This week I received five Koko Dairy Free milk coupons. I rather cheekily emailed this company as Mr T is lactose intolerant but loves dairy. Go figure. He recently tried the Rice Dream milk alternative as I had coupons for it and wasn't too impressed. I had a sip and have to say it tasted very watery. Like watered down skimmed milk, with a smidgen of coconut. It also left a iccky after taste.I think he liked the sound of Koko as it comes in chocolate flavour (lover of anything sweet is Mr T) Anyway, the lady who replied to my email sounded lovely and said she would post out the coupons the very same day. I was shocked to find them on my mat the next morning! It's rare that a companies customer service bowls me over but Koko's did.

So Koko is made from coconuts and is lactose, cow's milk protein and gluten free. It has the same calcium  content to semi-skimmed milk and I have to say it tastes very similar to milk. It's not as watery as the rice milk and is something that even a milk guzzler like me would happily drink. Particularly the chocolate flavour!

Koko also does not curdle in tea and coffee which is a bonus for Mr T - who wants lumpy coffee first thing in the morning!



Manuka Doctor sample kit. I thought this was a crazy bargain as it was advertised as three free samples, worth £12.99, for.....well free. Because of the price I thought they would at least be travel size samples, but heh just shows how much I spend on my face care!  As my skin has started to age (Sssshhhh! They are not wrinkles but laughter lines) I don't really know what to do with it. I've always had combination (or pain in the butt) skin, dry in some places spotty in others. Now it just feels dry and less bouncy, if you know what I mean. So I am on the look out for something to at least hydrate it without breaking me out in pimples. Or a small miracle and my 20 year old bounce back ;)

I was obviously more interested in the price than the product though as I was horrified when this came and it said Purified Bee Venom on the box. Poor bee's! I thought it was just some sort of honey. So I googled and found out that this is the 'thing' at the minute. Apparently Kate Middleton uses Bee Venom beauty products and no bee's are harmed in the extraction of the venom. I hope. I'm still a little reluctant to use it though. It is meant to 'trick' your skin into thinking it has been stung and rush blood to it, or something along those lines. Sounds a little extreme to me, so if any of you want to give this a go - let me know and I will pop them in the post for you.

One of the huge things that have changed in my life in the past two years is the arrival of my little bundle of joy, Emily. At 7 months old now she brings a lot of joy into our little household. We are embarking on many adventures that I had thought were long over and done with. New teeth, new foods, new experiences. I absolutely love being a mum in so many ways.

However babies are expensive! With me being at home full time and Mr T working as much as he can, I feel as though I need to contribute somehow.

Enter couponing.

Yes, yes, I know. Couponing has had a bad press in many ways. Either glamorized by shows such as extreme couponing or frowned upon by fellow shoppers and shop assistants alike for being time consuming. However I have had some good savings with coupons. Not on a massive scale but every little helps!

Believe me 10 years ago I would have laughed if someone told me I would be scanning papers, magazines and web sites for coupons or even contacting companies (ick!) but with the economy being as it is, I feel as though I have to do something to help our money stretch that little bit further....and this suits me. Plus, my dirty little secret is, I enjoy it. It's like a game.

I would like to keep track of my savings and current coupons here (and will be writing a post with all of the current UK coupons I have found). The idea is that you use your coupons where and when there is a deal on a particular item - therefore giving you bigger savings.




For example, I recently got my hands on quite a few Weight Watchers Love Fibre cereal £1.00 off coupons (now expired). When Tesco put this cereal on offer for £1.50 (normal price £2.69) I was able to bag four boxes for the price of one normal priced box. Lucky me and my kids like these cereals!


I have also become quite accustomed to freebie-ing. Same reason really, if I can try out different products for free, I don't want to waste money finding out whether I like something. I also now really look forward to my post! Samples make a change from bills ;)

Yesterday the goodies I received were...


His and Hers perfume samples from Boss. I was a little disappointed that these were the peel off sticker samples. However the mens sample smells great and I may consider it as a birthday pressie for Mr T. Not so keen on the womens but my daughter likes it - guess it's down to personal taste.


 Bepanthen Nappy ointment. I have to tell you I haven't paid for nappy cream since I had Little Em. With the freebies you get in the New Baby Bounty packs and with free samples through the post, we've been covered. I particularly like Bepanthen though, with the first sign of redness, a smidgen of this calms it very quickly. It's also great for tattoos I believe!


I also received two coupons from Hipp Organic baby food. I signed up to this company about a month or so ago and have received quite a bit from them. I liked the sound of this company as everything is organic (darrrrling) and although I try and cook Little Em's food from scratch as much as I can, these pouches are really useful to have for when we are out and about (or munching on pizza!). You don't even need a bowl if you are out, just squeeze the food out onto a spoon. They also send you weaning spoons when you join. The price varies quite a bit on these pouches mind you, the cheapest I have found them is in Tesco for 45p. Making them free with the 50p coupon ;)

Now my biggest advice for this kind of thing is set up an email account especially for coupons and freebies. Most of the time you have to sign up to some sort of news letter. Most of which I don't mind and will have a read. However if you don't like a product, you don't want to keep getting updates in your main inbox. I also recommend you don't rush to the shops as soon as a coupon hits your inbox/letterbox. Wait as long as you can if there are no current deals on the product. Mysupermarket is a great way of checking current prices in different supermarkets before you shop.

Right I am off to brace the April showers! I did have a thought though, I have actually finished two blankets that I haven't blogged about yet (shock!) so if it brightens up later I will take some pics to show you. One I luuuuurrrrrrrvvvvvvvveeeeee. All rainbowy and happy :)

Two years.

Over two years in fact.

Where did the time go? I never really intended on my hiatus from blogging. I've always had my little haven snuggled up in the back of my mind. But life just took off on me I guess!

So ....over the past year I have...

Met some super amazing lovely friends.

Acquired a job.

Left said job.

Explored.

Had fun.

Crocheted a little.

Worked out A LOT.

Lost a mahausive 6 stone.

Baked.

Gained most of that 6 stone back ;)

Fell in love.

Somehow. Some way. After being told that I COULD NOT have any more. Fell pregnant.





It's not all been dancing under rainbows happy and stress free. But it has all been busy! And ever so slightly transformative.

One of the reasons I stopped blogging was due to the fact I really don't get that much time to crochet anymore. I now have four children and a Mr and a busy house to run! I remember when I started blogging I read somewhere that you should pick a subject and stick to it. I find that very hard, my brain flits from one thing to another all.the.time. So that coupled with the fact that my wips may take years to finish, I thought this blog was kind of redundant.

However.

A little thought came to me whilst I was elbow deep in washing up. I started this blog as a 'sorta diary' more for myself than anyone else. Don't get me wrong, I love the blogging, crafting and mummy communities online. But I also enjoy writing, I enjoy sharing and I enjoy reading back on snippets of my life. For me.

I want to keep this little part of the internet. For me. So whether I write about crochet, or adventures in knitting, or walks, or mummy stuff, or (a huge deal for me at the moment) money saving, or cooking (trying to), or things I'm loving right now or...... You get the picture. I shall be breaking the only rule of blogging I ever remembered. I shall not stick to a subject. Although, perhaps I will. Its called life.

What diet?

From top left to bottom right:

• January was the month the Christmas decorations were taken down and stashed away for another year. Which meant the duster had to come back out ;) 

• January was the month we bought an 'electric ball' light in the sale and had plenty of fun taking snaps and watching the electric 'snakes' follow our fingers.

• January was the month we watched a local fire dancer. We have seen him a few times now and he is always very entertaining. 

• January was the month I bought Gerberas  (I think?!) just because. 

• January was the month we spent time on the beach, laughing at shadows, skipping stones and trying to persuade my son that it's just.too.cold to swim just yet. 

• January was the month I finished the stash buster which one of the little people has been wrapped in ever since.

• January was the month I actually knitted a whole scarf....and realised I would have to buy a new coat to match it...

• January was the month I continued to admire the children's artwork (pics 8 and 9) and loved the way one likes to shade tonal colours and the other has the all colour in approach. 

• January was the month I started to ripple and loved it.

• January was the month I bought the first bunch of daffodils of the year (£1 = Asda). I love daffodils! 

• The last day of January I sat and rippled in the surprisingly warm sun when the rest of the flat was freezing! 

1. Rainbow ripple finished 05.12.11, 2. Ripple, 3. Ripple ♥, 4. Chevron Baby blanket, 5. Sweet Melody Ripple Blanket Completed 2, 6. Sofia's blanket, 7. Ripple in action, 8. Rainbow ripple blanket, 9. Bølgetæppe nr 2

As you are well aware, I do have a slight problem with startitus. The stash busting hex was the first crochet blanket I have actually finished - although I have started many others! I get inspired, I dig out the yarn, I concentrate furiously for a little while and then....something else inspires me and off I go.

However one thing that did keep me motivated through 5 months of hexing was Flickr and Pinterest. The more hex blankets I saw, the more I just wanted to have mine finished. And so I stayed at it. So now I am rippling ( I can't say that word without thinking of Chunk from the Goonies!) here are a few of my ripple favourites, taken from my pinterest board.

Enjoy! x