28/06/201416/07/2014 by jo

Our Top Travel Budgeting Tips

Caxton FX are asking for Parent Bloggers top budgeting tips when travelling, and given we’re about to have a huge journey across the other side of the world soon (and have done it before with H) I think we may have a few – so here goes…

1. Book a hotel if you’re travelling in wintertime and snow is forecast. When we went to Australia in 2010, South London saw a huge amount of snow – our train to Gatwick was delayed and ultimately the flight took off without us. We missed check-in and even though we got to Gatwick eventually, we were too late – even though our plane was delayed. It was an evening flight (8pm) and had I booked a day room in a hotel and headed up there earlier in the morning we would have been fine. Worth bearing in mind if you’re flying long-haul and bad weather is forecast. We couldn’t get a hotel room once we were there, or get a cab home so fortunately stayed with friends for two days until flights resumed.

2. Take the bus if you can! We live in Carshalton where the X26 bus stops – going from Croydon to Heathrow in an hour and a half. Sure, you have to lug your cases to the bus stop and from there, but when your travel costs can be paid on your Oyster cards (as London buses no longer accept cash), it’s a very cheap option. The X26 runs every 30 minutes as well and covers all the terminals. The downside, you’re on the bus with lots of suitcases and bags.

3. Freecycle is good for buggies or strollers. We didn’t want to take our Maclaren with us in case it got damaged, as we knew it would be kept in the hold. We were able to get a stroller (minus a footrest) so it didn’t matter if it broke in transit – most Airports provide strollers for little legs that can’t keep up. It didn’t break in transit anyway, so it meant we had a buggy with us the whole time.

4. Try to book things in advance. This time in Australia we’re planning on a trip to Sydney. If we book flights enough in advance from Perth we should get a good deal. This means we need to be organised and know what we’re doing, which of course is another matter altogether..!

5. Car Seats. Check the law in the country you’re travelling to. Most UK car seats are no longer legal in Australia, so see if you can rent a car seat when you arrive. This law can vary from country to country, but don’t get caught out!

6. When you have a mother in law who is crafty and pays for everything when you’re not looking, you try to find ways to spend your money. Get a prepaid Currency Card and load it up with cash, and distract her at the appropriate moment… 😉

7. Check the exchange rate when you’re buying in-store – I’ve been caught out before now and bought them overseas, to find that they’re cheaper in the UK. Download a good currency converter for your phone so you can check what you’re spending on the go – I spent £35 in Pumpkin Patch on a bag, for it to go on sale in the UK for £20. (sob!) If you’re anything like me, keeping on top of exchange rate calculation is quite a task – so find a reliable app. Mainly for the point when your husband says “can’t you work it out?” as he’s had enough of being asked!

8. Overseas phone tariffs. This is a tricky one. Often we just change networks and know we’ll be charged, relying instead on Wifi connections for our iPods. We’ve then had £80 phone bills for calls and texts, so make sure you overestimate what you’re going to use when you’re there. BUT! Even if you buy for overseas, don’t get caught out like we did – one call from Singapore cost us a lot as we’d only planned for Australia. Overestimate your data usage too so you don’t get hit with hefty fines. Shaun gets charged £5 for each chunk of data he goes over in the UK, so imagine that overseas – ouch!

9. Take an address book. Pen and paper rarely fail you, unlike a digital gadget which could get damaged in transit, or just wiped! Needing contact information from people you’re visiting, and having to wait for them to reply could be the difference between a cheap flight and a much more expensive one! Make a note of email addresses and mobile phone numbers too.

10. When booking your flights, find a site which will search across a range of dates. We found a site which gave us the best prices on the dates we want to fly, saving us a lot of money – £500 in fact.

This is our entry for the CaxtonFX giveaway to win a prepaid Currency Card

26/06/201426/03/2018 by jo

Loving my Salad Zinger

I recently bought a Salad Zinger on Amazon. I’d first come across them late last year when visiting the Science Museum and wished I’d bought one there and then. Now Summer is here and we’re eating lots of salads thanks to our Sarah Raven salad, so I splashed out!

The Salad Zinger is very easy and straightforward to use, with several salad dressing suggestions included. I decided to go for the Lemon and Mint dressing as we grow our own mint, and I do like it in a salad.

You need (1) –

One Salad Zinger
Half a cup of fresh mint
One lemon
Salt
A cup of Olive Oil

You carefully take apart the salad zinger, remove the rind from the lemon and chop into cubes. Put into the grind cup and watch out for the blades as they’re sharp. (2)

Now, Shaun and I disagree on this next bit – I like my mint leaves solid, he’d prefer them chopped. I placed them onto the top of the grind cup, once the lid was safely on. (3)

To mix up the lemon simply screw the top of the Salad Zinger to the grind cup. The motion means the blades turn, mixing up the lemon (in this case). (4)

Finally, remove the top of the Salad Zinger and add the olive oil and salt. (5)

Give it a really good shake – don’t forget to put the stopper on the bottle though!

Leave to infuse for around half an hour – more than enough time to pick some salad leaves and get them washed and spinned. (6)

The verdict? It was good, so much nicer than shop-bought and didn’t take long to make. We’re going to get adventurous, as I can see a Caesar Salad recipe – hopefully we can make a vegetarian version. You’re not limited to salad dressings – dipping sauces, marinades or flavoured oils are easy to make too.

You can buy a Salad Zinger for around £25. They’re dishwasher friendly (top shelf) though Zing Anything recommend handwashing to maintain longevity of the product.

The Salad Zinger had a good seal on it, keeping it leak-proof as well. So far we’re impressed. So much so I’m going to be buying an Aqua Zinger as they look pretty special too!

this post contains an affiliate link

23/06/2014 by jo

A Quick Story About Back Pain

I’m no stranger to back pain, and have spent most of the last two and a half years having the odd flare up – that was until this weekend just gone. I felt like it was a good time to go through my treatments as well as seeing where we go next.

On Saturday morning as I was getting ready to go to BritMums, I sat on my hotel bed. The familiar shooting pain arrived, my back was playing up. I could walk, it was just hurting. As the day progressed so did my back pain and I knew I couldn’t do much, so cut my losses and left by 11am, gutted. I spent most of Saturday in bed resting before eventually calling the NHS 111 line for more information.

They suggested I try some Co-Codamol which can be bought over the counter. That doesn’t stop the back pain but stops you feeling it, so I went with that.

The following day I headed to my local Walk-In centre and was prescribed stronger Co-Codamol as well as a prescription-only anti-inflammatory. I asked for advice about whether I should be thinking about an operation and was given good advice. I’ve had back pain for long enough and hate the big flare ups.

Today I went to my local Osteopath and had a treatment. £40. One off. If I need another it’s free of charge. My bones were checked, and I have a twisted pelvis – and it has probably been long-term too. My body is telling me that it can’t deal with it right now. Several clicks and twists and though I went into the office almost in tears (as I have most of the weekend, ugh), I came out smiling. While I’m not 100% I’m definitely feeling an improvement.

Which makes me think of the types of back care I’ve received with my problem.

Initially it’s over the counter. When it’s bad it’s call the doctor. The doctor doesn’t do home visits, so it’s dial 999 (honestly, I felt terrible doing that). On being admitted to hospital, I was pretty much looked at like I was wasting time. I felt like I had too. I was given a painkiller which worked and sent home. I kind of wish I’d had an ambulance car do that for me at home rather than being blue-lighted to hospital. (n.b. this was almost three years ago)

When it happens again you get pain medication from a doctor. You get stronger medication if you go to see them. If you visit a chiropractor you get an x-ray so you can see what’s happened, but they get to keep it. You also have to keep going back, paying every time. I got my first three visits on a Groupon deal which I probably wouldn’t have done, were it not for the deal.

When you go to a Chiropractor, it’s a one-off treatment and they really hope you don’t come back. No medication is usually needed. You might even find out what the problem you’ve had is.

When you’re a blogger you get lucky sometimes and get a Backlife to use. I still use mine a lot and it helps – I thought that was worth a mention. As were the spiky balls I got from my Pilates instructor. They both help with pain relief, but not the problem. I’ll still be using both, anyway.

I’m still not 100% but feel like I’m closer to my problem. A twisted spine fits in perfectly with everything that was covered here at an event I went to with the British Chiropractic Association – six months after my first major back problem but full of useful tips and hints. If you’re not sure, give it a read. It makes you think about the everyday things you do and how to do them differently. I know I will now.

18/06/201426/03/2018 by jo

YUUtuu Can Make A Spluush!

We were given an opportunity to review a YUUtuu bag – a brand we’d heard of as we saw the episode of Dragon’s Den and were Googling them as they did their presentation – we were impressed then, and we are now.

YUUtuu bags are designed for little ones – and with our big trip to Australia coming up it was something I really wanted to try – now H is almost five she’s carrying her own things in her own bag – water, games, snacks and important things like a case to put her glasses in if she takes them off. We were sent the YUUtuu Spluush in fuschia which H loved immediately. There’s pink and blue on the bag (her two favourite colours) and she loved it immediately.

The great thing about the YUUtuu bag is how much space and storage is inside. There are compartments and space for loads of things – we tried it out last weekend for our trip to Wimbledon and then the Carshalton Carnival with all H’s essentials for a day out. So how does it fare?

It’s a well padded backpack – think along the lines of a carrier with proper padding, designed for comfort. The bag is ergonomically designed to support growing spines – the moulded shell evenly distributes weight and H has found it very comfortable to wear. She also loves that there’s a whistle on the chest clip and loads of little extras which make the bag feel like it’s hers.

Then there’s the space – there are many compartments within the bag, an inside pocket which was the right size for H’s water, and plenty of pockets with zips to put things like lipbalm which always gets lost in my bag. The YUUtuu bag also has a fold down desk which is handy if you’re like H and need to do a spot of playing or writing when the moment takes you.

The YUUtuu bag comes with a fun pack which includes colour pencils, an A5 pad, a magnetic snakes and ladders game, keyring, deskcard insert and a membership card for YUUclub.

We’ll be putting it to the test properly when we fly to Australia, I’m confident it’s going to be ideal for H and is cabin luggage compliant – plus you can fasten the bag to the back of a drivers seat which may come in handy if we have any long drives to Merredin (approx 4 hours… each way!)

The YUUtuu bag is suitable for ages 3-6 and comes in two colours, and sells for £38.99. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

17/06/2014 by jo

Fitbug Orb

The Fitbug Orb is the latest tracker from the Fitbug family.

The Fitbug Orb is the latest tracker from the Fitbug family – up to now we’ve been using the Fitbug Air, so I switched over when the Orb arrived in February, and found that while they’re identical (a straightforward setup and you wear them), there was quite a discrepancy in the number of steps I do daily. With the Air I’d be doing 5-6,000 a day, whereas with the Fitbug Orb it’s more like 12-13,000.

However, I’ve found it doesn’t matter it isn’t 100% accurate for me, as I do roughly the same amount of steps in the week, and a lot depends on what I do at weekends. So I’ve been using the Fitbug Orb as a guide to make sure I stay within a certain range of steps.

The Fitbug Orb can be worn several ways too – I choose to wear mine like a watch. Wearing it like a watch can have its moments thanks to occasionally popping off my wrist, but overall it’s sturdy and stays on. An extra loop on the wristband would have been a good idea.

Every day I sync with the app on my iPad (my Android phone is running old software), which requires an internet connection. Every week I get new targets for the following week which I try to achieve, though more often than not miss – but for me it’s about keeping active as much as possible. If I go to Pilates or swimming I log it online (it would be great to do that on the app). I haven’t been as active as I should be and my Fitbug Orb is a good reminder when I could walk rather than drive.

In summary, what could I say to persuade you to buy a Fitbug Orb?

I like that I can sync it easily, I like that it keeps me motivated and all I have to do is log any extra activity I do. There are a lot of extra things on the Fitbug website you can log such as food – hands up though, I am pretty rubbish at doing it – though might do it if you could within the app again. If you want to keep track of your daily steps and don’t like the idea of a pedometer on your waistband, it’s worth considering a Fitbug Orb. Given the other places you can wear it (attach to your bra or to your pants or just use the belt clip). I like that you can track your sleep, something I know I don’t get enough of.

The Fitbug Orb retains information for 14 days, so if you can’t send it to the app straight away you can do it when you’re ready.

So what do you get for £49.95? A years worth of Fitbug membership which gives you access to KiK – your own digital coach. When your year is up you have various options to continue to use the device, so can still be used. Check out the site here.

What do you get in the pack? A wrist strap, belt clip, lanyard and battery. I’d recommend a spare 3v cell lithium battery as mine is starting to lose its charge since February – but at 95p that doesn’t cost a lot. If you want a pedometer that will keep you motivated, I’m pretty pleased with the Fitbug Orb. I haven’t lost weight, but I’m keeping active – and that was my main motivation.

We were sent a Fitbug Orb for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.

16/06/2014 by jo

I’m Going to BritMums 2014

Hello, I’ll be at BritMums 2014 on Friday and Saturday this coming weekend, my second one. What is there to say? I’ll do a few bullet points.

• I am the blogger who is very excited about having cassette shaped business cards.
• I am going to make loads of notes, as ever. They will probably go unread but I’ll remember everything.
• I will try not to drink too much wine.
• I will be on a search for savoury treats as sugar and me aren’t the best of friends at the moment.
• I might have a Powerpuff Girls/Star Wars t-shirt on if I’m feeling brave.
• I will almost certainly have a Uniqlo t-shirt on.

Things I learned last year.

• plan which sessions you want to go to. I missed some, and regret it.
• there is vegetarian food and it’s delicious!
• get into your ‘talking to other people’ mode as I blanked out a lot of the time and talked rubbish. It was nerves, caffeine and sugar last year!
• Everyone else will probably feel like that anyway.
• You’ll come away inspired. Even when there are things which you’re not a part of, something may set it off over the next year and take you back there. You’ll find new blogs to read.

Things I’m doing differently this year.

• I’m sharing a hotel room with Sonya and Lynn (who is a finalist on the video category of the BiBS). Wise move – going home on the Friday last year was tough, and I didn’t really sleep well. I want to get there early the next day.
• think about where you’re going and what you’re going to take. Do I really need the posh camera? No. Pens? Maybe, but they’ll be provided. Paper? Ditto.
• the brands. Talk more to the people on the stands, to the brands I’m interested in.

Anyway, I’ll be there at BritMums 2014, I’m looking forward to it, I’m less nervous and I’ll see YOU there too.

16/06/201416/06/2014 by jo

A Morrisons Summer Pudding

Morrisons have a price checker tool on their website, which helps identify low-priced everyday goods in-store. We got the ingredients together for a meringue treat for Shaun’s Fathers Day meal, so here are our Morrisons Summer Sweet Treats!

Fathers Day Meringue Sweet Treats

You need – Small meringue nests

Creme Fraiche

Fruit of any variety (we had cherries and blackberries as well as some tinned raspberries)

A chilled banana (important!)

It’s a simple one to make, and one which Shaun took over what with it being his day, him being Australian and loving anything pavlova-esque.

Simply wash and prepare your fruit. We used the cherries and blackberries (which were on a multibuy deal) for the meringue decoration, so washed these. TOP TIP – to remove a cherry stone, use a piping nozzle – the larger the better and twist it into the cherry. It comes out every time and your cherry stays intact.

The creme fraiche doesn’t need any preparation as it’s nice and thick. We chose the Morrisons NuMe Less than 5% Creme Fraiche which comes in at 90p currently on the price checker. Spoon it onto the meringue nest carefully.

Add the fruit – we did two cherries and two blackberries, with the puree on top.

No meringue nest is complete without a fruity sauce to drizzle over the top, so I put the majority of the raspberries from a tin of Morrisons Raspberries in Juice into a blender and gave it a good whizz around. (which comes in on the price checker at £1.14) I like my purees to have a kind of ice cream type of texture, so added half of the chilled banana – it makes such a difference cold rather than straight from the bowl too. Blend again.

Chill in the fridge until it’s time to eat.

Prep time is around five minutes, chill time as long as you want (though I’d make it as close as possible to when you plan to eat it), the meringues also lasted approximately five minutes too!

So that’s our Morrisons Summer pudding.

I was quite pleased to see that Morrisons intend to start deliveries in London by the middle of this year – I’m signed up and ready for the alert – hopefully it’ll be soon!

This post is an entry for the #MorrisonsMum Summer Recipe eBook Challenge sponsored by Morrisons, which has recently cut prices on over a thousand every day products. Find out more here: price checker tool

15/06/201426/03/2018 by jo

Moominsummer Madness at the Polka Theatre

The Polka Theatre in Wimbledon has a wide variety of children’s shows. Moominsummer Madness is on right now, and we got a chance to see it yesterday.

Moominsummer Madness is a play featuring of course The Moomins, based on the book of the same name by Tove Jansson.

Moominvalley is flooded, and the Moomins (Moominmamma, Moominpappa, Snork Maiden and Moomintroll and Little My) escape their flooded house after carefully retrieving their breakfast. They find a floating home which happens to be a theatre. They meet Emma who is in charge – after a few strange happenings. The Moomins are split up and try to make their way back to each other; the story ends with Moominpappa’s play ‘The Lion’s Bride’ being performed and the family are reunited. Misabel and Snufkin also make an appearance as well as a Hemulen Policeman who H got a photo with – the sign says ‘No Smiling’ (a bit blurry I’m afraid – but check out her fab t-shirt!)

I found the production wonderful – the four actors/puppeteers who controlled the Moomins did a brilliant job – and the Moomin puppets were amazing. There was a wonderful score with musical instruments accompanying it on stage, with a simple yet stunning set which complemented the story well. It was magical – everything complemented the feel of the Moomins. Truly, if you want an afternoon at the theatre and to come out smiling (and probably singing the songs in your head), choose Moominsummer Madness.

The Polka Theatre have a trailer which shows the wonderful puppets as well as some information about the show and how it was put together.

Moominsummer Madness runs from the 11th June to the 16th August in the Main Theatre and ties in with the Tove 100 celebrations, celebrating the art and life of Moomins creator Tove Jansson.

If you book your Moominsummer Madness tickets in June, the Polka Theatre have a draw to win Moomins goodies.

The running time is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes, and the recommended age is 4-8 years.

We were given tickets to watch Moominsummer Madness and a complimentary programme. All opinions are our own.

13/06/201426/03/2018 by jo

A Higgidy Challenge

We were sent a selection of Sarah Raven salad seedlings by Higgidy, with the task of making a salad to go alongside some of their delicious pies. You can’t beat a freshly grown salad – after all, you just pick it and eat it. Read on to find out how we got on!

Higgidy Pies need no introduction here. They’re my vegetarian pie of choice with excellent varieties to choose from as well as several meaty ones for Shaun and H. I love that they’re freshly made with healthy ingredients and that they taste good.

Higgidy are currently working with Sarah Raven on a ‘Grow Your Own’ campaign; you can get £5 off at the Sarah Raven site via Higgidy – and having grown our own this last month it’s much easier than you think – the time it took to grow to then being on our plates was around three weeks.

We were sent a selection of Sarah Raven salad seedlings which were: Rocket, Mizuna, Red Solix, Mustard Red Giant and Green Salad bowl. These were carefully planted in our back yard and lovingly watered by Shaun on a daily basis, though he had to claim another of my wine boxes that I’d converted into CD racks – I let him though. So what makes a good accompaniment for a Higgidy pie?

Take several rocket leaves (and a couple of mizuna too, and a few red solix). Slice an apple and a pear. Add some colourful dried fruit to the salad (I used cranberries and goji berries), and set aside to chill while the pie cooks (not too long as the apple will start to discolour) which should be around 25 minutes. I then chopped up a bit of red pepper, added it to some 0% Greek Yoghurt with a generous helping of freshly chopped mint and a couple of basil leaves, added a few cubes of feta, mix together and chill.

I received a selection of Higgidy pies, and for this meal chose the Sweet Potato & Feta Pie with Pumpkin Seeds, there’s a bit of a feta thing going on here, but the whole dish is also cool and fresh tasting which is nice when it’s hot like this.

Higgidy Pie and Salad I used the yoghurt as my dressing as I didn’t want too much of a flavour clash (and it mixes well with the apple) – if you wanted to thin out the yoghurt a bit use some lemon juice – it doesn’t overpower the taste. Once the Higgidy pie is ready, serve straight away. Yum! If you’re like me, not having a lot of time to spare this is a nice quick and easy meal to put together and filling too. The fruit in the salad kept it crisp and fresh tasting too, and I felt quite healthy afterwards!

Thank you Higgidy for this chance – we’re loving our salads so much I’ve just invested in a Salad Zinger, so we’ll have the best dressings to go with it!

We were sent a selection of Higgidy pies and seedlings from Sarah Raven to complete this challenge. Thank you!

11/06/201427/03/2018 by jo

School Shoes with Clarks

This morning it became patently obvious H needed some new school shoes and urgently. I put the question out to my Facebook friends – given we bought the Clarks Breamy Dream shoes back in September which have been used daily and have lasted well, what should I do? Should I get a cheaper pair to keep her going until the end of term, then shop at Clarks again for September?

The general consensus was to go with Clarks again – after all, they’re a brand we know and trust, we like the shoes and we can get a decent pair for around £30.

After school today I could tell H’s toes were right at the very end of her shoes. They didn’t hurt but it can’t have been much fun wearing them, so once she was changed from her uniform we headed straight out to our local Clarks in Wallington.

Clarks have a new way to measure feet in-store. A sort of iPad type of thing plugs into a foot gauge which is meant to measure your feet – interesting. We gave it a go, H putting in her age on the iPad type of thing, and standing on the gauge. Our reading came in at a size 11, fitting E. That felt a bit small to me, as when I’d last had her measured in January she was a 11. Five months at the same size didn’t seem right. Our server got us a selection of shoes, but each pair we tried didn’t quite fit, and felt tight.

So I went on my old-school gut feeling. We got out the manual measure and did H’s feet again. This time they came up a 11.5 G – which sounds much more how it should be. Our server got us another selection of shoes, and the first pair we tried fitted perfectly. Not tight, just right.

So now she’s a proud owner of a pair of Clarks Dance Step Infant shoes, costing just £28. We also bought some nail varnish type stuff, as these have patent toes which will inevitably get scuffed.

I was quite surprised the computer shoe fitter wasn’t as accurate as doing it manually, so if it doesn’t seem right do ask for your child to be measured again. They’re smart shoes, and most importantly of all, she has a comfy pair to dance in at the school disco tomorrow night!

We’ve been really pleased with Clarks quality on the Breamy Dream shoes, and the fact they’ve lasted so long and still look good is important. I’m hoping the Dance Step Infant shoes last just as long – I suspect they will.

Having checked the Clarks site, you can even buy a gauge for £8 to measure feet at home – now THAT appeals…

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the things we do, the things we like

Month / June 2014