In addition to 2014 being my year of thrift, I'm also making a point of trying to finish off the million and one craft projects I have half completed and also actually trying all the things that I've been meaning to do for ages. Top of my list is making my own homebrew wine. Mr C has been making beer for a few years now, but after Liz from Me and My Shadow presented me with a bottle of her homebrew when we appeared on BBC3CR together I've been keen to try myself. A while back I picked up a kit from the local chemist that sells homebrew supplies and the only thing that was ... read more
Meet the Parents – Peter Bently and Sara Ogilvie
I was actually strangely excited when I opened the envelope from Simon and Schuster containing a copy of Meet the Parents to review. We've been going through a bit of a difficult patch with Little Miss C of late where she quiet simply won't listen when we tell her to do things and she's very much of the attitude that her parents are only there to make life difficult for her. You'd think she was 13 rather than three at times! This beautifully illustrated book sets out to show pre-schoolers that their mums and dads do a huge number of things that they may not realise ... read more
Taking care of Master C’s eyes with Dentinox
When you have a baby to look after it soon becomes apparent that a large amount of your time will actually be spent keeping them clean and healthy. As well as all the nappy changes and baths you also end up spending quite a bit of your time thinking about things like nappy rash, cradle cap, weird bits of dry skin and how on earth you're ever going to get a toothbrush near their mouth. At first it can take quite some getting used to. Working out how to deal with some of these ailments can be a bit tricky at first, especially until you know what's available in the shops to help you. One little ... read more
Adorable stationery from Alain Gree
I love stationery. There's just something about new pens, pencils and notebooks that just takes me right back to that feeling I used to get at the end of the long summer holidays when you're getting yourself ready for the new term and everyone's got a new pencil case to show off. I still dream of having a nice enough desk space at home to have all my pens and pencils beautifully arranged so that I can just sit down and get on with something in a nice new notebook and feel so much more organised than I do right now. At the back end of last year I was asked if I wanted to review some of the new ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Battle of the Little Big Horn – Custer’s Last Stand
One particular thing that I love about searching for Ladybird books is that you never know what you're going to find and sometime you come across a book and a whole Ladybird series that you haven't heard of before. That's exactly what happened when Mr C bought me a few books as a Christmas present. One of them - Battle of the Little Big Horn is part of Series 707 (Cowboys and Indians) a series of just four books which had completely passed me by until then. Now if you consider my knowledge of English history to be patchy then my knowledge of American history like this is off the ... read more
Magpie Monday – Very early birthday gifts
I'll let you into a little secret. I actually started my year of thrift a bit early. So early in fact that when I was in a charity shop just before Christmas and saw something that I knew Little Miss C would love I just had to buy it there and then as an early birthday present for her. A very early birthday present when you consider her birthday's not until June, but I figured Father Christmas would already be bringing her plenty of stuff so why not just get a step ahead of myself in the gift planning department. So, what was it that I just had to buy there and then? Well, ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Musical Instruments
Happy new year vintage Ladybird lovers! Now, before we get on to this week's book I have to tell you about my television highlight of Christmas - the BBC Four Timeshift programme all about vintage Ladybird books. It was quite simply fantastic - even if my mum and husband both fell asleep watching it! If you missed it then luckily there are some clips available on their website here. They're definitely worth a watch. The programme made me realise just how small my collection is compared to what is out there somewhere. It was also fantastic for learning a bit more about the history ... read more
The Carrot Cake Catastrophe – Elizabeth Dale and Gemma Raynor
I do like books that go against the gender stereotypes and that's exactly what happens in The Carrot Cake Catastrophe. It's Jenny's Mummy's birthday, so Jenny and her Grandad decide to bake her a carrot cake as a surprise. Only, it seems that Grandad should have gone to Specsavers and watched a few more editions of the Great British Bake Off as his interpretation of the recipe is far from correct! Instead of butter a bar of soap is added. He makes the common episode one of Bake Off mistake of adding salt instead of sugar (when will they ever label those Kilner jars they ... read more
Making Do
Well, we're five days in to The Year of Thrift and I'm pleased to report that things are, so far, heading in the right direction. I realise it's only five days, but in that time I've put in place quite a few different ways of doing things and I'm hoping that by the end of January at least I should be seeing some real differences. Being a project manager at my core I'm very much of the opinion that you've got to take stock of where you are to be able to tell if you've made a change or not. I'm therefore starting the year by making a real effort to keep track ... read more
Crayon – Simon Rickerty
When we were sent a copy of Crayon by Simon Rickerty I wasn't really sure what to expect as we hadn't really enjoyed his previous book Monkey Nut all that much. But, that had gone on to win the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which goes to show just how much book reviews really depend on what type of thing you like and just because we enjoy or dislike something doesn't necessarily mean that everyone else will think the same - life would be dull if that was the case! The idea in Crayon is relatively simple - red "blog" has a blue crayon and blue has a red one. Both are ... read more