Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles · 19 November 2012 at 11:26AM

Quick trip to the tip today to get rid of some stuff - both rubbish and recycling items. It's nice to slowly be working through some of the excess "stuff" in the house.

There are certain things in the works right now. Still toilet training DS3, but am hopeful that by New Year he will be in pants instead of nappies during the day, and that will save us a fair bit of money. We're also still working our way through DIY in the house as well. A couple little things here and there - replaced a light switch that was cracked, need to replace a tile on the hearth that is cracked. Getting a couple more pictures up, fixing a frame that had the hardware come off so I can hang it up. All little things, but still take time (but not much money) to get done. Slowly but surely...

DS3 has figured out that if he bangs hard enough on the bottom of his safety gate (on his bedroom door) that he can get out of it. We've managed to convince him that this is not a good idea

but how long that will last for is anyone's guess. DS2 can open any of the safety gates in the house from OUTSIDE the gate, but not from inside the room the gate is on. So that's something we need to constantly keep in mind. It's unsafe for him to be loose and unsupervised in the house or with DS3 (he's not violent, but doesn't quite understand that some actions might hurt someone), so that means I'll be getting up by 4:30 in the mornings - as they normally wake up around 5am. Better stock up on coffee. :rotfl:

I managed to get the dining room looking quite presentable yesterday. Living room is not looking bad at all. Entryway is acceptable for the moment, although needs to be mopped. Kitchen needs a bit more thorough cleaning and mopping. Then on to the upstairs. So off to work I go....

Triggles · 25 November 2012 at 6:33PM

Ah, found an inexpensive way to do a turkey roast meal. Two turkey drumsticks from Asda for £1.88. :j Less time to cook, less waste, and can use the bones for stock. Just enough meat for us to use for the meal. MUCH cheaper than £10+ for a whole turkey (Aldi's - although we're considering buying one for Christmas, as we'll use the leftover meat the next day on boxing day). We had this today, and it was delicious. DS2 has recently discovered that he loves turkey, so it was nice to finally see him really eat a decent portion of meat.

We ordered our own Christmas presents today using a £20 voucher (from filling out a survey) on Amazon. So our £45 worth of DVDs (Dr Who sets :cool:) only cost £25...and that's our Christmas and anniversary presents sorted. We always buy a joint gift of something like DVD sets, so we can watch them together.

We've got a few more presents to sort, and then stocking stuffers. Christmas tree is up and decorated and we've been listening to Smooth Christmas FM on the radio (24 hour Christmas music):j

So far so good!

Triggles · 3 December 2012 at 8:51AM

Hmmm... DH's higher discount for Christmas at Sainsburys kicks in now until after New Years Day. You'd think it'd be a no-brainer to shop there, but it really just means I have to research grocery prices a bit more before purchasing some things. There's an Aldi store just across the street, so I watch their sales as I can pop into there during the same trip, so no extra petrol cost. And Asda is on the way home from school run, so I can always go in there without an extra trip. Tesco is really the only one that isn't "on my way" to something else, but then DD works at Tesco, so if I see a really good bargain, I can ask her to pick it up for me and I'll pay her (without using her discount card, of course - I'm happy to bag a bargain, but not dishonestly or risking her job!). I think the Whole Foods Market is just not a huge draw for me - I may peek in there next week to see if there are any posh goodies to add to MIL's Christmas basket, but that's it really.

I had a blissful short time with no cold, and now another one has started. Oh joy. :mad: Looks like DS3 has it as well. It's to be expected with 2 children in school/preschool, as they get exposed to all sorts of germs, but because I'm always tired and run down, I always seem to get it the worst! It'll take me a good three weeks to shake off a cold.

I have crafting stuff to do today - making gift tags to donate to DS2's school for their Christmas sale. I was going to make cards, but the sale is fairly close to Christmas - I am going on the logic that many people have already sent their cards by then, so will not be looking to buy them, but lots of people wait until close to Christmas Eve to wrap presents (we're last minute wrappers, we are!

) so the gift tags will be a good choice.

We've got most of the Christmas decorations up (although DS3 knocked over the Christmas tree and I still have to "reorganise" the ornaments on it). Just a few more items yet - we're cleaning as we go along.

Ham,cheese, and potato bake tonight for supper. I like it because it's filling and we always have enough leftover (I make extra) for a meal the next day heated up in the microwave. So that'll be lunch for tomorrow sorted for myself, DH, and DS3 (DS2 will be in school). The ham is a nice inexpensive purchase, as we buy it for £1 at Farm Foods, in the sandwich meat section - although it's more thickly cut. And we always stock up on cheese blocks when it's half price, so plenty of cheese available.

Off to get things done... school run, quick trip to supermarket, and then washing up.

Triggles · 5 December 2012 at 10:05PM

Well, we were dreadful and ordered Pizza Hut last night for supper. But in our defence, we used a 50% off code so it was £20 total - and there was enough left over for supper tonight as well! So I'm okay with that!

I've just put an order in for Ocado delivery. I've never tried them before, but they sent me a £20 off a £60 shop voucher code, and they price match Tesco, as well as having a few good sales on right now. So I was very pleased with that - managed to put some Christmas booze (gift for close family friend and MIL) on it as well, so they were actually free. :cool:

I think we pretty much have Christmas covered, except for a gift for DS1 & DIL. They are very difficult to buy for!! I don't want to just give them cash, as it then seems as if we're not making an effort... but I just don't know what they need or want, short of just asking them. We'll have to think on it a bit more.