Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

Getting ready for “Back to School”

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There’s still one week left in August but already I’m beginning to think about the kids going back to school. As much as I love having them around for the summer holidays (and I promise I’m not sick of them and looking forward to sending them back again), I do dread the expense of “back to school”. For some reason, Summer seems to be that one time when they need loads more school uniform, new shoes and then a leather messenger bag , lunch boxes stationery etc.

School Uniform

With Lily’s school uniform, I’m very lucky that a school jumper or cardigan with the logo on, is not compulsory. As such, all her uniform tends to get bought from places like Asda and Tesco, who have tops, skirts, trousers etc. all around £4-5 mark. These are also great places to get PE kit, socks, underwear etc. Megan on the other hand, wears school uniform that is all very specific to her school and is quite regulated too.

Last year, when she started in Year 7, I spent almost £200 on new school uniform and that was only one blazer, one pack of shirts, one skirt, one trousers etc. Luckily this year I purchased these “girls school trousers” and they’re amazing for her and both of us are loving it.

 

Shoes

Ever since the girls first started wearing shoes, I have always taken them each year to get their feet measured at Clarks and then buy a pair each to last the year. While I’m all for shopping on a budget, £35-40 is well spent on a pair of Clarks shoes, given that they do last the whole year. Today I took the girls to get their shoes and funny enough the girls ended up with the exact same pairs as this time last year (except in bigger sizes of course). Megan is now fitting in a 3.5, while Lily is in a 1.

Backpacks

As well as the obvious school uniform necessities from Smiggle, there are plenty of extras that are needed for the school year. Last year Megan had a backpack from Asda Living which was really cute, but unfortunately it lasted about 3 months before one of the zips broke. In the end, she made her way through three backpacks during the whole year and we’re anticipating similar this year. That said, all the backpacks we bought previously were fairly cheap and so after quizzing her on what friends seem to have, Jacks Wills seems to be a brand we could try. Luckily Lily bought herself a Joker bag during the middle of last year and she is very keen to continue using that, along with her every growing collection of pom pom keyrings.

Stationery

Last but not least of course, is all the stationery, notebooks, calculators etc, that are needed – especially for Megan at secondary school. For the most part she has everything from last year,  last week gave us a top up on some mechanical pencils and Otto Hut pens. To be honest there was a lot more there that we could have bought, but we behaved ourselves for the time being. Megan did join the Smiggle VIP club however, so no doubt we’ll be back there before too long.

Week 36 – Monday Round-up

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I am so behind on everything right now that I’ve realised its Wednesday and I still haven’t rounded up last week! To be truthful it was the usual mix of nothing some days and loads the next, but I will try to recap as best I can remember!

Monday we were still in London and I posted about that day here. Since we were actually back by Tuesday, life pretty much returned to normal. The girls went to their dad’s house and Chris was at work so I had a day of sewing, blogging and watching TV (not necessarily in that order!). I made some decisions about the month (that sadly haven’t really happened yet) and tried to take a determined approach to life since it was September 1st!

In the evening I sat down to make loads of hair bows and watch Grimm. It was actually pretty awesome ;)

In the morning I got up and headed out for the girls, about the same time as Chris headed out to work. I picked them up and we headed to Asda Living to pick out some school uniform for Megan and a few last minute bits and pieces they needed. Afterwards we went home and while the girls sat and played on their computers (and Disney Infinity on the Xbox), I made more bows and watched Grimm… right up till bedtime. Other than that there was the odd bit of getting ready for school etc. but that was pretty much it.

On Thursday the girls were back at school and we had the usual mad rush in the morning. After dropping the girls off I came home and started to sew. Nat came around for the day and although we mostly sat and chatted, she helped me cut out pattern pieces etc. until we both needed to pick up the kids from school. After school we all just flaked in front of the TV and computers, recovering from a busy day! Friday was fairly similar, except that I dropped the kids off at school and went on a ribbon hunt in Lincoln. I realised Nat was off so called her to meet up for coffee and we spent the morning chatting and drinking coffee/hot chocolate. I headed home as I needed to go to the post office and get a few bits done. However it wasn’t long before I was back out to get the girls. That evening I spent sewing, getting both a Woody dress done and also working on a Wendy cosplay.

Saturday morning and it was the weekend. The girls had no school and Chris had no work, so it should have been heaven – except I felt awful! I had a headache all day long and this resulted in me crying on and off through frustration. However I managed to get some work done in the end and my headache finally cleared by about 7pm. Sunday was another day of sewing and another day of everyone being off. We spent the day doing our own thing but sat down to a family dinner of fajitas in the evening.

It was a lovely week but as always, highs and lows. This week is fairly crazy so far but I’m beginning to think that’s the new norm!

Week 37 – Monday Round-up

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It’s that time of the week again – Monday Round-up. It’s been a busy and tiring week, despite not a lot going on. Full week back at school/work for everyone and its definitely taken its toll. Chris has had some really shitty shifts, all day or evenings, so we’ve barely seen each other. The kids after school clubs hadn’t started yet though so at least its been a fairly normal week with regards to hours (if you don’t count the fact I finished work late almost every day!).

Anyway, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday there really wasn’t anything of special note. Thursday the kids were with their dad after school and so Chris and I had some of the evening to ourselves. We hung out and ordered takeaway – it was a really nice evening. Friday was really the same as the other three evenings, except for the fact we were celebrating making it through yet another week (only 5 till I’m off again, woo!). The kids and I hung out and it was really nice, letting them both go a little later to bed than normal and just enjoying being together.

Saturday was a really strange day. I woke up with a headache and sadly it didn’t shift all day. I tried to relax on my computer in the morning but that didn’t help so I went for a bath. My headache lifted slightly but it didn’t go and as soon as I was back in the lounge, it pretty much came back again. I did manage to clean the shower though so that was a plus. We decided to try and tackle homework and so Lily, Megan and I moved to the dining table. I started working on a dress pattern, while Megan started homework and Lily drew a picture. It wasn’t long after when my mum arrived, as she’d said she might pop in for a while. Crazily, she was still there 6 hours later… after homework was done, takeaway was ordered and Nat arrived! Luckily it had taken my mind off my headache somewhat but I was also feeling fairly rotten. A girlie night with Nat was just what I needed though and after a good chat and Nat leaving at just gone midnight, I headed to bed, completely exhausted!

Sunday Chris was finally off and we had a day together as a family. We headed into Gainsborough in the morning as Chris had keys to drop off and I wanted to go to Wilkos. We ended up wandering a little and getting sausage rolls from Greggs. When we got back, there was loads of house stuff to do like the dishwasher, hanging out washing, sorting washing etc. After all of that, we ended up tidying and hoovering! It was such a fun day, haha. In the end, the kids and I spent the afternoon watching more Winx and finally when they headed to bed, I spent the evening watching One Tree Hill and doing the ironing. Strangely enough, it was a really nice day – despite how it sounds.

Other than that, I’ve really started working on Christmas presents. I’m making a whole host of dresses and clothes for various people and I’ve started to look at patterns and materials. I’ve also started to build up some clothes purchases for the girls. Their main Christmas gift this year will be a suitcase full of summer clothes for Florida! On top of that, I’ve purchased my mum’s gift and part of my brother’s. I’ve order Nat’s birthday present and my mind is busy working on everything else I need to get. As soon as they’re all out of the way its save save SAVE so I really need to get cracking and organised.

Not much else is new – I’ve been pretty tired so that’s stopped a lot of things. To be honest I haven’t even taken any pictures to intersperse in this post! I do want to work more on my jewellery and generally on craft stuff. I’ll update you as soon as there is news!