Tumbling Down

It has been raining steadily since 1pm.

It doesn’t look like stopping any time soon.

It’s lovely!

My sister Squirt and her fiancé both received a negative result from their covid tests.

This leads me to ask “If the traveller had the most contagious strain of covid (Delta which is also the most resistant to vaccines) and she spent 2 hours in a busy restaurant on Magnetic Island, and NOBODY caught it, then what the hell is going on???”

Why isn’t anybody questioning this?

I had a good day of sales as customers came in between rain showers.

I paid all my bills - it has been a heavy couple of months for stoopid bills 💵 so I’m happy that’s behind me now.

At 1pm, The Artful Dodger arrived at the shop because we planned on going to the party together at 2pm.

Adoring Husband helped close the shop and was kind enough to drive us because even though the party was just around the corner, the rain by this time, was quite heavy.

We were not the first to arrive.

Our hostess was dressed to the nines and looking fabulous!

The kitchen counter was spread with all the healthiest food and tasty delights.

The photos of us all under the age of 5 were spread on the table. My photo was the last remaining after the guesses - nobody picked that it was me.

We drank slushies made with Ruby Riccadonna and strawberry sorbet, normal Riccadonna with passion fruit sorbet. They were delicious and very easy to drink.

We played Charades! It was freaking hilarious!

I was home before 7pm. Five hours of fun and frivolity was quite enough for me.

It’s now rapidly approaching 1am. How the hell did that happen?

Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Still Doin’ It

Tax stuff.

Because yesterday was the last day of the financial year, I spent most of today finalising all the paperwork and bundling it up ready for the accountant.

I am pleased with the figures.

Even though my morning was very busy, I only reached my minimum happy number in sales, which surprised me.

Time passed very quickly and I had a visit from Aggie which always adds a sparkle to my day.

At 2pm Adoring Husband closed up the shop for me so that I could spend 90 minutes with The Artful Dodger practicing our sketching skills …

This is by no means finished and I doubt that it will ever be finished. It will go into the folder with all of my other unfinished art.

We really enjoyed our art time. It’s one of those things that goes on the bottom of the priority list, when it really should be close to the top in the ‘self care’ category.

The Artful Dodger dodged death (hence the name) when she survived a massive heart attack about 18 months ago. As a result, she has weak lungs, a weak heart and trouble with her kidneys. Art has been very therapeutic and has helped considerably with her rehabilitation.

She is also a member of the journaling group and boy does she have a story to tell!

There is a party happening tomorrow (Friday) afternoon with our art group. One of the girls who lives on the waterfront is making the most of her alone time while her husband is fishing. I think it’s going to be a crazy afternoon with lots of alcohol, lots of laughter and plenty of silliness.

We are all taking with us, a photo of ourselves under the age of 5, so there will be a guessing competition to pick who’s who. THAT will be interesting!

Meanwhile I’m disappointed that I didn’t stay awake last night to watch Kyrgios finish his match against the french player and number 21 seed Humbert because he won 9-7 in the final set.

I saw his first couple of games and believed he would lose because he was not playing well, so gave up, rolled over and fell asleep.

Which is what it’s time for me to do now!

This funny pic was created by my friend in Toowoomba who has been playing around with digital art. She is also a photographer and has many creative, artistic abilities. I really love this one …

Nite all.

The End

The end of the financial year!

That last six months passed quickly!

Meditation this morning was worth the early start and the discussions about ‘self talk’ and ‘internal dialogue’ was very timely for me. I got a lot out of it.

I got to spend about an hour with The Gypsy afterwards. We never seem to run out of conversation and it’s always meaningful.

The Happy Hippy stayed after meditation to do the cleaning and seemed to enjoy her hour, singing along to my playlist music.

It was quite a slow day for sales and I guess the intermittent showers probably kept people indoors.

It gave me time to do some paperwork - there is always something to be done - and tomorrow I’ll pay some bills.

I’m enjoying the new layout of my office area.

Adoring Husband and I made hamburgers for dinner tonight. Something very different for us and we thoroughly enjoyed them.

We watched Stars of the Silver Screen - one show about Jack Nicholson and one on Paul Newman.

Now I’m in bed watching Wimbledon. There are a couple of young Aussie males playing at the moment and Kyrgios plays tonight but I’m not staying awake to watch his match. I need my beauty sleep.

Speaking of which …

Nite all.

It Strikes Again

Covid that is.

They wait until you’re feeling safe …

… and then BAM!!

How can they allow a receptionist from a covid ward to go on holidays without first conducting a precautionary covid test?

It seems to me that it’s always people in authority who ‘accidentally’ allow these slip ups.

Then ‘the powers that be’ put the fear of God into everyone. They play on that fear and they manipulate our emotions and control our every movement.

While we are all struggling financially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, the Bill Gates’ and Jeff Bezos’ and Mark Zuckerbergs’ and Dan Schulmans’ and Elon Musks’ and Warren Buffets’ of this world have doubled and in some cases, tripled their profits.

They all have their fingers in the Covid/vaccination/isolation pie contributing to our fear and profiting from it.

But don’t get me started 😝

We are at the beginning of the school holidays and so many plans have now been cancelled due to the movements of one young traveller last week.

Businesses are suffering, families are disappointed, huge financial losses from cancelled concerts/festivals/events, people desperately searching for vaccinations and so much community anger directed at the young girl who travelled extensively while contagious.

She spent time on Magnetic Island, where my sister (Squirt) and her fiancé live. The traveller spent 2 hours in the restaurant where Squirt’s fiancé was working. Squirt spent hours this afternoon in a queue to be tested because she’s not allowed back to work in the pharmacy until she is given a negative test result.

The workers shut the testing station before she reached the front of the queue so she’ll return tomorrow morning at 6am to wait for their 8am start.

So the wait begins.

Morning tea was another quiet one with three of us chatting until Bombshell appeared with the grandies and after the girls all left, I had a good day of sales in the shop, with a few visitors to make it more interesting throughout the day.

Journaling class was productive and afterwards we set up the training room for meditation. 

I was too unmotivated to cook the duck and veg that I’d planned, so Adoring Husband got some soup out of the freezer and we had that instead.

We watched the Big Brother finale - no surprises there - but sad that Covid forced changed to the format and prevented some of the participants from attending.

Wimbledon has begun! But I can’t watch it tonight because it’s an early start tomorrow. Bugger.

Speaking of early starts, best get some sleep because it’s almost 11pm.

Nite all.

Much To Do

Our day began on the back foot.

Because of days of cloudy skies and rain, our solar hot water ran out of oomph and we had no hot/warm water for showers this morning.

Ugh. That was annoying, even more so because we left it til the last minute to shower, so we didn’t even have the time to flick the switch and wait for the power to warm it up.

A cold wet washer to clean the bits that mattered 😳

We attended the 90 minute appointment with our financial advisor … which lasted for 45 minutes … and drove around the corner to Su Jus Bar for an early lunch. The wind was cold and gusty in the outdoor eating area but the food was delish. We tried the new ‘Reubens’ grilled sandwich.

Afterwards Adoring Husband took me to the new QBD book store at Stocklands.

That was a dangerous move.

As I was about to pay for my carefully selected items, AH stepped forward and waved his phone over the eftpos machine paying for me. 

It’s not the first time he’s been surprised by the final tally!! He gasped 😮

I wish I had a couple of days off now so that I could spend quality time with my purchases!

We arrived home a bit after 2pm, got changed and drove to the shop to clear the training room of the art tables and we set up for morning coffee and journaling.

The laundry was calling to me and I did a couple of loads of washing before preparing barramundi and salad for dinner.

We were both too tired to even stay up together and watch Big Brother.

So here I am in bed yawning yawning yawning.

Nite all.

Against My Team

I have a confession to make.

I tipped against my team tonight in the State of Origin.

I have no faith in our QLD captain or coach and it’s evident that the opposition is a strong, connected team with the will to win.

It means that I will gain 2 points over my tipping comp opponents because they all tipped QLD.

(Perhaps I should not speak too soon because the game is still in progress and we are 20 points behind with 14 minutes remaining)

Saturday morning was great for sales in the shop and that was followed by a fun afternoon of art. There were only 3 regulars in attendance and 2 holiday makers joined us. Everybody was happy with their results.

I had been awake since 2am. I fell asleep at 9pm and when I woke at 2, I couldn’t get back to sleep, needless to say, I was exhausted by the end of the work day and had another early night on Saturday.

Again, I woke early … 3am this time … but I was able to doze off after an hour or so, then didn’t wake til after 9am.

I feel well rested.

We had soup for dinner and I made some scones for the first time in about 15 years!

We have a big day in The Bay tomorrow, my team is now losing by 26pts, so I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Brains and Muscles

I’ve been on my feet a lot this week - hence my tired leg muscles.

I’ve been calculating and thinking a lot this week - hence my tired brain.

A hot shower called to me this evening and I followed that with massaging a body cream of magnesium, lavender, patchouli, rose and geranium into my thigh and calf muscles.

What a difference! Totally soothed and calmed my legs which were feeling restless and almost on the verge of cramping so that I couldn’t find a comfortable sitting position.

Now they feel calm and rested.

I did lots of brain work and calculating today so I plan on falling asleep to a guided healing meditation to help me fall into a peaceful sleep.

It’s all about self love and self care.

Sales were slow today which gave me a chance to continue with my tax paperwork and also to sit for a while with The Brains Trust when she visited.

I do like the new layout of my work area. It feels very comfortable and practical.

There is an art and craft expo being held at the hall tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 am - 3pm so I’m hoping that the visitors to the expo will trickle over to me.

This is the start of school holidays but covid has once again caused havoc in NSW so the borders are closed to residents of greater Sydney, fear is stopping some people from crossing the border and there have been a few booking cancellations so it may be less profitable than expected for the entire area.

It was nice to have AH prepare dinner tonight and since there is no footy this weekend, I believe I shall climb into bed and wait for the rain to come.

Nite all.

All Done

It has taken almost 3 days and the shop is now decluttered and clean and rearranged where I wanted.

It feels good.

I was very productive this afternoon and got some ‘stuff’ done in preparation for tax time.

It was a good sales day.

Adoring Husband set up the tables ready for art on Saturday.

He has gone to SES training tonight so I cooked an early dinner for him - duck breast with salad.

There is no football and no Big Brother on TV so it’s time for me to climb into my lovely comfy bed and call it a night.

Nite all.

Almost There

There were only 6 of us in meditation this morning but it was deep and emotional for most of the regulars who attended and there were a few tears quietly rolling down some cheeks

Those are the best classes because it means there are shifts happening and people are healing old wounds, recognising their triggers and figuring out how to use their powers. You can feel the amazing energy at the end of the class as people leave.

While The Gypsy and I were chatting in my newly created little nook behind the counter, The Polish Princess burst through the front door and fell into The Gypsy’s arms crying some angry tears - so much emotion and she hadn’t even attended meditation!

She sat with us for a while and had a short vent, but soon we found reasons to giggle and look at it from a different angle. She left with a smile on her face thanking us for changing her mood.

The Gypsy had to leave then so we never got to finish our conversation. We really must catch up some time outside of work so that we don’t get interrupted and can talk freely.

I had some good sales with lots of new customers and unfamiliar faces through the door.

There was time between customers to finish setting out the displays after the carpet cleaning as well as rearrange behind the counter. It’s still not completely finished but very close! There will be pics when I’m done.

I think I’d like to try for a quiet day tomorrow.

On Friday I need to set up for art class on the weekend. There have been a few drop out due to work and holidays so at this stage, there will only be four in the class! Think I need to do a quick recruit!

It has already been a trying week. Lucky I had my Sunday in bed, but Monday was essentially a sick day and then Tuesday was a moving day that lasted for 12 long hours. Today was a 7 hour work day. I’m feeling it.

It’s now after 10.30pm and I need some sleep.

(MOT = Ministry of Transport in UK and they conduct annual safety tests on cars)

Nite all.

Everything Hurts

Except for a lovely morning with the girls, I have spent all day moving ‘stuff’ from one room to another and back again.

At 2pm today, the meditation room looked like this …

… and the shop, ready for the carpet cleaner, looked like this …

By 8.30pm, the meditation room looked like this …

Adoring Husband and I came home and went straight to bed.

We are exhausted and sore.

We are too old for this!

My area behind the counter will require a lot of time and effort tomorrow because it is a shambles and I’m not even sure how I want the layout yet, but hopefully when I get there in the morning, I will have an epiphany and it will all fall into place.

Sales were low and very few people came through the door, but it was very windy and cold so smart people would remain in the comfort of their own home.

The Happy Hippy came to clean.

It has been a really long day. It’s now 11pm and I’m ready for sleep.

Nite all.

Wasted

My Monday was kind of wasted.

I stayed in bed til quite late and Adoring Husband made some GF pancakes for breakfast which my tummy did not like.

I got out of bed to help AH clear the lounge room in preparation for the carpet cleaner who is coming on Tuesday.

I don’t think I even lasted for 30 minutes and I had to lay down. When standing up, I was wracked with pain, but no pain when laying on my back.

I fell asleep at about 2pm and woke at 6pm.

I risked an apple and a mandarin for dinner and a bit later had a chicken wing but now my tummy is cramping even while I’m laying down.

Ugh.

I hope a good nights sleep helps me feel better tomorrow.

This my new woollen throw rug that I purchased from Lorraine Lea for my bed. The colour is delicious!

This is little Hazie smiling beautifully for her Dad while sporting her glowing red locks of hair …

Nite all.

A Bit Productive

I didn’t get to stay in bed all day, as I’d planned.

When Adoring Husband left the house to get his coffee at 6am, I got out of bed and made myself some tea and a small ham salad for breakfast. I was a bit peckish because I didn’t eat dinner last night.

I returned to bed with my goodies and watched a Netflix movie called “Irresistible” which I quite enjoyed.

After that I signed up for and did an online Masterclass Workshop about Launching an Online Course. It was interesting - I knew most of it but picked up a couple of interesting titbits which is always a bonus.

AH asked about lunch so I dragged myself out of bed and cooked up some barramundi and salad for us both. I sat with him and watched the end of a documentary on Stan about pangolins …

Interesting little creatures which are highly endangered in both Africa and Asia thanks to illegal trafficking.

I returned to bed and watched another movie on Netflix called “An American Pickle” which I also enjoyed.

Then it was time to cook dinner which was a whole roast chicken with cauliflower au gratin made with Zymil cream and lactose free cheese. It was surprisingly good! I also baked some potato and sweet potato.

While that cooked, I watched Manly annihilate Gold Coast in the second half of their game.

We had strawberries and raspberries with Zymil cream for dessert. I might add that AH had TWO servings of dinner before he had dessert!

I watched Spicks and Specks before once more returning to bed.

It’s already after midnight!

Nite all.

Sorry Not Sorry

I was so exhausted, I was asleep before 9pm last night!

Here is my token late post for yesterday.

I found this on Facebook and just had to share …

*** The bicycle is the slow death of the planet.

General Director of Euro Exim Bank Ltd. got economists thinking when he said:

"A cyclist is a disaster for the country's economy: he does not buy cars and does not borrow money to buy. He does not pay for insurance policies. He does not buy fuel, does not pay for the necessary maintenance and repairs. He does not use paid parking. He does not cause serious accidents. He does not require multi-lane highways. He does not get fat.

Healthy people are neither needed nor useful for the economy. They don't buy medicine. They do not go to hospitals or doctors. Nothing is added to the country's GDP (gross domestic product).

On the contrary, every new McDonald's restaurant creates at least 30 jobs: 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 dietary experts and nutritionists, and obviously, people who work at the restaurant itself."Choose carefully: cyclist or McDonald's? It is worth considering.

P.S. Walking is even worse. Pedestrians don't even buy bicycles.”***

So true don’t you think? I’d rather be a healthy rider 👍

Anyway I had good sales at the shop on Saturday and a very relaxing afternoon at home. Today is Sunday and you all know where I’m going to be for the entire day …

🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌 🤷🏼‍♀️ 🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌  😎 🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌  📖 🛌 🛌 🛌 🛌 👩🏼‍💻

I’ll do my usual blog tonight.

Have a happy day!