August 2013 | Mum In The Madhouse

August 2013

When not to behave like an 8 year old…

So we carried on with the holiday and I tried to manage the pain with over the counter painkillers and some delicious pink fizz.

The journey home on Saturday was interesting to say the least and Sunday morning saw me at A&E having finally admitted that I was struggling to cope with the pain.

So a CAT scan and a couple of x-rays later I have decided that it is time to start acting more my age than shoe size. I can tell you that broken ribs HURT like nothing else and mean sleep is pretty none existent in The Mad House currently. I also have a shadow on my lung, so am off for another x ray tomorrow to rule out scary stuff.

But even though lack of sleep and pain is meaning I am a grumpy bean at the moment. France was amazing and we had a super time.

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Hyundai New Generation Santa Fe – Six go road tripping

I love driving. I only learned to drive when I was pregnant with Mini and ever since have never looked back, but I only have a little car, so when Cass and I decided to go on holiday together to Bognor Regis with our four children there was no way we could all fit in to my tiny car. Thankfully Hyundai came to the rescue and loaned us a New Generation Santa Fe for the week. The New Generation Santa Fe is a five plus two seater and we have three children in booster seats between us. My two boys use a high back booster whilst Master Frugal is a little taller and use uses a booster seat.

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#whatmattersmost with John Lewis

John Lewis have asked me to find the item I own that matters most to me to help celebrate the launch of their first ever TV advert for Insurance.

So I had a long look round my house and actually realised that things are not what is important to me. I remember the heartache and hard work it was emptying Mum’s house after she died and I brought some of her things home with me, but for me the things that matter most are the things that we use all the time. I try not to keep things fo0r best. I adore the fact that I use my mums old rolling pin to make my pastry just as she would. I find that the items that matter the most to me are the things that bring my family together, so I decided that my item would be my teapot.

Tea is a drink to be shared. A pot of tea is a social experience. There is nothing in this world that can not be solved by a cup of tea.

I start my day with a cup of tea brought up to me in bed by MadDad and my boys have also caught the tea bug off me. We love the whole experience of making tea in a pot. They love pouring in the milk, offering sugar and then pouring their tea. It is a time when we all relax and take time to enjoy each others company and chat together. It slows us down. We have to be patient and wait for the tea to brew.

I am not a tea bag girl and inherited my Grandad’s love of tea leaves and I think this is why I have a thing for tea pots. Loose leaf tea is much nicer from a teapot, so we have pots of various size ranging from a single person pot to our family teapot which holds four good mugfulls. This is my favorite teapot of all. I think that it is due to the fact that we use it as a family. It is too big for two or three people, we all need to be having a cup or two to warrant its use. So it is the family teapot.

To celebrate the fab advert John Lewis have launched a competition on Vine to find out #whatmattersmost to people. You can find out more about the compeition here http://whatmatters.johnlewis-insurance.com/competition/. You need to share your vine video with the hashtag #whatmattersmost for the possibility to win a weekly prize of a Canon SLR and the grand prize £1000 John Lewis vouchers.

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Win 4 tickets to the Fruit Shoot Skills Awards on 7th September 2013

This summer, leading children’s soft drink brand Robinsons Fruit Shoot, in association with Nickelodeon, launched Get Your Skills On, a campaign designed to give kids the chance to give kids the chance to learn the latest cool skills ranging from street dance to free style basketball to urban percussion. With the help of the Fruit

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