Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

helensbiggestfan

I love orange........it works for me.😂

true story......

I was looking for a suit for work.  A very snooty shop assistant tried to convince to buy a navy one.  I explained to her that I couldn't wear navy.  She was very rude, she said "nonsense everyone can wear navy."  Without a further word I just smiled and slipped the jacket on.  She was mortified and most apologetic, saying she would never have believed it.  As you say, when a colour really doesn't suit the wearer they can look quite ill, whereas the right colour can bring a face to life and make  it positively glow.  Dressing for my role as "Corporate Woman" was often very difficult, especially when employers provided a uniform.  You could bet your life it would be navy or black.  😱😂.  

I have had a lovely couple of days.  Yesterday I went for a massage, they threw in a free facial because they had mixed up my appointment.  When I showed up on Monday they were embarrassed because they had made a mistake and double booked.   I didn't mind, complain, or ask for compensation, they just offered me a free treatment.  

So nice of them....that's what I call good customer service.  

Wednesday2000

helensbiggestfan said:

I have had a lovely couple of days.  Yesterday I went for a massage, they threw in a free facial because they had mixed up my appointment.  When I showed up on Monday they were embarrassed because they had made a mistake and double booked.   I didn't mind, complain, or ask for compensation, they just offered me a free treatment.  

Oh, how nice of them!

phoebe1989seb

Great customer service, indeed, LL 😀

Like many parts of the UK, I guess, the weather here has been pretty rubbish this week with hail, rain and gales mingled with a little bit of sunshine. It's also been blooming cold of an evening so we've resorted to lighting one of the wood burners as we don't really use our central heating (think we had it on twice last winter 😉).

As a result of the weather my gardening champagne moments came to an abrupt halt, but not before I'd got some veg seeds planted in the courtyard and done more long overdue weeding in the main garden. It's looking better but still a very long way to go. Fortunately lots of perennials are springing up and disguising the fact that plenty of weeds remain 🤣

During our second spring here (2019), in a virtually unnavigable part of the garden, we discovered a large red azalea engulfed by weeds and completely overshadowed by the stunning but ginormous (10' high) pink rhododendron - which, along with a pair of towering Scots pines, we think is one of the few specimen plants left over from when our mill was part of the mansion's estate.

One (dry) evening this week DH finally found time to transplant the azalea to one of my two *hot beds* where it's now stretching its legs with lots of other red, orange and yellow plants. It appears to be surviving the move - so as it was *free* I guess that's a champagne moment 😎

Confined indoors during yesterday's 70mph gales and torrential rain, I took a break from sewing and started on the decluttering. A machete would have been useful to carve a path through the offending guest bedroom with its towers of containers, bags and stacks of long forgotten stuff, some of which hasn't been seen since we sold our last house at the end of 2017!

Anyway, progress was very slooow, mainly down to lack of space for sorting as, in addition I was hampered by piles of plaster bags and boxes containing the sanitary ware and taps for the downstairs facilities (we've only had these three years, lol!). I did, however, succeed in *getting rid* of two bin bags of clothing, which will go to our recently reopened cat's protection charity shop once they are accepting donations again.

As the Karndean for the upper hallway floor has now arrived (yay!), we're creeping closer to fitting the new storage, so I'm mindful that just having everything properly organised at last is going to be something worth celebrating 😃

Today it's actually freezing, so I'm huddled up in a woollen throw and several jumpers, sewing.....

Hope the weather improves as forecast and that the weekend brings forth loads of champagne moments for everyone!

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment yesterday was taking delivery of the used solid oak dining table and 4 solid oak dining tables that I bought for only £52 on eBay.  The photographs in the listing did not do them justice.  I spent today cleaning them and they are now ready for us to use. The chairs and table are quite heavy, so I cleaned the 4 chairs first had a couple of hours rest, then cleaned the table.  

candygirl

sugarbaby125 said:

My Champagne moment yesterday was taking delivery of the used solid oak dining table and 4 solid oak dining tables that I bought for only £52 on eBay.  The photographs in the listing did not do them justice.  I spent today cleaning them and they are now ready for us to use. The chairs and table are quite heavy, so I cleaned the 4 chairs first had a couple of hours rest, then cleaned the table.  

Oooh I love those chairs !! What a bargain!😲

phoebe1989seb

Another fantastic bargain, sugarbaby....well done you 😄

phoebe1989seb

Hope everyone's having a champagne moment filled weekend?

We've crammed in a few between the decorating and the downpours, lol 🤣

I've been hunting for evergreen shrubs to put in a pair of fab (and huge!) Errington Reay urns we bought on eBay for the bargain price of £50 when we lived in the West Midlands. Yesterday we drove out to two possible sources and - at the one we'd never been to previously - we found what we wanted 😃 I hadn't realised how difficult a task I'd set myself so was thrilled with the purchase!

Another apricot David Austin rose also fell into our trolley - old stock so priced at only £22.95 😉 I really must stop buying roses though!!!

The weather was warm and sunny yesterday, so on our return we spent a few hours in the garden, tidying stuff, planting and tying up a large rambling rose that the gales brought down the other day. Just soaking up some sun was lovely!

In the evening we resurrected a family tradition we've missed the past few years, by having old school party food (including homemade trifle!) whilst watching Eurovision 😎

helensbiggestfan

Well hello my lovely friends.  

Champagne moment today.   well I'm typing this on my new to me all singing and all dancing Applemac Desktop courtersy of the generosity of my DS2. Apparently he no longer needs it and he says it will be better for my neck and shoulders than hunching over my iPad.  bless his heart I think he is right. it feels much easier.  

He also donated his desk, so he's set up a temporary workstation iin my kitchen diner.  so I've sorted out the desk and have been having a play.  Everything now links up. desk top, iPad and phone.  Fancy  that,  me.......finally getting all teched up. Just  need to get to grips with it all now.  

I completely forgot about Eurovision. 

weather still pretty grim, never mind its bound to pick up soon.  This too shall pass.  

sugar baby.......love the table and chairs.  

sugarbaby125

Thank you Ladies for your lovely comments about my bargain buy solid oak dining set.   

My Champagne moments started on Friday when I got a call from a customer service representative at Tesco to inform me that I had won £250 in one of their text to win competitions. I was so stunned and happy to find out that I was one of the 5 lucky winners. I have claimed my prize and will now have to wait until it is paid into my bank account. It made my whole weekend.   

My son is doing his final exams for his degree and as luck would have it, he does not have an exam tomorrow, so he is going to be able to come home and celebrate his sister's 29th birthday.   

I got the perfect birthday cake for my daughter and 2 large packets of fresh strawberries from a local Marks and Spencer and both were yellow sticker items. I saved £5.36 on the price of the cake and a whopping £8.56 on the fresh strawberries.   

My solid oak tall bookcase was delivered today. We will unpack it tomorrow with my son's help. Really looking forward to putting all of my books on it. 
 

phoebe1989seb

Lots of lovely champagne moments there, LL and Sugarbaby 😃😃😃

Shame the weather still isn't perfect - hopefully it's going to improve from tomorrow here....

The other day I had the very rare opportunity (only an option for a 24 hour period because of a previous glitch on the website) to buy the wallpaper I've been lusting after for the guest room with a 20% discount....fab champagne moment!

It's an unusual, hand-drawn design featuring owls, which fits perfectly with our *organic/naturalistic with strong hints of the Arts and Crafts Movement* theme that runs through the cottage!

This afternoon it arrived and although we won't be ready to hang it for a while, I'm in love 😍