Frugaleers March On!

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
New thread time. I hope you all see this and join in. Newbies are always very welcome too.

That's not great I'd, re your exp. I know what they earn out there, DH has been approached loads of times, so he really shouldn't mess you around.

Hope the dentist goes ok today booty

Dances around in glee and over the moon for girlie FANTASTIC BLOODY NEWS!!!!!

Snowing here.

Morrisons shop on it's way, £50. That will be it today.

I wonder is the snow on its way to us? It's dry and mild at the moment. I'm going to walk to the bigger village, have a coffee in the nice café and do a top-up shop at the Co-op. I didn't need to do a proper shop this week, as I have enough in for dinners.

I'm sick of meal planning the same old crap every week!

What are your favourite frugal meals? I need inspiration / reminding.

the thought of writing down jacket potatoes and slow cooked chilli again is making me want to curl up in a ball.

So happy for you girlie glad it's all coming together, shocked at the mistake!

Snowing here I really need to walk to town and get my nans something small but it's so cold and far away so I'm on the sofa with a hot water bottle watching how I met your mother. It's not very productive.

But it's cheap!

That sounds like a nice morning Creme. It's really coming down here.

I really ought to go and check the pony, as he has discovered how to get out of his rug and likes being 'naked' in the field. Which isn't great as he's just been clipped. I don't know how he does this, a pony rug has neck fasteners, belly fasteners and tail fasteners (least effective), so it's like him getting out of a straight jacket. The rug is fully done up still, in a pile in the field when we get to him........

Collie, do you have fussy eaters? Then I can come up with a few suggestions.

I feel the same we run on rotation of chicken/sausage casserole, curry and hunter chicken. Need to break the cycle

I love reading about your naughty pony, Need. A very entertaining character! Right, I should get going,in case the snow comes. I'll wear my snow boots just in case!

No fussy eaters here. Please save me from the jacket spuds

ipsos I know it's really hard when your child is different then the rest of them; my ds (11y) is shy and introvert as well as on autistic spectrum so finds it really hard to make new friends. But we don't have a statement of special needs for him because different Senco and other specialist can't agree about any of his issues.
fab new girlie about the house
collie same here so any ideas would be really appreciated, tonight it's spicy chicken and couscous for dh who is doing slimming world again and crispy chicken in a wrap for dc and me
Should be LSD today as I just need to get some bananas and some veg since I didn't want this week veg box
So far we had wind, rain, hail and now even a bit of sun

I've been clearing out more of my kitchen cupboards so I could put things that were on the sides (cereal olive oil mixer etc) in them. Looks much better

It's snowing here now?! We're in the south...

Ds is doing some painting so is really happy. Those giant rolls of paper from ikea are the best.

Collie

Mary Berry roasted sausage and potato supper (essentially sausage tray bake), the sauce you roast in is lovely.
Carrot and clementine soup is lovely, it's sweet enough for children.
My DC like chilli layered with nachos and baked in the over, an alternative to jacket spuds?
Mary Berry Malay Fried Rice (it's only very lightly spicy), no fancy or expensive ingredients.
Jack Monroe does a pasta bake with cauliflower, cheese sauce, pasta and bacon, I sometimes use chorizo.
Spicy sweet potato wedges are useful for a number of egg dishes.
Lamb tagine, an easy SC dish and sweet too if you add apricots or chopped prunes (DC don't realise what they are, or raisins.
Sticky chicken drumsticks (Nigella) or spare ribs?

I can go on... and on.

The pony is a little sod, he's a games pony, most games pony are little sods, if they are too fast fizzy or forward going for a child, they get chucked onto the games circuit.

knitting I think ipsos's DS sounds like a normal, lovely, funny little boy, who loves playing and actually a wee bit of sensible rough and tumble, who might possibly just need to learn the finer arts of all this stuff

Weather here is going a bit nuts. Storm warnings etc. I just popped out for a walk and was quickly back inside again. Almost got blown away and there was hail/rain. Ick.

Nsd so far.

Have found that I know someone at the firm whose running the seminar this afternoon. There will be canapés.

Total frugal fail! I've been meaning to cancel a DD since last Thursday and kept forgetting but thought it went out later in the month so it wouldn't matter. Just did it and realised it went out yesterday. Bugger.

Frugal meal ideas:
cauliflower and lentil curry
carrot, lentil and ginger soup
pasta with pepper in a sauce made out of onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and cream cheese
spinach and ricotta lasagne but with frozen spinach and cream cheese (we normally have the last 2 in the same week so all the cream cheese gets used up)
roasted root veg with cous cous and some sort of dressing.
banana oat pancakes

Those are our current favourites anyway!

Goodness me this thread moves quick!

Apologies to anyone I forgot to mention! Fuzz well done on the idea moving across even if youre not there at the min its an achievement! Knitting well done on the labradoodle, sorry ExP is an arse, I cant imagine ever holding money off my own children if DH and I split. Girlie yay!

Collie this weeks ideas for us are pasta bake, beef tacos, fish and chips, hunters chicken.

Im in a strange position shopping wise this week, we dont seem to have eaten much dinners wise but also need about half a shop (loo roll, yoghurts etc) - rather than spend 40 min on a delivery I think we will scoot up this afternoon. Ds has a party later too so no dinner needed tonight either!

Has 2 further parties this weekend! All sorted present wise using points / vouchers so proud of that. Must get some mothers day stuff this afternoon as well.

Have spent the morning cleaning the house which was frugal and much needed!

Oh em I love canapés! I'm very jealous.

No news on the car yet I probably won't know anything until dh gets home from work.

Going to make pea and ham soup for dinner. Unfortunately we don't have any rolls. Or bread. Hmm....

Oh frugal win just received six weeks of vouchers from tesco £7 off the first week and £5 off the rest.

Glad I've not bothered with the adventure playground meet up today - weather is horrendous here and we're all benefiting from the quiet day at home. Must summon the energy to continue sorting the living room though.

Sympathies re: meal planning, there aren't many main meals that the DCs actually like, especially DS as there's barely any veg he eats. And it has to be coeliac friendly most of the time too because of DH.

Knitting and need Thanks for both your thoughts. I'm sitting here with furrowed brows wondering how a person even begins to distinguish between asd and child who is constitutionally a bit of a nobend (Is Jeremy Clarkson asd? How would you know?). The latter runs strongly in my family, but we don't knowingly have any asd people.

I just remembered that we had a bunch of lead paint removed from the house before Christmas too, so I am going to ask for a lead test if the gp will do it.

My credit card bill is much lower than usual this month but I still seem to have less money than last month. I feel like a frugaleer light-weight. Oh well. The one thing I have learned from this thread is that we're basically ok, and I don't need to worry too much. That's a big improvement for me.

See if you can find this at the library, Ipsos - it's brilliant. There are so many little things explained in there that can be missed because they are not in the stereotype of ASD if that makes sense? There's a huge amount of variation. ASD isn't always obvious. I think it may be worth looking into. All it means really is that his brain might be working in a slightly different way to most people. It's a difference that is positive in many ways :)

I have ASD and I don't think I'm in any way similar to a nobend. :o I do have some social issues like taking part in conversation and stuff like that. That I think is the difference - I really want to be polite, and I hate it when I struggle with things like interrupting by accident (there's a thread on it ATM, made me sad) - I do not want to be rude, EVER (in fact it was issues like this that first led me to attempt a referral). If I was a nobend I simply wouldn't care. :o

blue I love the speed of this thread, I'm on a thread on an irish forum and there's been 16 posts since the 1st March. We've had 4 pages!

I used to be on a BBC parenting forum before I saw the light discovered MN. It was deathly slow. Sometimes I'd just sit there refreshing the screen.

I tried popping back once, to post about something (it was actually home ed as we nearly did it from the start) - OMG the replies, everyone swarmed in and was really closed-minded and bitchy. I realised what a cliquey place it was and closed my account never to return. I love that MN is such a massive thing, there'll always be someone to talk to about anything. :)

Thanks fuzz. I have a Tony Attwood book on the shelf but I'm a bit afraid to read it in case it seems like that's what's going on. I wish that people didn't associate very mild asd with severe autism. It seems so very different.

It can be more difficult to diagnose high functioning autism/ Aspergers Syndrome, Ipsos. My DS was assessed twice when he was younger, by two different paediatricians, and in both instances, there wasn't enough evidence to diagnose one way or the other. My own feeling is that he probably has Aspergers, but he copes, so there wouldn't be much help, even if he had a diagnosis. I have tried to bring him up as 'normally' as possible, encouraged him into going to many different activities and interacting sociably, from a young age. I did have to do a lot of work around eye contact, taking turns in speech, using a pleasant speaking voice, as he was extremely loud, not just talking about your own interests, behaving well in public, etc. when he was younger. I've always tried to get him to think of himself as like others too, as he is the type who could dwell on a label and use it as an excuse. But your DS sounds like a normal little boy to me, so I agree with Need. That's great that your credit card bill is lower, by the way.

Still no snow here! It's actually nice and sunny. I walked to and most of the way back from the nice village. £4.30 in the naice café; £2.45 in the post office; £3.25 in the florist, on my first bunch of flowers of the year (I can't trust DS to remember some for Mother's Day!); £15.30 in the Co-op and £1.10 on the bus home, as my bag was heavy and it was uphill from there.

My Meal Plan this week:
Sunday: veggie toad-in-the-hole with gravy and mixed vegetables.
Monday: veggie toad-in-the-hole with mash and gravy.
Tuesday: jackets with cheese and beans for me and cheese and pesto for DS.
Wednesday: Quorn chilli with rice, sour cream and tortilla chips.
Thursday : same. DS might have to make himself pasta or veggie hot dogs, as he's hit and miss with chilli.
Friday: veggie burgers and wedges and salad.
Saturday : pizza. I got a lovely one in the Co-op for £3, with feta, olives and roast veg.
Sunday: Indian takeaway for a Mother's day treat. DS is with his dad most of the weekend, so we'll have it on Sunday night.
Monday: pasta and pesto, with avocado.

Indeed, there are so many misconceptions. A friend with an autistic son has often been asked, on revealing his diagnosis to someone, "Oh, like rainman! What's his special power?"

I forgot to say that's excellent that your idea is being rolled out in more places, Fuzz. I hope you are proud of yourself.

Even the chit chat board on rollercoaster is slow fuzz love mumsnet too for it's broad range of people. I got slated on rollercoaster for talking about our arrangement with our au pair last year and have barely looked at it since.

ipsos has your ds had any form of assessment? My dgs is possibly on the spectrum he's young so hasn't had an official diagnosis yet but has been to see loads of professionals.

I only ask because my dd has recently been diagnosed with hypermobility and only for being referred to occupational therapy due to bedwetting I would have just put it down to her being clumsy, turns out there's a genuine reason for her clumsiness