I shared a photo on my Facebook blog page this morning that seemed to strike a chord. It was something I found on Instagram that pretty much sums up how I feel every morning.

 

A photo posted by @kay14722 on

For my breakfast this morning I ate some cold pasta out of a bowl from the fridge with my fingers, and a Jaffa cake I found, (in the box), on the floor in the living room.

There was nothing photogenic about any element of that. I didn’t have a casually placed, single large bloom in a glass jar in the background, my carefully painted toe nails were not visible in the edge of the photo, peeking out of my shiny red sandals. There was not a single quirky, vintage, floral table cloth in sight.

I ate though. Calories were consumed. I chewed. I swallowed. 

I know that my job is social media, blah blah, but it pisses me off sometimes that there’s this constant pressure to be beautiful and stylish in everything that you do. The fact is that I’m just not a stylish person. I’m not a very good photographer, I have no real sense of colour, and often I resent the niggling feeling that if my dinner doesn’t get at least two dozen likes then somehow it’s not worth eating.

Of course we all like to look at nice pictures and pretty things, but Instagram often feels to me like an extension of that hideous pressure we put on ourselves to look beautiful. Except that now it’s worse, because not only do we feel the pressure to make ourselves look personally beautiful, but now everything around us has to be too – our breakfast must be styled, our homes chic at all times, our cups of coffee perfectly arranged on a white desk next to a self-help paperback about embracing life and a pencil holder in the shape of a polaroid camera.

Enough already.

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It would be fair to say I’m not a natural crafter. I try really hard, but I lack finesse. Even when I put a lot of thought into something, it tends to end up looking like a small child has made it.

And this is why I have children!

If my craft attempts turn out a little squiffy, I can just say that Belle made them. So today, ‘Belle’ has been making Halloween trick or treat balloons! Seriously though, we did actually make these together and I would suggest that they are exactly the sort of wholesome Halloween craft activity that would be ideal to do as a family. Belle even got a friend from next door over to help, and they had a lot of fun playing with the Balloon Time helium canister and decorating the balloons.

The idea behind them is to have something actually exciting to give out to trick or treaters when they come to call, rather than just chucking them a couple of bags of Haribo and sending them on their way. The trick or treat balloons are filled with helium, and weighed down with a spooky home made box. Inside the box is either a treat – like a Screme Egg – or a trick – like a plastic cockroach. The unsuspecting trick or treater has to choose a balloon and accept the consequences!

Mwahaha!

Here we go then…

Halloween crafts View Post

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We’re three weeks into our healthy eating challenge with the Co-op now, and we’ve made some interesting discoveries about ourselves. Nothing spiritual mind, I’ve not discovered God or anything, but we have come to the conclusion that Belle is probably lactose intolerant.

I’ve always taken a fairly laid back approach to health complaints from my children. My standard reaction to most things is to suggest either a bit of fresh air, a glass of water, or a little something to eat. To prove the point, after 18 years, when she finally managed to escape my insistence that her stomach aches were nothing a brisk walk and some fluids wouldn’t solve, my eldest daughter Bee officially got herself diagnosed as unable to stomach dairy.

Oops.

(As a side note, I made sure to spell ‘oops’ properly there, as Bee emailed me this week to request that I stop spelling it opps. I told her I thought it was one of those words that you could spell however you wanted, like sshhh, but apparently not.)

I digress. View Post

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Bee is always telling me that my funniest blog posts are the ones where I’m quoting things that she has said, because she is so hilarious. She also often berates me for writing so much about Belle and how cute/brave/adorable she is. I think it gets on her nerves when I go on and on about all the mini breaks Belle and I have been on, whilst Bee is living in London as a poor student, having to wear her pyjamas on days when her one pair of good trousers are in the wash.

Today then I am killing two birds with one stone and writing a post that talks exclusively about Bee and highlights how funny she is. She can’t fail to be impressed.

So, today, as I’m sure you’ll know if you have opened a newspaper/switched on the TV/opened your eyes, is Back to the Future Day. 21st October 2015 is the day they travel forward to, where everyone is getting around on hoverboards and watching on, casually, as their shoes automatically tie themselves. 

Thankfully, in my opinion, we still walk around like normal people. I can’t even rollerskate, and my attempts at skiing were frankly ridiculous. I’d be an absolute liability on a hoverboard.

Anyway, to celebrate Back to the Future Day and to reinforce my position as ‘the old one’ in our partnership, Bee welcomed me to the day with a friendly text:

Back to the Future Day

You see? Isn’t she funny?

It’s always good to know your children are thinking of you.

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Do you ever remember to use the vouchers attached to the receipt of your supermarket shopping? You know, the ones that say ‘your shop was £1.53 cheaper in another supermarket – get this off your bill next time you shop.’

No, me neither.

It’s annoying, because I know they’re just doing it to get me to go back again, and I fall for it every time, only to then forget the voucher, which was the reason I went back there in the first place.

That’s the thinking behind the new Tesco Brand Guarantee.

Tesco Brand Guarantee View Post

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I don’t normally wear a lot of make up.

It’s not that I wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and decide that it’s impossible to improve on perfection, it’s more a case of just not knowing where to start. I love the smell when you walk into Boots, but the choice overwhelms me, and even if I did know what to buy, I wouldn’t have a clue how to put it on properly.

I’m sure I’m not alone, which is why the new Outsidethebox Make Up Workshops at Thornbury Castle are an ace idea. They’re a new venture from a woman called Jules, who is both the face of and the brains behind Outsidethebox – a new range of mineral make up that’s totally natural and actively good for your skin. No kidding, if you are too lazy to take this make up off before you go to bed, you could actually be doing yourself a favour.

outsidethebox make up View Post

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My featured organisation this week is the Happily Ever After Dog Rescue. If you’re a dog person, this is definitely one to have a read of.

So, what’s the problem?
The rescue holds around 60 dogs, of which around 20 will never be adoptable – someone has just hurt them too much. The rest are adoptable and looking for their forever family. A number of dogs in the rescue come from Romania, where 3 million stray dogs has resulted in the government using a kill strategy to manage the ‘problem’ – removing the dogs from the streets, putting them in awful public shelters, then killing them using the most inhumane methods.

Mika Romania PS

How does Happily Ever After solve it?
The rescue, founded by Cerian, works with two vets in Romania, Garo and Rudi, and a Norwegian fundraiser, Kristin, to save some of the dogs (the lucky ones) so that they can have their happily ever after firstly at the rescue, in a loving family environment, then with a family of their own. The dogs are physically fixed by Garo and when they are fit to travel, Krisitin fundraises to pay their travel and medical costs – neutering, vaccination and pet passport! Cerian then loves them back to life. The rescue works with the philosophy that a dog should have its ‘happily ever after’ no matter where it comes from.

What’s special or unique about how you work?
The rescue recognises that rescuing these dogs is not the long-term solution and works closely with Kristin and Garo to promote the neuter program in Braila, a town 100 miles away from Bucharest. It is hoped that the world will see how this is the only solution to the stray dog problem in Romania and the senseless killing of dogs will be stopped. We also support a campaign ‘A Dog’s Life’, which asks for the EU to implement a legal framework to protect domestic animals all over the EU – you can add your signature HERE.
 
Can you explain exactly how you make a difference to a dog’s life?
So dogs, they feel exactly what we feel – pain, humiliation, loss of dignity, hurt and being unloved. Imagine that was you … We give some of the most unloved and abused dogs the chance to have their happily ever after with loving families, who treat the dog as an integral part of their family. View Post

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If you don’t have time to read this whole post, please watch the video of Belle making tomato soup right at the end as it’s very sweet!

As you may have read last week, we’re currently taking part in a 21 day healthy eating challenge, supported by The Co-op. Last week we kicked off by looking at a typical day in the life of Belle, and I was slightly ashamed by the prominence of chocolate chip brioche on the menu.

Still, looking on the bright side, it gave us a nice low starting point, so surely it would be easy to make a positive difference?

Well yes actually.

As we’re just about 7 days in at the time of writing, I thought it might be nice to pick out one easy change for each day. The idea with any change is that you don’t need to do something massive to make a difference, and in fact change is often more sustainable if you start small. All of these 7 changes are things that you could do yourself, this week, now even. So what are you waiting for? View Post

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bake-a-wishDo you miss the Bake Off? I do. Mid weeks are just not the same without that precious hour of sugar, butter and flour fuelled escapism.

Fear not though, baking need not have disappeared from your life altogether! To support the annual Bake-A-Wish fundraising, this October Fairy are partnering with Make-A-Wish® UK to encourage the nation to get their baking hats on and share their festive recipes, as part of a competition to find the UK’s best festive cake.

Inspiration comes from research that shows 35% of us don’t even like Christmas cake, and around two thirds of us are turning to less traditional alternatives, like chocolate cake or red velvet cake. Your recipe should be as imaginative as possible, and the competition closes on October 23rd, so get your special chef’s thinking cap on.

Maybe something like this?

Bake-a-wish fairy competition View Post

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free tickets family travel show

The Family Travel Show is the UK’s first ever event totally dedicated to family travel adventures, and you know how I love a family adventure.

Whether you’re looking to embark on a chilled family beach break, an all-inclusive exciting cruise-holiday or something a little more adventurous, from skiing in Austria to wildlife safaris in South Africa or a culture-driven holiday in Asia, there will be something to suit all the family at the Family Travel Show. I’m guessing they’ll be lots of lovely competitions and freebies too, which is always ace.

free tickets family travel show

The Family Travel Show will give you the chance to get face-to-face with the best family holiday providers and specialist operators all under one roof, take advantage of exclusive show-only offers, gather impartial advice and inspiration, and of course quiz the experts on those all important questions.

SAVE THE DATE – 31ST OCTOBER – 1ST NOVEMBER 2015

For more show information please visit www.familytravelshow.com

free tickets family travel show

I have two pairs of tickets to give away – that means two lucky people have the chance to win a pair of tickets each to the show! Under 16s go free, so you can take as many of those as you like.

Just answer this simple question in the comments below:

Where is The Family Travel Show taking place?
– Olympia
– NEC
– Manchester Central

free tickets family travel show

The comeptition will close on October 25th at midnight. Over 18s and UK only. Winners will be chosen at random. Competition winners will receive their tickets ahead of the show.

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I’ve not had a competition for a little while.

I’m not sure why really – I think I’ve just been really busy and not very good at organising myself. I’ve been so busy lately in fact that I’ve become one of those annoying people who tell everyone how jolly busy they are.

See? I just did it there. I meet friends for lunch and sigh heavily and tell them how many evenings I’ve had to work. It’s really dull. I need to stop it before people start wanting to punch me in the face.

So, anyway.

I have a competition today, and everyone I’ve annoyed this month, either by complaining or ignoring them, is allowed to enter. Oh, except probably family, which rather spoils the point. Hmmm. I didn’t think that through really did I?

Oh well, you can enter even if I’ve not annoyed you, so it’s all good.

The prize is a rather lovely £50 Love2Shop voucher, which you can spend at all sorts of high street shops throughout the UK, plus a bundle of goodies from Bennetts for Babies. If you don’t have a baby, don’t worry, you can just keep the voucher and give the hamper part to a friend and pretend you bought it for them as a thoughtful gift, so everyone’s a winner. View Post

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I get asked a lot of questions.

“What’s for tea?”

“Where are my school shoes?”

“Can I go on this school trip to China? It’s only £1,100.”

Sometimes I get asked about blogging too, often from small businesses that don’t know where to start. I thought I’d write up the answers to some of the most common questions, partly to be super helpful, but also to save me time replying to emails. (“I wrote about it here. Thank you. Bye bye.”)

Of course if you have any other questions, please do leave me a comment and I will reply. Just don’t ask me what’s for tea.

How often should I write posts?

Well, how long is a piece of string? More importantly, how much time do you have to organise your string? The Hubspot blog publishes over half a dozen posts every day, and they have more than 400,000 subscribers and over 2 million monthly visitors, so I think we can safely conclude that there’s probably not such a thing as too much content, so long as you’re not sending out an email notification with every single new post. View Post

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