Well, another great week and it kicked off with a lunch with some pals from QVC including Ali Keenan! Howard popped in to say hi when he dropped me off as well, since he was coming back to pick me up from QVC that night, since we were going to Devon after my work finished. It was such a lovely venue at a place called The Swan Hotel, by the river in Staines. Have known Ali now for 17 years, but Tina and Mark have known me for about 30! God we’re getting old lol! We had a lovely catch up, a fabulous lunch, and it was really nice to introduce my man to them all again.
Down in Devon, it was time for another workshop week at my guest house, with probably one of my last retreats with one of my best tutors, Janet Gover. It was another lovely group of all newbies this time (last month was mostly returners!) and once again it was boiling hot. Thank goodness for old 1600s buildings – the kitchen floor which is probably laid down on solid bedrock or earth, stayed cold throughout! Bless! All I can say is thank God for aircon. Every time I went out, the car did its job beautifully! One day everyone will have aircon fitted in their homes don’t you think? Anyway, when it was breezy and not too hot we had set up the courtyard outside, the perfect place to debate books!
The sitting room was also nice and cool, a suitable venue to catch up with “Debs Devon girls” and of course Howard came too! Wendy came this time telling us about her marriage at the end of August – she’s the lovely lady who used to help me run the retreats before lockdown, and Linda helped out occasionally as well, she used to be my neighbour, moved away, and now she’s just moved back again! Howard and Barbara were fascinated by some of her photos!
Always a pleasure to see the ladies including Barbara and Penny as usual. Get well soon to Sheila. Another one in August. We also saw Alix (with Howard having a long chat about antiques, ancestors, and politics). And lovely Caitlynne who was in fine form. We got to do quite a lot this week and it was another busy one! Hope you had a good one and stayed nice and cool.
SNIPPETS
Duck Duck Go
Well, hopefully they don’t go too soon, were they ducks or were they geese? We get lots of these outside of QVC and sometimes they nest although I’ve never seen the chicks survive because for instance, last time, the silly bird made its nest on the ground by the edge of the water so given how many foxes are around you can imagine what happened. Lovely to see this outside our windows when we’re at work though!
In the Pink
In honour of a wonderful top offer this week from skinSense (check it out online if it’s still available just search top offers on qvcuk.com), we coincidentally dressed in pink for another super ‘menopause your way’ show on QVC. Looked lovely and coordinated on the set and at least there’s air-conditioning in the building, even though Lorna “didn’t get the memo!” (Spoiler: there is no memo!) Another very enjoyable banter about all things menopause. They are usually one of the first Mondays of the month so look out for them!
Blooming Lovely
What a beautiful, beautiful lily. I sat mesmerised by this for awhile so I thought I’d put a picture in of it – decorating my back garden endeavour at the moment. Thank you to Ryan my lovely neighbour who has been helping to look after stuff.
Exclusive – on this week’s newsletter (sign up to get yours in the inbox every weekend), the exclusive content is what we found on Dartmoor, a little video exclusive for my Newsletter subscribers.
Watch – Scarpetta
Apart from the football (NATCH! Good luck England for Saturday night!) and the tennis (ditto, good luck Arthur for the semi-final!) We’ve been digging deeply into the adaptation of the Patricia Cornwall novels about Kay Scarpetta a chief medical examiner. Really well acted, Jamie Lee Curtis steals the show and once you get past Nicole Kidman’s odd look nowadays, she’s pretty good too. We’re on episode six already! Hopefully it runs and runs. It’s a bit like ‘This Is Us’ in its structure, with long running flashbacks interwoven into the present day. Really, really good!
Blooper – well what can I say, you might not have seen it but Margaret Dabbs was talking about her feet, during her today’s special value shows, when she discussed the cracked heel cream. She said she had a big cr*ck!! How they held it together I don’t know!
And here’s another funny for you…
Vlog – a look at last week’s BANTZ, from my flat after an unusually early finish at work. (Click this link and press follow on my Facebook page to be more likely to see it every Friday night!)
Book of the Week – One of the ladies this week is called Giselle Green and she is pretty prolific with her writing. So I’m recommending this one, as it’s my first download from her. Lovely lady, bit of a medium/psychic – interesting stuff! Books all have a little of the paranormal about them as well. Investigate!
The Girl You Forgot – a gripping emotional tale of love, loss and hope. Will may lose his memory if he chooses to have a life-saving operation, and with it the secret he shares with Ava. Will they cope? Rebuild their life and start again? Or will the secret rear its head and come between them…
It’s on audiobook so I will keep you informed! No time to do anything this week down in Devon, too busy!!
QVC TOP DEALS FOR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS
Friday (today) – go to qvcuk.com and search ‘today’s special value’ to see and buy what’s left of the Samsonite under seat cabin backpack and look out for the diamond spectacular night tonight!
Saturday – Dyson air app returns with the CO-ANDA2X multi Celia, already Online!
Sunday – molten brown three-piece body wash collection with 10 piece travel kit, looks good! And join me Sunday 9pm for the Buildcraft today today’s special value.
Big deals ending Sunday night
Go to this section of our website each week to discover the current ones which often end on Sunday nights if there are any stocks left!
Big deals are available on air for usually a week, they may be longer online if stocks last. Occasionally they last a couple of weeks but there are new ones every Sunday night so come back again and see them on the link above.
Next week should include:
– garden – Bernini set a three flower spinning sprinkler stakes
– extra – Kuhn Rikon set of three classic shares
– beauty – scotty adjustable vibration dampening cane
– main – prai ageless super size upper arm cream and body cream correcter
– main 2 – OPI nail lacquer essentials seven-piece collection
Offer of the Week – Lock & Lock five-piece classic storage container set, unbelievably affordable!
Now back to the today’s special values for the rest of the week –
PLEASE NOTE – these are correct at time of writing but may be subject to change.
Monday – build craft ladder, already online!
Tuesday – finery seer sucker top
Wednesday – ninja portable glass air fryer
Thursday – prai oceanic jewels neck cream and serum duo
Friday – Kim and Co crinkle knit short top
Friday 9 pm – New Tilly set
Next week – back to work all week but a catch up with Howard’s family at the weekend. Enjoy your time and try to stay cool! Remember, shut the curtains and shut the windows don’t let the hot air in when it’s this hot (31° in Devon by the end of the week!) And it’s set to continue in the high 20s for a while… don’t forget to check out some of the wonderful fans on QVC at the moment as well!
Best wishes
Debs
X
DON’T FORGET… to do me a favour by sharing the link to my house and business sale down in Devon! It would mean a lot!
https://www.retreatsforyou.co.uk/its-online/
PS I support Medical Detection Dogs. We raised over £2,300 in our event back in June ‘25. Watch out for another one in 2026! Find out more and donate on this link.
PS want to subscribe to my newsletter? Click on the newsletter button at the bottom of this blog. If you are AOL, Sky or Yahoo, you may have to add me to your contacts in order for it to come through, and sometimes even then it doesn’t. So if you can subscribe with a different email if you don’t get it between Friday night and Sunday night each week, that might help. One lady told me she didn’t get the first one but she did get the next ones. Exclusive content just for my newsletter posse! Thank you all 🙂
Meanwhile if you cannot do that, maybe follow me on my social media where each week I will post with my new blog goes up.