If you can use some exotic booze..

Did some productive financial stuff this morning, feeling quite smug about my ability to live far more frugally than I’d ever imagine possible with no real feelings of hardship so far. Which could of course serve to make me feel shamed by living otherwise previously, but hey, we enjoyed it while we had it! 😉

I’ve been spending time signing up to all sorts of lunatic frugal living newsletters and browsing websites. There are some fairly hysterical ideas, hints and tips out there if you dig around. My favourite so far is using vinegar as a deodrant – aparantly it doesn’t stop the perspiring but it does stop it from smelling, presumably because you smell like a pickling jar! Had a bash at making newspaper logs last night which was also faintly surreal – and hopeless – I just ended up with very inky fingers, fifteen minutes of my life I will never get back to live again gone and a brickette which caught fire and turned to ashes quicker than you could say ‘think of the money it’s saved in coal!’. Tim, I feel another website idea coming on 😉

Anyway, while I was doing all this Davies was playing Cat in the Hat and erm, Cat in the Hat on the playroom pc. I think he zoombinied too 🙂 Scarlett sat for ages with a pair of scissors and a piece of paper snipping it into confetti sized bits – so fine motor skills and hand/eye co-ordination ticked off there, oh and probably arts and crafts too 😉

Then we headed off to the local soft play to meet up with Julie, Jack and Maisie. They were nearly an hour late and as for once we were actually on time I sat and blissfully read one of the magazines donated by Ros while the children went off and socialised making friends with random strange children (they are actually really good at this and take great delight in coming back to report that they have made a new friend, sometimes dragging the new friend with them as hard evidence!) and Davies stage managed various very noisy games (but if he can’t yell and be bossy there where can he?!). I passed the magazine onto Julie afterwards so cost cutting and recycling lives on in another home 🙂

The children started to flag after a couple of hours so we took them into the cafe area and fed them processed, deep fried food (well I did mine, obviously Julie’s children had nutrionally balanced, healthy food instead!) which gave them the energy to go back in again for another hour afterwards! Tarly was so funny when we finally dragged them away and said ‘Oh Mummy, I just want to have a little bit more fun!’ holding her hand up to demonstrate what a little bit looked like (can’t imagine where she got such habits from!!).

Julie and the twins headed for home we walked across the road taking advantage of free parking at the soft play to go to the main library. I’ve not been there since college when I used to spend hours cosily tucked up there reading teen fiction and political reference books so we wandered round the children’s area and gathered a few books including a couple of enormous classroom style versions of stories for reading aloud to groups – you could have one per ticket. We got the Giraffes Can’t Dance one as previously mentioned by Heather once which I’m looking forward to reading with them tomorrow. Thanks to Joyce I am seriously into Jodi Picoult but so it seems is everyone else in Sussex and there were none of hers there to be found 🙁

Came home to find a couple of CVs which need to be back for Sunday – which means they need to be back tomorrow as we’re away for the weekend had arrived in the post, a phonecall from Dad for cat feeding rota sorting in our absense and I finally sewed up Davies’ cuddly Peter Pan toy which I made him a couple of years ago and a combination of being much beloved and not that well sewn in the first place meant he was losing stuffing from several places. Did a couple of other sewing mends while I was at it while Tarly played with all the cotton reels sorting them into colours and sizes and stuff. Then they had sandwiches while watching Backyardigans (which they adore!) and I chucked some red wine, garlic, onions and oxo cubes in the oven with some stewing steak for dinner – which of course means there is the other half a bottle of wine which really needs using up tonight as we’re away, so having thoroughly enjoyed the mid week ban lift by drinking a whole bottle of white myself last night I am now enjoying a nice glass of red too 🙂 It’s OK this teetotalling lark!

Right, bath, dinner and the new series of Little Britain. Not sure how much I’ll be around this weekend although I am home most of the day tomorrow as Ali has cancelled due to ill health our visit over there tomorrow so I may well be blogging as we go!