Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

phoebe1989seb

Meant to say, I feel your pain on the *rubbish left by previous owners* front too, LL - we also still have carp here that belonged to ours.....despite having had several large skips/rubbish removers in to clear it 

Our sellers left - amongst other things - an extremely large metal sign complete with cactus design (she owned a Mexican restaurant locally) and a decomposing faux leather sofa hidden in the furthest hedge.......which, to my eternal shame, is still there 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments since Saturday are enjoying endless days of sunshine and the bouquet of flowers my daughter and son-in-law bought me on Sunday    As today is blisteringly hot, I have all of the windows in my home open which is keeping it at a bearable temperature 

helensbiggestfan

Lovely flowers SUgarbaby.  

Good Morning my lovely friends.   

How are we all.  Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather and having lots of champagne moments. We might still be in and out of lockdown, our freedoms might be curtailed somewhat and we might not be able to get out and about as normal but as long as we all stay safe and well then that's reason enough to celebrate.  🥂

Lots of lovely  champagne moments for me. The joiner put the final touches to my kitchen cabinets, the decorator showed up to give me an estimate for painting the outside, I have enjoyed lazy afternoons on my sun lounger, I have cooked delicious healthy food,  I have read, watched a bit of tv   In the evenings. I have had two more chiro treatments and have been able to start some gentle exercises. I have lost another lb, and of course I have had some wonderful times playing with my grandson, laughing at his antics and enjoying his kisses and cuddles.  He calls me "Babon". When he wants a kiss or a hug says he "more Babon".😂. So sweet. Oh and I managed to pick up some white hydrangeas, three for £5 from Asda.  Well pleased.  

Tomorrow will be the 6th anniversary of my husbands death.  I'm ok. It's funny but the few weeks leading up to it are always worse than the actual day.  As is so often in life anticipation and dread of an event is worse than the reality. I was a bit melancholy there for a while but I'm fine now and I am not worried about tomorrow.  I decided long ago I would choose to be happy, no matter what.  And for the times when happiness eluded me then I would settle for contentment and serenity.  

A bit dull and overcast at the moment and hopefully it will be a bit cooler today so I can actually get some work done in the garden.  Aiming to cut the grass today. I am not going to glorify it by calling it a lawn....it's a dreadful mess, choked with weeds and half dead in places.  I have decided I am going to get it removed and replace it with a Japanese style garden.  Gravel, lovely plants, maybe some water somewhere. It's not going to be cheap because I will have to pay for labour of course.  But, I have decided that as I didn't go on holiday I can justify the expense.  And it will make my life much easier going forward.  Going to ring some Landscape Gardner's next week.  Aiming to get it done next Spring, hopefully.  

Have a lovely day....keep those champagne moments flowing.  

helensbiggestfan

My husbands favourite flowers.......in his honour.  

sheilavw

Beautiful flowers LL. You sound like you are keeping really busy, you won't want to move when it's all finished!

helensbiggestfan

sheilavw said:

Beautiful flowers LL. You sound like you are keeping really busy, you won't want to move when it's all finished!

I know.....I'm starting to have second thoughts already. 😂.  Still there is no need to hurry or panic. I don't need to make a final decision yet.  I think it will be at least another two years here, maybe even a bit longer.  There's no rush but I do think I will probably want to move nearer to the boys at some point and take the opportunity to downsize once more.  I want to remain independent until the bitter end and there may come a time when the upkeep here is too much for me. 

 I used to work in a sheltered housing complex and although I'm not ready yet (If I ever will be) I can see the advantages.  Many of my residents absolutely blossomed once they had shed the shackles of homes that were becoming too large and unwieldy for them. It literally gave them a new lease of life.  

 If I'm honest I don't really need a 3 bedroomed home with a large garden and all that that entails. So although I'm not entirely sure about sheltered accommodation as such I can see a lot of positives in downsizing and going for something that is easier to maintain and in an area where I could live happily without the need for car ownership.  Ideally I would like a nice apartment with  outside space.   There is one on the market with a roof top garden.  The outside space is very scruffy and needs work but it has potential.  Something like that would be ideal.  I am sure I'll find something when the time comes.  

I once bought a cottage in a very upmarket postcode.  It was tiny but it had an advantage over many of the cottages in the village because  it had outside space.  It was a small scruffy, neglected and unloved yard but I realised that it got a fair bit of sun.  In fact it turned out to be a real sun trap and I turned it into a pretty courtyard garden.  As I get older a small courtyard garden or large balcony or terrace would probably be enough.  

Wednesday2000

I've been feeling sorry for myself as I had to have another one of my cats put to sleep last week. 

I have been doing some online retail therapy. I ordered a lovely art print of the coastal area I want to move to and a citrus scented candle, some artificial flowers and a new vase.

I'm about to take my book outside and read for a bit, as long as it doesn't get too hot.

phoebe1989seb

Sorry to hear about your cat, Wednesday 

Beautiful flowers, Sugarbaby and  LL! 

Will be thinking of you tomorrow, LL..... coincidentally we have sunflowers in our kitchen at the moment, plus there's another on one of my newly decorated cabinets (sneak preview below), so am adding pics of these in honour of your late DH......

For the past three days the weather has been fab here - although not quite the scorcher DS has down in Brighton! - so we've been making the most of it, spending time gardening. The results are well worth the aches and pains, with the second blooming of the David Austin roses particularly impressive 

I'm also attaching pics of two of the new bare root roses (Jacqueline du Pre and Charles Rennie Mackintosh....not sure why the latter posted twice, lol!!) which smell as gorgeous as they look!

We've come to the realisation that the garden we're creating here actually looks its best in August/September so we need to start thinking about buying plants that will add more colour earlier in the year......sounds like another expensive nursery trip, lol!

Tonight we'll be eating outdoors again and might crack open that new gin or a bottle of wine 

Enjoy the sunshine!

sugarbaby125

Phoebe your sunflowers and roses are gorgeous   

helensbiggestfan

Beautiful flowers, Phoebe.  

My back garden is so bare and bleak I splashed out on two pots of chrysanthemums to put on the decking.  Better than nothing.  Just took a delivery of more clay breaker to do the second section I started the other day.  The first section has had two treatments and is looking so much better. I bought some fish and bone meal yesterday.  I think I should be able to plant out the shrubs, And the bulbs in September. I also have some perennials which I think can be divided up.  It's coming. 

I have spent most of the afternoon cutting the lawn, tidying up the edges etc.  It's so unrewarding because the grass is so awful, in this case it is so not worth the aches and pains. I'm absolutely shattered and if I'm honest quite cheesed off. It's demoralising to work hard and see no real benefit for all my efforts. I am going to start phoning round next week, see if I can get some quotes. And pick their brains....😂.  

My front garden is a spring garden, It looks really pretty and then we have a second show late August through to October but there's not much colour through June, July and early August. I will address that.  Again it's very heavy clay so I think I'm going to remove some plants that are ailing, pot them up and try and nurse them back to health and give the soil a couple of rounds of claybreaker over the winter. Then come spring start again.  

Just going to put my feet up now and watch Downton Abbey. I know it's repeats but its 
like revisiting an old friend.  A bit like eating comfort food.  Unfortunately no gin or wine here, nor chocolate. 😟😂.  Maybe just a few grapes later.  I'm determined to shift that 20lbs.  

  

Wednesday........glad you indulged in a bit of retail therapy.  It won't  bring back your beloved cat, but hopefully it will help lift your spirits a little.  

And a girl can never have too many scented candles. 😁