School Starts

Well at the title suggests when my eldest went back to school today, i was quite worried as he's been very stressed. But he left for his bus and came back at half three smiling. Always a good sign!!!

Took my youngest to the park as he's not back till Wednesday, it was a lovely day and he enjoyed himself.
Still it was hard watching him try and play with the other kids, poor thing doesn't initiate conversation and shys away. Instead he just hangs around on the outskirts watching. Luckily he's seems quite happy with this and enjoyed just being around the other children. After an hour or so he asked to go home, it just got too loud for him.

I was very naughty and used some money that i put away for my treat day, it was £10 that i had been saving ready for Wednesday for when i could have a couple of hours to myself, child and partner free.
Oh well doesn't it was lovely having our lunch together chatting away.

We then came back and both of my boys sat and played on a football game for about an hour before we had the leftover bolognese sauce with jacket potatoes :)

Waste not want not in this house!!

Scroogy September

Well as the titles suggests September is going to be more than scroogy, i am determined to try and spend as little as possible. The bank is way past the black and in the red. CC's are maxed out and can't be used.

Part of the deal is  the bills  will be paid as well as transport costs etc but general spending will be a big no no. Can't stop the transport costs. My eldest needs £15 a week, youngest  £10  and me a whopping £20, so £45 a week just for that. School meals are £20 a week for two children, so youngest is straight on pack lunches no choice in the matter. Eldest well, we'll see how it goes.
My partner and me pack lunches, and the business pays for the vans fuel.

Decided our grocery budget for the month will be £200 for a family of four, three cats and guests. 

Whilst at the same time keeping the store cupboard filled to a reasonable level.
the idea is that hopefully by the end of the month i will have been able to save up some holiday money for our first family holiday with my dad in October. As well as fingers crossed save up enough money to buy a new freezer. Ours went kaput about a month ago, its really hard adjusting to life without one. I've just realised how much we rely on one item. but also how much we waste :(

The fridge is bare and the veg is past its best but lets see how far the fresh stuff goes.

Wish me luck and lets see how it goes

kez xx




Grocery Spends £2.26

Items:  £2.26 on 2 x thick loaves of bread, 2 x tins of garden peas, single cream, 4 large onions and 10 satsuma's.

General: 0

Last of the summer shine :)

Brrrrr is it getting cold or is it just me.

We all went to the town meal today  in Middlesbrough, it was really good and had lots of entertainment on for adults and children alike.
Ranging from bouncy castles, punch n judy, magic shows, go karts through to creating art using a bicycle and paints! It wasn't too busy and the lads loved it. People were walking round on stilts and juggling.

The only thing we didn't do was ride on the old buses to the Transporter Bridge. The queues were really long so we just left it and watched the magic show instead.
Came back with "big dig" recyclable bags filled with some sachets of tea, coffee, sugar (all fairtrade) and 3 boxes of seeds to plants. 

As part of the big meal, lots of free food was given out, all freshly made there and then. From cold salad through to hot curries, pakoras and mousaka. Plenty of bottles of water given out, as well as tons of information regarding water and energy saving.

In the middle arena, there were bands playing lots of different types of music. It was lovely, we just sat  in the deck chairs watching.

We missed out on the honey but no matter. The jars literally sold out within 30 minutes it was that popular.
Met a few people there who i haven't seen for years. One of them asked if i wanted to come and volunteer on the allotment with Teesside Hospice. 

Last year i donated veg,herbs and salad items that we had grown in pots. This year sadly we didn't as i have time to grow anything.  The whole food festival basically runs on people donating they own produce and then it all gets cooked up on the day and given away for free to all attendees.

After that we did the dreaded school uniform shopping, took ages to do as my eldest has shot up. after a couple of hours we ended up getting a taxi home, naughty i know. But guess what its the same price for a taxi home as it on the bus! How ridiculous is that public transport costs more than a taxi, is absolutely extortionate.

Well better plan for the month ahead and make sure we have everything ready for school.

Till tomorrow  :)

black dog approaching!

A day of anxieties and stress

After a really successful day yesterday, i felt good but anxious.
Today i'm the opposite, i'm so stressed out its unreal. I know why it is, its because i'm going in the evening.
I don't do evening wanderings .

But after the stress of last week when a person verbally abused my children and me i've become even more anxious. I'm scared in case i see her, but really i shouldn't be. I have done nothing wrong, well thats what everyone is saying.

I suffer from depression and moods go up and down, my GP is currently deciding whether to put through for assessment of manic depression as i am clinically depressed. I also recently started counselling.

So when you have a off day, this is what i do.

I ignore the world snuggling on the sofa with my boys
Ignore my phone
Lock the doors

Then best of all put on a film and lose yourself.

Sometimes its the best medicine in the world to just run away and relax

kez xx

pic from http://things-we-heart.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/random-hearts-we-heart-rainy-daywhy-its.html

Afternoon Tea :)

Well we had a lovely day today, just chilling with a friend and two children.
They all played games and loved snacking on the little tid bits.

So we had a kind of afternoon tea with sandwiches, mini sausages, cakes and biscuits.
Yesterday i starting making the them the sweet and savoury.
Never tried these recipes before so today we tried them


No-Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

76g of butter
100g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
255g oats
100g of milk chocolate
2 large tablespoons of peanut butter

Melt butter and add in the brown sugar and vanilla
Then add in the oats

Cook ion low heat for about 3 minutes till blended. Take off

Heat and press 1/2 of the mixture into a bottom of a baking tray.

 Melt chocolate and peanut butter. then spread the mixture over the oat mixture .

Then add the rest of the oat mixture on top.

Then play the cake tin ino the fridge for a couple of hours or over night.

Once solidified take out of the tin and chop into pieces if you wish.

Trying also making jam bar but they sadly didn't work but, instead they were squishy. They tasted  as good as a crumble.

192 g self raising flour

120 oats

220g brown sugar

396g grams of butter

1 jar of jam.

Mix all the ingredients in except the jam.

 the jam.

Once blended together. Place oat mixture  on a tray. Then add the jam and the remaining oat mixture on top. 

Bake on oven on gas mark 4 till golden brown. Then take out and leave to cool completely.

As the recipe didn't quite work out i would serve it hot with custard.

Or just eat it cold as is.

Its really nice though :)

Pantry / Store Cupboard

Today i received an email from a concerned reader who was afraid of my financial circumstances with two children.But also from another reader who asked what kind of things do i have in my store cupboard.
So i thought to make it easier i would just post pictures up.

                                                               Top of the pantry

Middle and bottom

The floor of the pantry

As you can see i have tons of spices, tins, pasta, dried noodles, flour, bag full of potatoes.
So don't worry my children will have protein, vitamin, iron filled tummies.

My basic essentials i try to always have in are:

Non-Fresh
Baked beans
Tinned tomatoes
Chick peas
Tuna
Tinned Fruit
Kidney Beans
Dried Noodles
Pepper 
Salt
Chilli Powder
Pasta
Oats
Lentils
Rice 
Bread Flour
Plain Flour
Self Raising Flour
Yeast
Jam
Sugar
Stock cubes
Diluted Juice
Tea Bags
Coffee
Vegetable Oil

Fresh
Carrots
Onions
Milk
Garlic
Cheese
Eggs
Butter

Pets
Cat food dry and tinned
Cat Litter


I find if i have these basics in, i can make anything from soups to curries, from flapjacks,porridge to pancakes.

Its hard to start off a store cupboard of any kind, its expensive to buy everything in one go.
So instead i buy say an extra item every week.
For instance today i saw 4 tins of chopped tomatoes for £1 so splashed the extra £1 and bought them. Now i already had four tins in the cupboard but thought its good deal, works out 25p a tin instead of 37p.
Its little things like that really help you out in the long run.

I must admit most of the non-perishable items we eat are the supermarket basics.there is nothing wrong with this as generally the food has less in than brand names.


Hope that gives you some ideas :)

Carrot Cookies

After being told how nice carrot cookies were i decided to try and make some.

Carrot Cookies

1 tablespoon margarine or butter

2 tablespoons of granulated sugar

4 drops of almond (or vanilla)

4 tablespoons of raw grated carrot

6 tablespoons of self raising flour

Mix sugar and butter together

add flavouring and carrots mix together

then add the the flour and mix.

Split mixture into about 12 balls and flatten with your had onto a baking tray.

Cook say on gas mark 4 till golden brown. Or say 15-20 minutes

Have to say these were really nice and the lads have scoffed the lot!

They sweet but don't overly taste of carrot in the slightest.

These will be perfect for out picnic tomorrow! 

This recipe is from World War Two, so it seems to be very economical and healthy.

Its very quick to mix and cook, so will definitely be making them again.