Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

helensbiggestfan

Good Mornjng 

champagne moment right now.  Sat in bed, nice and cosy, looking out at a winter wonderland.  Heavy snow yesterday and everywhere looks beautiful, the trees are laden with the stuff.  It looks like a Christmas card. 

You sound as busy as ever Phoebe.  

Sheila.......your trip to Turkey sounds great.  A bit of extra sunshine to get you through a U.K. winter is always a good thing. 

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I know what you mean about dark mornings.  I genuinely don't mind the winter, can even cope with the weather but for me it's the lack of daylight.  I console myself that we are almost at the solstice and then the sun returns again, when each day starts getting a little longer.   

Its no coincidence that most mid winter and/or religious festivals involve light, warmth and food.  They tap into our human psyche and our need for the sun and daylight.  

Time to get the Christmas decorations up, light the candles and start eating good hearty meals.

I intend to make a start reupholstering my dining chairs today. Use my time productively.  😂

have a great week.  

phoebe1989seb

I don't blame you getting away to Turkey for a blast of winter sunshine, Sheila 😄 Sounds like you and your family had a lovely time!

Your upholstery project is right up my street, Helen 😉 You should post pics when the chairs are done.....
Good hearty meals are definitely the order of the day! No plans to get the decorations out/up here for a couple of weeks although the advent calendar I ordered arrived last week so that's all ready to display 😊

No snow here, but icy cold so this morning I kept cosy by the kitchen wood burner sorting/filing receipts and other documentation for our work on the cottage. If I succeed in summoning the enthusiasm I might begin tackling the rearrangement of a cupboard in the guest room 🙄

sheilavw

lots of snow here, roads were bad this morning, no school closures though. Thanks guys, Turkey was lovely. My eldest Daughter is a real good organiser. We booked a private family boat trip for one of the days, just us cruising around Fethiye, Mother and Son team, good home made lunch, homemade cake in the morning and fruit platter in the afternoon. Also did a great safari trip, the youngsters did zip wire and wild water rafting, also got up mount Babadag on the new cable car which was an experience.

Hope you can post a picture of the chairs Helen. Your wood burner sounds cosy Phoebe.

I pushed myself to the pool at the gym after work to do my lengths. I always feel better when I've done it, had a few minutes in the jacuzzi after too

Wednesday2000

Wow, your holiday sounded lovely Sheila.

Siebrie

Sugarbaby125, are you okay? You haven't posted here for a fortnight.

sugarbaby125

Hello Siebrie, 

Thank you for asking. I am fine. 

I have been posting on the Frump To Fab thread, I have just not got around to posting on this thread. This is a very busy time of year for me. My older daughter's birthday is 10th December and my older son's birthday is 14th December. I have to start wrapping birthday and Christmas presents from tomorrow. 

MichelleG123

Hi all, hope you are all well! 
Well I've had an eventful few weeks, good and bad!
Good bits...
I went to a craft fayre at Wynyard Hall which is a local wedding venue/Spa venue. It was lovely. I went with a friend, had a cup of hot chocolate, a brownie and I bought a cushion as an Xmas present and a little mouse decoration for me, lovely few hours out.
I also went to Leeds for the day with my sister. Always a fab day because we are perfect shopping partners and I got a few Xmas presents sorted.
My little boy is doing well, he's been given a brown inhaler from the GP which has helped so much, looks likes he's got asthma rather than a viral wheeze as they diagnosed in hospital. He's well and truly on the mend.
He was actually due to go to disneyland with my sister as a surprise (she's a big kid at heart so uses him to go to all the places she secretly wants to go to but can't as she doesn't have children, she took him to lapland a couple of years back!) Anyway we have decided it's best he not go as she is nervous to take him and so are we. He didn't know about it so what he doesnt know won't hurt him but we can't get the money back for it. Not to worry though, he wasn't quite ready to run around a theme park!

The not so good
The storm was pretty bad here in the northeast, my fence blew over onto my car!
No real damage to the car but quoted £1500 and £1850 to replace the fence, really not what I need 4 weeks before Xmas
My trips to the dentist have continued, last time I went for a clean she has knocked a bit of my filling out so that hurts again, it's the one that I just had filled the week before, back I go again tomorrow, 5 times in a month. 
Also yesterday i was out walking dogs (my job) and I as I got back to the car I realised I had lost my car keys it took 2.5 hours to find them in the field and I burst our crying with relief when I did!

I've put it down to a crappy November, here's to December!   xx

sugarbaby125

Michelle, I am glad that your son is now getting back to normal with his inhaler. Asthma is manageable, thank goodness. 

Good job you eventually found your car keys.

A real shame that your fence is going to be so costly to replace, but good news that your car was not damaged.

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments over the last 2 weeks:

On Tuesday 16th November my daughter, my son and I had so much fun playing the card games Crazy Eights and Go Fish together. I love it when my son is not engrossed in playing online games. 

I went to the discussion group at Blackfriars Settlement on Wednesdays 17th and  24th November and yesterday. I enjoying all of the discussions we have, even when some of the view points being expressed are controversial. I have made some new friends amongst this group. 

I went to watch the film King Richard at my local Odeon cinema with my daughter on the 19th November and we both really enjoyed the film. We both give this film 9/10  I used my CEA card to get my daughter's ticket so it cost me nothing.  Since I got my CEA card, my daughter comes to the cinema with me far more often, which gives us more one to one time on our bus journeys and strengthens the bond between us. 

I went to visit my brother H on Saturday 20th and Saturday 27th November. He is a real joker and he had me crying tears of laughter.  He has a lot of health issues to deal with, but it does not dim his extrovert personality. 

On 23rd November I went to the event Black British Lives Matter with Marcus Ryder MBE at Brixton Library. It was a very engaging and informative question and answer session with one of the authors of this book. Sir Lenny Henry is the other author, but obviously he was not available for this local event. Marcus is so eloquent and I really enjoyed this event. It was a free ticket event. 

On the 26th November I went to my local Odeon to watch the film House Of Gucci with my daughter. I give this film 9/10, but for my daughter it was only a 7/10. I loved all of the drama and the comedic moments even though it ends in tragedy. On the 29th November we went to watch the film Boxing Day and we both gave this film 9/10. I not only sang and danced in my seat to all of the familiar music from my life that was in the soundtrack, I laughed out loud again and again. This film will become a classic romantic comedy for me.  Today we went to watch the film Pirates. For me it was only okay. I give it 6/10 and my daughter 7/10.

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment yesterday which I forgot to mention, was finding £5 laying on the ground at the bus stop  That is the 1st money I have found this year.