Cold Snap

The cold wet weather kept everyone at home today so the shop was very quiet.

It gave The Motivator and I plenty of time to create our announcement ...

So some big changes happening in both of our lives as we move forward with new plans for our futures! It’s a little sad and pretty exciting at the same time 😢🥳

I think we will both do very well because we begin this new chapter of our lives with positivity and strong support for each other. We are both still smiling.

After posting the announcement to Facebook this afternoon, I sat with Adoring Husband to watch Australian comedian stand up shows and after a couple of hours my cheeks were sore from smiling and laughing so much, but I confess that AH and I both, at different times, enjoyed a little unplanned nap 😳

I also confess that I’m loving this cold snap in the weather. There has been a real chill in the air all day and most people out and about have been rugged up in jeans and jackets with closed in shoes ... such an unusual sight for our area!

Time to snuggle under the doona (in much more comfortable positions than those puppies) and get some sleep.

Nite all.

Friday Frenzy

There was no frenzy to be had!

It was a very quiet day as far as sales. Lots of people came through as they waited for their lunch, made all the right noises about how lovely the shop is, but they must have spent all their money on lunch!

I had a visit from The Motivator and we had lots of time to catch up which was great, plus we’ll be working together tomorrow morning. We’ll be making a big announcement over the weekend so watch this space.

The weather has certainly cooled down considerably and tomorrow is forecast to be a chilly one. It will be the coldest maximum temperature (14°C) I’ve experienced in 12 years.

I thought I’d share this very short video about Macca’s French fries. It’s only 3 minutes long. I believe it’s been about 5 years since I tasted a Maccas chip. I ate them frequently when I first went gluten free because they were the only GF chips available back then.

Time for sleep. Such nice ‘snuggle under the doona’ weather 🥰

Nite all.

Shopping Day

I saw The Garden Guru wandering around the shopping centre today, but The Brains Trust was nowhere to be seen! I suspect she may have been in a ladies fitting room trying on clothes 😆

This was my purchase today (the top) ...

And I put this watch on layby...

I’m not usually a rose gold gal nor am I usually a ‘bee’ gal, but this called to me and I’ve been searching for a good watch for forever! My last good watch is now 16 years old and on its last legs.

We did food shopping at Go Natural and Coles. I purchased paper bags with handles from HBW. I found a silver cleaning cloth at the jewellers for our silver at The Happy Abode. We found our favourite Ginger and Lime Balsamic dressing at Nana’s Pantry.

It was crazy in The Bay today. The traffic was busy everywhere and it was impossible to practice social distancing because there were too many people in Stocklands.

We discovered that our accountant has disappeared from the planet. We do have a post office box number for them so at least we can send them our signed paperwork!

I got myself a Boost Juice and Adoring Husband bought a coffee at the drive through on our way out of town.

I’m working tomorrow so I’d best get som sleep. This day really wore me out!

Nite all.

Be Prepared

Ok! So...

Now that our restrictions and social distancing rules are easing and Australia’s flu season is only just beginning, we need to prepare our immune system for what’s coming. It’s our best defence and we need to make it strong.

First of all, social connections are our most valuable asset. Nurturing our friendships and our happiest family connections helps keep our immune system healthy.

It’s the number one reason that people live long lives. Being a member of a club, church group, hobby/craft group, sporting group or like minded interest groups helps strengthen our immunity.

Routinely meeting with our friends for lunch, a movie, a holiday, shopping or a simple coffee strengthens our immunity.

Having no social connection is worse than obesity, smoking or high blood pressure.

We have five parts to our immune system:

• Innate immune system - the eyes, nose, throat and mucous membranes that are our early warning system.
• Adaptive system that creates antibodies.
• Interferon system that upregulates your genes to protect you.
• Microbiome system which is your gut bacteria made up of 6 trillion human cells, 60 trillion bacteria and 380 trillion viruses.
• Neural system that sends messages between your gut and brain.

A virus has to be able to land on the surface of your cell and use a special key to unlock and enter it. It then tries to control your immune system and use your cells to replicate itself. It then reassembles itself before it leaves.

You need to stop that process.

Vitamin A builds strong walls around your cells to prevent the virus from entering it. As we age, our thyroid levels drop which weakens our cell walls, so Vit A is important. Food is the best way to get this vitamin because your body digests and removes most of what’s in supplements.

Cod liver oil. Eggs. Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables. Green leafy vegetables.

Vitamin D has Cathelicidin Antimicrobial Particles which blows holes into the virus shield and disrupts it. 30 minutes of sunshine every day will give you a healthy dose of Vit D. 5000 - 10000iu in supplements is recommended in most literature.

Vitamin C is like a sedative for your overactive immune cells - when your body is attacking itself. It modulates you’re immune system. If you have the virus or even a flu, taking Vit C by iv is most effective. Kiwi fruit and citrus fruits are good for this vitamin.

Zinc stops the virus from replicating itself. 

Things that weaken our immune system - refined SUGAR, dehydration (drink water!), alcohol, anxiety, processed food, isolation and a sedentary lifestyle (do gentle movement/exercise).

When your body and immune system is weak, it creates a cytokine storm where your body attacks itself - so if you get the virus you’ll have both your body AND the virus attacking you at the same time!

Other things to include in your diet to help your immunity: garlic, onion, ginger, oregano, cloves, turmeric, magnesium, green tea, black seed oil, sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha.

Ok! So hop to it and build up your immunity ready for our Winter!

I had an average day at the shop today. The Motivator had a great day yesterday! We are still getting visitors from all over the Wide Bay as they take advantage of the relaxed travel distance rules.

The weather has been mild and wet today which probably kept people away but the rain has been lovely 😊 

Zero productivity at home except for the green chicken curry that I made for dinner.

We will head into The Bay tomorrow to get some supplies for the shop and some groceries.

Nite all.

Socially Happy

With cautious optimism, four of us met for coffee at our local haunt this morning.

There are only four tables available to sit at and even though each table only has three seats, we dragged another seat over to create a table of four.

None of the usual greetings with hugs but it was FABULOUS to be so close to friends and socialising in person for the first time in two months. We spent about 90 minutes together and lots of people stopped for a quick chat as they passed by.

I’m looking forward to the social distancing rules easing enough to have all the old gang together for coffee on Tuesday mornings again. We all miss our weekly hugs and giggles very much.

We visited The Motivator at The Happy Abode before we all parted ways. The Brains Trust was kind enough to give me a lift home.

Adoring Husband and I spent the remainder of the morning watching an old football game between Warriors and Penrith. It was part of “The Great Comeback” series where Warriors we’re leading at half time by 22 points and Penrith came back to win by 8 points. It was a good game.

I finally finished watching series 16 of Grey’s Anatomy. I felt a bit sad that it was over. What am I going to do now? Do productive stuff instead of time wasting??? Ugh 😩

I made a delicious GF lasagne for dinner and AH had two helpings!

It’s getting late and I have to work tomorrow so I’d best get to sleep. I don’t want another 1.30am sleep time.

Nite all.

Missing in Action

Yes I have been absent for a couple of days.

I’ve had information overload with all of my researching about COVID 19 and the people in control of the info we receive, the same handful of people in charge of every global organisation - the tangled web of connections, financial investments, scientific funding, cover ups, pandemic planning, information flooding, financial pledges, panicked censorship, fear mongering etc etc etc.

It’s overwhelming and intriguing and time consuming and I can’t even figure out how to share it in small packages here to help you understand.

I know that I will never read another newspaper or watch another news or current affairs program again. I doubt that even 5% of it is real, honest or factual. Intellectual manipulation at best.

That’s all I have to say on that matter in this post.

Saturday was a fabulous day in the shop. Very busy and very happy for both The Motivator and I. The morning passed quickly and joyfully.

Adoring Husband and I enjoyed some fish and chips from the newly opened local cafe and spent the afternoon and evening watching Grey’s Anatomy. I’m now halfway through series 16 which is the current series being shown on free to air TV.

COVID 19 prevented the final four episodes from being made for this series, so it’ll be interesting to see how they remedy that.

I spent Sunday morning in bed and we decided to cook up our main meal for lunch so I climbed out of bed for that.

I have certainly not done anything productive around the house for the entire weekend!

Today (Monday) I remained in bed until dinner time! I’ve written pages and pages of notes, taken numerous screen shots of graphs, stats, lists of directors, committees and board members of various organisations, saved videos of speeches from conferences, events and seminars all made by people who hold positions of power..

I need to take a couple of days off from the research because my brain and my eyes are hurting!

I’m SOOOOO looking forward to coffee with the girls tomorrow. Our local seating area has opened up to the public again and there are currently zero active cases of COVID 19 in the Wide Bay. It will be good to sit face to face with my friends again!

Time for me to sleep because it’s 1.30am!!

Nite all.

TGIF

It was a great day at the shop.

I got to catch up with The Gypsy and a couple of the ladies who attend the art classes dropped in to say hello.

It was a good sales day too.

The weather was glorious and people are beginning to get out and about now that COVID 19 restrictions are being eased.

There are a few more caravans in the parks and those numbers should increase in the coming weeks.

The energy is definitely lifting.

It was easy chicken wing night for us and Adoring Husband even cooked up a GF chocolate brownie mix. So much sugar I felt like my head was going to explode!

I watched some more Grey’s Anatomy. Just half of season 15 left on DVD to watch and then season 16 is available on 7 Plus.

Time to sleep. It’s after midnight.

Nite all.

A State of Disrepair

I spent many hours in bed furthering my research on COVID 19 and all of the current vaccinations that are available right now.

Currently there is $2billion funding available worldwide for creating a vaccine for COVID 19. I’m not certain where all this money is coming from, but I do know that there are 219 different groups, including two of the top ten pharmaceutical companies using that money developing their own version.

Donald Trump has provided $650million to research effective treatments or a cure.

There is currently no vaccine 100% effective in preventing the disease for which it was created. 

“They” claim that the three strains of polio have been eradicated due to effective vaccinations, HOWEVER, there is a new disease with the same symptoms and prognosis as polio which they have named ‘Acute Flaccid Myelitis’ (in my opinion, to put us off the scent), and 547 children, just in USA, have contracted this disease.

IF polio has been eradicated, why do we require a vaccination for something that no longer exists?

6 doses of the Diptheria vaccine will give you 99% protection.

Tetanus is 99% effective as long as you have a booster every ten years.

Hep A vaccine has 99% effectiveness.

1 dose of MMR offers 95% protection for Measles.

Whooping cough vaccine only provides 80% protection.

Pneumonia - 75%

Flu - 67% but that is an average. Some years it’s around 30% and other years much higher depending on whether they’ve guessed the correct strain for the year. 

For me, it’s much like Russian roulette. I can hear Clint Eastwood’s voice asking “Are you feeling lucky punk?”

Anyway that’s some of today’s research that I wanted to share with you.

I presented myself pyjama clad and in a complete state of bed hair and disrepair when The Brains Trust visited to deliver her bag of pre-loved clothes this morning.

Only my desperate need to see a smiling friendly face, and my love and appreciation of her happy soul could get me to leave my bed For that visit 🥰

I got some more washing done today, but not much else. I learned a little about our new TV - it’s amazing how technology changes in such a short period of time!

Bubbles asked me for this recipe today so since I have the pic handy, I thought you might like to try it. It’s quite delicious.

I’m working tomorrow (Friday) so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Mother Nature strikes again

I think it began with The Wizard of Oz but I have always been intrigued by the vision of a tornado.

Then the movie ‘Twister’ captured my fearful imagination.

Our own tornado in 2013 sent me (and Adoring Husband) spiralling into a dark all encompassing bout of PTSD that lasted for many years.

I feel that I have, for the most part, recovered from that and while I once spent a good portion of my day studying the BOM and following storm systems obsessively, I mostly don’t even realise storms are coming now until they hit.

These days, AH is more skittish about forecast storm activity than I am.

I stumbled across this video today and found the different structures of the tornadoes fascinating. I doubt that I could find the courage (or the stupidity) to chase a twister the way these guys do but it would be awesome to photograph something like this from a safe distance.

The massive 2.6 mile wide tornado that hit El Reno in Oklahoma in 2013 lasted for 40 minutes!! 2.6 miles wide!!! It’s impossible to comprehend a monster that big.

Anyway I thought I’d share this short video with those of you who feel the same fascination.



Our new TV was delivered at 9am and the delivery guys unpacked it and lifted it onto the cabinet for AH.

Our old TV had developed a large vertical dark shadow down the centre of the screen so it had to replaced.

I had a very very quiet day in the shop but the time still passed quickly and I was taken by surprise when I saw our car moving up the driveway with AH arriving to help me lock up for the day.

There was no relaxing when we arrived home because the psychotic dogs had made a mess of our floor AND themselves so while AH got to work with the mop and bucket, I had to bath two of them.

Little buggers.

I got to watch 3 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy before cooking up a green chicken curry for dinner and we were in bed by 8.45pm. I swear AH fell asleep within 5 minutes of putting his head upon the pillow!

I’m trying to video him making strange noises while he sleeps but it’s almost like he senses what I’m doing because he stops as soon as I press the record button and then starts again when I turn it off! It’s very frustrating.

Time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.

A Tiny Spark

I finally found a tiny spark of motivation today!

After a fabulous morning phone call, I decided to play around with some paint and canvas.

I felt very rusty because it has been more than seven weeks since I played with some paint.

I cleaned all the tools afterwards and while we waited for the chicken wings to cook in the oven, I decided to clear off the dining table. I had already cleared about a third of it when I decided to take this pic ...

Except Adoring Husband has now left a drill and some legal papers on the table, but it looks much better this evening...

I cleared the side table and the floor beside my lounge chair which was covered with books and paperwork, notes, business cards, essential oils, pens, jewellery, art, plastic containers, shoes - you name it! I didn’t take a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot of that.

I got two loads of washing done, read the accountant’s paperwork and signed it and then watched some more Grey’s Anatomy until dinner time which consisted of lamb chops and salad.

I’m working tomorrow so it’s time for me to sleep. Comparatively speaking, I expended a lot of energy today so I’m feeling a little weary!

Happy hump day everybody!

Nite all.

Still Nothin’

Nope.

No motivation today.

I was woken up by the neighbours across the road at 6.50am as they continued the laying of concrete for their massive new driveway.

Grumble Grumble Grumble

I read ‘some’ of a business book and ‘some’ of a body systems book ...

Took lots of notes.

Stayed in bed doing all of that until about 1pm.

Learned how to make chai latte from scratch but I haven’t attempted it yet.

Watched some more Grey’s Anatomy.

Cooked up a tomato based chicken casserole for dinner with vegetable sides, all of which was quite tasty.

I did not step foot outside of the house all day long so no fresh air and no sunshine for me.

Received some excellent news that my BFF will be heading this way for Christmas!! Doing cartwheels and happy dancing all over the place about that one!

Once again, I will aim for some productivity tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Nite all.

Mum’s The Word

I’ve had a pleasant Mother’s Day at home.

I heard from all three kids, which was really nice.

I stayed in bed until lunch time and between us, Adoring Husband and I made a main meal for lunch and we spent the afternoon watching Season 13 of Greys Anatomy. Two more seasons to go. Season 16 is showing on TV now and Season 17 is planned for 2021.

There is a storm building out west and heading in this direction. We had a bit of a downpour earlier in the evening, but we could do with some more rain.

I wonder if I can spur some productivity tomorrow? Still so much to do and no motivation to do any of it 😳

Perhaps the checklist that I posted here on Friday would inspire me? This one ...

Numbers 6, 12, 16, 21 and 30 would be a good start.

It’s almost midnight. I’m outta here!

Nite all.

Lucky Mums

We had a great day in the shop with lots of people spending on their Mums.

The Motivator and I enjoyed each other’s company in between customers and the morning passed very quickly.

Here is a ten minute video to make you smile and bring some joy to your Sunday.



I’m looking forward to a couple of quiet days at home and I hope to do some baking and maybe push myself to do some housework. If the weather is fine, we might spend some time lazing in the Bali hut too.

The psychotic dogs are all doing well although Adoring Husband accidentally locked poor Ruby outside. I had to get out of bed to see what the crying was all about and realised she was outside. Poor baby 😕

Happy Mother’s Day to all the people who provide some kind of maternal love to another human being. If nobody is celebrating you, then show yourself some love because you know better than anybody else what makes you happy!

I hope you all have a happy Sunday.

Nite all.