Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

TudorRose

Although as a family we never went overboard at Christmas (only me, Mum & Dad when a child) we always had a nice meal, presents & a nicely decorated tree. I remember as a child there being a decoration that dated from Mum's childhood.
When my two were little we used to buy them a new tree decoration each year but I think they are all still with their father as I never took them when we divorced.
I do however buy a tree decoration each year for my two grandsons & they love that. In fact DD went and bought a larger tree last year to keep pace with the growing collection as she lets them each choose one each year as well.
I think it's a lovely thing to do & as Nana I get the fun of choosing for them each year.:)

flowertotmum

Frugal wrote: »

HANG ON TO THEM!!! Put them away and when they have children of their own, they will LOVE them again... I know because I did the same. I am so glad my Mum kept mine and I am delighted that my children put the decorations that I made as a child, on our tree :j

Your right...i have saved them for them in little boxes with their names on them...i also have all the little bits they made at school too..a loo-roll santa,fairy,snowman etc..paperchains and every yr i display them on a table....got told i'm too sentimental..but they remind of the times when we didn't have any money and they were the only decorations we had...
Iain duncan bloody smith..its alright for him to say that living in his perfect bloody world:mad:..he wouldn't know hardship if it hit him in the face which i might if i ever come face to face with him...
Rosieben thanks for the link..
Annie56 have a good day..your friend has got you to help her and thats what counts...
Lovelife..i find baking very theraputic too..probably why my cake tins are full:o..
Going to have a lazyish day ...going to jumble sale later and then home to have bacon sarnies for lunch..os tea tonight..must admit i do love doing it..nice tablecloth,napkins and pretty plates filled with HM food..always brings back memories of my gran...
Postie has just been and delivered my new book" the tale of tom kitten":rotfl:love beatrix potter and unfortunately my collection got mixed up with the charity shop box and it was goodbye beatrix potter..i'm slowly replacing them and have a long way to go:(...
take care all

parsonswife8

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Monty Don is appearing on Saturday kitchen right

now.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

grandma247

GAILEY you can make wet wipes with a plastic box with lid, kitchen roll , a few drops of star drops, a table spoon or two of vinegar and a little water if needed. Just tear the kitchen roll into squares and fold to fit the box.mix the vinegar and star drops and a little water, pour in over the paper and add more water if they still look too dry after a while.

There is nothing to stop you compiling your book on your computer until you are ready to print. Have you advertised on freecycle for a printer?

I spent yesterday bottling fruit pie fillings with blackberries,raspberries and plums all foraged and some foraged cooking apples hubby brought home along with six bags of apples from lidl for 49p a bag. I added the apple to each fruit to make it go further and got 24 jars altogether. 6 apple and raspberry,6apple and blackberry,8apple and plum and 4 apple. I needed the space in the freezer so this was the ideal way to do them. Instant filling for pies,crumble or fruit sponge. I use recycled jars too so a very cheap way of doing it.

BB1984 well done on paying the lump sum off the mortgage. We started paying ours weekly and overpaying at the same time and it is amazing what even a small overpayment makes. Now that things have settled down a bit we are hoping to up the payments more because I desperately want to move and we need as big a deposit as possible. So long as prices don't dive bomb there is a lot of equity in the house already because we bought the year before the boom started.

LOVELIFE put a pure wool blanket on the top of your bedding during the day and it will help draw the moisture. Also fling back the bedclothes for a couple of hours after you get out.

sammy_kaye18

Hello all

Have been lurkign the last few days as bum hasnt managed to touch the chair.
Accordign to the health visitor at 14 weeks old and weighing 17lbs 7ozs my daughter is now 'obese' - not the fact that she was 8lbs 6ozs born or anything and is exactly the same weigh as her brother was at that age (well he was a few ounces heavier). No she is now obese and I have had to go to feeding her every 4 hours when she previously told me to feed her on demand :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: so I have a screaming baby every few hours now who is refusing to sleep even more. rang her for advice yesterday and said at her age Ben was on a 7oz bottle with a small yoghurt for lunch and her answer was 'well you have to live with her'. So she's completely contradicting herself now!! Owen's said she's not to have food but not so easy when I can hear her crying and I know that's her hungry cry. :(:(:(:(
Only problem is is if she gains too much weight they'll be concerned, if she loses too much weight - they'll be concerned so no idea what to do for the right!

Originally Posted by mardatha
Has anybody seen the report on Sky News about Iain Duncan Smith's comments on the jobless ? O god I am SO mad!!!

Mr Duncan Smith told the BBC: "The truth is there are jobs. They may not be absolutely in the town you are living in. They may be in a neighbouring town."
Jobless people in places such as Merhyr Tydfil in south Wales, where one third receive some sort of unemployment handout, "didn't know if they got on the bus an hour's journey they'd be in Cardiff and they could look for the job there," he said.

I bet they know the cost of the damn busfares though ! And that if they get offered a job at £120 a week and the fares take £60 then they're stuffed

kittie wrote: »

I agree with IDS on this one. Merthyr has a benefits culture and has had one since the mines closed and people were no way going to move away from their families and it has passed down through the generations. If people can get a job in Merthyr then it will be at the minimum wage and probably part time. Cardiff has a thriving new shopping centre and it is just a quick train ride away. Many many people from the merthyr just don`t have aspirations and can see no way out of their black hole even though money from europe has been thrown at the area. The dependency culture is so strong there that individuals need very strong will power to break away

Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............
A weeks ticket was about £22 though from what I recall.

Whilst I am a welshie and I do agree that there are jobs there if people need/want to get them its whether they can be bothered to go sometimes things really aren't so simple. I mean I keep getting job applications suggested to me that are in Cardiff but for me to get to Cardiff in time to start work at 9am - I would have to leave my flat at 7am, to get a bus at 7.20, to run to the train station for 7.40 (hoping I didnt miss the train at 7.48) to be in Cardiff for 8.22 provided there was no travel restrictions, traffic or leaves on the line etc and that would cost me £30 a week just for the train ticket -- not taking into account I'd need bus travel @ £3.90 for a day return ticket to get me to the train station in the first place! So that's easily approx £55 a week just in travel fees alone.
Whereas Swansea would cost me the bus fare and £15 a week which would be £39 a week.
Some people unfortunately don't see it as being worth their while to go to work in a minimum wage part time job when travel alone eats up most of it.
Anyway thats my view on that...............:p

Christmas -- well I think I am getting there slowly - I had a root around under my bed - my Xmas storage space and seem to have more bits for Ben than I thought I did so I am feeling much more content with Christmas now but I was worried before hand that I wouldn't be able to afford it. Must definitely get my act together for next year though and get saving ahead of time. Cant be doing with storing presents any more 3 kids there's just too much! money aside in savings account and all brought at once next year me thinks.

grandma247

Sammy Kaye you are an intelligent young woman just lacking in self confidence. Ignore the lot of them. Your baby is healthy and if she has a happy mummy she will be happy. Do what your instinct tells you.
There used to be a formula for how much a baby should weigh and it was something like double birth weight at six months and triple at twelve months but that was for an "average" size baby. So long as Holly is not fed rubbish she will be fine whatever weight she is. Babies tend to loose weight anyway when they start walking.
Try and get out in the fresh air each day even if it is raining and have a bit of time relaxing with baby for a time in the afternoons. Baby massage is very comforting and play silly games as laughter is good for both of you.

jackieglasgow

My boys were both over 11lbs when they were born. At Hollys age they were both over the 99th centile on those daft charts, in fact they remained over them until about five. When DS2 started school the council did some crazy health check and sent me a letter saying my boy was obese, I called them up laughing and asked how many obese children have their ribs showing through their vests. My boys were enormously fat babies, I mean really really fat, rolls of fat on their legs and arms, but because I feed them good healthy food and not rubbish they have grown into tall for their age, slender, fit boys. You just tell your health visitor to jog on, and feed Holly when she is hungry, you are a great mum and you are doing a great job!

annie123

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Accordign to the health visitor at 14 weeks old and weighing 17lbs 7ozs my daughter is now 'obese' -

nonsense according to this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8035784.stm

scroll down to chart, she looks fine to me.

My son was always overweight according to HV, yes he was chubby but he looked liked I'd starved him at 6, weighed the same as he did at 3! couldn't shovel enough food into him.
He's 30 now, never been overweight, not a fussy eater.

Ignore her.

Fruball

Our old HV gave me a right earful when I took DDs (twins) in at 12 weeks and admitted that one of them had been having a few solids since 9.5 weeks as she had reflux, was always hungry, and needed it (we always said she wouldn't be a happy baby until she had steak, and we were right ) When I had DS (he is an adult now) the advice was to wean at 12/16 weeks and all his friends are fine, none overweight. In fact they are a right skinny generation IMHO.

Anyway, I went straight to my GP to complain about HV and my GP agreed with me, then told me to give the other DD the same food even tho she was 12 weeks, and told me to ignore the HV. She weaned all hers at around 12 weeks

Twins are 4.5 now, one skinny one normal, both extraordinarily healthy, never ill (touch wood), no allergies (except Ariel) and they haven't seen an HV since that day

katholicos

BB1984 wrote: »

Really really chuffed - DH and I have been scrimping and saving for the last two years, not necessarily because we have to (thankfully - and I appreciate that we're very fortunate for that), but because we are determined to pay off as much of our mortgage as we can, whilst interest rates are low. We just came to the end of a 2-year "deal", which meant we are now free to pay off as much as we like, and we were able to pay off a nice big chunk that we had saved I hope noone minds me saying that, cos I don't want to sound like I'm boasting or anything given that some people are struggling so much more, but I just wanted to share with someone

BB

BB, please don't be anxious about posting your good news...personally, I think it is good to read about peoples good fortune these days when it is gloom and doom for so many of us. It would be terribly sad if we begrudged other peoples solvency/happiness etc.