Well, you must have wondered where I disappeared to all this time! Nearly a year later I re-read my blog and decided to start posting again. I stopped writing because the anaemia made me feel so tired and ill. Most of my spare time was spent in bed in the afternoons trying to rest and recover, as well as all the iron pills that I was consuming. The business has continued to do well and the family keep me busy too, as any Mum of teenagers and little ones will identify with. My youngest is 5 years old and the eldest is now 19 years living at home again while working in the next town and courting a lovely young man. Sadly I am still battling with the anaemia, it just goes around in a viscious circle. Everytime I get back to full bloodcount I get taken off the iron pills then go downhill again. My Dr is seriously thinking of keeping me on one pill a day this time after I get back to normal levels, I would be very grateful if that happened as all this tiredness is robbing me of quality of life.

Health Change

For several months I have been feeling very weary, just dragging myself around and pushing myself to work. Finally I gave in and went to the Dr where I found that my blood cell count is down to 9.5 when it should be around 12.5! Have been prescribed iron tablets so my strength should slowly come back again sometime soon. Am looking forward so much to being able to match the children's energy again!

Making Good Choices

Another change in my life is that I am trying to break any bad habits that I am aware of and consciously trying to make good choices. Whether it is eating, exercising, getting fresh air, going to bed, getting up early, taking rest or whatever that is my new motto: make good choices! This should start to make a difference in my life if I keep doing this. I will post any significant changes as a result of this.

Missing Child

One change that we have had is that our eldest child has recently flown the nest as she has gone to live in another county many, many miles away! We haven't seen her since the beginning of September now. It is so strange to have your child missing from the family home but she has grown up now and it was inevitable. She is happy where she has gone though so we are at peace about it. We are blessed to have skype, text, email, royal mail and facebook for communication and we trust that God is looking after her.

Changes, Changes...

Life is full of changes and we have had plenty here lately. One big change for me is that I have gone back to putting in more hours into our business. Therefore I have to choose carefully what I do with my spare time. I am still having frugal fun and will get around to sharing some of that with you soon I hope. I am glad I have learnt to budget better but now that I am so busy earning I have to juggle working at home to save money against working at work to make money! Still keeping the financial head screwed on though. :-)

Blogger's Holiday

For the past few weeks I have taken a blogger's holiday as there have been several changes going on in our lives. Back to earth now and back on track I hope! Like all holidays some things have slipped and the eating / exercise effort needs to be re-started again. Am looking forward to sharing with you all again, as and when I get some free time. :-)

Hubby Wears Smart Suit for Date at Home

This week's date night was at home but it was special to me as my Husband surprised me by making a special effort to look smart for me by dressing up into his suit complete with a shirt and tie. I love seeing him in a suit but we haven't been to any formal events for a while now, so I haven't seen him in it for ages. I am pleased that he was free enough to take the time to dress up just for me at home and not for other people's benefit at a party etc. I wore last week's purchase, my new red and white flippy skirt.

For our meal we both had a salad, I had hot new potatoes with pepper and melted extra strength British grated cheese, it sounds so simple but it really was gorgeous. My Husband had a hot cheese individual pizza (50p) with his salad along with some of the hot cheesey new potatoes that I had. My Husband said he couldn't believe he was actually eating all these salad items now that he used to hate and now enjoys! For drink I drank iced water with my meal while my Husband had a can of Bacardi and Cola. For dessert he had a Cadbury Dairy Chocolate ice cream (50p) and I had an apricot yoghurt. So our meal ticked the box for frugal.

For entertainment my Husband suggested a game of cards with new rules, it was interesting. We enjoyed our evening together and had a couple of Bailey's and ice while we were playing. We both like Bailey's so buy it in litre bottles, expensive initially but the cheapest way of buying it in bulk. The cost per glass isn't too bad and the bottle will last us several months as we are only light drinkers. Bailey's is one of our much enjoyed special treats.