Frump to Fab 2022 - The Big One

liberty_lily

Glad you got through your root canal treatment without too much discomfort or pain, Helen...you've earned a relaxing remainder of the day and something deliciously soft to eat 💐

Regarding your house sale, are you regularly contacting your conveyancing solicitor for updates too? We've always found this far more reliable than trusting it to our EA. Otoh, obviously not too regularly as you don't want to make a nuisance of yourself, like DH once did, lol - he'd called our sol and politely requested an update as we were getting pressured by our buyers (who wanted to be in by Christmas 😉) and was told in no uncertain terms that we should go elsewhere!

I think he was just having a funny five minutes because he later apologised profusely to DH and things progressed swiftly after that (marketed 1st Sept, offer accepted 10th Oct, completed/moved 16th Dec!) so everyone was happy 🙂 That was 2014. I think these days the whole conveyancing process is taking far longer in general though.....

On the subject of DH, he still isn't back from DS's. He's beginning to rue the day he got talked into that herringbone tiling - he told me that on one wall alone he had to do 90 cuts 😳 Fortunately he's only got to do two walls. Still, their bathroom will certainly be fabbed up to its eyeballs by the time it's finished! Especially as DS is now considering using Craig & Rose metallic gold paint on the remaining walls 😁

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

Helen, as you say, it was necessary dental work. Good that you were able to sleep it off and wake up pain free. 

We had torrential rain in London yesterday, thankfully long after I had come home from the theatre. It lashed against the windows of my home and set off many a car alarm on this estate. 

Yesterday I went to watch the monologue Evening Conversations at Soho Theatre. I got a ticket worth £13 for £5. I really enjoyed the performance of the female actor Sudha Bhuchar, who wrote and performed the monologue. She was very witty and full of humour. I laughed out loud a lot. For me it was a 9/10  

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

I had to go into my local Marks and Spencer to collect my online order today and the sales assistant referred to me as an 'elegant, stylish woman'. I smiled at her. I was so pleased to get such a lovely compliment.

I am one of the singers in the intergenerational choir with The Old Vic.  The older members of Matinee Idols who were chosen to take part in the choir have been joined with children aged 9 and 10 from a local primary school. We have to learn 5 carols. It was really fun getting to know the children and each other and to learn to sing together. Katie, our music director did a great job in teaching us the harmonies. We only have 2 more rehearsals together, then we will perform for the public in the foyer of The Old Vic on 30th November.

liberty_lily

Another lovely compliment there, Sugarbaby ☺️

Singing carols with the school children at the Old Vic will be fabulous...wish I could be there to hear you all 😊

DH finally returned from Brighton in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He'd planned to work yesterday but I insisted he took a rare day off (the weather was hideous for outdoor work up a ladder anyway) to recuperate as he's just done nine solid days at DS's, often working till 10pm 🙄😇 So instead we had a relaxing day - lit the kitchen wood burner and chatted/watched tv/ate nice food. I'm so pleased he's home and so are the dogs!

He is also really happy to be home and was delighted with the house fabbing I'd achieved in his absence, particularly the kitchen wallpapering. The pattern is a bit smaller scale than I'd intended but it plays so well with the paper we used behind tempered glass as a splashback, it was too good to pass up! (Excuse the temporary trailing tv cable - the tv doesn't normally live there, lol!)...

Wednesday2000

I read the Matthew Perry (Chandler from Friends) autobiography today. Wow, it was very shocking in places with his severe addiction/health issues but also funny and sad. 9 and a half out of 10 for me.

I am going to dye my hair tomorrow. I'm going for brown instead of red/brown this time.

I have been asked to another music quiz for next weekend which should be fun.:)

chanie

@sugarbaby125 good luck with your Christmas choir, I love carols.

@liberty_lily i love your taste in home decor, you have such a great eye for making your home look lovely, but not OTT.

@Wednesday2000 Matthew Perry is interesting, i remember watching Friends at the time he was really gaunt looking and there were lots of rumours about his health.

@helensbiggestfan i hope the move is progressing.

i finally relented yesterday evening and put the heating on for the first time for an hour and it was bliss 😂.  Dont get me wrong, we haven’t been freezing, but it was lovely and toasty when we did put the heating on.   this will be our first winter with the new loft extension and boiler, so i need to keep an eye on our heating usage.  For now, i’m working in my dressing gown and won’t put the heating on until the children get home from school.

liberty_lily

Thanks Chanie 😊 I don't think our interior style would be everybody's taste (even less back in the day when it was all Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau - people observed it was like stepping into a museum, lol!!!), but we love it 😍

I don't blame you putting your heating on last night to take the chill off as it was definitely cooler yesterday imho. We've lit the kitchen wood burner for the last couple of evenings, mainly because DH came back from the south coast of England with a cold, but also just for the cosy effect!

Wednesday2000

I think I'm going to crack and put the heating on later too if it stays this chilly.

My husband managed to get tickets to see the band Pulp next summer in Dublin. Hopefully I can see my cousin while I'm there as he lives an hour from Dublin. I haven't seen him since 1999! Now I definitely have to get our passports sorted out.

I haven't seen Candygirl on here for a while, but I know she likes Pulp, well, Jarvis Cocker, haha.

I dyed my hair, but it doesn't really look that different. I think it might take a few tries to cover the red up. At least my roots are done.

chanie

@Wednesday2000 ooo, Pulp.

i remember when Year 2000 came out, the millenium seemed like such a long time away.. and yet here we are, 22 years later.  

Must admit, i’m rather partial to a bit of Common People.

liberty_lily

Today I'm sorting out some of our books which have been stored beneath a bed since we sold a bookcase because it was too small. Since it went, more books have somehow crept into the house 😉

We have two (original Art Nouveau) bookcases - one on the landing, the other in the living room - both were auction purchases (not ebay) and each contains a specific genre of book. So, in theory the smaller one has gardening reference books whilst the larger one houses my fairly extensive collection of books on Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Pre-Raphaelites and related subjects. In our bedroom we have built-in floor to ceiling shelves that hold DH's Christmas books plus his local history (of places we've lived), then a mish mash of my historical reference books/novels and larger books on general subjects that interest us (mostly art and interiors). There's also a few of mine in the reading nook 🙄

The *under the bed* books are primarily novels and reference (a lot of Oscar Wilde). There are 150+ of these.

So, I need to sort out all the mixed up subjects and find somewhere for the excess books to live! Ultimately we want to create a 'library' in the spare room and then I'll move my reading nook into there too, but this isn't a priority for the foreseeable. I need to find a temporary solution as grovelling on my hands and knees searching for a specific book beneath a bed isn't ideal 😂

I'm thinking we could get a Billy bookcase (or two) and squeeze it/them in somewhere to tide us over....but for now I've built huge stacks in the upstairs hall - at least I can find what I want relatively easily now 😉