Photo A Day - November 2013 - week 2 (8th November to 14th November)

The main thread can be found here.  This page would soon get overcrowded tho so at the end of each week I will be moving them over onto their own post.

So here is week 2 - 8th to 14th November

Review: Haba First Nativity Playset

Last year I hunted website after website, department store after department store trying to find a Nativity Set for my boys. You wouldn't thought it would be a difficult thing to find ... I only had 5 criteria:

• It had to be wooden 
• It had to be well made 
• It had to have large enough pieces for small children to handle 
• It had to be robust enough to withstand toddler play. 
• It has to be affordable 

I found Nothing out there that fitted the bill. The bits were either too small, or didn't include all the characters or was plastic or worse cost far more money then I would every spend on a toy.

Then this year I discovered The Toadstool........ and the

Haba First Nativity Playset

Poundland's Pin it to win it Christmas

Have you entered the Poundland Christmas "Pin it to win it" competition to win £200 of vouchers??
Click the picture below to see my entry on Pinterest.

T&C's here.

Breastfeeding is NOT always best and bribery will not change my mind!!!

A subject that has raised almost as much controversy as penisbeekergate  (funny really when you think that's where this all started).

In case you haven't seen the news story today  there is a new scheme being trialled in which mums will receive £200 of high street vouchers if they breastfeed their baby.

The pilot scheme involves 130 mums.  if they breastfeed their baby for 2 days they get £40 of shopping vouchers, continue for 10 days they get another £40....manage 6 weeks that's another £40.  If mummy has preserved for 3 months she will be rewarded with another £40 and finally £40 will be given at the 6 month mark.

There is no mention as to whether expressing milk counts as breastfeeding in this scheme, I am assuming it doesn't for the purpose of this blog post.

Tuneful Tuesday - The Love Is Gone from Muppets Christmas Carol

Have dug out my copy of The Muppets Christmas Carol and re-watched it (yay).

I absolutely love the song "The Love is Gone", it is soo sad yet soo deep.  I find singing it just reminds me of past loves (and lusts) and does make me wonder if my life would be any different if I had married one of them.

Out of all the tunes in the film it is the one that makes it for me (a bit like colours of the wind from Pocahontas  so in a new feature called "Tuneful Tuesday" I am sharing the lyrics and a link to a youtube clip to the song (this has been selected at random and is not sponsored or hosted by me).


If you have a song that holds memories or that you simply want to share with other people let me know, I may just feature it.

Memory Monday 11.11.11

Meal Planning and Shopping w/b 8th November 2013

To start this week I did a large inventory of what was in the fridge/ freezer/ cupboards and tried to base my weeks meals around this as much as possible.  There have been a few bits I had to buy but I managed to keep this to less then £20.  Milk seems to be the most expense this week as we are drinking a lot more hot drinks with the current weather.

If you've been following my food shopping highs and lows you'll know my husband is very picky.  This stretches to the fact that unless we are having 'family meals' he will not be told what to eat on what day.  There is no point me telling him what to cook for the kids on certain days as history has shown he does not stick to it.

So my new meal plan format is as below (in no particular order).  If he chooses to have something different that he has found in the house (e.g. toasties) that's fair enough so long as it doesn't involve having to buy anything more.

Sparkly, Poppy, Rocky Road bites

If you've been reading a while you'll remember I posted Nigella Lawson's recipe for Rocky Road in my "Blog A Day September" challenge.   No.... well you can read it here.... or carry on reading for this weeks version.....

Now I'm not normally one to mess with a recipe.... in fact I'm the sort that if my muffins aren't cooked in the time the recipe says I panic as to what I've done wrong.

But with Nigella's Rocky Road I am all for playing and tweaking to get it just right.....

Silent Sunday 10.11.13

   

Cbeebies Christmas Panto 2013

When I heard that Cbeebies were coming to Sheffield to film their Christmas panto I immediately applied for tickets ...... along with hundreds of other people.  We didn't win any :(  this did not phase us tho.

Saturday morning I served the boys a hearty continental breakfast (ok ok the bread needing eating up) which they loved to begin 'treat day', 

At 10.45 we set off at to catch the tram to town in thick jumpers and woolly socks.  By 10.50 we were back to get kitted out in woolly hats, scarves and gloves, where has this cold spell suddenly come from?  Off we set again.

The events that follow take place over both the Saturday and Sunday but for continuity have been posted as one.

To-do list 8th-14th November

Another hectic week, another week of no real blogging,  a bit of networking tho with #bloghour over on Twitter with UK Blog Awards and a fantastic chat with other parent bloggers (#pbloggers) on The Toadstools/ Marbel's Brio chat.

Moving day is getting closer..... 14 days and counting and I've........... made my lists, contacted some people (lots of blanket letters still to wright but as I've got my re-direction in for a year I'm not massively concerned).

My last (hopefully) meeting with the estate agents really wound me up - and they then added fuel to the fire by not bothering to reply to my e-mail i sent them yesterday.    Roll on getting the keys on the 23rd then I won't have to talk to them again for another 18 months (see my post here).

I've had some sad news this week that a virtual friend has passed away :( and had to break the news to some other virtual friends (post here) .  It may mean a couple of nights off blogging/ tweeting while I stitch my memorial.

So onto my to-do list for this week............

A post for my MSE friends.

If you followed me over on MoneySavingExpert you'll know I've not been around for a while.  I keep an eye on my babies (the threads I started/ actively participated on) to make sure everyone is still going well on their projects and love talking to those who are now facebook friends.

I rarely have time to read threads in their entirety and post on them since my blogging took over my life (lol). My diary was the most amazing start to my blogging and I am so grateful for everyone who followed it.

Photo A Day - November 2013 - week 1 (1st November to 7th November)

The main thread can be found here.  This page would soon get overcrowded tho so at the end of each week I will be moving them over onto their own post.

So here is week 1 - 1st to 7th November

2 adults, 2 children, 4 weeks ..... £200 challenge - the sequel

Brrrr October already.
With the September challenge over it seems wrong to call this the October challenge (as it goes into November)... hence "The Great Food Challenge - the sequel".

I have decided that this month, although I am aiming for a £200 (or less) spend over the next 4 weeks I will do a 'big shop' as and when it is required.  We are trying to run the freezers down ready for defrosting (and potentially moving in the beginning of December) so this sounds the way to go.

I'm only having 2 categories this month tho - food and drink.

when your day just gets better and better ........ a hatrick (that's 3 right?!)

You know those days when you are only 2 hours into it and wish you could go back to bed........ but instead the day just keeps on getting better...............
............well today was one of them (in case you ever guessed by my twitter feed/ Blundell's post).

Book review - You Are The Love Of My Life. Susan Richards Shreve

You Are The Love Of My Life

 by: Susan Richards Shreve

It's 1973 and the Watergate scandal is on everyone's lips.  Lucy Painter, a children's book illustrator and single mother of two (Maggie and Felix) leaves New York and the married father of her children to return to Washington DC, to the neighbourhood where she grew up and the house where her father committed suicide.  

Legoland Discovery Centre, Manchester

Ben is absolutely Lego obsessed - the PS3 games, the toy itself and the latest addition to his set the Creationary game.... last year we took him to the 'real Legoland' in Windsor (Grandma's treat) and a fantastic time was had by all.  This year (thanks to Tesco Clubcard) we decided to take him and his little brother to the Legoland Discovery Centre in Manchester staying in a local Premier Inn next to the Trafford Centre on the Friday night beforehand.

Legoland Discovery Centre, Manchester

Silent Sunday 3.11.13

   

Moving House Checklist

So much to do...... so little time.....

  ....... I've made mine into a word document with my supplier and the cancellation/ change of address method that I need to use.

But I thought I'd post a basic list here........ Have I missed anything??

to do list 1/11 - 7/11

Another hectic week, another week of no real blogging,  a bit of networking tho with #bloghour over on Twitter with UK Blog Awards.

Moving day is getting closer..... 22 days and counting and I've........... well done nothing really.   had been avoiding trying to change bills/ utitities etc over until we had confirmation hubby's credit check had passed but as his (insert sware word here) work STILL haven't done his reference I think I'm just going to have to bite the buttett and get it all moving (so to speak) before it's too late.

So onto my to-do list for this week............