Miscellaneous - Page 10 of 37

Christmas: a magical email from Santa

March 15, 2016November 30, 2015

*Checks no-one is looking* Shhhh. I’ve just finished organising the kids’ videos from Santa. *Turns up TV and locks door* Get an email from Santa They’ve both been really good this year; at least that’s what I told Santa when I held a secret conference call with him earlier today. Ahem. He’s promised to bring what they’ve asked for on Christmas Eve, and has even emailed them a video of the mailing room where their letters have been received. Not only that, but in the video, he takes them on a tour of an elf’s house, and shows them his reindeer. It’s …

Home: Budgeting for home improvements

June 19, 2016October 29, 2015

How to budget for home improvements As you know, I love family adventures and any spare cash that we have always goes on spending time together as a family, which is why my never ending list of home improvements always seems to take a back seat. The shower needs a new door, a kitchen cupboard has a note stuck on it saying “do not open,” for fear of the front falling off, and the floor tiles are growing things in the cracks. It annoys me, but home improvements are just so expensive! That doesn’t mean that our home is an unpleasant …

Travel: Amba Hotel at Charing Cross London

May 8, 2021October 21, 2015

Review of the Amba hotel at Charing Cross in London's West End

Last Christmas we gifted Actually Daddy a genius experience. A voucher for the whole family to go with him to see one of his favourite shows ‘on the stage.’ A signed up fan of all things Monty Python, he was always going to love the Faulty Towers Dining Experience, and we’d decided to make a weekend of it, spending the night in London rather than dragging back home with the kids on a packed late night train. As I hunted around for somewhere to stay after the show, it dawned on me that the hotel playing host to the production …

Days Out: Faulty Towers and an avocado sofa

November 18, 2019October 10, 2015

A review of the Faulty Towers Dining Experience at the Amba Hotel Charing Cross

For a wedding gift, my brother-in-law gave us a very bizarre thing. I’m slightly embarrassed to confess that we fell into the cliché of demanding that plates, cutlery and cushions be donated via a large department store, but he ignored such bland instructions, instead posting us a voucher. It caused so much consternation in our new married bliss, that we waited until the day before it expired to use it. Early one Saturday morning we took the train into London, swigging champagne from a bottle to fuel the bravado we thought we’d need, and breakfasted at the Hard Rock Café …

No Likes Needed

May 22, 2019October 8, 2015

Yesterday I spent the entire day on social media. It wasn’t intentional – at least, it was, kind of, but I wasn’t supposed to be on it all the time – it just kind of took over my day. I had been commissioned by the Dove Self-Esteem Project to experience social media as a teenaged girl. They had some research about how the average girl spends her time online, and they wanted me to experience it for myself, and report back on how it felt. I went to bed early, with a headache, craving wine that we didn’t have in …

Is your car safe in winter?

October 21, 2015October 6, 2015

Jodie Kidd launches Halfords free Women’s Winter Motor Workshops at Halfords

I have the most epic car. I’m not sure when I first started to crave a Mini Cooper, but it may have had something to do with Charlize Theron’s moves in the Italian Job remake. Mine is blue though, and the roof comes down. Epic. It has one small problem though. Whenever I sit in it these days, on goes the warning light, and ‘ding’ shouts the alarm. My car needs a service. Of course, I know the phone number of the service centre, there is a really nice lounge there to wait in, and the coffee machine makes a …

School: The most stressful days of your life?

May 8, 2021September 11, 2015

Does your school look after your child's emotional wellbeing?

School stress image courtesy of Shutterstock. Does your school prioritise wellbeing and emotional health? On the school run I walk past two schools: the primary, where my children spend their days; and the local secondary school, which churns out hundreds of blazered adolescents attached to phones, bikes, and in some cases, to each other. Overall, these teenagers are pretty well-behaved; their headteacher often operates the pelican crossing, so they need be, at least until they’re over the road and round the corner. They will move aside for your buggy – if they see you. They will nod, and maybe even smile, if …

Family: Learning to use Heelys

March 15, 2016September 4, 2015

The Bug got a pair of Heelys from his Grandma for his eighth birthday. Cool gift. He’d watched his sister and her friends gliding round the park for a while – and anything she can do, he wants to do – so Heelys is what he asked for. His sister helped choose them, picking out the high-top style she secretly wants for herself. He unwrapped them, loved them, and all was good. Until I tried to help him learn to use them. Cue grumpy face, and swift return from the park with a rather strong smell of defeatism following on …

Travel: Canadian Road Trip for Dinosaur Enthusiasts

November 17, 2016July 15, 2015

Road trips are something the whole family can enjoy - especially the dinosaur fans! Travel Alberta invites you to experience #AlbertaDinosaurs

Once upon a time a boy met a girl. The girl loved travel, and the boy loved adventure. They fell for each other and set about a series of road trips in their holiday time. Cool open-top cars drew them along gorgeous coastlines, and through stunning landscapes. They stopped in cities for cocktails, on beaches to see whales, and in rocky mountains to watch bears and breathe the freshest air. Then they got married and had children. The end. Except it wasn’t. Sure, they travelled short-haul for a few years, while they worked up the nerve to fly further afield …

Merry Christmas! Pines and Needles Christmas Tree Delivery Review

May 8, 2021July 13, 2015

Oh yes I did. I did just wish you a merry Christmas. And I appreciate that with many of you just about to head off on your summer holidays, Christmas may not be top of your agenda right now. But it should be. Because I have an offer for you that you really don’t want to miss. Christmas Tree Decoration image from Shutterstock Christmas Tree stress You know the romantic image you have of heading out a week before Christmas Eve together to choose your tree? That one special tree that is destined to be yours, that then won’t fit …

How to spend £100

September 8, 2016May 6, 2015

I’ve not been around much recently, but my mother, on seeing this particular nugget of a blog headline, decided that I would be the best candidate to answer the question. She’s probably right. You really don’t want to know what she’d spend £100 on. But I’m going to tell you anyway, just so you know what kind of person she really is. Yoghurt. Every week she does a grocery shop and comes back home with £100 of yoghurt. (This may be a slight exaggeration – she does occasionally add milk, ham and juice to the fridge. Oh, and Cheerios). But …

4 Reasons to Love Barbados

April 12, 2015

The Sea: it is blue, not steely grey; it’s coolness is a delicious relief from the heat of the sun, not an exercise in endurance. The children are happy there, playing, laughing, bonding. The Rain: yes, even the rain in Barbados is lovely. Soft and warm, feeding the lush green of the island. A book and umbrella are all you need for a rainy day. The Light: stunning colours everywhere, and it’s all down to the vast expanse of blue skies. We haven’t had a holiday with this much sun and warmth in years. We needed it. The Food: …

10 Tips for getting kids more active

February 14, 2018February 10, 2015

We’re not an outdoorsy kind of family. The Bug loves his Saturday football, and I pound the pavements (intermittently) for the sake of fitness, or the occasional charity challenge. But a bike ride has to end at the park or the pub before enough enthusiasm is be mustered to leave the house; utter the words “shall we go for a walk” and you’re likely to get looks of horror and a request for a pound in the swear box. That said, I’ve always been the kind of mum who likes her children to get fresh air (it comes from my own …

A compassionate Mum: Tesco Mum of the Year Awards 2015

May 22, 2019February 3, 2015

Compassionate Mum winner Tesco Mum of the Year 2015

It’s no secret that we’ve had a tough few months here. My daughter’s diagnois of Type 1 diabetes at the end of the summer has really wiped the floor with us, again and again, in ways we could not have imagined when we first heard those words in the GP’s surgery. I lost a ton of weight, and not in a good way; I just couldn’t eat. Or drink wine – imagine! Over time – although acceptance is still a long way off – that initial shock has become less acute. I found myself tweeting this over the weekend, after noticing that …

I can’t dance (Red Nose Day Danceathon with Team Honk)

June 18, 2016January 23, 2015

As a child, I took dancing lessons. Latin, mostly, and I excelled at the Samba in particular. Let’s start that again, shall we? What I actually mean is that me and my block-heeled silver sandals made it through a few certificates before I hung up my sequins in favour of a ra-ra skirt and drainpipe jeans. The Human League didn’t do ballroom, so neither did I. Of course, now that my daughter likes to watch Strictly, I pretend to her that I’ve been there and done that. In reality I did a bit of cha-cha-cha, stiffly partnered by some poor boy drafted in for the exams, …

What Santa said to the Tooth Fairy

May 8, 2021January 9, 2015

I know we’re well into January now, and by rights I should be posting recipies involving brown rice, or decluttering tips. Heck, it’s even too late for New Year resolutions now! Which it just as well, because I didn’t make any… I’m terrifically tardy, but I’m going to bend your ear about Christmas, because really, this is one conversation I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share. What Santa said to the Tooth Fairy Prologue A week before Christmas, the wobbly tooth began to feature. Apples and carrots were requested, not to store up for the reindeer, but to force …

Merry Christmas from London

May 8, 2021December 24, 2014

It’s lovely having a birthday at Christmas. I’ve always considered myself lucky that the whole world is set to party, twinkly lights and tinsel everywhere I look, all ready for me to throw myself into another year older. And so I work hard to get Christmas totally sorted in time for my day, so that I can relax and enjoy my family and friends. So today I headed off into London with the kids, to meet Actually Daddy for lunch. Steak and chips and red wine at Sophies in Covent Garden – such a treat and it wasn’t even the …

A Christmas Wot so Funee?

August 4, 2016December 23, 2014

Found hiding amongst a pile of papers at the bottom of a cupboard. GG was having a tidy up, an event that only happens once every couple of years. I swear one day she will no longer fit in her room, she’s such a hoarder. It had to be a Christmas Wot so Funee?

9 Brilliant Books for Tween Girls to Expand Their Reading Level

May 3, 2021December 16, 2014

Books for 10 year old girls The Twistrose Key (by Tone Almhjell) Full of mystery, it slowly leads you up to the main event, until you’re so into it that you’re guessing what might happen next! (GG) Have you ever wondered where your pets go when they die? In your wildest imagination you couldn’t imagine this scenario for them, but when Lin finds her way to the land of Sylver, imagination becomes her reality, and an eternal winter plays host to racing adventure. It started out as an advent calendar of one-page chapters for the author’s sister and became a …

Whittlebury Hall Hotel and Spa Review

May 8, 2021December 15, 2014

Christmas coffee, gingerbread muffins, and champagne! I am well and truly ready for Christmas. Last week I had finally stopped ignoring the fact that my cupboards were empty of potential giftware, with two expectant children and their eager faces goading me into entering the festive fray. I threw myself headlong into the frenzy of preparation, and bought all (well, most) of my presents for family and friends online. I thought I was doing well, until the to-do list began to resemble my old school homework diary in the run-up to GCSE’s. I was frazzled. But this week I returned from …