22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

NSD 5 ! Stayed home and baked instead of going out, so those YS bargains will just have to stay in the shop today.

12 Pasties, a marble cake, a chocolate layer cake and a sponge, so lunchboxes sorted and after school snacks ready for the mayhem to begin. Plus a big stew with masses of veggies from the fridge drawer, ready for supper tonight.
All homework has been done, without tears and tantrums today. Very surprising, and it was all done properly for once. Feeling very positive about getting stuff done today, and have written a list for things I want to finish during the week.

2 kids bathed, 2 left to dunk.

Have a great evening!

Anavand

Hi F0xh0le, I haven't posted for a while though planning to get more active on boards again. But I came across your diary yesterday and read the whole thing. Your energy and enthusiasm are inspiring! I'm amazed at how much you get done in the house.

f0xh0les

In the surprising news category .....
DH spoke to his mum tonight and said he would like to bring the kids over at Easter for a few days if it was convenient for them.... she did not sound too pleased at the prospect:rotfl:.
Then started complaining she had not seen the kids for 'so long'.....

I cannot win. At some point I am going to stop trying.

Also, I have never seen a puffin. I really want to see a puffin. They are supposed to be tiny. Puffins are cool.

gallygirl

f0xh0les wrote: »

Also, I have never seen a puffin. I really want to see a puffin. They are supposed to be tiny. Puffins are cool.

Seconded

Save

Bobarella

Buddhist cafes???

f0xh0les

Bobarella wrote: »

Buddhist cafes???

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

f0xh0les

Today was full of bargains, I am just back from the supermarket. The kids ate ALL the bread with their sweetcorn and potato chowder tonight so I needed a loaf for lunchboxes in the morning. Got four loaves - a polish sourdough with pumpkin seeds, a sunflower and pumpkin seed, a malted grain and a bog standard sandwich loaf for 29p each (half in the freezer) , Twinings teabags for DH with a YS for £2.49 and a reduced wonky cabbage for 19p.

Bought two books - one for DS1 and one for DS2 for 49p each. They are both happy. DS4 needed new plimsoles for school - they change into them as soon as they go in in the morning, and so the school stays mud free. Very clever idea. Then DS2 came home with the front hanging off his shoes, so a quick trip to el cheapo zone of shoes and £10 later, everyone is sorted.

They are all thinking what to spend their interest on this week. They should get around £30 each this year, the interest rate has dropped from 6% to 4%. May have to find another product as Martin had a 5% easy access on his email last week.

Stupid hayfever has struck, it is all in the eyes at the moment. Sore and madly itchy. Never had it until I was pregnant, still can't get used to it after 14 years. All the kids were bad with it, but DS1 and 2 have grown out of it in the last 4-5 years, hopefully DS3 and 4 will go the same way. Wouldn't wish it on a dog.
Being allergic to the outdoors sucks and is plain stupid.

Still no puffins.

gallygirl

f0xh0les wrote: »

Still no puffins.

Fixed that for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfzJraIzXF0

f0xh0les

Thankyou! But sadly my laptop has decided I am not allowed to watch Youtube. It decided this for me at the last update about 6 months ago. Took me ages to realise. So still no puffins for me.

Today has been spent finding 'homes' for things. I am creating order out of chaos. I am also making a stash of things I can try and sell, it has to be a stash, as there is more than a pile but less than a mountain.
I was going to put up a pair of curtains I have refound, neatly folded on a shelf, but I can't remember where I put the last load of curtain hooks I bought. I have a vague memory of a large jamjar, but can't remember where I put it. Made a totally half- a55ed attempt at finding it, but it is probably somewhere sensible like in the shed.... or the fridge.

I think the house is looking better, but sometimes I cannot tell if what I am doing is having any effect whatsoever. I think once I get rid of the 4 bookcases cluttering my hallway, and the metal shelving unit, and the box of fishing bits (?) and the three fishing rods (???) and the box of old electrical bits and bobs DH has, then I will be able to see what I have achieved.

I really cannot see the wood for the trees at the moment.

Tomorrow is the ' raiding of the kids accounts' day. Which means after school they will get their interest and immediately waste it on crisps and snacks, then come home and spend all their time 'researching' what they can spend the rest of it on. DS4 has already decided he wants a Pokemon backpack. He could probably sleep in it, he is only 7, it will come down to his knees. Still, he will grow into it. Unlike his school uniform he is rapidly growing out of again. Sadly the school has branded fleeces, you use to be able to buy them from the school office, but they decided in Feb to become a cashfree school so they are available from Tesco online now. For £4 more than they were from the school. So annoying, I know the school gets a kickback from Tesco, so really I am making an involuntary 'donation' to the school, but I am getting annoyed with all the 'donations' requests I am already giving. Donations for swimming lessons, donations for school trips, donations toward sports clubs, donations for charity days, donations so the school to give money to the food bank so they can buy what they need, donations requests after every assembly if we enjoyed what our children were doing, and the school getting a % of the costs for the bookfair they whip the kids into a mass of hysteria about. God I sound grumpy! I am not grumpy though, I am just tired of it all. We have a free education system in this country but it is not feeling like it at the school gates. It is starting to feel like chugging. Ok rant over.

It was blimmin' cold on that playground today and it looks like it is going to get colder. I haven't had my thermals on yet this year (that's done it!!) maybe living in Sheffield has hardened me up.

Shocking scenes on tv this afternoon in Westminster. It seems motorised transport is the new weapon of choice. Awful.

And on that note I bid you all a safe and uneventful evening.

f0xh0les

Today I got rid of two 6' bookcases. One was shabby, so I put it outside the house in the front garden with a 'Take me I'm Free' sign on it last night. It went just after 6pm today.

Then I Fakebooked the other one for £10, someone came and took it at 6pm, and I have reclaimed half, yes half!! the hallway which is now looking very tidy and wide. I have another box of bits and things for the charity shop that needs to go next week.

I have enough wood and screws to put up a few more shelves, which is on the cards in the immediate future.

Can't seem to shake the fuzzy head though. I am putting it down to hayfever and anti-histamines, hopefully it will b8gger off soon. I am bored of it already. Can't do much with waves of nausea and strange not-quite-dizziness-but definitely-not-right-in-the-headedness.
So I baked this morning while I felt ok, did a pile of scones, a whole big jar of granola and cornish pasties. So when the wibbly-wobblyness hit at 5.30, it was all prepared and ready to go, easy supper and pudding. Probably will not be a single scone left by breakfast time though. Mind you, not much point in baking things that won't get eaten.

Tomorrow will involve making a bakewell tart for lunchboxes and a chocolate cake for after school snack.

Had a lovely afternoon on the sofa with Wallace and Gromit and Brave - I had never seen Brave before. Youngest curled up next to me like a cat. The others were all on the xbox or computers. Kids don't seem to get homework anymore, well, the primary ones get homework, but it is no more than 10 minutes work, the older ones just don't seem to get any.

As it was a lovely sunny day here I got three loads of laundry line dried, and all the windows open so the house is aired and fresh.

I have the feeling that soon I am going to be able to see an improvement after all my diy and tidying. The storm is passing and there will be calm soon. Not yet, but it is coming. Slowly making progress.....

Also cleaned out and washed the hamster cages. The kids have mostly lost interest, only wanting to feed them, not look after them, but we all knew that was going to happen.