Snowman Christmas Decoration review with PK Green Shop.

One of the things I love most about Christmas is all the sparkle and twinkle of Christmas lights and decorations. Now that I have my own little family I love decorating the house even more than before, making it extra Christmassy and fun for my little ones.

As I love fun Christmas decorations and lights I was delighted when PK Green Shop sent us one of their LED festive decorations from their Christmas range.

Festive t-shirts with Lush T Shirts.

Even though we are in October and have Halloween to enjoy, Christmas is fast becoming prominent and people’s minds as shops and websites showcase their Christmas wares and people across the country start (or for the very organised finish) their Christmas shopping.

As shops start to sparkle with all things Christmassy from decorations to gifts, I can’t help but get caught up with the festive excitement and as such I have been enjoying all things festive.

One thing that I find always marks the start of the festive season for me is the sight of festive themed jumpers and t-shirts.

To help people get in the Christmas spirit Lush T Shirts have a great range of merry novelty t-shirts available from their festive Christmas shop.

Dream kitchen.

I love spending time in the kitchen baking and cooking especially as I have fond memories of watching my Mamgu and Mum bake in our family kitchen when I was a child. Thanks to my childhood spent helping my loved ones bake in the farm house kitchen where everyone gathered for meals and family chats I consider the kitchen as the heart of the home.

Over the years I have lived in many houses where I would spend a lot of my time in the kitchen. Whilst my kitchens have always been adequately practical they have been far from lovely either being tiny, old fashioned or very worn around the ages.

As I often fantasise about having my dream kitchen I was interested to see whether my idea of a dream kitchen is similar or dissimilar to other people’s dream kitchens.

Premier producers of granite worktops in the UK Mayfair Granite recently conducted a survey about dream kitchens. They asked 1,000 UK residents if money was no issue what their dream kitchen would be like, asking them to pick their favourite items and features from 5 key categories – worktops, flooring, lighting, appliances and kitchen style.

Rockin' kids clothing - Rockin' Baby kidswear collection.

Recently we were fortunate to be able to try out a Rockin’ Baby Ring Sling. As Jelly Bean and I enjoyed the benefits of babywearing in the beautiful Rose of My Heart Reversible Ring Sling which we fell in love with thanks to the lovely design and high quality I was delighted to see that Rockin’ Baby have branched out from rockin’ babywearing ring slings and pouches to a rockin’ kidswear collection.

The Rockin’Baby kidswear collection is a lovely assortment of clothing from newborn to aged 10.

As I love and appreciate Rockin’ Baby’s charity initiative ‘Mother to Mother’ where for every sling purchased they give a Hero sling to a Haitian mother in need, I love that they have incorporated the ‘giving to those in need’ concept to their kidswear range.

The new giving charity initiative for the kidswear collection is called ‘Child to Child’.

If you buy an item from the Rockin’ Baby kidswear collection they give an item from their bright, colourful and high quality Hero clothing collection to a child in desperate need. The Hero clothing collection consists of rompers, onesies, t-shirts, dresses, pants, shorts and leggings, all of which will also be available for sale.

Hero clothing

Benefit cuts.

The UK benefit system is a highly talked about topic, with arguments on both side of the fence being hotly voiced.

As benefit cuts are on the forefront of people’s minds of late being widely spoken and written about in the press, My Voucher Codes recently conducted a survey to see what people really think about Benefits Britain.

I agree with the 51% of the 2,158 UK adults surveyed who said they believe that the UK benefit system is NOT too generous.

Yes there are cases and negative news stories of benefit scroungers and people who take advantage of the system which frankly blemish the view of benefits Britain and encourage people to judge those on benefits. But I believe these are in the minority, with the majority of people on benefits being genuine cases who struggle to survive on the benefits they are eligible for.

Being personally worried about cuts to child tax credits I can also see how 29% of those surveyed believe that cuts to child tax credits will affect people in the UK the most from all the government welfare changes.

Surviving on benefits or relying on tax credits to boost your income from work just is a hard life to live and the government welfare cuts are in my opinion only going to make it harder.

We depend on tax credits to back up our wages and help us survive the frugal life we live on the breadline and dread how cuts will affect us and make a hard life financially even harder. And what about if we fall on hard times, will there be benefits available to help us?

What are your thoughts on benefits?

Strictly Come Dancing - a little history of the show.

Whilst I cannot confess to being a die-hard Strictly Come Dancing fan or to watching the show religiously, I do enjoy watching the show every once in a while when I’m not busy catching up on household chores – oh the glamour!

Watching the show gives me a glimpse into a world of glamour where celebrities and their dance partners look amazing as they show off their moves showcasing different dances to the beat of the music.

I must admit I sometimes feel a hint of envy at all that glamour and the fabulous costumes as I watch sitting in my old but very comfortable PJ’s with my hair a mess and my face showing the signs of tiredness. Plus having no rhythm at all myself it is nice to watch people with talent amaze me with their wonderfully choreographed dance routines. I find myself imagining that in another universe where I had a touch of rhythm and talent that it was me up on the famous Strictly stage dancing away in an extraordinary costume (a sparkly one often features in my day dream).

Autumnal woodland walk.

We started off half term school holiday today with a lovely autumnal woodland walk.

We love getting outdoors and having adventures with Bug being particularly fond of exploring and running around, being sooo fast at times he looks like flash speeding around.

Spooktacular Halloween Fancy Dress costumes.

With Halloween on the horizon our thoughts have been focused on how to have a spooktacular night and bring the magic of Halloween alive for Bug.

Now that Bug is in school which is currently rife with Halloween talk he has taken a real interest in Halloween and wants to join in on the seasonal spooky goings-on.   

As we love Halloween ourselves we are happy to satisfy Bug’s Halloween interest and as such we are attending events during the school holidays in the lead up Halloween when we will attend a spooky Halloween party.

So that we look the part for Halloween we need costumes and thanks to funwarehouse.co.uk we have plenty of choices –

The site has a huge range of ghoulish and ghastly women’s Halloween costumes including favourites such as ghosts, devils, zombies and vampires.

Lady gruesome - Zombie scrub nurse - Fever miss whiplash skeleton - Ghost ship princess

Our pets - the heart of our household.

* I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® community. This Mars Petcare #shop has been compensated by CollectiveBias, Inc and its advertiser. All words and opinions are my own. #CollectiveBias *

Throughout my life since I was a young child I have had a number of pets. I have been fortunate to experience the love, enjoyment and companionship that pets can provide.  Over the years I have had cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits and gerbils, all of which were part of my family. Living and growing up on a farm I also considered the pigs and cows as my pets.  In essence I love animals and believe that there are many benefits to having animals touch your life in one way or another, with being a pet owner a great experience.

I am especially grateful to have our 2 dogs, Sassy and Trixie in my life.

PK Green Shop - LED Cube Lamp review.

As I’ve mentioned before we have slowly been revamping Bug’s bedroom and as lighting can really change the atmosphere within a room we jumped at the chance of getting a lamp for him from PK Green Shop.

We chose a 10cm rechargeable LED cube lamp to sit on Bug’s bedside table to be a night light for him during the night.

The cube lamp has a rechargeable battery built in to power the cube, which lasts up to 10 hours when fully charged depending on which light setting is used.

To charge the lamp you can either use the provided mains adapter or connect it your PC using the provided USB cable. To fully charge it takes 3-5 hours.

To turn the lamp on and off you simply press the hidden button on the base of the lamp. The cube shines a variety of colours – red, blue, green, purple, pink, white and yellow. You can either have the light shining as a fixed colour or have it continuously changing colour. To change the colour mode from either a fixed colour of your choice or automatic changing colour you simply press the button on the base.

The cube lamp is extremely well made; it feels durable and looks to be of a premium build quality. As they are confident in the quality of the lamp, PK Green Shop provide a lifetime guarantee.

Bug loves his cube light and insists on having on each night as he settles down to sleep in bed.

He loves choosing what colour to have it on, having a different colour each night or having it change colours continuously. 

The gradually colour changing LED sequence is very relaxing and I have often admired Bug lying in bed gazing at the lamp as the light slowly blends from one colour to another which seems to have a calming effect on him as he dozes off to sleep.

The cube lamp’s light gives off a lovely and surprisingly bright glow.

I love that thanks to its built-in rechargeable battery there are no messy or hazardous wires so it can be put anywhere.

As we are using the cube lamp in our child’s bedroom I appreciate is that is built with soft contours.

I also love the fact that as it is a heatless LED lamp it is completely safe and cool to touch which is a reassuring safety measure with it being used in a child’s bedroom.

The PK Green cube lamp is great as a night light and would also be great for creating an atmosphere elsewhere in the house or during parties.

The 10cm cube lamp is available on the PK Green Cube website for the great price of £24.99.

The cube lamp is also available in other sizes – 10cm, 20cm and 40cm.

PK Green Cube have a vast range of other lights available including heart and star shaped lights and cat, dog and bear night lights.

Baby bath time and baby massage with JOHNSON’S® for bonding and happy, healthy baby development.

When I was pregnant with Jelly Bean when I would lay down to have a little rest feeling him kick and wriggle inside of me I would find myself thinking about all the things I could not wait to do with my little bundle of love. My thoughts would turn to when Bug was a baby and of all the precious moments we shared together, creating cherished memories and a beautiful bond. Being especially fond of the first few precious baby months, as Jelly Bean grew inside of me I had the those special baby bonding moments to look forward to once again.

Whilst I have treasured memories of many wonderful moments with Bug and enjoyed so many things with him as a baby, one of the things I especially loved were bath times.

Bug’s love of baths was sparked when he was a baby where he would enjoy bath times followed by a pampering baby massage. I believe our bath time routine with baby massage not only helped care for Bug’s delicate skin but also ignited Bug’s love of baths, strengthened our bond and supported happy, healthy baby development. As I saw the benefits of bath time and baby massage with Bug I was keen to have a good bath time routine and plenty of baby massage with Jelly Bean from very early on.

JD Harris Kegel Pelvic Exercise Weights review.

Having had 2 babies now it is vital that I do my pelvic floor exercises to strengthen my pelvic floor. After I had Bug I found doing traditional pelvic floor exercises not overly effective, as such I decided to look at options to help me strengthen my pelvic floor muscles following the birth of Jelly Bean.

As I wrote before JD Harris’ Kegel Pelvic Exercise Weights are designed to precisely exercise the muscles in your pelvis effectively and easily.

JD Harris’ Kegel Pelvic Exercise Weights have these key benefits -

* Effective, non-surgical treatment for mild female incontinence

* Strengthen pelvic floor

* Just 15 minutes a day

* Perfect for post-childbirth pelvic floor restoration

* Can improve sexual performance and satisfaction for both partners

* Completely natural – no side effects

* Weights are manufactured to the highest clinical standards of safety and comfort

Babywearing whatever the weather.

Since Jelly Bean’s arrival I have been able to fully indulge in my love of babywearing once again, especially as my days of wearing Bug were becoming ever few and far between.

As one of the reasons I love babywearing with Jelly Bean is that it enables me to carry on having fun and adventures with Bug I have been looking at the different options out there to help me babywear whatever the weather – especially as we love having adventures in all kinds of weathers including the rain, cold and wind.

Our motto is ‘get the clothing right for the weather and our adventures can carry on regardless’.

 Bug enjoying a very wet day at the beach

So that our adventures can continue with Jelly Bean being part of them as I keep him close to me, I have been considering the options below for babywearing whatever the weather.

Rockin’ babywearing with Rockin’ Baby.

As I loved babywearing with Bug I planned to babywear with Jelly Bean from birth.

I’ve always found babywearing to be rather special and magical, it is divine to have baby close – close enough to kiss in fact – helped keep them happy and content, and for me has always been sleepy dust lulling baby to sleep. Not only is it great for closeness and a happy baby, it also gives you a pair of hands free to carry on with all the glamourous household tasks that need doing.

The Happy Egg Co. Golden Speckled Egg and Sparkling Chick Cookies recipe.

If you have been inspired by The Great British Bake Off and love cookies take a look at these tasty and fun cookies from The Happy Egg Co.

Bean Bag Planet children's beanbag review.

A short time ago Jelly Bean was sent a baby beanbag from Bean Bag Planet.

As their name suggests Bean Bag Planet are all about beanbags, specifically children’s beanbags.

Digital Marketing for blogs.

Today most people live a digital, high tech life.  The internet and social media are intertwined into most people’s lives on a daily basis as we plug into the virtual world.

Along with staying connected and social on social media platforms and taking advantage of online shopping as businesses both big and small go online, thousands of people across the globe have opened up themselves to the world by creating blogs and vlogs.

If you’ve started a blog or are thinking about creating one and want to get yourself and your blog ‘out there’ and make it stand out to increase your readership it may be worthwhile looking at the importance of digital marketing for your blog.

With so many other blogs online it can be hard to stand out from the crowd and if that is what you want to do marketing your blog is a great way to make progress and get your name out there. As it is beneficial to learn how to do your own digital marketing for your blog here are a few tips -

Back to basics

Before marketing your blog it is important to create it and get content on there to market. It can be useful to make use of and learn some valuable tips about starting a blog as well as read articles from other bloggers on how they started and maintain their blog.

Considering a new pet.

This year has seen a lot of changes happen in our little family. New school starts and new talents being discovered have been keeping us busy. Plus of course we have seen our family expand from a family of 3 to a family of 4 with the arrival of Jelly Bean this summer.

As the year slowly winds down, we’ve been talking a lot about what more we will experience together in the New Year. At the moment, we are only a small family. We’d be daft not to talk about any possibilities of additions. Who knows where our lives will be in the next year?

For now, there is only talk. Things have already changed so rapidly! But we’ve been talking about companionship for Bug for a while now. He’s getting bigger and stronger, and socially I do think he is doing well. But at home, I fear he is a little lonely at times. Whilst he dotes on Jelly Bean he is only a little baby at the moment and is a little while away from being Bug’s sidekick in play and adventures. As such we’ve thinking about all kinds of possibilities, including the addition of a new pet.

Even though we already have 2 dogs they are family dogs rather than Bug’s dogs, in essence they are my dogs as they pre-date my little family plus they are sadly getting old now and the time with them is becoming ever so fragile. As such we have been thinking about getting him his very own little dog.

Having a dog is not something anyone should consider lightly. When children are around, you need to be absolutely sure you’re getting the right animal for your family. Dogs require so much attention, and so much care. We know Bug would love any pet we brought into our family, but we need to be certain that pet will love and protect Bug too.