A trip down memory lane

Being forced to hunt out my school exam certificates sent me to my parents' garage this weekend to go through some of the many storage boxes of stuff! These have been filling their lovely double garage since I moved north 3.5 years ago... So about time I looked in them. 

It was a case of going through them one at a time... Whilst doing so I did manage to throw some bits and pieces away! Eventually on the third box result:

It's funny that I've never needed them since 1987 and 1989 respectively! Just so glad I did't lose them as it costs a fortune to get replacements...

On the way to finding these I came across a real memory mine..

Holiday souvenirs such as these totally non-PC American "Indian" items from the Grand Canyon in 1979

Lots of school related memories including school reports, photos and my Beaconsfield High School scarf:

Several souvenir newspapers showing my love of history, monarchy and weather (I did a geography degree!):

And of course memories of my own children as babies:

And my daughter's first photo shoot aged 3 months:

Looking forward to having a second look through as I sort it more thoroughly at my house so that things are easier to find in future! Do you have a treasure of memories like this?

#SilentSunday

A nice surprise from #pigbyandfriends

Back in 2012 we got involved in NatWest's Pigs by Kids competition and my daughter created a pig. Today in the post she received a soft toy version of her creation, my children were so impressed:

How wonderful to receive such a unique item:

Frugal Friday: Plumgarths Meat Pack

I am looking for ways to keep the food budget down and eat local. So when I heard that one of our local farm shops (Plumgarths) was running a family meat pack for a week for £30 I thought I'd check it out:

So I got:

• a dozen local eggs
• 8 sausages
• 4 chicken breasts
• 4 beef burgers
• 1 pack stewing steak
• 1 pack minced beef
• big pack of bacon
• 1 frozen meat pie

Of course being a family of 1 adult and 2 young children this is more than 1 week's worth! So I must jiggle the freezer to get some of it in there. I will have to update this post with how I use all the pack.. As I normally only spend £10 a week on meat this is will definitely need to be spread out.. I will track our progress as we go:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Week 6 - 2014 #R2BC

I've handed hosting back over to Jo at Ojo's world for February so its her badge this month! I am sure she will look after us all very well. Here are my first reasons to be cheerful for February:

1) A fun family weekend

Saturday saw my son's Beaver colony coffee morning which we all enjoyed. Lots of yummy cakes and my daughter won 2 raffle prizes! Then the children were allowed their first McDonalds of 2014...

Afterwards we went to the panto at Crosthwaite, can you tell the story from this photo:

On Sunday we went to South Lakes Animal Park and I've already blogged about our day and put up lots of photos.

2) New (to me) car

Just like Jo I've been forced to part with my old car due to prohibitive mechanics bills! Luckily I've been able to get a replacement which currently looks immaculate inside and out... how long will it look like this:

3) Proud Mummy

My daughter got a head teacher's award for writing in the style of Rudyard Kipling. Several members of staff and some of her class mates were all telling me today how fantastic it was so I was really glad to get a read. 

Her little brother was brave enough to hand feed birds at the zoo which he has never wanted to do before:

Why are you smiling this week? Please join in the hop: