We had a big clearout of Belle’s room this month. If you have ever seen Belle’s room you will understand why this is a big deal.

Picture a bric-a-brac shop, run by one of the those people from the programme about obsessive compulsive hoarding. Then take a tray of old cups and place them at strategic intervals around the room. Now mix everything up, as though you are playing a game where you try to get people to remember what was there in the first place.

There you go, that’s it.

The tally of things we took out of her room in the end stands at:

  • Two items of furniture
  • One bin liner of clothes
  • Four bags of books
  • Two bin liners of rubbish and recycling
  • Six bags for the charity shop

You’d not imagine a child would have that much stuff in the first place, but even with all of that gone her room is still nicely full. View Post

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I am all about the money saving this month aren’t I? Last week I was buying and selling unwanted gift vouchers and this week I have become the queen of the discount* thanks to Oony.

Oony’s mission is simple – to save people money. They do this by bringing together offers, sales and discounts from big name retailers all over this here interweb. They operate in 19 different countries and their discounts are used by thousands and thousands of people – the average discount is a third, making it well worth a visit if you’re about to embark on a spot of online retail therapy. View Post

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When I was pregnant with Bee, aged 16, I didn’t have a lot of spare cash for decorating the nursery. In fact I didn’t have a nursery, just a corner of my bedroom with a cot in that I’d bought at a car boot sale. Still, I wanted to make it a pretty corner, so while my tummy grew I made my very own nursery wall art.

I was a little lacking in the paint department, but managed to mix up a good palette with a few basic colours. I took about five sheets of plain A4 paper, cut them into thirds lengthways and joined them together to make a long strip. Then I drew every single one of the Mr Men by hand and painted them.

It was a triumph.

I wish I had it to show you. For years afterwards I kept it, rolled up and tied with a piece of leather that I was wearing round my neck when Bee was born, (because I was super cool and into grunge), but somewhere along the way it has been lost. I’m not a sentimental person, but it’s one of the only things I wish I still had. View Post

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Do you remember my sister going to Wychwood Festival last year? I’ll forgive you if you don’t – I barely remember it myself and she’s my sister. Suffice to say that she did, and they had such a good time that they actually bought tickets there and then for this years’s festival.*

I’m very excited indeed then to be able to giveaway a family bundle of tickets, (2 adults and 2 children up to 15 years old, plus camping), worth up to £420! Not a bad prize is it?

Wychwood takes place at Cheltenham racecourse from 29-31st May and although much loved as a family festival, it’s certainly not the kind of family festival that only caters for kids. As well as the children’s literary festival and favourites like Dick and Dom there are some fantastic musicians lined up, including The Wonder Stuff, The Proclaimers and Ladysmith Black Mamboza. There’s comedy too, with the likes of Mitch Benn, and workshops in just about everything you could imagine, from ukulele practice to Indian fusion dance.

Ladysmith-Black-Mambazo

To win yourself tickets to Wychwood Festival, just do as many of the things as you can in the rafflecopter widget below – the more you complete, the more chance you have of winning.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*A true fact.

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I saw some people out at the weekend in t-shirts, which means it’s time to start thinking about summer festivals – hoorah!

This year we are off to Standon Calling. We’ve never been before, although it’s been going for ten years now, and it looks pretty cool – a perfect summer escape for festival-lovers and families alike, offering an intimate three day celebration of renowned and upcoming acts, art, comedy, fancy dress for all, the hilarious Standon Dog Show(!), workshops, family entertainment and of course its own heated outdoor swimming pool! I can safely say I have never been to a festival and packed my swimming costume before!

Set in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside from 31st July – 2nd August the festival has already announced a plethora of unmissable acts including a UK Festival Exclusive from The Dandy Warhols, Little Dragon, Basement Jaxx, Ella Eyre Roots Manuva.  View Post

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This month Belle had a very exciting opportunity – the chance to ask some questions of her literary hero, none other than Jacqueline Wilson. How cool is that?

Jacqueline Wilson interview

Photo credit – Trish Beswick

We actually saw Jacqueline Wilson speak at Hay Festival last year and really loved her – she had such a warm and open presence on the stage and Belle was very taken with her. For this interview, Belle invited her friends Ella, Josie, Ewelina and Georgina to our house after school and they came up with three questions each.

Here’s what Jacqueline Wilson had to say:

Is there any link between Gina from Tracy Beaker Returns and Gina from the Dustbin Baby?! View Post

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Books are a big thing in our house and we love reading. Over the years I’ve set myself various reading challenges, some of which I fared better at than others. This year I challenged myself to read 100 books for example, I actually managed 104. When my sister’s boyfriend and I decided to read 25 classic novels however, my performance was less impressive.

Belle has always been a big reader, and I appreciate how lucky this makes me as a parent. I know that a lot of children are reluctant to tear themselves away from whichever screen has their attention and get lost instead in a paper based alternative reality.

The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour

The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour (organised by Scottish Book Trust) takes the very best UK and international authors directly into schools across Scotland and the UK to inspire a love of reading, writing and illustration. Children’s literacy is something that’s hugely important to Scottish Friendly and they are chuffed to bits that the 2014 managed to reach more than 7,000 children in over 80 schools through the tour. It’s initiatives like this that really can make the difference – sometimes all it takes is finding a connection with one book, being touched by one story, to inspire a love of books for live.

Last November the fantastic young adult author Phil Earle visited secondary schools in Falkirk, East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. Phil’s award-winning novels which include; The Bubble Wrap Boy, Being Billy and Saving Daisy are inspired by real stories and real people.

Win a signed copy of Phil Earle’s The Bubble Wrap Boy

To support the tour and to help get kids excited about books, Scottish Book Trust has given me a signed copy of The Bubble Wrap Boy to give away to one lucky reader. Here’s the blurb, to give you a flavour…

All my life I’ve been tiny Charlie from the Chinese Chippie, whose only friend is Sinus, the kid who stares at walls.

But I believe that everyone’s good at something.

I’ve just got to work out what my something is…

Charlie’s found his secret talent: skateboarding. It’s his one-way ticket to popularity. All he’s got to do is practice, and nothing’s going to stop him – not his clumsiness, not his overprotective mum, nothing.

Except Charlie isn’t the only one in his family hiding a massive secret, and his next discovery will change everything.

How do you stay on the board when your world is turned upside down?

The bubble wrap boy phil earle

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Today my blog is five years old. Can you even believe it? In internet years that makes it about 27.

Five years ago today* I was living in Bridgwater, a single mummy to a 14 and a 7 year old, having recently quit a full-time job I hated to work for myself. It was pretty scary but I had a desk I had bought on ebay for ten pounds and a nice little office space at home, so as far as I was concerned I was good to go. Who needs relevant experience or qualifications when you have a nice white desk and a wall full of inspirational postcards?

A lot has happened in the last five years including three house moves, one child leaving home, becoming gay and changing her mind again, various men putting in appearances, including one with an unsightly mole, a trip to Ethiopia, attempts at skiing, a milkshake in a diner in Arkansas, over 35,000 tweets and very nearly 1,000 blog posts. This one is number 979 I think.

That’s a lot of words.

I really can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for you continuing to read; sometimes I feel I’ve been suitably witty and entertaining, sometimes I’m a bit melancholy and often times just a bit boring. That’s a probably a pretty fair reflection of life as a working single parent though.

As a thank you for hanging on in there I thought I’d hold a little giveaway and what better prize than something that has remained a constant in my life during these five years of change – gin and chocolate.

Hoorah!

*refills ice tray expectantly*

The chocolate for your prize has been kindly donated by Mackie’s and the gin comes to you courtesy of ME as I couldn’t get any gin brands on Twitter to give me any freebies in the two days between deciding to do a birthday competition and hitting publish. I actually went to Tesco and bought a bottle with my own money, that’s how grateful I am to you for you reading.**

And there you were thinking I never paid for anything.

gin competition

Mackie's chocolate(If you win you definitely need to fan out the bars like this and crumble a bit of chocolate next to them seductively.)

To enter just have a fiddle with the Rafflecopter widget below before Big Ben chimes midnight at the end of 2014.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*My first ever blog post includes an interesting comment from ‘Boz’.

**Definitely don’t think of this as a bribe. It’s just an innocent thank you…

 

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Now I’m not saying I want another baby, I promise I’m not, but I do miss buying adorable baby stuff, especially with Christmas coming. Things are just so much cuter when they are small and squishy aren’t they? A pair of jeans for a 12 year old really isn’t the same as a velvety soft pair of dunagrees in size 0-3 months.

*sigh*

In lieu of my own bundle of writhing, screaming, never-let-go-of-your-nipple joy then, I am going to live vicariously through you reader and assume that you have someone small in your life to buy gifts for. And where will you buy said gifts from?

Lucy and Belle of course.

Lucy and Belle

Lucy and Belle is a lovely new site full of fabulous gifts for babies and generally small personages – it’s all things adorable, luxurious and velvety soft. Seriously, I challenge you to put a baby in these rabbit booties and not want to gobble them up on the spot. View Post

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Do you ever wonder what it might be like to be able to travel through time? Where would you go?

I’ve always fancied getting to visit the (relatively) recent past – perhaps I’d experience the decadence of the roaring twenties and throw myself into a crazy weekend long party, Great Gatsby style, or maybe I’d see first hand how I’d fare in the blitz. (I suspect I would struggle with rationing.)

Chuck in a bit of a murder mystery (solving a mystery Nancy Drew style is on my list after all) and you’ve basically got my dream job – a sort of super human Poirot. Add in the fact that the time travel comes about as the result of eating a magical cheese and you’ve almost got the plot of a book.

Oh hang on…

Dinosaurs and prime numbers

 

Dinosaurs and Prime Numbers by Tom Moran IS THAT BOOK and it is fantastic. I laughed out loud, a lot, and not just in that manic way I do sometimes when I am home alone and things feel a bit much – it’s genuinely funny and the plot is beautifully constructed. I liked it so much in fact that on Monday evening I shall be going to meet Tom Moran as part of the Taunton Literary Festival, and now you can too! Hoorah!

To win two tickets to see Tom on Monday 10th in Taunton just enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. It’s a bit of a local competition obviously so if you do know anyone in the Taunton area who you think might be interested then please do share this giveaway with them.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I never really went to university.

I mean I went – I have a degree and everything – it’s just that I didn’t go in the sense of moving into halls, staying up all night playing drinking games, sleeping all day and generally dossing about eating pizza. (That’s what students do right?). I lived in a little house with my toddler, Bee, drove in for lectures and went to bed at a sensible time. Drinking games with a two year old are generally frowned upon.

Said toddler is now in her second year at university and has gone in the proper sense. She lives in halls near Waterloo, with a lovely view of the London skyline, and I’m sure eats less fresh fruit than she should. She is doing an amazing job of living on her own in a big city and is working really hard on her course too – I am full of pride and admiration for her. Well done Bee.

Not having had the full student experience myself then, I turned to Bee’s instagram feed for some inspiration to help me come up with some top tips for students. Here’s what I picked up:

Make the most of wherever you are

The temptation I’m sure is to spend as much time as possible asleep or in a Wetherspoon’s but don’t! Any decent university city is going to have a lot to offer culturally and you may very well look back in ten or twenty years time and wish you’d made more of the opportunities on your doorstep.

London skyline View Post

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There are a lot of things that I’ve inherited from my mother. These include:

  • A low threshold for boredom
  • Crumbly teeth
  • A tendency to eat too much butter and cheese
  • A habit of putting ‘My Friend’ before people’s names when talking about them to other people, even though the person I am talking to knows them well. E.g ‘I went out my My Friend Andrea at the weekend’.

Aside from all of these charming attributes, I have also been blessed with the ability to whip up a delicious roast dinner. You can’t beat a roast can you? Mountains of vegetables, (ideally covered in a cheese sauce – see point three above), bread sauce, gravy, a big glass of wine; I am salivating as a type.

If you feel in anyway as passionately about roast dinners as I do then this competition is for you. It’s brought to you by a Northern Irish company called Mash Direct. Mash Direct grows delicious vegetables and gently steam cooks them immediately after harvesting to ensure unrivalled freshness of flavour as well as texture, whilst retaining their natural nutritional benefits. They are gluten-free and free from artificial flavourings, preservatives and colourings so a great brand to introduce to children to help ensure they eat their veg! View Post

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