Tuesday 26 March 2013

Upcycling

I've always loved the idea of upcycling and using things I already own to create new and totally awesome stuff.
I've watched many a 'make do and mend' program but it always seems to me they use as much as money, mending or improving something as they do with buying a new one...but all the same I like the general principles of re-using and recycling.

I am itching to have a new project that I can do while the babies are around, something with minimal "paint" mess, I'm not buying anything costly per our money diet, and with the new move under way I'm busy sorting out a small keep pile and a big throw pile too, coming across all kinds of things we just don't have a use for.

Once again I have the feeling that if we take the time to make things rather than just buy them or throwing money at them, we are more likely to cherish and take care of them. So far it's proving true with both myself and D (the house is still tidy) and I'm hoping we will be able to include our children in making things at a later date. I think it helps these newly made objects to have an even greater value to us too.

When we move we're hoping to replace our old tattered (pale) sofa for a new dark sofa with washable covers, hopefully more hard-wearing while the children are growing.
We want to avoid taking our old sofa with us, as we will only have to find a way to dispose of it later, when we already have a way to dispose of it now. But we have a good few weeks before we will be able to afford our new sofa. This made me start thinking about beanbags again. For a long time I've fancied owning a few beanbags for D and I to crash on while playing on the Xbox, or for the kids to "sit up" in. But they are so very expensive that I think I'm going to give making some a try!

It should help fill the 'no sofa' void, give me a simple (hopefully) project to do and allow me to recycle some old unloved fabrics too

Let the project commence!

Monday 25 March 2013

Grabber machine mayhem

On Friday night I went out with my SIL's for Chinese food and grown-up conversation. After the meal and much debate we decided to hit the bowling alley on the way home, so we could keep 'cinders' here out for as long as possible, and that it's the only place in town dark enough to hide the fact that no-one was wearing make-up or appropriate 'going out' gear for a Friday night.

What a bowling alley will teach anyone of any age, is that they, and we really haven't grown up at all. My 20-something sil's were breaking out moves on the dance machine. We had air-hockey tournaments and generally avoided actually bowling (that game is 'spensive!). Just as we were ready to leave, we spied the grabber machine. It was plastered with stickers saying 'win every time!' so how could we NOT have a go!

Smurfette went first and took roughly eight thousand goes to grab this creepy looking hamster, clutching a bloody heart claiming it would give you ' hugs' before clawing your face and eating your eyes.




Then jessicar decided she would have a try, which is where it all went wrong. She was amazingly good at selecting her teddy, the claw grabbed it first time and dropped it in the chute...but nothing came out the little prize door.
After some super technical belly shuffling, I spied it stuck in the chute doorway waaay up inside the machine, but just close enough for me to attempt breaking my arm over. I laid on the floor, one hand holding the door up, the other trying to bend behind the now open door to grab a teeny tiny teddy leg to pull down through the chute.
At this point we began to attract an audience. Perhaps it was from my graceful acrobatics, perhaps it was our loud laughter, or perhaps it was because I'd started to bang the machine door harder and harder (at Smurfettes suggestion) in the vain hope that it would dislodge the bear and save me my arm.

As we discovered, one cannot beat an arcade machine into a pulp without getting noticed by the staff of the establishment. A big burly guy asked me 'can I help you' or maybe it was 'what do you think you are doing?' (I can't say for sure as at this point we all had the giggles), and I explained my predicament.
I got the clear impression that he didn't think we had won anything and that he thought we were simply trying to destroy his machine, but after he had copied my 'highly technical' belly crawl he too spied the little trapped bear.

Now this guy was middle-aged, very large and had far shorter arms than me. But now he was trying to do exactly what I had been doing... and he was having even less success than me. He had adopted, what Chexcloud brilliantly described as 'the best porn position ever' while we all tried not to laugh, which may have then attracted an even greater crowd.

If I'd been faster, I'd have given you a fantastic picture of a 500 pound man trying to wriggle into a tiny grabber machine...but I was laughing too hard.

He ended up retreating to gather a ruler before trying to free the little teddy again. At this point the desk phone began ringing and we started umming and ahhing whether to answer it to help him out, since he clearly couldn't hear us from inside the machine. To cut a long story a bit shorter, eventually he freed the bear, I cheered and he went back to his desk.

You would think that we would have learned, but no, we went right back on that grab machine the moment he moved out of the way. This time it was my turn.



My 'object of desire' was a poor little upside down kitty cat, which looked soft and snuggly. It took many, many goes to free it from it's steel claw prison, I managed to flip it over at one point and the poor pitiful look on it's face was enough to renew my determination.

Like all good grabber machines, plastered in 'win every time' sticker stories, I did free it eventually. I came close to homing an ugly monkey and disturbing elephant but I freed my kitty, which turned out to be a tiger. We once again attracted unnecessary attention by cheering our heads-off when it didn't get stuck in the prize chute

Friday 22 March 2013

New house, new house, new house

All I seem to do now is daydream, day in, day out.
I'm thinking about wall colours, new sofa's, making memories in a new house, decorating the nursery.
Sure I'm getting practical things done at the same time like washing, cooking, cleaning, playing and my actual work from my actual job too. But I seem to spend most of my time walking around with my head in the clouds.
I can be shattered at the end of a long day but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I get excited again and start planning our new move, what we'll take, what we won't and I spend hours laid in bed, daydreaming.
Considering how much I HATE moving and packing, it's strangely liberating to realise this is possibly the last time we'll ever have to pack and move again!

The idea of having our own brick and mortar home is so very exciting. A place of our own, to take care of, to cherish, to work hard to maintain it all feels so wonderful. I really believe we will work hard to make this house a happy home for our children. I've always believed that nothing free ever has value, we've rented horrendous homes infested with rats, with no heating, mould, insufficient space, leaky windows (the list really does go on) I am very excited about having our own place where we can fix any problems without waiting for a landlord to decide he can be bothered to do so.

For now we are stuck waiting for paperwork to be done so all that is left to do is daydream and wait for the future to occur, I will stop going on about the new house at some point....maybe

Thursday 21 March 2013

Teething Triplets

Just as we finally get a full nights sleep without the disruption of snotty noses or horrid coughs, teething kicks in.
Awesome.
I'll be on a beach in Hawaii if you need me.




Wednesday 20 March 2013

Daydreaming and decluttering

They accepted our offer on the house!

It's been fifteen minutes and I'm already fantasising about our first Christmas time there, baking cookies in the kitchen, sewing in the living room, making a roast dinner, making the bed in our new room. playing with the kids the the yard and looking forward to doing pretty much every chore I actually try and avoid in this house. Hmm.
I'm already determined to keep it clean and tidy, if it's not functional, used regularly, one of my few favourite things or a necessity then out the door it will be flung! I wonder just how many hours it will take into moving before I change my tune.
At present both D and I are in agreement that we will only take with us the kids stuff, and things that fit into the categories above, otherwise we will be hiring a skip and filling it with all our junk.
What a fabulous chance to downsize....except...well it's not as easy as that is it.

I want to halve my wardrobe, but when I actually stand there looking at my clothes I find it hard to part with anything. Not because I love my clothes but because they are clean and I could just wear them tomorrow!

I'm going to have to be super strict with myself, clearing out to help raise money to buy the house, coupled with spring around the corner has made me a whirling dervish of cleaning and decluttering. I just hope it's not a phase!

Tuesday 19 March 2013

We've got the lergie

I have almost been able to see this bug going around our house. Gaius sneezes at mama's face, mama coughs while changing Zarek's bum, Zarek sneezes on Ayla, Ayla spits on daddy and voila, we've all been ill.
At least now (with the exception of D) we are all just snotty with bad coughs, D has only just succumbed to the bug that has been floating around bringing my 'babies-to-take-care-of' total up to 4.
Thankfully after a few nights of continually getting up to see to babies who were coughing, sneezing, crying and vomiting, order seems to have been restored.
*phew*
And now that I feel better I've managed to crack on with the housework and the rooms are looking clean and clear.
As part of our money diet we've been selling off our old stuff and amazingly in just two weeks have made £200, and still going strong!
We've sold our old pc, which was just gathering dust, bags and bags of outgrown baby clothes and old toys, moses baskets and playmats. It's brilliant, the whole house is decluttering. Who knew baby clothes could take up so much space!!!!

I've only bought a handful of outfits myself, we were given bags and bags and bags of stuff, seriously my house looked like a clothing landfill, and I've used a bit and never opened some. I simply do not have enough time in the day to change my kids four or five times to get through it all. I've finally bagged it up by size, and sold it off at £1 a bag so had some pennies to add to the mortgage fund.

We're in a position now that we have made an offer, I just hope they accept it!

Wednesday 13 March 2013

It's like having a crystal ball

This last few days I have experienced the horror that is having poorly triplets and being poorly myself. The little 'darlings' cry, sneeze, cough, whine and sleep, while mama does all of that (minus the sleeping) while having to juggle three babies and wanting to die.
Sure all we've had this time is the flu, the horrible, debilitating, head-aching flu, but it's made me realise an either greater horror hanging over the horizon.

Just wait until they bring a sickness and diarrhoea bug home with them.....in triplicate.

Oh the horror!
This makes me shiver to my very bones and makes me want to dig out my passport and move far, far away. I can see rooms strewn with vomit soaked rags, bins filled with exploded nappies, and me, having to wrangle three crying children while throwing my own guts up. Oh the horror of it all!

I only hope that they are of 'an age' where I can tell them to throw up in a bucket and they do so, not of the age where they throw up in whatever direction they seem to be staring in at that moment. And god forbid they move their heads in the process.

And I only have one toilet....what happens when all three of them have diarrhoea ...is someone going to go in the SINK? I suppose that's better than the carpet but still, it's the SINK! That's not going to flush!

I have vague memories of being ill as a child, and just as I recover my mum ends up in bed with whatever lergie I brought home with me. I don't know how she did it. Sure actually clearing up babies sick or poopie bothers me not one iota - provided it's from my own kid. Not one little bit. There is this marvellous in-built design that as mama, your stomach doesn't turn at the sight of poopie.....because you are going to see a lot of poopie. A LOT OF POOPIE.

Sometimes it will be hilarious (Gaius projectile pooped all over his incubator and all I could do was stand there and laugh) and some will be less hilarious (Pulling lodged poopie out of Ayla's bum with a baby wipe while praying she doesn't follow through onto my face)*

I guess we just have to put our heads down, grit our teeth and get through it....and hope that dada doesn't get infected so he can take care of the rest of us.

*I realise they are going to kill me when they are older for writing this.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Live below the line - Unicef challenge!


I stumbled across the unicef 'live below the line' challenge at the weekend and we have-to, have-to give it a try!
Not only would it work well towards our money diet but it would really teach us the value of wasted food too, and believe me we seem to waste far too much food!

The idea is that from the 29th April to the 3rd of May you have just £5 to spend on five days food, that's just £1 a day. That £1 has to include EVERYTHING (bar tap water), which means living below the poverty line for a week. Intrigued? You can find out more about it HERE!
So we are going to give it a go - TWICE.
We're going to try it out in march, to save ourselves some pennies on our money diet, and then do it again on the official week to help raise money for unicef.

Now to actually get this to work D and I will be taking the challenge, the babies will not (they are too small at just 20 weeks corrected) but I am hoping they might join us on future years, perhaps we'll do it for one week every lent, and I'm sure then the joy of easter eggs would be even greater after!

What do you think, will you be taking part in the 'live below the line' challenge?

Monday 11 March 2013

My First Mother's Day





For years I imagined how it would feel to hold my children after I'd given birth to them, but due to the usual prematurity stuff I never got to experience that. You wouldn't believe how much it bothered me, I felt like that 'becoming a mum' moment was taken from me.
Today I had that experience, no matter how many times I've held them before, having them piled on me in bed this morning gave me such joy and healed a very sore place in my heart.



On Saturday I mentioned what my ideal mother's day would be, here's what actually happened!



1) Babies woke up at 8am, so even D got a lay-in! He went down and dealt with them. Very useful since I was poorly with the flu! (Thanks to Gaius!)

2) I was shooed repeatedly back upstairs until 9:30 when he bought the babies up and piled them on the bed for cuddles.

3) I was given two new cd's of old music so we have new songs to sing at playtime, as well as a bar of chocolate, teddy and thoughtful card.

4) Then I was presented with two bacon sandwiches in bed by D, while snuggling the babies before they went down for their morning nap.

5) I finally got out of bed at 11am and laid on the sofa 'dying' while D fed and changed the babies again.

6) When the babies went down for their 1pm nap we watched avengers assemble, before turning it off (I hated it it was so boring, sorry but it was) and instead watching super8, which in true JJ tradition, had bucket loads of suspense and a rubbish climax.

7) The babies got up again at 15:15, I fed them their tea and then D shooed me upstairs for a bath while he watched the footy and entertained the babies until bedtime.

8) I actually went and cleaned the nursery, it's rare to find the time to normally since they are either sleeping in it or I have to keep an eye on them downstairs.

9) As it had started to snow, three babies were sneezing, and mama felt like she'd been kicked in the chest by a horse, we stayed home and didn't visit the park.

10) D put everyone to bed all by himself and made us some toast and tea

11) We went through our finances to try figure out how to get the cash together for our mortgage.

12) Then I commandeered D's bath and had a quick soak before bed

13) After a nights sleep of shivering, coughing and wheezing the babies woke up at 7am Monday.

Apart from the flu, it was a really, really good day. Mostly because D worked so hard to make it that way. We are very grateful that he is a part of our family!

Saturday 9 March 2013

My ideal mother's day

It's my first mothers day this Sunday and I am so excited!
Several mothers and I have been discussing our ideal mother's day and what we would have happen.
So I thought it would be fun to share it here today and then I can let you know on Monday what really ends up happening!

1) Babies wake up (7am) and D goes to deal with them while I stay in bed for once, bliss!

2) Am woken at 9am by D and all three babies for cuddles in bed

3) Open very thoughtful card telling me how awesome I am

4) While babies have their morning nap (10:00) I get breakfast served to me by D

5) When babies have dinner fed by D (11am) I started cooking a roast for our dinner with all my favourite veggies, then some one-on-one time with each baby alone.

6) Babies go for their nap at 1pm and D and I tuck into a fab roast sunday dinner, have a good conversation or watch a family film.

7) Babies get up at 3pm and I get treated to them showing me they can finally roll over, plus lots of giggles and playtime

8) D feeds them tea (4pm) while I go listen to music (for once no sounds of crying)

9) We pop them in their pram for a walk to the park (4:30) for their first ever play on swings and a slide

10) We come home and have story time (5:15), milk (5:45) and bedtime (6:00), no one whines and everyone goes straight to sleep. (Or if they don't go straight to sleep, I'm not the one who has to deal with it)

11) Bubble bath while D cooks me tea

12) Movie on the sofa with food

13) An early night

14) Babies wake up no earlier than 7:45 am on Monday

Friday 8 March 2013

100 Things to Do!

A long (long, long, long) while ago I wrote (most) of my 100 things to do by 100 list.
Having been distracted by lack of sleep, mountains of nappies and buckets of breast milk - (that just gave me a really funny image) I have completely forgotten it's existence, let alone remembered to update it!
So here's a quick catch-up of what I've accomplished, along with a few new things to do!


[ ] 10. Create life.
This could be in the form of sea monkey's, I'm not fussy, although technically I'd like whatever I create to outlive me, but not in an Et-tu Brutus kind of way.

NAILED IT! Three at once too, talk about over-doing it. Considering I never believed we'd ever hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet, hearing the stampede of tiny feet is fantabulous. Yes it makes me so happy I have to use made-up words to describe it.

[ ] 12. Make a Christmas Cake from Scratch

I actually did this one, I slaved for weeks making two christmas cakes as a gift for D's grandad who loved fruitcake. He passed away the week I gave it to him (his death was not cake related, honest) so I never ended up blogging about it. I still have the second cake in a tin. It's a mere two years old so bound to be "extra" tasty.
I think this year I will endeavour to make one again from scratch and this time actually eat it. Maybe I will make it in his memory each year, that would be a nice tradition to share with our kids and we can tell them stories about him as we go.

[ ] 30. Learn to Crochet

I 'learnt' to crochet while pregnant, but since my baby blanket is a misshapen, uneven, wonky mess I think this is also something I need to do-over

I've also added a new 'thing to do'

[ ] 41. Create toys with the children

I can't wait to sit down on an evening sewing them sock monkeys, making toy fishing sets, christmas stockings, paper angels, playdough or spoon dollies. I really, really can't wait!
(Reading the back-blog about the double-yolkers makes me think that triplets were well on the cards since I fell pregnant the next month!)

--------

Money Diet: £5/£1000 (woot we're all set to go...in about ten years)

Thursday 7 March 2013

Don't tempt me, I'm on a money diet!

We've just been accepted for a mortgage - oh happy days!
We have found a triplet-proof house in a 'guess it will do' area and we want to buy, buy, buy.
BUT, there is a catch.
We may have the deposit in our pockets but we still need to scrimp together the cumulative £1000 solicitor, surveyor and broker fees. Ouch!

So we are on a money diet! (I may not have told D this yet)
This money diet means that for one month we endeavour to not spend money, but instead to put our energies into making money. I've given us a weekly budget of £50 to live off for food and baby essentials but I'm hoping we can live off just £25 a week.

It will be a good chance to de-clutter before we move too as we have accumulated a-lot of junk!

Can we do it? I'm skeptical but willing to try, if I can just stop spying things I want to own!

Take this doormat, I keep dreaming about this doormat, (we do need a new one) but I am staying strong, after all, it's just a doormat....right? Right!

Tuesday 5 March 2013

So many baby clothes

I've never been very interested in fashion or very bothered about what I wear. Clothes for me fit into two categories;

It fits and looks okay
Or
Clothes my mother would wear

But since having the triplets, I have found a renewed interest in clothes, that is, baby clothes!
I suppose it can all be put down to tangible memories of something they first did while wearing a particular outfit but I delight in dressing them in the cutest and brightest things I can find.

The top Zarek is sporting was given to me mere days before I actually had him, it's only taken a mere seven months for him to fit in it!

Ayla's romper was bought on a trip to the seaside for a bargain 25p! We bought it when we had been told earlier that week that We might have a girl 'on board', again its only taken six months for her to fit in a newborn romper!

Gaius meanwhile is in six month clothes for his seven month age. So many items of his baby clothing (that haven't been hand-me-downs to Zarek) have been tucked away as keepsakes.

For their first birthday we are having our favourite sleepsuits turned into soft toys. I can't wait to see the results!