Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog. I've been getting some thoughts & feelings, exasperations and the odd happy moment down on the blog which helps my sanity and, I hope, provides a little entertaining read for you for a couple of minutes!

Right now I am mostly concentrating on getting through a rocky financial patch which I really hope will be cleared (all being well) by the end of Summer 2013. In the meantime I need to concentrate on continuing to do well in my "new" job (actually got it in Sept 2011 but it still feels new!) and living my life as frugally as possible.

Thanks for stopping by and if you leave me an encouraging comment, it'll make my day. :-)

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Mother's Day

Good evening to you. Hello to my new followers, it's so good to have you on board and thanks to those who have commented recently, it really makes my day when people take the time.

So. To those of you who are Mothers in the UK....happy Mothering Sunday to you.

I am not going to massively get into the whole debate on whether it is just a money spinning idea and you should show your Mum all the time not just on one day (a la Valentines Day) as I guess most of you have your own firm opinions on it anyway.

My own personal opinion is, in the majority of cases, Mums are wonderful and we should appreciate what we have before it becomes what we had. A little effort and thoughtfulness throughout the whole year: yes indeed, most certainly! But I don't think I personally know any Mum who, as much as she wouldn't want stupid money spent on her on Mothers Day, doesn't love a little card or letter with a loving message arriving through the post when these days it's mostly bills & junk mail! And you can pick a card up for less than a pound, or write a letter for free. I guess for some people who find it hard to express their feelings most of the time, Mothers Day is the perfect time and way to do it. I am sure the Mother would really appreciate the sentiment as well.

For those hard working Mums whose feet barely touch the ground most days of the year, just this one day, where the kids old enough to make her a breakfast in bed or perhaps do the daily chores, is lovely and costs nothing.

I am not a Mum and probably never will be now, and my Hubby was out all day on a "hobby" adventure so my Sunday consisted of the following: a big fat lie in till 11.00am which is disgustingly decadent but hey, it was sleeting outside, I had done all my housework the day before and I wasn't breaking any laws! After breakfast I then proceeded to administer my usual home pampering which was lovely and made me feel human again (after traipsing around the house looking like a vagrant yesterday). A long hot coconut flavoured shower and then some browsing on the internet with a cup of tea and a stretch out on the sofa.

It could never last though. Ironing at 4pm followed by making dinner, washing up and then trying out a recipe for home made peanut dip to have with vegetable crisps. Which hubby is happily devouring now, I can report.

I shall be settling down shortly for the last "Being Human" and then that is officially the end of the weekend and I'll be off to bed as it's an earlier start than normal tomorrow to catch a lift into work with a friend.

I hope your weekend was not spoiled by the awful weather. Really! It needs to sort itself out and soon. I've got some lovely summer clothes bargains I want to get wearing!

Bye for now.

x

Sunday, 3 March 2013

For A "Quiet" Weekend...I Haven't Stopped!!

Evening to you all, I am hoping you are well?

After what felt like an eternity, the weekend rolled around and I was looking forward to a quiet weekend. After last weekend's fun which left me pretty tired, a couple of days of not going very far wasn't a terrible prospect. But it's been so busy!

I had a hair appointment at my friend's house for my cut & colour on Saturday morning which writes off a few hours, so I decided to get the housework underway on Friday night. Literally as soon as I got in from work, I changed into scruffs and got the vacuum cleaner out and hoovered the whole house. I then decided it would be a good idea to clean the bathroom floor and if I was doing that then I may as well clean the whole bathroom.

Hubby was downstairs preparing a simple, cheap but tasty vegetable curry with Approved Food basmati rice so I carried on sorting out laundry, general tidying up and whatnot.

After dinner I decided the get the kitchen cleaning out of the way and scrubbed the floor in there as well. Another weekend job annihilated!

I set off a load of washing overnight to make use of the cheaper rate which I do as much as possible.

Saturday came and my hair got sorted then I was straight home to tackle more laundry. Luckily it was a gorgeous day, albeit slightly chilly, it was sunny and dry and I managed to get washing out on the line for free drying.

I polished the lounge and bedroom and flicked the duster around other not so lived in areas so everywhere had some attention.

Hubby was settling down for an afternoon of football and hobby stuff from around 3pm so I decided to join him but do my ironing at the same time which is usually a Sunday chore so it was great to get that out of the way! (A couple of cups of tea always helps with the dreaded task as well!)

I had a fairly early night and this morning got up before 9.00 to strip the bed and get the bedding in the washing machine and out on the line as quickly as possible as it was due to be another dry day. Hubby cooked a fabulous veggie breakfast which set me up for the day as well.

After washing up and cleaning the kitchen down (again!) I put some more laundry on and then went off for my shower. After that I caught up on some emails then headed out to get some new windscreen wiper blades for my car. I'd managed to ruin them in the icy weather by letting the wipers run over a very rough icy windscreen, d'oh. I also got some new car mats as well as the old one driver side had become a danger! It kept getting rucked up and I'd trap my heel in it.

I then trawled around trying to get a tyre changed as I was told in January when the car was in for an MOT then the near side passenger tyre was wearing, though it would be ok for a bit longer as I am a low mileage driver. The two places I went to didn't have any stock of my sized tyres and the third place I went to en route home was closed! So that little job didn't get done, I shall have to get that sorted perhaps on my days off in a couple of weeks.

When I got back I was in the mood to get my car spick & span so instead of shelling out for a local hand car wash (which I do treat my car to sometimes as they do a fab job inside & out) out came the bucket and sponge and cleaning cloths for the inside. And how proud I was afterwards, looking out of the window at my clean & shiny car! I do try to keep it clean but during a harsher than usual winter, there's no way I am standing out there a) freezing my socks off and b) adding more water to the street for people to slip on!

After a quick oven chip butty, more laundry sorting & making the bed, I did my usual Monday night chore of taking an inventory of the kitchen cupboards then making a meal plan for the coming week. I am really hoping that my ALDI shop will be only just over £10 on Tuesday but I do need to pop to another supermarket for a few bits that they don't do so I need to hunt down the bargains. I also checked my lottery account and realised I'd won the lottery! Well, a tenner anyway. So I have got that transferred back to my bank account and in the meantime have sent £10 over to one of my savings account over and above what I already put in after pay day.

Tonight's dinner was a very cheap & easy to make vegetable casserole which I made with the radio on (Absolute 80s!) and a smile on my face as I have enjoyed my busy weekend even though I probably need to go back to work for a rest now! Only kidding of course. I shall be looking forward even more the next weekend! Mind you that's lining up to be a busy one as well already. More hours in the day required!

I hope you've had a productive & happy weekend.

Bye for now.

x x