The week before last I ran a marathon. 26.2 miles. Ok, maybe I should come clean. I didn’t run that marathon. Not the London one. And actually I didn’t run the whole thing. I walked some of it. And I also didn’t do it all in one go. It was spread out over the whole week. But, despite all that, I still completed a marathon last week. Something which before I would have doubted I could do. And if I’m really, really honest, half way through the week I was still doubting I could do it. But do it I did, and actually I’m pretty damn proud of myself as it happens. I’ve been rather quite about all ... read more
Tea With Mrs C
Tea with Mrs C returns, and this time I'm talking about stationery, blogging and social media and being busy, again... ... read more
My New Room – Lisa Stickley
I was rather excited to see a new book from Lisa Stickley arrive for us to review last week. We met Edith in her last book, Handstand, and she appears again in My New Room. Designer Lisa Stickley has a style that has already become instantly recognisable here and as soon as Little Miss C saw My New Room she went looking for our copy of Handstand to put with it on her bookcase. In My New Room, much as the title suggests, it is time for Edith to move into a new bedroom with a "Big Bed". It's a step that many children go through, and sometimes it can be a bit of a scary one, especially if the ... read more
Brio Special Edition 2017 Train
I swear that Master C's train obsession is growing by the day! Hours and hours are spent with him on the living room floor, pushing trains around the wooden track that regularly snakes around the legs of the kitchen table and trips me up on my way to make a cup of tea. He recently seems to have clocked that mummy is sent toys to review and for about two weeks our walk home from school would involve him asking me if anyone had sent me any "toy trains for work". Imagine his delight one day before the school Easter holidays when I was able to tell him that I had been sent the Brio Special ... read more
The Day the Belles Went to The Fair
I love the WI. Absolutely love it. Ever since I joined about three years ago I feel like I'm with kindred spirits and the friends I've made there are second to none. Through my involvement I've also been able to try my hand at so many new things - everything from burlesque keep fit to decorating biscuits. I've also been involved in some amazing ventures from serving tea to 500 pensioners to helping to renovate a caravan that went to a family in need in the Calais Jungle. As I say, I love the WI. It was therefore with great excitement that I joined 13 other members of the Herts Belles this ... read more
The Pirate Craft Book
Sometimes in life, timing is perfect. And that was exactly the case when an email popped into my inbox asking if I'd like to review The Pirate Craft Book. Little Miss C has just had pirates as a learning topic at school and this culminated in a pirate dressing up day. Strangely we don't have a pirate costume in the dressing up box at home, so I knew I was going to have to pull together a costume from somewhere and this book is the perfect place to start. Written by Laura Minter and Tia Williams (the mums behind Little Button Diaries) the book is packed with "15 things a pirate can't do ... read more
Interplay Pocket Microscope
For absolutely ages now Little Miss C has been obsessed with the idea of becoming an explorer and naturalist of some kind. She loves nothing more than being outdoors and hunting for insects and bugs. We have so many bug hotels situated around the garden - many of them made from old shoeboxes and other things pilfered from my recycling bin. It therefore seemed perfect to ask her to review the Pocket Microscope from Interplay. We've had handheld magnifying glasses before in various kits, but this is the first time that she's had a microscope to play with. In the box you get the microscope ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Do-Gooder
And we're back! With the most irregular regular blog feature ever - Ladybird Tuesday. Now, keeping in with the theme of all my other recent blog posts here, I'm doing something a little bit different again this week and I'm going to be talking about another new Ladybird title. This time it's The Ladybird Book of the Do-Gooder. Just in case you haven't worked it out by now I should probably explain that this special title has been released to coincide with this year's Comic Relief, and at least £2 from the sale of the book go to Comic Relief. As with the other modern day Ladybird titles ... read more
Seeing how Comic Relief Support the New Horizons Youth Centre
Let's be totally honest. Fundraising can be a bit of a funny thing. You do something to raise money for charity, and you get a bit of a glow as you see the donations stack up on a webpage, but then what happens next? Your personal challenge is over and you might get an email from the donations site you've used telling you how much you raised. And that might be followed up by an email from the charity itself saying thank you, and giving you some examples of how money is spent in general. I guess it can leave you at times feeling a bit flat. But the truth is that behind all that money you ... read more
The Honk Line Reality: Jamie Oliver, Miranda style galloping and a portable pizza oven!
When Team Honk sat and planned The Honk Line walk around London I'm pretty sure that their list included a bullet point saying something like "A-list celebrity to start the walk". After all that's what they managed to pull off! And as evidence, here's Jamie Oliver at the start in London's Waterloo Park. Photo from Mummy Barrow on twitter The reality might be that we were just about to leave the park, slightly later than planned as we were all busy faffing around drinking tea and taking photos of Tanya posing with her teapot, when I saw a man fly down the hill on a kid's scooter with ... read more