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Perfect for half term, enormous garden darts. I’ll not be leaving my boys unattended with these, though – the metal tips do make them actually act like darts, but if tired tempers start to fray I’m not convinced I wouldn’t find them stuck somewhere unmentionable. Fab for the older children… and I can see these being broken out post-children’s-bedtime too…
£27.94 from the always-lovely people at Pedal Pushers
Blog Love round up is here again…
Starting up I wanted to point you all at Clinically Fed Up’s discourse on More Than one Way To Skin A CAT. It had me chuntering away like a Middle-aged Daily Mail reader in no time… And itching to go wave it in the face of my son’s SATS-obsessed school.
I Loved Laura’s Pair Of Spaniel’s Ears over on Are we Nearly there Yet Mummy – and am now terrified of my long-(overdue) promised trip to M&S.
There is a self-pimp from Never Plain Jane for her Strawberries & Cream Cookies. Lushness.
Next up was another self-pimp, this time from Milla. But I was going to post this one myself. It’s simply called ‘Later’, and anyone with older 11+ children should read with a warning – I’m not the only one who found it a bit tricky to get through without a lump in my throat.
No More Wine-ing from Grenglish was proffered up by Bianca, and if you pop over, make sure you read the next post too…
Bianca the Richmond Mummy also offered a small self-pimp of a post of her own. Which is simply fab, and a great read. Titled This Much I Now Know, anyone who’s ever had a baby will nod their way through.
MummyLimited offered up a thought-provoking post from Slugs On The Refrigerator, “Why isn’t It Enough“. Certainly it made me stop and think – and I know we probably all feel the same at some point, no matter what out situation is.
And MummyLimited finally hit that pregnancy Zen moment, when Everything Feels Fine.
Crock-Pot® Slow Cookers were originally launched in the seventies but now this exciting collection has introduced a whole new generation to this excellent method of cooking with state of the art features and design.
So school approaches – and with it the dreaded return of the laundry pile. I love the summer months, with its limited washing of shorts and tees – yes, even in the ‘summer’ we can expect in good ole Blighty.
The trouble is – I’m a lazy laundress. I am.
I’ll separate whites and coloured. Mostly. But term time the uniform all gets bunged in together – grey trousers, red jumpers and white polo shirts. Whist shirts which inevitably become chewing-gum-coloured before too long.
BUT.
Now I use these handy little sheet things from Dr Beckmann. And the handy little sheet thingy comes out of the machine all grey and chewing-gum-coloured. My whites? they stay white. As do the white stripes on Pink’s favourite top, and the white parts of The Husband’s favourite blue and white striped top.
And me? I’m happy with anything that costs less than £3, totally works AND aids my inner Lazy Laundress.
So a week ago, I started listening to the Slimpod for under ten minutes a day.
I didn’t diet. I didn’t make any conscious changes to what I was doing. I didn’t set out to starve myself of all things delicious in my usual I’m-Losing-Weight-Now fashion.
I DID notice changes. Differences in my relationship with food. Changes in my food choices. Differences in my eating habits.
Today I stepped on the scales.
I had lost 5lb.
Woot woot!
I have a Very Long Way to go, but that’s a pretty damn fine start in my book.
Fabulous sign from the the Fabulous The Contemporary Home. That is all.
Dullness, I know. Washing. Machine. Cleaner.
But don’t you get all sniffy yet.
Because I was all sniffy – till I used it.
And now my washing machine sparkles inside. more importantly my clothes smell better – and are definitely cleaning better.
You know that bad smell you get when you leave the door closed on your machine? That’s from the bacteria build up in your pipes and oojamaflips inside the machine, where they breed between washes. This Service-It stuff in effect just gives the whole shebang a really good scrub.
It’s easy – and it works.
And for less than £3 a few times a year I’m happy to repeat it, just to give my beloved washing machine the once-over it deserves.
*sponsored post*
Buying a home usually involves a lot of consideration, not least because it can be the biggest financial commitment someone takes, inevitably over time a collection of valuable and sentimental possessions will be built up. Protecting your home and the contents will be the main motivation for people to apply for home insurance.
An insurance company can advise on the best type of home insurance cover. When buying a property with a mortgage the lender building insurance is usually compulsory. Building insurance can provide financial cover against physical damage to the house or permanent fixtures and fittings such as bathrooms and kitchens.
The other type of home insurance is contents insurance, this provides financial cover against the loss that may result from a burglary, fire, explosion or flooding of the home, whilst possessions can be replaced there are other types of possessions that hold significant sentimental value that are not so easily replaceable.
Whilst flooding is high in certain areas of the UK, fires are not necessarily limited to geographical location. The majority of fires in the home seem to occur in the kitchen, this could be due to accidents when cooking or kitchen appliance defects another room in a home that experiences a high proportion of fires is the lounge. The emergency services have to deal with tens of thousands of house fires every year, a home with a good burglar alarm, secure doors and windows as well as smoke alarms, fire blankets and fire extinguishers can help (save lives) to reduce the amount of insurance premium to be paid.
Students and tenants living in shared properties should apply for individual contents insurance for their own personal items, whereas the building insurance will be the responsibility of the landlord.
It’s been such a bonkers couple of weeks (we’re finalists in The MADS, did we say? *grin*), I’ve been very slow to catch up on my Blog reader. But now’s your chance to let me know your favourite reads from the last couple of weeks. Remember that probably 80% of our readers are NOT bloggers – they won’t have heard of any of the posts we feature, it’s a great window into blogging for them, a fab introduction into blogging.
So. There’s no Linky, no Hop, no theme, no rules. We just want you to share some Blog Love – and tell the rest of us about a fabulous post you’ve read over the last couple of weeks. Maybe it made you laugh, brought a lump to your throat, gave you instructions for something you intend to try out – or simply made you nod furiously in agreement. We don’t mind – there is no theme, we’re just looking for those posts which are worth talking about.
Simply leave a comment with a link to the post, and a quick line about why. Leave as many as you like (but more than one link in a comment will find you in the Spam folder, so maybe you could separate them pleasethankyou?). Oh, and self-pimping is totally allowed… but we’re reserving editors rights on those self-nominations.
Tomorrow we’ll do a Blog Love round up, and send some Blog Love out to all the posts YOU think are worth it.
Vinyl wall stickers are a fantastic way of adding a bit of decoration to a wall. Even better if they are personalised liket his Baby Stamp wall sticker from Wall Words.
Would make a great new baby gift.
(We are finalists in the ‘Small Business Blog’ category of the 2011 MAD awards. This is hugely exciting for us, and means veryeversomuch a LOT. If you would like to help us win, you can see how here.)
Our Get Squiggling Animal Magic DVD competition is closing tomorrow. We have five copies to give away to five lucky winners in this competition.
A unique interactive pre-school series to inspire creativity and imagination. Squiglet lives in a plain white world, but it doesn’t stay white for long… With help of his Squiggle sticks (a magical set of Crayons) and Squiggle Pad (his drawing book).
Lunchboxes. Bane of my life.
Such a task to find ones that are practical, yet playground-acceptable. That fit inside my no-ghastly-plastic-branding rule, whilst also fitting inside a small persons hand or book bag.
But look at these I stumbled across whilst ambling around researching *cough* Camel & Yak.
So SO lovely!
There’s a range of designs, and two shape options too.
And for a smidge under £11 they look well-built enough to last a fair few playground years.
You can find them at Camel & Yak’s right here. Careful. Once you click, you may be some time…
(We are finalists in the ‘Small Business Blog’ category of the 2011 MAD awards. This is hugely exciting for us, and means veryeversomuch a LOT. If you would like to help us win, you can see how here.)
You know how sometimes, you read something that makes you want to talk about it? Yesterday, I received one of those mails. It was just a newsletter, from one of my favourite Secondhand Booksellers, AbeBooks. By the time I made it to the end, I was buzzing.
This is a very clipped part of the article, reproduced with kind permission from Richard Davies of AbeBooks – you can see the original article here.
“Reading should be an essential part of any childhood. Teachers and schools can teach you many useful things (although I’ve not used calculus in my adult life) but a steady diet of literature can ensure a young person’s education never ends.
Below are 50 books that I and a few other colleagues recommend for a typical 11-year-old – some can be read at a much younger age while others are verging on the young adult genre. Some of these books I have revisited as an adult while reading to my eldest. Some are ageless classics and others are hyper modern. Some are sets or series so you are actually receiving more than 50 recommendations.
Many people, let alone an 11-year-old, would be hard-pushed to read all these books in 12 months. Mr Gove’s heading in the right direction – let’s just get young people reading.”
I showed it to Katy, and we spent literally 20 minutes Oooh!-ing, Yes!-ing, Oh-D’you-Remember?-ing, and long pauses whilst we drooled over the list. We both came to the same conclusion – we fully intend to work our way right through it.
Although the list says for 11yr olds, most of these I’ll be reading to my 8 & 9yr old too. Because they love to be read to at bedtime. And now I’M about to start choosing the books – because I know that no matter how much they dismiss the cover, one chapter in to some of these and they’ll be utterly hooked. Just like I was 30 years ago.
I’m also very tired of my children’s sad penchant for dismissing books in old used covers, wanting shiny new reprints even of old classics – this time they’ll be getting 2nd hand much-loved battered varieties to read from.
(We are finalists in the ‘Small Business Blog’ category of the 2011 MAD awards. This is hugely exciting for us, and means veryeversomuch a LOT. If you would like to help us win, you can see how here.)
This Lin & Leo Changing Bag is a beautiful thing. A fabulous red with cherry print fabric lining, it looks and feels luxurious and has style oozing from every stitch. It was love at first sight for me, but to be sure I took it for a second opinion from the Mummy mafia. They all loved it too and I’ve noticed covetous glances aplenty and even the odd stroke of the soft leather.
There’s no denying of its loveliness, but with 3 kids and a dog I need more than just looks. A changing bag has got to be practical. This one has plenty of pockets, both outside for quick access to keys, mobiles and other essentials as well as inside for all the baby paraphernalia. I regularly pack nappies, wipes, nappy cream, breast pads, camera, various lotions and potions, a full change of baby clothes and some water into the bag and it all fits into the various pockets with some ease and space. An easy wipe changing mat is included which is also trimmed with the same cherry fabric as the rest of the bag, a lovely touch. The bag has shoulder straps for carrying over one arm, and an adjustable strap which means I can hang it over the buggy handle.
The negatives? Even without any of the essential baby kit inside it is a heavy bag. Once fully loaded (and because it is big, fully loaded does mean a LOT of stuff) it really is comparable to an upper body workout at the gym. If I will need to be carrying anything apart from the bag, I tend to leave it behind and cross my fingers it won’t be needed whilst we are out. The pockets are all made of fabric which means if there is any spillage of anything it will be difficult to clean. The fabric nature of the pockets also means that those looking for an insulated pocket to keep food in will be disappointed.
Overall though, this is a lovely bag, which doesn’t look like a changing bag. I’ll be using it for a long time after my boys are past the nappy stage. It is real quality, looks wonderful and I love it.
Did I say that I love it? Did I say that all my friends love it too and are secretly very jealous indeed? Good. *nods*
The Lin & Leo Changing Bag comes in three colours (there’s chocolate and tan too, just in case red isn’t your thing), and can be yours from Lush Baby for £139.
Reviewed by Goddess Emily, who usually resides at PantsWithNames
(We are finalists in the ‘Small Business Blog’ category of the 2011 MAD awards. This is hugely exciting for us, and means veryeversomuch a LOT. If you would like to help us win, you can see how here.)
Oh what could be sweeter in a clock than this? Two Lulabird owls, no less.
The clear numbers make it a very practical clock for a childs room, of course; but blow them, I want this in my office!
Available from HunkyDory Home, and a steal at just £30.
(We are finalists in the ‘Small Business Blog’ category of the 2011 MAD awards. This is hugely exciting for us, and means veryeversomuch a LOT. If you would like to help us win, you can see how here.)
Maggy at Red Ted Art and Josie at Sleep Is For The Week are running a fab meme on behalf of Save the Children, combining a healthy dollop of potentially world-changing charity action with a bit of a challenge and crafty fun. We’re campaigning to help save 4 million lives in 4 hours at the global vaccines summit in June. No child is born to die, but 8 million children under five die every year from illnesses we know how to treat or prevent, such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. In the 21st century, this is utterly wrong. We only have one month left to build up public pressure, and persuade world leaders to act.
These children deserve the chance to grow up, and we need to get as many signatures as possible on that petition and then to keep making noise on our blogs, on Twitter and on Facebook. We need to be shouting about these children who can’t be heard for themselves.
The challenge is simple;
Yes I know it's supposed to be a self portrait. But if you ask Pink to draw herself, this is what you get. Her family. She is only one part of a whole - she doesn't come as a separate piece yet. I quite like that.
1) Get your child to either draw or craft a self-portrait of themselves now or in the future. Check out RedTedArt’s self-portrait post for some tips.
2) Sign the Save the Children petition and then pass it onto your friends
3) Write a blog post about it as soon as possible, including info about Save the Children and the petition. We want as many people linked up AND signed up the petition by Sunday 29th May 2011
4) Tag 8 fellow blogger friends
5) Come back and link up your posts, so we can all share your craftiness
6) If you have time, visit each other posts and say hello!
The 8 bloggers I tag are (in no particular order other than me finding them in my Reader) these…
(Oh, and if you;re not a blogger don’t think you’re excluded – I’m tagging facebookers too…)
Our competition to give away a luxurious Mamami by Chet luxury baby changing bag to one lucky winner ends tomorrow. The ultimate in luxury baby change bags. Loved by famous mamami’s Sophie Ellis Bexter & Lauren Lavern the Mamami ultimate luxury baby bag is the perfect accessory for all style-conscious Mums. The Mamami by Chet is a truly stylish yet practical baby changing bag, designed for the mummy who won’t compromise on style or glamour!
Joe was just getting to the point where he thought he was far too grown up for a highchair – he is two after all… they grow up so fast these days! – and I was wondering what we would do for the next stage. If we sit him at the table he just gets down, so we needed him to be restricted, but not to feel too much like a baby. The Nuna Zaaz turned out to be absolutely perfect.
For a start, it doesn’t look like a highchair – it just looks like a smart chair with some additions. It’s incredibly simple to put together and it’s also very flexible. We started off using it with the cushioned seat and the tray, but it was a bit of a squeeze so we took the cushion out, obviously leaving the straps on, and it was perfect. We generally take the tray off too and pull Joe up to eat at the table with the rest of us, which makes him feel a bit more grown-up. We’ve also taken the shoulder straps off, but left the waist straps on. The lift mechanism is incredibly easy too – you just lift the footrest and the chair glides up (sort of like an office chair). It’s also incredibly easy to clean with none of the irritating nooks and crannies you often get with highchairs.
If I have one complaint about this chair it’s that the positioning of the buckle is very slightly tricky and I did once pinch Joe’s tummy when I was strapping him in, but that’s a small niggle (and he’s got quite a big tummy).
Hmm.
Now.
We don’t DO diets here on LittleStuff.
No we do NOT.
But.
This isn’t a diet. And the more I read about the slimpod range, the keener I was to try it.
So. Here goes.
From This...
I’m not going to tell you how much I have to lose. I’m not utterly foolish.
But I will tell you I want to drop *whispers* FOUR dress sizes.
So if you want to have a look and see for yourself what it’s all about, head over to Thinking Slimmer and read all about it. They’re not just for weight loss either – there’s a chill out one, one for chocoholics… even one to help over-50′s enjoy life to the full again.
In the meantime – I’ll be back next Monday, reporting in, let you know if it’s actually working…
