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

FeistyFidget

Happy Birthday Princess, have a wonderful day!

My savings total has finally reached over £700 and I have a large deposit to add in a few weeks

I'm so sorry a lot of you are feeling glum, hopefully the weather will help cheer you! Be kind to yourselves x

Nitnurse, thanks for the tip lovely - sadly we aren't permitted to attach anything to walls as technically we don't own the external walls or balcony (crazy loopholes for the building company to still get money etc) - but My long planter was only 99p and seems good for the job! I had an actual balcony vegetable patch a few years ago but sadly the space made it impossible to tend and we got infested with moth caterpillars - the final straw was one neighbors above decided to use my salad planters as ashtrays I'm not a fan of cigarette butts and ash in my food!

PoppyGirl

Pink Steps - Teddy is GORGEOUS!!! Is she a Cockapoo? I have a 14 week old Cocker Spaniel.

Good advice from Fiesty re. biting. Yelping sometimes worked for us, but sometimes she had a really firm grip. These times we had a rattle box to hand (a cleaned out tin filled with pennies) which we shook, and the noise made her let go. We also gave her 'time out' (for a couple of minutes) in the kitchen if she was being very bad.

Don't worry too much about her biting someone, she will grow out of it. We were lucky (!?) in the fact that Penny went through her bad biting period when she was still not allowed out because of vaccinations. If you meet someone who wants to pat her, just say. "I'm sorry she's at the biting stage" sure they will be ok with it.

I saw on Its All Fiddle Fart (not sure if Flying Pig still posts on the boards here) that poundland have keys that would be perfect for Santa's magic keys! They are metal, good quality but are on a ring so this would need to be sawn through to get them off. I'm thinking of a little bit of gold or glitter brushed on the edges of them, will stand out against the black.

http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/cast-iron-ornamental-key-set/

Julie67

Morning all,

Thought I would pop back in, this thread moves so quickly, I can't keep up!
I know how you feel bunbun been a bit like that myself, money is so tight. Dh is doing his best but if there is no work there is not a great deal he can do. I've mooches the idea of working for someone else but that's really a last resort, oh um what will be will be I'm sure we will get through one way or another.
I've had some health problems and been at home for the last couple of years. The thing is I love it, I've no desire to go out to work. I see my job as budgeting, being thrifty and looking after the family. But if needs must I will, maybe try and find something part time.
Nitnurse and I thought I was organised:eek: you have made me think though if we should have a change from the tired old usual turkey.
betsie hope you feel better soon Hun, glad you have your dog
pinksteps aww Teddy is gorgeous I would love a dog:D
poppygirl I love the keys, shall be picking up some for my DGS
feisty well done on the savings,
nanamania and jakesbakescakes are you two doing Ww. It's my first weigh on Wednesday but feeling good
Happy Birthday princess:beer:
Sorry if I've missed anyone.
Well the month of June is lurking we have a birthday almost every day. I really need to get my finger out and get the pressies sorted.
I have however made another crochet gift for our grandson due in October
I would love to crochet some Christmas stockings but I fear I may run out of time.
Oh well enough waffle, back to the eBay. Have a good day x

msgigglewick

Cute puppy! puppies do respond to body language more than they do shouting (firm believer in that, i have trained my current dog to respond to hand signals rather than spoken commands... only trouble is if someone else is talking in the room using hand gestures she'll get rather confused lol) the more you can get her to understand before 6 months the easier life will be... don't forget once they hit teenage years they'll push all those bounderies again and suddenly 'forget' everything they have learned lol

Brilliant cakes nanamia!

Not been in the 99p shop for ages! though i want to pop in this week and see what silicone ware they have... just been on ebay and ordered a few more bits as my choc pinatas seem to becoming quite popular with family.. was my dd3's bday yesterday and she asked for a normal cake one (silly me forgot to get white chocolate todo the writing on it but found a white icing pen thing in the cupboard but i think it spoilt it a bit, pic below) she really enjoyed smashing it up though to get to the sweets lol

Only xmas prep i've done is i've decided to make some mini cake pinatas for the nursery children with just one sweet inside in the shape of a xmas pudding... so will start collecting the bits for those to have a trial run with after the july.

girlinayellowdress

freespirit66 wrote: »

PINKSTEPS Good to see you back, i have the biggest grin on my face after scrolling down and that cute yummy face jumped out at me, how gorgeous is Teddy???? What breed is she? Im glad you all have something good to focus on after what you have been through, glad DS is seeing a difference although only in one leg, will they repeat the procedure with the other leg?

PoppyGirl wrote: »

Pink Steps - Teddy is GORGEOUS!!! Is she a Cockapoo? I have a 14 week old Cocker Spaniel.

She's a Labradoodle, mum is a yellow labrador and dad is a standard poodle. I think she is going to be the height of a standard poodle but build of the lab, otherwise HUGE!

Morgy9

Ooooops - I posted on 2012 thread and the elves but got side tracked by grabbit since new year and recuperating. Now past my treatment - apart from the Tamoxifen - and hair re-growing. Still waiting for all my stamina to come back ....but getting there. Anyhow the scholastic book sale has started a day early - I nearly missed it as my email address has changed so I wouldn't have got reminder ...

Scholastic book sale on main grabbit thread..

I normally do this every year and stock up for Xmas and birthday presents for the kids, their friends and young relatives. Anyhow my email address changed this year - so I nearly missed this! Thanks to Irwellgirl and skylight from thread on grabbit (posts 1 and 7).
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4573717
Direct link here
http://sale.scholastic.co.uk/

Be quick .............brilliant bargains.

The little football book would be a good keepsake for a young boy's footy themed party ....

The Klutz books look good too - especially the encyclopaedia of immaturity can think of a number of people this could do for.....

HTH....:)

princesskitty29

Hi all, I managed to catch up eventually (in between the jet-lag!) and i'm sad because I made lots of notes but now I can't find them anywhere! I will post them if I find them. Sorry to hear the wars some of you have been through, I hope things get better for you from here on in. There's been some amazing makes too - I wish I were as talented as some of you!!

I can't beleive the month of our wedding has now been and gone, it's amazing how time flies! We had a fantastic time and I really enjoyed myself, but I have to admit I am very happy to be back home too. No matter how fantastic the place is you visit there really is no place like home! I missed chatting to you guys too!

Even though we spent 3 weeks in the USA we were constantly on the go touring around so didn't do any shopping, except for one thing - I bought myself a Christmas decoration in San Francisco! It's a little tram with Santa on it and a festive bell! :T

And thank you for my birthday wishes, I don't normally work on my birthday but i've come in today, not a good decision! Things are quite disjointed here after being taken over and people waiting to be made redundant, I don't think anyone's actually realised it's my birthday so it's a bit boring! Nevermind, my husband (! ) has a treat planned for me later which is a surprise so i've got something to look forward to! :T

I hope you are all ok and wish good health to those that need it. As I said if and when I find my list of notes I will post them up here! Lovely to be back. xx

Trendyjenny

Another month off

FeistyFidget

Welcome back princess

princesskitty29

Trendyjenny i'm glad to hear you have some more time off to look after yourself, take time to relax and recoup. How are the hats going? Did you finish them? I can't remember where I left off!

Now that the wedding's over i'm getting on track with my Christmas planning! I have a few Christmas related questions for you lovelies:

- Last year I mentioned I wanted to make a Christmas Eve hamper for myself and my OH, however I didn't get around to doing it. I'm determined to do it this year and some of you had some great suggestions on what I could put in it for us, unfortunately I can't find them so if anyone has any ideas i'd love to hear them.

- I am doing a chocolate themed hamper and a coffee themed hamper for two of my friends, so i'm on the look out for mugs. Obviously I want the mugs to be chocolate-themed and coffee-themed so if anyone comes across any cheap ones on your travels please let me know!

- I'm also on the look out for a candle HOLDER making kit. My auntie said she would like to make some candle holders to put her candles in, I saw a kit somewhere after Christmas but couldn't buy it, now I can't seem to find one anywhere! All I can find is candle making kits, if anyone knows of anything it would be great to hear about it.

I do remember seeing chirpychick's idea when I was catching up of filling a jar with coins - what a fab idea! I think I might do this for my godson and his brother! :T

Like some of you, I also noticed snugglebunny had been absent for a while, I hope everything is ok. xx