Bee has been shopping today for Mother’s Day presents.

“I think Mother’s Day gifts might actually be more tacky that Valentine’s Day gifts,” she text me. “Like who wants to get a personalised kindling bucket for Mother’s Day?”

“”Me!” I replied. “I want a kindling bucket. OK, so I don’t have a fireplace, but still…”

I don’t really want a kindling bucket though. For Mother’s Day, as I said earlier this week when I shared some of my favourite cards and letters, it’s definitely the thought that counts.

Mother's Day #impressmum

Something like this maybe Bee?

“Just make me a nice card and give me some sweets,” I said. “You know I will like sweets.”

“Yeah,” Bee replied, “you love sweets!”

Job done. I do hope she makes me a card for my collection though. As the fun new #ImpressMum campaign from Paperchase shows, it doesn’t matter who you are, there is no shame in making an effort to impress your mum.

Will you be making your mum a card this Mother’s Day? 

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post.

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By Annabel Middleton

There are many things that change with the dawn of parenthood; you start going to the toilet with an audience, you leave the house with an array of bodily fluids encrusted into your clothing and you wave goodbye to long weekends spent in a debauched haze at the myriad festivals on offer every summer.

This is one of the bits that my partner struggles with most.

He was very pleased then to discover that there may be a way to recapture some of the fun of festivals past, maybe with less debauchery but still music, food and the occasional beer – the glorious annual Wychwood festival.

Camping at Wychwood festival

Known for its super friendly atmosphere and nominated for ‘best family festival’ every year since it began, Wychwood festival is the top destination for those with children still wanting to sample some festival festivities. Celebrating their 10th birthday, their 2014 line-up will be the biggest and best yet.

There is much excitement in our household as come 30th May this year we will be finding out for ourselves and packing our backpacks, rolling our sleeping bags and stocking up on wet-wipes to make our way to Cheltenham Racecourse for a weekend of frolics. Fulfilling the cliché ‘something for everyone’ there will be over 100 bands over four stages partnered with many different and far-ranging workshops, performances and activities to entertain and excite all family members.

Have a go at mastering circus skills, sit back and enjoy a new and exciting mime show in the family theatre or take up a new skill such as harp playing.

(Doesn’t everyone secretly want to play the harp?)

“Mr Tumble is going to be there?!?!” says my son, barely able to contain his shock that cbeebies characters can escape from the television and make it out into the real world. We are flicking through the Wychwood festival line-up and he spies children’s favourite Justin Fletcher, who is going to be providing some of the younger audience’s entertainment perhaps with his red-nosed, freckled (slightly unnerving, in my opinion) alter-ego Mr Tumble making an appearance.

Mr Tumble Wychwood festival

As if that was not enough, Waterstones will be providing a children’s literature festival covering the whole weekend with favourite authors and illustrators. Roald Dahl stories will be brought to life by the performers from the Roald Dahl Museum; who will also be celebrating fifty years of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with crafts and interactive parades.

There promises to be more chances to unleash younger artists with many craft workshops across the whole weekend, from withy weaving to local organisation ‘Squiggle ‘n’ Jiggle’ (I promise it is child-friendly) who make exciting things from ordinary recycling.

Wychwood festival

To top things off, there will be a Bubble Show from, what I think will become my personal favourite, Sam Sam the Bubble Man-the most famous bubbleologist in the world (if only I had known that was an option in careers guidance at school). Then to help tire them out so they sleep well in the tent, there are dance and movement sessions to burn off energy.

For the grown-ups there will be plenty of great bands, incorporating soul with The Real Thing, new wave Irish legends, The Boomtown Rats and acoustic mastery with Newton Falkner, plus so many, many more. There will also be more grown-up friendly workshops with crafts to nourish the mind, yoga to nourish the body and delicious food stuffs and satisfying real ales to nourish the stomach.

If you want to be part of the family event of the year then you could come join us! (Don’t worry, you don’t have to actually hang out with us).

To win family tickets (two adults and two children), worth £290, plus camping, simply tick off as many items on the Rafflecopter widget below as possible before midnight on 8th April.

Good luck! Hope to see you there!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wychwood Festival takes place on Cheltenham Racecourse from 30th May – 1st June 2014. Weekend Festival Tickets for Children/Adults/ Concessions are from £125.00, Under 5’s go free but must register for a ticket. Camping passes must be purchased
in addition to a festival ticket. Visit www.wychwoodfestival.com for further information and to purchase tickets.

Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

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Today’s post is written by my very lovely and talented daughter Bee.

In my mind, when I think about the possibility of having children at some point in the next 5-10 years (god, is that all? *panics slightly* maybe I’ll wait till I’m 40,) I envision myself being the perfect parent. I’d have a freezer stocked full of pureed celeriac in heart shaped ice cube trays and a series of development enhancing, bespoke, organic wood toys that I could watch my children play on, supervised by their father Harry Styles, through the window of my beautiful office filled with matching antique furniture as I bang out my fifth award winning novel on my vintage typewriter.

Seems legit right?

This is obviously all very naïve of me, but I do feel like there is quite often a wrong and right when it comes to parenting decisions. Do I let them have Maltesers and a Fruit Shoot for lunch? No. Should I make them brush their teeth before they go to bed? Yes.

Maltesers cake

Note to self: this is not OK for breakfast

One area that I don’t have a strategic action plan for though is discipline. On one hand, I’m not taking any shite from a toddler who thinks they can do whatever they want. I birthed you and you will have the upmost respect for me at all times, young man.

However I don’t want to be mean, because they are probably going to be adorable. If I shouted at them I would feel like I just kicked a puppy and now it won’t look me in the eyes. I also really want my kids to like me, just like Marlin from Finding Nemo:

“What if they don’t like me?”

“Marlin, there are over 400 eggs. Odds are one of them is bound to like you”*

My own mother** will say that her disciplinary methods are wishy-washy and inconsistent but to be honest, I think she’s got it down. I wouldn’t consider myself to have been too much of a terrible child or a rebellious teen, but whenever I did do something wrong it was usually resolved, not with screaming and a meaningless punishment, but an adult conversation where we worked the issue out. Any punishment given would usually be related to the crime, enabling me to set right whatever I had done wrong. I think that because it was dealt with in this way, I usually felt genuinely sorry for my actions and not just like my Mum was over reacting or being a bitch.

I’ve never been grounded, simply because having a plausible excuse to not leave the house for an extended period of time would be a reward to me, not a punishment.

Have you got any discipline techniques that work every time? Are you still trying to work out your discipline style? The way you approach punishing your children obviously will vary with each individual child and will change with age.

The adorable children’s furniture site Room to Grow are looking for parents to give their views on disciplining their child by taking their new survey. You can submit your answers anonymously, but if you provide your details you can be in with the chance to win a £250 voucher to spend on the site! Fab, yes?

The purpose of this short survey is to gain an understanding of the different UK parental attitudes and practices towards child discipline, so your opinions will be really valued should you participate.

Take part in the survey now to be in with a chance to win £250 to spend at Room to Grow!

Good luck!

*I quoted that entirely from memory. I know all the words to Finding Nemo. The whole film. Every word.

 **Note from Editor – that’s me readers!

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post on behalf of Room to Grow. Photo credit – Eldriva.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am not known as being a terribly sentimental parent.

I don’t keep piles and piles of frankly poor quality toddler paintings, I am easily distracted and I don’t even remember the minute my children took their first steps. That I blame on my memory though – it’s not like I have actively tried to forget or anything.

You’d think then that Mother’s Day might not be terribly high on my agenda, but actually I quite like it, if only because children seem to enjoy it and of course it’s always nice to legitimately lie in bed reading a magazine rather than washing up. Belle gets very excited about occasions where she gets to wrap something up from her bedroom and present it to me as a gift. I sometimes think she likes my birthday more than hers.

(Belle will probably tell me off for mentioning her ‘wrapping up things from her room’ habit, but actually it is adorable, and if I didn’t get a bedroom gift I would be quite sad. I can picture her now, 37 years old, presenting me with a used lip balm.)

Gifts are tricky for Mother’s Day – flowers and chocolates feel a bit lame, but you don’t want to go too thoughtful and set the bar too high for subsequent years. One compromise could be a One4all gift card. You might think that nothing says ‘I forgot it was Mother’s Day until this morning in Tesco’ like a gift card, but these are different because you can personalise them, proving that you thought about it in advance.

I was sent a One4all gift card to buy myself some Mother’s Day treats and mine was personalised with one of my favourite ever pictures of Belle – the one where she is a baby and eating a sandwich as big as her head.

One4all gift card

You can spend them in loads of different places, from House of Fraser to Pizza Express, so your mum can treat herself to some new clothes, make-up, a meal out or whatever else she fancies. As we were off on holiday last week, I took mine the week before up to my local shopping centre and picked out some holiday related treats. Is was incredibly easy to use; you just hand it over at the till and the balance gets deducted.

Shopping purely for myself got me thinking about all of the little things I like about Mother’s Day. What’s your best bit? Here are five of mine:

1. Breakfast in bed

Mother’s Day breakfast in bed isn’t about the quality of the food, it’s all about the presentation. Forget smoked haddock and poached eggs, nothing beats a bowl of milk, with lumps of cheese and herbs floating in it, presented by a small, chubby, beaming face.

2. Magazines

I love reading, but there is something about reading a magazine that somehow feels much more decadent. I went to WHSmiths with my One4all gift card and picked up a couple of favourites. I’m not a fan of Cosmo style magazines, where you are left feeling like a poverty stricken heffalump because you can’t afford a £249 belt and don’t look like a famine victim, but I do like magazines that make me think about myself or inspire me to try new things.

One4all gift card

3. Pampering

Whereabouts on your list of things to do does ‘pamper self’ come? Probably not number one. I’m guessing it’s somewhere below ‘hang out washing’, ‘make packed lunch’ and ‘deal with the thing at the back of the fridge that’s been there for three weeks now’. It’s important though to take some time out for you – you have to love yourself first right? After WHSmiths then we popped over to Boots with our One4all card and Belle helped me choose a new nail varnish.

Rimmel nail varnish

4. Actual little things

Nail varnish chosen, we then worked our way through our holiday shopping list, spending quite a lot of money on miniature toiletries. This might seem like an odd thing to treat yourself with but this was one of my best bits for two reasons – firstly, did I mention that these toiletries are miniature? And who doesn’t like tiny versions of things?? They are adorable. Secondly, it’s easy. We spend so much of our lives as mums trying to save money and organise everyone that once in a while it’s nice just to say ‘sod it, I can’t be bothered decanting shampoo into small bottles that I’ve used dozens of times before, I want adorable custom made miniatures. Let’s make my life easy for once dammit.’

Miniature toiletries

5. The cards

I’ve saved this until last because this really is the best bit isn’t it?

I said that I wasn’t sentimental, but I do have two old suitcases under the bed filled with bits and pieces and now and again I get as far as sticking them into my one special scrapbook. I don’t have every single love note my kids have ever written me but I have enough to remind me that regardless of how many magazines I read or what colour I paint my nails, Mother’s Day is about being a Mother.

Why not slip a One4all gift card into your Mother’s Day card this year and show your mum how much you love her?

Mother's Day

What’s your favourite bit about Mother’s Day?

Disclosure:  I was sent a One4all gift card for the purposes of this post.

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Today’s post is from my sister Annabel.

Time.

Remember it?

There used to be lots of it. Time to spend with friends, time to cook and eat a meal, time to shop without persuading a toddler that traipsing around a supermarket is definitely a Fun Activity. I was a student for a leisurely six years, so I was very familiar with the art of wasting time. Then a mere eight months after I’d handed in my last dissertation I was pregnant. Time disowned me.

These days with two young children if I have two minutes spare…oh no… no, that doesn’t happen.

So when I heard about Box Upon a Time I saw an opportunity to recoup lost minutes (and sanity). Box Upon a Time is a clever idea in which you receive hand-picked baby or toddler clothes tailored to your requirements each month. Box Upon a Time is joining the growing range of on-line subscription services where you sign up and receive a monthly parcel to your door; think organic veg box but with lovely clothes instead of carrots, potatoes and that random item that you’re not exactly sure about and have to Google.

Box Upon a Time

A super speedy, fun questionnaire to determine your ‘fashion profile’, (such as, what colours and patterns you prefer), on their easy to follow website and a few measurement details about your child and you’re done.

At present Box Upon a Time caters for the 0-3 years age range and aims to offer quality brands at a guaranteed minimum 40% discount; for the £49 monthly payment you receive a minimum of £82 worth of goods. Box Upon a Time currently work with 20 brand partners including Tartine & Chocolat, Diesel and Toffee Moon.

Splendid! No more hideous clothes shopping trips trying to persuade my children to adhere to basic social norms and not wipe their noses on shiny new garments or play hide and seek within the clothes rails. (My daughter also insists on individually greeting each mannequin with a cuddle).

If, like me, you tend to grab clothes for the children in the supermarket whilst you are grabbing everything else you need, at the same time as negotiating your child down from standing in the trolley seat, it may seem like quite a departure. When I considered it however, I potentially spent more on clothes grabbed for convenience but not really wanted than this would cost each month. The average parent spends £63 a month on clothing their children, plus the time and stress saved is priceless.

Profile complete, I sat back and awaited my parcel for my two year old daughter. I LOVE getting parcels delivered. The excitement of wondering what is inside and thinking that someone has bothered to consider what you might like takes me back to being a child at Christmas.

Box Upon A Time

Elegantly packaged, the much anticipated box arrived….I opened it slowly, trying to prolong the moment. Three lovely little items awaited us.

All well made and matching the fashion profile I had created, the clothes were a very pleasing addition to my daughter’s wardrobe. Any concern I may have had about whether I would like the items was gone. However, should there be any reason to exchange an item it is dealt with free of charge and there is also no commitment to subscribe for any set length of time.

Box Upon a TIme

A lovely selection, available from Box Upon A Time

Box Upon a Time is such a lovely idea, it saves you valuable minutes and brings you a little bit of Christmas excitement month after month.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and Annabel was sent a sample from Box Upon a Time for the purposes of this post.

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Before you get too excited, expecting me to introduce some sort of celebrity ambassador, I should clarify that it’s me. You don’t get any season 3 Big Brother finalists or anything, just little old me.

OK, I know we’ve met before, so it’s not terribly thrilling for you, but it is exciting for me to have been chosen as one of Thorpe Park’s new team of blogger ambassadors. You will just have to live out all of your rollercoaster dreams vicariously through me.

(This is in fact not even true. You could actually just buy tickets and go yourself. That would be much more fun and to be honest would take the pressure off me a little bit.)

Colossus Thorpe Park

Happy Height Day

My first job as a Thorpe Park ambassador is to tell you about Happy Height Day. Happy Height Day was conceived on the back of research that highlighted just how important height is to kids. Did you know for example that 60% of kids would rather be taller than older? Belle certainly would. I think she is adorable but she gets annoyed about being small, particularly when it comes to things like theme parks where you have to be a certain height to ride the biggest rollercoasters. Last year when we went to Thorpe Park she wore boots with a heels especially, and at Disneyland Paris a couple of years ago she developed a trick where she sort of stood on tip toes, but inside her shoes. It was very clever.

Happy Height Day then is about celebrating reaching that elusive 1.4m and being able to join in the fun without cheating.

Thorpe Park Happy Height Day

To celebrate the reopening of the park for a new season on March 20th and as an extra bonus for all those children that have reached the magic height of 1.4m, Thorpe Park is offering free admission to the first 500 children who measure between 1.4 and 1.5m, plus a guest, on both Saturday 22 March and Sunday 23March! For more information visit The Thorpe Park website.

Angry Birds

If your kids aren’t quite up to 1.4m, don’t worry, there is plenty still to do! There are over 25 rides and anttractions throughout the park and from May there will be the brand new Angry Birds 4D experience.

(I’ve never been entirely sure what a ‘4D’ experience really entails, so will definitely be checking this out. Do you actually travel in time?? That would be pretty cool, but I suspect not.)

Packed with special effects it will form the unique centerpiece of the new character land, complete with 100ft rapid drop tower ride Detonator and ‘Red Bird v Bad Piggies’ dodgems. A must for Angry Birds fans.

Book now for up to 60% off

Between Monday 3rd and Wednesday 12th March 2014 you can buy tickets in advance online for just £20. That’s an almost 60% saving on full price tickets! Once you’ve booked online, you can upgrade your ticket to an annual pass on the day of your visit, for just £28, meaning you can visit as many times as you like for the whole season.

To take advantage of this awesome offer simply visit the website and book online before 12 March.

Disclosure: We are Thorpe Park ambassadors. We have received Merlin annual passes in return for sharing our news and views but all opinions are my own.

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If you’re as old as me you’ll probably have a preconceived notion of what timeshare is all about – it’s people losing ten of thousands of pounds buying shares in Spanish resorts that end up never being built right?

Wrong.

Turns out that over the last 20 years timeshare has evolved into an altogether more viable option, not just for semi-retired 50-something couples, but also for young families. Did you know for example that you can buy a five year timeshare with Disney? Every year for five years you get to go and stay in one of their resorts, saving you money compared with paying for each holiday separately.*

Another thing that I didn’t know about timeshare is that you aren’t committed to going to the exact same place at the exact same time every single year. This sort of holidaying doesn’t appeal to me, as I like to try out new things and visit new places, but through a company called RCI you can swap your holiday for someone else’s. Essentially your holiday is worth a certain amount of credits, and you can trade these in for other holidays of a similar value. You might want to swap your week in peak season Italy for example for two weeks in low season in South Africa. It’s all very flexible and not half as daunting as the idea of having to return to the same place year on year.

With timeshare holidays becoming ever more popular, we wanted to put timeshare to the test and see what all the fuss is about. RCI very kindly obliged. A couple of weekends ago then we jetted luxuriously drove for hours to sunny rainy mid Wales to the Plas Talgarth Holiday Resort.

Belle and I are no stranger to UK mini breaks and were very happy with the facilities on offer, including indoor and outdoor swimming pools, spa, steam room, and all the other usual suspects. We didn’t eat in the restaurant, (we stayed in our apartment, ate pizza for the nearby Co-op and watched The Voice on Saturday night, as we are super cool), but it looked lovely. All of the staff we met were very friendly and helpful, and our living room and kitchen were very spacious. One wall of our living room was a huge window, with views out over the Welsh countryside, and we even had a private sauna!

Because we were only there for the weekend we didn’t get to try out any of the weekly activities, as these happen Monday-Friday, but from the information we were given it looked like there was plenty of choice, and I can imagine that this would be a good way to get to know regular visitors and other timeshare owners, particularly if you were coming back for the same week every year.

Plas Talgarth timeshare RCI

On reflection, despite the nice accommodation, our destination was probably a poor choice on our part, as it turns out that mid Wales is basically closed in February – no kidding, entire high streets were simply shut – but trying to keep our minds in the ‘a change is as good as a rest’ zone, we set out to explore the area.

Thankfully not absolutely everything was closed and on Saturday morning, accompanied by blue skies and not even a little bit of drizzle, we paid a visit to Devil’s Bridge Falls. For a small looking place the main waterfall was actually very impressive, and the walk around it was beautiful, although not one for anyone with a fear of steps.

(I actually looked this up and ‘Bathmophobia‘ is a fear of slopes and stairs. I can’t read it though without thinking it’s a fear of bath mops. Not that a bath mop is even a thing.)

Devil's Bridge Falls timeshare RCI

During the weekend we also squeezed in a visit to Constitution Hill in Aberystwyth, a lovely drive along the Welsh coast and a trip to Powis Castle. You can always rely on the National Trust for a cream tea and a gift shop, whatever the weather or time of year. There were plenty more attractions that we would have liked to have seen had they been open, but despite being a little heavy on the driving front, we did have a lovely weekend. Perhaps a change really is as good as a rest.

Things to do in mid Wales timeshare RCI

*Timeshare isn’t an investment in the same way that you might buy your own property abroad and then resell it – it’s more like the Costco of holidays – buy in bulk, get a great deal, and know that your holiday needs for the next x number of years are taken care of – ideal for anyone who likes to visit their favourite resort every year and wants to make sure they bag the best times and accommodation.

Disclosure – our weekend away was courtesy of RCI. 

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How much time does housework take up in your life?

If Boyfriend had to answer for me he’d probably say ‘not much’ although I am adamant that I do more than he thinks, I just don’t like doing the jobs that get your hands wet, like cleaning toilets. I am good at general tidying though – putting things into neat piles, plumping cushions, organising folders into colour order, that sort of thing. Just don’t look at my bedroom floor.

Seriously, don’t. It’s shameful. At the moment it resembles my bedroom as a teenager, where I had so many clothes on the floor I actually once trod on a guitar without realising. (True story. When I discovered it I had to stick the back back on with duct tape.)

In fact, looking through this infographic from Co-operative Insurance I wonder whether I might be slacking in other areas too. I’m slightly doubtful that I will spend anywhere near 167 days helping my children with their homework and my food shopping tally has got to be way off, as Boyfriend doesn’t trust me to do that, complaining that I never come home with things you can actually make meals from.

I tell him that mushy peas on toast is definitely a meal, but he’s far from convinced.

How do you think this infographic compares with your lifetime of chores? 

This ‘Life time of chores’  infographic was supplied by the team at Co-operative Insurance Image

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Most of the time when I make the effort to read the news it just makes me sad. Bad stuff is happening all over the place isn’t it? It’s really bloody depressing.

Sometimes though Boyfriend will read me out a story that just makes me laugh. The story in the news today about the teacher in Williton sellotaping up the mouths of their pupils because they were being noisy is one of those things that you can’t help but think could have happened to you, if only you had made one different decision somewhere in your life and become a teacher.

I know it’s wrong, of course teachers shouldn’t be allowed to go nuts with the tape willy nilly, but it’s not like she stabbed them all with safety scissors or anything is it?

Sshh tape on mouth

However much we love them, children are frustrating, especially in large groups. I remember doing work experience when I was about 15 with a reception class. I was helping a group with some cutting and sticking and they were terrible at it. Sure they were only four, but come on, make an effort to cut in a straight line can’t you? This simple task drove me absolutely nuts and I can easily see how if I had to do it all day I would end up gluing their adorable, chubby fingers to the desks.

Let’s face it, haven’t we all at one point wished we could sellotape up our children’s mouths, just for a little bit?

I know I have.

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Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? Do you wish you could squeeze more in?

I do.

I’m a total sucker for it. Take last week for instance. Thursday was a really busy day for me – I was delivering a half day Twitter workshop in Bristol in the morning, then whizzing over to London to run a social media workshop in the evening. In between I also had to squeeze in a couple of hours of other work. Of course what always happens when you have lots on? You get offered more work. And what do I always do? Say yes.

D’oh!

It seems that no matter how busy I am, I always want to lever in than little bit extra, just to tip me into the chocolate digestive zone.

chocolate digestive

The chocolate digestive zone

The chocolate digestive zone is a very dangerous place. It’s where I have so much to do that I panic and just eat biscuits instead. I feel like in order to get everything done, I need to constantly fuel myself with inappropriate snacks, just in case I get hungry and that means I can’t concentrate.

(I do have a bit of a worry about getting hungry, so tend to pre-empt it by always nibbling on something. I don’t know what I imagine will happen – that I’ll get stranded on a mountain top somewhere, my blood sugar levels will plummet, and that the only thing that will keep me going is the fact that I ate that emergency Rice Krispie square at the station an hour earlier?)

What I should do of course is prepare myself a range of wholesome salads and nutritious nibbles, but that always feels like such a lot of faff – much easier just to reach a sneaky hand out for something.

So…

All of this is why pairing up with Actimel to promote their fabulous Twitter competition felt like such a good fit for me. The giveaway is all about squeezing more into your family day as Actimel, like me, believe that squeezing a lot in is a good thing. In fact, they squeeze yogurt, live cultures, fruit puree, calcium and essentials vitamins B6 & D into every 100g bottle of Actimel. Their fruit flavours even have Vitamin C!

Because Actimel believe squeezing a lot in is a good thing, they are offering you the opportunity to be squeezed into once in a lifetime great events – in this case an amazing music concert at the O2 in London.

Tweet to win!

It’s dead easy to enter. All you have to do is follow @ActimelUK on Twitter and tweet them with the hashtag #squeezemorein to tell them how you are squeezing more into your day. Perhaps you’re juggling several jobs, running the kids from club to club and all at the same time as learning the play the trumpet. Maybe you’re training for a marathon and cooking a lasagne. Whatever you’re doing, Actimel want to hear about it.

The promotion ends at 23.59 on Thursday 6th March 2014 and you can read the full T&Cs on their Facebook page.

Good luck!

Actimel squeeze more in

This is a sponsored post.

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I had a long day yesterday. I delivered a Twitter workshop in Bristol in the morning and another in London in the evening. It was nearly 1am by the time I got back to the train station and found a taxi to take me home.

All I wanted at this point was to take a deep breath and relax, but of course you can’t physically do that in a taxi without throwing up your over-priced train sandwich into your own lap because of the stupid bloody ‘air fresheners’ that taxi drivers more than any other car owners insist on polluting their cabs with.

My taxi driver last night had broken away a little bit from the pack and gone with a white dove instead of a tree. In no way did instil any sense of peace or tranquillity in me. View Post

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This post has been produced in partnership with McCarthy & Stone

When my Gran was alive and much younger, she always said that when she got to a certain age – I think it may have been about 65 – she wanted us just to shove her off a cliff. Of course 65 came around and she changed her mind. Turns out that 65 isn’t terribly old after all. In fact, once you reach that hallowed retirement age, life can be pretty sweet, once you get into the swing of it.

Actually retiring though can be a tricky process for some people. Think about it for a minute. Can you even imagine having no work to do at all ever? Personally I think I would find that a bit of a shock. Since the age of 17 I’ve had the responsibility of being a parent and work of some form or another, and suddenly one day being retired and not having to earn a living… I’m not sure I would know what to do with myself.

If a member of your family is approaching retirement age then, chances are that they could do with some support to help them with the transition and to make sure they make the most of their new found freedom. This could be as simple as encouraging them to join local clubs or societies, helping them discover what’s going on in their local area, making sure you visit on a regular basis or helping them through the process of downsizing or choosing a retirement property if that’s on the cards. View Post

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