Oh my giddy aunt!

This afternoon I had an appointment with the Housing Allowance Department and to my utter shock, I will remain on full housing and council tax credit until April and then it will reduce every so slightly, after April.  Add on the child tax and working tax credits been a bit more than I was expecting and I'm feeling rich!
I am so happy though, it means I will be able to plan more outings with Rye, and of course, my little charge, I've already committed to the GP mama camp in May, and now I can also do HESFES with Rye in July.  I'm seriously considering going through the hassle of acquiring Rye and me a passport each so we can go across to France too.

It did cross my mind I could save for a wee car, but nah, not going to bother, while it would certainly make life a little easier, I have got use to being carless and simply from a health point of view, it is so much better for the both of us.  I haven't walked as much as I do these days, for years!  Instead, I think I will buy a pushbike, especially as I used the money from Rye's Granddad to buy him this;

Rye is convinced it's a motorbike, bless him.

The bike arrived yesterday, and this morning when he woke, the first thing he said, "Ohh, I want to play outside with my motorbike".  If how quickly he's become competent on the bike is any indicator; I'm guessing it won't be that long before he's riding a normal bike!  Gawd, I hope they do extra large seats for my backside!

And if anyone is interested, I bought the bike from here

After all that riding, Rye was hungry, so muffins - using, yes, the Tasajarra receipe, not bad at all - although they did rise a bit oddly;

Still, considering these are 100% wholemeal flour, they were suprisingly light and fluffy.

Both kids were very appreciative - certainly the muffins didn't last long.

Anyway, after my appointment at the council, I decided to walk into the towncentre with Rye, discovered a lovely little cookshop down a side street, oops can hear my wallet groaning already lol.  It was tiny though, so I didn't go in as Rye is at that stage where he simply cannot keep his hands to himself and the owner was clearly maximising space as much as possible, so the potential for breakage was immense.  I'll pop in next time Rye is with his dad.  Mind, I have to say I'm becoming increasingly fond of charity shops as the place to purchase bakeware.

After that a stop to pick up a belt for me - either these jeans are cut exceedingly generously or I've lost weight - either way a belt is needed to stop  the hoiking up, which is hardly ladylike or the potential embarassment of them falling down.  And then Boots for a nittygritty comb and I bought some lotion for me as its impossible to comb through my hair myself and my friend works most evenings.

And then I decided to pop into Merchant Chandler.  I love that shop, I don't go in usually because I can't justify the expense usually, I decided to treat myself.  I bought a seagrass rug for the kitchen - those stone tiles are freezing cold! And I couldn't resist these;

 

And Rye's eye's lit up and he ran over and cuddled this;

A fabric robot, almost as big as Rye half price, so I thought, "what the heck,"

It's been a fun day and I'm feeling exceedingly blessed at the moment :-)