New Leaf, New Day, New Ways

parsniphead

Triggles I have read half your diary so far. You have really inspired me to get on with budgeting and doing work on the house. I have a little two year old and can never seem to get anything done with him. I'm very impressed how much you get done with two little ones.

Off to read the rest now.

P.s. I really like the idea of filing paperwork before going to bed, it's one of my problems dealing with paperwork. Definitely going to steal that idea.

Triggles

Brrrrrrr!!!! This week it's all about the heating. I thought that the heater did pretty well last year, but even though I've checked all the radiators and they're giving off heat, the house doesn't seem to be warming up much.


My biggest concern was DS2's room. It's always a few degrees colder than the rest of the house, most likely because there's a metal vent in the corner of the room - just a small square vent, it's actually closed, but it's pretty cold in that corner of the room. And it's by the window, so cold is coming from that as well.


After much deliberation, trying to decide whether or not to cover the vent, I decided that while the vent is closed, it's obviously letting a small amount of air flow through there, and perhaps it's not too wise to block it up. It's got to be there for a reason. So I just snuck up to DS2's room and slid thick tin foil down behind the radiator and on either side, so it's basically framed and backed with tin foil. Now I'm just watching to see if the temperature in the room goes up. I've left the heater on for a bit to warm it up. I wasn't comfortable with it being 15-16 degrees. If it works well, I'll be putting that tin foil behind some of the other radiators as well.


I'm looking at putting a curtain in front of the front door and the back door. It's very cold by the door, even though there is a radiator near by. So tin foil behind the radiator and a curtain in front of the door I think. The front door is pretty new (within the last few years) and the seal is fine, so I think it's just that typical "around the door" coldness that you get. I guess. (no, really, I'm completely guessing!! Is that standard - to have "around the door coldness"??) The other option for the back door is simply to close the kitchen door, closing off the entire room from the rest of the house, when not in use.


I plan on taking a bit of time tomorrow to browse the house to look for areas that are colder and see what can be done to improve those areas. Hopefully it will mean a warmer house.

Triggles

Alrighty then. Operation "stop freezing" still ongoing. I've got bubble wrap over a couple windows - namely the windows in the hallway and the downstairs toilet. Neither is a huge window but those two areas are always very cold. I've noticed since the bubble wrap has been put on that they are just a bit warmer, so I'm feeling quite pleased. The tin foil on DS2's radiator seems to be helping as well - the temperature has been consistently a degree or two higher than it used to be - so it's ranging 16-18 instead of 14-16. That's a huge difference! (well, it is to me anyway)


This weekend's project? Get a curtain over the front door. I have rubbish walls, so it's definitely going to be a project hanging anything up. And I don't want to buy anything, so I'll be looking through what DIY items I already have to see if I have what I can use to make a curtain rod and brackets of some sort. I already have a curtain that will work nicely.


I was vacillating back and forth over whether to put a curtain up over the kitchen window and back door, however, I think in the essence of saving money, it just might be better to simply keep the kitchen door closed when it's not in use, especially at night, as I mentioned previously.


A curtain will also be hung up over the dining room. It's often not in use during the day and it is a cold room as well. I used to have a curtain there ages ago, but took it down (probably during a summer) and never put it back up. So this won't be a huge change or expense as I still have the curtain.


I'm trying to decide whether or not to put bubble wrap on DS2's bedroom window. I was thinking about putting it on the top half of the window, hoping that it would at least cut down on the cold. He likes to look out the window, though, so covering the whole window would not go over well. And I don't want him pulling on the bubble wrap to see outside. So covering the top half of the window would be a fair compromise - provided of course that it actually helps keep the room warm. I may try it just to see if it has any effect.


I may rig up something simple to cover a majority of the metal adjustable vent in DS2's room. I don't want anything permanent, in case it's something that's needed, but it's been closed for ages, so I would think something over it during the winter would be okay. I'm again thinking about bubble wrap. I have some magnetic strips from my crafting supplies - if I cut the bubble wrap to fit the metal vent, and then adhere the magnetic strips around the edge of the bubble wrap, they should stick to the vent and hold the bubble wrap in place. No, it won't be a complete seal, but I'm hopeful that it will cut down on the cold. Even a little will be helpful.


My bedroom window is quite a cold spot. I am first going to put a rolled fleece along the bottom of the window, as it seems that's where it may be coming from. If that works, then problem solved. I may need to check around the whole window frame, but I kept getting interrupted by the phone, so finally gave up after about 4 phone calls. LOL I'll try again this weekend to look it over.

dawnybabes

We have a vent in the living room that was like Siberia, so we blocked t off and bought a carbon monoxide detector just in case, made a huge difference. We've also just put a door curtain up, this really does make a difference. Also we dot use the back door so we have Sellotape over the keyhole, easy to remove but stops the draft.

Triggles

dawnybabes - that's what I was worried about - that the vent somehow had something to do with the heater (which is gas). The vent is in DS2's room on the far side of the room, and the heater/airing cupboard is outside his bedroom door. I do have a carbon monoxide detector across the hall from the heater (just outside DS2's bedroom door).


I'm going to do the bubble wrap thing with the magnetic strips and see if that makes a difference. Then go from there, I think.


Slightly derailed this weekend, as DS1 has a stomach bug and was vomiting yesterday and feeling awful.


I put a curtain up across the dining room door, but that didn't seem to make much difference. I then put it up across the living room door and that seems to help the temperature in the living room (which is ironic, as the living room has the open fireplace, so you'd think it'd make the living room colder- go figure - I suppose it has something to do with ventilation and air flow).


DS1's school have been promoting Switch Off Fortnight 2013 for 18th November to 1st of December. So I'm using this information to encourage less electricity use in the home this week. Because they discussed it in school, DS1 is quite receptive to it at the moment. Here's hoping it encourages some better habits.


Only one week until our Christmas tree goes up. (Yes yes I know, but I love Christmas!!) It's a family tradition to put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving (it's when our whole family was home together growing up so that everyone could participate in putting up and decorating the tree).


That means busy busy this week - finish flooring and painting. Fingers crossed that DS1 is feeling better (no vomiting yet today, so feeling hopeful) by tomorrow. The hallway is painted, just need to finish the flooring and paint the living room. I'd like to do the flooring in there, but not sure if I'll have the time.

Triggles

Oh dear merciful heavens. If anyone tells you they have a stomach bug, run far far away. Don't breathe in their space, don't look back. Just run!!


I've just had a dreadful stomach bug going through the household. DS2 went back to school today, and DS1 will be going back to school tomorrow. I'm exhausted from dealing with the DCs as well as being ill myself, but at least feeling somewhat human, so cracking on with catching up on the housework.


I did a grocery shop this morning to pick up some suitably bland food so we're not overdoing it too soon, and I put some petrol in the car. I still need to top up the electricity and gas meters, but I will do that tomorrow. It's a bit time consuming as I generally have to queue for a few minutes, and that's just easier without the DCs along. So that's on my "school time errands" list, along with stopping at Farm Foods to pick up toilet roll and frozen veg.


I did also make a slight detour today (with DS1 in tow) to pick up our Christmas tree. Now this has taken me quite some time to come to a decision on. I actually measured the ceiling in the living room as I wanted to make sure that I got a nice tall tree that fit properly. I've been checking prices for the last couple weeks at a number of places. I had pretty much decided on a 6.5 ft tree at B&Q, but spotted one yesterday that was 7ft at Argos for 1/2 price! So it was actually £5 cheaper than the other tree - would be silly not to spring for the bigger tree for a better price, right? LOL (my smileys aren't working for some reason, so I can't put them in my posts)


I've been watching some Nigella programmes on television - the Good Food Network has been playing the Nigellisima episodes as well as her Christmas Kitchen episodes. I've been thinking about this, but in the bid to watch money, I've let the meals become a bit boring and some have lost a bit of appeal. Don't get me wrong - I think it's important to watch grocery expenses and keep the grocery bill down - but I also think that there's nothing wrong with doing some interesting new things and trying new ingredients or recipes or even occasionally splurging on more expensive recipes. I'm just as happy with beans on toast as the next person to be honest, but I'd also like to try some new things. So I'm going to be looking at recipes that are a bit different than my standard fare and try them out occasionally.


Ah well, a few last minutes things to do before going to sleep tonight.

Triggles

I'm saddened to see that the UK has discovered Black Friday, the nastiest and biggest shopping day of the year in the US. It's tomorrow, the day after Thanksgiving.


It seems rather ironic that a day devoted to giving thanks for what you have is followed by a day that is devoted to blatant consumerism as people fight for sales items in stores. I've lived in the states for years and worked for the police. It was a day of shoplifting, fighting, traffic accidents, and just all around awful behaviour. People shouting and pushing and grappling over big ticket sales items. Fighting and shoving in lines as they wait for hours, sometimes queueing up just after midnight so they can be the first in line when the store opens to grab the best buys.


Is this really what Christmas has become? A free for all where we're elbowing our neighbour or fellow school mum for a marked down laptop? Or a half price television? Peace on Earth and goodwill to man indeed.


As DS1 has Friday off school for an inset day, while DS2 still has school, I had thought it would be nice to wander in the shops a bit, have a quiet inexpensive lunch out, and allow him to see the Christmas decorations and such in the shops and on the high street without stressing him out due to huge crowds of people and for me to be able to push his wheelchair without worrying about keeping track of DS2 at the same time. Nice leisurely fun day for DS1 and myself. But stores are all running sales for Black Friday, apparently, which means the high street will be jammed with people. So on that note, I'm a bit saddened as well.


I may take him into town anyway, just in case it's not as busy as anticipated, and we're not going to be fighting with anyone for items as we were just going to be browsing and looking about. I guess I'm just frustrated with it all. This Black Friday is, in my experience, the complete opposite of "the Christmas spirit" and just seems to bring out the worst in most people. It will most likely not be as "full on" as it currently is in the states, but I worry that it will be within the next few years.


I did note that there was a huge push this year in the states for stores to be closed on Thanksgiving, so employees could be home with their families. This is a nice change. A few years before I moved here to the UK, I noticed that some stores (Walmart/ASDA are you listening here?) were actually open on Christmas Day, with special one day sales just for Christmas Day! Dreadful for their employees to have to be there for shoppers on Christmas. And unnecessary.


But there's hope that this year people are pushing back and demanding stores be closed on Christmas Day as they did for Thanksgiving Day. Something to be thankful for after all.


Happy Thanksgiving.

Triggles

Our Christmas Elf Pip has been visiting daily. Day one he left a little scroll tied with a gold ribbon introducing himself (and his magic door appeared). Day two he left another note tied with a ribbon on the tree with two pairs of plastic toy glasses (one for each DS) saying they could help them "see better" as they looked for ways to be big boys and be kind. Day three, no note, however, it was pretty obvious he spent a large part of the night building with their legos, leaving them all under the tree with his name spelled out in legos next to his construction. Day four, no note again, however, he appeared to have spent the night in a little bed under the tree, made of a small cushion and little Christmas blanket, with one of the toy teddy bears tucked in next to him and playing on DS1's mini ipad. Scamp. Every time he shows up, he leaves glitter on my carpet from his magic door to wherever he's been. So far the boys are loving it (although DS1 was a bit worried that Pip used up his battery charge on his ipad so I charged it up again this morning LOL).


The school is doing a second hand sale, so I need to go through and see if I have anything I can donate to it. I suppose I can consider this a good thing, as it's a bit of a declutter and hopefully makes some money for the school.


I went in to Aldi yesterday and picked up a few things, checking prices as I went, since I had plenty of time. Very interesting!! A few things right off the bat that I noticed - bread 5p cheaper, milk 29p cheaper, anything in the super six is cheaper. Almost all the prices are either the same or a bit cheaper. The telling thing will be Friday - I'm going to do my weekly shop there and then compare to see if I've saved. Fingers crossed! I'll still buy my toilet roll at Farm Foods, as it's cheaper and I like that particular brand. I forgot to look at the price of coffee though - not sure they can beat the sains basics price - if not, it's not a huge deal, as long as it's comparable.


I know I have mentioned a few times that I was nervous about the cost of the prepayment meter for electricity and gas, however, I am finding it fairly reasonable. And it keeps me in check knowing that I am paying for it as I go. By now, I would have had the heater switched on 24hrs now, which means it would be running pretty frequently, probably keeping the house warmer than really necessary. But I'm still using the timer, I've just bumped it from 3 hours a day to 4.5 hours a day. Occasionally I've popped it on for 30 minutes when it's quite cold just to take the chill off, but then it's off the entire school day without a problem. The boys are much better now about putting on slippers and wearing jumpers, which helps a lot as well. So I'm happy with it - it keeps me aware of how much energy I'm using, which is never a bad thing.


The stomach flu is finally gone from the house, but DS2 has a cold now. (never ends, right?) So both of them are struggling with their asthma right now, secondary to the other illnesses.

Hopefully it will settle down a bit now in the run up to Christmas.

Triggles

Today has been a stressful exercise in "let's see how much misfortune and general aggravation and inconsiderate behaviour you can take in one day." I cannot wait to go to sleep and have today be over. Tomorrow had better be an improvement, that's all I can say.


After much contemplation, I am keeping DS2 home from school tomorrow. He has an eye doctor's appointment in the morning, they have some type of second hand sale and "visit with Santa" booth in the afternoon, so it's not like he's going to be missing much. I'm not keen on how they organised the Santa thing anyway - £2 for each child to visit with Santa, and only limited spots available, which were taken up almost immediately after it was announced. So some children will be led out of their classes to visit with Santa and others won't. Thankfully I already told DS2 that I would be taking them to see Santa on Saturday, so he's quite happy to wait now that he knows this. He initially was upset that he couldn't go see Santa at school, which I imagine will be the reaction of a number of children. IMO during the school day is not the place for this type of thing. If Santa (or Father Christmas, whatever title you want to use) comes into the school, he should pop in and say hello and chat very briefly with each class, but not this limited thing where only a select few will get the opportunity to see him. That's what shopping centres are for.


It's not like I'll have the childminder to pick him up anyway. The childminder is actually adult DD's childminder, but she generally picks up DS2 and walks him home on Fridays. But DD cancelled her for tomorrow (yesterday!) without even mentioning it to me. Thanks for the heads up, really. Then when I asked her why she hadn't given me any warning at all, she made a snotty remark about "it's not my responsibility to make sure your DS2 gets picked up." Well, no, but if you're cancelling the childminder that is picking him up days ahead of time, then common courtesy dictates that you give me as much warning as possible, not just the night before. And since that child is her 4yo brother, one would think a bit of consideration would be warranted, right? Nevermind that I dropped everything, dragging both DS1 (who was vomiting into a bucket as he had stomach bug) and DS2 out in the cold weather, whilst coming down with stomach bug myself, and drove DD and her 7yo DS to the A&E when he got a bead stuck up his nose. Or that I babysat for her recently as well as agreeing to babysit for her just before Christmas. Apparently consideration only goes one way. Again... irritating. I raised her to be more well mannered than that; I'm appalled at her lack of courtesy.


EH is still off sick from his job, out of sick pay, so only getting SSP, which means he's going to plead poverty before Christmas. I knew this was going to happen, I just knew it. So I've got money put aside for DS1 & DS2's gifts, but EH'll have to take care of adult DSS and his family. I've already told him I'm not going to do it - it's his responsibility. EH has told me he's is having troubles coping. He's not working, he's not dealing with the DCs or their illnesses or DS1's fallout from his disabilities, or school runs or school problems, or housework or household bills (as he lives with MIL, so no housework or cooking or laundry for him, as she does it). So maybe I'm a bit unsympathetic when I say "what exactly is he trying to cope with?" I'm truly baffled.


DS1's schoolteacher sent the wrong ipad home with DS1, which prompted a horrendous meltdown as he then couldn't use it. And to top matters off, the other child didn't come in to school today, so he's still got DS1's ipad at his house, so DS1 is without his ipad again tonight (another meltdown). The teacher has been trying to ring the other child's parents all day with no result. I hope to god they sort this tomorrow as otherwise it'll trigger another meltdown which will most likely be repeated over the weekend (DS1 is disabled and struggles greatly with emotions and stress).


I'm going to hide for the evening in going through my budget, getting my mealplan done for next week, putting together my grocery shopping list, and making my "to do" list for the coming week. Being organised is calming for me. I'm just reaching a point where I feel like I can't rely on help or responsibility from anyone. It's frustrating, but that's where I am right now.


My apologies for the rant. Hold it in, get an ulcer. Let it out, breathe deep, and move on, right?

Triggles

New day, new rule. Never let other people get you down. Enjoy life. Ignore the negative. Words to live by IMO. I will certainly try anyway!