June 2013 | Mum In The Madhouse

June 2013

Seven

13 Comments / minimad / By

How can my baby be seven? All of a sudden he is starting to look like the man he is going to be. So in honor of my darling Mini, this is for you.

You give the best cuddles in the whole wide world, they are all encompassing and frequent. One of my favorite times of the day is that cuddle in my bed before we get up and face the day ahead. Oftren we each say five more minutes.

You have no pause button. You do everything at full speed.

You are extremely sensitive, although you often hide it under your bravado. You care about what other people think and say.

You have my temper! It is like looking into a mirror. I know this is something you are working hard to control, but baby it is going to be a challenge. I know, I have been there, however, it is part of your personality. We talk about being able to learn to read and write, so learning to control your temper will be something you can do too.

Your family mean everything to you. You love us all with a passion.

You are a reader. You love fact books and sleep with your Guinness Book of Records and 2013 Football fact book. Every morning I remove at least 4 books from your bed.

You put your clothes on back to front. When we tell you, you just shrug and say it is “your thing”!

You are still mad about anything London.

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Win Your Family Holiday This Year!

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Win Your Family Holiday This Year!
The recession has hit most household budgets hard, with families struggling to meet basic outgoings, and not very much left in the pot for luxuries like holidays. If you’re feeling pretty gloomy at the prospect of giving your break a miss this year, imagine how good it would be to win your family holiday this year!
With Cushelle and Butlins, you could do just that. They have teamed up to give away three UK breaks, for families to try out the brand new Wave Hotel at the Bognor Regis Butlins resort. The lucky winners can check in two adults and two children, for a super exciting vacation at Butlins.
Those with older children, between the ages of 8 and 14, will be especially excited by the new Wave Hotel, as everything about it has been carefully designed to appeal to hard to please teens and pre-teens. The designers have gone with a cool and quirky underwater theme, complete with submarine style rooms, and the tech geeks at Butlins have gone all out to integrate the latest gadgets and gizmos to appeal to tech savvy kids.
The piece de resistance is the Games Port, where families can challenge each other to interactive modern games. The hotel also boasts a kindle and iPod library for guests, free Wi-Fi and a Soho Coffee Co Café. In the bright, funky designed rooms you’ll find iPod docks, freeview, and individual DVD players for each bed – saving on squabbles over what to watch!
Outside of the hotel (if you can drag the kids away!), the Bognor resort has also been treated to a brand new fairground, where you can ride your favourites for free! There’s also a fantastic new Discovery Studio hosting live shows themed on science, animals and magic – perfect for inquisitive kids!
It’s got to be worth a quick click to enter – all you have to do is enter a Cushelle barcode online. And even if you’re not a winner, Cushelle will give you £20 off your Butlins break of choice, making a family holiday that little bit more affordable.

Win Your Family Holiday This Year! Read More »

Win a years supply of tea for your teacher from Whittards

competition / By

So why not print the entry form and have them draw their favourite teacher with a comment and email either a photo/scan to teacher@whittard.co.uk by 30 June 2013.

So my boys are going to do one for each of their teachers, when I asked Mini his response was:

My teacher deserves a years supply of tea as he is the BEST teacher in the world, plus he supports Middlesbrough Football Club and they have been relegated.

Maxi thinks this teacher deserves a years supply of tea:

My teacher has beautiful hair and helps me learn and puts in lots of effort.

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My Maternity Essentials

1 Comment / Featured and Guest / By

A friend of a friend is currently pregnant and has asked for tips on all things maternity. Now I wasn’t a very good pregnant person and spent most of it in and out of hospital, but there where somethings that I could not have managed without.

A fragranced candle – Everything smelled odd to me throughout most of my pregnancy. My usual perfume was to strong, MadDad’s aftershave turned my stomach as did cooking smells, however, I found a fragranced candle that I could bear and we had one for each room.

Peppermint tea – I went off tea, coffee and all milky drinks when expecting. I indulged my need for a warm drink with fresh mint tea and during the winter good quality dried tea leaves.

Big pants – I know that a lot of people like under bump pants, but for me I needed big pants. I bought packs of them from M&S and they were fab. They also worked great after I gave birth as they didn’t rub on my c-section scar.

Body Oil – My skin was really dry and I moisturised with body oil, I also used it in the hope of not getting stretch marks too.

Audio books – I just couldn’t concentrate on reading for any length of time and found audio books a real lifesaver.

Bubble bath – I suffered from Hyperemesis throughout both my pregnancies and everyone kept telling me to have ginger (ginger tea, ginger biscuits, ginger ale, ginger everything). Eating generger never did anything for me at all, but a bath with ginger and lime scented oil did give me a little respite.

Acupuncture – This was the only time I got any relief from my sickness throughout my pregnancies. It was worth every penny we paid for it.

Multivitamins inc folic acid – Yes I was vomiting, but I still took vitamins in the hope that some got to my babes!

My Maternity Essentials Read More »

Colouring in for all ages

12 Comments / crafts / By

One such activity, which is perfect for all the family is colouring on fabric. The fabric is from Ikea (TIDNY)and is only £7 per meter and the fabric pens are £7.99 from Yellow Moon. It is an ongoing project and once it is all coloured in I am going to set the c0louring by ironing the fabric and then make it into cushion covers for the family room.

The fabric is really think, so is perfect for children of all ages as you do not have to worry about younger children being heavy handed and ripping the paper or the colour bleeding through. We are also going to get the fabric paints out and use them to do some of the colouring too.

I love this for so many reasons. It is something that we can all do (adults too), it is a quiet activity that gives us time to chat and laugh together as you can see from the images below!

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Trash Packs or Trashies for those in the know!

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Whilst Maxi was at Cub camp last week, Mini and I had lots of fun making up the Slime Trashies. We made gooey, sticky, sewer ooze slime that defies gravity, then we used our ooze to create 3 giant, slime filled Trashies that you can squish, poke and squeeze.
Making them was great fun, Mini had to measure, stir and time his slime and had to wait 30 minutes for it to become fully slimelike, which was great for his patience.

The good thing about trashies is that they are reasonably priced and make great reward and pocket money priced toys.

Trash Packs or Trashies for those in the know! Read More »

Saving time and money as well as helping a good cause

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We’re all looking for easier ways to save these days. If you work from home like me, you’ll probably appreciate the time constraints when it comes to shopping, which is why online discount sites can be a bit of a god send. But when there’s so many offering so much, how do you know you’re getting the best deal out there? Type what you’re looking for into a search engine and thousands of results come up – I don’t know about you, but this sometimes gives me a bit of a headache. So where should you turn to when you’re looking for a decent voucher code for your weekly shopping, new clothes, or any last minute gift emergencies that crop up?

Well, I’ve recently found a site that might be able to help you out. My Favourite Voucher Codes is ever-so-slightly different from the rest of the voucher code sites out there. Yes, they give you access to all the best offers and promo codes from your favourite shops, but they also do a bit of good too – every month, they donate 20% of their net profits to a different charity. And you also get a say in which worthy cause benefits from the donation. Each month, they shortlist three charities and invite users to vote on the recipient. So in June, they’ve chosen three causes that are linked with helping the forces, veterans and their dependents – Help for Heroes, The British Red Cross and The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association.

And if you like to get your online shopping done quick sharpish, there’s also another way they can help. Say you’ve already started searching for your fashion/groceries/books/gifts and you don’t want the hassle of searching back for a discount. There is an easy way! You can download their money saving voucher code app if you have a Chrome or Firefox toolbar – then all you have to do is click on the My Favourite Voucher Codes icon and a list of current offers for that retailer will pop up. Anything that saves time is a bonus in my book.

So many of us do our grocery shopping online these days, but if you’re new to supermarket home delivery or you fancy trying out a different supplier, they’ve got voucher codes for all the big names that can save you quite a bit – for example, this Tesco voucher code saves you £12 when you spend £60 or more on your first online shop with them. And another one of my favourite things about this site – how easy it is to search through the sales for clothes. I found some excellent deals for shops like Dorothy Perkins, Marks and Spencer, New Look and Apricot amongst others.

So next time you want to save a bit of money online, think about using My Favourite Voucher Codes and you’ll be doing a bit of good with the money you do spend too!

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Top 5 Mountain Bike Routes in the UK

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Top 5 Mountain Bike Routes in the UK

Top tips on where to go – and how best to insure your bike with Allianz Your Cover

The continued success of British cycling in media and professional competitions has been a common, and seemingly endless, source of enthusiasm and great results. Yet it is not only the country’s Olympic victors who are in good health.

Cycling as a national past-time has enjoyed significant leverage in recent decades, bolstered by government and local, NGO-run low-carbon campaigns and get-fit incentives.

If you’re looking to insure your bike before taking it out, Allianz Your Cover (www.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk) offers a Bicycle Cover add on which you can add to your current Your Cover insurance policy at any time. The cover will deliver cover up to £5,000 on individual or group cycles worth over £1,000. For a newly-purchased top-of-the range hybrid or off-road bike, this can mean peace of mind should a tumble – or a bad spate of luck – befall you.

From road-biking in the Lake District to BMX-ing the dirt trails of Braintree, Essex, cycling in all shapes and forms is enjoying a renaissance. Mountain biking is also undergoing its own mini-revival, with new trails being built and developed across the UK – a sure sign that things are looking good.

Allianz Your Cover provides you with five trails to visit – including four big hitters, and one newbie we’re interested to see progress.

1. Coed-Y-Brenin, Wales
This list is dominated by Wales and Scotland for good reason – their landscape and climates provide perfect conditions for great mountain biking. Coed-Y-Brenin is an excellent example of that – according to the Daily Telegraph it’s the “birthplace of modern mountain bike centres” – and with a range of trails, including the tricky Temtiwr 9km, it has enough to suit even the experienced rider.

2. Glentress, Scotland
Glentress is without doubt one of the most well-known mountain bike destinations in the UK – known for its wide appeal, with easy green runs all the way of to a freeride park graded orange run for the extremely confident. Set in the Tweed Valley Forest Park, it is also a beautiful spot.

3. Fort William, Scotland
Best enjoyed by those with a little experience under their belts – not least so you can catch a glimpse of the view whilst tackling some craggy, technical trails that place you under the breathtaking shadow of the mountains including Ben Nevis. The Witch’s Trail comes highly recommended!

4. Coed Llandegla, North Wales
A privately-owned and run wood trail in the north of Wales. Owned by UPM Tilhill – a major timber and forest services provider – it is the first privately-owned forest to be recognised by the forestry commission as a provider of sustainable timber. What it also provides is great cycling, well-cared for tracks, and great wildlife.

5. One to watch out: Rostrevor, Northern Ireland
It might be a bit soon to be on the list of top destinations, but we couldn’t help but include the latest addition to the mountain bike roster in the UK – Northern Ireland’s Rostrevor. To be opening gradually over the spring/summer 2013, this new destination promises world class trails, according to this BBC report.

Top 5 Mountain Bike Routes in the UK Read More »