Frump to Fab 2022 - The Big One

chanie

@Wednesday2000 from your neck of the woods.  I couldn’t believe the cost of parking, nearly £20 for the day.   It was a fun day though and we had a nice time.

Wednesday2000

Oh nice. I haven't been to Southend beach since we moved here. We mostly go to Chalkwell or Leigh-on-Sea beaches. I went to Chalkwell beach this morning for my walk, in fact. I bought a Fitbit so I have been getting in my steps. I was so tired when I got home that I took a nap. I only just got up! Lol.

We fabbed our shed this weekend. It needs another coat so we had to order more paint.

Wednesday2000

We need to stain the decking too, but we are doing that next week when our dog is at the kennel.

chanie

@Wednesday that’s a lovely shade of blue and will be nice and cheerful during the winter months.

we finished decorating and furnishing the home office and did lots of decluttering and sorting.  We still have decorating to do, put we’ve reduced the clutter, so it feels amazing, to finally be organised.  Thanks to our guru, Martin, we saved 10% on a bookcase and desk for the office.  I’ve always worked at the dining room table, which I’ve never minded, but it’s nice to have a proper, permanent set up.  

Hopefully, we’ll be able to start rebuilding our savings again soon. I’ve been lurking on the Oldstyle threads to see what we can do to cut back for road ahead.  Lots of great ideas, over there.  I have done a bit of research into door curtains and we’ve decided to try one, as our door is old and draughty.  

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies, 

Wednesday, your shed looks good even before you had done the second coat of paint. 

Chanie, I am glad you and your family had a fun day out in Southend. You and your husband have done great to get your home office decorated and furnished. The door curtain should make a real difference in keeping draughts out and the heat in. 

I had my 1st deadline for Neighbourhood Voices which is the 1st September. I sent a scene from my play and the treatment  for my play to a member of The Young Vic team today. The treatment is simply a prose description of my play, scene by scene. 

chanie

@sugarbaby125 your course sounds like the most amazing experience and I’ve really enjoyed hearing your updates.  When you are ready, I’d love to hear a bit more about your play.

Wednesday2000

I was busy yesterday. I booked my flu jab, the chimney sweep and booked train tickets. I spent so much money! I bought train tickets for York and Brighton for next month. I also booked a hotel, concert tickets and train tickets to go away for my husband's birthday in November. We decided to go to Cardiff as neither of us has ever been there before. The hotel is near Cardiff Bay. I really need to get our passports sorted out for next year so we can go away somewhere.

chanie

@Wednesday2000 you are right to renew your passports early.  Hopefully, the delays over the summer are easing up and it should be an easier process.  I try and check our passports at around Christmas time so that I can apply early in the new year (My thinking is that it’s not on the forefront of many peoples minds in January and it gives us lots of time before the summer).

Wednesday2000

That is a good idea. Maybe in the new year would be a good time to do it. I cannot believe it is going to be 2023.

I was thinking yesterday that it was April during the first lockdown in 2020 that I wanted to move and then we finally moved in to the new house in April 2022. In some ways it seems like the last years have dragged, but then time has also seem to go quickly. It has just been such a strange time.

It is so expensive to go away in England, or in my case Wales. If we had our passports I was thinking somewhere like Lanzarote and if you get all inclusive it actually works out at quite good value. My brother is luckily taking care of our pets for when we go to Cardiff, but that is another expense for putting them all in to board if we go away next year. 

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies, 

I was really busy yesterday. I had a 10am appointment with a nurse. I needed blood tests, but because of my tiny veins, she was unable to take blood from me. I had to go to King's College hospital's phlebotomy department to have my blood tests, as they are expert at taking blood from people like me with tiny veins. It was extremely busy so there were 90 plus patients ahead of me. After an hour of waiting, my number was finally called. She was able to get enough blood at the 1st attempt.   

I left the hospital and went to Beboz Italian street food in Monument to get a takeaway meal. As their portions are generous, I bought 2 meals to share for the 3 of us and 2 cans of diet coke for my 2 children. I had my final Groupon for £13.27 saving me £15.63.   

On my way home from Monument, I stopped at my Doctor's surgery to put in a repeat prescription for my hypertension medication and also to weigh myself and get my blood pressure measured on the machine in reception. I then handed the slip to a receptionist so that they could add the results to my medical records so that the Doctor has access to the information. Once the results of my blood tests are with my Doctor's surgery, I will book an appointment to discuss all of the results. 

After lunch and a rest, I went to Iceland in Brixton to get a few freezer items. I got my 10% discount on my purchases.