Talk Talk TV Tribes: My Viewing Pleasure

You know I’m a researcher so I’m gonna start with a stat! The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) estimates 26.8 million private domestic households (approximately 97% of households) in the UK own televisions. Clearly it’s a big part of all our lives. In the years that British homes have been watching TV, our viewing habits and the programmes we love have changed dramatically, my own experience reflects this. TalkTalk surveyed the nation to discover how we’re watching TV today, find out where you fit in the TV Tribes test here

My tribe is:

T h e S o c i a l N e t w o r k e r

“I watch quite a bit of television, of all kinds, but always with one eye on my computer screen or smartphone. I like to watch television as it is being broadcast whenever possible, and I take part in live debate on Twitter or Facebook, and go online to see what other people are saying about a programme. I also use the internet to look up information. I like to share my opinion and comment on the opinion of others”

6% of people belong to this TV Tribe – as a researcher this is bang on for me, especially using the net whilst I watch!

I’m going back to the eighties to share my viewing memories, when I looked like this:

WP_003940

We had a big old TV, one of those wooden veneer ones, classic eighties style, I’ll see if I can find a pic, OK found one, it was exactly like this:

GoldstarCMR4200

My earliest ever memory is of that TV, you’ll have spotted Bert and Ernie in my photo, I LOVED Sesame Street and even then would have half an eye on my toys and half an eye on the TV, so I guess I was a Social Networker even then. Sadly that blooming old TV used to cut off at key times and I’d miss bits of the show. My parents realised that if you tapped the side of the TV to get a connection back doing what it should’ve been the TV would come to life again and that awful grey screen buzzing would stop and up would pop Big Bird and the Cookie Monster! So yes, my earliest memory is of whacking the side of the TV really hard to bring back my favourite show!

Sesame Street Big Bird

Thirty years on not much has changed, I have my own TV whacking tot, our flatscreen works just fine thank you very much, and Big Bird has been replaced by In The Night Garden and Big Barn Farm but the proximity and chance to get up close and personal with the characters hasn’t changed and she has to be reminded to look but not touch just as I did!

Photo_E08E14CB-834A-01AA-C0CC-1A194892D354

Look at those sticky finger marks! (She looks like we dressed her like John Mclaine from Die Hard here too!)

528287_10151719406502062_1401748362_n

I like documentaries best but often feel that there’s not enough available on our current package, I thought C4s Fabulous Fashionistas, about ageing and fashion was amazing and the Twitter chats around it were so engaging but its not often I see something so thought provoking!

What tribe do you belong to?

This is my entry into the Tots100 Talk Talk TV Tribes competition!

Acceptable in the 80s

“It was acceptable at the time…”

Photo_3EB73498-D27E-88C6-0203-87632251851A

Furthering my heading towards my 30s at the end of this month and wanting to capture my childhood in some small way for Joss in the words of Calvin Harris “I’ve got love for you if you were born in the 80s…”

0c80c8541f716670ee3a0474a944ffeb

So what was acceptable in the eighties (ok and nineties) then? These are photos of photos, so not the best, but I’m putting myself out there, quite literally this week!

Disco dancing! Bert and Ernie! Amazing outfits! Fringes that start at the back of your head, and more amazing clothing!

More to follow over the next few weeks!

Busy days

This week saw Joss and I take a long walk at the Farm to see the frogs!

Blog1

We also came face to face with the dino at The Hancock museum

blog4

And met up with Hannah and Reuben from Mumsdays for a morning of miaows and awesome mum crafts, Joss didn’t want the mask, didn’t make the mask and didn’t wear the mask but she did eat the biscuits at the end!

mask

Bloggy bits

I finished my uni work and put my energy into blog promotion and saw my stats soar! Popular posts this week featured my wee chimney sweep and my new craft room redesign

I have a competition that’s open for a few hours yet which has been really popular and if anyone fancies a thrifty dinner then check out my latest recipe!

I’ve been lost in Pinterest this week looking at Mothers Day craft ideas, next week you’ll get to see some works in progress I hope!

pints

Competition Time – Hey Mammy, why don’t you just relax?!

image

Now that I’ve stepped off the uni treadmill I have a bit of spare time for blogging, craft and relaxing.

Joss recently learned the word relax and uses it liberally but I don’t always know how to relax!

A shower by candle light is a good start (wish we had a bath!) but what then?

This post is a call out to those of you who know how to chill, hit me with your top tips and ideas, if you leave your details in the way of the rafflecopter form below I’ll reward one of you with a pair of sweetheart slippers (one size) for your own relax regime!

image

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&Cs
UK entry only
Winner chosen at random, will be notified by email and needs to claim prize within 7 days or will be redrawn

This is not a sponsored post, prize is provided by me :-)

Clean Green Nappy Machine Advent Calendar Competition

As you know I’m a big cloth nappy fan, and have been lucky enough to have won a nappy or two in our cloth-wearing time, fun, as well as a big help having a spare or two!

Clean Green Nappy Machine have a big Christmas Advent competition running, and you can join in here

Each day in December up until 24th, they’re giving away a fantastic prize. It could be a TotsBots easyfit, a changing bag or a roll of nappy liners; every day they will be giving away one cloth nappy prize! With a total prize value of nearly £350 there’s sure to be something in there for you!

Hunt for the bauble symbols on the site, and with my special link above you get an extra special hint each evening, giving you 12 hours to hunt with a little hint from me!

download

Disclaimer: I jsut wanted to help promote the cloth-love, so received no compensation for this post.

Christmas Crafting Part 4 – making special cards for grandparents

I love to make Christmas cards to give from recycled bits and bobs, but have very little time to make a stack of 30 this year, we decided to give cards to very close family and friends this year, and do an e-card for others who would appreciate it.

This is Joss’ offering for her Daddy grandparents, and we’ve been making more this week, six in total with some decorated inside too!

Photo_45B6A6B8-216F-1D9F-21D4-F77650D36BB7

I was so impressed with Joss’ concentration, she sat for about 20 minutes with dabber paint pens, stickers and cotton wool and tin foil, did a bit of gluing as you can see from the sticky patches, and she scrunched up the tinfoil herself. The little penguins were peeled off and re-positioned umpteen times too!

That’s me for today, I’m working four days this week so posts are a little shorter and am dashing out the door now, but I do have an exciting post planned for next week, and of course keep entering my Organic Babies competition folks!

Happy Halloween and why Cloth isn’t Scary

Last year Joss was dressed as a sweet little frog

326793_10151071514102062_1668906604_o

This year’s effort was a bit hurried but we had great fun at the Farm at the end of the street, a dino or two showed up and Joss was delighted by a chance to try her first pair of wellies too!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

hal - Copy

hal3

hal6

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I had a guest post published on the Great British Nappy Hunt blog this week, on why Cloth Isn’t Scary, and so here’s our competition entry for the GBNH competition:

1382392_10151651611817062_297489213_n

All About Me

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

all-about-me-meme

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:

joss

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

joss2

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!

joss1

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!

Nursery Trader VIP Membership Competition

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!

BTT FB400

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.

Our dream family garden makeover

*Heads up* we have a yard, not a garden, a yarden if you will, but there’s no disputing that it’s a green space! I thought we’d be pretty limited on play equipment with a yard, but Activity Toys Direct have some great all-surface toys that would be a welcome addition to our currently very grown-up space.

wpid-collage-2013-06-29-16_22_24.png

Mr B and I, as well as our upstairs neighbour, have put a lot of hard work and imagination into getting as far as we have with what was a blank canvas. We now have a bright, airy space, with white painted walls to reflect the light and lots and lots of pretty pots. Some of the things I’d like to do in this space include buying a chiminea with a built in pizza stone so that we could keep warm in the late summer whilst having something to bake flatbreads and pizzas on. I’d also love to buy some of the investment plants that do well in pots, you know, the ones that you can only afford to buy one a year of! I’m thinking particularly of a pelargonium collection, lots of lupins, and an oriental poppy, for starters. We’d also love a wrought iron table and chairs, we don’t have any storage so something hardwearing will be essential. My pinterest board gives a flavour of what I like! We went ‘fantasy shopping’ with £750, and this is what we came up with.

pint

What is isn’t yet is a family space fit for a toddler – this week Joss learned a new word, “outside” and she needs an outside that is a welcoming and safe space -it needs a few finishing touches, and this is where Activity Toys Direct comes in.

The gold standard toy for this space would have to be something that would compensate for the lack of any grass or turf, the Step2 Neat and Tidy Cottage is ideal, as it has an internal moulded-in plastic floor with drainage, rather than the hard uneven ground that is currently under foot. With kitchen, doors and windows and a sweet little mailbox this would really transform what is already a much improved space into the ultimate toddler play area. I would be really happy for Joss to have friends round to play with this setup, and would feel that we were providing a safe space for roleplay and outdoor creative activities alike.

With a small flat space is at a premium, so this lovely playhouse also has the added advantage of providing a little extra storage space. Space for a few additional roleplay type toys, for example this little bakery or laundry set, which could tuck nicely away with the help of a tarpaulin to protect everything from the inclement weather. Thinking about having friends around, this lovely easel could stand outside on the ground nicely with no need for grass, or could come indoors for playdates too!

1071 961 960 1100

Activity Toys Direct helped us to see that we didn’t need to keep putting off outdoor play until we can finally afford to move to a house with a garden, we already have a lovely space, we just need a makeover with some finishing touches to make it more child friendly!

This blog post is an entry into the Tots100/Activity Toys Direct garden makeover competition

From Babies with Love

As you know I work in the Charitable sector and I am always interested to hear about new and innovative work that is happening, now I have Joss, particularly around children and families. When I entered a Facebook competition to win a gorgeous organic cotton romper from the organisation From Babies With Love I had no idea that they were a charitable organisation, when I won I read more about them. I wanted to do something in return so this blog post is in thanks, my disclaimer is that I won a lovely romper and asked FBWL for some photos for this post, all words are my own.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

From Babies With Love was set up to offer baby products to the market, made ethically and with great customer service with 100% profit going to babies in need. 100% profit goes to the charity SOS Children, the largest international charity group dedicated to the care of orphaned and abandoned children. You can read more at From Babies With Love

SOS Children's Village Basse

I love the products that are on offer, how sweet are these rompers?!

from babies with love large 3

And Jossy? Well she looked so cosy ready for bed last night and the romper is so soft that I love it! If you’re looking for an ethical gift idea, or something nice for your little one’s we recommend FBWL for a gift that keeps on giving!

Photo_F228A328-3F14-7609-AFF4-FE1572023B20