Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles

Oh, DH made a surprise for the boys! He used the small silicone baking trays I have that are shaped like teddy bears and used them to make their yorkshire puddings in today, so they had yorkshire puddings shaped like teddy bears - they absolutely loved them! We'll have to do that again, and use the christmas tree ones for the holidays as well! Very cool! A family member told us to use silicone muffin tins for yorkshire puddings as then you don't have to use oil, just pour the batter in and pop it all in the oven. Works brilliantly!!!!

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Busy couple days, but at least enjoying the sunshine!! Got all the laundry caught up again (how fast does that pile up?!??!?!:eek:) which is brilliant!! Dining room is almost cleared out, furniture rearranged a bit so it has a big open area so the room seems nice and airy again.

I bought a few pieces of clothing today at Sainsburys. It's been ages since I've bought clothing for myself, and I needed to replace two pairs of trousers, and a couple tops. Everything (clothing) is 25% off right now, and the two tops were on clearance, plus add in DH's discount which is currently 15% due to Easter holidays.

Tea tonight was spaghetti bolognaise. Tomorrow's will be barbequed pork ribs (pork streaky rashers - like boneless ribs) cooked in slow cooker all day and then served over rice. Saturday will be turkey curry, made of a £1.48 turkey drumstick cooked all day in the slow cooker (with a bit of water in bottom), then meat stripped from bones and put in curry using Sains 9p per jar curry sauce with fresh mushrooms and tinned basics pineapple. Yum yum yum..... And then gammon on Sunday for roast as MIL & DD are coming over for the day. We just have the pork roast left now from our roast pack from the butcher, so looks like in early May we'll have to go get another pack. It's brilliant - pork joint, gammon, beef joint, lamb joint, and 2 whole chickens for £25. All of the meat is absolutely superb - always good quality. Good price and I have to admit we like supporting the local butcher as well. I'll make some stock from the turkey drumstick bones that are left on Saturday and put it aside to use possibly on Monday to have soup and dumplings. We're still trying to encourage DS2 to eat some meals, with little success. We bought a korma sauce to make a little turkey curry for the boys with the korma sauce, as the other we make a bit spicy. He did eat a few bites of the garlic chicken recently, so that was good.

So... a whole day tomorrow with no laundry? Nah... I got sheets washed today, but I think I have some towels that can be washed and hung out. The main attachment on our vacuum has broken, so I contacted Lakeland for a replacement part, but they no longer sell that vacuum. They're offered to give us a full refund on the vacuum, and then we can buy a new one. We're considering this, and then we can buy an equivalent one through Lakeland again.

Well, off to scrutinise the budget a bit and see where we are at. :cool:

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Okay, budget sorted. A bit lax this month, so tightening up the pursestrings this month. Shame on me!!! Back on track though.

Cash being taken out for groceries, as it's far too easy to overspend when using the debit card. Have done a recent shop, but will need to pop back in here and there for bread and milk in the near future, as we go through it pretty quickly here, especially the boys.

Had a lovely gammon today with veg. The boys didn't eat much of it, but they aren't very good with mid-afternoon meals. Too off-schedule for them - they get hungry by noon, and can't last until 2pm, and need to have their evening meal around 5pm. So we only really have the mid-afternoon meals when we have company, such as today when MIL and DD were here. Otherwise, our roast meals are best done around 4:30 or 5pm.

The boys spent a fair bit of time outside blowing bubbles. :cool: We purchased a large container of the bubble mixture, but once it's empty we will be refilling it with our own mix using basics washing up liquid and water. We just wanted the huge container as it's perfect to mix a big batch of the bubble stuff to last awhile.

I need to do some looking online for window film that sticks to the window and filters out the sun, so that the room stays cooler. Both boys have rooms that get afternoon sun so their rooms get extremely warm. We have ceiling fans, but it'd be nice to cut down the heat coming in throughout the day if possible. We're just not sure if it's the way to go or not.

Hmmm... quite late. Having difficulty sleeping tonight. It's been a bit of a stressful day, so I imagine that's basically why. Dealing with a headache as well.

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I've spent this morning going through my desk and sorting through a stack of paperwork. We have a lovely pile of paper "to be shredded" to go in the chiminea tonight so DH & I can enjoy a lovely fire tonight in the back garden. :rotfl: And I've filed pretty much everything, except for a small folder of things I need to finish up this week. I've put aside all the school vouchers and will turn them in tomorrow morning.

I love getting the paperwork caught up! :j

So, tomorrow is "blitz the bathroom" day. DH has responsibility for cleaning toilets and sinks. I will be cleaning the bathtub and tiles. And we both will be doing general tidying and sorting through the medicine cabinet. I will be so pleased to get that done!! I hate it when the bathroom looks grubby, and ours does right now, no matter how much I try to keep it clean. So an all out blitz is needed!

Yesterday was the last Monday of the month, which is scheduled takeaway (under a tenner at our local chip shop) but DS2 begged for spag bol for tea, so the takeaway was rescheduled for tonight. Apparently spaghetti was important to him yesterday. No worries! Easily sorted, and he ate all of his tea, which is unusual, as often he has to be encouraged at mealtimes. :cool:

Nice day out now, but was rather overcast this morning and cold and dreary. A bit annoyed as I could have washed towels and had them hanging out to dry (nice breeze as well!), but tomorrow and Thursday are supposed to be sunny as well, so it will have to be done then. I will have to remember to get the towels in the washing machine bright and early in the morning so I can get them hung out before the school run.

DH is pleased as he is getting a tattoo today. A friend is training as a tattoo artist and is doing a tattoo for him for free. So DH gets a nice tattoo that he has wanted at no cost to our budget. Very nice! :cool:

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ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! :mad:

Just when you think you're getting things sorted, something comes along to trip you up, doesn't it? :mad: Engine fault in the car!! We have an appointment at the garage for tomorrow morning, and the diagnostic alone will cost £40!! And that's not including repairs that might be needed. I don't think it's anything major, but it's still aggravating!! So no driving anywhere today, and tomorrow is going to be a right hassle!! Walk DS2 to school, then walk home, then drive to garage, and I guess go for a walk with DS3 in the pushchair while they look over the car. And hope it's something easy they can fix so that I can get home, leave DS3 with DH and go up to school before 1pm for DS2's class visit to a local church for a "wedding re-enactment" as I've already promised I will be there to assist. gasp gasp I'm going to need some serious coffee tomorrow morning, I think! :rotfl:

I've decided that I'm going to pull expected savings out of the current account and straight into savings account immediately. When we've only got £50 in the bank, we only spend £45... when we have £200 we spend £195. If it's there, it gets spent. So I'm going to make sure it's not there! LOL

We called a couple skip hire places and were shocked! A few of them advertise a midi skip "from £100" or something similar, but when you call them, it's always at least £130-160!! So where, exactly, does this "from £100" come in??? :mad: So DH & I have decided that we're simply going to load up a lot of the stuff into bags and boxes (and lay down blankets to protect the back of our vehicle) and take it all up to the tip ourselves. DD has offered to babysit for a few hours while we load it all up and make a few trips up there to off load. So basically, for the price of petrol (and it's not far from us anyway), we save £130+. :j Works for me!! Either way we had to load the stuff up, so we're not worried about the extra work of offloading it.

DH did some more work on the back garden - wow! It's looking much better. We're going to really push forward on it all from Saturday on, as he's off work for a week then. So we're hoping to get a vast majority of it done then. I'm really looking forward to seeing it all done and letting the kids out to play in a nice "kid-friendly" garden with a bigger play area. :j

Some new people at DS2's school with which to acquaint myself. He has a new TA 1:1 part of the week - we've just met her yesterday, and she is very nice. She's getting a "breaking in" time with the regular TA who will still be there. And then a new classroom TA as well. So a few new faces around him, so we're expecting he might be a bit off as he gets used to new people around him again.

MIL has been on the news recently, being interviewed about the street parties from years ago, and now apparently the news media has helped set up a "street party" type of thing near MIL's house for the royal wedding on Friday. We're going to pop over (provided the car is back in order, obviously) to provide a bit of moral support for MIL as well as giving the boys the chance to see a real "street party" as they've never been to one. Well, neither have I for that matter. So I'm rather looking forward to that as well! I have no problem with the royalty, as it is. Certain behaviours of particular royals? Of course. I suppose many do. But nothing against the royals in general. I think it's quite charming and certainly provides a tourist draw. I am impressed with the history of it all and probably mostly by the Queen throughout her own personal history.

DS2 starts his riding through the RDA next week. The school are happy for him to come to school a bit late one morning a week, as they feel this programme will benefit him. We're quite excited about it, and he is really pleased to be seeing the horses again. We're so glad he is getting the opportunity to participate. :j

I was going to blitz the bathroom today. I am annoyed to say that it now won't be done until the weekend. I twisted my back and it's quite sore, and DS3 is napping rather poorly this morning, and as the bathroom is just across from his room, I don't want to be waking him up repeatedly. (plus, I'm a big baby, my back hurts! whinge whinge! :rotfl:)

Watching "The Daily Politics". sigh. They're saying economy is up, but I don't think that's quite accurate. I think we're still in for quite a bumpy ride, and I'm really worried that there's going to be a stall and we'll have another economic dip when all the cuts really sink in. DH laughs at me because I grizzle about the costs of staying the EU, and comment regularly that we need to get out of the EU. I think he agrees, but just gets a chuckle out of me grizzling about it. I do find the whole scenario of Labour and Conservative members sitting opposite each other and sniping back and forth at each other a bit off putting - this is our government and they're acting like a bunch of children on the schoolyard. Just weird to be honest.

Triggles

Whew. Finally have the car back, after getting it checked. Cost £98 in total - tow, diagnostic, and repair. Big relief as we were thinking hundreds of pounds!! :j

Chicken cooked in the remoska, curry tonight. Yum.... had a stressful couple days and it's serious comfort food!! :rotfl:

DH has just advised me that Doctor Who is starting though, so I have to run, and will post more later.

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:j :j :j

DH and I got loads of work done in the garden today!!!! DH did all the heavy work, bless him!! The big shed has now been moved to the rear of the garden, next to the smaller shed!! And a huge play area is now open in the area where the shed was. Brilliant!!!:cool:

Now we're relaxing the rest of the day, as we're knackered!!! :rotfl:

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Interestingly enough, it is sooooo easy to slip back into old habits. DH & I went over budget and realised things were breathable again.. meaning we actually had enough to cover bills with a bit left over for saving... and you guessed it... spending got bad again. So that's it. No more Nice Mrs. There is a small amount to be budgeted out for "spends" each month. When it's gone, it's gone. It definitely didn't help that DS2 was off school for almost 3 weeks and then this week DH is off work and it's his birthday as well! Money just seemed to fly out the window!! Plus DH needed new glasses, car tow and repair, paid back a family loan, and bicycle service/brake repair on DH's bike (his work transport so upkeep is a must!). We've gone an extra trip to the supermarket, so that was an extra £50 on the food budget. Grrrrrrrr:mad: And I'm not blaming just DH... we're both to blame. I'm cross with myself for letting it happen and I'm just as guilty on the spends.

Anyway, DH's birthday tomorrow. We're going into town in the morning for him to get his new glasses. And I'm going to stop at the post office to post a few pictures to my mum overseas. She's not great with internet stuff, so emailing them to her is out of the question. It's a shame, as it'd be so much cheaper. But that's life. We don't buy birthday cards for each other - we cut that out years ago - added expense which always seem to have the same verse with different picture each year. We know we love each other, we don't need to buy a card to say it. DH is going out in the evening with a mate to have a few drinks for his birthday (a few days late, but work schedules conflict), and he got his strimmer. So he's happy. A cake will be made by myself and DS2 tomorrow. He'll get a card and gift from both MIL and DD. God knows if DS1 will remember - he and DIL are admittedly horrific about remember family birthdays and such. I despair about that, I really do - as DH always gets frustrated that DS1 can't seem to remember his birthday unless prompted by me a number of times and even then he's rubbish at remembering - how hard is it to sign a card and pop it in the mail for heaven's sake? And call me sexist, but I would have thought DIL would at least keep track of these things. I keep track of MIL's birthday and help DH get it sorted - admitted, DH does remember generally when MIL's birthday is, just has a tendency to wait until too close to the day to organise, so I tend to nudge it to his attention sooner. It's right on the heels of 3 of our 4 childrens' birthdays, so it always seems like it sneaks up on us. Anyway, I digress. Perhaps it's a sign of the times - young adults now don't "do" the birthday cards sent to family members anymore. sigh... but then I'm not really a young adult anymore. :rotfl: But DD is, and she keeps track of all that and sends cards. Girl thing? Age thing? Generation thing? Not sure really... But back to DS1 remembering.. I'm hoping he will just at the very least ring DH tomorrow and say happy birthday, as then it will at least show DH that he hasn't forgotten. fingers crossed....

I got a blackberry curve two weeks ago through my mobile company. I wasn't going to upgrade, as I am perfectly happy with my current mobile. But it changed my monthly contract by a whole 21p... and gave me free unlimited calls to anyone on the same mobile network... which is DD and DH.. which is effectively the two people I call the most (which admittedly isn't often, but there you go, right?). This means I won't be likely to use the house phone at all during the week (free weekends, so can use it freely on the weekends), thus saving money. And I don't have to be worried about going over my allotted minutes and costing more money. Plus, a few acquaintances of mine have blackberry curves as well, so I can communicate that way (god knows how as I'm still figuring it out :rotfl:) with them freely as well. So all in all, an upgrade that is actually worth it for me.

I bought the Sainsburys magazine today. I'm normally not a "buy a magazine" type, but I do regularly buy this one. It always has coupons in it as well, so they often balance out the £1.60 for the magazine once a month. And they usually have good recipes and money saving tips as well. My little splurge.

The weather is supposed to be sunny tomorrow, then rainy for a few days, so tomorrow will hopefully mean a good day to wash towels and hang them out to dry. This weather we've been having lately has been brilliant for hanging out laundry! I love warm weather for that!!!

Whoops! Ranted up above there and missed a point. MIL and DD coming over tomorrow for lunch. What to have? Hmmmm...

DH & I are still in discussion regarding a dog. We would like to get one, and we've agreed on a breed (beagle, for various reasons), however, I would like to wait about 6 months, so we can see financially how it will impact us (food, vaccinations, pet insurance, etc) which will help us know if we are in a position to get a pet at that time. Also by then DS3 will be 2yrs, and I'll be a bit more comfortable with his walking skills at that point. I'm still a bit iffy..... we'd like one but I will admit I'm nervous as I know it's going to be me taking on a lot of the responsibility. That's one of the main reasons for holding out for 6 months - I'm not sure I'm ready for that quite yet.

Okay.. not much else going on .. other than a massive need to clean the house from top to bottom. :cool:

Triggles

Today is Day 1 of our new focused "new outlook on life" in our house. And while DH is driving me a bit mental, I'm going to stay positive and get past it.

So today I've done:
- load of laundry drying (inside as it's overcast outside)
- washing up
- tidied up dining room
- boys up and dressed, packed school lunch for DS2 and did school run

I'm going to meet a friend for coffee this afternoon, then go on to school run. I know going out to coffee is not very MS, but a nice cup of coffee and chat with a friend has a small price tag, but keeps me positive and in touch with the outside world. Being a SAHM can be very isolating if you let it.

These are my new goals:
- shower, dress nicely, do hair and make up every day (I found that when I neglected my own hair and clothing and such, I felt less positive and confident, and it affects so many decisions I make throughout the day!)
- try to get up earlier than the children and have a relaxing cup of tea or coffee before getting the morning routine going. A chance to wake up in a relaxed manner and start the day fresh!)
- eating meals out of the cupboard and freezer - we're whittling things down slowly - but want to get rid of the stockpiles of things.
- lose weight - you'd think walking to and from school twice a day would make the weight fall off, but it just doesn't. I'm committing myself to taking DS2 swimming once a week minimum, walking to all the school runs (okay, except today as I can't walk from downtown coffee meeting!), taking DS3 out for walks regularly (hopefully once a day), and starting to use our free weights to tone up somewhat. I'm also going to make an effort to eat more salad (which I enjoy but generally rarely buy), no alcohol (which DH is also agreeing to), and more veg!
- shorting our bank account by planning our regular monthly expenses and moving all other money to savings right away at the beginning of the month! we actually watch money quite well when we're short, taking time to think about what we spend. So I'm deliberately making us cash-short in order to force us to think about these things! I told DH that if he wants a lovely takeaway curry from local restaurant this month, we have to have £20 left over from grocery money this month to pay for it. So now he's looking at ways we can cut the grocery bill this month! :rotfl: It's all about incentive, eh?
- taking DS3 to local playgroup once a week. I generally avoid them, but I need to make the effort to get out and see people, rather than hide away in the house. So pushing myself to either go to playgroup or get together with other mums I know with children.

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Day 2.

DS2 had horse riding with the RDA today. He is really enjoying it. It's reasonably priced (£2 per visit), and he is learning about being calm and gentle around the horses, which is good. I'm hoping it gives him a healthy respect for animals as well.

DH was in a bit of a strop so ended up taking DS3 with us as well. He spent a fair bit of the time fussing, but I tried to keep him distracted. Then took DS2 to school for the day and DS3 has taken a nap. He's up now and managed to get biscuit crumbs all over the living room! I was going to vacuum later after tea, but I think it'll have to be much sooner!

DS3 has figured out how to turn off the television. sigh. Makes for an interesting day sometimes.