That's how long I've got until Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion starts on Foxtel and I am going to watch it (for the millionth time).
We all saw Star Wars at the cinema today.
It was like all the other Star Wars movies. Lots of action. Lots of characters. Lots of comedy. Lots of drama. Lots of killing. Lots of bad guys. Lots of good guys. Lots of special effects.
One notable difference - lots of strong female characters - which I liked a lot.
After the movie, we shopped and Primrose and I attempted to print out some photos from our USB sticks. I took the wrong one and Primrose's USB couldn't be recognised by the Harvey Norman computer, so that was a big fat fail.
Meanwhile, The Motivator was breaking sales records in the shop all by herself! We hope to break her new record tomorrow!
Primrose and I headed to the Bowls Club for the raffles tonight and neither of us had any luck at all.
Adoring Husband stayed at home and kept an eye on dinner which was a made up dish - chicken with garlic, chilli, honey and lemon. It was disappointing, but edible.
I think it's time for me to sleep now ... I can't even stay awake for Romy and Michelle.
Nite all.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Presentation Skills
I love 'The Happy Abode'.
The Motivator has had some time off to spend with her lovely Mum who is visiting from Sydney and today I was alone in the shop.
It was very busy in the morning and they were all lovely customers with big smiles and warm positive wishes for our success, all buying Christmas gifts for friends or family.
It was quiet enough in the afternoon that I could actually eat some lunch and go check the mail afterwards. I did some tidying up and put the extra stock away, replaced the buttons in the trays that I'd sold in the morning, made up some bracelets to replace the ones that I'd sold earlier, took some photos of the handbags and posted them on our Facebook page (as promised to one of the customers yesterday, who wants her daughter to choose one for Christmas) and messaged Primrose to come to the shop at 4pm.
That's the time that I closed the doors so that we could take the yellow cover off the display table and replace it with a blue one, swap the blue buddha for the white one and then change up the presentation of the stock on the main table. We also changed positions of some of my photos around the shop.
Adoring Husband will be mounting the photo display shelves on the wall this weekend so it will all change again after that.
I wish I'd taken a photo of the finished display because I think it looks pretty darned good. I think Primrose enjoyed the process and she has a pretty good eye for presentation so we left feeling good about our work.
We decided to take the long way home, walking along the river path. The tide was high and the water was very choppy with the moored boats rocking back and forth over the choppy waves.
Primrose had prepared dinner earlier, so we had a delicious cold meat dinner with three different salads before doing a quick clean up and retiring to our respective evening positions in the house. She, in her bedroom to watch the remaining ER series and me to the lounge room to do this blog post and watch some reviews on Canon Mark IV cameras.
In the middle of doing that, I had the inclination to clean the main toilet and bathroom - much to the horror of Primrose who is always disturbed when I do something out of character like that. Cleaning the bathroom at 10pm and still wearing my work clothes is definitely out of character.
We are all off to the cinema in the morning to see the new Star Wars movie. Primrose and Adoring Husband are very excited about this, so I'd best get myself some sleep!
Happy Friday!
Nite all.
The Motivator has had some time off to spend with her lovely Mum who is visiting from Sydney and today I was alone in the shop.
It was very busy in the morning and they were all lovely customers with big smiles and warm positive wishes for our success, all buying Christmas gifts for friends or family.
It was quiet enough in the afternoon that I could actually eat some lunch and go check the mail afterwards. I did some tidying up and put the extra stock away, replaced the buttons in the trays that I'd sold in the morning, made up some bracelets to replace the ones that I'd sold earlier, took some photos of the handbags and posted them on our Facebook page (as promised to one of the customers yesterday, who wants her daughter to choose one for Christmas) and messaged Primrose to come to the shop at 4pm.
That's the time that I closed the doors so that we could take the yellow cover off the display table and replace it with a blue one, swap the blue buddha for the white one and then change up the presentation of the stock on the main table. We also changed positions of some of my photos around the shop.
Adoring Husband will be mounting the photo display shelves on the wall this weekend so it will all change again after that.
I wish I'd taken a photo of the finished display because I think it looks pretty darned good. I think Primrose enjoyed the process and she has a pretty good eye for presentation so we left feeling good about our work.
We decided to take the long way home, walking along the river path. The tide was high and the water was very choppy with the moored boats rocking back and forth over the choppy waves.
Primrose had prepared dinner earlier, so we had a delicious cold meat dinner with three different salads before doing a quick clean up and retiring to our respective evening positions in the house. She, in her bedroom to watch the remaining ER series and me to the lounge room to do this blog post and watch some reviews on Canon Mark IV cameras.
In the middle of doing that, I had the inclination to clean the main toilet and bathroom - much to the horror of Primrose who is always disturbed when I do something out of character like that. Cleaning the bathroom at 10pm and still wearing my work clothes is definitely out of character.
We are all off to the cinema in the morning to see the new Star Wars movie. Primrose and Adoring Husband are very excited about this, so I'd best get myself some sleep!
Happy Friday!
Nite all.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Night Sky
It's 10pm. Primrose and I have just returned from the beach where we watched the sky for an hour to see some of the Geminids Meteor Shower in the night sky.
We saw four bright meteors shoot across the sky and a few small ones.
It was the most beautiful clear night and the sky was brilliant with stars. There was a soft breeze blowing and as the tide was receding, the water was gently lapping the beach. If I'd had a more comfortable resting place, I could easily fallen asleep in the mild night air.
It was well worth the effort, not just for the serenity of it all, but for the bright meteors that made us gasp in awe and if Primrose hadn't been here, I probably wouldn't have made the effort, so I thank her for her enthusiastic motivating pull (aka harassing lol).
I was booked in for a Zen Shiatsu session with Annemarie at the shop this afternoon. I took her last appointment for the day and it was my first experience with this form of remedial therapy. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that I would be fully clothed and that it would be similar to acupressure.
It was wonderful and the hour went so fast! Into the first ten minutes and I was feeling very very relaxed. By the time she'd finished, from top of my head to the tips of my toes, I felt amazing. So many tight and tense parts of my body were relaxed and moving better than they have in years.
The base of my spine and my hips were moving easily and pain free and I felt so much lighter than before we began the process.
She gave me a few stretching exercises to do before getting out of bed in the mornings and then explained what to expect in the coming 24 hours with my emotions and moods. Releasing the pressure on so many parts of my body might trigger some unusual or unexpected 'feelings' and 'emotions'.
So far, the only emotion I've felt is pure wonder that the stiffness has gone from my hips and I can move freely!
I think I'll need to make a standing fortnightly appointment with her. The best part is that all I have to remove is my shoes.
Annemarie is both gentle and strong in her movements and actions. I felt safe and comfortable the whole time and I can confidently recommend her Zen Shiatsu sessions.
At the shop, it was a quieter than usual Pension Wednesday.
Adoring Husband and Primrose had dinner all organised, so I didn't have to put too much effort into it. We make a pretty good team!
I'm off to bed to take advantage of a relaxed and clear body. I feel that sleep will arrive quickly tonight.
Nite all.
We saw four bright meteors shoot across the sky and a few small ones.
It was the most beautiful clear night and the sky was brilliant with stars. There was a soft breeze blowing and as the tide was receding, the water was gently lapping the beach. If I'd had a more comfortable resting place, I could easily fallen asleep in the mild night air.
It was well worth the effort, not just for the serenity of it all, but for the bright meteors that made us gasp in awe and if Primrose hadn't been here, I probably wouldn't have made the effort, so I thank her for her enthusiastic motivating pull (aka harassing lol).
I was booked in for a Zen Shiatsu session with Annemarie at the shop this afternoon. I took her last appointment for the day and it was my first experience with this form of remedial therapy. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that I would be fully clothed and that it would be similar to acupressure.
It was wonderful and the hour went so fast! Into the first ten minutes and I was feeling very very relaxed. By the time she'd finished, from top of my head to the tips of my toes, I felt amazing. So many tight and tense parts of my body were relaxed and moving better than they have in years.
The base of my spine and my hips were moving easily and pain free and I felt so much lighter than before we began the process.
She gave me a few stretching exercises to do before getting out of bed in the mornings and then explained what to expect in the coming 24 hours with my emotions and moods. Releasing the pressure on so many parts of my body might trigger some unusual or unexpected 'feelings' and 'emotions'.
So far, the only emotion I've felt is pure wonder that the stiffness has gone from my hips and I can move freely!
I think I'll need to make a standing fortnightly appointment with her. The best part is that all I have to remove is my shoes.
Annemarie is both gentle and strong in her movements and actions. I felt safe and comfortable the whole time and I can confidently recommend her Zen Shiatsu sessions.
At the shop, it was a quieter than usual Pension Wednesday.
Adoring Husband and Primrose had dinner all organised, so I didn't have to put too much effort into it. We make a pretty good team!
I'm off to bed to take advantage of a relaxed and clear body. I feel that sleep will arrive quickly tonight.
Nite all.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Zawsted
I am exhausted.
In the last 2 days, I've opened eleven boxes of stock, checked them off against the invoices, priced each item and then rearranged the displays in the shop so that I could fit everything in.
There was not enough room for storage so I had to reorganise the snap jewellery drawers.
The new display trays arrived and that meant rearranging all the buttons and removing them from the old trays and putting them in some kind of order on the new ones.
It's bin day, so I had to cut up all the boxes to put into the recycle bin.
Of course, in between all of this, there were customers to serve.
Our new business cards, address stickers and other printed paraphernalia arrived today too.
There should be one more delivery this week and that should be all before Christmas.
We were very light on for the usual Tuesday morning tea. The lovely Tweedle Dee was the only one to appear and it was great to have some one on one time with her.
It's that time of the year when everybody has something going on, like babysitting duties, holidays, illness and other commitments.
Adoring Husband, Primrose and I drove to the river to check out the sunset, but it was a fizzer, so we drove around the parts of town that we missed last night, looking for Christmas lights.
Not many of the usual suspects have their lights up this year, so it was a disappointing drive.
Primrose had prepared all the salads for dinner and AH cooked our meat on the barbecue - so thankfully, it required little effort from me and I enjoyed a delicious, healthful meal.
Adoring Husband was kind enough to massage my feet for me while we watched a movie.
Now I'm off to bed because I can barely keep my eyes open.
Nite all.
In the last 2 days, I've opened eleven boxes of stock, checked them off against the invoices, priced each item and then rearranged the displays in the shop so that I could fit everything in.
There was not enough room for storage so I had to reorganise the snap jewellery drawers.
The new display trays arrived and that meant rearranging all the buttons and removing them from the old trays and putting them in some kind of order on the new ones.
It's bin day, so I had to cut up all the boxes to put into the recycle bin.
Of course, in between all of this, there were customers to serve.
Our new business cards, address stickers and other printed paraphernalia arrived today too.
There should be one more delivery this week and that should be all before Christmas.
We were very light on for the usual Tuesday morning tea. The lovely Tweedle Dee was the only one to appear and it was great to have some one on one time with her.
It's that time of the year when everybody has something going on, like babysitting duties, holidays, illness and other commitments.
Adoring Husband, Primrose and I drove to the river to check out the sunset, but it was a fizzer, so we drove around the parts of town that we missed last night, looking for Christmas lights.
Not many of the usual suspects have their lights up this year, so it was a disappointing drive.
Primrose had prepared all the salads for dinner and AH cooked our meat on the barbecue - so thankfully, it required little effort from me and I enjoyed a delicious, healthful meal.
Adoring Husband was kind enough to massage my feet for me while we watched a movie.
Now I'm off to bed because I can barely keep my eyes open.
Nite all.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Tourist Season
It has begun.
The first day of Queensland school holidays brought me a busy Monday at the shop.
Not only did the tourists come for a visit and buy lots of jewellery, but I took delivery of ten (10) boxes of stock!
I assembled the new hat stand which now displays many hemp hats and a bag or two.
... and then this happened ...
I've unpacked one and a half of those boxes, so there is much work to do this week!
It may seem like a difficult task, but it's FUN! It's like Christmas because we never remember everything that we order.
I got to spend a lot of time playing with the snap button jewellery today, which is always enjoyable for me. I don't even mind when customers take a long time to choose their buttons and it's so interesting to watch them create their perfect 'piece'.
It was after 5pm when I arrived home.
Adoring Husband had already left for an important SES meeting, so Primrose and I sat down to an early dinner and then jumped in the car to try and catch the sunset on the river.
It was worth the effort.
I've got to be at work bright and early tomorrow so I'd best get some sleep!
Nite all.
The first day of Queensland school holidays brought me a busy Monday at the shop.
Not only did the tourists come for a visit and buy lots of jewellery, but I took delivery of ten (10) boxes of stock!
I assembled the new hat stand which now displays many hemp hats and a bag or two.
... and then this happened ...
I've unpacked one and a half of those boxes, so there is much work to do this week!
It may seem like a difficult task, but it's FUN! It's like Christmas because we never remember everything that we order.
I got to spend a lot of time playing with the snap button jewellery today, which is always enjoyable for me. I don't even mind when customers take a long time to choose their buttons and it's so interesting to watch them create their perfect 'piece'.
It was after 5pm when I arrived home.
Adoring Husband had already left for an important SES meeting, so Primrose and I sat down to an early dinner and then jumped in the car to try and catch the sunset on the river.
It was worth the effort.
I've got to be at work bright and early tomorrow so I'd best get some sleep!
Nite all.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Date Day
Adoring Husband and I had a bit of a date day today.
I had a few errands to run in The Bay, including picking up a couple of Christmas gifts, so we left home at 9am only to realise that the places that we needed to go didn't open until 10am!
We decided to have some breakfast and tried the new Enzos on the Esplanade. It's certainly a lot different to what it was originally, but I love the style of the place and the food was prompt to our table and very tasty.
The view was pretty special and the restaurant was open and airy with lots of tall tables, high benches with stools and low benches facing the water with low stools. There was even a sand pit with bean bags to relax in.
There is a bar for alcoholic beverages, of which we didn't partake at such an early hour!
We shopped well and before returning home, we perused Harvey Normans for kitchen 'stuff' including ridiculously priced stoves, fridges and washing machines and selecting our next lounge suite which has all the bells and whistles.
We were home by about 12.30 and after lunch, Primrose and I spent the afternoon outside being creative and artistic.
Primrose painted, sanded it to a rustic appearance and then painted the words of a quote on a square timber board for me. She also painted a "Come in, we're AWESOME!" sign for the front door of our shop. She's a marvel.
Adoring Husband drilled approximately 20 small holes into a piece of silverware that I got from an Op shop while on our road trip and I began threading beads and charms onto it. It was a pleasant surprise opening each container full of beads and rediscovering some of the special bits and pieces that I had stored away.
I needed a short nap this afternoon and afterwards, Primrose and I walked to the supermarket to grab a couple of things for dinner, which we threw together without too much effort.
Adoring Husband has not been feeling the best this afternoon so he napped on and off in his lounge chair and had a fairly early night.
It's now after 11pm and I'll be opening the shop in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.
Nite all.
I had a few errands to run in The Bay, including picking up a couple of Christmas gifts, so we left home at 9am only to realise that the places that we needed to go didn't open until 10am!
We decided to have some breakfast and tried the new Enzos on the Esplanade. It's certainly a lot different to what it was originally, but I love the style of the place and the food was prompt to our table and very tasty.
The view was pretty special and the restaurant was open and airy with lots of tall tables, high benches with stools and low benches facing the water with low stools. There was even a sand pit with bean bags to relax in.
There is a bar for alcoholic beverages, of which we didn't partake at such an early hour!
We shopped well and before returning home, we perused Harvey Normans for kitchen 'stuff' including ridiculously priced stoves, fridges and washing machines and selecting our next lounge suite which has all the bells and whistles.
We were home by about 12.30 and after lunch, Primrose and I spent the afternoon outside being creative and artistic.
Primrose painted, sanded it to a rustic appearance and then painted the words of a quote on a square timber board for me. She also painted a "Come in, we're AWESOME!" sign for the front door of our shop. She's a marvel.
Adoring Husband drilled approximately 20 small holes into a piece of silverware that I got from an Op shop while on our road trip and I began threading beads and charms onto it. It was a pleasant surprise opening each container full of beads and rediscovering some of the special bits and pieces that I had stored away.
I needed a short nap this afternoon and afterwards, Primrose and I walked to the supermarket to grab a couple of things for dinner, which we threw together without too much effort.
Adoring Husband has not been feeling the best this afternoon so he napped on and off in his lounge chair and had a fairly early night.
It's now after 11pm and I'll be opening the shop in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.
Nite all.
Saturday, December 9, 2017
Market Day
My plan was to go to the local markets to check out a stall that sells snap button jewellery.
This was her second time at our markets and prior to that, she was selling at Howard markets.
I did not plan on spending any money!
Ha!
I didn't spend any money at her stall, but I DID support other stall holders, including a new person who was selling her hand made timber paling wall shelves that I totally fell in love with and bought two for myself and then went halves in another set of two with Primrose.
I purchased a piece of art from the same girl whose cards and artwork is displayed in our shop and I bought a bracelet and ring from her mother who has a permanent stall and who I visit every month. I love her jewellery and she has asked to provide her pieces on consignment for our shop, but we already have enough jewellery.
I found a set of four very large shells - they are bigger than my hand ...
... which I thought might be nice for presentation or displays in the shop.
I also found some more silverware that I'll drill holes in for the bohemian hanging beads that we hope to make tomorrow.
Lastly, we stopped at the fruit and vegetable stall and bought a few items there before we packed all our purchases into Adoring Husband's car and walked to The Happy Abode to see The Motivator for a quick visit.
It was a really warm morning and we were both feeling the heat by the time we arrived home, but I cooked up some bacon and eggs for Primrose, made a turkey salad for AH (who arrived home early feeling drained from the heat), mixed up a big berry smoothie and made myself a toasted turkey, avocado, cranberry and rocket sandwich.
AH and I sat and watched a movie together while Primrose got her Arty Farty on and painted a sign for The Happy Abode and prepared another for completion tomorrow.
I made up some fritters with the leftover lamb and veg from Friday night and we ate them with salad for dinner, followed by a fruit salad with stewed rhubarb and apple!
There is currently a very nasty storm skirting around us. It's windy and noisy but I think we've dodged a bullet this time round, unlike the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast who copped a lot of hail and nasty winds that caused damage.
Adoring Husband and I will be spending Sunday morning together and all three of us will be visiting Toogoom for their Christmas Fair in the afternoon.
So it's sleep time for me!
Nite all.
This was her second time at our markets and prior to that, she was selling at Howard markets.
I did not plan on spending any money!
Ha!
I didn't spend any money at her stall, but I DID support other stall holders, including a new person who was selling her hand made timber paling wall shelves that I totally fell in love with and bought two for myself and then went halves in another set of two with Primrose.
I purchased a piece of art from the same girl whose cards and artwork is displayed in our shop and I bought a bracelet and ring from her mother who has a permanent stall and who I visit every month. I love her jewellery and she has asked to provide her pieces on consignment for our shop, but we already have enough jewellery.
I found a set of four very large shells - they are bigger than my hand ...
... which I thought might be nice for presentation or displays in the shop.
I also found some more silverware that I'll drill holes in for the bohemian hanging beads that we hope to make tomorrow.
Lastly, we stopped at the fruit and vegetable stall and bought a few items there before we packed all our purchases into Adoring Husband's car and walked to The Happy Abode to see The Motivator for a quick visit.
It was a really warm morning and we were both feeling the heat by the time we arrived home, but I cooked up some bacon and eggs for Primrose, made a turkey salad for AH (who arrived home early feeling drained from the heat), mixed up a big berry smoothie and made myself a toasted turkey, avocado, cranberry and rocket sandwich.
AH and I sat and watched a movie together while Primrose got her Arty Farty on and painted a sign for The Happy Abode and prepared another for completion tomorrow.
I made up some fritters with the leftover lamb and veg from Friday night and we ate them with salad for dinner, followed by a fruit salad with stewed rhubarb and apple!
There is currently a very nasty storm skirting around us. It's windy and noisy but I think we've dodged a bullet this time round, unlike the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast who copped a lot of hail and nasty winds that caused damage.
Adoring Husband and I will be spending Sunday morning together and all three of us will be visiting Toogoom for their Christmas Fair in the afternoon.
So it's sleep time for me!
Nite all.
Friday, December 8, 2017
New Wardrobe
Primrose and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Goody's on the Beach in Toogoom this morning. It was a bit breezy, but certainly pleasant enough.
With all the 50% off sales on in The Bay at the moment, we decided to make the most of them and we shopped til we dropped.
Our original plan to go to the movies to see Murder on the Orient Express kind of went out the window when our shopping frenzy took hold and we totally lost track of the time.
I now have a complete new wardrobe of clothes to wear to work for the coming year, including hair accessories and jewellery!
I also purchased a couple of Christmas gifts and some DVDs, checked my losing Powerball ticket and bought one for the next draw.
We didn't even have time to stop for lunch.
At 5pm when we were driving home, I phoned Adoring Husband and asked him to put the leg of lamb in the oven. We stopped at the supermarket and picked up some vegetables to make a big pot of baked veggies and we pulled into the driveway, removed everything quickly from the car, prepared the vegetables and threw them into the oven with the meat before rushing right back out the door attempting to reach the river in time for what we thought would be a fabulous sunset.
Unfortunately a big bank of cloud appeared on the horizon and blocked any chance of a sunset, so we packed up our cameras and sulked our way home.
We have a lot planned for tomorrow, so it's time for bed now.
Nite all.
With all the 50% off sales on in The Bay at the moment, we decided to make the most of them and we shopped til we dropped.
Our original plan to go to the movies to see Murder on the Orient Express kind of went out the window when our shopping frenzy took hold and we totally lost track of the time.
I now have a complete new wardrobe of clothes to wear to work for the coming year, including hair accessories and jewellery!
I also purchased a couple of Christmas gifts and some DVDs, checked my losing Powerball ticket and bought one for the next draw.
We didn't even have time to stop for lunch.
At 5pm when we were driving home, I phoned Adoring Husband and asked him to put the leg of lamb in the oven. We stopped at the supermarket and picked up some vegetables to make a big pot of baked veggies and we pulled into the driveway, removed everything quickly from the car, prepared the vegetables and threw them into the oven with the meat before rushing right back out the door attempting to reach the river in time for what we thought would be a fabulous sunset.
Unfortunately a big bank of cloud appeared on the horizon and blocked any chance of a sunset, so we packed up our cameras and sulked our way home.
We have a lot planned for tomorrow, so it's time for bed now.
Nite all.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Fun and Frivolity
Today was full of fun and frivolity.
We slept in and then had a lazy start to the day but eventually Primrose and I drove into The Bay.
I had a 'to do' list.
Firstly we had to pick up the framed photo that Primrose had made for Adoring Husband's 60th birthday and then we drove along the Esplanade to Aquavue for some food.
Primrose had breakfast and I had lunch, so between us we were brunching.
The weather was glorious, the tide was high and it wasn't too busy in the restaurant. I ordered salt and pepper calamari and it was melt in your mouth delicious.
From there, we walked a good distance along the Esplanade, visiting all kinds of shops, starting with a beautiful book store where you can get coffee and sit and read. It's new to that location, but was once in a busier part of town. I bought a Christmas present while there, which I'm very happy with.
Our next stop was a hippy shop full of beautiful things like amethyst caves of crystal, all types of semi precious jewellery, dream catchers and other beautiful ornaments. I bought some jade and some apatite before Primrose pointed out to me that the shop acted as a wholesaler as well as a retailer, so I returned to the shop and asked the girl for some contact information so that I could speak to the manager about buying some products wholesale.
We walked a good distance, popping into a few shops here and there, until we decided to get on with marking off the 'to do' list.
Go Natural is where I picked up a big bottle of apple cider vinegar.
We drove to the Reject Shop to look for some wrought iron display stands that we first noticed down south during our road trip, but it seems that the Queensland shops don't stock these stands. I did pick up a white hat stand that might come in handy at the shop.
Next was HBW to pick up some paper bags for the shop.
Pialba was our next destination and that's where I got some new shoes!!
I tried on some clothes, we did some grocery shopping and checked out lots of sales in lots of shops and didn't even begin the drive home until after 5pm!
It was a long and happy day.
Tomorrow will be another.
Nite all.
We slept in and then had a lazy start to the day but eventually Primrose and I drove into The Bay.
I had a 'to do' list.
Firstly we had to pick up the framed photo that Primrose had made for Adoring Husband's 60th birthday and then we drove along the Esplanade to Aquavue for some food.
Primrose had breakfast and I had lunch, so between us we were brunching.
The weather was glorious, the tide was high and it wasn't too busy in the restaurant. I ordered salt and pepper calamari and it was melt in your mouth delicious.
From there, we walked a good distance along the Esplanade, visiting all kinds of shops, starting with a beautiful book store where you can get coffee and sit and read. It's new to that location, but was once in a busier part of town. I bought a Christmas present while there, which I'm very happy with.
Our next stop was a hippy shop full of beautiful things like amethyst caves of crystal, all types of semi precious jewellery, dream catchers and other beautiful ornaments. I bought some jade and some apatite before Primrose pointed out to me that the shop acted as a wholesaler as well as a retailer, so I returned to the shop and asked the girl for some contact information so that I could speak to the manager about buying some products wholesale.
We walked a good distance, popping into a few shops here and there, until we decided to get on with marking off the 'to do' list.
Go Natural is where I picked up a big bottle of apple cider vinegar.
We drove to the Reject Shop to look for some wrought iron display stands that we first noticed down south during our road trip, but it seems that the Queensland shops don't stock these stands. I did pick up a white hat stand that might come in handy at the shop.
Next was HBW to pick up some paper bags for the shop.
Pialba was our next destination and that's where I got some new shoes!!
I tried on some clothes, we did some grocery shopping and checked out lots of sales in lots of shops and didn't even begin the drive home until after 5pm!
It was a long and happy day.
Tomorrow will be another.
Nite all.
Make it Quick!
Look at this!
Almost midnight already and I'm only just starting this post.
It was a strange kind of day which started with a visitor to our shop that tainted our morning with some bitter, racist bigotry and it took a little while for the bitter taste to fade and for the nastiness in the air to dilute.
Thankfully, she is not a customer of The Happy Abode and will not be welcomed in the future.
Today was Wednesday, which is practitioner day and we have appointments available for massage, Bowen therapy, Zen Shiatzu, hypnotherapy, Cupping therapy and more.
I have booked an appointment with our practitioner for next Wednesday for Zen Shiatzu, which I have never experienced before and which I know she enjoys both giving and receiving, so I'll give my review here this time next week.
It was a busy day in the shop and we had lots of customers, all buying snap button jewellery. It's becoming more and more popular as word spreads and customers return to not only add to their collection, but they also bring friends and family with them.
Some of them have better collections of this jewellery than even 'I' have!
The Motivator and I spent the last couple of hours at work making more orders for stock from various wholesalers, which was fun, but also quite stressful because today is only the second day that we've had together since I returned and we haven't had much time to discuss any important issues with the shop or the stock.
I think we are missing each other's company in the shop. It's all about doing this 'together' so being 'together' in the shop is key to our happiness in the business.
At the moment, our lives are full with friends and family, and I think if we could afford to do so, we would just close the doors of the shop for a couple of weeks so that we could give our full attention to all the other great things in our lives.
Instead, we are working on finding the right balance and giving each other the time away from the shop so that we can each have quality time with our people.
I rushed home after work to make a quick dinner before heading out to the Bowls Club for the monthly trivia night. We met up with Tweedle Dee and the Garden Guru and put up a good fight for the night, coming 9th out of 22 teams. It was a good night and we had some laughs which included a few snorts from Tweedle Dee - always an indication of fun times.
Oh and I also received a phone call from Number One Son just before we left for the club and even though the phone call was brief and he was calling with the disappointing news that he wouldn't be able to make it for Christmas as planned, it was still good to talk to him and hear that he was doing ok.
Now, it's rapidly approaching 1am so I'm off to bed. No work tomorrow and I get to spend a couple of days with Primrose. We have quite a bit planned so hopefully, this blog will have some great photos and some interesting stories!
Nite all.
Almost midnight already and I'm only just starting this post.
It was a strange kind of day which started with a visitor to our shop that tainted our morning with some bitter, racist bigotry and it took a little while for the bitter taste to fade and for the nastiness in the air to dilute.
Thankfully, she is not a customer of The Happy Abode and will not be welcomed in the future.
Today was Wednesday, which is practitioner day and we have appointments available for massage, Bowen therapy, Zen Shiatzu, hypnotherapy, Cupping therapy and more.
I have booked an appointment with our practitioner for next Wednesday for Zen Shiatzu, which I have never experienced before and which I know she enjoys both giving and receiving, so I'll give my review here this time next week.
It was a busy day in the shop and we had lots of customers, all buying snap button jewellery. It's becoming more and more popular as word spreads and customers return to not only add to their collection, but they also bring friends and family with them.
Some of them have better collections of this jewellery than even 'I' have!
The Motivator and I spent the last couple of hours at work making more orders for stock from various wholesalers, which was fun, but also quite stressful because today is only the second day that we've had together since I returned and we haven't had much time to discuss any important issues with the shop or the stock.
I think we are missing each other's company in the shop. It's all about doing this 'together' so being 'together' in the shop is key to our happiness in the business.
At the moment, our lives are full with friends and family, and I think if we could afford to do so, we would just close the doors of the shop for a couple of weeks so that we could give our full attention to all the other great things in our lives.
Instead, we are working on finding the right balance and giving each other the time away from the shop so that we can each have quality time with our people.
I rushed home after work to make a quick dinner before heading out to the Bowls Club for the monthly trivia night. We met up with Tweedle Dee and the Garden Guru and put up a good fight for the night, coming 9th out of 22 teams. It was a good night and we had some laughs which included a few snorts from Tweedle Dee - always an indication of fun times.
Oh and I also received a phone call from Number One Son just before we left for the club and even though the phone call was brief and he was calling with the disappointing news that he wouldn't be able to make it for Christmas as planned, it was still good to talk to him and hear that he was doing ok.
Now, it's rapidly approaching 1am so I'm off to bed. No work tomorrow and I get to spend a couple of days with Primrose. We have quite a bit planned so hopefully, this blog will have some great photos and some interesting stories!
Nite all.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Tuesday
Why am I so tired tonight?
Probably all the well wishing visitors in the shop today.
While it was a steady morning with good sales, there were five visitors who didn't want to buy anything, but wanted to offer their good wishes and were 'in for a chat'.
I did learn some interesting information and confirmed some town gossip straight from the horses mouth. Things are certainly about to change in this town!
After yesterday's crazy rain, today was warm and sunshiny, so people were out and about and enjoying the day.
Our mate 'Stretch' came in to say goodbye and pick up the gift that he bought for his daughter-in-law last week. Luckily, the first thing that I did this morning when I arrived at the shop, was gift wrap it in preparation of his final visit. We had a goodbye hug and he is heading south to live closer to family.
Coffee with the girls was light on this morning with only three ladies appearing with their coffee (and mine). I got to spend a little time with them before the morning rush when I had about eight customers in the shop at once.
Even though I'd planned on leaving the shop early so that I could go home and prepare for our monthly barbecue at the park, I didn't end up getting home until almost 4.30pm, by which time I just wasn't in the mood for racing around like a chook with it's head cut off to have our car packed with a prepared dinner in time to arrive there at 5pm.
It's been a few months since we attended a monthly barbecue and I miss a couple of my favourite friends. I need to try harder and be more organised in 2018.
This afternoon, I chose instead, to go for a walk along the beach with Primrose and my camera. We spotted a Brahminy Kite and a White Bellied Sea Eagle, which were both pretty special, although I was feeling a bit edgy about a storm that was lurking overhead.
Before we left home, Primrose had placed a potato bake in the oven and I had put a pan full of pork sausages on the stove for Adoring Husband to watch over.
By the time we returned home, dinner was cooked and all we had to do was bring last night's leftover salad out to the table to join the sausages and potato bake.
After dinner, we had a quick game of Trivial Pursuit - hoping that it would warm us up ready for trivia tomorrow night at the club. I was losing by a long way, but I won, by coming up the rear and stealing victory from both AH and Primrose.
I may have cheated.
Just a little.
Gosh, it's almost midnight again. I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
Probably all the well wishing visitors in the shop today.
While it was a steady morning with good sales, there were five visitors who didn't want to buy anything, but wanted to offer their good wishes and were 'in for a chat'.
I did learn some interesting information and confirmed some town gossip straight from the horses mouth. Things are certainly about to change in this town!
After yesterday's crazy rain, today was warm and sunshiny, so people were out and about and enjoying the day.
Our mate 'Stretch' came in to say goodbye and pick up the gift that he bought for his daughter-in-law last week. Luckily, the first thing that I did this morning when I arrived at the shop, was gift wrap it in preparation of his final visit. We had a goodbye hug and he is heading south to live closer to family.
Coffee with the girls was light on this morning with only three ladies appearing with their coffee (and mine). I got to spend a little time with them before the morning rush when I had about eight customers in the shop at once.
Even though I'd planned on leaving the shop early so that I could go home and prepare for our monthly barbecue at the park, I didn't end up getting home until almost 4.30pm, by which time I just wasn't in the mood for racing around like a chook with it's head cut off to have our car packed with a prepared dinner in time to arrive there at 5pm.
It's been a few months since we attended a monthly barbecue and I miss a couple of my favourite friends. I need to try harder and be more organised in 2018.
This afternoon, I chose instead, to go for a walk along the beach with Primrose and my camera. We spotted a Brahminy Kite and a White Bellied Sea Eagle, which were both pretty special, although I was feeling a bit edgy about a storm that was lurking overhead.
Before we left home, Primrose had placed a potato bake in the oven and I had put a pan full of pork sausages on the stove for Adoring Husband to watch over.
By the time we returned home, dinner was cooked and all we had to do was bring last night's leftover salad out to the table to join the sausages and potato bake.
After dinner, we had a quick game of Trivial Pursuit - hoping that it would warm us up ready for trivia tomorrow night at the club. I was losing by a long way, but I won, by coming up the rear and stealing victory from both AH and Primrose.
I may have cheated.
Just a little.
Gosh, it's almost midnight again. I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Not With It
So I wasn't quite 'with it' last night when I wrote the blog.
I forgot to publish it so it was still sitting as a draft when I checked this afternoon. Adoring Husband asked me why I didn't do a blog post last night ... but I DID!
Apologies to the people who expect to see a new post every morning and who might have been disappointed to find nothing there this morning.
I won't bore you with much this time, since you will now have two posts to read!
How was the weather today? One hell of day of bucketing rain. I believe we had approximately 50mm of rain in about four hours!
It kept the customers away for most of the day, but when the rain stopped, the last two hours were pretty steady and I sold quite a lot of snap jewellery.
It's quite a rigmarole to open and close the shop these days.
One A-frame sign to carry to the front of the driveway, three 4 metre flags to insert into pipes along the fence, one wrought iron sign with a sandbag to put outside the door, two chairs to place on either side of the door, the door mat to place at the threshold, three blinds to open at the front windows, one blind to remove and roll up to put aside for the day, two lots of lighting to switch on, the air conditioner to turn on, turning on the iMac desktop computer, turning on the JBL wireless speaker for music - connect it to the blue tooth on the computer and then select the music to play and then finally, connect the iPad to the Square reader for our cash register.
With just one of us in attendance, it takes a good 10-15 minutes just to open the shop!
Still, I wouldn't change it for anything. It feels good because it's ours!
When I finally got home from work this afternoon, at about 5pm, I ate half a kilo of lychees! If I had to choose just one fruit to live on for the rest of my life ... it would be lychees. I also LOVE mangos, grapes and watermelon, but lychees are the bomb!! Sooooooo delicious!!
THEN Primrose and I ate leftovers from last night + two delicious salads that she'd prepared earlier, while Adoring Husband cooked a couple of duck breasts on the barbecue for himself.
Jack the psychotic dog has been very happy since I drowned him in magnesium oil. Apparently he had a little cramp in one leg today, but it didn't cause him to scream or cry out, so it's almost not worth mentioning.
I'm happy with this outcome, but AH is still doubtful that we've fixed the problem ... he is still in that mindset where only drugs can fix medical conditions ... at this point I am feeling excited that we don't have to experiment with anti-seizure medication, and looking at Jack now, you wouldn't even know that he was doing so poorly just 36 hours ago.
Anyway, it's time for bed.
Nite all.
I forgot to publish it so it was still sitting as a draft when I checked this afternoon. Adoring Husband asked me why I didn't do a blog post last night ... but I DID!
Apologies to the people who expect to see a new post every morning and who might have been disappointed to find nothing there this morning.
I won't bore you with much this time, since you will now have two posts to read!
How was the weather today? One hell of day of bucketing rain. I believe we had approximately 50mm of rain in about four hours!
It kept the customers away for most of the day, but when the rain stopped, the last two hours were pretty steady and I sold quite a lot of snap jewellery.
It's quite a rigmarole to open and close the shop these days.
One A-frame sign to carry to the front of the driveway, three 4 metre flags to insert into pipes along the fence, one wrought iron sign with a sandbag to put outside the door, two chairs to place on either side of the door, the door mat to place at the threshold, three blinds to open at the front windows, one blind to remove and roll up to put aside for the day, two lots of lighting to switch on, the air conditioner to turn on, turning on the iMac desktop computer, turning on the JBL wireless speaker for music - connect it to the blue tooth on the computer and then select the music to play and then finally, connect the iPad to the Square reader for our cash register.
With just one of us in attendance, it takes a good 10-15 minutes just to open the shop!
Still, I wouldn't change it for anything. It feels good because it's ours!
When I finally got home from work this afternoon, at about 5pm, I ate half a kilo of lychees! If I had to choose just one fruit to live on for the rest of my life ... it would be lychees. I also LOVE mangos, grapes and watermelon, but lychees are the bomb!! Sooooooo delicious!!
THEN Primrose and I ate leftovers from last night + two delicious salads that she'd prepared earlier, while Adoring Husband cooked a couple of duck breasts on the barbecue for himself.
Jack the psychotic dog has been very happy since I drowned him in magnesium oil. Apparently he had a little cramp in one leg today, but it didn't cause him to scream or cry out, so it's almost not worth mentioning.
I'm happy with this outcome, but AH is still doubtful that we've fixed the problem ... he is still in that mindset where only drugs can fix medical conditions ... at this point I am feeling excited that we don't have to experiment with anti-seizure medication, and looking at Jack now, you wouldn't even know that he was doing so poorly just 36 hours ago.
Anyway, it's time for bed.
Nite all.
Full of Hope
So the Valium didn't work.
I gave Jack his second dose of Valium at about midnight, just before I went to bed. It was a struggle to wait that long, because his 'episodes' became more frequent and he was obviously in pain, and I gave it to him an hour earlier than it should have been. He staggered when he walked and had no strength in his muscles to even get up one step.
I hoped that the Valium would be enough to at least help him sleep through the night.
Unfortunately, this was not the case and he screamed in pain at 2.20am, waking us suddenly from a sound sleep. His body was stiff and his legs outstretched.
At 3am he needed to pee, so I began to walk him outside, but halfway along the hallway he began screaming again and his legs collapsed from under him as they went rigid with cramp.
It just didn't seem like a seizure to me, as the vet had suggested. Jack was fully aware of what was happening every time and he tried to shake the cramp out a couple of times, but it set in so that he had no control of his limbs ... just like us when we get a bad cramp.
At 4am, after Adoring Husband had left the bedroom because he was unable to sleep and was feeling traumatised by the whole Jack ordeal, I got my iPad out and did a search on Magnesium deficiency in dogs.
All the information that I could find showed that dogs have the same symptoms as humans when they are deficient in magnesium - cramps, muscle pain, muscle weakness, tics etc
So then I investigated what sort of magnesium was best for dogs and it seems that all forms are safe.
I got out of bed and found my bottle of pure magnesium oil in the kitchen - I sprayed it all over Jack's legs and feet, attempting to massage it in, but his muscles were still tender and he didn't like it, so I just sprayed the oil until it drenched the fur along the full length of his legs.
While he puffed and panted a lot, he stopped cramping up and I got to sleep for a couple of hours until Adoring Husband came noisily through the bedroom door at 6.30am asking if I wanted my coffee. I said yes, but I actually fell asleep once he left and I think it was about 8.30am when I opened my eyes again.
I got Jack up and let him walk through the house. Only once did a leg go a little stiff, but he continued to walk and it didn't cramp up. He was able to make it outside and while he was very slow on his feet, he did not appear to experience any pain.
Adoring Husband was supposed to sell Christmas cakes with his SES crew today, but instead, he decided to stay at home with Jack while Primrose and I drove into The Bay to do some grocery shopping and do the few chores that we were supposed to do on Saturday, until Jack's trauma prevented us from doing so.
AH was worried about spending the day alone with Jack because he was not confident about dealing with one of Jack's episodes. Luckily, there was only one moment, when somebody knocked on the door, when Jack got over excited and he had a bit of cramping, but nothing that AH couldn't handle.
Other than that, he's had a cramp free 16 hours. I put some more oil on his legs this afternoon at about 5pm and I've added a tiny bit of Himalayan salt to the dog's water bowl - as recommended by a couple of natural vets online.
I am very hopeful that this will be the answer to Jack's problem, because I do NOT want to resort to using anti-seizure medication. It bothers me a lot that we have to experiment with toxic drugs to figure out what is wrong.
We will test out the theory for another 24 hours before we decide about returning to the vet.
Fingers crossed.
Nite all.
I gave Jack his second dose of Valium at about midnight, just before I went to bed. It was a struggle to wait that long, because his 'episodes' became more frequent and he was obviously in pain, and I gave it to him an hour earlier than it should have been. He staggered when he walked and had no strength in his muscles to even get up one step.
I hoped that the Valium would be enough to at least help him sleep through the night.
Unfortunately, this was not the case and he screamed in pain at 2.20am, waking us suddenly from a sound sleep. His body was stiff and his legs outstretched.
At 3am he needed to pee, so I began to walk him outside, but halfway along the hallway he began screaming again and his legs collapsed from under him as they went rigid with cramp.
It just didn't seem like a seizure to me, as the vet had suggested. Jack was fully aware of what was happening every time and he tried to shake the cramp out a couple of times, but it set in so that he had no control of his limbs ... just like us when we get a bad cramp.
At 4am, after Adoring Husband had left the bedroom because he was unable to sleep and was feeling traumatised by the whole Jack ordeal, I got my iPad out and did a search on Magnesium deficiency in dogs.
All the information that I could find showed that dogs have the same symptoms as humans when they are deficient in magnesium - cramps, muscle pain, muscle weakness, tics etc
So then I investigated what sort of magnesium was best for dogs and it seems that all forms are safe.
I got out of bed and found my bottle of pure magnesium oil in the kitchen - I sprayed it all over Jack's legs and feet, attempting to massage it in, but his muscles were still tender and he didn't like it, so I just sprayed the oil until it drenched the fur along the full length of his legs.
While he puffed and panted a lot, he stopped cramping up and I got to sleep for a couple of hours until Adoring Husband came noisily through the bedroom door at 6.30am asking if I wanted my coffee. I said yes, but I actually fell asleep once he left and I think it was about 8.30am when I opened my eyes again.
I got Jack up and let him walk through the house. Only once did a leg go a little stiff, but he continued to walk and it didn't cramp up. He was able to make it outside and while he was very slow on his feet, he did not appear to experience any pain.
Adoring Husband was supposed to sell Christmas cakes with his SES crew today, but instead, he decided to stay at home with Jack while Primrose and I drove into The Bay to do some grocery shopping and do the few chores that we were supposed to do on Saturday, until Jack's trauma prevented us from doing so.
AH was worried about spending the day alone with Jack because he was not confident about dealing with one of Jack's episodes. Luckily, there was only one moment, when somebody knocked on the door, when Jack got over excited and he had a bit of cramping, but nothing that AH couldn't handle.
Other than that, he's had a cramp free 16 hours. I put some more oil on his legs this afternoon at about 5pm and I've added a tiny bit of Himalayan salt to the dog's water bowl - as recommended by a couple of natural vets online.
I am very hopeful that this will be the answer to Jack's problem, because I do NOT want to resort to using anti-seizure medication. It bothers me a lot that we have to experiment with toxic drugs to figure out what is wrong.
We will test out the theory for another 24 hours before we decide about returning to the vet.
Fingers crossed.
Nite all.
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Tested
It all started early this morning when we got Jack, the oldest psychotic dog, out of bed to go to the vet.
His body has been seizing up since last Thursday, at which time Adoring Husband took him to the vet in Howard and they couldn't find any reason for it, so they sent him home and advised that if it continued, to bring him back for an x-ray and a closer look.
This morning, his legs seized up and he collapsed on the floor unable to move. He cried out in pain and I had to massage his legs until he relaxed enough to walk again.
It didn't last long and he seized up again and was in obvious pain.
Adoring Husband could not cope seeing his favourite dog in pain and was pretty messy with emotion.
He didn't know how to physically handle Jack and he was struggling, so I phoned The Motivator and asked her to open the shop - this was supposed to be her first day off in more than 3 weeks - so that I could accompany Jack and AH to the vet.
We arrived at the Howard Vet clinic to discover that they were closed.
Adoring Husband phoned the Maryborough Vets and even though they were completely booked out, they said to bring him in and leave him at their clinic so that they could check him out between consults, then we could return later to pick him up.
He was with them for four hours and not once did he seize up! Not once did he have an episode! They performed all sorts of physical tests on him, followed by blood tests which all came back clear.
Nothing indicates that there are any problems with him, but she seems to think that these episodes are seizures.
Not grand mal seizures, but seizures on the lower end of the scale.
We didn't think they looked like seizures, but what would we know?
The vet suggested that we get video footage on our phone so that we could send it through to her on Monday and that way she could see what we were trying to describe.
In the meantime, the vet offered us two options.
Option One: Experiment with Valium to see if that relaxed him and stopped his episodes.
Option Two: Experiment with anti-seizure medication to see if that stops his episodes.
So, against my better judgement and not really knowing what to do next to get a quick result, we took option one.
I didn't give it to him right away though. We all left the house almost as soon as we got home to attend the community Christmas party.
Later, when Primrose and I were almost home, she suggested that I get my phone ready and allow her to video Jack as we opened the door - it was a good idea because the excitement of seeing us was enough to trigger another episode.
That's when I gave him his first dose of Valium.
He was 'drunk Jack' all afternoon, very slow on his feet, sometimes staggering just a little, but he didn't have an episode until 10.30pm tonight. He can only have the valium every 8 hours. He lasted 5.5 hours. Maybe once the valium settles into his system properly, the episodes will stop. Time will tell.
I will continue to research better methods and test those as we go ... like 'stress-less' essential oil ... of which I'll place a few drops onto his bed tonight.
So that was our quite stressful day dealing with a sick dog and getting no answers from the professionals.
In the middle of all that, I did get to work to relieve The Motivator of her duties and allow her to at least get SOME time off on her day off.
While Adoring Husband was performing SES duties at the community Christmas party, Primrose and I enjoyed lamb rack with pumpkin and spinach salad and pickled cucumber for dinner. Primrose prepared a delicious fruit salad for dessert.
Now, as it approaches 11.30pm, I am signing off so that I can give Jack some more drugs and get some sleep myself.
Nite all.
His body has been seizing up since last Thursday, at which time Adoring Husband took him to the vet in Howard and they couldn't find any reason for it, so they sent him home and advised that if it continued, to bring him back for an x-ray and a closer look.
This morning, his legs seized up and he collapsed on the floor unable to move. He cried out in pain and I had to massage his legs until he relaxed enough to walk again.
It didn't last long and he seized up again and was in obvious pain.
Adoring Husband could not cope seeing his favourite dog in pain and was pretty messy with emotion.
He didn't know how to physically handle Jack and he was struggling, so I phoned The Motivator and asked her to open the shop - this was supposed to be her first day off in more than 3 weeks - so that I could accompany Jack and AH to the vet.
We arrived at the Howard Vet clinic to discover that they were closed.
Adoring Husband phoned the Maryborough Vets and even though they were completely booked out, they said to bring him in and leave him at their clinic so that they could check him out between consults, then we could return later to pick him up.
He was with them for four hours and not once did he seize up! Not once did he have an episode! They performed all sorts of physical tests on him, followed by blood tests which all came back clear.
Nothing indicates that there are any problems with him, but she seems to think that these episodes are seizures.
Not grand mal seizures, but seizures on the lower end of the scale.
We didn't think they looked like seizures, but what would we know?
The vet suggested that we get video footage on our phone so that we could send it through to her on Monday and that way she could see what we were trying to describe.
In the meantime, the vet offered us two options.
Option One: Experiment with Valium to see if that relaxed him and stopped his episodes.
Option Two: Experiment with anti-seizure medication to see if that stops his episodes.
So, against my better judgement and not really knowing what to do next to get a quick result, we took option one.
I didn't give it to him right away though. We all left the house almost as soon as we got home to attend the community Christmas party.
Later, when Primrose and I were almost home, she suggested that I get my phone ready and allow her to video Jack as we opened the door - it was a good idea because the excitement of seeing us was enough to trigger another episode.
That's when I gave him his first dose of Valium.
He was 'drunk Jack' all afternoon, very slow on his feet, sometimes staggering just a little, but he didn't have an episode until 10.30pm tonight. He can only have the valium every 8 hours. He lasted 5.5 hours. Maybe once the valium settles into his system properly, the episodes will stop. Time will tell.
I will continue to research better methods and test those as we go ... like 'stress-less' essential oil ... of which I'll place a few drops onto his bed tonight.
So that was our quite stressful day dealing with a sick dog and getting no answers from the professionals.
In the middle of all that, I did get to work to relieve The Motivator of her duties and allow her to at least get SOME time off on her day off.
While Adoring Husband was performing SES duties at the community Christmas party, Primrose and I enjoyed lamb rack with pumpkin and spinach salad and pickled cucumber for dinner. Primrose prepared a delicious fruit salad for dessert.
Now, as it approaches 11.30pm, I am signing off so that I can give Jack some more drugs and get some sleep myself.
Nite all.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Weeks End
It's the end of the week and time for The Motivator to have some time off.
I placed some of our postcards on the tables outside the supermarket today and it actually brought some curious people to the shop. They came through the door in a slow, but steady stream, which kept us well occupied until after lunch.
The remainder of the day was spent sorting through a very large box of snap jewellery items which arrived in the mail this morning.
More than a thousand snap buttons and more than one hundred bracelets, leather straps, pendants, keyrings, brooches, bookmarks, bag hooks, glasses hooks, snap button sunglasses, silver chains and the list goes on.
We don't have anywhere near enough display trays for the buttons, nor do we have enough room in the display cabinets to show off the jewellery!
We are, however, prepared for Christmas!
I am currently watching the oldie but goodie "Jaws" movie. I swear it is still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I've gasped and cringed and groaned so many times and it has reaffirmed my fear of swimming in our river - never again will I splash, wade or swim in our river. No sirrreeee!
Having filled my tummy with a plate full of chicken, coleslaw, garden salad and the deadly potato salad, my body is complaining painfully, so I will go sleep it off now. Potato is not my friend. I know that now. I've known it for a long time, yet I am still a glutton for punishment. Self inflicted.
But I LOVE potato!
Ugh.
Ok, gotta go. Gotta be up bright and early for work and I've gotta be on the ball!
Nite all.
I placed some of our postcards on the tables outside the supermarket today and it actually brought some curious people to the shop. They came through the door in a slow, but steady stream, which kept us well occupied until after lunch.
The remainder of the day was spent sorting through a very large box of snap jewellery items which arrived in the mail this morning.
More than a thousand snap buttons and more than one hundred bracelets, leather straps, pendants, keyrings, brooches, bookmarks, bag hooks, glasses hooks, snap button sunglasses, silver chains and the list goes on.
We don't have anywhere near enough display trays for the buttons, nor do we have enough room in the display cabinets to show off the jewellery!
We are, however, prepared for Christmas!
I am currently watching the oldie but goodie "Jaws" movie. I swear it is still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I've gasped and cringed and groaned so many times and it has reaffirmed my fear of swimming in our river - never again will I splash, wade or swim in our river. No sirrreeee!
Having filled my tummy with a plate full of chicken, coleslaw, garden salad and the deadly potato salad, my body is complaining painfully, so I will go sleep it off now. Potato is not my friend. I know that now. I've known it for a long time, yet I am still a glutton for punishment. Self inflicted.
But I LOVE potato!
Ugh.
Ok, gotta go. Gotta be up bright and early for work and I've gotta be on the ball!
Nite all.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
All Wet
There is a bit of wet stuff falling out of the sky right now, and it has been that way since about lunch time.
We had a steady morning at the shop until the rains came.
I must say that it was really nice sitting in the empty shop with the rain pelting down outside and the music playing softly in the background while I researched various wholesalers.
I pottered around, cleaned some display cases, loaded a display tree with jewellery, added snap buttons to some pendants, did a little dusting, cleaned some of the silver jewellery and researched some wholesalers.
Primrose arrived at the shop on closing time and offered to buy us a coffee, which was a lovely gesture. We had closed all the blinds and brought the signs, flags and chairs inside but just as she left to get the coffees, and before we had a chance to close the door, a customer walked in!
The customer turned out to be the lady from Salvation Army where we bought our furniture for the shop! We showed her the newly covered chairs and she was impressed. She's going to find out if there are more chairs in their storage area and let us know if other chairs come in.
The rain eased long enough for Primrose and I to walk/ride home without getting too drenched.
Psychotic Dog (Jack) had to visit the vet this afternoon because he was having trouble with his hind legs and had a little screaming turn. The vet couldn't find anything wrong and suggested that it might be a slipped disc or arthritis, but issued AH with a bag full of syringes and painkillers. If Jack continues to show these symptoms, then the vet will take x-rays and he might require surgery.
I have seen no signs of these symptoms this afternoon or this evening, so I think it was a 'one off' and he probably got his claw caught in the threads of the blanket when he jumped off the chair or maybe he slept the wrong way (just like we do sometimes).
Of course the vet pumped him full of painkillers and of course he hasn't eaten anything tonight.
Meanwhile, it's now 10.30pm and I'm off to bed. I've had two very late nights in a row and I need to get some solid sleep and NOT sleep in tomorrow, like I did this morning!
Nite all.
We had a steady morning at the shop until the rains came.
I must say that it was really nice sitting in the empty shop with the rain pelting down outside and the music playing softly in the background while I researched various wholesalers.
I pottered around, cleaned some display cases, loaded a display tree with jewellery, added snap buttons to some pendants, did a little dusting, cleaned some of the silver jewellery and researched some wholesalers.
Primrose arrived at the shop on closing time and offered to buy us a coffee, which was a lovely gesture. We had closed all the blinds and brought the signs, flags and chairs inside but just as she left to get the coffees, and before we had a chance to close the door, a customer walked in!
The customer turned out to be the lady from Salvation Army where we bought our furniture for the shop! We showed her the newly covered chairs and she was impressed. She's going to find out if there are more chairs in their storage area and let us know if other chairs come in.
The rain eased long enough for Primrose and I to walk/ride home without getting too drenched.
Psychotic Dog (Jack) had to visit the vet this afternoon because he was having trouble with his hind legs and had a little screaming turn. The vet couldn't find anything wrong and suggested that it might be a slipped disc or arthritis, but issued AH with a bag full of syringes and painkillers. If Jack continues to show these symptoms, then the vet will take x-rays and he might require surgery.
I have seen no signs of these symptoms this afternoon or this evening, so I think it was a 'one off' and he probably got his claw caught in the threads of the blanket when he jumped off the chair or maybe he slept the wrong way (just like we do sometimes).
Of course the vet pumped him full of painkillers and of course he hasn't eaten anything tonight.
Meanwhile, it's now 10.30pm and I'm off to bed. I've had two very late nights in a row and I need to get some solid sleep and NOT sleep in tomorrow, like I did this morning!
Nite all.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Problematic
It seems we have an unhappy camper in town who is now posting negative comments about our business without naming our business. She believes that we are unfairly competing and taking business away from her.
In her words ... "taking my business away from me by offering the same service a short distance away"
Time to work on some damage control.
We definitely do not want to take any business away from her and in fact, we refer people to her and direct them to her shop regularly - but she doesn't know that.
The other side of the coin is that she has an established business that is quite a few years old and she also has established clientele, so if she is confident in the service that she is offering, she certainly shouldn't feel threatened by us.
Anyway, either The Motivator or I will go for a visit this week and chat with her about her concerns because we should all be supporting each other in this town, not attacking each other in this passively aggressive way.
*sigh*
We had a great day at the shop today for my first day back. We were visited by a lot of friendly customers and The Motivator was busy working on a deadline for her design business, so it was great to jump in and enjoy the day.
I really like Annemarie, the therapist who now works on Wednesdays in our shop. I am going to have her do some Zen Shiatsu therapy on me next week ...
*A Japanese remedial healing system based on Chinese Medicine. Gentle stretches combined with firm finger pressure is applied to acupuncture points called ‘tsubos’, to alleviate tension and pain*
... I've never experienced that before, but she told me that of all the therapies that she offers, it's her favourite, so I figure she will enjoy performing it on me!
Unfortunately I missed the Burrum lady's Christmas luncheon at Woodgate today. I wasn't supposed to be back in town for it, so I didn't add my name to the list last month. From the photos on FB, it looks like it was a great day. Plenty of happy smiling faces.
Now it's approaching midnight, so I'd best get some sleep.
For anyone feeling concerned, Primrose is feeling a little better today.
Nite all.
In her words ... "taking my business away from me by offering the same service a short distance away"
Time to work on some damage control.
We definitely do not want to take any business away from her and in fact, we refer people to her and direct them to her shop regularly - but she doesn't know that.
The other side of the coin is that she has an established business that is quite a few years old and she also has established clientele, so if she is confident in the service that she is offering, she certainly shouldn't feel threatened by us.
Anyway, either The Motivator or I will go for a visit this week and chat with her about her concerns because we should all be supporting each other in this town, not attacking each other in this passively aggressive way.
*sigh*
We had a great day at the shop today for my first day back. We were visited by a lot of friendly customers and The Motivator was busy working on a deadline for her design business, so it was great to jump in and enjoy the day.
I really like Annemarie, the therapist who now works on Wednesdays in our shop. I am going to have her do some Zen Shiatsu therapy on me next week ...
*A Japanese remedial healing system based on Chinese Medicine. Gentle stretches combined with firm finger pressure is applied to acupuncture points called ‘tsubos’, to alleviate tension and pain*
... I've never experienced that before, but she told me that of all the therapies that she offers, it's her favourite, so I figure she will enjoy performing it on me!
Unfortunately I missed the Burrum lady's Christmas luncheon at Woodgate today. I wasn't supposed to be back in town for it, so I didn't add my name to the list last month. From the photos on FB, it looks like it was a great day. Plenty of happy smiling faces.
Now it's approaching midnight, so I'd best get some sleep.
For anyone feeling concerned, Primrose is feeling a little better today.
Nite all.
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Movie Date
Adoring Husband had a double date with his two wives today (private joke - though NOT as private as THAT! lol)
AH, Primrose and I all saw "Justice League" today.
I loved it.
Primrose loved it.
AH was disappointed and declared that it was a poor storyline.
My favourite superhero is Wonder Woman - hands down.
I have a new second favourite superhero - Aquaman! Check him out!
I've always had a soft spot for Batman and Ironman, but The Flash is also now on my list of faves. He's hilarious and a great character.
Adoring Husband finished putting up our Christmas lights today. We need to replace some that have decided to finish their working lives this year.
Every year we try to add something new to our collection, but we haven't found anything for this year yet.
Primrose is still recovering from her allergic reaction and while she has improved somewhat, she is still suffering from mild symptoms and is feeling quite exhausted from the ordeal.
I'm back to work tomorrow so I'd best get some sleep.
Nite all.
AH, Primrose and I all saw "Justice League" today.
I loved it.
Primrose loved it.
AH was disappointed and declared that it was a poor storyline.
My favourite superhero is Wonder Woman - hands down.
I have a new second favourite superhero - Aquaman! Check him out!
I've always had a soft spot for Batman and Ironman, but The Flash is also now on my list of faves. He's hilarious and a great character.
Adoring Husband finished putting up our Christmas lights today. We need to replace some that have decided to finish their working lives this year.
Every year we try to add something new to our collection, but we haven't found anything for this year yet.
Primrose is still recovering from her allergic reaction and while she has improved somewhat, she is still suffering from mild symptoms and is feeling quite exhausted from the ordeal.
I'm back to work tomorrow so I'd best get some sleep.
Nite all.
Monday, November 27, 2017
Drama Filled Day
So Primrose had an allergic reaction to something during the night.
We're not sure what it was that caused this allergic reaction, but she was struggling to breathe. There was serious wheezing and gasping for breath.
She kept herself busy during the day, hoping that eventually, the feeling would pass and she would be ok.
She chopped up all the fruit that we'd bought yesterday and put them into bags for smoothies.
She did her washing.
We moved her out of the back bedroom thinking that there was something in that room causing it.
While I rode to the shop to get some zucchini to add to lunch, she smashed last night's leftover baked veggies and chopped some meat to add to bubble and squeak patties, which I cooked when I returned home.
By 2.30pm, her condition had not improved and she felt the need to see a doctor, so we drove into The Bay to try the Emergency department of the hospital.
In her home town, the hospital will tend to chest pain or breathing difficulties straight away, because they are considered dangerous conditions that need attention immediately.
We walked in and Primrose walked up to the reception desk. The person there asked her to take a seat and someone would call her shortly.
Fifteen minutes later (a long time when you're struggling for breath) she was called to the desk where they asked some questions, checked her saturation levels and took her blood pressure. Then she was told to take a seat until her name was called.
90 minutes later, she was called in through 'THE' doors - the doors that everybody is praying they will get called through SOON.
30 minutes later, she was still sitting in the little room to which she had been directed, and nobody had seen her yet.
All the while, she was gasping for breath.
Eventually, Primrose stood up and told the nearest staff member that she was leaving, so suddenly a doctor appeared.
While all this was going on, there was another woman in the waiting area, who had been there for an hour before we arrived, with a broken leg! She needed x-rays and for a doctor to check her leg. She had been sitting in a great deal of pain for more than 3 hours. Finally she was called in for her x-ray, but was then sent back to the seating area to wait for a doctor to call her in. By the time she was called for the second time, she'd been there for 4 hours.
After 3 hours, we left the hospital, still with Primrose gasping for breath and with no satisfaction whatsoever.
The level of care in The Bay compared to her home town are poles apart and The Bay leaves a lot to be desired.
After dinner, we sent her to her room to rest and concentrate on her breathing. Hopefully, tomorrow, she will wake up feeling quite a bit better.
Prior to us leaving for the hospital, Adoring Husband had a struggle with a piece of apple lodged in a very uncomfortable position in his mouth and which he had great difficulty removing. I almost had to drag him into The Bay with us for a serious 'apple extraction'!!
Hopefully, it will be a peaceful night of sleep for us all.
Nite all.
We're not sure what it was that caused this allergic reaction, but she was struggling to breathe. There was serious wheezing and gasping for breath.
She kept herself busy during the day, hoping that eventually, the feeling would pass and she would be ok.
She chopped up all the fruit that we'd bought yesterday and put them into bags for smoothies.
She did her washing.
We moved her out of the back bedroom thinking that there was something in that room causing it.
While I rode to the shop to get some zucchini to add to lunch, she smashed last night's leftover baked veggies and chopped some meat to add to bubble and squeak patties, which I cooked when I returned home.
By 2.30pm, her condition had not improved and she felt the need to see a doctor, so we drove into The Bay to try the Emergency department of the hospital.
In her home town, the hospital will tend to chest pain or breathing difficulties straight away, because they are considered dangerous conditions that need attention immediately.
We walked in and Primrose walked up to the reception desk. The person there asked her to take a seat and someone would call her shortly.
Fifteen minutes later (a long time when you're struggling for breath) she was called to the desk where they asked some questions, checked her saturation levels and took her blood pressure. Then she was told to take a seat until her name was called.
90 minutes later, she was called in through 'THE' doors - the doors that everybody is praying they will get called through SOON.
30 minutes later, she was still sitting in the little room to which she had been directed, and nobody had seen her yet.
All the while, she was gasping for breath.
Eventually, Primrose stood up and told the nearest staff member that she was leaving, so suddenly a doctor appeared.
While all this was going on, there was another woman in the waiting area, who had been there for an hour before we arrived, with a broken leg! She needed x-rays and for a doctor to check her leg. She had been sitting in a great deal of pain for more than 3 hours. Finally she was called in for her x-ray, but was then sent back to the seating area to wait for a doctor to call her in. By the time she was called for the second time, she'd been there for 4 hours.
After 3 hours, we left the hospital, still with Primrose gasping for breath and with no satisfaction whatsoever.
The level of care in The Bay compared to her home town are poles apart and The Bay leaves a lot to be desired.
After dinner, we sent her to her room to rest and concentrate on her breathing. Hopefully, tomorrow, she will wake up feeling quite a bit better.
Prior to us leaving for the hospital, Adoring Husband had a struggle with a piece of apple lodged in a very uncomfortable position in his mouth and which he had great difficulty removing. I almost had to drag him into The Bay with us for a serious 'apple extraction'!!
Hopefully, it will be a peaceful night of sleep for us all.
Nite all.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Day Eighteen .. and the final day of the Selfie Road Trip
Today has been bitter sweet.
Sadly, we came to the end of our road trip.
Happily, we arrived home safe n sound to the smiling face of Adoring Husband and three excited psychotic dogs with madly wagging tails.
It took a good while to unload the car of all our dirty washing, purchased items, suitcases, electronic devices, SHOES, cold bag full of fresh food that we bought on the way home, pillows, CDs and other assorted paraphernalia.
THEN it took a good while to unpack our suitcases.
Primrose moved from the coldest room in the house (where the air conditioning unit seems to think we have a refrigerated cold room) to the bigger, better room where the bed should assist in healing her back.
Eighteen days of sitting in the driving position has not done her any favours.
Adoring Husband already had a lamb roast in the oven with a big tray of veggies, so all I had to worry about was making the gravy.
While we were unpacking and dinner was cooking in the oven, Adoring Husband dragged the Christmas tree and all the decorations out of the shed. He set up the tree so that we could decorate it, which we did between unpacking, washing clothes and eating dinner!
And now, as I look around the house, you would never know that we had left!
We are perfectly delighted with our fabulous road trip. We are relieved and happy to be home safe n sound. All is right with our world!
Nite all.
Sadly, we came to the end of our road trip.
Happily, we arrived home safe n sound to the smiling face of Adoring Husband and three excited psychotic dogs with madly wagging tails.
It took a good while to unload the car of all our dirty washing, purchased items, suitcases, electronic devices, SHOES, cold bag full of fresh food that we bought on the way home, pillows, CDs and other assorted paraphernalia.
THEN it took a good while to unpack our suitcases.
Primrose moved from the coldest room in the house (where the air conditioning unit seems to think we have a refrigerated cold room) to the bigger, better room where the bed should assist in healing her back.
Eighteen days of sitting in the driving position has not done her any favours.
Adoring Husband already had a lamb roast in the oven with a big tray of veggies, so all I had to worry about was making the gravy.
While we were unpacking and dinner was cooking in the oven, Adoring Husband dragged the Christmas tree and all the decorations out of the shed. He set up the tree so that we could decorate it, which we did between unpacking, washing clothes and eating dinner!
And now, as I look around the house, you would never know that we had left!
We are perfectly delighted with our fabulous road trip. We are relieved and happy to be home safe n sound. All is right with our world!
Nite all.
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