Change of Plan

So my plan was to go to the movies to see ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and then do a train trip to Brighton Beach to check out the location for this wedding.

I began walking, stopped on Vegan Chickie’s recommendation, to purchase a coffee, which was delicious and served by a very happy and friendly gentleman.

I walked some more, approximately two blocks, when I came across Spencer Outlet Centre.

I thought to myself “Self! This looks like the place for you!”

I found the entrance and in I walked.

I was warmly greeted by a very friendly woman who told me I was tiny and scoffed at my choice of size 10 pant that I first tried on. I swear Melbourne sizes are very different to Queensland sizes!

Of the dozen shops that I entered, only one had a less than friendly attendant.

I was rudely reminded of my age when I was chatting to a woman whom I considered my equal, commenting about the clothes and I offered her a top that I was holding and that she was obviously admiring. When she tried on the top, the male attendant asked her if she wanted to show her mother (me). I looked at her and realised that she was about 30, so yes, I could easily be her mother.

Ugh!

I was feeling so young and vibrant until that point!

Spencer Outlet Centre captured my attention for five hours. I spent a lot of money and now have my entire wardrobe sorted for Spring/Summer.

Lunch was lovely in the food court and the coffee was divine.

I must say that the walk back was not as pleasant as the walk there. Walking uphill with a dozen bags of goodies at the end of a tiring shopping day was hard work!

I stumbled upon a fresh juice bar just around the corner from Vegan Chickie’s apartment, so I bought myself a celery, apple and ginger juice which gave me a perfect boost of energy.

Vegan Chickie had made a deliciously spicy butter chicken with brown rice for dinner, so a perfect end to the day!

My gear is all packed and ready to go to the wedding tomorrow.

The maximum will only be 20C so I bought myself some boots to wear in place of the Summer sandals I brought with me. Hopefully I’ll be running around so much that I won’t even feel the cold.

It’s after 11pm. Best get some sleep.

Nite all.

In Melbourne

My flight on Wednesday was delayed an hour which kind of threw all of our well laid plans out the window and caused a bit of stress and anxiety at this end, but we recovered well.

The flight seemed long. We left Maroochydore at 12.30pm and arrived in Melbourne at 4pm (remembering Daylight Savings). 

I watched a movie on the Virgin App - Oceans 8 - which I’ve seen, but still enjoyed it the 2nd time. I tried to watch Young Sheldon too, but the app decided to freeze and I couldn’t get to work, so instead, I listened to one of my audio books.

Because the flight was late, my booking for the shuttle bus from the airport to CBD was missed.  I had changed the booking when I knew I would be late, but we were even later again, so I had to wait 25 mins for the next shuttle to arrive. At least they dropped me right at the front door so I didn’t have to drag my luggage through the streets.

Chicklet had already left the apartment to spend Halloween with her Dad, and Vegan Chickie was at an appointment, so I let myself in and relaxed, listening to more of my audio book.

It was nice to spend time alone with Vegan Chickie and we sat up til quite late - we’ll it felt late because we were both exhausted - then Chicklet was delivered home at precisely 5.50am! VC took her straight into her bedroom where she spent quite a bit of time before bounding into the lounge room where I’m sleeping to finally give me my hug hello. She welcomed me with her fabulous loosy toothy grin.

We spent the entire day at home, eating and drinking and watching a movie on Netflix called ‘Coraline’, playing a little Dragon Sim and drawing some pictures.

Tomorrow has some rough plans surrounding it, but nothing concrete yet. Maybe a movie, maybe a trip to Brighton. We’ll see how the motivation moves me.

Very warm weather here today and tomorrow will be only slightly cooler. The day of the wedding will be very cool so I’m glad I brought something a little warmer to wear - at least it has sleeves!

That’s about it for me. I’ve typed this on my phone which is kind of awkward and I have just 1% charge left so I’d best sign off fast! 

Nite all.

The Night Before

Here we are at 8pm the night before I fly to Melbourne and I'm still not packed.

We leave at 7am tomorrow.

I've gathered my camera gear, put it all in a small suitcase with wheels and weighed it.

This is the suitcase that I want to carry with me onto the plane because I don't trust that it will survive a trip in my check-in luggage. I figure it could be stolen or damaged, so I need to keep it close to me.

So two camera bodies, four lenses, two batteries and a charger weigh 10.8kgs.

That's too heavy for carry-on luggage.

So I removed a camera body, two batteries, the charger and the 2nd largest lens.

It STILL weighs 7.6kgs. I'll take my chances.

I currently have many items of clothing spread over the bed. I need five outfits. They need to be lightweight. They need to be crush proof because Vegan Chickie does not possess an iron. They need to be presentable enough to wear in public because there is something planned for every day. They need to be suitable for all weather situations because ... Melbourne!

I need to make a list to check, otherwise I'll be under pressure in the morning and I'll forget stuff.

We had a good coffee morning with the girls, though we missed Lady Lynn, Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced) and Maid Marian. We welcomed the return of Reality TV Queen after quite a few weeks away and The Whinging Pom who returned from her month long holiday.

It was a slow day in the shop.

Adoring Husband and I put the new glass cabinet in place and I filled it with jewellery displays.

AH took all the cardboard boxes because the shop recycle bin is full and The Motivator's recycle bin is full, so the boxes have now filled our home recycle bin.

I wrapped another gift box.

I tied up a couple of the coaster sets.

I selected one of my photos to donate to the local pub for their Melbourne Cup raffle and wrapped it accordingly. AH delivered it to the pub this afternoon.

My last customer of the day bought up big on our selection of unicorns including fridge magnets and snap buttons. His purchases totalled almost half of our sales for the day and I'm pretty certain that his two young daughters are going to be wearing wide grins when he offers them the gifts he took from the shop.

By the time I tied up some loose ends and did a small grocery shop, it was almost 4.30pm when I arrived home.

Adoring Husband showed me the progress that he'd made with the pool landscaping today - the pool is so close, I can almost taste it!

Anyway, best go pack.

Happy Hump Day!

Nite all.  

Surprisingly Busy

For a Monday, it was surprisingly busy at the shop today.

There is a large group of ladies in town, without their husbands, for a week long holiday. Half of them came into the shop today, did not buy anything, but promised to return with the entire group on Tuesday. They are excited to be without their husbands!

Just four of them were VERY loud, so I can't imagine how loud they will ALL be when they are in the shop together. That will bring an interesting energy into the space!

The Gypsy returned to work after her two of weeks off. During that time she ran a couple of successful retreats on the Gold Coast, so she was positively glowing.

There was a steady flow of customers in the shop all morning, the last sale was made at about 1.30pm and then I think it was the weather that kept people away because storms were building with lightning and thunder and quite a bit of rain.

I had asked Adoring Husband to cover for me at the shop for the last half hour so that I could have my hair done, but the storm meant that I couldn't ride my trike, and because The Motivator happened to be in the shop, we decided to close the shop half an hour early so that AH could drive me to my appointment.

I love my hair. Future DIL did a wonderful job again.

The storm passed without issue but it's still overcast and there is more rain to come tonight. Storms are forecast for tomorrow and possibly Wednesday ... as long as I can fly out from the Sunny Coast on Wednesday without issue, I will be happy.

I made an easy dinner by baking a butterflied chicken in the oven and serving it with a simple salad.

I'm still not packed for my trip to Melbourne ...

It's almost 9pm, so I'm off to bed. I'm thoroughly enjoying my new sleep regime and I'm feeling good!

Nite all.

Hibernation

Total hibernation today.

I felt a little discombobulated and totally unable to face the world, so I remained in bed until after 4pm.

I watched hours of Trevor Noah and Ellen Degeneres and Graham Norton. Informative, feel good and funny.

Adoring Husband delivered food and water when necessary and left me alone when necessary.

On Friday night I was talking to Baker Hater about my trip to Melbourne and she asked some relevant questions about my trip and attempted to give me advice about what I should do at night - just quietly, the only nightlife that I participate in is raffle night at the Bowls Club - so I scoffed at her suggestion of going to the IceBar one night.

She told me that the 'brown trams' in Melbourne were free and I told her that all trams in the CBD are free ...

"FREE Tram Zone – Melbourne CBD. Since January 1st 2015, the inner city CBD has a new FREE Tram Zone. This means that any tram trip you take that starts and ends within the City Centre (designated Free Tram Zone) will be free. This is a new initiative to assist visitors staying in the city to move around."

I told her about the wedding that I'm photographing in Brighton and she told me how dodgy Brighton was and that I shouldn't leave my bag or any valuables lying around.

So I did some research and discovered that it is ranked as the 4th best suburb in Melbourne and has a 5 star rating for safety, eating out, families, schools, parks, clean environment, night life and the many reviews that I've read have been outstanding.

I told her that I was photographing the wedding on Brighton beach where the colourful beach huts are and she told me that there weren't many of them left now.  I felt a bit sad and disappointed about that because I had big plans based on their existence!

I discovered that there are actually 82 beach huts currently on Brighton Beach.

Baker Hater ... I know that you don't read my blog or even know of it's existence for that matter, but ... WERE YOU DRUNK????  Crazy woman!

Adoring Husband has spent the day in the back yard doing pool preparation work so he's been much more productive than I have. He's also been much dirtier and required two showers throughout the day. He made a quick trip into The Bay to visit my favourite (not) place, Bunnings.

Having done nothing all day, I still feel quite tired, so I'm off to bed. It's just after 8.35pm. My daily practice of meditation is training me to go to bed at a reasonable hour every night and create a habit of sleeping soundly. Except for a couple of hiccups, so far, so good.

Nite all.

Sad Sat

Only two customers all day and it was lucky that I stayed open for an extra hour so that the second customer could enter the shop!

It was so quiet in town today.

It gave me the opportunity to wrap some gift packs for display.

The Motivator came in like a whirlwind, did a few chores and then left quickly, with a big family evening planned.

I finalised another stock order that The Motivator had started.

Our new concrete guy came to the house and gave us a very reasonable quote for our concreting.

Our pool guy came and installed the magnesium filter system.

Adoring Husband researched some Bali huts and our budget is now looking a lot easier to manage. The stress levels have reduced somewhat and we are feeling a lot better about our new pool and landscaping.

I arrived home after 2.30pm and plonked myself, exhausted, on the couch. I've been awake since 4am and as an old-ish bird, I definitely require more than 5 hours of sleep at night.

We watched The Greatest Showman before I made a creamy smoked cod casserole for dinner.

My day is done and now I am going to bed where I will watch 'Breaking Dawn Part 2', until I fall asleep.

Here is some of our stock that came in during the week.

Nite all.    

Tri-pools

Adoring Husband and I had an appointment this morning to meet the Pool Gal in The Bay to view three different pools that they've built.

Two were brand new, only recently filled with water and one was a couple of years old with established landscaping.

We loved the first pool. The surface colour was very beachy and they had installed the same brand of umbrella that we've ordered.. The water was a lovely soft blue colour that reminded me of the water around the Pacific islands. We could easily picture our pool looking just like that.

It gave us hope that it will be completed soon!

We immediately returned home because AH had SES duties in Scaryborough.

I rode to the shop to pick up some cushions that I'd added to one of our stock orders. They will go nicely on our outdoor lounge.

I shouted myself some lunch at the cafe and sat inside to enjoy it - I forget how nice it is to go solo sometimes.

The worst moment of my day came when I tried to book my train fare to the Sunny Coast so that I can catch my flight to Melbourne on Wednesday - only to discover that there is no early train on Wednesdays and the late train won't get me there in time.

Rethinking my options.

Psychotic Dog Ruby needed a haircut desperately, so I did that, clipped her claws and gave her a bath. It took three lathers to get her clean, but her belly looks like the dirt is so ingrained, it's tattooed!

The Pool Gal then arrived with a selection of little coloured glass beads to choose from - they go into the mix that gets sprayed onto the pool shell. I decided that I wanted all of them, so there will be little sparkles of different colour throughout our pool.

That gave me just enough time to make myself beautiful for the club.

I won a meat tray in the very first raffle of the evening (which I've just realised I left behind! Oops)

That is my day.

Done and dusted.

It's after 10.30pm so I'm off to you-know-where.

Nite all.

Pain again?!

Not sciatica this time.

My neck.

It seems that I have the weight of the world on my shoulders and my neck and shoulders are suffering greatly.

It's all the bad energy rolling around my house at the moment.

I have a big hole in my back yard and piles of fine dusty dirt blowing through the house and absolutely no satisfactory progress from any trades person. The builder is now out of the country due to a family medical emergency and we have a new concrete guy coming tomorrow to give us a quote because the last guy can't do it now.

The only real progress that I can see, is what Adoring Husband has done, otherwise there's been a bunch of guys scratching their heads trying to work around problems.

Having done some research tonight, I've found exactly what I want for much less money than we've been quoted for and I'm rethinking the whole deal.

So anyway ...

The Motivator gave me two very deep neck and shoulder massages today and I'm feeling a lot better, BUT I also feel bruised and battered haha. I couldn't even turn my head left or right this morning so it was very tricky riding my trike not being able to look for cars properly when I had to cross a road!

I have much more movement now.

I spent a couple of hours at the shop today but I didn't do any work. I'd planned to help unpack the stock that arrived on Wednesday afternoon, but I don't think I was capable of much at all. I spent some time sitting by myself in the training room on a beanbag resting after my first massage.

Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced) came in to talk some business and then the Pool Gal came in to organise a trip into The Bay to check out some pool colours, so it was lucky that I was there.

Adoring Husband has had a busy SES week and tonight is no exception, so I'm climbing into bed for another early night - I was a bit restless last night, but I think that was my late coffee yesterday afternoon.

I have another day off tomorrow.

R&R

Nite all.

Fabulously Fun

The Royal Chaser and her husband arrived very early at the shop today, so we got to chat and catch up before Best Cousin in the World arrived.

When BCITW arrived, we all walked to the cafe and sat down, but realised that it was only 11am and we were not ready to eat yet so we decided to go for a walk along the river and sit in the park to chat.

More than two hours later, after much fun and laughter and getting to know each other a bit more, we headed back to the cafe for lunch.

We all parted company just before 3pm.

It was a good day and I really enjoyed spending time with them. If we lived closer, I think we would be great social friends with The Royal Chaser and her husband - she is a real laugh and a half and has no fear - up for almost anything!

Sadly, none of us thought to take a photo so there is no proof that today even happened!

After they left, I returned to the shop and helped The Motivator finish installing the lights in our glass cabinets. She's the brains of the operation. I'm the trades assistant.

Four boxes of stock arrived while I was out today, so she will have fun unpacking it all while I have my couple of days off.

Adoring Husband had SES duties this evening so I had another pleasant evening alone watching Gogglebox and The Bachelorette.

I've found a fabulous meditation for sleep called 'Deep Sleep Hypnosis'

It goes for about 20 minutes.

I was in bed listening to it for the first time two nights ago, and after ten minutes, I thought to myself "this isn't working".

I don't remember anything after that because I fell into a deep sleep and didn't wake up for more than eight hours!

Last night I listened to it again and after ten minutes I thought to myself "last night was a fluke. this isn't working"

I don't remember anything after that and I woke up seven hours later.

So I believe I am onto a winner.

It's now almost 9.30pm and I'm off to bed for another sound sleep.

Love it.

Nite all.

Miss Me?

Surprisingly, I was in bed by 8.30pm and asleep before 9pm.

When I woke this morning, I remembered that I didn't do my blog post!

To anyone who cares ... sorry about that.

After nine hours of fairly solid sleep, I woke feeling refreshed and lay in bed thinking what a fabulous day I was going to have.

Then Adoring Husband began getting ready for SES and couldn't find his shirts - stomping through the house swearing - then he couldn't find his belt - stomping through the house swearing - then he couldn't find his garage remote - stomping through the house swearing.

By the time I did everything to tidy up his loose ends and then get myself ready for work, I had just enough time to grab myself a coffee and open the shop right on nine.

The ladies all arrived for our coffee morning, but so did a whole stack of customers and for the 2.5 hours that the ladies were at the shop, I only got to sit with them for about twenty minutes.

Not that I'm complaining!

The whole day was busy until we had a blackout at around 2.20pm - a few people came in during the blackout but only one of them made a purchase. Without power, we could only make cash sales but some items were put aside for customers to return tomorrow to make payment.

All round, it was a very good day as far as sales go.

Three lots of deliveries arrived, so in between customers, I priced and displayed the new stock.

I left the shop some time after 4.30pm - just as the power came back on.

Adoring Husband had more SES stuff tonight, so I made a quick chicken curry for dinner and then had a couple of hours to myself while he attended his important meeting.

Tomorrow, I get to spend time with Best Cousin in the World and The Royal Chaser.

I met The Royal Chaser about seven years ago in Toowoomba when I attended a photography course at the University there. It was the first time I'd seen BCITW for about 30 something years and we did the course together.

The Royal Chaser is holidaying in The Bay this week while her new house in Toowoomba is being tiled. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (The Duke and Duchess of Sussex) were in The Bay and spent a night on Fraser Island - so The Royal Chaser went chasing.

She was disappointed that she got just a fleeting glimpse.

We will all (NOT the Duke and Duchess) have lunch together tomorrow and I'll take a couple of hours off work to make the most of their visit.

It's already 10pm so I'm off to bed.

Early start tomorrow for meditation.

Nite all.

Sixty One Already!

It's that time of year again, where Adoring Husband turns another year older.

The greatest birthday gift was having the impending storms go around us to the north and to the south.

I made a chocolate brownie slice but there are no matches or lighters in the house to light a candle.

We contemplated driving into The Bay to have a birthday lunch somewhere, but eventually we decided to go to our local cafe and get take away to eat at the park. Unfortunately all the tables were taken at the park, so we returned home and parked ourselves in front of the telly with our nosh.

It would have been nice to sit around the finished pool for this private birthday celebration - next year!

Adoring Husband was happy with his gifts from me - a convection cooktop for his new kitchen, a metal welcome sign for his new area and a further completed diary of 'Reasons Why I Love You'.

In 2004 I began writing in a small, thick, purple bound notebook. In it, I list all the reasons why I love Adoring Husband. The first time I gave him the book I'd only made it through about a quarter of the book and I made him return it to me so that I could finish it.

I didn't add more to it until 2011 and then I added more again this year. It's still not finished but there isn't much else to add now plus I want to get a bit arty farty with the pages that I've purposely left blank.

Right now, it is fourteen years in the making! Who knows how long it will be before I present the finished product!

So all I can say is Happy Birthday Adoring Husband.

I love you.

Nite all.

A Good Day

Today was a lovely day, but uneventful.

I have nothing to tell you.

Find the funny one ...

I hope your Sunday is everything you hope it will be.

Nite all.

It was a WOW

I had a movie date with Lady Lynn and Maid Marian today.

We saw "A Star is Born" starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

Apparently there have been four versions of this movie.

The first was made in 1937 and starred Janet Gaynor. It was her only technicolor film.

The second was made in 1954 and starred Judy Garland and James Mason. Judy Garland was nominated for an Academy Award for that movie, but didn't win.

The third, which will always be my favourite, was made in 1976 and starred Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson (I had the biggest crush on that man!). Barbra Streisand won an Academy Award for the song Evergreen.

The fourth and most recent has just been released and stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Bradley Cooper also directed it, wrote the screenplay and some the songs, as well as acted, sang and played musical instruments. What a talent!!

Even though my favourite will always be the 1976 version, I still absolutely loved this version. Lady Gaga was amazing in her role, as was Bradley Cooper and I will definitely watch it again.

While this version brought tears to my eyes and caused my throat to constrict as a I tried not to cry, the 1976 version leaves me sobbing every time.

Coincidentally, that version was on TV tonight and I watched it for the first time in quite a few years - once again it reduced me to a sobbing wreck!

After the movie today, we drove to Toogoom and enjoyed a leisurely lunch at The Salty Squid. While their main meal GF options were somewhat limited, there was a delicious looking selection of cakes and slices to choose from. I did not partake, but I will next time!

We arrived home with enough time to rest my incredibly sore sciatica, make myself gorgeous for the Bowls Club, stop at the supermarket for some pain killers because OMG the pain was almost making me ill and then appear at the club to see the long lost Rebel Mardi and The Life Saver.

How good was it to see them!! They looked so well and vibrant and happy. We love them and miss them so much and the energy level at our table was noticeably increased having them there. Their visits are never long enough though and the evening seemed to be over before it even began.

They are so loved by so many that they spread themselves very thin attempting to spend time with all the friends they left behind when they moved south.

Now it's time for bed because tomorrow is a work day for me.

Except for the horrible sciatic pain, I've enjoyed my days off. I would have liked to get some stuff from my 'to do' list done, but the pain prevented me from doing much at all. Finding a comfortable sitting position was about the best I could do!

Have a fabulous weekend everybody!

Nite all.

Ohhh The Pain

In the voice of Tattoo on Fantasy Island ... "The pain! The pain!"

I could feel it creeping in on Wednesday morning and just before bed I could feel it intensifying, but by the time I woke on Thursday morning, the sciatic pain was so intense and I struggled to even walk out of the bedroom!

I easily found the 'spot' in my butt cheek where the pain had hit the surface and I spent the day digging my knuckle into that spot trying to grind out the pain. In the process, I found lots of knots all around that area that needed some good strong pressure.

Unfortunately The Gypsy is away, so I can't get any help for a while.

I didn't let it stop me today and I did a lot of walking to stretch it out. Sometimes the pain was almost overwhelming, but sometimes I could feel it easing. It's still there now but I hope that I can sleep it off - if only I had a magnesium filtered pool to swim it out!

At least I got a good night's sleep - about seven solid hours of much needed sleep.

Adoring Husband and I spent the day in The Bay.

We selected and purchased the splash back tiles for the outdoor kitchen.

We picked up 200 paper carry bags for the shop and a red 'We are Open' sign to put on our outside stand (our other one disappeared on a windy day).

While AH did a Bunnings run (you know how I hate Bunnings), I did a Stocklands run and in a little temporary kiosk in the middle of the centre, I found myself a nice little cotton kaftan for wearing around the pool 😝

We drove to Springvale to buy the water feature that we'd decided upon a month ago. We were a few hours too late because he'd sold it that morning.

Ugh.

We drove all the way back to The Bay to 'Open House' where they also stock these water features, but the only one they had in stock had a smashed nose.

Now we are on two lists to be contacted when the new stock comes in.

Next was a visit to another nursery where we selected our pebbles for the landscaping.

We arrived home in time to feed the dogs and have a break before I cooked dinner while AH prepared for SES training night.

Dinner was a feed of fresh fish (a gift from The Motivator and The Fisher King) which I crumbed in almond meal mixed with salt, pepper and chilli powder and then fried in butter and olive oil. It was yummy.

After that, I plonked myself on the couch. I've had to get up a couple of times and the pain is still pretty intense, so I'll rub some of my essential oil into the affected area before I go to bed and hopefully the combination of sleep and healing oil, will fix the problem by morning.

I'm off to the movies tomorrow. I might have trouble walking up the stairs to the cinema but where there's a will, there's a way.

Nite all.

What's Going On?

Between the pool dramas, savage weather requiring SES time for Adoring Husband, lots of stuff happening at the shop, worrying over my upcoming trip to Melbourne and my lack of sleep, we are both feeling a touch exhausted.

Again, I woke up at 2.30am and could not get back to sleep for the remainder of the night.

I also had to be at the shop bright and early for meditation.

Because The Gypsy is away for a couple of weeks, it was my responsibility this week to run the class, but I was so lethargic and unmotivated, I simply played two guided meditations and at the end, when we were feeling totally zenned out, I played the Pharrell Williams song "Happy" really loudly and we all danced around the room.

It had an amazing affect. The Motivator and I both felt a lot more energised at the end of the dance and I was able to make it to 11.30am before the lethargy set in again.

Next week will be The Motivator's turn to lead the meditation. I suspect she will be a lot more professional and better equipped to fill the hour than I was.

I didn't make the same mistake as Tuesday, by not eating and thereby making myself feel even worse. I ate a banana for breakfast and for lunch, a big bowl of mango, avocado, red onion and lemon juice.

We were both so tired by the end of the day, we closed the shop a whole FOUR minutes early. The Motivator had to be somewhere and I just couldn't adult for another minute.

AH and I had planned to meet with long lost friends this evening, but as excited as we were to see them again, we just didn't have it in us to socialise. There were other friends involved so it wasn't like we left them high and dry, but we were disappointed to miss out on the fun.

AH spent most of the day digging and shovelling and levelling in the back yard around the pool. He overdid it and his body is struggling tonight.

We are both feeling older than our years tonight and we will be sleeping early for certain.

Before I sign off, I must congratulate The Motivator for riding her trike to work for the first time today. She bought Mum H's trike from me a year ago with every intention of riding it to work regularly, but we all know about good intentions!

I've got a couple of days off now, so I can rest and recuperate and get my mojo back.

Things to do. Places to go. People to see.

Nite all.

Oh the Feelings!

Tuesday began at 1.30am for me.

I don't know why, but for the last five or six Tuesdays, I've woken at around 1.30am and stayed awake for around two hours before finding my deep slumber. The same happened last night, but this time I was awake until 4.30am, which meant that I only slept for another ninety minutes before the alarm went off.

It was a struggle to climb out of bed and I needed my MSM to give me an energy boost to start the day.

Morning coffee with the girls was fun because I opened a box of new snap button jewellery that had arrived that morning. The girls dived in and got first pick before the jewellery even got to the display trays!

A few giggles and a couple of snorts later, everyone left to continue their day of fun and frivolity.

Unfortunately I was very naughty and didn't eat all day. I had a morning coffee and then worked through the day without giving my body any nourishment, so by the end of the day, I was not in a good place.

I was on my feet for most of the day unpacking stock, pricing, storing, displaying, getting rid of the packaging and what I didn't finish had to be hidden in the treatment room so that the training room was clear for meditation tomorrow.

It was bin day and there was lots of cardboard that had to be cut and folded and packed in the bin - my motivation levels were very low by this time.

The Motivator arrived right on closing time to instal the light in the new cabinet and attach the door to complete the assembly.

I was not capable of assisting her, so I took advantage of a break in the weather to pedal home without getting wet.

It's now 9pm and I am going to rest this weary body. It's telling me off big time.

Nite all.

I Do Like Mondays

Today felt very strange.

My first two non-customers came into the shop simply to introduce themselves, comment favourably about the shop and then leave.

Weird.

The weather was a bit topsy turvy with gusting strong winds, surprising heavy showers that gave me no warning that they were coming (hence the surprise).

Weird.

Five boxes of stock arrived at lunch time, so I spent the afternoon unpacking and pricing.

I was interrupted often by tyre kickers so I didn't finish that task and there is still much to do tomorrow - especially because more will arrive tomorrow and the day after and probably the day after that.

We will have our work cut out for us this week.

I've left the shop in a bit of a mess, so I'll need to get there early tomorrow to make it reasonably presentable.

Due to the inclement weather, Adoring Husband drove me to work this morning and then arrived ten minutes early to pick me up, so he closed the shop for me while I finished pricing some of the stock and packed my gear to go home. He also bought us a coffee to take home.

Dinner was a curry out of the freezer.

Easy.

AH is now watching Dr Who, so I'm signing off to head to bed.

I'm feeling a bit on edge, so some meditation might be in order.

Before I go ... some of the new stock ...

Nite all.