Frump to Fab 2022 - The Big One

helensbiggestfan

No worries Maman.  

I know what you mean about not wanting to socialise.  I am exactly the same.  I just seem to have lost the will.  I have even lost confidence in driving, unless it's the same old familiar routes.  I have to really force myself at times, I have to ignore the butterflies in my tummy and really push myself.  

I'm not going to be beaten though.  I'm not giving in.  

I WILL find my mojo again.  

I was badly let  down by a builder/odd job man last week.  (Not the Viking, he was too busy so I tried someone else.).   Big mistake.   This new guy Promised me a week and gave me just 3 hrs. 🤬.  Why do they always overpromise and under deliver.  I ended up having to finish what he started.  I have really overdone it, pulling some muscles in my back, agony. 

It's so frustrating but the simple truth is I'm not 30 any more. My head might be, but my body certainly isn't. Anyway he says he's come tomorrow. I'm keeping 🤞🤞. If not I'm going to have to find someone else.  

I really must learn to delegate more. As my late husband used to say "why have a dog and bark yourself".  

I just need to be able to hire the right dog (man). 😂🤣. I will need to be patient and wait for the Viking.  And pace myself!!!  

Turned really nippy here.  Back to grey skies and mizzle.

chanie

Lovely to see the flurry of recent posts.  I’ve kept up my fabbing maintenance, but have been spending far too much time in my one mile wear 🤣.  

Im feeling like I’m at capacity with my wardrobe now in that I don’t really want or need anything.   I’ve always enjoyed pottering around the shops, but I’m just not that interested at the moment.  

We had another quote for our loft extension and sadly the quotes are coming in higher than I would have liked, but I guess there is nothing I can do about that and we just need to get on with it.   I’m really excited and scared, as it’s such a big project, but I’ll be looking forward to decorating afterwards.  We are pretty much going to have to repaint the whole house, so it will be a good opportunity to choose some new colours.  

Wednesday2000

I'm feeling the same about going out. I don't have any social events planned for April as the concert we had was postponed. I will probably go and meet my brother in London at some point but that is all. Well, the funeral will probably be in April, but I don't know where it is being held yet and I would only go if it is in Surrey. My friend lives in Surrey so I might meet her afterwards if I do go.

Waiting so long to move has given me too much time to think. I've now decided that I want to move away from Essex after my husband retires and move closer to my brother. He is in south London at the moment, but hopefully will buy his own place in a few years in Kent, maybe. This is of course if this house move to Southend still goes through. My husband said he thinks we should be able to move in 4 weeks time, but I don't have his optimism at this point.

I still want to live near the sea, though. That is one thing I'm sure of.

I was looking at my husband's retirement predictions the other day and I think 2026 is realistic for him to retire, maybe even 2025, but then so many things have happened in the past few years it is hard to predict the future!

I did some batch cooking today to save money. I made some rice and veggies and a lentil, carrot and coconut milk soup. I have drawn up a meal plan too to make sure we aren't wasting food. I can't believe how much our energy bills are going up. The estimate was £180 up from £80. I read that people should submit an energy reading on the 31st March as the bills are going up 1st April so we are going to do that.

I've started cleasning, toning and moisturing instead of using a facial wash and then moisturiser the past few weeks. I haven't noticed any difference in my skin at all to be honest!

MrsPorridge

Today I made an effort and actually wore something I haven't worn for a long time.  I have lost a few pounds and it feels good to wear something that was a bit tight a few months ago.

I also put make up on and a necklace.  I can't remember the last time I bothered to wear any jewellery.

All this for a walk down to the village!  Its made me feel really good and positive.

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning lovely ladies. 

Well done Mrs P.  It does make such a difference when we make that little bit of effort and well done on the weight loss.  

Wednesday. 🤞 for your house move.  Did I get it right, you are aiming to move to Southend and then a further move after your husband retires.  Sounds exciting.  You're right we can't predict the future but that's half the fun isn't it.  

Chanie.....it's a fact that most renovations always seem to end up costing more than we had hoped.  A loft extension will be a major disruption but they really do open up a house though and give you a lot more space.  The one plus is if you can start soon you should be able to get the bulk of it done over the summer and be able to escape some of the mess by spending plenty of time in the garden.  And yes a perfect excuse to revamp the whole house. 😂🤣.  

I have discovered a you tube house blog called "House of Valentina". She and her husband Jack are American designers, house stagers and decorators.  They have lived in Europe too and I love their fusion of American practicality and European style.  I'm getting lots of ideas.  I have treated myself to a book about built in furniture. It's a design ideas book not a diy manual.  It's American. They really do go in for that kind of thing in a big way, probably because they need so much storage for all their stuff.  As you know I'm wanting to downsize so I'm already thinking about how I will need to plan good storage.  Lots of ideas buzzing round in my head.  

I love American style closets, much better than clogging up a room with wardrobes.  Way back in 1974 I once had a flat with a funny deep set recess off the sitting room which had a door.  I turned it into a proper walk in American style closet.  It was amazing, it just gobbled up stuff and provided so much storage.  I have wanted something similar ever since.  

The good news is the odd job man came yesterday and painted the top bedroom. It is a typical loft  room with sloping ceilings and odd angles.  I decided to paint everything one colour to give the room cohesion.   I thought I had bought a sort of cream colour, it's actually more of a coffee shade.  I love it, it's really warm and cosy looking.  He also managed to assemble my new kitchen island. So great progress yesterday.  

The bad news .....I weighed myself this morning.😱  Let's just say "oh dear" and leave it at that. Not going to beat myself up but will just move on and resolve to do better.  

A flurry of snow here this morning.  Thankfully don't have to go out so will have an indoor day.  

Wednesday2000

helensbiggestfan said:

Wednesday. 🤞 for your house move.  Did I get it right, you are aiming to move to Southend and then a further move after your husband retires.  Sounds exciting.  You're right we can't predict the future but that's half the fun isn't it.  

Yes! Southend for just a few years (5 at the most I would think) and then move to the Kent coast or maybe Brighton. It is exciting, but daunting too as this move has been a nightmare and I have lived in this area for 19 years and then in London for most of my life before that (apart from uni) so it does feel like a big move.

Wednesday2000

Reading back over what I wrote on here yesterday I thought I would pull myself together as it is nearly a new month and so I have arranged to meet my brother next month in central London to see the new Jared Leto ( ) film (even though I just read a bad review so maybe that might change to a different film, lol) and go to the vegan Burger King in Leicester Square as it is only open until mid April.

I have done some decluttering this morning and I want to put together a donation bag for the charity shop again! I have been quite busy today. I took down the curtains in my living room to wash and then did another load of laundry, polished the surfaces downstairs and vacuumed the floors and cleaned the windows.

I am going to write out a meal plan for the next week as I have groceries coming tonight and I want to eat the tinned food in my cupboard and to use up the cereal that I buy for my husband as we have lots of food in the house, but we buy more on top of it. We have been spending far too much on food as well as getting takeaways several times a week and it has to stop! We had to switch the heating back on as it is quite chilly for the next few days.

I also want to go out to buy a few things from the £1 shop later like notebooks and cleaning stuff. I have lots of spare change that I want to use up.

I did buy a lovely mango and papaya lotion that I really love and I usually put it on my hands when I have finished doing housework for the day and I sit and watch TV. I have got a deep moisturising balm on my face at the moment and I am about to go and have a bubble bath.:)

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

On Tuesday I went to my local Odeon cinema to watch the film Dream Horse and I absolutely love it. The film is based on a true story of 20 ordinary Welsh people who decided to form a syndicate to breed a racehorse. The film then follows their journey as they bring along the racehorse until it is time for him to be stabled at a professional stable with a renowned racehorse trainer. Then they follow his career as a racehorse. It was such a heart warming story and it tugged at my emotions. For me this film was a 9.5/10  My ticket only cost me £3.50 and I got a free cup of tea and biscuits. 

On Wednesday morning I went to Blackfriars Settlement and participated in the discussion group. 

On Wednesday evening I went to Streatham Space Project to watch the play A Dozen Things I'd Rather Be. It was a one man play and it dealt with very serious issues with a light hearted touch. It was a really engaging performance full of music and poetry as well as dialogue. I loved it. For me it was a 9/10  As I bought an early bird ticket some weeks in advance, I only paid £4.50 for my ticket. 

Yesterday evening I went to Theatre Peckham for the monthly Poetry Foyer Open Mic event. I performed my poem 'I'm Not Just Black'. For some reason I felt really nervous when I was performing my poem, so my delivery was not as good as it could have been, but the audience was quite large and the other 9 poets that performed before me were mega talented, so I did feel a bit intimidated. I did get 2 people that went out of their way to tell me how good my poem was in the interval, which was very gratifying considering the fact that I was in such august company.   

The weather in South London started off dry and sunny yesterday even though it was not very warm, but I got a shock in the evening when I was at the Poetry Foyer and saw that the temperature had dropped and it was snowing! The snow did not last long or settle, thank goodness. It was freezing once the evening was over and I was making my way home. 

maman

Thanks for the review @sugarbaby125. I'd read about that film as ,being Welsh myself, it appealed to me too. 😊

I think you're doing the right thing to make a meal plan from stores @Wednesday2000 . I think your situation is different as you don't want to be carting food with you to your new home. Personally, while I'm not panic buying or hoarding, I am making sure we have plenty of basics like tinned tomatoes in stock. I'm also trying to have some more frugal meals each week, keeping the expensive parts like meat to a minimum. This week we had a mushroom stroganoff one evening and a stir fry using some pork left from the weekend. I'm fortunate that we don't have particular money worries but I do try to make the money we have go as far as possible. 

Yesterday I had a facial and a head massage using a Groupon voucher that I bought a while ago. It was incredibly relaxing and although I felt like sleeping afterwards, my skin definitely looked brighter. I think the exfoliating step helped which is something I don't do at home. Are there any home remedies you'd recommend for exfoliating @helensbiggestfan as I don't think I have any products left. 

I have been spending a bit on myself lately but that's mainly been stocking up on favourites that I use every day like moisturiser and eye cream while they were on offer. 

We're still hoping that our 2020 sunshine holiday will happen in June.  I've bought myself two cheap dresses for wearing in the daytime, either on the way to the beach club or at home on hot days. 
Womens White & Navy Stripe Midi Dress | Tu clothing (sainsburys.co.uk)

The other one is a similar style in an animal print from M&S but that seems to have sold out. I think both stripes and animal print are fairly timeless so I'm sure I'll get plenty of wear out of them. 

I also bought a cotton wrap dress from Primark. It's a green and black check and I've worn it a couple of times already this week layered over black boots, leggings and a black vest. It'll be fine on it's own in warmer weather too. 

I don't suppose there's anything I desperately need at the moment but I am on the look out for a jacket, maybe denim although I have a couple of very nice hoodies that can double up which I bought a while back. I could also do with some comfortable dresses for wearing in the evening on holiday, probably maxi or definitely midi. neither purchase is urgent but if I'm browsing anywhere I have things in mind. 

Hope everyone has a good weekend. 😊

helensbiggestfan

Maman.......for a homemade exfoliator for the face you can use kitchen ingredients such as oatmeal, bicarbonate of soda, ground almonds. Just add to either your usual cleanser or a carrier oil.    Go easy with bicarbonate of soda, no more than 2 a week.  And avoid sensitive areas,

 A great exfoluatior for hands, especially after gardening or diy, is olive oil and sugar,  

if you want to try home made face masks, the soluable aspirin one is great for congested skin, blackheads etc (salicylic acid).  Strawberries, black grapes are a great tonic and brightener for tired looking skin.  (hyraulonic acid).  Apply neat or mix with a bit of cream,  and most skins  love honey, It has great antibacterial properties. again mix with cream.  

I have a smart meter.  I am watching it like a hawk  😱.  I did my budget yesterday, there's still a bit of wriggle room but I too will be making cutbacks where possible.  I wont be stocking up too much because I too hope to move this year but I will try and save a few extra pennies towards next winters bills.  

At least summer is on its way, although it was  white over with frost  again this morning.  As my mum used to say "it smells cold out there" 😂 so I doubt I shall be doing any outdoor painting or gardening  today.   

Have a great week everyone, keep fabbing,