Frump to Fab 2021

helensbiggestfan

Hi Skinnybunny. Lovely to hear from you. I'll look out for Scandal.  Sounds a bit  like The Good Wife - I used to love that.....mainly just to drool over the clothes.

Maman. I just dropped in to let you know that Aldi have got packets of seeds in.  Mixed bags, each containing several varieties. 99p. I bought 3, salads, herbs and beans/peas. They also had proper veg like carrots, cabbage etc.  Too many caterpillars for my liking, last time I grew cabbage, there were caterpillars EVERYWHERE.  😱😂. And my carrots were a disaster, covered in some weird little flies. So I don't think I'll bother with those,  

Wednesday.....don't blame me for wanting a walk in wardrobe, 🤣😂. But yes I must admit I love the luxury of my "dressing room". Very self indulgent.  

You've got quite a dilemma there haven't you....whether to move, whether to retire.  My sister is going through the same thing.  They can't really afford to retire because her husband is quite a bit younger than she is but they are hoping to downsize when their daughter leaves them later this year to move in with her partner.  I do think I have one more  move to go (at least😉). I just don't know where to and what type of property.  I love being near my family but I have a hankering for the coast or even abroad for a while.  

And who knows, my family could end up living abroad anyway.  I certainly wouldn't try and stop them.  One son has a hankering for trying Australia and I feel fairly sure the eldest and his family will want to try out Venezuela one day so that their children can explore their Latino heritage.  

DIL a is a bit homesick at the moment, and the best way to get it out of her system is for them to go and live there for a while......compare and contrast. And I know they both fancy working for MIT, (Boston university) even if it was just for a couple of years.  

So who knows what lies ahead.  I will just have to keep an open mind.  The world is such a small place these days and with the right technology you can live and work from just about anywhere. (Covid permitting of course). A friend of mine lived in New York for 6 months. She never intended staying indefinitely but she just wanted the experience. It helped that her son was appearing in a Broadway show at the time so she wasn't completely alone but still it was a brave thing to do. She is now 80 and has finally settled down in a nice little flat in Bournemouth.  

I have another friend who lost his wife. They had a lovely home in Scarborough.  After she died, he sold up and move to Portsmouth.  Says he loves it.  He's currently renting and says he's not even sure he wants to buy another property.  He likes the freedom of renting.  

I am very tempted to do something like that.  Even say just 3 months in London, really get the chance to get to know it.   I do like this house  but I can foresee a time when it might be advisable to downsize again.  

Which brings me to a dilemma.  I have spotted a world cruise which covers most of the destinations on my wish list.  I am sooooooo tempted😂.   It would be in 2023.  It seems like good value, although of course it's still shed loads of money.  I need to mull it over. I might just give them a ring and see how much deposit they require.  

I know it's wildly extravagant but it would be a once in a lifetime trip.  And I'm not getting any younger. 😱😅.  I would be 72 by then.  My thoughts are I don't want to leave it too late and find I'm too decrepit for a marathon trip like that.  The big plus for me is that there is absolutely no flying.  

I'll sleep on it and ring them tomorrow.  

We've booked the cottage......it looks gorgeous.  Very comfortable and luxurious.  It sleeps 8 and there will be 5 of us, 3 adults and 2 babies so plenty of room when any of us need  a bit of quiet me time. It's in the country between Bakewell and Buxton so close to Chatsworth, Haddon Hall and all the beauty spots.  Bakewell is gorgeous, actually I wouldn't mind moving there or somewhere like it.  Still quite near to family.  

Decisions, decisions.  But not today. 😁.  

sugarbaby125

Welcome Ski Bunny    

thepurplepixie

One of my DsIL is very keen to move to Australia or New Zealand, my son isn't keen.  It is very difficult and if I am honest I can see it breaking them up.  Hard to find a compromise.  I stay out of it, sad to have GC so far away and miss so much of them growing up but I guess I am lucky as I have six GC and hopefully will have more when youngest DS and DD decide to start families.

My neighbour loves cruises, she had 3 booked for this year but the first has been cancelled.  She says she's going to spend her money as her adult children are not in contact with her so she doesn't want to leave anything for them.  It is sad, having said that she can be very difficult and made our lives a misery when we first moved here.

Wednesday2000

Skibunny - I was going to mention Olivia Pope as she was the one woman who popped into my head when I thought about fashion and TV shows. We watched Scandal for a while and also the show How to get Away with Murder.

LL - Wow, MIT, very impressive! The cruise sounds exciting.

We booked a hotel at the coast for early July today. Hopefully I would have been vaccinated by then. We will put the dogs in for boarding for two days and have another night out in London the night after. I'm even tempted to go to a club night if they are open by then. Maybe this will be the last year it is acceptable to go to a night club at my age.

I got some flowers delivered from my brother for my birthday today. I was wondering what the delivery was. I emailed Ruby & Oscar and they haven't even responded about my necklace. I may call up tomorrow and demand a refund of my money!

helensbiggestfan

Wednesday, is it your birthday today. 

Floss

thepurplepixie said:

One of my DsIL is very keen to move to Australia or New Zealand, my son isn't keen.  It is very difficult and if I am honest I can see it breaking them up.  Hard to find a compromise.  I stay out of it, sad to have GC so far away and miss so much of them growing up but I guess I am lucky as I have six GC and hopefully will have more when youngest DS and DD decide to start families.

Me & my first husband planned to emigrate to New Zealand back in the 1990s before our boys were at high school. We had the date for our medicals & application interview at New Zealand House, but my late MiL1 kicked up such a fuss that we pulled out and stayed in Cheshire. My mum left it to us to decide, just as you are doing @thepurplepixie.

sheilavw

Happy Birthday Wednesday. Big hugs LL, a difficult day for you. Lots of reminiscing today about moving. I never had the courage. I wish that I was more adventurous. We are hoping our cruise goes ahead in mid August. We (me my sister and my brother ) have also booked a little break in Blackpool, 3 nights 16/7 Jane Mcdonald is performing that weekend, not sure whether book to see her. I hope that we all keep well enough, things do seem a little better. I have been working from home but back  to school on Monday.

I started staining some fence panels today, they really do need doing every year. There's a total of 16, plus the gate. Then there's the decking to oil, plus the sleepers to oil round the bedding. I've brought another big tin of decking oil. I also have a small metal table / 2 chairs and a small metal plant table on the decking that are currently cream. I have bought some ronseal outdoor paint in sage. I do hope that it will look good once done, it will match the garden harbour seat that I acquired last year. It is starting to feel more like Spring.

My hands need some attention after all the garden work!

savingmore

Wednesday2000 said:

I feel like things are going to get back to normal soon so I feel like I should be preparing myself for going out socially again. I am back on the healthy eating as I have gained weight being on this medication. I just made a low calorie veggie soup and I'm about to bounce on my trampoline for a while. I will go for a walk later. It's not cold here, just dull and cloudy. Not very inspiring.

I'm going to have a bath, shave my legs and put on body lotion tonight. I might whiten my teeth tomorrow as I forgot to do that.

I really cannot wait to get back to charity shops again. I'm hoping they still have winter clothes out as I want to make sure I am prepared for next winter as I wasn't prepared for the cold snap we had.

We started watching the movie Life last night. It has Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal in it if anyone is interested in eye candy. I can't think if it was on Prime or Netflix.

Life (2017) - IMDb

Thanks wednesday for the advice about dyeing my brown jacket, think I won’t bother and just give to charity shop.....it’s where I got it from anyway!!!!  Re: charity shops.  Not only do ours still have winter clothes in the windows, they are decorated for christmas!!!  although I can’t say much, I still have my tree up 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

savingfortomorrow

I am looking forward to getting into the charity shops and dropping off a few items and getting something new. 
I feel that my shopping goals have changed a lot, maturing maybe- buy less, buy better, and ideally secondhand. I prefer secondhand because the clothes have been washed before and given how badly some clothes wash - at least they are prior shrunk. 

LL - If this year has thought me anything takes the opportunities as they come. Travel while you can and want to, travel when the places reopen and enjoy it. Life has shown us that everyone was too hubristic thinking we can plan or control life. I know you seize opportunities. I kick myself for not doing more, for not doing this or that but going forward every opportunity must be seized. However, it can be hard to plan to travel the world when you can't pay for a pint of milk- we make the best of our situation. 

I thought of films with fashion I have enjoyed and I agree that Thomas Crown affair costumes were wonderful. Faye Dunnaway was a bit ott but the costumes were memorable. I prefer the films from 1930 to 1950s with great budgets and designers.  I find films costumed by Edith Head have a certain timeless quality with clothes like Sabrina, to catch a thief and so many more. https://www.thecut.com/2013/10/30-fantastic-movie-costumes-by-edith-head.html
I think the fashion was cut so perfectly was to add to the escapism of depression and wartime and post-war limited resources.
Modern films are not as aspiational- there is no feeling of style more than character, dress serves the character more so. It seems most movies have people dressed rather poorly and non-stylishly.

Wednesday2000

It wasn't my birthday yesterday but it is this week.

We watched the rest of that film Life last night. It was like the film Alien but not that good at all! I would have preferred to have rewatched that instead.

I'm going to wear my plum jacket out for my walk today. I saw an advert for some M&S lounge wear that women are supposed to like on my phone last night. I will look later. 

I did order some running trainers from Amazon. I remember saying I was going to start running up and down the long road near me. This is was at the start of (the first!) lock down and I never did it! At least if I have proper running shoes it might happen.