I was absolutely delighted when an email came through from Wicked Uncle asking if I'd be interested in reviewing some of their products. You see Little Miss C and Master C have three uncles in total - all of whom consider themselves to be wicked - and they've actually received a few gifts bought on the Wicked Uncle site before. I've always been impressed by them and when I spoke to one of the Uncles involved he was really pleased with them too, so I thought I'd give them a whirl myself. I was sent £40 to spend on the site and I have to be honest and say that at first I kind of assumed it ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Junior Science – Magnets and Electricity
I'm half revisiting an old title here on Ladybird Tuesday this week. Back in early 2013 I covered Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries which is part of series 621 which was called Junior Science. In the 1980s this series was updated and reissued and the books were juggled around a little bit. Rather than the four original titles (Magnets, Bulbs and Batteries, Light, Mirrors and Lenses, Air, Wind and Flight and Levers, Pulleys and Engines) there were eventually 8 titles in this revamped series: Magnets and Electricity Light Air Simple Mechanics Simple ... read more
Paper Plate Care Bear
Spending more time crafting for myself has made me realise that since Little Miss C started full time school back in September I'm doing far less crafting with her, and I actually rather miss that. After a good pinning session on Pinterest last night I'm determined to change that too and so today whilst Mr C worked LMC and I sat down at the kitchen table with some paper plates and paint and set about making a Care Bear for her. LMC is currently addicted to a new TV channel that has appeared on Freeview called Tiny Pop. There seem to be loads of shows on there that she loves and one of those ... read more
My Week in Crafts
It's been all about crochet here this week. Well crochet and a spot of name tape sewing seeing as Little Miss C went back to school on Monday. In my usual disorganised fashion I suddenly realised at 8.30am on Monday morning that a ski coat probably was no longer appropriate for school seeing as the forecast was for 20 degrees. Luckily I'd picked up several coats from a half price sale in Millets so the kids should be correctly attired for the next couple of years between them, but of course the new coat was un-named and anyone who has had to spend an hour searching through a smelly pile of ... read more
Review: Tabure St Albans
I'm not going to pretend to be some amazing food blogger or restaurant reviewer, as I'm obviously neither of those, but what I am is someone who likes good food, excellent service and attention to detail and all three of those were completely in abundance last night when I was invited along to a special pre-launch night at St Albans' newest restaurant Tabure. Beautiful interior and really can't wait to sit by the open grill @Tabure_Kitchen Thank you for a lovely evening pic.twitter.com/pmp7LjVtEw — Food Ren (@RenBehan) April 23, 2015 Proper food bloggers like Ren take photos - I'm too ... read more
Review: Bing Floor Puzzle from Ravensburger
Regular readers will know that Master C is the biggest Bing fan out there right now. Every day he asks to watch it on the BBC iPlayer and he is completely obsessed with Bing, Sula, Pando and their friends and carers. As I mentioned when I blogged about knitting him a Flop toy there haven't been any Bing toys available commercially, but that's all about to change with this Bing Floor Puzzle from Ravensburger that we were sent to review. When I unwrapped the puzzle from the packaging in which it had been sent I think I instantly qualified for Mum of the Year, and that was while Master C just ... read more
Exercising those mental muscles with Letterfall
There was a time when I was actually quite mentally agile. It may seem hard to believe that, especially if you've ever seen me at the school gate desperately trying to remember what it is I've forgotten to bring that morning, but back when I was commuting every day I used to be able to solve the most difficult sudoko AND the easy crossword by the time my 30 minute train journey was over. I even went as far as getting the application form for one year's national sudoko championships! Children and a lack of sleep means that my head is in much more of a fog these days, but the brain is a ... read more
A year long Hotter Shoes review
On Monday morning I had three different people stop me on the school run to ask where my shoes were from. If that doesn't give you a spring in your step after half an hour of trying to get two children out of the house with school uniform, book bag, reading books etc all correct then nothing will! So what were these amazing shoes attracting everyone's attention you may ask? The latest Hotter shoes in my collection - these gorgeous Dalton shoes in Flint. It's nearly two years now since I first discovered Hotter Shoes when I did a review for them of a pair of gorgeous Gaby Wedges. ... read more
When wind turbines are beautiful
When we went on our family holiday to Cornwall last summer Master C was absolutely obsessed with all the wind turbines that we saw whilst there. Every time we drove past one there would be a shout of "windmill" from the back seat and in a way it became the saying of the holiday. Back home there aren't as many wind turbines around Hertfordshire, but trips north always seem to find a few and once again the familiar shout goes up from the back seat. The thing is - I'm actually rather fond of wind turbines. Not only do they do a wonderful job at producing green energy, but I actually think ... read more
My week in crafts
Another row finished whilst watching today's swimming lesson. #crochet #craft #momsoninstagram #handmade #homemade A photo posted by Penny Carr (@realbeingmrsc) on Apr 16, 2015 at 1:50am PDT It's been a week of mainly continuing with the two main projects that I started last week. Firstly the crochet ripple blanket has progressed well. With it still being the school Easter holidays here Little Miss C was booked on to an intensive swimming course which meant that we were at the pool every morning for a 30 minute lesson, in addition to her usual slot on a Friday afternoon. Excellent ... read more