Productivity

Once again, I'm exhausted and ready for bed.

We left the shop at about 1.30pm and I did some grocery shopping so that I could do what I've been planning to do for the last 6 weeks, but haven't!

I planned to grocery shop every Friday so that I could bulk cook on Sunday and have all our meals prepared for the week.

But I kept missing the butcher - until this week!

So this afternoon I've prepared spaghetti bolognese sauce (which we will eat with zoodles instead of pasta), Hainan chicken and a beef casserole. That will help next week when I don't feel like spending time in the kitchen.

Since I made the decision to go into business with The Motivator, my eating habits have gone to pot.

My diet now includes hot chips, potato chips, rice, bread and GF desserts full of sugar, oh and too much coffee!

My energy levels fluctuate ridiculously with so many carbs and sugars going through my system and I'm not sleeping as soundly as I did before.

So I've decided to get back on the Paleo wagon - and I'm announcing it here to make myself accountable.

While my mental and emotional health is thriving in our self-made little slice of heaven, my physical health is slowly sliding downward and I want to feel physically strong and healthy again. I don't like feeling exhausted and unmotivated at the end of the day. It reminds me of when I used to fall asleep in the afternoons while I was playing with Chicklet. I need to feel Paleo fit again so that I can outlast everybody in the day.

I also need to be energised for the road trip next month!!

I'm a bit excited about the road trip.

The remainder of this year is going to be hectic and amazing and fabulous!

I can't wait to see all three of my kids, BGWLBH, my brother and my niece who are all coming for Adoring Husband's 60th birthday bash. Their visits will all be staggered over 3 or 4 weeks and following their departure, BGWLBH and I are off on our road trip, it's going to be epic!

In the meantime, I need to put all of my prepared food into the freezer and head off to bed.

Nite all.

Week's End

Here we are at the end of another great week and I'm feeling very tired.

So it's after 11pm and I'm off to bed.

I had a nice night at the club tonight and won a chook in the early bowler's raffle followed by a bit of a win on the pokies later in the evening.

Our table was light on friends with only 8 of our possible 18+ in attendance and none of us was lucky in the raffles. At the end of the night as we filed outside to catch the bus, we were disappointed to discover that it had left without us!

This meant hanging around for another fifteen minutes until it returned to get us. Not such a bad thing on this mild Spring night with a perfectly delicious breeze blowing in our hair.

I whipped up a quick dinner with a few leftovers that were in the fridge and then watched Graham Norton while I contemplated my possible early night ... until I was reminded that I had promised to iron Adoring Husband's official uniform for his big SES event tomorrow.

So having fulfilled my promise, I am also whipping up a quick blog post so that I can climb into bed and fall into a deep slumber that will hopefully take me through to a bright, early and happy Saturday morning.

Thanks for reading and have a happy Saturday!

Nite all.  

In Love

I am in love.

In love with my workspace.

(and Adoring Husband of course lol)

As far as sales go, it was a very quiet day. As far as visitors go, it was a very busy day! Not only friends, but previous customers came in, just to say hello! Which was really lovely and made the day go very quickly.

Mrs Bucket was the first through the door and it was a good visit with her. We had some real D&M time which was interesting and nice.

Today is pension day for a lot of the town locals, so they head into The Bay to do their grocery shopping. Originally, I thought pension day would be busier in the shop, but it's The Bay that gets busy on this day, not us.

A delivery of stock arrived and it was fun opening the box to see what was inside. I can never remember everything in the order, so it's like Christmas opening the packages.

The man finally arrived to assess the flood damage. It seems we will be getting a new roof, but it'll take 6 weeks to organise and who knows how long to actually replace. It's a big job, but meanwhile, this gentleman says that he will fix the back wall so that water doesn't seep through in the next downpour.

For now, I feel better having discussed the possibility of fixing the problem.

When there was no-one in the shop, I fluffed around and moved some stock, rearranging things here and there.

Tomorrow, I'll order some more snap jewellery. It's so popular, and since it takes 30-60 days for each order to arrive, I need to make sure there will be enough here for Christmas! (Yes, Christmas is less than 12 weeks away!)

Adoring Husband took delivery of some decorations and tablecloths for his Rock and Roll party, so things are looking good so far for the Big Bash.

The Motivator took the day to spend quality time with her niece.

Right now, Adoring Husband, having spent the night on SES duties, is snoring in his chair and the 2009 version of the movie 'Astro Boy' is on Foxtel. As interesting (not) as it is, I need to get some sleep. I've had a mild headache itching to take hold all afternoon and evening. I think a good night's sleep will kick it to the curb.

Nite all.

Almost Dry

All of our carpet, except in the training room, is dry.

The water is obviously still seeping under the wall in the training room because it's not drying at all and it's beginning to smell. Ugh.

Someone was supposed to come inspect and assess today, but they hadn't arrived by the time I left at 4pm. Maybe he arrived after that. I hope so.

The Motivator returned to work with her niece, Ruby Red, in tow, who helped out with a few chores and we asked her to give us her youthful advice on some bags, but she is obviously a different type of teenager to the ones we have visiting our town because she didn't like any of the bags that we normally sell to young women and teenagers!

We had some lovely new customers today and some returning customers as well. It was a good day.

The Motivator left after lunch for a work appointment and I spent a quiet afternoon replacing stock on shelves and making order selections for more stock, as well as sorting through some of the paperwork and office paraphernalia that I brought from home on Tuesday.

Adoring Husband took Colli, one of the psychotic dogs, into the groomers first thing this morning ...

From what I understand, she was quite well behaved and I almost didn't recognise her when AH brought her into the shop to show her off.

A H prepared his own dinner tonight. I'd eaten a big lunch, so I didn't need to eat dinner.

We picked The Blonde Bombshell up from her place and drove to the Bowls Club to meet Tweedle Dee and the Green Thumb for the trivia night. We did incredibly well and came 2nd out of a very large number of teams.

I didn't count them but I think there were about 12 teams tonight. We had one perfect round and came second by three points!

There were a lot of familiar faces there tonight, which made it even more fun and the competition was fierce! We won two of the rounds, which meant we were given a big bag of lollies for each of those rounds - woot woot!

So it's ended up being a late night for us and it's already 11.30pm, so I guess I should sign off and drag Adoring Husband, who is snoring his head off in the lounge chair beside me, into bed.

Having not had any dinner, I'm feeling a bit peckish now. Nothing that a big glass of water won't fix until tomorrow.

Nite all.

Tired Az

I'm a bit exhausted.

I think the drama and worry of the water inundation in the shop has taken its toll.

The dogs waking me up twice for toileting during the night also didn't help.

Nor did the 6 hours clearing the back room yesterday!

I had a shop full of men and women in SES uniforms this morning assessing the damage, checking out the roof and giving me some helpful advice, as well as cleaning out the gutters and talking to the agent in charge of the rental property.

Luckily the forecast storms amounted to nothing, so we didn't have to worry about more damage and there should be a gentleman coming tomorrow to work out what needs to be repaired and hopefully get started on those repairs!

The Motivator returned from Sydney and also came to inspect the damage this afternoon. As she arrived, the Real Estate Agent met her at the door and came in to have a look as well.

Now that I think about it, there was a steady stream of people coming through to inspect the damage all day!

Morning coffee with the girls was lovely, with Mrs Bucket joining us, having arrived yesterday for a few weeks holiday.

There were a lot of customers during the day with more good feedback.

Ted, a local indigenous man, dropped by to ask if we'd be interested in selling his aboriginal artefacts. His work is beautiful and we are strongly considering his offer. We also discussed the idea of having him do workshops and/or talks on aboriginal culture and beliefs. He has lectured at universities and is a very interesting man.

After my fights over the phone, on three different occasions, with 3 different Telstra officers last week, I received a phone call today from the complaints/appeals department. I told him my story and explained why I disagreed with the account AND with the the previous three decisions over my complaint.

This gentleman was far more amiable and prepared to listen and compromise with me. In the end, our bill was almost halved and we are much happier with this outcome.

So my day has been very full and I think I'm pretty much done.

It's an early night for me.

Nite all.

Rain Rain Go Away

I know that we need rain.

We desperately need rain.

The whole of Queensland needs rain.

But our shop doesn't need any more rain!!

I've spent the day in the back bedroom attempting to clear out some boxes that we've had stored in another bedroom for ten years. It's been a journey back in time with some interesting memories triggered.

I was brutal and culled so much paperwork and old photos and jewellery and old purses and birthday/christmas cards from years ago. I stood at the shredder for ages shredding old bank accounts, pay slips (and we all know how many decades ago payslips ceased to be a thing), work reports and assessments, tax notices, superannuation papers, medical certificates and return to work plans.

The list goes on and on.

It took a long time because the stoopid shredder overheated every 5 minutes and needed to rest for 10 minutes before it would work again.

I did this through a wet, windy stormy day.

This evening, just before dinner, Adoring Husband suggested that he go check the shop. We were told when we first moved in, that there was a  problem in the ceiling during heavy rain, but nobody knew where it was coming from.

Well, tonight, there was no problem where they initially pointed it out that day.

But every outer wall was leaking from either the ceiling down the walls or through the floor under the walls. It's a disaster, but luckily we got to it before any stock or furniture was damaged and I lay  towels where it was leaking the heaviest, so now that the rain has stopped, there shouldn't be any further problems.

I'll be straight into the real estate office tomorrow morning to make sure they get someone out to do something about it quickly.

... and this was after I inspected the damage!

Now it's almost 11pm and I need sleep. It's been a big day with emotional memories and stressful water problems. I'll have to mop up the mess tomorrow.

Nite all.

Footy Finals

I'm sitting on my couch watching the NRL Grand Final between Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys.

It's fast and furious and sadly, there has already been a serious injury that held up the game for 15 minutes.

I can't decide who I want to win this game.

Melbourne Storm are an amazing team full of stars. The difference between them and any other team full of stars, is that they play as a team. None of those stars try to be heroes on their own. They know that they need each other to win tight games and they are impressive both on and off the field.

The North Queensland Cowboys are the underdogs. It was sheer luck and only because of the result of another game that they even got into the top 8 to make the finals. They are fighters. They play smart and hard and they never give up. They well and truly earned their spot in this Grand Final.

I know they have the heart to win, but I just don't know if they have enough in them to do it against Storm.

We are only 20 minutes into the game and Storm are winning 6 - nil.

I've had a fairly productive Sunday, waking with more energy than I did last Sunday. I spent two hours in the back bedroom and removed a mini suitcase full of paperwork which needs to go to the shop and a couple of bags of magazines, books and stock which we took to the shop late this afternoon.

There was also 2 bags and a box full of rubbish removed.

I estimate that I probably have another hour or two to completely finish the job.

I baked a chicken in the oven with some sweet potato and beetroot. I served that with a delicious home made chicken gravy for a late lunch.

From 2pm onward, I relaxed on the couch and kept an eye on the BOM because SES have been issued warnings for heavy rain and storms in our area. They seem to be very slow moving and I doubt that anything will happen before tomorrow, probably early morning.

If it's raining tomorrow, I probably won't open the shop. The rain will keep the locals and the tourists indoors, so being at the shop will be pointless.

Anyway, I'm off to watch the footy.

Go Storm!

Go Cowboys!

Nite all.

It's Beginning

Christmas shopping has begun!

Not mine.

Some people are doing their Christmas shopping in The Happy Abode because it's "not like all the other shops", so I'm thinking that's a good thing.

I had more wonderful feedback today and even had a couple of husbands sitting in our lounge area, enjoying the pod chair and a bean bag while their wives spent almost an hour choosing bags, jewellery, diaries and purses.

They were very patient and also provided positive feedback!

One of our customers went searching for our Facebook page and commented favourably.

Another local man came in with his phone, asking me to take photos of the snap button range, as well as different parts of the shop so that he could send the pics to his daughter-in-law who will be visiting soon. Then he phoned her and handed the phone straight to me!!

We agreed that he was 'special' and she said that she will visit the shop next time she comes to town.

Quite a few locals came in today stating that they had no idea we were there and they promised to spread the word.

Some wanted to bring their families in on Monday (which is a public holiday) and asked if we would be open. I think I might open for the morning - treat it as a Saturday and take advantage of the public holiday.

Adoring Husband and I went straight from work into The Bay this afternoon. We did a Bunnings run and bought some flowers and hanging baskets for our outdoor area, some paint to spruce up the concrete floor in that area and some timber to make some rails to put on the walls of the shop for my photos to sit upon.

We also drove across to Go Natural and bought some organic fruit and veg, as well as some delicious ice cream, one tub of which has already been eaten! Most of it by me!

Now I'm feeling incredibly full bellied and incredibly tired, so I'm off to bed! It's not even 9pm and I believe that I'll be asleep by 9.30pm.

So ... nite all.

  

Happy Weekend

The holidays have ended. The tourists are on their way out of town. The caravan parks are emptying. The party is over.

It's a long weekend, so let's go out with a bang!

It was a crazy day with people coming in to spend the last of their holiday money before they left town. Lots of snap button jewellery went out the door and I'm concerned that the next lot of orders won't arrive in a timely manner.

We'll have to manage with what we have for now.

I had a fight with Telstra over the phone today.

I had a fight on Monday with Telstra also, and that fight ended satisfactorily, or so I thought. The promises that gentleman made were empty and he didn't follow through with anything, nor did he log my call.

Today, I was redirected three times until I spoke with a male who wouldn't listen and was arrogant, so I demanded to speak to his supervisor. He put me on hold for 20 minutes and then handed me to a female named Charlene. She had a strong accent that almost sounded robotic.

She also didn't listen, although she at least offered to remove a $59 fee from our bill. It was the one fee that I was happy to pay and the one fee that I could see was relevant. The $250+ double fee for tech support was the one I disagreed with, but I won't go into it here.

She, like the guy on Monday, promised to email me the revised bill with the new total and agreed that we wouldn't have to pay the $15 late fee on the bill.

Just like the guy on Monday, she failed to deliver and no email arrived.

But at least I have her name, unlike the guy on Monday.

So I guess there will be another phone call on Monday.

*sigh*

I had a customer in the shop for almost the duration of the phone call. A couple walked in during the call and Adoring Husband came in near the end of it. That was all a bit uncomfortable.

The remainder of the day was happy and good. I enjoyed it and all of my customers were in a jovial mood, so that was an added bonus.

Somebody brought back a rose gold bangle because it had tarnished overnight, so I took it and refunded the money. She was grateful and then proceeded to spend more than twice that on more jewellery! I think I passed on my snap button obsession to her. Haha.

I left work at 3.20pm and it gave me plenty of time to get ready for our Friday night at the club.

Four of our group were lucky with raffles and such. I was not one of them.

Football season is over so there was no footy to watch tonight. The Grand Final will be played on Sunday and then we have to wait til March 2018 for the next season.

So Adoring Husband and I watched a movie on Box Office. 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' I enjoyed it and I hope to get the time to watch it for a second time in the next 48 hours while it's available.

It's almost midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

End of Days

Apparently tourist season has almost ended and I should prepare myself for an empty shop.

This is possibly correct, but we've had more locals in our shop than tourists of late, so I'm hoping that they will continue to support us.

Even if the end of tourist season means the end of our current customer flow, it will at least give us time to cover the chairs and set up our training room, so there are positives to whatever the immediate future has to offer.

Meanwhile, it was another good day in the shop, with plenty of happy smiling faces belonging to tourists and curious investigations from the locals.

I locked the doors at 3.20pm, grabbed a coffee from the fish n chip shop and was home before 4pm.

Adoring Husband spent the day on Fraser Island fulfilling SES duties. It was a rough ride in gale force conditions and the tides were not conducive to a happy or productive trip on the island itself. He endured a long day, having more work to do in The Bay before he could come home.

He left at 5am and returned at 8.30pm. That's a long day in anybody's books.

We had our big sign delivered by the Fisher King and Toy Boy this afternoon.

A local lady offered and delivered some plants for our garden at the front of the shop.

A courier service delivered five boxes of goodies for The Motivator's lighting and design business.

Some of our signs arrived yesterday from Vistaprint. It was kind of funny that even though we planned on opening from 9am - 12pm on Saturdays, The Motivator accidentally put 9am - 1pm on the order ... I guess it was meant to be!

I enjoyed my day today.

The Motivator is now in Sydney for a few days so I'll be flying solo. I hope she has a good time with her family and returns to me all relaxed and happy :) She needed a break because she works super hard and at full steam.

It's just gone past 10pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

  

Happy All Round

I left home early enough to drop by the Seat of Knowledge and see the boys. It's been a couple of weeks since I last saw them and during that visit, they seemed a bit aloof, because I was hoping that they would ask about the shop, but they avoided the subject.

Today was a different story and they asked me to sit down and proceeded to bombard me with questions. It felt good to me that they were interested at last.

At 8.30 I pedalled to the supermarket to get some food for tonight's dinner, checked my PO Box and then headed to work.

It was lady's lunch day so I was only working until 11am. I made a small sale before I left and as I walked out the door, I declared to The Motivator "I hope that you have an incredibly busy afternoon and break all our sales records!"

I then rode home to be picked up by The Speckled Hen and it was my first lady's lunch for 3 months so I was pretty pumped!

Even before I reached our lunch destination, I received a text from The Motivator to tell me that she had sold four of my photos + other sales and was rapidly approaching our sales record!

That was pretty exciting.

We lunched at Goody's Restaurant in Toogoom and they had a fabulous GF menu. I couldn't eat all of my Salt n Pepper Calamari even though it was amazing. The sweet potato chips were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The salad was fresh and crunchy with a delicious dressing.

But the piece de resistance was the dessert of which I decided to partake at the last minute. A warm GF brownie with warm chocolate sauce and pouring cream. That was a plate full of heaven and I savoured every single mouthful with gusto! Yum Yum Yum

After a couple of hours, four of us drove to the Bowls Club for drinking and gambling.

That was a lot of fun and we left there at 4pm.

There was no way that I was capable of eating dinner after filling my belly with all of that good food, but I made up a big salad with a Barker's Creek pork loin cutlet for Adoring Husband.

Now it's almost 9.30pm and I'm feeling a bit peckish. Perhaps a piece of toast would hit the spot.

Anyway, I've had a fabulous day and after so much time, I loved catching up with the ladies. I didn't even think to take a photo because I was too busy yapping with everyone.

Hugs all round and feeling the love!

Nite all.

Social Work

My work morning was more social than work!

There were 9 of us for coffee this morning, although The Motivator was trying to get work done at her desk and ended up serving customers the entire time, while I socialised with my girls. It was a busy morning too.

Best Cousin in the World arrived just as everyone was leaving, so I go to sit with her for over an hour as well.

So my morning was very social.

Tomorrow will also be social because I'm getting picked up for lunch at 11.30am. I missed the last two lady's lunches while we got the shop ready so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Our LeReve goodies were delivered by Stephanie this afternoon, so I need to contact everyone to come pick up their orders.

Meanwhile, I'm still loving our space.

Even though the shop is doing so well, The Motivator and I will be even happier when we've finished organising our training room so we can get started on the courses and workshops. We have lots of names of people interested in what we are offering and lots of questions about when they will be starting so we really need to get cracking.

My six week holiday in Nov/Dec will kind of dampen things a bit, but maybe we can squeeze in a couple of workshops between now and then????

Who knows? But we are not going to stress about it. That's not what we are about.

Feeling the love.

Feeling tired!

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Manic Monday

We had our busiest Monday today!

Not just tourists, but quite a few locals who we have never seen or met before.

I love how people want to stop and have a chat about where they come from, how many years they've been coming here for holidays, where they stay, who they know and of course, how much they love our shop - "Just what this town needs!"

My third customer since we opened, strolled through the shop today and asked "Who is this photographer? Is she a local?" and then proceeded to heap praise upon me. Gives me a thrill every single time!

We completed and ordered our business cards and some of our signs today.

I spent time on the phone with Telstra trying to reduce our ridiculous bill today. I was told that an email would be sent, our bill would be frozen and that he would phone me back with the result. Surprise, surprise, he didn't send me an email or phone me back ... probably didn't freeze the bill either.

I'll follow up tomorrow.

I postponed the LeReve party that we were going to have tomorrow. It will be held next Tuesday afternoon now at 3pm.

Researched more snap jewellery sites to re-order some stock that is no longer available with my old provider.

I ordered a Cenzoni bag for a customer who was here last week.

Adoring Husband ran a couple of errands for me in The Bay.

We enjoyed GF hamburgers from the local takeaway - delicious.

Once again, we left the shop much later than 3pm. It was after 5pm by the time I got home, which meant I walked straight into the kitchen to begin cooking dinner. Bangers and mash with fresh beans and snow peas.

I ate a fresh sand crab for dinner, while AH ate my creation.

It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Nothing At All

There is still much to do at home in preparation for the big birthday bash.

In particular, there is still much for ME to do, even though Adoring Husband has worked hard throughout the house.

But today, I just wanted to do nothing at all.

I didn't want to think about anything or do anything or worry about anything or answer any questions.

I just wanted to veg.

Of course there was washing to do and some tidying to do in the bedroom and family room, but I did the minimum required.

Adoring Husband put together some IKEA drawers for a cupboard at work and we drove to the shop to install it. I didn't lock the door and some people attempted to come into the shop! I told them to return tomorrow.

We've watched a marathon of movies. 'Going in Style'  'Enchanted'  'Runaway Bride'  'Sex and the City2'

It's just 8.30pm and I feel like it's time  for bed ... even after doing nothing all day!

I made Butter Chicken for dinner tonight, which was pretty easy and I added small cubes of roasted sweet potato and grated carrot for some extra goodness and nutritional value.

Pretty happy about the Cowboys winning the footy last night. It will be an interesting final between them and Melbourne Storm. Storm are far and away the best team in the competition, but you never know how things will go on the day.

If the Cowboys can play a whole game the same way they played the second half of yesterday's game, I think they could be in with a chance, but they were 9th on the ladder at the end of the season and only made it into the top 8 by chance. For them to beat the number one team, would be pretty miraculous!

Well, enough of this frivolity. I'm off to bed. I need my beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Shorter...

... and sweeter.

It's 7.30pm and I can't stop yawning!

I was home by 1pm today.

Our little girl, Jessie, came to say goodbye before she and her parents headed back to the Gold Coast and she gave us both a hug and thanked us. She was such a little sweetie.

Her Dad, a self professed healer, gave us some advice about cleansing our training area before we begin our courses.

Our morning was quiet in the shop and we probably had about 15 people through the door. Three of them were there to ask about crab.

We had some great conversations and met some new locals.

We received a phone call from a lady whose transactions didn't go through our reader on Monday, and this means that we have now received ALL the money from my big mistake that day. It's comforting to know that people are so honest.

Lady Lynn, Happy Harry, Beauty, The Beast, Stands With a Fist and The Chief all came for a quick visit. It was the boys' first visit, so I showed them around. I'm really happy that they came!

Sadly, I watched my team lose their finals footy game last night and I doubt that I'll be able to stay awake for the entirety of tonight's game, but I hope the Cowboys win.

I'm writing this on my iPad tonight and the battery is almost flat, so this is me signing off!

It's been a big week and my energy is low, so ...

Nite all

Short ...

... and sweet.

It's after 11pm and I'm exhausted.

I can hear my bed and my pillows calling me.

We had another great day. Lots of town visitors came in for a look, all saying that someone had told them about the shop, so word is spreading fast.

Well, maybe not that fast ... we've been open for three weeks now.

We are both brain dead and worn out, working 6 days a week over the holiday period. I'm not used to working at all and The Motivator's hours have been sporadic and planned to suit her needs, so neither of us were prepared for the mental and physical tiredness that we are experiencing.

We'll get over it.

Need to work harder at self care and improve my eating habits, otherwise my energy levels will fade into nothingness and I will make myself sick.

I've got this.

Nite all.

Berry Berry Tired

It's been a BIG day.

A busy day at work, followed by a trip into The Bay.

We attempted to pick up some stock that was supposed to arrive from Maryborough, only to discover that the order hadn't been followed up by the young girl The Motivator had spoken to, so the stock has probably gone now.

Two shops that we wanted to pick up some plastic bags from, were both closed, so that was a futile exercise.

We then had to choose from two signs that we've been offered by Stocklands. We made our choice and now have to bide our time to see if we actually receive them.

Then we went shopping for work clothes.

THAT was a lot of fun. I may have got a bit carried away, in fact, we BOTH may have.

The thing is ... my wardrobe is full of clothes, but few of them are really suitable for work ... especially now that the weather is warming up. I have lots of singlet tops and shorts, but few dressy Summery clothes.

So today, I remedied that situation.

We bought some of the same clothes, so there will be days we MAY turn up in an unintentional uniform! But that's ok.

By the time we hopped in the car to drive home, at around 8pm, we were both exhausted. It's now 10.30 and I'm off to bed, completely worn out.

Here is some more of our lovely stock from the shop.

Nite all.

Humpety Hump Day

How lucky that we've been able to locate three of the four people whose transactions didn't go through our card reader properly yesterday!

It means that we are only $27 down now. We can live with that.

We had an incredibly busy day today. We met some interesting people and our patience was stretched a touch by one or two of them. The Little Mermaid was feeling and sounding fiery. We sold a lot of Cenzoni handbags, including one that I thought would never sell!

Luckily, another delivery of Cenzoni bags arrived in purple and black - they seem to be very popular colours.

I sold another photo! Woot! Woot!

I left the shop at 5pm after I'd priced my new photos, answered some freaky phone calls - prerecorded messages that were set to play when I answered the phone - one of them wouldn't allow me to hang up until it finished (I pressed the button to hang up and nothing happened)!!

I served a late customer and then packed up to go home.

I got about a third of the way home and then had this uneasy feeling that the back door to the shop was unlocked, so I turned around and rode back to the shop. When I tested the door, sure enough, it was unlocked!! 

It can't be locked from the outside, so I had to unlock the front door, walk through the shop, lock it from the inside and then leave through the front door again. 

I rode home and as I pulled into the garage, I realised that I'd left the cash box behind, so Adoring Husband drove me back to the shop to get it.

I seem to spend a lot of time back tracking these days!

I made an easy dinner of crispy skinned chicken and salad and that was it for me.

It's now 10pm and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

I Did a Woopsie

It's been a big day full of learning experiences and fun.

Learning how to use our card reader for transactions, I made a mistake and accidentally gave away $75 worth of purchases. That was a big whoopsie.

We've figured it out now, so there won't be any more mistakes. Ugh.

I've set up my new email for the business ... if you want to contact me for any 'Happy Abode' business, my email is roz@thehappyabode.com

Adoring Husband picked up my photos from the framer and they all look fantastic, so tomorrow, I'll be pricing them and figuring out how and where to display them.

We've received almost all of our stock now and have rearranged some displays to fit everything in while trying to avoid the 'cluttered' look. I think we've done well, though it's always fun rearranging displays, so they'll probably happen often.

There were a lot of customers today. Tourists as well as some locals and also my girls who came for coffee all had a little fun shopping themselves.

The Little Mermaid made an appearance or two. The young girls came in once and bought a button.

I did have a good night's sleep last night, but I am feeling very tired again tonight and it's almost 11pm, so I'm heading to bed right now.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Nite all.

Just Like Christmas

We had boxes and boxes of stock arrive today at the shop ... it was just like Christmas!

The term 'retail therapy' takes on a whole new meaning now.

Every box is full of smaller boxes and in every smaller box is a wonderful surprise!

We each buy stock separately and we both choose items that we would buy for ourselves and have in our own homes if money and space were unlimited. We also both have very different taste, which works out well because we know that our shop will appeal to different people.

I received a box of new snap button coin purses (the owl, the bird cages and the floral on bottom right) ...

... and here is a selection of other stock that came in, but these photos don't include the the stock that arrived right on closing time.

We had lots of tourists in our shop today, with lots of kids in tow. We had two young girls in the shop for most of the day because they love the shop and one of them wants to work for us when she's old enough to work!

The Little Mermaid made an appearance and we even had a few locals who only just found out that we are in existence ... all of whom said they would return when 1. they didn't have their husband in tow 2. after the grandkids go home 3. when they have more time to spend looking around.

All of them said "This is just what Burrum needs"

I get a thrill every time I hear those words and I know that The Motivator feels the same way.

I've been awake since 2.17am. 

I have no idea why I woke up or why I couldn't go back to sleep, but it's now 8pm and I'm feeling very very weary, so I believe that I will be in bed before 9pm and hopefully will sleep solidly all night.

I'm looking forward to coffee with the girls in the morning. After that we will probably spend the entire day pricing the new stock! Maybe we'll be so busy, we won't have time to price the new stock!

Anyway, that's enough from me.

Nite all.