Preparing for Winter

jcr16

well i've not done much, but i'm starting.

yesterday was so nice i thought i'd get the king size duvet's washed. i usally pay a company £10 per duvet and they collect one wednesday and bring it back the following week. but i'm skint( it pay day fri) so i popped own local laundrette.. it only few mins away. cost £4.40 to wash took half hour. and it smell gorg. hang it on line and it was all dry by tea time. i'm so chuffed with myself.

i'm planning to get the fleece matress covers but as of yet they not been in morrisons. my son only has a 4.5 tog duvet so plan to get him a 10.5 like his sister. then they have a fleeve for on top of that.

i've also started closing the windows and curtains about 6 at night now. it really making a difference.

i'm having a new back door fitted next week.( hopefully) and plan to get a new cat flap as ours if broken and it blows a gale through. that will make a great difference. also i've asked my mum to make new roman blind for kitchen. alot thicker than the roman blinds i have at mo. and i want to get thicker curtains for dinning room .

i'm not making huge dents in my plans as money been a bit tight and i've been a bit strapped for time. but i plan to have it all sorted by middle to end of oct.

also i need to make some hot water bottle covers for the kids hot water bottle's.

last year i bought a child size hot water bottle in pound shop. well got 2 for £1. anyway i fill it up with hot water.( not boiling) and wrap it in my sons blanket so he can have it in his buggy when we have to do the early school run. he loved it last winter. so this year want to make a proper cover for it.

also this might sound really sad for a 26 yr old. but i want to buy my hubby some thermals as a pressie. as he often has to work outside all day and he gets so cold. i know there not very attractive, but if it helps him not getting so cold he feels ill then it got to be worth it. i'll still love him no matter how he dresses.

i've also stocked up on popper bodysuits for my 2 yr old. as i hate the thoguht of cold getting into his back. i bought my little girl some new vest but 2 sizes too big, so they tuck nicely into her trouser/knickers and keep her back warm.

rosieben

jcr16 wrote: »

well i've not done much, but i'm starting.
...
also i need to make some hot water bottle covers for the kids hot water bottle's.

last year i bought a child size hot water bottle in pound shop. well got 2 for £1. anyway i fill it up with hot water.( not boiling) and wrap it in my sons blanket so he can have it in his buggy when we have to do the early school run. he loved it last winter. so this year want to make a proper cover for it.

... i want to buy my hubby some thermals as a pressie. as he often has to work outside all day and he gets so cold.

... as i hate the thoguht of cold getting into his back. i bought my little girl some new vest but 2 sizes too big, so they tuck nicely into her trouser/knickers and keep her back warm.

Not done much? I think you're doing great!! :T :T :T

if you can find some odd fleece fabric that will make a nice walter hottle bottle cover - easy hemming as it doesnt fray!! and also can get some lovely kids patterns. I got some fat quarters from ebay but worth checking charity shops. What a lovely idea to take hwb in the buggy for your ds. I cringe when I see kids who are obviously suffering with cold and wet and parents are oblivious - like the young couple walking with their baby after they abandoned their car in heavy snow - he was carrying the toddler facing out into the snow storm!! some people have noooooo brains.. My sister went out and made him wrap the baby in an old fleece blanket and told him to turn the baby around so his face and ears were sheltered. he did it too!!

my ex oh (tough as a nut!) used to wear my old tights until I bought him some long johns. He worked outdoors and said the tights really made a difference.

keeping backs warm is so important - I have to bite my tongue when I see younsters with bare backs on chilly days; its not just now it can cause problems but I believe its laying up problems for when you get older. Cold can be a killer because it puts so much strain on heart and lungs trying to keep the body temperature stable!

I'll shut up now......

We're all doing so great with winter planning - we'll be snug as a bug in a rug as my dgd says

pnq06

jcr16 I must say that your doing well too!!!!

I've just lined and hung my curtains!!!! They look fab and are so dark that I think I might be able to sleep better :rolleyes:

I've just found some curtains that were left here when we moved in and guess what.... they're long enough to cover our front door!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited that I just had to tell someone :j

I forgot the hot water bottles when I was out shopping Well thats a fib cos I did see some but they were £8 each :eek: Not very MS

Think I might make DP wear my old tights for warmth- that'll stop him moaning :rotfl:

pnq06

A friend of mine recently gave me a baby changing mat and told me to throw it away if I didn't need it but being a hoarder I didn't so has anyone got any ideas what I can recycle it into?

Be a shame to leave it sitting under the stairs like it has been

annie123

pnq06 wrote: »

A friend of mine recently gave me a baby changing mat and told me to throw it away if I didn't need it but being a hoarder I didn't so has anyone got any ideas what I can recycle it into?

Be a shame to leave it sitting under the stairs like it has been

I use an old one in the garden to kneel on, because of the length it covers the lower half of my legs and my feet so I dont get all wet/damp/earth marks on me when planting etc

DH has also used it to lie on under the car when doing work on it, much more comfey than the road!

pnq06

Thanks for that hun... Unfortunately I don't have a garden or car but an elderly neighbour loves her gardening so I may give it to her if I can't think of anything else to do with it!!!

jcr16

rosieben i do have some fleece material up stairs i can use. i bought some really really thick fleece material. it the bobble type( that sounds odd , but i know what i mean , lol) anyway it cream with little black sheep on it. and i bought it to make my son a thick blanket for his buggy. as all shop bought kids blankets seem so thin. anyway was thinking of making the hot water bottle cover from this. then added a couple of poppers or velcro so i could fix the hot water bottle to it , so it didn't slip when son was wriggling.

i do feel really inpsiried to get on. i love winter. were having our gas fire taken out in next few day's. so we can bash out old fireplace and make it back into an open fire. so we can have a woodburner instead. although my dad said today if we want to use coal as well as wood we might need to get a multi fuel burner/ so going to look into that more

Topher

Thanks for the reminder about hot water bottle covers from fleece remnants. One of our local shops sold me two baby HWBs last year for £1 (I needed one to go in the M&S Jan sale "Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady" cover I'd bought for Mum's Christmas pressy this year, so the second HWB was a bonus. I've also got a sack of Fleece offcuts from a factory who make fleeces to measure for specialist outdoor pursuits, (so the fleece quality is really top notch) Put the two together and I may have the solution to cold feet at the pooter desk, so thanks.
T

Topher

jcr16 wrote: »

i bought it to make my son a thick blanket for his buggy. as all shop bought kids blankets seem so thin.

You remind me of a project my Mum took on some 22 years ago when she refused to pay the going price for a corduroy "bag" for the baby's legs to go in in his buggy. She made quick notes on the one in the shop, then hiked over to the market, designed and made her own beautiful, top quality "Push Chair Bag" (fake fur lined, and thick corduroy) My sister, a poor student at the time, picked up the scraps of cord & fur (brown & orange) dug out a pattern for a teddy bear, and made up a toy bear to give to my son that Christmas. The Push chair bag got handed on for a friend's two children; the teddy, called "PushChairBag Bear", is still going strong and my son is now a fine strapping 23 year old who won't wear a vest when he "Goes Round Town" on a Friday night...... I blame the parents.
T

rosieben

I would so love a multi-fuel, but better yet a Rayburn or aga. I used to have a rayburn that heated all our water and ran about 7 radiators and I used it to cook, bake and make yoghurt, prove dough, dry herbs ........ so efficient and of course you can burn all sorts on them.

I loved getting up on a winter morning and coming down to a comfy kitchen and the kettle already warm on the top of the stove; the kids socks and mittens drying on the top covers when they came back from playing in the snow, ohhhhhh memories!!