WIshing you all...

... a very Happy Christmas!

Sophia is very much enjoying this, her second Christmas, so far. (We've let her open a few presents on the days leading up to Christmas, so she's getting the hang of this tearing off wrapping paper thing!) I'm sure there will be some photos to share in the next few days.

Let's have a wonderful time celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Snow!

We went out to play in the snow. Sophia was unimpressed.

"Uh, so why are we out here Mummy?""Maybe we should try over there?"
"No mummy, I really don't like this".
"But if you blow raspberries at me, then I might manage a smile for the camera"

I'm still here, oh little blog of mine

Just doing lots of mummy things and getting ready for Christmas things. I think of you often, but mostly as I fall asleep at night, and thus many posts have been written, but only in my imagination. I will be here properly soon, I hope.
I'll leave you with some of Sophia's words...

Hat!
Head!
Hot!
Hup! (meaning up, to be picked up)
Gees (keys)
Da-dad (Grandad - he's the first member of the family to be named other than mummy and daddy)
Hiya
Bu-bye
Ess (Tess, Nan and Grandad's cat)

It works for me

I'm still in my p-jams, but have been a bit productive this morning. I made pumpkin risotto and I've got my second lot of stock going in my crockpot (I used some of my first batch in my risotto). This lot is chicken and vegetable. I had to make it cos my freezer was getting full of vegetable peelings! (Check out those links if you're confused!)

Anyway, while I was cooking I was making great use of this and these both bought on Etsy. The former is a oven mitt made by my good friend Bren of goodkarma and the second set are two mitts made by Buggie (as I call her! Who is also a good friend) of LadybugsDesigns.

I actually bought both sets a couple of years back when I was young free and single. But they get used all the time now. I use them to hold my metal pans when cooking, but I also use them to hold Sophia's bottles when I take them out of the steamer.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say (and I know I'm saying it a bit late, but there is still time!) is that although I actually bought these things for myself*, I have also shopped online for presents for Christmas this year, and shopping on places like Etsy and Folksy** (UK version of etsy) works for me.

*It occurs to me that actually although I bought the mitts from Buggie, I believe that my sister paid me for them and gave me them for Christmas. So thanks HB :)

**I bought a present on Folksy this year, but I can't link to it, cos that would spoil the surprise!
(Do check out some of those links. I wish I had time to give you lots of links to friendly folk over there, but Sophia's crying so I gotta go)

I'm linking this up at We are THAT family for Works for me Wednesday

jumbled thoughts

Today's a pyjama day.

Sophia is currently sat on my lap, holding my phone to her ear and saying "hi hi hi!".

This evening I've got a "Mum's night out" thanks to Teeny Tots, the mums and toddler group that our church runs. I'm looking forward to Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings. I think Menard will be having something like cheese on toast, but I only feel a little bit guilty!

Christmas shopping is going well, especially thanks to the internet. Good old online shopping. Only a couple more things to get. Time to start wrapping, although that'll probably be easier when Sophia's in bed.

Sophia's currently making her own additions to the master Christmas list - I'm the coordinator for the extended family. Maybe she's adding what she wants. That'd be handy, cos she's one of the few people I haven't bought for yet!

Thanks Julie and co for my new coat

"Ooo, new coat!"

"It keeps me warm and cosy, mummy"

Trying to be frugal

Being a stay at home mum is one of the best jobs ever. I wouldn't give up the quality time I have with Sophia for anything. However, realistically it means that less money is coming in to the household that before I had a baby (I won't even bother to try to figure out the child care versus my wages calculation, cos that wasn't a route we wanted to go down).

I've always been a bit of a saver. If I was given money for birthdays or Christmas I would often end up paying money into my savings account and then forgetting about it. Of course this has come in handy now that I'm a married adult who needed to find money for things like deposits for landlords etc. I loved to read household tips books growing up and one of my favourite books to dip into was 'More with Less'. (I can't find a good link for that, but it's a book by a lady called Doris Longacre sharing thoughts and ideas from herself and others about living in a way that better stewards the resources God has given us). Nowadays I'm also into frugal blogs. Some of my current favourites include Frugal Hacks, The Path to Frugality, The Common Room, and The Simple Dollar.

I've been making stock now and then for ages - my mum does it, and so I do too, but a post on The Simple Dollar inspired me to be more intentional about it. He (Trent) posts about how they have bags (or it might have been boxes, I use bags) in the freezer and any time they have bones or leftover vegetable peelings or scraps, they toss them into these bags and freeze them. Every once in a while, when the bags are full, they crank up the crock pot, toss them in with some bits and pieces, and the result is delicious and nutritious stock. That's just a quick summary, so go over and read the original post 'Turning kitchen waste into something sublime'.