Countdown to a Frugal Christmas, The Friendly Frugaleers still knitting,nattering and money saving!

[QuiteFabULousDahling]

New Fred

At the dentist. Hoorah. For the next round of teeth shaving...yippee. Then the next 8 sets of aligners. Yippee.

happy birthday Girlie - you can still be naughty at forty.

That's a fab autocorrect Christmas.

A very happy birthday to you, Girlie, and what a sweet dd you have!

Sounds painful em - good luck!

Aiming for only a spend on the bus today.

Yesterday I spent €2.60 on cat food as I forgot the poor cat when I did grocery shopping on Fri night we only ran out yesterday morning though and he left us a fine big 'present' this morning so he's not offended.

Happy birthday Girlie!

Hope you have a lovely day. And as they say, growing old is mandatory, growing up is voluntary! Almost 3 years into my 40s and never felt more comfortable with myself and who I am, loving it!

Going to try and get some bits online for Christmas today. Ordered Alexa dots for the boys yesterday as they’re half price.

Happy birthday Girlie!

Sea your DD sounds awesome! I was worried about the dts because I haven't been able to give them my undivided attention in the same way as you can with your first. I really thought it would affect they speech and so on but if anything they've done a lot of things earlier than she did. Not walking but talking, using cutlery, using toys in the intended way rather than just banging them. That sort of thing. I think it's because they copy their big sister and want to do what she does.

Should be NSD.

Thanks Snuggly and Lonely. I think she is fab - quite a character, and hopefully I’m worrying about nothing. She’s fairly average at lots of things (walking, puzzle-type things etc) but it’s speech and number /character recognition that is so ahead. Then again, we read to her a lot (her choice) and she doesn’t play so much. I think I should hide the books for a bit and force her to try her toys more!

I am hiding from her in Costa at the mo. Work today involves reviewing contract documentation so I am not as focussed as usual . The major work deadline has now officially passed and the mahoosive paper has been sent out (to be discussed at 3 board meetings over the next month). So now work is just normal again, hurrah!

I’ve been doing lots of online shopping but am sending pretty much everything back. It would be much easier just to go to shops for clothes as I’m even getting sizing wrong for the kids. But my kids are not shop-friendly so needs must.

I am trying very hard to resist cake. The diet is going pretty well - 1.5 stones down since September - but I had a bad diet day at the in-laws’ on Sunday (avocado! dauphinois potatoes! Salted caramel chocolate bomb!) so I don’t think this week will be record-breaking

Dentist was done by 855. Yay. It wasn’t painful just felt odd.

But next appointment in January now.

On my way to work I stopped in the shop and spent £5 on team biscuits. A biscuit selection box and a pack of double chocolate digestives and some hobnobs.

Currently having a cup of earl grey and a bourbon. #classy.

Very productive morning at home. Beds changed, upstairs cleaned. And a job I’ve been putting of for months: clearing out the boys wardrobes. Huge bag of stuff for the charity shop, and a big bag to give to my sil for my nephew. Just need them to get home from school and go through what’s left in case I’ve missed anything.

And I’ve actually started Christmas shopping! Onesies and pjs, an ibeanie for them both. I think they could both do with new gaming headsets but I’ll check with DS1 later before I buy.

I just went to a place-that-I-can't-specify-without-outing-myself and I met a friend who I really didn't expect and had such a nice welcome. It turns out that there is a cafe there and music practise rooms and she said I could go all the time if I want. I'm very tempted to pack up my clarinet and go there every morning in term time to have a bit of company.

I cycled there too in the sunshine and that was very nice too.

£0

Sort of spent £37.49 but it was on my Argos Card!

Sort of spent sneaky
I definitely spent €76 on 4 panto tickets for myself, dc and dm
I will also spend €35 on waxing this evening

Well technically I'll only be spending £5ish a week paying it off!

Secured €10 per tonne off my wood pellet order, which hasn't arrived so I asked for black friday discount to be applied, then they claimed not to have any order on their system, but I could see it on my account
getting delivery tomorrow too.

Received my order from newbridge silverware and I just love it think Granny may be getting her Christmas gift from there now too because it was just super service

£43 jojo. Slipper socks for ds. New hat for him and a thin jumper for dnephew for his Christmas gift.

£5 lunch. Was meant to have a seminar with free lunch but it was cancelled. So had to buy my own.

Nsd.

I have two planned purchases for the weekend when I’m hoping topcashback will do a bonus £2.

3 presents sorted now. One left and two birthday presents.

Have money saved for dhs if he makes his mind up what he wants. I offered malt whisky but he says it’s not “doing it” for him anymore.

Had a lovely morning so far, had a hot stone massage which was really nice albeit a bit weird at times but was certainly relaxing £30, met a friend for lunch and she treated me so that was nice.

I popped into Sainsburys and they have their 25% off clothes deal on so picked up a few baby bits for various gifts £15.

Nandos for tea tonight

Happy Birthday Girlie, hope you are having a wonderful and fabulous day. How lovely is your DD?

life. Having had a think, I can't think of a specific vegetarian book but I wou,d recommend the HFW Much More Veg, which is vegan, but you could adjust accordingly and add diary. Wonderful variety of use of all kinds of veg and grain, naturally healthy and easy.

seacow. It must be difficult to not see things in your Dd but honestly, she sounds just fine. My brothers are a lot older than I am; apparently when I started school I had a jaw dropping vocabulary as they just used to speak to me as an adult and not as a 4 year old. I soon regressed to 'normal' when surrounded by peers. I understand that some folk need to identify and label things, perhaps that gives them control or understanding of their individuality but that's the point, we are all individuals. I treat DS entirely differently to Dd, neither have additional needs, they have different personalities. Your Dd sounds fun loving, good company even at her age, outgoing and quite a character, which is a good thing.

NSD

There was a ❤️ after my reply to girlie, they seem to disappear when I use the iPad.

Ooooh happy birthday Girlie!

jam I would agree with what you say about everybody being individual. Although I have this asd label, I'm slightly inclined to think that it's bullsh*t. A friend of mine works in neurobiology and she says that she thinks that for people who are only mildly affected like me, it may just be meaningless coffee table psychology. Sometimes I agree with her and sometimes not.

I suspect that the label will help me with getting back into paid employment though, as it helps people to have some understanding of what goes on, and they have established process for dealing with it.

These days a lot of stuff seems to be about finding a way for an individual with all their own talent and nuance, to fit into the processes that make society tick. It's funny that, but if it works, I suppose that's fine.

I bet Christmas's dd is a wee cracker though.

I see the employment point, true. I guess I sometimes think that all of us at some point in our lives never feel like we truly 'fit' and wonder if having a label to place on our individuality makes that any better? The lack of 'fit' comes from our own feelings of insecurity I suspect for the majority. But, hey - if it works then that's cool too. 

Definitely only meant for less severe needs, just to make that very clear.😁👍

Interestingly we’ve had a bit of an asd day here. Colleague has come in today demanding all sorts of things because she has asd. This is the same colleague who pulled the discrimination card because she has no intention of having kids but is jealous of others having maternity leave.

She’s demanded “reasonable adjustments”. Work have said provide the official diagnosis and they’ll do what they can. She can’t provide.

She’s also insisted on lights off today because her asd means she can’t be around bright lights. She kept turning them off this morning. Seriously annoying.

I can’t help but think she is faking it it’s more the sudden “I’ve got asd” she’s been here for 3 years and has had no issues with lights or anything until today. Apparently we also get money from our medical insurers if we have official diagnosis of such things. To assist in us being able to still continue to work.

I’m not for one minute saying asd isn’t a thing. But for some people - stupid annoying colleague- I doubt it is and suspect it’s all for attention.