Sashybo - Back Again

sashybo

Thanks all, they are lovely cats and have such funny personalities.

We didn't get up to much at the weekend (like everyone else!). I got the tuff tray out for the kids in the kitchen (basically a big plastic hexagon to contain mess) and put kinetic sand and some digger and animal toys on it.

DS was absolutely thrilled with it & DD was having fun until I stopped her eating the kinetic sand. 🤦‍♀️ Change of plan, I cleared the kinetic sand away and replaced it with dry semolina instead so it didn't matter if she ate it. 😂 It was a lot messier than kinetic sand but the kids enjoyed themselves. 

I think I'll make dye some dry rice to make rainbow rice for them to play with on it as well. `There are lots of groups on social media with ideas of what to do with the tuff trays so I've been looking at them. Some people do amazing stuff but I just couldn't face putting in that much effort only for the kids to destroy it in two seconds flat. 👀 😱 

I need to make some more homemade play dough again as once I convinced DS to touch it last time (it took a while) he actually enjoyed it. The organised part of me was cringing inside when he was mashing the different colours of play dough together though. 😂 I have to not look or I start separating the colours out. 👀  Obviously I'd need to make it with cooking oil rather than baby oil though as DD will try to eat it. Bleurgh. 

I went through DS's underwear and found quite a few pairs of age 2-3 pants that are too small for him but had been hardly worn due to his refusal to use the potty. I messaged nursery to ask if they needed/wanted them and they said yes so that's a few things out of the house and they'll be put to good use. 😊 

Yesterday DH was off work so he made a slow cooked gammon joint with roast potatoes & yorkshire puddings. I made honey roasted carrots, the kids LOVE them and I never make enough so need to remember to make at least twice the amount I think I'll need. I also made an apple crumble for dessert to use up some apples.

We still have half the gammon left and I'm wondering if I could use it up in enchiladas instead of our usual chicken. 🤔

beanielou

Your tea sounded yummy scrummy.

sashybo

So I did use the leftover gammon in the enchiladas and it was really nice, I'd do that again.

Made the mistake of letting DS play with porridge oats on the tuff tray and left him to it. He must have run around the whole kitchen sprinkling them all over the place, there were oats everywhere. 😱 I told him he was meant to keep them on the tray and got the usual blank look. 🤦‍♀️ 

I went through the cloth nappies we have and found a few that we don't need or use much now so listed them on a couple of cloth nappy selling groups on FB. I have managed to sell 2 bundles so far, I think I've priced them quite reasonably and they're in very good condition so hopefully the remaining ones will sell as well. I'll probably be able to sell more of the pocket nappies soon too, I have more than enough for DD and don't need as many now that DS isn't wearing nappies now. 

I'm pleased that I've made some money back on the nappies so far but have had quite a few messages asking about items then the person just doesn't reply again or doesn't reply for 12 hours. Surely if you want something and you've messaged to ask about it, you reply to either say you want it or no thanks. 🤷‍♀️ Also get people wanting to "think about it" when you tell them the total including postage & fees. *sigh*

I'm going to use the money from the nappy sales to overpay the loan with the highest interest rate. Have already paid £20 off and will have another £16 towards it once the postage for the second bundle has been paid for. 😀 

Took the kids to the park this morning & met my brother's gf with my two younger nieces. DS had a great time but DD got tired after an hour and then refused to nap in her pram so just screamed instead. DS then decided he would run away from us all so we were all chasing him round the blinking pond. 🤦‍♀️ We were all exhausted by the time we got home. 

On the plus side DS managed to stay dry while we were out, he used the potty before leaving and when we got back. 👏 I took it with me in the car boot just in case!

sashybo

Forgot to mention that the park was really busy. 😱 There were loads of people in the play areas with their kids, I felt a bit uncomfortable to be honest as no one was really keeping their distance. It was quite difficult to be fair especially when people are trying to keep track of small kids but still. 😱 

The car park was half full when we arrived and totally full by the time we left, we were there for about an hour and a half.

Honeysucklelou2

Lovely cat pictures - Big Cat’s expression made me smile🙂.

I love tuff trays, so versatile. Have you tried shaving foam and sponges? Perhaps not so good if DD tries to eat it but great tactile play for your DS! Gloop is another good one!

Willowtree222

Sounds like DS is getting more used to the potty and using it a lot more. 
I did play doh and things like that with DD but never really did the tuff trays. She did things like that with the childminder, which sounds like the reason I didn't do it, but I tried to do different things with her that they weren't doing during the week. x

sashybo

Honeysuckle, I'm too scared to try wet things in the tuff tray yet! I think I might leave that until the better weather and I can put it in the garden so they can make as much mess as they want. 😂 Yes DD would definitely try to eat the shaving foam and probably the gloop too. 🤔 😱 

Nicnak, I have no idea what DS does at nursery because he doesn't tell me and I've never been in the building due to covid! I'm trying not to put him in front of the tv as much because he does tend to get a bit bratty if I let him watch it for too long.

DS is quite good at playing with his toys on his own and DD just potters about but I'd like him to try something a bit more creative. He just doesn't seem interested although DD likes to try and draw with crayons already. I was quite surprised when she picked one up and was trying to make marks/draw on the paper whereas DS does a scribble and then gets bored! In normal(ish) times I see a lot of the wee girls at nursery coming out with paintings and pictures but not as many of the boys seem interested and DS has came home with a painting once!

Both DH & I were working yesterday so my mum had the kids for a few hours, DH got home in time to help her put them to bed. DS is going to stay overnight with her during the week, just for a change for him and because my mum hasn't seem much of them over the last week. I'll take DD down during the day so my mum can see her as well.

I have been spending again, 😔 half of it is for DH's birthday but the other half was just art prints I liked the look of and an under eye colour corrector to try and hide my big black circles! I think it's partly boredom but random internet browsing doesn't help. 👀 

No more nappy sales, I still have 3 bundles listed, will leave them up for a while and remove them if no takers. There's no rush so I can re-list at a later date. Had another couple of time wasters asking about the same bundle, one wanted to pay £16 including fees & postage when the new price is £33 odd not including postage. 😱 I had only asked for £16 plus the fees and postage, so looking at £20/21. I did compromise and said I'd do it for £18 but they didn't want to pay the £2 extra (still a lot cheaper than brand new and the set has hardly been used tbh). 🤷‍♀️ 

Limited housework done today as feeling drained, it was after 1am by the time I got to bed.

sashybo

I forgot to mention last week that I re-potted my aloe veras & winter flowering cacti in a specific cacti/succulent soil, I had survey vouchers so it didn't cost me anything. The cacti hadn't been happy since I repotted them last year, I don't think the pots they were in were deep enough.

I bought some terracotta pots from the r@nge a while ago so I painted them in bright colours with some acrylic paint and put the cacti and baby aloes in them. I also topped the soil with aquarium gravel as have still been having some problems with fungus gnats. 😠 I do still need to change the soil out on my 2 baby african violets that I grew from cuttings but have moved them into seclusion in the spare room just in case and have been watering very little. I need to buy some ordinary compost to repot them and also to start off some sweet peas. 

I can't remember if I mentioned that I have also pre-ordered our seed potatoes for this year, they are going to be delivered in March. I ordered Arran Pilot new potatoes and Desiree for our main crop.

beanielou

Some people just want things for next to nothing

sashybo

Hi all, I've been AWOL due to dealing with the kids then two early shifts at work and just being generally exhausted. I find early shifts much more tiring than lates. Back at work Wed/Thurs for two more earlies and not looking forward to it.

I managed to cash out another £5 from vypr, £10 from SB and got a £40 voucher for doing a research forum chat last week. I used the £40 voucher to order supermarket vouchers so it will be used towards food and am going to use £40 in cash from our joint account towards 2 new pots we need in the kitchen. The non-stick coating is coming off of our two bigger saucepans so they'll need to be replaced.

DS had a very middle class tantrum today after nursery (although we aren't middle class 😂). He was crying because he wanted his Daddy to go the shops and buy him olives. 😂 He's been quite insistent recently that we need to go the shops for olives.  🤷‍♀️ 

DD is trying to say a lot more words, she can very clearly say mummy, daddy, cat and what's that but is trying her best to say other things now. She seems to be very clever, I don't remember my DS being so quick at this age! She does have her big brother to copy though so that might be part of it.

DS is making me laugh recently, he was lying in his bed tonight and we could hear Old cat meowing downstairs wanting his dinner. DS said to me "I hear old cat" and I said "oh what's he saying?" DS said "he's shouting" and I asked him what old cat wanted. He said "He wants hot chocolate and some cake". 😂 Somehow I think that's what DS wanted. 🤔 Although Old cat probably wouldn't say no to it as he does love hot chocolate and cake. 🤔 😂