Liberty Belle....... The Launch Party

Yesterday I had a fantastic evening out, well any rare night without the kids is fantastic but this was even better, it was the Liberty Belle Launch Party.

You can find out more about Liberty Belle here.

And you must check out their New Website here

The Liberty Belle Launch Party was held in the mezzanine and upstairs exhibition area of the  Workstation in Sheffield City Centre which is a lovely venue and part of the Showroom cinema.

Tueful Tuesday - MMMBop by Hanson

I've just discovered Spotify and am a little bit addicted to reviving all my songs of yesteryear without having to turn out my CD collection.  One of my favourite playlists is called "Songs to Sing in the shower" and among some of my tween favourites featured was Hanson's MMMBop .... it was one of the first singles I bought in 1997 (when i was a little tween of 15, wow that was a lonnggggggg time ago).

It's one of those proper earworm songs so if you don't want to be singing it for the rest of the day look away now!!

Scrambled Egg

It's quick it's easy and it used 2 fantastic products eggs and milk.  To be honest it's pretty difficult to get wrong too. 

You can amend it however you like with little difficulty depending on if you want a big meal or a light snack.

"Sad Letters" from the teacher .... I am SOO in the #badmumsclub

Last term Ben came home from school with a 'sad letter' from his teacher.  He wasn't alone, a few of his friends also came out of school brandishing the white paper of dread.  Turns out a group of them had been fighting in the playground, teasing another child and then running away.  I was cross.  This was NOT how I'd brought my son up.    Not only was he, rightly, told off for his behaviour by the teacher he has been sent to the Headteachers office with his friends to explain their actions.
   Let me put this in context if you are new to my blog.  Ben is 5 YEARS old. He is a 'normal' kid, that is I cannot hide behind autism or ADHD or another 'problem' for the way he behaves.  yes he lashes out, he's 5, trying to control his temper is really difficult but that's not an excuse.  At the time of this first letter he had been in his reception class for around 4 months.
  Of course we didn't let it go, he was made to apologise to his teacher the following morning when he went into school and had his PS3/ DS time taken away for a week.

Liberty Belle ... the new magazine to look out for....

Liberty Belle is a student-led magazine aimed at female students of Sheffield.  But don't let that put you off, don't stop reading.  It is equally interesting for 30something mums of 2 or for any men who are curious to know more about a woman's world *cough* birthday, Christmas *cough*.

I was concerned that having put my uni days behind me almost 10 years ago I may be a little old for Liberty Belle but they soon eased those worries, I'm even off to their Launch Party on Friday and cannot wait to feed back to you all.

Liberty Belle are fairly new to the magazine scene.  Beginning with a vision, and a team of 20, in September 2012 to give Sheffield's female students a voice and a place to find more about their city and living life on a budget.  This team of 20 is now a team of 70 who on 1st March released their first e-magazine.  They are now about to launch their first ever 64 page print edition.

Flashback Friday - Bertha

Bertha, lovely Bertha, you are a lovely machine

Any anyone who works with you will know just what I mean.

Bertha, lovely Bertha, sometimes I thing you're a dream,

When we work out what you have to do,

You can always turn the goods out, always turn the goods out,

We can depend upon you.

A hidden gem of 80s TV that gets blank expressions when I mention it to people.    Perhaps because there was only 13 episodes made and broadcast on BBC in 1985/6, sadly, whilst the DVD (and books if you can get hold of them) remains it was never repeated or revived.

#sheffblogmeet

A brain child I had last night, sat at home will all my 'fiends' telling me how they had far to much of a life to go out with me (on the one night I've ever asked them) so I turned to my online friends.
  We got talking about how you can always rely on your virtual friends and that some of them might only live up the road from me but yet we don't know each other.

So here's the plan ........ lets meet up for a #Sheffblogmeet.

Ice cream milkshake

I was recently sent my first Bzz campaign, to try A2 milk free so naturally with the heat my thoughts turned to milkshake.

Before I tell you how we made it let me explain what makes A2 milk different to normal cows milk.

Cows' milk contains protein, specifically 2 types A1 and A2.   Over the years the A2 protein has decreased and the A1 becomes more dominant in the produced milk.  A2 Milk is naturally rich in only the A2 protein and none of the A1 protein.  This means A2 Milk may provide relief to many of the one in five Brits who struggle to digest cows' milk due to the way it acts on your digestion system.

Silent Sunday - 18th May 2014

Meal Plan W/C 17th May

I really need to have an eating up session we've been so lax re-filling the freezer before it's really empty.
See here for why my planning is SO hard to do.  Once the cupboards and freezer are empty I can do my £200 challenge again with the bonus of it should be cheaper as Summer always leads me and the kids to eat more salad.

My husband's fussiness stretches to the fact that unless we are having 'family meals' he will not be told what to eat on what day.  There is no point me telling him what to cook for the kids on certain days as history has shown he does not stick to it.

In no particular order  (unless stated) our meals will be taken from any combination of the following (hence being more choices then days :)  ).......

'boys' toys vs 'girls' toys

Twice this week I've had a conversation with someone over gender stereotyping in kids and where we draw for the line.

Personally I don't see the problem with my boys playing with the traditional "girls toys".  When they went to the childminders the first thing Noah would head for were the baby dolls and the pushchair.He spent hours playing with it, taking it for walks etc.   They both enjoy getting the tea-set out at home to play shops or picnics.

They enjoy watching Frozen and play endless games where they are Elsa or Anna (fighting over who will be who)...... they wear my old uni fairy wings and wands, my 5 year old has even been known to prance around the house wearing my bra when he was younger.

And who could forget how much fun they had when Bodyshop brought make up and other goodies to the #MidsBlogMeet, they were in their element. 

or how they love to have a bath using Lush's bathbombs

Flashback Friday - The Animals of Farthing Wood

There's not normally a week goes by when we don't get all nostalgic at work, and this week was no different.  We were busy discussing Children's TV of today and how they don't really give out the same messages as kids TV "in our day".  When every programme gave a message be it of strength or courage or perseverance. Helping others or consequences of your actions.  This brought us onto the long forgotten subject of the Animals of Farthing Wood which teaches us about humans impact on the environment, pollution and ruining forests and a great starting point for discussing death with children.

Wall Art Stickers Review

This is a sponsored post for 

As you know we recently moved into our new house and Ben went from having a themed room to 4 bare walls, with the exception of a lovely blue feature wall. just screaming out for something. With his bed against this wall it wasn't the place to hang posters so we were toying with the idea of a large sticker. You know the type that are EVERYWHERE at the moment a nice wordy graphic in a beautiful font that sums him up to a T. At 5 years old he's growing up too quickly so I didn't want anything too babyish as he's practically a teenager (as I get reminded daily with his attitude and allergy to mornings!).

Anyway the hunt took us to many places but with prices ranging anywhere from a few £ to an A1 size to upwards of £30 for a huge one the hunt had been postponed until payday (then the next payday, then the next.....) or until we found something perfect.

Then, as if they could read my mind, Wall Art Stickers UK asked for bloggers to test their wall stickers, naturally I signed up with fingers crossed......and got some brilliant news.

Gina G - Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit

I'm not a Euro-nut.  In fact I will do anything to avoid watching it.  But I couldn't let the week pass without sharing my favourite Eurovision song of all time (my mum used to have it on when I was little).

In 1996 Gina G took to the stage with Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit, although she only made it to the number 8 spot in the show the song went onto be Number 1 in the UK and other countries.  It was also one of the first singles I bought.

Do you have a favourite Eurovision song?

silent sunday - 11.5.14

My son is turning into me **hangs head in shame**

I need to sell my Luna ... I cannot put it off any longer, I LOVE that buggy and parting with it will be like admitting my baby is growing up.
     So I cleaned it all up and tried to find the limited edition London liner to put in it for photos ..... but it wasn't there.  I KNOW my husband washed it a month or so ago but where had he put it afterwards???

I did text him at work and got the helpful "I don't know" reply.

I emptied EVERY cupboard and looked in the linen baskets (they're the obvious places right?!) but it wasn't there.  So I went down to the cellar (this is ME we are talking about).  I found a few things I'd lost or forgotten about over the last few months and brought them all upstairs into the dining room to "put away".  I found Ben's book bag we lost at Christmas (yes we did check the cellar.... every box ... twice ... so where had it been hiding??) but I didn't find the liner.

300 picture book challenge - April Update

April

I won't tell a lie, April seemed to go without a trace this month.  It was Noah's birthday, half term. Easter and we had a week away.

Yes we found time to read (in fact I distinctly remember reading Topsy and Tim go to London on at least 3 occasions as well as various books on the train journeys.  But shamefully I completely forgot/ was too busy to record anything!

I'll be honest, we did have a bad month, we didn't read every day but some days we read 2 or 3 books.  Out of fairness I can't justify recording 0 but neither do I want to claim 30+ books.

Books we do remember reading these 13 (because I wrote them down)

Topsy and Tim Visit London
Kids Bible - The Easter Story
Mr Men - Mr Birthday
Noahs Ark
Tadpoles
The real floppy
Moan Moan Moan
The Secret Room
Pip and the Little Monkey
Pirate Adventure
tabby in the Tree
Wet Feet
Fun in the Garden
I'm going to give myself 20 which probably isn't enough but doesn't feel like cheating (I hope others agree?)  I will aim tho to read as many as possible in the next few days so by the end of December we are on 305+ and it won't have made a difference to the figure.

Sorry **slaps myself on the wrist and told to do better next time**



total: 117/300

Flashback Friday - Sesame Street

Sunny Day

Sweepin' the clouds away

On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,

How to get to Sesame Street

I have a memory, of watching this when i was tiny and as I got older ... it's probably the longest running children's TV show I can think of. My memories of it (as a UK resident) are of it being on Channel 4 very early in the morning. After a bit of researching my memories served correctly it was on Channel 4 (showing at the same time as The Hoobs - another secret love of mine - is now which is around 6am).

It's May ... it must therefore be "lets see how much HMRC can annoy working parents" time

I got home today to find an HMRC envelope, tatty looking paper inside and the instructions to fill it in (my name, hubby's name and address) and post it back (not even a pre-paid envelope).

Being the suspicious person I am alarm bells were sounding when it states it's a TC664  (change of circumstances) form yet the instructions tell me to go online and find out how to complete a TC600 form - which looks nothing like this.

Holiday time .... part 5... Essex ... Thorndon Country Park.... Gruffalo hunting

Some boys took a stroll through a deep dark wood .... no it's not déjà vu we went Gruffalo hunting again.

You may remember my post in April when we went to Sherwood Pines in search of the elusive Gruffalo, and very elusive he was too.... well we found out why ... he was still on holiday down south, in Thorndon Country Park to be exact.

   While researching my last post on the Internet I came across many fantastic reviews for Thorndon Country Parks Gruffalo trail but it was too far for us, that is until mum asked if I had any plans for our few days at hers.  I checked the address and discovered it was in Brentwood (I once went to guide camp near there) which is not too far at all from hers.   After the last disappointment I didn't tell the boys where we were going, that and the fact if the heavens opened it would be a write off but come the Saturday, having checked the weather which looked as if the worst we'd get were light showers we headed off, armed with welly boots.

Tutbury Castle - Pirate Event

It was only 9 months ago I was posting about how much we loved Tutbury Castle when we went for their Fairytale Day last August (see here). Captain Jack was a favourite with the boys, who use any excuse to be a pirate, so we were really pleased to find out they were having  pirate theme Bank Holiday Weekend event and best of all we could get our tickets cheaper thro Amazon Local (you don't have to pay for under 5's but was a cheap to get 2 tickets then by 2 thro amazon and an adult on Tutbury's site).

The weather treated us to sunshine on the 5th (Monday) so we packed our picnic and caught the train to the event.  What a good job we did.  The traffic completely gridlocked the beautiful village and I believe the Police had to come and turn people away.  The car park was packed with not enough room for people to park in so they were parking wherever possible on roads leading up to the event.

Silent Sunday 4th May 2014

Holiday time .... part 4.... Essex .... Easton Farm Park

The boys love going to farms/ zoos  but living in a city we don't have that many (well not that we haven't been to loads of times).    I remember fondly going to a farm when I was little, but when I looked into it for taking the boys they have really sold out know turning themselves into more of a theme park and charging extortionate prices.  Then we discovered Easton Farm Park.  The lovely place is just an hours drive from my mums (where we were staying) and costs a reasonable £30 for a Noah's Ark ticket (2 adults, 2 children).  Once in every activity is inclusive in the price (with a charge only for the tractor rides over the Summer)

Flashback Friday - Gran

Hello Gran, how are you?
How do you feel today?
I just came by to see if I could be of help in any way?
I always like to come and spend my time with you
You somehow seem to think of something great to do

Holiday time .... part 3... Legoland Windsor (part 2)

**This is a continuation of Holiday Time ... part 2, the events on these posts happened over a day and a half, it's just easier to group them together, to this extent they may not be in any particular order**

When they say you can't do Legoland in a day they weren't kidding.... hope you enjoy reading this post for our continued enjoyment through the various themed attractions and rides

Land of the Vikings

After a hearty breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, hash brown and beans what better way to start your Legoland day then with a trip in the Spinning Spider , at least that's what my husband and kids told me.  as we spun round and round faster and faster my stomach was beginning to tell a slightly different tale.   Extra thanks should be given to the member of staff running the ride who sounded as if he loved his job as he announced "I'll give you a treat as it's your first ride of the day ....... and let you have a bit longer".