Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

liberty_lily

Great to see you posting again, Helen 🙂 Some fab charity shop bargains there! Sorry the house sale is dragging a bit - I think things have changed a lot since our last sale/purchase in early 2018 (not to mention our previous few transactions) when the whole process was done and dusted at breakneck speed 😉 Hopefully it won't be much longer to wait now. I presume you're still planning to wait a while before making your onward purchase, which seems to make sense given the current set of circumstances?!?

My champagne moments this weekend - cracking on with the building work so that we're finally at the *starting to put things back together* stage which is really exciting! Yesterday we at last got a chance to see what the view from our huge wall of glazing will be after we removed the hideous, rotting French doors.

We've only got three weeks (of odd days between paid employment, so probably ten days in total!) to get everything built and watertight before DH heads off to Brighton for a week on 22nd Oct and obviously the weather can't be relied upon at the moment. But this morning's heavy rain didn't materialise which is fortunate as we had a whopping 4m x 3m area swathed in tarpaulin overnight (removed now so totally exposed to the elements) 🙄 We'll complete the inside - including the new cloakroom - during the run-up to Christmas 🤞

My new vase arrived yesterday evening (a Liberty of London sale bargain) and is even lovelier in real life 😍

We've someone coming to pick up the final large piece of furniture we're selling later, so when the work is finished and we're ready to put the room back together, all the extraneous stuff will be gone!

helensbiggestfan

sugarbaby125 said:

Liberty Lily some great bargains. Your selling of surplus items is also going really well.

Helen, so lovely to read a post from you once again. I was just beginning to worry about your absence from both of the threads. It is never the same without your contributions. Congratulations on your continuing weight loss. The dinner service was a great bargain, as was the brooch.

Thanks SUgarbaby.  Nice to have been missed. 🤣

Meant to say your "cultural doings" sound amazing.  Keep going with the writing, one of these days we shall be seeing your name up in lights.  

Finally some good news on the house front.....🤞🤞. Buyer and buyers buyer mortgage  offers in, just the searches now. We might be looking at the end of November. Pre Christmas is perhaps not the best time to find a decent rental but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it,  one step at at time,  

Car loaded ready for the tip run tomorrow, then I can have a little break before tackling my study and then another wardrobe sweep next week.  Once I've secured a rental I can then decide what furniture to keep and what to let go. Trying to avoid paid storage so I intend to rent somewhere with at least two bedrooms, so I can use at least one room for storage. 

Getting excited now.....

liberty_lily

That's great news, Helen, hopefully it won't be too much longer now and that you find a good rental till you're ready to buy again 😊

After a really productive day on the building work front from DH (and me getting the ceiling beams of the covered seating area painted) - which is pretty champagne worthy in itself! - we had a quick scoot out to Homesense and rewarded ourselves with 4 bags of our favourite Spanish crisps and a bird print which will hopefully (with a bit of reorganisation) fill the final gap on the staircase gallery wall 😁

sugarbaby125

Helen great news on your house sale front. I never dreamt of being a playwright, but now that I am trying my hand at it, I find that I have finally found the writing medium that I am prepared to pursue. 

My Champagne moments today:

I exchanged £5 worth of Tesco Clubcard vouchers for £15 of Picturehouse vouchers, then I booked to see the films Don't Worry Darling, followed by Mrs Harris goes to Paris. I really enjoyed both of these films, but Mrs Harris goes to Paris was so much fun and had such a stream of the most gorgeous Dior dresses in the film that were a feast for the eyes. This film was a 9.5/10 for me. 

Don't Worry Darling is a film in the vein of The Stepford Wives. It was entertaining, visually beautiful and yet thought provoking for me. This film was an 8/10 for me.

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday and today:

I went to watch the film The Woman King last night at the Ritzy cinema. I absolutely loved this action-packed film, especially because it is full of very strong female characters. There were about 50 of us in the audience and at the end of the film there was loud clapping and whoops of delight. For me this film is a 10/10 

I have finished writing the 1st draft of my 1st play 

 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment today:

I finished proofreading, corrected my play where necessary and then I submitted it in the playwriting competition. 

sheilavw

good luck Sugarbaby

sugarbaby125

Thanks Sheila 

liberty_lily

Wishing you luck in the competition, Sugarbaby 😊

weenancyinAmerica

Big step Sugarbaby getting that done - wishing you great success.