The Friendly Frugaleers, halfway through June!

[Cagliostro]

All welcome!

Em I had the white spots at the beginning of May, it’s a 10 day course of antibiotics for strep throat.

I would go to the walk in today. I waited and was so ill by the Monday.

Mine started on the Friday too.

Just been catching up as I always seem to end up doing on a Saturday morning.
Belated birthday wishes to miniseacow and love
Hope you feel better quickly Em
lonely the job sounds good so far, so pleased for you
Cag planning the move & the new home must feel quite daunting. Exciting though. Fingers crossed for the oven to work.
Welcome witch try to keep posting, lots of support & encouragement here.

Spendy week here, but good news that big car got through an MOT and full service with no unexpected extras, so around £250 compared to £540 last year. Little car goes in on Monday for the same so I'm keeping fingers and toes crossed. Ideally we could do with getting 2 more years from the cars unless we get an unexpected windfall in the meantime. That may be a bit optimistic for the big car though, we'll see.
Collected new glasses on Thursday. It was £££ but they are sooo comfy and I can see again!! Must remember to claim back the cost of the eye test and part of the glasses cost through work.
Quiet day here today. Ds has gone off to play cricket (away) and dd will be scoring for the first team at home. We are going to do house & garden stuff, watch the end of the cricket later and then I'm meeting up with a friend who moved to Switzerlanda year ago but is back for the weekend.

It will be if we can get the gas reconnected by Wed, tbh though it's included in the house clean price. Hoping as the owner specifically said to the HA please see if they want it (rather than just quietly leaving it) it means it's good! Fridge is OK but not happy about using the water dispenser tank without replacing the bits as they were not clean

Oh bugger fluffy I’ll see how I go.

I can eat and drink so that’s a plus. I haven’t actually taken any paracetamol today so it can’t be that bad it’s not painful enough iyswim.

I do get throat infections a lot so am usually over the worst of it by day 3. It started on Thursday so today is day 3. And usually all dr says is paracetamol ibruprofen lots of fluids and rest.

In any case it’s a frugal day here.

Cag I use espares.co.uk for random oven parts (including a door seal, which I’ve replaced before, as Fluffy says it’s easy).

Back later...

We are just back from dds riding lesson, popped to a local fun day which was at a riding for the disabled place spent £10 ish but used money mum gave us and it's all for a good cause.

Sooooooo hot here 🌞

Not doing much rest of the wend now, might have a nap....

Well. I’m out of bed showered and have done some chores. Throat isn’t feeling too bad.

girlie hows dd getting on with her riding?

Em Can you PM me to talk about recovery and stuff? If you'd rather not I totally understand - it's just I had a ventouse delivery too and I am still really struggling with the pain. The doctor told me that I'd see a significant improvement in my pain within a day or two which I have not at all and it's been a few days now, just wondering what your experience was. I think we'd be managing much better if I could bend down, if it didn't hurt to walk/stand up/sit down etc!!

meadow it's going to take weeks for the pain to go completely. Just go very slow and allow yourself time to heal. It's a major amount of rummaging around you have had. Dd2 was ventouse (after a long long road) and I really feel for you, you will be so bruised (inside and out). It will get better.

Not done much today yet! Except made cheese on toast for the dc. Will need to do laundry at some point, do an evening meal (something simple, probably pasta), and maybe potter in the garden.

Had anyone seen wreck about recently?

Wrecks awol.

NSD.

What painkillers have you got meadow ? I had an emcs and had to take painkillers around the clock for a good week or so, from memory I was taking codeine, paracetamol and diclofenac just to function.

em she is doing well, some cantering today, keeps getting reminded to keep her hands down? It doesn't mean much to me! I suggested to her today it might be a good idea for her to help out at the stables over the summer hols to get some more time with the horses.

I’ve been wondering about wreck too

I showed mum the house today and I’m feeling so much happier, the more I see it the more ideas I have and just the realisation we can actually decorate it and how we want/put up whatever shelving we want etc. Yay!

Got laundry to do and prepping for tomorrow - DD1 turns 11, need to set up her first phone 😱 wrap a couple of little presents, get picnic/buggy etc ready for tomorrow as we are off to the coast for a sponsored walk with some family and it’s a really early start (not the best timing really but family obligations etc... DD is happy anyway which is the main thing)

girlie yes! Hands down, arms long, and use her bum to keep the canter. My instructor yells at me “bum and leg and bum and leg and bum and leg....”

In the meantime we are watching greatest showman tonight woohoo. Such a good film!

Em I second the walk in suggestion if it’s still bad tomorrow or you get more spots you may need antibiotics.

I am well soused. Had a good time. Quite spendy but didn’t buy anything to bring home. Also didn’t take advantage of free samples so could be a lot more soused than I am.

Will be getting a takeaway shortly. Might have a little nap first

That was spendy, £28 lunch, £5 at awards, £13 for 5 soft drinks in the pub. FFS it was cheaper for alcohol. It will be £10 for a Chinese later.
I'm not pleased as there was one medal short at the awards - DS ended up without his back that had just left my hand an hour before. I'm sure it will turn up but I have an upset 8 year old. Still an hour being feral with his pals will help.

£10 Chinese takeaway

Girlie I spent pretty much the whole of the school hols helping at the stables at her age! Great experience and I got free riding too.

Sorry you're so sore Meadow. Have you tried popping maternity pads in the freezer before using them? The cold will hekp. How's DD doing?

It was so nearly an NSD. DD had a party at soft play. Soft play was extremely hot and stuffy so I drank all my water and ended up buying a drink. On the plus side she was so full of sausage and chips that she didn't want any tea so that probably offset the cost!

I've had a week of almost continuous frog-eating, but have managed to resurface. Yikes! it's been a long one.

Well done Meadow!

I've haven't managed to read back yet. I hope all is okay there. I'm hopelessly behind.

Still at the family "do". DP won't let us go back to the hotel yet

I'm shattered after all the polite conversation and playing musical chairs

Sorry I've been MIA. It's been a busy few weeks. Looks like I've been missing some very big events here. Congrats. to Cag on getting your new house keys and to meadow on the birth of your darling baby girl and to Lonely on your new job.

Cag you mentioned the need for wardrobes earlier in the thread and whether you should buy them all at once or go for a cheap and cheerful alternative that you can replace at a later stage. Obviously cost is a factor - can you afford to buy 3 wardrobes all at once? Also, bear in mind that plans to buy things further down the line don't always materialise. I'm looking at a second hand cabinet in my sitting room which we got from my BIL's DM when we were buying our first house. We said it would do us until we could afford to replace it with a new one. That was 19 years ago and we still haven't replaced it! Childcare costs and the recession got in the way. So I would go for something that will do you for a few years if necessary, as opposed to something that will have to replaced in six months time. Or maybe buy a new wardrobe for you and DH and something of a temporary nature for your older DD and DS. I'm not sure if your two DDs will end up sharing a room? Will they need a double wardrobe in future?

Wolf good work on the debt consolidation. Enjoy your gin and take away and don't feel guilty. You've been through a very traumatic time and you're still trying to pick up the pieces.

Lonely I know I mentioned it already but I'm so pleased to hear about the new job. I suspect you've been shouldering the financial burden for a long time and you could really do with some relief. And even if they don't keep you on after the trial, you'll have gained some valuable experience. I'm sure they will though. The panda birthday cake is fab. - I love the marbling effect. By any chance, did you watch Zumbo's Just Desserts on Netflix? They made some amazing creations.

em I love your tropical print dress from Tuesday. I love floral and tropical patterns (they'd hate me on the Style and beauty thread). Sorry you're not feeling so well atm. Congrats. on selling the boat finally.

Bandit I also love the threads about what things are called. I'm always intrigued and amused by the regional variations it's definitely Santa not Father Christmas. Thanks for the egg fried rice instructions - I'll have to save them before we move onto the next thread.

Seacow belated happy birthday to your little DD. Enjoy the party tomorrow. Your garden is lovely. Did you get your oven fixed in the end?

Laska have a lovely time in Greece and send us some photos not jeaous at all. Good news about DS's job. Very annoying about your phone but sure, that's a small price to pay to keep in contact with us while you're on your hols.

Welcome aboard Witch

mammy your cross stitch project is amazing. I'm sure the teacher will be thrilled.

Love belated happy birthday to you also. I take it you're visiting the in-laws this weekend? Hope it passes quickly.

Born I hate the stress of packing and work is usually crazy before you finish up as well. Are you staying in the UK?

Hi to anyone else I've missed.

It's been a gorgeous day here and it looks like we've a heatwave in store for the next week. It's going to hit the high 20s towards the end of the week.

I went to a dance competition today to support a friend so I spent €5 on raffle tickets and €1 on a bottle of water. I won a bottle of wine in the raffle . Unfortunately, the competition dragged on for hours (there were different categories for each age group). By the time they finally announced the winners, we were starving, so I got a Chinese take away for me and DD (€19.50). My friend didn't win but I'm glad I went anyway. Oh and I bought a Toblerone ice cream - I think that was €2. The shop freezer was very low on ice creams.

Oh, I forgot to say that I bought a dressy new top in Debenhams last year (it only cost me €5 - long story) but I never got around to wearing it. I didn't have any dressy occasions to wear it to and then I kind of forgot about it. Anyway, DD spotted it in my wardrobe recently and told me I should give it away to the charity shop because I never wear it. I said (outraged), "But I haven't worn it yet". So I promised DD I'd wear it the next time I needed something dressy. I've worn it twice now and I love it. It's a black sleeveless top with yellow and white flowers.

Tayto we are going to The Algarve and I am looking forward to it, but I actually said to DH today that next year I'm not going on holiday as I am sick of all the preparation that goes into it.

Boden sales started.