Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

maman

I can't believe anyone voted for this chaos. What a mess!:(

lessonlearned

Good morning lovely ladies

Well Brexit or nor Brexit, Life goes on and I have no intention of getting into a stew about it. :rotfl:

The vote Caused enough angst, setting people against each other, families and friends falling out with each other. It is such a contentious issue that personally I steer well clear and keep my views to myself.

I refuse to let either religion or politics spoil my relationships with my fellow hoomans.

Anyway........yesterday was lovely. I met with one of my oldest and dearest friends for lunch. We have known each other for 52 years!!!

Unbelievable, how did I get that old......

Then I did some granny duties whilst DIL did a bit of work. She has a big presentation coming up - basically pitching for funding. I am really quite in awe of her.....She is such a clever girl. If she gets this she will become a fully fledged Research Fellow. She'll do it, I'm sure. Anyway I was happy to spend a few hours playing with my grandson, whilst she honed her pitch.

Today I have to take my car in. I think it's something electrical; just hope it's not going to be too expensive.I seem to be spending money like it's going out of style at the moment.

Tree surgeons and fencing this week. We are looking at £2.5k :eek: never mind it will be worth it. Those blasted conifers must be nearly 30ft - removing them is going to make such a difference.

Hey ho..it's only money, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs and I have to remind myself that you have to speculate to accumulate and all that. It will be worth it in the end.

The money pit will be a beautiful des res when I've done with it.

It too will go from Frump to Fab.

maman

I like your attitude to the house refurb LL. It's essential that you get all these basics done before you can start on the fun stuff.:)


I'm finding it hard to be sanguine over Brexit. I've always been a political sort of person so it matters hugely to me to see politicians making such a mess of everything and I can't help question their motives.:( That being said, I have friends and family of all political persuasions and we steer a way through. We're out for lunch today with friends who don't share my politics so we'll talk about holidays and GCs and.....;)


It's reasonably warm here (15 degrees) but overcast. I'm inclined not to wrap up too warmly for my lunch but I'm a bit afraid that the pub/restaurant may decide it can save on heating bills. I might wear a jacket (rather than a coat) so I can leave it on if needed.:think:


I need to start a new mascara today. It's a Benefit one I bought some time ago. In my paper yesterday, a beautician was recommending a Rimmel one (about a third of the price) so I might get that to try too. I must rescue the paper from recycling to check which one. They have 3 for 2 on lots of products in Boots and Superdrug at the moment so want to take advantage.:)

moneyistooshorttomention

I can sympathise re doing the "basics" of structural stuff re the garden LL as high priority.

That's what I did with Current House - I was right on the case and removing every single plant the house already had when I bought it. Well - it was "old person shrubs" or tatty or both. So out it all came and I've sorted out my boundary features pretty promptly and put in fruit trees and bushes. My reasoning was to put in those fruit trees/bushes asap - so that they had time to get nice and mature before "where we are at right now in history - ie Brexit, etc, etc".

Whatever happens - I thought it was a good idea to "Be prepared". I've ordered a book Brigit Strawbridge (now Brigit Strawbridge Howard - as she remarried recently) recommended. So I've got a copy of "The Resilience Handbook - how to survive in the 21st century" by Elizabeth J. Walker en route to me right now. The blurb about the book reminded us that Britain was pretty self-sufficient in food come the end of the last major war (ie World War 2) and we had half the population we've now got. So the message is "Grow our own".

I'm ahead of the game - the "basics" in/those boundaries dealt with/garden shed and all equipment in place/raised beds/etc/etc.

With those conifers out of the way and the fence sorted - you'll have the first "basics" done and that puts you in a better position for whatever-you-decide-to-do with your garden. You'll be able to see your way clear to get on with it - and get a lot more sunlight through without blimmin' great conifers there shading it.
Admits to hating conifers with a passion - and that was part of what I removed from my garden here.

humptydumptybits

Well I've been busy. Been shopping and got the last few stocking fillers and wrapped them so all my Christmas presents are bought and wrapped. I've got my cards and stamps so that is next.


Had an e mail from the library to say a book I reserved was ready for collection and remembered they are taking part in a scheme to provide sanitary protection for girls at local schools who can't afford them so I bought a few packs of Always in various sizes. I think I will buy a couple of packs every month, heart breaking to think of girls missing school for the sake of a few sanitary towels. It made me feel sad but also happy that I was doing something to help. I now have my book to read tonight, would have cost me £10 but I paid a 50p reservation fee so even with the sanitary towels donation I am quids in.


I've also bought booze for Christmas visitors, wine and beer and some spirits, I don't drink but I am the host so feel I should do it.


I'm feeling more positive so onwards and upwards.

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

Last Friday, My Housing Association sent 2 electricians to my rented property to do a check of everything electric. After they had finished, I asked for a copy of their report giving my property a 'clean bill of health' but was told that only my housing Association was allowed to have a copy. The next day, totally out of the blue, all the electricity on the ground floor of my maisonette home went off suddenly. :eek: On checking the fuse box, I realised that 2 of the fuses had tripped. I turned them back on and then went around checking all of my electrical appliances that had been in operation. I found that my washing machine that had gone off mid cycle would not restart.:( I left the washing turned off for an hour or more to see if it would recalibrate itself, but no such luck. I would have to wait until Monday to try to get the washing machine repaired.:(

On Monday I phoned the local high street retailer I bought the washing machine to arrange for it to be repaired. It would cost me a £90 call out fee which I had to pay immediately over the phone and a further £40 for the part, which was a lock interchange.:eek: The next available date free was on Wednesday. I agreed to have my washing machine repaired by their washing machine engineer on Wednesday morning between 9am and 1pm. He arrived late at 3.05pm on Wednesday had a cursory look and agreed that the locking mechanism was at fault and he needed to replace the lock interchange. But then he got out his mobile to order the part. I was astonished and asked the engineer why he had not ordered the part on Monday so he could repair my machine on the Wednesday and he said 'we did not know the make or model'. I pointed out that this information had been ascertained from me when I agreed to the repair. He then said that the part should arrive in the shop by Saturday at the latest and he would come back and repair my washing machine on Monday 19th November. I was so livid, that I could not speak or reveal just how angry I was feeling.

I called the electrical shop to make a complaint. I spoke to the woman that I spoke to on Monday and she lied and tried to tell me that she had explained that their engineer would only be coming on Wednesday to diagnose what was wrong. I told her that she had not mentioned any such thing to me. I had asked her a simple question 'if I agree to go ahead with the repair, when would be the earliest they could do it?' and she had a look on their computer and told me Wednesday. I also pointed out to her that I had explained the issue with my washing machine to her so succinctly that she had agreed with me that the fault was a issue with the locking mechanism and I would need the lock interchange repaired and it would cost me £30-£40 on top of the £90 call out charge so where in that conversation did she believe she had explained that I would not be getting my washing machine repaired on Wednesday but at a later date after her diagnosis had been confirmed by their engineer? She could only say that she would try to get the part delivered express by Friday and then their engineer could hopefully come back to fit it on Saturday. She was lying again because she had forgotten that I had been privy to the conversation she had with the engineer when he phoned the shop to order the part and she took the order saying he had phoned too late for her to put in the order until tomorrow. The engineer had warned her that his phone was on loudspeaker but she did not get the hint that I would be hearing both of them talking to each other. I am not counting on my washing machine being repaired before Monday, but I hope they prove me wrong.

After one of Tesco's drivers came into my home on 18th October 2018 and preceded to be aggressive, rude and swore at me twice, plus took 2/3rds of my shopping back to the E-shop leaving me without most of my shopping I made a formal complaint to Tesco in writing. After many phone calls and emails with various customer service representatives, Tesco decided that all of my deep distress, trauma and inconvenience was only worth £30 of goodwill vouchers. I accepted the offer and a verbal apology because I wanted an end to the whole thoroughly distressing incident but I am truly shocked at how persistent I had to be before the incident was investigated and I finally had a final resolution to a very serious complaint.

Today when I received my Tesco groceries a bottle of Shloer exploded all over my kitchen floor and my shopping and my left leg sustained a small but deep cut. :eek: The driver was extremely helpful in helping me to get all of the pieces of glass and glass splinters cleared up by moving all of the shopping and some of my kitchen equipment out of my way. Throughout the whole clean up operation, my leg would not stop bleeding. I was wearing socks, so my left sock was soaking up the blood that I could not always mop up with wads of kitchen roll.

Once the driver had gone, I had to wash my mop and bucket to get rid of the Shloer and then I had to mop the floor with Flash gel to get rid of all of the sticky residue.

Once I had finished and could take a rest and elevate my left leg, the cut finally stopped bleeding and clotted.

I made a complaint over the phone to Tesco customer service who asked me to take a photo of the cut and email them the photo with an explanation of how I had received my minor injury which I duly complied with.

On a much happier note, I was able to go to Karaoke on Tuesday evening and had a really good time there and I sang 5 songs.

lessonlearned

SUgarbaby......and breathe. . Hopefully that's your run of bad luck over with for the time being. Hope your leg isn't too painful.

£130 for a call out and small part......shocking isn't it. You're almost on your way to a new washing machine. I guess that's why they call it built in obsolescence, when it costs nearly as much to repair white goods as it does to replace them.

Having said that I had to buy a new tumble dryer for this place because the kitchen I left behind had all integral apliances. They weren't top of the range but I liked them.

The lady who lived here left her washing machine....that's fine and her disherwasher....awful. My new tumble dryer is also very disappointing. Both the dishwasher and the dryer are big German brands which I have used before but these models really are poor. I don't think they will last long.

Isn't that awful.....we are getting so used to bad service and shoddy goods we just shrug it off. Then we are supposed to feel gratitude when we are fobbed off with a voucher off our next purchase. :rotfl:

Well I took my car to the garage. I trust them, they have been looking after my cars for a few years now. They put the old girl through her paces and couldn't diagnose a fault. So we will just have to wait and see. Hopefully it was just a one off.....only time will tell.

I have bought some "Perfectil" to try. A skin supplement. Many years ago, when I had plenty of money, I used to take Imedeen. I loved it and I think it helped to keep my skin in tip top condition. Anyway when my husband got sick and we had no money I had to stop buying it. I decided I might give it another go. But then I read about Perfectil and as it's less than half the price of Imedeen I thought I would give it a try.

I'll let you know. Hopefully the additional collagen might also help my knee.

Popped' into Aldi. I didn't need much, just fruit and veg so I decided to stock up with some Christmas goodies. I won't be back from my holiday until 8th December so it seemed like a good idea.i checked the date stamps and They are fine. I'm not going to stock up the freezer just in case there's a power cut but I figure it's ok to buy "cupboard items".

I won't do a Humpty and raid them ..........:rotfl: they will be safe enough in the cupboard as long as I don't open them. It's once they are opened that I find it hard to resist temptation. :rotfl:

humptydumptybits

sugarbaby I don't know what to say, how terrible it all sounds. You are very resilient but I hope you manage to get this sorted out easier than the last to do with Tesco. I sympathise about the washing machine, so frustrating. Good job you have your music to keep you going. Good luck with it all.

humptydumptybits

LL I've resolved to buy no ore cocoa dusted almonds, I just can't resist them.

lessonlearned

Re the garden.....not sure what I'm going to plant and where exactly. I have been watching to see where the sun falls, which are the windy bits. I won't be planting until March or April time. On the whole it seems to be a nice sunny sheltered garden and the soil is nice and dark with not too much clay so I think I can make it nice. Apparently the previous occupants but one had a beautiful Japanese style garden complete with fish ponds but the lady I bought from had it all ripped out and planted a lawn.

Tbh I think she was ripped off and that her gardeners did a very poor job. The lawn doesn't look that great, a lot of weeds and moss in there. I'll work on it and see if I can rescue it. If not it will be fine for my grandchild to play on for the time being but eventually, if I stay here in the long term, I will probably go back to a nice Japanese style with pretty gravel. Easier to manage when I'm in my 80s and beyond. :rotfl: .......although by then I'm more likely to be escorted in a city apartment with a balcony instead of a garden.

Time will reveal all. :rotfl: