My Busy Life

sidneysmum

Today has been a work day for me. Thankfully it was quite busy so didn't drag. As usual I was able to get away just after lunch and I called and picked up some calor gas bottles I has won on eBay. They will save me a lot of money over the winter. I also called at the retail park and bought myself a dark purple fleece from M&S. Now is the time I need to start to buy some warmer clothes as I have nothing that fits me for the colder weather apart from a coat and a couple of pairs of jeggins. I also called at IKEA and bought 4 containers to fit my new Expedit unit. Things are really starting to take shape. I didn't go to the gym today as I had decided to do a few jobs at home. My main job has been to move my small chesterfield sofa from the morning room up to the playroom so that I can give it a bit of a clean but also so that I can give the morning room carpet a good old clean before the new sofa arrives next week. My old sofa looks wonderful in the playroom and it will be lovely to cuddle up with my grandson on it when we read a book on the nights he stays over. I am not in work tomorrow and am planning on getting my finger out as much as possible and do some sewing. I need to make a couple of cushion covers. In fact I have got quite a lot of sewing jobs lined up which need doing. Apart from a couple of small things (ie light fitting) the playroom is looking wonderful. I think I will be spending an awful lot of time in this new room as its just so lovely !!
Anyway I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

What a miserable day its been here in the North West. Up early as usual and did my ironing before it was light !!!!! OMG !!!. Once it was daylight outside I took the hound to the park. I then made a couple of very simple cushion covers for on my sofa in the playroom. They match the curtains and the bedding on the day bed. I am so pleased with them. Everything is starting to come together. I walked up to town and went to the lunchtime zumba class which i really enjoyed. When I got back home I had a little package at the door. I had ordered some key tassels and they had arrived. I use them to thread through the keys to my window locks so I am less lightly to loose the small keys. They actually look perfect in the playroom.
The remainder of the afternoon has been spent cleaning and polishing 6 walnut chairs which I have at the morning room table. I washed them to get rid of any dirt then polished them with proper furniture polish. I have also stripped back the material from the seat inserts as I am intending on reupholstering them in the next couple of weeks. I want to wait for the new morning room sofa to arrive next week then I can decide on a fabric. As the carpet in the morning room is a silver grey and the sofa is a darker grey, I intend to buy fabric and accessories which will really complement this colour and also brighten the room up.
Not much planned for tonight. I am a bit tired so I am going to have a read, eat loads of cake and get my feet up. I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Oh I love my new room (playroom). I am sat at my new white IKEA table using my laptop looking out over the garden and I just love being in this room. Anyway......today has been a good day. I got up early as usual and took Sid to the park. I then walked up to the town centre gym and did 40 minutes on the treadmill. I then did my dance aerobics class. I went to see my very generous greengrocer. I bought a huge bnsq off him and he gave me 4 small melons and some leaves for my guinea pigs. I was very happy as the piggies love melon.
When I got home, I put a small gammon in my slow cooker. It is all cooked now but I will have to slice it and freeze it tomorrow. I decided to go to the cinema this afternoon. I watched "About time" with Bill Nighy. It was quite good. More for the ladies rather than the gents I would say. The main message was to enjoy every day as though it was your last one !!! On the way home I called at my discount bakery and bought a huge bag of broken flapjacks for £1. I am not exaggerating when I say the bag is a bin bag and is about 1/4 full. I also nipped into M&S and bought myself another winter fleece in grey. I need to concentrate on getting myself a lot of winter clothes as all my stuff from last year is about a size 14 and I need a size 8/10 now. When I got home i decided to do a spot of cooking. I made a couple of portions of chicken with peppers and onion in a sweet chilli sauce. I also cut up a huge cauldron of - carrots, onions, sweet potato and butternut squash. It has all cooked now. The plan is lo let it go cold and half of it will be made into risotto. The other half is going to be blitzed into soup. I have also bagged up the flapjack into small portion and put some in the freezer and the rest will be dished out amongst my sons.
A little stroke of luck was a nice cheque for £25 behind the door. I have won on the premium bonds !!! Delighted with £25 even though a big win would have been wonderful!!!
Not sure what tonight holds but i might just listen to a recording of a radio show. My next to youngest son has a 2 hour show on the radio on a Friday night, but its too late for me to listen to it live as its in the middle of the night !! The days of staying up late are gone for me !!!
Anyway I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Its been a nice day for me today. I went to the gym first thing and did 60 minutes on the treadmill. Nipped into Asda and bought 8 pints of milk. My grandson is staying tonight and its either stock up on milk or buy a cow !! Took Sid to the park then did a few chores. Ironing all done and I gave the morning room carpet a good clean and hoover. No dirty marks lurking now ! The room looks quite bare without a sofa. I have been told provisionally Wed pm or Thurs am for delivery. i will know better on Monday when the delivery driver contacts me. At lunchtime I went to the cinema to see "Rush" about James Hunt. It was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After a quick bowl of home made soup at home I went to my late afternoon zumba class. I went straight to pick my grandson up. He fell asleep about half an hour ago so I am going to have a read as I dont think I will get 5 minutes to myself tomorrow.
Moneywise - I am have been doing a bit of thinking about funds today. I am going to have a bit of a save up for shall we say the end of December. Apart from my sons and my grandchildren, I dont intend to be buying anyone anything. I have decided to just spend on my nearest and dearest. I also plan to concentrate on doing all the bits of jobs that need doing to complete the playroom and morning room - ie. New light fitting for playroom and 6 seats recovered in the morning room as well as cushions. I was going to attempt to paint my hall, stairs and landing before the end of the year but i think its a massive job and I might be best leaving it for my New Year project, especially as I will have a huge amount of cutting back to do in my garden starting in about a months time ! Also I need some new winter clothes......so that's really enough to concentrate on before the end of the year.
I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day x

tootallulah

Just to let you know I am still here and reading! Really enjoy your diary and all that you do/ Looking forward to joining in come April when I stop my current job.

sidneysmum

tootallulah - Hi and thanks for dropping by. I am so glad you are still reading my ramblings. I actually love writing a bit of a diary and its great when people comment. Thanks x

Oh my word, I am worn out. I have just delivered my grandson back to his parents. He is tired out and so am I. Last night we just played with his dinosaurs till he fell asleep. We were up at 5.30 and its been non stop since. After our breakfast I got him ready and took him to the cinema for the first time. I took him to see a cartoon film called "The Croods". I had booked it online already and obviously it was free for me as I am a member at Cineworld. I was a little apprehensive about how he would like the film as he had never been before but he was brilliant. After our lunch we went off out again to our town centre swimming pool for a Saturday afternoon splash session. He loved it and so did I. Although he cant swim yet, he is gaining confidence and is doing well. Most of all we are just having fun together.
Anyway I am definitely recharging my batteries tonight as I feel tired already. I am hoping to put my mind to finances a bit more over the next few days. I want to use this period between now and the end of the year as a bit of an opportunity to save a bit of money up, but also I want to use it as an opportunity to complete a few unfinished tasks before I start some new ones in the New Year. I have 2 items which are on eBay at the moment and are due to be sold tomorrow. I hope to get a good price for them. I then need to try and find out when the next free listing day is so I can list a couple more items.
Anyway I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day x

sassycat

Hi Sidneysmum, I 'drop' in most days to catch up on your busy life. I'm a Northern Lass now living in the Midlands and just curious as to which town you live in.

sidneysmum

sassycat - Hi......Its good to know I have another reader !!! I live in Oldham. Don't know if you know the town at all. At one time it was a thriving market town but now its ghastly !!. Keep dropping by x

Today the weather started out quite well but by lunch time it was awful. An umbrella was no good. A dinghy would be more use. I was up early as per usual and went up to the town in the car so I could browse the car boot and maybe buy something before I went in the town centre gym. Its a good job I did because I ended up spending £22.20 !! Actually I am glad I did because I managed to buy 3 rather valuable pieces of Poole pottery for £15. They are from the volcano range. There is no way I would have bought them from a shop as I couldn't afford them but at £15 I wasn't going to leave them for someone else. They actually look fab on the playroom unit. The rest of my spend was on a new baby car seat for my grandaughter £3, a ladybird first kitchen for my gorgeous grandson £2.50, a musical baby gym £1, and several children's reading books 70p. A lady also gave me a beautiful blue and white pottery plant pot (as I had spent a bit of money at her stall). It will be perfect on my bedroom window sill as my bedroom is a powder blue colour. I have decided that from now on I am going to keep things on one side which I am fed up of, and have my own car boot sale myself next summer. I must give away/donate hundreds of pounds worth of stuff and really I should try and sell it for myself first. Anyway I was delighted with everything I bought. After my browse round, I went in the gym and did 60 minutes on the treadmill. Once i got back home I just managed to get Sid to the park before the heavens opened. A friend also dropped off a huge car mat for my grandson to play with. It is practically new and I am tempted to put it away for Christmas as he has such a lot of things already.
This afternoon I went out with my friend for a carvery meal. I spent £7 on a meal and a drink. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon. My friend came back to my house for a couple of cups of coffee and to have a look at the progress I have made with the house. As she was going my son arrived and he had brought me some leftover vegetables from the take away food shop he works in. My GP`s will be thrilled with all the ends of cucumber he brought.
My evening is pretty much over with already. I might just get 10 minutes with my book.
I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day x

sassycat

Hi Sidneysmum, I was from Wigan but now live on the edge of the Cotswolds. Both my kids and grandchildren live in the Manchester area. One of my first boyfriends was from Oldham.

I love reading your posts as you seem like an amazing woman. Your circumstances are sort of similar to mine. I was traded in for a younger model a few years ago after a thirty year marriage. Although not in debt I've had to learn to live on a massively reduced income but like yourself I'm buying my own home with a mortgage. The challenge for me is to forget the standard of living I had and learn how to enjoy life on less and guess what, I'm loving it:T. I just wish I was as handy as you. Nothing seems to phase you. You sound like you've done a fantastic job renovating/ repurposing your playroom. You're truly inspirational.

Keep posting!

sidneysmum

Hi sassycat – Great to hear from you. It sounds like you are enjoying being single. I love pretty much everything about being single. I am treating it as an opportunity. It does upset me a bit when I tell people I am single and they say something like “Never mind, you’ll soon meet someone”. I want to laugh!! Hope to hear from you soon x

Yesterday was really dreadful weather here in the North West. I had allsorts of plans but decided to change them. I was up early as usual and went to the gym. Did my 60 minutes on the treadmill. Took Sid to the park and met a neighbour who was also dog walking. He invited me to his house for a cup of tea as he is moving to another area in a few days so it was nice to have a chat. I had a visit from my uncle later in the morning also as he wanted me to try and help him do some internet research on some old postcards he has inherited.
I was planning on being in the garden yesterday afternoon but decided to do some chores in the house instead. I cleaned half of the hall, stairs and landing carpet, but couldn’t complete it as I ran out of cleaning stuff. I think at the moment I am going to leave the painting of the stairs and landing until the New Year. I am just going to tidy it up a bit for the time being. I really want to complete all my unfinished projects. I also gave the playroom light fitting a light coat of gold paint. I just wanted to tart it up until I find a new light fitting that I just love. I have been round loads of shops but just not found anything that I am mad about.
Last night was just spent with my feet up reading and eating cake!!
I hope everyone had a great moneysaving day x