As Expected

As expected, it was very quiet in town this morning (thanks to Howard markets).

I took photos of new stock and posted to the Facebook page.

I cleaned the kitchen and emptied the bins ready for the weekend.

I checked and deleted many emails.

I put some clothing from old stock on a sale rack and repriced them.

By midday, my sales were very low and I was feeling a bit low myself, but I walked into the training room where something caught my eye.

There are about 60 meaningful memes, which I printed out, laminated and stuck all over the walls in that room.

The one that caught my eye today says ‘Being okay if it happens and okay if it doesn’t happen is a very powerful place to be’.

When I read it, the message actually lifted me and I said out loud “Of course! It really doesn’t matter if today’s sales don’t break records! It’s not going to put me out of business!”

As I left the training room and closed the door behind me, a lady walked through the front door and within ten minutes, had spent a LOT of money!

Trust that the universe will provide 🤗

If I hadn’t cancelled today’s art class, I would have ended up with 7 participants!

Two women on holidays who attended at this time last year came in to sign up AND a girl who works on Fraser Island wanted to attend with her mother. Add them to the three left on the list and it would have been a good sized class which would have brought over $300.

See!? Trust that the Universe will provide 🤗

Needless to say, I’ve had a lazy afternoon saving my energy for tomorrow’s ‘Four Faces of Woman” one day retreat in Toogoom with The Gypsy and 14 other women. It’s a 6 hour retreat that is going to take a bit out of me so it’s probably a good thing that my class was canned!

It’s only 8.30pm but feels later so I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Oldie But a Goodie

I am watching the old 1974 movie “Earthquake” as I  write this. It brings back memories. I was 14 yrs old when I first saw this movie and it had me absolutely terrified! 

1974 was a hell of a year for movies:

• Towering Inferno
• Earthquake
• Chinatown
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• The Great Gatsby
• Airport 75
• The Man With the Golden Gun
• Blazing Saddles

just to name a few!

Anyway, I had a good day at work. An average day of sales until the last half hour and I finished with another flourish.

I expect tomorrow (Saturday) will be very quiet because the Howard markets are on - that always leaves this place feeling like a ghost town in the morning.

I packed up all the preloved clothing that has been on the rack for 4 months and replaced them with my preloved clothes that I decluttered on the weekend.

I steamed the rest of the new clothes that didn’t fit on the rack a couple of weeks ago and put them up for display.

There is so much to do and the time just flies by. That’s certainly nothing to complain about and I’m keeping on top of everything so far, which is surprising!

My heart still flutters when I unlock the doors each morning and I love my happy place.

I had a guy phone me during the week from some Govt dept to talk about small business support & improvements plus OH&S practices. He asked me “if there was one thing you wish you could change about your business, what would it be?” I honestly couldn’t think of anything at the time because I love everything about it.

With hindsight, to feel 100% secure in my future, I would love to OWN the building that my shop is in. That’s the only thing I’d change.

It was nice to come home and put my feet up. Adoring Husband is in charge of Friday night dinner so I could relax.

I received a phone call from Number One son and we chatted for about 30 minutes. It’s been a couple of months since we spoke so it was really great to hear from him.

It’s almost 11pm so it’s time to splash the sleepy essential oil about and close my eyes.

Nite all.

Thriving

What a day!

Not just great sales, but they were big sales!

I took delivery of new handbags and sold one before it even hit the shelves.

I met an 80yr old lady who spent an hour in the shop telling me her story. Oh what a story! She was inspiring and I hope she comes back often because really enjoyed listening to her.

Come to think of it, I had quite a few elderly people in today and they all spent up big and they all knew exactly what they wanted.

I made the decision to cancel the art class.

I created new folders for two new suppliers.

I chased my large heavy “Open” sign up the driveway where the strong gusty winds blew it! Luckily there were no cars passing at the time or there could have been nasty damage!

I picked up my new Lorraine Lea bamboo mattress topper from The Motivator’s house which Adoring Husband helped me put on the bed this afternoon. I lay on the bed and could have stayed there for the rest of the evening except I had to cook dinner.

Curried chicken and vegetables for dinner. I filled it with sweet potato, potato, carrot, cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini.

Now, at 7.30pm, I’m ready to climb into my comfy new bedding with crisp clean bamboo sheets and hopefully sleep like a baby.

I think I’ll take some sleepy tea with me.

Nite all.

Lock It In

The people were streaming through the doors at 7.30am for meditation and 8 minutes later I had to lock the doors because all the seats were taken!

It was a great class, as always, and everyone remained afterwards to speak to The Gypsy about how they related to her choice of theme this week.

Everybody left feeling happy and well prepared to take on the day.

I’ve had a few regulars drop out of my art class for this Saturday and if I get one more cancellation, I’m considering cancelling the class altogether. This is not a bad thing. People are taking advantage of open borders and heading in all directions to see their families while it’s possible, so it’s all good and I’m not taking it personally.

It was another good day of sales and I was inundated with calls from my usual suppliers and a few new ones! I need to break a few sales records if I want to buy everything on my new wish list!

Some new stock arrived in the mail.

I did some bookkeeping and filing, paid some bills and partially tidied the kitchen which is still a mess from the last art class which was 11 days ago!

I’ve been selling a LOT of snap jewellery and buttons in the last couple of days so it’s time to put in a new order because I’m running out of bracelets.

Adoring Husband arrived early to help me close the shop, even though he’s only capable of carrying the flags in, every little bit helps.

We did some grocery shopping and when we arrived home, we BOTH took advantage of our pool in this hot weather and spent about 40 minutes in the water under the shade of the big umbrella. I swam a few laps while AH wandered around aimlessly. It was nice.

Pork Loin Chops cooked on the barbecue with mushroom and red wine sauce accompanied by honeyed carrots and buttery cauliflower and broccoli for dinner.

We ate dinner at 5.30pm and now it’s 7.15pm but feels like 9.15pm! So I think I’ll go to bed to watch MAFS because I’m feeling weary again. I’ve been awake since 5am.

Nite all.

Speedy Gonzales

That’s how fast the day flew by!

Like Speedy Gonzales!

It was never busy with multiple customers in the shop, but whenever somebody walked out the door, within 10 minutes somebody new would walk in.

Morning coffee with the girls was great because we were only interrupted twice (for a change), but once it reached 11.30am, I didn’t get to sit down for the rest of the day.

I made myself a cup of tea at 1pm and only drank half of it.

Needless to say, sales were very good! Not record breaking, but a great start to the week after my time off.

Following 2pm was the journaling class so I did get to sit down for that!

AH arrived at 3.30pm to help me set the training room up for meditation and we shopped for dinner before heading home.

Fresh Snapper fillets that I coated with GF breadcrumbs, shallow fried and served with salad.

AH’s back doesn’t seem to be improving and the pain fluctuates between bearable and excruciating. Who knows where we go from here. 

For me, it’s good to be back at Roz’s Happy Place.

N

Early start for me tomorrow so I’m off to bed.

Nite all.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It’s back to work I go 🎶

Today was a little bit productive but I didn’t do anything on my list.

I remained in bed until 11.30am doing nothing in particular. Checked emails, played games, facebooked, opened the mail that Adoring Husband collected for me.

Lunch got me out of bed and when I sat down to eat, I had an epiphany! AH had been watching Prime Video and I remembered an old mini series called “For The Term of His Natural Life” which aired back in the early 80s starring Colin Friels and Anthony Perkins among many others.

I did a search and found it!

That was my afternoon set. I remember having the hots for Colin Friels back then and I really enjoyed the series. Also, if I remember correctly, it won a lot of awards and for its time, it was fantastic. It still held my attention for 5 hours today.

AH drove me to do his job this afternoon and then to the shop to set up for morning coffee and the journaling class on Tuesday.

I threw together a chicken, cashew and vegetable concoction for dinner, which, even if I do say so myself, was REALLY DELICIOUS!

MAFS was the most important part of my evening agenda and of course, Pop Master trivia.

I hung more washing on the line in the dark. I removed and folded all the dry clothes before bed.

It’s now rapidly approaching midnight! How in heaven’s name did that happen!?!

Nite all.

Something!!

I slept well (I love my pillow).

I dilly-dallied in bed and Adoring Husband served me my warm lemon water.

At 10am I decided to hang out the washing that was in the machine and toss another load in.

I changed into my swimmers and went straight out to the pool. The water was divine. I swam a few laps and enjoyed the serenity for about 20 minutes before sitting in the sunshine and soaking up some vitamin D for another 20 minutes.

I hung out my washing and put another load on and decided to decluttered my wardrobe, but first I made some lunch.

Rice paper wraps with chicken, avocado, cucumber, spinach, carrot, spring onion, mushroom, capsicum and a dressing of sweet chilli and lime. They were fiddly to make but quite delicious.

I walked into my wardrobe and pulled EVERYTHING out and laid it all on the bed. Clothes, handbags, scarves, hats, shoe boxes, bags of books and all the other junk I’d hoarded in the last year or more.

I was brutal.

I threw away a garbage bag full of clothes. None of them were salvageable with paint splatters, worn and frayed, stains and holey pyjamas.

There is a large pile going to the shop to be hung on the “pre-loved” rack.

I emptied out ALL of my handbags and found so many receipts, business cards, unused tissues, toothpicks, expired keycards, pens, USB sticks, camera cards, letters, money (nothing significant) and other crap.

I vacuumed the floor of  the WIR (decided to do the lounge room as well) and then began putting what remained on the bed back into the wardrobe.

Then came the pyjama drawer 😳

I threw away 4 old pairs of very loved and sad looking PJs, but that drawer is still very full of very loved, very comfortable PJs. I love PJs.

This chore took a good 4 hours and my back went out in sympathy with AH. I had to sit for a while before preparing dinner - barramundi and salad - quick, easy and 😋 delicious.

Surprisingly, I don’t feel tired at all! Having cleared all that clutter, I feel more energised!

I wonder if I’ll be motivated enough to declutter the jewellery tomorrow? Wait and see.

I’m now going to bed to watch the end of MAFS.

Nite all.

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.