New Leaf, New Day, New Ways

brizzledfw

Hi Triggles

Love your ideas for the summer..they sound great!

Very pleased you feel your DLA is a help...I am truly so glad. X

Triggles

Wooohoooo! The birthday cakes are done for the time being!! :j:j:j:j:j

Can you tell July seems like one big birthday cake baking session to me? :rotfl:

So first thing this morning, I tell the DCs to play for a bit in their rooms while I do a bit of cleaning up. One pile for recycling, one pile for shredding, one pile to bin. Paperwork - one huge pile sorted. :j I'm determined to get through it all. I'm in the process of putting older paperwork together that needs to be saved and packing it up in a box out of my "current paperwork" files. Less stuff to wade through to file. New rule - file before going to bed every night. Otherwise it just piles up. I can't always file papers right when I open them, as I can't leave the DCs unsupervised at the drop of a hat just to put some paperwork away, but I can easily get it done when they're in bed at night. We'll see how well I keep this up.

One bag so far of DC's clothing that is too small for both of them. That will go to a charity shop, as I can just drop it off locally and be done with it. I am also putting together all of EH's paperwork to give to him so he can be responsible for it. Slowly but surely I'm getting there!

I cooked a roast lamb last night (had taken it out to thaw, as we were going to have roast on DS2's birthday, but then an elderly family friend was able to come after all, and she has Parkinson's disease and struggles with cutting food sometimes. So I changed to assorted sandwiches and nibbles instead, as it's easier for her and makes her feel less self-conscious. So now I have leftover sandwich fillings as well as roast lamb. EH also bought pizza for tea last night, as he'd told DS2 he would - DS2's favourite. And that means I have leftover pizza in the fridge as well! We're going to be eating leftovers for a few days. :rotfl:That's alright with me - too hot to cook much anyway.

Today I'm going to start sorting out Christmas lists - cards, gifts, budget, special things to do with the DCs, and menus. I will be doing general household work here and there, and hopefully spending a bit more time working on my files as well.

Triggles

Today was more "sorting and cleaning" mostly. I've managed to get a few toys out of the DCs rooms that they are too old for and no longer use. A few will go to the tip and a few will go to the charity shop, all depending on their condition. And I have 2 carrier bags of clothing that DS2 has outgrown, which will likely also go to the charity shop. A couple of winter outfits and pyjamas I will put aside and offer to an acquaintance at school in September when it starts, as she has children that would just be growing into them at that point.

I will also be putting together a list this week of what the DCs need for school. I think I have everything except a new pair of shoes for DS1 (his are looking rather shabby), but I am a listmaker so I will make a list and organise it all to be done by the 15th.

Tonight I will be spending 15 minutes putting filler on the walls where I can find holes or scrapes where I'm going to be painting - mainly upstairs at this point. Tomorrow night I'll be putting filler on the walls downstairs. Just a small job, but one I've been putting off for ages, and it really only takes a few minutes.

As I sit here looking around, I can see the place is really looking a bit run down - but most of it is cosmetic and easily fixed with a small amount of money and a reasonable amount of time. I'm going to have to try to fit in small jobs here and there and then start doing the bigger jobs when the DCs are in school in September.

Triggles

Today the DCs are having a Christmas day with Christmas lights blinking on a string and watching Christmas programmes. As long as they are having fun, that's fine by me!

I managed to drop off 2 bags of children's clothing and 2 bags of toys at the local charity shop. It feels so good to get rid of the some of the clutter. Still have quite a ways to go, but little by little is better than nothing!!

Tonight's job is putting together each of the children's puzzles and seeing which ones are missing pieces. Those will go in the rubbish and I'll replace them. We've gotten 2-3 years use out of the current puzzles, so I think we've gotten our money's worth out of them. But no point taking up space with puzzles that are missing pieces!!

Triggles

Let the celebrations begin!! I was selected on a website to test a mobile phone service and as part of that testing capacity, we all received free mobile phones!! I've been wanting up upgrade my mobile to one that has good internet on it, but didn't want to pay the ££ for it. So now I have a brilliant new mobile - a Samsung Galaxy - and am going to have fun tonight (after DCs in bed) getting it all set up properly. They've given us a month's credit - so I'm going to use the service quite a bit this month and get my money's worth.

This also means that this autumn, I can go through my regular mobile phone service and get their unlimited everything for £15/month offer and use it in this new phone (after unlocking it). I am sooooooo pleased!!! So for only a few quid more a month, I go from 50 mobile minutes per month to unlimited. Very cool! :cool:

Triggles

I'm being tough today. Just taking a break right now with a coffee while I'm cleaning and decluttering. I managed to get rid of some clutter from the kitchen and am now working on the dining room again. I have a huge shelf along one wall that has all sorts of stuff on it - it's what my mother called a "crap catcher" when we were kids. (can we say that word on MSE? Guess I'll find out!! ) I've been slowly working my way through that shelf this morning, getting rid of all the junk. And I'm doing my best to be ruthless - do I really need it? Will I use it? Have I used it in the past few months? The past month even?? Then bin it. I may end up making a quick trip to the tip later this week if I get too much bagged up for the rubbish. I don't like to overstuff the bin, and I go right by the tip when we go to DS1's swimming lessons anyway.

I'm going to try the Sains basics instant coffee again. It's pretty inexpensive (47p for a pack of it), and I can get used to some pretty bad coffee when in desperate need of caffeine. :rotfl: No seriously - we tried it before and DH didn't like it, but now that it's just me, I'm happy to give it another try. IIRC, I didn't think it was that bad. I might keep in a small jar of nicer coffee for company, and use the basics coffee for everyday use.

I'm thinking of doing some baking today. I have a ginger cake mix in the cupboard, and I was thinking of baking it in a loaf, like I do with lemon cake and putting an icing drizzle over it when it's hot (after poking some holes in the top so the drizzle goes down into the cake a little). :cool:

I've used our laminator (bought for the purpose of doing visual aids for DS1) to make a huge wall chart that uses green, yellow, and red cards for the boys throughout the day - some for specific tasks (getting dressed, tidying up, meals, etc) and some for general things (being kind, sharing, playing nicely, being extra helpful). Currently, if they get more green than anything else at the end of the day, they get a blue square on the bottom row. When they've collected 7 blue squares, they can get a treat - a Happy Meal at McD's, a book, soft play, etc - which benefits both of them (I am hoping this will prompt them to encourage each other to good behaviour, especially when they are getting close to 7 collected). If they get all green cards in one day, they get an individual treat - staying up 30 minutes late, extra time on the computer or tablet, etc. Once they have reasonably mastered "getting more green than red and yellow," then I can up the ante and change it slightly to make it more challenging. We've been using it for a couple days, and it seems to be working well.

I've done a small bit of DIY today - fixed a swing hook halfway down the inside of the kitchen stable door. :rotfl:DS1 was tall enough to just reach over the top and undo the regular turning lock, so this is added security to keep him out of the kitchen and keep him safe.

Next week is "organise the toolbox" week. :eek: I dread even thinking about it!!!

Triggles

Today's activities have convinced me that the flooring in the downstairs bathroom needs to be moved to the top of the DIY priority list. DS2 had an accident in there today and it obviously soaked into the carpet tiles. Now the whole bathroom smells slightly of wee. I will be febreezing it tonight before going to bed, but it just means that I want the vinyl flooring in there sooner, rather than later. I found some that I like at B&Q - but I'm looking at vinyl stick on planks - so it looks like wood planks. The display in the store looks good, so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that it will look good in the bathroom as well. The trim for the house downstairs is going to be a glossy dark brown, so I'm going to get the walnut planks. If I like the looks of it, I'll be using it throughout the downstairs - and I can do it in stages. I am hoping to get it all done by mid-November so it's all done by Christmas.

I know, I know - common logic says do floorwork AFTER walls - and I will for the living room and the hallway. But I'll need to get the bathroom done right away. And besides, the bathroom walls were painted recently - the only painting I have to do now is the trim - which I am going to try to get done now as well - at least the trim down by the floor anyway.

I sold my old mobile phone today - didn't get a huge amount - about £13, but I used that money to pick up the few things from the supermarket that we needed, so I'm happy with that. And again, less clutter as the mobile and cables and such aren't sitting around in a junk drawer, taking up space.

I'm watching a programme called "Home Improvement" right now on DVD - it's a Thanksgiving episode. It just reminds me that I want to make a nice Thanksgiving meal this year in November, so I need to watch for good priced frozen turkeys and pick up a few - one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas (possibly another to stash in the freezer for later) - they seem to show up in Iceland around October for a decent price. And then a side trip to Waitrose to pick up some tinned pumpkin. Autumn is the time when I make a bit more pumpkin bread and of course, we'll have pumpkin pie for holidays - family favourite.

We're getting closer to my favourite time of year - autumn. And then winter, which I also love. I've got loads of things planned for myself and for the house while the DCs are in school. Exercise for me (swimming) and painting and redecorating for the house. I can't wait!!! :cool:

Triggles

Friday's purchases at B&Q are going to be a paintbrush and the vinyl planking for the bathroom. I already have the paint for the trim. So I will paint in the evening Friday night and put the new flooring in over the weekend in the evenings after the DCs are in bed. Hopefully by Monday my bathroom will look like a new room! Most of the rest of it is done being redecorated, so that'll be it. I'm so pleased!

Then I'll give it a few weeks and see how happy I am with the planking and then I'll move on to putting it in the front entry/hallway, and then the living room, and then the dining room. I'm not sure about the kitchen yet.

Triggles

EEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!! :eek:

I've bought my vinyl planking and my paintbrush. This evening I'll be painting the trim in the bathroom. :j I'm so excited - I can't wait to see it all finished. I will admit, I briefly drooled over the snaplock wooden flooring, as it wasn't much more expensive, but the bathroom is sooo small and cutting the pieces to fit (around toilet, sink, etc) would be a nightmare!! I will stick with my plan. If I decide in the long run to go with the snaplock for the remainder of the downstairs, I may end up spending a bit more money replacing this in the bathroom - but if I do that, I'll have to get someone to help me cut it, as I'm awful at doing the "cutting to fit" when it's going around something.

Triggles

I am THRILLED!! The flooring is done in the bathroom and it looks great!! :j There's still a little trim to paint, however, it's not near the flooring and shouldn't pose a huge risk in getting paint on the floor. It looks like a whole new bathroom.

I am planning on putting this throughout the entryway/hallway as well. First of all, because it looks wonderful. And second, because it is more resistant to water than the snap and click planks are. So they are a better choice IMO for the entry hall as we are constantly tracking in wet shoes (rain/snow) throughout the year. I can mop it up fairly quickly to keep exposure to a minimum, but the snap and click planks specifically state they should not be in areas that are likely to get wet.

This just really pushes me to get more things done now. When I see how brilliant it looks, I cannot WAIT to get moving on the hallway/entryway. I will be putting aside the money to purchase the rest of the materials in the next couple weeks, so that I can start working on it as soon as school starts. Again, that means that walls and trim will need a once over in paint before the flooring goes down, so I'm planning on the hallway to be completed by end of September at latest (barring any long interruptions).

On another note, I'm just relieved that it looks more "Bob Vila" than "Tim Taylor." :rotfl: Whew!!! (anyone that doesn't get that reference, do a search on IMDB for the US programme Home Improvement - one of my favourites!!);)