Frump to Fab 2023

TC77

@Watty1 just to let you know it's usually lavender in sleep sprays and you can buy a small bottle of lavender oil ( should be essential oil) and only need a couple of drops onnuiur pillow so can be cost-effective although I know many people prefer the sprays. 
Hope to be able to report some fabbing over the weekend! 
I am wearing earrings each day, a small but important step

liberty_lily

Sorry to hear about your sick relative, Purple Pixie, I hope they make a full recovery 💐

I appreciate how difficult it is when you live far from family - we were living 200+ miles away from ours when my widowed FIL and both my parents simulataneously became ill. My FIL had to go into a care home after developing vascular dementia. Then - within a few months (during which time we hastily finished our DIY house renovation, sold up and relocated) - my mum (who had Alzheimer's) had to go into respite care when my dad was hospitalised after a bad fall. He was then also diagnosed with vascular dementia and both my parents had to go into a nursing home 😪 Our new home was somewhat closer to them, but still involved a two hour round trip to visit. It was a very stressful period for all concerned. 

Wednesday, what a pain about your roof - but thank goodness for your generous FIL 😇 

We've been under huge financial pressure ourselves since just before Christmas when DH suffered the blow of not one but three (grrrr!) non-paying customers, typically right on top of exhausting our savings on the latest round of DIY building work 🙁 One of them is a multi millionaire (he recently sold one of his businesses for £20m) with a reputation for not paying final bills to tradespeople...and DH has now sadly joined the club. Another is withholding a stage payment because DH was unable to render her property due to below freezing temps and wet weather, despite that being outside his control. The third is pleading poverty - which I totally get - but they assured him when he began the work that they could afford to pay. It doesn't help that this last couple are supposed to be our friends 😔

Anyway, after much time to reflect over the Christmas break, DH has understandably decided he can't continue with the stresses of self-employed building work and last week applied for a fairly basic job in his old industry. On Wednesday he had an interview and the following day (yesterday) he was informed he'd been successful 😁

However, he's in two minds about whether he should take it because the whole recent situation has hardened our resolve to move back to England from Wales sooner rather than later, which would require finishing the DIY on the house at our earliest convenience and marketing it over the next few months. As we've got a few things to complete (most notably the installation of a cloakroom and enclosing our porch) we would need to devote every waking hour to this. Grown-up DS is urging us to relocate 'home' but right now we're not certain if the timing - what with the downturn in the property market - is right 🙄🙄🙄

Wednesday2000

Liberty-Lily - I don't know how people have the cheek to think they can refuse to pay for work someone has done for them! I'm not surprised your husband has had enough of that hassle. That is good he got the new job. We are thinking the opposite to you now as we are now thinking about staying here and not moving. It is a worrying time with the cost of living being so high and house prices probably going to drop a lot. We keep thinking if we are going to spend so much on the roof moving in three years doesn't seem like a good idea anymore. Do you definitely have to do the cloakroom and the porch before you move? I would be tempted to just sell your house as is, but then I'm not into DIY as you know. Lol.

I'm feeling a bit sick and have a slight headache today. I had to go out to the post office to post off the books and the woman behind the counter had a strong accent and I couldn't understand her. Then I went into a pharmacy to get something for feeling sick and the woman couldn't understand me! Quite an annoying day so far.

I did pop into the charity shop furniture store as decluttering and tidying has made me want some matching plates as I have all mismatched plates and all in different sizes. There was a nice black and white Royal Doulton dinner set for £25 but it was far too much for just the two of us. I am going to go out and look in a few different shops tomorrow or next week.

Abbafan1972

Watty1 said:

abbafan1972 I use the Simply Being app which is free and there are also some mediations on the Rituals App  (it is an app for selling the rituals products but you can skip over that and go to the free stuff).  I like both because they are free and i am the point where anything i can save is good.

Thank you all for your kind comments about the sleep and the pills. I've been reluctant to talk to my doctor as it is so hard to get an appointment and also because it means confessing I've been abusing the painkillers he gave me and mixing them with over the counter stuff.

I managed to sleep ok again last night so 4 nights down.  I did buy a sleep spray that I read great results for and I will use that on my pillow. I like the oils it has and although I'm trying really hard not to spend money I think that was a worthwhile spend to see if it will help.  It arrived today.  

Thank you 😊 

liberty_lily

Thanks Wednesday 🙂 I know - it's disgusting! The couple who are 'friends' have been delighted with his work and actually wanted him to do quite a lot more (as they're also planning to move back to England after only living here in Wales for eight months!), but he's definitely not doing that now 🤨

Regarding the work to finish our place, it's tempting to sell as is but we'd like to maximise our profit as we lost money selling our last house unfinished (even though we'd done all the horrid stuff like stripping acres of woodchip and replastering 🙄).

The cloakroom is currently an empty space as there was no downstairs loo here previously. We have virtually all the bits to kit it out (possibly need more plumbing materials), having bought the sanitary ware etc about three years back! We could get away without doing the porch but there's currently nowhere to hang coats etc near the front door so we were hoping that fully enclosing the porch to create a 'boot room' type space would again increase both value and saleability 😉

I think we'll end up staying a while longer and doing the work....

Sorry you're feeling ill, btw...hope you feel better soon 💐

thepurplepixie

Liberty-lily I was just reading your post when the hospital phoned to say she is on anti biotics and they are arranging an ambulance to get her back to the nursing home where she lives.  She will be better off back in her own room rather than a busy ward which will confuse her.

Terrible to hear how your husband has been treated.  If I find a good tradesman I am so grateful, I wouldn't risk upsetting them and my bacon butties are on constant tap as I like to look after them.  It has paid off many times when I have needed a job done, maybe a small one that's hardly worth their time or an emergency call out and then they look after me.

Floss

TC77 said:

@Watty1 just to let you know it's usually lavender in sleep sprays and you can buy a small bottle of lavender oil ( should be essential oil) and only need a couple of drops onnuiur pillow so can be cost-effective although I know many people prefer the sprays. 

When having problems sleeping, I used to put a few drops of lavender oil onto a cotton hankie, and tuck that into my pillowcase.

I also do a breathing thing to soothe me when settling down (breath in through nose for a count of 7, hold for 8, breathe out through the mouth for 9. It's a combination of the breathing & counting that focuses my mind & calms me. 

sugarbaby125

Wednesday, I hope you are feeling a lot better now that the day is almost over.

Liberty Lily, the sheer cheek of some people using the expert skills of a tradesman and then refusing to pay them for their hard work!   

Purple Pixie, I hope your elderly relative does begin to slowly recover once she is more comfortable in familiar surroundings. 

Watty1

Lovely catch up with you all.  Thanks for the sleep tips.

Last night I watched eastenders with the boyfriend, then he left, I read my book for 15 mins and went to sleep.    The room smelt of oils, I had used body lotion, hand cream and drunk my night time tea.    For me this is the first step to fab.

Thank you all for being here.  

TC77

@Watty1 that sounds great.
Just filed my nails- sounds basic but I tend to just cut when too long or they tear:( I have a long way to go!