Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

lessonlearned

Good morning everyone.

Caronc......good to hear you are feeling better. Lots of TLC.

SUgarbaby.....I love hearing about your exploits. You seem to be full of creative ideas and enthusiasm. Great stuff.

Butterfly, well done on the decluttering, it's amazing the difference it makes when we clear the c r a p out of our lives isn't it. It just doesn't free up physical space in our homes but also mental space our heads too. The effects are really quite astonishing, as Marie Kindo says, "Magic".

Well speaking of magic and inspiration......my friend took me on a surprise outing ,.......to a fabulous arts and crafts centre. She knows me so well and she knew how much I would enjoy it. It was fabulous, some amazing shops selling handmade furniture and artisan type stuff, pottery, clothes, jewellery - all mainly done by local craftspeople and a really posh gallery, selling original paintings.

I am afraid I can only window shop in places like that, the prices are well out of my league, but as always it did inspire me and my visit sparked some ideas for my own projects this year.

I am actually quite arty/crafty myself, and I do enjoy "making and doing" so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in.

The plastering is now done in the kitchen and yesterday I bought some laminate for the floor. Once my handynman has fitted that I can get painting.

As you know I really overspent on the bathroom so I am trying to do the kitchen on a miniscule budget. So far I've spent £330 on removing the dividing wall and replastering, mainly labour costs but I just couldn't tackle that myself. 30 years ago maybe, but not now. Lol. Yesterday I spent £108 on flooring. Not sure how much I need to spend on labour to get that fitted. It would be nice if I could keep the total budget down to £600 but that would mean me having to do everything else myself. Still there's no rush, I can take my time.

shirleytch

Hi Sugar Baby


I follow this thread and I enjoy reading your cinema critiques - I have an unlimited card for Cineword and see quite a few films. Saw Green Book this week and loved it. Keep the reviews coming

candygirl

Afternoon all:j
Well finally Firegate is over. A lovely bloke came n sorted it yesterday, for less than the original shysters hourly rate :mad:
Your day out yesterday sounds fab LL:D
Keep the cinema reviews coming SUGAR.I'm hoping to go next week:D
We have a Sisterhood conference on at church this weekend.Loads of brill speakers, n best of all, the men wait on us :rotfl:
It's always a good giggle
Glad you're feeling better CARON xx

caronc

Thanks CG, so glad for you that firegate is over:D.


My moment for today was my new frying pan arriving. My current one is well beyond it's best and I wanted an non-stick one that wasn't teflon as they always flake. This one wasn't that cheap but I got it in a half price sale and it has a guarantee for 25 years so should last. It's deep enough to do more than just fry so I'm hoping to get lots of use out of it. I also managed to spend enough, as I was also ordering something on behalf of my elder son, to get a "freebie" of a santoko knife which I thought might not be great but seems sturdy and has a really good blade on it.:D

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments today were a free ticket for The Queen's Gallery International Women's Day Event and I participated in the Community Inclusion Creative Writing performances today. :j:D

There were 5 of us from Blackfriars Settlement and Roberta who was from another community group and who is Italian. She is currently learning English, so it was even more remarkable that Roberta was willing to perform her piece of creative writing at this public event. All 6 of us had plenty of time to rehearse our spoken word performances before we had to perform them. We did so in front of an audience of members of the public in one of the Gallery's rooms exhibiting photographs from the Crimean War taken by Roger Fenton. I had such a great time even though it was nerve wracking.

Candy Girl you must be so relieved that the whole ghastly drama with your fire has finally been resolved.

Thank you Candy Girl and Shirley I will continue to review each film that I see

Prinzessilein

A couple of minor 'Champagne' moments….

I have booked a 'posh' afternoon tea with a couple of friends for next month...it will be a few weeks after I have a minor-surgical-procedure (probably-benign lump removal) ..so will give me time to recover and build myself up for it (I have serious anxiety issues and have only relatively recently been able to even drink coffee in public!)

Also, I have bought some new crayons (I do Bible Journaling as an interest/hobby/creative-outlet)….maybe a small glass of bubbly but a treat none-the-less!

lessonlearned

Good morning everyone

CG. Thank goodness Firegate is now resolved. Being without adequate heat is miserable. It makes me seize up. . Hope your panic attacks are easing off now, I had a few in the early days after my husband died but thankfully I'm ok now. They are not nice (to put it mildly).

It's horrible here. So cold and windy. I nipped out to the bakers this morning but that's it now. I'm staying indoors. Time to crank up the heating and get busy in the kitchen.......Domestic Goddess Time. :rotfl:

Need to rustle up a nice mini feast. Got my DIL and grandson coming over later whilst DS1 freezes whilst watching his football team. He must be a masochist. :rotfl: DIL loves English afternoon teas so I'll see what I can conjure up. Hence the trip to the bakers....I don't eat bread normally due to grain intolerance but I have found a nice local baker who makes a rye loaf. I can manage the odd sandwich as long as I don't overdo it.

Well quite a lot going on here, lots of lovely (and cheap) champagne moments. Out and about, seeing friends, nice films, reading, mooching round Charity shops and picking up a few bargains.

The biggie is that I have finally got my a@@ in gear and joined weight watchers. :rotfl: I have set my interim goals and I aim to reward myself every time I reach a target. I joined on Monday and have lost 2lbs already. Wahoo. :j

Grandson is being christened in July......I want to lose 1.5 stones by then. I am determined to be a glamourous (and sexy???!!!:rotfl:) granny.

Watch out Helen Mirren......I'm after you. :rotfl:

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments today were selling another 18ct gold and diamond ring on eBay. Even though I got a total of £131.50 including P &P costs, the PayPal and eBay fees will reduce that amount by 15% but I was sanguine about the fees. I originally brought the ring as a gift for Wayne some time ago, before I found out he was a cheat and a liar. I finally got around to selling it.

My younger son paid a visit today. He stayed with us for a few hours and he had lunch and dinner here. I cooked a Madras chicken curry using a jar of Sharwood's Madras curry sauce. I added a green pepper and an onion to the chicken when it was fried and cooked them until they were softened then I added the jar of curry sauce. We both loved the curry.

butterfly2507

Sold a few more things on eBay and depop Wooohooo, after months of not selling much it's finally picking up again

@lessonlearned: you're right. I can't believe how much space I have and how much better I feel now that all the books are gone. I got most of them from a friend who moved and given the fact I can't say no I ended up with 5 bags full of books. I never really knew what to do with the books I've read or the ones I've had no intention to read them. They're gone now and it serves a good cause

We're invited to friends on the 23th and I'm really looking forward to it

t14cy_t

champagne moment was going to a jumble sale on Saturday, finding lots of goodies for lots of the family and a gorgeous new in box opi purple nailvarnish for 10p!!