Jolly japes in July (only if they are frugal)...!

[needastrongone]

New thread

You can get cashback on holidays though Short

£8 drontal wormer for the cat
£1.10 soup and bread for later.
£82 two weeks shopping in waitrose.

£18 refund from cc company, someone's set up Netflix on my card.

I got DD to help me tackle the playroom today. It's a very large room but it was very untidy. To be fair, it wasn't all DD's mess. DH and I sometimes use it as dumping ground e.g. if we've people coming to visit and we're doing a quick tidy of one of the other rooms. We chuck some stuff into the playroom with the intention of sorting it out later. And then forget about it.

I asked DD what her vision is for the room now that she's heading into her teens and moving on from some of her toys (she's not ready to part with all her toys just yet, but acknowledges that she's finished with some things). We've agreed that it would be great to turn it into a hang out/teen room for when she has friends over for a playdate or sleepover. So we're planning to paint it blue and buy a cheap couch and some nice cushions etc. She went from reluctant helper to brimming over with enthusiasm . It made the job a lot easier when she was a willing participant and she was quicker to throw away things when I asked her if it fitted into her vision of the finished room.

We didn't get it all done today but we'll finish if off on Saturday by clearing her toy/jigsaw storage shelves. Then we can pick up paint and get stuck in.

Should be a NSD. I've to pick up bread and pasta sauce.

Verry hot here today.

dotcom DD isn't too bad but she has been over indulged all day. I was luckily working from home to go to a local meeting rather than miles away but I had to do work today as I'm on holiday next week. So DD has had a new big box of Lego to construct and has been rewarded with a film and ice cream. So she is a bit itchy but generally quite happy.

She had two spots at 7.30am when I sent her to the childminder. Was covered when I collected her from school at 9am And then a text went out from school about not sending in spotty children for her whole year

27 degrees here!

Too late once they are spotty. The virus incubates before then.
£250 on car service

Just keeping my place. Too much to catch up on!

£9 sainsbursy on moana DVD (which, FYI is £12 on Amazon) and strawberries. The DVD was for dd as a well done on her report. Some of the comments from her teacher:

'Wreck's dd is a delightful girl who always strived her best...it really has been a delight to share in her learning journey...and see her grow and blossom. I will really miss her and wish her all the best for the future'

'She has made good progress in reading this year and continues to exceed the age related expectations....in writing she has made better than expected process and again has exceeded the age related expectations'. Maths has proved more challenging yet her fantastic attitude and resilience has enabled her to keep trying and meet the age related expectations'.

Head teacher:

'Wrecks dd is one of those rare children who are such a delight in every aspect of their work, manners, attitude to others and own personal resilience'

She also did above average in her sats. Sorry for the mememe post but I'm so proud I could burst, you always question yourself as a parent so this is lovely to read.

Anyway back to being frugal! Ds has swimming later so that'll be £24.

OMG love that's bonkers! Didn't know they could develop so quickly! Glad she's happy for now though.

Well done wreck's DD!

wreck that's just lovely. You know you can always post happy stuff on here without anyone thinking you're showing off. for your clearly lovely dd.

tayto great idea about the playroom. I think your dd and my dd2 are both about 11? Transiting to big school this summer, as is girlies. I had a "we need to clear your room in the holidays" monologue dd2 and dd3 were not listening at all on saturday, but I think now I'll phrase it as growing up/moving into teen phase and see if we get results. They still have happy land stuff alongside pop up books etc in their room, and they are 9.5 and 11!

I got some wall/steps built in the garden this morning, all materials already bought, so a good job done.

Reward was a 19 mile bike ride along Hadrians wall (birdoswald bit) with dp. Super weather today.

£16 in the coop on mince and rolls for burgers for tea (very quick and tasty), plus ice creams for dc and bags of peanut m and m's for them to eat on the way home.

3 days until the holidays...

love has dd2 had them yet? If not she'll be incubating, and hers might be much worse. Mine got it one after the other, and by dd3 it was awful, she was really poorly. Not sure if ds has had it tbh, he was a bit unwell when it went round preschool, but we didn't see a spot.

mummy wait...there's a Star Wars hotel????!!!! That. Sounds. Amazing. £13k though. Ouch. But that's for 4? And all in (so flights hotels villa parks hire car and shopping budget) And Florida. And what time of year?

wreck well done to dd.

Spends today £6.49 in pet shop - royal canin fuller for longer type food, some cat grass and a new mousie spoiled catface

£2.60 chicken bacon sweet corn mayo salad mini baguette.

I also dropped my maternity leave form into our social security office for processing.

Work have found someone to cover me so just need them to make a decision re my return to work next year - either 4 days in Feb or 5 days in may. Their call. My paid leave runs until the end of Feb. If I stay off until May it'll be unpaid (the March - may bit) Dh and I are happy with either so it's up to work really.

All in all a good day.

Dh has also booked me a preggo spa afternoon at lovely hotel for next next weekend (29th). On. My. Own. - preggo massage, body exfoliation, salt steam, facial mani pedi. He'll meet me at 4 and we're going to have outside afternoon tea. With a glass of champagne. 😀 Aside from being pregnant and not moaning about things I'm not entirely sure what I've done to deserve it. But. I am excited!!!!

Will also go for an outdoor dip in the pool. It's a hotel in the middle of town but they have a salt water outdoor pool. Nice nice nice.

It's out 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday of this week. Traditional gifts should be made of iron. Modern gifts sweets/candy. Any ideas for a dh gift? Tempted to buy a fuckton lot of sweets/chocolate.

Well done to your DD wreck, no wonder you are proud!

Em spa sounds fabulous, lucky you!

Spendy day today - nearly £70 buying new make up (tend to wait til I'm low and buy loads at once), £1 on some fruit for lunch (to go with my packed lunch 😇), £13 on dry cleaning and £6 on a small top up shop as I didn't go this weekend. Annoyingly the dry cleaners couldn't get one of the stains out of my cream jacket. Any tips for removing red wine stains?! 😳 Would be a shame to have to throw it out.

The council haven't applied a single person discount to my council tax so I'm just about to put an application in. Should save me about £250 per year so definitely worth the effort!

Hey everyone! Fairly spendy here as it's grocery day - kept as low as I could to under £60 but I had to put a lot of things down!

Tayto I love the playroom idea. We're creating a playroom when we have some work done in January and despite mine still being babes I'm already thinking of how it can be set up to transition to teen years!

Love it's crazy how fast the pox spreads!

Wreck you should be bursting with pride - that's an amazing school report! We had reports home today too so £2 on icecreams in the park.

Lonely I've always wanted to walk some of Hadrian's Wall! Are there any iron-age connections too? Thought em could book a future break to somewhere with a tenuous link to iron!

Holly gold star for packed lunch!

Hello!

I'm back from camping and it went well, but I'm knee-deep in tidying and washing and sorting so haven't caught up. Back soon! I hope all is well there.

em could you sign DH up for an iron man triathlon? Or say you have

Tayto fab idea idea about the hang out bedroom, I have gently mentioned to dd that maybe its time to let some of the younger toys go but she is having none of it everyone keeps telling me that it all changes once they hit secondary so we shall see!!!

Glad you had a good time Sunny

Wow Wreck that is a lovely report, well done to her (and you as obviously your fab parenting had something to do with it )

I am feeling pleased with dds end of year gifts for her teachers, i bought a Morrisons fuchsia plant for £1 and a ceramic plant pot for 99p which dd decorated with her pens and it looks lovely. Have done the same for the childminder but bought a slightly bigger plant!! She has also made the cards so in all for 3 gifts has cost roughly £9.

Glad you enjoyed camping, Sunny.

Great report for your DD, Wreck. Rightfully proud.

Just been back to Pilates for the first time in nearly 2 months! Absolutely loved it! Spends: £7 Pilates, £6.50 bus and £1 milk.

That's a fantastic report "Wreck". You should be very proud. Moana 's great - I quite enjoyed it myself .

Lonely DD is 12. They move up to secondary school at age 12/13 here.

Primary School is Junior Infants, Senior Infants, then 1st class - 6th class. So eight years in total.

Secondary School is 1st - 3rd year (state exams at the end of 3rd year), then 5th - 6th year (state exams at the end of 6th year). Five years in total. Some schools do an extra year (4th year) which is called Transition Year or TY for short. I never did TY myself but they take a break from the curriculum and just do a small amount of academic work. There's a big emphasis on things like work experience and they also do some trips away. I think it was originally designed for early school leavers, to prepare them for work, but some schools do it as standard.

em your spa afternoon sounds heavenly.

Mummy I never looked into the cost of Florida but I just assumed it would be about 3 or 4k. Is it the hotel that's making it so expensive? Or is that normal for a Florida holiday?

Thanks everyone tayto I love moana!

Pox is rife round here at the moment. Horrible illness.

Holly that's definitely one worth chasing!

Em that sounds amazing!

DD2 isn't showing any sign of the pox.. yet.

Tiny issue is we're due to go to centre parcs the weekend after next. And that's our family holiday this year. I guess we will still go if the DDs aren't too poorly but we may be spending most of the time in the accommodation rather than swimming/play areas . I guess once the scabs go crusty we can cover them up but they need to reach that stage before they are not contagious. I never considered travel insurance for a holiday 1.25 hours from home. Not sure if it would cover chicken pox though.

at the Florida trip cost mummy . I would've been thinking £3-4K for a carefully frugally booked trip!

Love yes it would cover it. I would get some now as it'll cover you if dd2 gets it. No one needs to know she got it from dd1...

I always thought you could do a decent Disney world for about £8k but I suppose everything has gone up. I do think if you're going to do it then you should do it properly but I couldn't spend that on a holiday personally. If I had the money they I def would

Good point wreck . On the case now, can get cover for less than £10 with the two for one cinema tickets thing.

We are able to declare DD1s current chickenpox too for a few £s too which is better incase we do actually need to use it! And feels less sneaky

Oh that's good news!

Fantastic report miniwreck what a star! 😍

Good idea to get the insurance but I expect they will be fine by then, hopefully if little one is going to get it it'll be very soon. There wasn't much lag between my two coming down with it.

Crap day here

love I think by the weekend after next you should be clear anyway, even if dd2 goes down. Once the spots have scabbed, I think you're in the clear infection wise. It's before they get the spots that they're propetly contagious , if I remember right. I hope your dd isn't too itchy. Trim her nails short! I think our gp recommended piriton, as dd3 was very bad with it, it drove her crazy itching, and the piriton made her hyper. I didn't sleep well for a while!

Golly that holiday is A LOT! We didn't spend that much on our huge 7 seater car! I'm not very disney, so never really fancied the parks. Doing the rollercoaters with teenage dc appeals to me though!

An iron man is definatley the way to go em !! Preferably the one in Hawaii... Plus a load of sweets.