Miscellaneous

10 Holiday Tips for a Stress-Free Vacation

When you have children to consider, travelling can be more complex than it was when you only had yourself to think about. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy a family trip. Ensuring a stress-free holiday is all in the planning. Here are ten top tips for avoiding stress when you’re travelling. 1. Private Internet Browsing When searching the web for flights and accommodation, enable private browsing to stop websites recognising that you have visited them before. Many sites have algorithms that automatically raise prices on a second or subsequent visit. 2. Insurance matters Travel insurance is a must-have. There are …

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Creating Confident Women through Football

Fancy one of those goosebump moments? You know, those posts you read that make your eyes leak, in a good way; or the films you watch that make you feel full of hope, excited for your children’s future. This is one of those. Watch this short video, then read on to find out why I’m sharing it: How playing football creates confident girls My daughter doesn’t play football. She used to, in primary school, when it was the only girls’ club that was really cool. And it was so cool. Those girls got together in all kinds of weather. I’ve …

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The harsh reality of 12 vs 50

Last school holiday, I did this to my daughter’s hair. Colour is the thing right now, and ‘dip-dye’ is the look. I can totally relate: from the age of 14, when I first added a daily streak of Sun-In to my mousy hair so I could look like Bananarama (in my dreams), I have coloured my crowning glory. I gazed with envy at friends who could manage to achieve something with Toners and Shaders, but they never worked for me. The most I ever managed was a “I suppose it’s not toooo bad” from my parents when they saw that all the purple foam …

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Five Smart Shower-Proof Jackets

Unfortunately for us in the UK, Summer doesn’t always mean guaranteed sun. Whether you’re heading to a festival, the beach, shopping in the city or just running errands, it’s wise to always have a shower-proof jacket to hand, just in case the heavens open – because you can guarantee, if you don’t, they will! Here are five of the smartest and most stylish shower-proof jackets around: 1 – The Right As Rain Jacket by Joules This jacket is lined with soft jersey making it a snugly joy to wear. It’s also got some serious waterproofing going on, but without that …

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Gravity Force: Why Trampolining is the new Clubbing

Trampolining is the new soft play! Gravity Force is a new trampoline park in St Albans that the whole family can enjoy.

“Whether you’re a freestyle pro looking to showcase an insane routine on the Tumble Tracks or an average Joe looking to get stuck into a game of trampoline dodgeball there really is something for everyone.” Does that not just make you want to jump? And that’s just the adults! My kids cannot be the only ones to have recently discovered the craze for trampolining – it’s the new rollerblading as far as they’re concerned, and it’s always top of their list when you ask them what they want to do with a free day. So they are beside themselves with …

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Food inspiration for all occasions

As a mum, the need to provide food for your family feels never-ending. The continual roundabout of shopping, cooking, serving, and cleaning up feels monotonous at the best of times, and often it’s a point of despair. Before I was a mum, I loved nothing better than to spend entire Saturdays menu-planning for dinner parties with friends. I would browse recipe books the night before, and head out early to buy ingredients. I have shelled walnuts for soup, shucked fresh oysters, lovingly created foaming hollandaises, and whipped up meringues to rival Mary Berry’s. But with children, my love of food …

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Why Theresa May should be Prime Minister

  Theresa May for Prime Minister Look, I know this is not going to be a popular post with a lot of my friends. She voted remain, we (allegedly) wanted to leave. You all seem to hate her, declaring her anti-feminist, a homophobe, and a racist. Ok I’m exaggerating, but largely the Facebook posts of my online contacts are not indicating joy at her appointment. I’m not going to comment on her politics. I know very little of them, I’ve paid her no attention in the past. Does that mean I should be disqualified from my vote in the next …

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Why Kids are a Chip off the Old Block in Sport

Children’s sporting choices influenced by parents, study shows If you’ve ever worried about putting too much pressure on your children to participate in sports just because you’re interested in them, you might be relieved to hear that it’s not just completely normal – but also the decisive factor in how your kids learn and play. According to new research by health and wellness provider Benenden, three in four parents are more likely to encourage their child to play a sport that they’re either already passionate about or had played themselves. That’s a pretty sizeable statistic, and proves that parents can …

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Looking at Shakespeare from a different angle #ShakespeareLives

Shakespeare Lives! When she was seven, my daughter suddenly discovered Shakespeare. She had read a children’s version of a Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she was hooked. She asked for Shakespeare for Christmas, and began to talk of the tragedies of Macbeth and Hamlet – though she has always loved Bottom and Mercutio more than the great dramatic characters. Conversely, I came to Shakespeare late, and it took a passionate English teacher to make me love his plays. I’m impressed by how far Shakespeare’s PR campaign has come in the intervening years, that a primary school student not only understands, but …

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Why everyone needs flowers

I remember very clearly the first time I was sent proper flowers. I’d had flowers from my Dad when I passed my driving test, but I’d never been the recipient of a bouquet delivered by the flower shop, complete with gift card, and it was something I had longed for. In my mind, flower delivery was for wedding anniversaries and thank you gifts, and I held out no hope. I must have mentioned it, though I don’t remember. All I know is that someone paid attention. They came the day of my 18th birthday. A boy at school. We’d exchanged …

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Old Bidlake Farm – proper camping, without the hassle

What happens if you take not two, but four kids camping, on your own? In torrential rain? Four hours from home? This is how I spent the half-term holidays. Actually Daddy has no more holiday left to take from his job, but the offer from Old Bidlake Farm to check out one of their bell tents was too tempting to resist, and I’m always suspicious of a school holiday that has nothing written on the calendar. “It’ll be great!” I decided. “I’ll go on my own, we’ll have fun, all under canvas together. Actually,” – I felt brave – “let’s …

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Music fun across the decades

When I was 11 I found Abba. I had managed to secure an alarm clock radio for a birthday, a thing of great beauty in my eyes. It was a huge low rectangular box, with a red digital display, and it took up almost all of my bedside table. My water glass perched precariously on the only remaining corner, and I frequently knocked it off in the middle of the night. My once towering stack of books had to be relegated to floor beneath. I didn’t care. I had an alarm clock radio and I listened to Dave Lee Travis when I …

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Could you give up something you love to save money?

Being cold in bed is no fun. What could you not live without? And you can’t cheat and say your kids. Pick the one thing that you use every single day and could never give up. Then give it up for a week. Anxiety setting in yet? Could I save money on the One Week Energy Challenge? This is what MoneySuperMarket asked me to do last week, to see if I could save money, and how tough it felt to do so. I asked if I could give up Facebook – I could definitely use some motivation to take that time-sucker …

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Diabetes: Is the Artificial Pancreas a Diabetes Cure?

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told that my daughter’s condition will soon be cured. It seems every day that a new headline lands in the consciousness of my friends, reassuring them that a cure for diabetes is imminent. Some even intimate that I can get it from her GP right now. She recently transitioned to insulin-pump therapy, and so we no longer have to think about diabetes. So say all her Grandma’s friends. Of course, the reality is in stark contrast to public perception, and she and I both welcome opportunities to change her pump site in …

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Easter Baking: Moroccan Spiced Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Easter baking: Moroccan spiced hot cross buns recipe

  Easter Baking Ideas We have a bit of time on our hands for once this Easter break. I’ve longed for a holiday where we’re at home, just to spend time with the kids, doing simple things. And one thing they never tire of is baking. Schwartz got in touch to ask if I would get the kids involved in some cooking using some of their spices. Never one to turn down a challenge, and always a lover of a twist, I decided that we’d start our Easter baking preparations with traditional hot cross buns. Recipes for hot cross buns …

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Stable Diabetes: it’s Mission Impossible #DPC16

Why stable diabetes is a fantasy

  I don’t know who this photo belongs to, but if anyone does, I’ll gladly credit. The man is a genius. If you’re living with diabetes I know you’ll be nodding at this point; if you’re not, please believe us – stable diabetes is not something that ever happens, particularly if you’re type 1. “Is she not stable then..?” There is nothing that infuriates a diabetic more than this question. Apart from possibly “Are you allowed to eat that?” See this image for the answer to that question. Then I promise we’ll crack on with the point of this post, but allow …

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How to tackle the debt skeleton in your closet

  Given the rising cost of living in this country, with rents and house prices literally going through the roof, I wasn’t too surprised to read that UK household debt is at its highest in five years. In fact households now, on average, owe 26.5% of their annual income on loans and credit cards (including student loans; excluding mortgages). This is the highest level since before the recession. It’s makes for alarming reading, but it’s easily understandable that people are increasingly having to turn to credit in order to get by. Yet while debt is never enjoyable or desirable, it …

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Teen Fiction: Possessed

Teen fiction - Possessed

Teen Fiction Rising out of bed, as if in a trance, Poppy slowly staggered over to the door; slowly, but purposefully. Reaching out for the doorknob, she turned it and proceeded down the stairs. Not acknowledging the frantic shouts from her parents’ bedroom, she unlocked the front door and stepped outside into the frosty night. The darkness wrapped around her while she trudged down the icy pavement. Suddenly, her soot black eyes focused on a curved dagger resting against a wall. With her eyes sparkling with danger, she stretched out an arm to retrieve it, while the bitter winds swirled …

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Gaming: Keeping your child safe online

What did you get for Christmas? More to the point, what did your child find under the tree on Christmas day? And whilst they’ve been playing with it, are you sure they’re safe? With Wi-Fi connected toys topping the list of Christmas gifts for children, AVG’s Tony Anscombe explains why parents need to consider the security implications and how connected they want their child to be. Consider Online Gaming Safety Many parents will have noticed the invasion of talking (and listening), ‘artificially intelligent’ (AI) toys hitting the shelves this holiday season. Once inanimate, mute objects on which we had to project …

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I am international spy with a serious caffeine problem

Bet you didn’t know that. Neither did I, but that’s what comedian Mark Watson decided when he came to have a snoop round my home recently. Star of stand-up comedy, Mark Watson Kicks Off, and Mock the week, Mark was invited by Money Supermarket to have a guess at my personality, based on what he found in my home. The theory was that we insure our most important belongings, not just for their financial worth, but because of what they mean to us personally. A team arrived to video Mark’s cogitations, and rather like Through the Keyhole, I stifled giggles …

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