Monday Monday

The problem with doing nothing all weekend is that you come home from work on Monday to a house that smells of microwave meals, an overflowing laundry basket and a sinkful of dishes!  Note to self; even on Mothers Day do the dishes!

So today was a good day.  I wore my luuuurvely new jacket (£32 down to £18 in TKMaxx), and my blue tunic finally fits me again, woo hoo!  At the Post Office one of my ex-mum's complimented my hair, no idea when that last happened... and a weeks shopping is in the cupboards, having cost me just £58.  All I need now is the housework fairy to wave her wand while I enjoy a cuppa, and life would be perfect!

Must tidy my bedroom before I take my next pic...!

Be back soon!

Wendy x

Mother's Day

The clocks changed today, so it's now almost 7pm and I have done precisely nothing all day.  The two reasons being the clock change and the fact it's Mother's Day.  A lie in, a lazy lunch at Paris Match and then a few hours just chilling on the computer.  I feel so lazy and yet so justified!

So, no plans made for this coming week, no shopping list written for tomorrow, no housework done, no uniform folded or ironed, no bedding changed... the list goes on.  I should care, but I don't!  Life can be so routine and mundane sometimes, so why not have a day that entails nothing but nice lazy memories...

My week will be busy enough!

My lovely flowers from one of my girls.  With baking promised from the other.  I'm a very lucky Mum.

Be back soon

Wendy x

Sunday shopping...

I wonder if it's worth going between three different places for your shopping on a Sunday, when you'd much rather be sat at home watching Eastenders and eating crisps... First stop was B&M for dry goods, juice, soap etc, then Lidl for fruit and veg, then Morrisons for the little extras.  Took me ages, and in total came to about £60.  Oh please let it be worth it.  Let it save me money this week (cos there's not much left to last me til next weekend!)

Quite a busy week coming up so I need to be organised and have a menu:

Monday - Lidl ready meals for 3 cos I'm off out! Reduced to 99p each and decent ingredients too.
Tuesday - Gammon steaks, pineapple, chips and peas.  Needs to be quick as R's off to the camera club and I've got friends coming over.
Wednesday - Pepper and tomato risotto.  E's working so I'll make it after lunch so she can have hers in her break.
Thursday - Pizza for the girls as R and I are off to a wedding.
Friday - Spaghetti, meatballs and tomato sauce, before C goes to her piano lesson.
Saturday - Baked potatoes with egg mayonnaise and salad.
Sunday - Sausage casserole with potatoes and veg.
Back up meal - Sweet and sour stir-fry.

Should work if I stick to it!

So Saturday I spent ironing and Sunday I spent shopping and washing my couches.  I'm a strange woman cos I quite enjoyed it and feel nice and organised for my week ahead!

Be back soon.

Wendy

Poppodoms and Pasties!

I don't understand why I'm not rich and rolling in money...!  Popppodoms for tomorrow night's curry down from £1.79 to 50p, and not a broken one in the packet.  And tonights' tea, pasties and mini steak pies reduced to, wait for it, 30p for 3 steak pies and the pasties were silly money as well (don't remember the exact price!)  Really happy with that considering all I've bought this week are vegetables.  Just need to make sure I get time to cook and don't stray from my menu.

Now for a reminder of one of my bargains from months ago!

My gorgeous 50p scarf that I wear aaaall the time.

It's silky and has butterflies in all different colours so it goes with anything.  Love it.

And now to my reading list, as I dream of watching less tele and becoming an avid reader of all kinds of books... And I will become that woman once X Factor, Strictly, the Bake Off, Masterchef and Wife Swap go off the tele forever!

Since taking these photos I've read Queen of the Big Time.  Best book I've read in years.  I just love Adriana Trigiani.  I first read her when I was holed up in a freezing tent during the Wickerman Festival... Damp, smelly, desperate for the loo and needing a clean toilet, I lay reading Lucia Lucia, set in a beautiful part of Italy, surrounded by gorgeous.  Will never forget it.

Well, off I go for a bath, but will be back soon!

Wendy x

I'm Back!

This is ridiculous.  I've been writing blogs for three years for work, and never have I left it for four months between posts!  So, a catch up:

Had my surgery, and now, six months later I'm a new woman.  Still ache a bit, get really tired and knackered, have another half a stone to lose and am still a bit restricted in what I can do.  But it doesn't matter, my operation was a success and it's only been six months.  Am feeling very lucky.

It's funny, when I was unwell, with such limitations to what I could do, I got plenty of time to pootle round the charity shops and look for bargains.  It was my way of winding down and didn't take too much energy. So now... not so much!  Six months of letting things build up, gathering dust and clutter, means I'm more focussed on cleaning out cupboards, decluttering and making life a bit easier for myself!

I've been gradually getting the house cleaned and tidied, am being ruthless in getting rid of anything we don't need, and am desperately trying to safe money in my weekly shop... not easy!

So for the forseeable future I'm going to record my housekeeping expenses on this here little blog.  Any bargains I happen to get (like tonights tea!), I'll post up here so I can revisit it and remind myself of the odd foody bargain!  Sounds good.  Let's see if I actually do it!

Be back soon!

Pretty in Pink!

Gawd, I'm struggling a bit with this taking it easy.  I'm really trying but it's been 5 weeks since my op and I'm feeling so much better... It was much easier when I didn't feel like getting up and I actually enjoyed lying in bed watching dvds.  So a pattern seems to be forming and it's driving me mad - I feel wonderful one day, so I go for a walk or do a bit of paperwork, then I end up with a swollen scar and bone ache that leaves me lying in bed watching dvds... So frustrating and making me wonder how long exactly my recovery period's gonna be.

Breath, relax, read a book and chill out... It won't last forever.  (Read this back to yourself Wendy!)

Anyway, over to pretty things that will look lovely on me when I'm back on my feet and feeling my old self!

First, over to one of my "gorgeous til you try it on..." purchases.  Such a shame cos it's lovely, just not on me sadly!  This is a lovely David Emanuel coral top, in a lovely fabric, with some nice detail and really, I'm gutted. £1 from the Hospice shop, when it was having a half price sale, just love that!

Pink isn't a colour I wear very much at all, but when charity shopping you come across things you would walk past in m&s and I think that's a good thing.  This little t-shirt was brand new, with its tag, and cost me 50p, suddenly I love pink!  A basic t-shirt, but then not every day's a frilly one is it?!

Oh, I wish I had a figure like this mannequin...

Then I went and bought this cheeky little spotty number for me 'olidays!  Not at all sure what I think of this, I'll decide in the Summer when it's all warm and sunny and I'm in a foreign country where nowhere knows me! Or I'll wear it in the garden...! 

Finally to my very prettiest pink thing.  Me Cath Kidston make up bag that I just love love love.  I got this off eBay for a fiver cos it has a small stain on the inside.  Well I don't mind and I think it's perfect, yes I do.

So now I'm going to go and move nice and slooowly, making no sudden movements, while I cuddle down and watch Wife Swap Australia.  Cos I have to.  I'm recovering donchya know!

Be back soon!

Wendy

A little of what you fancy does you good.

My mighty long absence can only be down to one thing... post op recuperation, woohoo!!  Got my op on the 5th March, after getting a very short notice cancellation.  It went like a dream, I woke up pain free, and now I'm slowly recovering.  I'd like to also say patiently, but I can't...  I still can't type comfortably due to not being able to look up or down, get days when I feel I can conquer the world, swiftly followed by two days with the most awful bone ache, but am I complaining?  No siree!  Give me bone ache anyday, doesn't even compare to nerve pain!

I'm not able to drive for a few more weeks and so am being starved of any charity shops or car boot sales I'm afraid, but am not missing it a jot, don't have the energy yet!  Besides, I have quite an archive of photos to keep me going anyway.  So, today I'm gonna share some of my favourites things.  Like elephants!

I've had a thing for elephants all my life and have collections all over the house; ornaments, hangy things, fabrics, a teapot, bags, skirts... you get the idea.  I'm fussy though.  It has to have a lovely face!  Now this little beauty just spoke to me she really did.  I saw her, she saw me, it was love at first sight and then I ignored her, convinced that I had enough pretty little elephants already.  But every time I looked over, I swear she was watching me, with that cute homemade face that I just couldn't resist.  50p paid, and home she came.  Oh my, I love this little cutie, she's been sitting on my dvd player in my bedroom all through my recovery and we have a bond.  Really.

And now to my other love, bags!

A gorgeous jade green, like new, Next handbag for 50p.  Oh how I skipped out of the smelly, really not my favourite, and very rarely visited charity shop.  Takes my bag collection up to probably too many, but who cares!?!

And finally, my other favourite; costume jewellery.  Cheap and chips but can finish an outfit and add real individuality.  I've always struggled to display my favourite bits and pieces, but on one of our "£5 charity shop challenge days" with daughter number 2, I came out the resounding winner, with this £3.50 unique and rather amazing jewellery holder.  Behold.

I got it in the Salvation Army and I do believe that it could well be my most expensive charity shop purchase!  God I'm a skinflint!  I obviously thought it was worth it and I was right cos it's so unusual, quirky and very very me.  Worth every penny.

So, isn't it true, a little of what you fancy does you good.  Surround yourself with things you love, things that make you smile, and if they only cost £4 in total?  Even better!

Be back soon!

Wendy x