Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday:

I had a very busy day yesterday. I am now a Matinee Idol with The Old Vic which is a community programme. I was able to purchase a ticket with Matinee Idols to see the play The 47th today for only £5 and a £1.50 online booking fee. As the ticket for my particular seat would normally have cost me £108 (not that I would have been willing to pay that price) it is a good way for me to see great plays at The Old Vic at a very inexpensive price. I also got a free programme for The 47th which would have cost me £4.    

I enjoyed the play, but it did not keep me fully engaged throughout every minute of the play. It is a well executed idea, but it is all about American politics, which interests me far less than home grown politics. This play is about what the American political landscape would look like in 2024 and Trump, his 2 sons and his daughter are central characters. As are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. There are other political figures in the cast. Now that I have read the programme for this play at home, I understand a lot more about American politics, so it is a shame I did not get to read the programme before I watched the play. 

Before going to the matinee of The 47th at 2.30pm there was an event from 12pm to 2.15pm for the Matinee Idols at the Waterloo Action Centre where we had a workshop with voice, accent and dialect coach Keith Higinbotham. It was such an interesting workshop and at the end of the workshop Keith taught all of us how to do Trump's accent. It was so much fun and for me the time flew past so quickly because I was enjoying myself so much.      I also met like minded people and I talked to some of  them when we having our refreshments. We were provided with 2 types of hot soup: wild mushroom and tomato and basil. Sliced wholemeal bread, 2 finger kitkats, orange clubs and various packets of crisps. There was tea and coffee, plus water, white and red wine to drink.    

liberty_lily

Thank you, Sugarbaby 😊 
That was an amazing deal on your theatre seat etc 😆

Today's champagne moments - I've spent a bit of time gardening over the past couple of days and I'm really quite proud of what we've achieved despite the garden not being top priority this year! I think it's down to the legwork we've put in over the past four years that is really starting to pay off.

We had two large deliveries - the huge, 2.3m high double glazed panels for our revamp of the extension built by a previous owner unexpectedly arrived today only a couple of weeks after we'd ordered them 😀  A little annoyingly,  one was damaged in transit but another is being prepped and sent out. We'll be building the new frontage ourselves (gulp!) so have ordered oak for the framework although it will be a few weeks before we're ready to go. Because we're DIYing it, we've saved loads - the timber and DG panels were less than £1500 😁

Also, the new metal shed arrived. Think putting it up will be less champagne-y, lol!

Sadly, we're still awaiting the massive oak structural beams ordered back in early Feb because they're just too heavy so we're waiting for help with delivery.  Till then the acrows continue to hold up the snug ceiling 🙄

MrsPorridge

Went to the cinema this afternoon to see the Downton Abbey film - was really enjoyable, with a lot of laughs and a few tears at the end.  It's one of those films you can see with an 8 year old or an 80 year old - no embarrasing moments, no swearing and no killing - I loved it.

liberty_lily

My recent champagne moments include -

Spending most of the sunny, warm weekend in the garden, mainly relaxing with a book although I did do a little tidying/clearing. I even managed to do a small amount of writing 😄

DH was away from 8am on Saturday till 7pm Sunday because he went to see Gary Numan at Wembley. I had a ticket too but decided I couldn't be bothered with the faff of putting our dogs into kennels so we gave my ticket to DS. A couple of DH's friends from London went too and he met up with other friends (from Portsmouth and Southend) there. He stayed at DS's overnight so as well as getting the train from Brighton (where DS's house is) so he *only* had to drive from Wales to Brighton 🙄, it was a nice break for him....no DIY all weekend!

I treated myself to a rare supermarket ready meal (curry and poppadoms) which was a treat as we never do proper takeaways or eat out.

Yesterday I had another clearing out sesh as part of the ongoing prep for building work  (I was supposed to be painting but realised I needed to empty a huge antique sideboard which I'm planning to sell) and succeeded in filling a large packing box with stuff we no longer need/want. In addition there's about 20 wine etc glasses to go, probably to the charity shop as no time to do carboots this year.

I'm really pleased that since the beginning of April I've only spent £14.99 on what I call *fripperies* for the home 😆 I wouldn't exactly say we're tightening our belts (it's impossible to do that when we've so much building work to get done and even DIY, the materials still cost a fortune) and no council tax refund for us as despite our property being quite small,  we're in band E (Welsh properties were all rebanded at some point) 🙁 Don't think we're getting anything else, help-wise either, but fortunately we're OK financially and don't have a mortgage (or rent) to pay!

Anyway,  my one *splurge* was an emerald green lampshade for just £14.99 in a (rare these days) trip to Homesense. However,  despite it being one of my favourite colours I feared I had no lamp base it would suit so planned to return it this week. However, whilst sorting stuff to get rid of, I found an antique base we'd been given as a gift (😃😃😃)
by a lovely eBay seller back in 2008. The glass shade is a bit too fragile to display these days, but with its green glass grapes and leaves it's a perfect match for the silky shade. It's now taking pride of place on my desk and looks fab 😍

sugarbaby125

Phoebe, you have had some great champagne moments. That lampshade looks really good with that base on your desk. 

Wednesday2000

I got the £150 refund from the council and they said we were £200 in credit as well so we are getting that back too.:)

I just went to the park and chatted with my uncle on the phone and then bought a slice of coffee and walnut cake from a cafe and had it with a cup of tea when I got home.

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments:

On Wednesday I went to the music and lunch event at Blackfriars Settlement from 11am to 2.30pm. I had so much fun singing along and dancing on my chair to the music choices. We all had the opportunity to choose a track and explain why it was important to us in terms of our mental health. I had a baked potato topped with grated cheese, a very swell seasoned chicken thigh and a green salad for my lunch. I was also given 8 chicken drumsticks to take home and a multipack of Cadbury's mini chocolate fingers. So I was also able to feed myself and my 2 children dinner for free as well, as I just added some Tilda rice 'n' peas to the chicken drumsticks.  

On Thursday evening from 6pm - 8pm I had a Masterclass with Jennifer Tang which was part of the Neighbourhood Voices programme. Jen taught the group of us so much about the gesture and the conceit of a play is. We had to come with a story that would be either a play, a film or a television series. I came up with an idea for a situation comedy set in a hair salon and beauty shop for black and other women of colour. Jennifer then explained that the themes in your play has to affect every character in your play. I was surprised to find that I had quite a list of themes for my situation comedy and that they did in fact affect all of the characters. The idea was well received by Jennifer and the group, even though I do not have the first idea how to write a script for a television series, but I do not know what my future as a writer holds. I am growing and developing so much as a writer already.    

Neighbourhood Voices managed to get everyone in the group a free 1 year subscription to The National Theatre at Home. I cannot believe my luck.    

I am going to The National Theatre tomorrow afternoon to see the play The Corn Is Green. I am really looking forward to it.    

I bought myself a beautiful pair of 18ct gold drop earrings with diamonique stones on eBay this week. They looked even better when they arrived and they hang beautifully in my ears. They cost me £275 but they were definitely worth it.   

sugarbaby125

Congratulations ladies to all of you who have already received your £150 Council Tax rebate from your local council.   

I have been chasing my payment with Lambeth Council, but they have not yet begun to issue the claim forms to those of us that do not pay our Council Tax by direct debit. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment today was going to watch the play The Corn Is Green at The National Theatre. I got my ticket through the Friday Rush that The National Theatre does online every Friday from 1pm where you can purchase tickets for £10. I saved myself £10 on the seat I chose in the gallery. 

The play was great. So much of the dialogue between the characters was full of humour. I laughed out loud so many times. The welsh language is so lyrical and the welsh singing was so fantastic it transported me.  This play really emphasises the importance of education, especially for those children from disadvanted, working class families.  It reminded me of my time in my comprehensive school and being singled out by a really great English teacher. He believed in me even more than I believed in myself. He changed the course of my life, as I learnt to face my fears and still move forward with my life.   

arielgirl

I had a facial scrub, steam, and face mask earlier at home. I don't know the cost but the facial scrub was  ten pence size amount from £3.73 cle*n and cle*r tube. The steam was boiled water from the kettle with a slice of a big orange in it. The face mask was 80p ish from P/mrk....So certainly a lot cheaper than going to a beauty salon, I would estimate the whole thing came out cheaper than £1.50 a nice little routine for a saturday x