Saturday 31 December 2016

Got a big bruise on my leg from...

Just spotted a big, green bruise as I was putting me new boots on... it can only have come from climbing over the chair after lunch on Christmas Day!

If it is that, it's taken 6 days to come up because it wasn't there yesterday!

I dunno... I'm getting clumsy in my old age!  lol

7 days

By tomorrow we'll have seen Steve's family more in a week than I've seen my mum in 6.5 years!

Hardly fair, is it!

We went over to Steve's family on Christmas Day, yesterday and again tomorrow.

I haven't seen my mum since July 2010 when we went to my dad's funeral and then a few weeks later with the pup.

I gave up literally everything for Steve in 1998 and he gave up bugger all for me!

Friday 30 December 2016

Got back from seeing the in-laws with...

Got back from seeing the in-laws about half an hour ago and we came home with a piece of art from my 20 month old nephew.

He started off being really shy around everyone, but when he remembered us he came out of his shell and his little independent personality really shone through!

He seemed to like his radio controlled car that Steve got for him for Christmas and came up to me several times so that we could play with the controller.  His daddy took a few photo's of me with him... I'm just glad that I didn't know he was doing it at the time, or I would have hidden somewhere!  lol

That's the food processor delivered, so...

The food processor I got from eBay on Christmas Eve has just been delivered, so I'm just waiting for a couple of things from Amazon that I bought on Christmas Day to be delivered, then that's it until June!

Thursday 29 December 2016

Was so cold on Mitzi's walk this morning!

Took the pup out for her normal walkies this morning and it was so cold outside that the frost on the wheelie bins was frozen solid!

Wednesday 28 December 2016

Thank you Steve!

Two weeks ago I asked Steve to tie up and bin the bag in the kitchen bin because I'm not physically tall enough to do it myself.

He agreed that he would do it or I could ask Marie to do it the next week.

He didn't do it, so I asked Marie last week like he said I could.

"I'll do it next week if you stop nagging me" he says.

I've mentioned it once in the 7 days since last week.

He sighed heavily but actually did it this time, then made our lunch!

The actual bin in the kitchen (not the bag, the actual plastic bit of the bin that has the top on it) absolutely stinks so we'll have to find a way to wash it out soon, but I'm so proud of Steve for doing something that he promised to that I really can't do because I'm not tall enough!

Thank you Steve!  Love you!

Another couple from Facebook



This is so me!


I'm the only one in this house who is...

...awake right now!

Mitzi is snoring her head off on the sofa next to me.
Steve is in his chair snoring his head off.
The telly has gone to sleep too!

I dunno. 

Tuesday 27 December 2016

3 of my Christmas gifts arrived this morning, but...

I can only use 2 of them 'cos the phone case is just a little bit too big, so I'll see if Marie want's it if she comes over tomorrow.  If she doesn't, I'll give Steve one last chance then put it on Freegle if he says no again.

I've already ordered a different case, similar to my current case and apparently it's universal, but as long as my white phone fits in and slides out quickly and safely I'll be happy!

Monday 26 December 2016

Rural bus routes/politicians promises

This is just me ranting about politics.

I'm not saying it to cause offense and I don't want any arguements and if you don't want to read it, that's totally OK, but...

Our previous Prime Minister who stepped down after the results of Brexit, promised not to cut any rural bus routes when he was elected.

That's exactly what he did to my mum's village!

There used to be one bus a day, each way, for 6 days a week into Oxford and 3 buses a week to and from Banbury but that was it.

My mum's village got together and arranged a community shuttle bus to the next village that then took the passengers into Banbury or Oxford.

If you missed the shuttle bus though, you were stranded.

My mum is in her early 70's now and can't drive so she's reliant on the shuttle bus to take her to the doctor or dentist or grocery shopping but the ex-PM doesn't seem to care about the promises he made when he was elected and turned them on their head as soon as he came into power!

Hopefully the current PM will enable my mum to get a regular bus route back to her village though - at least I hope she will!

Sunday 25 December 2016

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!

I've been spoilt rotten this year... an adorable Westie mug from Steve and Mitzi and £60 of Amazon vouchers from C and H!  Bought myself loads of stuff with the vouchers so the Postie is going to hate me next week!  lol

I hope that you all have a great day, whether you celebrate Christmas or not!

Saturday 24 December 2016

Just bought us...

a food processor on eBay and I didn't pay anything for it thanks to using my Nectar points.

Assuming it works, I can take the food processor off my Amazon wishlist and get lots of small things instead of one big thing for the £80 I would have spent on Amazon.

Steve and his family don't understand why I'm such a fan of Nectar, Quidco and Top Cashback, but just a couple of extra clicks every time I shop online means I can get big things that I wouldn't have been able to afford or would have had to wait months before I could afford - that's how I got the bread maker too - Nectar points!

The more you spend, the more you earn and the more free stuff you can get!

That was unexpected!

Our neighbour who I know enough to say hello to and who helped me close up the wheelchair when I first got it and brought it into the house for me, has just brought over a Christmas magasine, Christmas card and a big box of chocolates!

Mitzi loves him and he's been posting newspapers through our letter box for a few months but I wasn't expecting that at all.

All I know about him is that his name is Thomas and Mitzi approves of him so he must be amazing!

What an awesome neighbour!

Just taken me supplements

Just taken the calcium, the iron and the multivitamin and I can already feel the multivitamin working its magic on me!

I take the calcium because I'm allergic to dairy so can't get it from food.

The iron is because I'm vegetarian so want to make sure that I'm getting enough into my body.

The multivitamin is an all rounder and it's that that I can feel working on me now.

Gonna get another B12 spray to keep in me bag ready for when I feel the need to top it up a bit.

It takes literally seconds for the multivitamin to work and I'm already more awake and motivated than I was before I took it!

It's totally up to you where you get them from, but I get all mine from Simply Supplements and can't recommend them highly enough!

Friday 23 December 2016

Hot chocolate instead of Chocochino this morning

Apparently Steve put 2 heaped spoons of the hot chocolate and it tasted of very dark chocolate, so I'm going to try and remember to ask for 2 leveled spoons in next time.

It's very much a case of experimenting now is all 'cos it was only 3 months ago that I started drinking coffee, then chocochino then tea and this is the first hot chocolate I've had in 20 years and the first ever time I've had this particular hot chocolate, so it'll take a few more mugfuls but we'll get there soon and the trying will be such a horrible experience  😉 lol

Thursday 22 December 2016

We've totally filled both our wheelie bins now!

Usually the small wheelie bin is half full when the bins are emptied every fortnight, but they are both full to their brims this week!  I just hope we haven't got much more rubbish until Monday now 'cos it won't fit in the bins any more!

Wednesday 21 December 2016

I hope any Pagan readers out there...

I hope that if any of my readers are Pagan, like me, they have a blessed Yule today!

Tuesday 20 December 2016

That was easier than I was expecting!

I hate using the phone at the best of times but I thought I should phone one of my credit cards as they haven't taken December's payment.

They had been taking it off my debit card instead of by direct debit.

I've now got it sorted and it's coming out by direct debit on the 15th of the month instead of my debit card on the 16th.

I also know how much I still owe them too, and it's less than I was thinking so I'm happy about that too.

On top of that, if I get into money trouble and I start to struggle to pay the monthly payment, I just need to call them again and we can work out a more manageable payment plan, or even have a total break from payments for a couple of months.

I want to try and avoid that if I can though... I'm saving up for paying off all 3 credit cards next year which will save me £150 a month that I can use to pay for more than just the shopping each month... I'll be able to pay the electric or VM stuff or whatever as well as the shopping which will free up a bit more money for Steve to use on whatever he wants instead of paying all the bills himself.  Neither of us are working now, so I want to contribute as much as I can now!

That's Mitzi's food delivered now

It's a huge sack but it'll hopefully keep her going for several months now.

The food that's just been delivered is 6kg and it cost just under £30 including delivery.

The same food from the vet is £12.50 for a 1.5kg bag so I've paid just over double the price for four times the weight!

It'll keep the pup going for several months, instead of relying on Steve's family going over to the vet every month for more food and paying through the nose for it!

Monday 19 December 2016

Twitter email address update

Just been doing a bit of house keeping on Twitter with all my personal messages on one account and all of my writing on a second account.

Thing is though, I want to do one last thing and can't work out how to... does anyone know where I can update my email address please?

I want to keep everything as it is with the followers and following, I just want to update my email address on the writing account is all.  I'll be happy having both accounts then and not get them confused any more!

Even better than moneybags month is...

I'll be getting £100 cashback approved in March for signing up with 3/Three for a contract, so that can go into my bank account too!

I could get used to this!  lol

Moneybags month this coming January

I'll be paid an extra twice in January 'cos there are 5 pay days instead of my usual 3 which means I can put an extra £250 aside for SCBWI membership for D later in the year as well as being able to pay off a bit more than usual of my debts!

Just gotta remember not to spend the extra money on things I don't need until I've paid off all my debts which will give me an extra £150 a month on top of the £100 that I'm already putting aside.  I'll have £250 extra a month to save up ready for emergencies and paying more household bills and stuff.

Just gotta keep the focus on not letting my spending addiction take over again!

The end is in sight now!

Got another cold now :-(

Thankfully it hasn't involved a snotty nose yet, just sneezing with earache and a sore throat is all... starting to get a thick head too.

Oh joy, just in time for Yule  :-(

2016

There is less than 2 weeks left of 2016!

13 days from now will be 1st January 2017!

Sunday 18 December 2016

The pup poo'd in the kitchen

I could tell that Mitzi needed a poo this morning, just by looking at her tail so every hour after we came home I opened the back door in case she wanted to go out but the closest she got to the back door was half way into the kitchen.

Steve went out into the kitchen to make us a couple of hot drinks and discovered that Mitz had poo'd in the middle of the floor.

It wasn't there when I came back into the living room and she didn't ask to go out, so there was literally a 5 minute gap she could have done it in.

We'll know better for next time though... I'll open the back door and leave it open so that she can take herself out and has the privacy she craves.

Just got back from the pup's walk

She was a good girl except the first third of the third time up and down when she picked up, chewed and swallowed something off the pavement before I could stop her and refused to drop it when I told her to so I hope she'll be OK!

Saturday 17 December 2016

Another extra third walked this morning

The pup wanted to go for a longer walk again this morning and I wasn't going to deny her that so we walked up and down 4 times again.

We finished off her first bag of food this morning too and I ordered 4 times the amount for just over double the price online yesterday.  It's £12.50 from the vet for a 1.5kg bag of food.  Yesterday I ordered 6kg for £30 including delivery!  Same food, just a bigger bag at something like £4.50 per kilogram instead of £12.50 for 1.5kgs!

That's everything wrapped up and tagged for Christmas now

Just wrapped up Andrew and Jacki's gifts and everything is in a couple of boxes ready to go for Christmas.

Got meself a battery operated light thing to go in the bath and Steve found a bottle of lavendar bubble bath under the sink so I'm sorted for all my senses except taste next time I get in the bath!  lol

Friday 16 December 2016

That's OK then!

Just got my first bill from 3 - £31.34 which is about what I was expecting.

They are taking it straight out of my account on around 3rd January 2017 then it'll be £27 a month after that  👍

O2

Hope I've cancelled my previous 2 auto top ups and I'm just using the one I set up this morning now!  lol

The email said that all my auto top-ups were cancelled and I set up a new one so I hope I'm topping up £10 on the 18th of every month now, instead of the £30 that I'll never use  lol

Thursday 15 December 2016

Just 2 more gifts to arrive and wrap up now

Just waiting for Andrew and Jacki's gifts to turn up, then I'll wrap them up and that's Christmas done and dusted!

I've bought all the gifts except H's and hopefully tomorrow the gifts for Andrew and Jacki will turn up, I'll wrap them then that really is it - I can concentrate on my writing instead of Christmas... a week later than I'd hoped, but the last 2 gifts really are the last ones this year.  I can sit back and relax for the 9 days in the run-up to Christmas.

Tea and coffee

Up until about 2 months ago, I'd avoided tea and coffee my whole life 'cos I just didn't like the taste.

I decided to try instant coffee a couple of months back... very weak and with lots of sweeteners in it.

It was as bad as I'd been dreading - far too strong with less than a teaspoonful of coffee in  it.

I tried it with 3 sugars in it and it was just about drinkable.

I bit the bullet and tried a coffee out of Steve's machine and that was better than the instant, but still needed a sweetener in it.

We went to get our hair cut at Steve's family about 2 weeks ago and I tried their instant coffee from Tesco... a lot less strong than the Sainsbury's instant coffee.

Steve introduced me to chocochino pods for his machine a week or 10 days ago and I loved it.

Up until then, I still hadn't touched tea.

Until just now.

It's not as strong as I was thinking, so I said to Steve to let it get a bit stronger next time... he couldn't believe his ears!

Not only was I drinking black coffee from a coffee machine but I'm drinking tea now too!  And asking for it to be stronger next time as well!

I still maintain that hot chocolate is my favourite hot drink, followed by chocochino, then black coffee with one sweetener then tea.

Less than 3 months ago, I was avoiding tea and coffee.

Now I'm drinking both tea and coffee black and strong!

Apparently I'm wanting to try my next mug of tea like Steve's Grandad had it - army strength and black with no sugar!  lol

We walked an extra third this morning!

I usually take the pup up and down the street 3 times then she comes home and has her breakfast.

We walked up and down 4 times this morning though!

The pup was happy to keep walking but came in after the extra walk this morning and she's now got her breakfast waiting for her in the kitchen.

Bless 'er!

Wednesday 14 December 2016

Dust if you must... especially for M


The pup made a new friend on her walk this morning!

The lady came around the corner and Mitzi's little tail was wagging more and more the closer the lady got to us.

The lady crossed over to come and see the pup and Mitzi was in heaven!

The lady stroked the pup for a few seconds and Mitzi couldn't get enough of it, bless her!

The pup is fast asleep now, prolly dreaming of her new friend lol

Tuesday 13 December 2016

That really is it now!

Steve's bought H his Christmas gift and I've bought for the rest of his family... so much for buying for our own families eh? 😞

Bought three more pressies this morning

Just need to get something for Andrew and Jacki now and it's all finished!  Steve's just got something for H so I don't want his parents to feel left out when everyone else has gifts to open and they don't!

Just gotta find out something for them now!

Monday 12 December 2016

Considering I've never been on a diet...

I went into hospital on Christmas Day 2002 with my size 6 skirt being held up by my hip bones.

I came out mid-March 2003 a size 28.

It's now 13 years later and I'm wearing size 12-14.

I haven't been on a diet and I've never had an eating disorder but I'm basically half the size I was when I came out of hospital!

Yay me!

That's the plumber been and gone and...

the mini Christmas tree came too, so that's it for the rest of the day now!

My prescription came a day early too.

Melanie's gift was given to Chris to post yesterday, my mum has already got her gift, Hannah and Chris have theirs, so I just want to get a little something for the in-laws now, then that's it until the New Year!  Yay!

Steve's carer is here now too

Just waiting for the plumber and fake tree now then it's all done and dusted for the day and we can have our lunch in peace, watching the telly and waiting for the shopping to come this evening!

That's the OT been and gone now :-(

Steve's wonderful OT has just said goodbye for the final time and we are both already missing her!  She's done so much for us and like Steve's just said, she's done more for us than the useless hospital ever did.

She was wonderful!

I hope she has a truly spectacular Christmas and 2017!

Going to be a busy day today

Steve's carer, the plumber and the Christmas tree are all coming today... hope they don't all come at once!  lol

Edit - Steve's OT is coming too, to check the rails in the bathroom!


Sunday 11 December 2016

Steve bought a mini Christmas tree this morning

We're going to put it in the living room window and take a photo of it to put on Facebook when it arrives because Marie put photo's of their tree on her wall yesterday.

It's only a little one so it won't take long to dismantle after Christmas... that's our one and only decoration this year!  lol

This is the url to it and I'll put a photo up in my blog when it arrives!  lol

Saturday 10 December 2016

That's the weekly scan finished

No threats found again... yay!

Means that I can turn my laptop off tonight and let the battery cool down again... need to remember to clear my cache on Firefox and Chrome every Thursday evening though, 'cos there was getting on for six million files that it scanned this time!

Nice surprise from Quidco this morning!

I bought some kind of insurance back in April for £105 and I've just had an email from Quidco saying that the £75 cashback is available for payment now.

It's taken 8 months but it's a nice Yule pressie for me and I had £4 already waiting to be paid, so I'll be having £79 in my account soon.

The hubby asked how many thousands I'd spent to get the total so far of £153.71 but I've just been getting cashback on the things I would have bought anyway, it's just been a couple of extra clicks is all!

Just put AVG on the phone now too

I love AVG - I pay for the protection on my laptop and I've got the free version on both mobiles now.  Think I've got it on my Kindle Fire too, but I've definitely got some sort of virus protection on it.

Just taken me supplements

I haven't taken me supplements for a few days and was really starting to feel it, so I've just taken them and they are kicking in already!

I love Simply Supplements and wouldn't go anywhere else now!

They've got an auto dispatch service but I've never used that... it seems to basically mean that they automatically keep track of how long you've got left in the tub and automatically sends out a new batch when you are getting low.

They also provide high quality, fast working supplements as standard.  I took my multivitamin about 15 minutes ago and I can already feel it kicking in!

Friday 9 December 2016

Want a free £25 Amazon gift voucher?

Are you over 18?

Do you live in the UK?

Looking for a new contract on your mobile phone?

Want a 12 month or 24 month contract?

If you answered all those questions with a "yes" then I definitely recommend you signing up with Three on this link!

Going via that link gets us both a £25 Amazon gift voucher, but you have to agree to the 12 or 24 month contract and Three's terms which are available on the site!

What am I getting out of it?

If you sign up according to the terms, then I'll get a £25 Amazon voucher too but that's it... I don't get money or free calls or anything like that, we both just get the voucher and an awesome phone company!

I think I remember reading that it takes 3 months to get the voucher, but if you are prepared to wait for those 3 months it'll definitely be worth it!

Got email, Facebook and my blogs sorted, so...

now I just hope I won't be getting a humongus bill from 3!  lol

Fast work by 3!!

I ordered the SIM at 8.30am yesterday.

It came with the post this morning and it's ready to go already!

So far so good, Three/3!

I'll only be using it for surfing the net and text messages because they are both all you can eat, not for phone calls or anything like that... I'll still be using my O2 number for most stuff,  I know and trust them and I've been with them since I was 19 (I'm 39 now) without any problems, so I've now got 3 mobile numbers but only really use 1 for non-internet stuff.

Feel free to send me a test text on the number you've got for me if you want to and I'll reply as soon as I've got it  :-)

Thursday 8 December 2016

Mitzi has just had a Christmas card from...

...her groomers.

It had a Westie on the front bit and the bit inside wished her a happy Christmas and New Year!

They are awesome they are... why did they send it to Steve and not Mitzi though??

Tuesday 6 December 2016

That's all the pressies wrapped up

Just waiting for the padded envelope to send D's gift to her then that's it. 

I love getting things sorted out before the rush starts!

My new favourite drink

Just tried my very first chocochino pod, without the milk bit, from the machine and it's my new favourite hot drink!

This morning, my favourite hot drink was hot chocolate but now it's milk-less chocochino's.

Steve said to have a look on Amazon because it would prolly be cheaper than Sainsbury's (£4 for 8 servings) but I've found a pack of 50 (no, that's not a typo, I really do mean fifty) chocochino pods without the milk for less than £14 and it's on Prime too, so I can get it the next day.

The chocochino pods have got the gorgeous flavour of hot chocolate as soon as you have a mouthful, with a taste of coffee as you swallow it.

I thought the coffee would overpower the chocolate, but it doesn't and whoever came up with the idea really understood both chocolate and coffee and came up with the perfect combination!

Whoever created these pods deserves a pay rise I reckon!

Just ordered Steve's Yule gift

Steve already knows what it is 'cos it was him wot told me which one to get.

It'll be here tomorrow addressed to him so that he can use it before he drops and breaks his phone and I'll wrap up his (surprise) Christmas gift this afternoon when the person from Freegle comes to pick up the bag after lunch today.  I hope they are more reliable than the original person yesterday!

I'll be able to put D's gift in the box ready to send her via DHL in a couple of days time then I'm all set for enjoying Yule and Christmas while everyone else is running around like headless chickens lol

Sainsbury's "mellow" instant coffee.

If you enjoy bitter things then go for it, but it's so unmellow it should be arrested under the trade descriptions act.

If I hadn't had coffee machine coffee then it would have been fine, but I'm not going to use up half a pack of sweeteners just for one mug.

I've binned the granuals and washed the pot out and put the jar in the recycling.

I've only been drinking coffee for a couple of months but I can already see why Steve doesn't drink instant coffee.  Tesco's instant is great but the Sainsbury's one is just waay too bitter for me!

14 of my 15 reviews from last night's shopping are...

I did 15 reviews of our shopping before I went to bed last night and 14 of them were posted overnight.

The 15th wasn't because, I'm guessing, I put a suggestion to the supermarket in it.

Not bad going though... first one ever of my reviews not to be accepted!

24 readers of yesterday's post!

I don't know who any of them are, but I've had more than 1 reader an hour on yesterday's 'Blimey Charlie!' post.  Whoever you are, thank you!

Monday 5 December 2016

Blimey Charlie!

I thought I had pennies over £4,000 left to pay on BC but I've actually got £3,937 and some pennies so that was a wonderful surprise... still more that I would like, but I'm noticeably less than I thought!

Yay me!

Sunday 4 December 2016

AVG Free for Android phones

Just installed AVG Free on my mobile and run a scan.

It found 3 issues and took less than 30 seconds to scan the whole phone!

If you've got a smartphone, I can't recommend AVG Free enough.  I use it on my laptop and it scans every Friday and takes about 36 hours to do the whole machine.  Just need to install it on my Kindle Fire and I'm protected on all the things that use email or web browsing!

Go and give it a go... it's free but so worth paying for the peace of mind it gives you!



Review of me lunch

Just finished me lunch of Quorn chicken pieces in a Korma curry and even the hubby, Steve, said how yummy it was!

I don't think I'll be turning him into a vegetarian any time soon, but I seem to be opening his eyes to vegetarian stuff - the meatless meatballs the other day and today's Quorn Korma curry both went down well!

His whole family enjoy meat at most mealtimes and I think the only time they have vegetarian stuff is when I'm there, so for Steve to say he enjoyed 2 vegetarian meals is a huge deal to me!

Just got to get him onto instant coffee and liking squash, mushrooms, and peppers and we will be able to reduce our spending on groceries even more!

We can so do this!

Just done a reviewathon

Just reviewed 5 or 6 things on Sainsbury's and Steve's gross review of the toilet paper was included.  I just hope that no-one is eating around the time of reading it is all!

Saturday 3 December 2016

I've doubled my regular readers!

I used to have 2 regular readers of every blog post until I did the count-up of readers last week or so but now it's 4 regular readers!

I know who 1 of the regular readers is (hi C!) and possibly the second (hi D!) but I haven't got a clue who the 2 new ones are!

Whoever you are, thank you so much for reading my drivel so often... I really appreciate it!

Other half of the butternut squash for lunch today

The butternut squash that came with last week's shopping was too big for just me, so I had half for lunch yesterday and the other half for today's lunch.

Yummy, scrummy, in my tummy!

Just taken me supplements again

The calcium seems to get harder and harder to crunch up though!

Friday 2 December 2016

So tired again!

Took the pup out for her walk and I was wide awake.

We've been home for an hour and I'm totally exhausted right now!

Steve's just had a call on his mobile about another possible job so keep your fingers crossed for him!

Thursday 1 December 2016

We've already got a mixer, so...

I've taken that off my Amazon wishlist and replaced it with a food processor, liquidiser and grinder for under fifty quid.  Put a coat on my wishlist too 'cos the one I've got now isn't wide enough to comfortably go over my shoulders  :-(

I can definitely get both in the New Year, just need to get Yule and Namehog stuff sorted first!

A bit of a tongue twister that I came across yesterday

One-one was a greyhound,
Two-two was one too,
One-one won one race,
Two-two won one too.

It's hard enough saying it while sober but funnier attempted while tipsy!  lol