Sunshine Bloggers Award

I know some people aren’t keen on The Sunshine Bloggers Award or these types of posts in general but I enjoy doing them & reading other peoples answers so when I saw a tweet from Sarah who blogs at Mum&Mor letting me know she had nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger’s award I couldn’t wait to get started! So here’s my answers.. 

  1. What is your favourite food? I always used to say Chinese.. Whilst it is still up there I now eat such a huge variety of meals it’s pretty hard to choose! At the moment I’d probably go for BBQ pulled chicken wraps with spicy rice & nacho cheese ridged wedges smothered in Nando’s peri-peri salt! My favourite seems to be changing weekly though.. Haha!
  2. The first object to your right is your weapon during a zombie invasion. What is the weapon and how screwed are you? A cup of tea..I’m sure I’ll be fine.. At least I’ll get my caffeine fix?
  3. What is your favourite social media platform and how many followers do you have on it? Twitter of course! I have just over 3100 followers at the moment and absolutely love chatting to anyone.. I’m slowly getting less awkward and slowly learning to converse in under 140 characters haha!
  4. What bad things have you experienced during blogging? Losing my blogging mojo has to be the worst. I’ve had very few bad experiences so far even on my first blog apart from feeling I’m not ‘good enough’. I’ve realised though that the blogging world is HUGE and as long as i am happy doing my own thing that’s all that matters.
  5. What good things have you experienced during blogging? I’ve found some amazing people to chat to who have helped me through the rough days without even knowing it. Sometimes chatting helps a lot! I find blogging a great stress relief as I can get everything off my chest & if someone reads & relates that is brilliant.. If not I’ve still got it out there instead of holding it in.
  6. If you could be an animal for a day, what animal would you be and why? Definitely a dog.. Who wouldn’t want to be mans best friend!? Playing and getting cuddles all day looks awesome!
  7. You may choose one special ability out of two: living forever or being able to fly. Which one do you choose and why? I’d go for the ability to fly every time. No way would I want to live forever. At least if I can fly I can get to my brothers a lot more & get so much more done!
  8. What is the best day out you have ever experienced? Wow.. That’s a tough one.. Most of my days out have been spoilt in some way.. I’d probably go with my day out at Wat Tyler when we met up with my brother too it was a lovely day until my so called friend turned it into a very stressful day. Up until then Eva was over the moon getting a bit of freedom as long as she stayed within the limits I had set, watching my brother play with the girls in a place we had been to as kids ourselves was lovely and I can’t wait to go again!
  9. Which film has made you cry the most? Green Mile! One of my absolute favourites but the tears come on full blast near the end. Don’t tell people though as I don’t get emotional watching films.. Apart from this one!
  10. What is your ultimate pet-peeve and why? People who eat with their mouths WIDE open.. Like come on seriously.. If I wanted to see it I’d ask.. Bleurgh!

I’m nominating this lot to answer the question’s I’ve set below:

  1. Tracey – OneFrazzledMum
  2. Tracey – HooksandDragon
  3. Martyn – InsideMartynsThoughts
  4. Jo – FirstTimeValleyMam
  5. Al – OMGitsagirl

The rules are simple. Answer my questions below on a new blog post of yours, and then nominate another 5 bloggers for the Sunshine Blogger Awards.

  1. What makes your blog unique and stand out from the crowd?
  2. What’s your dream job?
  3. Your officially a superhero.. How does your costume look?
  4. Who is your favourite author?
  5. What is your dream car?
  6. How do you ‘chill’?
  7. Outside of blogging what are your top 3 things to do?
  8. What is the cutest thing you’ve seen/heard this week?
  9. Are you looking forward to Christmas or dreading it?
  10. Where’s your favourite place to be?

If your taking part make sure to tweet me when your post goes live so I can give it some love & shares too!


Family Dinners

To most people sit down family dinners is the norm. To my brother & I it’s something quite new, awkward, yet exciting.

Growing up it was rarely done, don’t get me wrong we did sit down occasionally, even at a table but it never felt like a family meal.. You know where you all sit chatting pleasantly, passing things around to each other, laughing and joking. Instead it was generally quite stressful and awkward.

My brother had a few more sit down meals than me growing up, whilst in children’s homes he says it was fun chatting to the other kids but not the same as a family dinner, in foster homes it was awkward sitting with a family he barely knew so he wasn’t keen on them and like me struggled with eating in other peoples homes in general.

So of course we HAVE to change that and with the Mr always happy to play chef we worked out the Sunday between our pay day and Alex’s pay day was the perfect day to turn into our family day. We started the weekend before last with a lovely beef roast as my brother hadn’t had a proper roast in over 5 YEARS! I know right, how disgusting is that!? Well that was quickly changed and we had an absolutely amazing day!

My favourite – Uncle Alex reading Jungle Jam to his Nieces 😍💜

With Alex around to keep the girls occupied it was much easier for the Mr and I to get on with bits in the kitchen & having a quick tidy up so it was also lovely for us that it was less stressful. We all worked together getting everything ready to sit down as we have no dinner table so instead we use the girls small tables & Alex decided he was more comfortable eating at the Mr’s desk.

Normally Alex is as awkward as I was a few years ago when it comes to eating around others but this time he was really relaxed, stopping every now & then to have a chat and it was just a lovely day & meal all round. My brother was really grateful which was lovely but sad at the same time.. I felt guilty thinking how many of his favourite meals he hasn’t had since I last cooked them when he was around 6/7. 

After chatting to Alex this Thursday and finding out how much our family dinner day had meant to him and how comfortable he really felt, I couldn’t wait for today! Hearing how it gave him a sense of normality & being part of a family rather than an outsider looking in honestly nearly had me in tears, I had to keep tidying to hide them.

Family Dinners

I’m calling him at 10.30am to make sure he’s awake and then once he’s ready the girls are going to come with me to meet him at the bus station. We are having Chicken Tikka Masala tonight and will be working through all his favourites letting Alex pick what he wants each time. It’s definitely something we will be continuing so I need to really get a wiggle on finding a decent table with 5/6 chairs so we can really do it properly!

Do you have sit down family meals? Is it something you all enjoy? Who decides what your eating? Also.. Any budget table and chair recommendations?

Eva’s Crazy Moves For The #FrubesMoves Challenge

Eva loves all kinds of dancing and is often dancing around the flat whether there is music playing or not! She has some seriously crazy dance moves but she would love to do ballet or street dance so we are looking out for classes and hopefully we can afford a few terms for her next year. She was really excited to get involved when I told her about the #Frubesmoves challenge and that she could make a video of her dancing!  I received £9 worth of Yoplait vouchers to spend on Frubes and keep our fridge stocked up with a healthy snack that contains vitamin D and calcium which helps children build strong bones!

 

Of course we decided to try out the purple pack first 😉 which contains 3x Strawberry, 3x Red berries and 3x Peach flavoured Frubes which the girls very quickly demolished which is fine by me since they contain 50% of a child’s daily Vitamin D. Frubes are currently running a promotion in connection to the new Angry Birds movie which runs until October 31st so each pack has a promotional code inside which you can enter on the Frubes website for a chance to win prizes including a trip to the Bahamas!

You can also practice your #FrubesMoves whilst your there too selecting different Angry Birds/ Pigs, their dance moves, the music & the scenery which Eva spent quite some time playing on creating different dance off’s. Her favourite music style was Funky, no surprise there!

A squawksome dance off!

 

Eva really enjoyed playing on the website and couldn’t wait to show you all her #FrubesMoves which you can view on my Instagram here. Did you take part too? Who did you want to win the dance off?

This post is an entry for BritMums’ #FrubesMoves Linky Challenge, sponsored by Frubes

 

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

Week 5 on Gabapentin

Week 5 - Gabapentin

Yesterday was the start of week 5 & I started taking 600mg in the morning along with 300mg at midday and 600mg at night. It definitely helps me move a little easier although I still can’t seem to do as much as I feel able to at times.

I’m still feeling awful after 2 lots of 10 minute walks, 1 involving a walk around Aldi too. I thought I’d be fine, I felt great in the morning! But by midday the pain was getting too much again and by bedtime I couldn’t sleep from the pain.

On days I don’t go out & I just clean it’s not too bad and much better than before Gabapentin so I know it definitely helps & most nights I am sleeping well as long as I haven’t overdone it during the day.

I’m going to attempt booking a Dr’s appointment this week to get Gabapentin added onto my prescription since it has given me more relief than anything else I’m on.

Has Gabapentin helped you? Are you trying it too or have you been on it a while? 

Jungle Jam Book Review

We were really excited to receive such a captivating & colourful story book aimed at children aged 0-5 years to review with the girls, Written by Louise & Noam Lederman & it’s called Jungle Jam.

We recieved the book, a magnet & a puzzle, I was impressed with the bright and colourful cover, it’s eye-catching but not too in your face, even the Mr agreed it looked good!
As it arrived whilst Eva was at school, I decided to see what Izzy thought of it first as it’s mostly aimed at her age group.

We sat and read it to see what Jungle Jam was about. We met Mikey the Monkey who was off on an adventure to make it big! Along the way he meets several friends in the Jungle but refuses to join them, intent on making it big by himself until eventually he decides to join them all and make it big together!

Izzy (2) sat and listened intently, pointing out all the new characters we met along the way, with her favourite being Ella the elephant and her drums.

 

Izzy spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the pages & claiming the magnet as hers and adding it into her magnet collection on the storage heater haha..

Eva (6) was just as impressed when she got home and loved that she was able to read it to her sister who sat & listened to the story again..several times!

The book is beautifully illustrated and the girls really loved reading it over and over and over… Eva loved it so much that she wanted to talk about it on her first video! She was a bit sniffly as she’s coming down with a cold & unsure of what to say but she wanted to do the video so badly, so here it is.

We definitely recommend ordering yourself a copy of Jungle Jam here on Amazon for just £5.99 to add to your bookshelf. It’s such a fun book to read with all the colourful pictures and characters and the lovely storyline, I can see this book being a favourite for quite some time! The last few pages have some awesome musical craft’s for you to make too!

Pink Pear Bear

Surprisingly Good Luck

I’m one of those people I’d class as unlucky & always feel quite suspicious when things begin to go my way but I’ve had surprisingly good luck lately &  for now I’m going to attempt to enjoy it!

My streak of luck started last week with a £5 win on a purple scratch card that the Mr got me. It’s something we only do occasionally so I was quite pleased with winning. We did our usual thing of buying 1 more each out of the winnings and keep the rest. I won £1 again on my one too.. Another Relentless.. Cheers!

I then found out I had one a pack of Posca Pens from a giveaway on MeYou&Magoo’s  #Craftingismytherapy Linky too! If you’re a crafter please do pop over & link up any craft related posts, the linky is quite small and could do with some more love 🙂 

I also won a box full of baby bits this week but unfortunately everything was for 0-6months so no good for Izzy. I ran a poll on Twitter to see if people thought I should run a give-away or donate the box to charity. After I had filled it up with more items of course! The overall vote was to donate it to a Charity. If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them!

To top it all I found out I’m a winner of the Britmums Linky entry for the #Mamiadaysout challenge.. How awesome is that!? I was pleased when the Hamper arrived & again once it was empty! I filled it with wool to neaten up my craft stash, now I’m absolutely over the moon! (If you had a hamper what did you use yours for?)

Have you had any luck lately? Any wins or good luck in general? Let me know in the comments 🙂


Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

#WorldMentalHealthDay

#WorldMentalHealthDay

 

Today is of course #WorldMentalHealthDay. I wanted to join in and share a few things with you all to help raise awareness and help those struggling to see that they are not alone, such a huge percentage of the population struggle & feel so, so alone & that really needs to change. We need to reach out to one another & share our stories!

Mental Health is something I heard a lot about as a child as a lot of the adults I grew up knowing had depression, anxiety, bipolar & schizophrenia, so it is something I’ve learnt a fair bit about different issues over the years. I was going to look into statistics and figures but honestly I don’t feel there is any need, so many of us don’t say a word which leads me to believe the statistic’s are unrealistic.

I myself struggle with depression & anxiety and for quite some time I struggled massively with ED’s which I’ve slowly discovered has contributed to my Chronic pain which of course has caused me to feel quite depressed, I also struggle with how my Scoliosis makes my ribs stick out but sharing my stories in my blog has meant I’ve had a lot of support and encouragement from other people and that has made such a difference!

I talk openly on my blog about all these things, NOT for sympathy but to connect with other’s who feel the same, it can be very lonely and stressful when you feel worthless & too scared to ask for a little help and I truly hope that the blogging community sharing their stories helps anyone struggling.

My brother has Aspergers & PTSD amongst other things & yes he can be difficult to be around at times but that ISN’T his fault. He had very little support growing up and felt very alone, being pushed from one foster home or care home to another as a child and being sectioned as a teen and then suddenly being all alone in a tiny bedsit has been very stressful and hard for him.

He spiralled out of control turning to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain, he was EXTREMELY difficult to be around during that time BUT the Mr and I made it our mission to help him turn himself round. And you know what? With a bit of persistence, love and a little bit of a kick up the bum he has become a totally different person over the past year.

Now he is dealing with his issues and facing them in counselling he is coping much better. Knowing he IS part of our family & our home is his home has helped him relax and realise he is loved and cared for. He still has bad days especially because of his past but now instead of trying to numb the pain & destroy himself he picks up the phone and calls me or jumps on a train and distracts himself or talks his problems through and bit by bit he has turned his life round completely.

Talking about our problems can help us more than most things especially if we feel someone is actually listening, we know people may not fully understand but it’s nice to be heard and it makes us feel less alone.

What’s your story? What are you struggling with? What do you do to cope?

Image result for you are cared for

If you need to talk please do, my DM, email etc is always open to ANYONE that needs to talk, day or night! If you prefer there are plenty of charities to help, whether its over the phone, by email or on-line chat, whatever method you prefer there is ALWAYS someone waiting to help you and talk through your problems, PLEASE DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE!

If you do need to talk to someone here is a small list of contacts:

The Samaritans are a well known organisation who are always there for a chat whether your just having a low day or you feel thing’s are much worse, get in touch!

Whatever you’re going through, call us free any time, from any phone on 116 123.

We’re here round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you need a response immediately, it’s best to call us on the phone. This number is FREE to call. You don’t have to be suicidal to call us.

Another brilliant organisation is Togetheruk.org although I have no personal experience myself they offer a range of services around the country .

Together is a national   charity working alongside people with mental health issues on their journey towards independent and fulfilling lives.

MIND is an amazing organisation that offers counselling & they have helped both my and my brother. My brother still currently has counselling with them and I can honestly say that has played a HUGE part in his recovery. They offer a range of services and support too.

Contact us

Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays).

0300 123 3393

info@mind.org.uk
Text: 86463

Even if you find ways to cope and manage and feel you have recovered well there may still be days you need a little chat to help you keep on top, please do ask for help if you feel thing’s are slipping again.

If you know someone struggling, make them a cuppa & share some cake & just be there to listen when you know they are feeling low. Sometimes just being there can mean so much, we don’t need to be told what to do or to just cope we just need a little love & understanding to help us through the bad days so we can fully enjoy the good days.

Week 3 of my 6 Week Gabapentin Trial

At my last pain management appointment I was asked to start a gabapentin trial over 6 weeks starting with 1 x 300mg a day & increasing by one 300mg tablet every Tuesday starting with 10pm then 10pm & 8am and now I am taking them at 2pm as well.

I know some of you are interested in how it’s going so I thought I’d keep you all updated.

Feeling good

So far I have felt some relief & I am now up to 3 tablets a day (900mg). It’s been a huge relief in the morning taking my 10pm tablet and I can get out of bed a little easier. In fact most morning’s I feel brilliant! Although the first few days I did feel a little spacey!

My mood has definitely improved & I don’t feel quite so depressed & anxious constantly. It’s been quite nice throughout the Gabapentin trial so far.

And a ton of other aches and pains 😂😂

Wearing off

By the evenings though it doesn’t seem to give me much relief compared to the morning. The 2pm tablet I started this Tuesday doesn’t seem to have made much difference but then I have also been quite busy this week & may have overdone it.. A little bit.. Or a lot.. 😂 So I have been very moody & snappy the last 2 days!

Lack of sleep obviously hasn’t helped much either this week and was up at very early hours yesterday! I’m still feeling pretty rough but not quite as miserable and snappy.

I’m looking at doing things like buying a shopping trolley on wheels (in purple of course!). That way I can go shopping alone without struggling so much and hurting myself more.

I guess I am slowly accepting this is only ever going to get worse and I need to start finding ways to do what I want to & have some freedom without trying to struggle with doing things the usual way. 

If your a spoonie what things make your life with chronic pain a little easier?

Out-Smarting A 2 Year Old With SmartMotion

The Samsung SmartThings SmartMotion!

I reviewed the Samsung SmartThings Starter pack and won it last year. I still use the SmartPlug’s to control the Pump & Light on our fish tank (Can you Phone the Fish?)which is an absolute life saver especially if we aren’t home & forgot to turn on their pump!

I also use the  Multi-purpose sensor to send me a notification on my phone if something comes through the letterbox. 

 

The SmartMotion Sensor however I hadn’t really managed to come SmartMotionup with a good use for yet.

Izzy has recently started getting out of bed and coming in to the living room at night. She plays a bit of a game with it making sure to cover the monitor with a blanket or teddy so we can’t hear her sneaking out of bed.

She rarely wants something, she just wants to know what we are up to and with Eva making sure to keep her awake after we have put Izzy back to bed, we become yo-yo’s trying to get her to stay in bed. If we manage to catch her at her door she will generally go back to bed and go to sleep. If she gets any further though she thinks she’s winning and keeps trying.

Secret weapon: SmartMotion

Now it’s set up in the girls room so when they pass their chest of drawers (the range is pretty good too!) I get a notification on my phone. So as Izzy gets out of bed we can race her to their door and get her back into bed quickly and stop her little game. We’ve been using it for the last week now and she has learnt rather quickly WE KNOW and she cant (yet) find away to open that bedroom door without setting off the sensor Muahahah!

 

Now she will actually call through the monitor ‘poo bum!’ or ‘Melp pweeeeaaaaase’ when she wants something and doesn’t get up and down just because she can.

This could also be useful for potty training too as I will be woken up if she leaves her room to head for the toilet/potty. Samsung SmartThing’s Motion Sensor finally has a purpose. It also let’s me know the room temperature which means as the colder months draw in closer we can make sure there room is kept at a good temperature too!

How do you outsmart your kids when they are playing around at bedtime? Do you have a sensor? A video baby monitor? Do you have a SmartHub at home? Which one? Let me know 

🙂 Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday


Making Packed Lunches Easy With #FloraLunchbox

A packed lunch is somewhat dreaded by most parents. With children’s fussiness & guidelines to follow it can be difficult putting together a healthy nutritious packed lunch that your child will actually eat. With #FloraLunchbox packed lunches have never been easier!

Flora Distributed 631,000 Lunchboxes and healthy meal planners throughout the UK in light of recent research.

Did you Know only 1.6% of packed lunchboxes in primary schools across England are actually meeting food based standards for school meals!? I know.. it shocked me too! Children’s Lunchboxes have only improved by 0.5% in the last 10 years and only 1 in 5 lunchboxes (17%) contain ANY vegetables or salad.

Those are some pretty sad statistics and clearly this needs to change, Flora understands Parents don’t need telling off & just need a little help, especially with fussy eaters so with the Flora website full of tips & recipes anyone can put together a healthy and nutritious lunchbox for their child.

Eva is VERY fussy when it comes to food and putting together a packed lunch for her can sometimes be quite a difficult task but with the Flora Planner & Recipes on-line it has never been easier!

FloraProactiv-lunchbox-buider-960x839

The Lunchbox Builder makes it easier to put together a healthy lunch for your child as it gives you healthy options containing easy-to-make plant-based recipes alongside Flora spread, giving you Mains, Snacks and Fruit & Veg ideas to choose from and of course a selection of Flora Spreads you can use.

Every Flora tub contains plant oils, such as sunflower, rapeseed and linseed oils. Flora is lower in saturated fats than butter* and provides a source of healthy Omega 3 and 6. These essential fats contribute to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels and are also needed for normal growth and to support the development of children. Flora also recently launched Flora Freedom. This is a 100% dairy free product, which is free of preservatives, artificial colours and flavours, and like the rest of the Flora range is approved by The Vegetarian Society.


Eva loved pointing out things she likes & things she’d like to try (Mini pretzels!) on the Lunch Builder but came up with her own idea’s based on the builder where she is very fussy. She went for a Grilled chicken & Cucumber Flat bread using Flora original as her main, Raspberry Rice cakes & a Fruit Jelly for her Snack along with a choice of Banana, Apple or raisins. (I give her a few choices as she WILL change her mind several times across the school day & this prevents a meltdown).

Eva’s usual packed lunch isn’t much different from this but we tend to give her a variety of breads such as bagels, crusty rolls, pitta’s, sandwich thins etc.. Occasionally mixing it up with different pasta & noodle dishes with lots of hidden veg in. 😉

Bread sticks with dips & rice cakes are a big favourite lately along with crackers & crisp breads. Eva absolutely loves fruit so we always give her a variety, she loves apples, grapes, bananas, blueberries and melon. What’s your child’s favourite packed lunch?

If your struggling for idea’s don’t forget to head over to the Flora website to see some yummy nutritious dishes even for the fussiest of children! Florasaurus is full of fun facts & tips & recipes.

This post is an entry for the #FloraLunchbox Linky Challenge, sponsored by Flora. Check out their lunch planner and recipe ideas here