The Mighty Frugaleers Meticulously March into March

[WreckTangled]

New thread. Sorry for lame title

Just catching up.
Glad it all went well Wreck and you too Meadow for the Exam.
Too tired now, been in garden all day.
£37.44 on compost in B&Q but got 750 litres so very pleased.

Em If it helps any, although you give away your dignity at childbirth, you also gain absolute and complete authority over everything for the next 20 years. including MIL

We had a good day here and a NSD. Lovely weather and plenty of chat.

ipso good point. I'll swap dignity what I have left anyway for the ability to say no to mil anyday.

Her fb post was deleted. I got a message from her via WhatsApp sort of apologising. But more apologising for the fact that I'm over sensitive. It's not her fault that I'm too sensitive about things. Etc etc.

I swore at it. Gave it the middle fingers. Stuck my tongue out at it. Have deleted and blocked. That's the grown up way to deal with it yes?

Car service today. And breakfast out with ddad. I'm torn between seaside caff bacon rolls and a mug of tea. Or naice place for scrambled eggs and smoked salmon croissants with toast pastries and 4 different types of juice. Seaside caff = £3 each. Naice place £9.50 each (but you do get great food and so much of it). I'll let ddad decide he's being good enough to pick me up.

I'm working today. Need a few bits from tesco (cat food, deodorant, face wipes and cherry tomatoes) but have a £10 tesco gift card I'm going to use so should be a LSD. Dd has swimming lessons later her first in the big pool!

Em hope your dad chooses the latter

Perfect way to deal with it em.
Sorry but what the others have said is true. However you won't care as you will be in the birthing zone or off your tree on drugs, either way not a fuck will be given.

Nsd planned today, famous last words

See iprefer the former. As long as the bacon buttie is done proper. Good Crispy bacon and none of this buttered bun shite, no sauce.

Gosh, I am not sure that I would want absolute and complete authority over anyone, well not my DC anyway. I am not sure that would work with teenagers anyway... I prefer to give them guidance and security and trust that they will make sensible life choices, with us being there to pick up any bumps along the way, whatever happens.

Long discussions re HMRC yesterday. Accountant is dealing with it. Changes in dividend rules have meant they had a bumper year in January but things will be a lot leaner for them this year so they are getting really shirty and tough. Anyway, paid monies on account this morning. £2.5k in total, which is a lot less than the £60k we paid in Jan.

at Life

Spends today will be £12 Amazon on my book for book club and small plastic containers, and £15 Personal Training session.

Ideal way Em and you've retained the MHG (Moral High Ground).

Well done, Em!

Girlie if DD has been eligible for FSM in the last few years (I think it's the last 6) she'll be PP now even if no longer eligible for FSM. It's one of the main things Ofsted judge schools on now - how well do PP pupils do compared with non-PP so they don't be keen to be doing things for PP students.

Sorry that should say they will be keen to be doing a lot for PP students. I need more sleep!

I'm surprised you are even posting Snuggly, fair play to you.

Our school was inspected Tuesday, waiting to hear the outcome.

DS's parents evening tonight. He's going to drop an A Level and do a EPQ instead, as he doesn't have any essay based subjects to demonstrate to potential Uni's.

Further spends that I will get out of the way today-
£110 car tax DH.
£160 carpet cleaner
£170 (potential) for festival tickets for residents, depends if you get through ballot.

What is EPQ Need?

I don't aspire to total authority over my family either. Thankfully we don't have very difficult people just need to keep an eye on BIL and SIL so I don't have battles over boundaries at least.

Very nearly forgot that DS has SLT review today, plus SN playgroup. So parking costs x 2. I will have to rummage in the freezer for dinner as I have nothing fresh in.

POsted too soon...

snuggly are you managing to enjoy yourself or is it just survival at this point? And did you settle on names?

EPQ is an extended project qualification. It's worth half an A Level, usually related to their academic or career aspiration for the future. Usually about 5000 words. He wants to demonstrate other skills, as he's currently doing 4 A levels anyway, only needs 3 for Uni and they are all STEM based. He's chosen Maths at degree.

Although, he was equally good at English, but didn't like the subject. But the skills he has there will be useful for the EPQ.

I'm learning as I go.

It's Open Days for Uni's next. The 2 he has chosen so far are a 6 hour drive away.....

I'm making tortilla soup for tea.

He's also doing his D of E Gold, does voluntary work and karate and keeps fish with no input from us, so I am hoping he is a Well Rounded Candidate

He's very focused, like me, once he's decided on his goal - he's off!

Our grocery shopping has been very cheap so far this month. I always start to wonder if I've forgotten to write something down when that happens, but I suspect that it's just because ds is living entirely on cheese all of a sudden.

Em Your family dynamic reminds me so much of Elizabeth Bennet with her MIL (Or aunt-in-law, I suppose). I wish that Jane Austen had written the sequel and then we all might know what to do.

Thank you Snuggly dd hasn't ever had FSM so I think its a mistake, spoke to someone at the school this morning who said 'oh yes dd def has PP' when I queried it as dd has not ever had anything discounted before or FSM and i'm not on income support etc she sounded a little less sure and said she would look into it!! Will wait to hear I guess.

Have dd at home today as she has a bad stomach, hoping its a 24 hour thing as i'm working tomorrow and she has a busy day planned as well, she seems fine now although very windy so will see how she goes.

I think i had less authority after dd was born as hadn't the foggiest clue what I was doing most of the time in hindsight I def let my mum make decisions that I should have made but I didn't know any better iykwim. I think parenting is 50% muddling through and 50% making it up as you go along anyway

It sounds as though you have a lovely helpful family Girlie. I think the business of getting authority mostly applies where there is someone else in the family that is pulling rank over the Mum. Somehow becoming Mum seems to help adjust the pecking order a bit. I would have been so glad to have someone around who was helpful and knew what they were doing.

Sorry to hear you dd is not well. I hope she feels better soon.

Maybe I should write it ipso something to do during mat leave. Haha!

Dad threw a curve ball and chose a different place. Breakfast cost me £26 (mum came too) for two sausage and bacon rolls, two teas an orange juice three black americanos and poached eggs and bacon on toast. We sat OUTSIDE!! No coats!!!

This was the view. I moan about it being shockingly expensive here. But seriously. Why why why would I want to be anywhere else? Tide was up. Waves crashing over the wall. The water looked good enough for a swim.

Stopped in coop on way home a shopping I needed milk and bread. And apparently a bunch of orange roses and a fruit pot. Spent just under a tenner.

Lovely Em. Look what type of environment you will be bringing BabyEm up in.

Parenting is muddling through most of the time Girlie. Hope DD is okay.

Sorry £15 PT session.

Sorry £15 PT session.

I'm determined babyem will be a beach bum just like his/her parents. As soon as we're able to we're taking it swimming. And will plop it in the sea (obviously well wait for summer for this).

Apparently I was on the beach when I was 5 days old (I'm an October baby and that year we had an Indian summer) and could swim (sort of) before I could walk.