Frugal Frump to Fab-u-lous Spring Equinox to Summer Solstice

maman

Kiwisaver wrote: »

I was having a ball in the shop, tried a squirt of Clarins Eau Dynamisante; another lovely fresh and zesty perfume to add to the list. I also tried a big splodge of their anti-aging serum on the backs of my hands.

I love this, it's my favourite and they do some body lotion and other bits to match. The trouble is the perfume doesn't seem to last anything like as long as the 'heavy' ones. Anyone recommend a light, fresh perfume with staying power?

rose, your bathroom looks very grand indeed. I wouldn't shorten the curtains if I were you (that's if you mean to window sill length or mid-wall) I like long curtains best.

I'm off out later. We're having an early dinner with friends then off to theatre to celebrate his birthday. Feeling a bit tired and off-colour so will definitely be fabbing to lift me a bit. I desperately need some sunshine!!

I've had my shower, moisturised and done my hair now to choose an outfit...

P.S. Pleased with myself as ever since clearing out bathroom cupboard in the week I've creamed my feet every day!!:D At least I'll be ready if sun ever shines.

lessonlearned

Good day folks.

Too late for morning, not really "proper" afternoon yet.

Hi Thisisme - welcome back - don't worry about falling off the wagon - stick with us and you'll soon get back into the groove.;)

Got up bright and early , mini manicure and pedicure, got all bathed and fragrant and then went shopping. All stocked up with healthy stuff.

This afternoon it's a quick whizz round, sort out the fridge, menu plan and then I've got some paperwork to sort out ready for the solictors and the surveyors. Will pop it through the sols letter box tonight - save on the postage and at least I know it will arrive safely. I don't really trust the PO with important documents any more.

I'm having a slight disagreement with HMRC at the moment. They owe me £2000 but are stalling, telling me they have not received all the documents they need. I sent them recorded delivery - so - someone is lying. :mad:

I was going to do a mega wardrobe sort out and get rid of a load of old tat. However, the thought occurred to me that all my old manky togs would come in useful for when we start work on the new house. So I'll just bag it all up and then when we get the keys I can leave it there - ready for all those dirty jobs.

As you know DS2 and I are currently living in rented accommodation. We have decided that rather than me staying here wasting money on rent whilst I house-hunt for myself it would make sense for me to move in with the boys for a while.

There was mention of me being chief "tea maker" when we start work.:rotfl::rotfl: I don't mind. I will enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in. As well as two nice dry cellars, an attic, an underbuild area for storage and a garage, there are two reception rooms and three good sized bedrooms. So plenty of room for all of us, plus enough room to store any extra furniture.

I think they are right. It seems pointless me staying here on my own having to fork out £650 a month in rent. Just throwing money away. Three months rent would pay for a nice new bathroom and a few gallons of paint......:rotfl:

I'm itching to get started.

I popped into Wilkinsons today, lots of plants on offer. Some nice trees - willows and silver birches for £5, fruit bushes 2 for £5, roses for £3 - not worth buying anything just yet, although I'm tempted to try a couple of fruit bushes.

We have a patio here which is already loaded with fruit trees and bushes from our old house. I've kept them in pots and they seem ok so maybe I could try just a few more........:rotfl:

Right time to get cracking - have a great day.

PS Pod - well done getting back into the writing. Time to pen that bestseller/Hollywood blockbuster.....Or - are we going all arty and aiming for the Booker Prize. Anyway great stuff.

floss2

Rose_Wood wrote: »

...I have been fabbing a bit more of the house today. My bathroom was a blank canvas being very bland so I decided to put all my blue and white Wedgewood and Delft in there and use that as a basis for a colour scheme. I had seen some lovely Toile de Jouy curtains which were quite a dark blue on a white background but they were far too expensive. So I've been keeping my eyes open in the charity shops and picked up some curtains with a blue and green pattern on the other day. There's more green than I originally wanted but they were only £3.50 so I'm using them for the time being. Today I got DH to put up a curtain pole and I hung them. I intend to shorten them and make tie backs but just held them back with a ribbon for the time being. From the same charity shop I also got a pretty bluey-green clock to hang above the mirror....

Rose, that looks lovely - I agree with Maman, I would keep the curtains longer too. Have you thought about blue & green towels to pick out the colours? (I always use Dylon machine dye to change ours!)

lessonlearned wrote: »

....As you know DS2 and I are currently living in rented accommodation. We have decided that rather than me staying here wasting money on rent whilst I house-hunt for myself it would make sense for me to move in with the boys for a while.

There was mention of me being chief "tea maker" when we start work.:rotfl::rotfl: I don't mind. I will enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in. As well as two nice dry cellars, an attic, an underbuild area for storage and a garage, there are two reception rooms and three good sized bedrooms. So plenty of room for all of us, plus enough room to store any extra furniture.

I think they are right. It seems pointless me staying here on my own having to fork out £650 a month in rent. Just throwing money away. Three months rent would pay for a nice new bathroom and a few gallons of paint.....

LL that's a fab idea, and it means that if you have any "off" days you will not be trying to manage on your own.

WelshWoofer

Afternoon all!
I agree LL - its just throwing money away - as long as you can live with the mess of a renovation.
Well done on getting back to the writing Pod.
What are you seeing at the theatre Maman? Let us know how it goes.

Had a productive day so far - done 5 solid hours of schoolwork and feel ready to go back to work tomorrow now. Been for two long walks with the dog to stop me getting stiff from all of that sitting down marking.

Managed to put the new bed together yesterday - felt very pleased with myself as I did it all by myself.:) Will do the little bed side table later and tackle the wardrobe in the week or next weekend. The washing machine decided to die last night though - made an awful din during the spin cycle and nearly shuffled its way across the kitchen! Got the washing out ok but I think its spun its last spin.:(

Need to dye my hair later and sort out my nails (a bit battered by the DIY). Will also have a bath and defuzz and face scrub ready for school tomorrow (I'm like one of the kids :rotfl:).
Right, a lovely pile of ironing awaits.....

fedupandskint

Another one who's had a very productive day and also got all work stuff ready to go for tomorrow and will be fabbing up tonight for tomorrow.

Tidied the garden up and filled up the recycling bin ready to go - an hour put to good use
Lovely walk this afternoon, if not a little breezy, down and around the canal.
39 items listed on ebay this week - lets see how they get on over this coming week.
Plenty of washing done and dried out on the breezy line, including lots of winter heavyweight stuff all freshened up nicely.
Time for a couple of hours uni work then I'll fab my nails up later after a facemask and exfoliate - afterall what's the point of buying skincare if you leave them in the bathroom unused - get them used!
Ironing can wait for next week as not too much to do!

lessonlearned

Sounds like you've all been very busy.

Rose - meant to say your bathroom looks lovely. I agree with the others about the curtains. Long ones always add a touch of luxury. Good idea about the towels. Dylon works well.

I actually lashed out and bought some new tea towels today.

Bad news about the washing machine. They don't last forever though......:(

I've just spent an hour going through my accounts:eek:

I must do better...... back to the spending diary for me. Writing it all down and keeping receipts is the best way I know to keep me on track. The food spending has really crept up so I really need to get a grip and get it back under control. We shall be needing a lot of paint and diy materials.

I think I need to get selling too, ebay, car boots etc. Need to improve my cash flow - it's all flowing out at the moment and not much is flowing back in.

Rose_Wood

Evening All

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone about the bathroom. The curtains aren't full length, but it's hidden by the way the photo is taken. I had thought I would shorten them to just below sill level and use the stuff I cut off to make tie backs - but I'm happy to leave them as they are at the moment. Good idea about the towels Floss - though the ones I brought with me are all shades of brown so wouldn't dye well. I had a M and S voucher I'd won so bought a couple of white guest towels which I have out in there and have consigned the brown ones to the ensuite.

I've had a lovely day with my 3 year old grand daughter today and then went to see Oblivion at the pictures this evening. I'm still not doing well on the cutting back on eating front - I even had a double caramel Magnum at the cinema this evening after a day of shall we say 'plentiful eating'!

Bad news about the washer Welsh Woofer. I've just had to buy a new dishwasher as the one we inherited broke about a fortnight after we moved in so DH has been washing up by hand. I find it's harder to keep the kitchen looking tidy with piles of washing up everywhere so I've bitten the bullet and ordered a new one - but as 'green' as I can - so it uses the least amount of energy and water that I could find. Like you Lessonlearned the money seems to be flowing out a lot faster than it flows in.

Well, off to bed as I have a long run planned for 8am - 13 miles all being well. It will be the furthest my friend and I have ever run so fingers crossed.

Rose

[Deleted User]

Evening All. First day back at work for me - I love getting back into my routine. Been fabbing during my Easter hols - had a pedicure done and have been doing regular cleanse, moisturise.

Rose I love your bathroom, it looks fab as it is. I must be shopping in the wrong charity shops as I never see curtains that nice in them!

Fabbing plans for tonight - have a walk around the block. It is a short walk but enough for a windy and wet evening like this evening. I am also going to finish off a wee craft project I have been working on - using up some old fabric to make napkins

Rose_Wood

Evening All.

Well I have very tired legs but managed the 13 mile run - we do actually run/walk so not as impressive as it might sound. I had to have a little lie down on the sofa this afternoon though. However, I did then get my bike out and go and renew my tennis club subscription. I'm a rubbish player but go and have a knock around with my son every now and then. I've paid for his subscription as his birthday present, as it's his birthday on Wednesday.

I had a quite light tea - butternut squash and mushroom cheesy bake so not too many calories so far. I made two bakes so have another one for another day.

Allie23 - I always keep an eye out in the charity shops and visit them fairly often so had been looking for suitable curtains since we moved at the beginning of March. They actually look a lot nicer up than I thought they would as I wasn't sure whether to buy them when I first saw them.

Work tonight but I am hoping it isn't too busy so I can sit down some of the time and rest my weary legs. I am going to walk there rather than wimp out and beg a lift from my son though.

Rose

fedupandskint

Good evening one and all.

Just popping on to say I had a fab walk around the water park after work with mr dog to take advantage of the lovely weather here today instead of exercise at home.

Then decided to prep an easy tea to freeze before the spinach went off.

Did a WI today to discover those pesky lbs had dropped back off from last week. A weird fluctuation over a week of 3lbs. Good though!

My fabness for today was wearing my black jacket for work in a boxy chanel tweedy style which was a sale bargain Christmas present. Nice to wear it and put that winter coat away at long last! I'll wear it tomorrow with a bright jumper and pencil skirt for tomorrow's fabness!