A Day in the Life

6:30 wake from sleep, shower and get ready for work.



7:00 Get children up, make sure they wash with water (apparently it burns !!!!) and brush teeth make sure they are dressed.

7:50 Run around looking for swimming costume you forgot needs to go to school today.

7:55 Dash out of the door to drop children at school for eight, only to realise you have practically
ZERO petrol.



8:00 Kids dropped off, dash to petrol station.

8:30 Run through the doors at work in the nick of time. Lots of worky stuff during which
time you manage to shovel something into your stomach that resembles lunch.

2:50 You leave work (late, running)

3:00 Collect child 2 from school and run back to the car at great speed.

3:10 Arrive at swiming pool to colect child 1, dash to supermarket as you intend to eat at some
point, call home to collect another swimming kit and deposit child 1 back at swimming pool
for yet another lesson.

4:10 Get back home and start to prepare dinner

4:45 leave house to go and collect child 1

5:10 Arrive back home, finish dinner, try to eat it whilst burning your mouth as it is too hot, getting indigestion for eating too quick.

6:00 Desposit child 2 at club.

6:15 Arrive back home and take dog for walk.

7:15 Collect child 2 (******************)

7:30 Arrive back home to get two tired children bathed and into bed.

8:00 Clean up kitchen, sort washing, answer phone .....................................................

9:00 Collapse into chair and wait for hubby to return home from work.

So to the person who complained at me today for something I had not had time to do but was not all that important.......

WHATEVER !!!!!!!!!

Am I really Bovvered???

I am tired and this is just one day, I could tell you about the rest but you would fall asleep.

Thinking

I have just been reading some interesting posts over at Green Twins Mummy .
It got me thinking about just how much money we spend on foods and other stuff at the supermarket and how much of that money and food we actually waste every week, You only need to look in the press for an article on what the latest figure if for family waste.
6.2 millions tonnes of food is thrown away in the UK every year, this averages about £420 per family for the year. I dont know about you but I dont want nor can I afford to throw this kind of money away, you may as well put the pound notes through the shredder.

Anyway it got me thinking about how much we could actually spend per week and still have lovely home made food on the table every night, nice meals that were nutricious and lovingly made but perhaps they were costing that little bit less. How much can our food bills be reduced and less food be thrown away whilst still filling little tummies with something good at the end of the day. I dont want to compromise on the quality of our foods but just be a little bit more "savvy" with what we have to spend.

It is a challenge..........
how much can my family of four survive on per week, with ZERO food waste and packed lunches every day for me and Hubby to take to work? Can we meal plan for the week so that we know what we are having for dinner and not rushing out to buy something last minute? Can we be that organised? Ha !!! I think we will have to wait and see.

I have done my food shopping for this week but will be starting from the weekend..
I have tonnes of cookery books, including a couple with war time recipes and one beloved book which is an Amish cook book. They are full of ideas of how to make your meals stretch further and to make the most of what you have got.

This post has gone on for far too long and when read back will probably make po sense at all but I just had to get my thoughts down so they didnt get oushed to the back of my mind.


I also need to make up two packed lunches every day for my Hubby and I.

The Dales

During the school holidays I was lucky enough to go and stay with one of my older sisters for a week in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. It was so nice to kick back and relax as much as you can do with five children between us This is not her house in the picture below but is one that brought back many happy childhood memories of visits to stay with our "Nannie" as we used to call her. I remember the bus drive with my Gran like it was yesterday.

It couldnt be anywhere but England.
I was holding my nephew up to look over the bridge at the water .
"You wont drop me will you?" he asks
"Of course not, silly"
Now when I was little I can vividly remember my Dad doing the same thing and I was convinced that he would drop me even though he was sure he wouldnt.

Autumn Days.

Do you remember singing this when you were at school ? I do and I used to love it, I enjoy it more now hearing the sweet voices of my children as they sing and hum the familiar childhood verses.. I am loving Autumn, I love the smells and taste of the damp air and the sound of crisp dried leaves beneath my feet. I think that along with winter and its promise of Christmas, Autum must be one of my favourite seasons of the year. Which is yours?

Autumn days, when the grass is jewelled
And the silk inside a chestnut shell
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All these things I love so well

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Clouds that look like familiar faces
And a winter’s moon with frosted rings
Smell of bacon as I fasten up my laces
And the song the milkman sings.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Whipped-up spray that is rainbow-scattered
And a swallow curving in the sky
Shoes so comfy though they’re worn out and they’re battered
And the taste of apple pie.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Scent of gardens when the rain’s been falling
And a minnow darting down a stream
Picked-up engine that’s been stuttering and stalling
And a win for my home team.

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
I mustn’t forget.

Autumn Days by Estelle White

Lots of fun.

Hello, firstly a Thank you to April over at Cupcakes make the world a better place for the lovely gifts she sent through the post as a Pay if Forward. What did I recieve ? Lets take a look,

A lovely drawstring bag ( I love pink), a Vanilla Cupcake Yankee Candle Tart (smells wonderful, I have to keeping picking it up to have a smell) and a cross stitch of my name with magnets on it. Oh and a cup cake post card. Thank you so very much April.

In a bid to increase the fruit consumed by the children we decided to make smoothies. My son is not what I would call a fussy eater but there is a huge list of things he thinks he does not like, when he tries to taste them he puts them on the tip of his tounge and then claims to dislike it. So we decided to make Old Fashioned Lemonade, I admit that this was probably too bitter for little taste buds but my daughter loved it. I didnt really follow a recipe but we squeezed the juice from three large lemons,

Squeezed the juice from one orange.

Put this in a jug and added some honey disolved in water (honey syrup)for some sweetness.

Then we put in cold water until we got the taste we were looking for. You can add more or less honey syrup or water until you get a taste you like.

Serve with lots of ice and a slice of lemon or orange.

We also made a smootie using fresh strawberries, one banana and one orange peeled and cut into segments. You whiz it all up in e blender and here you have a delicious healthy drink. We made up a second batch and have frozen them into lollypops for the children. My son turned his nose up at first as the drink appeared to have bits in but he eventually tasted it and loved it .

This was taken this morning when we took the dog for a walk on the beach nearby. What a lovely way to start the day, the kids collected sea glass to add to the collection.

Colours

Oooo would you just take a look at the colours of these fabric swatches I got from here , you can send for five free swatches if you follow the link.

How can they fail to bring some sunshine into a dull day, I have no idea what to do with them yet but I love them. Perhaps I can put them to some use in the bathroom when we get it decorated. I have lived here for six years and hate hate hate the bathroom but these little stripes of candy may just add a little something to the smallest room in the house.

Talking of colour I took this picture of the sky when we were at the beach the other day. I like the colour of the sky, it is so nice to look up and see the beautiful blue perhaps with the odd fluff of cotton wool floating on by. Lets hope that the sunshine is here to stay.

No trip to the beach would be complete without the obligatory bucket and spade hastily cast aside for the finer things in life.... ice cream.. Again I am loving the green of the grass . My son asked me why I was taking a picture of an ice cream, only a blogger would understand.

Talking of children here is a snippet of a conversation I heard between my two the other day,

Daughter " Mam you used to go Horse Riding didnt you? Do you still have your riding gear?"

Me "Yes it is in the attic"

Daughter " Will Dad get it out?, I could use it."

Son "It will be no use for you"

Daughter "Why?"

Son " They used different riding gear in the Victorian times"

What the ???? At only 34 I am sure I was not around during the Victorian times, perhaps my Great Grandparents were but not me, IAM YOUNG !!!!!!!!

Procrastinating

Oh why is it that I have put off and put off doing things until they have piled up beyond belief. I think if you were to knock on the door right now I would hide behind the chair for fear of actually letting you enter the house. Honestly there is so much stuff everywhere that you may never see light of day again in an attempt to make it out of the door. My house is yet again fit to burst and I have all the time in the world at the moment in which to actually do something about it. Bleurgh !!!

Anyway moving on to something a little more important here are my kiddlets moments before asking,
"Please Mummy, I will look after it"..
"Of course cherub just open the gate and we can stuff it in the back of the car with the dog"

Please note the horse riding gear my Princess is wearing, I was convinced she was due to go to the stables today, it was lucky I rang on route to check only to find it is not actually today at all. Opps silly Mummy.. Still we had a wonderful walk with the dog and we got to see ponys at the same time.

As you can see the daft dog was happy.