Written by Andrea on October 17th, 2011
Future hubby and I have been debating whether to film the wedding.
We saw a fantastic idea on Dragons Den a few weeks ago. Two ex female TV producers were hiring out professional quality camcorders. The idea was that the wedding guests take it in turns with the cameras, taking discreet footage of the bride, or interviewing other guests.
They then returned the cameras and the two girls who would edit all the footage together to make one funny, quirky or romantic film. It looked amazing and we were hooked! Only problem is, we’ve already blown the wedding budget and it obviously costs a lot of money.
Not to be outdone, OH has done his best to call in favours from friends, business associates and family to see if they can lend us some good quality cameras so we can do a DIY job!
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Tags: budget, camcorders, DIY, dragons den, wedding
Written by Andrea on October 17th, 2011
After a rather successful hen weekend in Manchester with five of my best buddies, I’m being greedy and having a second local one this Saturday.
This time it’s for all the female (well, those old enough to drink!) wedding guests. We’re going to M’s beauty in Burbage which a favourite of ours. Not only do you get a half hour beauty treatment, but you also get a four course, home cooked meal. It’s great value for money and we always have a great time.
I am a bit worried though about what they might make me dress up in. I just hope it’s not a playboy bunny outfit!
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Written by Andrea on October 7th, 2011
It’s flippin hard work running a business (or two). On top of which I look after 5 kids including one stepdaughter and one foreign student and to top it all we’re getting married in less than six weeks!
I’ve decided that if I ever went back to working for ‘The Man’, I should look for project manager jobs. I think I may even be over qualified!
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Written by Andrea on September 21st, 2011
My kids do a minimal amount of activities outside of school. The reason being, is it starts to get very expensive!
My OH’s ex-wife has recently started to ask for more money as she says the money we give her doesn’t even cover my step-daughters activities!! We then found out she takes part in an activity every day except for the weekends we have her. Is that too much?
My boys have to pick and choose what they do so that it falls within our budget. Once middle has played football, youngest has taken his spanish class and eldest has had his pocket-money there isn’t much left to go around.
Middle has been thinking about going horse riding but just to buy the speciality equestrian clothing is going to cost a fortune before the riding lessons even start!
OH bought himself some golf clubs for his last birthday and yet still they sit in the garage, brand spanking new and never taken out of the bag! Sigh!! Think I might sell them to pay for riding lessons!
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Written by Andrea on September 21st, 2011
A couple of years ago we had a new kitchen fitted. It’s a lovely kitchen with high cupboards that reach to the ceiling.
Lovely, until I want to get something from the back of the top cupboard! I’m not a shorty, in fact at 5ft inches I’m classed as above average height and with heels on I could stretch to 5ft 9! Even so I just cannot reach to get things at the back. Up until now, dining rooms chairs have been dragged along the floor and back or I’ve asked OH who at 6ft 3 can just about reach on his tip toes!
So, yesterday I finally invested in a couple of two step stools and my life has suddenly improved! I don’t know why I didn’t do this years ago!!
I have one downstairs and one upstairs to reach into the top of the wardrobe. I am officially a very happy bunny!
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Written by Andrea on September 9th, 2011
Wedding plans are in full swing and it’s hard to believe the wedding is now only 10 weeks away!! How did that happen? Time flies but this is ridiculous!! I was a calm and relaxed bride, now I’m stressed out and starting to feel a bit sick as I realise what I need to do to make it all happen!
On my travels around the internet (which is all I seem to do during the evening) I came across something I’d not seen before, Promise rings! It seems that you exchange them as a symbol of your love and commitment, without the having to get married!
What a great idea and think of all the money I would have saved not getting married and divorced twice before!
You can read more promise ring information here.
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Tags: divorce, marriage, wedding rings
Written by Andrea on August 31st, 2011
So I’m still complaining about losing weight. But you know what? I simply eat too much.
I’ve got a healthy appetite and I like to eat. Fortunately, I’m not fussy about eating between meals, but I do like to sit down to a plateful of food at meal times. I think that’s why Slimming World works so well for me because you can pretty much fill your boots, so long as it’s all the right stuff!!
It may be that in my case an appetite suppressant is the answer to help stave off those hunger pangs, just until I’ve lost enough weight for the wedding.
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Tags: appetite suppressant, hungry, plateful of food, Slimming World
Written by Andrea on August 31st, 2011
When I get married in November I’ve set a goal to be the same weight that I was when I got married for the first time nearly 20 years ago.
I’ve done pretty well so far thanks to Slimming World, but now I’m stuck with half a stone to go. It’s 11 weeks until the wedding and I’ve looked at alternatives to healthy eating such as fat burners.
I was listening to Nina Mishkov being interviewed on the radio last week and she said,’The shortest diet book in the world would read “Eat less, move more”‘.
She’s right of course, but how many of us out there are looking for that magic pill that would take all the hard work out of dieting?
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Tags: dieting, fat burners, magic diet pill, nina mishkov
Written by Andrea on August 20th, 2011
Having three boys I’ve had to get used to toy cars, guns, aeroplanes, action men and super heroes. No pink, girlie or pretty toys have ever entered this house. Even my step-daughter is a tom boy!
Now that the boys are getting older, their taste in entertainment is becoming more advanced. We now have PS3′s, i-pods, i-phones and lap tops. Even worse than all these gadgets are the chargers and battery packs that go with them. Our car is also full of in-car chargers adaptors and goodness knows what else these things need to make them works.
When my eldest son finds that his gadgets won’t work for him, he asks me what he can do about it!! Why he chooses to ask me I have no idea because I quite literally have…..no idea! He now tells me he needs a ps3 hdmi cable for his games console. Ok…I won’t ask what it is but I think a trip to Curry’s is in order!
Posted in Family | 1 Response »
Tags: aeroplanes, cars, currys, hdmi cable, PS3
Written by Andrea on August 12th, 2011
So we’re midway through the School Holidays.
If your family is anything like mine, you’ll be forking out for day trips, ice-creams and McDonald’s not to mention being ripped off by holiday companies because this is the only time that you can actually go on holiday without being chastised by the school head mistress for taking holidays in term time!!
And as if all that wasn’t enough, the day soon arrives when you have to buy the dreaded new school uniform. Fortunately, plenty of shops out there offer cheap uniform options so it’s not as hideously expensive as it was.
The big spend for me though, is shoes. I have bought cheap shoes in the past, but it’s a false economy. They barely last more than a few weeks, so I often end up spending more over the course of a year than I would if I’d paid more in the first place.
It got me thinking why shoe shops don’t do back to school deals. I have three boys and it would be a big saving for me of shoe shops offered something like buy one get one half price of if the big brands produced famous footwear coupons.
Having worked in the fashion industry, I know what a huge mark-up retailers place on shoes and clothes, so I’m sure they could absorb.
a little money off here and there and it would be of huge benefit to harassed, cash strapped mums like me.
Posted in Family, Finances | No Responses »
Tags: back to school, clarks, cost of living, School Holidays, shoes
