Well, here he is: the reason for my silence these past weeks. (Although I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn that the volume level in this house has been anything but silent…)

Thrifty Baby was born on 3 January 2012, weighed in at 8lb 14oz and I fell in love with him immediately. I’ll write out his birth story in all its gory glory at a later date – right now he’s having one of his rare sleeps and I’m tapping away madly on this keyboard in a frantic bid to get this post written and published before he wakes up and begins yelling the place down again. The nutshell version: he was two weeks overdue, so I ended up being induced. I was lucky enough to give birth at Harrogate Hospital, where the care was AMAZING. I managed it on minimal pain relief (a couple of paracetamol and a couple of codeine) – although I might have gone for something stronger had I known that the second stage would go on for nearly four hours! Fortunately he turned out to be tough as old boots and didn’t go into distress, so we (only just) managed to avoid intervention.

Since then: well, these first weeks have been tough – even excluding the trials and rigours of breastfeeding. After the first week Thrifty Baby became poorly, and then became more poorly. He lost a pound of his birthweight; at the time of writing he is three weeks old and has climbed back up to 8lb 8.5oz, so we’ve turned a corner, but there is still some way to go. He has reflux – yep, baby heartburn – which is painful and makes him cry a lot and, more seriously, means that he finds it difficult to keep anything down. The milk goes in; the milk comes straight back up. The milk goes in; the milk comes straight back up. As a result, of course, he is hungry all the time. Medicine has made a difference: last week he was feeding hourly and couldn’t bear to be put down, but this week we are down to two hours, I’ve been getting some sleep and he has been sick a lot less the past couple of days, so fingers crossed… And here I am: absolutely thrilled to (finally!) get to introduce him to y’all!

On another note: I’ve had a fair few emails, from tipsters and competition winners etc., and I’d like to apologise for the delays in getting back to you. The keyboard is dusted off now, and I’m hoping to get back up to speed shortly, so please bear with me. I’m intending to get back up to speed with my posting schedule, too: ZOMG, there’s so much I want to share with you!

Well, it’s a funny old Christmas here. If you are wondering why I’ve been a little quiet in recent weeks, it’s because Thrifty Baby’s arrival is imminent… late, in fact. This also meant that a few weeks ago it dawned on us (again, somewhat late – can you spot a theme developing here?) that we didn’t have much baby prep time left.

So instead of making the house look nice for Christmas, we’ve been making the house look like this:

DIY everywhere and lots and lots of laundry, as we rush to get everything ready in time.

My giant bag of soap nuts from Summer Naturals has been going down fast! Apparently soap nuts are suitable for baby clothes, as the soap is very gentle and doesn’t irritate sensitive skin. I do hope so, as I have been washing a lot of baby clothes.

I’ve been drying everything on the rads, as we don’t have a tumble dryer and trying to line-dry anything in North Yorkshire in December is a fool’s errand…

Those little onesies are amongst the very few items that we have bought new (ASDA, six for £5 if memory serves.) We are tremendously grateful as we have have bought very little: instead, friends and acquaintances have passed down a large number of newborn baby items. It has been unexpected – and rather brilliant. I have also picked up discounted products in supermarkets and bargain items at second-hand sales. We’re at the stage now where I think we have everything we could possibly need… but more on this at a later date, as I don’t want to tempt fate at this stage!

So now the baby items are all neatly folded, stacked and in place; the much-needed DIY is finally done and the house is looking spick and span. And in the nick of time, we’re finally ready for Christmas. Hurrah!

Big glittery star: another ASDA bargain (75p).

Christmas food: bring it on.

My favourite Christmas decorations, wheeled out year after year.

Okay, we’re all good to go, Santa Claus (and the baby) can come out now…

I’d like to thank you for reading this blog over the past year, and wish you a very Happy Christmas. Here’s to a thrifty 2012!

Large image credit: emilyonasunday.

Apparently, as a blogger writing about this competition CouponCroc.co.uk will enter me into a special bloggers’ prize draw. Sounds good to me!

In all honesty, to date there have been around 700 entries, which gives relatively good odds for a competition of this type, so if you’re on Facebook, the comp is certainly worth a look.

[Couponcroc.co.uk Facebook page]

The winners were picked using a random number generator. There were three winners who commented on the blog, and one winner who commented on the Miss Thrifty Facebook page.

First Prize: Cadbury’s Chocolate Hamper

The winner:

Runner-Up Prizes: Christmas Treasure Boxes

The winners:

Bonus Runners-Up Prize: Two Christmas Selection Stockings

The winner:

Congratulations to Jill Mann, Saj Furid, Lisa Kate Clayton and Christina Morrow. Don’t eat all the chocs at once!

Another competition coming up…

The hamper contains: 1 x Large Christmas Selection Stocking, 1 x Medium Santa Selection Box, 2 x Cadbury Treatsize Reindeer & Santa Character Cartons, 1 x Large Team GB Selection Box, 1 x Large Reindeer Selection Pack, 1 x Medium Snowman Selection Pack.

But that’s not all…

There are also three runners-up prizes:

Two of these Christmas Treasure Boxes…

…Plus a set of two Christmas Selection Stockings.

To Enter:

Closing date: 5 pm GMT on Thursday 15 December 2011.

One entry per person. To be eligible, entrants must be UK-based and aged 18 or over. The four lucky winners will be selected at random from the comments section, using the Online Number Generator.

BONUS ENTRY: If you follow Miss Thrifty on Facebook, you can enter a second time. The question is the same: leave the name of your favourite chocolate bar below the Facebook post about this comp.

Good luck!

As per usual, I selected the winner using the random number generator at random.org. On this occasion, the lucky lady is…

Jo-Anne Richards!

Congratulations Jo-Anne – thanks for a great tip too. Tesco will be in touch to arrange the dispatch of your voucher.

And for everybody else: I have another Christmas competition launching tomorrow, so stay tuned…

“The location was chosen as the proximity to the river created a warmer microclimate allowing the survival of many non-native plants – such as the largest outdoor fruiting olive tree in Britain – and more importantly, to allow plants to survive harsh British winters.”

Chelsea Physic Garden is London’s oldest botanical garden. Entry is usually £8 per person, and the Garden is traditionally closed throughout December.

This year, however, the Garden is open from now until Friday 16 December – and it’s free to get in!

If you go, you can expect to enjoy exotic ferns and carnivorous plants in glasshouses, festive herbs growing outdoors… and mulled wine in the cafe.

December Opening Hours:

Thursday 8th – Friday 9th and Monday 12th – Friday 16th December.
10.00am to 4pm.

Chelsea Physic Garden
66 Royal Hospital Road
Chelsea
London
SW3 4HS
020 7349 6458

[Chelsea Physic Garden]

At the moment Plain Lazy is running a different discount every day. For example, the deal of the day on Thursday 8 December is going to be this woman’s hoodie (above), reduced from £40 to a relatively wallet-friendly £15.

You can also use a discount code, CHEERSPLAINLAZY, at the checkout – this will bag you 15% off. It doesn’t work on special price items though.

[Plain Lazy]

Unsurprisingly, Yorkshire puddings are taken very seriously up here. Not long after I moved up here, I invested in a lightweight Yorkshire pudding pan or tray or whatever you want to call it: like a fairy cake tray, but with four large dips instead of lots of little ones. I’ve never used it though, because I found that the key to making a great Yorkshire pudding – one that rises nice and high in the oven, and is cooked through without being too dry – is as much about the pan as it is about the recipe.

1) Use the thickest, heaviest pan or pot you own.

The blue pan in the picture is a cast iron “Indian wok”, whatever that may be. Not very thrifty in that it’s Le Creuset; thrifty in that it was a gift about 10 years ago . It goes on the hob or in the oven and, despite being the size of a small cereal bowl, is pretty frickin heavy.

2) Heat it in the oven beforehand, with a dash of dripping or cooking oil, for as long as you dare….

I drizzle a little olive oil into the bottom of the empty pan and stick it in with the roast potatoes et al for half an hour before whipping it out, pouring in the batter and returning it to the oven ASAP.

Today’s Yorkshire pudding spent about 25 minutes in the oven. To be honest it could have risen a lot more if I had left it in for another 5-10 minutes – I’ve had them nudging the oven ceiling before – but it was cooked through and the brussels sprouts I was roasting today (an experiment) were beginning to char, so the whole lot came out.

The recipe I use comes from a Chinese cook called Tin Sung Yang, via the cookery writer Jane Grigson, via Nigella Lawson. From How To Eat:

“For years it was held to have a mystery ingredient – tai luk sauce – until, Jane Grigson reports, a niece of hers found that this was a Chinese joke. Nevertheless, the recipe is different from normal: it works backwards. That’s to say, you mix the eggs and milk and then stir in the flour, rather than making a well in the flour and adding the eggs and milk: and it works triumphantly; it billows up into a gloriously copper crown of a cushion.”

Yorkshire pudding recipe:

1. Beat the milk, eggs and salt together.
2. Leave to stand for 15 minutes.
3. Whisk in the flour.
4. Add mixture to super-hot pan.
5. Cook for 25-35 minutes. No need to whack the oven temperature up high, unless you want to: 220′C, or whatever you’re cooking the rest of the roast at, should be fine.

This quantity requires a large pan and serves 4-6. I halve the ingredients and cook this in a small pan, for 2-3.

I love Yorkshire pudding but I’m sure I don’t have the monopoly on Yorkshire pudding secrets – especially since I’m an Essex transplant! – so if you have any good Yorkshire pudding tips, please share them!

From now until 18th December 2011, you can take five second-hand books into your nearest IKEA – and receive a £5 IKEA voucher in return. Apparently the Croydon IKEA will only accept children’s books, but the other IKEAs aren’t so fussy and will accept any and all second-hand books you have. It’s one voucher per household, according to the Ts and Cs.

The books will be donated to Save The Children charity shops, so if you are prepared to wade through those godawful IKEA crowds to claim your voucher, you will also be helping to raise money for a good cause.

Participating IKEA stores: Wembley, Lakeside,Tottenham and Croydon.