Religion isn’t something I often talk about, but something happened this week and I have a few things to get off my chest. I go to a play group every week with my two year old, and it’s happens to be based in a church. It’s a lovely playgroup, with some amazing volunteers, a great structure, lots of different toys to keep the children amused and a secure outdoor play area. As a parent, I have to say I love it. It’s one of the best play groups we’ve been
Something has been playing on my mind recently, and to be honest it’s not something I really talk about on here very much. I think it was Christmas that made me think about it more than usual. As a blogger I was reading lots of lovely posts about how Christmas is a lovely time for people to reminisce over their own childhood experiences. That’s exactly how it should be right? I want my children to have some amazing memories of the magic of Christmas, but the truth is Christmas didn’t
Well folks, the New Year is very nearly here and I’m sure your mind has wondered towards the idea of making the odd New Year’s resolution. As we approach the 1st January, there is an air of optimism about what the year ahead might hold, and if we are looking to make some changes to our lifestyle it can be a great opportunity to start making progress towards our goals. You may have been trying to make changes all year, with varying degrees of success, but the New Year gives us
The festive season will be with us before we know it so it seemed the perfect time to share my top tips for planning the best Christmas. It can be one of the busiest times of year for lots of people, and if you already have a lot on with work and family life, planning Christmas can soon become very overwhelming. In the run up to Christmas I’ve been thinking a lot about how to fit everything in around work and family. No one wants Christmas to feel rushed and
I’m delighted to announce that I’m collaborating with TKMAXX to bring you their very first National Christmas Sock Day on 6th December. It’s time the Christmas sock had it’s day, and was worn with pride to help raise awareness and funds for Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens. Lets face it, the Christmas Jumper is so last year isn’t it? 😉 TKMAXX are selling some totally awesome Christmas socks to show their support to beat children’s cancers, and want you, your family and friends to get in on the act. Lets rock
Dear Students, This letter has been going around in my head for a while and I’ve finally decided it’s time to put it out there. Firstly, well done on making it to University. It’s such an amazing achievement and one you should be immensely proud of. You jumped so many hoops to get here, give yourself a huge pat on the pack. Going to University can be such an exciting time. You meet lots of new people, and get to experience the fun and drama of living in close quarters
Our house is a very busy house, and maintaining a sense of calm in it is one of my constant challenges. I’m determined to get on top of this in time for Christmas. One thing that seems to add to our house stress levels is the clutter and ambience. Daddy is a bit of a stress head anyway, and trying to keep everything calm is a real challenge. The girls can often disturb the calm in the house too by emptying a container of toys of the floor or just
We all dream don’t we? Some of our dreams quickly become faded memories, but others seem to stay with us for longer for some reason. I wonder if they leave this lasting impression as there is something they are trying to tell us. I don’t mean in a psychic way, as I really don’t subscribe to fortune telling in that way. I think that dreams are how we process events and aspects of our personality, and it’s a way of the brain making sense of what is going on around
Flexible jobs or part time jobs are really difficult to come by, but rather ironically around half of UK employees work flexibly or part time. Even I know that something isn’t quite right there, what do you think? I think there are lots of challenges here for employers in the UK to deal with, but something does need to change and put an end to the years of disadvantage that people who need to work part time or flexibly have suffered. Hire Me My Way is a national campaign giving a
I think that families rock, and that they have so many amazing talents that they are hiding in their homes that these need to be shared with the outside world. Come on Mum’s and Dad’s lets not keep all that entertainment to ourselves, it’s time to shout about it and nPower, with the help of Peter Andre, do to! It’s got to make the world a happier place, right? What’s Your Super Power? I bet you’ve got a whole host of things up your sleeve that you could share with
I thought you might appreciate an update on my slimming world journey, and why I think slimming world seems to be working for me. I joined a slimming world group a month a go, and trust me when I say I was sceptical at first. Now necessarily about the eating plan, as I’ve used that before and I’ve lost weight with slimming world in the past. What I was sceptical about was how beneficial joining a slimming world group would be for me, and I have to say, now I’m
Since I started blogging I’ve read many people’s stories about the ups and downs in their life, but none has stayed with me more than Ben Brooks-Dutton who writes lifeasawidower.com. His story is so incredibly sad, and what is even more upsetting, is it was completely avoidable. In 2012, Ben’s wife was killed by an elderly driver, in front of him and his young son. The driver mistook the accelerator for the brake and hit Desreen Brooks as she walked down the street with her family. She died in front of
The winter blues are incredibly common in the UK, with around 2 million suffers reporting symptoms every year. In it’s extreme form, they are also known as SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. The UK and Northern Europe are hit the hardest due to the extreme change in daylight hours at this time of year. Whether you suffer from SAD or not, I think we all experience some kind of change as we enter into a kind of semi hibernation during the autumn and winter months. I’ve felt myself wanting to
If you have been following my blog for a while, you’ll have noticed that I’m married to a geek. Apparently dating a geek is the new cool, so who would have thought I would actually have been on trend in the relationship department. Being married to a geek definitely has it’s plusses, but it’s taken me a while to nail the perfect date idea, not being a geek myself. I’m guessing that there are other women out there who have gotten attached to geeks, and might need some advice in
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the rather luxurious Champneys Springs Spa by I brand I’ve come to know very well, Lights by TENA. The title of the invite was ‘Join us at Bootcamp’, which ordinarily would have filled me with dread. In an instant, images are conjured up in my mind of badly co-ordinated jumping jacks and experiencing some rather undignified leaks that come after having 3 children and forgetting to do your pelvic floor exercises. Spending an afternoon with wet knickers isn’t anyone’s idea of
September has bought many changes to this household, and the one that is the most exciting for me is that I finally have a home office and boy has it been a long time coming. With teen moving out to go to university, his little sisters have moved in and taken over his room (which at the moment is a blessing and a curse). This has meant that the box room can now be used as a home office for me. I moved in quicker than you can say ‘spare
I don’t know about you, but I’m always thinking of ways to live a more balanced lifestyle. Sometimes it’s about thinking out of the box or turning a situation on it’s head to make it fit your lifestyle better. We are about to embark on a new phase of our lives, and I can feel some lifestyle changes becoming imminent as a result. My 4 year old daughter has just started reception, and next week we are going to be faced with the school run head on. These last two weeks
With watching the recent Olympics and observing successful people I’ve been intrigued by what makes some of them likeable and others are well, just grating. Truly successful people have the ability to get those around them to celebrate their success and get their audience to be inspired by their journey. There are other people who claim success that seem to turn us all off as soon as they open their mouths or post on social media, but what makes them different. I’ve been taking notes and I have begun to
I’ve been doing some very important research readers. I was invited to Eden Hall Day Spa for the day to really explore the idea of self care and think about how we can improve looking after ourselves, even when we have busy home and work lives.
Just recently I was introduced to Ofgem’s Be An Energy Shopper website. Have you heard of it? I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know anything about it. It’s packed full of really useful information if you want to switch energy suppliers and get the best deal for your home. I’ve been using it, and it really has given me lots to think about.
Hasn’t it been a funny old summer. The weather seems to have a complete mind of it’s own leaving us confused about what to wear and how to spend our free time. The sunny days are even more precious than normal as you don’t know when the heavens are going to open again. Despite the unpredictable weather, I really hope you are all making the most of the holiday season and enjoying many family memories together. There have been lots of new products come my way this summer, and I
I have been a private landlord for a good few years now, and I’ve also managed tenancies on behalf of a housing association for even longer. My years of working for a housing association gave me the confidence and knowledge to rent out my own property when the opportunity arose. People become landlords for lots of different reasons. Some quite deliberately buy property with a view to renting it out, and some, like me, are accidental landlords. There are lots of people who bought property, that they may have spent
Moving house can be such a stressful and expensive business. I’ve sold properties a few times now and one thing that I have found really frustrating is the fees that I have paid to High Street Estate Agents. My Sister and her family have also recently moved into one of the stunning Orange County Homes over in the US using an online estate agent and she couldn’t rate them any higher. She mentioned how efficient they were with sorting the move and how effective they were at maintaining contact at
Who would like to do a quick quiz? It’s super fun I promise, and will really make you chuckle. I had a go at it recently, and some of the answers really surprised me. If you have young children, I think you will really be able to relate to it too.
Whether you are going on a romantic holiday or not, there should alway be time for romance while you are away. Going on holiday is such a special time for any couple. Whether, like me you have children, or you haven’t reached that stage yet, it’s a time when you should be able to focus on each other without the distractions of day to day life. It’s a time you really should be able to enjoy each other’s company as well as the destination you are visiting.
When our car went into the garage for it’s MOT and service, it managed to get through pretty much OK. When my husband picked the car up, his chat with the mechanic revealed that there are likely to be a few things come up next time round that are going to be quite costly. We use a garage that we trust, and take their word when they make these recommendations.
As a parent, one of our primary motivations is to provide for our children, and to ensure that the household finances are secure. The most obvious way to do so is to save diligently. Both us and future generations are experiencing increasingly expensive times ours and the last thing we want is for our youngsters to have a less than prosperous future. A recent study revealed that 68% of people living in the UK believe that today’s children will be worse off when they become adults than today’s generation are.
Dementia is such a challenging illness for those who are suffering from it, and for family and friends to deal with. The jury is out for me for who is effected worse by the illness, but I do know that having dementia can mean that some changes are needed to look after the patients health and well being.
Lately I’ve been thinking that I really need a digital detox holiday. As a blogger I aspire to be a creative and inspirational writer. If all I had to do was come up with great content ideas and write all day, my creative juices would be well and truly flowing. I’d literally be able to create amazing pieces of content, one after the other. As with all jobs, even creative ones, there are some tasks that can have an adverse effect on the creative flow. Writing blog posts is a large
I have absolutely no regrets about giving up my my 9 to 5 job and starting a freelance career in blogging and social media. It has really opened my eyes up to how the world of work has changed and what possibilities are out there for people to earn an income in more flexible way that suits their lifestyle. I love that I now work for myself and that it fits around my family, whilst supporting them too.
