Frugal Frump to Fab - 2015

maman

I have a few of those days too LL, just veg and protein. My favourite soup is veg and lentil and I limit the veg in it to things like onions, carrots and leeks. It's particularly tasty with the stock from cooking a piece of gammon and I throw in any scraps of meat from slicing in there too.


I like one or two of those Mikado biscuits for a small sweet treat with a cuppa. They have them in one of the £ shops at the moment (I think £world).


I bought a nice purple sweater yesterday: Max Weekend 100% wool in a flattering tunic style with boat shaped neck. Good value in TKM. I enjoyed wearing the fawn one last year and purple looks good on me. It'll be good with black jeans or my pencil skirt for informal meals out in winter.


Interesting browse in a magazine at the dentist today. Unusually it dated from only last week! It had an interesting feature on how not to dress with various minor celebs like Fern Britton, Vanessa Feltz, Judy Finnigan, Oprah etc. Unfortunately what they all had in common is that they're all overweight to some extent which exacerbated the various fashion faux pas like clothes that were too small or shapeless or whatever. It made me feel good because I know I (We ) look better with only a fraction of the money and time spent on fabbing. And considering it's good to raise self esteem then looking at those pics certainly raised mine!

shandyclover

hello ladies

missed a few days as the temp work I did last week was so hectic and exhausting I was either at work or at home but completely wiped. I came home one evening and fell asleep for 3 hours! I have not been sleeping well at night so that might have had something to do with it. Healthy eating has been a bit wobbly - I actually bought a bag of chocolate eclairs on the way home from work and in 48 hours ate the whole package! :-(

Saturday I spent most of the day at a job fair and traipsing all over town smiling and handing out cvs. This is really the first time I have ever had to job hunt in my life as my first ever job was working for friends of my parents and from then on I was always head hunted. I really do feel a bit like a fish out of water - all I can do is keep looking. Careers adviser at the job fair was very encouraging and I found out there are actually people out there who can help even people my age.

Saturday evening hubby and I went out to a bar where some musician friends of our play live music. A Cuban bar with Spanish style a'la gypsy kings music - they got everyone singing, clapping and even dancing in the aisles, made me forget my worries! I wore a white linen blouse, and some blue denim jeggings, some beige and gold ballet flats, beige rose shaped earrings and a beige blazer. DD3 advised me to roll the jeggings up to just above my ankles as 'it shows off your pretty tanned ankles mum'. This is not something I have ever done before but it seems to be all the rage and the effect was rather good as I still have a tan from holidays and my ankles are one part of me that IS slim!

Looking at the drinks menu I discovered the bar served a rum named after my maiden name - first time I'd ever heard of it. I dutifully had a shot with coke just to be able to tell my dad I'd had it - I am not a rum drinker but I've been told its very good. Over FB my dad confirmed family history - some daring sorts went over to the US for the gold rush and on then to Jamaica to make their fortune and apparently some original gold nuggets still exist in the family somewhere. Considering to what lengths people had to go to make a living made me realize handing out cvs all day is really no hardship.

VJsmum

Sounds like some good work is ongoing.

not much to report but i am loving my project 333.

in fact I have 35 - 40 items, but it is great to "shop" from a smaller wardrobe. And i have broken out some "for best" items. Even though i have been alone for most of the weekend, i still "fabbed"

maman

VJsmum wrote: »

Sounds like some good work is ongoing.

not much to report but i am loving my project 333.

in fact I have 35 - 40 items, but it is great to "shop" from a smaller wardrobe. And i have broken out some "for best" items. Even though i have been alone for most of the weekend, i still "fabbed"

That's great because we're doing this first and foremost for ourselves:).

Ellsbel

Really good healthy eating tips, maman and ll and I really am going to take them on board; I was really bad last night and cooked a healthy meal for OH and DS2, but didn't have one myself; instead I just grazed on rubbish whilst cooking, ironing etc., - won't be happening tonight - I'll take time to unwind properly and eat a proper meal before trying to do allege hired at once whilst cooking!

I meant to comment on the talk about mobiles, etc., - does anyone else find it really sad to see young Mums out and about, completely ignoring the toddlers trotting along next to them because they're too busy on their phones?

maman

Ellsbel wrote: »

Really good healthy eating tips, maman and ll and I really am going to take them on board; I was really bad last night and cooked a healthy meal for OH and DS2, but didn't have one myself; instead I just grazed on rubbish whilst cooking, ironing etc., - won't be happening tonight - I'll take time to unwind properly and eat a proper meal before trying to do allege hired at once whilst cooking!

I meant to comment on the talk about mobiles, etc., - does anyone else find it really sad to see young Mums out and about, completely ignoring the toddlers trotting along next to them because they're too busy on their phones?

Absolutely and I hate seeing them with babies in prams ignoring them too. Little ones need to be talked to, enthused and stimulated (except at bedtime;)).


I'm a great believer in a family meal whenever possible ellsbel. We sit down together and, when the meal allows, I put the veg (and cook more than enough) in serving dishes. That way there's no pressure for anyone to 'clear the plate', everyone has a choice and best of all I end up with lots of bubble & squeak for my lunches!


I've got a meeting later this afternoon but smart casual will suffice plus make up. I went out last night and felt cold all evening in a long skirt, top and cardi. Mainly my own fault as I can't bring myself to wear tights yet:o.Anyone got ideas for their autumn/winter wardrobe?

lessonlearned

Mums with phones ignoring their little ones.......it makes my blood boil.

Ive seen children desperate for some attention, trying just to simply talk and then the parents told them to shut the f... Up. It has to be the saddest thing I've ever witnessed. Unfortunately ive seen this more than once.

And then they wonder why their children become unruly, so then they whisk them off to the surgery, get a diagnosis of ADHD and pump them full of Ritalin......

Sorry it's a hobby horse of mine......but I just feel so sorry for children these days, especially boys. They are not allowed to play out, they are cooped up indoors, with nothing better to do than spend hours staring at some screen or other, often fed junk food whilst sitting on the floor. Half of them must be going stir crazy.

They may have more material goods but so many have been robbed of their childhoods.

Children, especially boys, are a bit like dogs......they need fesh air, exercise, good food, a bit of discipline and lots of patience......

Ellsbel - please try and make time to,sit down and have a proper meal, you are not doing yourself any favours by grabbing food on the run and eating whilst doing chores. It's not good for you.

Shandy - what a fascinating story about your ancestors...who knows maybe the rum was named after them.......

And yes you are right some of our forebears did have incredibly hard lives. Both my parents, and of course my grandparents lives, make mine look like a bed of roses by comparison.

And how sweet of your DD3 to compliment you on your pretty ankles.....

lessonlearned

Good morning lovely ladies

Well I'm currently triple tasking, writing this, suppine and stretching out my psoas muscles, with a deep cleaning face mask. :rotfl:

holding the stretch is quite difficult so typing takes my mind off the pain......;)

After this I will do a yoga session.

Just weighed myself - no further loss yet but holding steady so pretty good. I measured my inch loss.....3 inches of my waist so well pleased.

It's a glorious day so looking forward to getting outside and enjoying the garden after a nice walk through the park to the little shop for a few bits.
I need to do some more Kondoing and paperwork sorting buts it's far too nice outside. I can do house stuff when it's raining.......

Have a lovely day....

maman

lessonlearned wrote: »

Just weighed myself - no further loss yet but holding steady so pretty good. I measured my inch loss.....3 inches of my waist so well pleased.

Good idea to look at measurements as well as lbs. LL. Exercise is great for toning and suppleness although it's focusing on food that helps the weightloss IMO.


I think I'll take your advice on getting out in the air. It's a lovely day here too.


Good to have a day to myself today, need to do something productive!:o

Rose_Wood

Afternoon All

I don't seem to have posted for ages but have been reading along every day and keeping up with the Fabbing.

It's glorious weather here - real Indian summer weather. So far today exercise wise I've been for a 3 mile run and played 3 Sets of tennis with DS. I'm up to 19,800 steps for the day with another exercise class and therefore a walk to it and back this evening. I put back a couple of pounds over the summer so have joined the latest weight loss challenge at tonight's class. Last week I lost two and a half pounds but not done as well this week I don't think. Especially as DS and I went out to lunch together (DH is feeling a bit under the weather so didn't come) and then walking home I saw Mum who invited me out for a coffee! Tonight's class is Metafit - only half an hour but really high intensity. I shall have to engineer the weigh in at the end rather than the beginning.

I had a bath and did my hair after tennis so am feeling quite Fab. I'm wearing a pair of white cropped jeans with a black and white V neck top. It's a nice fitted one from Country Casuals originally and has a bit of draping under the bust which looks good. I teamed it with white loafers and silver and pink jewellery.

I've got a busy week next week as DS and DDiL are off on holiday so I am having DGD from Sunday to Friday. I'll have to miss my early morning runs but will have the back and forth walks to school every day plus twice daily visits to feed their cats. It's 0.7 miles each way to school which means five year old DGD will be doing 1 1/2 miles all in and I'll be doing 3. We usually go off to the park etc too which will be a bit more and she has Rainbows once a week in the same venue too.

I didn't manage to keep up with all of last month's goals but am still persevering. I had my hair done again recently - cut and coloured - and it seems to look good most of the time. I have also kept up the foot care regime and been using coconut oil on my feet which seems to have worked miracles. I've also kept my daily step average up - this week the average is over 20,000 per day - which for me is about 9 miles. It's amazing how lots of short journeys build up. I gave up my car a year ago as I hardly drove it and just use DH's now if needed. Occasionally I wish I still had it but most of the time I don't even notice.

This afternoon was spent ironing. DS asks me to iron his shirts as his birthday and Christmas presents as he prefers that to a material gift. Trouble is he waits till he has used up virtually every one he owns so today I've ironed about 2 dozen. Mum came round to watch a programme she missed last week so I did the ironing to the Leeds Piano Festival Competition. It just lasted perfectly too.

I had a lovely evening last night. Mum and I went to a live Cinema streaming of the Royal Ballet's Romeo and Juliet which was great. We have quite a few more events in our diary- The Importance of Being Earnest is our next I think. David Suchet is playing Lady Bracknell which should be interesting!

I will try and post regularly again as it keeps me more focussed.

Rose