I recently attended a course that our local school held all about parenting, and in particular parenting boys. It wasn't the first parenting course that I'd been on, but as I'd found before I learn something new with each course and this time what I learnt was all around the role of play, and in particular play involving screen time. Some parents hear the words "screen time" and just assume that it's all bad and something that needs to be limited for children, but I'm actually a little bit more relaxed than that. I agree that leaving your children alone to play mindless computer games or ... read more
My fortnight in crafts – upcycling and chicken scratch embroidery
I do love writing these posts where I try and keep track of what crafting I've been doing as it can be so easy to forget. Even just week to week. Maybe it's a sign of getting old. It goes without saying that the crochet ripple blanket is growing and growing, but in all this heat I have discovered that sitting down and doing it is getting harder and harder, especially during the daytime. What is completely impossible though is taking it with me to swimming lessons. Sat up high in the viewing gallery is hot enough anyway, but with a huge crochet blanket on your knee it's pretty ... read more
The advice I wanna give to new parents to be…
I found myself the other night sat talking to a friend who is expecting her first baby later this year. It seems strange to think that it's over five years since I was in that position. Five years? Where has the time gone. I was very lucky when I was pregnant with Little Miss C because lots of friends told me about the joys of buying things secondhand for our little baby. I was already pretty thrifty and with only one salary coming into our household I remember planning with meticulous detail what we needed to buy, how much it was all going to cost and where to buy it from to get the best ... read more
Review: Latest Free Stuff App
Free Stuff. Those two words bring joy to the heart of thrifty bargain hunters the world over. And rightly so. After all - who doesn't love getting something for nothing. Some people may be sceptical about the idea of getting things for free. Aren't we all taught that you don't get anything for nothing in this life? Well, that's sort of true, but if you just look at the definition of free as being that you haven't handed cold hard cash over for something, then actually there is still a fair bit in this world that you can get for nothing. I first came across Latest Free Stuff a couple of ... read more
Make do and mend: Charity Shop shirt to summer top #Trash2Treasure
Earlier in the year I treated myself to a sewing alterations course with the lovely Emma from Oh Sew Vintage. Emma makes amazing reproduction vintage dresses and I was luck enough to get to know her through our local WI branch, the Herts Belles, where she is our very efficient secretary. For me, the aim of the course was to learn how I could alter some of the amazing clothes that I find in charity shops that just aren't the right size. When I get a moment I will blog about the course itself and what I learnt, but I'm delighted to say that what I did learn that day has given me the ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Princess and the Pea
On Facebook I follow an account called The 80s Magazine which simply posts up photos of things that you are bound to remember if you were a child in the 80s like I was. It never fails to make me smile when I see all those reminders of my own childhood, especially as I keep seeing Ladybird books pop up on there. Now, most of the titles I see come from the learning to read r fiction series, in particular series 606D which was called Well Loved Tales, and that title sums up the books in it rather well. From classics like Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk through to Little Red Riding Hood ... read more
Beauty on a Budget – the Braun Silk-epil 9
It can't have escaped your notice that summer is now well and truly here and as such my usual jeans or wooly tights have been abandoned in favour of summer dresses, skirts and cropped trousers. But, as all women, especially dark haired ones like myself, will know, pulling on a skirt or a pair of shorts isn't always that straightforward. Let's not get into a debate about whether or not women should remove body hair, but I think it's an accepted fact that lots of us choose to do so and want to have smooth legs when we head out - especially if our legs are on display. Now I've never got on ... read more
My week (or two!) in crafts
This week I've discovered that it's really hard to run a blog when you end up with splitting headaches due to being given a pair of contact lenses that are the wrong prescription! No wonder I was getting lots of pain every time I sat down at my laptop. Still - problem now solved thanks to the lovely lady in the local Boots Opticians and hopefully I can now go full steam ahead again. It's been a couple of weeks since my last crafty update here, and they've actually been a really busy couple of weeks of crafting. To start with I went off to the wonderful BritMums live - a huge blogging ... read more
Family Walk along the Alban Way
Before we had kids, one thing that Mr C and I often spoke about was a dream of going on long family walks with our children. Heck, I think we even mentioned it on our first ever weekend together! Anyone who actually has kids will know though that this dream isn't actually all that close to reality - instead you're likely to get lots of moaning about tired legs and children wanting to be picked up. Master C is now two and a half (I know, I still don't believe it either!) and he's now confident enough on his feet that he's walking around quite a lot and we've started to introduce a regular ... read more
Coming clean about my hair
As a blogger you're kind of used to your life being rather public. Not that I blog about everything, but people who read Being Mrs C do generally know about most of what I'm up to. There has been one exception over the last month though - and that's to do with my hair. Now, if you follow me over on YouTube you will know what I'm up to as I've been publishing a series of videos over there about what I'm doing, but this is the first time I'm making it all a bit more public. On the 31st May I washed my hair for the last time with conventional shampoo and conditioner. I'm now going forwards ... read more