Preparing for winter III

rosalie-lavender

kittycatface wrote: »

If you are feeling OS you can make your own heat bag to put in microwave using material and dry rice or beans: instructions here:
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6119326_make-herbal-bean-bags.html
then flavour with your own essential oil etc I personally hate the smell of lavender (reminds me of old ladies !!:( ) so have used eucalyptus on mine and use when i feel under the weather. goes well under the neck for clearing head colds. hth

It is interesting what different smells mean to different people. I love lavender because it reminds me of a huge bush we had in our garden when I was a child. I never think of it as an old ladies smell because my Grandmother absolutely hated it and she lived to 100!

Gettingtherequickly

Reassuring that you are all starting to feel a bit cold at night, need to change my summer duvet but as I have just come back from Egypt, where the temp had dropped to 39, I thought it was just me get acclimatised to the weather here!

mcjordi

not moving now lol.

got some decent thermal underlay been left by my dad he said if i dont want it hoy it out.. but ill do living room as it has no underlay under carpet.. should be enough to do living room..
got 2 venetian blinds from a skip earlier on.. not a mark on em.. just no brackets luckily my current brackets fit but cause a sag in the middle so gonna put a screw in the middle of each.

gonna have to chuck out my vegetable cup a soups as they taste very bad when made.. wierd as the tom ones are same amount of time past best before and they taste fine.. ah well..
have plenty of tinned stuff in just got to do a small freezer shop. buy some bread and milk for freezer.
got to put up curtain pole at front door..(waiting on wall plugs and screws coming as its plasterboarded )
if the weather picks up do a final cut on the grass and general tidy up of the garden.
also started to build up electric and gas as they are pay as you go, by adding a couple of quid extra each time i top up.
had heating on for about 10 mins the other week to see if it was all working as it should and had no issues..
cant do a great deal in kitchen as they are coming to rip it apart in 6 weeks eeek

bossymoo

I have sorted through our hat bag this morning. We have lots of hats but the kids hands are too big for their gloves. But they are sat here in ear muffs lol. Also can't find scarves. So will keep an eye out for any bargains.

I've also put some foil stuff down the back of one of the radiators, was really easy to fit actually. Did the dining room first. It's the only downstairs one on an external wall, the rest are upstairs. Probably DS' room needs it most...

chirpychick

kittycatface wrote: »

If you are feeling OS you can make your own heat bag to put in microwave using material and dry rice or beans: instructions here:
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6119326_make-herbal-bean-bags.html
then flavour with your own essential oil etc I personally hate the smell of lavender (reminds me of old ladies !!:( ) so have used eucalyptus on mine and use when i feel under the weather. goes well under the neck for clearing head colds. hth

Being perfectly honest - its not feeling OS that's the issue, I am just so blinking tired I fear I may stab myself (no machine) and I only just learnt to sew "sorta" about 2 weeks ago.

NEUROTIC PREGNANT WOMAN ALERT :rotfl:

I decided after a mere 4 hours sleep (after only the same the night before on top of anaemia) I really ought to do SOMETHING today. So of course I decided that something would be to sort out the car kit for Winter.
I think my main concerns are being in labour and getting stuck in snow or hubby driving home tired and late at night after being at the hospital and getting stuck in snow.
It has only happened once to me before given where I live but this year I am particularly anxious about it and as it doesn't cost any money hubby is letting me do what i like to ease my nerves lol.

I have to keep getting up and sitting down and im on a sitting down moment so i thought id share.
This is incase there is me, hubby, baby & 3 dogs stuck in the car for a few hours/overnight scenario.

car kit:
Heat Pad large- done
Newspaper - done
ready made formula - done
dog food/treats - done
paracetamol - done
water - done
nappy - done
wipes - done
towel x 2 - done
chocolate - done
spare socks - done
Blanket - done
hat, earmuffs - done
gloves - done
torch - done
dog poop bags - done
baby hat & mittens! - done
antibacterial handwash - done

need to put in:
baby carrier
scraper
shovel

de icer - not sure if we have any - Just checked, we half a bit so will need to buy some for the car.

wellies x 2 (and welly socks) - put in when the weather turns

I have only put in 1 formula and 1 nappy and a small pack of wipes as i figure i will have the changing bag with me anyway with spare clothes and extra nappies and all that - its just incase we run out which is highly unlikely.

I will go upstairs and get the other stuff and then that's done. Then I will do hubby's walk to work in the snow rucksack

hubby work rucksack:
water
chocolate
spare socks
spare trousers
spare pants
cuppa soup (so he can warm up when he gets to work)
paracetamol
gloves
torch on his keyring
ice grips
blanket

His welly socks and keyring torch are birthday presents (2nd oct) so they wont go in yet.

He point blank refuses to use a scarf or hat (even in really bad snow).

Have I missed anything?
I do normally do these things but I think this year I am feeling very vulnerable and protective of hubby and just need to make myself feel better by being organised in doing these things.

On another winter prep positive note my lovely mum has brought us loads of food! Heinz soups, cuppa soups, rice pudding, custard, readybrek (for hubby), cold and flu medicines, stuff to stock up our bare cupboards etc for when the baby comes but because we don't have any type of store cupboard we will be using this as a store and keeping it topped up hopefully all the time now :j

I feel really relieved and happy

kat360

I don't know if this has already been posted but dunelm mill have some nice fleece blankets for £3.49. They look nice and thick.

http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/spotty-fleece-blanket-200277#5050210724611

Hope this helps:j

Confuzzled

mcjordi wrote: »

not moving now lol.

got some decent thermal underlay been left by my dad he said if i dont want it hoy it out.. but ill do living room as it has no underlay under carpet.. should be enough to do living room..
got 2 venetian blinds from a skip earlier on.. not a mark on em.. just no brackets luckily my current brackets fit but cause a sag in the middle so gonna put a screw in the middle of each....

also started to build up electric and gas as they are pay as you go, by adding a couple of quid extra each time i top up.
had heating on for about 10 mins the other week to see if it was all working as it should and had no issues..

the flat i'm in has really really thick underlay, you can tell by looking at it, that and all the doors leave obvious marks on the carpet where they graze it when open and shut, it makes a huge difference to how warm the place is, and i only need a draught excluder for the hall door that seperates us from the unheated staircase (i'm in a maisonette)

it's supposed to be just 3C overnight with a real feel of 1C so i'll try out my other storage heater tonight to make sure that one is still working ok too. i'd been waiting for another nippy night to test this one so i think that qualifies

having said that, it said it was 6C when i got up with a real feel of 4C the house was fine at 21C (no heat on since i tested that heater a month ago!) when i went outside an hour later to hang laundry out i was actually roasting in the sunshine in just a fleece shirt and leggings. maybe the downstairs neighbour has been using her heater, all i know is i would never have believed it was so 'cold' outside if i hadn't looked at the webpage

i'm not even using blankets on my lap yet though i have made a habit of wearing my fleece dressing gown all the time inside the house now. some days with, some days without slipper boots. i'm hoping to make it til november before the heat goes on, should be easier now as my daughter is now staying with her dad a few days a week and she's the one that asks for the heat before i do. i will of course turn it on if need be but i haven't even bubblewrapped stuff yet so i'm pleasantly surprised how warm it still feels in this flat (i'm in fife) as with such a cool summer i'd worried that the house wouldn't store as much heat as it had in previous years.

here's to nice comfy houses whilst still being able to enjoy the lovely nip of autumn :T

bevally

Have just started reading this thread & you have all really inspired me to get sorted for winter! I now need to spend a bit of time reading back over the thread to pick up more tips.
The main thing i want to get is a door curtain for the back door. Can i ask where you bought yours??? Most of the ones i have seen are plain & i would really like a patterned one, any suggestions gratefully received!
Thanks!

nikki2804

Finally got my bedroom window fixed so hopefully the room should be warmer.

Placed an order with Dunelm Mill last week and heard nothing (apart from a confirmation email) Trying to chase them up because I want my rug lol.

Bed delivery has been changed again, it better appear soon or I will not be happy.

Giving the house a deep clean today (no work this evening :j) Actually quite enjoying it, hopefully going to get the majority of the house painted next Sunday. Did not enjoy finding a gigantic hairy spider on the back of my 3 year olds wardrobe. It was already squished but still, boak!!

rising_from_the_ashes

Was going to stick 7 tog duvet outside for a bit to air but it feels a bit damp out so will hang off for now.

Found 2 new fleece throws (got in the sales at the start of the year for £1.99;)) that I was going to make cat beds from ... but wondering if I can somehow attach them to my living room curtains.:)

I do have thick (lined) curtains up, but it's a really cold room - mainly down to the patio doors I think ..... mmmm something to investigate!

DM is bringing my new (2nd hand) folding table up on Sunday :T so I'll finally be able to get the sewing machine out & in use again:j:j

Ended up with a fleece blanket on the bed last night & was lovely & toasty - radiator was on again when I came downstairs so have accepted that's prob the heating on now (but haven't put any of the other radiators on).

One thing I hate about winter is that my lounge radiator is behind the sofa - so I end up with the sofa nearly in the middle of the floor so the heat can get out. It makes the room look so much smaller & much prefer the extra floor space in the summer when I can push it right back against the (off) radiator.

Right ... off to check the sizes of the fleeces!:)