That Was Long

It was a long day.

I was busy for most of it and considering how little stock is left, sales were surprisingly good and a couple of times there were ten or more people in the shop.

Lots of regulars came in which was lovely.

The last hour was very very quiet.

It was long because even though I know that closing the shop forever is absolutely the right decision for me, today was a reminder of what I’m giving up and it hurts a little.

I looked at the empty displays and thought of all the lovely stock I could buy to create the fun shopping experience that everyone enjoys and I watched people walk in and look disappointed with the small range left on the shelves.

I’ll get over it, life goes on and after all, life is what you make it and I’ll be sure to make it pretty fab!

I’ve booked the professional cleaners to come in at the end of the month and I still need to book the carpet cleaner. Next week I’ll advertise the furniture and fittings and hopefully sell most of that so I don’t have to store it myself.

When I got home, I sat down for half an hour before cooking sweet chilly chicken thighs with cherry tomato, mushrooms and zucchini for Adoring Husband.

I also cooked a whole chicken so I won’t need to cook after work tomorrow.

We watched the footy. I was excited that Warriors defeated Cowboys by one point and excited that the Roosters defeated Broncos. Even though Broncos are my team, I tipped against them this week and they were actually winning for most of the game!

It’s after 11pm and I’m so ready for sleep.

Nite all.

The End is Nigh

 Awake and Aware

It was a late start but Adoring Husband and I drove to my shop a bit after midday.

We posted a parcel and picked up our mail.

A lady from The Bay wrote this book, the title of which appealed to me very much …

I was her first online sale which felt nice for me, it arrived today and I can’t wait to read it. You see why the title resonated with me!

At the shop, we vacuumed and dusted in preparation for three days of sales. I made some signs, laminated them and stuck them where they needed to go.

I have to say that I could feel myself filling with a rage that was so difficult to control. I guess it’s all part of the grieving process, but it concerns me that anger is only the 2nd stage 😳 I thought I was much further along than that!

Anyway, I think I’m looking forward to this last hurrah and in just three weeks it will all be over.

At the same time, BGWLBH has today been given her marching orders from her 40 year career and she can start planning her move up here. All things going well, we are planning on her departing Griffith on Election Day.

So it’s all happening in my world.

We switched things up and AH cooked the usual Friday night dinner because I wasn’t feeling up to spending time in the kitchen.

We watched a disappointing game of football and it’s already well after midnight so it’s time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Much Better

I slept soundly last night.

Seven hours.

It would have been longer but Adoring Husband accidentally woke me when he brought my lemon water into the room - for the first time in days.

So I got out of bed at 9am, about the same time as AH left to pick up the FROG box from Craignish.

I decided to clear out the fridge so that there would be space for the fresh fruit and veg arriving.

That took 30 minutes.

That also inspired me to start on the pantry. 

In one hour, I emptied out one shelf, cleaned it, lined it and restocked it. Even though I tossed quite a few goodies that were out of date, I still struggled to fit everything back in!

After I did some washing, it was time for lunch so fish and salad was my menu choice.

I was all out of motivation so after lunch we watched two movies.

The first was an Australian movie directed by and starring Simon Baker. It was called “Breath” and I enjoyed it. Following that, we rented “The Matrix Resurrection” which was excellent and meaningful.

Through all of that, down on Phillip Island in Victoria, my adorable little Hazie was celebrating her first birthday! Vegan Chickie sent through some pics during the day …

I wish I could have been there to celebrate with them. 😢🥳🎈🙋🏼‍♀️🎁❤️🥰

We celebrated with salmon steak and cauliflower/spinach au gratin (which was created from last night’s leftovers).

We’ve enjoyed Gogglebox and Selling Houses Australia on the telly tonight and now it’s bed time for me.

Nite all.

Sleepless in the Heads

Another sleepless night for me.

At 3am I was sitting up in bed paying shop bills - the last bills I’ll ever pay for my happy place.

It was 7.15am when I finally slept and 11am when I woke up.

I decided to go for a swim, soak up some sunshine, get some fresh air and be active … which hopefully will help me sleep tonight!

I swam 20 laps and floated around on the pool chair for a while. The water was a little chilly but the sun was warm and delicious.

Adoring Husband and I drove to the post office to pick up my parcel, which I still haven’t opened.

At home I hung out some washing, put another load in and folded the clean dry stuff that I’d removed from the line.

AH made my anti-inflamitea and I prepared cauliflower au gratin with duck for dinner. It was delicious.

NOW I’m feeling weary and the yawns are coming thick and fast.

So … nite all. 

Out Sprout

Bit of sprouting to be done because I received this today!

I purchased four sprouting jars and I love fresh sprouts in my salads so I cant wait! I can feel the healthful goodness surging through my body already!

I stayed in bed until 3pm today!

I did get up to make some breakfast of black tea and toast at about 10pm then I passed on lunch.

I did a lot of reading, note taking and video watching in bed. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to be able to read and see everything I want to see and read!

As much as I’m learning such a lot, which makes me hungry for more, I really feel like I’m living in “The Truman Show” and I need to step away again.

So it’s time to make a ‘to do’ list every night before I go to sleep so that I have a reason to get of bed and get s#&t done.

It’s almost two month since I closed the shop!

For dinner we had the most delicious GF beef and mushroom pie with a massive salad of lettuce, cherry tomato, cucumber, snow peas, red onion, capsicum, avocado, pickled onions, beetroot and kimchi.

We were able to still squeeze into our bellies GF mini apple pie with vegan vanilla ice cream.

Fully sated is the best description of our demeanours afterwards, surprisingly NOT uncomfortably full!

We thoroughly enjoyed the final episode of MAFS - and by ‘we’ I mean ‘me’ with Adoring Husband snoring beside me and BGWLBH texting from 1400 kms away.

AH had a big day gardening and mowing so he was feeling pretty knackered.

It’s almost 11.30pm so I’m outta here.

Nite all.

Sweet Silence: There is a part of us that is perfect and pure. It is untouched by anything of this world. It is filled with divine qualities. Today, let me experience the stillness within me to experience deep and enriching sweet silence.

I’ve decided to keep my food diary here. I don’t eat much so what goes into my mouth needs to have high nutritional value. The first week will include some low nutrition foods while we use them up, but there’s not much.

I got up late so no breakfast or lemon water for me.

My lunch was fish with a salad of lettuce, 1 cherry tomato, 1 slice of cucumber, 1 snow peas, 1/4 of avocado, 1 stick of capsicum, 1 teaspoon of cashew cheese and kimchi. A smoothie made with fresh pineapple, mango, banana and fermented ginger beer (OMG delicious).

In our first garden pod we are growing butter lettuce, ice berg lettuce, rocket, cherry tomatoes, 2 different chilly plants, coriander, parsley, dill, apple mint and asparagus in the garden under the pod.

There are 3 apple cucumber plants growing in the outside pool garden.

There will be two more raised gardens with covers. I have beans, snow peas, radish, beetroot, celery, onion, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, kale and more.

I’ve ordered two tower gardens to grow potato and sweet potato.

I need to find space for corn, pumpkin and watermelon.

It’s been quite a few years since we grew vegetables and fruit and I’m feeling keen to eat our produce!

Pickling, preserving and fermenting is on my radar as well as making home made fermented ginger beer (YUM!) and coconut yoghurt.

Sour dough bread done with the correct fermentation process.

I’ve been researching freeze dryers. They are mighty pricey but do amazing things and retain all the flavour of foods. I watched a man freeze dry eggs and then rehydrate them and cook them. Easy peasy!

Freeze dried foods, when sealed and stored correctly, have a shelf life of 25 yrs! With a decade of use, that should just about see me out!

Adoring Husband spent the day clearing out most of the double garage. He backed the trailer up the driveway, filled it with what we are keeping, then backed it up to the shed out the back and transferred it all.

He invited me out to help but we were arguing after ten minutes so I retreated to the house.

I’ve done a couple of loads of washing, made a list of what goes into an escape bag (for women escaping violence) and found three bags to fill with the items, watched an intense movie called ‘The Tale’ and now I’m about to cook dinner.

BRB

Ok so I ate an orange for dinner.

For AH, I made something up. I placed five boneless chicken thighs in a pan, coated the skin with a special sweet chilly sauce and then sprinkled some Himalayan salt over the top. I put cherry tomatoes between the thighs and cut a zucchini lengthways, placing the two pieces on top of the chicken. That went in the oven at 200°C for 45 minutes.

AH ate every last mouthful, including the GF herb bread that I heated in the oven. I had two pieces of that too.

Now we are watching MAFS … well, AH is beside me watching the footy on his iPad … and I am texting BGWLBH when the juicy bits happen in MAFS.

Isn’t it different for me to be signing off at 8pm instead of midnight haha.

Nite all.

Sensitive Saturday

I fell asleep at midnight and slept until 9.40am!

Yes I felt very rested but I still stayed in bed until about 2pm.

I watched some great YouTube and rumble videos.

It seems that the “powers that be” don’t have to hide the truth anymore because the people are now choosing to hide from the truth. All according to plan of course.

Instead of busting my balls trying to get the truth out there, I’ll be spending my time preparing for what’s coming next, taking care of the people who matter most and finding a supportive community to cushion the blow and to be part of that community safety net.

We’ll be putting systems into place to protect what’s ours, living a quiet, peaceful existence and creating a healthful and happy lifestyle that will get us through the next three or four years intact.

This afternoon, between football matches, I gave “not so psychotic dog” a facial haircut (which was an emotional and physical struggle on its own) and clipped her claws, which she was much more receptive to.

She needs a good grooming, but I’ll leave that to the professionals.

I did a load of washing and I began painting Wilbur Herbert. He was damaged in the tornado and has been sitting in the shed for nine years! He was looking a bit the worse for wear so Adoring Husband gave him an undercoat a couple of weeks ago and this afternoon/evening I got started.

He’s not finished yet, by a long way, but I’m liking what’s happening so far!

At halftime in the final footy match of the day, the score was looking like it might break records, so we switched channels and started watching a Netflix series called Yellowstone. It’s a bit intense and tricky to figure out all the connections, but Kevin Costner is keeping me interested.

AH found this big juicy fella in our barbecue area tonight …

Far out! It’s after midnight!

Nite all.