Frugal gardening

I've picked up some good deals for the garden in the past few days. I started by finding some hazel trees for £1 in B&Q.

The day after I bought a planter of mixed strawberry plants. They should give me 100 days of strawberries between them which sounds tasty and fun. I had to leave my strawberry plants at our old house so I'm looking forward to starting a new strawberry empire.

Finally, I bought a little potted Christmas tree in tescos reduced to £1. We've named him Bruce the Spruce and hopefully he will enjoy many Christmases with us in future. I think he may outgrow his fairy lights quite quickly though 😂. He came all dressed with decorations and battery powered lights so he was quite the bargain.

 I also picked up a very cheap onion set but as I've already planted them (they were sprouting in the packet) there isn't much to see.

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Boxing day at the Random household

I quite like Boxing Day. Everyone is less crazed than Christmas Day, and it feels a lot more relaxed. It's a day of trying out new gifts and wearing new outfits and pajamas. 

The children have all happily entertained themselves with their gifts today. I've had time to tidy around a bit and make yesterday's turkey carcass into stock.

This evening I'll be dipping into my little stash of Reeses treats and enjoying a film with the Hubby.

Merry Christmas everyone.

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We're nearly there.

We've completed all the Christmas school, pre school, and baby group events. Almost all the Christmas presents have arrived (just 1 left!). Christmas meat has been ordered. 

Gifts have been wrapped and labelled.

School finishes in about 30 minutes.

We're ready to get our Christmas celebrations under way.

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful blog readers. I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating (or not).

X x X

Frugal games for Christmas (or anytime)

Apologies for the lack of posts. Christmas time is beyond hectic! I think I'm at the girls school as much as they are. Today is a craftanoon with DD2 and then Gman Christmas party! Phew!

I wanted to share a new game we've discovered recently. It's called Nine Lives or Fan-Tan. 

You start with 3 or more players and a bowl of small items such as dried peas, raw pasta, buttons or anything that's small with a good amount.

Player 1 takes 1 pea from the bowl.

Player 2 takes 2 peas, and so on until there is no longer enough peas for the next person to play. The winner is the last person to successfully take their number of peas from the bowl. 

Each game you add or remove a handful of the peas. 

You can also add an extra dimension by guessing who will win each game (though naturally the girls always picked themselves  when we tried it 😂)

It's one of those games you could play anywhere with almost anything. Seashells at the beach, Conkers in the park, sticks, leaves, even torn up pieces of paper!

I quite like the idea of a Christmas version using baubles or Christmas chocolates.

Let me know if you give it a try 😁

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Christmas wreath and more prepping

My mum gifted us the most beautiful handmade wreath yesterday. I picked up a door hanger this morning in Home Bargains and popped it straight up. Each time I walk past the front door I can see the silhouette and it's making me feel all festive and happy.

While I was in Home Bargains I added a few more items to my Brexit stash using the change in my coat pocket. 

My next job is find a note book and write down some recipes and make a basic meal plan.

Though I'd be happy eating pasta daily I don't think my waistline would 😂

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