greent's mfw journey

newgirly

Your house sounds like ours , everyone has to have their own Xmas trees :rotfl:

Watty1

Phew you sound busy. Just found your diary. Very impressed with what you have done so far.

DedicatedDFW

Hi greent,

Thanks for posting on my thread Wow! your sig is very impressive :T have you any tips ?

You sound like you've got loads done this last few days - i've done the re-lists and am going to try and find and list some things on the bay of e today

Sadly, as we desperately need to decorate (read as get plastering finished off, skirting boards fitted, doors replaced and flooring down) we've not had a tree for a couple of years But this year i bought one of those little connifer trees Small but lovely And very easy to clear away too but i miss my proper tree *sob*

greent

Evening all - thanks for the comments! x Hello Watty1 - I caught up on your diary yesterday x


Yes, newgirly - all the children have mini trees (about 2.5ft) in their rooms, decorated in the colourscheme of their rooms and then we have a (fake) full size tree in the playroom and a (real) full size tree in the lounge


Tootallulah - DH needs a job before we can really continue with our MF plans lol! If so, then I plan on being MF by Dec 2015 - fingers crossed!


Hey DDFW - hello! - I have no tips, I'm afraid - I just pay every extra bit of income we get (ebay, facebook sales, cashback etc) to the mortgage - along with (usually) a large fixed OP which goes out with our DD. I don't do what others do and pay money saved by using vouchers, though.




Well, I have been shopping at Aldi, Tesco & Sainsburys over the past couple of days to max out on offers and vouchers. Other than milk and bread come around Thursday (Friday if I'm lucky) , I'm sorted for the week And my mum texted me yesterday to say she bought me an extra late Xmas pressie - 2 HUGE joints of silverside - they are massive. We will cut one into 3 or 4 smaller joints and the other into steaks, I think. Lovely mum!!!!


Freezers are inventoried but no formal meal plans made - it just doesn't seem to work for us in this house I'm aware of what needs to be used/ what I'd like to use though, so will cook accordingly. We have a LOT of fresh carrots, parsnips, sprouts and peppers, so will do more soups, fajitas, maybe a chilli and then maybe stirfry the sprouts shredded with pancetta & chilli


I've been making lentil & bacon (and carrot) soup this week - I say 'and bacon' but it's about about 1/2 rasher of streaky per pan! DH doesn't like it (won't eat lentils) so he's had courgette and tomato soup, spiced up with chillis. We've both been eating a lot of HM croutons to use up old bread from the freezer - very tasty, but not good for the waistline!!


I made an adapted version of Jamie's slow cooked spiced lamb shanks today for dinner - an old favourite of mine. 3 huge lamb shanks from the depths of the freezer (I'm not confessing how long they've been there!) - makes about 6 portions . DD had the last portion of the Xmas bird (frozen in gravy) as she doesn't like it. Served with copious amounts of pan fried carrots and parsnips in a balsamic glaze, fluffy mash & mushy peas! (I had some in the freezer to use up....)


It's DS2's birthday tomorrow. All decorations therefore HAD to be down today and are now packed away once again in the loft. We are taking him and DS3 to the cinema tomorrow as they have an inset day and my mum gave us some money at Xmas 'to treat the children' - I think she's taking pity on us as DH has been without a job for so long! We'll be taking in some of the Xmas sweets with us, along with drinks, to keep the cost down Presents purchased at bargain prices a few months back

greent

Evening all I can highly recommend 'Frozen' at the cinema! I really enjoyed it - as did the small two


DS2 was thrilled with his presents - some lego sets picked up silly prices, books from the book people and then some Lego games bought preloved from a friend. I spent far less than normal, too He got money and vouchers from several people - having his bday so close to Xmas makes it harder - and this way he can spread out his presents by spending some of the money throughout the year - no doubt mainly on Lego!! We did pick him up a bargain coat in Next Clearance today, too - reduced from £52 and we paid £10 - and he loves it. He needed a new warm coat (has several thin coats which he's been wearing with a fleece under on colder days) as his ripped beyond repair - it was an old one of DS1's and was originally from [EMAIL="M@talan"]M@talan[/EMAIL]. I wasn't too upset, as DS1 wore it for 2 winters before DS2 had it


My mum and DH's mum visited tonight with their pressies and we did the cake thing, so the boy has done well and has gone to bed having had a great day (his words) - ready for back to school tomorrow.


I'm off to tackle a heap of ironing now - and will catch upon diaries later x

greent

Two hours of ironing done (and the pile is not yet finished ), some emails replied to and now it's time for bed - will catch up tomorrow xx

DedicatedDFW

Hi greent,

It sounds like your DS2 had a brilliant birthday

And well done to you on all that ironing :T

I am trying with the meal planning too - in a way - i've listed all the meals for the month but we're not eating them in the date order i've put them in - and then there are things i've overlooked - like yesterday i used things up that would have gone to waste otherwise and i could do this as with shifts i have my tea earlier on at least a couple of mondays in the month. Next month what i'm going to try is just listing 28 meals and the week before thinking when are we in = what meals do we need = what ingredients do i need to buy - Oops this souns so complicated :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: - The thing is i *have* to do something because i am terrible for seeing a really good meat offer and stocking up when we already have plenty in

Hope you have a good day

greent

Hello DDFW - I'm not good at meal planning - Tilly is fantastic at it, though! I tend to maybe only plan one or two days at a time, I like the spontaneity of not planning and we always have enough in that I don't usually have to nip out ever for something. I'm also at home most of the time, so I'm not overly rushed. I do start thinking about dinner just after breakfast, usually, though!


Couple of small OPs made this week from cashback claims - yeay! And DH is due a tax refund - of £600+ - so that'll be good! I'm apparently due 48p.... - but that's too small to claim lol!


Other than that, not much is happening here, really. DD is revising for her mocks, the DSs are all are noisy as ever! and life goes on Off to swimming lessons this morning with the small two. I might pop into town this afternoon as I have some banking to do - but might do it Monday/ Tuesday - I could do with catching up on some stuff in the house today, really.


DS2's party tomorrow - laser tag for him and 6 friends - I must prep all party bags today (book people books in them with a high powered bouncy ball and some sweets - I try and avoid too much plastic party bag tat!) and write a little list for tomorrow (take cake, serviettes,candles, matches and a knife!)


Off to wake DS2 up now! Back later


x

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hope the party goes well, I love laser tag!

greent

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

Hope the party goes well, I love laser tag!

Me too - I get really competitive, though - not a good idea with 7/8 year olds - so I'm outside with drinks!