One Down

I am exhausted!

I had a fantastic day of sales and the wet weather held off right until closing time so people were out and about and looking for some retail therapy.

Two of my art girls came in early and helped me set up for the art class. It was a big job and took well over an hour for 3 of us to prepare the room. Adoring Husband had set up the tables and we had already covered them in the protective sheets.

It was a great crowd of girls but three had already left when I took this photo.

We had a blast and we finished early so after the clean up, we all sat around drinking wine and laughing our heads off. It was a special afternoon, but jeez it wore me right out!

I’ve spent the remainder of the afternoon watching football but as soon as I finish this post, I’m off to bed.

Peking duck for dinner.

I have to be awake bright and early tomorrow to prepare for my 11am Lorraine Lea party. I hope I’m not speaking too soon, but it looks like the weather might be kind for the duration of the party.

I have a couple of big platters to prepare as well as some cocktails to mix up and I’m expecting about 10 or 12 girls so it should noisy and fun!

Wish me luck!

Nite all.

Unproductively Social

My shop was a social hub today ... ALL day.

It started when Adoring Husband and his mate Sideshow Bob bought themselves a coffee and used my training room as their meeting place. 

While they were doing that, I had a visit from Mini J who spent about 30 minutes getting me up to speed with the goings on in the BHPA and local community.

She had not long gone when a crowd favourite The Brains Trust walked through the door and I invited her to sit and chat.

We chatted for an hour and I noticed that I had a message from The Welch Wonder who advised me that she would be visiting shortly ... 5 minutes later she joined us and we three chatted for another 30+ minutes.

The Brains Trust departed and WW remained for 30 minutes before making a purchase and then taking her leave. 

By now it was 1.20pm and I had 20 minutes to actually do some quick necessary chores before AH turned up to help me close the shop.

The day passed quickly and most enjoyably but productivity was minimal to say the least!

In between all of that, sales were very good and I was happy to calculate my budget to successfully cover the recently received rates notice, security bill, rent, stock payments and soon to come power bill! The never ending outflow of cash!

We came home and I spent a spirited 30 minutes doing some tidying up in preparation for my Lorraine Lea party on Sunday. 

Following that AH mowed the lawn and tidied the yard for the same reason.

While I’m not confident that my pool party will go ahead, I’m hopeful that the weather forecast is wrong (which is usually the case) and we can enjoy the outdoor area on Sunday. 

At this point I would like to lodge my dismay at AH’s continued snoring issue. I would like to dob him in and complain profusely that even after all my whingeing, he is not using the salt pipe as directed and is therefore, indirectly telling me that he doesn’t care if I’m losing sleep because of him.

I am quietly calculating the financial costs of setting up the back bedroom as my new happy space where I can get a good nights sleep.

If this public declaration has no positive outcome, look forward to photos of my new room 🤗🌻☮️

I fully expect to receive a stern ‘speaking to’ for making this public declaration!

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. 🤪

My new grandchild is due to enter this world any day now and after a checkup today is doing all the right things in preparation for the big event. No signs of labor yet and I will win the pool if 31st March becomes the birth day. I’m not feeling confident.

I have a feeling that Vegan Chickie might be sharing her birthday.

I think I’ll go to bed to watch the second half of the football. My team is losing. *sigh*

Nite all.

Time Flies

It’s already time for my next Lorraine Lea linen party! 

That crept up quickly!

Anyone out there who might like to order (you can have it mailed directly to your address), here is the link 

https://lorrainelea.com/events/4fxkkC

Of course I had planned for it to be a pool party and now the forecast is for rain so I have to formulate a Plan B just in case.

I had a good steady day of sales today. There are a lot of groups of women on holidays at the moment. Three sisters, all in their 80s. Four female friends from Brisbane. Three female friends from Sunshine Coast. Five women, whose husbands were out fishing.

There’s not much else to do in this weather except practice some retail therapy!

I received some bills, ordered more stock, banked some cash, talked to some reps, rearranged some displays, made my lunch and accepted my cleaner’s resignation because she successfully applied for her dream placement in a facility for people with disabilities.

Adoring Husband went to SES training tonight so I spent some time switching between channels to see the AFL and NRL games. Both of my teams lost 😞 

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

Nite all.

Oh Yeah It’s Raining Again

Everybody is carrying an umbrella.

It’s wet, wet, wet.

It’s lovely, lovely, lovely.

We had four empty seats in meditation so the rain kept a few away.

I enjoyed a good chat with The Gypsy before and after the class and we had plenty to talk about.

There was also plenty of news within the group so everyone was very chatty afterwards.

I had a steady day of sales - I guess there’s not much else to do on a rainy day!

I had two deliveries of stock arrive so between customers I was unpacking, checking, pricing, photographing and displaying.

Again, the day passed very quickly and I was surprised when Adoring Husband appeared to help me close the shop. While I finished pricing the last few items, he set up the tables in the back room ready for Saturday’s art workshop.

There’s always something going on.

I’ve had a lazy afternoon and now I’m going to bed to watch MAFS.

Nite all.

The Rain in ...

It’s raining!

It’s still raining!

We’ve had 20mm of rain and it’s been lovely!

The weather certainly kept the customers at bay so sales were below average, but it was a really nice morning with the girls and because customers were sparse, I got to spend extra time with the girls.

I paid bills.

I ordered stock.

I did some filing.

I checked emails.

I watched the rain.

I made tea.

I was down one in the journaling class but it was a great class and time absolutely flew! What felt like 20 minutes, was actually 90 minutes.

Adoring Husband and I took the tables down and set out the room for meditation before driving home.

I relaxed for an hour and then made an unusual dinner (for us) of lamb cutlets, eggs, hash browns & tomato. It took me 20 minutes.

I am in bed as I write this and I’m hoping AH’s snoring doesn’t keep me awake tonight because I have an early start tomorrow.

It’s been a good day and the lovely rain should hang around for the week - fingers crossed.

Nite all.

Same Same

Today was the same as yesterday.

No motivation.

Just needed to rest my brain and my body.

I thought about cleaning the windows AND I thought about painting my turtle on the outside wall.

But they were just thoughts.

I took a phone call from a supplier and paid for an order over the phone - I try not to do that on my day off normally but I really want to receive this jewellery quickly so I made an exception.

An email arrived giving me access to a new clothing supplier and I’ve already written out an order for them, which I’ll send through at the end of the week.

We began watching a new series on Netflix called ‘The One’. It’s not bad.

I’m still in my pyjamas as I write this.

The predicted ominous weather that we postponed our trip to Bundaberg for has only just arrived and appears not to be the big event that was predicted, however, the rain sounds lovely, and I think it’s going to last all night.

So I shall sign off and head to bed to listen to this lovely weather.

Nite all

Move Along

Nothing to see here.

I found a surprising photo of me before we changed our diet and lifestyle.

When we moved here from Sydney, I weighed a frail 55kgs.

I had been very sick with a thyroid condition that I had waited too long to have diagnosed. I lost about 12kgs in 6 weeks and developed a heart murmur. My specialist advised me that my heart could literally explode in my chest without medical intervention.

I was also struggling with vertigo, was recovering from diagnosed depression and had just commenced menopause 😳

That was in 2008. This photo was taken 5 months after we moved here. I had gained a few kgs by this time ...

This photo was taken 5 years later and I think I weighed around 75kgs ...

The result of too much partying. Too much alcohol. Too much party food. Too much pub food. Too much stress (from the tornado and Barry’s health diagnosis). Too much complacency.

It was around this time that we changed our diet and lifestyle to create better health for both of us.

Adoring Husband lost 17kgs and was able to stop blood pressure medication and GERD meds.

I lost 13kgs and have maintained the weight loss for 7 years, fluctuating a couple of kgs here and there.

The most recent full length photo of me...

My Sunday has been lazily indulgent. Lots of screen time - iPad and TV.

It has been nice.

AH and I were planning a trip to Bundaberg tomorrow (Monday) but the weather forecast is looking pretty ominous and even the storm chasers are heading to this area for some action. We’ve decided to play safe and remain at home.

I’ll be interested to see what my motivation levels will be like. Could be another lazy one OR I might get productive. Wait and see.

Nite all.

Town Markets

Our local markets were held in the grounds of the hall today.

Our markets are small and nondescript and most newcomers leave feeling disappointed 😞 

The one redeeming feature is the SES barbecue that serves bacon and eggs and sausages & onion on bread or rolls.

I could smell the onions cooking from my shop driveway this morning.

Yum.

Thanks to those markets, I was able to welcome a convoy of ten women into the shop around mid morning. Ten women disappointed in the markets and who wanted to spend some money.

Not all of them spent money and the sales did not break records, but were enough for me to feel good about the day.

I had a nice visit from Aggie.

Other than that, the morning was uneventful.

I came home at 1pm and had a swim in the pool and I must say I was feeling hyper vigilant after Adoring Husband spotted a baby brown snake in our back yard this morning.

While I was in the pool, I found some snake poo on the concrete edging - I know what snake poo looks like because I once owned a carpet python - this is not good!

AH came out to get help taking his footy jersey off and stood in the pool on the first step so that I could reach over his head to pull the shirt off. It was so clever of me to yank it over his ear and send one of his hearing aids flying into the water!

I tried diving under the water to pick it up, but they are so light that any movement of the water sent it scuttling in different directions before I could grab it. The creepy crawly snuck up behind me and seemed to know that there was a foreign object on the floor of the pool that required sucking up!!

AH was standing on the sidelines in a panic cursing and i stopped Wally (my name for the creepy crawly) in his tracks before he could eat the hearing aid. In the end it was easier for me to put my foot on the hearing aid and pick it up with my toes.

It survived the ordeal and is still working. I’m pretty sure AH survived as well.

Eventually, I came inside, changed into some dry clothes and settled in for an afternoon of football. I was much more successful with today’s tips than yesterday’s but Adoring Husband has a perfect score so far!

Dinner was a ‘fend for yourself’ affair.

It’s now well after midnight and time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Fast Friday

It was weirdly quiet with not a soul walking through the door until almost midday.

The last 2 hours provided good sales. They didn’t make up for yesterday but were satisfying just the same.

I was able to complete a few more fiddly jobs that I’ve put off for a while and I took delivery of some colourful cotton jumpers that needed sorting, pricing, photographing and displaying.

The day passed quickly, as usual.

I was picked up by the Silver Mermaid at 2.45pm for what was supposed to be an afternoon of art + beverages out at Raintree Acres, but instead it turned out to be just beverages!

Three hours of fun and frivolity with a bunch of hilarious women. Fun and exhausting!

I was one of the first to leave and was grateful for a lift home with The Motivator. Who knows how long those crazy women will carry on for, but I am definitely getting too old for playing hard and all I could think about was ‘how soon is too soon for bed?’ 🥴

Sad but true.

Speaking of ‘too old’ ...

Vegan Chickie and I have been looking at photos of ourselves from ten years ago compared to today. She has aged beautifully...

While I have begun the downhill slide into aged oblivion...

The photo with baby Chicklet was ten years ago (aged 50). The photo with me wearing a cap was 16 yrs ago (aged 45) and the pic on the left was taken 3 weeks ago (aged 60 + 10 months).

Bit of a shock to the system! But I’m alive and that’s always good 🤗

This week is the start of the NRL footy season, which Adoring Husband and I are very excited about and I started up the family footy tipping competition again. 

Three games have already been played and I’ve only tipped one correctly so far. Not a great start but there is a long way to go!

Now it’s time to sleep. I’m feeling very weary.

I choose 1 and 14.

Nite all.

Absentee

Adoring Husband was absent from around 5am when he left to catch the early morning train to Brisbane to visit the Parkinson’s professor.

He woke me to say goodbye and of course I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got out of bed and made myself some breakfast and a cup of tea, then sat in the lounge room and watched the rest of the movie that I started the night before on Netflix.

I left the house at 8.15am and rode my trike to work.

Halfway there I stopped to chat with Bonanza Man.

He purchased a house and moved to town in early January and has a 9 yr old blue healer called Braxton. He’s a lovely man and is so far very happy to have chosen this town to retire to.

I got to work at 8.40am but had to visit the supermarket before opening up. I still managed to do all of AH’s usual dirty work to open the shop by 9 am.

Not that it mattered because I only had three customers all day with very small sales. I haven’t checked but I think today was my lowest sales day for the year so far!

That’s ok.

I completed a lot of small fiddly jobs that I usually set aside in favour of the bigger jobs so by the end of the day, I felt like I’d been productive.

My cleaner came and did more talking than cleaning, but that’s ok too.

I had to rush home on my trike through soft rain and made it home about 20 minutes before the heavens really opened. We received about 2 hours of steady rain but I haven’t checked the gauge.

I spent the afternoon with my feet up watching Netflix.

I ate a very unhealthy meat pie for dinner - Beefy’s GF - and it’s sitting heavy in my belly. I’ll drink lots of water and wash it through my system.

AH should be home in about an hour and I’m already in bed watching the footy. I’m wondering whether I’ll still be awake when he arrives!

Nite all.

Whoa for Wednesday

It was a full house for meditation this morning. I had to lock the door early and sit on a chair outside the door to the training room because all seats were taken!

A few newbies and 4 men in attendance!

A few of the girls remained behind for a chat and The Gypsy had to leave early for an appointment.

The Motivator attended meditation and stayed behind for a chat with the girls and after the girls left, she stayed longer for a chat with me, which was really nice.

Up until she left, I had no customers and it was almost midday when my first walked through the door.

The afternoon was slow and steady but overall, it was a very quiet day.

My desk is a mess and covered with lots of jewellery that arrived in the mail over the last two days that still needs to be priced and displayed.

Adoring Husband drove into The Bay and ran some errands for me but I gave him the wrong measurements for some canvases and now I have large canvases that will make me rethink my future plans in the art room.

No biggie.

AH picked me up at 2pm and it was nice to come straight home.

All I needed to do was grab my washing off the line but it was so hot on the western side of the house where the clothes line is, that after 15 minutes standing out there folding the clothes as I removed them, I actually had to leave them out there and lay on my bed! I felt quite light headed and a bit weak!

It must be my age. 🥴

Peking Duck with vegetables for AH’s dinner. I had some licorice tea because I really wasn’t hungry.

I’m watching MAFS while AH gets organised for his train trip into Brisbane tomorrow. He is overdue for his visit to the Parkinson’s Professor.

I think I’ll go to bed to watch the rest of the show now.

Nite all.

Back to it.

I didn’t get much time with my girls this morning.

There were a LOT of customers for the first 2 hours that I was open and they took my coffee time!

One lady in particular, who wanted to buy some clothes. She has MS and is quite weak with tricky co-ordination so she required some extra help. She took a good hour of my time but she bought quite a few items and has certainly added to and improved her wardrobe.

I paid for 2 orders of stock -  handbags and clothing.

I made new files.

I photocopied.

I stapled biz cards to paper bags.

I made lunch.

I priced some new jewellery and displayed it.

I set up for journaling 

In journaling, we practiced some art work and designed some of our pages, planned our title page and selected some fancy paper to add to our designs.

After journaling, Adoring Husband and I set up the room for meditation and AH vacuumed the shop while I folded the old preloved clothing and packed them up ready to return to their original owners.

We were home by 4.30pm and I did a couple of loads of washing and cooked salmon steak and salad for dinner.

Best get some sleep so that I can be up bright and early for meditation.

Nite all.

Manic Monday

We had such a lot to do in The Bay.

I had a list, but I took a couple of the less important things off the list before we even got in the car because they were frivolous visits to expensive boutiques - ‘Luxe’ and ‘Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves’ - and time was fairly tight wth all that we needed to do.

Tinkerbells could NOT be taken off the list.

I purchased a smokey quartz ring and put a bracelet on layby and then set my eyes on a gorgeous pendant that I will definitely make mine if it’s still there on my next visit!

We drove to Bunnings so that I could replace the 8 litres of Floetrol that we used in the last art class.

We picked up the specialist referral from Adoring Husband’s doctor (just a renewal for the Parkinson’s professor).

Stocklands received some of my money when I found a cropped denim jacket, two cotton singlet tops and two t-shirts - after all that culling of my wardrobe, I had to fill some empty space!

Grocery shopping of course.

Next we drove to Urangan Fisheries where we bought 3 sand crabs and 1 kg of king prawns. 

The dental surgery needed to issue AH with some paperwork to read and sign before his appointment, so that was our second last stop.

Cocoas for AH’s afternoon coffee and I decided to try one of their smoothies - not a fan - had four mouthfuls and threw the rest out when we got home. It was pineapple, mango, passionfruit and banana but tasted very bland.

We picked up our mail from the post office on the way home and there were some small packages with new stock for the shop.

I made fresh crab sandwiches for my dinner and I’m feeling pretty worn out now.

I think I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Four Faces Of Woman

In honour of International Women’s Day (8th March), I attended a one day retreat called Four Faces of Woman, at the Toogoom Hall.

There were a dozen women from various age groups and backgrounds gathered together, each bringing a plate of vegetarian food to share for lunch and each prepared to experience some self healing and show some love.

It was six hours high in value, and even though this is my fourth retreat, I still got a lot out of it and had ‘aha’ moments that took me by surprise.

There was a lot of emotion in the room especially from the newbies just beginning their healing journey and I was able to practice shining my loving light in their direction to show that they were in a safe space for healing.

The Gypsy asked for my assistance for a few of the exercises and I felt completely comfortable even though 8 of those women were strangers to me.

It was a great experience and well worth sacrificing my Sunday in bed.

Adoring Husband was there to pick me up at 4pm and I was feeling pretty tired by that time.

I used Saturday nights leftovers to create a curry for AH’s dinner so there wasn’t much effort required there.

Now it’s 9.30pm and I’m feeling the need to put my head on the pillow.

Nite all.