Proud to be sponsored for Cybermummy by Chocadores

You will no doubt have heard all the excitement over this year's CyberMummy conference, the UK’s premier blogging conference devoted to parent bloggers.  When it was held last year, I hadn't started writing my blog, but the buzz and sense of community that surrounded this event on Twitter is one of the main drivers for me plucking up the courage to give blogging a go.

I really, really wanted to attend this year in order to meet other bloggers; network with companies and to learn how to improve what I do - I still have an awful lot to learn!

So I am absolutely thrilled that the wonderful Chocadores are going to sponsor me to attend.  I have written a couple of reviews on my blog for Chocadores and promoted their product, but after sampling them I've been more than happy to shout about them and tell everyone how much I enjoy their chocolates - I am now totally addicted to their hot chocolate cubes.  I have been doing this because I believe in their company and the quality of their products, but now our relationship has been formalised, I'm really looking forward to learning more about single origin chocolate, and I hope you will join me on this journey; enjoy learning about their products and support their business in their aim to bring real chocolate to everyone.

You can rest assured, that although sponsored by Chocadores, I still maintain my integrity - those that follow me on Twitter or read my reviews will know that above all else I am honest.  I really don't think this is going to be a problem though, given Chocadores passion for quality.

I am highly embarrassed by this but Sarah Collins, Founder of Chocadores has asked me to include this quote from her (I'm rushing off to cringe with embarrassment!):

""Liz is a very creative, intelligent blogger, who has a very high ethical approach to all her blogging. We are delighted & excited to be working with Liz, we have already finalised some very exciting projects to start working on. Thank you Liz for agreeing to join us".

I am a blogger and a mum, therefore I guess you'd call me a mummy blogger, but that doesn't mean I only want to talk or write about potty training and chickenpox. Like all parents, I do have other interests which is why I'm so excited by this partnership.  It's not often you come across a company who you totally 'get'; who have the same ethical values, and whom I'm now proud to call my friends.

So thank you Chocadores for believing in me and supporting me. x

Silent Sunday - home comforts in the great outdoors

For those of you not familiar, Silent Sunday is hosted by @cosmicgirlie over at Mocha Beanie Mummy and is one post, published on a Sunday featuring one photo taken during that week, with no words.  Ok, ok I know there are words here, but this is my first time so I thought I'd explain what it's all about.

A portrait of me - by my daughter aged 2 3/4

Ruby always comes out of nursery armed with tonnes of pictures, paintings, things stuck with glue and various other 'creations'.

This particular recent piece of work however made me smile - although on another day it may well have made me cry.

You see, she is still fairly Picasso-esque in her style, with mouths generally above eyes and noses coming out of the side of heads. So this makes me think she must have had some assistance from the nursery staff. Which leads me to the alarming thought that I may actually look like this.

See how she has recreated my grey hair in the fringe. She has given me lovely witchy green eyes (I have blue), and that dangley bit of wool at the bottom is, I presume, my mouth and not a 'tash.

Note how it's not quite a smiley face, yet not exactly a sad face.

If there are any amateur psychologists (or indeed professional ones) reading this, I'd love your thoughts. And if there are any plastic surgeons, I'd love to hear from you too. x

Book for Kids - my thoughts and a mini-giveaway

You cannot have failed to notice all the uproar in the press recently about government's withdrawal of funding, scrap that, continuation of funding for BookStart, and all the discussion around young children's access to books.

I'm not going to turn this into a political post about whether or not it it is the state's job to provide books, but I will say I am eternally grateful to BookStart.  Not because I couldn't afford to buy books for my child like many less fortunate, but simply because without the scheme it would have never occurred to me as a first-time mum to give books to my baby.

I wrongly assumed that books were for toddlers.  It didn't appreciate the social and developmental benefits that very small babies can gain from them.  The scheme has inspired us to join the library (Ruby has been a member in her own right from 4 months old) and has nurtured a passion and love which I hope will stay with her for life.  Bookstart also operate the 'Book Crawl' scheme which is a great incentive scheme rewarding young readers with stickers and certificates each time they visit the library.  Ruby will ALWAYS pick a book over a toy, and reading and sharing stories and words is a massive part of our life now, and an activity which takes place throughout the day - not just at bedtime.

Through board books, she has learnt her numbers, shapes and colours and thanks to a little Peter Rabbit book by the time she started nursery at 2 and a half she could identify and say not only the basic shapes like square and circle, but also 'hexagon', 'crescent' and 'oval'.  Pretty impressive!

Books have inspired a love (or should I say obsession) with Thomas the Tank Engine, to the point that she knows a 'coupling rod' from an 'axle' - alarmingly anorakish for a girl who's not yet 3!

Tomorrow we start a new group at our Sure Start centre called 'Once upon a time'. I'm really looking forward to this weekly session, billed as an 'interactive story session for all the family' and hope that we will discover new tales to share.

From a tiny baby, Ruby had access to books and buggy books were a god-send.  These little clip-on books offered a distraction when she was fractious, entertainment when she was bored and saved me back-ache as I wasn't constantly retrieving something lobbed overboard from the buggy.

To celebrate our love of all things booky, I'm giving away one of these fab buggy books.  Up for grabs is a copy of the classic Raymond Briggs tale 'The Snowman'.  Perfect for wintry walks in the buggy, this board book with it's wonderful illustrations will delight your little one and hopefully help nurture the same love for books we share.

Visit the Bookstart website for more information on the scheme, great activities, downloads and book recommendations.

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This competition is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered and for all your lovely comments. the winner, chosen at random is @wendymcd83. Congratulations!

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To enter the competition, first become a follower of my blog (click the 'follow' button over on the right, or subscribe via RSS), and leave me a comment telling me your favourite children's book.

For an extra entry, tweet the following "I'm entering @missielizzieb 's blog giveaway for a buggy book. For entry see here: http://bit.ly/eOHGsV  " and leave me an EXTRA comment below telling me you've tweeted.

Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you if you're picked as the winner - email, twitter ID, facebook name etc.

Terms:

The prize is one copy of The Snowman buggy book.
Winner picked at random.
Closing date is 8pm Tuesday 11 January 2010
I will make every endeavour to contact the winner, but if you have not responded within 1 week I will re-draw.
Open to UK entrants only.

Sweetie Stained Glass Sun Catchers

I am very lucky that my super-talented mum made me some beautiful leaded stained glass sun catchers for Christmas. Once the risk of frost has well and truly gone, these will be hung proudly from the pear tree in the back garden, or I may keep them hung in the window.

Inspired by these, and also I have to admit, by the tin of empty sweetie wrappers, we decided to get crafty and make some of our own.

You will need:

• Coloured cellophane sweet/chocolate wrappers
• Piece of clear cellophane (this can be recycled packaging - the 'windows' from boxes are good for this)
• Black paper or card
• PVA glue
• Scissors
• A small piece of ribbon (recycled from Xmas wrapping), or cotton, string etc

1.  Gather your coloured sweetie wrappers and cut or tear some into smaller pieces or different shapes.

2. Take your piece of clear cellophane and paint with a thin layer of glue.  This is tricky with a toddler who tends to slap it on like there's no tomorrow, but try not to use too much glue or it will dry cloudy.  We found it easier to tape the background piece of clear to the table to keep it still and also to see where it was!

3. Start assembling your 'stained glass' by sticking your wrappers on. Make sure you have lots of overlaps to create different coloured effects (you may need to paint on a little extra glue to the overlapped bits.)  Ruby really enjoyed this part, and learnt about mixing colours to make new ones - a concept she is vaguely aware of from paint and play-doh, but all too quickly we usually end up with the ubiquitous sludgy brown! 

4. Once all the clear plastic is covered, leave to dry.  You might want to place a book or other flat weight on top to keep it all nice and flat.

5. Whilst it is drying, make the 'frame'.  I used black paper, but I think thin card would be better as it holds it's shape.  You will need 2 identical frame shapes, so fold the paper/card in half and draw your template.  I'm rubbish at free-hand drawing so I used graduated cookie cutters. You can make them any shape you want, we chose hearts to match the ones that Nana made, but Christmas shapes would be great for next year's decorations.

6. Carefully cut out both the inner and outer lines, keeping the two sections of folded card firmly together, to create a pair of frames.

7. Once the cellophane wrappers have dried, trim to size and sandwich between your 2 frames. Glue or staple together, adding a little hanging loop from ribbon or string.

8. Hang in the window to admire, and wait for the sunshine!

Cass and her daughter over at Frugal Family have made some great bookmarks with sweetie wrappers too. head over there to find out how.

New Year...new diary!

This time of year brings the inevitable questions about new year's resolutions. Each December I try to field them politely, swatting them away gently without wishing to offend.

The simple truth is I don't believe in new year resolutions.  If you really want to change something then the date is not important.

Just for the record, I have no need or desire to lose any weight; there is absolutely no way on God's earth I would contemplate running a marathon; the hounds of hell couldn't force me to join a gym and I have absolutely no intention of giving up my few vices/pleasures/addictions*!   (*delete as applicable)

The only thing I'd like to do in 2011 is get organised. I mean properly organised.  No longer will I write down addresses on scrappy bits of paper only to lose them within days.  I shall remember people's birthdays and RSVP to my daughter's party invitations.  I shall deal with my mail - and not leave it unopened in a pile and gasp in horror at my domestic ineptitude when the final demand arrives. I shall pay my bills on time, even better I shall get round to setting up direct debits. I will send out Christmas cards next year, and I will promptly send newborn gifts to friend's babies rather than wait until I first see them by which time they are usually crawling.

This week we hit the sales in London and I came back armed and dangerous in the organisation department.  First up was a delightful trip to Liberty's where the other half bought me as a late Christmas present, the much coveted leather ipad case (my ipad having previously been won in a twitter competition).

This truly is a thing of beauty.  I know ipad cases are intended to protect the ipad, but I suspect I shall be keeping the case inside it's cotton drawstring bag to protect IT!



Ianthe Embossed Leather iPad Folio in Black, Liberty London for Apple

Price £90.00

I could have happily remained in Liberty's all day. There was much to make my eyes sparkle and my heart quicken.  My head is now full of ideas and I'm quite possibly warming to the idea of moving house just to re-decorate and buy new cushions.

I also purchased  fabric covered A-Z London maps, one each for myself and the old man.  My current disorganised chaos means we inevitably end up buying a new one each time we go to London, but these will remain proudly in our respective bags.  Sadly, the beautiful peacock feather design was sold out, but my cycle enthusiast fella chose this one, and I picked one with a blue print of fisherman's cottages as it reminded me of cornish holidays.



Phillipa Liberty Print Mini A-Z, Liberty

£19.50 (Was £39.00)

Next was on to Selfridges in search of a personal organiser. It would seem that these are no longer popular in this digital age, but I prefer to write things down the old-fashioned way.  The Filofax section was fairly uninspiring, but then I spotted a beautiful embossed leather organiser by Cross.  At £130 it wasn't cheap, but I actually decided I preferred the design of a different one in the display case.  Looking at the Rosa one, I was a bit miffed to find that all the inserts were in Spanish.  The assistant explained that this was because it was made in Spain, but even so (and without wishing to sound like a Daily Mail reader), we're in England!!  My knowledge of the Spanish language is non-existent, so reluctantly, I put it back and left empty-handed.

Back home, I checked the Cross website and found that the design I preferred was not real leather, but synthetic, and therefore nearly £100 cheaper.  The site showed the organiser empty, so I snapped it up thinking I could fill it with English Filofax inserts. Amazingly it was delivered the next day, complete with a complimentary Cross pen, full diary and loads of inserts - some in Spanish and some in English, but enough for it to be usable for me.  I was most chuffed with this bargain!



Flower Fossils Black Personal Agenda

£35.00

Finally, how could I resist this Charlie and Lola family organiser calendar from John Lewis.  My love for Charlie and Lola is far greater than my 2 year old daughter's and I shall be more than happy to have this on my fridge for the duration of 2011.  I struggled so hard last year to find a calendar with a pocket to hold all those vouchers, invites, appointment cards etc etc, so I'm really pleased I've found this one. It also has loads of stickers to mark off dentist appointments, end of term and sleepover dates.



Charlie and Lola Extremely Useful Activity Planner 2011
£10

So 2011, bring it on!! I'm ready for you.
Happy New Year to you all x

EDIT: Oops! Just realised I've put the wrong link for the Charlie & Lola planner.  It was the only one John Lewis had listed on their site, but not in fact the one I bought!  The one I got is not available online, but you can get it online at Ryman's and (grrrr!) it's now reduced to only £4.99. This is the link.  Sorry about that ( and I haven't even started on the Babycham yet...)

Who's afraid of the Bogeyman?



Raymond Briggs' Fungus The Bogeyman -picture credited to BBC


Whilst I realise that this might not sound like a particularly festive topic, it was actually Christmas that got me thinking about this.

When I was little we grew up in an old, cold house. It was full of dark corridors and creaky floorboards. It's exactly the kind of house I now love, but back then it gave me the heebie-geebies! I distinctly remember lying in bed, seeing strange faces in the wallpaper, and shivering whenever I walked past a particular spot on the landing which seemed to always have a mysterious chill about it.

To reach the bathroom you had to walk down a very long, narrow corridor. It had sash windows down the corridor, but still it felt like it was closing in on you. It was much like walking past train compartments on an old fashioned train. Beyond the bathroom was another room, supposedly a bedroom but as it could only be accessed via the bathroom it was only ever used as a storage room.

Because I was a nosey little blighter, and I suspect because my mum and dad knew I was wary of this cold, neglected room, at Christmas time they used to hide our presents in here before 'Father Christmas' delivered them to the tree on Christmas Eve. To make doubly sure I didn't sneak a peek, my mum and dad told me that 'Mr Jones' lived in the box room.

To this day I couldn't tell you why this imaginary bogeyman struck terror into my heart, nor can I describe what I imagined him to look like, or explain why the hell he'd be living in our box room. But it had the desired effect of keeping me away from my presents, and such was my fear of Mr Jones that if I woke in the night and needed the loo, I'd have to wake my brother and plead, beg or bribe him to walk down to the bathroom with me. One year I had to trade my entire haul of easter eggs just for him to chaperone me in the dark - and even then the little sod ran off and left me in the bathroom rather than wait outside the door as was our agreement!

When we moved house (I think me and my brother were around 9 yrs old), Mr Jones of course came too. This time taking up residence in the cellar. My parents thought it was hilarious to send me down to the cellar to retrieve something from the freezer or switch the immersion heater on, shouting after me "watch out for Mr Jones".

It got me wondering, was I alone in this irrational fear of unseen monsters? I had a boyfriend once who had grown up in a house which backed on to a railway line. His parents had told him as a child he must not venture beyond the garden shed or the 'man with long arms' would get him! How utterly terrifying! 'The man with long arms' - what an odd bogeyman to make up! I can see why they did it, but hell, they scarred him for life!

Even as an adult I can't go to sleep if the wardrobe door is open, and I can't sleep with my legs or arms hanging over the edge in case the monster under the bed gets me.

What about you? Who were your childhood bogeymen and have you made up any for your kids to keep them from danger - or maybe just for fun?!!! Your fun that is, not theirs - he will haunt them for years...