It's been hectic!

It's been a crazy few days at Spurrier house. 

DD1 was hugging a friend in the playground, they did that horrible thing where they stand up under your chin, DD1 took a hefty bite to the tongue. Poor thing was pretty miserable for 48 hours.  However yesterday she managed to eat a gigantic carvery dinner without complaint so its definitely on the mend.

DD2 spent most of Wednesday night in the bathroom with a tummy bug. She had Thursday and Friday off school which threw a few plans off but she's been okay this weekend. She's back at school with her bestie today.

Gman has been the best of the bunch. This morning there was a reading cafe session at school. Gman enjoyed reading with Daddy and eating a scary amount of biscuits.

Baby W is teething. It's one of the nasty ones at the back, so there's a lot of dribbling going on. She's also suffering from a really sore nappy rash which isn't making life feel any better for her.

And finally Hubby and I have just found out some news that might mean some big changes coming our way in 2020. We can't say too much yet but watch this space. 😁

Phew! I think i need a cuppa or maybe some Gin?

X x X

Proud Mummy moment

I woke up this morning to discover DD2 in the kitchen. Not only had she gotten herself dressed ready for school, but she'd toasted a whole loaf of bread, buttered it and topped it with chocolate spread ready for the family breakfast.

I was so proud of her and we all gave her lots of praise for being so thoughtful and helping out.

I  wonder if this will become a regular thing? 

X x X

Tuesday freebies

Sat in Nero with my free hot chocolate, reading my free book and looking over my free sticker book. Today is a good day thanks to 02 priority.

X x x

Decluttering and bargain hunting

We dropped two large bags of 'stuff' into the charity shop by DH's work this afternoon. It's the beginning of the pre-Christmas clear out.

Of course I couldn't resist a browse while I was there.

3 flower canvases - £1

Body Shop lip butter, body scrub and lotion - 20p each

3 x books - 5p each

And a delightfully saucy statue for 5p. As soon as I spotted it in the bargain bin I just knew it needed rescuing. It'll look just the thing and a little shelf below my saucy seaside postcards.

I think the poor shop assistant was glad to be rid of it 😂

X x X

Lazy Sunday

 Nothing says lazy relaxing Sunday like pancakes for breakfast. 

 It's been a while since I made them, but every time I do I think that I should make them more often.

 They are cheap, quick and tasty.

 Today will spent lounging in pajamas, sewing beads onto a project I've been asked to make and hunting down missing school uniform ready for tomorrow. 

 Have a great Sunday everyone

 X x X 

Cheap and tasty dinner

Not to outdone by my bargain finding yesterday DH arrived home with a 10p loaf of bread and 3 bags of spuds for 5p each! 

I had planned to make a garlic mushroom pasta type dish but changed it to bread pizza and peri-peri potatoes. 

The tempeture is already dropping this evening so pizza is good comfort food.

I used half a punnet of mushrooms, 1/2 tin of pineapple rings and ham for the topping.

The leftover mushrooms have been chopped up and frozen in one of the recycled fishcake trays. 

I've made jelly to set over night to eat with the leftover pineapples rings.

Tomorrows dinner will need to use more mushrooms and potatoes up.

I spent the afternoon making origami decorations from a wallpaper samples book. I'm thinking of making some into garlands and leaving some as individual hanging decorations. Hopefully they will prove popular at an up coming christmas stall we're hosting soon. Fingers crossed.

X x X

Yellow stickers galore

I had great timing today at the local Co-op. Just as I arrived two of the staff had started putting the reduced stickers on things. 

I trailed along behind them and enjoyed a nice conversation with them both as i filled my basket with goodies.

 3x 2 pack of melting middle fishcakes

2x boxes of clementines

2x mushroom punnet

2x mixed grape punnet

1x 6 seeded burger buns

Total; £5.03p

So a nice cheap dinner tonight of fishcake burgers, with clementines and grapes to follow. Plus lots of fruit left over for snacking and lunch boxes.

The whole lot should have cost just over £20.

X x X

Bin Gate!

Around Easter we started to notice a big change in one of our next door neighbours. The lady that lived there isn't overly known as being a jolly friendly type. It started with tutting noises over the fence when my children were playing in the garden and escalated over time to her slamming her rear door shut with loud mutters of "for gawds sake!" Every time my children entered our back garden. 

There have been incidences over the summer when my little herd of children had a water fight and her windows were getting splashed over the fence 😱 and accusing us of throwing half eaten food over our back fence into the alley way behind our homes. (The idea of leftover food with 4 hungry children is hilarious!) It turned out to be a fox taking food there to eat but only after they set up hidden cameras to catch us in the act.

 Now the Bible tells us to love thy neighbour, so that's what I did. Every Monday when i return from the school run I put her wheely bins, food waste bin and glass bin neatly back in her garden. Occasionally she is home first and puts it away herself but 9 times out of 10 its me. Several times I've spotted her watching me do it from the window. I've done this now for about 5 or 6 months. 

On Halloween we were both in our front gardens decorating for trick or treaters. Her husband nudged her and looked pointedly at me.

"Oh, i meant to say thank you for bringing our bins in. I wondered who was doing it all this time," she muttered before scurrying back indoors. 

It felt like a victory!

Today I've come home from a shopping trip to find my bin has been shoved through my gate into the centre of the garden path. It wasn't  neat or done properly but it's a start.

 I think that's a second victory to me. 

My mum always taught me to kill with kindness.

Wha ha ha ha!

X x X

Last day of half term

The oldest three are back to school tomorrow. Despite the wet soggy weather I feel like we've made the best of the time together.

We've managed several trips out to free activities such as the library and local museum.

We also took advantage of our season tickets to the zoo and were gifted tickets to a local theme park. 

I attended a Bring and Take event where I picked a River Cottage book I needed for my collection and two large bags of clothing for myself and the children.

We were gifted 2 large bags of girls clothes for Baby W from a family friend.

 I also saved money by making caramel apples rather than buying them from the supermarket.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to getting everyone out of the house so I  can give it a good clean and organizing without interruptions or children under my feet.

 It's amazing what one woman can achieve when she isn't interrupted for drinks and snacks constantly 😂

X x X