An appreciated present

Remember I said that I had booked Stephanie a block of 6 ice skating lesson for her Christmas present? I am very relieved to say that she has loved them.

I was apprehensive as to how she would take to them- I know from experience that ice hurts when you fall on it!

Her first lesson she was (understandably) nervous, she had never been on the ice before. By the time her half hour lesson finished she was hooked! It turns out that after her half hour she then gets to go on the ice for the public skate session which is several hours long. We have been at the ice rink for around two hours after each lesson whilst she skates with the friends she has made there. I now take a book with me! Oh and several layers of clothes, it's cold as a spectator. I wear my snow coat and still feel a little chilly.

To have the lessons they get given boot covers. I wraped them up and gave them to her on Christmas day, look at her confused face!

During her first lesson

Bruise! from falling over.

There is just one lesson left, she found out today that she has earned a certificate and will receive that during her final lesson next week.

The lessons have been super value at a cost of £60 for 6 it turns out it is cheaper than taking her for a public skate (which she gets included in the price!) To go for a public skate it is £11 including skate hire.So I am now trying to work out if there is anyway I can book her on for another set of 6 lessons. Finances to work out!

Christmas on a tiny string

This year Christmas is smaller than ever. The children's presents are scaled right back. Dylan is having driving lessons (I'm paying half with his dad). So he really isn't getting much else. Mostly clothes and smellies, just so he has things to open on the big day.

I am going to book Stephanie some ice skating lessons, we have an ice bowl not too far away. Stephanie has been asking to go ice skating for years, but I am still having nightmares from taking Dylan when he was younger (around 10!). I thought as I am not confident ie can barely stand up on skates! Lessons will probably be the safest bet. It is £60 for 6 lessons so she should be able to balance by the end of those! I am considering booking myself on as well so that I am confident to go on and enjoy time with her. To go with those Stephanie will get a few little presents to open. I already have a couple of bits for her- some pencils with her name on which she has ssked for, bought at a bargain price of £2.99. Another something she has asked for is a nerf gun rebelle, these were recently on offer at argos and you got 2 different guns for £8.99 for both so those were collected quickly.

I have heard that you can get cheap turkey crowns in aldi so I shall be heading there on pay day to hopefully get one. Everything else is already bought- I like to get treats- biscuits, pringles etc. These have been bought with my weekly shop for the past few months as and when I spot them on offer.

Christmas is almost done in my house. Just need to wrap up my children's presents and get some little bits for the stockings, I am thinking punch balloons, rocket balloons, wind up racers etc to have some giggles with on the big day. All other presents have been wrapped as soon as they are bought.

  

How are you managing Christmas this year?

Christmas.

I need to focus. I have lost my focus a little this week. I have bought lunch despite having a packed lunch- because I didn't fancy it! Then I couldn't be bothered to cook so bought a pizza in asda. Today I had a little shopping spree. I have bought things we needed actually if I am honest its things I wanted and convinced myself we need. I could have managed without my favourite smellies- bought at 85% off but still unnecessary. Other things I needed so bought cleaning products etc.

I did spend a little on getting these developed;

 

Yes I finally got around to developing the photographs of our visit to Disneyland at Christmas. This is item number 15 on my bucket list. I am so pleased with them. It's a shame there aren't more of Dylan but he hates them being taken and gets very upset if I try and get any of him. Not worth spoiling the fun we were having for as they wouldn't be very good with his grump face on them all! LOL

 

We had such an amazing time. I am so pleased that I managed to save for this experience, and to keep it as a surprise. We got all the way to Disneyland before Stephanie found out where we were going! I will never forget our holiday. Expensive but worth it!

 

Now I need to get my savings sorted out so we can work towards some more of the items on our bucket list.

our week in pictures! (because I am feeling lazy!)

a Christmas Guest

I spent some time this weekend making a visitor who will be visiting us in the lead up to Christmas, I have a feeling she may inject a little bit of light hearted fun and amusement into our mornings!

Here she is lying on the front of the knitting booklet I got the pattern from. She doesn't yet have a name as she is for us to play 'Elf on a shelf' with.  got the idea from Frugal mum

I can't wait to start playing. I got the DVD from argos for £2.99 and free delivery. The Dvd will arrive on 1st December 2013, then the elf the next morning.

I plan on blogging about some of the adventures our Elf will get up to throughout December. I have a feeling she may sneak into the suitcase when we go away for our family surprise.

I used a tiny little amount of yarn in each colour, all of which are in my stash. I am hoping that next time the children go to their Dads then I will have a chance to make the boy elf to keep her company.

slipping, but massive excitement!

My organisation has slipped already since the school term started. I am determined to get it back under control though. As I keep popping out for something little and then buying an extra something. I am have been and bought the fruit and veg for the week this morning and I have put petrol in the car. I am going to challenge myself to EVERY school day this week being a no spend day. I am leaving my purse with the bank card in it at home!

I have got a good start on my Christmas shopping. I have lots of ideas, many of the little presents organised. I just need to get my nieces and nephews presents, stocking fillers for Stephanie and something for Dylan. For all of these things I know what I am getting/giving. It's just organising it all. Especially when you consider that I have 14 nieces and nephews all together! Dylan's present is fairly expensive however his Dad and I go halves on his present every year especially now that he is getting older and technology is what he is into. I have a maximum budget of £100 for each of my children. I don't spend over it but I will underspend happily. Especially as I booked a Christmas surprise for the three of us, it is an expensive treat at £800 including travel, however it could have cost double this if I hadn't been watching for offers since I started saving last November! The good news is as I had expected the treat to cost over £1000 I now have plenty of spending money saved for us as well, so we should come home with change. I'm very excited- Dylan knows about the surprise but I'm trying very hard not to tell Stephanie, I want to see how far we get before she figures out where we are going. Its is possible we will be at least almost there before she works it out, as we are not taking the direct train.

A little clue where we are going;

 

We are staying for 2 nights. to get the train direct was £700! for the 3 of us. So we are getting the train to Paris, where we will change onto the train to Marne le vallee doing it this way has cost £267.50 saving a total of £432.50! which almost covers the £558.00 for hotel and park tickets.

So a massively expensive Christmas present for the 3 of us, but we are having less presents this year. I would much rather give the children an unforgettable experience than a forgotten in 2 weeks pile of toys.

Did I mention I am just a LITTLE BIT EXCITED!!

our weekend

I have been busy (as always this weekend). Why do weekends seem to go in a whirlwind? Would love one soon where I can sit still.

This weekend I have;

1. Making curtains for the house were planned a long time ago! I have finally got around to getting started on them. After a couple of dramas earlier in the week when I initially began working on them (broken scissors, a strange lack of lilac thread in the house). I present to you:

I'm very impressed, I have made curtains before, but I have never made ring top ones. I was somewhat nervous that I would make a massive mistake and ruin the material. I'm very pleased to say that I did not! 

2. I then made Dylan's curtains. His were a little more difficult as the suede effect material that he chose kept getting all static with the lining and sticking together. Not the best photo but it gives the general idea.

3. Stephanie and I began to wrap the Christmas presents. I am planning on doing a handful each day until they are done.

4. I pickled some of the red cabbages we have grown on the allotment. I can't wait til we can tuck in and see what it tastes like. I have never pickled my own food before so am quite excited to taste it.

I also had a catch up with a friend. We ended up sitting up until 3am chatting and drinking wine, it was a much needed gossip, followed by a much needed lie in. I didn't wake up until to 10.30am! Bliss, I don't think I have ever laid in that long. 

Stephanie and I also went shopping, we did the boring food shop and on the way home we popped into Homebase to look at the Christmas decorations and to by a plant pot to put flowers in at Mum's grave.

I will post about these things another day though as I feel they need a post of their own. 

How was your weekend?

update

I haven't managed to get on a blog as much as I would like as I have had massive problems with my laptop, my sisters husband fiddled with it, in that blokey way. It seems to be working alright tonight so I can blog (hopefully!)


I have been busy the past couple of weeks making things for Christmas, school and family as well as some home improvements. Some items have been photographed already, some will be photographed in the next few days.

allotment goodies

firework fun

My first pair of knitted socks

My current reading material and knitting project.

As well as these things I have also been busy boarding the flooring in the loft so that I can use it, swapping the children's bedrooms round and painting them at the same time. I then painted the downstairs bathroom. I need to finish sorting Stephanie's things which are still int he living room/my bedrooms

I have so many things I am doing/ need to do. Some of the things that I want to get finished (or at least started) in the next week are;

1. Stephanie's bedroom organised
2. Bedroom curtains made for Dylan
3. bedroom curtains made for Stephanie
4. blind for downstairs bathroom
5. gloves for Stephanie
6. decorate kitchen
7. curtains for the kitchen
8. Sophie's top.
9. Stephanie's heart decoration for her bedroom
10. Stephanie's bunting
11. Christmas bunting

As you can see it's ambitious list, I know that I am never going to achieve all of these in the next week I would be pushing it to achieve those things without working full time, but a girl can dream right??

Our lovely Family christmas

This year none in the family was particularly looking forward to christmas due to my lovely Nanna dieing in November, all of us at some point would have been going to visit her, she really was the monarch of our family. For my aunt and cousin Christmas without my Nanna would be particularly bleak as they lived with her all their lives and as such have never had a Christmas on their own.
Christmas is a time for familys. So I am pleased to say that all though Nanna was obviously missed we have had a lovely time anyway. My sister, her husand and my neice have been staying with me for a week and a half already and are likely to be here at least another week. My brother came to stay from Christmas eve and went home yesterday evening. On christmas day I had 11 people (including myself) to cook for. I was a bit nervous of this as its rather a few more than my usual handful of people. I realised my table was too small and I had a too few chairs. However with some planning and resourcefulness we all sat at a table in the kitchen. It looked like a scene from Goldilocks. With 3 differently sized tables being used. The dinner was a complete success as well.
After dinner we went to a different aunts house for tea and to play games. I was asked to take along my wii so that we could play that. Oh my did that wii provide some entertainment. It is one of my most extravagent purchases but we LOVE it. And now so do the rest of my family. I think it would be good if we all made an effort to have a regular family day where we get together to enjoy games (elctronic or otherwise).
I am now looking forward to next christmas when we will be able to do the same again, with another adition to our family (my cousin is 20+ weeks pregnant).

I have had such a lovely Christmas and was particularly pleased when both of my children said they have had their best christmas yet.

Despite the extravagances we have indulged in, I have managed to have a Christmas where I have considered my eco tryings! The thing I have done which can be considered eco are;

1) buying some of my gifts from ebay (second hand).
2) buying my vegetables from a local box scheme
3) buying a free-range organic turkey from my aunts friend who has a local small holding.
4) cutting down on the amount of presents I have bought, and limiting them to ones I am sure they will use a lot, and will last.
5) My sister has brought her dogs with her so there has been little in the form of food waste!

Merry Christmas to you all.

do you have odd socks or holey socks?

There always seem to be odd/ holey socks at the bottom of the clean wash basket. Tonight I found something to do with them!

Thats right I made these little stars for the children's advent tree treat. They are made using some small peices of fabric I had and stuffed with a sock from the bottom of the wash basket. What a great way to recycle something that drives me mad!!

a little treat!

I decided a few years back that I didn't want my children to see advent as getting chocolate out of a calendar each day, the chocolate being the excitement rather than getting ready for christmas. So I got them a reusable advent calendar each and I fill it each year with little treats, such as christmassy hair clips etc. A few years ago (pre-Stephanie) I got Dylan a small christmas tree for his bedroom and each day he got a little decoration for the tree so that by christmas his tree was decorated.
Due to space issues I have not done  this since having Stephanie. Now we have moved to a house and they have a room each I decided I would od that again this year. I bought the trees and they got those the other day. I also got some small decorations in the shops, but as I am trying to make things for myself and be more self sufficient I want to make some of my own.
Bewing slightly disorganised this year these preperations have not been done yet. So I am spending the evenings tryng to organise the next days treat. Tonight I have sat and sewn 2 stockings for the children whils watching christmassy programmes. Now they are not perfect but they were made with love. Meet treats in box number 9;

Now I need to think of some more ideas for other days. The thing I love about these tiny decorations is that they are using up my tiny scraps from other projects. Very eco!!

time to start thinking about christmas

I have been reading my new favourite book again and have a head buzzing with ideas.

So far I want to;
1. plant lots of herbs
2. get a small holding complete with chickens/geese/cows
3. grow apple trees
4. plant some pretty flowers
5. Grow a christmas tree in a pot

Number 5 for me is the most exciting right now, I love christmas it is my favourite time of the year. I have always wanted to have real christmas tree, but have refused on the basis of it being a waste to cut a tree down for a few weeks of use before it is discarded. Growing one in a pot is an exciting compromise. I need to look into this more, but it seems perfectly feasable so far.

I also plan on starting to think about christmas presents for this year. I would like to give gifts people will appreciate this year. I don't buy for adults, with the exception of grandparents as the cost is just too huge. So for the children I want to find some gift which will be appreciated, am thinking of bowling/cinema tickets for my older neices and nephews this year. For the younger 2 I am not entirely sure yet perhaps something home made I need to think a lot more about this, luckily I have time yet.