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.

Baking & Tick Tock Timer

My brain has really connected it now, if the electric oven is on I feel that a cake should be baking at the same time to share the cooking fuel. I put on the meat for dinner and immediately thought 'cake', it is a strange feeling but real. So out came my mixing bowl, recipe book and ingredients even though I hadn't even considered making a cake before I started cooking the meal.

I made my cake, then thought I would make a second one to be even more frugal! The first cake was a fruit one containing marmalade and baked in a round cake tin while the second one was also fruity but cooked in a large oblong shaped tray tin. As the ingredients were similar I didn't even need to wash the mixing bowl inbetween and warned the children that they couldn't lick the spoons etc until I had made the second cake! They waited patiently, they definately love the tasting bit best.

My first cake took the longest to cook as it was in a deep cake tin and I was concerned that I would forget about it in the oven, not that I have ever done this before... actually I have burnt cakes in the past. As I had left the kitchen and was now on my computer I decided to use an online timer that had been recommended to me the other day. The Tick Tock Timer was set for 15 minutes then I just forgot about it and browsed while I waited for it to go off. The next thing I knew there was a loud 'dong, dong, dong'. The children and I thought it was funny andI got up and saved my cake. If you would like to use Tick Tock Timer it is a free tool and can be found at http://ticktocktimer.com/

My Husband got served a piece of hot cake with his coffee and declared it yummy. You can't beat home baking as it is satisfying to make, delicous to eat and you know exactly what is in it. Much cheaper than the bakery and better quality than the pre-packaged variety, so if you compare it by quality it is also good value for money.