Felt Like Sunday

Today felt like Sunday so I treated it like Sunday.

I stayed in bed until 3pm.

I spent the day laying the foundation for an online course that I hope to create down the track. 

It will be a long way down the track, but I have a notebook where I put my ideas and add notes when I think of something new.

This is a mini course for women over 50 that goes for 30 days and I’ve roughly laid out the first 15 days. It will take months to create because 1. I’m old and slow with technology and 2. I still haven’t set up my work space but I’m feeling pretty positive about it. Maybe I’ll aim for a Jan 2023 commencement.

Adoring Husband brought tea and toast to me for breakfast and followed that with fish pieces with lemon  for lunch.

At 3pm I got up to watch the football with AH and I made my version off hot and spicy KFC with salad for dinner. It was a hit.

Now it’s almost midnight and I need to sleep because tomorrow will not be my usual Sunday - I simply MUST finish my ‘to do’ list, which means getting my lazy A out of bed earlier than usual … but not TOO early.

The best way to garden!

Nite all.

Rain Train

We currently have a slow moving ‘rain train’ over us …

For the third time this year, there will be flooding because this is going to bring hundreds of mm of rain in the area.

Maryborough has already erected its flood protection wall in the CBD and Gympie is, once again, bracing itself for the onslaught.

Howard residents have been issued a warning that sections of the town will be cut off.

While the State Government and Bureau of Meteorology brought the weather event to our attention, they certainly downplayed the possibility of damaging floods and even told some areas of QLD not to be concerned.

Higgins Storm Chasers have been issuing warnings for over a week and shared their disbelief that the Govt and the BOM could be so negligent in their warnings.

Higgins have known that this would be a huge event for some time - as they did for the last event when the BOM were silent.

How can this even happen? What’s going on?

Meanwhile, the removalist has arrived 24 hours EARLY at BGWLBH’s house to take her stuff. She was woken by a knock on her door at 7am this morning by a sole 60 yr old man to do the job (the other guy didn’t turn up due to illness).

Of course she was not prepared and still had to wrap protection on some of her furniture so it was an unexpected and shocking start to her day. 

I’m a bad morning person. If that had happened to me, I’d have been livid! I’d have probably sent them away for 3 hours so that I could be properly prepared without pressure.

Anyway, the universe likes to test us and it’s how we respond that determines our strength and resilience in the moment and into the future.

As nice as it is right now, sitting up in bed at 11am listening to the rain, Adoring Husband is waiting for me to get out of bed and get started on our ‘to do’ list.

The linen cupboard and the kitchen have my name on them today.

Just in case something interesting happens today, I won’t sign off yet.

Explained: The World Health Organization’s Controversial ‘Pandemic Treaty’ (14 minutes)

It took 2.5 hours to empty the pantry, clean the shelves, toss the out of date foodstuffs, throw the containers that haven’t been used for more than a year and then restock the pantry in a useable fashion.

It was fun finding a red back spider’s nest in a bottom dark corner of the pantry and then juggling the timber cutting board as the spider ran frantically around it trying to escape giant ME and watching AH jumping backwards in arachnophobic fear, even though I was nowhere near him!

The job required climbing up and down a three step ladder so after 2.5 hours, I was plum tuckered out and the linen cupboard is now added to tomorrow’s ‘to do’ list.

I emptied our gauge of 150mm of rain this afternoon at about 5pm. It rained nonstop all day, but now, at 7.30pm, it has finally stopped.

I’m watching the footy and my team is winning at half time. Anything can happen in the second half though so I’m not counting my chickens.

That’s it from me.

Nite all.

A Good Start

 The beginning of our cashless society

I slept so lightly for most of the night, it felt like I lay there with my eyes closed for hours but completely conscious and aware.

At 5.40am I gave up.

I made some tea and toast and returned to bed until I felt sleepy around 7.30am and had a two hour nap in an attempt to catch up on some sleep.

Adoring Husband was waiting patiently for me to wake up and get moving on our ‘to do’ list.

We pulled the washing machine away from the wall.

Considering how small our laundry is, it’s difficult to manoeuvre around the space to clean but I washed the wall and the tub cupboard, scrubbed the floor, cleaned the vertical blinds and polished the glass wall beside it.

AH cleaned the washing machine and steam cleaned the rest of the laundry floor as well as the hallway.

I tossed the old place mats from the dining table (they are 14 years old and grubby and stained) and replaced them with the new mats and my fluid art lazy Susan.

I styled the top of the cupboards in the sunflower room.

I made lunch.

I decluttered the cutlery drawers and tossed quite a few ‘long ago used’ and ‘unused’ tools.

Then I rested.

There is still much to do on that list and hopefully I will sleep well enough tonight to wake up refreshed for a full day tomorrow.

I received a couple of books in the mail today …

I just need to reward myself some time to read them! I started on the Immunity book and it’s quite easy to read.

Apparently there is a lot of rain heading in this direction for the next three days. Fingers crossed it doesn’t come to fruition.

Time for Big Brother now so …

Nite all.

Showery Day

As Adoring Husband dropped me off for my girlie date, we looked out over the water and commented on how bleak the day looked.

Everything was grey.

The sky. The water. The sand. The trees. The buildings and houses.

The rain was softly falling on the lush, vibrantly green grass - the only colour that shone through the greyness.

Because of the weather, we moved our date from the Lions Park to one of the girl’s homes.

It was such a fun morning and time flew!

Three hours later, I reluctantly left the group, but only because there was a guy coming to quote for the glass sliding doors replacing our garage roller door.

He gave us a time frame for when he would arrive and I was able to prepare our lunch and eat it before he turned up.

Thirty minutes of measuring, build description, rough estimates, reasonings and processes.

I’m not sure I feel 100% confident with this company, so we’ll get a couple of other quotes.

It was a lazy afternoon to match the lazy, rainy bleak day.

I made a lasagne and salad for dinner, which was delish!

Big Brother held my attention for the evening and now, at almost 11pm I’m feeling a bit weary.

Tomorrow, there is more to do on my list, so we’ll see how that goes.

Nite all.

A Big One

We had a big day in The Bay on this rainy day.

Our list was long, but most importantly, we were going to order our new lounge suite and single recliner rocker from Eureka Street Furniture.

We found them last week but decided to take a couple of days to think about it before confirming the order.

When we arrived and walked to the back corner where the modular suite was, I felt a wave of doubt that it was even the same suite! It looked like a different colour, it looked smaller and when I sat in it, it was NOT as comfortable as when I sat in it last week!

Adoring Husband then sat in the recliner and was also disappointed with his choice.

No order was made and we left empty handed.

The search was on for a new lounge.

Aside from checking off the list, lounge shopping is what we did for the rest of the day.

It was emotionally draining! Divorce was imminent!

We drove home without having chosen a lounge.

We made a decision tonight.

AH is very rough on the chair that he uses in the lounge room. Because his legs are not strong, he literally falls into the seat so that weakens the structure and because of his tremor the arm rests wear quickly.

Therefore, we’ve decided that he needs his own separate chair within a suite so that we only need to replace the one chair and not an entire 2 or 3 seater couch or modular lounge suite.

We considered a chair with a lifting mechanism so that he didn’t have to fall into it or struggle to stand up but decided to put that off til next time.

This was our final choice …

It was, by far, the most comfortable suite that we’d sat in all day and I want the two seater, not the three seater.

Four months is the wait time so we need to order as soon as possible.

It was wet, wet, wet all day.

I have coffee with my art girls in the morning and it’s after midnight so it’s time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.

Rest & Recovery

Even though we had good intentions, after yesterday’s effort with the spring cleaning, we needed a day to rest and recover.

We didn’t even have the energy to drive into The Bay as planned.

We did, however, take advantage of the sunflower room.

Adoring Husband napped on the lounge for a couple of hours and I took his spot and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere for about 30 minutes. We both love the space.

We planted ourselves in front of the telly all day, postponing our trip into The Bay until tomorrow, and simply enjoyed some light entertainment and quiz shows.

I cooked duck breast with leftover au gratin for AH’s dinner. 

I had fresh crab (which I picked up from The Motivator this afternoon) with a sweet and spicy chilli dipping sauce.

It was exciting for me to watch the first episode of the new Big Brother series tonight! Loved every minute of the 90 minute show and I can’t wait for tomorrow night.

The weather has been cool and wet today. The forecast is for a wet week so hopefully we can run all our errands tomorrow and then stay cosy and dry at home for the rest of the week until the weather clears.

I love the cool breeze coming through my bedroom window at this time of the year and it makes for very comfortable sleeping.

Which is exactly what I need to do now.

A prediction for 2030 (The Great Reset)

Nite all.

Spring Cleaning

I woke up to this …

And we worked all day to end up with this …

We washed the walls and skirting boards, the windows, vertical blinds and fly screens, the floors and the furniture.

We swapped the family room with the dining room and created a games area so that we don’t have to clear the games off the dining table at meal times.

It’s such a lovely peaceful space. I love it.

The dining room still needs just a few loose ends tied up and there are a couple of things to clear in that bedroom.

After that’s done, I’ll be disconnecting the washing machine and pulling it away from the wall so that I can scrub the floor and wash the big glass window beside it.

Next on the list will be decluttering the linen cupboard. That’ll be a job and a half.

Of course, the bathroom job from last week still needs to be done.

I should just confess that the entire house needs a good spring clean - even though Winter is just around the corner.

The art studio will be last on the list, because by then I’ll feel like it’s my reward for doing all that other hard work.

There’s a method to my madness.

Dinner tonight was cauliflower and broccoli au gratin with a delicious chicken, mushroom and artichoke concoction that I made up. The fact that I still had that much energy to exert on dinner preparation was pretty impressive I thought!

I’m feeling surprisingly good considering the hours and energy I put into the day.

Adoring Husband broke his glasses this evening so we need to go to The Bay tomorrow and it’s almost midnight so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Hours & Hours

We spent almost three hours before lunch unpacking boxes and putting stuff into the relevant and appropriate cupboards and drawers in my art space and moving my jewellery making paraphernalia from the pool pump storage room to a designated cupboard in the studio.

I actually found more beading storage containers and added them since I took this photo, as well as storing some of my used canvases on the bottom shelf.

Then we broke for lunch and caught up on recorded MasterChef episodes while we ate.

We also watched the first half of the Manly vs Wests NRL game but then we got back to work.

I took the washing off the line, folded it and then joined AH in the family room removing all the crap that covered the couch and floor, finding a home for it all.

It was 5pm when we stopped and I began preparing dinner. Butter Chicken was on the menu for AH but I was craving for a poached egg on toast - which is very unusual because I don’t generally eat eggs! I enjoyed every mouthful of that runny yolk smothered in Himalayan salt and white pepper.

Thinking that it must be at least 9pm, I looked at my watch only to discover that was 7.10pm!

😩

So at 7.30pm I came to bed and two hours have already passed. I’ve tried to stay awake for as long as possible so as not to wake up at 2am with enough sleep under my belt.

I am so weary.

There is more to do in the morning so sleep is a priority.

Nite all.

Just You

 "After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning 

And company doesn’t mean security,

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

And presents aren’t promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today,

Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans,

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure…

That you really are strong,

And you really do have worth.

And you learn and learn…

With every goodbye you learn."

Veronica Shoffstall, “After a While.”

Art by Cameron Grey

JUST YOU - R Griffin

You can rescue.

You can nurture.

You can pledge loyalty.

You can share wonderful experiences.

You can empathise and sympathise.

You can listen unconditionally.

You can laugh til you cry.

You can mock, jest and tease.

You can hug warmly.

You can make plans.

You can celebrate.

You can be honest.

You can support.

You can cry and moan.

You can defend

You can advise and be advised.

You can promise a forever.

In the end, there is just you.

You arrive alone.

You leave alone.

Be your kindest to yourself.

Love, protect, support, encourage, nurture, celebrate and choose YOU unconditionally.

YOU are the one.

When you can do that, your cup will runneth over and all the world will benefit.

There is just you.

Art by Kira Hanson

Morning all.

Calm and Peaceful

The WHO plans on 10 years of pandemics from 2020 - 2030 

We met with the air con guy, who provided a quote this morning for installing a split system air con in my new art space.

The quote came in well under the figure that Adoring Husband had set aside, so we are good to go.

I cooked a beef stew in the slow cooker for freezing.

I watched “John Wick” for the first time - only because my friend Lady Lynn has watched all of the John Wick movies, so I figured they couldn’t be THAT bad (as far as violence goes).

I was wrong.

It was very violent and in some cases quite graphic!

However, I really liked the movie and I’m looking forward to watching the sequels.

I think the last two years have hardened me.

I reckon if we could get Keanu Reeves and Ryan Reynolds together, we could rid the world of quite a bit of ‘evil’. Haha.

By the time the air con guy left, I’d put the slow cooker on and made our lunch, I was in no mood for getting to that bathroom job, so it still sits on the list.

AH and I discussed how we would rearrange the family room and dining room - probably on Sunday.

BGWLBH turned 60 today.

It was a topsy turvey kind of day for her, but we will make up for it when she returns.

My 60th was a non event too, so I know how she feels. My 62nd was also a non event. 

We will make sure that our future birthdays will be special for each other.

Well, I got distracted and now it’s after midnight! Time to sleep!

Nite all.

Not The Best

Adoring Husband woke up in a very bad way this morning.

His tremor was so strong and aggressive that he couldn’t dress himself and he woke me up for assistance.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what he had eaten or what he had done or not done to cause this sudden deterioration.

It took a while, but finally I asked him how long since he’d been for his morning walk.

1 week 😩

So I gave him a piece of my mind and he has promised to walk tomorrow.

By lunch time he had improved enough to drive to Craignish to pick up the FROG box, which we did together. We checked the mail and shopped at the butcher before heading home for lunch.

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making a big pot of bolognese sauce. I got three meals for three people to freeze for future meals and AH and I had spaghetti bol for dinner tonight as well.

I also did a chicken curry which made six single meals.

I had to cull two drawers of the big upright freezer which contained a dozen tubs of chicken stock that I had made for the dogs almost three years ago. There were two very old containers of pumpkin soup, one of beef cheek gravy, one of cauliflower soup, some frozen celery and a green vegetable mix.

That made room for the new food.

Tomorrow I’ll do a batch of butter chicken and a beef stew.

I pulled out some plants from the veggie pod today. This is what’s in our garden right now.

Tomatoes and thyme thriving in front of the pool fence.

Asparagus and dill doing nicely under the pod.

In the pod, we have coriander, basil, parsley, chilli, rocket, baby cos lettuce now gone to seed and tomatoes.

We are still waiting to purchase some more raised beds and we need to fill our potato planters with soil so we can get them started too.

Tomorrow I need to check on my ginger starter and hopefully make a jug of ginger beer. It’s been sitting in a dark warm wardrobe for 4 days now (maybe 5?).

I cleared a few things out of the fridge to fit the fresh fruit and veg from the FROG box.

So it’s been quite a productive day and I think I can spend tomorrow cleaning the ensuite. I have a special treatment for the tiles and grout and then a whitening agent for the grout which has an anti mould barrier in it. I’ve never used either of these treatments before so it’ll be interesting to see how effective they are.

We want to rearrange our family room/dining room at some stage which will give us a good opportunity to clear and clean the dining table, declutter the cabinet, scrub the hidden corners of the floor and wash the windows. Not sure I’ll have the energy or strength to do that after the bathroom but we’ll see.

I tipped against my football team tonight and they have won convincingly so I’m not happy about that!

Now I’m off to bed.

Nite all.