*The Holly and the Ivy* and the You Know What 2013 Chatter Thread.

Julie67

Just thought I would share a Christmas idea, one of the girls on the old style thread mentioned trading books in at Amazon. You just put your title in and if its there they make you an offer. Free postage as well.
I've just made £16 in ten minutes which I can use to buy Christmas pressies yay:j

jeningers

Noodle OMG that cake looks amazing I think I have put on a stone just looking at it!!

As for the book idea for lucky dip I think its a great idea better than a bag of tat they normally get (sorry not offence meant!) The works had 10 books for £10 last week plus free delivery code kicking about and cashback. I got a good slection for my DS for birthdys/christmas etc - Octonauts, curious george, pirate activity books etc. Well worth the money

FeistyFidget

JakesBakesCakes - so very jealous! I would love to have gone, sadly Manchester is a little too far for me to justify it

Mrsinvisible - I feel your pain with the fussy present recipient, I have two of those that drive me potty! Such a star offering not only your washing machine, but your laundry services too!

Noodles - the lovelies are brainstorming bakes that can be done weeks before Christmas. If you're worried about stress and not being happy with how it turns out, why not join me in baking gifts the end of November? For £10 you would be able to do a beautiful home baked hamper - blackberry picking in the summer means you can freeze them and make festive jam for about 40p a pot! The kids will enjoy foraging and everyone likes jam - you should have enough to give out as other pressies too Scour the car boot sales for interesting tins or glass sweetie jars - these are priced at a few pound and look fab for presenting home made bakes - check out my page for photo's - I think each hamper cost me on average £5 for all packaging and ingredients and they went down really well

Poppygirl - huge congratulations on the engagement Hope we get to help plan a super MSE wedding! Yes I do all my papercuts on my cameo - I love it

moneysavingmumofone - sorry to hear about your friends son, so glad he is on the mend Glad you had a great holiday!

Julie thanks for the tip - Sadly Amazon never seem to want any of my books

I have also managed to upload my ultimate brownie recipe here - very helpful if you have coeliac or vegan guests I never thought I would say this, but I actually prefer them to 'normal' brownies! I think it's because they are so chocolatey

jakesbakescakes

Noodles..... aww that cakes looks amazing!!! I think the idea of splitting book sets is great and I have sucessfully done that in the past. Another idea is to wrap each book seperately and put them all in a large gift bag and play 'pass the parcel' when the music stops the child holding the bag chooses a prize - that way the kids get to play a game and take a book home each too !!

Julie - thought that craft show link would make u smile - im sure you'll have a fab time and may even find out about local crafting groups too

moneysavingmumofone

Amey-Love the name Harper! Bet you cant wait to get your lovely puppy.

Nanamia-So glad you've finally got your DSIL 'back' after so many years, she must feel great. Your DGD is so sweet, she must be so proud of her lovely room. (and her lovely creative Nana!)

Julie67-Thanks for the amazon book trade in info, will have to have a look through our books.

Hello 04624181! So sorry you've all been ill. What a fab idea to put a book with the pyjamas! Ive already bought my best friend DS pyjamas for his 1st birthday but will add a book now.

OMO-Glad to see you back! Such a shame about the holiday, it will be worth the wait though Im sure. x

Hehe SugarSpun, your stocking buying story made me chuckle, now thats organised!! Congratulations on your boy, bet you cant wait for him to arrive.

Hi chirpychick! Sainsburys have lots of Gruffalo clothing, they're fab value when they're having a sale or/and 25% off event! I find Sainsburys clothes very good quality too. Hows the christening planning going?

Poor you BBTHREE, hope you are recovering well. xxx

freespirit-Lol that is funny about the shopping, was it far for your DS to drive? Great that you got a little bonus visit.

How are you today trendyjenny? You are certainly well on your way to getting these hats finished! :j

Hope you can sort your mums dental problems Caitlyn22, a tricky situation. x

Hanley-The whisky hamper looked fabulous! Hope my uncles one at christmas looks as good.

How awful CHRISSYG, glad everyone is ok!

noodles-They have a Cars cardigan in the Asda sale for £6, no 2-3 instock online but maybe they will instore when it starts on Thursday?

Hi to everyone else, hope all is ok.

Ooh everyones christmas talk has made me feel SO christmassy! :j On holiday I bought several presents, some dog treats for my brothers new puppy (reduced to 50p in B&M but long date of 2015) an 'ammo' style shot belt thing for my brother for £1, Power Rangers Samurai squinkies for DS £2.99 and 3 mini hot water bottle shaped hand warmers 50p each. (one for my DS, he'll love how you snap the discs inside and it magically heats up! And 2 for stockings)

A heads up to anyone who lives near a Gullivers theme park, all tickets are only £9 each this weekend. Also most National Trust properties are FREE this weekend, fab as they are normally quite expensive to get into! Im a bit peed off as we were near Matlock on holiday so could have had a fab day out for £9 each and also I had about 10 National Trust properties I wanted to visit but couldnt really afford even one lol so decided to save them until Ive saved up and got our National Trust membership argh! Plus there was a steam train event that went to the set of Cranford that my mum (who came with us) would have loved but that was also this weekend. One week too late for all those fab deals argh!!

Mojoworking

FeistyFidget wrote: »

I have another birthday this week and although I already spent the budget on a posh hello kitty purse, I feel like it's not enough so will be working on some kind of word art print. We share an obsession for the film The Labyrinth, so I have so far made words related to the film into an image of David Bowie - If It ever gets made (still not 100% happy with it) I will of course share

"You have no power over me" - love that film - can't wait to see what you do with this feistyfidget

Hanley25

Thanks for the heads up on Gullivers. We have already planned a trip to Ikea in Warrington for this Saturday so may as well take the kiddies to the theme park there. I'll pack a picnic and we can make a day of it.

I'm sure your uncle's hamper will look amazing. I found the hamper quite easy to put together, I've not done one before that one.

Ruth_honey

Mojoworking wrote: »

"You have no power over me" - love that film - can't wait to see what you do with this feistyfidget

My favourite film too. Had the Blu Ray for Christmas from 'the cat'

SugarSpun

Oh my STARS we are almost a third of the way to Christmas!!!

I need to check my spreadsheets

caitlyn22

Hello all! Sorry, I spend time every day catching up with all of your news but don't leave myself enough time to reply!

Hope you are recovered BBThree, that sounds like a horrible ordeal! I hate being in hospital, but have been very lucky (EVERYBODY TOUCH WOOD!) that I've not been admitted for anything for a very long time, not sure what I'd do now, I know I certainly wouldn't be able to get any sleep that's for sure, no idea how people are expected to recover when it's all go 24hrs a day!

Sorry to hear about your holiday OMO, especially after all that planning! Your living room looks lovely, the world feels better after a de-clutter doesn't it!

SugarSpun wrote: »

I bought one in the dotcomgiftshop sale about 25 minutes after my wet stick told me it had a baby in it

:rotfl:I love this!

I can't tell you how many times I see things and think "Oh, that will be perfect for when I or someone I know has a 7 year-old girl!" I am prepared for everything and nothing, all at once!

Thanks for tip on sea life encyclopaedia Gettingtherequickly. Very tempted but think it's the type of thing I'd want one of my older nephews to want, rather than something he'd actually want! He'd probably turn his nose up at a book! I might however have a look with another little boy I know in mind, he's sort of my pen friend - we met through work when he wrote in to ask me a question and we've written back and forth ever since. I met him and his surrogate grandmother last week for the first time and he was such a wonderful kid! So polite and he'd made me and OH hand-painted mugs! OH's is decorated with spiders and snakes because that's what I'd told him he saw on our honeymoon. They're fabulous and we'll really treasure them. I think I'll get him a little something for Christmas - I do love having people to buy for, even if it's only a token gift!

Stop lurking Clairey_c! It's easily done though, and often nice just to read everyone's news!

Welcome to our festive frolics Julie67, lovely to have you here! Well done on making a start to your Christmas box, even one thing put away feels good doesn't it?

0462418, are you near a Paperchase? It's horribly overpriced but I find there's always a good sale section in our local one and I often pick up stationery bits and bobs for nieces and friends who like that sort of thing. (And me OK...I pick stuff up for me! It's not just napkins...I hoard stationery!!!)

San Francisco is on my wish list freespirit66 - I actually read a HUGE book on the history of Alcatraz on my honeymoon (really know how to have a wild time) so will have to visit one day, however far off in the distant future.

Nanamia, you must, must, must find some time for yourself! You're clearly there for everyone else but I worry that all the stress of seeing your SiL, and then your friend, so poorly, is taking a toll on you. I have a colleague who is supporting her best friend through breast cancer and I've really had to force my colleague to use me as the support SHE needs from time to time. Obviously being physically ill is awful, but watching someone you love go through it and feeling helpless and eternally exhausted is tough too. Your family and friends are lucky to have you Nanamia, as are we, so please keep well Good on you for sticking at SW, I saw a colleague the other day who has lost 2 stone on SW since Christmas! She said it's the easiest diet she's even done, she looks incredibly healthy and to be honest, I wouldn't have put her at overweight before! I think if SW works for you, it REALLY works.

Feisty, sorry but another lecture for you! Could the dizziness be you overdoing it?! You are juggling so much, I know what it's like, when you are your own boss, it never seems right to take real time to relax, every hour feels like an opportunity to DO something. Plus you've had all the stuff with your Nan going on too. Otherwise, maybe check your blood sugar, my dad had terrible dizziness not long after he changed his diet dramatically and while it was healthier for him in the long run, he hadn't factored in how much energy he used up, so had really fallen short in terms of what and when he should be eating. OK, rude and intrusive lecture over, sorry! For make-ahead treats I turn to the US - I tried this recipe as a freeze-ahead option last year and it worked well. Really flexible recipe too, I used fudge chunks in one roll. (the whole website is generally good to drool over!)

Hanley25 you talking about bunk beds reminded me of my 1980s 'cabin bed'! What a lethal structure to get in and out of, but fun!

Noodles, I think the books are a great idea. I've learned from children's parties that all parents have very different ideas about what is a good idea for party bags and depends on what you generally give your kids, but I think books are a generally accepted to be a positive thing! My sister freaked out the other day because she took her 2 year old to a party where they gave him an HB pencil and an eraser! I agreed it was a bit odd and said I assume they hadn't expected him to use it unsupervised but she still acted as if they'd given him a flickblade!

Ameyturtle - I love the name Harper! It's been my secret what-I'd-call-a-little-girl-name since I was little myself and then Posh Spice ruined it for me.

Good to have you back mummysavingmumofone, glad you had a good time. Thanks also for the National Trust tip for the weekend, hadn't know about that.

Finally...HUGE Congratulations to PoppyGirl! Have a very happy time planning your wedding! What are you ideas/plans so far? Do share if things get crafty, there's so much expertise on here. (Not me I might add!) You could also rely on some of our resident personal shoppers for help hunting things out online!

I eventually spoke to my mum's dentist who told me there's nothing to worry about - giving me in turn, something far bigger to worry about! Apparently the carer called her out and told her (while I was away) that "the daughter wants the tooth taken out"?!? I knew nothing about any tooth issue until I got back so you might think that the carer was having to throw her weight around to get the problem noticed...only there isn't a problem! The dentist said there was no sign of infection or pain at all. This carer is one who told me (seriously) that she'd rather cash in an envelope when I said I always struggle to think of how to say thank and gave them homemade biscuits for Christmas, and on another occasion told me she took a TV and DVD players from a patient when they died because she had more right to them than her family! One step forward, three steps back as far as my mum's care is concerned! Mum is OK though, so that's the most important thing, no need for any operation.

Had a little victory tonight. Been battling a company who charged me twice for a service and they've been ignoring my emails for weeks. I finally visited their Facebook page, where I could air the dirty linen in public and within in five minutes I get an email from the Director saying he's been forwarded my Facebook message and will make the refund immediately. He is the same Director who promised to resolve the issue weeks ago but if he's true to his word, I'll update my Facebook comments!

Think I've rambled far too long...promise to do little and more often in future!