Monthly Archives: October 2013

All About Me

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I was tagged in this All About Me meme by the lovely Chantelle from Mamamummymum which originated on the wonderful Gina’s Cold Tea and Smelly Nappies blog

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First of tell us your name and what you do……

I am Angela, Mammy to Joss, wife to Alex, part time charity project manager, part time student, full time ‘tired busy but just keeps going’ person!

I live at home with…..

Alex, Joss and our dog Toby. I’m writing this from home on a wet and windy day, I look knackered, but on a good day we look like this:

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My favourite thing to do is…..

Heading along to the Farm at the end of our street for a walk, to feed the animals and a breakfast in the cafe is always a welcome treat on a day off

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My favourite thing to eat is……
Ooh, tough one, I just love to eat! If I really had to choose then homemade pizza, I love bread and cheese!

When I get cross I……

Stay really very quiet for a while, then I explode, I’m not proud of it but am learning slowly to get a handle on it!

Sometimes I worry because….

I worry, that’s right folks, I am an anxious sort of person generally so I get caught up easily in worries, and then worry about my worrying. Sometimes it feels like I carry my worries around in a suitcase and sometimes I get them out and unpack them to get some space, I am learning to leave things out of the suitcase and forget and move on about others.

My favourite book is……

Alice in Wonderland, young or old it’s pure magical escapism, and the fancy dress options are endless!

My favourite toy is…..

My tablet, as I use it all the time for uni work, but my favourite of Joss’ toys is her Lego, I very much get involved in playtime and am a big kid at heart!

 I dislike…..

Empty chocolate boxes, dark winter days and itchy scratch wool

When I grow up I want to be…..

A fun parent to this lovely lady with lots of creative ideas in all aspects of life!

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So now I am to tag 5 others to take part, if you’d like me to tag you please leave a comment!

My first tagee is Jen Palmer from http://www.smilesandtrials.net – hi Jen!

And finally, don’t forget my competition to win one of five Nursery Trader VIP passes is still running here!

Halloween, a family tradition

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Last year’s photo, a six month old Jossy dressed as a frog, comments ensued about child cruelty and even haha, roadkill :/ but nothing can take the fun out of the 31st October for me. As a child we did something special every year, a spooky tea, or a visit to the local Farm for ghost stories and a lantern parade. Never trick or treating, which my parents see as ‘begging’ but it was always a really exciting time of year, not least because it’s closely followed by Bonfire Night, and soon after talk of Christmas!

I’m not sure what we’ll do for a costume this year, but I know we’ll enjoy creating our own special memories of this magical night!

Greenfrog Product Review

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In my quest for eco-friendly household products I recently came across Greenfrog Natural Soap Products. Soapnuts are environmentally friendly, sustainably produced and bio-degradable with their natural cleaning properties coming from nature’s detergent, saponin, which soapnuts are rich in they make a great non-toxic home cleaner. I am new to soapnuts and their derived products, but wanted to give them a go in our home. I had some questions, like whether they would smell clean, would they be as effective as other cleaners, and with these questions in mind I undertook a test of Greenfrog products!

Greenfrog’s range currently comprises of laundry soapnuts, natural washing up liquid, liquid soap and kitchen cleaner. The products are free from nasty chemicals, have naturally anti-microbial and antibacterial properties and can be used instead of laundry detergent for soft, clean clothes on sensitive skin.

Here’s what we tested, over the course of a fairly average week in our busy household:

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First up was the bag of soap nuts, these really intrigued me, they look like wrinkled hazelnuts and smelled a little like vinegar, but they are in fact little gems. Through using cloth nappies I learned that when things are clean and detergent build up free they should smell like nothing at all, and that bubbles are just to make us think things are clean, so I quite like clean washing without the smell of flowers or other strong smells, the soap nuts did their job with two big loads of family washing, the instructions were easy to follow and I was delighted by how everything was cleaned. I also tried them with a nappy wash as we’re fairly low soiled at the mo, and again was impressed with the results, the nappies didn’t smell of anything at all which is what we want!

Next up was the cleaning spray, with a really lovely lasting neroli and geranium scent this made me feel happy to be cleaning! I’ve tried lots of natural cleaners, I haven’t used anything that did as good a job of degreasing in the kitchen as this spray, and we all loved the smell, this was definately my favourite product, and one we will use again! I can see why this was shortlisted for ‘Best New Natural Living and Home Product’ at The Natural and Organic Awards 2013! Our kitchen has never looked so clean!

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Geranium features again in the handwash, alongside mint and aloe vera with softening honey too, a lovely creamy handwash with a peppermint kick, low foaming for a fast but clean wash.

Last up, the washing up liquid, lemon and neroli, both naturally anti-bacterial, this was easy to get along with, I like a low foam for the dishes as it makes drying them so much easier!

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This is a really impressive range, I would like to try experimenting with different oil blends alongside the laundry nuts for our less soiled cloth nappies as I think with teatree we would get a great antibacterial clean, I’ll be seeking some advice on this one, and heading to our local Greenfrog stockist in York as this is easily the best eco range we’ve tried!

Play ideas meme

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As you know I’m quite new to blogging but I have seen some brilliant linkies, including the weekly ones I take part in, from Podcast Dove and Ethan’s Escapades.

I love the sharing nature of blogging and wanted to get some ideas from other parents about toddler play ideas. We are short of space, on a budget and have a little girl who is very very active. I thought I’d start a toddler play Monday meme and seek my first tagee this week.

So here we go with our three questions:

What’s the activity?
How do we do it?
What did your little one enjoy about it?

What’s the activity?

We tried a spot of highchair cornflour gloop! We heard about this at our local Children’s Centre and thought the highchair could be a good place to contain the gloop til we source a cheap messy play tray!

How do we do it?

Mix two heaped tablespoons of cornflour with water until you have a gloop in a cup, or mix it straight onto the tray like we did for floury then wet fun! Then get your hands in, get little plastic toys in or a cheap paintbrush!

What did your little one enjoy about it?

Joss loved the gloop despite an uncertain start, look at her face! The gloop is so strange it looks wet but feels solid and you can move it around but if you try to scoop it it runs like water through your hands! Hard to describe, you’ll have to try it yourself!

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Its pretty easy to clean up but do be aware it could be drain clogging so try to scoop as much as you can into an empty milk carton!

If you’d like to get involved and don’t want to wait to be tagged then grab my blog meme button! The next blogger to post next Monday will be In The Playroom – I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

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Nursery Trader VIP Membership Competition

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Nursery Trader’s Bump to Toddler competition runs just three times a year and is the biggest competition of its kind in the children’s industry. It is supported by companies both large and small and offers the winner the opportunity to win over £6k worth of baby and toddler gear – everything from baby carriers to pushchairs, changing bags to toddler suitcases, nappies to clothing vouchers and much more. There really is something for everyone.

The latest competition is close to my heart, featuring cloth nappies from Fuzzibunz and slings from Beco and Moby. I think my favourite prize would have to be the Beco doll carrier, perfect for roleplaying little ones! It runs throughout the month of October and closes at 23:59 on 31st October – the winner is drawn on 1st November – an amazing early Christmas present for someone!

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The competition is open to all UK residents – Nursery Trader VIPs get 100 automatic entries into the competition so they don’t even have to fill the form in! NT VIP costs just £6 a year (less than 13p a week) and gives automatic entry into this and all competitions for 12 months, a £5 voucher for the PT shop, access to exclusive discount codes plus the ability to apply to test products for NT and join their ‘Living with’ team.
I have five of these VIP passes to give away, enter with my rafflecopter form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: UK entries only, winners will be notified by email within 24 hours of competition closing, NT is responsible for actioning prize passes and there is no cash alternative.

Silent Sunday after the Saturday that wasn’t silent…

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I need words for Silent Sunday this week, this photo was taken yesterday, would you believe just five minutes before this we experienced a mammoth toddler tantrum, the first really really big one outside the home?

Hmm, let’s see, I look a little flushed from the embarrassment and Mr B is keeping a close eye on the situation, but Joss, like nothing had happened, “nothing to see here folks! Just a baby enjoying icecream…”

You know that saying, my child is not giving me a hard time, my child is having a hard time? Yeah, that! Except Joss wasn’t having a hard time anymore and had a bear wafer.

I think we handled it well anyway, if a bit embarrassed it was over before it started and we all had some ice cream to cool off!

Arts and Crafts at The Laing Art Gallery

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A short photo post today as I’ve been at work and am feeling a bit tired! This week Joss and I had a lovely afternoon out at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, and looking back at my photos got me thinking that we don’t do enough art at home, mainly because we haven’t really got any materials since her last round of crayon eating, when she was probably that bit too young. She really enjoyed the light boxes, and the pots and pots of pencils, crayons and pens, lots to explore and lots of colours.
The Quentin Blake pictures on the walls were also a big hit, this little one looks like our Tobydog! I adore Quentin Blake’s illustrations so it was a treat for me too!
I have tasked myself with buying a few supplies this weekend, some pencils and pens and a piece of plastic sheeting, to compliment the paints and bits and bobs we do have at home, something to do on a rainy day, I think I’ll get some catalogues and photos too, so that we can have some themed sessions, as she loved the dogs at the Laing I think we’ll start with a ‘puppies’ theme! Photos from our sessions to follow over the coming weeks!