School Christmas Fayre

 

Today we took a trip to our Primary schools annual school fayre. The PTA alway put on a great range of things to see and do, this year was no exception.

We of course had to visit the Santa's grotto ☺️ this year the gifts were craft based which was a nice idea. The older 3 happily did their crafts when we got home meaning I got to have a much needed cup of tea and a sit down.

Once we had finished visiting Father Christmas we treated the children to a hot dog each. At £2 each they were a reasonably priced lunch and it felt good to treat them. 

We also tried our luck on the tombola stalls and I had to have a good browse of the book stall too ☺️

 There were several free things that children could do during the visit. Such as a mobile petting zoo that was in the playground. We saw miniature donkeys, brushed some goats, chatted to chickens and fed some bunnies. 

There was also a trail around the school of elves to find. If you found them all you could get a free prize from the Raffle stall.

It was a nice nod to the cost of living crisis that no child would go home empty handed and could enjoy a few games and visiting the animals with no funds needed.

It really was a wonderful afternoon trip out. OH coped well but he needed to stand behind the buggy a few times in crowded parts to avoid being bumped or jostled by overexcited children running around. I think he'll sleep well tonight though 😂

X X X

That Friday feeling

 It's Friday! Another week survived 😊

This morning I popped the children to school and then had a reading cafe session with DD3. It was lovely to have some 1:1 time together. She really does have such a cute and sunny personality, it's a joy to be around her.

After leaving the reading cafe I popped to the community pantry. £5 really doesn't go as far as it used to even at the Pantry. The shelves were a little empty looking but I managed to complete a shop anyway. I'm thinking of trying to make some cod fishcakes or a fish pie with the cod steaks.

Once home there was a short break while we waited for DIY Dave to turn up. He is a local quy who fixes washing machines and dishwashers etc. His prices are very reasonable and if he can't fix something he won't charge you for looking at it. He also always gives out a wealth of hints and tips on looking after your machines and getting the best out of them. 

 He was able to repair our washing machine which had a minor issue, but sadly or dishwasher has gone to electrical heaven with a computer fault that just isn't worth the cost of fixing.  We will start looking for a good deal on a new one shortly. DH says to leave it to him as it'll give him something to do while he recovers. He quite likes researching it all, comparing reviews and machine specs etc so he's quite in his element.

We found some old long forgotten Meccano while decluttering some cupboards this afternoon. DH has listed it for sale on Facebook as a job lot. If we're lucky it'll make some money towards a new dishwasher 😊

 In the early evening DH popped to Aldi, he was kindly given a lift by his mum who was also headed there too. We needed some essentials for the weekend so it saved me and the children trying to carry it all home by hand tomorrow. DH not being able to drive yet is definitely frustrating him a bit.

Tonight's plan is knitting in front of the England match.  Could it be coming home finally?

X X X

 

It's Thursday

 

Good evening 😊

 Thank you all the kind messages and good wishes for DH. He says he feels a little better each day but is getting quite frustrated with his lack of movement. He is okay doing things with his shoulder as long as it isn't to much weight bearing so he can feed himself and drink etc but if he needs to change heights, for example buttoning a shirt or pulling a zip it's still very painful. 

Today was a cleaning sort of a day. I deep cleaned the patio doors and gave them a good shine up this morning and then tackled a few marks on the carpet from all those soggy feet running in and out. As you can see Baby C was quite happy to join in and help me ☺️

In the afternoon I popped to the shop. We need milk and three nice donations for the school tombola. The children are allowed to wear non uniform for a day in exchange for a donation. Each year group has a different theme so there is plenty of variety. I also picked up a packet of "whoops" biscuits. These are the biscuits that are a bit odd looking or broken which don't pass quality control. Some companies now sell them in big bags or boxes for quite a reasonable price. I paid 99p for 1kg bag. If you haven't tried them I recommend giving a packet a go. It's quite fun as you never know quite what you are going to get but they are always tasty.

The Afternoon school run was uneventful but rushed as we tried to beat the weather home. It was just starting to drizzle as we reached the door so we did a good job. 

Dinner was chicken wings, veggies and baked beans. The three smallest all turned their noses up at their meals and ate a bowl of cereal instead. Tom soon polished off the extra chicken though, all that healing is giving him an appetite.

Tonight's plan are a little reading in bed and perhaps some knitting with a movie. I'm trying to knit Baby C a hat but I've lost my mojo with it somewhat and I'm getting cross with myself for not just getting it over and done with. I always seem to wander off whenever it's on my lap and so it just sits there looking crossly at me 😂

X X X

X X X

Family news

 

 It's all been a bit epic here in the Frugal household! Poor DH has just returned home from a 2 week (almost...12 days!) Hospital stay. We've had to cope with brushes with sepsis, the possibility of superbugs, allergic reactions, and more antibiotics and IV's and cannulas than I can count.  

 We are all incredibly grateful to the all the wonderful NHS staff who directly and indirectly helped get DH back to a reasonably healthy state. We still have a little bit of a recovery journey ahead of us, but we can now face it together at home 😊

 The story all started on the Wednesday of half term when we were invited to go swimming at a nearby water park. While going down one of the flumes with DS, poor DH picked up a small friction burn on his left elbow. We didn't really think much of it.

Fast forward a week and DH returns home from work as usual saying he thinks he's pulled a muscle or something in his elbow. By the evening his elbow had a bright red patch of skin around the almost healed friction burn. I suggested getting it looked at but DH insisted slathering on some Sudacrem and trying the local walk in centre in the morning rather than spend hours in A&E with late night drunks.  Gradually overnight DH developed a fever and the red patch began to rapidly grow. My dad took him to the local walk in service and they very quickly assessed him and sent him to hospital for IV antibiotics. I assumed that it would just be over night and he'd soon be home. How little I knew.

 Over the next few days the infection in his elbow exploded. Drs we're drawing circles around its progress every few hours and there were several antibiotics being tried in the hopes of finding one that worked. He had to have his wedding ring removed as the Infection began to move to his hand, and I was warned he could be facing damage to his organs as the infection also crept up his shoulder towards his heart and lungs. Luckily at pretty much the final hour something started to work and the infection slowly was brought under control. Add in a sudden serious allergic reaction and yet more changes of antibiotics just to keep things hanging in the balance!

 Thankfully he is now well enough to be home but still a little delicate. He is currently signed off work for 4 weeks but that will most likely be extended as he is very tired and has quite limited movement in his arm still. 

 I'm not quite sure what curve balls life will throw at us next. We certainly weren't expecting this one. 

 It's never a dull moment around here. That's for sure !

X x X

Thursday

 It's been a bit of a busy day.  It started bright and early with our neighbour knocking on the door asking to borrow some milk as they'd run out. I passed them the end of the 6pint bottle we had as there was a second 6pint bottle already in the fridge to replace it. There wasn't a lot left but enough for a bowl or two of cereal and a few cups of tea 🙂

 Then I took the children to school. Poor DD3 was coughing the whole route and was very cuddly while we waited for the school gates to open. I told her teacher I would be home all day and if DD3 needed collecting to just call me and I'll pop back.

 Once home I set up the slow cooker to make a nice beef stew. I finished just in time for the school to ask me to collect DD3.

 I returned to the school to find DD3 was fast asleep in the medical room, I woke her up gently and managed to half walk and half carry her home.

Ten minutes after being home and settling DD3 into a sofa nest and given her some Calpol my phone rang again! This time is was the other school calling to tell me that DD1 had been accidentally hit in the face during a PE lesson. DD1 was okay but had gotten herself into a bit of a state bordering on a panic attack. Eventually she had calmed down and gone back to her classes. 

 This was followed by a third call from the Primary school again to ask about DD2's new medication 🤦

 Finally all the phone calls and interruption stopped and I was able to make a dessert for the evening while DD3 and DD4 had a little nap on the sofa.

  My parents kindly walked DD2 and DS home from school for me so that was a welcome break. My neighbours knocked on the door again and gave us a new 2 pint bottle of milk to replace the milk they borrowed in the morning  which was very kind of them.

 Once everyone was home safe and sound the evening was quite quiet thank goodness 🤣

 X X x

Complicated life

 

 *** Please enjoy this random photo of some art I bought yesterday. It has nothing to do with my post but I like to add a picture with each blog 🙂**

  Life is feeling hard right now. I know and recognise that it's tough for everyone out there but my blog is about me and my not so little family so I can only really go on my own life experiences when I talk about things.

 Everything just feels so overly complicated at the moment. It all seems to take so many more steps and stages to do anything than it used to. I'm finding myself craving the simplicity of the first lockdown. I miss having so much time with my children and my husband each day. 

  I feel like each day rushes past me and then I feel bad each evening that I didn't do enough that day and promise myself that I will do more tomorrow. It's not a nice way to live at all. 

 

   I need to find ways to slow the world down a little bit and smell the roses more.

 X X x

Its a rainy day.

 

  

Todays soup is Leek and Potato. 

Todays dinner is hunters chicken and rice.

 Todays dessert and snacks are PB&J biscuits.

 Todays activities are testing the depth of puddles...

 ...and a spot of ghost hunting and exorcism.
A happy busy day in Spurrier house 😃

X X X