A Year of Living Frugabulously

Karmacat

I love this "berries" thing you've got going, Lula, it sounds very apt

As for blood ... I've had mine stop flowing before as well. And I've fallen asleep on the recovery couch! They don't want my blood any more, tho, nothing desperate, its just that my iron levels weren't high enough, and I need all I've got!

Lula-Hula

Morning all,

hello lotti379 welcome to de-lurkation :hello:- quite agree re book swaps, my neighbour gave me bags full, I then swap the gory ones with guys at work & non gory with other friends. I have bought plenty in the past year, most are used ones via amazon or ebay, or else charity shops & local library also has sell offs.

Hello Taxi, thank you for popping in - must catch up with your news, again

MW - lovely to see you, I am shamefully guilty of merely lurking over at yours recently, & lets' face it, I am in no position to be telling anyone off about clothes spends . I actually think that maternity clothes are non-challenge items anyway, so don't worry too much.

Karmacat - hello you, I like my 'berries' too - just seems more fun than pounds, will probably have beans in the summer . Low iron levels very common when eating veggie, mine were always on the brink & eventually I started eating non veggie again. I like donating, it's such an easy way to give something back, but I fully appreciate that it's not for everyone.

I didn't wake up til 9 & have just had coffee & toast & am waiting for the first laundry load to end. It seems dry out at the moment, but I'm sure it rained all night so will be very squelchy in the garden. Hurray - I get to wear my flowery wellies :j.

I have to do some intensive vacuuming, clean the bathroom & that's about it on the chores list. Tidying, paperwork & decluttering is an ongoing thing ... .

After a recent chat with my sister, it seems that my determination to be at home for christmas day, has resulted in my hosting for her & my dad too. I have no issues with this other than:
they're both quite bossy & I don't like being told what to do in my home, my fridge is tiny & certainly won't accommodate all the food required, my little round table seats 3 people, the sofa only seats 3 & we don't even like turkey, preferring to just have a normal roast chicken ( pre-cooked from Waitrose so disaster proof ).

On the other hand, we do decorate the home nicely so it actually looks & feels festive, I can reassemble the old table that is behind the sofa, I can drink some booze & it will certainly be cosy :rotfl:

Other than boring chores, I need to take that Excel for Mac book back to be renewed, I've not got past the first page yet & also get some freebie stuff from the co op. Not sure what, I just want to get something.

Ooh washing marvel has finished, must hang stuff out quick

back later ...

taxi73

I'm on the decluttering front stuff today too x
it's always a dilemma who's going where at christmas with families

Cherryjack

the amount of de-cluttering to do today is scary! will be joining you

The_Dragon

We go see the family before Yule and then spend that time at home enjoying ourselves (besides which it would cost waaaaaay too much to send the Furry Dragon (tm) on his holiday over Yule!)

Lula-Hula

The_Dragon wrote: »

We go see the family before Yule and then spend that time at home enjoying ourselves (besides which it would cost waaaaaay too much to send the Furry Dragon (tm) on his holiday over Yule!)

Hello Dragon, always a pleasure to see you here

I would quite happily stay home & so would DDs. Unsociable, us ??? Since my mum passed it's become quite a tricky thing as all previous traditions became unsuitable.

The elder siblings (complicated family) have always done their own thing & it's probably never occurred to them to make sure my Dad / Grandmother aren't on their own, they just assume my younger sister & I will do it :mad:. As my grandmother becomes more frail it's become increasingly difficult & last year was my turn. It was quite dreadful as international rellies came over, caught a bug & spent the week in bed, leaving Dad & I to entertain & feed other rellies aged between 11 & 96 :rotfl:.

It's my sisters turn to be dutiful & with my 2 DDs I do have my own family, but couldn't bear to see just my sis & Dad on their own ( she split with her OH last year) so if she's happy to drive the 30 miles to come here, then fine with me. I have no doubt that she'd happily dip out altogether to spend time with BF or friends & avoid duty, but am not allowing that . She chose not to have children, to end her marriage & does a lot more talking about family being important than action, but she also got given a huge deposit for her house do she can damn well do her bit

Washing out on line, sausages & mushrooms in belly, living room hoovered but that's it, as hoover got all hot & bothered & turned itself off so will just have to wait til it's in the right mood again to finish off

Washing up to do & then we're off to the library

rictus123

Just read this thread, a nice read...although can i ask what is your home job you refer to?

Karmacat

My hoover's moody like that, sadly!

Christmas ... omigod ... Christmas Day will be two celebrations several hundred miles apart, united only by the phone... I'm not mucking about with my mum staying at mine and all the pressure that gives, I'm already wincing at the whole idea. But my sister will have both her (adult) kids at home, minus the girlfriend of one of them, so it will be less stressful in the present day for her.

I'm all for sisters doing their bit! Luckily mine does. And my brother too - he's forgotten about regular phone calls, but he goes round to my mum's all the time, or takes her out, he certainly ticks the boxes.

Hope you have a nice evening.

Lula-Hula

Hi rictus123,

my home job is minor repairs & alterations & smoothing away the wrinkles for the sartorial & idle rich ( that's buttons, name tapes, hems & ironing to you ) It used to be about 5-6 hours a day, but is in decline & I rarely do more than 3 now, but it's not my main income & now I'm debt free I'd rather have the time than the money, but it certainly played a large role in helping to clear the debts

Karma - I don't even really mind if my sister does go off & do her own thing & my Dad comes to me, I just think that she should want to spend some time with Dad, bearing in mind just how much he's done for her. We don't really celebrate christmas as such, more that it's a time to get family together. I'd happily do a stint in a soup kitchen or shelter ... go somewhere hot & sunny ... eat fish n chips at the seaside.

Currently toying with the idea of booking panto tickets for christmas eve ... £56 though . I thought they went with the school, but apparently not. I am so NOT organised this year, haven't bought a single gift yet & have only one free day ( not at work & while DD still in school) in which to do it all :eek::eek::eek:.

I've signed up to The Sealed Pot Challenge for next year & was planning on just saving £250 but ... the lovely SueUU, who runs the challenge, had already put my previous year's goal against my name so it's £350 I'm aiming for *gulp*.

I'm using the £2 coin savings in the total, but whatever is in Jasper the Cat, will go towards new boots & I need a new tin for my sealed pot.

Shot to the library earlier, I renewed the excel book & DD chose 3 new books. We then popped in to the co op to get some eggs, butter & discovered crisps & pringles ( festive feasting) on bogof so got some of each. I used my co op vouchers & got £1.50 in change & now only have £5.50 left of the vouchers.

Tonight we're having caulifower cheese & some fries for supper & tomorrow I'll be roasting the rest of the veg in the fridge ( parsnips, carrots, mushrooms, peppers) & need to do something with the sweet potatoes too. Probably just bake them & eat alongside roasted veg.

Cinema tomorrow night so might get a cheeky takeaway pizza or McRubbish for ease.

Must go check on supper now
xx

[Deleted User]

Hey Lula
Came upon your diary yesterday - subscribed and have spent a few hours today catching up with all 17 pages!:eek:
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