Windy in Wales.....and some thoughts for the day.

Wow its windy here in Wales tonight.....

Apparently its 6 degrees C and 24 mph winds..........which ordinarily I wouldn't mind but I live on top of the mountains so it sounds like its easily 50 and my full wheelie bin is walking itself round the garden.

I am hoping my poor bunnies are OK and not too cold. Just happy they all have plenty of bedding in their beds to keep them warm - I think I over compensated with it being Christmas but I have made sure they all have nice full tummies to see them through and I'm sure the coop will provide them with plenty of veggies tomorrow.

Kids are finally in bed, I did manage to get the dishes done and clear and rearrange Minnie's bedroom so she should be much snugglier now and happy all her Mi-Mi's (that's dolls to me and you) are now in her bedroom for her to play with. Now just to take the side off her cot,.....but I'm not that brave yet!

I do now however have a bag of DVDs, a bag of videos and a video player, 3 bags of toys from Benjie, 3 bags of toys from Minnie and a bag of old bedding etc that I can freecycle etc although I have realised that Ben has nearly every complete set of power rangers figures etc so I may be able to sell them as a small bundle on EBay to make a few pennies.

On more home based notes, I've decided to tackle my kitchen cupboards tomorrow. I have seven in total. That is it. Only two are wall mounted so my glasses/plates etc live in there. The one under it has all my tins, it is a double sized cupboard but only has one door and almost bends round the other cabinet if that makes sense. See the diagram below for a better explanation

 I need to try and work out some sort of storage technique for this cupboard. I'm only using about half of it because its all I can see! The double cupboard next to it is under the sink stuff. This again could do with a good restocking and getting a few bits and pieces in it. I don't tend to use many cleaners - only dettol spray, bicarb of soda, washing up liquid, comfort, and Flash multi purpose.
I then have two single cupboards which have two shelves, one has extra plates and a few Christmas bits in it, the other has pans, casserole dishes, ceramic bowls etc in it and a few bathroom extras I've picked up like girls products.
I'm thinking if I moved a few bits round or had a clear out I would be able to make one of these an extra storage cupboard - OK so not quite a pantry but it will help.


I'm also thinking I will join the local library. I do actually think I belong to the library but I had an overdue fee so I never went back, I think that needs rectifying. I quite like reading autobiographies, true stories, life stories etc but I will admit I don't think I have read some of the better known classics.....other than being in school.

So I suppose I have two musings for any followers who happen to read tonight..........Does anyone have any ideas on how I can maximise usage of the funny cupboard? and can they recommend me a book to add to my reading list?

Until then I will make sure to talk to you all tomorrow morning before I start with tackling the kitchen, Ow is off so he can watch the kiddiwinks and then I have a lovely 7 hour shift starting at 3pm which I'm hoping will be fairly peaceful and full of bargains.

I hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Sammy x x x

Rain, rain, go away.................or not apparently

Apparently someone has ordered 40 days and 40 nights of rain................and gales.

I made the very wrong mistake of putting the boxes from the kids Christmas toys outside next to the bin so now they are scattered and soggy across the little front yard/garden that we have which will make for a delightful job when the weather dries up for a bit, or at very best stops raining.

Found out yesterday that the second hand rabbit hutch we got apparently is not rabbit proof. There is a brief back story here so I will try and shorten it into a manageable chunk.

Last May Ben asked me for a pet of his own that he could cwtch and handle etc. (note we already had a dog and 2 terrapins), I told him he could get one if he kept his room tidy to which he agreed. I figured this would last maybe a few days at best, well 6 months later its now Christmas and his room is still immaculate. So I managed to talk him into a small pet, so we go to a well known pet store to pick up dog food for Bruno

 (Here is Bruno, after a long wet walk. He is our rescue dog, he is 11 at present and we adopted him when he was 4 years old. He has a few psychological issues especially with cold weather thanks to previous owners neglect and abuse. He loses a lot of weight with stress in the cold so we put him on IAMS senior to keep him stable otherwise his weight literally drops off him and he looks like skin and bones. He also has problems with chronic licking despite me or Ow always being home with him, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise and cuddles) 

Anyway my boyfriend Ow decides to point out the rabbits to Ben whilst we are in PAH. Now Ben gets his heart set on a rabbit, so we go to RSPCA and there are none there that he likes, but they tell us of a man desperate to sell his rabbits as he can no longer afford them and they are unwanted animals his daughter dumped on him. So we contact him. He has two Old English rabbits left which Ben has looked on Google and likes the look of. He wants £10 each or they are destined for the pot. So we drive 40 minutes to pick them up and I take £30 in case he has spare hay/food etc. We meet the guy with our cardboard box, Ow goes in and collects them and comes out with a suspicious smirk on his face, only for me to loo in the box and find 3 rabbits. 2 Old English and One Black Rex. He said the black one he just couldn't sell, no one wanted it so Ow took pity on it and re-homed it. Welcome to our home Splodge, Stripe and Bungle.

This is Stripe with the black stripe (Old English)

 Ben with his bunny Stripe.

This is Bungle (Black Rex) named by Owen and who is now Owen's Bunny. He seems to have taken to sitting on the back of the chair for hours on end.

This is Splodge with the um.......splodge. (Old English) and he is now Holly's Bunny.

Anyway get them home to discover they are all boys and within a week they are all fighting and since they are only 11 weeks old no vet will touch them for another 13 weeks. So we had one big hutch, which we had to divide for the 2 Old English's (although one side is considerably smaller, but they are all safe) and the Rex is in the old portable play pen. Then we brought a second hutch, now all bunnies have a hutch space, lastly we got a second hand hutch and all bunnies have a nice spacious home of their own.

Which leads us to now............

Yesterday I looked out the window to my horror to see Stripe who was in the second hand hutch sitting on top of Bungles hutch with a huge hole he had chewed in the old ones wall where it had obviously rotten.

Thankfully my friend had a barely used hutch in his garage though which I have swapped with him. In return for the hutch (which looks practically brand new) I gave him a bag of veg from the freezer, a bag of ready to roast potatoes, and two packs of Cumberland sausages - all of which were either brought with coupons or were brought home as waste from work.

So now all bunnies are safe and accounted for again.

I also yesterday listed Ben's old bike on Gum Tree. It is sat not doing much now as it was too small and he got a new bike for Christmas as his main present so we don't need it. I got it for £119 a few years ago and we lived in a flat so there was no where really for him to ride it, he only just learnt to ride it and therefore has really used it for a week before the weather turned nasty and he has outgrown it. So I'm asking £30 for it but open to offers - any money will be helpful but Id like to see it go to a home that it will be used

Plans for today though are,

• get the baby down for a nap. 
• Make a batch of stovies.
• Get some competitions done.
• Dishes
• and move Bens toys upstairs

That about sums it up for my jobs today. Thinking I might even use some of the left over sprouts up and put them as a side to the stovies to mop up some of the gravy.

Also does anyone have a good pizza base recipe? I want to get using my food processor and my two boys love pizza so I'm hoping to save a few quid by being able to make a base myself. 

Many Thanks all

x Sammy x 

Thank crumbs thats over..........

Well Ive had an eventful few days

First the baby (she's 2 years old) had the Norovirus

Second, Benjie came down with some horrid flu bug which meant 3am wake up calls with him absolutely boiling and hallucinating. Not sure what was scarier though the fact he was so hot or the hallucinations he was coming out with!

So now I am getting five to sit and go over my income for January in preperation for my new year and new start.
I really must find a spreadsheet making app or something so I can display them better rather than list form

(quick snoop round the Internet and computer and I have managed it)

Now the above picture is just my basic outgoings for the household bills and does not include any of my debt repayment, no birthdays/Christmas/clothing/school trips/pets etc. The only things I am in receipt of are tax credits and child benefit. We don't receive any housing or council tax benefit, no free school dinners etc.......

I work part time - 12 hrs is currently all I can do because my partner works full time, and the hours I have means that I work around his shifts so I am home to have our two children, which then saves us on childcare. 

Our other outgoings in the house look like this

So I have about £100.00 that is left over each month - which is basically our top up shop money, money that my partner may need to borrow to get himself to his next pay day, if the kids need new clothes/shoes etc and any birthday/anniversary spending etc also comes from this money.........

So I have decided to be very strict with myself this coming month.

As you can see I already have set myself a basic food budget of £100 - I'm not entirely sure if I will shop monthly or weekly with the food shop but I'm determined to stick to this budget as I really cant afford to be going over it so a fair bit of our shop will be downgraded to value items and I will start shopping about a bit more. 

We do have access to a Tesco and Iceland in our town, there is a Lidls and an Aldi outside of town which would mean an extra few pennies on my bus ticket but I'm wondering if it would be worth it for the cheaper products. Failing that we buy a fair bit as store own brands as it is, with a few value things added in but I'm thinking its time to downgrade again.

The baby is currently potty training so only really has nappies now if we are going out and for bedtime which is saving us money and she is a good eater.

We don't have a bath, only an electric shower so that saves on heating water etc. We aren't on a water meter either, we pay a basic rate to the council and that is it. 

So for today I am off to sit and have a look over my shopping list, see where I can cut corners and look into what the correct portions sizes are and work out what a servings costs.

Then I might make an inventory of whats in the cupboards and a meal plan between rehoming some of the kids toys from christmas to their bedrooms! 

Wish me luck, its about to be a busy day!

Sammy x x x

New Year

Right,
I have decided this need more of an effort on my part. There's no excuse basically why I cant make more posts on here other than I am very easily distracted and that just wont cut the mustard anymore.

We have had a lovely Christmas - the kids got everything they wanted. My favourite present was a video game and my beloved new food processor and I can honestly tell you I'm not sure which one I'm happier about! I cant wait to get cooking with it.

I have been busily sat thinking of goals and resolutions for the coming New Year. I would like to set myself 3 personal resolutions I think and then maybe one for Ben and One for Holly which is more goals I would like to achieve for them as they are both 8 and 2 at present.

I think my 3 are going to be to

1. save money.
I am currently skint, as in I have enough in my bank to cover my bills and then I may possibly have £10 to last me until my next pay day.........which is the 15th of January!  So Id like to save money and actually have some savings so that in case of a rainy day I have money on hand to help myself out, treat the kids etc......and just in general not have to worry about it!

2. Lose Weight
This I guess goes hand in hand with eating properly too and exercising - I think this year I have pretty much lived on rubbish food and toast. That's not healthy but I also think I have a few pounds........OK stone that it wouldn't hurt to shift and I'm pretty much about 13st I think now so Id like to get down to 11st and then Ill be happy, as for exercise I walk the school run 4 times a day, about 3 times a week as my  neighbour sometimes offers to take Ben and I have been lazy and agreed and I work part time so I am on my feet the whole shift (one is 5hrs long and the other is 7hrs long) either way I need to fit more in!

3. Get more sleep!
I think I am literally surviving on about 4 hrs a night. I mean tonight I went to bed at 10.30pm and was back up at 3am but my son Ben was ill but most other days I don't go to bed until midnight if not later and I'm usually up by 4am, so come about 12 lunchtime I am usually ready for a nap and by 8pm I am falling asleep in the chair. I think I need to set a bedtime and stick to it. I think seeing as my Sunday shift doesn't end until 10pm that maybe I should make my bedtime 10.30 at the latest from now on, if not earlier.

These aren't finalised yet but just my latest musings. I will finalise them before new year though! x

x Sammy x

What to adopt?

I am thinking of adopting an animal in a zoo for my son Benjamin 

My thinking is it will give him something to look forward to seeing when we visit family as we regularly visit Marwell Zoo and Chester Zoo if we visit either my grandparents or father so I'm thinking something in one of these would be nice

Plus it would give him something to research - ie what the animal is, eats, lives etc

Also he would know he is helping not only the zoo but helping towards that animals care and upkeep

So now the question is

What do I adopt for him? and this is where I need help with opinions.

~~~~~

At Chester Zoo he can adopt one of the following for £50 a year and he adopts the species not a specific animal - so I could choose one of

• Red Pandas
• Giraffes, 
• Elephants, 
• Orangutans, 
• Tigers, 
• Meerkats, 
• Penguins
• Chimpanzees

and he will get 

• Two Admission Tickets that can be used at any time during the year of adoption (each ticket is valid for one adult or two seniors/children)

• A Cuddly toy

• Your name displayed on a 'Thank You' plaque near your adopted species (by 20th of following month)

• One complimentary copy of our Z magazine, packed with conservation news and zoo updates

• Thank you letter

• Thank you card

• Animal stickers

• Image of your adopted animal species

• Personal adoption certificate

• A fact sheet full of amazing facts about your chosen animal

• A puzzle sheet

(part of me is wondering though if these are their main animals or conservation projects and therefore need the most funding or they are child favourites - ie penguins)

For £55 a year there is more of a range but they don't get additional information or the teddy/stickers which I think ben would enjoy) Plus all these animals bar the panda he will see and not have to try and spot in an enclosure

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Marwell he can adopt one of the following for £25 a year he can adopt a specific named animal and he gets 

Go Wild Scheme

For children. £25

• Adoption Certificate
• Recognition at your adopted animal's enclosure
• 1 FREE child ticket
• Photo + animal fact sheet
• Car sticker
• Online Adopters Zone

(with one of the animals named Below)

Isabella the Giraffe

Chico the Meerkat

Eva the Penguin

Wendy the Pygmy Hippo

Indeever the Snow Leopard

Kaia the Amur Leopard

But for £50 a month he can adopt any animal of 20 different species and the only added extra he gets is a subscription to the zoo's magazine 

Im thinking I could adopt him two animals in Marwell that he could specifically go looking for. What do you think? 

Pets (eventually) for christmas.......but after......

Right, I'll get straight to it

Ben wants a pet of his own. We have a rescue dog called Bruno who is 11 years old and two terrapins but he wants a pet to live in his bedroom - his own pet but he wants something he can play with etc.

Anyway this has been going on since March this year and he is desperate to be a zoo keeper.

For his birthday in May he asked again for a hamster, but with a Jack Russell terrier we werent sure this was the best idea - Bruno stays downstairs in our house - its only the bedrooms upstairs but still I didnt want to risk an escaped hamster. So we brought him a wormery, which he loved and he has been looking after them well but wasnt satisfied with that.

Well he lulled for a bit with the asking and since the beginning of August, hes been at it again asking for another pet. So I made him a deal that if he kept his bedroom clean and tidy we would see about a goldfish in his room, but he had to keep it tidy otherwise it was a no. He asked why he couldn't have a hamster and I told him if he was responsible enough to clean, feed and care for a goldfish then maybe Id consider a hamster at a later date.

Anyway I should have given my son more credit because I presumed after a day or two of trying he'd give up and his room would return to its usual bomb site


        


It is now six weeks on, his room has been immaculate every morning with his bed made and him fully dressed before he leaves his room.

Now I know you shouldn't get pets for Christmas as presents but Im thinking of getting him his tank/filter/gravel etc and setting it up as presents and then after Christmas taking him to pick a fish or two.

Do you think thats an acceptable gift?

I should also add that Benjamin does help with the other pets. He is responsible for washing Bruno's bowls in the morning before he's fed and helps walk him every evening after school. He also helps me clean up the garden too.

Terrapin wise he helps prepare their food and feed them but since they aren't really hands on pets - one of them is rather vicious - he has minimal contact with them.
Plus the fish wont be there on Christmas morning as I have read that a tank is better set up about a week before hand of getting fish so I want to make sure I do things correctly with it. 

A bit of good news for once

In all the heartbreak that September 11th brings I have had two small glimmers of good news.

Firstly, my heart felt best wishes to all those poor souls who lost their lives in September 11, 2001. My thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones at this time of remembrance and to all the 343 firefighters, police officers and medical staff who gave their all to help them - I hope god blesses you and your lives. Lest We Forget. R.I.P

Secondly, my workmates after a rather traumatic pregnancy and long labour that ended in an emergency C Section has given birth to a healthy baby Boy called Ryan yesterday who weighed 7lb 11ozs. Congratulations honey!

Thirdly, my grandmother had undergone her last lot of chemotherapy today and is OFFICIALLY in remission after a very long and hard 3 year battle with Non-Hodkin Lymphoma. Not once has she moaned, whined or complained but simply got on with it but she is an Irish ex matron edlerly nurse/ Battle Axe so I expected nothing less, but still congratulations Nan, I love you

Hope everyone else is having a good day

Funny how things seem so trivial sometimes x