When I said that I need to read something a bit lighthearted next I certainly wasn't kidding. I'm a huge crime fiction fan and love everything from classics like Wilkie Collins and Agatha Christie right through to some of the slightly more "trashy" US crime fiction. I love a good mystery and find that the distraction of trying to figure out who killed who in a crime novel a great way of switching off from day to day worries once I'm in bed. Sue Grafton's E Is For Evidence is part of the Kinsey Millhone "alphabet series" which I have dipped into ... read more
Garden leeks
With all the warm and wet weather that we've had recently the garden has been shooting up, but it's also been difficult to spend time out there gardening due to it being so wet. Our veg plot is ready for things to be planted, but to be honest I'm a bit behind schedule in doing so. However, there are a few crops still in the ground that have been growing at speed recently. A long, long time ago I had my first attempts at growing leeks from seed and after a very slow start I'm delighted to say that the above photo shows the first of the crop brought in to our kitchen for ... read more
VTech InnoTab – Review
Little Miss C and I were both absolutely thrilled to be asked to review a VTech InnoTab by the wonderful people at Cuthberts Toys. LMC has always loved technology and like many children picks things up naturally, especially when she has seen adults using iPhones, laptops and iPads. The InnoTab is a fantastic bit of technology, all wrapped up in a super child-proof case. Featuring a 5"colour touchscreen and coming with loads of applications already loaded it is bound to keep any child occupied and entertained. There is a mix of games, animated books, drawing and painting ... read more
The Great British Walking Challenge
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing" That's a statement that's been used an awful lot over the last month in our house. The weather has been awful and wet for most of April, but that's not deterred Little Miss C and I from heading out on foot and exploring the local parks and other outdoor spaces. I was therefore completely delighted when I received an invitation to take part in a guided walk as part of Living Streets' The Great British Walking Challenge. If you're someone who travels by foot then you may ... read more
In situ
In an amazing show of efficiency, yesterday's numbers have been hung and after searching aorund the house for a suitable place I finally settled on the side of our staircase. Whenever we take Little MIss C upstairs one thing we do is count the stairs as we go. The only slight problem is that this means that the numbers read from right to left, rather than left to right as is conventional. I figured that putting up with that was cheaper than moving the staircase to accommodate them! In case you're interested, the wooden pegs were bought very cheaply on eBay and the lovely ... read more
Counting
It's several months since I gave you a sneak preview of the fabric numbers that I had started to make from Meg McElwee's book Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child. You may know Meg from her lovely blog, Sew Liberated, but if you don't make sure you head over there and see the wonderful things she makes for her two gorgeous boys, and also the fun activities that they all get up to. There's no real reason why these numbers have taken so long to finish as they're not at all difficult. The numbers ... read more
Back to basics
I've been doing a lot of thinking about this blog since I returned from last week's BlogCamp. May will be the four year anniversary for Being Mrs C and in that time my life, and this blog, have changed a huge amount. In May 2008 I had not long since returned from a fantastic month long honeymoon in which I travelled the world and had the perfect opportunity to think about what was important in life. I was still working, but if I'm honest I wasn't really enjoying what I was doing. A year or two before I had discovered online discussion forums full of like minded ... read more
Mrs C went to BlogCamp
After telling you that Mrs C was going to BlogCamp I guess it would only be polite for me to tell you how I got on there. I will warn you now that I make no apologies for this post entering into the technical SEO territory as for me that was one of the highlights of the trip! Yes, I know I'm a geek, but still... For those of you that have not heard of BlogCamp then let me tell you that if you're a blogger here in the UK then you should make it your business to know about BlogCamp and get yourself on their mailing list so that you can attend a future one. Run by the lovely ... read more
Upsy Daisy’s Skirt
Whilst she doesn't watch it all that often, it's fair to say that Little Miss C is quite a fan of In The Night Garden and loves the characters in it. We are often asked to drawn Igglepiggle and Upsy Daisy for her and she loves dancing like Upsy Daisy whenever she can. The only ITNG toys that she has are small ones that have been free on the cover of the show's magazine so she was thrilled therefore when my parents were given an Upsy Daisy plush toy for her by some of their friends. Now this Upsy Daisy had sadly lost her skirt at some point in the past and LMC was very quick to point ... read more
Win a VTech Baby Sing and Soothe Mobile from Cuthberts Toys
Any parent will tell you that having something for your baby to look at in their cot and that plays nice soothing music to them to calm them down and help them get to sleep can be a godsend. Having something that also acts as a nightlight is even better! The VTech Sing and Soothe Mobile has all this and more. Not only do the leaves spin round with the small plush animals hanging off it doing so too, but there are different play modes which give you so much music choice that there is no way that you will become bored of this one too soon. (The one song that my daughter's musical bunny plays ... read more