A frugal life is an easy life!

As is our luck, it seems with sprog2, we have hit the "terrible twos."
Previously we have seen the odd tantrum, the odd comical bottle/cup throwing in the face, the screaming abdabs over a pencil or random piece of paper that was being stuffed in the gob - prized from a grasping baby hand like I was stealing a mouse from a kestrel's claw - but nothing on the scale that was experienced in Asda this weekend.

At just turned 18 months old, I was hoping we would have a bit more time before the terrible twos landed upon us, in the same way I hoped we would land five numbers on the lottery (you know the score, just enough numbers to make us comfortable, we are not greedy), no such luck!
Whilst checking prices in Asda on the new printer I'd just picked up in Lidl (of all places), like a fool I'd assumed that allowing sprog2 to walk down the escalator would have calmed her sudden phobia of sitting in the trolley, I was wrong.
As we walked towards the very quiet electrical aisles, I tried again to place her in the trolley, a fit of hysterics erupted like an Icelandic volcano, so to appease our little cherub, I sat her on my shoulders. This did the trick for about 20 seconds, before pulling out clumps of my wig became the new game.
Next came the whiplash in my neck as an agile sprog2 decided she her first taste of riding a bull (read: my head) at a rodeo, after 5 minutes of having my ears used as FA cup handles, I went for the trolley again... not a chance.
With the rigidity and strength of an 18 foot python, her legs would just not go in. I looked for assistance to the better half, as TV screens on the shelf rattled under the weight of her screaming, but to no avail. The better half was now texting herself with model numbers and prices of the same make of printer we'd just got from lidl.
"Could you hurry up please love?" I said in a trying not to shout mode, If I tried to describe the look I got back, it would include some of the cast's expressions from Wacko's thriller video.

Back to the escalator to go up and return to normal shopping... once again the trolley dash failed, so she stood on the escaltor shouting "Bye bye" to everyone.
At the top, another half hearted attempt for the trolley failed, before I went for the sitting on my shoulders routine again, only to receive a heel in the mush for my efforts.
Spinning her around did not work, so when we landed in the pasta/tuna aisle, I was assisted by the better half, in a "you don't know anything" manner. (Women don't need to put you down by saying anything, they just give you the look that says you are thick)

After wrestling for 5 minutes her legs were in, the screams started like I was pulling her teeth out, we had tears, we had an audience, then from being as stiff as a board she turned into a sidewinder trying to get out of a trap, wriggle city!
Luckily for me Asda trolleys have a harness thingy to strap kids in, I always thought it was there to stop falling out accidents, it's not, it's a restraining bolt because health and safety laws prevent the use of cattle prods on children!

5 more minutes of screaming then we got the "butter wouldn't melt" child back again as she regally waved and said "Hi hi" to every single person we passed, as if nothing had happened at all *sigh*

Baby barriers - Baby gates and wedged chairs, etc, are in place to stop baby from hurting themselves. There comes a time when they are no longer for this purpose, without warning they become, give mum and dad reassurance fences, so that sprogs can have more room to play and you won't escape to where they shouldn't be, like computer desks, on the piano, in cupboards where we have stashed things you shouldn't play with, etc.
Everything that shouldn't be touched, is stored/pushed out to the edge of rooms... so what happens when sprog starts to climb?
We have wedged the old baby walker between table and settee, this can now be bypassed with ease, either climbed over or bypassed around the sides by forcing the table away from the gap with her backside.

For two days I've had a battle of wills, after removing the baby walker [read: barrier] leaving just a line where two carpets meet.
Raised voices failed - picking her up and moving her away failed - in the end, out staring her did the job, who'd have thought it!

Digging out footings - When I set out to do a job, it always seems to contain heavy lifting/digging in some way. I maybe slow, but I "plod on" doing a bit at a time. This has benefits, in that I don't get fed up with doing it, I don't end up buying materials that I don't need or use and of course the job gets done for free.
We want an angled wall joining a backdoor step using a piece of stone, about 3 coarses of stone high. It will look good, I can bank soil upto the wall to give me another growing area for veg and it allows me to fill in the opposite side of the wall so we can put a bench on it or barbeque, etc.
Of coarse, to have this small wall and solid stone step will require concrete footings, otherwise it will look good for about an hour, then sink the first sight of rain we get and need redoing.

The footings involved digging out about a foot down - half a foot wide, then mixing the concrete and sand and filling it all in again - an unrewarding experience, but I was able to do it for a couple of hours a day, until today when they were all in place.

I have saved at least two days work from a builder (£220 at the going rate) plus I have spent just £26 for sand and cement and have enough left over to brick up the hole in the fireplace/pointing, ready for the multi fuel burner that's waiting on delivery, to go in.
I've also saved god knows how much on hiring a cement mixer, by mixing a tub load of compo (I'm told that's the term to use for it) each time and pouring it in.
It feels ace to know that I have done it myself, saving a bundle of hard earned cash just by getting off my backside and putting the effort in.
The only problem is, now my arms feel as though they are going to drop off, I'm sure this will pass...