Too Old (parts 1 & 2)

I am definitely feeling my age! (See! I was so tired yesterday that I forgot to hit ‘publish’)

I’ve made the same amount of money in four days, that I usually make in a month which equates to a regular stream of people through the doors that I have to be nice to and converse with and to whom I give my energy.

It’s draining.

I don’t hate it! 

I’m just tired.

Sales were great and even better than yesterday, but still, the displays are all full and it doesn’t look like much has moved.

I gathered a lot of empty jewellery displays and packed them to give to a local jewellery artist.

Some of the furniture has been tagged as ‘sold’ and will be taken next month.

Both of my bins are filled to capacity with chopped up empty boxes, foam casings and plastic bags.

I’ve started a list of names and phone numbers of new people who want to do an art class if I run them from home. There are five on the list already, but I’m not sure if I’ll have classes or not. I’ll wait until my grieving period has passed and I’ll see how I feel.

We left work promptly at 2pm and I’ve had little energy all afternoon, although I did do two loads of washing.

Adoring Husband made his own paleo pizza for dinner. I had half a bottle of ginger kefir.

I can’t believe it’s 11pm already!

Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Saturday 15th January 2022

Hulloooooooo!

A HUGE Saturday of sales.

I was very busy from 9am-11am then one hour of emptiness and silence followed by very busy from 12pm-1pm.

I used the quiet hour to clear out some drawers in the training room, sorting through the paints and getting rid of some empty tubes. I washed the dishes and packed up my paint brushes, of which there are approximately 80!

It was nice to come home, make some lunch and put my feet up for a while - until dinner time when I made a savoury lamb mince. 

I cut the cheeks out of 10 mangoes and bagged them for freezing.

Now it’s just after 9pm and I’m all snug in bed and have just phoned Number One Son for his 40th birthday. How did he get so old???? He gave himself a nice birthday present by injuring his knee while playing cricket.

Oops I got distracted and now it’s almost 11.30pm!

Nite all.

So Great!

What an amazing day!

Sales were the lowest for the week so far but still great.

The number of like minded people who entered the shop today was mind boggling. All but two of them from out of the area. All of them with their own and their family’s covid stories. All with special anti virus recipes to share. All with new websites to explore. All with their own opinions about the mainstream narrative.

There were two X-nurses one of whom became a naturopath but is now retired from that, one a Doctor recently de-registered for refusing the vax, one childcare worker with 16 years experience no longer working for not getting jabbed and two public servants who have refused to be jabbed. Two of our local unvaccinated people.

Such great conversations. I felt supported and energised at the end of the day.

I had time to clear some stuff out of the storage shelves ready for Adoring Husband to chop it all up and toss in the recycling bin.

I had time to make and eat my prawn lunch.

I received a delivery of kefir - fermented ginger drinks that I ordered on the weekend. OMG delicious!

I’m planning out our new healthy lifestyle. With more time to dedicate to us, we are going to be the super heroes of our own lives and I can’t wait.

It was exciting to see that as of 15th January, they are relaxing the border restrictions and Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair will be heading this way very soon! Finally! Just in time to help me finish up in the shop! 

We left work right on time.

Instead of my usual anti-inflammitea, I sampled my new Pine Needle tea which I ordered through the FROG box yesterday. It is an anti-viral tea that is apparently all the rage for Covid recovery as well as creating Covid immunity. 

The taste reminded me of a medicine I used to take as a child! It must have been a good memory because the taste didn’t disgust me.

We had bangers and mash with broccoli and home made gravy for dinner. So good!

I think I need an early night.

Nite all.

Another Day …

The day was a little slower, but sales were still fantastic, especially with a huge boost in the final 30 mins.

For all the days of great takings for the last 2 weeks, you’d think the shop would start looking emptier, but it’s not at all!! It still looks very full of stock.

I found a box of clothes in the change room today, so there are 8 jumpers and 6 pairs of black leggings now hanging on the racks that weren’t there before.

I sold quite a few of the high end items today, which is good.

Beauty came for a quick visit in the morning. She’s back from her latest road trip and it was nice to get a hug from one of my girls.

I had time to make AND eat some lunch! Prawns with avocado, mango and seafood sauce. Thanks to Adoring Husband for stopping at Craignish for the prawns after picking up the FROG box.

We got out of the shop on time and my only chore when we got home was to empty the FROG box.

I made my usual tea and did my usual “putting the feet up” thing.

AH cooked chicken wings for dinner.

It’s almost midnight and I’m yawning uncontrollably.

Nite all.

Three Times

I was SO busy today that I only had time to boil the jug three times - eventually making myself a cup of tea on the third attempt.

At one stage there were 15 people in the shop and I can’t remember it being completely empty at any point.

I smashed my sales record again and I’ve gotta say it was an impressive tally.

Thank goodness Adoring Husband could see how exhausted I was and quickly closed the shop at 2pm before anybody else could sneak through the door.

I received an invitation to sit on a committee for the “Know Your Rights” group which is holding a rally in the Lions Park on 12th Feb. There’ll be a sausage sizzle, a coffee van, entertainment as well as a very knowledgeable guest speaker who will provide lots of information as well as answer any questions.

I declined because I have enough on my plate for the next month and I don’t want to add stress, however, I’ll help promote the rally and invite people along.

During the day, a woman said to me “Oh I wish we lived in the area. I’d buy the shop, but I don’t think my husband would agree to moving.”

I replied “You should ask him because you never know, he might just surprise you!”

As I left the shop at closing time, she called out to me from the footpath and we met halfway along the driveway where she asked me for more details about the business.

It was a genuine enquiry from an experienced business owner and I was honest with her, and she thanked me for my honesty. In return she was honest with me asking me to not get my hopes up because she didn’t know how her husband would feel about the idea.

It was a good conversation and even if nothing comes of it, I feel good knowing that she liked my shop enough to consider taking it on. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when she brings the subject up with her hubby.

I couldn’t wait to sit down this afternoon and my body thanked me as I leant back in my chair and put my feet up while I drank my usual tea.

AH cooked our chicken thighs on the barbecue while I made the salad.

It’s now 9.30pm and I’m definitely ready for some sleep. I wonder if tomorrow will be another blinder?

Nite all.

Fancy That!

In October 2019, some very wealthy and important people gathered together for a practice run of a global pandemic to discuss all the issues that they would need to overcome - like how to keep big business operating, how to curb fake news/misinformation and how to control the masses.

It was called Event 201 and there is a website with videos showing small snippets of discussions, presentations and speeches by powerful people.

You can watch these videos here … Event 201

Despite an early start, my Monday has been very pleasant.

At 8am I met The Gypsy at the shop and we spent 90 quality minutes catching up. There was a LOT to catch up on and 90 minutes wasn’t nearly enough time, but it was very enjoyable.

Adoring Husband picked me up at 9.30am and I decided that I wanted Canadian pancakes for brunch. Into the kitchen I strode to make GF pancakes with caramelised banana, bacon and maple syrup.

It was delicious and exactly what my tummy wanted.

The rest of the day was spent in front of the TV.

Dinner was salmon steak with home made potato salad, home made coleslaw, green salad, kimchi, avocado and lemon. Also delicious.

I feel very refreshed and ready to face another closing down week.

BOSTON -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Quaker Oats Co. have agreed to pay a $1.85 million settlement to children fed radioactive cereal in the 1940s and 1950s as part of a scientific experiment to determine how the products' nutrients are absorbed into the body.2 Jan 1998

Nite all.

Sweet Sunday

It was a sweet Sunday for me, but not so sweet for the flood bound down south.

While Maryborough’s flood barricade experienced a catastrophic failure because a wall in the underground storm drain failed, which caused the water to escape upward through the drain holes.

This caused flooding to a larger number of businesses than expected so people were scrambling to empty important documents, technology and stock from their premises before it was too late.

The flooding was just 35cm short of the 2013 record.

The bridge at Howard is temporarily closed until it can be checked for structural damage.

Meanwhile we are all protected in our Burrum bubble.

Although … a fridge washed up on the beach this morning! It was quickly removed but there is a lot of debri about from where the Mary River flows out to sea and the currents bring it in our direction.

I stayed in bed all day. 

I got up to make my breakfast and again at 4pm to make dinner.

Chicken mince with onion, garlic, cabbage, carrot, mushroom, white port, sour cream, salt, pepper, a touch of coconut sugar and a few GF pasta spirals.

It was dang tasty!

I think I shall go to bed to watch the last hour of “I’m a Celebrity”.

I’m meeting The Gypsy at the shop in the morning. She’s got an hour to spare until they need to go home and clean up the flood mess.

A couple of things you might be interested in …

Physicians Declaration II

Doctors For Covid Ethics

Nite all.

Water Water Everywhere

X tropical cyclone Seth has given us a lot more than we bargained for!

Some places received 640+mm of rain in 24 hours - that’s more than a year’s worth of rain one day!

Right now, Maryborough and Gympie are waiting for the rivers to peak.

Best Cousin In The World, who has a farm on the Mary River at Gundiah, is surrounded by water and the river is the highest it’s ever been and the closest to her house it’s ever been!

This is what it usually looks like …

This is what it looks like today …

Scary huh?

All roads to their property are flooded so there is nowhere to go.

The Gypsy who lives in Dallarnil, west of Childers, had a river of water flood through her property washing away the veggie garden and and all the potted plants. The small town was damaged …

The bridge to Howard (20 mins from here) is under water.

We are fine here. No flooding and the rain has gone.

It was quieter than usual in the shop today. I well and truly passed my happy minimum but the weather certainly kept people away.

It was a pain in the butt when I was at my busiest, I experienced a blackout that lasted about 15 minutes. I had three people waiting to be served and no internet for the transactions!

Aggie came for a quick visit. It’s been a few weeks since we caught up so it was nice to see her.

I’m now looking forward to a couple of days off, maybe a swim in the pool and perhaps checking off a few things on my “to do” list.

Again, we’ll see.

Nite all.

Down She Comes!

Beautifully delicious heavy rain soaking into the ground as we speak.

I’m a bit concerned that my training room may have very wet inner walls by tomorrow morning.

As expected, the weather contributed to reduced sales today, but my takings were still fabulous - just half as fabulous as the other days of the week.

I met lots of new people today including many workers from the medical industry. One lady who has just been “sacked” from an $80,000 pa health industry job for refusing the vax. 

She told me that 50% of her family work in the health industry - nurses, doctors, lab workers, dieticians, physiotherapists, counsellors - a wide range. Of the twenty one family members, all but three of them have been stood down for refusing the vax.

One of the three, her daughter, was vaxed against her better judgement and while in tears, but she had a new house mortgage and she couldn’t afford to lose her job.

She said they all refused the jab because they’ve seen the results and have cared for the many injured in hospitals in QLD.

Nurses, including her daughter, are currently working twelve hour shifts because of staff shortages and they’re talking about bringing trainees in from the universities to help.

We had a long chat. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s stories.

Another young woman from Gympie hospital who only has one senior RN above her now and needed a break after working double shifts for 3 months due to staff shortages.

An older woman who lost her “carer” job for not getting the jab but has been called back to work because so many of those that were being cared for had to be put into hospitals and other facilities because there weren’t enough carers left in the work force.

Apparently exemptions are now being offered to bring carers back but they need to be tested daily.

I had a really nice visit from one of my neighbours this afternoon with her own story to tell. The division in the community is brutal and we are all hurting because of it. It’s not going to end any time soon.

I’m looking forward to finishing with the shop and withdrawing into my own little world where I can focus on our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. I’m going to avoid the world until all this is over … it’s going to be a long time.

Vaxed or unvaxed, it seems that everybody is over all the BS.

In NT the Premier just announced that the unvaxed are no longer allowed to go to work! They are not allowed to exercise for one hour each day either. They are only allowed to buy groceries or medications within a 30km radius of their home, provide care and support for family members who cannot care for or support themselves, and they can leave their home for their own personal medical treatment.

That’s it.

I have a feeling that the same rules will be brought in for QLD next week.

We’ll see.

I’ve enjoyed sitting back with my feet up, watching telly and listening to that lovely rain. It’ll be nice to fall asleep to the sound of it too.

At least I’ll be ready for sleep a lot earlier than the last few nights!

In fact I am yawning uncontrollably so I think it’s time.

This is the rain we are experiencing right now!

Nite all.

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.