My first attempt at sewing

Hi everyone,

Today I actually mended my son's work jeans! He said it didn't matter what they looked like, he just needed the tears in the knees sewn up. I had a go and I did it!!! Ok, it wasn't beautifully neat, but the holes have gone. Now I'm in the mood for more sewing. If it works, that's brilliant, if it doesn't, then I can always unpick it and try again.

Last week we decided to give Aldi a go and we were pleasantly surprised. We really went for the 'super six' (we bought - celery, sprouts, tomatoes and savoy cabbage), but we ended up buying a few other bits too.

This morning I filled a flask with spare boiled water from the kettle. This is a tip I picked up from Frugal Queen. I read lots of blogs, looking for new frugal ideas. I really need to keep on cutting back. I also read what the 'oldstylers' have to say on moneysavingexpert.com. I have been getting ideas off here for some time now, the posters on there are fantastic at money saving and really inspirational.

I have continued to cook from scratch since my last post. Tonight we had roast duck, roasties, stuffing balls, savoy cabbage, sprouts, carrots and homemade gravy for tea. I have changed to Monday's for a roast, because this is when Alice comes to eat with us. She has had bronchitus and has not been looked after very well by the familly she has chosen to live with. I have persuaded her to have tea with us, stay the night, and then she sees her Social Worker/Counsellor the following morning. Tonight is the first, so hopefully it will continue. At least I can check she is ok and get some veg down her. Alice recently had a bowel infection which landed her in hospital in severe pain. This pain has returned tonight. Poor diet and hygiene was the cause of this before. She is fed rubbish and their shower is broken, hence the pain is back. This is the sort of family that would spend their last fiver on fags, rather than food or electric. This is the family Alice now lives with - she's 16, this is why my headaches are so bad. On the positive side, she has had a roast dinner, tablets for her pain, a warm house and a clean fresh bed to get into. It's a shame that it's only one night a week.

Mandy x