Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

museumworker

Cake was a bit dry and bland - but it had sugar and fat in it, so still edible!

Feel very blessed being in London, there are lots of great cultural places to go, for little or no money. Sheffield - not done a museum tourism trip there yet, although I have heard lots about the revamp of weston park and would love to see it. Getting free into the one you work in is a start - do they have any reciprocal schemes with other museums? The nationals do that in London, so the paid exhibitions you get in free by showing a staff pass. If not, have you thought about joining the museum$ a$$ociation? what you pay is related to what you earn, and you get in free to a lot of places with the membership card. Considering an exhibition is now £12 in London, it pays itself back quite quickly!

Had a wonderful day with friends, ended up spending the whole day at the museum. Seeing all of our girls play beautifully together was priceless. Spent £5 on lunch, £2.20 on a much needed tea, £2 on a treat for DD from shop and £2.80 on train fare.

I had a bit of a shock though as I had some sort of physical reaction after my tea - my face suddenly burnt up and went purple, at the same time it felt like my chest was on fire and my throat was tightening. Just got hotter and hotter and didn't know when it would stop, had difficulty breathing. Lasted a few minutes, but chest felt tight for rest of day. Have had it only twice before, both in the last 6 weeks since DS born, never had it before then. I have no idea what causes it - the first time was whilst eating peanut butter on bread, the second walking down the street several hours after eating - and now after a cup of tea. Have had peanut since with no effect. Any ideas what it might be people?

CathT

Glad you had such a lovely day but how frightening at the reaction, hope you are okay now. I'm not sure what might have caused it as the 3 occasions seem unrelated unless you can think of a common link? Maybe a trip to the GP is needed though.

greent

museumworker wrote: »

OH also came home with 4 free outfits for DS; friends have also offered us their son's old clothes which we are very grateful to receive (especially as I think they buy NEW clothes from SHOPS and everything!).

:eek::eek::eek:Are they first time parents....?;):p

DS2 and DS3 only really get new clothes (not inc shoes etc) as presents from my mum and DH's mum, unless it's something they need and we have nothing which'll do already (eg DS2 is skinny as anything, DS1 was a chunky monkey, so sometimes trousers just don't work...!) I have a cousin with 2 boys just a bit older than DS2 and DS3, so get loads form her as well as DS1's handmedowns I know it won't last so am making the most of it whilst we can!

museumworker

How did you guess greent? Just wondering how old your DS are too.

As expected, lots of really nice items in there - Monsoon, Gap, mothercare etc - across different sizes so have sorted into right age groups. Not enough to not need to get any more, but great items that'll make all my other second hand items look a lot smarter!

DD just at summer playscheme for a couple of hours, gives me enough time to clear my head and have a cup of tea. Went a free local history walk earlier, enjoyed it although couldn't hear the guide very well. Am feeling v tired after a busy few days so looking forward to keeping it local today and tomorrow. NSD so far, although I need some more breast pads so expect to spend there.

Mortgage statement arrived, and as at 01/08/2012 mortgage stands at £166,307.80 .

Question for real nappy readers - how do you clean your nappies? I am trying dry pailing at the moment - where you just put in a bucket and then wash in the machine. Am washing at 60 degrees stains with Mr S non-bio. They were coming out v clean, but some now have light stains, and have noticed that if put in with a towel (one DS has soiled for example) they don't really come out clean at all. What is the best temperature to wash at, how many do you put in a load, and do you soak before washing? Have heard hanging in the sun helps bleach out stains, but surely that involves weather that doesn't change every 5 mins :rotfl:?

ETA 64p OPed as sitting in FD current account for no apparent reason!

Brodiebobs

I used to dry pail and wash at 50, used non-bio but sometimes used to put some of the whitening stain remover in. I have an 'extra rinse' button on my machine that i used when he was a bit older as i found there were often 'bits' still in the washer after he started food (sorry if your eating or TMI!!!)

icklehelen

I have two dry buckets on the go - one for bamboo nappies, boosters, liners, inserts etc and one for the wraps, outers. I wash the inserts etc at 60 with non bio powder (have been informed F*iry is best for stain removal although yet to try this) and usually give them a prewash first and do two extra rinses to remove product build up. The outers are washed at 40 to help them last longer again using non bio powder. I tried the wet pail thing but didn't get on with it!
I read an article recently about the powders having bleach in them which the liquids don't therefore helping to clean and kill the bacteria in both nappies and machine.
I hang them on the line as much as possible - even a little sunlight is a great stain remover (when we get it) and a light shower is a great fabric softener too!!
Also I use disposable liners on top of fabric ones - double protection and the disposable ones last a few washes if they've not been poo'd on!

Have you tried washable breast pads? I used disposables at first but once my milk had settled down I invested in the washable ones which I found much more comfortable, absorbent and of course money saving

Used to be an MA member but didn't feel I was getting many benefits for my money!
Weston Park is great for kids (not very adult friendly tho!) but as I work for the industrial side of Sheffield's museums I'm biased towards our displays!

The amount I write on other peoples' threads is making me think I should start my own . . .

ickle

lulabelle1

Good luck with the whole nappy thing.... I did this with DS2 almost 3 years ago.... I only lasted with it for around 6 months. Thankfully I managed to get a good price for my nappies (Bumgenius) on eBay so I ended up £'s up on the whole thing......

I found it a bind having to wash all of the time and I got fed up of putting the nappies back together again..... After 6 months I was working again part time and little one was going to nursery a few days a week so disposables seemed to be the easy (lazy) option....

Good on you for giving it a go, hopefully you can stick with it for longer than the 6 months that i managed. Actually, if I'd started my MFW journey sooner, I'm pretty sure that i would have stuck with it for much longer!!!!!

museumworker

brodiebobs _pale_:eek::rotfl: at thought of dealing with proper poos and reusable nappies! I don't have a 50 setting, only 60 and I think 40 would be too low.

icklehelen thanks for that - agree powder is better than liquid. Used to use liquid all the time but started getting mouldy slime on some of my clothes so now use powder all the time which has solved the problem. Apparently liquid doesn't dissolve properly and can build up over time. How many wraps do you have to do separately? Dried my nappies in the sun yesterday and the stains did completely disappear :T. So just need lots more sunny days! On washable breast pads - which ones would you recommend?

lulabelle thanks for your honesty, I am happy to give it a go whilst on mat leave, who knows how I'll find it when I go back to work? Although the MFW part of me would find it very hard to pay for disposables, especially if I already have the paid for reusuables!

back soon, baby grizzling

museumworker

DD off to summer camp yesterday, had a very happy child call me just before 10pm last night. Felt suprisingly emotional waving goodbye at the train station. It was my first trip into town with DS and I popped into work and saw a friend in the evening so completely worn out (but happy) at end of day.

Today need to take DS for blood test and have friend over in the evening. On a MFW note have completed child benefit form, just need to post, and need to pay off debt to charity shop. Bought gorgeous red leather and suede 80s vintage boots for £6 the other day, actually looking forward to autumn now so I can wear them!

museumworker

Hello all, have had a lovely weekend. Met a few friends yesterday, one in town (where treated myself to strawberry lemonade) and one in museum near me (where I was treated to tea and cake, yum yum!). Was lovely to be social, made me feel more like me, although worn out after (and embarrassed by state of house when friend unexpectedly returned with me ).

Today had day just with OH and DS which has been lovely. Relaxed at home (reading a brainfluff adele parks book from CS which am secretly LOVING!), and went for a walk in the woods for a good couple of hours (with ice-cream treat at end!).

In the week we picked up some more reusuable nappies - 5x bumgenius btp, 3 x size 2 of bamboozle, 2 rolls of disposable liners, a load of booster pads, and 3 more motherease wraps for £20. Really want to try bumgenius after hearing so much about it, and we have decided we want to get the size 2 of bamboozle as they are so soft. Can anyone advise me about how you actually use booster pads?!

Have filled my ISA with money from savings, now need to sort one out for OH.

ETA: £3.35 OP made today from AmA$on sale

Plans for the week:
*[STRIKE] drs appt for me re: migraine[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]jabs for DS [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* start bucket list [/STRIKE]http://dayzeroproject.com/user/museumworker/list/24127
[STRIKE]* email body $hop re: refund
[/STRIKE]* email Mr S re: refund
* tackle basket of doom for 1/2 hr
* practice welsh [STRIKE]x2[/STRIKE] x1
* do exercise dvd[STRIKE] x2[/STRIKE] x1
* listen to relaxation cd
[STRIKE]* cancel travel insurance before it renews automatically
[/STRIKE]* open ISA for OH
* transfer money to sister for holiday
* [STRIKE]see friend x2[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* collect DD from train station on Thurs[/STRIKE]
* finish friend's crochet blanket
* finish sorting through clothes and put away
[STRIKE]* try baby group
[/STRIKE][STRIKE]* post bday card to friend[/STRIKE]