Frump to Fab - Summer Solstice Sizzler

WelshWoofer

Evening ladies! Hope everyone is OK - not had a chance to read today's posts yet.

Well, it started off well this morning - got up earlier than normal and took time doing hair and makeup rather than the usual 10 mins all in, wore a nice bright top under my suit, perfume, nice necklace and then drove to work.
Got out of the car in a force nine gale with horizontal rain and promptly got drenched and blown to bits - b*gger!!!

Have stuck to SW all day (just!) and had 30 mins, 20 mins and 10 mins walks with the dog in the gale and had a bath and done a face scrub. So, an attempt made at re-fabbing myself after the morning's disaster.

Also have PMT - swollen boobs and belly and the desire to scoff anything I shouldn't - definitely not fab:o

Will try harder to not look like a windswept tramp tomorrow.....

BBTHREE

Hi All

Not had chance to catch up on all the pages yet, but I would love to join in if thats OK.

I am one of those people where I guess you could say that I can scrub up well, (on a very rare night out).

But... it's the rest of the time, when I am at the shops, work, or in the house, that I know I don't make enough effort, and it's particulary when I try to quickly nip to the shops looking like a bag lady that I bump into someone I haven't seen for years.

System

Hi ladies,

Haven't worked my way through all the posts but thought I'd share my most recent find that helps me feel a bit more fab.

I'm useless at painting my nails. As soon as the polish is on I suddenly feel the need to get up and do something and smudge my nails or if I make myself sit still I fall asleep and then end up lying on my nails and smudging them.

But...I came across this magic oil that's meant to dry polish instantly. Didn't think it would work because I've had them use the spray stuff in the salons and I've still managed to smudge it but thought I would give it a whirl and I'm quite pleased with it. It's called Nail Matrix (doubles as a cuticle oil) and I got it in Salon Services although I'm sure you can get equivalents elsewhere. Anyway it makes painting my nails more successful and means I paint them more often feeling just that little bit more fab!

fedupandskint

Well today was an attempt to keep on track with the diet. Caved in with a slice of toastand cereal bars x 2 to take me over but not too bad really.

Did my usual one hour dog walk today in dreadful weather.

Then, after my newsflash, I devised my training plan. Because I took the plunge and registered for the half marathon. I'm a little scared about doing it but I believe I can do it so lets hope I can!

Plenty of time to get up to distance, just need to double what I run now.

Weigh in day tomorrow and measurements day to assess the festive damage!

annem38

hi all, well went back to ww today in an effort to speed up the frump to fab process, it wasn't pretty and i have to admit a bit more than i expected (though not more than i deserved!), can't say i felt that fab either by the time i got home after being blown to bits and soaked thru to my underwear :eek:

anyhoo, apart from that still on track and feeling positive and i love reading these threads, mind you, takes me forever as you keep reminding me to do things ( ooooooh foot moisturising, must go and do that now!)

back to work for me tomorrow, so outfit ready and waiting ( and clean, ironed and actually fits) sandwiches made ( no buying full fat or worse giant baked potato with half pound of cheese), alarm set to give me plenty of time to do hair and make up (even made sure central heating will be on 15 mins before i get up so no excuse!)

well best make a move, so just a quick thanks for all your support and positivity, i love it!

anne x

evilsquid1603

Willow92 wrote: »

I'd like to join SW but I get too scared

don't be! everyone there is lovely and welcoming. the hardest part is just walking in the door. its a great place to meet new friends too.

adelight wrote: »

evilsquidi'm going to try that lastminute.com trick for me & OH! are the hotels really cheap that way?
have you or OH tried contacting companies directly for paid/unpaid work experience? my OH struggled getting a job relevant to his science degree (geology/physics) and was stuck building etc, he wrote to 20+ companies and within a month one offered him low paid temp work in their labs which eventually turned into a permanent job and they're paying for his professional qualifications.

if you do it a few days before you want to go, the posh hotels sell their rooms off cheap that way because they don't want to be seen to be discounting. I'm sure one of my friends paid about £50ish for a decent room off there.

most of the law firms are so overwhelmed with applicants and people asking for work experience, they won't let you in unless you know someone there already.

only prob we have is if we get low paid work, we loose all our benefits because we are working and we could end up much worse off than we are now. they've also told me in the past that work experience is working and if i don't get paid for it thats my look out so we'd once again loose all our income and i can't afford to loose even a single penny of what we get now. its barely enough to live on.

they would let me do citizens advice bureau advising but when i checked they are also now swamped with law graduates because working there cuts 6 months off our solicitor training and aren't taking new people on.

its been really getting to me that the one thing that may get me a paid job just isn't an option because of bureaucracy. I've told them i need to do unpaid internships and work experience so firms know me and just got a "no, its working".

Willow92

evilsquid1603 wrote: »

don't be! everyone there is lovely and welcoming. the hardest part is just walking in the door. its a great place to meet new friends too.

I'll keep thinking about it for now Anyone on here go to Stafford SW?

podperson

Evilsquid - is it worth maybe checking with tax credits whether they would class an internship or something as 'working' and therefore you could claim that? I know when I was self employed a few years ago I was basically earning nothing and living off tax credits for a while.

lessonlearned

evilsquid1603 wrote: »

d


its been really getting to me that the one thing that may get me a paid job just isn't an option because of bureaucracy. I've told them i need to do unpaid internships and work experience so firms know me and just got a "no, its working".

That is just ridiculous, talk about "benefit trap" . Why oh why do they do this. And yet, they allow people to volunteer in charity shops etc.

In fact most charity shops are forced to take on a certain amount of "naughty people" - as my Scope manager delicately puts it. People who are unemployed and have committed crime - wait for it - so that they can get some work experience and thus become more employable.

Oooh I'm getting angry again just thinking about the injustice to you.

Re the low paid work/lose benefits set up. This is exactly why so many people are forced to stay on benefit. I spoke to the Welfare Rights guy about my intention to find work and he actually turned round and said I wouldn't bother if I were you, you would be worse off:eek:.

He advised me to just claim benefits until November when I could then claim my pension, forfeit my share of OH's pension so that I could then claim pension credit and then claim a whole range of benefits. Spend the rest of my life on benefits - not bl**dy likely.

It's utter madness.

I'm having none of it. I will claim benefits if I have to until November, but then I will take my share of OH's private pension so that I am not in receipt of any benefits and I can then work and earn as much or as little as I chose to. My OH has paid into his pension, why should I throw it away.

OK I may be slightly worse off but at least I can then work and start my business empire.:rotfl: At least that way what I earn I keep, with no busy bodies poking their noses in to my affairs, subjecting me to means testing.

Anyway went to physio. When I lay on the couch my physio said Oh dear. I asked her what was the matter. She said your right leg is shorter than the other. My back muscles were so tight that my right hip was higher than the other and everything was out of alignment again. No wonder I'm walking like an Ape.

So quite a bit of work is needed there I'm afraid. I will just have to dig deep and pay for it myself - I'm not waiting for 6 months for a NHS appt and just 4 treatments. It's going to take more than that.

Yet another example of how I save the state money.:rotfl:

My Aunty S was so right - don't rely on the State.

I watched that "Biggest Loser". I found it cruel but then I don't like "humiliation TV" - worse than watching a Roman Circus. I can only assume the "Contestants" were just desperate to be on TV.

Willow - SW will be nothing like that I promise you. You will be treated kindly and with respect. Go for it.

lessonlearned

podperson wrote: »

Hi all,

LL - agree that DWP are completely useless, every time we have had to deal with them have had nothing but trouble and don't think they have ever got anything right first time (or even second!). We tend to always have unusual circumstances when we go to them as well and they really don't seem able to cope with it! Think we both need to work on the money making plans then can tell them to go stick it

Damn right. Keep an eye on my sig and if I start to lag or falter, give me a kick up the proverbial.

Well done with the progress on the book.:T