Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

liberty_lily

My champagne moment yesterday - I had ordered four special Christmas cards from an independent online retailer on 1st December and as of Thursday 15th these hadn't arrived. I contacted the seller to check if they'd definitely been dispatched, assuming if they had they'd probably been caught up in the Royal Mail strikes.

The seller confirmed dispatch on 2nd but offered to send replacements out via a courier. As a gesture of goodwill they also offered a full refund plus told me to keep the original cards should they turn up. Yesterday the refund was processed and at lunchtime the first set of cards were delivered...closely followed by the replacements...so now I have eight cards plus my money back 😁

AlwaysAllie

liberty_lily said:

My champagne moment yesterday - I had ordered four special Christmas cards from an independent online retailer on 1st December and as of Thursday 15th these hadn't arrived. I contacted the seller to check if they'd definitely been dispatched, assuming if they had they'd probably been caught up in the Royal Mail strikes.

The seller confirmed dispatch on 2nd but offered to send replacements out via a courier. As a gesture of goodwill they also offered a full refund plus told me to keep the original cards should they turn up. Yesterday the refund was processed and at lunchtime the first set of cards were delivered...closely followed by the replacements...so now I have eight cards plus my money back 😁

Whilst I can understand the MSE element of this, as I small business who sells online, can I just add that the strikes and subsequent delays requiring refunds and replacements have hugely impacted small businesses like my own. 

AA

liberty_lily

AlwaysAllie said:

liberty_lily said:

My champagne moment yesterday - I had ordered four special Christmas cards from an independent online retailer on 1st December and as of Thursday 15th these hadn't arrived. I contacted the seller to check if they'd definitely been dispatched, assuming if they had they'd probably been caught up in the Royal Mail strikes.

The seller confirmed dispatch on 2nd but offered to send replacements out via a courier. As a gesture of goodwill they also offered a full refund plus told me to keep the original cards should they turn up. Yesterday the refund was processed and at lunchtime the first set of cards were delivered...closely followed by the replacements...so now I have eight cards plus my money back 😁

Whilst I can understand the MSE element of this, as I small business who sells online, can I just add that the strikes and subsequent delays requiring refunds and replacements have hugely impacted small businesses like my own. 

AA

Thank you....yes, I know which is why on Thursday as soon as the retailer said they'd be sending out replacements I offered to return one set should they both arrive. They told me to keep them and I certainly wasn't expecting or asking for a refund too as that is not my style at all... 

From 2007-2016 DH and I also ran a small online business (and previously I had a bricks and mortar shop for ten years), so completely get where you're coming from.

Very strangely today I received a courier notification saying another parcel from the same retailer was due to be delivered this evening. I hope its a mistake and there isn't going to be a third delivery of cards. If there is, they - and the second lot - will be going back.

liberty_lily

Today's champagne moment - all our hard work on the living room over the past year or so - including building our own massive windows from scratch - is finally coming together as tomorrow we'll be moving everything back in 😃

It's been such a terribly long hard slog and there will still be the flooring to finish in the new year - not to mention lots of other building projects around the place - but after 58 months the mill is starting to feel like home 😍

Here's a little sneak peek of the fireplace. We purchased the Arts & Crafts Movement surround at auction in 2016 (£56 plus fees), the candleholder (one of a pair) in the sale at Anthropologie in Regent Street, the monkey pic from Homesense, the copper spill vase (£18) from a local antique centre, the garlands we've had since 1992 and the Voysey wallpaper was an ebay find....

Wednesday2000

Lovely Liberty Lily.:)

I had a good time at the concert Friday, although it started late so we had to leave before the end as I was worried we would miss the last bus home. We would have missed it as well so I am glad I was cautious. It was so cold and we had been walking around all day so I didn't want to have to walk home as well. It was in a club called Chinnery's in Southend so I hope that was a one off with the late start. It is annoying to be able to go out to concerts locally, but still have to worry about getting home. I did see the xmas lights at Leigh Library Gardens first, but we missed the carol service.

We also went to a Wetherspoons in Southend so we spent far less than normal on drinks and I didn't drink anything in the club so we at least saved some money there.

I am so happy that the weather is slightly milder here too. I really hated that cold snap we had and it looks like it will warm up even more.:) I'm not planning on going anywhere today. I'm just going to have a hot shower and put on clean pyjamas and watch the football and maybe some more xmas films afterwards.

sugarbaby125

You have done it again Liberty Lily. So beautiful. 

Wednesday, it was a shame about the late start. A good job you decided to leave early and caught the last bus home. 

liberty_lily

Thanks so much Wednesday and Sugarbaby 😊 

Good thing you left the concert early and avoided a late night walk home, Wednesday! Shame it started late though....

I'm also so happy the cold snap is over - back to rain here, but I'd rather that than ice and snow...however pretty and seasonal they might be 🙄

Just doing some last bits of painting in the extension end of the living room (there'll be a few things to finish later once everything is in place...and some small areas of plaster have annoyingly not fully dried yet), then we can get cleared up, lay the huge rug and move the furniture in - hopefully before the football kicks off! After that - or maybe during - we can finally get the tree up 😁

Btw, thankfully that courier message was obviously sent in error as no third parcel of cards arrived.

liberty_lily

Champagne moment today....

Finally having a usable living room again after such a long time...and being able to put the Christmas tree in a window position at long last😁😁😁

When we bought the old mill in Feb 2018 it was in a sorry state (repossession), but by October that year we had converted the old kitchen into a snug living room. We always knew we'd need to do something with the attached late '90s extension but decided to wait a while to figure out what was best.

In Sept 2021 we took down the wall between snug and extension so last Christmas there were acrow props between the two spaces (and almost between my legs as I sat on the sofa, lol!). In Feb this year we decamped to our roomy kitchen with temporary TV and cosy sofa whilst we tackled the building work on the weekends.

I'm still tweaking a few things in the 'new' space (plus we need to lay new flooring next year) but here's a couple of Christmas tree pics taken since we put the room back together at the weekend....

sugarbaby125

Liberty Lily, I love your tree and decorations. It looks even better lit up. 

Wednesday2000

Gorgeous tree!:)

My champagne moment is that I am so happy about the change in weather. I really hated the icy cold weather we had and it feels almost like Spring is coming. It is a bit confusing walking around my local area and seeing the Christmas decorations in the windows. It doesn't feel quite right now it is so mild! Lol.