A new royal start

QueenJess

themadvix said:

I am so impressed at how much you get done with a baby strapped to you! Hope you manage to have some baby-free time later.

I've had days doing nothing (partly because I had no need to bake) and it's definitely bad for my mental health.. So I've concluded I need to achieve something everyday, even if tiny to keep me sane!  I'm even hoping I'll get time to sew up DS's jeans later, which currently have a hole in the knee.  The other fix I did worked very well, so I just need to replicate it.

I spend the witching hours reading MSE diaries, looking for recipe inspiration online or organising stuff that I can do with my brain and phone.  I researched and sorted all of DS's school uniform requirements (sourcing lots second hand of course) in one night.  It totally confused DH who wondered when I had done all of that!  Might try and take my new cookbook to bed later and do some proper cooking inspiration research!

I found that there are some interesting leftover recipes on The Guardian website yesterday whilst randomly searching the net.  Some are better than others, but I definitely bookmarked some of them for later use.  I loved the one to use up stale/old croissants and pastries (https://www.theguardian.com/food/2018/dec/15/croissant-pain-au-chocolat-stale-pastry-pudding-recipe-waste-not-leftovers ).  That will definitely come in handy in the future when I eventually peel a baby off me and get to try out Olio!  The recipe to pickle watermelon peel is very interesting.  I just might give that one a go!

themadvix

Ooh, thanks for that link Jess, that pud looks delicious, and yes, no shortage of stale pastries on Olio!

QueenJess

DD is currently strapped to me fast asleep.  She didn't like the change in routine this morning and refused to sleep on DH this morning.  Consequently, she is totally knackered.  Poor thing, obviously wanted her mummy 

Needed to order a couple of things earlier (which I did using as many vouchers, discounts and cashback sites as I could of course).  Means I need to cut £140 off the food bill this month to get to my target and that's only if I don't need to buy anything else  It's going to be really difficult and not sure whether I will make it.  Want to give it a go though.  I have to say, with thinking about reducing the food bill, I have realised that we do eat/need less than I usually buy.  It's not that we waste food as it all goes into puddings/leftover meals or the freezer, but I could feasibly buy less and eat just as well.

Anyway, I am freezer diving at the moment.  Lunch today was a cheese and potato pie from the freezer with frozen peas/broccoli.  Pudding was watermelon, strawberries (from the garden!) and yogurt.  Later we are having a beef roast with the all important hm yorkshire puddings (my life isn't worth forgetting these as DS sulked last time!), which will create another two meals worth of leftovers.  We also have tons of marble cake for pudding that I made from stores yesterday.  I usually have porridge every morning with some fruit and am forcing myself to eat my way through the supermarket frozen mixed fruit in the freezer. We got some with frozen strawberries included by accident - I think frozen supermarket strawberries taste horrible.  But I don't want to waste it and so am forcing myself to eat my way through these fruit mixes and won't get them again!

Loads of things on the list to do this weekend, but not sure how many will get done.  I don't want to list them all and report nothing done at all, so will report back any achievements later!  Got someone picking up some free tat I don't want anymore later this afternoon.  Already offloaded two other things and the pile of stuff to go is very slowly going down.  I even organised the room of doom (or the eBay room as it is currently known!).  I now have the packaging organised into boxes for use (I refuse to throw any away from deliveries).  I am expecting almost all of it will go this year and then the remainder will fit into the existing cupboard I have as I am getting rid of more than is coming in.

DS was wittering on about wanting some new things earlier (not happening), but DH and I convinced him he has too much stuff and he has to get rid of things before getting anything new.  He has decided to get rid of a few things which are now pending in DD's room in case she wants them in a couple of years.  We shall see as last time he adopted some things back again..

QueenJess

Well I managed to get a fair bit done today.  I gave DH a list of three things to do and talked about how we were going to do them, but only managed to get him to do one of them.  Hoping he will do the other two tomorrow...

Anyway, the successes for today were:

• General tidying (including things on floors that I usually can't easily get to whilst carrying a baby)
• Defrosted the old freezer, took photos and listed it on eBay.  Hopefully someone will want it as it isn't actually that old.
• Cleaned the rest of the bathroom/toilet sinks
• Changed all the beds
• Did a load of washing and it is currently hung up drying
• Put away all the dry washing

When I put DS to bed later, I'll also get him to try his school uniform on so I can either put it in the wash or send it back for a different size.  Also will water the fruit/veg soon and pick some more ripe strawberries.  More jobs to get done tomorrow, including planning the food shop for Monday.

QueenJess

Wow, it is hooottt today!  I melt instantly as soon as the thermometer goes anywhere near 25 degrees and I think DD will be the same as she has reddish hair and is very pale.  I am currently camped out in the coolest room in the house, with the new fan pointing at us while she is sleeping on me.

Had a lie in this morning as DH took DD, but I feel more tired than before (if that is possible).  I wish the heat would convince DD to sleep on her own.  It just makes no sense to me sometimes.  I hold her upright for 30 mins after feeding to let her food go down before I lie her down, but sometimes that doesn't work.  I kinda understand that, but last night she had wriggled herself so she was lying down completely flat on me (after the 30 mins upright) and was very happily asleep.  So I moved her into the cot.  5 mins later she was awake and sick.  I mean how?!!!  It just makes no sense at all.  I take some heart from the fact that she is getting better sickness wise and she will keep extending food times out, so it should get better.  It definitely is nothing like the nightmare of DS!

It's not all a nightmare.  At 4 this morning she had decided to face plant herself into my chest, had both her arms round me in a full cuddle, was fast asleep and making happy contented noises each time she breathed out.  Very cute 😍.  Hoping she'll improve again very soon on the sleep front as she'll be coming up to 3 months old soon!

Achieved very little so far today and as most things require DH and he is procrastinating, it doesn't look hopeful.  I did however play with school uniforms earlier with DS.  I knew he was very small for his age and trousers tend to be on the big side anyway, but we've come to the conclusion he actually needs size 2-3 trousers with a shorter leg!  Just sounds crazy.... I mean I'm only 5'2", so it's not like he was ever going to be big, but he is 4 yo!  He is definitely the smallest in his class at nursery.  Curiously the size 4-5 polo shirts are only slightly big and are fine.  These sizes seem very odd...  Anyway, everything is either in the laundry basket now or repackaged back for returns for DH to drop off tomorrow.  TBH, I was more irritated by the completely pointless amount of packaging and plastic they send these things in.  I mean why do you need silly little plastic clips attached to polo shirts?  Horribly wasteful.  

Will come back later if I actually manage to convince DH to help me clear some things off the list.  Currently he won't even entertain a conversation about hanging the height chart on the wall, so I guess that will be pending for a while.  I daren't even mention the mirror for the hallway which has now been pending behind the sofa for him to put on the wall for 1.5 years...

QueenJess

Well I did have a plan to get up and get in with some of my list of stuff, but I was so knackered, I just sat around this morning. DD has decided it is far too hot and the best way to deal with it all is to sleep as much as possible in the hope it’ll all go away!

DH made cream cheese and smoked salmon bagels for lunch and then the last of the leftover roast beef with frozen veg and chips for dinner. Pudding was strawberries from the garden and cream.

So to not have wasted the whole day, I squeezed in two loads of washing this afternoon, packaged up some parcels from online sales and made a father's Day card from my craft stock.

Food shopping was a bit more than I would like, but less than expected as we needed a few store cupboard things. Chips a tiny bit off the deficit I am predicting, but still a fair way over atm.

Hopefully tonight won't be as hot as last night as it took me ages to get to sleep and DD struggled too.

savingholmes

Hi Queen Jess. You are doing amazing. Your daughter sounds super cute. Glad your vaccine went ok

QueenJess

Was kept awake for ages last night with bird noise.  That's right, not bird song, it was just noise (in the same way older people might call teenager's music "noise")!  I then heard it again this morning, although not for very long.  Couldn't see anything when I looked out the window though.  Had a search on the internet and was pretty sure it was a Sparrowhawk.  Definitely seen them around here before and once in the garden eating something or other in the border. *Heard it again this afternoon and the sound was a bit different to what I remembered. The search is still on for what type of bird it was..

Knackered again today.  The heat is making DD drink more often in the night and delaying the feeds becoming less frequent.  Awful noise from the nearby building site in the incessant house building going on today, but no choice but to have the windows open due to the heat.  I get that houses need to be built and some will be near us, but the sheer amount of them in a very short amount of time is insane.  They just chuck them all up with no thought to the impact to the area or the local facilities etc.  You'd think a steady building rate over time would be much better.

Not done much today.  Listed a couple of things for sale this morning and reorganised DD's clothes so that the next size up can be stored ready.  Still got more of them to wash and will put some on later.  Put another item outside for a pickup (free giveaway).  I have way more hassle with giving things away than selling them, so trying to sell as much as is practical.  Mainly want everything to be used and stay out of landfill, although the profits are going straight towards my new phone fund.  My secondhand cookbooks have arrived today and so I can have a nice afternoon flicking through them and getting ideas.  The helpful postman always sees I have my hands full with a sleeping DD and helpfully puts the parcels just inside the door for me.

Treated myself to a slice of marble cake this morning and found the invisible people have been at my cake.  There isn't much left now!  Apparently DH treated himself whilst on the first shift with DD last night... This is from someone who claims they want to be healthy and don't want cake etc.  Yeah right..

House is almost actually tidy after lots of effort at the weekend and doing a bit each day.  It's not as clean as I'd like though.  On that note I've had my arm twisted and the cleaner will be making a reappearance this month.  Not actually budgeted for this month though, so it's something else to find.  I've already updated the budget for next month to incorporate it and am looking forward to October when the mortgage will go down and I'll have no childcare bills.  I will barely know what to do with the money - although I do have a number of house projects etc I want to save up for.

Still £70 short on the target for this month for the phone fund... not sure yet where that will come from.  Better see if I can squeeze out some more surveys and potentially drain my personal leisure fund for this month (don't need/want to buy anything else right now).

QueenJess

Mystery solved. It is annoying because it isn't a song, it's an alarm call. Just a blackbird, but no idea why it is continually alarmed..

Grogged

Have you tried resetting it (I assume blackbirds come with a manual? 😆)?