Sunday

Today has been mostly housework with some baking thrown in for good measure. I tidied and hoovered the house and opened all the windows to get some air into the place. Throughout the day I was doing washing and washing up and by lunch time was on top of all my household duties so decided to do a little baking. First I made some delicious homemade bread again I found it very difficult to slice even with the guide I bought to help me. So today I went out and bought an electric knife which seems to do the job perfectly.

I then decided to make some cookies using a basic biscuit recipie. (see below)

Basic cookie recipie
225g Butter
110g Castor sugar
275g Plain flour
100g Chocolate chips

Place butter into a big bowl and soften. Once softened add the sugar and mix untill it is combined together. Then sift the flour in and add the chocolate chips. Mix well once the mixture gets to stiff to mix with a spoon use your hands to mix all the ingrediants together till you have a nice ball of cookie dough ready for cutting or shaping.
Depending on the size you want your cookies (My kids like them large) take a small ball of the cookie dough and shape into a disc and place on a baking tray. When you have got all your cookies shaped on the tray pop them in the oven at 180 for 10-15 minutes. I would suggest keeping an eye on them as you want them nice and golden not burnt and every oven varies.


Next I made some yogurt ice lollies a very cheap, healthy, refreshing treat for the kids this summer. I got some lolly makers in pound land it cost me a pound and they make 12 ice lollies. Simply pour the yogurt into the holders and frezze. I got 14 lollies out of four yogurts so the total cost was less than 2 and half pence per lolly.

For dinner tonight we had chicken, roast potatoes, and sweetcorn. I had some potatoes that were turning and sprouting so wanted to use them up so made roast potatoes with them. I also had some chicken breasts that were one day out of date so cut them into bite size pieces and dry fried them. It saved throwing some good food away and provided us with a good hearty meal.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Brad's 14th Birthday

Fourteen years ago I gave birth to my beautiful special boy Bradley. The time has passed so quickly and it seems like only yesterday that I brought this cute little bundle home with me. I had so many hopes and dreams for my little one. Over the years those hopes and dreams have changed due to the discovery of Brad's autism and an understanding of how this will limit his life somewhat. This amazing, talented, gorgeous young man has suparsed all expectations of him. When he was diagnosed I was told he may never walk, talk, and would proberly remain in nappies and pads as he got older. Bradley has achieved so much in his life he walks, talks, and has been toilet trained since he was five in spite of what we were told. He is even taking a few of his G.C.S.E's something I never in a million years expected to happen. He has so much more to deal with than most children his age. He has to deal with everyday life which is a struggle with his condition, he has to deal with narrow minded bullies who think he is weird just because he is different to the rest of society, and the one that truely breaks my heart he has to deal with the knowledge that he is different to everyone else when all he wants is to be the same. In spite of all this Brad is always cheerfull, he is funny, and he always gives 100%, he nearly always has a smile on his face and a spring in his step. I am so proud of my little baby who is now a young man and would not change him for all the money in the world. I love you Bradley more than words can ever express.

 Here is the birthday cake I made for Brad. He does not like cake as such but does like cornflake cakes so I made a huge one and decorated it as normal. Im sorry I didnt blog the process as I said I would but it was rather a busy hectic day that day.

I decided to take the boys to Weymouth to celebrate Brads birthday and I must confess it was a very unfrugal day in total I spent £90 but that was transport, food & drink, and activities. I decided I wanted to spoil my boys for the day as it was a special occassion. Here are some pictures from our day at the beach.

A special day for a very special boy.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Monday 23rd July

Today has been a busy but productive day for the Till's. We were all up washed and dressed and out the door by 9am an unusual occurance for my rable especialy on the school holidays. Brad asked if we could get the train into town instead of the bus so we did and I was very pleased we did. I usualy pay £10.30 for return buses for all 4 of us but the train was just £6.60 return saving me £3.70. In the future we will use the train and a rail card I bought today will save us even more money costing just £4.20 for a return a saving of £6.10. On to the rail card I bought today it is a family and friends rail card and upto 4 adults and 4 children can travel on it. It saves 1/3 on adult fares and 60% on childrens fares with under 5's travelling for free. It cost me £28 for the year but the money I will save by having this card it will pay for itself in no time. In town we went and got the ingrediants for Brads bday cake he has decided he wants a mud and frog cake which I will be making tomorow ready for the big day on wednesday. I will share the making process along with pictures tomorow. I also went and picked up the last of Brads presents not an easy task with him present but the lady in the shop was great and bagged it all up behind the counter so he could not see it. We also got Brandons feet sized for a new pair of trainers. Wow he had gone up 2 sizes he will soon be in a pair I have set aside for him that were Ben's my children grow so fast these days. So Brandon is now the proud owner of a new pair of Thomas The Tank Engine trainers. He wont take them off he loves them so much I think im going to have to sneak in his room when his sleeping to remove them.

When we got home from town it was time for the boys to do their chores they are not expected to do much just tidy up and hoover one level of the house Brad will do upstairs and Ben will do downstairs and Brandon will help with the tidying as his still quite young to be doing full chores. In return the boys get £5 pocket money every monday £1 is put in a jar for saving and £1 is put in a jar for donating this is usualy done once a year around xmas time. For every chore they dont do they get a x and lose 30p of the next weeks pocket money. I feel its importent that the boys learn how to keep things neat and how to work as a team. Also it prevents them making to much mess as they are the ones who have to tidy it up in the end.

After the chores were done the boys were allowed to go play in the garden while I caught up with some reading. I also did a bit of online shopping. I ordered a fat fryer as this will help speed certain dinners up of an evening I got this for £14 new. I also got a bread slicing guide I love the taste of fresh homemade bread but have real trouble slicing it so this little invention will be really handy. It cost £7.68 I could have got it £3 cheaper but delivery was from Hongkong and I just could not justify the air miles so went for the more expensive one which is stocked in the UK. I also got a linen bread bag to keep my yummy homemade bread fresher for longer. Its a very nice looking bag and cost £4.99 again I could have gone for a cheaper alternative but these were made of plastic. I could not justify the fact they would one day end up in landfill rotting so went for the linen one which should last me a good long time and can then be recycled when it comes to the end of its life.

Bradley made a yummy dinner of sausages, roast potatoes, and baked beans as I was busy with some writting. He really is getting very good with his cooking skills and at nearly 14 and in spite of his autism I have no worries that he will be able to fend for him self when he decideds to go into independant living. He also makes the best cakes he really is very talented when it comes to cooking and baking it makes me very proud of him.

Plans for this evening are when I finish writting this post get all the boys to bed, Tidy up, get some washing done, clean out the rabbit, wash up, and finaly a nice soak in the tub before going to bed myself. Where 2 of my 3 boys are autistic I find it easier to get my chores done in the evening when they are all tucked up in bed. Autistic children can be very demanding and require a lot of time and attention and so my routine has been adapted around their needs over the years and its what works best for us.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Update

There just does not seem to be enough hours in the day at the moment. That combined with the fact I have been rather unwell with an ear infection which has caused my MD to flare up has left me very little time for writting. Lee and I had a few days away at Weymouth the weather was lovely and it was nice to have a bit of adult time. We of course did this in true frugal fashion I looked for the cheapest deal on a double room and found one at £55 per night for the 2 of us including a cooked and continental brekfast. As it happened I have stayed here before and its a lovely little b&b close to everything and a 2 minute walk from the beach. For lunches we took a walk to the local supermarket and stocked up on goodies for packed lunches the total cost for lunches for 3 days for the 2 of us was £11 which works out around £2 per packed lunch much cheaper than eating out. For one of the evening meals we attended an all you can eat chip shop buffet of fish, chips, sausage, onion rings, fish cakes, pies, chicken, mushy peas. We was able to have as much as we liked and go up for seconds as many times as we liked. I also found vouchers online for a free bottomless soft drink so we did not have to buy a drink all night. Total cost for this evening was £12.98 for both of us and that was as much food and drink as we liked. The second evening we went to a little tavern that had 2 meals for £6.99. We had a lovely few days but did come back rather burnt it was so very hot.

Last week I was offered a big black bag full of nearly new and new clothes for Brad for £25 when I had a look I was gobsmacked at what was included. All the items were brand names such as Next, Mackensie, carbrini, addidas etc and they were all in immaculate condition some of them were brand new with the tags still on. In total there must have been about 30-35 items which worked out less than a pound an item so I snapped it up before anyone else could.

Will do a post later today about what we have been upto today. With the Mr working almost everyday this week it will give me a chance to get blogging again ive so missed writting.

Much Love
Claire xxx