Frugal Frump to Fab/Winter Solstice

verynewmoneysaver

Thanks for the welcome. Have been following the thread for a while and a lot of you ladies are an inspiration, especially you LL. Tired today after night shift so not going to visit Mum till tomorrow as hospital is a bit of a drive. Mum is doing okay and hopefully will be well enough soon to join Dad in the sheltered housing. Trying to fill in a form for social services for Dad but bank not very helpful in giving me details of his accounts even though I have power of attourney. Talking of dresses,which I don't often wear, I have bought a nice vintage print dress from M&S.. It should be good for Autumn and Winter with opaque tights and a cardi, if I should happen to go anywear to wear it!

floss2

verynewmoneysaver wrote: »

... Talking of dresses,which I don't often wear, I have bought a nice vintage print dress from M&S.. It should be good for Autumn and Winter with opaque tights and a cardi, if I should happen to go anywear to wear it!

Why not wear it when you go to visit your parents? I'm sure that would make your visit more special, and would also be a way to get it worn

Willow92

Probably doing nothing fabwise this week really. Not in the mood as I've got to look after the house all week for my mum so I'll be all alone. Will make an effort next week though.

podperson

Morning all,

LL - had to smile at your DSs, my mum is just the same, she despairs of my little brother, who is 26 and still lives at home - I tell her he has it too cushy there but she doesn't listen :rotfl:I'm sure they will be snapped up when they meet the right person! It's a lovely sunny day here for a change so am going to refuse to think about winter just yet lol! Though I must admit I could do with a new winter coat - must be on the look out.

Maman - I am quite jealous now, I would love to do the whole Venice/Verona/Lake Garda trip. Noy sure about OH, I don't think he'd like to go on a 'planned' trip and he likes more active things rather then me wandering round somewhere like Venice. Mind you saying that he seems to have got into Coach Trip while he's been off uni so you never know :rotfl:

very - I totally agree with Floss, wear the dress to see your mum, or out shopping or to visit friends - no reason why you have to save it for 'somewhere special' and can give you a nice boost if you feel good about your outfit. Glad your mum's doing okay x

Willow - maybe take advantage of the fact that you are going to be alone and have some 'me time' and a bit of pampering? I would love the house to myself for a little bit

Anyway was quite good last night, did my bodyscrub, washed and conditioned my hair - should have repainted my nails as they're chipping already which is rather annoying! Also managed my second day back on the shred which is something as really didn't feel like it last night but forced myself. Am feeling all the aches and pains coming back lol. Back to choir tonight - finally, have been having withdrawal symtoms! - so gonna be rushed when I get in I think.
Hope everyone has a good day x

floss2

podperson wrote: »

...Maman - I am quite jealous now, I would love to do the whole Venice/Verona/Lake Garda trip. Noy sure about OH, I don't think he'd like to go on a 'planned' trip and he likes more active things rather then me wandering round somewhere like Venice. Mind you saying that he seems to have got into Coach Trip while he's been off uni so you never know :rotfl:...

Have you thought about a holiday somewhere to go walking? We do this - our recent trip to Portugal was 1 day sightseeing, 1 day 'proper' walk, 1 day on the beach, 1 day sightseeing...etc We did think about Lake Garda but I'm not brilliant at going uphill (:p) so chose Portugal instead.

lessonlearned

Oooh Willow a whole week at home by yourself - lucky you. Now to me that would be bliss - no cooking for anyone else, only my own washing, the house would stay clean and tidy - just how I left it and the TV remote all to myself - no footie, no cricket, no motor racing.;)

Plus, agree with PP plenty of pamper time.

Anyway Winter Prep - Head to Toe

Starting with hair.

Has anyone seen the recent pics of Charlotte Church - now I love our Lottie - she's quite a girl.

In many ways I feel very sorry for her - because after becoming a childhood sensation and global star - she's had to do all her growing up in the full glare of publicity - the whole rock chick, party animal, new mum and now failed marriage thing.

We all make mistakes and I consider that I have been lucky enough to make (most) of mine in private. Charlotte, poor thing, has lived in the spotlight and hasn't been allowed that luxury.

Anyway after a disastrous fling with red hair dye she has now coloured it herself back to her natural dark brown. She looks lovely. Apparently she did it herself with a box of colour from Tesco. She's done a great job and it only cost a few pounds.

I think Autumn/early winter is often a good time to think about changing hairstyles and colours.

The sun, seawater etc all do a lot of damage to hair, so a good deep conditioning treatment and/or a nice colour fix can work wonders.

My hair is now au-naturel - silver at the front and a bit pepper and salt at the back. Quite distinguished. I had it cropped to get rid of the final bits of colour and am very pleased with the result.

So in the next few weeks will have it chopped again.

Re the colour I think the summer sun definitely lightens my hair, so I'm keeping an eye on it. If it darkens a bit I will have a few silver streaks/highlights put in to keep it silver rather than a dingy grey.

So ladies - take a good look at your hair - does it need resuscitating to recover from sun damage, is the colour tired and faded. You know what to do.

Re colour - this is purely personal - so ignore if you wish.

When I used to colour it myself I used the 24 wash type - Level 2. This colours gently and quietly fades without any obvious root regrowth showing through.

Level 3 colourants are permanent and are absolute b*ggers to maintain properly. They damage the hair and after a few weeks there is always that tell-tale line at the roots. It is very easy to over colour when trying to touch up. There has also been some talk about the darker shades of Level 3 dyes being carcinogenic. Don't know whether it's true or not but personally I don't think it's worth the risk.

For a deep conditioning treatment - I think coconut oil is great - cheap and effective. Olive oil/vegetable oil also work well.

Awoke really early so dead tired, time for a nap, dinner etc.

Todays treatment - a deep cleansing face mask.
Exercise - I really don't feel like it Maybe just a few yoga stretches - in a bit

Bye for now x

bratz81

LL funny you should mention about hair since I've been pondering what to do with mine recently. As you know, I've just got it back to my natural brown colour and am going to leave it for a few months as I've put it through quite a lot recently.
I'm going to grow it long again (it's shoulder length right now) and I'm aiming for waist length. I miss having long hair, and my hair is soft and shiny so one of my best features - might as well make the most of it.

I've some greys I've had since I was about 17 or so I think, and I'm pondering whether to let my hair go natural or go back to a warm reddish brown using henna. Think I'll see how it goes for a few months and then see. Though my MIL2b keeps telling me at 29 I'm too young to not be dying my greys...but I don't see why I have to live up to society's opinion to be honest!

Willow92

I'm not sure what to do with my hair....I won a free hair cut in May and haven't had it cut since then (apart from free fringe trims from a hairdressing friend) and it was a chin length bob with layers cut in. Now it's grown out and looks a mess but apart from having a bob again there's not much else I can do with it so I may just get it cut the same way again just before my birthday. I would also like it bright pink again but that's not very professional when it comes to looking for jobs etc. I dyed it black myself and it went a weird gingery colour in places due to it being bleached for the pink so I dyed it black again. When I had roots again I went for a purpley colour (OH was dyeing his roots so I just used what was left) so now my hair is a mixture of black, purple, brown and ginger. I could strip it back to my natural colour (mousey brown) to get rid of the black and go for a dark brown? Do I get this done professionally or can I just do it at home?

Sorry for the long wittering post, hope everyone is pampering themselves

Bitsy_Beans

My hair is naturally blonde so I've never had to dye it. No grey hairs either. Sorry to rub your noses in it
as for style I don't want it too long as it looks ratty and my shorter bob isn't really doing it for me so I might go with a same length bob all over with a slight fringe. No doubt I will get bored of that too!! I have lots of kinks in my hair so I find wet and damp days play havoc with them. All I wanted was curly black hair and I have kinky blonde. go figure LOL

betony

Hello everyone :wave: LOVING this thread, it's so friendly and down-to-earth and full of inspiration and great tips and tricks.

I will be 45 next month (but am fortunate that I look younger!) and although I have a lovely and supportive OH, I feel so dowdy and stuck in a rut with my looks; like many of you I tend to live in jeans - I haven't even OWNED a skirt for over 10 years . Since 'discovering' you gorgeous lot I have made a little effort; wearing perfume every day (when I remember!) and putting on light make up when I go to the shops. The problem is that I don't work and have no children or social life, so unlike many others I have plenty of time to myself and so most days have no reason to go anywhere. Therefore I tend to think to myself, 'what's the point?' The point is, I suppose, that I would feel better about myself but I am such I slacker that I need a kick up the bum every now and then and preferably from people who understand, otherwise I let things slide.

My first task is to lose weight - at least 2 stone - and I wanted some opinions on Weight Watchers v Slimming World, as both have meetings in my town. What do you think?

Keep up the good work,girls (mostly?) you're all fab! :beer: