Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

Wednesday2000

I bought a birch tree from Amazon with LED lights and I really like it. It is 5 foot and it cost less than £40 from Amazon. I got it instead of a pre lit xmas tree and I will use it all year round.

It felt very cosy in my living room yesterday.

Wednesday2000

phoebe1989seb said:

Phase 1 of my dental treatment is well underway, so I've been tied up with appointments (6 so far, 2 more booked). As hideous - not to mention expensive - as it all is, I'm so pleased I took the plunge and that this phase will be done and dusted in plenty of time for Christmas! Depending on the outcome, phase 2 will hopefully happen during 2022.

I hope your dental treatment goes okay! Sounds nightmarish to me.

You have reminded me that I need to book a hygienist appointment as well.

helensbiggestfan

Oh dear Wednesday, your house move sounds very stressful. Hopefully the kinks will be ironed out soon and you can move after the new year.

Michelle - hope your baby is better now.  Poor little mite.  Such a worry for you.   

SUgarbaby...some fab outings in the pipeline for you.  

Siebre.....the St Martins celebrations sound lovely.  

Well now Phoebe, as ever you have been ultra busy.  Some fab bargains there.  Well done on the dental work......I too will be taking the plunge next year. 😱😂.  I've put it off quite long enough.  There goes my hopes of a  world cruise 😂🤣 , but needs must.  My teeth have to take precedence. 

I've been busy here......once I got over the worst of the lurgy I set to and pulled out all the stops to sort out the clutter.  I now have the keeps neatly stored in the loft and just a few bits left in the top bedroom. Mainly using it as a stock room at the moment. What was my dressing room/stock room is now a proper designated office. 

 I have managed to get all the decluttering done quicker than I had anticipated so my builder is coming at the weekend to work out the final plans of what I intend to do up there.  Basically turn a neglected not really fit for purpose spare bedroom (it's not very well insulated up there) into an elegant master bedroom.  On a very tight budget......of course.  

I also want him to create a vestibule in the hall.  It still has its original beautiful double doors, but unfortunately they don't fit very well.  Each winter I stuff all the gaps with loo roll and seal up the door with duct tape😂🤣.  The hall is also rather dark. So I have decided to install a vestibule with a second glass door to allow more light during the day and to keep out drafts. I will of course keep the original doors in situ because they are such a nice period feature and they will also serve as storm doors too, closing them at night or when the weather is bad.  

I am now aiming to get all the work done asap so I can get the house market ready for next year.  I do like this house but I am ready for a move.  I am 70 now as you know and I joked with my plumber that maybe I had one more renovation project left in me.  He just laughed and said "come on E, I know you, you've got another 3 in you at least, you will still be at it when you are 80. 😂🤣".

Well maybe ...........I do love rescuing old houses, although I might have to stick to designing and planning in future and delegate a bit more.  I did spot a lovely barn conversion on Right Move.  It had had most of the big jobs done and just needed  a few tweaks. Unfortunately it was snapped up.  

Wednesday.  I have already decided that I may well have a period of renting when I sell up.  I still can't decide whether to go for a flat rather than a house.  I thought it might be a good idea to rent first, sort of try before I buy.  Lol.  

 Due to being ill I had to postpone my covid booster and my flu jabs so I havent been out and about much, so my champagne moments have been quiet, mainly "at home".  I have rescheduled my jabs for the end of November so hopefully I will be back in circulation again soon.  

Nice day here, was going to give the lawn one last cut before the winter but cba today, bit of a cold wind for me.  I have been shopping this morning so need to put all that away and then just potter about, get the hoover out, cook a nice dinner.  

Oh the excitement.  

helensbiggestfan

Wednesday.....I was dead cheeky and took a look at those birch trees after you had mentioned them on another thread.  I think they look really nice.  I have a 7ft tree which although fake , is lovely.  It ought to be ......even though I bought it from the garden centre when my son worked there and took advantage of his staff discount it still cost me an arm and leg. It's actually a bit big for my small sitting room, so I tend to set it up in the dining room.  

This last couple of years I have had a smaller real tree in my sitting room, but that is now grown a bit too big so I'll leave it outside and get some lights for it.  So I might copy you and get one of those birch trees for my lounge.  

Wednesday2000

Helen - I hope you like the tree if you buy it. I just pulled the curtains and switched mine on. I sent a pic from my phone to a few people yesterday and they all liked it.:)

Re a flat rather than a house. The estate agent was very against us downsizing to a flat after only living in houses. She said they can be a headache if any of the other people living there wanted to make changes to the building. She also said because we have animals that some of the properties have very strict guidelines against having pets of any kind. I don't know if that is just the area we are buying in but I remember you said you thought about getting a cat. Renting first might be a good idea.

phoebe1989seb

Your birch tree sounds lovely, Wednesday....perfect for adding cosiness to your room on a dull November day 😄

Helen - so pleased that you are back to full strength and cracking on with the final installments of your current project! I'm sure it will look fab and be instantly snapped up when you come to list it for sale 😉 You are lucky to to have a good trades person who can fit in your work without these ridiculously long lead times that are de rigueur right now! 

It's probably sensible to be waiting till the New Year to start your dental treatment now. I got lucky with regard to a cancellation which got my foot in the door slightly earlier than planned, but otherwise I'd have probably been looking at 2022 too.

I've no real excuse for letting it drag on so long unless you count four long distance moves in eleven years (none less than 150 miles) whilst trying to coordinate the care of three elderly parents (both of mine plus my FIL) with dementia ☹️ Oh and we couldn't do things the easy way....each house we bought was a project and apart from the electrics and heating work, we tackled most of the building work ourselves 🙄

Sadly, my teeth never made it to the top of the priority list....but better late than never! It's not as though I'm scared of going to the dentist - like exams (!!!) I actually quite enjoy the experience, lol 😂

MichelleG123

Hi everyone, well little one has been back in hospital again
He finished his medication on the Friday and started to go downhill on the Saturday, back in Monday morning for some more steroids. Thankfully he didn't have to stay overnight and it on the mend again, spent 2 hours at school today and did fine.

I was actually going to mention to you that the hospital parking was a bargain 🤣, £2 for 12 hours, £6 for 7 days.....but I have a £70 parking charge today!!!
I paid for the parking and have the tickets so raised an appeal....you know when you think I really can't be chewed with this at the moment!

Phoebe, if your like me you will never get rid of your fabric and trimmings but also never use them!
I read something the other day that made me laugh, a fabric merchant asked someone what they make with their material and they answered 'oh mostly just piles of lovely fabric' :🤣

The furniture sounds great, I definitely need to work on my house more, I'm trying to repaint my walls before Xmas but I just can't seem to get around to it!

I haven't got the tree up yet but we did pop to a local garden centre to get a few new decorations. Not bargains at all but it's becoming a bit of a tradition so had to pick up a few, then went to Home Bargains and got some more for a quatre of the price. 🤣

I'm off to a craft fayre on Sunday which I am looking forward to, could do with a few hours of wandering around!

Hope all is well, speak soon xx

sugarbaby125

Michelle, how worrying for you that your son became unwell again. I am glad to hear that he is on the mend again. I hope this time he has a full recovery from his ill health. 

MichelleG123

Thanks Sugarbaby, I spoke to the doctor to ask if I can expect him to get better now and she says they don't know. A lot of kids who develop breathing problems and need inhalers (they aren't calling it ashma yet) are in and out of hospital throughout the winter, I really hope not, he has never had any problems before this x

helensbiggestfan

Michelle.....sorry to hear about your little boy.  

Hang in there, the medical team will sort him out.  My eldest son had the same issues as a child.  When he was around 2 he took a bit of a nose dive, was hospitalised and was put on steroids for 6 months.  We were also given a nebuliser,   Once his lungs had recovered he was switched to inhalers, one to be used as a preventative and one as and when he had difficulties. He soon learned to tell me when he needed it.  

I learned  a few tricks to help manage his conditions. I hope you don't mind me sharing, some might be helpful for you.  

I don't know what advice you have been given but when my son was going through this it was in the mid 80s and not much was known about the role of diet but I began to experiment.  I noticed that he often had swollen lips just before an attack. It was a warning sign that his airways were beginning to swell and constrict.  I really began to watch what he ate and I noticed that certain foods or drinks would almost instantly cause his lips to swell. 

There was no Dr Google in those days but I stumbled on a book - can't remember the title now but it was all about "E numbers" as they were called then, basically all the chemicals added to food, colourings, preservatives etc.  

That book was enormously helpful and I began to use what I had learned to start making simple switches.....can't remember the exact details but for example switching products that contained sodium benzoate (routinely found in soft drinks), also paying attention to food colourings in sweeties.  I can remember switching Smarties to Boots own label. 

I seem to recall the main culprits were certain preservatives and food colourings, orange and red being the worst and of course the infamous blue Smarties.  

It was at this point that I really got interested in the connection between good diet and good health and I decided that as a family we would start to "eat clean" as much as possible.  I made mistakes but luckily the swollen lips early warning system really helped us to learn what would set off an attack.  

My sister was also a severe asthmatic as a child after contracting whooping cough and nearly dying when she was a baby.  She spent a week in an oxygen tent and her lungs were badly damaged.  My mum being Belgian never understood my typical English obsession with fresh air and kept my sister cooped up in hot stuffy rooms which just made matters worse.  I kept trying to tell mum to let my sister go outside and play but she wouldn't have it.  Fortunately my sister fell in love with horse riding at around the age of 11 and that was it, there was no stopping her, she was out riding ponies in all weathers, helping out at the stables. It did her the power of good and she went from being a pale sickly semi invalid into a strong and robust child within a matter of months.  By the time she was a teenager she was like an Amazon. 

My sister lived in London throughout her early twenties and soon went downhill again. Every summer she would be hospitalised when it got hot.....a combination of ozone levels and traffic fumes.  Of course she rarely went riding.  Since returning "up north" and breathing some nice clean air she has been much better.  In fact she hasn't been hospitalised for years, although she has now developed an allergy to bee stings and has to carry an epi pen.  She's still horse mad, and still rides most days. She's as strong as an ox now.  

I learned from my sisters childhood and I made my sure my son got lots exercise and fresh air. The only thing I was wary of was freezing fog but a bit of rain and mud never killed anyone to my knowledge so I encouraged his love of football and cricket and we allowed him to play for his local teams.  My son became sports mad, and as he he got older he became a real adrenaline junkie, rock climbing, running and doing the British Forces Fitness programme (a rigorous exercise regime performed outside). He told his instructors about his asthma and they told him to just go at his own pace and rest when needed.  Most the time he kept up and didn't need to take time out.  

I know it might sound a bit old fashioned but my advice is good clean food avoiding as much processed food as you can, especially stuff like Coca Cola and carbonated highly coloured soft drinks. Plus plenty of fresh air, and whatever exercise and activity he can manage.  

Asthma and it's sister relation excema do tend to run in families, so I watch my grandsons like a hawk, 😂. So far they seem ok but the eldest, aged 3 and a bit, has had a few too many chest infections  for my liking.  They live near a very busy main road and I think traffic pollution isn't helping.  Fortunately their house is on the market and they are aiming to move out of the city. I am very relieved because I do think traffic pollution is a trigger for asthma attacks.    The youngest gets a bit of excema but so far nothing too bad.  My poor niece, my sisters girl really struggled with excema but thankfully, at 21,  shes seems to be have finally grown out of it.  

I don't know if you have ever heard of this but I have been told by several health care professionals that the human body works on 7 year cycles.  Never "officially" by a consultant or GP but more as a general aside.  

Children with asthma and or excema are often told they will "grow out of it". Some do, some don't but for those whose conditions do improve it does seem to be around those 7 year anniversaries when you notice changes in their overall health.   Both my sister and my sons asthma seemed to improve from the age of 7.  And 14 and 21 also seemed to see big changes in both my sister and my son. At 14 they both seemed to become much stronger and healthier.  Maybe it's linked to hormonal development. I've no idea....or maybe it's just an old wives tale.  It's just something I've noticed.  

Another thing I did with my son was to reduce the amount of soft furnishings in his room, switching feather pillows for synthetics, having a wooden floor instead of carpet, no sleeping with teddies etc. i bought new him a new duvet and pillows every year.  Dust also set him off (me too) so we had hard floors throughout and I always damp dusted, catching the dust particles in the cloth rather than just moving it around. Cushions, sofa throws, rugs etc were washed regularly.  Keeping the dust down seemed to help.  House plants also improve air quality so I always had plants dotted around, especially near computers etc.  I also read somewhere that electronic gadgets harmed air quality so I banned all electronic gadgets from the boys bedrooms, no TVs, games consoles etc.  

Hope you don't feel I have patronised you, just telling you what I learned through trial  and error and what seemed to help us.  Obviously medical science has moved on since the 1980s but I still firmly believe that good nutrition equals good health, and that fresh air and activity is good for us, even if we don't always feel like it.