Have you ever backed a Kickstarter campaign?

I’ve backed a few. I love the idea of being able to directly invest in someone’s dreams. Sounds a bit soppy, but that’s basically what you’re doing isn’t it? It makes product development possible for people who might never have been able to do it before, and you get something back yourself, which is fun, because then it just feels like shopping. Generous shopping.

My favourite Kickstarter product at the moment is the Bundle Bed.

Here it is:

Bundle Bed

Casual surfboard. Living the dream.

 

We’ve done a lot of camping and festivals and what not over the years, and my absolute least favourite bit about the whole process is the sleeping arrangements. There is nothing fun at all about trying to sleep well at a festival. First of all you have the kerfuffle of having to carry everything from your car to the camping area, which is normally about seven miles away. Then you get there and realise you don’t have a pump for the air bed, so you have to do it with your mouth. 

Once you’ve come round from your faint, you bundle in all the sleeping bags and blankets, only to come back in the evening to find it’s deflated just enough to ensure your hip touches the ground when you lie on it.  View Post

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Today I welcome back Jon from The Money Shed. Jon has written a couple of popular posts for me already – one about earning money from home without having to go near a survey, and another guide to matched betting, and today Jon has a few motivational words for you. I know for a fact that he recently went to America on his earnings from these work-at-home jobs, so he knows what he’s talking about.

ways to earn money from home

I chose this image especially for Jon as I know he’s a big fan of my cheesy stock pictures

Whether you are a stay-at-home parent or you work full time you probably feel that you’re pretty busy. It can be very easy to convince yourself that you have a lot on your plate and no time to take on anything else. Frankly this is untrue. 

Watching daytime TV or spending half your work day on your mobile phone is NOT being busy. It may feel important, at the time, as you’re desperate to know what the DNA results are, but you could be putting your time to much better use. View Post

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Children ask things that other people don’t ask. This can be good or bad.

For example, “Mummy, why is the sky blue?” is a very valid question that, if answered correctly, can make you look pretty impressive in front of your child. However, “Mummy, why is that lady very very fat?” can mean that you have to get off the bus a few stops earlier than originally intended out of sheer embarrassment, while your toddler obliviously shouts the same few lines of ‘Let It Go’ over and over again to the person sitting next to them.

Lots of the time though, kids can ask questions we have never even thought of before. Even Bee, who is 20 and might know more than I do at this point, text me a couple of weeks ago to ask “can bird get a fever?” to which I responded “probably”. If humans can then birds probably can, although come to think of it you don’t often see a bird with a cold, even the ones that live in the snow.

baby penguins View Post

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And by good old days, obviously I mean when I was a teenager. You have to consider those the good old days even if they were rubbish, that’s how it works.

Last night Belle and I watched Point Break. (The original, not the terrible looking remake.) It came out in 1991 I think, when I was 13, and I must have watched it dozens of times. Partly I just liked looking at Keanu Reeves, partly I wanted to be Tyler, because she was so cool and tough and looked amazing in that denim short/off the shoulder stretchy top combo, and partly because it made me want to join the FBI and do cool chases through people’s back gardens.

(Obviously I would never be able to do that, I’d just be huffing and puffing, shouting ‘come back!’ before collapsing in a paddling pool.)

It’s an ace film though isn’t it? A proper classic, which I why I wanted to introduce Belle to it at a similar age. When I got the box out though, I realised it’s an 18!! Seriously. I was stunned. An 18?! 

I did some research online and ‘bloody shootings’ and bad language seemed to be the thing, along with one scene where you see a flash of boob. I talked to Belle about it, as she is quite sensitive about things being age appropriate, and she agreed she would give it a go. I even said the word ‘fuck’ out loud, which I don’t think I have ever done before in front of her, to prove that it was only a word and couldn’t actually hurt you. She seemed a little taken aback, and I’m not sure I’ve ever read that technique in a parenting book, but I did really want to watch the film…

As we watched, I kept waiting for ‘the thing’ that would warrant the 18 certificate, but apart from the 71 uses of the F word, (Belle kept a tally), and a few shootings, there really wasn’t anything. I think about the sort of films nowadays that get 18 certificates, like the Saw films, which I could never bear to watch, and it just doesn’t seem to compute. 

Is it just me, or are films more violent now? If Point Break came out now, would it really get an 18 certificate do you think?

Point Break review

Image – underworld/shutterstock

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WallSnaps personalised wall art competition voucher code

Ta DA ta DA!!

*fanfare*

It’s competition time! I love a competition, but I haven’t had one for a while, so I’m excited :-)

This is an example of my excited face: View Post

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This morning I am meant to be writing an important feature about digital consumerism, but seriously, how dull does that sound? Instead, I decided it would be much more fun to make an infographic. 

Who doesn’t love an infographic?

This one is about Twitter, and contains seven cool Twitter tips, to help you get that little bit better at using Twitter. Some of them you may know already, but hopefully there will be at least one that makes you think ‘Ah, that’s cool! I did not know that!’ That way you’ll feel less inclined to close the window with a feeling of disappointment lingering as you sip your coffee.

Fingers crossed.

If you like this, you might like this other Twitter post I wrote, about ways to get more Twitter followers.

cool twitter hacks and tips

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Okay, I’m going to tell you an embarrassing personal story. Not many people know this, and I’m only telling you now to illustrate how important it is to look after your pelvic floor. This is selfless public humiliation at its best.

So, picture the scene…

I’m 17 years old.

About two weeks ago I gave birth to the lovely Bee. I’m sat on my bed, Bee is lying next to me. A couple of friends from college have come round to have a look at her. (I’m still friends with them now. They will know who they are, but they don’t think they know that this is what happened, so let’s hope they can still look me in the eye next time we meet.)

We’re chatting away, very casually – it’s all good.

I decide I need to change Bee’s nappy, so I do it there on the bed. When I take off her nappy though, she decides that actually, now is the moment that she wants to wee, and so she does, in a huge arc, all over me.

It’s hilarious.

We all laugh. A lot. I mean genuinely a lot. I’m laughing really hard – so hard in fact that my recently battered vaginal area can’t quite keep up, and without being able to help it, suddenly Bee is not the only one who has done a wee on the bed.

*pause while you readjust how you feel about me*

Of course now I’m stuck. What can I do? I don’t want to say ‘Oh sorry, I appear to have just done a wee on the bed,’ so instead I have to just sit there, chatting away, until everyone is ready to leave. And then, just when you’d think it couldn’t get any more awkward, I have to then stay sat on the bed when everyone is leaving and I really should be getting up and saying goodbye. It’s looks ridiculous, but I just have to style it out.

That’s the end of the story. Except to say that for the last twenty years, I have steered clear of trampolines as much as possible. I don’t regularly wee on the floor or anything, I’m not saying that, but let’s say that three sneezes in a row feels kind of risky, and I get the feeling that another twenty years down the line could be a different story.

Enter Elvie into my life.

Elvie pelvic floor exercises kegels View Post

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I’m not going to particularly talk here about the importance of International Women’s Day or what it means, I just wanted a quick word about some of the thoughts it triggered in my mind about the women in my life. 

For the first 25 years of my life, there was one very dominate woman in our family – my Gran. She was five feet tall, Welsh, and the phrase ‘doesn’t suffer fools gladly’ could have been written for her. She was not afraid to tell anyone what she thought, often to the point of embarrassment for those around her, she would sit me on her lap as a child and try to get me to drink gin and tonic, and she had a really annoying habit of clutching me to her chest when I had a cough, when really all I wanted was some space to breathe. She was also very intelligent, funny, determined and hard-working. 

Our family has been rather dominated by women ever since, and between us we are some pretty strong characters. I can’t imagine what it must be like as a man, coming into our family, but I would think, (or perhaps I like to think), that it’s a little daunting. We are strong, but not at the expense of our compassion. We know what we want, but are also generous with our time and support. Most of all, we are always there for each other.

I have a favourite quote that always makes me think of my own daughters, Bee and Belle, and of my Gran. I think it would make a pretty good family motto for us. 

Happy International Women’s Day to you and all the fierce women in your life.

(Just to annoy Belle, I used a font in this graphic called ‘Courgette’…)

International Women's Day And though she be but little, she is fierce

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How to spend less time doing admin Federation of Small Businesses

When people ask me what I do for a living, I’ll often give a different answer depending on my mood or the person I’m talking to. This isn’t because I have some sort of personality disorder, it’s just that sometimes I find it hard to define.

For example, if I’m talking to someone I think is a bit trendy, I’ll probably just say ‘I’m a writer’, in a slightly deeper than normal voice, and try to look a bit anguished, as though it’s my ‘calling’ and I can’t help but be anything else.

If I’m talking to an older businessman, I’ll say I’m a consultant or trainer, to sound super professional, and if I’m talking to someone I’ve not really taken a shine too, I might say ‘I’m a blogger’, just to confuse them, as no one really understands how you make a living from that.

All of these definitions are true.

I never say ‘I’m a bookkeeper’ or ‘I’m an administrator’ or ‘I’m an office manager’, even though all of these definitions are technically true as well. When you work for yourself, you end up spending a lot of time on admin tasks, and not as much time as you originally imagined you might on the work you actually enjoy.

Before I became self-employed, my freelancing dreams involved me, sat outside a beautiful cafe on a sunny day, sipping an espresso, (even though I don’t actually like espresso), and working on my latest hilarious column for The Guardian. Nowhere in the fantasy was there a pile of crumpled receipts or a reminder to renew my business insurance.

How to spend less time doing admin Federation of Small Businesses

Obviously I look like this in the fantasy too.

So where did it all go wrong? View Post

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A couple of weeks ago I got a new Mac. It was jolly exciting, and I have already fallen a little bit in love with it. In the evenings and at weekends I find myself thinking about it, like when you meet someone, and you’re constantly wondering what they might be doing, except without the anxiety, as I know my Mac is just sat on my desk waiting for me, not talking to other girls.

This morning I plugged in my camera, and all of my photos from the last 18 months spewed out. I’ve been working from a Chromebook for a couple of years now, and although it’s fantastic for portability and battery life, photo editing and storage is not really its thing. It has been fantastic to be able to quickly scroll through photos, and edit and organise them.

So, this morning, when I really should have been planning my work for the week or sorting our receipts or something very grown up like that, I spent a happy couple of hours sorting my photos into folders and looking at pictures of Bee and Belle, and smiling to myself at how adorable they are. Yesterday was Mothers’ Day of course, and Bee came down to visit for the day, so I was reminded, in between the squabbling, of just exactly how lovely they both are. I may even create a photobook so I can procrastinate in the flesh on a regular basis.

Also, this morning Bee called me to tell me she has been asked to read her poetry at a festival next month. For money. Which officially makes her a professional performance poet. I am very proud, because I had thought it was pretty much impossible to be a poet and not live in a cardboard box, and she hasn’t even finished her degree yet.

I’ve picked out a few of my favourite photos for you to look at.

You have to say how beautiful they are, even if inside you’re thinking ‘Jeez, we really have to look through someone else’s family photo slideshow? What is this, some sort of really boring 1980s dinner party?”

So sit back and enjoy.

(Seriously, ENJOY.)

FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM View Post

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Does Ecover washing liquid work?There are a few reasons why I prefer to use a ‘green’ laundry liquid like Ecover.

Firstly, we have a lot of sensitive skin and eczema in the family, and I want to wash our clothes in something that I know is going to be as kind to our skin as possible. If ever we end up with a cheap or over-fragranced laundry liquid I can always tell, as I start getting horrid itchy patches where my clothes rub the most, like around the waist of my jeans.

Secondly, I care about the environment. It’s easy to try and ignore the fact that everything we use has to end up somewhere, but once you have thought about it, it’s difficult to get it out of your head.

And finally, I’m a Guardian reading leftie, who likes people to see me with a bottle of Ecover next to my sink.

One of the things though that puts some people off switching to an eco-friendly laundry detergent like Ecover, is the thought that perhaps they don’t really work as well as standard washing liquids. There’s something about the green image that, in some people’s minds, equates to meaning ‘not quite as good.’

Personally, I think this is a bit of an old-fashioned view. The green market has come a long way over the last couple of decades, and you can make a lot of simple, effective switches nowadays that don’t mean you have to rub your armpits with a mineral rock or anything like that. It’s no longer a choice between products that are ‘green’ and products that do the job well – you can have both.

 

So does Ecover work well on stains?

To prove the point, I put Ecover to the test, to see how well it performed on some common household stains. Stain removal is very important to me, as I really can’t be faffed washing things again and again, so a liquid that helps to lighten the laundry load by getting out common stains first time is definitely a winner.

To start things off, I gathered Belle in the kitchen with a brand new, squeaky clean apron, and a selection of food items.

“How would you like to smear these all over this apron?” I asked her. View Post

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Have you ever found yourself away for the weekend in a lovely self-catering cottage, snuggled up in front of a roaring fire, or maybe even at home, tucked under a blanket, and thought to yourself, ‘what would make this perfect right now would be if someone were to bring me a tray of tea; some sort of friendly, discreet butler would be lovely.’ Well, that’s what happened when we visited Weeke Barton for the weekend, anyway.

*Cue Sam, half of the couple who run Weeke Barton guesthouse in Devon, arriving with a tray of tea and offering to add another log to the fire in the huge living room, full of squishy leather sofas.*

Often when we go away for one of our weekend mini-breaks, we end up doing that thing of tiptoeing around our unfamiliar surroundings, unsure of where you’re allowed to go or what you’re allowed to touch. Come dinner time, you loiter in your room, nervous about how to strike the right balance of smart / casual, and concerned about the embarrassment of a child refusing everything on the menu.

Weeke Barton is exactly the opposite of this.

From the moment we arrived, we were made to feel as welcome as if we were old family friends. A converted long house, Weeke Barton has a wonderful mix of cosy fires and character features alongside spacious rooms and wide windows. Inside, you feel cocooned and yet free, both at the same time. It’s jolly clever.

Review Weeke Barton hotel B&B Dartmoor Devon View Post

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