From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Well, we hit the MrL green box jackpot today.  There were a gazinty billion boxes (conservative estimate) lined up, and they were all of differing sizes but all FULL.  As there were so many, I did select (and pay for) two today.  One heavy with fruit, one more balanced with fruit and veg.  Although we do now have a million bananas, as I think there were 4 or 5 hands from MrL, and I'd already purchased bananas in MrS........ Still, we can always pass them along, of that I am sure.  I was tempted by the boxes with beetroot in them, but they also contained about 10 mangoes, as it is I have 2 (1 very ripe, one still to ripen).  I seriously am pleased with my purchases.  It's been so long since we've had a box, and there are plenty of options lurking in what I got today.  The gardeners amongst you will laugh, as I've got about a kilo and a half of courgettes......... 🤣 But I don't mind as we have only had one lot of courgettes this year.

I went to MrL, MrS and hB today.  I had only intended to go to hB to get some snack packs for our adventurising, but remembered we were all out of walnuts and they had the yoghurt in we like (had to get a different sort yesterday - but it'll all get eaten).  

In total I spent £78.26, which is alot, but I also got some YS'd cheese & onion rolls (useful for picnics, I got 3 packs) and some more YS'd qu0rn cocktail sausages.  In addition I got a 7.5kg bag of tatties, as there was a bag of Maris Peer, and they were £4.08, which is on a par with MrS prices pro rata for 2.5kg.  

I did buy some alcohol...... it's been a loooonggg school holidays 🤣 and several 'snacky' things that are for picnics - I wouldn't routinely buy them.  

It is in my interests to make the contents of the MrL boxes "sing" because I'm almost 2/3rds of the way through my grocery budget and not yet half way through the month,  But even LG asked if I could make the courgette pasta dish that I make, as we have some courgettes 😁

LG started off the morning badly - they downloaded "some game" which was named curiously like one of the most popular online games for kiddos, onto their dad's phone.  God knows if it's legit or a scam, virus ridden or what, they have no idea, nor does DH 🙄 Then they 'acquired' a £1 coin from somewhere...... most likely my purse 🫤 So that had to be returned.  Then they wandered off into the toy dept in MrS under the guise of "looking for those cheese slices you bought last week, mum" - It was fresh lasagne, and I had no intention of buying them this week 🙄 And then in MrL, after being a trooper, helping me stack the trolley and carrying a heavy box, they wandered off whilst I was trying to pack and wasted some of their money on the vending machines that MrL have instore.  The toy has just now gone in the bin, broken 🙄 It lasted less than half an hour.  I'm not sure I'll ever make a MSE'r out of my kiddo.  

I'm hoping to go out for a pootle with a picnic lunch.  I really ought to swing by the zoo with a banana donation, oughten I 😁

I'm sure it's a blip with LG.  It was interesting nattering to my mum chum yesterday - they have more children than me, but their youngest is LG's age.  All their children are different in personalities, but it was interesting they are encountering some similar issues with their youngest as we are with LG - which helps to know it may just be an age thing.  I hope so.  I shall be honest, I'm having the 'I love you always, but sometimes I don't like your actions' moments with LG at the moment.  And the daft thing is, I know in my heart of hearts that LG is essentially a good kiddo, their behaviour could be alot worse.  

I have already updated my siggie figgie.

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

My mum used to say that to me and my sister quite a bit ('I love you but sometimes I don't like you very much' is what I remember 😬). So we were clearly misbehaving 🙈 but we turned out alright 😁

Congratulations on your Mr L haul! 

rtandon27

My Grandparents thought I was a wild child, in fact I wasn't even close!  My Mom used to tell them to loosen the reigns 😉 - ah the joys of living close to extended family! - The problem was I was top of the class without trying and got bored easily, so could find trouble where it was hiding. - I remember one darling teacher plonking Shakespeare on the desk in front of me at the age of 11 and telling me to read it.  Kept me quiet for a few months and then I got bored again 🤣🤣🤣.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks chums.  I can see you've all turned out OK, so I will hold onto that thought in one hand....... and a stiff gin in t'other....... 😁

So we eventually left the homestead.  LG needed to be reminded that they were behind with keeping up their diary - and they were forgetting what we'd done, and for once, even I was stumped as to what we'd done on Monday.  Thank goodness for 🤓me and taking a picture of a HuGe milkshake........ brought the memories back 😁

We set off to the site, and watched as the closer we got, the thicker the rain clouds became.  It was a full on mizzle.  It scuppered my plan to not go to the ruin, and investigate the playpark instead, but there is a covered bit at the ruin, so we took our picnic there.  We saw from the signs that an outdoor  performance of some play rt probably knows all the lines to 😉 much of a too-do about nowt in particular, or summat like that.  And right on queue the vans started arriving and opened to reveal costume caskets and all manner of prop boxes.  

As we'd watched more rain bearing clouds roll in, we decided that whilst it would be good to watch the set up, we could be indoors in the local little museum, so we strolled off, left the picnic things in the car and searched out the museum.  There  was nominal charge, the volunteers were very friendly, and delighted to see a "young person" (LG - not me 🤣) venturing in.  There were all manner of things to see - some we've seen in other museums/NT/EH places, some things were new, or specific to the displays in this museum, because they'd been found at sites nearby, or whatever.  It really was quite good.  Could it have been better, well, yes, but it seems like the Patrons had one idea of what the museum should be/highlight when they set it up, and maybe museums have moved on a bit - certainly some of the volunteers were keen to bring it into the 21st century.  There were a couple of upsetting exhibits - they have to be labelled as "of their time", and certainly we can't just ignore that such things happened - they did.  But I suppose there are other ways of exhibiting them, or to explain that we've 'moved on' and such things wouldn't be allowed today.  But there was MUCH more that was positive, and interesting and this is the third 'volunteer-led' museum that we've learnt so much from.  Well-worth consulting your goggle sheet people 😁

We had over 3 hrs out of the house, and it was a low-cost day.  We sent another postcard to 'Auntie' and I needed to get some more stamps, so we got those in the local PO.  

Wraps for tea.  

Greying X

Sunshine_girl2

You and LG have had a lovely few days adventuring . I took my 3 DGC to a lovely park around 30 mins away from my home . I'm glad we went it was a lovely place and had a maze , which the children loved . We had a picnic on a blanket , then the wasps kept coming for a look but they didn't deter us. In the afternoon we went for a family swim £10.60 for 4 . After reading all your NT/EH visits I think we will try one this week , I am a member so need to see if I need to pay for the children.
Well  done on the Lidl boxes , sounds well worth the money. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Not too sure what is on the agenda today.  Plans were to go out with a chum and her GC to a historic property that would have provided wonderful exploring/adventure/play opportunities for the kiddos.  However, one of the GC is sick (sounds like the same bug LG had a couple of weeks ago ☹️) so we've had to cancel.  It's sad, as it would have enabled LG to mix with some different children who they've never met before; but then to get to the location we would have had to go 30 odd miles on an arterial 'holiday' route, and traffic would have been heavy on a Friday.  I wasn't looking forward to that bit.  

Today may have to be a cinema day, although I have to say, I'm baulking at the cost.....  We're benefitting from one of the £1 screenings later in the holiday, but the best part of £20 to watch a film that will eventually be on TV, seems a bit.......

Tea last night worked well.  I used the bag of mini-potatoes, some of the tomatoes and most of the little gem lettuce from the boxes in the wraps.  There were 8 qu0rn crispy nuggets left in the freezer that I used up too.  Pud was yoghurt and banana and the last of the (tinned) peaches.  I think DH shared one banana between the 3 of us 🤔 We could have had at least a nar-nar each......... 🙄

I think I will use the YS'd qu0rn sausages I got yesterday to make a pizza.  I know I did the same last week, but we do like it, and it seems a good use of a YS'd item.  Had we gone out, I would have made sausage pasta, as we would have been out for most of the day.  

I am (rightly or wrongly) feeling a little blue about LG not having any cousins of the same age at times like this, or Aunts and Uncles who might offer sleepovers or whatever.  My Aunts and Uncles (great aunts and uncles of LG) have been super, and they love LG, and have been so kind.  They have all had hard-working lives, and whilst they are only just now beginning to slow down, they are all in, or fast approaching their Octogenarian decade.   Besides, they have their own GC to have fun with.  DH sometimes prioritises worrying about work over being 'present' - although he did sit down with LG last night and they played m0n0p0ly, the TV went off and even DH admitted this morning that he'd enjoyed himself.

Perhaps a little bit of planning, preparation and execution fatigue has set in.  

Greying X

Suffolksue

What about the GC of your Aunts and Uncles ? They’re cousins or are they too far away .
my Children’s cousins were miles away and seen v infrequently 
they made their own friends at school /scouts etc and we had a pretty open house and they didn’t seem to miss out .
i think as LG gets  older this might happen any children locally and is your street v busy traffic wise 
mine did ‘play out ‘ but I’m aware that’s 45 yrs ago and times have changed.

Greying_Pilgrim

Suffolksue - the GC of my Aunties & Uncles are predominantly too far away.  The ones who would be 'nearest' (if visiting G'ma) are possibly now 'too cool for school' to be seen with a younger child 🤔 But to be fair, I haven't approached the one side of the family to see if we could visit this holidays - with or without GC present.  

We certainly did enjoy several hours of fun with an inflatable boat with one of my Aunt's GC and a cousin. (other side of the fam.).  The children got on well, despite the age gap and not having met each other before.  But the GC was on hols at G'ma's house, and actually lives the furthest away, so a repeat of that fun is unlikely ☹️  We certainly have been enjoying time out with children who LG knows from club etc  (ie not school) - and that has been fun 😁 In theory, the local kids should be able to play out safely-ish, in practice people do drive too fast around these streets, parents and grandparents included ☹️

Sorry, I'm just being a grump.  I have just been looking at the ideas 'list' we drew up before the start of the holidays, and even though we've done "tons", not even half the list is ticked off yet.  There are of course some things that won't be achievable, and somethings that can't be done at the drop of a hat, or are waiting on Daddy to be with us etc, but what we have done has been fun, we've seen and done things and filled the hours purposefully - ie we've been active, not just passively sat through the days.  Whilst you all know I'm not adverse to a bit of boredom, if LG is being truthful, there haven't been that many opportunities for boredom.  We could achieve several more activities off the list - today even - if the weather doesn't get too hot.  It involves being 'tourists' in our own town (there's still plenty we haven't seen), but walking around in 25+ degree scorchio sunshine is not my idea of a good time ☹️

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Sounds like a picnic lunch on a blanket in the shade might be in order!

KajiKita

You are allowed some downtime at home, even if LG likes to go out every day ...  

Fwiw, on childhood and what we grow up to be ...
My parents, especially my mother, were incredibly controlling when I was young. All the focus was on book learning and school (they are both academics), whereas I am not an academic (I'm far more interested in people) and hated school. This resulted in was me becoming 'surface compliant' but incredibly sneaky in the background, just to be able to *do* SOMETHING!  

You otoh, 'hold' LG just as they are, try and recognise and develop their strengths (not sure my parents know what mine are even now!  ) and do things with them (mine never did anything with me). This means your lines of communication with LG are open and you will be able to support them far more effectively as their life progresses.

I don't have a close relationship with my parents, nor do I want one as they are not people I would choose to have in my life, were it not for the biological connection. But I'm functional, hold down a job, have a 20 year marriage and am mostly pretty well and fairly happy  

Suffice it to say, you're doing pretty well, from what we can see out here. Keep on keeping on ... 

Oh and one other thought, would LG be remotely interested in doing spool knitting?
Knitting Spool With 6 Hooks 3.4 X 11.5 Cm - Etsy UK
That could be a good activity for a hot day or two?  

KK