Getting a Grip on 2013

Birdie85

Not much movement on the flat sorting front this weekend, too busy with parents both days (can't complain as we got lots bought for us!). Need to crack on this week as it's just annoying me now. Nursery already seems full of stuff though, bought a play gym and bouncy chair and there's nowhere to put them! We had thought that we'd get away with not having the living room full of baby toys but we may have to rethink that!

Came 5th of 9 in the bake-off. Not too impressed as the ones that we scored pretty low came 2nd and 3rd so people must have some very odd tastes! Also think there was some confusion in the scoring as one of the categories was presentation and after some discussion we decided that it meant how the actual product looked, i.e. nice shape and size, no burnt bits etc so that's how we scored everything and I made sure that all the scones I brought in were the best looking ones. That hadn't filtered down to many of the other teams though as they took it to mean how you present it, i.e. on a nice plate, with butter in a little dish etc. We'd just put ours on a plate and I'd grabbed a tub of Lurpack and a handful of plastic knives as a last minute addition in case they were needed so we got marked down?! Might have come in the top 3 if I'd put the butter into a dish and put the scones on a cake stand. How daft is that?! Once bitten twice shy and all that, for the next bake (cookies next Thursday) we're making a massive effort with presenting them!

Loving the sound of the pie, some nice random decorations there! OH accidentally double ordered packs of Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce so we're currently having everything hot buffalo sauce flavour. He even put a bottle of it into lasagne on Saturday night... and it was freaking awesome!

I think on Saturday I'm going to be that weirdo doing her make-up on the train! :rotfl: Can't remember the time of my train now, but I know it's earlier than I'd like! Excited though! :j

Good luck with your to-do list today!

Cinny91

Birdie85 wrote: »

OH accidentally double ordered packs of Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce so we're currently having everything hot buffalo sauce flavour. He even put a bottle of it into lasagne on Saturday night... and it was freaking awesome!

That was no accident! I'm actually lost if we don't have any Frank's sauce. My favorite junkie tea is breaded oven chicken in buffalo sauce, with celery, corn and mash on the side. omg. There's nothing better! I cleared the shelves of it in the bargain shop when they had it for 99p

What a pain with the bake off! I thought you had a chance of coming up top I bet the ones with the weird taste combos gained their points back on the presentation, I demand a recount!

I almost bought you the cutest boys outfit yesterday. It had a lion on the top, then little lions on the knees of the trousers. But then I remembered you weren't meant to be telling anyone the sex?! So I didn't want to get you into trouble

I think my train is at 8am?! I'm just hoping that if I lay my clothes out the night before, triple check OH is awake when I set off to take Ryder to my parents that everything will run smoothly. I'm probably going to be half getting ready on the train too. At least I don't have much hair, so I don't need to worry about that

Birdie85

You're right abour people gaining points on presentation. The 2nd and 3rd places were displayed on fancy plates with condiments in posh dishes... Not that I'm still sulking about this! At least I can't complain about the winner, they were pretty standard cherry and sultana but they were delicious!

We've given up on the whole not telling people the sex plan, OH didn't want to even let our siblings know but we popped in to see SIL before the 2nd scan as we had 30 minutes spare (since I was sent away for 2 hours to fill my bladder and jiggle baby about for a better view) and she was soooo excited about finding out she could barely sit still, OH couldn't stand the thought of letting her down so we've told close family and friends as they ask. One friend found out via another and sent me a text saying 'Oooh I didn't know you're having a boy! Blah blah blah' and I felt like saying 'I'd have told you if you'd bothered to ask me if everything went well at my scan or even how we were doing in general, if you can't be bothered to get in touch with me for weeks on end why should I tell you my exciting news?!' But that's just me being an hormonal grump nowadays.

Soooo... we've now got a wardrobe full of little dude clothes and the most awesome blue fluffy blanket with a dinosaur on! Wish it was 3 times bigger so I could wrap it around myself and live in it! We must have been on the same wave length yesterday as we bought some socks with lions on!

tinkerbel

How's it going Cinny? Any updates on money/life/new car /tasty treats?

Cinny91

Hey Tink!! How's everything your end? Is it vain I search for "our" treads by searching my name?

Money is going well! We've managed to afford a trip to London in December for our 6 year anniversary, just waiting for tomorrow when OH gets paid so we can book our hotel Put myself on a strict budget for November so we're sitting pretty for December, not having to worry about the cost of Christmas or putting our heads in the sand to ignore it then spend all of January paying ourselves back!

Life is going well too, OH is stressed with contracts at work which is making him grumpier than normal. Fun In all fairness, I know none of how he's being in personal so I'm giving him time. Will probably have killed him this time next week if he doesn't change

Car is on the back burner for now, we did go looking around last week and I found a car which was perfect. But when it came to the crunch I couldn't bring myself to spend so much money on myself So I've bought a £10.99 dog guard for little car, and I'll be keeping him for now Tasty treats wise, still cooking away and everything tastes nice I just can't remember what I've cooked

The big news is - We're moving! We feel like we've covered everything in our house, all that's left are big ticket things like new exterior doors or resurfacing the drive. So we're off to a house just across the road from work (seriously, I can see the roof from my desk) It's a little bigger inside, and has a smaller garden to manage but still enough room for Ryder :T We'll be fitting a new kitchen and bathroom, have plans to put in a pantry (SO MUCH WIN!) The ultimate best part is that there's a room off the living room (I guess it's technically under the stairs, but you can easily stand up?) Anyhow, it's the perfect size for Ryder's crate and he'll have space to walk about a little too. So he won't have to be shut up in his crate for 5 hours a day, or over night. Eep!

Birdie85

Oooh how exciting! Is this another family rental jobby? Pantry sounds awesome, you'll have to bake all the time to make use of it! And of course, you'll need to get your money's worth from a new kitchen so many cakes must be baked (and sent up to me!)

Great news about Ryder's little room too, you'll have to decorate the walls with bones and stuff just for him (was going to say doggy style but that doesn't sound right! :rotfl:) so it's clearly his special bedroom.

shrimpy_80

Exciting news on the move Cinny! When do you go? I can confirm that pantries are basically life changing

Cinny91

We're not sure yet, the way things are moving it might be before Christmas but I'm thinking maybe January? We picked our kitchen out yesterday and got the quote, which was already in budget but we've trimmed £350 off it so far - and we're getting better spec :beer: Everyone is freaking out though, we just want a single bowl sink in the kitchen with no drain. We have the dishwasher so don't really wash anything bar chopping boards, so the drainer just seems like wasted worktop space? Anyway, people can't seem to get their head around it. I mean, I can always pop a tea towel down if we do wash the pots by hand!

I'd have known what you meant, Birdie!! :rotfl: I think it's just getting plastered out, if I'm boringly honest But he'll 100% be having one of these at the very least for his harness and lead

Trying to keep my cool but I'm very excited about the pantry!! I have expectations of basically becoming Nigella?

Birdie85

Oooh, new year, new house, lovely! Are you getting the bathroom and kitchen sorted before you move in so it's all nice to move into or is it a longer term plan? Don't see the point in freaking out about not having a drainer if you never use it, if you ever do have to wash stuff by hand you can just put a towel down as you say then dry the stuff and put it away! Not that big a deal, you can get some really snazzy looking bowl-only sinks so maybe if you make a 'feature' of it the nay-sayers will stop getting their knickers in a twist!

I'm fairly sure that a pantry automatically upgrades your domestic goddess status to Nigella standards without even having to try! My Nana had a pantry and she made amazing cakes and other good stuff, my Mum- never had a pantry once she moved out and therefore sucks at baking! That's my problem too, clearly!

Cinny91

We'll be getting it sorted before we move in Plan for the kitchen is grey gloss cupboards with a walnut counter top, a lighter wood floor (llamanate ) and green walls. Bathroom is a smokey grey kind of tile, with a white bathroom suite and there's already hardwood flooring in there. I'm so excited! My Gramps is paying for new windows (again) and doors, I think I might be his favourite Grandchild So thankful, I offered to pay him back but he refused. What's a girl to do?

My Grandma has a pantry and it's her pride and joy! It's not going to be very big, we're just converting the downstairs toilet (next to the old coal house that's becoming the utility room, phew!) but it's better than no pantry