Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

ancientmum

Phoebe, your garden looks lovely!

helensbiggestfan

I agree - Phoebe your garden is beautiful.  

Well hello my lovely friends - how are we all.  Well and happy I hope.  

I have had a truly delightful week, lots of lovely champagne moments, treating myself to some new things for the house, but more importantly real family time.  

I know this is technically breaking out of lockdown because households aren't supposed to mix yet but I have been spending time with my eldest son and family.    Before anyone shouts at me......they have been in total isolation for over two months and I mean total, the only place they have been is their garden, other than a bbq here a couple of weeks ago.   Same here really, I do go shopping once every week but other than that I too have observed social distancing so I figured that as none of us have had any face to face contact with other humans for over 2 months  we were probably Virus free so the risks were practically negligible. There have been no adverse effects from our recent BBQ over two weeks ago, so I don't think any of us are incubating or shedding the virus. 

(I still think we have all already had it anyway because we were all quite poorly in January but obviously we can't be sure). Anyway they needed my help so I stepped up to the plate.  It has been lovely to see them and of course it's been wonderful to reconnect with my toddler grandson.  

One thing that did occur to me. .....DIL is due another scan soon and they will be doing blood tests. A friend was telling me that her daughter, who is due in July, and who suspected she might have caught the virus a while ago, had a scan and blood test recently and that she tested positive for antibodies.  So we might find out if DIL has had the virus, and if she has, then so have I, because whatever I had, I caught it from her.  🤣. 

Other than that, nothing much else....still pottering about the house and garden, still keeping busy. I have ordered my kitchen island unit and also some sun parasols for the garden......oh and I went mad and bought a pack of new tea towels. 😂

So lots of nice little champagne moments. A bit cooler today but hopefu it's warming up again tomorrow.  

Hope you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend with lots of nice champagne moments.  

candygirl

Morning all 
Not much to report here today.  It's still a bit windy, but not as bad as yesterday,  when Bon ran in with a pair of my knickers that'd blown off the line 😯😂
I popped to home bargains yesterday for the first time since lockdown began,  but the queues outside were horrendous! Luckily B & M was almost empty
, so I got a few bits,  inc spicy pickled onions,  which are fab 😍
I'm going to do a rough food audit later, as I've been spending daft amounts of the stuff lately. 
LL im so glad you got to see your DGS hun, and congrats on the new tea towels 😂😂
Gorg garden Phoebe! 😍I wish I could say the same,  about mine at the mo 🙄
Am finishing watching Intervention on Netflix tonight.True stories about addictions,  n families trying to help loved ones .
Have also just read The Break,  by Marian Keyes.It's so funny and relatable to me , but very light reading

sugarbaby125

LL the thing is with lockdown is that each individual person must assess risk to themselves with any undertaking. No one on this thread is in a position to take anyone else to task. I am so glad for you and your family that you were able to spend normal quality time with your son, daughter in law and your grandson. 

Covid-19 tests are now available to us all if we are aged 5 years plus, so all of the adults in your family could be tested and then after 2 negative tests you could be totally certain and know that you are not opening up each other to the risk of Covid-19. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment yesterday was watching A Streetcar Named Desire with The National Theatre on You Tube for free  

My other champagne moment was my daughter who lives me receiving an email from her employer saying that she can continue as a furloughed employee until they decide overwise. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment yesterday was watching Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at The Sadlers Wells Theatre on You Tube for free and it was an absolutely sublime, modern take on this ballet classic that I found absolutely superb. I was memerised by both the acting and the dancing. I would give this a 10/10  

My Champagne moments today were celebrating my daughter's 28th birthday at home with her brother. My son spent a few hours with us which was so good, but we still keep a distance between us and do not touch or hug each other. We were all relaxed and happy in each other's company. My son really enjoyed eating my homemade Nando's hot wings with pilau rice. 

phoebe1989seb

ancientmum said:

Phoebe, your garden looks lovely!

Thanks ancientmum and everyone else for their kind compliments  We were added to the statutory register of historic parks and gardens last year - not for anything we'd done (and certainly not the previous owners who just left us a mass of weeds/overgrown hedging/trees plus some ancient bulbs) - but because of the garden's historic connection with the local 'big house'......

Anyway, hope everyone had a fab bank holiday weekend! Lovely that you were able to celebrate your daughter's birthday with your son at home too, sugarbaby!

On Saturday we had a super little 'road trip' through the countryside, about 25 miles to our favourite plant nursery - the furthest I've ventured since lockdown began. They grow the majority of the plants they sell and are Chelsea gold medal winners, so always have a good choice. We bought ten plants that were on my 'wants' list - much cheaper than online prices so a definite champagne moment - and one that wasn't, the gorgeous iris Berlin Tiger (see pic)! We noted a few other things to potentially buy when we've prepared space for them, although that's unlikely to be before next year. DH also sourced some stuff for his clients, including 40 hostas!

On our return home I made some very crumbly raspberry and chocolate brownies and as it was so warm and sunny it was the perfect opportunity to sit on the terrace and try them out!

On Sunday I got on with some planting - my new 'hot beds' containing only red, orange and yellow plants are taking shape....I'm awaiting delivery of some orange pokers and need to source a couple more plants then I'm done! I really fancy a few red oriental poppies - I've been growing pink ones from seed for elsewhere in the garden, but might have to bite the bullet and purchase some red ones as established plants 

DH made a gate for beneath the arch that has climbers commemorating my late parents, each in a vintage chimney pot they gave us a few years before they died. I need to give the gate a second coat of paint but I'm really pleased with how it turned out....not sure it could be classed as a champagne moment as the timber probably cost more than buying a gate off the shelf, but it's a particularly wide size so would've proved had to get.

We also made plans for how we can improve/enlarge the book room which has a lovely aspect over the front garden/wooded area beyond but currently doesn't make the most of it. That's not likely to be achieved this year as we've too many other projects on the go...but it's fun to plan ahead sometimes!

More plants started flowering over the long weekend - including more roses - helped by the rain we had a few days previously. I'm expecting an explosion of David Austins over the next couple of weeks 

One not so champagne moment was discovering we have a tiny mouse camped out in the master bedroom....yikes!

t14cy_t

carolbee said:

t14cy_t said:

I semi retired 5 years ago aged 45, left our busy lives and swapped for the kent coast...best thing ive ever done!! 

Which part of Kent coast are you, I’m near Margate

hi, I moved to the isle of Sheppey!!

joedenise

t14cy_t said:

carolbee said:

t14cy_t said:

I semi retired 5 years ago aged 45, left our busy lives and swapped for the kent coast...best thing ive ever done!! 

Which part of Kent coast are you, I’m near Margate

hi, I moved to the isle of Sheppey!!

Me too!

helensbiggestfan

Hello my lovely friends. 

I’m loving this weather.  Not doing much gardening though. I’ve hardly done anything today - I’ve been thoroughly lazy. 

Phoebe you put me to shame. Your garden is so lovely. My front garden is ok but my back garden is looking very sorry for itself.  Never mind I’ll step up to the plate later. I need some help with the heavy stuff first though and I need to sort out the drainage. It’s heavy clay and unfortunately it flooded badly last year.  Nearly all the shrubs I planted were drowned.  So I’ve got to start again.   

I’m afraid I just can’t do the heavy digging now so have decided I am going to buy in some help to get me started. So this year it is a bit of a disappointment. Never mind it will come right eventually. 

Champagne moments.    Back on the diet ......sorry ......healthy eating 😂. Have lost 5lbs already so very pleased.  Also seeing my son and grandson yesterday.