I Made It

I finally made it to Tinkerbells to pick up my new jewellery.

The green one is a raw velvet malachite. It's one of the most powerful transformational crystals for the heart and will encourage changes which will compel us to move forward in our life but first it helps us to recognise and deal with what’s not best serving us.

Ideal for my current situation.

The other two are Ocean Kyanite, found in central Australia and helps with forging a new unique path, improving psychic ability and helps you connect with nature. It assists in creating new neural pathways in damaged areas of the brain.

While we were in The Bay, I got some more carry bags from HBW for the shop and then stopped at Harvey Norman to print a photo for a customer.

We almost had to cancel the trip in again because at 1.45pm there were still six people in the shop, but we scooted the last customer through the door at three minutes to two and were driving out of town at 2.10pm which was good going because we dropped the money tin and some meat at home before leaving.

It was another crazy busy day but I didn’t have a chance to tally up sales before I left the shop. I doubt that it was as high as yesterday because the value of each sale was, on average, lower than the last two days.

At least I had a chance to eat lunch and drink an entire cup of tea!

I had a couple of visitors but couldn’t sit with them for very long because of those pesky customers.

Tonight, we are awaiting the arrival of X-tropical cyclone Seth. It’s forecast to arrive sometime around 5am and Higgins Storm Chasers have warned that there may be water spouts, strong damaging winds, heavy rain and possible hail.

Adoring Husband and I spent time this evening moving some of the pool furniture and cushions into the store room and outdoor kitchen. We wound down the pool umbrella and then moved some of the furniture in the alfresco area to a safer spot closer to the house.

Hopefully, it’s all for nothing, but the BOM shows that the low is intensifying as it gets closer to land and our 2013 experience with the tornado makes us a little more aware of the possibilities. Better to be safe than sorry!

It’s now well after midnight so I should sleep!

Nite all.

Holy Cow!

What a crazy day.

I smashed my sales record.

Once again my brain hurts from calculating.

I had an appointment in town at 2.45pm and didn’t even leave the shop until 2.35pm so that was canned. I’ll try again tomorrow.

I was so busy, all I had for sustenance was half a cup of tea all day.

I found even more stock in some cupboards. Coffee cups, coasters, hanging hearts, silver chains, shawls and scarves, so I priced and displayed them.

Food was my number one priority when we arrived home so I hit the kitchen immediately. I made tuna and sweet potato cakes which were delicious served with salad and kimchi.

After that, it was nice to sit down and put my feet up.

Now it’s rapidly approaching 11.30pm and I need to sleep!

Nite all.

Beginning Of The End

First open day of January.

First day of 30% off sale.

My brain is very tired from calculating 30% off!

It was incredibly busy and if there wasn’t 30% off, I would have well and truly broken my sales record.

Lots of sad faces and conversations full of disappointment that I’m closing - by both locals and regular tourists.

It kind of feels good that I’m leaving on a high.

I’m not closing because of poor sales.

I’m not closing because I’m being evicted.

I’m not closing because I’m sick of the shop.

I’m not closing because my classes failed.

I’m closing on my own terms and my community is disappointed that I’ll be gone.

Once I get past the guilt, that’s a nice feeling.

Today I chose my word for the year.

In previous years my words have been INSPIRE, CREATE, EASE and last year was FLOURISH.

I think this is my eighth year of choosing a word, instead of a New Years resolution. 

This year I choose “RISE”

I’m going to RISE out of the ashes of my shop.

I’m going to RISE above all of this covid crap.

I’m going to RISE to meet any challenges that life is going to throw at me this year.

This is going to be a good year.

Time for sleep.

Nite all.

Kyle's vaccine complication

Another unproductive day.

I had a shower and smell much better for it!!

I folded some washing, did another two loads, tidied up a little and then binge watched series three of Cobra Kai.

Our Coles delivery arrived mid morning. There were a couple of items out of stock so they replaced them with something similar, which was ok. I think we’ll shop that way more often. It’s easier and works out cheaper because we are not walking past yummy things that we don’t need but buy anyway!

It has been three days of hibernation for me and I feel like it was a wasted opportunity to get stuff done but I definitely feel rested and ready to take on my closing down month.

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

Nite all.

How many more adverse effects have been covered up during the trials? - ...

Today, I found on Netflix, a series called “Cobra Kai” which is a follow on from “The Karate Kid”, a movie made in 1984. It has all the original actors from 38 years ago and I have to say, they all hold up well!

I am really enjoying it and have spent the afternoon and evening binge watching it. We have three shows left of the second series and there are four series.

So obviously I didn’t get any of the things done that I’d hoped, but there is always tomorrow.

I do know one thing for sure … I need to shower! 

My sustenance today consisted of lemon water, chicken broth, anti-inflammitea, a handful of corn chips and one rice paper roll filled with pork mince, onion, celery, carrot, cabbage, garlic and mushroom. 

Adoring Husband had last nights leftovers for lunch.

On Friday, I grocery shopped on-line and it will be delivered tomorrow between 7am and midday. 

This is the second time I’ve done this. I think the first time was almost three years ago.

So it’s nice to have three full days at home without having to go into The Bay - having said that, we have to drive in on Tuesday afternoon to pick up a pendant from Tinkerbells and have a photo printed at Harvey Normans.

It’s 11pm so I’m off to sleep.

Nite all.

Great Start

They say you should start the year as you wish to continue it.

Well I certainly don’t plan on spending my entire year in bed, but I DID spend the entire first day of the year in bed. 

I did absolutely nothing productive.

Adoring Husband made my lemon water followed by chicken broth with toast.

I napped often.

I played Words With Friends.

I browsed through Facebook.

There were lots of New Years messages passed back and forth between friends in messenger.

I selected a couple of books on Audible by sampling a good number of them. My audible library is substantial so I guess that’s something else I can do once the shop closes!

It was nice to listen to the rain during the day and the temperature inside felt really mild.

At 5pm I got up and made a chicken and vegetable dish for dinner. It included celery, onion, sweet potato, potato, garlic, three different varieties of mushroom and chicken. Quite tasty.

It’s almost 11pm and I think I’m ready to sleep - yet again.

I hope to feel a bit more motivated tomorrow and I have a few things I’d like to tick off my ‘to do’ list but we’ll wait and see. No rush lol.

Nite all.

Goodbye 2021

May 2022 surprise us all with miraculous changes to the global narrative, numerous arrests and guilty verdicts for those who deserve it, celebrations by the once powerless as they become empowered and joyous reunions as the vaccine-free are permitted to cross the borders to reunite with friends and family.

Today was much quieter in the shop than I expected but sales were still good.

I had some fabulous conversations with some new and old acquaintances.

Adoring Husband and I attended a funeral via ZOOM on my desktop computer at the shop. It was moving, as funerals are, and difficult because I still had to serve customers during that 45 minutes. We really wanted to attend in person but between us, the zoom option was the best for us.

I spent about 30 minutes clearing out some drawers, brought another 25 timber coat hangers home and met for the last time with a sales rep from Brisbane. 

She is also vaccine-free and has lost some of her clients - pharmacies - if she is sick and requires medication for any reason, she IS allowed into the pharmacy to have a script filled or to purchase any other medications BUT as a healthy unvaccinated person, she is not allowed into the pharmacy to provide them with stock.

😳

Does that make sense?

Knowing that our time as colleagues is up, we exchanged private numbers and will remain in contact as like minded acquaintances with the possibility of developing a friendship.

Unfortunately her husband was waiting in the car for her so our time was very limited.

A quick shout out to Lady Lynn and Happy Harry who are celebrating an anniversary today!

Dirty Dancing is on telly tonight so I believe I shall climb into my cozy bed and fall asleep to the sight of Patrick Swayze’s gyrating hips!

I’ll see you next year!

Nite all.

Here We Are

Here we are at New Years Eve and time to reflect on 2021.

What was memorable about this year?

1.    I had the first couple of weeks in January with Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair in residence.

2.    My second grandbaby, Hazie, was born early April.

3.    I got to meet her and cuddle her two weeks later (in between Melbourne lockdowns)

4.    I met my new son-in-law for the first time (after 3 years!)

5.    I spent five days with the family and saw Chicklet for the first time in 2.5 years! 

6.    Bubbles visited in June and returned home just in time for Sydney lockdown!

7.    I ran 22 art workshops.

8.    I increased sales in the shop by 30%

9.    I enjoyed numerous lunches with my girls before mandates locked me out of cafes and restaurants.

10.  I made the decision to sell/close the shop to escape the covid BS mandates.

11.  I sold 8 pieces of art and 6 photos.

12.  I continued practicing meditation on a daily basis.

My plans for retirement include cleaning and decluttering the house, photography, art, cooking, swimming, meditation, riding my trike, walking on the beach and to finish creating my online course.

Today was another great day of sales in the shop with lots of tourists still about.

In a bid to reduce next months workload, I brought a few things home that are not needed in the shop anymore.

I had to restock the button trays because at 50% off, they are selling like hot cakes!

I started to make a ‘to do’ list of everything that needs doing for the next month. It’s going to be a long list.

There wasn’t much energy flowing through me today so the day wasn’t too productive.

I brought twenty timber coat hangers home and swapped them in my wardrobe for the plastic ones. The local op shop will be receiving a box full of plastic coat hangers very shortly.

We had pork medallions and salad for dinner and now it’s after 11pm so I need to sleep.

Nite all and Happy New Year!

A set of Good words to follow!

Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle commented a few days ago on the Covid situation: 

"This moment that humanity is living through can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or go through the door is yours.

If you consume information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, you will fall into this hole.

 But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to rethink life and death, to take care of yourself and others, you will go through the door.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of others at the same time.

 Do not underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Adopt the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader vision.

There is a social demand in this crisis, but also a spiritual demand. The two go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and futility. 

You are prepared to go through this crisis.

Grab your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal. Learn to resist by the example of the Indian and African peoples: we have been and continue to be exterminated. 

* But we never stopped singing, dancing, lighting fires and having joy.

Don't feel guilty for feeling lucky in these difficult times. Being sad and without energy doesn't help at all. 

* Resilience is resilience through joy! 

You have the right to be strong and positive. You have to maintain a beautiful, cheerful and bright posture.

This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It is a strategy of resistance. 

When we walk in the door, we have a new view of the world because we have faced our fears and difficulties.

This is what you can do now: 

- Serenity in the storm, 

- Keep calm, meditate daily, 

- Make a habit of encountering the sacred every day. 

Demonstrate resilience through art, joy, trust and love. " 

😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️😊

It was a great day in the shop with fantastic sales, lots of happy visitors and lots of animated conversations.

We closed late because of some stragglers that wanted to spend their money. 

I gathered all of the loose coat hangers from the change room to bring home - it will be the first time in my life that I’ve had all matching coat hangers in my wardrobe! I’m a bit excited about that!

I started sorting through the artwork in the training room.

I found some extra stock in the drawers and cupboards so I priced it and put it on display.

Clearing the shop is going to be a hell of a job!

Clearing space in my house so that there is somewhere to put the stuff from the shop is also going to be a hell of a job!

And that’s only the stuff that is not for sale!

😳😳😳

So far, this week has been pretty damned good.

I hope yours has been good too!

Nite all.

Boxing Day

Today was officially the Boxing Day holiday, but I opened the shop anyway.

It was worth the effort with good sales in the shop and via the Facebook page.

I only had one visitor for coffee and it was really nice to have some quality time with Maid Marian. I don’t think we’ve ever had time with just the two of us before. We had about an hour.

I made some 50% OFF signs for the snap buttons and snap jewellery and taped them where they’ll be seen.

I prepared the “closing down” sale signs for next week - I still need to laminate them.

I began gathering a few things to bring home. If I bring a bag of stuff home every day, the job won’t be so big at the end of January.

I packed away the macrame wall hangings ready to hand back to their owner.

I met a lot of holiday-makers, but they were new - not the old regulars - which was also nice.

The weather was a bit unpredictable with a few short sharp showers appearing out of nowhere, so that may have kept a few people away. The forecast is for much of the same this week so it’ll be interesting to see what affect it has on sales.

I feel like it’s going to be a good week.

Nite all.

Self Care

I needed the break.

It has been five days since I looked at anything covid or vaccine related.

Sometimes it just gets too much.

Today was my last day of self indulgent misery.

I should have practiced some self care and self love but mostly I sat around feeling a bit angry with the world.

We watched the third Matrix movie which was better than expected. 

We found a series called “Dash and Lily” which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I’ve just discovered that there won’t be a 2nd series. That makes me sad.

We watched some cricket too.

Some time after 5pm I decided to go for a swim.

Big mistake.

It was surprisingly cool and I swam three laps before I decided to find some warmth under a hot shower!

I researched some raised garden beds. Once I’m done with the shop, I’ll get back into some fruit and vegetable gardening - on a smaller scale than our last “mini farm” pre-pool. I’m looking forward to growing some sunflowers too.

I’ve ordered some sour dough bread starter and will make our own bread.

I have big plans for the kitchen and paleo cooking - which I’m sure Adoring Husband will enjoy. I’ve been going through some old recipe books. We are going to be super healthy!

I’m going to spring clean the house and brutally declutter.

There will be plenty to keep us busy, which we’ll need since we’re not allowed out in the real world. We’ll have to provide our own entertainment!

In the meantime, I have about five weeks left of my happy place - depending of course on whether there is another lockdown.

It’s way after midnight and I’ve got work tomorrow!

Nite all.

Misery Guts

Despite my best efforts to remain positive and uplifted this season, it has been an absolute struggle to find any semblance of ‘happy’.

I was grateful for a low key Christmas Day in hibernation where I could get sucked into the vortex of Netflix - although a couple of my choices such as The Matrix and Don’t Look Up were too close to actual reality and didn’t help improve my state of mind.

Grey skies, missing friends, minimal or nonexistent family contact, imminent life and lifestyle changes, local and global events and an uncertain future, among other things have all contributed to my low energy and negative vibing.

I’m reminded of a weekend in 1977 when my mother spent an entire weekend in bed refusing to speak to anyone and her only words were “it’s a case of stop the world, I want to get off”.

I’m the only one that can lift me out of this.

I think I’d like to dwell here in my self indulgent misery for another day and then I’ll take positive steps toward putting some colour back into my days.

Today I stayed in bed until 5pm.

There were storms about so I avoided the pool.

At lunch time, I shelled the remaining crab and stuffed my face.

I wrote a very long message to a friend who wanted some information and when I was 3/4 of the way through it (that took me 40 minutes) my battery went dead and I lost the entire thing. My motivation to retype it was at zero level so she still hasn’t received the info.

At 4pm I received a phone call from The Motivator and we chatted for an hour.

I made ham and salad for dinner and we watched the 2nd Matrix movie - which consisted of many long laborious choreographed fight scenes and car chases. It was everything it’s fans warned me it would be but I persisted because I want to watch all of the Matrix movies in succession - but not in one day.

And by “it’s fans” I mean Number One Son and Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair.

We watched a 2nd movie “A Street Cat Named Bob” which was very nice and had a warm and fuzzy ending … until the credits ran and it said “In Loving Memory of Bob The Cat” ugh 😩 

It’s now almost midnight so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Another One Done

Another Christmas done and dusted.

Adoring Husband liked his new Cronulla shirt …

I loved my new amethyst crystal lamp …

I love all the gifts so carefully selected by Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair. Here are a few including these cool hippy pants …

The weather was hot and muggy.

The storms kept us out of the pool.

We watched The Matrix on Netflix, followed by “Don’t Look Up” a parody of our current circumstances with some big names like Jennifer Laurence, Meryl Streep, Leonardo Di Caprio, Jonah Hill and Cate Blanchett. Depressing and poignant.

After that we watched an Aussie movie called “Drift”. 

I’ve just finished watching “Tick Tick Boom” 

Now I’ve started “Wide Open Sky” but it’s well after midnight so I doubt I’ll get through it tonight.

I made ham, eggs and tomato for Adoring Husband’s breakfast. I had ham steaks and caramelised pineapple - my favourite breakfast as a young child.

We totally missed lunch.

I did a quick potato salad and coleslaw to have with ham, crab, prawns and salad at dinner time.

Oh and I made a prawn cocktail for AH’s entree.

BGWLBH and I texted often during the day - both of us feeling a bit sad.

Vegan Chickie texted photos of their day as she and Mr Perfect hosted Christmas doing all of the catering themselves. It looked like a great day and Chicklet loved the lamp that I selected for her …

I hope you all enjoyed your day. I’ve seen some pics on Facebook and everybody looked happy and loved up, which was great to see.

Now we look to new year!

Nite all.