Lulabelle's MFW Diary

lulabelle1

ammonite wrote: »

hi lulabelle just catching up after a long stint off! well done for not buying the clothes! I'll have a think of some cheap meal ideas for you. i struggle with cheap but healthy and filling as OH refuses to eat a meal without meat in it! glad you are well

Ammonite, that would be brilliant, any ideas would be gratefully rcvd, similar issues with my DH.....

lulabelle1

pixiedust09 wrote: »

Well done you. I was tempted to purchase some candles and makeup on QVC last night but resisted at the last minute. Hope your enjoying the strawbs.

Congrats on resisting the temptation..... DS2 has eaten most of the strawbs. Some for supper and some for breakfast this morning.

Weird - my eldest refuses to eat any fruit and veg at all and my youngest loves all fruit and veg and would happily graze on it all day long. Kids.

lulabelle1

Morning! Another sunny day has started........

I decided that I will go for lunch with my old friend today. I've not seen her since October and to cancel to save £10 would just be a bit naff really. Being miserly (greed) is a deadly sin and according to Dante it could send me to hell..... (been reading Dan Brown's Inferno, quite a good read if anyone is looking for a good book for their holidays)

Apart from a lovely lunch to look forward to, I'll be working from home all day.

Continuing with my good intent theme, a bag friend emailed me earlier offering me a lovely bag at a bargainous price and I replied to say no thankyou. I was tempted of course, but only for 30 seconds and it was actually really easy to say no. Being skint helped.

lulabelle1

nattypants wrote: »

Well done on being uber money cautious.....now what have you done with the real lula you imposter!!!!!!

PS I have sent you mail

The real Lula has been slapped, robbed of her plastic cards and hidden away until this mortgage has been paid down!

lulabelle1

Still super hot here....

Had a lovely lunch, made the most of the weather and we ate outside, although we had to switch to a shaded table half way through as we started to melt.

The lunch break ended up lasting for 3 hours, so had lots to catch up on once finally back in my little office.

I topped the paddling up earlier and am planning to go and sit in it shortly to cool down. I am sure the boys will be joining me. We have a the slide from their climbing frame going in to it and they have discovered that they go extra fast when they go down naked!

Fed up of salad, so I'm having a bowl of chilli (from the freezer) for dinner with some melted cheese on top and a spring of chopped spring onion.

Another day at home all day tomorrow.....

Did some account tidies this morning but there isn't really much left to tidy with, so there wont be any more of that until after payday.

DH has been spending a fair bit of time in his man cave over the last few days and various items are being delivered (and some returned), so I'm sure he will have something shiny to show me any day now. He did some eBaying to part fund whatever it is that's going on.

Off to London in a few weeks with my sister and am deciding whether to book some tickets to see a show. Problem 1 - no idea which show. Problem 2 - costs money. Suggested on a postcard please. I had thought about afternoon tea, but it costs a small fortune and I figured that we could prob have some OK seats for a decent show for the same cost?

lulabelle1

I just had to do a double take when I read an article just now about benefits being capped.

Apparently they are capped at £350 per week for a single person and £500 per week for a couple/single parent? When I first read it I assumed it meant PER MONTH. But no, it's PER WEEK.

So, if this is a new cap, how much must have been getting paid out before?

So, new cap means £18,200 for a single person and £26,000 for a couple/single parent.

Wow.

Of course, these figures are net. To have this in your hand by actually working for it, you would need to earn approx £23,000 per year as a single or £34,000 per year as a couple/single parent.

Am I missing something here?

Answers again on a postcard.

gallygirl

lulabelle1 wrote: »

Of course, these figures are net. To have this in your hand by actually working for it, you would need to earn approx £23,000 per year as a single or £34,000 per year as a couple/single parent.

Am I missing something here?

Answers again on a postcard.

Would probably get us prosecuted if we sent our thoughts through the post :rotfl:.

nattypants

Did you watch the Nick and Margaret programme last week lula? Really interesting (if not it's on iplayer). I'm looking forward to the flip side this week.

Loads of great shows in London (not that I've been or years, but loads I would like to see:cool: My s-I-l is working on Barnum - I think it's just opened.....

3 hour lunch sounds fab:T I had a packet of pickled onion monster munch for my lunch today, very decadent

ajmoney

lulabelle1 wrote: »

I just had to do a double take when I read an article just now about benefits being capped.

Apparently they are capped at £350 per week for a single person and £500 per week for a couple/single parent? When I first read it I assumed it meant PER MONTH. But no, it's PER WEEK.

So, if this is a new cap, how much must have been getting paid out before?

So, new cap means £18,200 for a single person and £26,000 for a couple/single parent.

Wow.

Of course, these figures are net. To have this in your hand by actually working for it, you would need to earn approx £23,000 per year as a single or £34,000 per year as a couple/single parent.

Am I missing something here?

Answers again on a postcard.

It drives me mad, especially when most people are getting a measly 1% pay rise or a pay freeze and they and ministers are up in arms that their benefit rises may be capped at 1%.

ajmoney

HelenDaveKids wrote: »

I'm dreadful at cooking and am terrible at menus. Was doing quite well with batch cooking but completely fed up of chicken pie, chicken stew and lasagne so thats me done!

I have been doing a bit of research on the BBC Good Food website and thought of you as they have a batch cooking section within the recipes tab. There are quite a few recipes that would let you escape from lasagne, chicken stew and chicken pie.