Jen Walshaw | Mum In The Madhouse

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Author name: Jen Walshaw

Mum-in-charge Jen Walshaw runs the UK’s top parenting blog Mum in the Madhouse, and she describes herself as a “fat, feisty and over 50” Northerner. Based in North Yorkshire, she’s mum to young adults and a big believer that family life is messy, creative and fun. In 2009 a double mastectomy gave her the nudge to start blogging; with two boys under three she needed an outlet and a digital scrapbook to capture their chaos.Jen’s posts are a mix of crafts, kid‑friendly recipes and honest parenting, peppered with northern humour. She’s happiest when up to her elbows in tea, fabric and pizza dough – sewing and making homemade gifts – before sneaking off to write about it. As a proud Northerner she warns PRs that a “quick pop down to London” isn’t quick at all. Her blog has earned her a stack of accolades, including the Cision #1 Mummy Blogger title in 2024  and consistently topping Vuelio and Tots100 parenting‑blog charts. Whether she’s advocating for diversity and body neutrality or sharing tales of parenting teens, Jen keeps things chatty, real and refreshingly down‑to‑earth.

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.

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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.

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Redefining the concept of me time

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I recently used the above as a title about needing to have time away from the children and taking time out for me and I received a tweet from Kirsty Younger saying she misinterpreted by title and though I was really redefining the concept of me time.

For the next couple of days this tweet kind of sat in my mind making my brain twitch somewhat. It was like an itch that needed scratching. Should I be redefining the concept me time?

One of the things that irks me about “me time” for woman is people often talk about using this time to get pampered or to pamper himself and I was so guilty of this in my last post. However, I am one of those woman who find a trip to the hairdressers a stressful experience and would rather sit in silence that chat about the weather or the next holiday the stylist is going on. Put me in a spa situation and I feel like a four year old child on her first day of school. I am never sure of the right etiquette and again who wants to have small talk whilst someone is checking out your nose for blackheads and judging you on your lack of skincare regime. A spa is the seventh circle of hell for me, not something I would want to do with any precious alone time I might have.

The more I thought about me time, the harder it was to define in the first place never mind redefine. Have my standards dropped since becoming a mum. Do I not wash my hair or paint my nails often enough. Do I need to carve out more time in my day to do this, or would my spare time time be better spent learning something new like I am with my sewing class? I know that I am getting so much out of getting out of the house and meeting new people and learning new skills. It is fast becoming my favorite day of the week. Plus I am able to put my new found skills to work making quilts and things for people I love.

But here is lies the crux of the issue. In order to redefine or even define me time you need to get past the part of your brain that feels guilty that as a mother or partner you are putting yourself first before your children or other people in your life. That you could possibly not be satisfied by all the other things in your life and need to look for some other outlet. But I am learning that guilt is the strongest emotion I possess and if I let it, it will always come to the front of my mine and I am no longer going to let my life be ruled by guilt. Whether it be my own guilt in the form of self deprecation and self worth or even self bullying or the guilt of other people that feel that by me needing some time away from my family that I am doing a disservice to mothers everywhere rule my life anymore.

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How Do You Know When It’s Time to Accept Family Support?

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How Do You Know When It’s Time to Accept Family Support?

How do you know when it’s time to accept family support? It’s a question asked often on forums and to friends over coffee, but rarely is it a question answered in an easy to manage way. Often prevention is better than cure, and early intervention theorists have long suggested that getting help before major problems arise is a sure fire way to ensure children don’t have to go through the same negative emotions and problems that their parents suffered before them.

You can take oneplusone.org.uk advice and get clued up on the options available now, to prevent problems later.

Help For Separation

Family breakdowns are one of the toughest things to have to deal with, but one thing to keep in mind is that for both partners, the emphasis should be on ensuring the children suffer as little as possible. Maintaining good relationships between you and your ex may not be practical, but there are counselling sessions you can arrange through your local authority to work out ways to reach more amicable terms, and places you can go for advice on how to deal with sharing child-minding responsibilities and reaching decisions on what to tell your children.

Support with Special Needs

The main thing to remember if you’re dealing with special needs children is that there is no shame in asking for support. Trying to work it all out on your own will probably lead to bigger problems and breakdowns from stress. The introduction of the new Children and Families bill, announced recently in the Queens speech should help make the process of getting help easier and more readily available for families struggling. The assessment process for children will be sped up, better budgets for parents with special needs children and better guidance available from your local authority.

Support for Children

If you find managing the relationships with your children difficult, or their behaviour leaves you despairing then don’t feel alone, there are plenty of measures to take and support you can benefit from with organizations like Action for Children who run children’s centres, and also advice on dealing with anger management issues experienced by children on websites like OnePlusOne.

Financial Support

Financial management is essential to keeping the balance in families, so make sure money issues aren’t causing you more stress than necessary by speaking to your bank about repayment options on loans, or getting advice from oneplusone.co.uk and government advice websites which offer support and guidance on debt, budgeting and everything in-between.

The big thing to take away from this is to never suffer in silence. If you find yourself struggling with care of children, finances or separation there are provisions available to offer support in all manner of ways. Social services is something people tend to fear as a last ditch method before break down of the family, but it should be seen as a support network designed to prevent break downs and stress. There are also new legislations being introduced by the current government to offer better support to those with special needs children.

So don’t leave it too late to ask for help.

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Stay wonky

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It is there to remind me I need to switch off the electronics and join in. It also echo’s things that we find important as a family, such as speaking out and being honorable. But even better, it says it is OK to stay wonky and this is something I have and always will be!
It looks perfect next to my family carving from South Africa and the brilliant drawing of Maxi and Mini baking, which Suzie drew.

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My Ultimate Rocky Road Recipe: A Deliciously Indulgent Treat

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Instructions
  1. Line a 12 by 10 inch tin with cling film or lightly grease a silicone baking tin with butter.
  2. Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl over just simmering water. Do not stir very often.
  3. Meanwhile crush the digestive biscuits and chop apricots if you are using them.
  4. Once the chocolate has melted allow to cool for approx 10 minutes, then add the yogurt and stir.
  5. Then add the biscuits, dried fruit and half the marshmallows.
  6. Put the mixture in the tin and the remaining marshmallows on top.
  7. Place in the fridge for at least two hours before slicing

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How to throw a party to remember

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18. https://www.muminthemadhouse.com
How to throw a party to remember
When it comes to throwing birthday parties for your kids, the tried and tested formula of cake and pass the parcel is usually a winner. However, when you’re throwing a party for adults you sometimes have to think a little outside the box. Whether you’re throwing a dinner party, an engagement party or just a get-together, making sure your adult guests have fun is all part of creating a memorable evening. Here are some top tips for throwing a party to remember.
Entertainment
Having some great entertainment can truly make your party. If you’re opting for a themed party then try and make your entertainment fit in with that. For instance, a Hawaiian-themed party might have some limbo-playing whereas a 1950s-themed party might involve a jukebox and a dance competition! If you’re hosting something a little more refined, such as a dinner party, cocktail making could be a fun activity or you could arrange for a magician to come and wow your guests between courses. For something a little different, you could even arrange for everyone to have Tarot card readings. The popularity of online mediums means it could be the perfect opportunity for your guests to have their own reading in person.
Decoration
Decoration is key to creating the right atmosphere for your party. This is especially important if your party is themed but it also depends on the occasion. If you’re hosting an engagement party, you might wish to adorn your venue with pictures of the happy couple. You could try a similar approach for a milestone birthday party – photos of the birthday boy/girl as a baby will definitively make an interesting talking point!
Little Extras
Take some time to think about the little details of your party. For instance, coming up with some interesting invitations can be a good place to start – if you’re throwing an amazing party you want to make sure everyone turns up! Handmade invitations can add a personal touch or you could even get the kids involved to make some. Make sure you have prepared a good selection of canapés and drinks in case your guests get peckish. If you’re hosting a party for a particularly special occasion you might want to give each of your guests a little gift to take away with them as a memento.
Planning the perfect party takes a lot of forward-planning but as long as you concentrate on creating a fun environment for your guests, you shouldn’t go far wrong!

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