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5 Easy Steps to Making a Raised Bed

With 5 easy steps to making a raised bed you can see in pictures how to put together this easy construction and to get ideas for what materials you can use.

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We have become more and more involved with gardening since moving into our new house a few years ago. I find it so relaxing to be able to potter outside when I get home from work and on the weekend. There are so many jobs that need doing and I spend alot of time with my OH talking about what we can do to make our ideas come to life. Like most people we have to remember to balance what we want with the reality that our garden has to be right for the whole family. Back when we moved in our first project was the spring garden make over where some of the things we considered were how we could make the garden ‘boy friendly’ as our boys love playing football.

This year we have looked at having a raised bed at the far end of the garden to make use of a little patch that has been all but forgotten. It’s a bit shady and was just a great big mound of earth that really looked a bit soft and not good for anything.

For ages we said that we should do something with it and last year I scattered a few beetroot seeds over it just as a passing thought. Nothing came of them really as it gets trodden on when the bikes are bought out of the shed and once again its left looking a bit sorry for itself.

So this year it was time to do something about it and make it work for us. We decided on a raised bed, we are not full on DIY people but as you can see from our pallet garden, my OH can construct a thing or two and that recycled garden area has been a great success using free pallets and a little bit of brain power. It lasts really well too.

So back to the raised bed at hand. We decided on a structure we could put together easily without cutting and drilling, one of the reasons being because we don’t have the tools to hand. We are big fans of recycling so it was a step away from using what we had around to buying in the metal and using the fast track choice. This will mean that we will be making use of it for a long time or if we do change the use of it then we will ourselves recycle the materials. There are lots of different stores which sell these and we chose one that was having a closing down sale so picked it up for a bargain price.

For this 5 Easy Steps to Making a Raised Bed I’ve used pictures to show how my two happy helpers got stuck in …and how quick it was to create.

Step 1

Here’s the patch of earth I was talking about before, pretty basic eh? We gave it a rough measuring out beforehand. My son and OH then created a flat area and gave it a good weeding.

Raised Bed — My son showing off the ‘before’ area.

Step 2

Like any good construction project my chaps had a good long look at all the bits they were going to assemble! Oh and by now it started to rain!

Step 3

Structure up and slotted together perfectly, no banging on the fingers, hopping on one foot after dropping a hammer, nada!

Step 4

At this point I think I did help with the carrying up to the end of the garden, or at least shouting encouraging words, I can’t quite remember. The bed fitted in perfectly.

Step 5

Numerous trips then followed to bring the soil and compost up there to fill it up. We roughed up the base soil which it was sitting on first so that it would feed in the nutrients from the rich soil we were putting on above.

We were now ready to go! I have been reading and thinking about what I want to try growing in this area and it will be mainly root vegetables but for the first year I will have a little experiment with a few different types. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. For now this is a brilliant raised bed completed in just one afternoon.

What projects have you been carrying out in your garden?

What do you think to the idea of a raised bed?

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Fathers Day Gift Guide 2018

Fathers Day is just round the corner and it’s time to get those thinking caps on again for some of those great pressies which are out there. I’ve got some ideas that can give you a nudge in the right direction.

We all have different living arrangements and fathers, mothers and grandparents day can be a tricky one to navigate if you don’t necessarily fit into those brackets. Celebrating our own uniqueness with love and acceptance is a good way to go. On any given day you can show and help our little ones to demonstrate the love to those who help to bring them up.

Personalized Cart.com is one of those sites that is full with unusual gifts that you don’t see everywhere. I spent a long time browsing through so many ideas. I decided on the watch case as one of my favourites. There are lots of different sizes and styles. One of the bigger ones is a wonderfully large with dimensions of: 12.6″x 10.2″ x 6.3″(32cmX26cmX16cm) so as you can see, it’s a good size, plenty big enough to store away those more valuable items.

Pretty Gifted provides that final flourish that makes your gift look like a million dollars!

It’s a 6 step easy process to make your bespoke paper. Pick a paper, pick a font, pick a foil, write your message, pick a font size and pick an icon. You are guided through the steps and it really is very straight forward. I enjoyed it!

You can either wrap your pressies in it or I think that designing the paper and giving it as a present itself is a great idea. I chose to make some paper with the boys for their dad. His favourite colour is orange so I was pleased to see a bright orange design and then see the writing really pop out. My OH never does things by half so we knew that he would love these bright colours.

Adding a special something to your Father’s Day gifts can also come as a low cost or no cost price tag. Crafting your labels and cards will also go a long way to bringing the grin to dads face.

We love vouchers and you can easily make ‘dads vouchers’ with the kids which can be used at anytime by the big man. You can use slogans such as “Dad gets a lie in” One free hug” or for the older kids; “One car wash” or “5 cups of tea”. Have fun with what dad enjoys the most and get crafting.

What are you going to get up to and what ideas do you have?

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Creative Ideas and Safety for Kids’ Room Makeover

Creative ideas and safety for kids’ room makeover

Decorating a child’s playroom can be demanding. You obviously want a design that will look new for long and something that you want to see in your child’s room every day. If you have enough space, it is important to give your kids their space where they can keep toys as well as a safe place to play. Many kids love to have a space of their own next to their sleeping rooms. There are several ways to renovate a kid’s room

Consider safety first.

During kid room makeovers, consider their safety first. It does not matter the age of your baby, give the safety of your child a priority. Check these tips to ensure the child is safe:

Little kids are at risk of carbon monoxide. Ensure to install a detector for carbon monoxide.
Use low VOC paints as well as other healthy construction materials when doing a remodel.
Enable parental controls for the teen room if you want to include internet and television. This is so that you are aware and in control of what they watch.
The furniture for kids’ room needs to be off over the knee. Ensure that dressers and cabinets are secured to the wall.

Choose bright colors

Children respond or react to bright colors and outsized outlines. Several contemporary color palettes can work well in kids’ room work and still work for adults that they don’t feel as if they spending time in the children room.

Update storage area

Kids love playing around. To ensure their room is neat all the time, ensure to update their play area for different activities. If they have toys and balls in the room ensure there is a place to store every one of them with labels. You might add open shelves that have baskets or bins if they were not there before to enable them to keep their things. As a result, this will be easy for them to access their belongings. It will also enable them to know where to put their playthings or items once they finish playing.

Makeover the creative corner

If the kids’ room did not have a show corner, ensure to put up. It does not take that much space. Get them some costumes that will match the respective activities the get involved in. If the kids love drawing, ensure they have all the drawing tools. Add a curtain a chalkboard wall and make the room unique. Provide the kids with colorful chalks that they can use for their creativity on the chalkboard.

Add furniture

Include furniture with attractive colors or theme to their homework area. If your kids are tutored at home, ensure to find chairs that can be comfortable for them during their tuition.

During kids’ room makeover, it is crucial to keep the safety of your child in mind. Include things that were not there before but you think will be essential for the kids to have in the room. Nurture your child’s talent by providing her with all the tools he needs for his creative tasks.

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Thought of the day…

If all else fails then bake some rocky road!

6 tips on how to support a friend through IVF with donor eggs

If a friend of yours has confided in you they’re planning to have fertility treatment, show them they can count on you from the start. The sheer fact that they told you about their plans for IVF with donor eggs is big news. This means she trusts you. Let your friend know you appreciate the trust.

If you’ve never dealt with infertility or are new to the concept of IVF with donor eggs, supporting an infertile person may seem tricky at first. Here’s what you can do.

Take it seriously

Don’t minimize the problem saying that “everything will be OK, you just need to relax and have treatment.” Infertility and egg donation are a big deal. IVF with donor eggs is highly successful treatment, however, the decision to have it needs to be well-thought-out and not hurried. Sit down together and have a look at the egg donation reviews online or egg donor profiles, if your friend is happy to do so. If she prefers to do it with her partner, you should respect her decision.

Ask them if they need anything from you

If you aren’t sure how you can get involved, simply ask. It’s better to voice your doubts than say something unnecessary. Ask them what you can do to help, if they want to talk about it and offer your time to just sit down, have a cuppa and listen. Just be there for her. However, don’t limit your conversations to IVF topics. Remember – you are still her friend. If you can, go out together and have some fun. If you prefer to stay in, have a girls’ night at home and prepare chocolate dessert.

Be kind and understanding

Kindness doesn’t cost anything. Be sensitive to the challenges your friend is currently facing. All in all, very few things are as painful and heart-breaking as the inability to conceive and carry your own child. It is a delicate topic – just give your friend a huge dose of love and care in this difficult moment in her life.

Don’t complain about your own children or pregnancy

If you have children or are currently pregnant, bear in mind that your friend would probably love to have sleepless nights or even a pregnancy heartburn if that meant she could easily become a parent. Try to save your kids and pregnancy updates for your other friends.

Back her up in all her decisions

Show your friend you support her no matter what decisions she makes. You can be sure that she and her partner have already spent countless days and nights discussing their options. If they plan to travel abroad to a more reliable clinic with better success rates, show her you are with her along the way. If she needs someone to look after her dog or cat, offer help. Such small gestures sometimes count more than the big.

Get Involved in advocacy

And, finally, spread awareness about IVF with donor eggs. Did you know that most advocacy efforts come from infertile couples and friends/family? What can you do? It is not a time-consuming commitment. Even advocating on a small scale helps. Overheard somebody speaking about test-tube designer babies or picky parents who choose their baby’s sex or eye colour? Speak up and refute the myths. In most countries gender-selection (family-planning) is legally banned and, in reality, infertile couples don’t care about the sex of their baby. They just want to become parents.

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Collaboration Post

Our home and building tales.

Since buying our home over three years ago now we’ve done lots of different renovations to the house. It’s been a great journey where I have learnt so many new skills and found out about an odd assortment of new terms that I wouldn’t normally of come across. It’s taken up lots and lots of time and of course the inevitable large chunk of our savings. The best part about our house was that it was one of those rare houses that needed doing up. When I viewed the house the agent even started by saying ‘oh you probably won’t like this one but I’ll show it to you anyway’. She wanted to show me something that needed loads of work and then another one which was the finished article and that you could just move into without doing a thing.

As soon as I saw my little house, as run down, smelly and in need of alot of tender loving care, I knew it was the one for me. I often hear people say that they know they loved a house as soon as they walked into it and this was exactly how I felt with this one.

The garden was huge in comparison with what we had been used to and the bigger the boys were getting, the more space they needed.

There was room for improvement and on the back of the house there was a rickety old lean-to that was being held up by cobwebs and not much else! There were old doors on the back and steps down into the lean-to. The ground floor was all pretty dark.

Our idea was to have this knocked down and build a conservatory on the back to massively increase the family space on the ground floor.

Our home and building tales. — Concrete floor poured and the plaster is up.

When we were planning to have the conservatory built there were so many different options when it came to areas like what type of roof we should have, should we go for our French doors or bi-fold doors, should we go for under floor heating or double radiators. The list seemed endless but we learnt so much from that process that we feel far better prepared for our next big project.

One of the key things I learnt was to be prepared! Prepare to invest in my property, prepare myself by researching products and prepare to have a certain amount of upheaval for the family while work is being carried out. No pain no gain!

There have been ways to reduce the cost of a lot of our items and that was by looking around to see the best deal we could get. I was so surprised by the difference in quotes from the sales people who came around.

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The patient part of our partnership has to be my other half, he has the patience to take in all of the little details whereas I tend to rush in and get over excited by the first good idea.

Our final design was great and had all of the elements we had on our wish list apart from one which was under floor heating! My other half still has to wear his slippers and if we had to do it all again and change anything then it would probably would be that.

We are moving on to looking at the loft next and moving upwards to converting it. I’ve started a pinterest board on it if you want to have a look at some of the ideas, also I would love some recommendations or ideas. If you have some I would love to hear from you.

Have you started any renovations recently or have experiences you’d like to share?

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Best Baba Ganoush

I have been growing Eggplant or Aubergine as I know it better in my garden during the summer. I’ve loved growing them but they are quite labour intensive and the plants are really large. There are easier plants to grow but the results are so delicious that it is well worth the effort in the end.

I have managed to harvest these cute fruits. Yes they are fruits but are commonly used and eaten as a vegetable. Whatever they are classed as, these little gems are beautiful and sweet when roasted.

I wanted to make the Best Baba Ganoush dip that I could and have the perfect recipe that show off their sweet flavour.

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5 from 1 vote

Baba Ganoush

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

50 mins

A Silky Egg Plant Dip ideal for all occassions

Course: Snack

Servings: 6

Author: mainy - myrealfairy

Ingredients

1 Egg Plant (Aubergine)
2 tbsp Tahini Paste
1 whole Garlic Clove
Salt and Pepper
1 pinch Ground Cumin
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200 oc
Wipe clean the skin of the eggplant.
Place the eggplant halves, flesh side down, on a lightly oiled baking sheet then drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the eggplant fully softens through.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
When it is cooled, scoop out the flesh out and transfer to a food processor.
Do not use the skins in the dip, just the flesh.
Add the garlic, lemon juice, ground cumin, olive oil and tahini paste.
Process until you achieve a puree consistency.
Add salt and pepper to your personal taste.

Recipe Notes

Top with a little olive oil and fresh coriander for garnish and aroma.

Let me know what you think to this and have you tried to grow your own?

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What Distinguishes Engagement Rings From Wedding Rings

Rings have long been an important symbol in the wedding culture. However, it’s not uncommon for the engagement and wedding rings to get mixed up or misunderstood. In fact, you can say that both terms are almost interchangeable in the modern culture.

This leaves us to ask, is there really a big difference between the two? If so, what are they? Do I even need to have an engagement and a wedding ring?

This article seeks to answer all of those important questions to gain some clarity on the matter. Nonetheless, there are so many choices for bespoke diamond rings online and in store now. It’s never been easier to buy any ring that fits the desires of your partner, especially if it’s custom made.

ENGAGEMENT RINGS

Firstly, let’s look at engagement rings. These are given at the time when someone asks the other person to marry them. Back in the day, women were given these rings and were meant to wear them from that moment to tell others she was now unavailable.

Of course, an engagement ring can take any shape, form or style. However, they have typically come to be known as having diamond or precious gemstones in. They also usually come with a beautiful band that may have engravings on it.

WEDDING RINGS

Now, wedding rings on the other hand are swapped between both parties during the actual wedding ceremony. You will often find that style-wise, they tend to be much simpler than the engagement ring and are placed on the fourth finger of the left hand. This is the main similarity, that both rings for the bride are placed on the same finger.

As you can see then, the engagement ring and the wedding ring are given at two different times and usually look different aesthetically. Do they also carry different meanings?

How the meanings behind wedding and engagement rings differ.

Engagement rings have been in the business for centuries and signified an exchange in ‘ownership’ from the father to the new husband. The ring would have been valuable however they developed in detail and grandeur as the years went by. This was mainly to signify the wealth of a man and make him more desirable to the woman and her family.

Therefore, it was as though to say the man was financially marrying the woman’s entire family with the engagement ring. It was a huge commitment not only to them as a couple but to the bigger picture. So, there was a lot of status attached to an engagement ring. Whilst these notions are clearly outdated, the sentiment of ‘giving the hand away in marriage’ still lives on.

So, even though there is a lot of importance with the wedding ring, it should never overshadow the engagement ring. With its simplistic design, the engagement ring still shines.

What are your thoughts on rings and do you wear a ring?

This is a collaborative post

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If you like this post then you may enjoy my Prom Dress post

8 Incredible January Facts

As you probably know I love facts and trivia so I thought I’d kick the new year off with 8 Incredible January facts to get your mind awake.

The zodiac star signs which cover this period are Capricorn which spans from December 22nd – January 19th who’s element is earth and Aquarius January 20th – February 18th who’s element is air.

Something which I am very pleased about is that on January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at the Macworld convention. It wasn’t until June that it was actually released. In apple ads for the iPhone, the time is always shown as 9.41

Australia day on the 26th is when Australia celebrates the day of the establishment of the first European settlement at Port Jackson, now part of Sydney, which happened in 1788.

Movie releases for the UK in January 2017 were; Monster Calls with Felicity Jones, Lewis MacDougall, Sigourney Weaver, cert 12A, Assassins Creed with Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons cert 12A, La la Land with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone cert 12A

In 2018 we have; The Commuter, you have to love a bit of Liam Nelson battling against the odds. Downsizing with Matt Damon looks well worth a box of popcorn. I’m still watching Martian quite happily after about the 10th time! The Post is the one to watch for Spielberg fans.

It’s the month of birth of Robert “Rabbie” Burns, Scottish poet. Burns Suppers celebrated all over the world each year on this day on the 25th January. Auld Lang Syne is one of the most frequently sung songs in English, most of which was written by Robert Burns.

There is a variety of cold-tolerant winter cabbage grown in England known as January King. It is purple and blue in places and is a hardy winter veg.

Martin Luther King day is held on the third monday in January in the United States. He was an important civil rights activist and was a leader in the movement to end racial segregation in the United States. His most famous address was the “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963. He was an advocate of non-violent protest and became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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The Anglo Saxons who came from north-western Europe to Great Britain called it the Wulf-monath (meaning “wolf month”) as it was the time of year when the wolves were unable to find food and their hunger made them bold enough to come into the villages of ancient Britain.

If you enjoyed this and would like to see a few more then have a little look at another of my posts here: Amazing Facts – you never knew you didn’t know!

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Thought of the day

Welcome to myrealfairy.com

thought of the day

Hello and welcome! Have a look at the menu and see what takes your fancy! Recipes, reviews and tips on how to navigate the parenting world…..well, we try! 🙂

my real fairy

Any thoughts are welcome on this site, I love to hear your views. What would you like me to review next on myrealfairy.com?

If you are a brand, small business or voluntary organisation then please get in touch.

If you would like to contribute an article then I’d like to hear from you.

Drop me a line at fairyqueen@myrealfairy.com

Enjoy reading

Mainy x

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