Countdown to Christmas 2024: And So We Begin (Thread 1)

[NoWordForFluffy]

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It's a leap year next year, so an extra day to wait!

I've ordered 120 baubles today, as WeRChristmas sent me a 50% code for today only. Annoyingly I could get our new tree way cheaper today! 😭

I'm exhausted now I've finally had time to sit and relax. Tomorrow is a chill day.

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Morning! Happy Easter!🐣

We went to bed a bit too late for the losing hour night, so I'm a bit tired. Everyone else is still asleep, mind, including the hound!🐕

Wreck, I prefer Sainsbury's as I don't find it much more expensive (and any product with a big difference, I pop into Aldi for) and I love Nectar points! A lot of what I buy is price-matched anyway. I definitely prefer the shopping experience in Sainsbury's!

I hope you had a lovely time, Buck. I imagine the beach was bracing with the breeze! Though at least it wasn't coming off the water!

I like the nectar points too. I think I’ll go to Aldi in the holidays as we tend to have more snacky things and stick to Sainsbury’s for term time 😅

Oh gosh I thought I was the only person in existence who doesn't like Aldi. I find trying to do the weekly shop in there really depressing. Sainsbury's is much nicer.

Good idea, Wreck!

@Schneekugel, DH and I hate it. Too busy and cramped. Neither of us can concentrate in there! We go for a very few specific items and escape ASAP!

I like Aldi for chocolate and the random aisle of shite. The Jo Malone lime, basil & mandarin dupe is pretty good too.

Fluffy I did catch a distant glimpse of the sea along with a person strolling around with a parrot on their shoulder 😂😂. I did have a lovely couple of hours wandering around with DH although it was sad to see just how much the faded grandeur has faded even further since my last visit.

I’ve just been going through the school uniform list for ds in September 🥴 the PE tops that have to have are £19 for the short sleeve and £25 for the long sleeve - need both. Ridiculous. At least the blazers are cheap.

I like that Aldi do their own brand Skips 😅 the dc and I don’t eat crisps daily but Dh does, he also has a couple of cereal bars a day so good for those… apart from bread etc I just don’t like the fresh produce.

Wreck I always think the PE kit is the outrageous part of school uniform costs. Blazers, ties etc are worn every day but sports kit is once or twice a week and the cost is insane. I remember from my own senior school days my school had specific PE top, skirt, leotard, gym knickers, swimming costume, tennis whites and racquet, hockey boots and stick - it must have cost my parents a fortune. The actual skirt, blouse, cardigan, socks (!) and coat paled into insignificance next to that lot. This was a bog standard grammar school on the outskirts of a big city in the 1980's. Not a lot of spare money anywhere.

I hated PE too.

Yes and I thought schools were supposed to be limiting what had to be branded now. They do two hours a week of PE. Also needs a mouth guard and astro boots. I’m feeling very stressed about him starting secondary!

@WreckTangled our secondary have to have branded blazer, and all branded pe kit. I would hold fire on the astro boots as although ours said they needed them from day 1 of year 7 they didn't actually need them until year 9!

Nearer the time have a look on FB for the branded bits. Or do you have a uniform bank near you? Ours is more of a community uniform swap shop than a uniform bank and Ive picked up lots there. Also have a think about jumpers, neither of mine bother with the jumper and apparently that's quite common as they have blazers so don't really want a jumper aswell

Thanks he’s my youngest so already have one at the school, different uniform requirements for boys though and three years almost since his older sister started. No uniform swap shops or anything here. I know they do rugby in the first term and I think go on the Astro often in winter too. They’ve also started checking everyone’s pencil cases every morning and if they’re missing anything they get negative points 🙄 I hate the schools in this country.

Ooh sympathies Wreck

My DC are long out of school but I remember having to buy uniform:
Some from the School itself - tie , badege , Summer Polo Tops (not compulsary but much nicer than a shirt in summer and of course their friends wore them so they wanted them)
They could only wear them from Easter to Summer and not for exams ( that had to be a shirt/tie) . They've changed to shirt/tie all the time now .

The School Shop , had to drive down , park and massive queues . They covered loads of Secondaries .
Rugby top, reversible , very heavy
Long fleece lined trousers
PE tops ( which my DS lost so many of them , it was a pain, the P&P to get them delivered was ££)
Socks
ShinPads
Mouthguard ( and if your child wears braces they need to be custom made )
Shorts

Football/Rugby shoes (change the studs)

School items you could only buy at the school . School Shop was only at the shop

I don't think DD ever wore her rugby top or trousers .
I had to sew umpteem labels in.
And when they dragged them home to wash them <boak>

This was a standard Secondary School .

Ours doesn’t have a shop now as the shop has stopped stocking it so only sell it online. Not that it matters as the shop is 46 miles from where we live (23 from the school) so we would have got it delivered anyway… no idea why they chose a stockist that’s in another county… it’s all arbitrary rules really, I’m all of smart trousers, sensible shoes and shirt tucked in but otherwise it’s just a bit OTT.

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Pinchy Punchy First of the Monthy

Aprils Fools Day ( it;s not my thing , I let it pass me by)

I don’t like April fools either. I’m in the gym, my alarm went off at 7:30 and I was still fast asleep, stupid clock change. Dh working today, pil’s coming round later.

I've had a chilled day, knitting and cooking after a weekend away celebrating Easter with my extended family.

267 (I think)?

Back in the airport for the next city break today. Prague this week.

Hope everyone is doing ok? Seems like a meh time of year doesn't it? Christmas is long gone but summer is coming in fits and starts.

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I've had 2 days away with the kids seeing my parents and Why. Glad to be home now though and in my own bed.

I'm trying to decide whether tomorrow is when I'll take DS to see the dino trail or DD to Liverpool. I need to check the forecast and go from there!

It was good to see you Fluffy.

I am sat on my chair contemplating whether to get dressed now or leave it a bit. (I know exciting times).

I'm just back from a damp dog walk. FluffyPup does love a muddy puddle. He went in many of the pools which form in the woods! Luckily I wasn't dragged in today, unlike the other day. 😩😬

265

Morning. Bit murky here today.

Trying to negotiate the weather forecast to work out when we can put washing out and actually get it dry. It's a narrow window!

Showery here too. Lovely and warm when the sun appears but it’s not lasting.

It's rained on and off here today - pretty much every time I stepped foot outside the house.

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Morning!

Quick check in as I'm taking DD to Liverpool today to do a murder trail! Hopefully my brain is up to it. 🤔🤣

It's meant to be dry, thankfully. Breezy, mind!

I read that as murder trial 😂