Unfinished

I had my usual start to the day - in bed until about 10.30am.

Adoring Husband brought my celery juice and vegetable broth before he headed out to meet a mate for coffee.

Having listened to the beginning of an audio book called “Energy Medicine” by Donna Eden, I practiced some energy work on myself  until I felt energised enough to get out of bed and start on my ‘to do’ list.

I had to put some food in my belly first so I took last night’s leftovers and my water bottle out to the pool area, stood up to my ankles in icy waters and then sat in my egg chair to eat and drink.

Twenty minutes later I decided to get some more of the back room cleared, but twenty minutes into that and I remembered that there were sheets waiting to be hung on the line so I had to take clothes off the line first, to make room.

Part way through hanging the sheets I heard a delivery truck stop out the front, so I went into the house to check out the front window to see if we were the lucky recipients. We were!

AH had just arrived home so he greeted the delivery man, and the package was so big he had to get the trolley from the shed to wheel it into the house.

He then informed me that the package was for me!

He had ordered a very large tool box on wheels for me to store my art supplies!

We unpacked it, put the wheels on and brought it into the house for me to begin filling it and AH then left to pick up our FROG box of organic fruit and vegetables from Craignish.

He returned 20 minutes later and I stopped to check the goods.

I decided to make our afternoon smoothy - a mint condition with added kiwi fruit that came in the box.

At this point I had partly completed the bedroom, partly completed hanging out the washing, partly completed filling my tool box and partly completed emptying the FROG box!

There was now one hour left until I had to meet The Motivator for an appointment with a potential supplier, so I finished hanging the sheets and putting away the clean clothes while AH put the fresh produce in the fridge.

I made myself presentable. AH and I drove to the supermarket to do a quick shop and from there I walked to The Happy Abode. The Motivator and I drove to our appointment which took about an hour and she dropped me home.

It was a rush job to make dinner - potato and sweet potato bake, roasted brussels sprouts, carrots and eggplant with roasted chickpeas. Still no meat.

My head has been pounding from caffeine withdrawals so Panadol has been my friend!

I’m feeling pretty good meat free so far.

We picked up The Blonde Bombshell on our way to trivia and had a pretty lousy night at the table with little luck answering trivia questions. We came 8th out of 11 teams! Possibly our worst effort to date. It was still fun and the company was, as always, the best part.

It’s now well after 11pm and I’m working tomorrow, so it’s bed time for me.

Nite all.

Plans Changed

Woman of Many Talents has come down with the flu, so our lunch plans were changed.

After a great coffee morning, Mrs Bucket, Reality TV Queen and I headed into The Bay for lunch at the RSL. We ran a couple of errands before we got there and when we walked through the doors, our memberships needed to be renewed as well.

We had a flutter on the poker machines for 30 minutes before we ordered lunch. The only option for a plant based meal was a farmers salad, which was actually quite delicious. Cos lettuce leaves with quinoa, baby beetroot, cherry tomatoes, roasted pumpkin, Spanish onion, dukkah and dressing. It was very filling and tasted so good, I was quite disappointed that I couldn't finish it.

We all did a bit of a grocery shop before returning home and I bought myself the ingredients to make my own 'mint condition' juice that I usually get from Boost Juice.

I also made a quick trip into Truckloads and bought a couple more canvasses and some paints.

It was a really pleasant day with the girls and we arrived home before 3.30pm.

Mrs Bucket came inside to have a quick look at our pool area and was impressed, especially with the kitchen.

Instead of having an afternoon coffee, I made my mint condition juice.

For dinner, I made myself a guacamole dip to which I added grated carrot and chopped onion. I dipped some rice crackers and a couple of hot sweet potato chips into it. I was quickly full and had to put some of the dip back into the fridge.

There was still room for my coconut ice cream though 👍

AH cooked up some meat on the barbecue for himself and I made him a salad.

Now we are at 7pm and both of us are off to bed. I'm feeling pretty weary after my big day out!

I can feel the terrible caffeine withdrawals hitting me hard this evening - I may have to resort to drugs to relieve the headache if sleep doesn't come quickly.

I hope to spend another couple of hours in the back bedroom tomorrow and I could quite possibly do some art as a reward in the afternoon.

Tomorrow night is trivia at the club! Wahoo!

Nite all.  

Likin' It!

I got my art on today.

From this ...

To this ...

Followed up by this ...

And I love all of it.

Now I have to wait for some of my art to completely dry before I do any more because there are no drying spaces left in my house!

This afternoon, Adoring Husband and I watched a documentary on Netflix called "What The Health" and I was so impressed and amazed and convinced that I've made the decision to try a 'plant based diet' for three months just to see the effects on my body.

I see two difficulties.

1.  It means that I either have to drink coffee without milk (yuk) or give up coffee altogether (again). I've done it before for three months, so I know it can be done.

2.  I base all of our meals around meat so I need to rethink my meal plans. I'm not pushing Adoring Husband to go meatless. Perhaps I can make the main part of the meal plant based and have the meat on the side???

It will be an interesting experiment and I'm going to keep a diary - food and thoughts - to keep a record of the experiment.

Who knows? It may last forever! OR I may not make it to three months!

Wait and see.

I'm looking forward to a beverage with the girls in the morning and then lunch with Woman of Many Talents and Mrs Bucket.

A big social day!

Nite all.

Sunday not Funday

This was not my idea of a fun Sunday.

It started ok with Adoring Husband bringing celery juice, bone broth, tomato on toast and coffee during my first 90 minutes awake in bed.

He decided to mow the back lawns and do some maintenance work in the gardens, so I got up and spent almost 2 hours in the back bedroom making a start on the massive clearing that needs to be done in there.

I did a couple of loads of washing and changed the bedding, so I’m looking forward to sliding in between those cool crisp sheets tonight!

We watched two games of football, both of which had disappointing results for my tipping.

I cooked some chicken thighs in the oven in one tray and some veg in another tray. Brussels sprouts, red capsicum, eggplant, zucchini, onion, carrot, cauliflower, mushrooms, tomato, garlic and some little strips of bacon, all sprinkled with Himalayan salt and black cracked pepper. Ten minutes before they were ready, I drizzled two teaspoons of honey over everything.

With all of the scraps from the veg - core of the capsicum, head and tail of the carrots, onion, eggplant and zucchini, skins of the onion and garlic, the stem of the cauliflower and the outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts - I put them into a big saucepan with Himalayan salt and white pepper and simmered them for a couple of hours.

I strained the liquid and when the chicken was done, I added those juices to create a delicious broth which I had for dinner.

At one point, I walked outside and stepped into the pool. The water was cold but not painfully icy.

There is a dent in my ‘to do’ list, but there is also still much remaining 😳

On that note, I shall sign off and head to the shower. A clean body between clean sheets will be absolutely divine and make a nice end to my less than fun Sunday.

Welcome to a new week!

Nite all.

Good Try

I triked to the local hall with just $2 in my wallet, to attend the inaugural art and craft expo.

It felt strange viewing all of that art belonging to everybody else and none belonging to The Motivator or myself. We would have held our own in that company for sure.

There was a fantastic variety of arts and crafts including acrylic and oil paintings, fluid art, pencil and pastel sketches, pictures made of beads, hand made gift cards, scarves, children and dolls clothes, purses, jewellery, macrame, plant pots, pottery, wood work and the most amazing and detailed fairy houses made out of bits and pieces of everything.

It was frustrating not having the cash to buy anything!

I rode to the shop to cover for The Motivator while she got to view the expo too.

When she got back, I withdrew some cash 💰 from the ATM and returned to the hall to buy all the things that I’d wanted earlier!

I got some jewellery made of paper ...

A necklace from Corinne, a lady that I met at the Bowls Club about 18 months ago and whom I follow on Facebook ...

A macrame wall hanging ...

A beautiful hand made purse ...

A dragon with wings made of beads (for Chicklet). The lady who made it has a son with Cystic Fibrosis and she is trying to raise enough money for a special trampoline to aide in supporting and strengthening his body as he deals with the illness.

I also bought 4 gift cards.

There was also a piece of art that I wanted, but it was sold in the hour between my visits, so it wasn’t meant to be. I might attempt to create it myself because it was beautiful and simplistic and I think I can do it.

I was absolutely exhausted by the time I arrived home!

It’s hard work being so social! I ran into a LOT of people I knew, some that I hadn’t seen for a year or more, so there was a lot of catching up to do in quick time. Chatting with all the artists about their work, their inspirations and their methods. Discussing the possibilities of classes in our training room.

To wind down, I changed out of my good clothes, hung out some washing, washed the dirty butt of a psychotic dog and got my art on ...

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet and I may add to it tomorrow - otherwise I'll just paint over the top of it!

We had paleo pizzas for dinner and Adoring Husband has just gone to bed, so I think I'll sign off and join him. We've planned a big day of clearing bedrooms tomorrow in preparation for our visitors who will be arriving in less than two weeks.

I'm all worn out.

Nite all.

Getting Physical

I rode my trike today for the first time in about 6 weeks!

While The Motivator was in Sydney, Adoring Husband drove me to work every day so I haven't had any form of exercise (apart from the daily shop walking) for that long.

It felt good to be out in the fresh air and sunshine but it was incredibly windy so, at times, it was hard going.

I had to go to the shop to talk business with TM and work out some financial stuff - that took over two hours and we caught up on other stuff and had a few laughs as well.

I picked up a parcel of mine that had my activated charcoal toothpaste in it - thank goodness because I was desperate! It also had liposomal Vit C and some probiotics.

I arrivéd home just in time to hook up to the live feed of the Oceania Athletics Championships where my cousin's daughter was racing in the finals of the 100 metre hurdles. She came 2nd! An unexpected silver medal result so I'm feeling pretty proud right now.

Her Mum and brother will be here next month for the annual Touch Football Carnival in The Bay so I'm looking forward to hearing all about this week's big event in Townsville. It's a very exciting result!

I decided, almost at the last minute, to go to the club this evening, not for the raffles, but to wish 'Madam Trivia' a happy birthday and give her a small gift.

Adoring Husband had our dinner cooked when I arrived home an hour earlier than usual.

I changed out of my good clothes and into my pyjamas and settled in to watch the football. I am two from two so far in the tipping comp.

I'm excited about Wimbledon Tennis Championships starting on Monday! I'll have a few days off work so that I can stay up late and watch some of the Aussie matches.

I'm off to bed now. I'll be attending the local Art and Craft Expo at the hall tomorrow morning and I've offered to cover TM at the shop so that she can attend as well - especially because she helped organise it!

I hope you have a great weekend - Queensland school holidays have commenced so hopefully things will pick up at the shop.

If she was still with us, my Mum would have celebrated her 79th birthday today. I can't even imagine her at that age! She would have been frail and cranky I reckon lol.

Happy Birthday Mum 💐

Nite all.

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.