Love My Work

I need to declare how much I LOVE teaching photography.

This is only my second workshop, but the happiness that I feel when my students 'get' what I'm telling them is almost overwhelming.

The beaming smile that happens when they learn something unexpected, but meaningful to them, is a joy to behold.

The gasp of excitement when they realise that something they believed would be difficult to learn is easier than expected, is music to my ears.

When they actually put what I teach into practice and they get the result 'I' asked for, well that's an amazingly satisfying feeling for both of us.

Today was like that.

I felt that my students left the class at the end of the day, exhausted but on a high, full of gratitude, and looking forward to day two.

I'm looking forward to day two as well!

This is a small, intimate and friendly group of four ladies who were each warm and welcoming as the next one walked through the door and who all spent the day helping each other find the different dials, buttons and settings on their cameras.

We spent an hour in the morning practicing what they'd learnt about ISO, aperture and shutter speed indoors and then an hour in the afternoon at the beach practicing the same outdoors. I was surprised at how quickly they got the hang of it and how easily they understood which dials to use to change each of those settings.

They are a clever bunch of ladies.

The Motivator made a fresh batch of GF brownies which were still warm when she arrived at the shop. There was enough for morning and afternoon teas and there is still more for tomorrow! One of the ladies brought along a savoury dip with celery and carrot sticks which she shared with everyone. We also had fresh grapes and strawberries with tea and coffee.

Nobody touched the jug of water that I had in the middle of the table! Naughty ladies!

Meanwhile The Motivator had a VERY busy morning in the shop with lots of customers and good sales.

After everybody left, I had to clean up the room, wash all the coffee cups and set up the trays ready for tomorrow's morning tea, so it was after 3.30pm when I left.

On the way home, I had to drop in to see a lady who did my first photography workshop. She loves to chat so by the time we finished talking business and then finished talking pleasure, I didn't arrive home until 5pm!!

Adoring Husband had cooked a roast lamb during the day for lunch so we used the last of that to make toasted sandwiches for dinner - a nice easy dinner because I was positively exhausted!

I didn't get to sleep until around 3am this morning and my alarm woke me at 6am so I've been running on three hours of sleep all day. I was in bed at 1.30am but just couldn't relax enough to fall asleep - even running through my mediation app twice didn't help.

It's probably not surprising that I've misplaced my keys twice today and my phone once. I guess I should be grateful that they were my only 'running on empty' problems all day.

It's now 7.30pm and even though my beloved Broncos are playing the Sharks in the footy tonight, I doubt that I will see the game to it's completion. I feel that sleep will claim me before then. I have actually tipped against my team tonight and already they are looking fantastic and are winning 12-nil!

Have a fabulous Sunday everybody!

Nite all.  

Midnight Madness

Yes! It's well after midnight and I am just off to bed.

I've spent the evening finishing off my course and printing out the info sheets and assignments.

I need to be up at 6am so that I can put the folders together in the morning before the class begins.

I also need to go to the supermarket and organise some food for morning and afternoon teas!

The pressure is on.

Luckily, my class has reduced from seven to four. Three of the original ladies had the wrong kind of camera. What they believed to be a DSLR was not!

So they will do one of my point and shoot workshops at a later date and I can focus my attention on the four ladies who will be in the class tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, but before I go, we received some new stock in the shop today and here is your sneak peek!

Nite all.

Not So Restful

My second day off work started with the alarm waking me at 4.40am.

Ugh.

The Motivator picked us up at 5.10am and we drove to the train station and dropped Adoring Husband off to catch the train to Brisvegas.

Upon my return home, I climbed back into bed for about two hours.

I rode to the Post Office and checked the mail, bought some coffee and some groceries, then dropped off the paper bags to The Happy Abode.

I returned home and did a couple of loads of washing, put a casserole in the slow cooker, made some Hainan Chicken, Curried Chicken and a big pot of Bolognese Sauce all now in the freezer for future meals.

I watched a movie and cleaned up the kitchen.

The Motivator picked me up at 8.25pm so that we could return to the train station and pick up AH when the train arrived.

He ate a big bowl of beef casserole for a late dinner and climbed into bed feeling exhausted after his big day.

The Professor was very happy with how AH is managing the PD so nothing is changing for now.

Here we are at 11pm and I'm ready for bed.

Short and sweet tonight.

Nite all.

Movie Date

I planned to be up bright and early this morning to get some housework done before Adoring Husband and I headed off for our date day.

Motivation, however, was a problem and I couldn't even get out of bed until thirty minutes before we had to leave.

Unsure of the roadwork situation between here and The Bay, we left with plenty of time to spare, just in case of holdups. Our concerns were unfounded and we arrived early at the cinema.

I wanted to see "I Feel Pretty" because it was the final session at the cinema and only $5 admission, so AH left me to watch that one alone (oh how I love to go the movies alone!) while he ran some errands around town.

We caught up after that movie to go into the next one "Oceans 8" together.

I enjoyed both movies very much! I think my favourite was "I Feel Pretty"

After the movies, we did some shopping. I really wanted to buy some organic fruit and veg from Go Natural, but I feel that AH has a mental block regarding this desire, and we didn't get there. He sucks.

*insert sarcastic smiley face here*

We spent quite some time at Stocklands where I searched for some white 3/4 length tights to no avail. Instead I purchased three pairs of white 3/4 pants. Being the end of the financial year, there are some good sales on at the moment, so it was worth the search.

It was after 5pm when we finally reached home and by the time we unpacked the shopping/groceries, it was time to prepare dinner. We were supposed to go to trivia tonight, but we were both exhausted from the day and we have a super early start tomorrow morning to catch the train to Brisvegas for AH's specialist appointment.

We pulled out of trivia - which was kind of disappointing, but necessary.

I haven't slept well for the last two nights so I'm feeling a tad weary. Hopefully tonight will be different and I'll sleep soundly.

That's totally it from me.

Nite all.

Evilly Me

I'm sitting here, by myself, giggling in the lounge room.

Adoring Husband and I each have a fan directly across from our lounge chairs on the opposite side of the room.

My fan is a tall tower, it no longer oscillates and seems to be much less powerful than it once was, while Adoring Husband's is a tall, powerful pedestal fan that oscillates perfectly. He never puts it on oscillate and has it aimed directly at his chair all the time.

Every time he goes to bed, I change the direction of his fan so that it's aimed at my chair and I change the speed to a couple of notches faster than he likes it.

Every day, he changes it back to suit him and then every night I change it again.

Tonight, I found it highly amusing and couldn't help laughing out loud as I once again changed all the settings! It was an evil laugh - even if I do say so myself!

We had a big crowd at the shop for coffee this morning and the last of the ladies left at 11am. We had spillage and panic and laughter and noise all morning.

There was a slow flow of customers through the door all day. A lot of tyre kickers, but all happy and friendly.

I wore a pair of Colorado half boots similar to these ...

... mine are a few years old now, but while I was at work today, the sole partially came away from the top part of the shoe. Ugh!! So I spent the day clomping around the shop hoping that it wouldn't completely come apart.

Oh my goodness! Oh dearie me! I may have to buy a new pair of shoes!!

Adoring Husband and I have a date day tomorrow. I have two days away from the shop and we are going to the movies. I hope to see two movies. 'I Feel Pretty' with Amy Schumer and 'Oceans 8' with a gazillion famous faces.

I'll give you my critique tomorrow.

Once again, it's after 11pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Meditation Fail

i jumped out of bed bright and early, prepared for work and left the house well before 7am, pedalling to the shop so that I could open up early for The Gypsy to set up for meditation classes.

The Gypsy usually arrives around 7.10am but this morning, when she still was nowhere in sight by 7.20am, I checked my phone for a message, only to discover that she had sent a text at 4am telling me that she was too ill to come in!

At that moment, our most regular and reliable client walked in with her adult son. She was closely followed by one other lady who, due to family commitments, attends intermittently.

I knew that I simply was not prepared to run a meditation class on my own, so I offered them a cuppa and a morning chat in our lounge area. One of the ladies seemed keen until the other’s son asked if he could pitch a product to me, so she made a rapid escape while he prepared to pitch.

I was not prepared to begin my week feeling stressed, so I dealt with the dilemma the best way I could. Nobody minded being turned away and they are still keen to return next week, so it all worked out in the end.

It was a slow morning, but the afternoon picked up and I was able to make some biz phone calls and respond to some biz emails, update our social media cover page and take some pics to post on Facebook. That turned out to be fruitful, generating two good sales!

This is what I made on Sunday ...

... I have $42million in my own currency!

Gawd, it’s after 11pm and I need to sleep!

Nite all.

The Next Project

So, now that things are somewhat settled with The Happy Abode, we have created a routine of sorts and are comfortable with our progress, though certainly NOT resting on our laurels and ALWAYS looking at developing new ideas and creating change when necessary, I am now looking at a new project.

This project was always a part of my 'to do' list and an integral part of creating income to supplement the shop and the in-house workshops. This idea will also be integrated into mini workshops at the shop if I plan it correctly.

My idea is to create online programs and courses.

At this stage, I have two in the pipeline. One is for health, wellness and happiness. There will be a choice to either follow a step by step program that introduces lifestyle changes to improve your health and wellness OR a choice to pick and choose the changes that you want to slip into your current lifestyle that will still significantly improve your health and happiness.

The second idea is a photography course that also follows a program and includes practical challenges that will ultimately improve skills and add to the experience and expertise of budding photographers with any type of camera.

At the moment, I've joined a website that provides the training for creating these courses and programs and it also provides the platform to build them. I imagine that it will be a slow process considering my other commitments, and how slowly my brain absorbs technical jargon, but I'm excited about the possibilities!

While doing some initial research for my first program, I came across this video of  93 year old Charles Eugster doing a TED talk. He died three months before his 98th birthday of heart failure, but he was a strong and fit fellow enjoying many sporting accomplishments and successes in his nineties and certainly living life to the fullest.
 


Here is a story about him ... Charles Eugster

I hope to share some inspirational videos and stories about the older generation of health conscious humans on the planet who have changed and improved their health situations for the better.

So my lovely friends and readers will get the benefit of my research and hopefully pick up a few tips along the way!

There is a very big storm skirting around us, of which we are catching the edge right now. It looks very bad and it snuck up on us without much warning!

Today is Sunday and I have spent the entire day in bed doing my research and setting the groundwork for my online program.

It's now 4.03pm and I am about to get up to watch the footy. Unfortunately, Parramatta destroyed my chances of getting a perfect round last night, but at least I gained two of the four points that Adoring Husband surpassed me by last week!

Meditation tomorrow and The Motivator has the day off so I'll be enjoying a public holiday in the shop on my own.

An early mark for me today with the blog.

Nite all.

Missing in Action

I had every intention of blogging on Friday night, but circumstances beyond my control put an end to my intentions.

It was a very busy Friday in the shop, but I was able to leave soon after 3pm and do a little grocery shopping before riding home.

I sat down for a snack which I hoped would absorb the little alcohol that I planned on drinking at the club and then made myself presentable for the evening.

Adoring Husband dropped me at the club, which was packed with tournament bowlers from out of town. This made the environment very loud and incredibly unpleasant - impossible to have a reasonable conversation and the poker machine room was the quietest place available. For most of the evening, even that room was busy enough that poker machine space was at a premium.

The service in all areas of the club was very slow because there were new staff working the drinks and keno bars and there were just too many patrons lining up to be served.

A number of small irritating things happened that prevented me from getting my weekly raffle tickets or reaching my table of friends. By the time I got to the table, the raffle was almost over and it was time to leave.

At least Adoring Husband had already prepared most of our dinner and all I had to do was make myself a small salad to have with the protein. There was just enough time to eat before I received the 'go ahead' to call my sister for our pre-arranged phone date.

I made the call at 8pm from my bedroom and AH interrupted it at 11pm declaring that he couldn't wait any longer and was coming to bed!

By that time, I was absolutely ready for bed, so even though I considered writing a quick blog post, I chose to sleep instead.

Adoring Husband had a busy day too!

This was our lounge room while he strengthened our DVD wall unit. He is a man of many talents.

Today (Saturday) was very busy in the shop and The Motivator and I ordered lots of new stock, rearranged the storage area and cleared the meditation room ready for Monday.

After work, my afternoon was filled with a movie called "Gifted" which I loved, some football, preparing two weeks worth of dog food, crumbing (with almond meal) and cooking some Snapper fillets for dinner, more football and now blogging.

Now I'm off to bed so that I can wake up to some fresh coffee in the morning!

Nite all.  

Dang

It's late and I'm tired so I'm posting this video that I've been holding for a while now, to share on an occasion just like this one.

If you're keen, there are follow on videos after this, with more info about mercury poisoning and detoxification.



We had a big day in the shop unpacking new stock and rearranging the displays in half of the shop. I don't know about The Motivator, but I'm exhausted!

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Queenslander!

It's State of Origin time again!

Personally, I feel like flopping into the bed and sleeping for 48 hours but I will attempt to remain awake for at least the first half of the game.

I couldn't even find the energy to make myself presentable and attend the club with friends tonight.

Ugh.

We had a big day at the shop. It was surprisingly busy for a Wednesday and people seemed to be very happy and chatty for such a chilly day.

In a matter of weeks, we've changed from using the air con to cool the shop to using it for warming it. The training room and the treatment room seem to be much cooler than the remainder of the shop so while I was sitting at my desk fanning myself to cool down, The Motivator and The Gypsy were shivering with cold at the back.

We might need to follow that up.

There is no more news to report.

Well, maybe there is, but I'm too tired to think.

I thought this was pretty spot on!!

The Gypsy is holding this free one day retreat in The Bay on 24th June. I think it will be fabulous, but it's filling fast so if you're interested in participating, you need to make contact now!

On that note, I'm off. My pillow is calling me.

Nite all.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work we go.

I was excited to get back to work and it was coffee morning with the girls which was a bonus!

There were seven of us giggling (and snorting) and story telling and there were even a few tears this morning. Time flies when you're having fun so it was after 11.30am when The Motivator and I were left alone in the shop.

We had a steady flow of customers all day and in the breaks, we spent time talking business, going over numbers, discussing our future, reflecting on how far we've come, taking pride in our achievement and tidying up a few loose ends.

We were so involved in these discussions, that a delivery of new stock arrived and we didn't even open the box! So we can look forward to unpacking a new range of stock and finding somewhere to display it tomorrow.

I would have stayed late at the shop today because I loved being there, but I remembered that our monthly barbecue at the Lions Park was this evening so I packed up and rushed home to make a roast pumpkin, pine nut and spinach salad to take along with us.

We had some special guests at the barbecue tonight. Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver are in town for a few days and joined us for a big catch up. It was sooooooo good to see them but their time had to be shared between many many people - I think there were twenty of us there. There will be more opportunities in the coming days.

The food was pretty amazing at the barbecue too. There was potato salad, potato bake, lentil and beetroot salad, asparagus mornay, zucchini slice, kale chips, corn on the cob and my pumpkin/pine nut/spinach salad. I felt like my stomach was going to explode before I'd even finished. I think my eyes were too big for my belly!

Just a minute ago, it was 9.50pm and suddenly it's 11.25pm! How the heck did that happen?

Must go to sleep now.

Nite all.

The Finale of Chicklet's Holiday

Before we left the house, we fulfilled the time capsule promise from yesterday ...

It was another nine hour day on the road.

Chicklet was pretty amazing on the long four hour trip to the airport.

She was completely silent for the first hour.

I gave her my phone to play games for the next two hours.

The final hour was much more animated. Knowing that we were getting closer to Mama, she became very talkative and loud and silly.

We found Mama easily and Chicklet ran to her bubbling with excitement. We hung around for about 30 or 40 minutes making small talk while she transitioned and then we said our goodbyes and left quickly, to avoid dramas.

Mama had already been at the airport for six hours and still had another three hours to fill until their flight to Melbourne. All up, she was in transit for more than 47 hours but Chicklet was well behaved and the remainder of the trip was not as bad as it could have been.

Our drive home was uneventful.

The roads were clear and we made three stops. One for a GF Beefy's pie just north of Brisbane, while Adoring Husband made a phone call.  One for fuel and some bottled water.  One for AH to grab some meat from the Tiaro Butcher for dinner, while I checked out the Hippie Shop.

I can't believe how smoothly everything went when we arrived home!

We (and by 'we' I mean AH) fed the dogs and the chooks and fired up the barbecue to cook his steak while I made up a big salad to accompany it. I heated up my bone broth and sat quietly in the lounge room to enjoy it.

No standing in the kitchen for an hour while 'somebody' took their time eating dinner.

No sitting on my mini stool in the bathroom playing fishing games in the bathtub for thirty minutes with a certain 'somebody'.

No thirty minute cuddle and chat time with that 'somebody' before bed.

No convincing that little 'somebody' that it was time to sleep now.

I got to watch my TV show while it was actually airing instead of recording it and watching it later.

I'm doing this blog post right now so that I can go to bed early and get some sleep.

I've already ironed my clothes for work tomorrow and have a 'to do' list written up for my first day back.

Oh! Today, I took a phone call from a customer booking herself and a friend into my photography workshop on 16th/17th June. She's coming in tomorrow to sign and pay. This means that I have five in my next class with another three possibles.

Love it.

I also received a message from Number One Son asking if we were free for the week beginning 15th June so that he can visit! Hopefully, that will actually happen. Watch this space!

Thanks for listening.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

Day Twenty Four of Chicklet Holiday

One more sleep and the holiday is over.

Her bag is packed and she's ready to go. Mama is mid flight on her way to Brisvegas on a fifteen hour flight.

We tried to finish off all of our projects today.

I finished my cave. Chicklet fiddle farted around doing bits and pieces and took about three hours to do a page of stencil dragons to put into the time capsule - complaining loudly when it had gone dark outside and we were unable to bury the time capsule as planned.

It will be a quick job in the morning before we leave.

We had a lot of fun at bath time. Full of giggles and silliness and then some extended pre-bedtime cuddles with the psychotic dogs and chat time.

I think we are both suffering bitter sweetness at the moment. Sad to be leaving each other but excited about getting our lives back. Chicklet is most excited about seeing Mama and I am most excited about getting a full night's sleep!

Out of the twenty five nights that she has been here, she came into our room approximately fifteen nights to wake me. It was usually between 2am-3am and I would get out of bed, follow her back to her room and lay beside her while she fell asleep, which was generally instant, and then I would return to my own bed. A couple of nights she woke me 2 or 3 times.

No big deal, but broken sleep is not my friend and I've struggled to be 100% 'present' on the days that follow her restless nights.

I adore her - there have been moments when we didn't like each other very much - but overwhelmingly, there has been love overload. She is a treasure that lights my soul and melts my heart to the extreme.

I will miss my little Chicklet and I hope we made some lasting memories that she can treasure in her future.

Nite all.

Day Twenty Three of Chicklet Holiday

Well, we've had another great day and there are only two sleeps left before Chicklet meets up with her Mama and they head home.

We did some more work on our caves today. We should have them finished by tomorrow afternoon and that will make five amazing caves in 3.5 weeks.

There were two phone calls from Mama and a 40 minute Skype call with Dad to talk about the alligator experience.

There was a sad event that Adoring Husband and I did everything in our power to hide from Chicklet. SEB (Someone Else's Bird) took poorly this morning and by about 3pm this afternoon she had passed from this earth.

AH tried in vain to help her, but we found her on the floor of the cage, just sitting - I knew there was something wrong when she didn't hiss at me. SEB has always behaved aggressively towards me and has always loved AH who today, tried to give her water with a dropper and attempted to feed her, but she wasn't interested in any of it.

She died peacefully in her nesting box and we have avoided telling Chicklet. We wonder if she will say anything tomorrow because she always goes outside to say hello to SEB. I'm not ashamed to say that if we can avoid having the death talk with her we will! We just need to get through the next 36 hours.

*cue the sound of a chicken clucking here*

Not much else to report so here are some progress photos of our caves (Chicklet even made her own spider web with bag tie wire so that she could thread one of my spider charms onto it on the inside wall of her cave!

Here is Chicklet's ...

 Here is mine ...

Chicklet became a little annoyed that AH always commented on how nice my cave was and never commented on hers, so we had to remedy that situation quickly.

Anyway, it's almost midnight, so I'm off to bed. But first ...

A couple of days ago, Adoring Husband asked me the question "What do you reckon was the biggest selling one hit wonder of all time?"

After some brief research, the answer is "Macarene" by Los Del Rio in 1996 OR "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners OR "Gangnam Style" by Psy who made $25million from this one song alone and received over 1 BILLION views on his Youtube video!

Nite all.

 

Day Twenty Two of Chicklet Holiday

What a day!

Six hours of driving and three hours at Wildlife HQ.

It was a perfect weather day, the temperature just right, clear skies and sunshine. Great for jeans and sneakers and we actually had an easy start to the day and a good run to our destination with very little traffic.

We were the only passengers on the little train that took us from the Big Pineapple down the hill to Wildlife HQ where we found our way to the office and booked the Crocodile experience which actually turned out to be an alligator experience!

A young man brought the alligator out immediately and this is what happened ...

... incredibly, I forgot my camera (I know right?!) so we paid for a photo to be taken and I took a few pics with my phone.

Chicklet was over the moon. The alligator was much bigger and much heavier than she expected. It's name was Mississippi and we are so happy to have been there to witness her joy in this first time experience.

The next favourite creature of the day was the Green Iguana ...

We spent a lot of time with Iggy haha, but did not get to touch him.

She got to touch a koala, sheep, goats and an alpaca gave her a big wet sloppy kiss across her face. She made friends with a massive emu that followed us across the field (scared the crap out of me) and she thought it was GREAT! She loved the chickens, or 'chickadoodles' as she called them and we took our time going through the reptile exhibit.

I can't believe we were there for three hours. It felt like much less.

Even the drive home went quickly and we drove into our driveway well before 5pm.

There was plenty of time to make a light dinner, take a long bath, enjoy some cuddle and chat time, and for good measure I added a short back massage with some essential oils (which seemed to hype Chicklet up, rather than relax her!).

She fell asleep quickly, and even though the day was incident free and a lot of fun, I feel like it took a lot out of her and it took a lot of fancy footwork to prevent a meltdown tonight.

Tomorrow will be telling but we will be gentle.

Three more sleeps.

I stumbled across a video yesterday.

Remember this????



I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Day Twenty One of Chicklet Holiday

Today, we decided to take a couple of small foam boxes and create our own dragon caves with our own ideas .. to finish off our holiday together with a bang.

Much to Chicklet's shock and dismay, I decided to create a Hippie Rainbow Dragon Cave! The cave so far ...

She's been telling me for a couple of days that this idea is really bad because dragons don't do rainbows and colour, that dragons are dark and for all the ideas in the world, why did I pick this one?

"Really Bozzy Wozzy? I don't think your cave is going to be very good. Are you sure you want to do rainbows? It's just not going to look real."

But I could tell, as I worked on my Hippie Rainbow Dragon Cave, that she was impressed and just a little envious of my beautiful dragon cave! She has even introduced colour to her own cave and keeps coming up with ideas for me haha!

Very slowly, but very cleverly, she is working on her own cave and she tells me that "Even though there are Halloween-related items and parts in the cave, it's NOT a Halloween Dragon cave!"

I must say that creating my Hippie Rainbow cave has been very therapeutic today and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time outside being creative.

We didn't do much else today.

Chicklet was very happy to spend ten minutes with the dogs on her bed before sleep time - it was her second favourite thing about today.

Tomorrow, we plan on heading south to the Sunny Coast so that Chicklet can receive her birthday present of holding a crocodile! I haven't told her yet because Poppy Bluebarry's back has been touch and go and I'm worried that he won't be able to manage the drive. Fingers crossed we can make it happen.

Now I'm off to bed. I wonder if I'll be lucky enough to sleep undisturbed tonight?

Nite all.