As Predicted!

I posted a meme on the shop Facebook page this morning with the comment “Rainy day sales will be through the roof and the art workshop will be a blast and a half”.

I was correct on both counts!

It was a busy, productive and fun day - my lower back pain is the proof of it!

I finished setting up the training room, mixed the white paint, strained the Floetrol, prepared the fruit and tea/coffee, served the customers and ran the workshop.

It was a great day!

Even though three people had to cancel, there were still 5 in attendance and they were all hilarious and committed and creative and amazingly helpful in the cleaning up process at the end of the day. They all booked their spots in the next class so more fun will be had.

Here is some of their art ...

Not as messy as last week!

My nutrition for today: lemon water, filtered water, chicken broth, coffee x 2, a slice of watermelon, 2 strawberries, baby spinach, tomato, onion, mushroom, cucumber, avocado, beetroot, chicken thigh, sweet potato, GF ice cream cone with coconut ice cream - both still full of sugar but we HAD to try it! No nasty affects but not a habit we’ll take up.

I bathed psychotic dog Ruby and did a small load of washing before sitting down to enjoy Super Saturday football.

I prepared dinner while Adoring Husband slept soundly on the couch.

We came to bed to catch the end of a good old John Wayne movie “Eldorado” and now “Guns of The Magnificent Seven”. They remind me of Dad - he always liked a good cowboy movie.

I plan on spending most of my Sunday in bed. I may have to hold a ladder for AH while he trims a hedge and I’ll change the bedding while I’m up, but that will be the extent of my physical productivity.

It’s going to be a lovely cool morning and a mild day.

Nite all.

After Rest Day

Haha 😂 it wasn’t really that bad. I just loved that meme and wanted to use it.

Adoring Husband set up the tables in the training room for me this morning and I spent parts of the day setting each place with silicone mats, canvases, tools, cups etc ready for Saturday’s class. I still have a bit to do tomorrow before the class begins, like mixing some paint, filling the heat guns with lighter fluid and straining the floetrol.

I made the decision today to clean the table that displays the snap button jewellery. That ended up being an epic job! I don’t think that table had been properly cleaned in a year or more!

The dust was thick under the jewellery so I polished the table and put a cover on it, placed 4 colourful plastic drawers across the back of the table and filled them with just about every piece of jewellery that had been stored under the counter.

This leaves space to bring the extra snap buttons across to the drawers under the snap button cabinet. I’ll have six spare drawers under the other counter cabinet. It feels good to declutter.

It was a good sales day and I had a visit from Aggie which was nice too. Another customer came in wearing clothes that she’d bought from me the day before just to show me. That’s happened three times this week!

Thankfully AH cooks dinner on Friday nights so I was able to put my feet up and relax ... after I had gathered everything from my art studio for the class, getting my clothes off the line and getting changed.

I had to empty my second batch of chicken broth before I came to bed and got 15 containers into the freezer. Even though I forgot to add the chicken feet with the carcass, it still tastes delicious and I can’t wait for my morning broth tomorrow.

My nutrition for the day: lemon water, filtered water, broth, coffee, a mandarin, 3 chicken wings, strawberries, banana and regrettably, some cream. Dairy, among many other things, is not my friend. The discomfort was short lived so not a huge issue, but I’d like to avoid that in future.

We’ve had some glorious rain this afternoon and evening. The forecast is for more over the weekend and we desperately need it. Don’t you love that fresh rain smell??

Best get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Rest Day

I’ve decided to give myself one lazy day in the shop every so often where I don’t research or order stock or clean anything or set up for classes or create ads or design newsletters or FB posts or do the books or file paperwork or pay bills or do the banking etc

I decided that today would be that lazy day.

Today, I dealt with a possible new supplier who only uses the phone to send photos of their stock. I find that a very strange concept and I’m not sure that I want to do business that way. What do you think of these?

That’s not everything they stock. I’ll think on it some more. I’m also happy to hear your opinions.

I sold a lot of snap buttons and snap jewellery today so my afternoon included restocking the trays with buttons. It seems my stock of snap “stuff” has reduced considerably so that goes onto my growing list of “reordering”.

The pre-loved clothing is also flying out the door!

There was a procession of people from the caravan park today. As each returned to their van, they told a neighbour about the shop so the neighbour came in, then they returned and told someone else ... and so on. Almost like a tag team situation!

Did I mention that I have a full class for the art workshop on Saturday? Two people on the waiting list in case anyone drops out. I love it.

I filled 15 containers with the finished chicken broth this afternoon and filled the slow cooker for another batch. Adoring Husband presented me with a full cup of fresh broth straight from the cooker this morning and it was divine!

I used one of the containers to make a gravy with spring onions and mushroom and the leftover pork sausages. It was really nice.

So today’s nutrition, see above and: lemon water, filtered water, bone broth. Two chicken wings. Coconut yoghurt with strawberries and banana.

That’s it. Time for sleep.

Nite all.

My Cup Runneth

I almost broke records today!

Meditation was another full house.

Afterwards, eight of the ladies bought coffee and returned to the meditation room for a chat and a catch up. They stayed for about an hour and there was lots of laughter. It was a great welcome for a newbie to town and she’s keen to become a regular.

My membership list is up to 25 and climbing.

The Motivator and The Fairy Queen popped in and created their own private fashion show which I would have thoroughly enjoyed if those pesky customers hadn’t been so annoying! 🤪

The Real Estate rep dropped in my new lease and sadly, the rates bill along wth it.

I did some filing - I’m pretty impressed with how I’m staying on top of the filing. Talk to me in three months and we’ll see if I’m still being consistent.

I priced the remaining stock that arrived yesterday and displayed it.

I planned out the rest of my week and filled my diary. Made a ‘to do’ list.

I contacted Vistaprint about my missing business cards. Hopefully they’ll arrive soon!

Customers filled the rest of the day, including one who whirled through the door wearing a complete linen outfit which she purchased from me last Friday and she looked AMAZING!

Adoring Husband arrived right on time to help close the shop.

My nutrition for the day: lemon water, coffee, a chilli chicken wing for lunch, a pork sausage with sauerkraut, baby spinach, cucumber, beetroot, tomato, avocado and onion. Dessert was fruit whip of pineapple, banana, dragon fruit, coconut cream and maple syrup toffee.

I currently have a chicken broth brewing in my 6 litre slow cooker.

1 chicken carcass
6 organic chicken feet (if you can’t get chicken feet, use two carcasses)
1 brown onion cut into quarters (not peeled)
1 carrot chopped into chunks (not peeled)
1 celery stick chopped into chunks
6-10 garlic cloves chopped but not peeled
1 Tablespoon of Himalayan salt
A good splash of apple cider vinegar (with the mother)
Chuck all the ingredients into your slow cooker and then fill with as much filtered water as the pot will hold. Set the cooker on low for 12-20 hours. I always cook for 20 hours.

After 20 hours, I scoop out as much broth as possible, without disturbing the meat/veg, into cup sized containers - it’s a beautiful clear golden colour - then remove the veg/meat and pour the remaining broth into cup size containers to freeze - this will be cloudy and less pretty to look at, but still delicious. I usually get 14 cups out of one batch of broth.

I’m looking forward to a fresh cup in the morning!

If I was a caterpillar ...

It’s well after 11pm so I’d best get some sleep!

Nite all.

Too Fast!

I can’t believe how quickly today passed!

It started with morning coffee and even though there were only four of us, the conversation flowed and before we knew it, 90 minutes had passed and it was time to go our separate ways.

Next thing I know, a delivery of stock appeared, which I directed to the back room.

During the next hour, I sorted through all the tax paperwork for The Happy Abode to have it ready for The Motivator who was coming to visit. Her birthday was over a week ago and my gifts for her were still waiting behind my office chair!

I’m so slack but I could have sworn her birthday was only 3 days ago!

We spent over an hour together, which was so nice, but I still forgot to give her the metal sign stand and all her art - I think we subconsciously forget stuff so that we have a reason to connect in the future.

After she left, I unpacked the new stock and while I was pricing 72 owls, Adoring Husband strolled through the door and I realised it was 2.30pm! Far out.

I finished pricing and AH and I displayed them in little clusters all over the shop.

We set up the training room for meditation and dragged ourselves to the car at about 3.15pm.

There was plenty to do at home including tending to psychotic dog Ruby’s eye, bringing in some washing, hanging out some washing, photocopying some information for a customer, creating a new meditation sign to stick on the shop door on Wednesdays, designing a new FB post for this weekend’s art workshop, adding some names to the shop’s membership list and emailing the newsletter, checking my emails and starting a new book for processing gift certificates.

Dinner was mango chilli coconut chicken tenders with salad, followed by the lime slice from Su Jus Bar.

Now it’s almost 11pm and I have to be up at 6am for meditation, so I’m outta here!

Nite all.

Shopped til I Stopped

In order ...

Harvey Norman to research laptops for Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair.

Office Works to research Calligraphy pens AND laptops for BGWLBH + I spent $80 because I have no self control.

Su Jus Cafe Bar for GF/DF/refined sugar free slices and muffins plus a green juice.

Shoe Frenzy to check prices of the clothes, bags and wallets that I also sell in my shop. Some of their prices are lower and some are higher.

Fantastic furniture to order two glass cabinets which probably won’t arrive until September, and I purchased two small round tables for the shop.

Spotlight for more canvasses and paint.

Heaps Discount for for more paint, squirt bottles and pouring cups.

JBHIFI to research laptops for BGWLBH.

Dropped off all the purchases to the shop and bought some food for dinner.

Home by 2.30pm to find a big mess made by the dogs which took us an hour to clean up.

Ugh.

Chicken and cabbage for dinner, followed by those yummy slices from Su Jus.

Now it’s time for sleep.

Nite all.

I’m Back!

This video goes for about 5 minutes ... unless they’ve removed it again ... they don’t want you to know how nutrition and your health status can save your life when dealing with COVID-19.



I didn’t feel like doing a blog post last night (Saturday) so I didn’t! 🤪

Saturday was an average kind of sales day and I spent most of the morning adding email addresses to Roz’s Happy Place Membership list as they flowed in to me via private messages, phone calls, messages on the FB page and even a couple of texts..

I made a few tweaks to the inaugural newsletter and sent it out on Saturday night. I forgot to change it to a PDF and some people were unable to open and read it, but they messaged me and I fixed the problem.

I’ve received some positive feedback about the newsletter, so that’s nice.

Most of my Sunday has been spent in bed doing very little that’s productive. It was really about closing my brain to all the work stuff, playing around in FB, Youtube, Twitter and Instagram, watching the footy and inspecting Adoring Husband’s great work in the garden around the pool.

I cooked corned silverside for dinner and did sweet potato in their jackets with snow peas and broccoli on the side. Avocado choc mousse with blueberries for dessert.

 

We’ve planned a big day in The Bay tomorrow so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Love the Lists

It’s the only way I remember to do all the things!

Lists!

Good sales today.

Paid the rent.

Did some filing.

Boxed up Chicklet’s big dragon and added a couple of cards and a small engagement gift for Vegan Chickie and Prince of Perfection, then sent it in the mail - cost a fortune in postage!

Priced some pre-loved clothing and put them on the rack.

Paid The Jewel for two of her items that I sold.

Created a membership book and a leaflet which explains the concept ...

Stuck three leaflets around the shop.

Spoke to a lady regarding my upcoming journaling workshop.

Created a lay-by book so that I can offer that service to “special” customers.

Made a new ‘to do’ list for next week.

That’s a fairly productive kind of day.

My only home chore was to tend to psychotic dog Ruby’s eye.

I’m looking forward to a quiet Sunday and enjoying some R&R this weekend. My energy levels have improved significantly since I started showing myself some love by feeding my body more nutritious foods.

Today’s nutrition: lemon water, chicken broth, water, coffee, coconut yoghurt with blueberries, strawberries and banana. 2 chicken wings. Fruit whip.

It’s wonderful to not have pain after eating and I can’t believe that I did that to myself for so long.

I wore my smallest jeans to work today because I’ve lost 2kgs and I was able to do them up for the first time in about 18 months.

It’s almost 11pm so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Productive and Fruitful

In just one short hour of sales, I was happy with my day!

I was also productive enough to create this ...

... which I hope to do every month.

I had a great conversation with a now regular customer about CBD oil and she provided me with some details to follow up.

I received a phone call from Sandy at ‘Lafitte‘ who supply Australian owned and made socks with fabulous colours and patterns. She sent me a catalogue so that I can make an order, which I will do after I find the money to pay rent AND the rates 😳

Making a note in my diary to warn myself when the rates will be due so that I can be prepared!

I had a GREAT conversation with a ‘like-minded’ woman with precisely the same beliefs as I do about COVID-19 and she was even more passionate about it than me!! Who’da thunk!?

For both of us, it was like finding an old friend and to be able to have a genuine conversation without fear of judgement or ridicule was incredibly refreshing.

It’s nice to have a small circle of personal friends to share new information that goes against the mainstream but frustrating as hell that so many frontline workers in the form of doctors, nurses and scientists with first hand experience and who have conducted and published their own research and findings are being censored by all forms of media including television networks, media journalists, and all forms of social media.

I don’t know who is controlling who, or why they’re doing it, but I DO know that Mr Gates has announced that he hopes to make $200 billion out of a vaccine. That means he has a lot to lose if all of the truths are revealed.

Well, I’ve had a good start to my footy tipping this week with the Bunnies defeating the Dragons in the first game of the round. I’m happy about that!

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Wicked

What a crazy day.

I was up bright and early in the chilly winter air to be at the shop for meditation at 7am.

It was a full house with three newbies and I had to pull a chair from my desk and sit in the doorway so that I could participate and keep the social distancing rules!

Afterwards some of the ladies got coffee and came back to the training room for a chat, while The Gypsy and I chatted at my desk. We have the deepest philosophical discussions and I always feel enlightened after our time together.

It was an average day of sales and I couldn’t help the man who wanted a beer glass or the lady who wanted a peak cap or the other lady who wanted clothes for an 18mth old.

Twice during the morning, different men came to explore the shop and left claiming that they would tell their wives. Maybe their wives will turn up tomorrow!

I posted a sign on the door explaining that I was closing early and left the shop at 1pm for a special date in The Bay. While I was there, i enjoyed a late lunch at the golf club, did some Christmas shopping and some clothes shopping and was home by 4pm. It was a most enjoyable afternoon.

My nutrition for the day was probably my worst in three weeks. Lemon water, water, coffee, GF Hawaiian pizza, more coffee, choc avocado mousse with frozen blueberries, strawberries, banana, coconut yoghurt and maple toffee.

That’s it for my day and I’m ready for sleep.

Nite all.

Not Enough Hours.

Adoring Husband and I arrived at the shop early enough to clear the training room and set up for morning tea with the girls but all of the larger art pieces were still very wet and trays beneath them were full of running wet paint.

All we could do was slide the tables to one side of the room and hope that an extra few hours would help them dry out.

This left enough room for our small table and some chairs for the girls.

I got to spend about an hour with them before the first customers took my attention. Any time is quality time with the girls, especially when the giggles start!

It was after 11am when I was left to my own devices.

I priced some pre-loved clothing and hung them in the shop, rearranged the new clothing displays so that more clothes would fit on the racks, did some filing, printed some paperwork, wrote some family mail and cleared the table behind the counter to put some of the still wet art out to dry.

AH arrived to help clear the training room, which was a fairly epic event in itself.

We rolled up the full silicone mats and propped them in buckets to catch the paint, then covered them with big garbage bags to stop them spilling in the car.

We moved all the wet art to safe positions where they were out of the way but still able to dry.

We folded the big wet plastic table protectors and put them in big bags to take home and clean.

AH folded the big tables and put them in their usual storage positions.

I vacuumed the floor and we arranged the chairs into their social distancing positions.

It was after 3.30pm when we left the shop.

AH immediately took all of the art paraphernalia outside to hose down and attempt to clean it.

I got changed, fed the dogs, hung out the washing and put another load in, prepared my clothes for tomorrow and then sat down for about 40 minutes before it was time to prepare dinner.

My nutrition for today:  lemon water, coffee, water, 2 chilli chicken wings, eye fillet steak with leftover sweet potato fritters and salad of mixed lettuce, cherry tomato, cucumber, pear, onion, beetroot, avocado and snow peas. Dessert was chocolate mousse made with avocado, coconut cream, coconut oil, dark chocolate, chocolate hemp powder, maple syrup and salt - strawberries and maple nut toffee ...

A lot of effort after a big day at work!

It’s almost 11pm and I have to be up before 6am tomorrow so I’m outta here.

Nite all.

Comparitively

This time last year, in Australia, there had been 430 deaths from seasonal flu.

This year there has been 36 deaths from seasonal flu and 155 deaths from COVID-19.

Every year, in Australia, between 1500 and 3000 people die of seasonal flu. There are 18,000 hospitalisations and 300,000 Drs visits. Follow this link to read about it Seasonal flu stats

I just want to understand why nobody ever cared about high seasonal flu deaths but the entire country has been shut down for Covid and Victoria is panicking about 42 people in intensive care.

The longer this goes on, the more confused I am about EVERYTHING. None of it makes any sense.

Compare the two

Anyway, today has been another day of R&R.

I received a package of bamboo towels and bath mats + king sized bamboo sheets that I ordered last Tuesday ...

My nutrition for the day:  lemon water, chicken broth, coffee, water, coconut yoghurt, strawberries, half duck breast, sweet potato fritters, fruit whip (pineapple, banana, mango, coconut cream, coconut yoghurt, maple syrup, salt).

This evening I played the BBC Radio 2 Pop Master Quiz at 7.30pm. I got 9 points in the first round and 24 points in the second round. Vegan Chickie, Prince of Perfection and his Mum all play together every night and I was invited to play tonight.

I have to invite Adoring Husband and Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair to play too.

Gotta work tomorrow, so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

A Day In

I was not capable of ‘people-ing’ today.

I stayed in bed doing very little until Adoring Husband came in to ask what I wanted for lunch.

While we were in The Bay on Friday, I bought 1kg of green king prawns so they needed to be cooked today.

I fried them in the wok with garlic, butter and honey.

Delicious.

Back to bed for another few hours of nothingness.

Up to prepare dinner of Peking duck.

Back to bed at 8.30pm.

My nutrition today:  lemon water, chicken broth, coffee, water. Lunch of honey prawns and snow peas. Dinner of half a Peking duck breast with half a cup of rice. Dessert was frozen fruit whip of pineapple, banana, mango, coconut cream, coconut yoghurt, maple syrup and some salt.

We had a nice short sharp storm this evening with very strong winds and heavy rain. It blew the ottoman cushion around in the pool area and the rain forced its way through the screen into the outdoor kitchen area.

I have an infected finger.

Absolutely no idea why or how this has happened but I’m dipping it into colloidal silver every couple of hours. It’s hot and throbbing and tight and tender ... that’s my finger I’m talking about 🤪

Ouch.

I may require a pain killer to sleep but I’ll wait and see.

I’m hoping for another lazy day tomorrow.

Now it’s sleep time.

Nite all.