Fantabulous February with the Friendly Frugaleers!

[Cagliostro]

Hello everyone, new thread time yet again!

Awake here. Cat face was pouncing on the bed. Mostly dhs knees

Nsd planned today.
Well done brighter.
Need an ultra is doable if you can get the training in. You can do beat their fastest.

Ah cag PMS sucks. Hope they have abated.

Slept in so running 30 mins behind now. Must go

cag nice nz names... I've just googled.

There are the more traditional names eg Amelia Caitlin Olivia Henry jack oscar as well as the Leyton peyton (girl) Mackenzie mason etc

Maori names however give us: girls: tui tia mahareke Mia aria and boys: matiu, te ariki ma'a

I quite like tui. It is also the name for a small bird. And brand of beer.

Cag Sorry to hear about the hormones. I did LOL at the power rangers thing though. Life is so weird isn't it?

Our new GP has sent off the long for that I filled in ages ago asking for people to actually do something helpful to sort out our family health problems so we are crossing our fingers on that.

I'm enjoying my bird feeding. I'm in the back bedroom munching the potatoes and watching them and they really are nice to see when the garden is so empty in winter.

Don't know how to link but just seen this on fb...

Thought for the day:-

Donald Trump is a reminder that you should just apply for the job you want, even if you don't have the experience!

Thought it was very apt for a number of us frugaleers!

Cath our feeder was really busy yesterday with mainly great tits and blue tits plus a couple of long tailed tits. They've eaten nearly all the seed. It's the busiest I've seen it for ages, I wondered if the birds sensed that bad weather was on the way and so were stocking up?? I've also seen a redwing in the garden twice recently.

Been hope you have a better day today.

I didn't sleep well, the wind woke me up, then I went back to sleep and dreamt that DD ate a big spider and woke up again in horror! Have taken her to nursery and got back into bed even though I have lots to do this morning.

Need petrol so thought I'd go up to Sainsbury's and stock up on cards/gifts for all the children's parties we have in the next couple of months. Going to wrap them so it's one less thing to worry about when the babies arrive.

Wondering whether I should be flaunting the bump in a gold veil but I reckon in a few more weeks Beyoncé will be in New Look maternity leggings and one of Jay-Z's old jumpers like me!

need that doesn't sound at all wanky When I did my only half marathon, I was on mat leave with ds, used to drop dd to preschool, ds to childminder, go running, collect ds & take him to water babies, and back to collect dd all in 3 hours, swimming was 5 miles from childminders, but it was busy but good because I wanted it. When I returned to work I did the 5am runs also. I will get back to this in next month as mornings get brighter and to get the additional runs in each week too. I've run once a week in January, it needs to be 3 times per week to build up speed & improve stamina.

wreck that was me asking about patisserie Valerie, I was there once when we were in London last year.

burnttoast because it's unofficial it's hard to prove discrimination.
My colleague works 4 days, and shortened her hours further last year as she was finding work/life/health balance tough. It was emphasised to her that it was acceptable only because of the role she has. This was so it would feed back to me in case I got ideas She picked up on this and said mammymammyIRL isn't interested in reducing her hours anyhow

My work colleague's wife had a baby boy Tues called Diarmuid and a friend's girlfriend had a boy called Lucas.

Concur for sure with early mornings being easier in spring/summer. I'm lucky my job depends on seasons/weather so the extremely early mornings 6.30 starts happen in summer/autumn and not winter.

Snuggly that's interesting about the birds. I hope bad weather isn't on the way tbh. It's been about 10 degrees here for a while and I'm glad of it. Cold is fun for a bit but I'm done with it now. I'll be glad when the warm weather arrives.

I did some more frugaleer affirmative action and sent a very detailed food diary off to a dietician. I'm quite excited to see the results as it's a computer analysis that will say percentages of different vitamins and things. Yay! Geek fun.

3.5hrs sleep aaargh better not watch any power rangers today or I will be crying more I'd say 😂 Was totally weird cath not least because I was laughing at the same time because of how ridiculous it felt to be crying at crap children's telly 😂

I am also proper grumpy because there's a new front page "article" (in the mirror so I use the word lightly) featuring a home ed family and it's just totally NOT representative of HE - this kind of shitty click bait does us as a group no favours at all. 😡😡😡

Anyway. Morning to myself as Caglets at trampolining with DH, need to get stuff ready to take when I meet them though and should pop to the bank. DH cancelled his account fee thing and I must do the same so we can finally claim the fees

mammy I am familiar with the scenario you describe. But you did it. And I think that's why it feels so good when you cross the line, 'cos you know the hard work and sacrifice that has gone into that feeling. I think our bodies are far stronger than we can ever believe, it's our minds that fail us.

Plus, when you are that busy, it stops us being maudlin and dwelling as we too busy living.

Been You have got me thinking. My old running coach used to make me come up with an inspirational quote for the week and stick it to the fridge. Also 3 'achievements' a week, this was training related for me, but doesn't have to be. So, at mile 22 in a marathon, when everything hurts like you wouldn't believe and you want to stop so badly, you still push on.

Therefore my' intellectual' quote for the day is Put your positive pants on

I've just come up with a new way of being frugal. For a while now I've been trying to use dd's old vests on ds but you know the lacy bit of edging, well sometimes they're coloured which ds doesn't like but also they get dirty looking from washing unlike the vests. Ds's vests however don't do this as their neckline is more tshirt like. They both need new vests so I'm going to buy them from the boys section and then they can be passed down, I'll sell it to dd that they're warmer, I'll have them out of the packets before giving them to her.

Also in the 'crap sleep' brigade here Cag and Snuggly. Grr. 4 hrs is not enough. For some reason I have no trouble napping during the day but just can't sleep through the night!

I have learned there is an ASD-friendly session at a soft play about half an hour away once a month. Might give it a go this weekend, although I am not convinced I'll get DS out of the house early enough as he does like to strictly follow the breakfast routine 🙄. It would be good to meet some other mums actually, I am really feeling my lack of peer group with either NT mums or SN mums.

My friend came round last night with the nice lightweight pram and baby car seat she is passing onto me. I have put all the covers through the wash (with the aid of a YouTube vid for getting the car seat apart 😁) And they have come up really well. Assuming I can reassemble the car seat all is good - money saved! I bought a new footmuff for the pram though because my friend's baby was a winter one, mine is summer, so the newborn wrap I was given won't fit by winter. I got a different colour so 'had' to buy the matching hood too! We will be resplendent in purple. They were both reduced as this model of pram is apparently being discontinued.

Can't wait for my 20-week can next week to know all is well. I still feel much more anxious about this pregnancy than I did the first time round, I have more knowledge this time round and that's not a good thing!

Apart from parking at playgroup I am hoping today will be an NSD.

need you have hit the nail on the head Plus, when you are that busy, it stops us being maudlin and dwelling as we too busy living This.

I can't run well, can't get my brain to do it, and I don't think getting dragged a few miles by a fat but strong cocker spaniel counts!

But, since we have a bike shop, I have access to some seriously good gear, and have my outlet, my road bike! At first I felt a fool, wobbled along for 6 miles and thought I'd die, now I'm in our team lycra, all the kit, on a 2.5k bike (the shop owns it), and proudly post to strava. Can't wait to get some miles in my legs and feel that freedom when my mind is clear. (says the least sporty person in the world, it still surprises me)

Oh, we have a few iron-men, ultra guys (though no women) in our club, so huge respect is due for anyone who puts that sort of commitment in.

Am writing a 2 week meal plan and shopping list, will tackle the shops in a bit. Then dd2 is back to the gp after school as her asthma has flared again.

cath Am glad you didn't get ripped off with your roof. I was a bit shocked about the amount you paid for a few tiles, but with scaffolding it makes sense. We have a roofer in our race team and he talks (a lot) about jobs and prices, he'll do us a whole new roof for 4k when we can afford it (that'ull be never then), and most of that is scaffolding.

Bloody hell, just woke up!

Well it's been a busy morning here. I've got lots of jobs done around the house, updated our finance spreadsheets and been out for a power walk. All good from a frugal point of view as no spending. I also made a soup from some quite miserable looking veg which now looks and smells delicious. Thursday is usually a day off for me but I'm going in to work this afternoon to do some additional hours to cover for vacancies. Would rather not, but motivating myself with the thought of the money!

My walk this morning follows a second trip to the gym yesterday and I really feel like I'm getting back into my stride with exercise. I've got goals which I feel are achievable for fitness and weight loss. They are interim goals though as I have a lot of weight to lose and a lot of fitness to gain!! One step at a time...

Now that the loft project is done, I have added a "driveway" pot to our spreadsheet as we would like to get it done in the spring. All my extra hours is going to go into that & I've started it off with the £150 that would have gone to pay council tax usually. A large part of it should be covered by an allowance dh is paid by work. It is paid annually as a lump sum and in previously has just been absorbed by general debts but we don't need to do that this year so it will be good to use it more positively. The driveway has been pretty minging for years now but things inside the house have always taken priority over getting it sorted.

Good on 'ya Snuggly. Why not, your body is working hard.

Knitting If you could see me cycle I can safely say I won't ever be doing a Tri! You sum up perfectly the feeling I get from a run. A release, clean space. Plus, it's incredible how being fit makes you feel. My club sounds like yours, supportive and friendly and for all abilities. Truly inclusive. The camaraderie is brill. I've met a really good friend there too in the last few months. We just gel. A rare thing to find I think, a real friend. He's a bloke, DH don't mind though.

Used an Apple Gift card to purchase a new phone case.

Personal trainer was rock hard and I am going to feel it tomorrow, I know this already. The difference in strength in my back and core is amazing in just a couple of months.

Fluffy Did you see on the MSE email about buying unused M&S and JL gift cards for less than their value? Useful if you shop there.

knitting that's interesting about the scaffolding. Good price for a whole roof. They actually redid a whole run of hip tiles for us, but only because four were loose. It's done now though, and that's the main thing. Not planning to touch it again ever.

Need It's interesting what you say about pushing the body. I have the same sort of thing with my brain. I've always been able to push it very very hard in exams times, though I do pay for it afterwards. I've never tried to push my body that hard, or ever felt the need to. I've always been a meditative gardening type and enjoyed pottering rather than running.

I'm glad you enjoy your running. It sounds as though it really works for you.

I missed your post North. Good to have another house project. We budget for one a year. This year will be having the walk in wardrobe fitted properly. And positive steps re the gym and fitness.

Knitting I forgot earlier, one of the guys at work is a serious cyclist. When they moved recently, he brought his bike to work, so it wouldn't get damaged in the move. Never mind any furniture or anything.

Yep, different things work for different folk Cath. How did you pay for pushing so hard re the brain? Even though I can be exhausted most of the time (!!) I am invigorated too iyswim?

I'm nowhere near some of you in fitness, but I have just been for a 3 mile walk in 40 minutes and feel far better for it! Picked up milk, chocolate and some Tunnock's snowballs, so spends of £2.47.

Off today due to being full of cold and feeling rubbish. Not spent anything so far today but will be spending 3.00 at the hairdressers to get Dd2 fringe trimmed this evening. So not too bad.

My new freezer is arriving on Saturday so really excited about that, can get batch cooking and won't have to play freezer Tetris as much with just our tiny one in the kitchen

Need The thing that happens to me after exams is always is a sort of low grade burnout. So for example if I was studying for a set of exams and I spent 6 weeks doing proper studying (what they call cramming I suppose) then on the day after the last exam I would experience this sort of burnout which is really just nausea as my body returns dips to below par while it recovers. The burnout always lasts the same length of time as the cramming, so 6 weeks of cramming gives me 6 weeks of burnout. My University finals were a hard recovery as I was doing a 4 hour round trip commute and had 3 months of very hard studying at the end. The whole year was pretty intense tbh.

When I read up about this online, the impression that I get is that in the cramming phase I push myself too hard and pump adrenaline too hard and when the cramming stops the adrenaline system goes a bit wonky and takes a while to recover. I think that that is what burnout is, and I'm pretty certain that that's a large part of what's going on with me now.

I'm currently working on learning to control that system, and control my ambitions so I pace myself more reasonably. This is the "pacing" concept that CremeEggThief is teaching me.

Ideally of course, the world would not require people to work too hard like this, but I suppose in a competitive world these are the choices that we make.

Do you not ever feel different after a marathon, or is that a totally different kettle of fish? I suppose if you're doing it right then marathon running becomes normal for you, and the problem perhaps arises if you stop running regularly? Perhaps that's why you feel so good when you are running? Maybe that's your normal physiological state?

Agghh! Very spendy day, specifically the last hour and a half. £51 petrol. £61 in Sainsbury's on gifts for kids with birthdays coming up, healthy snacks and a massive tent nighty for when I'm in hospital. Then £27 in Mothercare on sleep bras, maternity and breast pads. Bloomin heck they are expensive!
Just having a brew in a cafe before I go to this week's hospital appointment. It's quite a late one today and my mum is looking after DD yet again so we are treating her to a chip shop tea.
Tomorrow needs to be an NSD!

Snuggly that post is really helping me to make my peace with the idea of stopping at one child. If you have any more like that I'd be glad to hear it. Well done on all the preparation.