myrealfairy Archives - Page 8 of 9

Let’s start promoting!

When I was preparing for my recent trip to London to go to Brit Mums Live 17 it suddenly struck me that I didn’t have any publicity material.

I started seeing my fellow bloggers showing their bright spangly business cards on their tweets. People were really prepared and I felt a bit left behind in the promotion stakes. So I thought, let’s start promoting!

I have had it in the back of my mind for a while now that I would like to start having some material or products with my logo on it. I’d love to see my brand displayed on clothes or bags, it would be so cool. When I first designed my logo I was just beginning and it seems like a long time ago.

So I got to it and thought about what I’d like. First up was some business cards. I designed these on my computer and chose the wording with the aim in my head that it was a welcome card to come see my blog.

let's start promoting — My home made business blog cards!

Does it work? I’m not sure but I do know that the understated look works for me. I still won’t have my picture on it but it still represents me in a way that I’m happy with.

I also used Bags of Love who make beautiful personalised gifts with photos of your own designs. They have just about everything you could want to have your photo printed on from personalised suitcases to hot water bottles. Their photo gifts are very impressive.

Everything is handmade in the UK, built to last and sent out nice and quickly. If you are impatient like me then it’s great!

The bag is perfect for me, it’s very stylish and has loads of room for all kinds of shopping or work material I may have.

It’s also got little pockets on the inside for money and things I need to get to in a hurry! I spend far too long scrabbling around in the bottom of my bags for my car keys so this is a real plus for me.

So I think I’m just about set for the moment. I like the idea of having some really nice looking journal, so I think that will be my next project.

Can you think of anything else that I could use as promotional pieces?

What’s the quirkiest thing you’ve seen?

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I was gifted the bag for the purpose of reviewing the service. The cards I made myself! It all came together at the right time!

How Quality Child Care Can Affect Your Child

As a parent, we all want to give our children everything that we can, and one of the best places to start is education. Embracing your child’s natural curiosity and creating a positive learning experience from a young age will give them the tools that they will need to succeed in life. When you send your child to day care, you should choose an establishment that is of high-quality, as well as a good reputation, and that will help your child to develop into a wonderful person.

Communication And Interaction Skills

When you send your child to child care in Sydney, or anywhere else, it will be a new experience to which they are not familiar. However, one of the first lessons they will learn is how to interact appropriately with each other and enhance their overall communication skills. They will learn to follow simple instructions and also to get along with each other. Having excellent communication skills and being able to interact with other members of society are essential skills for them to succeed in their lives.

Create A Hunger For Learning From New Experiences

One thing that you may find when your child starts to attend nursery for the first time is that they develop a hunger for learning and trying new things, which is common in many children. The newly found passion can be something that they will take with them into their adult lives, always wanting to learn more, try new things, and expand their horizons.

Help To Develop And Heighten Their Senses

When you immerse your child in a creative learning environment, you will also help to develop and enhance their five main senses which are;

Sight
Sound
Touch
Taste
Smell

As well as these main senses your child will also benefit from the development of other senses such as balance and special awareness. When they are introduced to new situations with strange sights, sounds, smells, and so on, it will heighten their senses and help them to be comfortable with new surroundings and people.

Becoming Adaptable And Self Sufficient

Another significant benefit of sending your child to a quality child care centre is that they will learn to adapt to new situations and people, and also start their long journey on the way to self-sufficiency. The road is a long one, and it will be many years before they are ready to fly the nest, but giving your child these essential life skills from an early age will provide them with the tools that they are going to need to be successful in their lives.

If your child is coming to the age where they are ready to start nursery school, take your time and look at all of the options that are available. Choose a facility that excites your child and will nurture their hunger for learning, take a look at various local government websites for advice from the government on schools in New South Wales or wherever you live. Visit and speak to each establishment and choose the option that will give your child the start in life that they deserve.

This is a collaborative post

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The Best Butternut Squash Recipe

I like to try all the different vegetables on offer and this week I had an organic box delivery which had a great Butternut Squash nestled inside.

I wanted to make the most of what I could do with it so I have devised the best butternut squash supper recipe I can imagine which is great for all the family.

Luckily my boys and OH love their food and will try all the different dishes that I come up with. My eldest son loves sweet potatoes and I think that the butternut squash looks very similar. They have had it before but not like this, being made the star of the show!

The Best Butternut Squash Recipe — Quartered and with the seeds removed

4.8 from 5 votes

The Best Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe

The Best Butternut Squash Recipe

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

50 mins

The Best Butternut Squash Recipe. Great for all the family to enjoy.

Course: Main Course

Servings: 6 people

Author: mainy - myrealfairy

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper To personal taste
200 g Quinoa
50 g Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Slice the Butternut Squash into 4 or 6 slices depending on how large it is.
Place on a baking tray with lining paper
Sprinkle on the olive oil
Add salt and pepper to taste
Roast in the over for 40 minutes
Cook the Quinoa for the required time depending on pre cooked or part cooked.
Take the Butternut Squash out of the oven and immediately grate over the parmesan cheese.
Serve straight away with the cooked Quinoa.

Recipe Notes

Tastes great with shredded cabbage!

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I’d love to know that you think of this supper dish and if you are a fan of butternut squash.

If you like easy, delicious recipes then I think you will love my Easy Focaccia Bread. Try these two together and wow your friends and family.

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Things that make you go eerrgh!

This was a post I wasn’t going to write, I had no intention to put my fingers to the keyboard and spell out the continuation of my throat saga. If you remember my poem The Silence that was the start of my throat problems and I had hoped it would all be done and dusted by now.

But no, a couple of months ago I sat here writing looking like this:

I had to go and have an 24hr PH test. The tube goes down my throat and sits down in my oesophagus. For 24hrs this had to stay there doing it’s thing and measures the amount of acid that wells up (refluxes) from your stomach into your oesophagus, and helps to find out if your symptoms are caused by acid reflux which is the flow of the stomach contents back into the oesophagus. It sounds strange and it is but the effect on my throat so far has been so painful and sore that I had become desperate to find out the cause. The tube, as you can see on the picture runs out of the nose and is taped to the side of my face and leads down to a contraption which records all of the data.

What you can’t see is that when I opened my mouth you can see the white coated tube running down the back of my throat, it’s bizarre! That’s why I had to entitle this post; Things that make you go eerrgh! There’s nothing I like less than seeing other peoples medical bits and bobs.

Probably one of the biggest fears I had to conquer was actually having the tube threaded up my nose and down my throat. It just goes against every natural instinct in my body. Suffice to say I gagged, put up my hand like the nice doctor said I could if it got too much and we all stood there not moving until I had the balls to motion to carry on. It’s horrendous and I couldn’t really get over that fact. I’m a whimp and it was clear to see.
via GIPHY

After some dramatics and copious amounts of tears coming out of my eyes due to the effect of gagging and the feeling on my nose, it was finally down and sitting in the right place inside of me.

Things that make you go eerrgh! — A little anatomy lesson!

Here you can see that there’s quite a long piece of tube needed to go down and dangle there catching the data. It stops just before the sphincter. When I ate I had to push the relevant buttons on my little hip pack to show that I was eating or drinking. This would be transferred to the printout when it came the following day so that it reflected the correct results. The same for if I laid down to sleep. If I had any of the symptoms then I could record that too. Acid feelings and those sorts of things would show up by way of an electro mark and all add to what they could find out. The doctor could see that I was not at all comfortable with it being there and although it should be in for 24hrs I asked what the minimum was. Reluctantly he said to try to get past 4hrs. It was like that statement sparked off a mental countdown timer in my head that I didn’t even know I had.

By the time it got to the early hours of the morning I was so freaked by the feeling of it going down the back of my throat that I took it out myself. Really strange feeling. I took a deep breath and gently peeled off the cotton sticky plasters holding the tube in place around my nose. Then, really really carefully and nice and slow, I started to pull the tube out of my nose. Mind over matter had to come into play once again. Finally after a few seconds which felt a hell of a lot longer, the ends of the tubes came out of my nose. What a feeling that was, I gave a little whoop of joy and was immensely relieved that it had come out so smoothly and was over and done with.

I had the best couple of hours sleep ever after that! So pleased that it was behind me. It seems like a natural end to this particular post. I’ll do another update soon and let you know how it’s all going. Thank goodness it’s done for the time being though.

Have you ever had to have one of these procedures or anything similar, come on, let’s share some stories!

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Stunning Stourhead National Trust Estate

We had a real treat recently with our trip to Stourhead which is a National Trust estate with huge gardens and house. We won a family ticket which was a thrill in itself and we wanted to go somewhere that we hadn’t previously heard of.

My OH and I had a look through the national trusts site. With our need to have somewhere; family friendly, a long walk and a good house to have a nose around, coupled with somewhere within 1 to 2 hrs drive, we settled on Stourhead in Wiltshire. It seemed to have all the elements that would suit us. It does state that no balls are to be taken for the kids and I can understand that they don’t want a football to go hurtling into all their beautiful plants and flowers.

We packed a good old family picnic in the morning and set out on our trip. It didn’t take too long to get there from our home in Dorset, just over an hour. Our prize ticket did work OK. I’m always a little worried when using a voucher or something that ‘the computer says no’ or there is a problem with that day or time being excluded. Everything was fine though.

The house is stunning and you can see from this view looking up from the gardens that it is framed really well by the care that is taken over the gardens. you can also see by the dark clouds that rain was a feature of our day too!

The literature and the information around the house charts the lives of the last family to have Stourhead, parents Henry and Alda Hoare and their only son Harry. The family were devoted to each other and to Stourhead. Behind the public rooms used for entertaining and shared with visitors were the intimate family spaces where the family could relax and be themselves.

As you move around the family home, you follow in the family’s footsteps from their arrival and through the war years. Henry and Alda were devastated when Harry was killed in World War 1. They gave Stourhead to the National Trust in 1946.

In the playrooms there were dressing up areas for the children to try on clothes from the era that the family were in residence. Our boys had some fun in there. It’s a good break if you are doing the tour in the house with children as they can let off a little steam without worrying that they will upset anyone.

There is also a picture quiz where they have to go round and find pictures of dogs in different paintings around the house. The boys love a bit of competition between themselves so it was another task to keep them occupied.

So much care and dedication was put into the gardens by the family, it was such a labour of love for them.

“The greens should be ranged together in large masses as the shades are in painting: to contrast the dark masses with light ones, and to relieve each dark mass itself with little sprinkling of lighter greens here and there.“

Dogs are welcome across Stourhead’s countryside areas all year round. They are welcome in the landscape garden from March-October after 4pm, after 3pm in November and all day, every day from December-February.

The kitchen gardens were in full bloom. The plants were massive and growing so well. I would of loved to chatted with one of the gardeners to get some tips but I didn’t manage to. In one of my posts where my OH made my pallet garden you can see what we have managed at home. I’m really chuffed with what we have managed on a small scale and for free! My dream would be to have a huge garden devoted to fruit and veg.

The visit was wonderful and I think the rain added to the day in ways that surprised me. There were times we had to stop and take shelter under some of the huge trees or hide under the arches. In those times we felt some more of the magic of Stourhead.

Have you been there or visited other walks that you would like to share? I’d love to hear about it.

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Songmics Double Canvas Wardrobe Review and Giveaway

It’s not long until the boys go back to school and we have started to have a look at where we are going to hang all the shirts, jumpers and his new suit. Starting the senior year is a big event and we are all very excited. As the boys are getting older they are having more and more clothes between them and its all taking up so much space.

So, when Songmics offered us the chance to take a look at their Amazon store we were delighted to have the chance to browse. There is so much that they sell and we were so pleased to see this massive double wardrobe which we knew was just what we needed.

A huge bonus for you today is that I have a double wardrobe to giveaway! It’s such a super prize and so generous of Songmics. I’m over the moon to be able to offer this to you. The rafflecopter entry form is further down the post.

My eldest son wanted to be in charge of putting together the wardrobe as it was for his room and I was pleased to let him! For once it was great to see clear instructions of how to put it together and what was even better was that all the pieces were there and labeled correctly. It was such a good start!

I left him to it and within 10 minutes look what he had done. He made a great start and there was a calm in the room that I was pleased to see. It helps that everything is in order and packed well.

Bit by bit he built it up and the wardrobe was starting to take shape.

Look at this, no bendy or wobbly bits, it’s perfect for the space too.

The structure is really sturdy and you can see and feel that it will stay together very well. There are two hanging spaces either side of a central shelving unit.

Once the inside of it is all put together then it was time to put the non woven fabric cover over it. That is a bit more of a two person job but still really quick.

The front covers are in three parts and roll up when you need them to and they have zippers so that you can close it up. There is plenty of space in it and as it carries a load of 5kg on the shelves and 15kg for the hanging space it will suit us down to the ground.

Please pop over to the songmics facebook page and give them a like, you can also click on the in the competition below. good luck everyone and thanks again for joining me, it means alot that you have enjoyed the post so please do let me know what you think!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was given a this double wardrobe for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and written views are my own. I would also like to thank Songmics for supplying the prize for the giveaway

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10 Quiz Questions You Need To Know

10 Quiz Questions you must know! Test yourself with these 10 well known quiz questions that you will have on the tip of your tongue, but will you remember?

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I love going to our local quiz. It’s a great time that I get to spend with my family and friends. It taps into areas of my brain that sometimes don’t get an airing and are stuck on mum or work mode. I like the movies and tv or pot luck, my OH is good at maths and geography, my brother is a good all-rounder and my nephew is right on the button with modern music.

There are some great general knowledge questions that I always have on the tip of my tongue, really should know but can’t recall them. So, I thought I’d put them down in a quick fire 10 Quiz Questions you need to know post. Questions first and then answers below. Keep them for reference later on:)

Are you ready for the Questions?

1. What is the total number of dots on a dice?

2. What country has the smallest coastline?

3. What is Sir Elton Johns real name?

4. What is the largest state in the USA?

5. What is a baby spider called?

6. What is the chemical symbol for Gold?

7. What is the name of the large snake in Jungle Book?

8. How many minutes in a week? You have 30 seconds to work it out – set the timer!

9. If you were born on May 13th what star sign are you?

10. Is the capital city of Germany Berlin or Munich?

See Below for the answers

The Answers are…

1. As there are six faces on a die: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. These total 21

2. Monaco. It’s only around 3-4 kilometers

3. Reginald Kenneth Dwight

4. Alaska

5. Spiderling

6. Au

7. Kaa

8. 10080

9. Taurus

10. Berlin

How did you do? If you liked these then I think you’ll also enjoy my 10 Amazing Facts you never knew you didn’t know!

I’d love to hear your score today and also if you have any great quiz questions then please put them to me in the comments section!

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Bicycle First Aid Kit Review and Giveaway

We go on a fair amount of trips in our household which is great fun. The boys and my OH have been increasing the distance in their bike rides and I’ve been pretty blown away by how far they are managing to go on their boys outings. I’m not a massive lover of riding so that’s normally when I get in a bit of blogging time. Saying that, when we went to center parcs I loved it because I had an electric bike and the difference it made was amazing and I loved every second.

I always pack a first aid kit in the car so that I’ve got the essentials on hand should I need it. With my 2 boys there is often the odd graze, cut or sting to take care of.

I’ve never seen or had a bicycle first aid kit though. It was great therefore to try out these first aid kits from SJ Works specifically for attaching to bicycles and putting family first aid as the priority.

Aswell as being able to show you how good they look and to give our first hand opinion, I also have one of the saddle first aid packs to giveaway! You can see how to enter further down the post.

Now as some of you may be aware, my OH has got a big trip coming up in the new year that will see him going off to New Zealand for a few weeks and spending quite alot of time on different cycling treks. He’s even taking his bike from here in the UK over with him so he’s pretty committed. I don’t think that my electric style of biking would go down too well over a long period and this is something for him to get out of his system while I will probably be doing something far more sedate like spa days and girly lunches!

He will be taking the saddle pouch first aid kit with him on his trip which gives me peace of mind. Him too but he’s far too butch to let on that much. Since it will deal with most minor first aid needs it is ideal to have on the bike. It’s better to have and not need than to deal with an accident and be left kicking yourself for not putting it on.

There is so much included in this SJ Works saddle pouch kit. Including:

1pcs An empty saddle bag
1pc American Red Cross First Aid Guide
6pcs Antiseptic Towelettes
5pcs Easy Access Bandage 3*1″—5pcs Easy Access Bandage 3/4*3″
5pcs Junior Easy Access Bandage 3/8×1.5″
5pcs Butterfly Wound Closures
2pcs Sterile Non-Adherent Pads 2″x3″
2pcs Sterile Non-woven sponges 2″x2″2pcs/pk 4ply
1pc Sterile Eye Pad
1pc Pressure Bandages 2″x2″
1pc Pressure Bandages 3″x3″
1pc Triangular Bandage 42″x42″x59″ nonwoven
1pc First Aid Tape Roll 1/2″x10yds.
1pc Emergency Blanket 38″x60″
1pc SJ Works Reflect strip

This one and their other products can also be found here to buy.

They also make this mini hard cased pack which is great for popping in any travel bag or glove compartment of your car.

Another nice little extra is that they have a 100% no questions asked money-back guarantee with a 30 days notice, so if it’s not right for you then just get in touch with them.

The larger SJ Works Classic Bicycle first aid kit has everything the saddle kit has and more! Even a little emergency bike light! They have thought of everything.

So after you have had a look at them, why not enter into my giveaway below and see if you can win one for yourself. Open to worldwide entrants.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was given the first aid kits in order to carry out an honest review, in my own words which is what I have done. They are perfect for my family and I’m delighted to have them now. You can go to my contacts page to see giveaway general terms.

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Club Hub UK – App Review

There’s a great new app on the scene! Club Hub UK. This has really caught my attention! I heard recently from Tessa Robinson, the creator who quite rightly, had worked really hard around the launch date with getting the news of her app out there to let us all know that we could make use of it.

The app is designed to make finding activities easier…Ok that’s good enough for me already!:)

But let me tell you more….

The app is designed to locate children’s clubs and activities around the U.K. It caters for children from newborns up to 18 years old.

Tessas background is in acting and she started a children’s musical theatre group. She started teaching children after school, and enjoyed sharing her knowledge in everything she could in terms of acting, singing and dancing.

During this time her idea was forming which has now become ‘Club Hub UK’. Tessa thought that there should be a way that she could promote her after school club to all the parents in her local area. She then thought about creating an app where people could locate all the children’s clubs in their area too – a simple app where parents could input their child’s age and interests, and the search results would list local clubs and their details.

Tessa really pushed her idea forward and came second with Club Hub UK in the #InSport competition with Ideas Britain. An app where people are able to show their ideas to the world. That too is very much worth checking out if you need coaches to assist in your app ideas.

Ella Harding is the graphic designer and I really love the drawings she has created for the site.

The app and website is free and listings are free too! You couldn’t want more as a resource. If you are looking for a club to promote your activity, check out the club owner section.

I think this is an app that is well worth keeping an eye out for, it could be one of those that you start seeing everywhere and it comes to be a go-to app at the weekend! Well done Tessa!

Here are all the contact details below:

Website: www.clubhubuk.co.uk

Twitter: @clubhubuk

Facebook: Club Hub UK

What do you think, is this an app that you’d think of downloading? You can download on the App Store here or Google Play here

I am one of the supporters for this app because I really believe in the great idea and the hard work behind it.

I’d love you to subscribe to my blog so that you’ll be updated on each new post. You can do so here:

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The Best Beginners Guide to Making Mum Friends

We’ve all felt like the odd one out when starting a new school right? Well starting school or nursery when you are the parent can be just as daunting, if not worse! Fears and self-doubt can creep in and old leftover experiences of when we were younger can all surface again.

As a parent, waving the little ones off …well peeling them off you as was sometimes the case when mine were little is one milestone to get over. The next is standing there having waved them off and then walking home or back to the car-park alone.That feeling is the pits and I think, totally unnecessary! Now is the time to get in with or make your own Mum Tribe, it will make the next few years so much easier!

Here is the best beginners guide to making mum friends:

• Smile Smile Smile, it can take the place of a thousand words and can be a huge pick me up for whoever is on the receiving end.

• Make something happen! Arrange a coffee morning as a way to get to know people. Odds on you aren’t the only one feeling the same way. Arranging a time and place to meet takes the headache out of it for other people. We are all so busy that having to hang around and umm and ahhh over where to go often leads to absolutely nothing, nada. If you take the initiative and arrange something, even if only one person can make it then that’s fine, it’s one person you will always have to laugh with about that first get together.

• As with the point above, you have to make things happen. So, if someone asks you to go along to an event that they have planned then try your hardest to go. You might feel tired, not of washed your hair or don’t fancy meeting over the other side of town. The thing is making the effort and then feeling the benefit afterwards. You can even have a look at my post 5 tips to help the school run go smoother which should help in getting there on time and without being too stressed!

• If you have to go past other mums who are all gaggled together like they’ve known each other for years, take a deep breath, walk over and say hi. You’ll get a feel for them pretty quickly and you have the most legit get out of jail card by saying that you can’t stop as you have to dash off to work – doctors-friends etc. But what you would have done is broken the ice, said your name and made the first move.

I mean, what’s the worst that can happen!!

• Volunteer to help out at the school or nursery and before you go all shivery and think ‘No Friggin Way’… do it, even if it’s just the once. Think about it, you probably always have to talk to the teacher right? – So that’s one person who you know and can chat to. It’s your way in. If you volunteer for just one cake, book, uniform or whatever the heck sale it is then you will have people coming to you to talk and it’s ready-made intros.

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It might seem a little daunting or hard work at first. Over time, just like when we were at school or starting out at work or uni, it falls into place and we settle with friends that we click with. Being in your new mum tribe is just one more path of being a fully fledged grown up. Enjoy the riches that these women can bring to your life.

What tips have you got? What were your first experiences of making your new mum friends.