Today has been a pretty good day. Took my son to swimming as he started back this year with the special program he can access through his school. The staff are lovely and so happy to see us back. DS9 has come in leaps and bounds because of it and I'm so grateful it's just little things like seeing him swim in a normal pool just even for 10 seconds on his own and that he can float on his own. Proud mummy x
Then I dropped him off at school, he said he was feeling a bit tired so I told the school to call should he get too worn out they said he had a few meltdowns today but they were all controlled and he listened to reason for it all. He didn't get aggresive but he just freaked out and like they say 'backed himself into a corner and couldn't work out how to get out' they allow him to go to the meeting room now to sit in the quiet but he has to take a book in there and try and read and he did this twice today and came out on his own not long after. I had a few tears being a proud mummy for that! It might be a little thing but he didn't try to kill anyone, it's the same as hearing someone won a gold medal as far as I'm concerned!
Being home in the middle of the day alone, quiet is very odd, I said on facebook today I waited so long for this day to come and now that it has I suddenly feel bored LOL. I did do a pile of admin for my business which I have been meaning to do for a while but because I love doing admin work I really get into it. Still have a pile to do which of course I will probably pour over more time and energy than it's worth but I make sure I cross all the t's' ....
Picked up the children today and had a chat to DS9's teacher to find out about the meltdowns she is so approachable it's fantastic, I'm really hoping for a great year.
Taught my Zumba class tonight and the children were helpful and well behaved too. I'm very grateful one more sleep and then hubby is home - hoorah! Then I took the children to westfield to get dinner, I was being lazy and not doing the cooking thing plus I felt they deserved a treat. I know they say don't give your children food as a reward but I think it's better than toast for dinner that's about as much energy that I would have had to cook dinner!
I picked up while I was over there a Double pass to a kids movie which I won which was a lovely surprised. Put it on facebook for a friend to freak out over she said I am always winning stuff, I have always been lucky with the little things like that I don't enter a lot of stuff just movie tickets or odds and ends that I think would be nice as a bonus.
Oh forgot to talk about the fact that I gave the Credit Card a little bashing today. I'm off to Sydney in August for some career training in my direct selling business and we booked flights on a special they were having so that was good. More reason to keep working and keep the budget tight, need to pay for all this somehow... tee hee
That's it from me, hope you had an awesome Thursday XOXO
Today I went to a Workshop for new training materials for the direct selling company I am involved with. It was pretty good to see how the company is evolving. There was FREE (love that word) morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea which also means CALORIES when it's come to this company, no expense is ever spared when it comes to training like this - and it's so yummy..... LOL
It was a good 20 min drive to where I had to go which wasn't too bad after I did the school drop off I thought I would be late as there was a fair bit of traffic lag but we didn't start on time so I had time up my sleeve which was good. Had to leave a bit early however so will catch up later and there was a fair amount of traffic on the way home for the school run but overall it wasn't too bad!
DD12 first day at school and all went well. She has the Home Group Teacher she wanted so I was like WOO HOO score. Told her NOT to try to cut off her thumb this year however in respect she didn't do that till term 4 last year but still on the 'first day' LOL. DS9 had a great day too. So proud of my little man he's coping so well.
Came home for a short time mostly to just collapse it's hard paying attention ALL day LOL (yes I can be a bit ADHD for sitting for long periods of time) and pack my back for Zumba tonight!
We drove down to my mums house as she comes to Zumba on a Wednesday night too and my children stayed home with my step dad, they have been very supportive while my hubby is away for work. I really love teaching at the Gym it's great to see the ladies smile and enjoying themselves!
We naturally dropped into Savers on they way down and DD12 found a few books she wanted and DS9 found 1 so that was good, helping him get into reading a bit. Had 15% discount so DD12 said she would pay me the $5 when she got home.... Maybe I might make her 'work' it off tee hee....
Got petrol on the way home using a 18c voucher and saved $8.69 so was super happy with that. The many said would you like to buy milk I said NO thankfully now that the kids are back at school I'm NOT buying milk every other day LOL.
That's it from me. Hope you had a happy HUMP day! XOXO
Today is the first day back at school for Master 9 or DS9. DD12 doesn't go back until tomorrow it's nearly like they 'forgot' to plan all together LOL oh well private schools, pay for more get less 'contact' hours.
So after we dropped of Master 9 at school we went and did a bazillion things on our list. Dropped off some flyers for my Zumba business into two schools who were 'happy' to see us another was not hmmm pity about that I guess it's true if you can't get past the receptionist you are getting no where.... Then we got some more flyers ready to drop off to the local area. It's amazing how quickly you can get stuff done with a partner.
Hit Westfield as the school shirts I bought for DS9 were too small they fit but no room to grow after 3 shops found nothing so had to go for a drive to an independant Big W. I got the last 6 size 12 shirts in the basket -phew! Also just a straight swap for 5 and then I bought the 6th as I had already opened this mornings's shirt...
DD12 informs me as we are about to leave that she needs more hair things - hmmm how about when I was shopping WEEKS ago for school stuff and I said 'anything else ...???' sigh got to love kids. I treated her to a smoothie this morning and then also took her to lunch we shared a meal deal at Cafe Primo - love that place and were VERY full by the end of it.
I found an Iphone today on the floor of Target and handed it into the shop assistant and just as we were about to leave the area I saw a girl looking a bit panicked and yep she was the missing owner. She was so grateful I said that's ok it's nice to be honest, I'd really like it if someone returned my phone too!
I guess Karma was good because I bought from Target 3 bottles of nail polish today and they came in at $1.50 each instead of $2 so I'm happy with that. I love it I layed two colours over the top it looks just like the acrylic / gel nails that I use to have my nail tech do so I love it. I did take a pic but it's come out brighter than they are thanks to the flash and also still a bit messy no girl can ever do her own nails perfect LOL. Paid for it too with a $5 gift card that arrived in the mail so yay free stuff LOL.
DD12 got a pair of sandshoes today too for school - that's a chore and a half trying to find those I tell you ... first pair she really looked at she tried on and liked them and I said 'praise the lord LOL' then I was even more excited when the shelf price said $14.96 and the register said $6. Thank you VERY MUCH!!!!
Did a back to back Zumba class tonight 5.30pm down the hill then raced up the hill for the 7.15pm class. I love teaching it keeps me fit that's for sure! My children of course are with me with hubby being away so I was a lazy parents and gave them HJ's for tea but also because they were so well behaved!
Off to bed, I didn't sleep the best last night, it's hard when there's only 1 in the bed the last time I recall seeing was 1.30am... I stopped looking after that although I'm sure it wasn't long after that and I was asleep but exhausted this morning!
Hope you all had a great day today especially if little ones returned to school - hoorah the mum's cheer!!! XOXO
A public holiday here in SA for Australia Day! Hoorah I've 'felt' like it's Sunday all day today which is nearly normal as tomorrow is a school day for 'one' of my children DS9. He is excited to go so that's something! Then DD12 goes on Wednesday and I'm kid free - hoorah.... although I will miss them and the lack of go go go routine that I have gotten acustomed to doing 'nothing' these holidays.
Today was a pretty boring day. I slept in till 9.30am (usually have been waking up a lot later) so I'm feeling that my body is getting use to it's own body clock and got up and did the usual, check emails, facebook etc, waste half a day - you know how it is. Did the dishes, was going to do a load of washing and then the rains started here in SA and I thought wow the weather is bad but not as bad as QLD right now. I took a bit of time today to check through photo's on facebook of flooded area's wow it looks bad.
DD12 slept over at my mums for two nights so they returned her today. My mum came over early too as she comes to my Zumba and she pottered around outside for a while - I have no idea what she did but she enjoys doing little things around the house LOL.
I read some more of my book today and cleaned up a small piles of clothes that were in my room that I had forgotten to put away in the giveaway pile that seemed to get mixed up with another set of stuff. Chinese laundry is my bedroom some days... everyone's stuff seems to end up in there! I wasn't too fussed that I didn't get much done today I think I've run out of steam LOL
Cooked dinner and as hubby isn't here we didn't eat as much as I have one meal saved which I will eat after Zumba tomorrow night which will be back to back classes. So I am happy that I have that ready to go saving me some $$$ and energy cause I will be tired when I get home.
It's very quiet in the house without hubby here felt odd coming home and he wasn't here ... However the children are back to arguing so nothing's changed ... LOL
That's it from me, like I said nothing too exciting Hope you had a great day XOXO
Wow firstly I can't believe I have been writing this blog for a whole month. I also went to write the 1st instead of day 32 LOL.
Last night there was a bit of excitement in our street at 4am two houses down across the road from us their kitchen was on fire! I got woken up to people talking outside and thought it was just the general people walking up and down our street at night as they do and then when I opened my eye's I could see flashing lights all over the place. The first thing I saw was an Ambo parked near right in front of our driveway and then I was waiting for the knock at the door. I went outside and surprised to find that not many other neighbours were out there but found 2 Fire Enginges, 1 Ambo and 3 police cars blocking the street! They say it was electrical fault and contained to the kitchen. Phew they got everyone out and noone had any serious smoke damage they got woken up by their smoke alarm so I'm glad everyone is safe. So that was some excitment for our little street. I'm sure they got there just around 4am but they didn't clear out of the street until nearly 5am so being awake at that hour of the morning really takes it out of you. It took a while to get back to sleep too! I realise not the best pic but it was my phone!
Today I shipped off my hubby to Canberra for a week for a confrence for his phone work he has been doing. He's not a guest speaker this time which he said is just fine with him as he is more of a one on one person which I'm very proud of. I saw his video last year and he did an amazing job. He's very passionate about his job and I think will go very far! Flight was at 1.40pm so we got to the airport at 12.35pm to allow for check in etc. He is flying with his two other work collegues and they are sitting at the emergency row so extra leg room for them they will be happy! However they have to do a lay over in Melbourne for 45 mins as there was no direct flights. They are flying with Qantas so I'm sure will be well looked after. Not long after arriving at the airport today and checking in they got to board which was good.
We all got coffee's to wait for a short while I had a two for one voucher for 'Hudson's' Coffee - and the only place I know of is at the airport LOL. It was covered by the business expenses too so that was nice. I also did a check in using the HJ's app I have on my phone and got a voucher for 50% off any order under $30 I always seem to get these at the wrong time LOL. DS9 was complaining that he was hungry (as you do when you can 'see HJ's' so I used the app to get him a meal so $3.85 wasn't bad.
As hubby was boarding the plane I noticed that we were coming up close to our hour of carparking and I didn't want to pay for more time than we needed so DS9 and I rushed to the carpark and phew we made it only had to pay $6 for a hour park instead of $12 for 2 hours.
Came straight home as DS9 was saying he was tired from all that rushing LOL even though I offered to buy him an icecream 30c at IKEA he said his legs were too tired to do any more. LOL so cute x
At 4.30pm I did my usual dash over to westfield for the fruit and veg shop and got some bargins a bag of grapes for $2.50 and half a rockmelon for $1.50. Bolted up to coles too as I needed bread for school on Tuesday as tomorrow is a public holiday all the shops will be shut! I managed to get a creamy pasta salad marked down by 80c so happy with that.
We just had sandwhichs for tea - we are boring people. There's nothing on tv and I've already watched the latest tv eps that hubby downloaded so I might read my book for a while!
Hope you had a great Sunday - I'm thinking I might be in bed a bit earlier tonight feeling a bit ZZZzzz ... XOXO
Hoorah! Australia Day is here and I think it's confused a lot of us because it's fallen on a Saturday and yet it isn't a public holiday here so the shops are still open (not that I went anywhere) but we get to holiday on Monday instead! Yay 3 day weekend!!
We spent the morning being lazy - well I did at least. Hubby was madly working on his work project as he's about to fly to Canberra for a week to present at a confrence and needed a working model to present. He got as much done as he could and so we were able to go to my mum & step dads place for a BBQ! Yum, always too much food down there to eat we are well and truely stuffed. We all had a small breakfast today and so nearly starved ourselves so we had lots of room to eat LOL.
On the way down I dropped off another bag to savers and got another stamp tee hee ... I'm running out of things to take down there it's becoming a crisis! Tee Hee! Now I have three savings saved up a 15% & 20% on one and 15% on another. No doubt with my daughter becoming the book worm that she is that will get used up on books soon enough.
Yesterday I prebought some beer for hubby to take down today and did a click and send order online so I simply go and pick it up at the counter instead of going all through the shop. Also as I did it through an online partner I get points towards one of the groups I am with. Not many but something for nothing. I got it home early enough too so i could chill some before hubby got home. He was happy with the surprise!
Booked my flight to go to Sydney in March and had to laugh at all the hidden little fee's and charges that they have. I prebought luggage as I figured I might need it and when I went to pay they wanted to charge more to use a credit card so I did an online transfer of funds. Gee Wizz they will get you any way they can won't they! I haven't booked to come back as I'm hoping that hubby will have some points to give me after his flight to Canberra and so then I can use those with what I do have to fly back for 'nearly free' see how I go! Taking hubby to the airport tomorrow that's going to be a nice little $ in parking isn't it. Oh well, it's what you do.
Managed to do a little bit of reading today and going to do some more now. I am determined to read at least 1 book a month this year so that's 12 books I would like to get through! Challenge set! I was thinking I could read a chapter a day but that seemed like 'less' as a reading challenge and plus who wants to put a book down when your really into it!!
Oh forgot the main bit - LOL - came home from mum's with only 'one' child DD12 decided to stay down there until Monday - Great for me - it's going to be super quiet in this house then LOL. I'm glad she does get a little break from my son at times, she is her own person and although a big sister sometimes having a sibling with a disability means that you can be like an only child with the way you are expected to grow up quickly in some areas and be supportive. Also there is less attention. As DS9 goes back to school on Tuesday DD12 and I will have some of the day to spend together which will include school shoe shopping (god help me LOL).
That's it from me, hope you all had a great day - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi. XOXO
Well this blog is a few mins past midnight .. woops... been a busy girl today / tonight.
Spent half of the day ripping apart (while trying to keep tidy) my office and part of my other rooms looking for the library cards for hubby and DS9. Found mine somehow and DD12 has her possession of hers for a long time. In the end I give up and figure I'll try and plead for another one, claiming insanity that I've lost it as they usually charge $5 for a replacement card. When I get there I ask 'if there any way there is a spot that you keep 'saved' cards as I have literally torn the house apart and there is NO logic of where they are. He pulls up hubby's file and my son's and goes yes they are here.
Now I'm relieved let me tell you but also annoyed because WHY not call and say your library cards are here especially as now with the automatic borrowing system anyone can borrow things on your card. I just 'assumed' there were misplaced at home and not 'missing' as such so I wouldn't have any useful stance if someone did use our cards to borrow out half the library! Oh well. The other good thing about today is that January is 'fee / can amenisty' where you take canned goods and they will cancel out your fee's on your library cards.
I must admit I didn't have many cans at home so I did purchase a couple of extra with my last shopping trip and take these along to the library today. I am embarrased that we had fines and was planning on paying them all back but things just got out of hand with homeschooling and other things last year that I just never went there. Also my daughters school has an amazing library so she has been borrowing from there now.
Looking through the library I could have easily gotten carried away borrowing books and dvd's so I grabbed 3 dvd's as they will be watched and returned and only borrowed 1 book which is the next in the series of what I am watching because I have decided that 2013 is the year of the book for me and I am going to do more reading but LOGIC reading (if there is such a thing) I'm not going to borrow more than I can handle. We are going to book in, just like an appointment (just like they say you do with exercise or a Zumba class - hint hint) to go to the library every week now after school for a good hour or so. DD12 said she could spend all day at the library ... Hmmm also she dissapeared into the teenage section today Hmmm I think LOL. While visitinig there we found a volunteer flyer for teenagers who would like to help in the library with restocking and other things. I use to do that at the school library when I was in high school and loved it and it's something that DD12 said she would be interested in so I will follow it up.
Over to westfield as I promised a little treat as it's ending the school holidays here. There was Callum from Masterchef doing a little cooking demo - although we missed it he was still making food and handing out for free so we grabbed two cold prawn rolls they were yummy! I grabbed a recepie card too and it said that each one was only about 75 calories each so I thought Hmmm I'm going to make those. They seemed really filling too!
As I'm stuffing my face full of food I get called over to a 'display' by Energy Australia. Now I am friendly to the people who work at these stands because myself have been there many times talking to people for the direct selling company that I have worked with. To cut a long story short. Energy Australia use to be TRU Energy which USE to be TXU which is some new company from who knows where but they had lower costs than Etsa and also a % discount if you pay your bill before the set date etc... so I tell they guy yeah we are already with you lalala and he said great as a loyal customer I'll put you onto our bonus discount scheme you will receive $100 off your next electricity and $100 off your next gas bill. Also move up to 4% discount for pre payment. I don't know he talked a lot I just said ok sure. Now what he failed to tell me is that basically I was signing a new contract binding for 3 years - now thats fine because I'm not going anywhere but he did fail to mention a few little key things like that = he just said you will get an email to confirm your discounts.... Hmmm thinking I might need a phone call to the company although I don't know if I can be bothered trying to talk to someone overseas's... LOL
Tonight had to pay for some 'child (slave) labour' ... building up my Zumba business I do letterbox drops and so I printed up some new flyers for the new classes which I am starting and attached all those to the pre printed postcards I had made up late last year ready for this. As there was two of us it took half the time and we did the small area within the hour. That was great. I offered her $10 and the minute we were back inside the house she stuck her hand out for the cash... LOL clever girl....
Had to duck over to Woolworths tonight to get some milk - sigh always milk ... however this milk did cost me $44 - I wonder if I have shares in woolworths milk yet LOL. They had a few things on special and you know it's a public holiday on Monday so you need to stock up incase the world ends LOL. My dad use to tell me that my mum would go into 'prepare mode' as the shops 'back in the day' were never open on a Sunday so if it was a public holiday Monday then she would buy 3 loafes of bread and about 6 lites of milk. We should have just bought a cow he said. LOL. But the freezer was always full and there was always plenty for all.
So free food, free money, free library books (well if you follow all the rules and have no more fines)!!!
A good day today , wow I wrote a lot! Hope you enjoyed and hope you had a great day XOXO
It was a hot day here in Adelaide today. Apparently it hit 38 but I was inside for most of the day so didn't really notice the temp too much but I did fold under the stale air of inside the house and put on the air con at about 4.30pm this arvo.
Was up early this morning at 9am - I realise thats not really early but for me it is as I've been having a bit longer sleep in than that tee hee... but the inlaws came over to help a bit more in the garden. They bring with them their big prunning scissors - sorry I can't spell the proper word LOL and I went to war on two tree's. I prunned the olive tree that we have as they said it will help it to grow out and not up and then trimmed a tree where we are trying to establish back the path infront of the house. Also the other day I prunned the tree that covers over the footpath as there is a little old lady up the road who walks to the shops every day and I would like to have a safe path for her. Today we were out the front as she was passing and said we were doing a good job so that's lovely.
Not much to report on frugal wise apart from that I did pick up all the lemons from the ground which have seemed to just drop off over the past two days they still look perfect on the outside and I barely touched a few others and they just came off in my hand. I really need to water that tree more. Also we have an orange tree out the back which I should water.
Watched Nigella Lawson on the tv tonight and yet again saw her make the most yummiest dessert - oh that woman!!!!
That's it from here, not much to report. Hope you had a great day! XOXO
I was reminded of a quote today 'a fool and his money are easily parted' however today I was no fool and trust me it took a while to 'part' with my money! Today I had to go and PRE pay DD12's school fee's lets just say there were a couple of 0's behind the main amount.... I think the thing that MOSTLY annoys me apart from the huge sum is the fact that I pay $100+ for a stationary pack that I could get for next to nothing because half of the things that are in there, glue stick, eraser, etc etc etc we have MULTIPLES of from last year and then the things like exercise books I am sure DO not cost the price they are guessing they are! There were display folders in there that she still has all from last year no wonder you end up with so much clutter in the house!
I was lucky with the fact however that I didn't need to buy any school uniform things either so far which is good. I have already bought her school shoes though!
I remember when I was at school and you use to go with your list and go room to room collecting everything you needed they have boxes full of pencils, rulers etc and you just crossed off what you didn't need. I swear my mum still have piles of pens and pencils that she bought when I started school so I never needed to buy anything when school started she was always in the know!
By the way that adventure I will admit I didn't do until 3.30pm (as I had to go to the bank get the cash and then drive straight to school to do the deed and banks close at 4pm LOL) and you can only do it today from 8am - 6pm or tomorrow from 8am - 12 noon and if you forgot or miss out - tough luck they say! Hmm I never want to find out how 'tough' is tough!
Apart from that I stayed home until tonight when I went to teach Zumba. It's near my mums house so I drive down there and pick her up and now she comes to shake it twice a week she's going really well. I'm so proud of her!
On the way down we dropped in at savers dropped of another bag - another stamp thank you and then swapped over a book and got $2 back. I still can't work out how that all works we had a credit note of $5.98 and got a book for $1.99 and then they handed us a $2 coin I just took it and left as you are meant to do a swap to the 'amount of' and the shop was closing but it's ok, I'll just be confused about it all night LOL.
After Zumba took the long way home to pick up 33 pavers from the pay it forward group and got a workout moving those LOL my poor mum offered to help too I said no but she got out and did it. Picked up a few other bits and pieces too.
That's it from me, pretty tired this evening. Hope you all had a great day XOXO
Got a lovely surprise in the mail today a letter from a new penpal from Japan so I eagerly ripped into that and have typed a reply already! I will post it on my way out tomorrow. I wonder how much it costs to send a letter to Japan. I hope she likes the Australian stamps she asked so many questions about our country and I in turn have so many for her.
Got the credit card bill which is just a formaility as its paid at the end of every month without fail however they must do the billing seperately to what I know because we got a finance fee of $17.95. Hmmm not happy about that... obviously even though I paid it off by the 30th Dec which is well before the 10th of the next month. Oh well ... I'll just go back to paying it before the 6th of the month.
A reminder letter than my husbands eye exam is now 'well overdue' he said 'I've still got two eye's'...' LOL funny man...
Redid the nail polish today which has only been on for two days and already chipping Grrr not happy about that, I'm hoping that because it's an older polish this is why as I've had 3 colour changes in 3 days. Of course my left hand looks like I was drunk when I did it I can't wait till I can save up some 'me' money and get a nice set of gel nails from a friend who runs her own business!
Got an email back from the ebay seller with the westfield gift card - he said he bought it from someone else and so he's following that up but I see there is a refund in process in my paypal account so thank you honest person!
That's it from me. Big day tomorrow $ wise ... (school fee's due... sigh ....) Hope you had a great day XOXO
I must have been one tired little puppy last night as I woke up today and thought it was Sunday. I see on facebook tonight I am NOT the only one LOL. Good to know!
A boring day in the house, firstly empty letterbox - which means no bills so that's good, but also no junk mail so nothing to read either! I 'could' or 'should' have done a bit more in the garden but I was being lazy today!
I did go through the gift cards I have left and work out the balances remaining and was starting to go through the receipt box but the day got away from me. I did discover however that a gift card I purchased on ebay last week has been 'cancelled' underneath me as its a westfield gift card XS which means that who ever has the recipt has the 'power' so look out mate, I'm on the case... I paid with paypal so I'm covered for the purchase amount.
Got the phone bill yesterday as we changed over internet providers and they obviously contacted Telstra and swapped the lines because the bill we got was a lot smaller which was good.
My DD12 is a cheeky little monkey. I forgot to tell you she asked grandma for two books to complete a series for the one she found in an op shop LOL. Cheeky - I told her we would be able to find them at the library but obviously she wasn't waiting...
Got an email from woolworths that all current 4c fuel vouchers have been upgraded to 8c I won't get around to using them all before they expire but at least I know I will get a good discount. My mum also gave me 3 fuel vouchers so I am covered until mid Feb that's a lot of petrol ... LOL!
Zumba tonight which I loved as always - hope you had a great day XOXO
Big day today! Got a little sleep in - thanks children then up and off to a 3 hour Zumba workshop where I danced away 1200 calories - not really sure it made much of a dent from the cake yesterday oh well. LOL. Pretty tired now.....
On the way home got petrol with an 18c voucher that was expiring today. Only needed about 22 litres to fill the tank so saved nearly $4.
Zipped home to do the food shopping with hubby I took him with me as I was feeling super tired after all that Zumba. Not much to report I forgot to take the voucher that gives you $5 off when you spend $100 or more but I did manage to spend over $140 to get a 18c fuel voucher.
I spent a little more bit than I expected too as I was trying to keep it tight but oh well. I did actually put a few things back that weren't urgent and I watched the price go higher and higher I was grabbing some things right off the belt - I must have looked like a mad woman I know my hubby was certainly looking at me going 'why'.... so hopefully I will remember to buy those things next time as I know they will help prop up the bill when I need to spend $100 to get my $5 disount ... LOL. It's all about my logic's - it's cracked and flawed but it works just fine for me! Tee Hee ....
Paid for that with my prebought gift cards thank you very much!
Hubby had to cook tea tonight even though I bought crumbed chicken fillets to make a super easy dinner of parmigana I didn't have the energy either to do that!
Hope you had a good day XOXO
Inlaws came over today and helped with the front gardening. It was so good of them to come over and help as you can see we filled the trailer LOL - they said the same thing a friend of ours said yesterday - we need a hay bailer LOL. Yes we let the front yard yet a little out of hand but every day it was oh no it won't take long. We use to get it slashed and poisoned and that would take care of it but this winter it just rained and rained and rained and it was so hard to get out there on a good day to keep it under control. We still have a few more patches to go and I still want to do the areas that I talked about to pretty it up a bit. It's all a work in progress!
I guess the frugal part of this is that I wanted hubby to take it to the dump and he said no he was too tired LOL. So that's ok - it will now no doubt sit there for another 2 - 3 weeks as he is away soon and I don't want to dump it by myself. We filled the green bin too so that will get emptied in 2 weeks time with the free bin service. Hubby said he wanted to put these out in the back in the big empty gardening patch we have as it will break down and make the soil nice and I said NO - no more weeds or dry grass or stuff or anything in that area. LOL. I'm 'trying' (very trying) to clean it out so I can start a vegi patch but like anything 'it's on the list...' it's going to take a little while to get to....
For lunch ... "Let them eat cake" LOL ... Master 9 said 'cake' and then he said 'ta da' and he had seen the pictures on the back of the box, worked out what we needed - he can read some things (when he chooses too cheeky) and then put everything in the bowl ready. I was VERY impressed with how well he did! So we cooked the cake, cooled it in the freezer and iced it and fed it to the family! Everyone said it was great! It must have been super yummy because more than half of it 'dissapeared' at lunch time and so we had the rest for desert tee hee.
At 4.30pm I headed over to the local westfield as the fruit shop always does end of day specials. Got a bag of grapes for $3 and a bag of banana's for $2.50. Always worth a trip over there. Master 9 also came with me as he had his pocket money to spend. Naturally he bought more lego - he just had enough - phew... I love watching little kids trying to work out how much money they have and what they can buy but it does break my heart when they say 'I don't have enough' LOL.
The kids like to buy a thing called a Moshi Magazine - there's an online game called Moshi Monsters - you can play for free but you can also pay $6.95 for a month or $24.95 for 6 mths you also buy the card with the code at the shop. I was on alternative months helping them to buy these but now I have told the children 'anything' they want to buy now is 'their' responsibility. DD12 walked in to give me her money to get these as she didn't want to go to the shops and Master 9 said I'll have it too so I said yep 'money please' so he ran off and had a little cry but then came back 5 minutes later dressed ready for the shops LOL. Then when we get there he changed his mind (as I suspected) and went straight for the lego area! I feel for him this is a much better use for his money!
I also feel that by making them responsible for their own money it's going to stop me spending so much on all those 'incidentals'. Hubby and I get our own pocket money each fortnight too and it always was seeing by the end of the week that I never had much money left and yet I could tell you that I haven't bought anything for myself with that money. I do have my cash bags which 'sometimes' I have in my bag with me if I know I need it get 'Fruit & Veg' or 'Incidentals' for the milk but I try not to carry too much cash around with me.
Did two loads of washing today and got DD12 to help hang out thank you as we were busy with the garden. It's been too hot to do it throughout the week and also I just kept forgetting or just never had the energy! DD12 still had her load to do which is also now her responsibility as per her chores! I'm becoming a tough love mummy! I do feel it's for the best though as then I know she will be ready for the world when she is older to do the basics plus sooo many other parents tell me that children younger than 12 have their own responsibility of doing a load of washing so I thought right, let's go!
Hope you all had a great Saturday XOXO
Today is Friday! However when I woke up I was convinced that it was Saturday for some reason and I got woken up by hubby getting read for work and I said 'hey where are you going' LOL ... not plugged in today....
Today has been a boring and semi frugal day. Not feeling 100% today so took it easy. Did do a bit of gardening out the front as it was cooler but its still an effort. Hubby's talking to his parents now to organise a bit of a working bee as they have offered to help! Although the grass is all flat now thanks to the wind there was one point I was sure we would have lost a small child in there! LOL
I had a lady visit my door step today to tell me that she had a brown snake on her front door step the other day and 'have I looked out my front door lately' well I realise I have some tall grass which I have been working on. A friend said 'wow, door steps are breading brown snakes' LOL. I don't know where she lives but she said she lives 'down the road' I don't think a snake left our front yard and slide down the road to her house!
Tonight we were lazy and got take away. I was trying to organise to cook and clean the kitchen at the same time and hubby said it's not worth the effort LOL. I'm in no mood to argue.
Forgot to tell you yesterday that I 'might' be wink wink hubby going to Sydney for my birthday weekend as there is some Zumba training I feel like i have been waiting on 'forever'. LOL I've only been qualifed for 4 mths now but I knew this is the area I have been wanting to work in for ages. So I'm crunching the numbers and seeing what's what.
Have a great weekend everyone, I will post about our gardening adventures! LOL XOXO
It's been a hot one here in Adelaide today 42. Although not as hot as the 44 degree day we had, people were complaining on facebook about how hot it was but nothing like the 44 day. We were inside the house all day and it wasn't till 3pm that I finally had enough and turned on the aircon even though I know it was struggling and in the side office where we are it's a tin roof so it doesn't get in there very easily!
I've drank at least 2 L's of water today. I partly freeze bottles of water in the freezer so I have nice cool drinks all day long. It saves me buying cordial and other soft drinks.
Not much to boast on the frugal line except that staying home all day means savings. We ate the left over chinese from last night's next door delivery (ohhh must remember the thank you note) and my son has been enjoying home made pizza (pita bread, pineapple pieces - all of 6 enough to make a bit of a smiley face LOL and then some cheese). I have a few pkts of pita bread frozen so it's good they are being used!
Worked on a new flyer for my Zumba business promoting day classes so will attach those to the 1,500 (yes you read that right one thousand 500 flyers that I bought late last year at a SUPER awesome price) and will use them to deliver to schools and letterbox drops in the local community.
Hubby had to fix another puncture on his tyre yesterday - forgot to tell you - I think the whole thing is going to be patches by the time he replaces it. He said he's not in a hurry to replace the tyre just yet as it can 'hold out' so we will see. He knows more about that stuff so I'll leave the expert to his devices! Tee Hee!
Taught Zumba tonight and only had 1 person come to class being as it was so hot but that's ok. We had a great time. As I was packing up I saw someone had left half a can of beer at my Zumba sign so I emptied that into the gutter and took the 10c home, thanks LOL.
We of course ran out of milk again tonight AFTER I got home and AFTER 9pm so I had to go to the local IGA. It wasn't too bad I got a 2L on special for only $1.35 - happy with that althought it only had another day left until expiry but I'm sure that's NOT a problem in this house LOL. Also where I parked someone left me another can so I took that home - so that's 20c I earnt today! Tee Hee!
That's it from me! It was a hot one, keep cool, hope you had a great day too XOXO
Yay 21 days! Well they say it takes 21 days to form a habit and I've logged on every day and made an entry so hopefully it will stick further too! I love coming in here! Friends of mine I see are starting their own blogs be it video or photo so I am watching those with great interest too.
Today has been an awesome day. Firstly I went and picked up about 30 smallish rocks from the retaining wall that the guy smashed down - forgot to take a photo sorry about that - was on my 'to do' list but it was quite a warm day today so I just wanted to get everything 'done' and get back inside. I'm going to send them a thank you card in the mail with a free Zumba pass LOL.
Taught at one of the gyms where I teach Zumba (oh how could you not guess that LOL) and I saw that I received a monthly staff nomination - wow exciting. Thanks. I was only going to be teaching there for a cover for a week or two but everyone tells me that they love it so much so I said alright I'll keep going!
When I got home the next door neighbour had delivered a BIG bag of chinese food - they own a shop in a food court. YUM!!!! They use to deliver to use nearly every other night for the first few weeks when they first moved in. Must send them a thank you card too!
I forgot the most important thing LOL - we swapped over Internet providers today and got an SMS that it would be connected between 1pm - 6pm. Well they pulled the plug at 11.45am so we were all a bit bored sitting at home today. A bit too warm to really go anywhere so we just watched some movies today. I wasn't as productive as I could have been... oh well....
Oh and also I tried to be cheeky with the bins last night and it didn't work ... the house that I put the bin out parked their car right infront of the bins and then they also put theirs out first thing this morning so either way no truck is going to empty a bin hard to get to - oh well - saved me some energy today of trying to refill it!
That's about it from here. A small post tonight - but the best things come in small packages. Hope you had a great day! XOXO
A normal quiet day on the homestead today!
Did the usual check facebook, emails, general computer stuff, normall this only takes about 20 mins so I wonder why I seem to get stuck here for half a day LOL it's proabably a common thing with most people - probably a gremlin inside your computer.... tee hee.
I did check out gumtree 'free' section today as I was looking for some wooden pallet and I found someone giving away parts of their retaining wall. I drove around to their place to have a look and they are yet to 'break it down' but said when they would they would give me a call. Some lovely rocks for the garden. I would have offered to help break it down but I had children with me and no sun protection at all.
Got a nice surprise in the mail today as I received a $15 coles myer voucher for some online survery I did ages ago and I forgot all about it. It came registered mail so naturally that meant the postie was too lazy to get off their bike and knock on my door so I had to go to the PO to collect it. They have given me the number to call and complain. I'm not impressed!
Back outside to do some more weeding didn't get too much done today as it was quite warm and also I'm REALLY feeling the muscles from yesterday. I've got a plan of what I want to do but it's getting the time and energy to do it! Also trying to do it without spending much $. I noticed when I came home at 8pm tonight that noone's green bin is out so I can't swap that with anyone's right now! Will have to do a midnight raid later to see what I can do - tee hee cheeky alert! x This picture is a bit of the 'before' I know it just looks like WWIII. I'm not a gardener at all!
Picked up some pieces of wood on the side of the road today, thinking of scattering those through the garden!
Zumba tonight and everyone did so well as usual. I stayed behind and did some extra work to make sure I burnt over 1000 calories which I did, but then when I got home I had some icecream so I think I cancelled it all out LOL.
Hope you had a great Tuesday XOXO
It's Monday again, where did the weekend go? I don't mind Monday's as its the start of my Zumba week!
Today I stayed home, my mum was meant to come over but she got caught up at her place as it's her last day of holidays. So I didn't do a lot around the house either LOL. I did do two good sessions of weeding. The bin is now and truly chocka block so tomorrow when the bin night happens I will see if the neighbours have room in their bins! Feels good to be doing little bits in my garden but its certainly taking a long time!!!
I repotted the plant I got yesterday and it looks so funny sitting against the tree near the letterbox but for now it will do! I will replant in the ground once I have that area de-weeded - that's my next task!
I made some chocolate bark today from a packet of candy canes we got super cheap at coles during the food shopping. It was fun it didn't take too long and I didn't really make much but it seems to melt so quickly in your fingers. I did spread it quite thin so wondering if that's why. Oh well, all good cook's need to experiement to see what works.
RECIPE -
I bought a pkt of Cadbury Dark Cooking Choc on special for $1.84 for a 250gm pkt and bought a 500gm pkt of candy canes for 50c. I only used 2 lines of choc and 3 candy canes for this melted the choc, poured it onto the baking paper and then sprinkled over the candy canes (which i had smashed in a paperbag with my rolling pin). It was really yummy! Just something a little different from plain choc - reminds me a bit of tobelerone actually as you have bits to chew like nougat.
Have been looking online for recepies to make home made icecream as I have some strawberries there I would like to use up. I grabbed a container of cream on my way home from Zumba tonight and noticed that coles also had top quality 2L's of icecream - double choc chip my FAVOURITE out for $3.74. My thing of cream cost $2.65 and I'm sure that I won't get 2 lites out of it hmmm no wonder people are happy to 'buy' things some days. I realise home made won't have all the nasties in it!
That's it from me, as I said not an exciting day but still did something frugal.
Hope you had a great Monday XOXO
Today is a good day to shop! Well today we 'needed' to shop!
We did a mini food shop today. I was quite controlled I only got 2 things that weren't on my list and although I'm claiming that this milk and bread trip cost us $60 it was a good trip. It wasn't quite the $21 trip that I was hoping to make but I mostly got solid staples so I'm happy. Confused how Multigrain bread is 50c more than plain white bread - no wonder it is expensive to eat healthy! We got 2 x 2Ls of milk because there WAS no 3L containers of 'normal' milk it was all 'lite' milk and hubby said I don't want to die. LOL.
On the way to my mums for dinner as she invited us down for a roast meal - nothing like having a roast at your mums house sorry Tom Cruise but I'd pass you over for a roast! George Clooney however ... hmm I'd take you with me LOL!!! Stopped off before hand to pick up a few more mini give aways from my new found friends and also got this awesome plant called a 'pony tail' plant. I had to dig it up but it was quite easy. Now to replant the thing and hope that it 'take's'. I'm not the best gardener!
Got petrol on the way home using a 8c fuel voucher so I saved $4 yay and bought nothing extra inside even to get more discount WHICH i noticed they are stopping on Feb 2013 so I wonder if woolies will soon do the same thing. I think it's because Coles Express are now having every day items in the petrol station at every day prices like Milk for $2 so they don't want to start discounting stuff too much. But I can tell you right now if there was a Coles Express near me and I needed milk at 10pm I'd be going there for sure to get milk at that price! I realise 2L's anywhere these days if it's home brand is only $2 but still. Also at Coles Express you get your flybuys card swipped so points for fuel. Yay I like that!
Hubby went to the movies with a friend I bought the double pass off ebay for only $19 (how did you guess LOL) and I wasn't really interested in going so I invited a friend of his to go with us. I was really happy with the price and we got to swipe our Cinebuzz cards too. I am sure I'm close to redeeming for a free movie ticket soon however the catch you can ONLY redeem online and you have to pay $1.20 for the honor of doing so! What a rip off!!!!
Hope you had a great Sunday!!! XOXO
I love Saturday's always have. I don't what it is about them I guess it's a non working day so you can shop all day LOL.
Today we had a bit of a sleep in because we got woken up by my MIL ringing at 8.11am and we were too lazy to race down the corridor to grab it so we fell back asleep and got up about 10.30am LOL. She called back at 12 so that was good.
Sleeping in late means everything else is late for the day - late breakfast which is good and a later lunch too which means less snacking 'hopefully' around 4pm if your home. However we were going out at 1.30pm so no sooner had we finished breakfast it was time for lunch - being a cheapskate and eating at home before we go out - also just means less crap that the children keep asking for! We had roast beef sandwhich's left over from last night! Yum!
Hit Kmart and returned a pair of sandshoes that 'I' bought on my 'own' thinking DD12 would fit into - silly silly. Of course they don't fit and in store she didn't find any others that she liked so we had to get a 'store credit' which was fastly used because DS9 tells us that he wants new shoes - now this buy doesn't like to shop at all so when he will say I want new socks or shoes then you buy! We did happen to get DD12's proper school black shoes for formal uniform days so that was good. So the whole shoes only cost me $4 with the credit note.
The Inlaws invited us out to the movies today to see Les Mis and that was amazing. The paid for our tickets so a big THANK YOU to them. We did our usual trick of going to HJ's and buying a frozen coke for $1. Today we scored 1 for free as I 'checked in' with my HJ's Phone App and we won a free frozen coke. Coolies. We also bought some lollies at Kmart to take in. I was thinking I remember going to the movies when I was younger and thinking how exciting it was that I got to buy a WHOLE packet of lollies from coles to take into the movies with me! I felt so rich having that many lollies. Now it's just something we do all the time LOL. Of course buying the lollies from Kmart I only remembered after we had already paid for the shoes LOL so back in we went, felt like I was walking around in circles ... hmmm funny that!
Outside of Kmart were some people collecting for the Bushfire Appeals they were all dressed up in Star Wars costumes and looked so good, apparently they are a fundraising group. I gave them all the coins I had which was only 75c but still it felt good to give something, the children still enjoy putting coins into the collectin tins!
Home for dinner as hubby didn't want to eat out I probably didn't really want to either as I know we are meant to be watching our $ and I'm glad we came home we had Sweet and Sour Chicken and it was yummy with dinosaur pasta! LOL You can't get that at Cafe Primo.
I've also realised now I will have to hit Coles tomorrow as we have no potatoes, carrots, milk, (Hmmm), bread, and probably something else I'm missing. At least I will get triple flybuy points!
On telly tonight is James Bond so it's like another free movie for us today. DS9 said I can watch it with him so that's exciting as he's a daddy's boy.
Hope you had a great Saturday xoxo
