This is post was created in partnership with Monopoly and Hasbro.

It’s all kicking off online at the moment.

I’m not talking Trump or Brexit, this is a properly serious issue – Monopoly pieces. Monopoly has announced that it’s updating its pieces and the world has gone into turmoil. What’s your favourite Monopoly piece? What do you want to save? How do you feel about the idea of a hashtag replacing the Scottie dog??

It’s token madness!

It’s fine though, because you can do something to save your favourite Monopoly piece. You just have to visit the Monopoly voting site and pick your favourites.

WE CAN MAKE THIS OKAY.

new Monopoly pieces vote

When I was little, we used to spend quite a bit of time with my Gran and Grandad – my mum’s parents. Whenever we were there, I had one thing in mind – I wanted to get my Grandad on his own so we could play games. My mum and my Gran normally wanted to go out somewhere for a drive or to look at the shops and I would wait, twitching, while they decided what they were going to do.

My very favourite times were when they said things like ‘we might be out for quite a long time though, are you sure that you and Grandad will be alright on your own?’

Er… yes?

We had the cupboard full of games in the spare bedroom and a kitchen well stocked with tins of beans and sausages, we’d have been okay for months.

Once everyone had gone, or sometimes before if I was excited and wanted to drop the hint that I’d like everyone out of the house as soon as possible, I’d go up to the spare bedroom cupboard to choose my games.

My Grandad was a man of endless patience and he would pretty much play anything I wanted for as long as I wanted. The only game that gave him a little bit of a twitch was a horse racing game called Totopoly. I don’t know if you’ve ever played it, but my Grandad’s 1960s version had metal horses that each stood on a very narrow base. They were an absolute nightmare to keep upright and we’d not go a game without one of us accidentally nudging the table, knocking all of the horses onto their sides.

Our two favourite games were cards and Monopoly. My Grandad had big, smooth, dry hands, and I can hear him now, rubbing his hands together, getting ready to slowly, neatly, shuffle and deal a hand of rummy.

Monopoly I loved because it just felt so epic. I play it now, as a grown up, and it lasts a normal length of time, but when I was little it seemed to last for hours. It was probably partly because of how carefully and deliberately my Grandad did everything – there was no rushing in our games of Monopoly.

Which is the best Monopoly token vote

Most games we played by the rules but in Monopoly we had a special rule, just for us, where we agreed to deal ourselves out extra money once we’d bought all the properties. This used to give us both a bit of a boost and probably accounts for the length of the games too.

One of the crucial elements of Monopoly of course is the pieces. My Grandad was always the car. He called it ‘the motorcar’, and would drive it carefully from street to street. I was always to boot. I liked the way you could sort of tip tap it around the board by holding onto the little tag at the back. It had a nice rhythm to it, like I could skip my way over hotels and onto tax rebate squares whenever I wanted.

Which is the best Monopoly token vote

I couldn’t bear the thought of Monopoly without the boot, so I just had to go and vote.

Monopoly really has gone mad. As well as the option to save your existing favourites, there are all kinds of crazy new ideas, including emojis?!

Monopoly pieces vote

Belle and I had a look at the options together. I had to save the motorcar and the boot obviously, in case my Grandad ever wants a game. I mean sure, he died nearly ten years ago, but you never know.

Then, because we’re not afraid to embrace some change, we picked a selection of new pieces that we thought were cute.

Monopoly piece vote

I picked a penguin because I thought Bee would like to be the penguin if she ever played with us, and we chose the dinosaur for my nephew Finn. The trumpet is for fiancé because he works in music, and the pocket watch I liked because it felt Monopoly-ish. (I can’t explain it better than that – it just felt right.) Our other two choices were sliced bread and a bunny slipper. Just because.

If you want to save your favourite Monopoly piece or help to choose some new ones, then go and have a look now and cast your vote.

Please, please choose to save the boot and the motorcar. I will be your best friend forever, I promise.

Which is the best Monopoly token vote

 

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I am a DisneyLife Brand Ambassador and this post was created in partnership with DisneyLife who have provided me with a free 12 month DisneyLife subscription.

As much as I like a good episode of University Challenge, I’m a sucker for The Disney Channel. I pretend that I watch it just for Belle, but it’s hypnotic – everything so smiley and colourful and sassy. I can’t help myself. Sometimes I just walk past on my way to the kitchen while Belle is watching an episode of Liv and Maddie and ten minutes later I find I’m still stood there, still carrying a pile of dirty washing.

I like the classics that Bee watched as a teenager, like That’s So Raven and Wizards of Waverley Place, but I like some of the modern shows too. I’m partial to an episode of So Random, (you’ve got to admire that girl’s pluck), and I secretly quite like K.C. undercover. K.C. Cooper has got the moves.

So far with our DisneyLife subscription we’ve been able to enjoy a whole load of films, music, books and TV shows, but now DisneyLife has a brand new feature – LIVE TV! Yep that’s right, even more Disney characters and family fun.

DisneyLife is perfect for school holidays and Christmas holidays in particular. In the summer you can kick the kids out to play in the street in the evenings but in the middle of winter? Not so much. Christmas can be a bit overwhelming for children (and grown-ups) and so by the time Boxing Day comes around it’s brilliant to be able to pack them off into a quiet corner for a bit of downtime.

(Who am I kidding? I’m totally going to hide away with the Christmas tree and watch Sweet Home Alabama at some point over Christmas.)

DisneyLife live TV streaming

You can set up up to ten devices with one DisneyLife subscription and you can watch The Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD live, so children of different ages can enjoy different activities at the same time. Live TV streaming is available on compatible devices – check yours here.  View Post

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The other day Belle and I were having lunch in McDonalds. I make no excuses for the fact that we go to McDonalds because we like it, so there. Also, we recently smuggled a full McDonalds breakfast for two into the cinema under Belle’s coat and it was ACE.

So we were in McDonalds, having just collecting our meal. As a side note – Belle does like ordering through those screens but I’m not entirely sure of the point of them. They just seem to have shifted the queue from the ordering stage to the food collection stage. Who knows, perhaps they did research and found that people are happier queuing when they know their Big Mac is on its way.

Mcdonalds Big Mac and fries

Anyway, we’d collected our food and I put the tray down onto the table. Some of my fries spilled out of their little carton. You know how they always do that, and you have to sort of round them back up? I collected all together again and I put the last straggler straight into my mouth, (for the sake of efficiency).

‘Belle,’ I said, pulling a sad face, ‘that chip was completely cold.’

‘What do you mean?’ she said.

‘I mean I just ate someone else’s old, cold chip off a table in McDonalds.’

‘That’s disgusting,’ she said.

Yes. Yes it was.

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I am a DisneyLife Brand Ambassador and this post was created in partnership with DisneyLife, who have provided me with a free 12 month DisneyLife subscription. Read on for my five favourite Disney Christmas songs.

disney Christmas songs

It’s time for a quick Christmas quiz for you about me!

When it comes to Christmas songs, do I:

a) Prefer to wait until Christmas Eve to pop on a Bublé classics album at a moderate volume

b) Think it’s all a bit silly and prefer to sit quietly watching the Queen’s speech

c) Hum Jingle Bells to myself throughout the whole year and then insist on playing a Christmas playlist in the office from about mid-November.

If you didn’t answer ‘C’ then get out – you don’t know me at all. What are you even doing here? Have you not seen my hat? View Post

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Have you seen the Sainsbury’s Christmas advert?

The theme is family, togetherness, that sort of thing. It’s been made using stop frame animation and it apparently took 420 hours to film the stop frame part, with another eight weeks post production time on top of this. You can watch it here if you’ve not seen it already:

As part of their Christmas activity this year, Sainsbury’s is also supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital through the sale of stop frame animation kits and gingerbread ‘Daves’. All the profits from the sale of these items will go to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

Sainsbury's Christmas advert Great Ormond Street

Sainsbury’s sent me and Belle one of their animation kits to have a look at, along with a couple of gingerbread Daves, which we sort of accidentally ate straight away. (Just in case you’re wondering why these don’t appear in the animation.) The kit is really well put together and comes in a sturdy box that folds out to create two different sets. You get a well-written film-maker’s guide, a few props and some cardboard characters. View Post

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How well do you know your children?

Reasonably well, I’d hope, but they can still surprise you. Yesterday afternoon, while Bee was visiting, I made mine fill out these 20 questions to ask your children from Shepherds Friendly. Have a look at the link and you can download and print off the list to do with your own children.

Here are our results:

img_0927 View Post

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One of Belle’s favourite teddies is a rather strange looking creature named Frogmal.

I made Frogmal myself as a Christmas present after a visit to Camp Bestival one summer about six or so years ago. There was a vintage caravan there, selling these home made stuffed toys that were deliberately a bit quirky and wonky looking. They had parcel tags tied around their necks with unusual names on them. I’m sure you can picture the scene.

‘I want one of those for Christmas!’ said a small at the time Belle.

‘Pah!’ said me, also probably a little smaller, waist wise, ‘I could make you one of those!’

I remember Belle looking sceptical. She doesn’t forget though, bless her, so for the next six months I had weekly reminders about the toy I had promised her. Christmas got closer, and the toy remained unmade, until I was forced, probably on around December 23rd, to scrabble around for bit of fabric and a needle. I found an old dress of Bee’s and got stitching. I didn’t have a sewing machine and it took bloody ages.

The end result wasn’t exactly the artisan craft we’d seen at the festival, but Belle seemed to like it. Petplan insurance View Post

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Yesterday we went to Bee’s graduation. 

Here we are see: 

Bee's graduation

(Bee has a mini can of gin and tonic, which she made me stop and buy her on the way.)

I’m not going to lie to you, as ceremonies go, it was pretty boring. I love Bee and everything, but I wasn’t that fussed about the 469 other people who took turns to go up onto the stage and be given a fake scroll. I amused myself through Applied Sciences by sending Bee sneaky messages under the programme. Her phone was in my bag, but I thought she might like to read them afterwards.

It was worth it, as apparently they were the best bit.

Although the ceremony was fairly dull, I wanted to write this post for two reasons. Partly, Bee has been on at me lately to write something about her.

‘What do you want me to write?’ I asked her.

‘I don’t know, anecdotes or cute stories or something.’

Also though, I wanted Bee (and everyone else) to know that even though I could probably have got by without the whole ‘and now the prize for outstanding achievement in applied baking technologies’ thing, that it doesn’t actually matter. I don’t need a ceremony to remind me how clever she is you see, or to make me feel proud, because I already am. I’ve always been proud.

I was proud when she said she wanted to go to university in London. I was proud when she went, and didn’t run home again even though she was lonely and it was a bit scary and she gets anxious about stuff. I’m proud that she stayed there for three years, working hard, managing panic attacks on her own, and getting on with things. I’m proud that she came home in the holidays to work nearby for extra money and experience. I’m proud that she supported herself working weekends in a call centre. I’m proud that she started her own blog and writes really funny, thoughtful posts.

And I’m proud that she was drinking a gin and tonic before 11am.

Good work Bee.

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What TV shows did you like to watch as a child? I guess it depends on your age, but given that Sesame Street began life in the US way back in 1969, chances are you’ll have watched it at some point in your life. In fact, a 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old. (That’s fun fact number one for you right there.)

Strangely, Sesame Street wasn’t quite so quick to catch on the UK. The BBC hated it, and refused to show it, and ITV showed it reluctantly, but in a limited way. It wasn’t until the 1980s that it established itself properly on Channel 4, where it stayed until 2001.

I got to watch Sesame Street twice over then – once in the 1980s when I was little, and then again in the late 1990s when Bee was small. (It does feel a bit weird that I was watching kids’ TV only a decade apart from my own daughter!)

I seem to remember it being on over lunchtime when Bee was small – a 12-1pm slot maybe? We didn’t have the vast array of choice that we have now, and no Sky or cable TV, let alone the internet. When a show came along then that Bee enjoyed, (and that I did too), we seized upon it as a beacon of light relief in what could otherwise be a very long day. (Life with a toddler can be pretty dull when you are 19 and have zero money.)

Sesame Street was that beacon.

Sesame Street View Post

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Bee was round for tea the other night. Belle was cooking and we were watching Dirty Dancing because apparently neither of my children have ever seen it. (Which officially makes me a bad parent.)

‘Mummy’s smiling a lot,’ said Belle, from her position in the kitchen chopping onions, ‘it looks weird.’ (Our downstairs room is one biggish space that’s half a kitchen and half where we watch TV.)

‘Yeah, why are you smiling?’ asked Bee.

‘It’s a good film!’ I said.

‘Yeah but not that good,’ said Bee, ‘not as good as Wikipedia said it was going to be.’ (I don’t understand why she can’t just watch a film and wait nicely to see for herself what happens at the end.)

‘Well I like life,’ I said, cheerily.

Bee looked doubtful.

‘No one likes life,’ she said, ‘they do it, but no one actively enjoys it.’

‘Well I do,’ I said, smiling. ‘I like waking up and getting up and doing things like going to work and getting coffee.’

‘PAH!’ said Bee, looking really sceptical by this point, ‘NO ONE likes getting up!’

‘I do,’ I said.

Because actually I do, most of the time. I mean sure, there are days when I’d rather not straight away, but that’s more because I’m enjoying so much the feeling of being in bed, not because I particularly have anything against life outside of bed. I’m just generally quite cheerful. (Which is why I find it so hard when I do have periods of feeling sad or anxious.)

Most of the time I just bumble along, looking forward to lunch, buying props for photos, not thinking too much about anything serious.

It’s nice!

slummy single mummy View Post

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When Belle was small she had a few key things that she liked to do:

1. Be very near me

2. Hold things

3. Drink milk

4. Put things in the toaster

I only remembered number four recently when I found this photo of her. It was stuck inside a book I hadn’t read for a long time:

Belle View Post

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Halloween DisneyLife

Belle, now 14, has always been massively in to Halloween. I think it’s something to do with the creativity of it. She really likes dressing up (remember last year she won that competition by dressing as a cereal killer?) and she loves doing make-up. I mean she really loves it. She has a massive make-up collection and she is the appointed make-up artist for this year’s school scary tours. (It’s a bit like a school show, but you walk around the school in small guided groups and spooky stuff happens to you. Kind of like a ghost train but you don’t get to sit down.)

She’s ace at it too. 

She did my Halloween make-up last year, and every time I look at the photo I forget that I have my eyes shut. Seriously, I just typed that, so I should know, but I still looked and saw big open eyes:

Halloween DisneyLife

One of her other very favourite things is watching TV, and so, today, I bring you…

Six spooky Halloween things to watch on the DisneyLife app!

See how smoothly I did that?

In case you’ve forgotten, we’re DisneyLife ambassadors, and we’re excellent ones at that. We all genuinely love Disney and apps. So it’s a no-brainer. Duh! The DisneyLife app has absolutely masses of content – it’s the best of Disney all in one place, and it’s only £9.99 a month. Even better, you can try it for free, so if you want to give it a go over half-term, then just sign up now

Where was I? Oh yes, spooky shows on DisneyLife. Presumably you’ve just gone and signed up for the free trial (such is my power and influence). Excellent. Now you’re all set to check out our top six Halloween picks. I picked out the films and Bee, who is now 21 but still a massive Disney fan, picked out a couple of Halloween-themed episodes from her favourite Disney TV shows. (The app is multi-generational you guys!)

Wizards of Waverly Place – Season 3 episode 2

“The Wizards of Waverly Place Halloween episode is great because they have to design a haunted house,” says Bee, “so it gets you in the Halloween mood. It’s really funny, as well as there being a couple of jumpy parts to try and scare you. If you like ghosts and trick-or-treating, then definitely watch this episode for tips on how to get enough sweets to last you a whole year!”

Hocus Pocus

A classic Disney Halloween film if ever there was one. Belle has never seen this so it will definitely be on our half-term playlist. It stars the likes of Bette Midler and Sarah-Jessica Parker. It has to be said, the make-up and wardrobe is slightly less subtle than in Sex and the City.

Hocus Pocus DisneyLife app

Toy Story of Terror

Toy Story has to be one of my favourite ever film series. I went to see Toy Story 3 three times at the cinema and I cried every single time. The characters feel like they are an actual part of my life. Honestly. I don’t know what it is about Toy Story, but there is a real connection there. 

Toy Story of Terror is a short film, exclusive to DisneyLife. I’d tell you what happens, but you already signed up remember? So you can watch it and see for yourself.

Frankenweenie

Nobody does creepy quite like Tim Burton. Expect some classic Tim Burton animation in this spooky tale about a boy who brings his dog back to life. Hilarity ensues, as I’m sure you can imagine.

Also on the DisneyLife app you’ll find a short behind the scenes film about the making of Frankenweenie. 

JONAS – Season 1 episode 17

“In the Jonas Halloween episode,” says Bee, “as well as loads of cheesy Halloween jokes and funny moments, the handheld camera shots make it really spooky and the plot twist at the end is totally worth watching the whole episode for. This episode is one of the best in the series and even though it’s quite light-hearted, there are a few jumpy moments, so it’s perfect to watch on Halloween night.”

And finally…

Mom’s Got A Date With A Vampire

I’ve been on my fair share of bad dates. Like that guy who twiddled the hair on his mole – remember him? He would make a pretty good Halloween short film. As far as I know, though, I’ve never been on a date with an actual vampire. Mom’s Got a Date With a Vampire is a film about two kids, desperate to get their mum out of the house, but it turns out they’re not the only one dying to get her on a date…

(See what I did there?)

Definitely worth a half-term watch.

What are your family’s favourite Halloween TV shows or films?

Halloween films DisneyLife app

Skeleton image –Burhan Bunardi Xie/shutterstock. I am a DisneyLife Brand Ambassador and this post was created in partnership with DisneyLife who have provided me with a free 12 month DisneyLife membership.

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