Posts by jo

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02/11/201402/11/2014 by jo

A Healthy Me? October

I realise I’ve not updated in ages on my weightloss attempts, and actually, I’m doing terribly. I tried really hard to eat well but in the last month tiredness and illness got the better of us all – and more often than not, food wasn’t as fresh as I’d have liked.

Add to that a week we’ve just had in North Yorkshire with far too many meals involving chips, and I’m stepping away from the scales for a few days – my clothes are telling me everything I need to know.

Having said that, I got the dress to fit! So I’m doing something right somewhere – I did read that travelling to a different time zone can play havoc with your weight as you eat more (I know I do) to compensate for the mealtimes you’re missing that you’re used to.

With illness I haven’t been swimming, though we did lots of walking around Yorkshire when we were there which has hopefully worked off some of the chips and fat! I’ve had the flu jab, so I’m going to see if that makes a difference to my overall resistance to being ill. Shaun has had it too and has been constantly unwell.

So let’s get back to each section I’m working on.

Swimming – could do better. I feel a lot better and ready to restart. Revisit – although I am thinking about doing cycling in the gym upstairs for the days I don’t feel like swimming – then I don’t need to wait before I eat.

Being Active – I am going to wear the Fitbug Orb again and start tracking again. We’ve definitely got an active life – most weekends are booked up now until the end of the year so I need to find ways which involve walking to get there where applicable rather than driving.

Getting Out – we do plenty of that.

Food – needs some work, although right now Shaun is dairy-free so our diet has been adjusted a little bit where we all eat. Sandwiches at work have been a bit hit and miss, and with being so tired and ill I haven’t used the Yumbox as much as I should. That is going to change next week. We’ve had lots of nice vegetable curries though!

veg-curry

Weight – I think the 12 stone 11 was a freak measurement as I’ve never hit it since (and I did try twice when it came up) so we’ll revisit that at the end of this month.

The chips tasted good though. I’m now looking for good Air Fryer deals as I think that’s the way to go. Don’t deny myself, just make them healthier (and use other vegetables).

25/10/201426/03/2018 by jo

Grandad, Me and Teddy Too at the Polka Theatre

We’ve just got back from Grandad, Me and Teddy Too at the Polka Theatre, Wimbledon, a lovely new play by Sarah Argent, targeted at 2-5 year olds.

Grandad, Me and Teddy Too is a wonderful charming play – and is all about the distance a child, Mia, has from her Grandad, and how they connect, both in person and online.

This appealed to me, as H’s grandparents are in York and Australia – we have nobody close by. The internet is our main means of communication to stay in touch; we have regular chats over Skype and Facetime with Shaun’s mum and dad, whereas I tend to talk to my mum over the phone.

Grandad, Me and Teddy Too has just the two characters with a nice simple set on stage, and plenty of dialogue to capture a child’s imagination. Katherine Carlton plays Mia – a girl of approximately four, five or six years old, and Gordon Warnecke plays Grandad.

I liked that Mia had the exact facial expressions that H often pulls – I was giggling away at some of them – it’s an adult observing a child and doing it well. Mia speaks to Grandad every night on the computer, counting down the sleeps until he’ll be visiting her. Grandad lives in Argentina, so he has a bit of a way to travel.

Once he arrives he joins in Mia’s games, but often doesn’t quite play them as she would like, making her a bit cross. Again, I have seen those facial expressions myself, I’d say very accurate! They go for a ride on a magic carpet to the South Pole as well! Unfortunately he can’t stay and soon has to go back home again.

Grandad, Me and Teddy Too is at the Polka Theatre in the smaller Adventure Theatre (capacity 30-50 people), lasts for approximately 40 minutes and runs from the 8th October 2014 until 8th February 2015. This means you have seats around the edge for adults, and children are encouraged to sit on their own in front of the stage.

As well as this, children are encouraged to bring a teddy or toy along with them – if you happen to take a picture of your teddy or toy on the way to or from the Polka Theatre, make sure it has the hashtag #BYOBear and that the Polka Theatre are tagged on Twitter (@polkatheatre) or Facebook (/polkatheatre), and each week their favourite photo will win a prize!

We were charmed by Grandad, Me and Teddy Too – and I felt sad we’re so far away from all our relatives. We’re lucky these days computers make it so easy to stay in touch. H loved the play, and when I asked her about her favourite part, she loved the section with the balloons. I would highly recommend going to see this, especially if you have long-distance relatives. It was a really lovely show which resonated with me in so many ways.

We were given complimentary tickets for the purpose of review – all opinions are our own.

21/10/201419/10/2014 by jo

Dinosaur Beach by Frann Preston-Gannon

Dinosaur Beach by Frann Preston-Gannon is out now – we received a copy to review. Last year we reviewed a lovely book by the author, ‘How to Lose a Lemur’ – which we enjoy reading a lot too, so knew we’d enjoy this one.

Dinosaur Beach by Frann Preston-Gannon is a lovely story. H is currently on gold level at school as far as reading goes (she has just turned five), and we’ve been working on expression and punctuation which this book gives great examples of. I feel this book is ideal for space and expression.

It is a book of few words, but those that are there are engaging – and the pictures tell the story too. H read it on her own to start with, and I asked her questions about what happened. Her understanding of the book and the story was perfect, she was able to describe everything and even used a little bit of numeracy in there (there are ice creams and lollies bought, she worked out the total).

She could identify each dinosaur and found what they did funny – we read it together afterwards and she could barely read it for giggling! Her expression while reading (between giggles) was perfect too.

Dinosaur Beach tells a simple story with beautiful illustrations, is funny, has a font which is good for reading (NOT comic sans!) and is available now from all good booksellers.

Frann Preston-Gannon was the first UK winner of the Maurice Sendak Fellowship where she spent a month working with him.

We were sent a copy of this book for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own. We also have Frann Preston-Gannon’s new book for review, ‘The Sloth Slept On’ coming very soon! This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

19/10/201426/03/2018 by jo

We Came, We Saw, We Conker Pie’d…

Sorry, terrible pun. If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll see we’ve done a few bits with Higgidy pies, the latest being to let you know about their latest competition, to design a pie for them, as part of the Higgidy Recipe Hunt. Obviously we don’t get out of it, and lucky for us we were sent a Lakeland pie dish and blackbird, as well as a personalised rolling pin. So I can now officially reveal, our pie is a conker pie!

“A conker pie?!” said most people, as we all know conkers are poisonous. So my disclaimer is, this pie does not contain conkers anywhere AT ALL. But H liked the name, and I’m sticking with it and it’s meant to look a bit like a pie which resembles a conker rather than actually being one.

Shaun is currently doing things dairy free, so you can adapt the Conker Pie recipe accordingly.

For the pastry –
250g Plain Flour
110g Trex
a pinch of salt
some cold water.

Put the flour and salt in a bowl, and add the Trex (or butter) to the mixture, getting it into a breadcrumb-like consistency. Once you’ve achieved this, add the water to bind it all together, roll into a ball and wrap with clingfilm. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to allow it to rest.

For the filling –
2 sweet potatoes
3 carrots
one bag of chestnuts – I got Gefen whole chestnuts which come roasted and peeled.

peel and dice the sweet potato and carrot and lay on a baking tray. Roast for around 15-20 minutes. I sprayed them lightly with some Frylight. Slice the chestnuts and put into a frying pan, adding some light curry powder, some cumin and a bit of garlic. Stir together, and once the other vegetables are finished in the oven, add those to the mixture. Finally, get a tin of lentils and add to the mixture, making sure they’re well drained. (you could also use split peas – I forgot to soak them, so I’ll try that next time)

Roll out the pastry. I found it was quite crumbly, possibly due to using Trex instead of butter. Paul Hollywood would not be happy. Actually, we found ourselves saying many times “what would they do on Bake Off?” and remembering. I rolled it to around 0.5cm thickness, with a lot of patching together as it was fairly dry and crumbly.

The filling is ready, but don’t forget the blackbird – put it in the middle of the pie dish to let steam out while cooking, and add the filling around it. Place the rolled out pastry on top, and carefully trim the sides to fit the dish. We also did the fork pattern around the edges for extra conker pie prettiness.

Conker Pie Finally, brush the top with milk (we used soya milk) and for the conker-like appearance, lightly fry some pine nuts in the frying pan used for mixing the vegetables until they’re slightly toasted, and put them onto the top of the pastry. Some stuck up and some fell over, but they had the spiky conker-like effect we were looking for.

Pop into the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees.

The Conker Pie should be a nice mixture of flavours and crunch without being too overbearing. The only thing I’d say went wrong with ours was the pastry – next time I’ll buy ready made which should make things a bit simpler. But overall it was a delicious pie, dairy free, and full of vegetables! Oh and it made for a nice Sunday dinner too… and there’s enough left for more tomorrow.

We received some goodies from Higgidy for taking part in this challenge.

13/10/201426/03/2018 by jo

It’s a Higgidy Recipe Hunt!

A couple of weeks ago we were sent some goodies from Higgidy as they’re on a recipe hunt. While we’re not quite ready to share our creation (and you’ll know about it when we are), it only seemed fair to let you all know about it too.

The Higgidy Recipe Hunt is on! Head over to Higgidy’s website to find out more

I think it’s pretty exciting – create your own pie, and submit it to Higgidy. Higgidy will then shortlist all the entries into a final three which you can vote for. The winning pie will be available from Sainsburys next spring! The terms & conditions are here.

The best thing is, you don’t have to be able to cook to enter the Higgidy Recipe Hunt – if you have a combination you always wished you’d tried, you can do just that. All you have to do is pop your entry idea onto the form on the page above.

Don’t leave it too long though – you only have until the 26th October, which isn’t very long at all!

We have been sent some pie-making goodies to submit an entry – which will follow very soon!

12/10/2014 by jo

Singalonga Frozen at Hampton Court

In the last year our lives have very slowly been taken over by THAT film. Last Christmas we took H to see Frozen, and in the months since it has become her latest obsession. When it was announced Singalonga Frozen would be coming to Hampton Court, and would go ahead whatever the weather, we bought tickets.

Singalonga Frozen was at Hampton Court and has been doing a tour around loads of interesting venues (alongside other films) with The Luna Cinema – the last night of the season at Leeds Castle tonight (Sunday 12th October).

So what do you need to know? Here’s my handy checklist:

It is October – it is COLD. Take fleeces, blankets, waterproofs, warm things. There was one tea stand which was reasonably priced, but the queue was long. I’d suggest taking a flask.

We took camping chairs for everyone – even though once the film started the girls all sat on our knees – this was a good thing as it was getting so cold I thought I might faint (this happens a lot) – we warmed up quickly, so it wasn’t so bad.

We also took a picnic. Some people brought in Pizza Express takeouts, but you really could take anything in there.

There was a Benefit stand as you walk in – you get your photo taken and if you’re lucky you can win a chance to sit in the VIP inflatable chairs just in front of the blanket area. We missed this, as it wasn’t completely obvious, but it wasn’t a problem.

Ah yes, the seating areas – there’s a flat bit at the front for people with blankets, the inflatable chairs, the VIP areas (approx £25 per person) then the area everyone else can sit. H could see in our regular seats, but sat on my knee and could see even better.

You get the words to the songs! This is good as obviously even though your child will probably know them off by heart, you can bluff your way around it too.

The only food option was hot dogs – fine if you’re not a vegetarian. If you are, take some food in! They had some granola for sale with the coffee which I did buy, as well as crisps and popcorn.

Merch. There was plenty – I bought H a ring for £1 and a purse for £2. There was pricey stuff and the cheaper ones too, so a good balance.

Benefit were one of the sponsors – you could buy sample sizes of the cosmetics for £2 with all money going to Refuge – I bought a bag. Benefit were also offering £1 makeovers which the girls all had done as well.

Follow the Luna Cinema on Facebook for information about more events – they’re planning next year already, and I know it’s something we’ll do again. The girls loved it, and despite the cold it was a brilliant night – plus they got to get their photos taken with ‘Elsa’ – we missed ‘Kristoff’ though (I haven’t dared tell H!).

Tickets came in around £15 each, with loads of options available. I’d definitely recommend it if you want to do something a bit different – especially if you’re already a fan of the film! We were also able to wander around the grounds prior to the film starting, although it was the girls who ran around a bit more than we did!

10/10/2014 by jo

Back to School with Matalan School Uniform

Half term is only two weeks away, and H has been wearing her Matalan school uniform daily – I think it’s time we did a quick mid-term report!

There is a wide variety of Matalan school uniform options online – I ordered H’s when we were in Australia back in August, where I only had use of my iPad. The whole experience was simple enough (although if I navigated away I lost the order, so needed to make a note of what I wanted and order it at once) – delivery was speedy too, despatched within a day of me placing the order which impressed me. The Matalan website has a School Shop section where you can view the whole range – our local store doesn’t keep everything available online in stock.

I love that Matalan stock longer-length skirts – H is a tall girl (she grew over 2cm this summer!), has only just turned 5 and is quite skinny – she’s already wearing a lot of size 6 clothes. Alas, they don’t seem to have longer length trousers, which I would definitely have bought.

So here’s what was in the order :

Two Empire line pinafore dresses £6 each, age 6. I love these – the style makes us think ‘Wizard of Oz’ with a little cross across the back – which can be a bit tricky on PE days so we tend to wear them on the days she doesn’t have it. I went for age 6 which fits her perfectly.

Two Gingham Dresses with tie belt at £6 each. These look identical to the ones on H’s school uniform website and cost £6 each. They wash well too – with the warm weather and the fact they can wear summer dresses up to half term I bought age 7 so hopefully they’ll last for the summer as well – though who can tell with the speed she’s growing.

Two Girls Scallop Edge Cardigans, age 6-7 at £6 each. I like plain cardigans with summer dresses – the school ones come in a sweatshirt type material which is often too warm for hot weather. So far the cardigan is washing well as well.

Two Girls Longer Length Box Pleat Skirt, age 6 at £5.50 each. As said before, I love there’s a longer length available. There is an adjustable waistband too – ideal as H is tall and skinny! Matalan, please consider doing longer length girls trousers too!

Finally, I bought two packs of Polo Shirts, which come in packs of 3 at £5 each. Her older polo shirts are getting small, so these are ready and will probably be in daily use after half term.

The total cost of the Matalan School Uniform came to £59. I had a £50 voucher which took it down to £12.95 including shipping. Everything was in stock, despatched quickly and well packed – and has washed and ironed well over the last six weeks. We’ve had a few tumbles in the playground and so far no holes which is a very good thing.

I would highly recommend Matalan School Uniform – it is priced well – I need to look at their shoes next, as H has moved up a size (sighhh, stop growing..!!) and is learning to tie laces – they have some lovely looking brogue-style shoes – plus she’ll probably need some new plimsolls soon, and at £2.50 you can’t complain!

I was provided with a £50 voucher for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own. Photos were taken when the uniform originally arrived and are just a guide.

09/10/201408/07/2018 by jo

Parents Nearby

Parents Nearby is a new free app to help you meet other parents, hopefully with similar interests. I’m interested in the app, and always wanting to make friends. This sounds ideal for me – I had to give it a go.

Before H was born we signed up and did NCT classes – mainly for the social aspect. A lot of people sign up with the NCT and have friends for life. A lot of people have a great social network from postnatal classes. I would honestly say, for H’s first two years of life I had an amazing social network – NCT friends who would meet weekly and other mums I’d see on regular occasions too; however, these days I only see one of our NCT group. These days my social circle has shrunk quite a lot.

I have my regular knitting meet up every month, and I have occasional social evenings with my mum friends which is great, but I would love to meet like-minded people, as often the one thing you have in common is your children but nothing else. Parents Nearby makes this much easier. Thomas Souza created the app after spending a year as a Stay at Home dad, to help people with similar interests find each other.

You can connect your Facebook or LinkedIn profiles to the app, and from that information it will let you know about other parents in the area – who have also signed up. I’m shy. I’m terrible at making the first move to meet someone and had to get out of my comfort zone when I’ve met other mums in the past. But I plucked up the courage and signed up – one of the first people I saw was my friend Leanne! So that was nice, as when you know someone it makes things easier.

My next step is to contact someone, to make friends and broaden our social circle. I’ve often found London a big, unfriendly place and know it is somewhere that I’m terrified of being alone. Apps like Parents Nearby are doing something about it – if you are struggling to make friends too, this may be the answer.

Don’t take my word for it – here’s some feedback from other users.

‘I’m in touch with 4 parents in the area already, half I contacted and half contacted me’ – Rosa
‘I love the idea – ingenious. It could do away with the need for NCT classes for a lot of people’ Ellie
‘Already spoken to a dad who’d like to meet up’ – Justin
‘I have been contacted by one parent. I only joined last night, so that is pretty good!’ – Natalie

You can download Parents Nearby for free, it is available at the App store, and at the Google Play store. I highly recommend. It has a really simple user interface and works well. Parents Nearby website can be found here.

01/10/201426/03/2018 by jo

Clearing the Clutter Before Christmas

Joanne Mallon has set a challenge – and we’re in! A proper pre-Christmas clutter clearout – and it’s something I need to do badly.

Now H is five we have so many things we don’t need any more. She isn’t going to have a little brother or sister so space needs to be made – and I need to get rid.

Getting rid of baby things is hard. It’s like saying “that’s all folks!” and facing reality – I don’t get as many people asking these days “will you have another do you think?” so I must be starting to look (or act?!) my age a bit more maybe.

Things I need to shift.
Our lovely Maclaren Techno buggy. So many people request one on FB groups, ours comes with all the extras, I try for £50 and they tell me it’s too much. Sob.
Fisher-Price sit to stand microphone. I drove all the way to Crawley to buy this, as it was for sale at ELC – for £25. It took me almost two hours to get there and back, and probably almost as much petrol. It was much loved – H played with it so much when we got it.
Fisher-Price infant to toddler rocker – this lasted years – it made a great seat until H decided she wanted to fasten herself into it again, and I knew she was way too big. See also – the pink bumbo which she would sit in (last year!) and crawl around on all fours like some crazy snail child.
A Little Life Infant backpack carrier. As good as new, pretty much. Nobody wants it. I don’t want to give it away.
Oh, and the Ozbozz scooter I bought, which was obviously too small for H, but she took it outside once assembled to skate on it, so I couldn’t take it back. Nobody wants that, not even for £10 – and it was used for about 30 seconds.

There’s so much more, but practical things like that… I could ebay them (and may well resort to doing that) but I’d much rather sell locally. The only problem is nobody seems to want them.

Then there’s her clothes. So many clothes all carefully washed and bagged up into ages, doing nothing. They need to go, we need the space. They’re just clothes. I didn’t keep her first outfit or anything, there is no emotional attachment.

I think her cot is in the loft too.

So yes, we have a lot of things to get rid of. I also have a large pile of CDs that I need to get to Music Magpie to help raise a bit of cash towards Christmas. I sorted out all my old clothes and they were left in a pile in our closet for about six months until Shaun took them to the clothes bank at the end of the road.

So I’m setting myself a challenge. I need to make space. Things need to be sorted out and it needs to be done now. So I want to get rid of one thing a week – be it giving it away or selling it. There is a public photo album on my FB profile which has everything that needs to go. I just need to make a start.

So here goes…

30/09/2014 by jo

SCREAM! It’s Soreen!

It is always a good day when a box arrives in the post which has the word ‘Soreen’ printed upon it – I used to eat the regular malt loaf when I was a little one, and now H also loves the stuff. Even better, Soreen is low in fat and high in fibre, plus some are low in saturated fats – ideal if you’re like me and need to keep an eye on them due to cholesterol problems.

We’ve been sent a few new varieties, including the Toffee Apple Scream variety (which is also available in chocolate from most Asda stores) and the new Orange loaf, which is available from most Sainsburys stores (see link above).

I’ve never seen the Scream variety before – they’re in handy lunchbox size, and perfect for those snacks between school and heading out for an activity – and of course perfect fun for Halloween.. I’m now trying to think of a good way to use them on the big night… I quite fancy trying to coat the Orange Soreen in Milk Chocolate for Christmas… mmm!

I allowed myself a whole slice of the Orange Soreen (well, I have pilates tonight so I won’t be eating until 8pm!) – I love that the loaves contain slow-release carbs, so I tend to stay fuller for longer – seeing as my rumbly stomach tends to sound like it’s singing…

Scream Soreen and Orange Soreen are available in stores now. Having been allowed to taste both by H (so kind…) I can confirm both are damn fine too – don’t leave it too late!

We were sent a selection of Soreen products – this review is just me letting you know they’re available, and is our own opinion.

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