Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

Wednesday2000

My champagne moment was buying a bistro set for my garden from Wilkinson's. It was reduced to £65 from £130.

I was looking at pergolas but garden furniture is so expensive! I barely go in my garden anyway but just wanted to have a table and chairs out there for when I do go out there. I need to get daylight in the winter because of my mental health so that will be handy to have seating when the days get darker.:)

I thought that there isn't any point spending a lot of money on my garden as I might be downsizing to a flat anyway in a few years and most of the flats I've seen online only have balconies.

liberty_lily

I admire your steely determination and wish you the success you so deserve, Sugarbaby 😊

I wouldn't have the guts to promote myself, lol!

I think I mentioned we sold our last house to Josie Silver (who has written several books - love stories, so totally not my thing! - published by Penguin), but our house before that was bought by a children's book author (Rebecca Wescott) and previously we sold to another published writer, although his was a one-off autobiographical book connected with something that had occurred in his life.

So we've had dealings with a few writers over the past 15 years and I keep in touch with Josie Silver via email. She knows I harbour ambitions in the writing arena and has given me encouragement but I'd be too embarrassed to ask for advice/or for her to read anything I've written...which is a bit stupid of me 🙄

On the subject of houses, I'm sorry your sale seems to be dragging, Helen - it's early days still though and sales definitely seem to be taking longer since the pandemic. I get what you're saying about moving in the depths of winter - we've done that three times (30th Nov, 16th Dec(!!!) and most recently Feb 2018 when we moved out on 2nd and into our purchase on 16th. With that last move we actually completed two weeks before we moved out - Jo and her DH kindly let us stay (paying them rent) beyond completion to give us time for our purchase to be ready (although it still wasn't) and I remember moving stuff in the snow which was ghastly 🙁

I'm sure you'll be all done and dusted long before the foul weather hits 🙂

My champagne moment today was choosing some storage for a huge built-in shelving unit DH constructed a couple of years back - and discovering my chosen baskets were now half price 😁

Also, the two dresses have gone back so that's £80 saved 😉

sugarbaby125

Thanks Helen and Phoebe 

Phoebe, I have been an amateur writer all of my life, but I have never had the courage to try to get any of my writing published. This time is different. I have been given such a wonderful opportunity to become a playwright and once I have finished my play, I do not want that to be the end of my journey. I do not want to regret not trying to use the contacts I am making to get my play staged. If all of my efforts do not have the desired result, then I will accept that, but this time I cannot sit back and leave it all to chance. 

I met my beautiful Great-granddaughter for the first time today. She is a very placid, contented baby. Once again there were 4 generations of my family in my oldest daughter's home. We had so much fun and laughter together and my daughter cooked up a feast. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments on Friday:

I went to a comedy show at the Streatham Space Project. It was supposed to start at 7.30pm but they were running late, so they started 15 minutes late. They overran by an hour, so we got even more laughs than expected. 

I laughed so hard, for so long, that I was surprised that I did not have a sore throat after the event. It was such a joyous event to be a part of that audience. 

There was only one young male comedian that was not very funny, but the rest of the line up were completely on point. 

A young girl and her friend who had been at the event approached me at the bus stop and said 'I loved your laugh. You made me laugh' which was such a lovely compliment to be on the receiving end of. 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments on Saturday:

My older daughter gave me 7 new books for a belated 60th birthday present. Four of the books were already on my must read list. I am so thankful. 

My two granddaughters gave me a silver chain with a turquoise opal pendant for my belated 60th birthday present. They had not wanted to post it, as they feared it would get lost in the post. Such a lovely surprise and a perfect present for me, as I love wearing jewellery every day. 

Wednesday2000

sugarbaby125 said:

I met my beautiful Great-granddaughter for the first time today. She is a very placid, contented baby. Once again there were 4 generations of my family in my oldest daughter's home. We had so much fun and laughter together and my daughter cooked up a feast. 

Aw, gorgeous!

Your pendant sounded lovely as well.:)

liberty_lily

Your new great-granddaughter is beautiful, Sugarbaby 🥰 
Some lovely belated birthday gifts there too 😊

My champagne moment so far today is the wonderful rain we've had overnight and this morning - giving all our plants a much needed drink 🙂 

helensbiggestfan

Champagne moment today........croque monsieur for lunch,  so naughty but delicious. 

I mentioned on the fab thread I had my hair cut this morning, horrible stylist disastrous haircut. 😂. But I did have a nice massage on Saturday.  

Need to chase the EA  but can't face it today.  I know that there's a huge backlog of everything since covid, Including the legal work for conveyancing, I'll just have to be patient.  Not my strong point. It's just a waiting game but it feels like living in limbo and of course it ain't over till it's over. Nothing is watertight until contracts are exchanged.  

Happy belated birthday SUgarbaby,  your new granddaughter looks gorgeous.  

Wednesday2000

Oh yes, I found a fan this morning in the £1 type shop. Well, it was £1.29. I have been meaning to buy one for ages but I haven't seen them anywhere, but it was right by the counter. You know like an old-fashioned fan that you wave around.

I bought some more furniture from the second hand store too. A white bedside table that I am going to use as a pantry in an alcove in my house and a footstool. £30 for both. I like giving them money as it is good for the environment to not buy new all the time and they are a family business who have been there since 1976.:) They are being delivered tomorrow which is also handy as we don't have a car.

liberty_lily

Sorry to hear about your disastrous haircut, Helen 😢 At least it should grow out fairly quickly!

Some great bargains there, Wednesday 😄 Are you planning to upcycle them or are they perfect as they are?

We love second hand/vintage/antique stuff and have always filled our homes with it. It dates back to when I was an 18 year old fashion student furnishing my rental flat on the cheap - I got a fabulous art deco three piece suite from a Portsmouth junk shop (for £50 iirc). It was an iconic style that - despite me no longer liking art deco - would be worth loads now. Sadly when DH and I bought our first house we traded it for a pair of cheapo velvet chesterfields 🙄

From there we eventually progressed to ebay (via carboots and fleamarkets) and have never looked back - hardly any of our furniture has been purchased new 😉😃😍

My champagne moment today was my half price Oliver Bonas baskets arriving - they fit the shelving perfectly and add another burst of colour to the upstairs hallway!