Payday!

I am so excited it is payday, well not my payday as I have to wait another 20 days before I can get my money from paid blogging but it is my husbands payday which counts as my payday :P  So with my husbands bonus we are now up £1122 in our savings account, I happy and it should hopefully fingers all crossed be up to 2k by middle of April, 2 months ahead of what I thought we would be able to get it up too.

I had to rearrange my bedroom yesterday due to our council house scum neighbours who think it is okay to argue until 3am sometimes 5am in the morning and we can heard everything! And I mean everything, so we reported it to our local council and they have now sent them a letter and we have to do a noise diary for the next 14 days, I thought with out beds being along the same wall as theirs it might make the noise louder so I moved it around to put us on the other side of the room, I do like the new layout and it only took me 40 minutes to do :)

(Sorry the picture is so dark)

Other exciting news other than me doing a 3 point turn and reserving around a corner in driving!!!!! Yay, go me and all that, I had the carpet man just here to measure up our stairs, bargain price so I think we will have to go with it, I like this sample, hope the husband does as well :)

Okay I'd better go back to revising, also I think I am ovulating today but am going to test later :)

Hallway/Stairs

Before I start do you call the place where you have stairs a hallway or stairs, according to my husband the little bit after my kitchen and before my bathroom counts as a hallway but I don't think it does and he thinks I can't call the stairs a hallway, anywho what do you call it? Please let me prove him wrong.

Now I have mentioned about my loft being turned into a room but after looking at the prices it is more likely going to have to wait till the end of the year so I can save up the money for it but in the mean time we are going to work on the hallway/stairs area and all of downstairs (kitchen might start in a couple of months, I am so excited!!).

Okay this was my stairs before I moved in:

Then my husband thought it would be a good idea to paint our stairs black:

So now after we both decided that we hated the black so we are onto carpet, the man is coming to give us a quote on Friday, fingers crossed, we will be able to afford it.  I thinking wool cream hard wearing one..

Okay I haven't even started revision today so I'd better get onto that...

Ovulation Test Stress

So I found my camera wire, it was hiding behind the sofa in the living room, so I have been testing my ovulation for the last 6 days, and according to my monthly cycle tracker I am suppose to start ovulating today but my test is only a little bit darker than the last five days and my temperature seems to be staying the same either the tracker is wrong or I am not ovulating or I missed which is hard to think I have missed it when I started looking for the lines on CD14 (cycle day 14).
This is very annoying, 4 months to get this right, maybe in the next month or so I'll buy some of the expensive ones that give you a smiley face if you are, Hmmm, who knew trying for a baby would be confusing and hard. But my husband has been cheering me up looking like this:

Ha ha bless him, okay back to revision and waiting for Freya to come around with her boyfriend to tell me how much it is going to cost to get my loft board so we can get some of the husbands stuff up there to give me some space.

Holiday

[caption id="attachment_2048" align="alignleft" width="227" caption="Wish my holiday was like this"][/caption]

So I am now officially on holiday for the next 4 weeks!  I plan on revising for my 9 exams and doing a load of driving lessons, I think I am going to hit between 12 and 16 in 4 weeks.  Life is good down in this side of England, husband is getting a new promotion and the savings is collecting nicely, we have worked out we will only have to save 7 grand which is do able by next Summer.

I wanted to show you some pictures of my ovulation tests but I have lost my camera wire (no idea where it is I spent the last hour and bit looking for it), I have also been charting my temperature which is weird because not a lot is happening with it I guess I am not ovulating yet, the test themselves aren't doing much yet but I  thought I would do them for a whole month to see how it all works, a girl on the forum I post at (babyandbump.com) said she did charting and testing for 3 months before and within 11 days she was pregnant when she was trying to conceive (TTC) so fingers crossed it will be like that for me and my husband.

In reality more like this...

There might be a few paid blogging appearing more this week due to the fact I have loads of work on (I really need the money for the savings account) so I am sorry for this :(

Any good new TV shows out at the moment? I watched the first season of the Good Wife which is pretty good, it has the main guy from Sex and the City Mr Big,  surprisingly good.  I might have to give Brother's and Sisters a second go, anyone else seen it?  Off to revise :)

Weight

Today we brought bathroom scales, I have not been on a set of scales for about two years, so I got on them today and I am 9 and half stone, which isn't my heavy weight but like my normal weight.  I know I am in the top of a normal healthy BMI scale but still I have been really good lately well in the last week (porridge for breakfast plus fruit, yogurt, special K bar and fruit for lunch and a nice yummy meal but I have addiction to croissant and pastries at uni), smaller portions and not snacking as much :(  I would like to be 8 and half or just 8 stone.

Any tips of losing a stone and half in the next couple of months, I am going to start getting back on my exercise bike every day but anyone else give me some good tips to lose weight and what I should eat?  I would be so grateful.

Are blogs too personal?

I wanted to talk about this topic "Are blogs too personal?" for the last couple of weeks and even more so after one of my closest friends closed down her blog due to the off-line world finding it. After going through my blog roll recently more and more blogs are becoming blogs written about a certain topic, for example, mine normally is being frugal and green which I think is a great idea and I love to see different views but then again I like to see some personal content as well, what's happening in their lives.

I started thinking whether or not my blog is too personal and I discussed with my husband and my best friend yesterday, I don't really write like I use to about the going ons in my life well not the really personal ones because unless it is out in the open then why put it on the internet where anyone can see it at the end of the day I know my blog is on the internet so it is pretty much public and yes I do go by a nickname (same one for the last 10 years) but I now have twitter and a lot of my off-line friends have twitter now so they have access to my blog, plus if you know my nickname you could pretty much just find me straight away.

I realised also I don't think I have ever refer to my husband by his name in the whole three years of being with him which is pretty impressive as I forget quite a bit that I haven't unless I have added you to facebook then you know my own name and his name, he has read my blog now and then but isn't really that interested in it unless I am talking about the money I have made from it :P  My parents know of my blog, I don't think they really read it.

I really respect the ladies like Jenn and Amanda who don't hide anything and for that reason reading their blogs makes me feel like I know them better.

Anyway I am rambling and I have to eat before my driving lesson, I am curious where do you draw the line on your own blogs?

Busy busy busy....

I wrote this last week but totally forgot to post it so I will added this and a quick update on this week:

Not having the best week at the moment, it started off okay went to university on Monday which this stupid cold but my mother was late picking me up so instead of getting home at 4.30pm did not get home till 6pm. Tuesday I did not go in due to the fact I am running out of money and half my lectures were cancelled, but I did manage to get the website I have been working on for the last 6 weeks to be completed, it is a to-do list web application made up of css, php, javascript, jquery and sql, I am really pleased with it and I hope I get a good mark :)

Wednesday was a waste of a day had to go in for this stupid career development for a couple of hours which was a complete waste of time and I do not know why we had to go, after this there was a protest at university, 50 students had got into the management building protesting the cuts in informatics, about 6 police vans, several police cars and a police dog later.  In the end 2 students were arrested and 6 students were suspended :(

Thursday to Sunday my husband was off so the bathroom was being done and now it is nearly done, apart it from it needing to be painted.

I had a really embarrassing time on the train this morning, I was on the train, my stop was coming up so I stood up waiting for it to stop but it never came, the train went speeding pass and I ended up at a totally different station 20 minutes later. Lucky for me I already know that area quite well so I managed to get back to the university stop.

I am sorry I haven't posted other than green related topics, university is so busy and they already have me choosing next years modules.  It is a little too much right now, feel like I am going to explode with all these exams, group work, driving, house and baby related items.

Saw an amazing film this week, Valentines Day, so cute!

Issues

Having some issues with my current theme hopefully get it back up again by today....

I have fixed it now, hurrah, unsure why it went random on me for a day, I think it had something to do with my stylesheet... I am going to work on a new theme in summer as there is too much university work going on right now, plus my exam timetable is up and it horrible!!

Being Green in the Kitchen

Long await post about being green in the kitchen, this one is more than likely going to be a long one as I can think of so many way of being green in the kitchen.

Dishwasher

Now I know a lot of people worry that using a dishwasher is worse than hand washing but I have researched this in depth, and it turns out that no using a dishwasher on a ECO wash is cheaper and uses less electricity than hand washing.  But I would like to mention please remember to turn the plug off while not using it as this is use wasting energy that doesn't need to be wasted.

I found this article which works out how much energy and water you will use in a dishwasher vs hand washing

Water use, energy use, and carbon footprint
There are three big factors we'll consider: water use, energy use (for heating the water, largely), and the carbon footprint that results -- we'll save things like soap and dishwasher cooking for another post. And, of course, following energy-saving tips like running the "light" cycle and turning off the "heated drying" option will change the way the numbers work.

Built-in dishwasher efficiency
The average dishwasher uses 6 gallons of water per cycle; the average Energy Star-rated dishwasher uses 4 gallons per cycle, and their energy use ranges from 1.59 kWh per load down to 0.87 kWh per load. Using the Department of Energy's carbon dioxide emissions numbers of 1.34 pounds of CO2 per kWh, that's 1.16 to 2.13 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted per load, to go along with 4 gallons of water.

Energy Star assumes each load in a "standard" dishwasher (usually 24 inches in size) has "a capacity greater than or equal to eight place settings and six serving pieces," so we'll go with that when considering how many dishes need to be washed by hand.

Can hand washing be as efficient as dishwashing?
The short answer: maybe. First, let's look at water usage alone. The average faucet flows at 2 gallons per minute, so if you can successfully wash and rinse eight place settings -- plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons, glasses, etc. -- and those six serving dishes that your dishwasher can handle without running the faucet for more than 2 total minutes, then, you might be better off hand-washing. Assuming you're washing 54 pieces of dishware (that's 48 pieces of dishware -- 6 pieces per setting -- and 6 serving dishes), you've got about 4.4 seconds of wide-open tap water per piece, or about 9.5 ounces of water to wash and rinse each dish.

Impacts of heating the water
Let's assume you use warm water for both washing and rinsing -- half hot water and half cold water. Heating 2 gallons of water with a gas hot water heater (from about 60 degrees as it enters your house to, say, 120 degrees, set by the thermostat on your hot water heater) takes about 960 BTUs, or about 0.9% of one therm (100,000 BTUs), assuming 100 percent efficiency.
Gas storage tank water heaters
Gas water-heaters are usually more like 65 percent efficient, so it really takes 1477 BTUs, or about 1.5 percent of a therm, to heat that water. One therm emits 11.7 pounds of CO2, according to the EPA (pdf), so heating the water with gas for each 2-gallon load emits about .17 pounds of carbon dioxide.

On-demand (or tankless) water heaters are closer to 80 percent efficient, which changes the numbers a bit; it works out to about 1200 BTUs, or about .14 pounds of carbon dioxide.
Electric storage tank water heaters
The story is a bit different when considering an electric water heater; while most electric water heaters use between 86 and 93 percent of their energy for heat (compared to between 60 and 65 percent for gas), electric heaters aren't as efficient at heating water. It still takes 960 BTUs to heat that much water; it just takes about .28 kWh (since, according to the EIA, 1 kWh equals 3412 BTUs) to heat 2 gallons of water at 100 percent efficiency, or about .30 kWh at 93 percent efficiency. Each kWh emits 1.715 pounds of CO2, on average (thank you, EPA), so heating water with electricity for each 2-gallon load emits about .51 pounds of CO2.
Built in dishwasher vs. hand-washing: And the winner is...
These numbers indicate that it's possible to be more efficient when hand-washing, but it's pretty tough. Can you successfully wash and rinse a soiled dinner plate in just over a cup of water? If you can keep the water use low, equal to an efficient machine, you'll require less energy, but doing an entire load of dishes in 4 gallons of water is roughly equivalent to doing them all in the same amount of water you use in 96 seconds of showering (using a showerhead that emits 2.5 gallons per minute).

So, as long as you don't often run your dishwasher when it's only half full of dirty dishes, or unless you are very miserly with your water use (or have an old, inefficient dishwasher), the automatic dishwasher is likely to be more efficient. That is to say, it's possible to use less water and energy by hand washing your dishes, but it's not easy. Of course, if you do it just right, it might just be a wash.

More information at treehugger.com

Cleaning Products

Now I have mentioned this before down in the being green in the bathroom but cleaning product are an large impact on the world, using more organic, more natural products is always best, the only issue that gets me if the price, I understand why that have to be more expensive because it is not just chemicals like the cheaper brands but I wish they would bring it down a little bit as not all of us have money to burn.

Pet related

This one is a tough due to the fact it has taken me forever to find cat litter than is not going to kill the environment, I have tried loads of cat litter for one I hate the clumping ones as they take forever to clean (which wastes water, cleaning product and not to mention it smells), I have gone for a one at the  moment which is little tubs of old wood shavings, the think I like about it the most is the fact when the cat goes to the bathroom the little tubs disappear a leave what I can only describe as sawdust (kind of like a hamster cage lining) but it does have a nice pine smell and lasts longer so you don't use as much saving money and saving time.  If you can go for an eco cat litter it is nicer for the cat and for your noses.

Cat food tins wash out, I know it is a huge pain but if you have one cat or three like myself you will end up going through at least one tin a day, with mine it is two tins a day (I swear Onion steals everyone else's food but I can't prove it!), I did try putting these through the dishwasher but everything smelled of cat food so now I have to hand wash them with bleach as well as washing up liquid, please use a different wash cloth as it is not nice otherwise.

Also check out Eco-Me Cat Kit Natural Tool Kit, you can make your own cat litter and flea spray, also cat treats, I might have to give this one ago.

Recycling

I am huge on recycling, lucky for me my council provide me little pink bags which I put out every week, what I have found is a lot of items can be recycled, in my household we have one bin for rubbish and one for recycling, my mother is even better and has a bin for vegetable ends, egg shells and other organic food matter which she puts in her compost down at the end of the garden.  I haven't got a huge garden more like the size of postage stamp but I could fit a small one in my mother informs me.

Having two bins really saves me the headache of having to keep the bag somewhere, since recycling (I even have my husband doing it who told me it was a waste of time) we hardly but out much black bin bag rubbish.

Growing your own Vegetables

See I tried this last year but only managed to grow a cucumber and some herbs, my mother on the other hand split half her garden into her vegetable and fruit patch and grew so much, loads of leeks (I love leeks), but this year I am going to grown my own carrots, potatoes and leeks plus the normal amount of herbs, I'll have to update you about this later in the year.  I think growing your own vegetables doesn't take a lot of work but it is so pleasing to see them grow even for me growing anything makes me happy and I suck at gardening in general, I get the husband to do it for me.  Even if you don't' have a garden just a small balcony you could grow new potatoes in big pots.

General Tips

• Don't over fill the kettle


• Don't waste food


• Bulk cook where you can


• Make your own lunches


• Re-use items where you can


• Turn the lights off when you leave a room


• Re-use packaging


• Use energy efficient


• Only wash full loads this goes for the washing machine, dishwasher and the tumble dyer

Next week I am covering female products and make-up :)  Sorry I haven't been around so much uni has me all tied up.

Alive

I am alive :) It is 4 weeks before the end of Spring term so all the assignments have been coming out, so I have been so busy with them oh and my driving lessons are going really well right now, fingers crossed I'll pass at the end of April. I had to cut the lessons down to one a week while all this crazy university work is going on but in my holiday I am going back up to three a week!

My week is a little bit crazy at the moment, here is my schedule:

Monday - up at 6am, lessons from 9am till 3pm then home again (must add it takes me a total of 4 hours to get to and from university).
Tuesday - up at 6am again, lessons from 9am till 4pm, home again
Wednesday - all day university work, from 8am till 9pm at night I am getting worn out
Thursday - up at 6am again, lessons 10am till 3pm
Friday - driving lesson and more university work
Saturday/Sunday - university work, housework and all that fun stuff

I am so tired from all the university work I have to do, and it is all I do 24/7 well apart from sleeping of course. Drama the other day husband fell down a flight of stairs at the train station landing on his tail hone, he was in so much pain he couldn't move all evening had to lie on the bed, I thought we would have to go to hospital but he seems to be okay now still can't walk very fast, has pain here and there but looks like he has just bruised it, I hope anyway.

Other news we had a power cut yesterday, no power for two hours and I was in the middle of doing an assignment and the computer went "bing" and everything went out, the thing that annoyed me the most was there was no information on the helpline it kept just telling me that knew about the problems, pfft!

I'm off to do some more assignment or sleep or watch Big Bang Theory (just finish How I met your mother all 5 seasons, so good!!), a green kitchen post tomorrow since I had to clean my kitchen for two hours today.

Getting Green in the bathroom

So after having all this work done on my bathroom, I thought I could go through ways of being green in the bathroom, I'll slowly move to other rooms in the house ;) when I chance of course.

The bathroom normally uses a lot of energy also a lot of money due to the fact you can normally have your washing machine in there, all hair related items (hair dryers), toilet and of course the bath/shower, anything that uses gas or electricity. (NOTE,  Normally plugs outside of the bathroom also you might have a separate cleaning area for the washing machine and laundry).

Cleaning Products

First I would start with cleaning products better for the environment, sometimes more expensive but they do reduce potential allergens, and toxic cleaning products have been linked to childhood wheezing and asthma. In the UK our main green cleaning products is ecover, which smells good, my parents have been using it for years, I have started to recently. What I find about the products sometimes you might have to scrub a little bit harder but other than that no difference.

Home-made solutions to cleaning products:

Scrubbing sinks, tubs, and counter tops with a paste of baking soda and water effectively removes dirt rings and some stains; if that doesn't work, try a paste of washing soda and water, and be sure to wear gloves.

For cleaning windows, fill your own spray bottle with water and either one-quarter cup white vinegar or one tablespoon lemon juice to cut grease.

Polish furniture with a mixture of one teaspoon olive oil and one-half cup white vinegar, or look for solvent-free products that use mineral or plant oils.

Washing Machines

Now we all know that washing machines use a lot of water and even more so if you have a baby or a young family, now I have tried a few different types to save money.
First one was this soapnuts, now it says this about them:

Soapnuts (Sapindus Mukorossi) are grown in India and Nepal, harvested in a sustainable way in October from 15m high trees. The soapnuts are sticky and golden in colour when removed changing to reddish brown when dried. Soapnut shells contain saponin (a natural detergent) and when they come in contact with water they make mild suds. Soapnuts are a natural, organic, environmentally friendly alternative to soap, detergent and shampoo.

Which I thought would be an amazing idea, and I was keen on them, I tried them so many times but they did not work for me which was really disappointing.  I personally think it was because my husband (who I adore) is a little overly sweaty.
At the moment I am trying ECOZONE - ECOBALLS which are two balls contains these natural pellets, they are hypoallergenic and only cost 7p a wash.  So far with these I have had clean smelling washing.

Some other home-made solutions to washing machine cleaning related:

To remove stains from clothing, try soaking fabrics in water mixed with borax, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, washing soda, or white vinegar. Or, look for "non-chlorine bleach" made from sodium percarbonate or sodium perborate, available from Bio Pac, Ecover, Naturally Yours, Shaklee, or Seventh Generation.

Fabric can be softened by adding one-quarter cup of baking soda to the wash cycle; this recently worked on several pairs of catalogue-bought cargo pants made of a cardboard-stiff cotton that literally scraped a teenager's skin. A quarter cup of white vinegar will also soften fabric, as well as eliminate cling.

Toilet

It was not until I had an issue with my toilet that I realised how much it costs me to run my toilet about £500 in six months just from the toilet alone, it was leaking day and night.

Now I would recommend to everyone that you get what is called a hippo bag they are normally free from your water company, you place them in your toilet inside the cistern under the ballcock and fill up with water while you are flushing, this saves about 3 litres of water when flushing.

Bathing/Showering

As they always say to save money and water have a shower, we had one fitted recently and it is amazing how much less water you use, I am hoping that the bill will show how much it is saving plus it takes less time and the water stays hot the whole way through washing.

Ideas around this one is to have a low-flow shower head and if you have a shower curtain use a vinyl one instead.

Paint

Now see I didn't think of this one so much it wasn't until I was researching that I came across this one, according to it you should use paint with a low volatile organic compounds (VOC) label as it is not so toxic.  I guess I will have to try this one out when I get around to re-painting the bathroom.

Also another idea is the normal one replace light bulbs with energy savings ones.

Links of interest:

• http://www.ecozone.com/


• http://www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk/


• http://www.hippo-the-watersaver.co.uk/

Whoa long post, okay next week I'll move onto the kitchen area.

Bathroom 80% done?

So the bathroom is nearly done, so about 80% done right now, we have bathroom chocolate brown floor tiles, they look so pretty, but it will be 100% once my washing machine area isn't done yet!


Husband took of the wooden bath side because he wants to protect it was the shower water so we have to paint it Saturday.

Cats are not impressed by these tiles, I think they find it cold on their paws.  Oh that is Arthur btw :)

They are great tiles though :)

Oh and I did get a quote for my kitchen and it was this much:

Seriously!!! How much, this is just crazy, most of it is people coming and fitting it, £700 for just unpacking the boxes and building the units, I think we are going to look else where but this is my favourite bit the designs! I love so I will show a private kitchen fitter and another diy store.

How pretty is it?? I want it!! I love it, it would change my life :P Ha ha my husband was like we will get your kitchen before the summer :) we are just looking for a cheaper price, hopefully for about 3grand, fingers crossed.  Do you like it?

I got a nice present from my mother-in-law, a slow cooker, I have wanted one for ages, so I am so pleased with it.  I am finding this blog hard to write since two of my cats have decided I MUST cuddle them right this second.

I got excited news from my driving teacher thinks I should go for my test at  the end of April which way earlier than I thought, so I am so excited!  The issues with uni are being sorted out at the moment I have to go for my meeting next Friday, I know who else is involved and I know the story behind it now so I am pretty sure that I am not going to get into huge trouble but now typing that I will get into HUGE trouble.

I have been watching TTC vblogs on youtube and I would like to do this when we start in about 8 months time, counting down and all that, we are super excited, we refer to our non-baby as Daisy as that is what we would call a little girl if we have one or Jessie for a boy.  My husband would really like a girl, we were discussing if we would want to know the sex and at first we didn't want to know but now I think it would be a good idea if we did but the husband still doesn't want to know but I am sure he will change his mind when the situation appears :P

Oh but I have been checking my cycles and ovulation, I am testing on the 19th of this month just so I know how to go about it when we do start trying in 8 months, I want to be a pro at this when we get down to the "baby dance".

Other than that I have been working really hard on my uni work, so that is pretty much an update for me this week :)

Hop, Skip and it is February?

My bathroom is still being upgraded so to speak, the floor tiles are going down on Monday, as the moment the carpet has been ripped off and the horrible sticky back plastic floor in the mini hallway has gone, the tiles have been cut but we have had issues with the washing machine, my step-dad and me could not find a way to move it through the door as some idiot before us had painted the pipes and we can't get it off but lucky for me my step-dad came around again today and managed to get them loose.  All I have to do is move a few more bits and we can get it out of the bathroom so it can be tiles, hurrah!  Might be finished at the end of next week :) So excited!!!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="180" caption="View as you look into the bathroom"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="162" caption="The mini hallway floor"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="162" caption="No bath side"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="180" caption="Pipes free of paint!"][/caption]

Also I have no bathroom or airing cupboard doors, oh joys!  Other exciting news, the kitchen fitter man came about an hour and half ago now and took the measurements for the kitchen, so I should see how much it is costing and have a picture will I will show you, I am so excited!!!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="End of January Goals Update"][/caption]

So these are my goals a month after starting, main one is money, and it going well so far, I have already paid for 30 hours of driving lessons so now it is car fund as in the car itself and the test, very exciting!! I would like to be up to a grand by now in the savings, it should be my the end of the week or so once I have cleared some cheques.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Present"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Shiny PSP!!! WOOOHOOO!"][/caption]

My husband got me this surprise present the other day as random gift :) It was a PSP, I have wanted one for so long as the husband has one and I wanted to watch TV Shows on the way back from you :) I love it, needs a bigger memory card.

Other than that I have had this horrible cold, first I went deaf then I had this horrible cough and runny nose, now I keep going to faint and dizzy... urgh I want it to end.  And I have started my project on php for uni it is a to-do list and I am rather enjoying it ha ha! OOoooh and I have brought back my flickr account, yay!

January blues?

Wow this has to be the longest I haven't posted anything new, I have been really down lately, I don't know if it is January blues.  If you haven't been reading my twitter updates, I received a letter over the weekend from my university accusing me of plagiarism, I spoke to my academic adviser yesterday and the whole point behind this is that mine and someone else's work looks similar which is incredibly upsetting as I spent ages on that piece of work and I know for a fact I have not copied off anyone as I always do my work at home to avoid this but for some reason last term I've been helping people out and I think it has come to bite me in the bottom as it looks like someone has just copied my work :(

Now I have to go sit in-front of a panel or just my head of school and they will judge me, I will either be let off, have to re-submit  the work or I will lose marks from that assignment, it is just so unfair.  Okay enough of that subject as it is just depressing and I have decided that I am not going to mope around about it, what will be will be after all I can't change what has happened or what someone else has done.

I so wanted this to be the husband and mine yeah, January has been rubbish but I am going to make sure that February is amazing, I am going to try and be positive about university even though I am disliking it at the moment and I will try my hardest in my coursework this term, maybe even start them this weekend.

I have been off ill today, personally I believe it is down to stress as the home life hasn't been amazing since the husband decided to give up smoking.... not the best time since he has SAD as well... but he has decided to try again in a couple of months.  The whole reason behind him quitting is one of my exciting news, in about 9 months the husband and I are going to be trying for our FIRST BABY, I am so excited and he is even more excited about it than me, we would like a little girl and would call her Daisy.

Also having the bathroom finished, the kitchen being re-done and me learning how to drive (booked 30 hours worth of lessons!!) is so we can try for a baby.

The plan is for me to hopefully get pregnant this October - December time, finish my final year at university, give birth and take a whole year off to be with the baby and then return to university to start a postgraduate in IT teaching secondary school level.  I have decided to become a teacher! In ICT (IT) at secondary school level so 11 to 18 year olds, I've always wanted to be a teacher since I was 14 years old and I can't believe I will hopefully be going for it, I have an interview/chat with the postgraduate department at a different university next Monday.

Well that's all my secrets out :) I am very excited, I just hope that this year goes as plans, so far so good in the money saving area... Do anyone of you know of a  good on-line monthly cycle calculator? I am rubbish at remembering my dates and I need to get on top of my cycles asap.

Kitchen

As you know I am so excited over the kitchen, I would love to have a kitchen that hasn't got open cupboards! Who on earth thought this was a good idea, I have three cats who climb everywhere so when I get pans out I have to wash them again because there is always cats hair. I also have another problem of the youngest kitten Onion eating dried food, pasta, lentils and loads of other random things, at least I got a new bin with a lid so he isn't doing bin diving anymore!

I have some idea about it so I will share them in a second, but I wanted to say I have been off today because of food poisoning! I've never had it before and oh my god I have no been in so much pain last night before, all because I brought a bagel from uni yesterday and didn't eat my homemade pack lunch :( stupid me!

Husband did promise me that tonight that he would take me out in HIS car which I am so shocked at as he told me I would never ever drive his stupid car! But yay! I am so pleased, he must trust me, I wanted to do some driving before I take my first lesson in 4 years tomorrow, but he is all poorly as he isn't sleeping for certain reasons which I know what they are and he will get through it yet again.

Other boring things I have managed to complete all the forms that I needed to do like 2 months ago so I am so happy might mean more money for me and more free healthcare :)

Okay point of this post not for me to rant for 300 words but to show my kitchen ideas :) At the moment my kitchen has green walls, the floor is wooden and I have space under my stairs which I am planning on using as a cat area. I love this design, what do you think?

I love this because it for having tumble dryer off the floor, might even get one for the dishwasher too.

Corner units are amazing as I have one corner under the window that would need one of these

I love these styles of cupboard doors as well :)

I want this table and chairs as well :)

Also I am getting tall freezer and have sold my 2nd fridge/freezer to the best mate.

Okay I'm off to tidy again...

Decisions

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile, loads of things are going on right now and I can't really discuss them on-line, but they are not bad in anyway but wonderful if it all goes to plan, I have an interview/meeting regarding one on Tuesday so please keep your fingers crossed for me, the other things well I am sure I'll discuss it when I have talked about it with my parents and a few others. Even at 24 years old, I still worry what my parents think of my decisions...

But I do have some good news that I can talk about, the kitchen is definitely going ahead!!! I have been waiting to hear from my mother-in-law about it, she came over today and asked me how I wanted my kitchen and where have I been looking for cupboards and things like that, I am not suppose to know that she is paying for it as the husband was not suppose to say but he can't keep a secret to save his life! But I am so excited about the whole thing that means the bathroom and kitchen will be done soon :) Other news, I start my driving lessons on Wednesday, I am hoping to pass by September this year as I really need to learn to drive asap!

What else is new? Well the money saving is going well but I think we are having to put our total up to £6,500 after June for a certain reason (am I bugging you about these secrets yet? I am sorry I wish I could talk about it, I will tell you all), we made £210 from ebay today and we have a spare £285 so the savings and car fund are going to look even more impressive, I am so pleased with it.

I am making cupcakes at the moment so I am off to take them out otherwise they burn :(

Yet more snow...

Where have I been this week? Well uni started back up again so I am so busy with that at the moment that relaxing time has now become a thing of the past for the next 10 weeks, already having to deal with the amount of work we have to achieve over the term :(

The snow kept us in the over the weekend, we did manage to get out for food, Monday I returned to uni and the husband to work, same for Tuesday but this morning woke up and we are under yet more snow, I am getting pretty fed up with all this white cold stuff! URGH!!

But I didn't get to talk about my trip to Scotland which was really good fun minus the worry about getting home in time, I love seeing my family up there and it was nice to spend quality time with the sisters.  I hope to go back up in about 10 weeks after this term finishes.

Since the idea of being stuck in the house for long period of time, I came up with an emergency food list which you can keep in your cupboards and freezer, this also helps to save money because you know what it is like when you get to the end of the month and you have no money for food you can whip something up with the items you already have in your house.

So here's the list, feel free to add any you think I have missed, I am going to go through my cupboards soon to see what I already have:

1. Flour


2. Yeast


3. Tinned plum tomatoes


4. Tuna


5. Pasta


6. Mixed herbs


7. Dried Onion


8. Garlic (chopped jar version for the fridge, unopened in the cupboard or garlic puree)


9. Red lentils


10. Vegetable stock cube


11. Rice


12. Tomato puree


13. Kidney beans


14. Baked beans


15. Part Bakes


16. Tinned/Frozen veg


17. Frozen berries


18. Tinned fruit


19. Bread in the freezer


20. Porridge


21. Sugar

Arugh can't think of any more right now but I have found some great links for recipes:

• Vegan Lentils Recipes


• The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever


• Cheapest meal

Also update on my goals:

• Savings 800/2000


• Car Fund 468/1700


• Holiday Money 300/900

We paid off our water bill so all that is left is the Gas bill of £228.

How are all your goals going?

Returned

I made it home! Thank you all for the very warm comments.  It was very very scary, managed to get down to a couple of towns near my own and there was a very scary snow storm but lucky for me I had the only Russian taxi driver who went 60mph through it.

This is was my home street looks like and it has been snowing none stop all day.  My flight was delayed and it took me about 7 and half hours to get home.

Other than the snow and my terrible journey home, I have been inside trying to keep warm and watching desperate housewives season 6 which is really good :)

Putting all my details on spendingdiary.com and it is surprising how much you spend on random bits, I am looking forward to seeing the results at the end of the month, okay maybe not excited about it but it will be really interesting to see where we both spend money and what we can cut back on.

Green facts and tips coming tomorrow plus how to make your own shampoo and bath bombs :)

Scottyland

So i got here on late Monday night and wasn't planning on blogging until I got back but with all the snow everywhere I wanted to share plus I have added stress on this:

All flights from my dads house to Gatwick airport have been canceled, I don't fly until Friday evening but still with more snow coming I am worried I won't get home in time for uni, it might be later next week...

Scotland is good, I only go to see my other half of my family not really to visit Scotland itself but there has been some snow up here but not as bad my house has been hit down south with the husband.

My sister filling the bird bath with some hot water to melt the ice so the poor birds can have a bath and a drink.

Little bird :)

Roads in Scotland

Hopefully we will have lack of it tomorrow :)