My #BlogOnMSI 2016 Ice Breaker

It really doesn’t seem a year since the last Blog On at MSI (or #BlogOnMSI if you’re keen on hashtags) in Manchester. But I’m really looking forward to it, it’s a long day and I go home and sleep for a week afterwards, but where else do you get to catch up with all of your mates, learn a bit about blogging and take home so many goodie bags you need a wheely case to get home?

I’m helping Laura out in my own tiny way at #BlogOnMSI, I’ll be manning (personing, womaning?) the sign in desk. Do bear with me if I don’t recognise you straight away, I have short term memory problems due to my medication. Sorry, where am I again? Who are you? What am I doing here?

here are my #BlogOnMSI ice breaker answers….

Share a recent picture of you (if you are an anonymous blog, a drawing is fine)

#BlogOnMSI
If you had to describe yourself in three words…….

A bit snuffly.

I’ve got a cold 🙁

How long have you been blogging and what made you start?

Since June 2013. I was recovering from a couple of spinal surgeries and was bedridden, bored stiff and lonely. Blogging gave me something to do and someone to speak to.

What was your favourite TV program as a child?

Blackadder. I was a precocious child and started watching it when I was 8.

Something interesting you might not know about me is . . .

I am a judge at the International Cheese Awards (the largest dairy event in the UK).

What is the weirdest food you have ever eaten?

Dried beetles. It was a bush tucker trial thing. They’re a bit scratchy when you swallow them.

What was your biggest fashion faux pas?

Every. Single. Day.

I don’t really do fashion, I do comfort, so every day is probably a faux pas day!

What are you pet peeves?

Auto DMs. People who faff and dawdle. People who repeat themselves. Auto DMs.

Who would be your 3 perfect dinner party guests (dead or alive) and why?

Keith Floyd – He’d cook and he’d be an amazing host.

Hugh Jackman – because Hugh Jackman.

My Grandad. I never met him, would be nice to have a meal with him and get to know him a bit.

If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would play the part of you?

Wow. Literally no one would pay to see that film. “The blogger in the striped pyjamas” starring Kathy Burke.

If you could live in any sitcom, which one would it be?

Early Doors. One of the most underrated sitcoms ever. And it’s in a pub.

Name a famous person you have met

Jarvis Cocker and all of Radiohead and James.

Which social media platform best describes your personality and why?

Twitter. Short and occasionally witty.

What picture do you have on lock screen on your phone / computer?

#BlogOnMSI

This one, the small boy being totes adorbs last year.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Millions. How many do I wear? About three pairs.

What period of time from the past would you most like to have lived?

I would have like to have lived in no period at all in the past. I would’ve been some kind of servant or manual labourer and that sounds like too much hard work. If you could guarantee I’d go back as some kind of tea drinking lady with a full household of servants, probably the 1930s.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Scandinavia. I’ve been to Sweden and Norway and I’d like to explore a bit more.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Twitter. I spend far too long talking to the little people who live in my phone. But they’re so interesting and kind.

What is your favourite tipple?

I will pretty much drink anything, but I like a nice G&T.

If you had a magic lamp and a Genie, what would be your three wishes

For my son to grow up happy and healthy.
To have a fully operational spine again.
World peace.

So that’s me. Any questions? Go on, don’t be shy.

A seriously good facial at Beauty Bee, Bramhall

When Beauty Bee opened in Bramhall a few months ago, I started to hear from friends how good it was. As something of a facial addict I decided to book myself in for a treat and to see if the buzz about Beauty Bee was correct.

Located at Moorend Golf Driving Range in Bramhall, it might at first glance seem to be an unconventional location for beauty treatments, but Beauty Bee offer a selection of deep tissue and sports massages to the golfers, as well as a full range of beauty and pampering treatments to non-sporting types too. Once you are in the Beauty Bee treatment room you’d never guess you were in a golf club and it has the benefit of having more than ample free parking too.

Beauty Bee

On arrival Abby greeted me and escorted me into her treatment room, it was warmly decorated and very comfortable. We sat and chatted about my skin and if it had any problems, then she left the room while I got undressed and I made myself comfortable on the treatment table. Abby wrapped me in towels and a blanket and offered to put the heated blanket on for me, but I was warm and comfortable enough without it.

I’d booked myself in for the Prescription Facial (£30) and Abby took a good look at my skin. It’s fairly normal, combination skin which is a bit dehydrated around the eyes and starting to show a bit of wear and tear (I am 40 this year so it’s time I started looking my age, if not acting it occasionally).

Abby explained that she would be using products from The Potion Shop, a Manchester based company who make organic and paraben free skincare products.

Beauty Bee

It was at this point I largely zoned out and just relaxed into my treatment. I was aware that for the best part of 45 minutes I was being pampered to death. My skin was exfoliated, massaged and treated to hot towels and lots of TLC. Towards the end of my facial, Abby applied a face mask and put chamomile and lavender soaked pads on my eyes whilst she gave my hands and forearms a massage. It was blissful.

My skin felt amazing and was really glowing. As you can see from the before and after photographs below, my skin is a much more even tone, it’s less shiny and I look incredibly relaxed afterwards.

Beauty Bee

The treatment lasted just under an hour and it was an excessively good pampering. Abby clearly loves her job and is very passionate about what she does. I can really recommend Beauty Bee and the prescription facial, I adored my treatment, the look on my face in the second photo is all you really need to know – I will definitely be booking to go back again soon!

SPECIAL OFFER: Maternity Mondays at Beauty Bee – 30% off all treatments if you are on maternity leave and book in on a Monday.

Beauty Bee is at Moorend Golf Driving Range, 177 Woodford Rd, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire SK7 1QE Phone: 07876 032125. You can find Beauty Bee on Facebook. They also offer treatments on selected days at The University of Manchester.

Are you making Emoji Misunderstandings?

Since the advent of mobile phones and text messages people have been taking things the wrong way, reading tones of voice and attitudes into even the most innocuous communications. The written word is ripe for misunderstanding. These days many text messages and social media updates are filled with emoijis which are causing communication confusion across the board.

This month University of Minnesota has published a study which explored how emojis look on different devices, from Android to iOS and whether the differences in emoji styling can lead to different interpretations. They looked in particular at the “grinning face” emoji which on some platforms looks like a genuine smile, on others an awkward grimace.

Emoji usage has always fascinated me and I can spend ages examining the nuances of each smiley face to make sure I’m selecting the right one (sad but true), but the smiley face I send from my Apple iOS device may appear very differently on my friends Android phone.

Earlier this week there was a murder in a town a couple of miles away from where I live. I was watching the tragic story unfold in a Facebook group and one commenter simply added three of these emojis to the post…I was naturally shocked at the Facebook users comment, which to me appeared that she’s found the fact that someone had just been stabbed to death in their own home amusing. It irks me that so many people use this emoji during sad circumstances and according to the University of Minnesota study, this is one of the most misunderstood emojis. I’ve looked at the chart showing all of the different versions of this emoji and it is clear on each device that this is a happy person crying with laughter. But maybe people can’t see beyond the tears.

Just to double check that it wasn’t just me who saw this as a crying with laughter emoji, I threw the question out to the crowd with a Twitter Poll.

I’m not sure how well my results would stack up against the University of Minnesota study, it was a Twitter Poll and I suspect Twitter users are slightly more emoji savvy than Facebook users, and have perfected the art of brevity in their tweets, with tweets being limited to just 140 characters.

Just 32 people responded with 94% agreeing with me that it means “haha so funny I’m crying” and the other 6% saying “Other” with suggestions including happy to be chopping onions and tears of mirth. It is clear from my less than scientific sample that 100% of respondents didn’t think it was the correct emoji to use as a response to a murder.

If a picture can say a thousand words, an emoji can be a handy shorthand to explain an emotion, a reaction or a feeling. If you’re using emojis it’s worth bearing in mind how they may be seen differently by others and and how getting the emoji wrong could make you look. Sometimes it’s easier just to type “that’s so sad”.

Review: The Snug Anti Allergy Duvet from Sleepy People

In the UK Allergy Awareness Week 2016 is on the 25th April – 1st May. It seems a fitting time of the year to focus on allergies, as the hay fever season has begun and is making life a misery for thousands of sufferers. Although I thankfully don’t suffer with hay fever, I do have a few allergies which I need to be careful of, including a dust allergy which can make me especially miserable. Because I’ve extra cautious about dust, I was looking forward to trying out my Snug Cotton Anti Allergy Duvet from Sleepy People and seeing how I got on with it.

Sleepy People are an online bedding retailer based in the UK. They offer a range of products including anti-allergy items. The duvet I chose, the Anti Allergy Duvet from Snug has an anti allergy treatment which is designed to protect you against dust mites, odour causing bacteria & mould residue.

Anti Allergy Duvet

The duvet comes packaged in a thin fabric bag which I guess you could use to pack it away if you were swapping duvets mid year for a warmer or colder tog.

The Snug Anti Allergy Duvet has a 100% pure cotton cover and is filled with anti allergy polyester hollowfibre. It has a tog of 10.5 which is kind of mid range, neither too warm, or too light and ideal for me all year round I suspect. In the summer I tend to sleep on top of the covers anyway and I don’t like to be too warm, even in winter.

Anti Allergy Duvet

The small boy helped me make the bed. He loved how soft it was and said that it felt like a cloud. My old duvet was about 5 years old and had lost its pillowiness so I take his point. Once we’d made my bed up I loved how it looked, my old skinny duvet now looked mean in comparison, now my bed looked like a comfy hotel bed. Anti Allergy Duvet

That night I got into bed and snuggled down, I do believe there are few joys in life greater than clean, fresh bedding. Add a brand new duvet or pillow to that and you’re in the best bed in the world.

I’ve used my new Anti Allergy Duvet for a little under a week. I can’t hand on heart swear that it’s made a difference, but previously I was waking up every morning with a bunged up nose and a sore throat, but so far I’ve woken up feeling fine every morning. I’d not considered that I might be waking up feeling awful because of my dust allergy. Plus it’s super-comfy!

The Snug Anti Allergy Duvet from Sleepy People is currently priced at £29.99 and whilst you can pick up a cheap duvet for around half that, I think that given my dust allergy situation and the fact that I’m waking up feeling normal each morning makes that a good investment. Given the amount of time each year I spend hugging my duvet and snuggling under it, it’s probably worth investing in something a little nicer, like this one.

Note: I was sent the Snug Anti Allergy Duvet from Sleepy People for review purposes. All images and opinions are my own.

My Sunday Photo 24.4.16

This week Manchester has treated us to so much sunshine and warmth it’s been hard to believe that it’s still only April. Annoyingly I’ve been hunched over a hot laptop for most of the week and I’ve only really spied the warm sun from inside. On Wednesday it was beautifully bright and sunny and I really needed to get out, so I took myself off for a walk down by the river, clocking up a couple of Fitbit miles at the same time.

The trees are in full blossom, and looking up at the deep blue sky I snapped this with my Nokia Lumia phone. The soft pink blossom against the blue sky, the blur of the sun and a vapour trail from a passing plane. I love this photo and it hints hopefully of a fine summer to come. Fingers crossed!

To craft, or not to craft – Celebrating Shakespeare 400

This year sees the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. To celebrate his life and work, stationers Viking sent me some crafting goodies and asked me to create a craft project featuring one of Shakespeare’s quotes. So I invited my craftiest friend Sarah around for an evening of crafting, chat and at least one bottle of chablis.

Sarah is an accomplished paper cutter and makes the most beautiful paper crafts, so she brought her paper cutting kit and I got my craft box out. To our existing stock we added the crafting goodies Viking had sent for our evening and we mulled over the brief whilst searching for Shakespeare quotes online. Independently we both came up with a similar idea.

I had some watercolour paints and a couple of spare canvases, we both decided to paint a background on the canvas and then add our Shakespeare quotes. Sarah loves stars and the night sky, so she chose to paint a dusky sky and use a quote about stars. I love the colour teal, so wanted a teal-ish canvas with a “go get ’em” semi motivational quote for my office.

Sarah began by painting her sky and then left her canvas to dry whilst she cut out some stars.

Shakespeare

Once her canvas was dry she used a silver metallic paint pen to write her quote and then she carefully glued her paper stars and some sequins in a shooting star formation on the canvas, I thought it looked really beautiful.

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves”

Shakespeare

I chose the famous quote from Hamlet “To thine own self be true” and I selected a much smaller canvas with an easel. After painting the canvas with a few different shades of teal and blue (the photo doesn’t show the colours as well as it should) I left it to dry before using a paint brush and some burnt sienna watercolour paint to write my quote on the canvas.

Shakespeare

It didn’t take very long to do and I’m not 100% happy with it, but I like it well enough for it to take up residence in my office.

Having finished my intended project a little too quickly, I decided to have a play with my new golden feathered calligraphy quill and the little pot of ink. I can’t do calligraphy but I thought I’d have a play anyway.

Shakespeare

It was rather good fun and something I would try and use in future craft projects. There’s a bit of a knack to using a quill and a pot of ink, so it took me a few blobby goes before I got something I quite liked, and I quite liked this.

Shakespeare

And using the metallic gold paint pen I wrote this, a line from Sonnet 116 which I’ve been completely in love with for years.

Sarah and I go to a monthly craft club and we enjoy getting stuck in and having a go, often with mixed results, but it’s all good fun and makes for an interesting evening. This was our first craft evening together where we’ve not been supervised by experts, and I think Sarah in particular has produced something especially lovely.

We’ve decided to have a few more craft evenings together, mainly because you don’t get wine at craft club I think, but also because it was interesting and fun.

Note: We were sent products free of charge from Viking to use to create our Shakespearean masterpieces, and also in return for this blog post.

Mummy? How do you spell f**k?

The inevitable has happened. The small boy has uttered his first major swear and it didn’t end well for him.

Picture the scene. It’s bathtime and the boy is splashing about and playing with his foam letters, spelling out words and the names of his friends at school.

“Mummy, how do you spell f**k?”

“Erm, can you say that again please, I didn’t quite hear you.” *Quickly beckons husband into the bathroom*

“F**k” he replies. Husband and I exchange slightly panicked glances.

We knew this day would come, but we weren’t expecting it to happen just yet. He is only 5 and we try very hard not to swear in front of him, though it turns out husband is quite the potty mouth when he’s driving.

I remember my first swear. In the car on the way home from something when I was about 8 years old I said that “I was knackered”. As soon as we got home I was chased into the house by a red faced parent wielding a wooden clog to spank me with. In spite of this I have grown into a creative and enthusiastic private swearer.

We dealt with the boy’s verbal transgression without resorting to a beating. We figured it was one of those “teachable moments” so we pulled up our parenting socks, sat him down and had the conversation about naughty words and why he shouldn’t say them. We asked him where he’d heard the word and he said one of the boys at school had taught it him. We were secretly relieved that neither of us were the one who taught our son how to swear (we were very f**king relieved in fact).

There were a few tears before bedtime, a punishment sanction of his Lego ( for giving excessive cheek during our discussion) and a discussion about how it’s not nice to say rude words which might upset people. We quietly congratulated ourselves on a tricky parenting situation handled appropriately.

The next morning he woke up, lesson learned and enjoyed the day with us. At bedtime, snuggled up with a story he sighed and happily said…

“I’ve been a good boy today Mummy, I’ve not said f**k or anything like that”.

*facepalm*

kids swearing

Days Out: Manchester Airport Viewing Park

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a family holiday from Jet2. We were beyond excited about this news as we’ve not been abroad since before the small boy was born. Keen to build holiday excitement levels further we hot footed it down to the Manchester Airport Viewing Park to spend a few hours watching the planes.

The Runway Visitors Park is free to visit but you will have to pay to park there. It’s only £5 for two hours which is I admit a lot for parking, but if you think of it as two hours of watching the planes and exploring the visitors park for a whole family, then it’s a bit of a bargain.

The Manchester Airport Viewing Park has some open air viewing platforms which you can go and stand and watch the planes as they take off and land. Manchester is quite a busy airport, so you don’t have to stand there for long before seeing some airplane action.

There are quite a few different retired airplanes in the park, most famous of all is the Concorde G-BOAC which is housed in a special hangar and you need to be part of a tour to go and see, so we didn’t. But we did have a look inside the Trident, the AVRO RJX and the DC-10.

The interior of the planes fascinated the boy who has never been in one before. He especially loved looking at the cockpits and wondering what all the buttons did.

Manchester Airport Viewing Park

We stopped for coffee at the “Concorde Restaurant and Coffee House” which was decent but very busy. There are lots of picnic tables outside, so on a nice day you could happily sit with your own flask of tea and sandwiches if you wanted. There is also a children’s play area which is free to use, though there is a small charge if you want to use the bouncy castle etc.

We think that the Manchester Airport Viewing Park is a good place to visit on a sunny day, it’s certainly interesting and the planes are good to explore, with information and staff on hand to ask any questions. The small boy enjoyed it and he’s now got a better idea of what the inside of a plane looks like. Visiting the park is a great way to prepare children for their first flight, or a place to explore the world of aviation.

For more information about the Manchester Airport Viewing Park visit the website.

What’s On: Roald Dahl’s Tremendous Adventures at Tatton Park

Growing up I was an avid reader, I’d devour book after book and my favourite author was most definitely Roald Dahl. His books always filled my head with extraordinary tales, and as he wrote in James and the Giant Peach – “a little magic can take you a long way”. This year to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl, Tatton Park in Cheshire are embarking on a magical journey to celebrate his works.

From Easter until the end of 2016, Tatton Park is is bringing Roald Dahl’s imagination to life, with a host of children’s trails and events for all the family. Join Danny the Champion of the World in the gardens, Fantastic Mr Fox at the farm and Matilda in the mansion and you’ve got to be careful of The Enormous Crocodile out in the parkland!

Tatton Park

I can’t wait to take my son to explore and discover the world of Roald Dahl, we’ll be visiting next weekend so do keep an eye out for our review. In the meantime here’s a run down of what’s going on at Tatton Park this year.

Roald Dahl at Tatton Park Events include –

Cover to Cover: Roald Dahl around the World Sat 19 Mar – Sun 30 Oct
A fascinating mansion exhibition displaying illustrations of Roald Dahl book jackets from across the world and throughout time.

Phiz Whizzing Trails: Fri 25 Mar – Sun 2 Oct
Danny the Champion of the World in the Gardens
Fantastic Mr Fox at the Farm
Matilda in the Mansion
The Enormous Crocodile in the Parkland

Fantastic Mr Fox Activities at the Farm Tue 26 Jul – Fri 26 Aug
Mr Fox invites you to spend the most marvellous summer day joining him in a farmyard packed with fun. Go on a journey to find the den, get creative in the writing hut, be entertained, listen in to storytelling and enjoy one of your best days ever!

Danny the Champion of the World Outdoor Theatre at the Old Hall *Sat Aug 27
Enjoy this thrilling family performance of Danny the Champion of the World as he masterminds the most incredible and exciting plot to save his Dad from danger.

Roald Dahl Big Picnic Day Sun Sep 11
Pack a picnic and come and celebrate the month Roald Dahl, the world’s best storyteller, was born. Bags of activities to make for a splendiferous time.

Willy Wonka Outdoor Cinema* Sun Sep 11
A late summer screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring the legendary Gene Wilder as Wonka. Grab your golden ticket and bring a picnic.*

A Frightsome Halloween Sat 22 – Sun 30 Oct
“Witches are easily the most dangerous of all the living creatures on earth.” This half -term be spooktaculary entertained by a park full of Roald Dahl witchy mischief….and plenty of mice!

A Gloriumptious Christmas Mansion* late November – December
“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”. Step into the Christmas mansion and into Roald Dahl’s magical world as his extraordinary storytelling weaves itself through the grand staterooms and into the bustling servants’ quarters.

It looks like it’s going to be a jam-packed whizzpopping year of all things Roald Dahl – I can’t wait to explore and reminisce and I’m looking forward to taking the small boy on some fictional adventures and into a world of pure imagination.
Tatton Park

A Day At The Lake – an Edwardian Adventure

If you’ve ever been to a Wild Rumpus festival or event, you will know that whatever they do, you’re in for a treat. In May this year their latest outdoor family event is taking place – A Day At The Lake which for one weekend only will be at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire.

A Day At The Lake is a reimagining of the lake in the late 1800s, which was an excursion place for thousands of day trippers who were transported out of their day to day lives by watching spectacular feats and outdoor arts of the age.

a day at the lake

A Day At The Lake promises to be a real treat – with three days filled with spellbinding outdoor arts and astonishing performances. A series of spectaculars on the lake will include a recreation of Carlos Trower, “The African Blondin’s” daring tightrope walk by Bullzini of the Bullzini Family.

On a floating stage on the lake will be showstopping performances from “the finest purveyors of Circus Swing” Gabby Young & Other Animals, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Ensemble and glorious vintage dry land synchronised swimming routines from Yorkshire Life Aquatic.

On top of all that, A Day At The Lake will also feature…

A walkabout performance
Storytelling
Marching bands
Victorian Bather’s Juggling Show
Circus sideshows
Mesmerising Mermaids
Helter Skelter and Swing Boats
Rowing boats and boat trips on the lake
Donkey and steam train rides along the shore
Craft and Vintage shopping at the Treacle Market
Street food and local ales

Rudyard Lake is a stunning Staffordshire beauty spot. Known as “the Blackpool of the Potteries” the two and a half mile long lake is located near Leek on the Staffordshire-Cheshire border. This man-made lake was built to supply water to the expanding canal system, and the arrival of the North Staffordshire Railway in 1849 brought day trippers to the lake in droves, leading it to it becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations of the time. Visitors to the lake included John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald who named their son Rudyard Kipling after the beauty spot where they first met.

a day at the lake

We’ve very excited to be going to A Day at the Lake on the opening day of April 30th. Not only will it be a fantastic Edwardian adventure, but as with all Wild Rumpus events we’ll be talking about it for a long time afterwards too!

Advance tickets cost £14 per adult, £7 per child. Under 3s go free. Admission includes all performances and entertainment with small additional charges for rides and boat trips.

For the full line-up and tickets visit www.dayatthelake.org.uk. Follow A Day At The Lake on Facebook and Twitter at #dayatthelake.

A Day At The Lake will take place on 30 April, 1 and 2 May 11am – 9pm at Rudyard Lake, Staffordshire ST13 8XB.