Today I'm sharing my recipe for homemade sweet pastry and using it to make amazing homemade jam tarts!I'm not a huge fan of mince pies but last year I really wanted to make some so I searched high and low for a baking tray that had either a smooth rounded base for the tarts or a patterned fancy base. I couldn't find what I wanted do I ended up just using my big old Yorkshire pudding tin but it just wasn't the same.When I was shopping in Homesense a couple of weeks ago (I shared my pretty homesense finds here) I found the perfect tin so I grabbed it. Now I can't wait until … [Read more...]
Family Days Out – Monkey Haven, Isle of Wight….
I really didn't want to visit the Monkey Haven when we visited the Isle of Wight for a week recently because I thought it would make me a little bit sad (and very angry) to see the animals that had been so badly neglected before being rescued and re-homed to their new home.I was talked into it by Master Frugal though who loves monkeys and wanted to see them regardless of their sad stories! I'm so pleased he talked me into going though as I loved it almost as much as he did.It's not just monkey's at Monkey Haven though, the first animals we saw when we walked in were the cheeky Meerkats … [Read more...]
Fidget Spinner Boredom Buster….
Bored jars are so last year, this years new thing here in the frugal house is our homemade Fidget Spinner Boredom Buster!Sometimes I think that the reason children are so easily bored these days is because they have so many things to choose from when they’re thinking of something to do.I sound like an antique when I say that don’t I? I just think that sometimes having too much choice makes it harder to make a decision.That’s why I always used our bored jar when the kids were younger and later, when they were older we switched to our bored jar fit for a tween. These days … [Read more...]
How to encourage your kids to WANT to get outside this Summer….
Ever since my two were little we've had an unofficial family rule that we'll try and get outside every day, no matter what the weather's like, for at least twenty minutes.That rule isn't as easy to stick to now that they're older because a trip to the park or a bike ride to the woods isn't of interest to them anymore. They don't want to go to the skate park to practice their stunts anymore and even though I've tried telling them you're never too old to splash in puddles, they don't even want to do that anymore!It's not that they don't want to get outside anymore, they really do, … [Read more...]
Five Simple Ways to Make Memories with your kids this Summer….
I have some amazing memories of Summer time from when I was a child and I want my children to grow up with similar happy memories of their childhood Summers. As a mum of a teenager and an almost teenager, I'm very very aware of how quickly time flies and how in just a few short years my two will be too grown up to want to spend their Summers with me so I'm making the most of them while I can. Spend one on one time with each child I always try to spend one on one time with my children at least once a week doing something I know they enjoy doing. It's much easier with Miss Frugal as … [Read more...]
Five Summer Holiday Sanity Savers….
In my mind, I have a lovely Summer planned which will allow me to successfully juggle my work and my blogging as well as making sure that I have more than enough time to spend with the kids enjoying long lazy days in the sunshine.Whether that actually happens or not is another matter but I'm going to have a good go! ;-)I shared a post last week about how I cope with the Summer Holidays as a working mum and manage working AND family time AND blogging without having a nervous breakdown. I wanted to follow on from that post a little bit this week and share some of the things that I use … [Read more...]
