I am so not a fashion person. Going shopping for clothes fills me with dread, so Bigjigs asking me to wear a branded T-shirt as part of my sponsorship deal with them for BritMums Live! was an instant stress buster, although I was a little worried about just what they'd come up with. The Bigjigs blogger outreach programme is the Play Patrol and all the children involved are Play Patrol Agents so this is how fellow Play Patrol member Sarah from Ramblings of a Sussex Mummy and I are going to be dressed for the conference. We're going to be pretty noticable so if you see me please do ... read more
Review: SEA LIFE London Aquarium
As soon as I saw that Tots 100 were looking for bloggers and their children to go on a review trip to the SEA LIFE London Aquarium I jumped at the chance. It's somewhere that I've wanted to take the kids for ages, and Mr C has been particularly keen to take Little Miss C but unfortunately he had to work on that day. Still - an opportunity too good to miss! I set off from St Albans with Claire from Being a Mummy and two of her little ones. It worked really well as all our kids are friends anyway and they all helped entertain each other on the train. Now that London Blackfriars station ... read more
Mrs C on the wireless
When I first started writing this blog I had absolutely no idea where it would take me. Being a blogger can be a funny existence though and blogging can definitely open doors for you. This lunchtime I took the train north from St Albans to Luton to meet up with fellow blogger Liz from Me and My Shadow. Together we headed over to BBC 3 Counties Radio where we appeared on the Nick Coffer show to talk about all things thrifty. It's years since I was last on the radio. I think I was about 16 the last time, talking about some school project. Today we were talking about being thrifty when ... read more
Thrifty Mrs C – Fixing a broken North Face fleece zip
I was gutted the other week when I went to zip up my North Face fleece as I went into the garden, and instead the zipper just came off in my hand. Closer inspection suggested that a small bit of metal within the zipper had actually broken off meaning that it no longer held the teeth of the zip properly. I'd owned the fleece for a good six years or so, and in that time it had travelled the world with me - keeping me warm on a chilly Los Angeles evening, as part of layers as we treked in New Zealand and to snuggle up in as I waited for a delayed plane in Hong Kong. The coat seemed to be in ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Mr. Badger to the Rescue
There are some children's books that just leave you feeling all warm and fluffy inside - and Mr Badger to the Rescue is one such book. Like all the other books in series 401 (Animal Rhymes) the book is written entirely in verse and the rhythm of it when read out load is lovely. In this lovely take three little doormice wake one morning to see that the circus has come to town. They're so desperate to go and see it, but they've got no money to buy tickets, so they set about trying to earn some. Their first attempts fail, but Mr Badger helps them out by providing a couple of extra ... read more
How to save money by learning to unblock toilets and drains yourself
If you're looking to save money around the house then one way to do so is to teach yourself some DIY skills and get yourself the appropriate tools. Trades people can be very expensive, especially if you're having to call them out in an emergency - and we all know that if something's going to go wrong it will happen either on a Sunday or on a Bank Holiday, when call out charges are even more than usual! If you can can unblock toilets and drains yourself then you're bound to save yourself money. When it comes to drain problems you only really need two pieces of kit to be able to resolve many ... read more
Thrifty Friday Five – In the bathroom
One of the smaller rooms in the house, but have you ever thought about how much money you spend on things going on in your bathroom? There's all that water for starters - did you know that 70% of all water usage is in the bathroom. And then think about how much you spend on toiletries too. This week I'm hoping to give you five tips to help you save money in the room where you spend a penny. 1. Reduce the amount you flush Every time you flush the loo water goes down the drain - literally. If your water is metered (and as an aside, if your water isn't metered request a free water ... read more
Review: Bigjigs Road and Rail
Regular readers may well have had enough of me going on about how much I love Bigjigs (but just in case you haven't read this post from earlier in the week) so I'm going to keep this post just to the facts about the review items in question. Just before Little Miss C's birthday Bigjigs sent us our second Play Patrol review package - a wonderful selection of their Road and Rail accessories. This fitted in perfectly with the selection that we had already bought her as gifts and now she's lucky enough to have a fantastic selection with which to build a huge road and rail ... read more
A birthday crown
On Monday a certain little lady turned three. Oh, how we partied. It's funny how two days of celebrations seems to have left me feeling as exhausted as I did when I gave birth to her. With two little people in the house my crafting has slowed right down, but seeing as I was a special event I was on the look out for a simple little project that I could make in time when someone at my knitting group passed me a copy of the May issue of Let's Knit magazine. Inside there was a lovely little trip of quick projects to celebrate May Day and this crown jumped out at me as perfect for the ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Car Games
Do people still play car games? Or have hand-held electronics and DVD players taken over instead? After reading this book in preparation for writing this Ladybird Tuesday post I'm wondering about a campaign to encourage everyone to start playing them again. They're all from a time that seemed so much more innocent and simple and I'd love to revive that rather than relying on modern technology to do so. The idea of a whole book on car games seems a bit alien in this day and age though. Ladybird's Car Games book really is a flash back to a different age. Published in 1978 this ... read more