Postcrossing August 2015 Update

In July these postcards were still travelling, there now:

1. Russia - Travelled 1,219 miles in 34 days
                  Arrived 22/7/15

2. Finland - Travelled 1,317 miles in 16 days
                   Arrived 20/7/15

3. Germany - Travelled 465 miles in 17 days
                      Arrived 21/7/15

4. China - Travelled 5,820 miles in 41 days
                Arrived 17/8/15

Sent this month

1. Ukraine - Still Travelling

2. Czech Republic - Travelled 596 miles in 9 days
                                Arrive 29/7/15

3. USA - Still Travelling

4. Netherlands - Still Travelling

5. Germany - Still Travelling

6. Taiwan - Still Travelling

Received this month, this is probably my favourite parts of Postcrossing, I love to see what postcards pick to send me.

• I had a lovely postcard from Dusseldorf in Germany. I like receiving postcards from the  places where people live
• I also had another postcard from Germany it travelled 452 miles and got to me in 3 days
• Also got a card from Minsk, Belarus with lots of lovely facts about the town from the sender
• I had a lovely postcard from Finland too, the landscape on it is stunning
• The next was a lovely postcard of the market hall, Rotterdam Netherlands, looks like a fab place to go visit
• I had a 3rd card from Germany too, this time from Leipzig in East Germany
• I also had a second postcard from Finland which travelled 1036 miles to get to me.
• Another postcard this month came from the sunshine state of Florida, which was lovely and came on a lovely rainy day.
• And finally one from Jaworzno in Poland  

Below are 3 photos of the fronts of a couple of the postcards I have received this month. Remember you could also join Postcrossing, just visit the website and create your free account - https://www.postcrossing.com/ or if you would like to swap postcards with me get in touch. 

A bargain shopping trip

Yesterday I went to Norwich riverside retail park, and did a bit of shopping and happened to get a few bargains. Headed into Matalan first and picked up a swimming costume for Amelie, the next size up for only £2. Next up was Poundland and I managed to get a couple of DVDs, one is a replay but I am yet to have any problems with any I have purchased. Along with some snacks and sweet treats for Amelie which will last her a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

And as an added bonus I got a voucher for 15% off at Shoe Zone when £10 or more is spent, which I am sure I will use, as I buy a lot of Amelies going to the park type shoes from there.

 

 

Final shop was B&M and I picked up a couple of great vehicle toy sets for my cousins son for his birthday. Along with some cans of drink for only 29p each, and some milkshake straws for 39p. And the flapjacks in the picture are for my mum, my mum is dairy free and we happened to find one day that these flapjacks didn't contain dairy so I always buy her a few if I see them. If your close to a B&M it's well worth a visit.

 

 

Didn't do a huge amount of shopping this time as there's not an awful lot of shops at the retail park, but keep an eye out for more posts on bargains coming soon.

Being Organised

My mum would tell you, I am notorious for writing lists. I have them all over the place, of all different things from presents lists, to craft stock, even DVD's I want. So you would think I'm quite an organised and tidy person, but the truth is I'm not. Our house as per usual is a mess, and not just and Amelie mess, there's half started craft projects, paperwork, just everything all over the place. Looking round right now, as I'm sat on my sofa, I'm feeling the need to tidy and organise better, I just don't know where to start.

My plan some way is to do 1 or 2 small things everyday to try and tidy up and get myself more organised. Things as simple as filing away letters and organising my craft stuff better. There's a website and there's a thread on moneysaving expert called flylady, which is along the same sort of lines, possibly a bit more aimed at the cleaning side of things more, but it's well worth a read for motivation and tips, I'm going to sit and have another read through myself and you guessed it write a list of my plan of action.


Week 1 - Plan of action

Tuesday - Sort out Magazine Rack
                 Clean Cooker

Wednesday - Sort my dresser
                      Organise Amelie's Jigsaws

Thursday - Sort Amelies Bookcase
                  Dust and Arrange Window Ledges

Friday - Sort my bookcase
             Re Organise CD Rack

Saturday - Sort top of fridge
                  Clean and organise top of my wardrobe

Sunday - Tidy Hallway
                Sort and Photograph things to sell box

Monday - Sort Plastic Drawers
                Clean Bathroom

WeBuyBooks.co.uk

This is a great website for selling unwanted things, this one I've used for books. It's fairly simple to use, all you do is enter the barcodes or ISBN number and the website will tell you how much they will offer you for the book. Sadly when I went through my pile of books they would only take about half of them. This is usually because they already have a large number of copies of the book.

They take a wide variety of books, my pile included kids books, craft books, as well as text books from my degree days. Once you've had your valuation, simple request a postage label and get the books on there way. With WeBuyBooks you have to drop your parcel off at a collect+ point, of which there are 1000's of locations.

On 7th August I received an email saying my offer has been completed and they are processing my payment, so just had to await my cheque which arrived yesterday. So that's £10.02 I have made from just a few old books that were just sitting around. It's a website I completely recommend using the site does also take DVD's, CDs and Games. There quick and easy to use and payment was quick. So if your having a clear out it may be worth checking what they could offer you.

My things to do and places to see Bucket List

I have been wanting to actually write/type this list for a while. This is my bucket list from my head, of things I want to do and things I want to do with Amelie.

1    Go on a cruise
2    Visit Ireland
3    See a performance at the Royal Albert Hall
4    Shop at Camden Market
5    Look round Westminster Abbey
6    Eat dinner at Frankie & Benny's
7    See a show on Broadway
8    Go shopping in New York
9    Go to Longleat Safari Park
10  Watch a football match at Wembley stadium
11  Visit Stonehenge
12  See the Northern Lights
13  Go to Peppa Pig World
14  See Santa at Lapland
15  Watch 'Wicked' at the theatre
16  Go to the Eden project
17  Head to Shakespeare's globe theatre
18  Visit the leaning tower of Pisa
19  Go Zorbing
20  Have a day out at Madame Tussauds
21  Visit the Grand Canyon
22  Go to Blackpool
23  Buy something from Harrods
24  Watch Norwich vs. Leicester play football
25  Go on an open top tour bus around London
26  Visit Durham
27  Go to Florida
28  Go for a posh afternoon tea
29  Visit Giant's Causeway
30  Stay at The Ritz London
31  Go to National History Museum, London
32  Take Amelie on a plane
33  Go to York
34  Drive on a racetrack
35  Have a day out at Africa Alive
36  Watch 'Blood Brothers' at theatre
37  Go on London Eye at night
38  Watch a carnival
39  Go to Olympic Park, London
40  Go on the Eurostar to Disneyland Paris
41  Have my photo taken with a princess at Disneyland
42  Have a season ticket for Carrow Road
43  Take Amelie to Banham Zoo
44  Go to Venice, Italy
45  Buy a house
46  Look round the Ideal Home Show
47  Watch an opera
48  Go to Flamingo Land
49  Watch 'Miss Saigon' at the theatre
50  Visit Bewilderwood

Part 2 Coming Soon 

Slow Cooker - Chicken Casserole

Todays dinner is Chicken casserole which I'm cooking in the slow cooker, I'm cooking enough for tonight's tea, and 2 more portions that I can freeze for a later date. But I thought I'd share my recipe with you all

 

Ingredients

 

Chicken Breasts x 4

Carrots x 5

Onion - Half 

Peas - Mug Full

Colman's chicken casserole mix

Baking Potato

Chicken Soup - Half a tin

 

Recipe

 

1. Cut Chicken breasts, carrots and potato into bite sized pieces and place in slow cooker

 

2. Add peas, then empty in the powdered casserole mix and stir.

 

3. Dice half an onion and add to the cooker

 

4. Then stir in half a tin of chicken soup and 200ml of boiling water

 

5. Cook in slow cooker on high for 2 hours

    (Ensure chicken is fully cooked before removing the meal from slow cooker)

 

 

 

Ingredients all in slow cooker before cooking

 

All cooked, I served mine with bread today.

 

 

Saving for Amelie - July 2015 Update

So on July 1st the totals in Amelies accounts were
1. £30.07
2. £26.09

That was all from just loose change that I had been adding since I opened the accounts, I actually have some more to add to this months total. So loose change this month of £21 has gone into one of the accounts bringing the total up to £51.07. Well actually after putting it in the bank and updating her passbook, with all the recent interest added to that account the total is now £51.23.

Also this month I have received a cheque from birds eye with my money back from a try me free offer so that £3 has gone into Amelies saving pot, at the minute this isn't going into either account I am going to wait until I have a more round number to put in. I've also been starting to sell some unwanted things including

• Book - 50p
• Top Trumps - £2.50
• Teddy - £1

That's all I managed last month but hopefully I've sort of laid the groundwork so I'll be able to make more next month.

This month's total - £28.00
Account 1 total     - £51.23
Account 2 total     - £26.09
Savings Jar total  - £7.00

Current Total - £84.32 / £13,120.00 

On the ball city!

On Saturday I finally took Amelie to Carrow Road, it's somewhere I had wanted to take her for a while, as it's somewhere I've always loved to go and watch football. I decided it was time, Amelie can sit still for reasonable periods of time, so I knew she'd probably make it through a game.

So along with my brother, and dad, I took Amelie to the last pre season friendly before the beginning of the season. Norwich played against Brentford, with a kick off at 3pm, it was a great game and it was a chance to see the team play before the start of the season. We got to see the newly signed players in action, and they played well, which ultimately lead to the 2-1 win, with goals from Wes Hoolahan and Cameron Jerome.

Amelie seemed to really enjoy the game, she sat still for nearly the whole game, clapped along with everyone when there was a good move played and cheered when they scored. I will certainly take her again. She's still shouting NORWICH CITY, as she walks round the house.