bank holiday mondays

Here's a sneak peak into to our bank holiday with family :-)

Hope you ha e all had with as much laughter as ours!

We did it!

Today Stephanie and I completed our first race for life together. Stephanie has been very excited about doing this. we set the target of raising £30 for charity from this run. Stephanie was ecstatic yesterday when I told her we had managed to raise £50!
Here she is getting ready

writing the message to go on the back of her shirt.

 

Waiting for the start

 

 

group warm up

 

 

 

So pleased with herself, but very puffed out.

 

I'm very proud of her. I ran at the pace Stephanie set she mixed walking and running- at times very fast and completed the 5k race in a  fantastic time of 40mins 08 seconds.

She had adults coming over after we finished to shake her hand and congratulate her, they had been running near to us and were amazed at how well she did. Not bad for a 7 year old!

 

I couldn't be more proud of my baby. Although she says she's not running that far ever again LOL but her medal is already in her bag to take into school and show her teacher tomorrow.

However, not long after the race Stephanie told her cousin all about the local mile run coming up at the end of July, apparently we will be doing that one.

Children and post

Children love it when they get post through the front door. I don't remember when it changed from being excited to receive post to groaning when there is unexpected post on the doormat. I am guessing it was somewhere around the time I realised I was no a grown up.

Today was a very exciting post day for Stephanie. She received her race for life post. This Sunday we are Racing for life in memory of Stephanie's Nan (my Mum) and 2 great Nan's, all of whom died recently(within the last 2 years) from cancer.




I have complete the race twice in the past. Last year Stephanie joined me for the last 100m or so, but this year she is determined to complete the whole race and run all the way. I have no doubt she will make it to the end, and run a large portion of it as she is very determined not sure where she got that trait from ;-)

Still mending

After work today Dylan fixed Stephanie's bike for her, she needed a new inner tube on the back wheel and the front brake needed adjusting.

 

 

I have also had one of the toys I listed for sale collected this evening. It went for £5 extra money for the pot. We are putting the old toys money towards a holiday in the summer.

organised me!

Well I'm trying I don't think I'll ever be properly organised LOL

I wanted to get myself organised so that I don't keep nipping in the Coop on the way home for something quick because I had forgotten to get some food out of the freezer for dinner. So yesterday I went through the freezer selected, with Dylan's help, what we would be eating this week and got it all out to defrost. Then today when I got up I put the lamb for tomorrows curry into the slow cooker.

Then this evening while I made today's dinner Dylan made a curry sauce;

 

He made a double batch so we can put one in the freezer for another time.

And I made some sausage pastries for us to have the next night. They are all nestled nicely in the fridge now.

Wednesdays dinner is chicken wraps. They will be made on that evening as they are quick and simple anyway.

Thursday is staff meeting night so we are having cupboard food- noodles and tinned fish. One of the children's favourite meals.

Friday will be home made pizza. I will make the dough for this one evening in the week when I have 5 Min's free.

 

While I was organising the meals I started to think about cost, I have seen lots of bloggers at the moment working out the costings for their food. I started to work out rough costings for these meals;

 

Sausage pastries

sausage meat 50p in Christmas sales

flour (45p a 1.5kg bag, I used 200g roughly so about 9p)

butter (55p per pack, I used 1/2 pack so 28p)

total 87p for 4 of these. We will only use 3 in our meal so 66p for Tuesdays dinner. not counting veg and potatoes.

 

Curry

cheap lamb steaks roughly £1.00 worth

tin toms 33p

onion 8p (at a guess)

chillies, gifted to us by my aunt and uncle when we visited earlier- 0p!

£1.41 for all 3 of us.

We will eat this with a little rice 40p for a 1kg bag we use about 145g per meal so about 7p. Plus 1 naan bread from our approved food order so around 5p. Total for this meal £1.53 for three of us, not counting veg.

 

 

 Chicken wraps

wrap kit gifted by children's nan 0p!

Chicken breasts from butchers bulk buy so around £1.50

total cost for meal £1.50

 

Tuna and noodles

tin of tuna 49p

tin mackerel 85p

approved foods noodles 5p

total for meal £1.39

 

homemade pizza

bread flour 30p worth

yeast 5p worth

cheese 1/2 block £1

tomato puree 1/2 tube 24p

total 1.59

 

looking at those costings I am amazed at how little those meals have cost me. I have fed us all for 5 days for the grand total of  £6.69. Once I add vegetables/salad to each of the meals it will take the total up to around £10. That's a figure I am very pleased with. Of course this is only dinners but we don't have fancy lunches sandwiches/salad usually with fruit and yoghurt. Nothing expensive. So I think I am feeding us for about £15 for the week.

 

 

 

I have also been following some of Frugal Queen's advice- I have left my sewing machine set up so that I can mend things as soon as I notice they need it. Today I have mended a pair of Dylan's school trousers where a seam had split and one of my summer dresses where the adjustable strap clasps had snapped. I have sewn across the straps to hold them together, it just means that they are no longer adjustable. Which is not an issue- if I get any bigger the dress won't fit anyway!

 

 

We have had a busy day, I have collected Stephanie's Christmas present, visited my aunt and uncle (bringing home 2 goose eggs and a bag of chillies), Dylan and I have been swimming, I have done some school work, and prepped dinners for the week along with doing all the usual housework. So I am going to treat myself to a little me time- I'm heading off to the bath with a library book.

 

Have a lovely evening.

 

 

 

How did I do?

When I woke up this morning I set myself this list to work through;

Stephanie's swimming lesson DONE
Take Stephanie to the bank DONE
Take Stephanie to her dad's DONE
Take car for mot DONE- it passed!
Take Dylan to the library DONE
Collect (passed!) Car DONE
Go to the gym it's a rollover- tomorrow!
School work about to start!
Organise garden rained off- maybe tomorrow if weather behaves!
Washing done
Menu plan done
Organise fridge and freezer done

I have been terrible lately at getting organised and taking the meats etc out of the freezer for dinner in time. So I have removed it all today so that I can do all the preparing etc tomorrow and then I haven't got to worry all week when I get in from work. So will save me money and time as I won't pop n the coop for a cheat dinner!

On the menu for the next week we have;
Sun- steak and roasties
Mon- lamb curry
Tues- chicken wraps
Weds- sausage meatballs and spaghetti
Thurs- tuna pasta
Fri- homemade pizza and garlic bread.

Lunches will be cheese/fish sandwiches or salads. With fruit and yoghurt.
Breakfast is fruit or toast.

Today I also took Dylan to Hobbycraft to get some paints for his models he is getting into at the moment. It's a hobby his dad has recently taken up again and Dylan has got into it too. It's nice they have something that is not computer screens to do together :-)
While there Dylan picked out a limited edition Skyfall model which is on sale. He didn't have enough money so I have picked it up- and put it away for his birthday- mean mummy!! LOL

Dylan has organised 2 of my old mobiles to sell at one of the online sites he has sold his on previously. I have listed a couple of books on amazon. I have also listed some of the children's old toys on a Facebook selling page. I have 2 sold subject to being collected in the next few days. I have bought a Sylvanian families tree house for Stephanie's Christmas present which I am collecting in the morning ready to put away. So hopefully will have a nice amount to add to the savings again this month through earning extra pennies!

So a very productive day. I am so relieved that my car went straight through MOT and has no advisories on it either, always a worry when the only car you can afford is old.

I

todays to do!

What's on the list today?
List today? List today?
What's on the list today?
Lets look and see . . .  

Stephanie's swimming lesson
Take Stephanie to the bank
Take Stephanie to her dad's
Take car for mot
Take Dylan to the library
Collect (passed!) Car
Go to the gym
School work
Organise garden
Washing
Menu plan
Organise fridge and freezer


That should be enough to keep me busy! I guess I should stop lying in bed being nosey at other people's lives and get on with it.
What are your plans for today?

New pets

We have new pets, well they started as 5 little pets of a different variety at Easter. Now they are different.

Look what they turned into!

Pretty butterflies. 4 have hatched so far just one left to go.

 

Stephanie is made up that they have turned into butterflies. I have to confess to be somewhat fascinated and excited too!

Bank holiday fun

Today has been a chilled kind of a day. We began with a mooch around the boot fair, it was a lovely day over there. Stephanie got herself a couple of new books. I bought a book and a tractor for school for story packs.

We then returned one of Stephanie's birthday presents, as it was faulty, before heading off to a local park for a picnic and a play.

sitting on the wall watching the tide go out as we ate our pack up.

Whilst we were sitting there I realised we were all bouncing our feet off of the wall LOL

Then the children decided to spend £1.80 each on crazy golf, it was very amusing.

Stephanie is a bit of a sore loser and when she had trouble with one of the arrangements got the hump and gave up. She soon came round within a couple of minutes and joined in again (just ignored the tricky one and went on to the next LOL)

 

Then we went into the park where Stephanie found some friends who also have the same child minder and she went to climb/run/ be free with them for a little while. Whilst Dylan and I sat on a bench enjoying the sunshine and chatted.

We didn't stay as long as I would have liked but Dylan was getting fed up, he beginning to get very self conscious at parks particularly when he doesn't know anyone. I also have woken up bunged up/ with sore throat etc so not feeling my best, but was determined to make the most of a sunny bank holiday by getting out.

 

 

Hope you have all enjoyed a lovely day today.

 

Sunday.

Into the sealed pot this week goes the change from my purse -72p.
Not a huge amount but steady enough the pots filling up and it will be plenty for what I am intending the money for.


I have spent a little more than normal this weekend as I decided to have the first barbecue of the year as the weather is so nice this bank holiday weekend. I still have almost half the food left as I was uncertain how much our guests would eat, there were 10 of us eating. That's ok though as we can have another bbq another day now
All 3 of us love them and even if we don't invite anyone else we still have them sometimes.

Tomorrow we plan on going to the bootfair, returning one of Stephanie birthday presents for an exchange, then off to a local play space possibly with various family members.

How are you spending your bank holiday?