The Best Is Yet To Come

joedenise

@FtbDreaming - 14 is probably the worst time!  It certainly was for me.  They do get better honestly!  They'll be back to school soon and things won't seem as bad I'm sure.

I suspect she'll just suddenly "grow up" and be the kind of person you know she can be.

slm6002

@FtbDreaming it is very hard indeed and certainly the 17 year old is pushing lots of buttons at the moment.  My children don't really like venturing out to the big wide world and most of their friendship group are quite nerdy, so I think that is part of why I am so lucky.  I do try to get them to do nice things but they are not always willing.  DD1 is now starting to go out with her new friends (not so nerdy) and the attitude has changed because of it I think.  I have plenty of struggles trying to get DS to do anything other than play on his games system from the moment he wakes until the time he goes to bed,  and feel guilty for letting him get away with it for a quiet life.  I am really hoping that once back at school they get back into a routine as older 2 both have exams this school year and really do need to work hard for them.  I am very lucky that they do spend most of their time apart from each other so not so much fighting anymore, however it seems like we have very little time as a family which is why I force them to do things.

I am still quite annoyed with DD1 giving up her work experience after day 1 as it seems very rude to me and I certainly would have been made to stick it out to the end, even if I hated it.  This generation don't have the manors we have even though I have bought them up to have them.  She gave up her very well paid cleaning job too after a week - although she still had to work a few more weeks notice.  Its the giving up almost instantly that worries me - trait from XH!

I am very aware this holiday, that only DD2 really wants to do any of the activities and even she is starting to say its not for her anymore.  She is still quite immature compared to others in her year, and is happy to not be 'too cool' for things as yet.  It is definitely around the corner though and glimpses of grumpy teen are coming through.  She is supposed to be off to a cooking making drop in session at the local youth club today but it starts in 15 min and still no sign of her.  I guess we wont be doing that.  She will instead do some drawing or art bits in her room probably, but be attached to her phone at the same time.

It may look like I have everything under control but not so sure in real life lol.  Keep going FtbDreaming, it will all work itself out in the end.

slm6002

So todays jobs are:

* Feed the cat - done this morning and DD1 and friend are going to do pm shift and spend time with the cat as its lonely.
* Sun seems to be out so will get some washing on next
* Need to sit with DS while he does some more work in his art book
* Visit lidl again as they still had no coke yesterday - going to have to resort to buying real branded stuff very soon
* Get DS to pack school and PE Bag to check for missing items
* Maybe do some cooking with DD2 - We found the recipe for school chocolate crunch the other day
* Collect cats prescriptions & book annual jabs

Today is benefit day so bank accounts looked good this morning.  Monies have been transferred to the relevant savings pots so bank not so good again but nothing going out anytime soon.  I also think this month is the month that I get 2 lots of child benefits which is great.  Still hunting around for money saving ways, not sure if its because a lot of things we do now are money saving, or because its just not as easy anymore.  One of the local churches always did an end of summer event  but this year there has been no sign of it.  Shame as it was always really well attended and they had old fashioned games and cream teas.   Just had our cat insurance through and it has gone up £50 each for the year.  Will have a look around and see if it is worth moving.  It has saved us money each year when they cats have needed treatments.

FtbDreaming

Oh I know raising teenagers/ kids isn’t easy for anyone is it. I think I’m especially gutted because DD1 is essentially a really good kid but her horrible mates have influenced her so easily in a couple of short months and when she’s home she’s making everybody’s life hell. 

My DS is the same but that’s how boys are isn’t it. I did invite his mate around the other week when I had a day off and we went to a waterfall Trail. They were so good I was really emotional. They played in the water for hours and hours and just had good old fashioned fun without a device in sight! 

I’d shop around for the cat insurance. My home insurance renewal went up by £70 so I shopped around and went from buildings only to building and contents for £8.70 a month from £16 a month! Got that meerkat movies too.. not that I’ll ever use it 😂 I’d rather go to the community cinema which is 1/4 of the price x

slm6002

It really is hard as we cant tell them who their friends can be.  Eventually they realised who is good for them and who isn't.  We are lucky that our local small cinema allows for the discount tickets, although we don't go very often.

joedenise

slm6002 said:

So todays jobs are:

* Feed the cat - done this morning and DD1 and friend are going to do pm shift and spend time with the cat as its lonely.
* Sun seems to be out so will get some washing on next
* Need to sit with DS while he does some more work in his art book
* Visit lidl again as they still had no coke yesterday - going to have to resort to buying real branded stuff very soon
* Get DS to pack school and PE Bag to check for missing items
* Maybe do some cooking with DD2 - We found the recipe for school chocolate crunch the other day
* Collect cats prescriptions & book annual jabs

Today is benefit day so bank accounts looked good this morning.  Monies have been transferred to the relevant savings pots so bank not so good again but nothing going out anytime soon.  I also think this month is the month that I get 2 lots of child benefits which is great.  Still hunting around for money saving ways, not sure if its because a lot of things we do now are money saving, or because its just not as easy anymore.  One of the local churches always did an end of summer event  but this year there has been no sign of it.  Shame as it was always really well attended and they had old fashioned games and cream teas.   Just had our cat insurance through and it has gone up £50 each for the year.  Will have a look around and see if it is worth moving.  It has saved us money each year when they cats have needed treatments.

@slm6002 - if you have a Tesco near you they are doing Diet Coke for £6 for 24 cans with Clubcard so a good price.  Don't know how much you pay in Lidl as it's not somewhere I go very often as the nearest one is 15 miles away in the opposite direction to my local town (which is 8 miles away!).

slm6002

Lidl freeway coke tastes like pepsi max to me.  It is about 54p for 2 litres so extremely cheap in comparison.  I tried the aldi version thinking that most things between them are fairly similar but it had that cheap artificial flavour of coke.  I live off the stuff which I know is not healthy for me and I do alternate between it and water throughout the day.  But its how I keep going.  Thank you though for the tip as if there is none on todays delivery I will be going to Tescos to get my free magnums that we won so can pick some up at the same time

slm6002

So far all washing is up to date and on the line in the sunshine.  We have made cheese scones and school chocolate crunch.  Organised a few areas of the house and done some odd jobs that I hadn't planned on doing today.  Not much else from my list though.  Shortly heading out to the shops and the vets to get various bits with my list.

I have also done several surveys today as well as cashing out £25 from the post survey that I do.  It was an amazon voucher but its that time of year that I start using them for bdays and christmas.

Right off to the shops

slm6002

I have my coke - yay.  There was a huge pallet load, so I will pop by tomorrow morning and grab a few more for the garage, so to avoid this situation again.  Turns out they are 49p each although up until not long ago it was 42p I'm sure.

Anyway went there, then to the vets to collect cats flea and worm treatments, booked annual jabs but not actually due until oct half term.  Collected the free ice cream and a few other bits needed from tesco.  Other than art bits with DS which I am still hoping to do, I've finished my list - yay me.  It's been a relaxing chilled day all round which everyone has needed I think.

Did a survey for £5 earlier - I don't often get offered ones for that much.  Done quite a few of them today so by the end of the month I should be able to cash out a good amount.

I think it will also be a see what is in the freezer for dinner night.  Back to the food box tomorrow. 

dawnybabes

Can I be cheeky - can you look at the ingredients on the coke ?  My DS loves Pepsi max and is costing me a fortune but we’re coeliac so can’t have barley and some of the supermarket version has barley in.