A Day To Reset

I had big plans for today, until I was reminded of our Frack Free meeting which was to start at 9am.

As passionate as I feel about this cause, right now I have other important things on my mind, which are starving for my attention, so I felt a bit 'put out' having to attend this meeting.

Having done the hard work to get the signatures from the two outer sections of our town, I feel that my job is done, until we need to hit the remaining two sections.

What is being planned right now is outside my scope of interest, so I would like to withdraw until the next wave of surveys need to be completed.

All things considered, (like the time of the year being silly season) it was a good meeting with eleven of us in attendance, and plenty was achieved.

From there, I had a lovely morning with The Motivator. She gifted me some delicious natural body products and this beautiful timber box with a tree of life lid. It is now the new home of my many and varied bracelets.

She made me feel very spoilt and very special!

Adoring Husband spent the day selling Christmas Cakes door to door, raising money for the SES, but had a two hour break in the heat of the day, which he spent at home, eating lunch and watching the 'Twilight' movie with me, which was being aired on one of the Foxtel channels.

Not long after lunch, my Le Reve lady delivered all the goodies that were bought at my party last week, so tomorrow I'll be pedalling around town delivering them to their new owners.

This afternoon, I made a list of everything that I hope to achieve with my website this week leading up to Christmas. I plan on being very productive and at the end of the week will be awarding myself a gold star for 'solid achievement'.

Right now, the only achievement I have in mind, is getting a good night's sleep.

Nite all.

Home Once More

Well, it was difficult to leave the Chicklet house this morning, knowing that our next visit is such a long way off and I'll have to travel much further. Chicklet was not happy either and requested that I put her in my iPhone with my collection of Pokemon characters!

The Bare-chested Chef dropped me at Cooroy, where I embarked on some much needed retail therapy which eased a world of pain. I followed that up with some RSL poker machine love. I figured that since I haven't gambled for some weeks now (while the club is under renovation), I could afford to have a little play today.

The poker machine gods were not as kind to me as I'd hoped.

The train station was the busiest I've ever seen it, with the platform full of people waiting in the heat and large family groups there to say farewell to other members heading north.

There were two cheeky males, who appeared to be father and son, and who boarded the train without tickets, found two spare seats and then avoided the gaze of the train steward as he checked the rest of our tickets after boarding.

I didn't dob them in, because I enjoyed watching their pleasure in hitching a free ride from Cooroy to Gympie.

Another man in a seat behind me, introduced himself to his fellow passengers and proceeded to tell them the story of his accidental swallowing of a false tooth and then went on to describe the necessary search for said tooth every time he needed to use the bathroom!

Far too much information for such early conversations. One wonders what form of sterilisation was used before returning the tooth to it's rightful place????

The mind boggles.

I was happy to arrive at my destination, along with a dozen other passengers, and Adoring Husband and I had to fight our way through the crowd to reach the car. We had to sit in the car and wait because somebody had kindly parked directly behind us and we couldn't get out.

They certainly took their time - long enough for me to make idle threats while sealed in air conditioned comfort.

The psychotic dogs were very happy to see me arrive home. Ruby gave me her signature wide smile, baring her teeth by raising the top lip and lowering the bottom lip and wagging her bum and tail with wild abandonment. Colli ran around in circles barking endlessly, while Jack lurked behind them both waiting for me to notice him.

After the warm welcome, I quickly put Hainan Chicken on the stove to cook, while I unpacked my suitcase and then made myself presentable for my evening at the club.

As usual, it was a pleasant evening with the girls, even though none of us won a single thing and then, much to the shock of the bus regulars, I rushed out and stole the front seat, which is usually reserved for one of the old local blokes. He realised he'd missed out, so returned inside to grab himself another beer!

Here it is, rapidly approaching 11.30pm and I have been ready for sleep for about two hours now. I shall go and lay my head on the pillow before I get my second wind.

Nite all.

Dinosaur Dress-ups

Yes, most of our day consisted of dressing up, rearranging appendages and fancy dressing multiple dinosaurs.

No chasing Pokemon today, but we did watch some Pokemon cartoons.

Did a little creative and artistic digital colouring in on the iPad.

We had some crazy giant ball fun through the house until Chicklet lost her voice from laughing so loudly and we needed some time out to calm down.

Pizza for dinner. It's been about three years since I had pizza .. not since changing to Paleo .. and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything, although I ordered a basic Hawaiian, which isn't very adventurous I know. It did have a fairly decent gluten free base on it.

At the end of today, I think we are all pretty exhausted and need a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow, I head home again .. in one respect, I am not looking forward to it because our air conditioner has had the royal order and cannot be repaired.

We're getting a quote on Monday for a whole new system, but it will be February before it can be installed. It's going to be a long hot Summer and I am not even a little bit happy about that!

I told Vegan Chickie that I would be returning to spend the Summer here in her air conditioned house.

There is something with very large and loud flapping wings outside this bedroom window. I'm not sure if it's swooping down to catch something for dinner, or if it is sitting in one of the trees flapping it's wings, but it's like the sound effects from a horror movie. Perhaps it's a dragon???

Makes my heart skip a beat every time I hear it!

No photos to share and no exciting news, so I guess I'll sign off here and get some sleep. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, you'll know that the giant winged creature has taken me.

Nite all.

Unwitting Collector

Yes that's me.

I have now become the unwitting collector of Pokemon, using the Pokemon Go app.

Here are two of the eighteen characters that I caught today. There are 250 characters to catch and train.

We even went walking in the heat, to the park, where my app told me there had been sightings of Pokemon, and where I caught six of the little blighters!

Apparently, there is more to this game that just catching the characters, but I certainly hope to avoid getting any more involved than the little bit of fun that we had today!

At least it was pleasant at the park under the shade sail.

We also played

• dinosaurs
• created some art with the new felt tip pens 
• painted some ceramic sea creatures
• attempted to put together some skeletal dinosaurs (except I accidentally snapped one of them!)
• played hide n seek
• played Plants vs Zombies
• played on the swing
• played dress ups with my jewellery on the dinosaurs
• tricked Mama into believing that we weren't the REAL Chicklet and Bozzy Wozzy, but a pair of imposters.
• baked a dinner of chicken and vegetables and gravy
• had bath time
• read four bed time stories.

It's quite amazing just how much you can fit into one day.

Congratulations goes to my niece in Mackay, who, after a 40 hour labour, gave birth to a whopping 9lb 2oz baby girl on Monday night! Congratulations to my sister, Squirt, on becoming a first time grandmother too! All very exciting!

On that note, I shall love you and leave you. It's almost 11.30pm and I should probably get some sleep in preparation for another big Chicklet day tomorrow.

Nite all.

All About Timing

For some strange reason, I was certain that I needed to be at the train station at 10.46am today.

I was out of bed bright and early, so that I could shower, wash and blow dry my hair, make myself presentable so that I could rush down for coffee with the girls before heading straight to the station.

While at coffee, I took the train ticket out of my bag and discovered that I didn't need to be at the station until 12.14pm!!

It seems I have been experiencing some difficulties with 'timing' this month. I really must work on that!

We had to put the Blonde Bombshell in a 'time out' this morning ...

... five minutes of silence because she was just talking way too much and way too loud! She even timed herself! She knows we love her. She also knows we love her to shutup sometimes!

Adoring Husband and I arrived at the station fifteen minutes early and the train arrived at the station ten minutes early which caught everybody off guard.

Nobody was actually on the platform.

Adoring Husband and I were sitting in the air conditioned car chatting. The only other person catching the train was standing beside our car, with a friend, smoking a cigarette. So it was a sudden mad rush to drag our luggage up to the platform as the train pulled in.

There were only about eight people in my carriage, so it was a very quiet and uneventful three hours between Howard and Cooroy. I did some reading, dozed for about an hour and then played solitaire for the final leg.

I had taken my own lunch to snack on during the trip, for which I was grateful, because the dining car was about four carriages away towards the front of the train. I would have had to carry my handbag and my computer bag, both of which were very full and very heavy.

Keeping good time, we arrived at Cooroy train station ten minutes early and the Chicklet family pulled into the car park as I wheeled my suitcase down the zigzagging ramp.

It was a pretty quick drive home while we listened to Chicklet talking ten to the dozen about Pokemon and Pikachu. It seems that Minecraft is no longer 'game of the month' and I need to download and learn how to play Pokemon now!

Vegan Chickie and I chatted, and Chicklet put together the interconnecting dinosaurs that I brought with me. I had to multi-task and play dinosaurs while chatting at the same time. I'm not good at multi-tasking, so the afternoon felt like a bit of a shambles, however, it was also fun.

The Bare-chested Chef prepared a delicious meal of steak and veg (roasted sweet potato, potato, brussel sprouts, cherry tomatoes, mushroom and asparagus) which was just what my tummy needed to finish the day.

Chicklet removed all the heads, arms and legs of the dinosaurs and reassembled them to create her 'ultimate' team of dinosaurs - or as she liked to call them - the ultimate of the ultimate dinosaurs. They even enjoyed bath time with her.

We seem to have very slow internet tonight and it's taking forever to load pages and send emails and edit photos, so I apologise for the unedited phone photos posted here tonight. I'm feeling decidedly weary and am not in the mood to wait for everything to happen.

On that note, I bid you a fond good night!

Nite all.

One More Sleep!

One more sleep (or no more sleeps by the time you read this!) and I will be on the Sunny Coast with my little Chicklet.

I'm excited to see her.

I hope she's excited too!

My sister Squirt is awaiting the birth of her first grandchild, nicknamed 'Squidgy'. Squidgy has now reached eleven days past his/her due date. I spoke to Squirt on the day that Squidgy was due, but she has made no contact since. I wait with bated breath!

I've had a totally unproductive day (as far as website work is concerned), a lot of which was spent at The Motivator's house, and some of which was spent either packing, or discussing our air conditioning unit with the serviceman. He only had bad news to deliver for our Christmas season and it seems that we have been the victims of a company ripping off vulnerable people after the tornado.

The good news is that he discovered this major problem before it burnt our house down with us in it! He has now disconnected the power to our air conditioner until we can either have it temporarily repaired, or completely replaced.

Well, here it is 11pm and I have a big day tomorrow, so I shall sign off with a flourish *imagine me gracefully swishing my arms about and pirouetting out of the room* as I bid you all adieu.

Nite all.

Plan the Year

After tidying up my desk, I hoped get a lot done with my site, but didn't get very far. I seem to have hit a road block and I have to figure out where to get some help.

Every time I sit down, a big black curtains drapes itself over my brain and I just can't seem to move forward.

I've written a 'to do' list, but I'm not sure about the order that it needs to be done. If I take the wrong first step, it could mean a lot of extra work to fix it. I need help.

So, hoping to get some inspiration, I dragged out the 'My Shining Life' workbook for 2017 and began to fill it in.

I wrote down my hopes and dreams for 2017 and how I'm going to take care of myself. I listed the things that I'm going to stop doing so I can move forward and what I'm going to start doing to move in the right direction. I selected some activities that I want to try (like sculpting, pottery, singing), books that I want to read, places that I want to go, workshops and conferences that I want to attend.

It asked how I would like to treat my body e.g. what I need more of (like sunshine, exercise, sleep) and what I need less of (like stress and potatoes!). I chose which rooms in my house that I need to declutter (I decided on my bedroom and the laundry).

I decided how much income I want my business to earn and then wrote down all the ways that I can earn that income.

I worked out different ways that I could help my community, selected an amount of money that I would like to be able to donate to charities and then selected the charities that would benefit from my donation.

I planned a retreat for myself.

I cultivated some 'mottos' for myself to follow for the year. My mottos will be ...

• Inspire people when you can
• Be kind to everyone
• Follow up and finish
• Believe you can and then DO IT!
• Romance Your Life

I listed ten things that I want to celebrate about myself.

I provided a vague description of how I want to spend my birthday next year (because I'm really not sure about that one yet).

That is as much as I achieved this afternoon.

Next in the workbook, is making a list of good habits that I want to create in 2017.

I'm only halfway through the book and when it's finished, I have a business workbook to complete! They are beautiful books, fun to fill out and definitely provide inspiration.

Right now, I'm off to bed. I'm inspired enough for one day!

Nite all.

Hullo Russia!

I don't know why or how, but overnight, this blog received 600 views from Russia.

Russia was not interested in just one post, but shared the views over many of my posts.

So ... hullo Russia!!

It's been a Christmassy kind of day.

Firstly, I tidied one corner of my workspace so that I could fit my rebounder in the room. I spend so many hours sitting at my desk, I decided that I needed to break it up with some exercise. The last time I visited my doctor, he said that I needed to move more. So this is my way of doing just that.

Secondly, I turned on my salt lamp and diffused some 'Celebration' essential oil. I love the scent of celebration, especially the hint of spearmint and peppermint.

Next, I wrapped all the Christmas gifts that I'm sending in the mail. I used plain brown paper and wrote my Christmas messages on the paper, explaining why I chose these gifts.

My word for 2017 is "INSPIRE", so I chose gifts that I hope will inspire my friends and family to create a wonderful year for themselves. To follow through on everything that they began in 2016 and feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

We had two Christmas parties to attend this afternoon, but Adoring Husband did a bit more damage to his back this morning while rushing to clear the SES barbecue gear away as a storm hit, so one party commenced and continued in our absence, while the second party enjoyed my wondrous and joyful company for two hours.

The weather was overcast and quite windy, but at least the temperature had dropped which made it much more pleasant than the hot humid days we've been experiencing of late.

The guzzler

Windswept beauties

Half of the group

Adorning the table

Missy the wonder dog

The Quilting Queen

This was a street party for a street that we don't live on. Our house backs on to a house that sits on this street. That crazy lady in the last photo lives in that house.

It was a lovely group of people. It's a quiet street full of friendly welcoming faces and this is the third time that I've joined them for a festive occasion, but only the first for a Christmas street party.

I'm glad that I made an appearance. My contribution was the leftover lime and blueberry cheesecake from my party on Tuesday. It went down a treat.

I was home before 8pm and was able to dish up dinner to Adoring Husband. I've had a beef casserole in the slow cooker all afternoon, so it was an easy preparation tonight.

Before AH climbed into bed, I massaged some Do Terra Ice Blue Rub into his back. Hopefully, he will wake in a little less pain in the morning.

I still have the faintest hint of flutters, but very much improved from the last five days.

That was my Christmassy kind of day.

Nite all.

Fluttery Mess

I believe that I've figured it out.

It's possible that I have an allergy to nuts.

The last time I got these flutters, was when I made Adoring Husband's birthday cake, which was a chocolate brownie cake with nuts.

I had the flutters for five days, which is how long it took us to eat the entire cake.

Thirty nine days later (Monday just gone), I began making tarts which consisted of a nut base and which I did the taste test on.

That was when the flutters began this week.

We have been slowly eating the leftovers of the tarts all week and the flutters have remained with me all week.

As I ate the last slice today at lunch time, I made the connection.

So now I will avoid nuts for a month and do another taste test to see if I react the same way.

What a pain in the butt!!

I am drinking beetroot/carrot/celery/radish juice attempting to cleanse my system of the offending toxins quickly.

Needless to say, I am not well enough to go out tonight, but will have an early night to sleep it off and hopefully, by avoiding nuts, I will wake up refreshed tomorrow, flutter free.

Here are some of the photos from the town Christmas party on Saturday ...

This is an early post for me. I am off to rest.

Nite all.

Blurgh

I'm feeling blurgh.

No motivation. Discombobulated. Weak and lethargic. I can't seem to get comfortable. I don't want to lie down. I don't want to sit up. I don't want to stay standing.

I tried essential oils and the salt lamp. No go.

So I'm here to have a whinge and then quietly slide off to bed and hope that sleep will help me feel better tomorrow.

My essential oils that I ordered from The Motivator's party arrived today, which was exciting.

Even more exciting was a shipment of silver and semi precious gemstone jewellery that arrived from India in a sealed tin and then wrapped in calico which was sewn around the tin. It was all lovely.

I decorated the Christmas tree. Adoring Husband spent yesterday hanging decorations around the house, so it was my job to do the tree. It didn't take long and it looks very Christmassy.

That's it from me.

Nite all.

Brain Mush

I finally had a day to sit at my desk and do my thing.

But my brain failed me.

I couldn't focus.

Luckily, there were lots of little things that I could do, which didn't require focus, so my time wasn't completely wasted.

For the second time in two days, I needed a nap! It has been four years since I needed to nap in the afternoons, so I either really overdid it for the last two days, or I'm simply getting old.

I did edit one of last week's photos ...

The ladies all looking very bright and happy and enjoying their Christmas lunch.

After my nap, I was bright enough to go the trivia night with Adoring Husband. We only came 5th out of ten teams this week, so there is room for improvement next month. We had a good time and AH contributed well .. even though the chair made his back hurt.

It's well after midnight, so it's time for me to sleep (again).

Nite all.

Terrific Tuesday

Well, only four out of my thirteen guests did not attend today. I'm surprised by two of them not attending because they were very keen. Ah well.

The party was a success. I received $350 worth of products for $63 because two people booked a party and my guests spent more than $600. Now I get to attend another two parties to build up my delicious collection of essential oils.

Thank goodness my food was a hit and now I need to provide recipes to three different ladies for four different dishes. Even Reality TV Queen, our biggest critic of 'all things food' praised my spread and left with a full belly and a smile on her face.

After everybody left, Adoring Husband and I both cleared everything away and I got to have a power nap for about twenty minutes, which was just what the doctor ordered. My lower back is giving me a bit of grief, but that's from standing on the tiles in the kitchen for hours on end. I just need to rest it.

We hardly had time to sit down before it was time to pack the esky ready for our monthly barbecue at the Lions Park. I packed the leftover nibbles and dips, as well as the chocolate energy balls and we carefully arranged everything in the esky so as not to squish or spill the food.

For the second month in a row, the wind was unbearable at the park, and made it very uncomfortable for us all. It was difficult to keep things secure on the tables and our words were taken away by the wind making it hard to have a decent conversation.

Quite a few of our group were missing tonight, being out of town, so it was an intimate gathering.

As everybody began preparing the barbecue hotplates ready to cook the meat, I realised that we had left our meat at home! Ugh. So we didn't eat any dinner. We were still pretty full from the party spread, so by the time we arrived home, we decided not to bother with dinner at all.

It's now 8.30pm and I believe it might be time to lay my head on the pillow and catch up on some sleep. The psychotic dogs woke me twice last night during my five hours of sleep, and I feel that it's catching up with me.

We have trivia tomorrow night, but I'm looking forward to a quiet day at my desk where hopefully, I can edit all the photos that I've been promising for more than a week!

For now though ...

Nite all.

Crazy Monday

Well, I started at 9.30am, stopped for 20 minutes at 1pm, then for 20 minutes at 5pm - ish, and I just sat down at 8.15pm. Still, I have not finished!

Today, I've marinated 3kg chicken wings, made 15 devilled eggs, 12 apple and walnut muffins, 20 smoked salmon and cream cheese rollups, one key lime cheesecake with blueberry jus, one chocolate, vanilla and blueberry layered tart and 30 chocolate energy balls.

I still have to make the cheese platter, the fruit platter, the vegetable sticks with guacamole, cashew cheese and the fruit punch.

Just to top things off nicely, my heart flutters started again at about 1pm. Obviously, I've put myself under enough duress that my body is responding accordingly. Soooo annoying!!

So I've been diffusing Wild Orange essential oil, which has done a great job of settling things.

I should have taken a photo of my kitchen at the height of my productivity. Even Adoring Husband was scared!

This is my short break, so I thought I would do something productive while I was resting. A short blog post.

Oh, I received a big package of jewellery today! The first of my stock to arrive for my website shop!! How exciting! Now I have to set up my light box so that I can photograph it all. So much to do!

Well, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to continue my marathon. So much to do, so little time!

Nite all.

No Miracles

There was no miraculous healing of my tongue, but it IS healing. Thank you for asking :)

Not a lot has happened today.

I showed my website (what there is of it) to The Motivator, who loved the layout, the fonts, the colours and the content and she gave me some good advice to improve it and then some excellent marketing advice and ways to improve the value and presentation of my photography.

She also had some additional sales ideas that I really love.

So I came home and noted everything down before I forgot!

It took me two hours to figure out how I could ... I'm actually not going to tell you what it was that I wanted to figure out, because it was something so simple, I'm actually embarrassed that it took me so long to figure it out.

The point is - I figured it out and I'm excited!

I still didn't get to edit the Christmas party photos today, and probably won't get to them until Tuesday afternoon now, so watch this space.

Now I'm off for an early night because I have MUCH to do tomorrow!

Adoring Husband hurt his back again yesterday while on SES duty, so he is of no use to me at all right now. I may even have to work for him in the morning if he hasn't improved. That will require me waking and rising much earlier than usual!

Eep!

Nite all.

I Must Have Lied

I must have told a lie.

I've had a pimple on the end of my tongue for three days now. My mother used to tell me that if I told a lie, I would get a pimple on my tongue.

It hurts! It hurts to eat. It hurts to drink - especially coffee. It hurts to talk. It hurts to brush my teeth. It just plain hurts!

Tomorrow, I will wake up and it will have miraculously healed. Fingers crossed.

There was a meeting this morning at 10am for the 'Frack Free Burrum Heads' group.

I was supposed to attend.

Instead, I rode across town at 1.45pm and waited for everybody to arrive. At 2pm, I checked my emails on the phone, only to discover that the meeting was in the morning!

Such a doofus!

This afternoon the town held it's annual Christmas party in the grounds of the local hall.

I attended because one of our local ladies asked me to be there with my camera to take a photo of her with Santa, who just happens to be her neighbour.

There were more people there than usual. Definitely more kids than usual. Everybody was commenting that we don't have that many kids living in town, so I think we were catering for a lot of 'out of towners'.

Still, it was a very happy event. The kids were all having a ball. There were two giant inflatable slides, a jumping castle and a seat with a water bucket balanced above where you throw a wet sponge at a bullseye and if you hit, the bucket tips water over whoever is sitting in the seat. There were lots of kids lined up for that one.

Until Santa arrived.

That's when all kids dropped what they were doing and swarmed together in a huge moving wave towards the fire truck that he arrived in.

In a matter of ten minutes, all the kids had received their bag of lollies and a thank you handshake from Santa. Then it was time for all the adults to get their photos taken .. who knew there would be so many women choosing to sit on old Santa's knee to have their photo taken?

Thankfully, it wasn't me who had to take their photos! All I had to do was create the window of opportunity for Snow White to take her turn.

Having waited for over an hour to get this photo, I was disturbed by the fact that Snow White was totally distracted by everything that was going on around her and did not look at the camera. Even though I called out to her twice, to look at me!

I haven't had a chance to look at the photos and edit them yet, so you can expect a barrage of photos on tomorrow's post. Some from our lunch on Wednesday and some from today.

Instead, before I head to bed, I will share this!

Nite all.

Channelling

Today, I have been channelling Vegan Chickie and her amazing (insert OCD) organisational skills.

I have notebooks and journals for user names and passwords (even though all of my devices code and save them automatically), website building resources (all the sites for colour coding, colour palettes, free images, photo editing and sizing, fonts etc), affiliates, reviews, blogging ideas, stockists, ebook ideas and outlines, ideas for the recipe page, names of possible guest bloggers and the list goes on!

One might suggest that I have used this 'channelling' as a procrastination tool!

Whenever I come to a hurdle or obstacle, procrastination is my closest friend. I do something constructive while my brain processes the difficulties ahead and then when it (my brain) gives me the go-ahead, I move forward and hopefully OVER the obstacle.

Whatever. I can still see progress and feel like I'm doing ok .. even though I have reached and passed my self imposed deadline.

Believe me, it's frustrating for me too!

I've spent the evening planning my morning tea for Tuesday's LeReve party. I have a fabulous list of delicious food to make .. however, I may have bitten off more than I can chew! I think I can do it!

I'm quite looking forward to the party. I expected that I would become anxious and try to find a reason to cancel it, but there are a couple of new ladies coming along and it will be nice to introduce them to my friends.

We had no luck at the club tonight. Well, I shouldn't say 'we', because half of our table won prizes in the raffle and our partners, husbands, brothers and neighbours, who were sitting outside, almost ALL won something as well! So I will rephrase that ... 'I' had no luck at the club tonight.

Best get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Never ending

I think I know what I'm doing.

It's usually when I'm feeling the most confident, that I discover I have no right to feel that way!

There has been a lot of meaningless chasing up today. iBooks and iTunes and ATO and Amazon and inmotion hosting and Apple and Wordpress. All tiny little things that seem to take an enormous amount of time.

Or perhaps it's just me being too careful, trying to understand stuff that I don't need to understand, following too many links, reading too much information. I'm certain that all this could be finished with just a flick of my fingers but I'm being too cautious.

I'm also easily distracted (as you know too well) and even though I'm working hard at it, my uncanny ability to procrastinate seems to rear it's ugly head when I least need it to.

Today was my deadline day, but alas it has passed without the fanfare that I'd hoped for.

It could be tomorrow, if I can just focus and get a smooth few hours. I know exactly what I need to do .. or so I think haha.

We were threatened with some nasty storms this afternoon. They made lots of noise and the light show was pretty spectacular, but not a drop of rain was to be seen or felt! The psychotic dogs were very stressed and demanded to be let onto the 'storm chair'.

At least I got some washing done today.

I haven't been out on my trike all week. I'm off to bed now, so that I can get an early start in the morning and go for a trike ride, sit by the water for a bit before getting my morning coffee, have a quick visit with The Motivator and be back home to get cracking at my desk.

So much to do, so little time!

Have a fabulous Friday!!

Nite all.

Christmas Cheer

Here I am, way past midnight, watching movies, shopping online and blogging ... talk about multi-tasking!

I just made my first jewellery order, which should be here by next Wednesday, ready to sell on my website .. let's hope I can have the website live by then!

We had a fabulous lunch at the Woodgate Pub for our lady's Christmas break-up today. The weather was glorious. Just a touch windy on the return trip. The food was good. Not spectacular, but good enough. The service was warm and friendly and even though a lot of the regular ladies weren't able to attend today, the group that we had was a good mix and we had some laughs.

Needless to say, I have done nothing else today, except relax with Adoring Husband since I returned from lunch.

I haven't even edited the photos from today, so I can't share them yet.

I did discuss, with a new lady, the idea of taking paying groups on photography outings, to teach them how to use their cameras and how to take photos.

It's definitely time to seriously consider this option in the new year because I've had four different enquiries in the last 12 months. Perhaps it can be my mission for the new year.

I was also invited to art classes, which I am very excited about! The first session will be creating a pottery bust. The classes begin in the first week of January.

So much to look forward to next year! Art classes, my website, a seminar in Sydney in February, babysitting Chicklet in March, Adoring Husband's big 60th birthday bash in October, a road trip at the end of the year. It's going to be a good year.

Now I'm going to attempt to climb into bed before 1am.

Nite all.

The Finish Line

I feel certain that I could have made my website live this afternoon, if not for the near catastrophe that befell me and caused me to lose almost two hours of valuable time.

I thought that I had lost two months worth of work with just the press of a button!

I had contacted my host to get some advice on changing my domain name, but he failed to give me all the information (not his fault), so I followed the link that he provided and found the instructional video, which I watched and followed to the letter.

Then I pressed 'enter'.

Everything GONE.

A big fat 404 error.

Page not found.

Nothing.

I spent an hour trying everything I could think of. I scoured both my host's website and the Wordpress website trying to find some answers.

Just as I was feeling the terrible effects of hyperventilation, I decided to ask for help.

Thank goodness my host has a fabulous chat function on their site, so I contacted them again and pleaded for assistance.

A gentleman by the name of David H (different from the first man), was incredibly helpful, investigated fully, explained exactly why it happened and then took ten minutes to restore my website to it's 'pre-disappearance' glory.

When he was finished, he sent me an email with a copy of our discussion and a link to my website.

I clicked on the link.

WAHLAH!!!

There it was on the screen. Just as I remembered it.

I could breathe again.

At that point, I decided that I needed a break. Too many hours in front of that screen over the last three days was crossing my eyes and frying my brain and causing me to make unnecessary errors.

I don't want this to be a stressful experience. The whole idea of the website is to bring me joy and happiness! Today, it did NOT do that.

Luckily, tomorrow, I have a booked engagement, so I will be away from the screen all day. Just what I need. A social outing to help me relax and recuperate.

I'll be fresh and ready to finalise the site on Thursday!

It will be an early night for me - 10pm - and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Big Day at the Office

I'm done!

No. I have not finished the website.

BUT ... I've been working on it for ten hours today!

I've fine tuned and fixed some of the stuff that I wasn't sure about.

I've created accounts in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, which means I can link them to the site tomorrow.

I've spoken to a printing company about self publishing my book, but even after I provided them with the name of the book, they emailed me with costings and had incorrectly quoted the book title, so they've already lost my business at the first hurdle.

It shows that they are not very diligent and tells me that I can't trust them with my precious baby.

I was excited to have my registration accepted by a wholesale company that stocks my favourite journals, only to discover that for 80% of the journals that I wanted, they are 'out of stock'. That was disappointing.

I am now registered with half a dozen wholesale stockists, so it's going to take some time to wade through their stock to see if they have anything worth putting on my site, but I'll do that AFTER the site goes 'live'.

It's almost 11pm and I feel that I'm about to fall off my chair, so I'm off to bed.

Enough is enough!!

Nite all.