.

Speaking of art, I got to play today.

I'm not a fan of this bright one because it didn't turn out anything like I'd planned. It may get painted over.

THIS one was an old painting that I've painted over and I love the colours and the cells in it.

Adoring Husband drove into town to run some errands today and I did some work related stuff, some washing, painted the first canvas,  watched a movie called "Funny People" before I returned to the art room (aka dining room) to complete the second canvas.

We hadn't made any plans for dinner and I had no prepared meals frozen to reheat so the local cafe was our choice for an easy take away meal.

No other news to report for the day except that I had a great day!

Nite all.

I Cancelled

I woke up this morning and it was cold and wet and windy.

I thought to myself "Today is a day to stay at home. A day to stay in bed late. A day to watch movies. A day to create art. A day to be with Adoring Husband."

So, just as I was about to text The Blonde Bombshell to tell her I wouldn't be attending the lady's lunch, I received a text from her asking how I was getting to the lunch!

I replied telling her that I had decided not to go.

Originally, I wondered what kind of excuse I could give for not going.

Then I realised that I didn't need an excuse.

I realised that I am an adult and my absence or my presence was not going to make any difference to anyone and was not going to effect the outcome of the lunch.

At first, as conditioning prevails, I felt guilty for deciding not to go.

We've all been there. We've all judged others for it.

Why?

There were about 30 women in attendance. None of them were relying on my company to make the lunch more bearable. I had no responsibility except to make up the numbers.

I tapped out the guilt.

EFT.

Google it.

I stayed in bed for a long time listening to the rain and wind while feeling snug and safe in my room.

I got up after midday and mixed 18 containers of paint. That's a LOT and it took almost 90 minutes. I mix acrylic paint with floetrol and water - all in separate containers (which you can see in the photos).

Then I decided to do one of my flower paintings using the swipe method.

I'm not a fan. I think I prefer the white background for the flowers. It makes them appear more vibrant.

During all of that I cooked up some hot and spicy pork ribs. I made a marinade of sweet chilli sauce, blueberry balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, pulled pork seasoning, paprika, white pepper, salt and some water.

I basted the ribs with the marinade as it cooked over a period of 2 hours. The meat was very tender and the marinade was very hot and spicy ... especially for Adoring Husband who had to blow his nose frequently during the meal lol.

My day has been very enjoyable and looking at the photos of the lady's lunch, it looked like they had a nice time too. It was nice to receive a voice message from one of the ladies asking if I was ok because she missed me at the lunch.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. Perhaps some more art. There are other things on my 'to do' list that are not as enjoyable, but I'll see how motivated I feel when I wake.

Now I'm off to read a book.

Nite all.

All Planned Out

I had morning coffee with the girls and caught up with Mrs Bucket who then, when she left, got caught in the rain and returned to the shop just a little bit damp and who eventually got a lift with Adoring Husband and I, also joined by Woman of Many Talents who had also got caught in the rain!

It was a noisy morning in the back room and everyone looked through the 'pre-loved' and the 'new' clothing that had been partially sorted through and filled the tables, not yet displayed in the shop.

Everyone was gone well before 11am and AH picked us up, dropping the girls off at their houses.

We missed The Brains Trust this morning.

We realised that we needed some food in the house for lunch so we returned to the supermarket and did a quick shop.

AH made lunch - ham, tomato and cheese melts.

We watched a couple of recorded shows from the night before and I had planned on doing some art, but just didn't seem to get to it.

At around 4pm Vegan Chickie phoned and we chatted for 90 minutes. By that time, it was too late to cook the pork ribs that we'd planned, so I ate three mandarins, a handful of crisps and a coconut ice block. Very healthful ... ok just a little bit healthful.

It's now almost 8pm and I think I'd like to go to bed.

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to attend the lady's lunch, but I'm not feeling very motivated about it and I may just withdraw. I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Nite all.

S.O.O.O.

S.O.O.O. stands for State of Origin Overwhelm.

That's why I didn't do a blog post yesterday.

My perfectly delightful Sunday included some art and this shows the three stages of this piece ...

... some fish and chips from the cafe for dinner ... and a big loss for Queensland in the State of Origin.

Overwhelming disappointment at the poor standard of play by the QLD team and the excellent standard of play by NSW. A deserved win by the Blues. Bring on game 3!

Today was my first day off and I stayed in bed until 10am, took my coffee, the 3 psychotic dogs and Adoring Husband to the pool area and sat in the Winter sunshine planning our day.

We left for The Bay at 11.30am and drove to Pialba Place so that AH could buy a book to read while I visited Tinkerbells. (I planned on spending some time in Tinkerbells and he wasn't interested in joining me).

While he was searching for his book, I visited the shoe shop where I purchased a delicious pair of shoes *swoon* which I'll be wearing to the lady's lunch on Wednesday.

It was fortuitous that we landed a 'rockstar carpark' directly opposite Tinkerbells and AH made himself comfortable while I spent almost an hour in the shop. I chatted with Dan who co-owns the store with his Mum, Robyn and I bought a jade and silver ring, a deck of intuition cards called "The Secret Language of Light" and I put a beautiful citrine sphere on lay-by.

We talked about 'genuine' citrine vs 'heat treated' citrine - because I asked the question.  We discussed how quiet business is after the election - and how Tinkerbells have been helped by opening the new shop (a few doors up from the old location).

He showed me lots of his new jewellery and stock that is not on the shelves yet. He explained how the prices of semi-precious gems and crystals fluctuate all the time for no particular reason and he told me how much my two bracelets (blue kyanite and citrine) would sell for at retail (crikey!!).

I really enjoyed chatting with Dan about customers and their unpredictability and the frustrations they can cause sometimes. We shared some good belly laughs and then I realised how long I had left AH in the car and took my leave.

AH had been napping in the car lol. Who can blame hime.

We drove to Aquavue for lunch. It was disappointing. Firstly, it took 45 minutes for our food to arrive and then the food was not as good as it usually is. I have a feeling that there might be a new chef/cook in their kitchen because it wasn't THAT busy.

After lunch, it was time for Stocklands.

While AH had a hair cut, I had a pedicure. Interesting story ...

You know how they sit you in massage chairs while they work on your feet? Well this massage chair felt a little bit different to the usual massage chair! I have been to this particular nail place before and I have been to MANY different nail parlours in my time, but none of them have ever had chairs that massaged a certain part of the body that really shouldn't be massaged in a public arena! It was very specifically tapping and moving in THAT nether region! 😳😳😳

Very discombobulating and I wondered if they were going to charge me extra for this bonus?!

They didn't.

After that, I got myself my favourite Boost Juice - a Mint Condition. We bought some paint and some organza bags for the shop and our final stop was Coles for a few bits and pieces including restocking my coconut ice creams.

It was after 5pm when we arrived home so I cooked dinner straight away. Duck breast with our new favourite nosh up of potato, cauliflower, bok choy and onion all steamed and then fried in gallons of grass fed butter. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Gosh! Look at the time! It's heading towards 11pm. I'm off to bed. Coffee with the girls tomorrow.

Nite all.

It’s Official!

I am now on a break from work.

I haven’t decided on how long yet. A week or two I think.

Today was a good day with the training room full of happy artists creating their beautiful colourful gardens. I would show you a photo but they are all on The Motivator’s phone!

It was an average day for sales in the shop, which was good for me because I got to sticky beak on the art 🖼 class often. I wished I was playing too.

I was home by 2.30pm and immediately parked my butt on the couch.

I watched the latest Jurassic Park movie and tried to follow that up with a Netflix movie “Murder Mystery” but Netflix dropped out and wouldn’t let us back in, so we gave up and cooked dinner.

Butterflied leg of lamb on the barbecue with smashed cauliflower/potato, bok choy and home made onion gravy. It took 30 mins and was delicious.

There was nothing worth watching on the telly, so we came to bed early and I’ve been Facebooking, playing games and reading sports news. All very light and relaxing.

I think I’ll listen to some of my Eckhart Tolle book “The Power of Now” before I go to sleep and follow that up with a healing meditation to fall asleep.

Look at me being all ‘self helpful’!

It’s Winter and I’m lying here in Summer pyjamas with the fan on me. What’s going on!?

Have a lovely Sunday.

Nite all.

Friday Frenzy

The first half of my day was just as I’d imagined.

Psychotic dog Ruby woke me at 5.15am (well I hadn’t imagined that bit) and needed to pee so I had to get out of bed to take her outside.

After that, I couldn’t sleep, but that was ok because I knew the morning was mine to do as I pleased.

I watched a Netflix movie called “Always Be My Maybe” which I enjoyed. I followed that up with a documentary called “Creative Brain” which was interesting.

Adoring Husband brought my celery juice, bone broth, coffee and toast.

Eventually, I had to get up. I washed my hair and made myself presentable so that AH could drop me off at the shop.

There was new stock that had arrived today. The Motivator had unpacked most of it, but there was still more to do plus all the stock still in the training room from yesterday.

We got all that sorted, talked some business and then I set up the room for Saturday’s workshop while TM made some phone calls and did some banking.

We mixed up lots of paints in lots of bottles, then sat down and had some fun, each creating a garden on a small canvas.

I shared some of my techniques for flower making and after about 2 hours, we finished up, cleaned our mess, reset the two painting stations that we’d used, packed up our goods and TM dropped me home at about 6.45pm.

Thank goodness AH had cooked dinner, so all I had to do was sit down and eat.

I was exhausted! I am lying in bed as I type this while watching the women’s State of Origin rugby league game. NSW is winning.

I didn’t look closely, but I think sales were good today. We also received 3 deposits for my next photography workshop which is encouraging and means that we might actually get to run our first workshop for the year in July.

We have a full class for the art workshop tomorrow, so there should be lots of good energy and laughter filling the shop.

Meanwhile I need settle in for the night.

Have a great weekend.

Nite all.

Damp and Quiet

I think the weather kept people away today.

It was cool and damp.

It was still an acceptable day of sales with the few people who entered.

I had a visit from Aggie.

Later, The Motivator arrived with all of her goodies from down south and we spent the afternoon sorting through them, trying some on and deciding who we thought would like each item.

Needless to say, the training room looks like a disaster area at the moment and it needs to be ready on Saturday for the workshop!

I’m excited that I can stay in bed in the morning and don’t have to be at work until after lunch. Even better, I don’t actually have to work when I get there. I’ll just help set up the training room and then spend time painting with The Motivator.

Perhaps a beverage and some nibbles? 😬

We had another easy dinner tonight and now I think I shall climb into bed and enjoy an extended period of time snuggled under the covers.

This is not light and breezy, but I had to share it here ...

Enjoy your Friday. I plan on making the most of mine!

Nite all.

Early and Cold

It was tough climbing out of bed this morning.

Apparently it was 4°C

I’d have gladly stayed in bed until lunch time, but I had to be at the shop before 7.15am to prepare for meditation, so I pushed my luck and stayed warm until 6.30am and then rushed around like a headless chicken to be ready on time.

I exaggerate ... I wasn’t that bad.

While I was getting ready, Adoring Husband juiced my celery and filled my flask with fresh bone broth from the slow cooker, both of which were a nourishing way to start the day.

I enjoyed meditation, as always, and had fun chatting with The Gypsy between appointments.

I cleaned up the mess I’d created at The Motivators desk because that’s where I’ve been sitting for the last 5 weeks!

I sorted through all the paperwork to make it a little sense of it all.

Made a ‘to do’ list for tomorrow.

Closed the shop right on 3pm because AH and I had to head into town to pick up our organic FROG box and get some supplies for the next art workshop.

We did that all very efficiently and left The Bay at 4.45pm to return home.

Oh and we grabbed a few sushis for dinner because I didn’t feel like cooking, or even reheating anything! We also stopped at Boost Juice where I ordered a large Mint Condition and AH ordered a Berry Crush.

It’s now 9pm and I am ready for bed. For some reason, it feels like it’s been a long day 🤔

Nite all.

She’s Back!

Mrs Bucket surprised us all by appearing at our coffee morning!

She is here for a few weeks so there will be plenty of time to catch up.

Surprisingly, the coffee morning was probably one of the shortest we’ve ever had, even though there were 7 of us, but the Brains Trust stayed on, as she does, for our usual one on one time. I love that.

It was a steady couple of hours from about 11am as far as sales go, and then got quiet in the afternoon - as it does.

I came home, dipped in the pool and then sat on my butt. We had a very light dinner and now at 8pm I’m ready for bed.

Tomorrow is early meditation day and it’s going to be cold! I need to psyche myself up to get out of bed into the cold air!

The Motivator is travelling home as we speak and she’ll be back on board on Friday. It’ll be good to have her back and it’ll be good to have some time out after the weekend.

We’ll be having some fun in the art room on Friday practicing for the Saturday morning workshop. A few nibbles and a beverage while we get arty farty should be a nice way to welcome her back.

For now, it’s bed time for me!

Happy Hump Day!

Nite all.

A Bit of Hoopla

A most enjoyable Monday!

The Gypsy was in today and her first appointment wasn’t until late in the morning so we got to chat and catch up on lots of stuff.

As I had requested of her, she brought in a couple of the hula hoops that she’d made. She is starting hoop classes for mature people and she gave me a lesson in the training room.

I have tried hooping many times over the years and all that ever happens is the spinning hoop immediately spirals downward and crashes to the ground!

It took about four attempts today, but suddenly the hoop was spinning around my middle exactly as it should be! It didn’t fall to the ground! It was quite exhilarating!

I have to say that after about 15 minutes, the muscles in my mid section were feeling quite tender and I began to feel a little breathless! It’s extraordinary how many muscles you use and how much effort goes into hooping!

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m considering buying one of her hand made hoops because I reckon 15 minutes of hooping every morning would be very beneficial 😇

The morning was busy with a steady flow of customers and went very quiet in the afternoon, but The Brains Trust and The Garden Guru came to see me with their visitors so that killed some time and a Brains Trust hug is always a bonus for the day.

Adoring Husband came early to get our afternoon coffee, close the shop and drive me home.

I dipped in the pool. Only up to my knees.

Did some washing.

Sat on my butt until it was time to prepare dinner. Chicken with leftover baked vegetables for AH. Toast for me. Raspberry cheesecake for dessert.

I’m ready for bed now, at 9.30pm.

Nite all.

Define Rest

I'm not sure why, but I was feeling mentally motivated today.

Certainly not the slightest bit physically motivated!

It was about ... hmm I don't know ... 4pm - ish when I finally took leave of the bed?

I got a lot done though.

There was much youtubing to be done where I learned what needs to happen before creating an online course, how to research what potential participants want in a course and how to structure and develop the course.

I downloaded a free information booklet about building, developing and marketing online courses.

I made a list of everything I could think of that I wanted to include in my course. I'm certain that I will think of more and I'm sure that there will be room for each subject to grow further still.

Can you believe that I wrote a guided meditation and then downloaded an app so that I can record it and use it in the course? I had a couple of short practice runs and now know what to do when I decide to record it in it's entirety.

You ladies had better be prepared because I created and printed out a questionnaire to ask people in the demographic that I'm aiming for, what they would want in the type of course that I'm planning. You know who you are!

Lamb roast was on the menu tonight so I had to drag myself into the world to begin preparations. After I put the meat in the oven, I walked out to the pool so that I could paddle up to my knees in the cold water. I really enjoy doing that and I can always imagine when the weather gets warm enough, just falling into the water fully clothed again, just like I did before Winter arrived.

Sadly, no dogs fell into pool today.

I put some extra effort into dinner and made a frozen raspberry cheesecake for dessert. Should've taken a photo! It's pretty delicious.

Adoring Husband and I are watching "Crazy Rich Asians" right now, and even though I love this movie, I doubt either of us will see it to the end. The bed is calling me back!

Nite all.

I Am Sated

FABULOUS morning in the shop, making up for the two very quiet days that bothered me so much.

The lovely lady that I was expecting to see today sent her husband to pick up her order while she was shopping in The Bay. I told him how disappointed I was to miss out on seeing her lovely smiling face and he said “Yes, she is a wonderful woman. I’m a lucky man to have her in my life.”

Awww.

I think I got to sit down for all of ten minutes because there was a steady flow of people all day and I also think it would have been worth our while to stay open for another couple of hours but I ran out of mojo and needed some time out.

When I arrived home I dipped my legs in the icy waters of the pool and sat in my egg chair for a while - only to witness some hilarity that had me giggling almost uncontrollably.

Psychotic dog Ruby loves to run around the raised edge of the pool and somehow today, she lost her footing and slipped into the icy waters - thankfully, near the steps, but she was obviously panicking as she attempted to climb out.

Meanwhile, adoring Husband had JUST planted his butt on the couch near me when it happened, so as he panicked over the situation, he had to lift himself off the couch without spilling his coffee, find a safe place to put his coffee and then run to Ruby’s rescue!

By the time he got to her, she was already half out of the pool, so there was no danger, but I’m certain that because AH was right there when she climbed out, she believed that he had pushed her in because she ran away from him, then stopped and turned to look at him as if to say “Why did you do that?”

It was honestly the most entertaining 30 seconds of my day and was like watching an animated cartoon!

AH ran inside to get a towel to dry her off, but she wasn’t going anywhere near him and cowered beside me shivering with with both fear and cold lol.

I made paleo pizzas for lunch and watched an old movie wth Elvis Presley and Mary Tyler Moore in it called “Change of Habit”. I thought I knew all of the Elvis movies but I’d never seen or heard of this one before.

I'm currently watching my team, Brisbane Broncos, get annihilated by Parramatta Eels and I don't think I'll torture myself by watching to the end. Definitely an early night for me.

I hope you all enjoy your idea of a perfect Sunday. I will spoil myself with some art play after I've completed my chores.

Nite all.

Typical

Comparing this year to last year in June, The Happy Abode is doing ok 👌

I don’t know why I panic. It’s never as bad as my imagination makes it out to be and business has improved at every stage of our development. I must trust in the process!

I had a lovely day today which included some hugs with The Brains Trust, a delivery of new stock that is already priced and on display, another name taken for the next paint pouring workshop and a phone call with a sweet customer from The Bay who was in the shop at the beginning of the week and was waiting on today’s delivery.

There is so much love oozing from this woman, she makes me feel emotional just listening to her speak. Genuine, unconditional, spiritual love. I’m looking forward to seeing her smiling face tomorrow when she comes to pick up her order.

My Nutrimetics order arrived today too, which was exciting. I finally received my lipstick pallet and there were other goodies that I was keen to get my hands on.

Adoring Husband came with me to the club tonight. We didn’t win anything and it was a relatively quiet night as far as our usual group is concerned. Even the numbers of other patrons was down. Apparently James Blundell was playing in The Bay at the RSL Club, so perhaps some of the regulars decided on a big night out!

We came home to watch the footy and are both in bed now. AH is snoring softly beside me as I type this and I am yawning every couple of minutes.

Have an amazing weekend everyone.

Nite all.

Non-event

I got nothin’.

Absolutely nothing to report for the day.

I hardly slept all night so my energy levels were low before the day even began.

It was a grey day.

I wore grey.

I came home and sat on my grey(ish) couch and watched a movie called ‘The Wife’ (you thought I was going to say “50 Shades of Grey” didn’t you 😳)

Adoring Husband cooked lamb ribs and potato on the barbecue.

Now I’m in my pyjamas contemplating an early night to make up for the sleep I lost last night.

You can tell I need it huh?

😴

Let’s hope tomorrow brings more exciting news to report.

Have a lovely Friday 🤩

Nite all.

A Different Phwoar!

Well, today in the shop certainly made up for yesterday!

The Gypsy was too unwell to make it in for meditation this morning and while I had set up a series of healing meditations for the class, I decided at the last minute to set up a tea and coffee station in the room and let the group be social together instead.

It was like a henhouse with lots of loud chatter and laughter and I think it was a huge success.

The group got to know each other a little better and can now support each other more constructively.

I picked up a parcel containing kitchen utensils that I’d ordered to use as art tools and I used some of them to make this ...

I’m trying to hone my flower making techniques before the next workshop!

I know I can do better.

I have two pieces of news to mention.

With a sigh of relief, I can declare that the Garden Guru has been cleared of any serious medical conditions after his mishap last night. Whew!

With a tear in my eye I say farewell to fur baby Lucy Walker. It was her time to go and she lived a good life. Warm hugs to her sad and loving parents who are already missing her presence.

I spoke to The Motivator this afternoon and she has been very busy down south. All going well, she should be home next week, but there could be a slight question mark over that scenario. Fingers crossed that all goes well for all concerned.

Off to bed now. I was awake every hour on the hour last night and have been up since 5am, so I’m feeling a bit weary this evening.

I hope Lady Lynn is going well.

Nite all

Whoah!

Not a single customer today until ten minutes before closing! Then three came in and two walked out empty handed.

Thank goodness for the 'one'.

It felt very strange all day because Tuesdays, even taking my coffee girls out of the equation, usually see a few people at least walking through the doors.

Having said that, only one of the girls turned up for coffee too! There are a few out of town, a couple who are not well and a couple with visitors.

It was nice to spend the morning with The Brains Trust. Aggie and Beauty both popped in very briefly.

I spent the day listening to guided meditations because The Gypsy is not well and probably won't be able to come in to lead the meditation class in the morning.

Ugh.

You would think that with all the meditating that I do ... at least twice every day ... that I would feel comfortable about this situation, but I have to admit that I'm feeling a little out of my comfort zone because I haven't guided 'others' before.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

We came home and I spent a few minutes standing ankle deep in the pool, then sitting in my egg chair and Adoring Husband and the psychotic dogs joined me for five, until I decided to change into a paint shirt and try something new.

The 'something new' was a complete failure, so I took one of my other old failures, covered it with paint and did this ...

These are photos of each little section of the painting. I love how the cells appeared and the colours are very vibrant - it's much better than the painting underneath it!

I had soup for dinner while AH cooked steak on the barbecue for himself.

I'm off to bed for another early night ... gosh, I think I've created a new habit!

Get well soon Lady Lynn.

Nite all.

Monday Madness

The question was asked "You're a burglar, but when you break in, instead of stealing, you do things to mildly inconvenience your victims. What would you do?"

These were some of the responses:

• Spread biscuit crumbs in the beds.
• Peg ALL their socks on the line.
• Put bubble bath in the toilet.
• Swap the socks and undies drawer with the kitchen utensil drawer.
• Put all the pantry items in the linen cupboard and all the linen in the pantry.
• Remove all the batteries from the remote controls.
• Replace raw eggs with hard boiled eggs.
• Pop the corners of all the fitted sheets off every mattress.
• Wrap EVERYTHING in Christmas paper - food, books, knick knacks, remotes, pillows etc.
• Take all the toilet paper.
• Re-arrange all the wall art.
• Replace all the family pics with a different family.
• Toast all the bread and put it back in the bag.
• Put a blob of honey on all the door handles.
• Move all the furniture 6" to the left.
• Replace their cats with dogs or vice versa.
• Open all the cupboards and drawers.
• Turn all the chairs the wrong way round.
• Mix everyone's clothes up.
• Line up one of very shoe along the hallway.
• Put a mint on every pillow.
• Turn all the clothes hangers backwards.
• Put rice on the ceiling fan blades.
• Make a sandwich and leave it on the bench.

It's all very weird and some of the answers were much more sinister than that and are not worth repeating here, but I got a bit of a giggle out of the ones I listed.

It was a good day in the shop, though the afternoon was very quiet. We locked the doors ten minutes early so that we could drive into The Bay and get some stuff done.

Daniel, from Tinkerbells, one of my favourite shops, was holding a ring for me and their 'opening the new shop sale' ends this weekend, so I needed to get in to try it on. It was 3.40pm when we pulled up across the road from TBs.

The new shop looks SO AMAZING and I plan on taking a few hours to really wander around and soak it all in at a later date. 

Turns out, the ring that was being held didn't fit, but I looked at some others and found this one instead ...

It's my favourite stone, blue kyanite, and I love it so much! I intended to purchase it for myself but Adoring Husband bought it for me!

From there we rushed to Truckloads where I loaded up on canvasses and paint ... because I used my last canvas on Sunday afternoon!

I have used 23 tubes of paint so far in my artistic pursuits and I have 57 tubes of paint, most of them full but some partially used, in the tray waiting. I got one really big canvas and I'm going to save that for something really special!

We ducked into Coles to stock up on my coconut icy poles.

 

I wanted to price MDF at Bunnings because some of the artists that I watch on youtube use that as their canvas. Turns out that it would be cheaper to use than canvass, but it might be more difficult to hang on a wall if somebody bought it. I didn't buy any today, but I'll experiment with it some time in the future.

I did find some MORE tubes of paint in Bunnings - different colours to what I already have, so I think I bought another ten tubes there.

After all of that, it was right on 5pm when we drove out of The Bay and we were home before 5.30pm. That's pretty good going for 2.5 hours.

It was a quick dinner of meat on the barbecue and a salad thrown together so that we could sit down and put our feet up. We are definitely done for the day and it will definitely be an early night for us both.

Nite all. 

Because I Could

I tried to stay awake for the women’s French Open Tennis singles final because Australia’s Ash Barty was playing, but firstly they had to complete the men’s semi final that was rain delayed from the previous day. Problem was, ALL the tennis was delayed again, due to more rain!

At 11.30pm our time, the rain had stopped and the covers were off the court, but they still didn’t have a start time, so I gave up, turned the TV off and meditated myself to sleep.

At 3.45am, both Adoring Husband and I were awake, so I turned on the TV hoping to catch some of the match, but alas it was over and a doubles match was being played. I did a quick search on my phone to discover that Ash had won the French Open title quickly and easily.

With that knowledge, we happily fell back to sleep.

It was after 8am when I next woke, but I stayed in bed til about 1pm ... because I could!

AH brought my celery juice, followed by coffee, followed by tomato on toast to keep my energy levels up for watching art videos on YouTube!

I found a couple of ideas, and chose one to try today ...

This is one that I created yesterday, which AH loved, but I didn’t ...

And I pressed a clean canvas onto the wet paint that dripped off the edges of it to create this, which I love!

We spent the afternoon watching the football and I have to say that my tipping has been abysmal this week with only two correct so far! Thank goodness I didn't pay to be in the tipping comp this year!

I spent a long time in the kitchen ... actually it was only an hour, but it felt much longer!

I thought I had some curried chicken in the freezer and AH selected that for dinner to be accompanied by cauliflower rice. As I began the preparations, I discovered that all I had was frozen curried chicken sauce!

So I took Hainan chicken out of the freezer, as well as the curried sauce to create something delicious.

I'd planned cauliflower and mushroom soup for myself so I set aside the liquid from the Hainan chicken to use as the base of my soup and put the chicken aside to put into the curried sauce.

In gallons of grass fed butter (I exaggerate), I fried up a big batch of garlic, onion and mushrooms and put it in the blender with the Hainan chicken liquid and the steamed cauliflower, added lots of white pepper and dash of salt then blended it to creamy smithereens.

It was delicious.

I heated up the chicken curry sauce, added the Hainan chicken, made the cauliflower rice and then made some papadums.

There was enough soup for another three meals, so I froze it in meal sized containers. Adoring Husband seems to have an aversion to this soup and doesn't even want to taste it. He likes cauliflower, but was relieved when I told him he could have something different for dinner.

That's ok, all the more for me.

He loved his dinner and ate every last mouthful.

I'm off to bed now because, remember, it's going to be a record breaking amazing week at the shop! I need to be prepared!

Nite all.