Wednesday 21 January 2009

Inspiration

I love to read stories that inspire me. Of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I read this article today and thought I'd share it with any readers I may have! I really believe in the 'power of one' meaning that one person can make a huge difference in the world. This man really illustrates this. 

Sunday 11 January 2009

enough said.

Don't you hate it when you are having a really good day, feeling really good, spiritual even, then someone has to ruin it and you spent the rest of the day feeling cross and frustrated and not at all relaxed??????? GGGGGgggrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Saturday 10 January 2009

My parents rang this morning to say that my mum's car had a flat battery so they wouldn't be picking the kids up as usual at 11am.  So we took them with us to run a few errands. We popped into Matalan. And I know that I mentioned in the last post that I wasn't buying new if I could help it, but they had a Batman Dark Knight dressing up outfit for £3.50 reduced from £14.00 and I just know I couldn't get an older version batman dressup outfit for that! so I bought it to put away for Nat and Zac. I also got Nat a pair of leather boots reduced to £5.00, but I did mention that footwear is exempt from my resolution, lol :)

My parents got mum's car a new battery and came to pick up the boys at about 3.00 to take them back to their house for a bit. When it comes to my kids, my parents are like addicts, lol.  They need to get their fix and if they don't they get withdrawl symptoms!

Friday 9 January 2009

Resolutions

I never admit to making resolutions or actually share them. Because that way I'm accountable for them and other people besides myself can see what a failure I am, lol!

Anyway. One thing I want to achieve this year to not buy anything brand new that I can thrift. I make exceptions for items like underwear, shoes for the kids etc.  But other than that I want to see if I can buy gently used item. Both to be 'green' and 'frugal'.

So bearing this in mind, today I bought a brand new set of small ovenware dishes (with plastic lids) from the Hospice shop. They had half off their bric a brac so instead of being £4 for the set they were £2.00.  I'll add a picture later. They are cute and pretty. They are made by Anchor Hocking in the USA and are in their Avalon range.  They are not in their current ranges and the box and packing looks dated. But I like them!

I also got a couple of items for the kids. Including a lovely red wheelbarrow for Zac. I've stored it in my mum's garage thinking it might be for his birthday. The body of the wheelbarrow is red metal and the handles are wood.  Again it looked new. Just a little dusty from being stored. It cost £5 but it really appealed to me. And when he's finished using it to play with, it can be used to house plants in the garden!

Oh, I've just 'googled' the wheelbarrow and this is it here:


So my £5 was quite a bargain really!

And I also bought a Crayola branded little desk that opens up to be a magnetic whiteboard.  It's like this but without the stool.  It cost me £2.50! Another bargain I believe. It seems to be discontinued now so I can't see what price it sold for. One site I found sold it for 30euros. And some have sold second hand ones for $25. But I don't have the stool.  I hope that Zac (and Nat?) will use it to sit at and do their homework in their bedroom or do colouring.  I have whiteboard pens and erasers to they can draw on the underside.



Friday 2 January 2009

New Year

On new years eve, we had my SIL, BIL and gorrrrrgeous nephew, Ethan over. We had a yummy dinner, watched a movie, played Buzz on the PS3 and have fun just spending time together.  The boys had fun having a bath together. Ethan went to sleep on Zac's bed.  Nat and Zac stayed up until 11.00pm when SIL, BIL and Ethan left. They would have stayed up longer had we allowed them! Then on NY day, we took them to a great Chinese buffet restaurant for lunch. The boys love eating there. Especially the icecream for dessert!!


I hate, hate, having my picture taken.  So it's rare to see one of me on here.  But to start off the new year, here's one of me with Zac.  This might be the only one I put on here during 2009 so enjoy (??) the rare treat, lol.

Baby Eli

Christmas also involved lots of cuddles with my newborn nephew, Eli.  He's just the cutest, tiniest thing!  He was born on 18 December and weighed 5lb 15 oz.  Isn't he just perfect?

Christmas morning

Christmas morning looked a lot like this around here!





Nativity





Nathaniel and Zac were in the Nativity at church as a wise man and shepherd respectively.