Join Money-saving May with the fantastic Frugaleers.

[northender]

Lots of support and advice here for frugaleers old and new.

That’s what I love about exercising cag it helps my mentally as well as physically. It took me years to work this out. Helps me sleep too. I used to gym at 6am (before ds) and it really set me up for the day and gave me a boost. Now I take the boost whenever I can! Haha.

I love a steam. One of the spas here (which I must book myself into for my birthday (Oct) so plenty of time for baby recovery) has 3 steam rooms. A salt one (my fave) a “mountain” one (a bit more pine smelling) and an aromatherapy relaxation one. I love to go sauna steam and then cold plunge pool. Proper awakens everything.

I’m going to book myself in for a massage, exfoliation, facial. And just come back a brand new woman. Haha.

madden frying anything in butter makes it taste infinitely better I think. I baked the rice garlic and onions in chicken stock in the oven for around 35 minutes. When I tried it I could have happily just eaten is as it was. Yum.

But added peas - some smushed up some not and mint. Baked for another 10 mins or so then stirred through the cream cheese. We were meant to have it sitting on top of lovely spinach leaves. But I forgot that bit.

I love that baked risotto is so easy. I love a risotto but hate having to stand and stir it. I do think things taste better when they’re stirred but I haven’t got time for that.

Another fave here is caramelised onion and roasted butternut squash/ pumpkin risotto. What I tend to do if I’m feeling a bit extra is halve the butternuts get out and roast them. Scoop about half out and add to the rice leave the rest in then put the rice in the “hole” and throw some grated nutmeg in and cheese on top and bake some more.

Or if small pumpkins pop the “lid” back on.

North I'm not very tech savvy and have always had androids, mostly Samsung. Never liked the i-phone. When I got an i-pad from work it took me a while to get use to it, in fact I'm still not completely confident, but having Google drive has saved my sanity a few times, we just have shared files, which I'm guessing you know is simular to word. You can make lists, spread sheets, surveys etc and it is really easy to use.

Assume nothing Curvy. So far I've avoided Google drive, but I will investigate as it does sound perfect for what we want

Haha, fair enough North. It is really user friendly, and there will be "how to" videos online. Glad I was able to help a bit

You could try Dropbox north although I’m not sure you can edit files with it.

The mental benefits of fitness should never be underestimated.
I'm going to have a baked risotto for tea tonight. I have rice and peas defo.
Signed up to prime yesterday £7.99 pm. DH got the DC an echo each. Which they love. £48 on Chester zoo tickets from cssc. £15 on a first birthday for the twins next door. £3 card and wrap, £10 b&m snacks and toothpaste. Need a soft fruit and cheese shop tonight or tomorrow

I would say Google drive too for file sharing then. He can put text and numbers into a document. Your could do the snazzy bit technical term

Need to buy milk on way to office. I am far too tired to be of any use to anyone today, I need to go back to bed.

Awful nights sleep here, made harder as we've had such a good run recently. I spent most of the night on the floor in DTs room.

However on a brighter note I realise I've had a run of 4 NSDs!!

Happy Thursday everyone xx

Day off here today! Got some work friends popping over for coffee in a bit which is good as has made me have a proper tidy up downstairs at least!

Dd has a hospital appointment later, she is having an mri scan to see if they can find the cause of her lifelong hearing troubles.

It's also parents evening tonight 😬

Hospital parking might cost a bit, realised have run of toothpaste so need to pick that up as well...

Talking of spas has reminded me that I still have a bday voucher for a local spa to use up! Might look at some dates later.

Mmmm... 😋 thinking of dinner already... if I have cream cheese do I also need to add Parmesan to pea risotto or should I (frugally) just use one? X

Back home after mri scan, was more stressful than I thought it would be, dd was fine but I just hated her being in the machine! She did so so well bless her, so proud of her.

Anyway home now, parents evening soon.

Have just eaten a whole bag of munchies 😶I'm blaming it on the stress!!

Good on girliedd - I found having an mri terrifying despite being not in the slightest claustrophobic. How was your work colleague coffee? Sounds fun!

Ok, I might be obsessing about the pea risotto but... would a Tim of marrow fat peas be 👍 or 🤢? Have one lurking in the cupboard

I wouldn’t do marrowfat in a risotto. A bit too ‘earthy’ for a risotto, I’d think - a fresher spring taste would be better. I’d also do cream cheese and Parmesan, but then I am fat and greedy, so not necessarily one to follow

Well done to DD Girlie, hope the results are helpful. How do you feel about the ASD diagnosis (was it that definite?) and have you discussed it with DD, what does she think?

I did cream cheese and Parmesan AND a drizzle of lovely olive oil on top. Loads of black pepper. Fresh peas. Not marrowfat. And by fresh I mean from the freezer.

Ok... double dairy hold the marrowfat

But what can I do with marrowfats??!!

fish and chips? Or are they not like mushy peas? To be fair I’m not really sure what they are. Other than not quite right for pea risotto.

I usually do baked risotto too. It's so much easier! Asparagus is another good addition. I chop it into 2cm-ish pieces and put the stalks in at the beginning so they cook they chuck the tips in for the last 5 mins. Lovely with mint, parmesan and a little lemon squeezed over plus an ice cold glass of dry white wine!

It must be something in the air this week Madden our dts have been waking up a lot too. I also spent all lot of time dozing on their floor and wishing I'd put my slippers and dressing gown on - its6cold at 4am. And light. I'm actually looking forward to the darker mornings!

Snuggly I've set up extra duvets and pillows already for tonight (hopefully being prepared will mean I don't need them)!

The risotto was a success(ish!). Mint works really well! But I think I over did the ratio of rice to peas. As my 7yo put it 'why are you eating porridge with peas?' but it's a new venture! I think lemony asparagus also sounds delish 😋

Last night I pinched dd's duvet off her bed as she wasn't using it! Neither twin seems to understand about lying under the duvet. I have wondered if that's why they wake up as it's always around 4am and it is cold then. If we put duvets over they just kick them off. I hope they figure them out before the winter!

Seacow not a diagnosis, they just give an indication on whether a diagnosis would be likely iyswim, in dds case it was pretty conclusive 😕 Dd found the screening day upsetting but then I think that's understandable as we were talking about all the things she finds difficult. My plan is to talk to the school senco and go from there.

Coffee this morning with colleagues was nice and I'm enjoying having a tidy house for a change 🤣

Parents evening was really positive, I actually felt a bit teary as all her teachers genuinely seemed to love teaching her! Given all her struggles and difficulties she does so well to stay positive and focused at school.

As a treat for being so brave in the mri scanner and having such a good parents evening we got a macdonalds drive through and then ate it watching Netflix 😁 Dd says it's the best evening ever 🤣

Spends
£10 macdonalds
£4.10 hospital parking
£1.20 snacks at hospital shop

Ah that's lovely girlie. What a brave DD.
Marrowfat peas are the ones used to make mushy. Whole they are yummy with a meat pie and chips.
Didn't have risotto had chicken and lentils as trying to use up cupboard stuff.
Nsd today. Took a book back so £7.99 back

Ah well done girlie DD! I must admit I quite liked the MRI because it was peace and quiet 😂 was hard to stay perfectly still though.

I’m in flare up mode today. Taking Caglets to trampolining and having to stand and spot the kids wore me out.

I may have downloaded the new Harry Potter game already. If anyone is as much of a kid as me you are welcome to have my Friend code 😂

Take it easy Cag
Great parent's evening Girliedd McD's well deserved.
I'm liking the oven baked pea risotto idea.

Stress levels are quite high here at the moment as I'm coordinating a very big fundraising weekend in the cricket kitchen! Our bread supplier is in hospital and I'm struggling to decide how much food to prep for 35 (22 of them teenage boys). Fish finger or sausage butties, potato wedges, curly fries, Tunnocks teacakes, mini rolls & ice lollies if it's warm.

No spends today, this week is going well so far. I'm finding that keeping a record of all spending is helping me to focus.