Still Nothing

My ‘to do’ list is still firmly intact.

I was a little more productive today, but nothing of note.

Adoring Husband returned to bed at 8am and fell asleep, so I got out of bed and made warm lemon water, followed by a glass of celery juice. I used up the leftover pancake mix and cooked up a big breakfast of bacon, banana, pancakes and maple syrup.

I didn’t have all the ingredients for the heavy metal cleansing juice, so I need to plan better for that.

AH woke up around 9.30am and at 10am we drove to the butcher to get some mince for dog food and some salad items for lunch.

AH cooked snags on the barbecue and I made a salad to go with it.

I cooked up ten days worth of dog food - pumpkin, carrot, hemp seeds, turmeric, coconut oil and beef mince. 

After lunch, I had to fix the pool creepy crawly because some of the long grass from the bali hut had wrapped itself around the internal rollers. Once that job was done, I jumped into the pool fully clothed! It was lovely, but I only stayed in for about 15 minutes.

We watched some fluffy Netflix movies and I cooked up a version of Hainan chicken for dinner. I only drank the broth from it, which was delicious.

I sorted through all the baby goodies that I’ve been collecting ready to send south to the fambam. 

Knowing that I only have 2 days remaining of my week off, I thought a lot about my list and wondered if there might be chance of reducing it before Tuesday. Only time will tell!

Sleep time for me now on my trusty new pillow. I have to say I love it. It hugs my head in a most comforting and secure way and feels both soft but firm. I slept very well last night.

Nite all.

My Day

Not productive at all.

The only item that I ticked off my ‘to do’ list was meditation.

I stayed in bed until 1pm.

I had been up earlier and got my togs/swimmers/bathers out ready to go swimming. I started to sort my washing and I had big plans in my head for sorting through my jewellery but somewhere along the line, the bed called me back.

When it was time for Adoring Husband to get his afternoon coffee, I had a shower and made myself presentable so that he could drive me to check the mail and purchase his caffeine, then we drove to the outskirts of town to pick up my Lorraine Lea pillows that were delivered to JJJ’s home.

AH made the most delicious pancakes this morning which I smothered in butter and maple syrup and then messily ate them in bed dripping syrup all down the front of my pyjamas.

After we returned from our drive I made a smoothie with banana, orange, coriander, wild blueberry powder, spirulina, barley grass and water.

Fully expecting him to refuse, I asked AH to taste this almost black concoction, and he drank the entire glass!

It’s a heavy metal cleansing smoothie.

Heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, uranium, nickel and approx 25 others.

Every medication contains heavy metals, as does our water, food, perfumes and colognes, hair dyes, nail polish, candles, cleaning products, furniture, mattresses etc etc etc. The only way to test for heavy metals is to perform a biopsy on your organs because they settle deep in our organs and create tiny pockets where they accumulate.

They cause problems like rashes, muscle cramps, memory loss, reduced muscle strength, joint paint, heart flutters/palpitations, headaches, insomnia, thyroid problems, hair loss or brittle hair and nails, vision and hearing problems and SO MUCH MORE.

Drinking this smoothie every day, along with other changes in your diet, will help clear the metals and heal the organs that have been damaged. It takes a good three month commitment (like all health and lifestyle changes) to feel the full health benefits.

So we are going to give it a go. There have been good results with Parkinson’s, MS, dementia and other conditions that affect the brain, so it’s worth a try.

I’ll start my day with warm lemon water, celery juice and this smoothie. 

Can you guess that was my research this morning? Haha, so I guess that was a little bit productive.

It’s now 10.30pm and I’m feeling weary enough to sleep on my new pillow. Interesting that AH is sound asleep and no steam train sounds can be heard! Could it be a miracle pillow??? 😳😲🙏

Nite all.

Blergh Day

Here I am, first day without a plan or commitment, and I’m feeling crappy.

No enthusiasm or motivation or energy.

Got out of bed at 10am to go check the mail and pick up our weekly meat order.

We watched fluffy movies on Netflix while I cooked a whole chicken for lunch. We ate it with salad for lunch and then vegetables and gravy for dinner.

Watched the recording of Holey Moley final and now watching MAFS.

I wasn’t feeling well enough to do Adoring Husband’s job this afternoon.

I have a feeling that the Chinese Restaurant where we lunched yesterday uses MSG in their cooking because my body has always responded badly to MSG. It feels like my internal organs have swollen inside me, I have low energy and I get heart flutters. This usually lasts for 2 or 3 days.

Did you know that Vegemite is full of MSG?

Anyway, I hope that I’m feeling well enough in the morning to do AH’s job for him.

I have no plans for Friday (it’s here already!) so aside from my early start, I hope to make the day a little productive by doing at least one thing on my ‘to do’ list.

• Get started on my new website
• Do some more of my biz course
• Paint the turtle on my outside wall
• Meditate
• Swim in the pool
• Washing
• Shop newsletter
• Decluttered my wardrobe
• Decluttered my jewellery

Watch this space.

Now I’m off to play music trivia and then climb into bed.

Nite all.

Grand Day

Where do I start?

I slept poorly. I seem to do that every Wednesday night, probably because I worry about sleeping in and not being there to open on time for meditation.

Adoring Husband drove me to get his morning coffee before dropping me off at the shop.

The Gypsy arrived early and we got to chat before the meditation crowd arrived.

The class was great but I was interrupted by a customer sneaking through the door hoping to purchase one of my photos. Of course I wasn’t going to deny her! 

One of the meditation girls also made some purchases so my sales were pretty good considering the shop is closed.

AH picked me up and I had an hour to get ready for my play date with The Brains Trust.

She was right on time and we started our day with a nice drive into The Bay, followed by some canvas and shoe searching. I really want to say shopping instead of searching, but our searches amounted to nothing.

We attended the Lady’s Luncheon at a Chinese restaurant and we ate a cheap and cheerful meal. The food was good but there are very few of the original ladies in this group now, so it’s not as much fun as it once was.

We left and drove around the corner to the Su Jus Cafe to order coffee and a green juice.

There were more shopping fails at a number of stores at two different shopping centres.

Totally unheard of for us!

Finally, at about 3pm we conceded defeat and began driving home. The Brains Trust kindly offered to take a detour and pick up our FROG box on the way home. This meant that AH and I didn’t have to drive back to get it and for that I am very grateful!

I changed out of my good clothes and AH drove me to do his job (yes, his back is still keeping him out of action) and I prepared dinner (duck) after we returned home.

It has been a big day and I know that I wore TBT out. She leads a very busy life and today could have been a rest day for her, if not for me.

I’m thinking that tomorrow might be a day in bed for me.

Nite all.

Distraction Guaranteed

My first day of holidays.

Adoring Husband had appointments in town so he dropped me off at the shop before taking on his day.

I was meeting the girls for coffee but had 10 important minutes of work to do beforehand.

I did the work and met the girls at the designated meeting spot, taking my slushy smoothie with me - pineapple, mango and pear.

It was so lovely to see Lady Lynn before she moves into her new home in just one week! 

Even though the weather was very hot, the breeze by the water made sitting in the shade at the park very pleasant. We were there for over two hours.

The Brains Trust dropped me home and we made our plans for tomorrow’s play date.

Adoring Husband arrived home from his appointments about 30 minutes later and I made a large bowl of hearty dip of mashed avocado, coconut yoghurt, lemon juice, spring onion, tuna, salt and white pepper which we shared using GF wafer crackers. That was lunch.

After lunch, AH bent down to compact the rubbish into the bin and couldn’t get back up! Once more, a simple movement was all it took to disable him indefinitely.

I rubbed DoTerra Ice onto the affected area and sent him to the pool to take the pressure off his spine, then he lay down on the bed for a while.

I decided to go do his job this afternoon so that he wouldn’t have to drag me out of bed at 5am tomorrow. I agreed to him driving me there as long as he promised to stay in the car.

Dinner was in the oven, so it was cooked by the time we returned home and we ate straight away.

Then I discovered a text message from The Motivator reminding me that she had my chairs from the shop, which in turn reminded me that the training room was still set up for art and needed to be cleared for meditation in the morning.

Aaargghhh!

So I asked her to bring the chairs to the shop and AH and I drove there at 6.30pm to set up. The Motivator arrived soon after us and knowing that AH was incapacitated, she stayed to help me set up. She was a power house and did most of the heavy stuff.

I felt so grateful because it took us an hour and it was after 7.30 when we got home!

Now, here I am at 10pm (already!) and the day (and it’s dramas) has worn me out - mentally, emotionally and physically.

So much for taking a week off work to have a ‘break’.

This is all about ME of course 😂🤣🙃

Nite all.

Beyond Hot

It was probably not the best day for travelling out of town for lunch.

Five of us drove to Childers and it reached 38°C there.

Even though it’s only 40 minutes from the coast, it’s a very dry, draining heat in that neck of the woods.

We stopped for coffee at “Insane Caffeine” which is a lovely little cafe with couches and mismatched furniture, friendly staff, healthy food and nice coffee (apparently). My tea was nice!

From there we decided to drive back to the section of town where the gift and shoe shops were.

Surprisingly and sadly I found nothing to buy at either of those places. I had a pair of shoes in mind, but there were none available in that shop.

We walked down the hill to the dress shop which had a sign on the door saying “back in 15 minutes” so we decided to go for lunch and return later.

Our cafe of choice for lunch was the “Drunken Bean” where I selected a toasted GF sandwich with chicken, cheese and avocado, followed by GF Apple pie with GF ice cream and butterscotch sauce accompanied by a mango, ginger and mint juice.

There was a lovely gentleman who sacrificed his seat so that the five of us could sit together on the red couches. 

The food was delicious and the service was friendly in air conditioned comfort.

We popped next door to the cheapie shop where I purchased some acrylic paints for the shop and that was my only spending for the day.

We returned to the dress shop where a couple of the girls found something they liked,. I found a top that I would have loved if it was about 3 inches longer, so I walked out empty handed.

Even though I didn’t find anything exciting to buy, it was a lovely day with the girls and I’m not even sure what time we got home! Perhaps around 3pm?

I’m excited to be seeing Lady Lynn for coffee tomorrow morning so I have to get some sleep now.

Nite all.

No Bed For Me

My usual Sunday in bed was not to be because The Motivator invited me to her Lorraine Lea party which commenced at 11am.

I didn’t mind too much because I love LL products and I have made a list of what I want from their catalogue. It suits me better to order on a monthly basis because it spreads the costs. If I purchased everything I wanted in one hit, Adoring Husband might have a heart attack.

It was a nice way to spend 3 hours. Good food, good conversation, good beverages, good shopping.

I rode my trike which was a mistake because by the time I came home it was stinking hot 🥵 AND I had to ride into a head wind!

As soon as I rode into the garage, I hurried straight inside, sat in the air conditioning and in front of a fan until I felt better. That was not pleasant at all.

I cooked a leg of lamb for dinner with a big pan of baked veg - potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, onion, tomato, capsicum, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and garlic. I made a nice gravy with the juices from both the meat and the veg + my stock.

Adoring Husband went back for seconds of everything.

I have a big day with my girls planned for tomorrow with a lunch date in Childers and a spot of shopping so it’s time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Bigger Than Ben-Hur

Two of my art girls arrived bright and early to help set up the training room for today’s art workshop.

Thank goodness they did because it took three of us 90 minutes to set workspaces for 14 people.

After they left, I had a visit from The Motivator and we chatted for 90 minutes. It was a nice morning.

There was enough time to make a quick lunch and cup of tea before the art class participants all started streaming in.

What a crowd! It was loud and funny and joyful. Everybody was fabulous and they were all happy with their results thanking me profusely as they finished cleaning up and took their leave.

The Motivator returned at 4pm to pick up some chairs to use at her Lorraine Lea party tomorrow.

It was 5pm by the time AH and I got home.

I knew if I sat down I’d never get up again, so I went straight into the kitchen to make stuffed mushrooms for dinner.

That’s when I sat down and my poor tired old body collapsed gratefully into the chair.

That was 5 hours and 3 fluffy Netflix movies ago.

Now I can hear the bed calling me.

We waited in vain for a very large storm system to hit us this evening, but watching it on the BOM, the storm veered left just before it hit and I don’t think we even got a shower of rain.

I am feeling very weary.

Nite all.

Never Forget

Today, I was shocked to discover that somebody with whom I had a four year relationship with, passed away in 2013.

It was a volatile on again off again relationship fuelled by drugs and alcohol but it was also passionate and hilarious and fun and exciting. We learned a lot from each other and experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. To quote Charles Dickens ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’

We tried so hard but the relationship was absolutely destined for failure and I’ve thought of him often and fondly over the years.

He made very brief contact via Facebook in 2012 when he simply apologised. Not for anything specific. He simply stated my full name (his term of endearment for me in the past) and then said “I’m sorry”.

I responded with “you are forgiven”

With hindsight, I wonder if he knew his days were numbered and needed to make peace?

He was married but never had children and was 51yrs young when he passed.

Our relationship ended in 1991 (30yrs ago!) but my heart still hurts after this unexpected news.

RIP Hollywood 

It was a quiet day at work and I took it pretty easy. I started to set up for the art class but am getting help in the morning so I didn’t knock myself out. I did some banking, checked the mail, filed some paperwork and checked my emails.

I created my sign to advise customers that the shop will be closed for a week ...

Adoring Husband arrived early to help me close the shop and it was nice to come home and watch some fluffy movies on Netflix until bed time.

AH cooked the usual Friday night fare (my favourite part of the week) and now I’m ready to sleep.

It’s going to be a big day tomorrow!

Nite all.

Time Flies

The day started with a hell of a downpour and I wondered if the whole day was going to be a complete washout, but it was all over very quickly.

I spent the time sorting through my blue and brown acrylic paints in preparation for Saturday’s art class and trying to figure out how to fit 12 people comfortably in the training room.

Once again, I have overbooked and nine of the twelve have prepaid! The other three are regulars and unlikely to drop out. It will be an interesting class.

After much thought and planning, Adoring Husband and I arranged the tables in a way that will accommodate everyone comfortably. I think it will be ok.

During the last class we had a mini disaster because one of the glass cabinets was not level and the paint literally slid off some of the canvasses placed upon it to dry. AH helped me level it up so that we don’t have the same problem this week.

It was an average day of sales.

I washed the dishes, cleared and cleaned my desk, reorganised the packaging area behind the counter and cleared the empty boxes as well as picking up all the shredded paper that fell out of the delivery on Tuesday.

The cleaner arrived and I let her choose what do while I waited for a rep to arrive.

This was a new rep who handles Sassy Duck bags as well as lots of Australian Made products like hand creams, moisturisers, room sprays, reed diffusers, candles, baby products, ocean themed gifts like shell mobiles, hanging art, decorative shells among many more different products.

There really wasn’t enough time to go through everything with her but I made a Sassy Duck order and committed to other orders for when I return from my week off. It’ll be nice to have new brands to try out.

It was 3pm when we arrived home. We watched the first movie of a trilogy that we’d already seen the 2nd and 3rd parts of. I hung out some washing, took some off the line and threw another load in while AH cooked snags on the barbecue and we enjoyed a Bunnings dinner - snags in bread with onion and sauce.

It was exciting to watch the first episode of the new series of Gogglebox tonight! Love that show!

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Bizzy Az

My morning was full on hectic!

I had a pleasant half hour with The Gypsy before the people came knocking for meditation.

There were 5 newbies and I had to add 2 more chairs to the room, which left me sitting in the doorway! Lucky for me that 3 regulars were absent this week or I would’ve had to turn people away.

After meditation, the newbies all made purchases AND signed up for the art class this weekend. I now have 12 people on the list and 9 of them have prepaid. It’s going to be a bit squishy!

By 10.30am my sales for the day were amazing and for the remainder of the day I only made two more mini sales. I thanked the universe for making it such a successful day.

I had time to make myself some lunch and sit quietly enjoying it without interruption.

I unpacked, priced and displayed a box of stock that had arrived yesterday.

Before I knew it, Adoring Husband was walking through the door and it was time to come home.

We watched a fluffy Netflix movie and I cooked barramundi for dinner.

I’m keeping an eye on the Nadal vs Tsitsipas tennis match - looks like it might end up closer than we thought.

Meanwhile AH is snoring like a steam train and I am considering moving into the back bedroom.

I’ve already made too many plans for my time off next week and I’m reconsidering my options 😳

It’s very windy out tonight and we’ve had a few showery scuds throughout the afternoon. Strange weather.

I’m feeling a bit weary so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Unexpected That Was!

As well as the local cafe being closed, there are also roadworks happening at my end of the street.

This is not conducive to high sales.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by my final tally of sales at the end of the day.

The universe was kind to me!

Morning coffee was light in numbers but the quality was high and it was almost 11.30am by the time all the girls left. I got to spend lots of time involved in the conversation because few people came through the doors during the morning.

The day passed quickly because before I knew it the first participant came through the doors for journaling. Even that session went quickly! We did 3 x 20 minute speed writing sessions and lots of recalling memories from our early motherhoods.

Adoring Husband appeared at 3.30pm and we set up the room for meditation.

I got dinner on early - Peking duck, bok choy, cauliflower and sweet potato/potato mash. It was bloody delicious! 

It’s 9pm and I’m yawning uncontrollably!

We have fresh bamboo sheets on the bed tonight and they feel cool and clean on our skin. I think we will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

Fine Art

We have our shopping trips down to a fine art.

We list the shops we need to visit from furthest away and work our way back through town.

Today we started at Go Natural in Torquay, Nana’s Pantry, Bunnings, Stocklands (Jeans West, KMart, Coles) and finally Spotlight.

We remembered just as we began to drive home that we wanted to check out the takeaway shop in Point Vernon because they stock GF Beefys pies, so we did a U-turn and even though we had no idea where that shop was, we found it inside ten minutes! They had only two GF pies left (frozen) so I took them.

We left home at 10.30am and returned before 3pm with a carload of groceries, baby clothes, “me” clothes, and art supplies.

Adoring Husband and I had a competition to see who could guess the closest to our grocery shopping total and I won! I was only $2 out 😃

The weather seemed threatening all day with low, dark clouds and I was expecting heavy rain to hit us at some stage, but not a drop fell from the sky.

Nothing exciting happened during the day - even the clothes I bought were just cheap PJs and a t-shirt from Kmart.

I reckon it’s going to be a good week!

Nite all.

Move Along

Nothing to see here.

No productivity.

I finished watching all the New Girl series ... I feel a bit sad that it’s over 😕

I ate prawns for breakfast and snapper for dinner.

Late this afternoon, the pool water felt perfect for swimming, but the clouds were dark and looming and I didn’t want to be in the water if it became stormy so I think tomorrow might be a nice swimming day - after we return from The Bay.

I need to get supplies for the next art class and pick up a top that I’ve ordered through Jeans West.

I’m feeling very weary tonight so it might be time to sleep.

Nite all.