Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles

New Leaf - It was a combination of a paint removal gel that was painted on and then scraped off when it bubbled up the paint and then some was removed with a hot air gun specifically for paint removal. I liked that tool - very nifty - until I burned my arm on it. :mad: But it was my fault, so can't really blame the air gun on that one. We used whichever one worked best for the area we were working on, as well as using the gel during naptime so DS3 wasn't kept awake by the hot air gun. :rotfl:

And thank you for the notation on 140 days until Christmas!! I was actually wondering how many days we had left, but was quite frankly too lazy and tired to actually work it out.:o So I appreciate that timely reminder! :rotfl:

I've already purchased a few items for Christmas, but I will need to get myself organised more thoroughly and decide what to put in the Christmas baskets I'm going to make, so I can watch for sales (or watch for sales to see if suitable substitutions are found as well!). The boys have been singing Jingle Bells lately, so I'm feeling that holiday spirit already. :cool: (or should I put :snow_laug instead?)

Triggles

I won an amazing £500 on free bingo a few days ago, and it's finally hit my bank account! :j A bit put aside for Christmas I think. And a bit being put towards preparing for winter, such as boots for me, a few various bits of clothing that need replacing for each of us, and a winter "stock up" shop in a couple months. A little extra put aside for winter fuel costs as well, as we got hit with an unexpectedly big bill last winter. Very handy indeed!

A family friend bought the boys some brilliant superhero pajamas for their birthdays, and I think I will go to Asda and see if they have any more, as DS2 needs more pajamas for this winter. He has quite literally grown out of them (these children and their long arms and legs!!), but at least we have plenty now for DS3, who is thrilled to have DS2's hand-me-down pajamas.

My mother has been asking when we're going to get a picture of us with DS2 and DS3 as a family picture. We'd love to get one with ALL the children (and their partners and grandchildren) but it's a logistical nightmare trying to organise that!! So the plan is to have DD come over one afternoon and take some pictures with our digital camera of the four of us, so that we can use the best picture as a "family picture." I cannot handle paying a fortune for a professional photography session and pictures - the costs are just astronomical! If we organise it properly, we can have Christmas cards printed up online quite inexpensively with the photo in it. I was going to make all our Christmas cards and put photos in them, but this may be less expensive. I will have to sit down and figure the costs of printing off the photos vs any specials available for picture Christmas cards on Vistaprint.

Oh goodness, I forgot to ask my friend about those yellow fruit I saw yesterday. Off to send her a message while I am still thinking about it! :cool:

NewLeaf_2

I love to get a christmas card with the family photo on it especially if my friends have children. Good idea to have your DD take the photos.

I have started my Christmas list making as well. Do you have many people to buy for?

There are usually 10 people on our list with only 2 children. (well a pre-teen and a child) Already have a bunch of Minnie Mouse stuff for the smaller one, I need to get some ideas for everyone else!

Take care NL x

Triggles

Christmas list has already been started here too. Who do we have to buy for? Let's see...

DS1/DIL - gift basket
DGS2 - generally book, clothing
DD/her DP - gift basket
DGS1 - generally book, clothing
MIL - gift basket
Elderly female family friend - gift basket
My mum - gift basket (plus postage as abroad) - may order something to be delivered in states
DS2 - book, a few other things
DS3 - book, a few other things
Each other - usually something we choose together, as our wedding anniversary is just after new year, we pick something like a dvd set that we'd like to watch together

I'm still putting ideas together for particular gift baskets though, so haven't decided on exactly what to put in them.

Triggles

Alrighty then. Laundry hanging up inside to dry, another load washing. Washing up done. Lemon cake made and cooling. Brownies baking now. It's my mum's recipe, and while I remember eating them, I don't ever remember helping make this recipe, so it's a first try for me. Fingers crossed!!

My mum's having surgery today, so I posted a package to her a few days ago - she will receive it while she's still recovering (she lives in the states). I'll ring late tonight to see how she is. Thank goodness for international call package on my phone or my phone bill would be horrendous!! :eek:

I have a few more eggs, so may see what else can be made with them, as they need to be used. The cakes and brownies used 7 eggs between them both!

DH found some bread mixes that are inexpensive at Sainsburys which only cost about 49p to 70p, requiring oil and water to add to it. I'm going to think about whether or not it's a good idea to keep a few on hand, for during the winter when it's sometimes a bit more of a hassle to get to the supermarket. I know bread flour itself isn't that expensive, but keeping a few packets takes up loads less room in my cupboard than a couple packs of bread flour! Something to think on...

We're still contemplating the condensor dryer. grrrrr I go back and forth, to be honest!!

Triggles

We caved in and bought the condensor dryer. Love love love it!! We will still use the airers and outside line when we can, but at least for sheets and towels, we can use the dryer on rainy days (and in the winter).

DH moved out small freezer from under the counter in the kitchen to a corner of the dining room. It works quite well there (after a bit of shuffling things around). We've also put a curtain up in front of the shelves to one side of the fireplace (non-working now that it's plastered up) so that rather than sometimes a little messy shelves we just see the nice curtain. It certainly looks better!! Also seems to keep the children from going through the shelves as much - out of sight out of mind, I suppose!

I finally stitched together the crocheted granny square afghan that my grandmother made for me years ago. It had been coming apart (between squares) quite badly, but I wasn't willing to get rid of it. Matching wool and time spent in the evening stitching while watching television, and it's all repaired. It looks brilliant! And will be nice and warm this winter!

We've started adding extra bits and pieces to each grocery shop in order to stock up for winter. We're not expecting to be snowed in for days on end or anything like that. But sometimes it's just not possible to get to the supermarket, even if it's for anything from inclement weather to ill children (or parents), it's nice to have supplies in the house on hand without having to struggle to the shops. It's mostly nonperishables, tinned goods, and other things like toilet roll, washing up liquid, laundry detergent. Finding places to keep it all is the challenge!!:rotfl:

Triggles

Still loving the dryer. Right now it's being used a bit more frequently, as it's new and I'm enjoying the freedom of just tossing laundry in to dry (well, obviously some things can't go in there, but loads less drying around the house!). :cool:

DH read the electric and gas meters, and we put them in online. The bill popped up yesterday - and it's £15 lower than we budgeted for! :j Yes, I know it's only £15 but I'm going from the angle that ANYTHING lower is better than OVER budget.

We picked up a couple clearance items at Asda the other day - meat mostly, and popped it directly into the freezer. I'm very pleased with that. One was a package of four nice pork chops, which we haven't had in ages. Also a boneless turkey breast. Yummmm!

I've started knitting a blanket.. for a couple reasons. One - I had the wool already and wanted a bigger project. Two - both boys needs a warmer blanket on their beds this winter. Three - it's relaxing (destressing?) to knit in the evenings. I've made a huge amount of progress on it IMO, and I'm hoping it won't take too horribly long to complete, as I want to make two of them. :eek: I used to knit jumpers and such when I was younger and am hoping to work back into that again eventually.

It's getting to that time of year... autumn.... I am really looking forward to it. I don't know what it is, but autumn to me is like new beginnings. Much more so than New Years. I tend to make more positive changes in autumn that at any other time of year. So it's time to sit down and decide what things I want to accomplish over the winter and plan accordingly.

On a side note, I have a couple bits of paperwork that are very important that I must complete tomorrow or Friday at latest. So will put time aside tomorrow to get that done. Off to try and sleep.

Triggles

May I say something about spiders? EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. I feel better now. We have found 2 of those big black FAST ones in the past week. :eek: I am NOT a spider person. DH is saying "oh let's just catch it under this glass and put it outside"... and I'm waving a fly swatter shrieking GET IT GET IT! while standing across the room looking slightly crazed. :rotfl:

We've sent off the financial statement to the DCA of the creditor we ended up in court over last year. We're paying under a tenner a month, thankfully, and are just required to submit a financial statement to them once a year. I put a reminder on the calendar so I wouldn't forget to put it together and post it. They didn't send any reminder - but then why would they? If we didn't send it, then they could drag us back into court and try to force us to pay more.

The plan today is to get some cleaning around the house done. The sideboard needs to be organised, so I can put some nonperishable foods in it for over winter. The dining room is slowly looking better again - we reorganised it and moved the table and chairs to one side and it's SOOOO much roomier now!

I've decided I like using a stiff broom to clean the carpet in the living room much better than using the vacuum. DH cleaned out the vacuum, and it's working fine, but the broom just seems to do a better job - I think because it brushes up the carpet as well, so it just looks better. Cheaper, as the broom uses no electricity. (does a hoover use that much electricity? I suppose it depends on how often you use it)

The boys are starting to think about what they'd like for Christmas. Mainly because they've asked for this or that, and we've told them that perhaps it would be something they could think about asking Father Christmas for instead of asking for it now. DS3 is quite intrigued by the idea, whereas DS2 finds it a bit puzzling - this is his first year thinking about that kind of thing and he's just starting to get the idea. Last year, loads of people were asking him what he'd asked for from Father Christmas and he just looked at them, confused.

Well, off to do some housework....

ETA:
Things to get done today:
- put up outdoor lighting in front of house (solar lights on wall outside front door, one on each side)
- sweep carpet - done
- laundry - first load done, second load washing
- pack away all DS2's school uniforms from his old primary school to put aside for DS3 to use in a year's time (will save SOO much money on this!)
- take clothing that is too short/too small for both boys and either pass it on to DS3 or if too small for DS3, put it in bag to take to clothing box next time we're in town. Already have a bag of clothing to go from clearing out our own wardrobe!
- bake cakes or biscuits for the week ahead
- finish list of things to do before winter

redkez2012

Hi Triggles,

You sound very organised and 'on it' today.

I agree wholeheartedly with you on the spiders front, I have a major fear - ewwwwww.

Keep up the good work.

RK 2012 x

Triggles

Redkez - thanks. I definitely do much better this time of year - new beginnings in my mind in the autumn. So I am going to take advantage of it. :cool:

We've purchased 3 inexpensive deep shelved bookcases (flat pack), put them together, and lined them up along the empty wall in the dining room. All side by side, they look like they are one unit for storage. Perfect!!! :j They will be our "pantry" now. Obviously the shelves will not be as heavy duty as the cupboards, so tinned/jarred goods will mainly go on the bottom shelves and in the cupboards. But other nonperishables (cereal, baking goods, etc) can go on the shelves with no problems. Our shelving unit in the little alcove on one side of the dining room fireplace is full and has a moss green curtain in front of it. I have more of the same curtains to cut down and put on the front of the book cases, so it all matches (charity shop purchase). That has been our big struggle with stocking up - finding a place for everything - so this will take care of that! :cool:

DS3's nursery does home visits prior to them starting in nursery. What a major pain in the bum!! I understand WHY they do this, but honestly, I am up to the eyeballs in appointments and things that need to get done, and the last thing I need is to have to sit here for 30+ minutes chatting with the nursery teacher while they scope out our home for problems. Yes, I realise that makes me sound a bit neurotic? uncooperative? Nope... just very busy!! They've insisted on a time that means I will have to race back from taking DS2 to school (and I explained this to them) and rush into the house. And then later that day DS2 needs to be picked up from school for a wheelchair appointment. It's going to be a 3+ coffee day that day, I think. :rotfl:

I won some money on a bingo site again the other day. I had a choice of a number of prizes, one of which was an Ipod. Briefly mulled that over, as DH was rather keen on that, but honestly can't see that we would use it that much. We have a laptop, a stereo, and music channels on the television. Do we really NEED the Ipod? Not really. So I chose the cash alternative of £200 and some of it is for savings and some paid for stocking up on some things like nappies and such. DS3 is still potty training - boy, will I be thrilled when we no longer have to buy nappies for daytime use for him!! I know night time training takes a bit longer, and due to circumstances, night time pants for DS2 are going to be a necessity for awhile, and those are quite expensive. I stocked up on them while they were on sale and we also were getting 15% off with DH's discount card instead of the usual 10% off. It wasn't Tesco, but every little bit still helps!

DS2 is enjoying his last day of extra time on the DS game, as school starts tomorrow for him. It's shaping up to be a busy week! Most DIY work around the house has been put on temporary hold, as it will just be easier to do the work when both boys are in school, even though DS3's "school" is only 3 hours a day. It's still a fair bit of time to do the work without children underfoot (or for them to be bothered by the noise of the tools). So tonight's job is for DH & I to put together a list of the DIY jobs we want done before Christmas, and a schedule as to what we're going to do first. Personally I prefer to do the quick easy jobs first, then they're done and dusted. I'm reasonably certain DH will agree with this, so hopefully next week we can wade into the DIY arena once again.