Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

lessonlearned

Good morning lovely ladies.

Sugarbaby, your week away sounds lovely. And a nice well earned break for you.

Well yesterday we went to Chatsworth. This years theme was "Fairy Tales". The house was beautiful, needless to say the decorations were so tasteful, no tat or tinsel, :rotfl: each tree themed to a particular fairy tale, everything colour co-ordinated. I did try to count how many trees but gave up in the end. And of course we splurged and had a delicious lunch in the posh restaurant rather than the self service cafe. Unfortunately we are all suffering from tummy problems at the moment......i originally thought it was just my usual IBS but it's been going on too long. It's a bug of some sort. My son and I really only played with our food, shame because it was delicious.

I do love Chatsworth. I think I am going to treat myself to Friend membership next year then I can go regularly and enjoy the house and gardens every season. I also intend to rejoin the National Trust.

Chanie ...I share your disgust with conspicuous consumption. I find it distatsetful but also I do have genuine concerns about its environmental effects, the waste, the pollution, the way the earths precious resources are being plundered without a thought for the future, the devastation of wildlife and last, but by no means least, the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable. If anyone hasn't seen the the programme "The Cost Of Cheap Clothes" I would strongly urge you to try and get to see it. It's an eye opener.

I don't have any answers but I think if we all try and cut back a little, use little less energy and buy less stuff it's a start.

I have already decided I won't be buying any new clothes, other than undies, next year. I have more than enough. If I saw something amazing in a charity shop then I would make an exception but I simply won't be setting foot in Primarni or the likes again. I do realise that they aren't the worst offenders some of the dearer shops are just as bad......they often use the same manufacturers and suppliers.

I shall continue to work my way towards a simpler, more environmentally friendly and more minimalist lifestyle, not by wantonly chucking stuff away but by discarding with thought and care, selling and donating what I have no use for, repurposing and reusing what I can.

Sorry if I come over as preaching but like Chanie I too am disgusted by the waste and destruction I see. I'm sick of corporate greed but I think there is a lot of personal greed and irresponsibility too. Black Friday absolutely sickens me.

As you know I started the Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget thread - my goal for my lifestyle next year. . Someone there coined a phrase which I have shamelessly stolen. It's that all gifts be something that doesn't need dusting....:rotfl: I love that. So I've adopted that.

From now on no more gifts that either need to be dusted or are likely to end up unused at the back of a cupboard. So from now it will be experiences, clothes, nice toiletries or special foodie treats.

Yesterday was DILs birthday.......so we timed our Chatsworth visit as an extra birthday treat. I bought her a red handbag (which I picked up in Brazil), I knew when I spotted it, it was "her" and I've been holding on to it since then. She adored it. On Friday I'm taking her for a girlie night out, just the two of us, an early dinner and then the cinema. She wants to see the new Mary Poppins, it will be fun.

Tonight my other son and his girl are taking me to my favourite restaurant, so I feel very spoilt and privileged.

Champagne lifestyle indeed. :rotfl:

Money.....the history of the trench coat is very interesting. It literally began as an item of military clothing in the 1st world war for cavalary officers in the trenches, They needed something warm and waterproof (the poor rank and file were left to get wet). Burberry came up with the trenchcoat.

Burberry cost an eye watering amount now but there are many good copies and a number of ma ufactuers have come up with similar products. Have you looked at Dannimac. Ok they don't have the cachet of Burberry but they are good quality and a fraction of the price.

candygirl

Morning all
I've got a busy day today. Am going to Mum's for lunch with her 2nd Cousin. Not sure what that makes him to me???He's a lovely bloke , retired early from a high powered job, is single with no kids, n very lonely, bless
After that I'm going to DD's to drop the DGKDs Xmas stuff off .Am not expecting a warm welcome from her, but that's a whole different story
'LL I'm glad you enjoyed Chatsworth.Mum went the other week on a coach trip , n loved it.It's lovely how you get in so well with your DILs .I've tried n tried with my SIL , to no avail
I need to put a dye on my hair, but have been up n down all night with Zeus.I think the new chicken treats are too rich for him Therefore I cba More frump i'm afraid today :rotfl:

humptydumptybits

Burberry is a funny one, do you remember a few years ago it became a "chav" must have? I know lots were copies but apparently quite alot were the genuine article. I remember the same thing happening with men's Crombie overcoats, I think it was skinheads who adopted them.


I did have a Dannimac, can't remember what happened to it but I had it for along time.


My DIL is a lover of "labels" and she is bringing up GC the same. I do think it is a shame when kids only value something because of the label, mine weren't brought up like that but we all have different priorities.

humptydumptybits

candygirl wrote: »

Morning all
I've got a busy day today. Am going to Mum's for lunch with her 2nd Cousin. Not sure what that makes him to me???He's a lovely bloke , retired early from a high powered job, is single with no kids, n very lonely, bless
After that I'm going to DD's to drop the DGKDs Xmas stuff off .Am not expecting a warm welcome from her, but that's a whole different story
'LL I'm glad you enjoyed Chatsworth.Mum went the other week on a coach trip , n loved it.It's lovely how you get in so well with your DILs .I've tried n tried with my SIL , to no avail
I need to put a dye on my hair, but have been up n down all night with Zeus.I think the new chicken treats are too rich for him Therefore I cba More frump i'm afraid today :rotfl:

Second cousin once removed

candygirl

humptydumptybits wrote: »

Second cousin once removed

Thanks hun.We've always said 2nd cousins, so weren't far off :rotfl:

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

I have finally gotten through the piles of laundry that I came home to. I feel much better today, now that calm and order has been restored to my home.

I have not exchanged many Christmas gifts this year, only with my 4 sisters. My older son and younger daughter did not want to exchange presents with me this year. All of the extra food and drink for Christmas week and New Year has been bought apart from the fresh items that I will buy online to be delivered on the 23rd. I just bought items when they were on special offer with the normal weekly shopping until everything was stored in my home.

I just want to give my home a spring clean before Christmas with the help of my 2 children. My son is at home from University until 2 weeks into January 2019 and it is so nice to have him at home.

I gave Karaoke a miss last night as I was feeling incredibly tired.

lessonlearned

Candy......I had two MILs from hell. :rotfl: I swore I would do better when my sons met their life partners. So far so good. .

It helps that they are both lovely girls, although they have very different characters.

All I ask is that the girls love my sons and treat them with respect. If they do that, then they have my vote. .

It's a shame you don't have the same good fortune with your SIL. Don't blame yourself, you can't win them all.

The in-law dynamic can be very tricky sometimes.

candygirl

lessonlearned wrote: »

Candy......I had two MILs from hell. :rotfl: I swore I would do better when my sons met their life partners. So far so good. .

It helps that they are both lovely girls, although they have very different characters.

All I ask is that the girls love my sons and treat them with respect. If they do that, then they have my vote. .

It's a shame you don't have the same good fortune with your SIL. Don't blame yourself, you can't win them all.

The in-law dynamic can be very tricky sometimes.

He's a very anti social person.Hates having any visitors at all, even the kids friends It's difficult cos we're a very sociable family

maman

After reading chanie's post I read my newspaper this morning and this was the opening paragraph in the fashion section:

You used to be able to set your watch by fashion trends. Like German trains, they would arrive on time and leave shortly after, making room for a new batch that looked entirely different. However, in these straitened, sustainable and post-Marie Kondo times our wardrobes don’t work that way any more. Instead, trends are more like British trains: they hang around indefinitely, reach capacity, then suddenly change direction.

I was so pleased that a newspaper that is usually urging people to buy ridiculously expensive stuff just because it's new and fashionable is taking note of how people are genuinely feeling. Of course we could have written it or they could have picked up the vibes from our thread.:D So we've got mse, decluttering and the environment working against consumerism. I'm delighted. :T


Although that's about fashion, it could just as easily be written about homes or gifts or decorations or other things we've discussed on here. Wow this thread is bang on trend!:T


I'm sure you're delighted that you have your new washing machine working with all that laundry to get through sugarbaby. On the gift front, it's good that your children were able to have that conversation with you about whether (or not) to exchange gifts. We stopped doing gifts for adults a few years back. We give money to some children in the family and buy gifts that we know they'll need/want for others. Other than some online clothes for DGDs all I've had to buy is a token gift we exchange with friends at one of our Christmas lunches. This year I bought a selection of Borders biscuits because they were recommended. I got 4 packets each of various flavours including some chocolate gingerbread for us.:D Definitely no dusting there.;)


Envious (again) at your visit to Chatsworth LL. I'd so like to visit. We do have NT membership and I'm determined to make a visit to our local one in the next few days. They've set up scenes from the Night Before Christmas poem all over the house plus a trail round the grounds.


I've had 2 MILs. The first was well meaning and doted on my DD but she and I were such different people that there was no real closeness there between us. The second I loved to bits but maybe it was because I was older when we met and we were more like friends than any need to impress each other. I get on reasonably well with all my other in laws too, some I'd choose as friends others I can easily chat with at family occasions. We have one coming up on Saturday and it will be good to catch up.:) We won't be talking politics though as that's one subject that we don't agree on.;)


I'm trying to have a catch up day today as I'm in London for the day tomorrow. I plan to do my meal plan for the coming week (Friday to Friday) and the shopping list to go with it.

pollypenny

humptydumptybits wrote: »

Burberry is a funny one, do you remember a few years ago it became a "chav" must have? I know lots were copies but apparently quite alot were the genuine article. I remember the same thing happening with men's Crombie overcoats, I think it was skinheads who adopted them.


I did have a Dannimac, can't remember what happened to it but I had it for along time.


My DIL is a lover of "labels" and she is bringing up GC the same. I do think it is a shame when kids only value something because of the label, mine weren't brought up like that but we all have different priorities.

Burberry is a dirty word in many Welsh households. They closed their factory in Treorchy to transfer the work to China, yet trade on a reputation for British design and quality.