New Leaf, New Day, New Ways

Triggles

Today I am going to ring my dentist and make an appointment for the first day the DCs are back at school. I have been dealing with dental pain for six weeks while they've been off school, and all I have been waiting for is school to be back in session so I can get my teeth taken care of and the pain dealt with. I am so sick of taking tablets - codeine - to get through the day. The frustrating thing is that I had a massive ear infection as well, same side, which only made it worse. I was on antibiotics for awhile and that cleared the extra pain up, but now it's getting worse again. So I've also got to go back to the surgery and have them check my ear again and make sure THAT hasn't returned either. :mad:

My list of appointments to make is as follows:
- dental appointment for myself
- surgery appointment for my ears
- dental appointment for DS1 for follow up, new prescription for fluoride tabs or liquid
- eye dr appointment for DS1 for exam
- routine mammogram appointment for myself
- paed appointment for DS1

Plus I need to cancel an appointment made for another doctor for DS1 to review meds as we didn't get started taking them yet, so no point reviewing - it's not "essential meds" and we had to wait to take them until we could get him prepped to take them (complicated, but there it is), and we're still not there yet.

I've been doing a little pinterest browsing for holiday ideas and craft ideas. Goodness, it's far too addicting!! So much stuff to look at, so little time!! But loads of good ideas.

I think the Elf on the Shelf is a very cool idea - however, I am loathe to spend over £30 plus shipping for the Elf and book that goes with it. I am going to look at poundland to see if they have their Christmas stuff in yet - and a few other shops to see if I can find a similar looking "elf" toy. Barring that, I may buy a Ken Barbie or action man and make an elf costume for them and use that. :rotfl:DS1 has a Ken doll from Toy Story - maybe I should send have a letter delivered to the house from Father Christmas, saying Ken has been recruited as an official Christmas Elf, uniform enclosed. Ah, I will have to think this through a bit on how to handle it. At least then Ken will be of income support, eh? He's not working right now, just lazing about with Barbie.

Triggles

Practice nurse has put me back on 2 antibiotics and a steroid, plus I'm downing paracetamol and ibuprofen regularly to keep the pain in check as best as possible. Ear and sinus infections are not fun. Weird little ear spray - has a nozzle and spray directly into the ear - makes me feel right wobbly afterwards. I'm reaching a point where I'm just dreading taking it.

A new friend visited today. Her child is going to be starting at DS1's school, so we thought it'd be nice for the children to meet. Had a lovely chat, children playing, and while we were talking about remodelling and such, she made a passing comment about a living room being uncluttered. And she meant MINE!! :eek: I laughed and said "I honestly think that is the first time I've EVER heard the word uncluttered in describing anywhere in my house!" :rotfl:Just made me laugh.

I've got the money this week to pick up the rest of the vinyl floor planking for the hallway, so I'm going to do that. And hopefully will be able to have the entryway and hallway done by end of next week. It will involve a bit of lifting, so I need to take it slowly.

I've also had to put aside money for school uniforms. I tried their uniforms on about a month ago. They fit. Today, tried them again, just to check. They didn't. DS2 has 3 trousers and 3 shirts that fit him, which is a start, but I really need to pick up 3 more shirts and 3 more trousers. Less stress over washing and less worry over accidents or spills that way. DS1's trousers will need to be replaced. He has one pair that he can wear, so that's the first day taken care of - but while he's in school tomorrow I'm going to pop over and pick up some larger trousers. I need to get a pair of plimsoles for DS2 anyway. I don't have any children that will fit the smaller size uniforms that DS2 has outgrown (hand me downs in very good condition from DS1), so I will bag them up and donate them to the primary school - they can use them for spares or give them to any families that may need them.

I also need to put some money in savings - so as soon as I double check my budget tonight and sort out what is needed for uniforms and DIY and any remaining bills for the next few weeks, I will then put the rest in savings, so I don't touch it. I had a small amount more money that was planned, and since I'm feeling so horrible today (just doing the washing up wiped me out), I've used a voucher code and ordered a takeaway for tonight's tea. I normally can talk myself out of it, but pain and feeling worn out has won for the evening. This will be a small outlay of money (under £20) that will provide us food for 2 meals (tea tonight, lunch tomorrow) and means no further exhaustion tonight by cooking tea and then washing up afterwards.

I'm still avoiding soda pop for awhile. It's not good for the teeth (she says, even though generally she only buys diet soda) and it's really not nutritionally beneficial at all. Every now and then I get a little craving for it (like tonight - comfort maybe?) but I've already given in on the takeaway, I'm not giving in on this too. Squash it is, then. I don't buy soda pop for the children, so they're used to having squash here and there.

I need to do a little sewing tonight (repairing by hand). I'm dreading it. If I could put it off, I would, but it's a school bookbag that has a slight seam split in it. Ah, well.

Triggles

Well, blew my NSD out the window today. All the fault of a very good friend who encouraged me to go with her to a local shop that had some material on clearance that I had been looking for. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were out. But then I saw a lovely little stepstool for under a fiver - and I've been looking for one for my DS2, who struggles to reach the light in the bathroom downstairs. Kind of a necessity in the winter, as it's dark so early. :rotfl: So I purchased that for him (he was thrilled with it, by the way!).

And then I spent 99p on salt and pepper shakers. I know, I know, the disgrace of being a spendthrift!! But I didn't have any!! Seriously - do you know how many times I've accidentally oversalted some food because I have sprinkled it on with a spoon and shook the spoon just a tad too vigorously? And I wasn't about to pay a fiver or more for them, like in some shops. 99p was a pretty good price IMO.

Let's see... what else did I spend? I bought toilet roll - but instead of my usual 2- 9pks for £4, I found an 18roll pk for £2.99!! Bargain! Can't pass that up!! And £2.49 for a new bright green wall clock for DS1's room. So that clock went up in his room, the "how to tell time" clock (not needed in DS1's room as he now can tell time) then got moved into DS2's room for him to start learning how to tell time, and everyone is happy.

Wednesday I did my grocery shop (usually do it on Friday, but needed to get school uniform stuff, so figured best do it all at once and save the petrol) - saved £9 from voucher and got another voucher for £9 off a £60 shop, so will keep that in mind for next week. Put £30 on electric and £30 on gas, and added £20 to the petrol tank of the car. So am slowly starting to build up credit on the pay as you metres and my groceries and petrol are covered. That's priority.

More swimming lessons to be scheduled for DS1 and DS2. More ££££ to go out for that. Ouch! But again - necessary skill. I don't begrudge the money - I'll happily pay it if it increases their safety around water. But boy is it a financial drain.

Well, off to peruse the paperwork sent home by school today.

Triggles

Alrighty!!! Fair bit accomplished so far this morning. I'm at the moment sitting with coffee and toast (breakfast, as I didn't have time earlier when getting the DCs sorted for school).

- checked banking to verify expected payments have gone out
- washing up
- laundry washing, dried laundry folded and moved upstairs to be put away this afternoon
- stripped sheets off DCs' beds to wash
- rescheduled paediatrician appointment for DS1 (conflicts with swim lessons)
- emailed head swim instructor to get DS2 set up in swim lessons that are at the same time as DS1's lessons
- made appointment with asthma nurse for DS2
- double checked budget for any last minute adjustments
- tidied up living room
- checked and noted meter readings for both gas and electric meters
- heated up water in kettle for day's coffee/tea and put it in thermos (trying to limit how much coffee/tea I have as well, so this helps as well as not using kettle over and over again all day)

Next to do in the time I have left before my next school run of the day (for reception, temporary schedule):
- vacuum living room (as the vacuum is now picking up well because I dismantled the silly thing yesterday and fixed it - feeling well pleased with myself for sorting it)
- putting clean sheets on DCs' beds
- sewing button on DS1's comforter cover so it's all ready for winter
- quick clean in bathrooms up and down stairs
- sweep kitchen/hallway/dining room

Things I am NOT going to do - MOP the hallway. :rotfl: First of all, it's raining - what's the point? And even though it desperately needs it, I'm going to be ripping those tiles out over the next few days and replacing them with lovely vinyl planking by end of week so I don't care what the tiles look like. I'm too thrilled to be putting in the new flooring. Tomorrow's duty? Hopefully painting the hallway. Fingers crossed. I want to get that done (minus trim, of course) before I put the flooring down.

I was hoping to get the garden mowed (front and back as they both are looking shabby), but the weather has not been cooperative. I'd also like to trim the hedge out front as it's looking distinctly like a jungle, but again - not standing out there in the rain to do it. :rotfl: Hopefully I can whittle out some time to do that later this week. I am hoping to eventually replace that hedge with a metal (wrought iron? haven't decided) fence of some sort - soooo much less maintenance issues and looks so much nicer. And then I'll be putting rock down in the front garden, so again there'll be less maintenance worries and it'll look nicer. I could do the rock myself, as we did it in the states years ago, however, I'm mindful that because of the way the ground lays in the front garden, there needs to be proper drainage, so I may just hire someone to do the fence and the rock all at once. That'll be a "save up to get done" job, definitely. But oh it will look nice and be relatively maintenance free!!! :cool:

Well, back to work on my list of chores, as my coffee is done. Busy busy busy....... :rotfl:
- checking stock of pullups to make sure we're not ready to order yet (took them off regular order, although I will be putting them back on again soon)
-

Triggles

OOOoooops! Well, colour me embarrassed. I have just realised (much to my shame and frustration) that I cannot start the painting until at least the 23rd of this month, when DS2 is in school for longer as otherwise the paint will not be dry yet when he gets home. The last thing I need is to spend half a day dragging him away from wet paint! Which is fine as I appear to have picked up a stomach bug somewhere along the way and I am feeling positively horrible.

Yawn. More later - tomorrow - when I'm feeling human.

Triggles

I went to visit a good friend today for coffee and a chat. And for her to show me how she makes bramble jelly (jam?). She is so self-sufficient and does so many neat things around the house. I always come away from visiting her with a renewed sense of purpose. Does it sound corny? She inspires me (I suspect without trying, as she's just a lovely person) to do more - around the house, for myself, for the DCs.

She has:
- made homemade jam/jellies
- bought an old dollhouse for her DD for £6 and fixed it up using things she has found free/samples and it looks lovely
- signed up for and is getting sponsors for a charity event later this month
- canned/jarred numerous other foodstuffs for winter already
- chickens which she cares for and gets eggs from to use for her family (and friends)
- an allotment which she maintains and brings up a healthy yield of veg and fruit from
- stitched together a floor rug by using sample rug pieces
This, combined with working part time, raising children (3 school runs a day right now!), and is married, so cooking/cleaning/laundry for a family as well.

I realised today, while we were chatting and having tea in her kitchen, that I have never ever seen her "doing nothing." Even when she is sitting with a cup of tea, there is something baking, jam boiling on the cooker, SOMETHING going on. It's impressive, really. And it's energising - how can you be in that environment without the energy rubbing off onto you?

So I have my evening well planned. I will be making my soda bread, plus a couple other baked items. While things are baking, I'm going to go through some craft drawers and organise them, in preparation for making my Christmas cards this year.

It's been a NSD so far today; I am hoping it will be NSD all day. Tomorrow is "pay bill Friday" - ££ put on electric, gas, and petrol in the car, plus groceries for the week. We're actually alright for groceries right now, so I am going to put the grocery cash aside and see how long we can go before we absolutely need it. It'd be brilliant if we could get a whole week in.

Next week is DS1's week to eat hot lunch all week, so no lunches to pack - which saves money right there. I can make DS2's lunch with mine - generally using leftovers from supper the night before or heating up things at home that are simply not easy to put in a lunchbox. I'm pretty sure we can eat out of the cupboards and freezer all week - I need to have a good clean out of the freezer anyway. :cool:

Any money I save from that can go towards the DIY costs of repainting and reflooring. My top priorities for DIY are:
- painting walls in hallway/entryway
- vinyl planking in hallway/entryway
- painting walls in living room
- whitewashing fireplace in living room
- replacing flooring in living room
- painting walls in both DCs bedrooms
- painting walls in my bedroom
- painting staircase (stairs) and putting on the carpet stair tiles
- painting staircase (walls)

Whew!! Loads to do ! And that's not even everything that needs to get done - it's just the stuff that I want done first!! Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!

Triggles

Just a brief note to say I'm happy that I check my emails!! I got an email from ToysRUs that shows a new game console coming out this week. The Nintendo 2DS!!! It's just like the 3DS (which I was looking to buy DS1 for Christmas), but no 3D feature (which he didn't use anyway). It also looks more like a tablet, so no "hinge" problems, which we also had problems with. And .... best of all...... drumroll please............ about £110!!!!! Since the 3DS was about £160-£170, this instantly drops £50-60 from my Christmas budget!! Brilliant!! I hadn't even heard of this 2DS, but boy am I glad now! It plays all the DS games as well as 3DS games, just without the 3D aspect, which is perfect! Love it!

Triggles

I have found something horrible in my house. Something that has slowly and insidiously creeping throughout the rooms right under my very nose. Actually right under DS2's nose - and it's making him sneeze. Yes, that's right. Dust. I try not to think about the gazillions of dust mites I am most likely harbouring in my house. <shudder> Feeling a bit crawly now. (It's like when you discuss nits and lice and you start to itch just thinking about it! Ah, school days, eh?) :rotfl:

So cobwebs and dust have been appearing while I've been looking down at my baseboards and flooring. Sneaky little !!!!!!s. And now it's time to obliterate them. Tonight is "clean the ceiling fan" night. Perhaps I should wear a party hat? It might at least keep the dust from falling into my hair. :eek: This is my first task once DS1 goes to bed (DS2 has just been put to bed a few minutes ago). No need in asphyxiating the little ones in the name of cleaning. Then it's tops of pictures, clocks, and door frames. The edge of the walls by the ceiling will have to wait until daytime so I can not only see it better but if I am going to horribly embarrass myself by falling off a chair reaching for a cobweb, at least this way I'm not also waking up the DCs and scaring them half to death.

The fireplace is also on my hit list. Who knew such dust and debris could collect? I haven't had a fire in months, so I can only assume the soot and dust at the bottom is a result of not being cleaned and droppage from the chimney. As I have someone coming out to check it and hopefully get it swept in a week, I should really at least make it semi-presentable. (Lord, I've become the person that cleans before the cleaner gets here, haven't I? Sweeping the fireplace before it gets swept.)

On a declutter note, the boys have informed me that they are quite ready to play with the smaller regular sized legos instead of the bigger blocks now. :rotfl:We have a HUGE box of them, so logic tells me that I will be able to downside to a smaller box, since the legos are smaller. We shall see. And a friend of mine has a little one that is just growing into the bigger blocks to play with, so I can bag them up and hand them over. Works for me!!

Triggles

I am feeling quite productive today. I've managed to clean a HUGE amount of stuff in my room today. I found the two small hot water bottles for the boys for this winter. I've pulled out the winter jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, and extra jumpers. I packed away most of the summery clothing.

Supper is cooking (okay, nothing fancy, the boys asked for fish cakes and veg), and there is a fresh batch of hob nobs with sultanas in the biscuit box. :j Laundry drying on the indoor rack, until it's closer to dry, then finished off in the dryer.

Petrol, gas, electricity, and groceries topped up yesterday, except for milk. I wanted to wait until it was lower before I picked up more, so I will pop out Tuesday morning and get more. No school lunches to pack this week - DS1 has hot lunch all week this week and DS2 eats lunch at home this week as they get out early (still on awkward reception schedule).

I have a TON of appointments this week. Thankfully only one will require paying for parking.

EH bought a bunch of legos for a pretty reasonable price on ebay, so I didn't have to buy them. :T So now I just need to bag up the big blocks and give them to my friend when I meet her for coffee this week.

The sewing is accumulating, so I've made sure to sort out the sewing area of my room in preparation to getting some of it done. Unfortunately, the hand stitching will need to come first - a hem in one of DS2's trousers and a hole in the front of one of DS1's school jumpers. I'm still not sure of the best way to fix that one neatly - will have to contemplate that for a bit.

We won't discuss the ironing. I'm trying to ignore it. :rotfl:

Triggles

Broken tooth! Again!! I'm still waiting for my appointment (it's in 2 weeks) to get into the dentist (long story, but while I've been registered with dentist, I haven't been in to see them, as DCs were priority in getting their teeth checked first), and now this!! So that's two teeth broken - and both probably not able to be repaired. :mad: This stems from a dentist when we were kids that would drill out half the tooth for a small cavity. I've found out that all my siblings as well as numerous people I grew up with (that went to same dentist) are having this same problem - teeth cracking and breaking years later that have the fillings in them. Thankfully, they're not painful or sensitive, but obviously I'll have to be careful and chew on the other side as I don't want to crack them further and expose the nerve. :eek: That WOULD be painful!!

The chimney's being looked at tomorrow as it's got bits of brick and such falling down occasionally. Don't know if there's damage, but I suspect a bird has been up there at some point. And I can see a bit of a branch up there, so I'm wondering if that's growing - we had that problem once before. I'm not looking to put a fire in the fireplace anytime soon, but certainly don't like things falling down in it either! :eek:

No heater on here yet. Still making preparations for winter. All the winter clothing is out now, including jackets and a box of hats, scarves, and gloves (those will have to be washed as they smell a bit musty). DCs beds have their winter blankets on them. House is around 18-20 right now, so not bad at all. I'm hoping we can avoid the heater until at least October, but with any luck I can wait even longer. :cool:

I was really wanting chocolate yesterday and decided to add some chocolate to the hob nobs recipe. So I chopped up a few squares of a galaxy bar (bought on sale, I'm still being good!) and made chocolate chip hob nobs. Wow!!! Yummm!!!! But I had to make raisin hob nobs as well, because DS1 cannot eat chocolate chip cookies - he gets all stressed out trying to eat the cookie without eating the chocolate. He likes chocolate, but cannot abide it on or in a cookie. I'm not sure where he got that particular trait, but it certainly wasn't from me!! :rotfl: