Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

sugarbaby125

LL that house looks lovely. I am glad that all of you had such a lovely holiday 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment yesterday was taking delivery of the used solid oak chest of drawers that I had bought for my son's bedroom. from eBay.   

phoebe1989seb

LL, glad you had a good time and that the weather stayed kind for your trip! Your accommodation/its setting looks very bucolic 😃

Wednesday, you crammed loads into your London day out! Sounds like the expense was well worth it 😉

helensbiggestfan

Bucolic......😂🤣.  It certainly was that alright, septic tank, no mains gas.......a perfect country retreat - Far From the Madding Crowd.  😉

Champagne moments this weekend .........catching up with gardening, laundry etc, some bargains from the chazzer.   But best of all watching my missed episode of Line of Duty in preparation for last nights fireworks (penultimate episode).  With a humdinger of a line from Hastings...."Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey". 

I nearly fell of the sofa.

  It brought back memories of my best friends dad .....he would chastise his children for blaspheming and then  say "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what am I going to do with you".  He genuinely couldn't see the irony. So funny.  

2nd covid jab this Morning.  🤞.   I have kept the next few days free just in case I feel rough again.  

phoebe1989seb

That sounds very much like the set up we have here, LL - we have our own borehole for water, a septic tank and no mains gas. It's actually very liberating to feel you're living off grid permanently, although it wouldn't suit everyone.

The one thing we don't have is a composting toilet, which we did experience when staying at a remote coastal cottage in Devon a few years back. DH suggested fitting one in the outside loo that still exists here...for gardening purposes, lol 😂

We've had lovely champagne worthy weather here over the past few days! 

My online plant purchases for the white bed received over the last week or so are doing well - all are now potted on into one litre pots and I've been hardening them off in the garden each day.

To ensure we have the widest possible flowering window, I purchased a few more white perennials (from Kelway's and Claire Austin) but these weren't expected to arrive for at least ten days, giving us plenty of time to get the bed ready. Imagine my surprise when the day after placing the Kelway's order I received notification that it would be delivered the next day! The new additions came Friday and are large, healthy plants - exactly what you'd expect as they were originally destined for the sadly cancelled Chelsea Flower Show. They had 20% off too!

Because of an unforeseen change to the plan, we needed a further ten 2.4m oak sleepers. Unfortunately we'd had all the most *aged* (aka half price because no-one else wanted them!) ones last time so thought we'd probably have to pay full price (£42 each), but somehow managed to secure a discount of £190 😉

The weekend was devoted to getting more of the white bed done and we're on target to have it finished over the bank holiday weekend!

Other champagne moments - midweek DH came home with a couple of freebies from his ongoing landscaping job at the 54 acre estate - a very large (and heavy!), shallow salt-glazed sink and four cast iron wheels, all of which were destined for the skip. We needed an outside sink for the garden tap so this is perfect. At 20cm diameter, the wheels are a bit small for the shepherd's hut I'm hoping to build one day, but they'll be fine added to a chicken house when we finally get round to rehoming some ex-battery hens 😃

DH is also going to be renovating the Victorian gate house at that property for use as a luxury holiday let, which will involve the removal of some timber gothic style windows (the home owners want them replaced with uPVC 🙄). These have been promised to us and will be ideal for my DIY greenhouse which is rapidly evolving into a loose interpretation of a gothic folly, lol!

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunny weather - it's lovely here so I think we'll eat alfresco again tonight and maybe light the fire pit we bought (50% off!) two years ago but only used for the first time last week!

mrs_slapshot

Thank you all for your good wishes, hugs and healing vibes - it worked!! Got a letter at the weekend with the all clear - I just need to go back in three years for my next routine scan. What a relief. Tears all round, and a few glasses to celebrate!! It really does get things in perspective...I think it affected me more than I'd realised because I've been a bit stressed out this week over seemingly small things. I think all the upheaval with the renovations was making me very anxious too - but I managed to get my bedroom back on Friday night, which is absolutely marvellous!! 

I went to the Swedish store on Monday and bought myself a few things; managed to get my dressing table and chest of drawers, a small side table for the snug as well as a rug, and some bits and pieces. £330 in total, and I had estimated around £450 judging by the size of the trollies (yes - that's two!!). I do still need to order my wardrobe, and the desk for my office as well as bedside tables which will be about another £400 or so. I don't begrudge it, because my last furniture (also from Ikea) lasted me 9 years, and I have already sold it to a friend. Then it's onto decorating the office, and planning my new kitchen.

Well, the Groupon goods I ordered whilst awake at silly o'clock last week arrived - I was expecting just normal sized packets of seeds so I had a shock when a large box arrived, with 4 smaller boxes of mixed flower seeds inside...there's enough seeds for about 45,000 flowers... 

I am also on the eBay hunt for furniture; got my eye on two small sofas, as I want to replace one of the ones in the snug with a smaller version so it's easier to move round in there.

Absolutely freezing here at the moment so I'm hoping it cheers up soon - things feel so much better in the sunshine! 

Wednesday2000

mrs_slapshot said:

Thank you all for your good wishes, hugs and healing vibes - it worked!! Got a letter at the weekend with the all clear - I just need to go back in three years for my next routine scan. What a relief. Tears all round, and a few glasses to celebrate!! It really does get things in perspective...I think it affected me more than I'd realised because I've been a bit stressed out this week over seemingly small things. I think all the upheaval with the renovations was making me very anxious too - but I managed to get my bedroom back on Friday night, which is absolutely marvellous!! 

I'm so glad you got the all clear. xxx

sugarbaby125

Mrs S I am so happy that you have been given the all clear.      Great news that you are finally back in your bedroom.    Your Ikea furniture purchases sound like they were great bargains.   

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment on Monday was my son coming home with his laundry and staying a few hours for a visit and dinner with us. We played various games of 'Heads Up' on his phone together, with lots of laughs, then we did a pub quiz which really got me using the old grey matter. I even managed to come 2nd in the pub quiz, a great result considering how intelligent my son and daughter are. 

I managed to find the furniture bargain of a lifetime on eBay. A 3 seater cream leather sofa, a matching armchair and 2 footstools all 4 items for the princely sum of...... wait for it - £10!!!!!      They were delivered today and to my utter disappointment, The sofa and armchair were too big to fit through my front door, no matter how hard the 2 removal men tried.    I paid my good fortune forward to my downstairs neighbour, who took the sofa and armchair into her home for one of her adult daughters to have. My neighbour could not believe the quality of the italian leather and she was amazed that I was willing to allow her daughter to have them for no cost, but at least that way they would be used and appreciated for years to come by another family. 

sheilavw

great news Mrs S, sorry Sugarbaby about the sofa/chair. You must have been gutted