What birthday gifts do you remember from childhood? Is there one thing that still stands out all these years later? Something that perhaps you still own and that has accompanied you on the journey into adulthood, through various house moves and more? I may not have her any more, but one gift I do remember so fondly is the Jemima doll that I was given by my mum when I was little. Years later I bought the kit again, to make Little Miss C a version of Jemima, and she still has this in one of her bedrooms and for ages slept with it in her bed every night. My mum must have spent hours ... read more
Satisfying my little train addict with a Family and Friends Railcard #maketracks
Anyone who knows me will know that Master C is a massive train fan. He's just obsessed with them. One of his most common questions at the moment is "Mummy.... When are we going to do something trainy?" Combine his train addition with my love of all things thrifty, and it will be no surprise to hear how big a fan I am of the Family and Friends Railcard. We've had one since Little Miss C was old enough to need train tickets buying for her (children under the age of five don't need a ticket on most trains) and it must have saved us hundreds and hundreds of pounds in that time. Living in St ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Circus Comes to Town
Oh how the circus has changed since today's Ladybird Tuesday book was first published! The Circus Comes to Town was first published in 1957 and I am led to believe that the first editions of this book came complete with dust jacket, as the very early Ladybird titles did. My copy is probably slightly later, but it's definitely an old edition. The pages are made from the shiny paper that Ladybird trialled in a few titles. When I featured the Ladybird Book of Commercial Vehicles on here a few years back, I wrote about how it was experimented with in series 584, but I hadn't realised that ... read more
Adding a taste of summer to school packed lunches with #ChileanEasyPeelers
Making school packed lunches is one of those jobs that I really don't enjoy. Apart from having to do them for Master C's pre-school lunch club I've luckily avoided them until now. Universal Free Infant School meals meant that whilst Little Miss C was in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 she had a school meal each day, and if she didn't like the hot options she could opt for a school prepared packed lunch - all nutritionally balanced, as worked out by the catering company that the school uses. It made my life much simpler. This September saw LMC start in Year 3 at the local Junior School and with ... read more
Maurice the Unbeastly – Amy Dixon
When you think of a beast, what do you imagine? Probably some ugly creature who roars and stomps around, creating havoc wherever he goes. Maurice could not be further from that image if he tried. Maurice instead is gentle and kind. Sings beautifully and looks incredibly photogenic in pictures. He's also a big fan of organic snacks. Maurice's parents are worried that he needs to learn to be less civilised and so enrol him at the Abominable Academy for Brutish Beasts where they try to teach him to behave improperly. Will they succeed though? Or will they see that being different can be a good ... read more
Magical Unicorn Activity Chest from The Works
Unicorns seem to be absolutely everywhere these days. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm more tuned in to them with a step-daughter who is obsessed, and also a daughter who currently hangs on to every word she says. The thing with having a daughter is that I see trends and obsessions from my childhood come round again with her, but the unicorn thing is something that I think completely passed me by when I was a child. I remember crazes for collecting erasers, those puffy stickers, random bits of stationery and even yo-yos advertising soft drinks, but unicorns don't feature anywhere in my ... read more
My predictions for hair trends in Autumn/Winter 2017 #AWBeautyTrends
There's no doubt that autumn is now well and truly here. The temperature has dropped and I've certainly felt that I've needed a scarf and gloves when I've been outside. A ten minute wait at a bus stop the other night even had me wishing for a woolly hat to keep my head warm. To me autumn is that time of year stop and focus on myself for a little bit. On my own health and well being. We all spend ages getting our bodies "summer-ready" but I think it's all too easy to sort of forget about all that as summer starts to go into Autumn So maybe we should all stop and take stock for a bit. When ... read more
#EcoverLaundry challenge – the stealth approach
Laundry. I'm pretty sure it breeds in my house. One minute I've got the washing basket empty and then the next time I look it's full again. How is that even possible? I try my best to stay on top of the washing, but at times it is just impossible. At the moment we're living in a tiny little rented flat and whilst it came with a washing machine, we don't have a tumble dryer or even a washer dryer like I used to have in my last house. Luckily the block of flats does have a communal drying area - a square area that is zig-zagged with washing lines and surrounded by high walls. Amazingly it ... read more
FitBeer – A Proper Good Beer
I know I've got myself a bit of a reputation online for liking a tipple sometimes in an evening, but I'll let you into another little secret... I also quite like a non-alcoholic beer every now and again... I've always enjoyed the taste of beer, and when I was pregnant with Master C I started to absolutely crave the stuff. Obviously there are rules about drinking when pregnant (let's not open that can of worms right now) but I chose to try to find alternatives, and so spent what felt like the entire nine months trying to find a good non-alcoholic beer. Towards the end I had indeed managed ... read more
A Very Pompom Christmas – 20 Festive Projects to Make
October on the calendar means it's perfectly acceptable to talk about Christmas right? I hope so, as that's exactly what I plan to do today as I review the amazing book A Very Pompom Christmas from GMC Books. Written by Jemima Schlee, the subtitle of this book is 20 festive projects to make, and that's exactly what it is. Now, I've come across Jemima Schlee before after picking up one of her previous books, Take a Tea Towel on a GMC stand at Knitting and Stitching, and so I had rather high hopes for this book and they were certainly met by it. I love a Pompom. There's just something ... read more