Two things...

Two things I am having fun with back here in England...

1. The Local Library!
I am SO relishing being a member of the Longlevens Library (part of Gloucestershire Libraries). I signed up our whole family a few weeks ago. On receiving our four cards I asked how many books I could borrow at a time, and the answer was twenty! "Which means,"she added, "you could technically leave here with eighty books today." A speculative gleam came into my eyes... Hmm, wish I'd brought a bigger bag...

I love that feeling of having a pile of books beside my bed which are all waiting to be read. Books that I might not have actually bought but am happy to have a go at. And the Library has audiobooks which we've borrowed for some of our long car journeys to our churches.

2. Coupons!
I am new to the whole world of coupons... and am rapidly becoming the Coupon Queen. I have signed up to something called "Groupon" which sends a daily email with coupons for everything from haircuts to toys to hotel stays. So far I've only paid up for a half-price haircut and highlights - but it was something I really needed... I am learning fast. When we wanted to go out for a meal for Thanksgiving (since we failed to manage to plan a special meal at home...) I looked up the restaurant we had in mind, online, and found "Ten Pounds Off" vouchers for that particular restaurant - score! Dan took the children to see the new Tintin movie with two free children's tickets - earned in Tesco reward points (Tesco being the supermarket I use where you gain reward points when you spend money.) I'm really enjoying finding all these "bargains" - but aware you can spend money to "save" money so it may not be such a good thing...

However, Alex is getting a bit frustrated with our scrimping ways. "Mum," he said, "Why does everything we do have to be with a voucher? It's cheating!" (He is also fed up with second-hand everything and so I make sure I tell him whenever I buy something brand new... which admittedly isn't very often!) Much as he'd like us to be able to buy everything he wants, he is really good about not having all the stuff that others have. I expected a lot more complaining. But I think he realises (perhaps subconsciously at this point) that he wouldn't exchange his Ugandan childhood for all the Wii's and X-boxes a different life might have given him.