Thrifty Gifty - Organised for Christmas and all ocassions 2009- Santas Challenges

3_cheeky_princesses

Morning all! OMG its the 1st Dec :snow_laug :dance:

Well my 6yr old was bouncing off the walls this morning when she discovered Otis the Elf was here! He had to walk her to school and has to pick be there after school too This thye are going to write their Father Christmas letters and watch the Happy Elf dvd.

I have just booked a asda Christmas slot for the 22nd. I am out on the 23rd picking my mum up who is coming to stay with us for Christmas and worried everything will be out of stock if i book a delivery for the 24th. The veggies should be ok in the fridge for 3 daqys before use shouldnt they? If anyone is booking a shop online when are you all doing it for?

Hope you are all feeling Christmassy today. We are on the final countdown ladies now its the 1st Dec :dance:

mum2one

Done well have now e,pitied 2/4 of the car out, and managed to get that sorted into 2 big boxes. one for us, one for others, get dad to tackle loft in the week, then that leaves the bedrooms, to hunt where we have put everything, and the shed (thats my job).
The plan of action is finish this OU block this week, get the assisgnment wrote Mon/tues/wed ngt week, got to be in by thus..... then start the wrapping thurs + fri, usually takes 3 days for everyones, got some food hampers take up the time. + a wack of prezzies that need to be cello done up.

got my parcel from Studio cards yesterday, most of its brilliant, hit the sale side, got dad a pr of Cat trainers reduced from £85 to £30, ordered black size 7, they sent brown suded size 7.5 (he is the fussiest man going with trainers) but miracles - he opened the box, oh I like them their unusual, oh they fit like a treat........ typical man.

Just waiting for halfcost parcel, just a few last minute odds and sods, one of the pther parents voluntered the pair of us to get the presents for dds class, we were only alowed to spend a maximum of £1 per child, the PTA refund us....
So sent a note to the teacher asking how many children, she replied, the dozy mare forgot to add a child that was on holiday........ luckly half cost had the free posting.....so was able to get the extra one + few things fo rme, got the santa table pack, only £1.99, but on Studio site reduced to £4.99!!

The age is 6-7yrs
Boys - Simpson swimbags (from halfcost)
Girls, - sew your own felt bag, quite dainty but look nice £1.00 got them when down in Devon, the stall I got them from in the local market was £1.00 bag, stall the opposiate end was selling them for £4.50........ think they've got a bargain.

Mian presents -
Dad-
Cat trainers
35 bottles of various beers
nick nacks, simpsons socks, sweets
Needs bottle whisky - always tradion

Mum
Shirt
wack of Boots items (courstey of Boots points + £75 shut me up voucher - split everythig 3 ways, me, mum,. dd, thou dd had the most)
Left - Look in Evans for a top for her
Something small to open - she hates surprises

DD
Nintendo wii set (vouchers, mum+ me)
10 games
3 nun chnks
quad charger
wii fit
(what wasn't covered by vouchers mum + me went halves on)
Bratz duvet
4 x rachel hale duvets ( was 3 ordered, but as the parcel went astray - ebay business seller, she gave me the 4th duvet as an apology - heck of a hassle tryng to get the refund or replacement items)
wack of Boots stuff (as above)
Earrings
Operation pc game
Her laptop was half xmas/half bday)
Body shop stuff

Left to get
Couple of skirts - if I can find one we like
Few knick nack, stocking fillers

BAILEY
bed from Argos - on the list to get
DD choose him a Santa Hat!
Small xmas mat

xx

mum2one

Just can't believe its the 1st Dec, getting all christmassy, dd had her tinkerbell advent calender, and a santa felt one (only from £1 shop - on its 3rd yr... that has a sweet in for everyday, but on the 24th shes got a pair of pony earrings, wire through, little dangler of the horse, the body cut out, (got from jewelerytv).

Fun week-
Got PTA meeting wed afternoon
Taking dd + dad (thou he doesn't know it yet!!) late ngt shopping wed ngt
Sat off to xmas fayre
Sun shes off for a Pizza Party - so not worth coming home take about an hr to get off the retail park, so may be a trip to Argos, if not a coffee + muffin in McDonalds...
xx

mum2one

Don't know if its any help, came across a recipie for Nut roast, and it can be frozen, also can double up as a stuffing.

SERVES 8
PREP 15 MINS
COOK MAX 40 MINS

INGREDIENTS
3tbsp olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 leek finely chopped
125g / 4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
150g / 5oz pine nuts, whizzed in a blender till ground
finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
2tbsp each freshly chopped sage and thyme,
1 egg yolk

900g/2lb tin greased and lined with baking paper

method

1. Heat oil in a large pan and add onion and leek, cook gently for 8 minutes, stirring till softened.
2. Add garlic and cook for a couple more minutes
3. Cool, then top everything into a large bowl.
4. Add breadcrumbs, pini nuts, orange zest + juice, sage, thyme, + season with salt and ground pepper
5. Add egg yolk and mix together
6. Spoon mixture into the tin and freeze till needed.
To cook, preheat oven for gas 6/200C, (180C in fan oven)
7. Cook for 40 minutes,
8. slice to serve,

OR

If you want to use half the mix for a nut roast and the other half for stuffing balls, - use 1lb loaf tin, and cook both loaf and balls for 30 minutes, (again from frozen)
xx

mary-op

Hello all:j
Well, no news from the hospital today as yet. Normally they have a meeting in the morning with all the men in white coats etc. and previously we've had phone calls around lunchtime.................not so today -think they've all either gone out for a long lunch or and early tea :mad: So annoying..............do they not realise the stress people go through ? I'm beginning to wonder if we'd gone private whether it would have sped things on a bit...........think its a bit late in the day for that now but to be honest I'm sitting here with steam coming out my ears (well almost...........lol) I've sat by the phone all day waiting for the all important call -wanted to phone them but OH insisted 'no'............but if we don't hear tomorrow don't care what he says, I'm phoning them.
Anyway, rant over.............keep everything crossed for us.
Did manage to go through all my christmas cards and sort out those that go with presents, those that can be hand delivered and the postal ones so not totally wasted day. Realised I hadn't done a card for my brother so had to sort through my 'spares' for him.

Afraid thats about as christmassy as I got today...........can't think about fiddling with my decoration I was making.................maybe another day:rolleyes:

mum2one

Had one of those days, where everything I go to do, I end up doing something else, and that takes an eternity.....

So studying had to be done 2ngt...... just wanted to get an hr done while I was in the mood to do it!!

Set dd up on the laptop, on the Amazon page and told her to look for a ds game for xmas to go on her letter for Santa, but as Santa gets a lot of requests, she may be better choosing 3........

All I heard was, wow thats been reduced, thats a gd price, I love that, wish we had a wii.... the games be fab on that.....

She did her list 30 DS games, a wii consule with accessories, and 4 dvds......

She was over the moon they have brought out on ds + wii "I'm a Celebrity get me out of here", shes highly addicted to that series, dreading when it ends on Friday, bad enough when the twins got evicted from X-Factor, we had absolute hystericals......

Emptied more out of the car, got 2 massive boxes ready for the wrapping sessions, thats nxt week!!

Very organised-
Put order in for cello wrap, ribbon + bags from ebay
Half-cost parcel come - so now have 12 simpsons swim bags for the boys (plus my few extras)
Freezer shop - done Sat, delievered yesterday, now have to play hunt the loaf of bread in the freezer.....
Posted Virgin voucher - back from the Qype review offer - having it credited to wine account, + got £20 free for being a student, so 12 bottles wine to come.
Done dd advent calender- shes happy.

Tomorrow, today I guess when I've had a sleep, very un-christmas like, check on-line banking + do balance transfers.

Hopefully everyone is sorted with their secret santa numbers, if there is anyone missing theirs, pm me and I'll sort it from there.

Can't believe its 23 days to go xxxxxxxx

sarahf191979

Morning All

Everyone sounds really christmassy, sorry to hear your still waiting for your news mary I have everything crossed for you hun and sending you and OH good wishes. Had a really hectic day yesterday so will be putting my feet up this morning and catching up on emails and xmas planner to see what needs doing.

Off for another coffee now and to throw the dog out lol:rotfl:

erm

Morning all,

Well, having spent most of the weekend nursing my cold and feeling very sorry for myself, I decided on Monday to give myself a good talking to. It worked!!

Monday night, I finished wrapping all bar one of my presents (still waiting for the last part of sister and her OH's pressie to arrive). Have done them a "Night in without the Kids" Hamper, consisting of 2 bottles of wine (one red, one white) in a nice wine box, 2 wine glasses, box of chocs, fleecy throw, and Harry Potter 6 DVD. As soon as the DVD arrives, I can finish my wrapping completely.

Last night, I really went into overdrive when I got home from work. Did the ironing, 2 loads of washing, put up all the Christmas decorations, finished writing my family christmas cards, and sorted out everything to go back up into the loft. Also did an inventory of what's already in the freezer and wrote a shopping list of what I need to get before my brother, sister in law , and nephew turn up for the weekend on Friday. Planning a trip into London on Saturday to see all the Christmas Lights.:rotfl:

To top it all, this morning I decided it would be a great idea to put all the boxes (from decorations etc) back up into the loft before coming to work. Have now decided I need a holiday to recover before Christmas! However, I can truly say for the first time ever, that I am now pretty organised for Christmas.

Let the fun commence!

xxx

cdsmiler

Thanks mum2one and my secret sants for my secret santa codes!!

Good luck today mary-op!

Clare x

mary-op

Hello all :j
Well am I relieved ..................:j
After not hearing anything yesterday a letter came in the post this morning saying OH had appt. yesterday ?? I phoned up and told girl 'no point in telling us the day afterwards (seems someone should have told him last week when it was and didn't) I had small rant about needing appy. pretty damn quick......stress/worry/ etc. not to mention OH's possible conditon.
Bout 2 hours later consultant phoned(yes the white coat man himself -though don't seem to remember him wearing one)!! ''It's good news'' says he going on to say biopsy was clear and the area it was taken from had apparently shrunk !! So, he and his team of 'white coats' all agreed that at the moment no more is needed other than getting 2 weeks antibiotics from GP and him having another appt. and xrays in 2 weeks time as it could be that it was due to an adverse reaction to an infection OH had (pleurosy was mentioned-possibly bit of pneumonia) and further antibiotics would do the trick.
He wants to keep an eye on him so I can see a fair few trips back and forth to the hospital but what the heck................it's nothing like I thought.............:j
Thankyou for all your good wishes, positive thoughts and bless 'em............the card thread ladies wearing anything that had inside out.............well you never know...............lol:rotfl:stranger things happen