Rather excitingly Sunday marked the start of Breakfast Week 2016 (24th-30th January) and I am finally able to spill the beans (or in this case, Cheerios) about what we’ve been up to with Nestlé Cereals.
Last weekend we were told to be up and raring to go by 9am, a courier would arrive with a box and some instructions and we just needed to go with the flow. We were all excited and a little nervous about what Nestlé had planned for us, I’m not very good with secrets so this was a little out of my comfort zone, but if you’d like to see what we got up to please watch our vlog below…
As you can see from the vlog we had a fantastic time at Pottery Corner in Chorlton. We loved the surprise and we all enjoyed painting our new breakfast bowls and getting our handprints done. It was nice to sit down with a cuppa and chat amongst ourselves. We’ve never been to Pottery Corner before and it was so warm and welcoming, we’ll definitely be back to complete our dinner set.
And then we had our family hand-prints done as a lovely reminder of the day.
During Breakfast Week Nestlé Cereals are inviting everyone to Shake Up Your Wake Up and try something new. Cereals are a great way to start your day, fortified with vitamins and minerals, and each bowl contains one of your recommended 3-5 portions of whole grain a day. I know that sending my son off to school having had a good breakfast means he will start the day the right way.
There are so many different Nestlé Cereals to choose from; from much-loved favourites such as Shredded Wheat and Shreddies, kids favourites like Cheerios and modern classics like Oats & More, Cookie Crisp, the delicious Curiously Cinnamon as well as Nestlé Gluten Free Cornflakes. During the next week I’ll be giving my boys a new breakfast every day, so please follow me on Instagram to keep tabs on what the boys are breakfasting on this week!
Will you be doing things differently this breakfast week?
We’ve been busy over the Christmas break, doing nice things as a family, day trips and so forth. But on New Years Day we took the boy to see his first ever ice hockey game at the Altrincham Ice Dome near our home in Manchester. The Ice Dome is home to English Ice Hockey legends and recently resurrected team, Manchester Storm.
Hubs and I used to be season ticket holders of the old team when they played at what was the MEN Arena in Manchester. We started watching them play in maybe 1998 and attended every home game and some away games until the team folded in 2002. We loved Manchester Storm and we were incredibly sad when they ceased to be.
His first hot dog at the storm shelter!
Ice hockey is a good sport to go and watch with your family; the rules are reasonably easy to pick up, there’s lots of family entertainment and singing and dancing in your seat, and there’s virtually no bad language or things you don’t want your kids to hear. Plus the teams are usually fairly accessible, so it’s not hard to meet your ice hockey hero.
Manchester Storm are part of the Elite Ice Hockey League, which includes 10 teams from across the UK. Players are typically a mix of home-grown talent and players from Canada, USA and Europe.
The Altrincham Ice Dome seats (I’m told) 2000 people and on New Years Day Manchester Storm were playing their old rivals Sheffield Steelers. The Ice Dome was packed with fans, luckily we were early in and managed to bag some pretty good seats.
With three 20 minute periods (with frequent stoppages) and two 15 minute intervals we were treated to nearly 3 hours of entertainment, the adult tickets were £15 and a kids ticket was £7. It was cold, I’d forgotten how cold an ice hockey rink could be, I spied a few people with blankets over their knees, thankfully we’d wrapped up warm, so once it began we soon thawed out, especially with all the singing, dancing and clapping we did.
It was a tense match, the Storm who were short benched that night were on the back foot from the start, but managed to take an early lead. The atmosphere was electric and the lively teams scrapped for the lead throughout, at one point Manchester Storm were 4-1 up, but The Steelers, never ones to take anything lying down pulled something out of the bag in the third period which ended at a heart-stopping 4-4. Five minutes extra time was added and regrettably Sheffield managed to score, meaning they went home with 2 points and we went home with nothing but smiles and good memories.
It’s never fun to lose, but having not attended an ice hockey game for maybe 13 or 14 years it was so good to be back. Manchester Storm are in my heart, I knew all the songs and the chants and it’s in my blood again. You don’t mind losing so much if your team play with heart, and Manchester Storm have always had that in spades.
It’s a good family trip out and about a hundred times cheaper than going to the football or similar, and there’s something nice about being part of a family of fans. If you do go make sure you wrap up warm and don’t forget your singing voice. See you there?
On Friday night I took part in the Blogger Q&A Panel at The Co-operative #OnTheList event in Manchester. I was, it’s fair to say, as nervous as hell. Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking and all that. If you know me then you know that I have raging social anxiety. I remain perplexed as to why I was asked to be part of the panel, but now it’s over it was a great (confidence building) experience and it had made me reflect on what I do and how I do it.
I don’t present myself as any kind of blogging expert, it’s an ever evolving world and I think even the best of us struggle to keep up at times. I’m lucky to be part of the North West blogger community, an incredibly supportive and hilarious bunch of friends who would do anything for anyone. Anyway, I digress.
Photo credit: Karen Hannah
The panel were sent most of the questions the day before so we could look things up and prepare ourselves a bit. I know on the night my answers were not as in-depth as they would be here, plus we didn’t manage to get through all the questions during the panel, so for those who may be interested here are my answers in full. Feel free to ask me anything, or almost anything…
Which social media channel is your best referrer, and why do you think that is?
I get a significant number of referrals from Twitter, then Facebook. I have a fairly respectable following on Twitter and I tweet and auto-tweet regularly. I could and should do more to promote my blog posts across the board, but I don’t have the time to do everything.
Do you vlog? If so, why, if not, why?
I don’t think I’d ever call myself a vlogger, I don’t think I’m very natural in front of the camera and I lack the technical skills to make decent vlogs, but brands want video content so I have done the occasional one. < Insert plug for YouTube channel here >
How do you prefer a brand to approach you, in order to work with you?
Preferably with a bottle of prosecco… A nice personalised email is always a good start, a PR or brand who are open to having a useful dialogue about what they want and what I can offer. I don’t mind if I get a “Hey Bloggers!” email, I do mind it when they get my name and the name of my blog wrong, which is either careless or rude.
I like to know specifics, what they want, when, how much etc, I don’t have the time, energy or patience to go back and forth for days, I don’t want vagaries, I want specific detail which I can work with.
Do you actively engage in SEO tactics, if so, which do you find the most useful?
My blog is self-hosted and is a WordPress blog. I have the Yoast plug-in which was recommended to me by nearly every blogger in the world and a whole bunch of SEO professionals. It’s really easy to use and it takes the thinking out of SEO, so I just follow the Yoast instructions and suggestions until it gives my blog post a green light. I get a lot of traffic from search engines, so I think I must be getting something right.
Do you have your own domain and if so, why, if not, why?
Yes, I’ve been self-hosted for about two years now, it doesn’t cost that much and it’s not that hard to go self-hosted. I blogged on the free WordPress for about 6 months before I made the leap and never looked back.
Do you think it’s acceptable to sometimes blog about something “off topic” or should we stick to what our readers are expecting from us?
My blog is HodgePodgeDays, hodge-podge literally means a jumble, so theoretically nothing is “off topic” for my blog. I think it’s your blog, your little corner of the internet, you can write what you damn well please; go off topic, what’s the worst that can happen? You might even get some new readers.
Do you stick to a regular post frequency and rhythm, or just blog spontaneously?
I used to try and blog regularly and did blog most days. These days I have less time due to work commitments and life so I blog less. I find I get a day or two every few weeks and I blog my socks off then, I try and schedule them out a bit. I think my lack of consistency in terms of frequency and content topic lets me down and is something I need to work on.
What opportunity do you see on networks like WhatsApp and SnapChat, if any?
I’m not on either. I’m a bit of an old skool Twitter junkie who is having a passionate affair with Instagram, as well as a love/hate relationship with Facebook.
Affiliate partnerships, do you partake and if so, are they worth the hassle?
I think I’ve been an Amazon affiliate for about two years and I’ve not earned a penny, so I’m obviously doing something very wrong. I know some people can earn good money from affiliate partnerships but I’ve yet to motivate myself to properly monetise my blog.
How is best to get to know new brands, to prospect opportunities?
Get to know brands via social media, be nice and chatty as well as open. I’m not a pushy person so I don’t often make the approach, I’d rather PRs and brands approach me, because then I don’t feel so much like a blagger. I sometimes cruise the #BloggersWanted and #BloggersRequest hashtags on Twitter, but some of the best relationships I’ve got with PRs and brands are where someone has recommended me to them and they like what I do and my helpful, professional attitude.
What’s the best opportunity you’ve had, because of your blog?
Three things really stand out for me. Earlier this year we went to Bluestone Wales and had a fabulous holiday we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. I also got to be a judge at the International Cheese Awards, and in September I went to River Cottage with Foodies100 and a group of other food bloggers. There are no words to describe how amazing that experience was.
What’s the next step for you and your blog?
I don’t think there are enough hours in the day for me to be able to do what I really want with my blog. I know I need to re-balance the content and post more personal and family blog posts, because that’s what people really want to read about. I’d like to earn more money from my blog, not least to justify the time I spend on it.
So that was me and my answers. Any questions?
PS. Thank you to everyone who was lovely to me, you’re all so very kind xx
She thinks it’s all over…. it is now… phew! Photo credit: Karen Hannah
The lovely people who make the brilliant cartoon Pip Ahoy have given me a fantastic set of 12 Christmas Pip Ahoy! printables to share with you.
If you’ve not yet heard of Pip and his friends, Pip Ahoy! is a cartoon about Pip the puppy, and his friends including cute kitten Alba and adorable Alan the penguin in the seaside town of Salty Cove. You can catch up with Pip Ahoy! on Channel 5’s Milkshake and on Cartoonito.
This set of free Christmas Pip Ahoy! printables includes lots of festive pictures to colour in, as well as template letters to Santa and Christmas craft ideas. Lots to keep the little ones entertained throughout the Christmas period.
To download the free Pip Ahoy! printables click here.
Don’t forget to join us for the Pip Ahoy! Twitter Party on 1st December, follow @PipAhoyUK and join in with the hashtag #ISpyWithPip to be in with a chance to win some prizes. You can download your free Pip Ahoy party pack here.
Your invitation is below…
Don’t forget you can win your very own Pip Ahoy! Skippers Bucket Toy in my Christmas competition – it ends on 13th December 2015, click here to be in with a chance to win!
There has been another one of those Facebook memes going round of late, usually they get right on my pip, but this one caught my attention in a favourable way. Basically if you’re “tagged” you have to share one of your favourite songs on Facebook for seven days. It got me thinking about what songs I would choose should I ever be tagged and I decided to choose my top ten, not just my top seven.
As a confirmed indie kid I had a few problems narrowing it down from the thousands of tunes I love and listen to regularly. Some were instant, obvious choices, some others I agonised over for a little while, struggling to decide between two or three of my favourite songs from whichever band. It was a difficult task, but I’m glad I sat down and made my own YouTube playlist, it means that I always have 50 minutes of my favourite music on hand for a start.
I’m not sure what my musical choices say about me, other than “indie kid stuck in the mid-90s” but I’m sure there’s a Buzz-feed quiz which will tell me all I need to know about my inner thoughts and feelings.
Here’s my all time favourite top ten. It is a movable feast because I’m sure in six months time it’ll have changed slightly, it always does, but for now, these are the songs which speak to my soul (in no particular order)…
Sometimes – James
Devil In Your Shoes – Shed Seven
Temptation – New Order
Fools Gold – The Stone Roses
Married With Children – Oasis
Right here – The Go Betweens
Circlesquare – The Wonder Stuff
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
Chasing Rainbows – Shed Seven
Can’t Get Out Of Bed – The Charlatans
What’s in your top ten? What do you think of my choices?
Earlier this week I had the chance to have a tour of the CHF Entertainment studio, they are the makers of the fantastic cartoon Pip Ahoy! Pip Ahoy is part of Milkshake! on Channel 5 and is also shown on Cartoonito. The studios are in a beautiful, historic and top secret location in Manchester, close to my home and accessible only through underground tunnels (might have made that last bit up). CHF Entertainment are the reincarnation of animation legends Cosgrove Hall who made iconic cartoon series such as Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and The Wind in the Willows (and literally hundreds more).
For those who haven’t yet seen Pip Ahoy! It is all about the adventures of Pip the puppy, and his friends including cute kitten Alba and adorable Alan the penguin in the seaside town of Salty Cove. Pip Ahoy! features the familiar voices of David Jason, Stacy Soloman, Teresa Gallagher and Jimmy Hibbert. Pip Ahoy! is aimed at pre-schoolers and my (nearly) 5 year old son loves watching it on catch up and gets really involved in the goings on at Salty Cove.
With the October half term approaching and Halloween creeping ever closer, I’m delighted to be able to offer my blog readers a set of FREE downloadable Pip Ahoy! Halloween Activity Sheets to help keep your little ones entertained, or to use to plan your perfect Pip Ahoy! Halloween Party!
Not only that, but I’ve also got nine brilliant pumpkin carving stencils to share with you, I think stencils are great, especially if you’re not confident about carving freehand. As well as the usual pumpkin faces, you can also carve your own Pip, Skipper, Hopper, Alba, Pasty and Alan characters – so much to choose from!These free printables, stencils and activity sheets are brilliant for your little Pipsqueaks. Happy Halloween!
This morning my little family went on an adventure. At 8.30am we clambered bleary-eyed and slightly grumpily into the car and set off for Capesthorne Hall about a half hour drive away from home. My husband, generally a stranger to exercise, had joined a team of friends to take part in Born Survivor, a 10k, 30 military obstacle course. It was all for a good cause and having hit 40 this year he was up for a challenge.
Way back in the spring, a brave group of 29 men and women signed up for Born Survivor. When Matt (hubs) signed up it seemed an age away, he started training but quickly managed to knacker his knees and a physio told him to take it easy, so he did. His preparation for this military style beasting was a few visits to the gym and losing a stone on the 5:2 diet. But was it enough?
The brave 29 were doing Born Survivor in memory of Lizzie Lowe and to raise money for the Didsbury Youth Cafe at St James & Emmanuel. It’s a great cause, it’s a lovely safe place for school kids to hang out on a Friday night and gets around 60 local kids in every week.
The team were a range of ages and fitness levels, but all were well up for it, determined and smiling. They were ready for mud, sweat and tears. They had a plan and were sure no one would be left behind.
I managed to catch up with them at some of the obstacles, I was incredibly proud to count these people as my friends as they leapt over barriers, climbed sheer walls, dove into deep muddy pits, crawled under barbed wire and smiled through every minute.
There was fantastic teamwork going on from start to finish, with everyone helping each other and each playing their part. The large group did naturally split into three smaller groups, with about 15 minutes between them. Matt was in the middle group and did remarkably well for a bloke who’d done comparatively little training and wasn’t very well prepared.
When I was growing up I climbed trees, built dens down by the river, I played football and I didn’t own a dolly. In a last ditch attempt to feminise me, while I was away for the weekend my bedroom was painted pink and teamed with some very pink and very frilly bedding. I was not best pleased but had to learn to live with it. In short I am not a girlie girl. These days when I’m buying gifts for girls I always remember five year old me and try and find something she’d approve of.
I do not go out to shop for tomboys, but I can’t help buying for them. I think there’s room in every girls toy box for things that aren’t always pink, purple, fluffy or glittery. My inner feminist wants every little girl I meet to become a scientist, author, doctor, solicitor, professional footballer, anything but the sparkly princess they probably dream of becoming. Let’s face facts, it’s probably easier to become an astronaut than it is to become a princess, so I am going to buy them that astronomy kit and help them shoot for the stars!
Buying gifts for girls can be pretty tricky. The Giddy Goat Toys website has been designed to help busy people search and buy the perfect gifts for girls and boys. One of the best things about the website is their range of toys and gifts for all children, there’s a delightful selection of gifts for girls which aren’t pink, glittery and fit for a princess (although those are available at Giddy Goat Toys too).
Speaking to the mums of little girls in our social circle, I know that they do appreciate receiving a more diverse range of toys, games and puzzles for their little ones, and it’s always nice to be the one bringing something a bit different to the party. I know when I was a little girl all I wanted was the Millennium Falcon (didn’t get) and some LEGO (had to share my brothers). In this day and age when parents are increasingly aware of gender specific and gender neutral toys, it’s great to have a website which will help you find the perfect gift for your child.
I love my local Holistic Health Centre, Healthyspirit. I’ve had a few treatments there, most recently I had the amazing Warm Bamboo Massage, but I go regularly for juices and delicious veggie lunches at their Hub Vegetarian Cafe and to buy candles, supplements and health food from their shop. Last week I booked myself in for a Flower Essences Consultation, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I’d read a little about the power of flower essences and was intrigued.
I met up with Sharon Curran in the Crystal Room at Healthyspirit. Sharon is a wonderful, calming woman who really (really, really) listens and puts you at ease immediately. She told me a bit about the origins of flower essences and about the work of Dr Edward Bach. He discovered and explored the power of flower essences, leading him to develop his famous range of essences which are widely available today.
During the session we talked at length about what my problems were, we discussed my physical health and how that made me feel (ruined spine, chronic pain, I feel very tired and almost hopeless at times) and my mental and emotional health (dealing with trauma, anxiety and depression, alongside my feelings of incredibly low self worth). Sharon listened to everything I said, we explored some areas in more depth so she could find the right combination of essences for me (she had over 300 in her trusty box).
As a result of our consultation Sharon prescribed me a blend of the following essences:
Grass of Parnassus
This essence strengthens your ability to stand in your full power without feeling apologetic, embarrassed or unworthy. It helps you to see your innate beauty and purity despite whatever else you may have come to believe about yourself.
Inner Child – Self Worth
For loving and valuing yourself unconditionally. This essence will help you develop more self-worth, perhaps by shining a light on where you are being unkind or unloving towards yourself so you can transform your beliefs/habits and thus help you to become more of who you really are, easily and effortlessly.
Gorse
This will help ease feelings of hopelessness and despair to promote new hope and vision for the future.
Olive
This helps those who feel that their reserves of energy are completely depleted and that they have nothing left to carry on with. It helps to restore mental vitality.
Star of Bethlehem
This essence helps to transform shock or trauma of any kind, whether immediate or in the past. It assists the body on an energetic level to mobilise its self-healing abilities.
Sharon made me up a small bottle of my unique prescription of essences. There was enough for around a fortnight for me to take three times a day. The Flower Essences are there to support my emotional wellbeing. The essences are apparently very subtle but very potent in their effect and can touch deep places within your being, helping to balance and restore mind, emotions and spirit.
Sharon is an incredibly inspirational woman, I left the session feeling full of light and love, not a feeling I’ve been familiar with for a long time. During the consultation I shed a few tears, but I feel they were cathartic tears because someone had listened to me and understood me. Since the consultation I have been dutifully taking my prescription, I’ve loved myself a little bit more and I’m trying to let the light into the dark places.
I’d love a series of sessions with Sharon, I’m planning to book another Flower Essences Consultation with her soon. She also offers a bespoke soul coaching service for women which incorporates coaching, mentoring and healing using flower essences. She told me I was a beautiful child of the universe and I am.
For more information about Flower Essences Consultations at Healthyspirit visit their website. You can follow Sharon and read her inspirational tweets on Twitter @SoulCoachSharon.
We’re on half term this week and next and it can be quite difficult to find things to do to entertain a small lively child. Thankfully I had the foresight to get some tickets for us and a couple of his school friends to see Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson at The Lowry in Salford Quays.
Julia Donaldson is a real legend and a fantastic author, her stories are great to read out loud so it’s no surprise that they work so well on stage. Her most famous book, The Gruffalo is brilliant and we went to see the theatre adaptation last year, it was a Tall Stories’ production and we were all transfixed from start to finish.
Room on the Broom is a lovely story of a good witch and her cat who whilst off on an adventure lose a hat and gain a dog, lose a bow and gain a bird and lose a wand and gain a frog. The witches broom is soon overloaded and snaps, leading to a dangerous encounter with a dragon and with a decent bit of teamwork and a sprinkling of magic the dragon is sent packing and a new, luxurious broom appears.
It was a wonderful, colourful story brought to life incredibly well by the four talented actors, with some lovely puppetry, funny voices and some great songs which we had in our heads all the way home. There was a genuinely funny moment when one of the actors used the wrong funny voice and all the actors corpsed and the audience fell about laughing, but they recovered well and earned a deserved round of applause.
The show lasts a little under an hour and is suitable for children aged three and above, my four year old and his friends loved it, especially the animals. There’s some nice audience interaction, great songs and enough little snippets of fun to keep the grown ups happy (quoting sections of Bohemian Rhapsody etc). It’s fun, it’s lively and it’s a lovely thing to do over half term.
It’s a great show and well worth catching if you get the chance. It’s on at The Lowry in Salford Quays until Sunday 12th April. More dates in other theatres are on the Tall Stories’ website.
Note: We were given complimentary tickets to see Room on the Broom at The Lowry for review purposes. All opinions are our own.
These free printables, stencils and activity sheets are brilliant for your little Pipsqueaks. Happy Halloween!
