Testing the Waters

I knew that the Howard Markets were on and that River Heads were running a festival this morning, but I didn't know that Torbanlea were holding a big fete.

So with those three events in competition with opening our shop doors, I decided to do it anyway. I opened the doors between 9am and 12pm.

Only three people came into the shop and one of them was a new resident of Burrum Heads, and apparently, loosely related to The Fisher King! She is also a photographer with the same camera as the one I use, so we had quite a long and animated conversation about many things that we had in common, photography being just one of them.

So for that reason alone, I'm pleased to have opened the doors today!

I made two sales and had three visitors.

In the quiet time, I created a blog post for Romance Your Life with Roz. I still have some adjustments to make to the site. I've deleted all but my photography from the shop, and I still need to amend the shop page where I talk about the jewellery and journals that I'm selling. It's been quite a while since I updated any of the pages, so hopefully I will have a bit more time to devote to the site from here on in.

At midday, after I closed the blinds and locked the shop door, I danced through the shop, singing along with Barbra Streisand and whoever the male was that she was dueting with at the time, all the while thinking to myself "I LOVE this place!"

I posted this in Facebook this afternoon ...

So here's the story ...

Now that I'm a working girl, and Adoring Husband has his big birthday bash happening in approx 7 weeks, he's decided to Spring clean the entire house from top to bottom.

This week he did the family room and dining room. Today he started on the kitchen cupboards, emptying them out, cleaning the shelves, culling stuff we haven't used for a while and rearranging for more practical use.

I returned home after 3.5 hours to a shining and completely clear bench top and the inside of the cupboards ... Immaculate!

I had been grocery shopping, so began unpacking the bags.

The last thing out of the bag was a bottle of soda water.

The reason that I have this stuff is because a Naturopath in Canberra gave me a special Magnesium mixture that has to be dissolved in flat soda water.

So ... I put the bottle on the sink and twisted the cap.

If I hadn't had a tight grip on the cap, it would have gone flying and the liquid would have hit the ceiling, but because I kept my hand about a foot above the bottle, the liquid hit my hand and sprayed outwardly in all directions!!

It sprayed me.

It sprayed the kitchen floor.

It sprayed the ENTIRE bench top.

It sprayed the sink.

It sprayed the family room floor.

It sprayed my laptop bag and handbag.

All of Adoring Husband's beautiful work, destroyed in a split second!!

So I would just like to thank the (insert appropriate profanity here) who thought it might be fun to shake up the bottle of soda water and put it back on the shelf at the supermarket. You are sooooo freaking funny hey!?

Since I arrived home, my nose began running like a tap. I've used half a box of tissues already. I'm diffusing 'Easy Air' (which is a do TERRA product) with La Reve Frankincense oil, eaten pure raw honey, taken a strong dose of Vitamin C, consumed three bottles of filtered water, one glass of strawberry/watermelon/lemon/honey juice (freshly squeezed yesterday) and will dose up on kefir and probiotics before I go to bed.

I wonder if I can beat it by morning?

It's just after 9pm and I'm off to bed right now to sleep the bug away.

Nite all.

Beyond Tired

It's been a big week!

Our first week is done and dusted, although I am very tempted to go to work tomorrow and open the doors for a Saturday morning just to test the waters, but I'll see how I feel in the morning.

It was another successful day today with visits from friends, holiday makers from down south and the yoga ladies.

I met the owners of the building for the first time today and they seem like a nice couple, especially Lady Gaga. The Rooster seemed a little bit cocky but not too bad. He told me to put in a coffee machine and I told him that we weren't allowed to sell food and drink from the shop. His response was "I own the building and I say you CAN!"

Anyway, it was yet another pleasant day spent in our lovely workspace, and there was no visit from The Little Mermaid. I saw her from a distance late this afternoon, but that is all.

My visitors included Tweedle Dee, Maid Marian, Woman of Many Talents (with grandchildren in tow), Arty Farty Queen and Bridging Hippy.

While I was working, Adoring Husband drove into The Bay to pick up my photo prints from Harvey Normans and deliver them to the framing place where they will be fitted with matt board before being displayed in the shop.

He came back to the shop with the chicken that I cooked last night and he'd made a delicious little salad to go with it. We sat together in the shop dining area to eat lunch totally uninterrupted.

Just as I was about to walk out the door to leave work this afternoon, Arty Farty Queen pulled up on her bicycle, so I welcomed her in and turned on the lights to show her around. It was a quick visit and she purchased a gift for a friend before she departed.

I arrived home with plenty of time to make myself acceptable for the Bowl's Club. We had a good crowd there tonight and it was nice to catch up with a few friends who have been away, some out of the country.

After a night where none of us had any luck, AH and I drove the Leggy Blonde and Father UP home before coming home ourselves to make a quick chicken + concoction dinner.

AH went to bed quite early and after about an hour, I had to massage his back because he was in a bit of pain.

Now, I am off to bed because I'm feeling the weight of my week on my very tired shoulders.

Happy first day of Spring!

Nite all.  

Winning

We are winners.

Not only do we have a wonderful workspace to spend time in every day, but each day our customer numbers are increasing and they are loving the stock that we have available!

I almost have enough names to start my first photography course and we are feeling very positive about our future.

It was reported that The Little Mermaid was having a bad day today, but she stayed away from our shop, so it was nice to not have to deal with her struggles for a day. I did speak to her at lunch time and she told me that she was not in a good space and I wished her well. It's tough for her AND for us. She is the only one who can help herself and her issues are complex.

We had a really good day with visitors to the shop and with sales. Visitors from earlier in the week returned, some bringing family and friends with them. So word is spreading and we make sure that everyone feels welcome, and when they show genuine interest, we show them through the shop to the treatment room and the training room.

Adoring Husband and I drove into The Bay straight after work to get a couple of things for the shop and to order prints of some of my photos, which will be displayed on the shop walls. I got a bit carried away with some clothes shopping because there are big sales on at the moment and I bought 4 tops.

It was dark by the time we left for home, which felt really weird because we are never out that late. Our usual routine is to be home and eating dinner at 6pm!

I cooked up some chicken for AH's dinner and he made a salad to go with it. I also baked a chicken so that we would have cold meat for lunch tomorrow. Strawberries were on sale and I bought three punnets so I juiced them with watermelon and mint and raw honey, which was delicious.

It's almost midnight! Time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Late

It's already well after 11pm and I need to get to bed.

My body is still adjusting to working life!

We had an amazing day in the shop today.

The Little Mermaid only visited once, and that was to get my postal address so that she can send me postcards from her travels in the boat.

I saw an old local sitting outside the post office this morning and I asked him to tell his wife about our shop and to tell her I'd love to see her. It was only about an hour later that she appeared at the shop and found lots of lovely items to purchase. She had a great time, as did I attempting to add everything up!

We had quite a few customers today and some lovely friends came to visit, as well as some local business owners and other sales people. Everybody commented on the great energy in the shop, which we worked hard to achieve so it's nice to hear those words from so many people.

Stephanie, the Le Reve essential oils lady came to the shop to show us her new products and I've booked a party to be held at the shop on 13th September at 2pm. There is a beautiful new collection of 'Shakra Energy Oils' in a beautiful silver zip up pouch. New candles, perfume and a new scented reed diffuser too.

Early next year, Le Reve are releasing a new range of skincare products which sound fabulous, so we will be keeping in regular contact with Stephanie and one of us may even become a consultant!

I created and ordered a photo book with 40 of my photos to display on the main table in the shop. I'll also have a few of the photos enlarged and printed with matt board frames to hang on the walls.

We hope to finalise the insurance stuff tomorrow too.

Now I'm off to bed!

Nite all.

Feeling the Way

Day two at The Happy Abode was lovely.

We had three brief visits from The Little Mermaid. She may be small but she has a booming voice is a touch intimidating to anyone who doesn't know her. She startled an elderly lady who was in the shop during one of her visits. She claims to be leaving town, so hopefully she will not be a problem in our future!

Three of the ladies visited after they had their coffee at our usual haunt, even though they were supposed to actually have their coffee with us in the shop!

We had fifteen visitors to the shop, another two names for the photography course and we made sales!

I created a notice to put in the local notice board, which will hopefully direct more people to our shop and bring more interest to our workshops and courses.

I attempted to insure the shop, but the man that I needed to speak to was in a meeting and THEN when he finally made contact 3 hours later, he told me that he was retiring but could refer me to somebody else on the Sunshine Coast who could help me. This meant he had to send me an email to which I had to respond with the word 'yes' and then he passes my name on to the new people!

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

I've started to create a photo book to put on the central table, which people can browse through to select photos for purchasing. I'll have a small selection of those photos printed and displayed on the shop walls too.

We need to cover the training room chairs and buy some desks so that the first workshops can go ahead.

I need to create the photography workshop!

So much to do! So little time!

Still loving the space so much :)

It's 11pm and I need sleep.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

Opening day is done and dusted!

I love being in that space so much. It makes me very happy.

We had a visitor before we even opened the doors this morning. Another business owner dropped by to have a sticky beak before anyone else got through the door, which was kind of uncomfortable because we were madly rushing around trying to tie up loose ends before we opened for business.

At the end of the day, I retraced our steps to count how many people actually came through our doors and we had 22 visitors in six hours.

Unfortunately, one of those visitors was The Little Mermaid, a resident of our town who lives on her boat on the river, but who has many serious problems ranging from drug abuse, alcoholism and mental health issues. She cried a lot and talked nineteen to the dozen about all of her current problems, emptying out her bags onto the floor of the shop and showing me all of her official papers and describing how difficult life is for her.

It was sad and I felt so bad for her. I hugged her before she left the shop and wished her well. She has tried so many different avenues and it seems that a lot of departments and officials have let her down and it's difficult to know how to help her.

I do know that she needs to be heard and I can listen. I also know that our shop is not the place for her to be during her episodes, so I have a plan for her future visits. (My Centrelink experience coming to the fore here!)

We certainly had some interesting characters through the door, including some locals whom I have never set eyes upon before today.

One elderly lady who had some crazy stories to tell and who wants to do both the photography course and the journalling course. I can't wait to hear some more about her life!

There were a few holiday makers who noticed our signs and came to investigate.

Lovely friends dropped in, some with their take away coffee, and some just to wish us luck.

So we had a slow but steady stream of people and in between we got a little bit of work done.

Even though our plan is to work 9 - 3, we didn't leave the shop until after 5pm.

I have a long 'to do' list for tomorrow that's for sure, and we'll be having the girls in for coffee in the morning.

It's 10pm and I need sleep.

Nite all.

This is it!

Tomorrow morning is the moment we've been working towards!

I have to be at the shop by about 7am to clean up the mess around my desk, vacuum the floors and display my silver chains on the timber trees.

I brought my white timber display trees home and painted them teal tonight. It's taken me two hours to give them two coats of chalk paint and I have to seal them before I go to bed. It's already 11.30pm and I desperately need to sleep!

It's been a great day adding the final touches with a little help from Shiny Shonny who joined us for a glass of champagne to celebrate our achievement.

Adoring Husband also came to assist hanging the wall tapestries and the door blind.

There is still much to do in the morning before we open the doors, so I need to sleep ...

Well, I forgot to post this last night! That's how tired and discombobulated I was!

It's now opening day and I am sitting at my desk waiting for customers to walk in ... and we've had quite a few this morning ... but it is very quiet right now.

It's a beautiful day and The Motivator and I are loving our space. It feels lovely to be here and we are very HAPPY!

I will write another post tonight to tell you all about my day.

Morning all.

Two More Sleeps

Just two more sleeps until we open the shop to the public!

Today was full on, pricing stock and working out how to display it all.

Right at this moment in time, the shop is a cross between 'a shambles' and 'a fabulous space' but by Monday morning, it should have all fallen into place perfectly.

It's well after 11pm and we worked for almost ten hours today. No doubt tomorrow will be the same, so I'm off to bed to get some sleep to regenerate and rejuvenate.

There's nothing else to report really.

The same CD played over and over all day and we sang stupidly to most of the songs..

We had a couple of visitors including two happy fur babies that loved to cuddle.

We had an early lunch at 'A Taste of Burrum'  and I had grilled barramundi with salad, which was DELICIOUS!

It was a happy day and we are still enjoying this process!

I'm working on my dream :)

Nite all.

Nowhere Fast

Today was one of those days where it took a long time to do not much!

We spent a lot of time on the phone with the bank creating a business account, then a lot of time online printing out and completing all the paperwork, then a lot of time at the Post Office processing the application. Then a lot of time scanning all the paperwork and emailing it, before snail mailing it.

We spent some time reviewing the new logos so that I could message the designer to make some minor changes.

Adoring Husband removed the old blinds and replaced them with the new ones. He drove into town and collected the clean rugs from the dry cleaners and he drove to Craignish to collect our FROG box.

I don't know how we would have managed this last month without him. He has been crazy amazing, continually putting his hand up to help in so many different ways. Sometimes he's been a pain in the butt too, but mostly he has been our saviour.

The weekend is going to be the making of us as we attempt to stock the shelves and do the pricing and make an inventory and create the display cabinet door bells and the front glass door cover and the cushions and hang the wall hangings and OMG the list goes on!

We'll do our best work under pressure! I have faith in us :)

Adoring Husband is going to be at the shed assisting at this weekend's first aide course.

I took photos with my camera today, which I haven't downloaded or edited yet. I'll take some more photos on Sunday night or Monday morning to show the work that we've done.

So much fun to be had!!

Oh and I won $38 in Powerball this week ... a pleasant surprise ... and the first prize has jackpotted to ten million dollars, so I'm going to win that next week. Haha!

It's already after 11pm, so I'm off to bed. So much to do! So little time!

Nite all.  

So Little Time!

We left home at 8.45am.

We returned home at 5.30pm.

We spent that time in The Bay and today's check list goes like this:

• Appointment at the bank to discuss business account options
• King Kong to get big bells for the front door and little bells for the glass cabinets, journal stands, a big white vase and some big artificial sunflowers for beside my desk.
• Stocklands for more journal stands, check and buy this week's lotto tickets, change the lenses of my distance glasses at OPSM, drinking glasses and teal rugs from Kmart and beanbag beans from Target.
• Spotlight for material to cover the training chairs, blinds for the front windows and back door.
• Bunnings for a bracket to replace the broken one, check the prices of wet/dry vacuum cleaners and find a dead bolt.
• Aquavue for lunch.
• Go Natural to get ice cream and yoghurt.
• Office Works to pick up an order and to buy any other lovely office stuff that our hearts yearned for - because, well you know, it's Office Works!
• The security shop to check out deadlocks.
• Big W to get a vacuum cleaner.

That's about it for the day! We dropped off all of our goodies at the shop and checked our mail at the Post Office and finally headed home.

I DID remember to take photos of the shop this afternoon!

Now I'm off to bed so that I'm alert and ready for another big day tomorrow!

Nite all.

Coming Together

It's all coming together nicely and I still forgot to take photos!

It's been such a long day, I can't even remember what we filled it with.

Adoring husband fixed the door and the leg of the big counter that the previous owner left for us, but then we changed our minds and decided to get rid of the big counter.

Unfortunately, it was too big to move, so Adoring Husband had to destroy it, which was no mean feat. It took a long time, a lot of noise and a big mess to get it into pieces small enough to move and dispose of.

The Motivator received a surprise parcel of stock that she ordered a LONG time ago. Beautiful colourful timber jewellery that we displayed on our new ladder-style cabinets and which look lovely with the Cenzoni leather bags and wallets.

We rearranged the glass top counters and the small cube units. I displayed some of my journals and notebooks on one cube unit, but we ran out of the little display stands, so that's on our list for tomorrow.

Our glass column cabinets look great in the window and it took us a while to figure out where to put the big table.

Tomorrow, we have another day in The Bay with a 'to do' list a mile long, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Ticked Off.

Two amazing things happened this morning.

1. The real estate agent actually came to the shop to answer our enquiries.

2. Telstra said they would be at the shop between 8am - 12pm and they turned up at 8.15am!

We now have phone and internet connected!

The Motivator and I had a business meeting.

We had just started to assemble some furniture when the cleaner arrived.

Before he even started, there was an issue about the equipment that he brought with him - this young guy (Josh) was sent to us with specific equipment, that just wasn't capable of doing the job that was required. He apologised profusely and did the best he could, but the carpet did not get cleaned as well as it should have.

I sent both a private message via their website and then an unfavourable review via the survey email that they sent me this afternoon.

Josh did a great job of cleaning our windows and doors. He was a lovely young man, very polite and courteous.

Before he cleaned, The Motivator and I moved as much furniture into our office area as possible - this part of the carpet is the cleanest in the building, so we decided not to clean it - mostly because we had no way of moving everything out of the space to have the entire carpet cleaned.

So while he was cleaning, The Motivator and I bought some lunch at the fish and chip shop - grilled fish and salad - then sat in the lounge chairs outside our shop in the shade and enjoyed the cool breeze while we ate said lunch.

It was a very pleasant couple of hours.

When Josh left, with yet another apology, we began assembling the table and chairs that The Motivator bought yesterday, but then we were interrupted when she remembered a Skype interview that she had made an appointment for, so I finished assembling the chairs, while Adoring Husband put together the table.

The whole set looks fabulous under the down lights in front of the yellow wall.

We selected the material that we'll use to cover the training chairs.

Adoring Husband and The Kiwi (who stopped in for a visit and offered some help) broke one of the legs off the big counter when they attempted to move it ... truth is, it was already damaged badly, so it didn't take much to break it completely.

We re-hung the blinds for some privacy/security for the night.

By this time, it was after 6pm, so we packed up and headed home.

I made a quick curried mince with rice for dinner, followed by fresh strawberries and coconut ice cream with home made strawberry sauce for dessert.

It's now rapidly approaching 11pm so I'm off to bed so that I can be fresh for a big day setting up shop tomorrow.

Things should move along quickly now!

I will take a video tomorrow to show how the shop is coming along.

Nite all.

Checked Off

Today's check list ...

• Confirmed with the logo designer to create two logos as described.
• Looked for the Estate Agent to verify some information - message left.
• Two shop counters repaired by Adoring Husband, assisted by me and then painted by me.
• Training room cleared of most paint gear, i.e. ladders, drop sheets, paint tins/brushes etc
• Shop vacuumed.
• Paint scrubbed off the carpet.
• Cleared stuff no longer required in the shop.
• Blinds attached to front doors. One then broken and removed! Newspaper reattached to door!
• Explained what the shop was about to 3 random visitors.
• Showed Brad through the shop describing our plans.
• Participated as a guinea pig for local fish and chip shop, being the first to taste and review their new grilled fish recipe. Bloody bewdiful!

Did a quick savoury mince dish for dinner.

My body is feeling a bit the worse for wear tonight. It's already approaching 10pm and I'm off to bed right now!

Telstra technicians are coming tomorrow to connect our phone and internet. The cleaners will be here after that to clean our carpets and windows, so we need to move some stuff out of the shop and clear the floor for them.

We'll be taking my swinging pod chair to the shop at some stage tomorrow or Wednesday.

Still so much to do.

Time now for sleep.

Nite all.

One Down, A Few To Go

Another day down and one day closer to opening the doors!

Today, all the painting was done and dusted. I did the skirting boards and a tricky strip between doors. I cleaned the toilet and hand basin. Cleaned the other room divider, emptying out the drawers and cleaning out all the fine dust that floated and landed in them from the sanding and planing.

We cleared a lot of rubbish and The Fisher King did a tip run. He also finished painting the architraves and the doors, as well as filling more holes.

The Motivator and I moved some furniture and cleared some space so that the cleaners can do the carpets on Tuesday, although we MAY get them in earlier yet.

The Motivator vacuumed the carpets and cleaned a few of the bigger items in the space and we figured out what we didn't need, so that we could remove it from the space.

We planned our launch day for 2 weeks after our opening day, to give us time to make it enjoyable instead of rushing it for this weekend.

At 4pm I did a coffee run and came home to cook dinner.

I'm feeling a bit weary tonight and I don't think I'm capable of any further brain work. It's time to rest.

Nite all.

Busy Weekend

I only spent four hours at the shop today.

The Motivator and The Fisher King were there when I arrived at 10am and only left at 8pm!

Progress today includes all the holes in the walls filled, more skirting boards and architraves painted, one door painted, white walls received their final coat, shelving painted, 30 odd hooks attached to cabinets, one side unit cleaned from top to bottom, some dusting done, 2 logos designed, table and chairs selected for meeting area and all the sheets and covers removed from the furniture.

There is still some painting to do tomorrow including some skirting boards and a door.

The chemicals in the paint are really affecting Adoring Husband and his tremor has been off the charts for the last three days, getting worse with each day, so I am banning him from the shop tomorrow.

We left early to attend Dirty Old Man's 80th birthday party at the club. It started at 3pm and we were home before 7pm. There was no gluten free food for us to eat and the music was so loud, it was impossible to have a conversation.

The entertainment was very good, but too loud. Everybody was up dancing and seemed to be having a fabulous time, but we just couldn't get into it. We chatted with everybody that we knew and there were lots of questions about the shop, so it was fun catching everyone up with that.

We've watched the football tonight and it's only 9.30pm, so I may have an early night. I have some paperwork to catch up on, but I might leave it til morning.

I'd like to stop thinking for a little while - rest my brain. I'm going to start the day tomorrow with some meditation.

Nite all  

Breathless

We've all been breathing in paint fumes for two days. This is not a good thing!

One more day of painting and we should be done!

The name of this paint is 'Good Karma' and the white paint is called 'Love Story'.

How can we go wrong with names like that?

The Motivator and I painted eleven chairs today. Adoring Husband was at the shop before everyone and did stuff that I don't even know about and he and I also painted the yellow wall. The Fisher King painted the white walls, started the gloss on the architraves and filled all the holes in the walls.

I organised cleaners to come in and do the carpets and the windows on Tuesday, because I just can't bear the thought of doing all that myself.

We had visits from five different people during the day, which slowed us down a bit, but it was great to show off what we've done so far and I love that everyone is so interested.

I left the shop at 3pm.

The Motivator and The Fisher King drove into The Bay for supplies.

I enjoyed an alcoholic beverage at the club. Didn't win a thing on the pokies, keno or the raffle.

Adoring Husband had dinner ready when I returned home, which was lovely.

Tonight, I've been writing up some of the course material for the photography course that I'm putting together. I'm quite excited about that, but I'm looking at the time, which, as always, is approaching midnight, so I'm putting everything away and I'm off to lay my head down.

Nite all.

Wiped Out

My body is feeling a little weary and a bit the worst for wear.

End of day two of painting, although I did have a big break in the middle where I went into The Bay with Best Cousin in the World to get more supplies from Bunnings (my favourite shop - NOT).

I also acted as gopher and did a morning tea run and a lunch run, so I didn't do as much physical work as everyone else. I washed the lunch dishes,  put undercoat on four walls, helped paint one wall and then undercoated the treated pine frames with The Motivator.

The electrician arrived today and did the work we needed on the lighting. Thanks to The Motivator who knew exactly where to put lights and which lights to use, the job was pretty straight forward.

The Telstra modem and other paraphernalia arrived by courier today too!

Marco Polo assembled all the flat pack cabinets - because he hates painting lol - but they look fantastic. 

The Fisher King helped The Motivator sand the legs of our training room chairs and then undercoated them all ready for the final coat tomorrow (all 11 of them) plus he did lots of undercoating and sanding walls.

The Motivator didn't stop all day and pushed herself probably beyond her limits.

Best Cousin in the World did lots of undercoating and driving and helped me with the lunch run.

Adoring Husband worked hard, as he always does with paint brush and/or edging tool in hand.

We hope that it will only take one more day to finish the painting.

We will definitely need to have the carpet professionally cleaned before we open the doors and even with sheets covering all the furniture, there is so much fine dust on everything, it will take some cleaning.

So, tomorrow is another day which we will attack full on after a good night's sleep.

Nite all.

Wipe Out!

I had a list of six things that needed to be done today.

Yes! For the first time in ages, I had a 'to do' list!

How much of my 'to do' list do you think got done?

Well, you are all very clever aren't you? You are correct! Zip!

Adoring Husband phoned me quite early in the day and asked for some help. I got ready fairly quickly, but one of the Psychotic Dogs had a pooping accident and required bathing immediately! As you can imagine, that delayed my arrival at the shop.

I checked the mail first and then stopped at the Butcher to see if my usual order of chicken was ready, which it wasn't.

I walked into the shop and all was quiet. I called out to AH, but there was no response. Then I heard some hammering coming from the Treatment Room, so I waited until it stopped and then called out again, louder. No response.

I stood for a minute or two expecting him to leave the TR, but all was quiet and there was no movement.

I looked across to the older counter and saw 3 bells. A blue bell with a plastic ringer, a brass bell with it's own ringer and a little chrome shop bell so I stepped across and hit the shop bell.

I waited.

Nothing.

The reason I did this, is because AH is VERY jumpy and if he walks around a corner and I'm there, he jumps in fright and grabs his heart, so I didn't want to scare him - especially since he is working with tools!

I rang the bell again, louder.

Nothing.

*sigh*

Just as I was trying to figure out my next move, AH came out of the room. He saw me and said "Oh you snuck in didn't you?"

Um ... well ... no actually lol

Anyway, from there, we went into the training room and he showed me what needed to be done. I had to sand the lumpy putty where the nail holes were filled, so we attached the sandpaper to the electric sander (a very tricky job that one), and then I spent about an hour climbing up and down the ladder and sanding all the lumpy bits.

I also had to sand the architraves and AH suggested that hand sanding with the little manual sander would be easier, so that's what I did, but thought it was pretty stoopid advice!

After the sanding was done, I got the big brush and once again, climbing up and down the ladder, brushed all the dust away from the wall and architraves.

This is what was left when I headed off to 'A Taste of Burrum' to order some fish and chips and salad for lunch.

We sat down to enjoy lunch before getting stuck into the work again.

Two undercoats later, with a roller on a long handle, but a paint tray too narrow for my roller, I was absolutely done!

All that climbing and arm lifting and muscle using and being down on my knees. My stomach muscles are hurting (who knew I even had stomach muscles????!!) and the rest of my body is seizing up. I can't remember the last time I performed manual labour!

So, as you can see, it's only 8.30pm. Adoring Husband has been in bed since 6.30pm! I have to clean the kitchen and do a couple of things before I can climb into bed, but I'll be there as soon as I am capable of doing so!

Tomorrow will be a big day on a working B at the shop with a few people who have generously volunteered their time for the cause. I have also posted a shout out on Facebook with the hope of recruiting some more help. There is a LOT to do.

So I'm off.

Nite all.

Voluntarily There

I voluntarily went to Bunnings today.

It was a long and very expensive visit!

Aside from the usual tools that you need for painting ... of which we needed little, because between us, we already have some of the tools of trade ... we got a lot of undercoat, a lot of white paint, a little yellow paint, some gun metal grey for the chairs in the training room and some gloss white for the doors.

Unfortunately, we were served by a young girl new to the paint section, so she had to ask her work buddy lots of questions. We asked her work buddy a lot of questions too!

By the time we got the paint, the belt for Adoring Husband's sander and unsuccessfully sourced some metal hooks, we were in that painful store for about 90 minutes! Ugh.

We drove to Stocklands where the Motivator had her eyes tested while I picked up my new glasses that I ordered last week! I bought some new knickers and put Ozlotto on (I've won twice on the same ticket!).

We had a light lunch at The Coffee Club.

We went to Office Works for some printer ink and some pretty new desk decor - a pen holder, some pens, a notebook and a book/folder holder.

I got some new new shoes.

We visited Go Natural where I stocked up on my ice cream, milk kefir, fresh fruit and veg and some wild caught salmon.

I purchased some beautiful sunflowers from the nearby florist.

Before we returned home, we managed to secure the last appointment for the day at Shine Nails at Stocklands. I selected gold for my nail colour - to reap in abundance!

It was 7pm by the time we pulled into the driveway and it took ten minutes to unload all of my purchases from the back of the car.

After we exchanged pleasantries, I cooked up one of the wild salmon steaks for Adoring Husband to eat with a fresh salad and then we ate fresh strawberries and chocolate coconut ice cream for dessert.

As the time rapidly approaches 11pm, I'm pretty much done in, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Hammer Time

I did a bit of hammering today. Cleaning up Adoring Husband's mess with the nail gun haha. All my fingers are still intact, no breaks, no bruising!

The Motivator and I put together an Office Works chest of drawers on castors. That was interesting and much less stressful than doing the same thing with a male ... in my experience! Sorry AH.

We discussed the different logos that have been provided by 4 different designers - none of which are close to perfect, but we have learned a lot and know exactly what we want now. We just need to find a designer who can see our vision.

AH measured the walls, so we know how much paint to get tomorrow ready for the painting on Thursday.

A list was made so that we can make the most of our trip into The Bay tomorrow.

I covered all the furniture with sheets so that when Adoring Husband is sanding the walls tomorrow, the dust doesn't land on everything.

The Motivator contacted Telstra, who were supposed to connect our landline and internet last week (surprise surprise), to find out that they can't find a port for our address. They were supposed to get back to us by close of business today, once again, surprise, surprise, they haven't.

We left a message for the Real Estate Agent to come into the shop to discuss the dirty carpet, the holes in the walls and the signage that should have been removed by now. She came and went without a word ... she has to walk right past our door and didn't even have the decency to say "I'm too busy, but I'll catch you tomorrow".

I picked up some crab from The Motivator's house on the way home .. you can guess what I had for dinner. For Adoring Husband, I cooked up some duck breast with orange sauce (which surprisingly, he loved!) with a salad.

I can't believe that it's already 11pm! Far out, time flies when you're having fun.

Nite all.