My Magazine Makeover

What an odd feeling to open up a magazine in the supermarket and see yourself leering out from it.  I shut it up quickly and surreptitiously took it to the till.  Although, I look quite glam don't I?  About as far removed as I actually look today, a little under the weather and feeling sorry for myself lolling about on the sofa in my chav suit.  Yes, it's all sweat pants and scrunchies here today.

Way back in the summer, I responded to a Facebook request from Woman's Own asking for makeover victims volunteers.  To be honest, I forgot all about it, until out of the blue, I got a call inviting me up to London.

It turned out, the date was my daughter's first day at school so it seemed like a good way of taking my mind off thinking about whether she was coping.

A short stroll from Blackfriars station and I arrived at their plush offices. However, the 'magic' is done in the basement so I was whisked off to the bowels of the building.

They took the most minging photo of me ever for their 'before' shot and after a brief chat with the stylists and magazine editor, the team got to work on me.

And boy did they work on me!  My hair was cut, coloured, curled and blow dried. My make-up was applied, false eyelashes glued, nails painted, eyebrows plucked, cheek bones highlighted...

I can't say I honestly enjoyed the make-up experience.  Given that I have a morbid fear of anyone going near my eyes, it was pretty much torture for me.  Did I mention I also hate having my photo taken?  I bet the poor loves where wondering what on earth to do with me.

BUT.  The end SO justified the means.

Sadly as it was a hair makeover, they only needed a head and shoulder shot, which meant I couldn't play dress-up with the rails and rails of garments and Marcos-esque collection of shoes.

But I did come away with a lovely set of photos, and amazing new hair colour and had a great day.

I totally underestimated how many people were involved, and how many hours went in to filling just one page of a weekly magazine.  All credit to these guys.

If you want to apply for your own makeover, they are looking for people right now.

And if you fancy buying the magazine, it's the 23rd November bumper edition, out now.

Thank you so much to the Woman's Own team.

Aunt Bessie's Roastiness

Just before half term I had the pleasure of going along to a cookery event hosted by Aunt Bessie's.

Obviously they are well known for their frozen Yorkshire Puddings, but it was a bit of an eye-opener seeing their entire range - who knew you could get frozen gravy, or that they made desserts too?

They are embarking on an honourable campaign to instill a bit of weekday 'roastiness' into our lives.  That wholesome, warm, comforting feeling that only comes from sitting together as a family enjoying a home cooked meal.

Feasting on duck with cranberry sauce and stuffed mushrooms we then got cooking ourselves.  I love a bit of cooking which embraces some time-saving shortcuts.

Inspired by their products, I'm joining in with the half-term food challenge by Aunt Bessie's in association with BritMums.

Lying in bed the other night, this recipe came to me (you can see what I think about most of the time can't you?).

I've included echos of our half-term trip to the Emerald Isle by using Clonakilty Black Pudding (we visited this pretty town and it's lovely to get a reminder of our holiday), so without further ado, I give you...

Black Pudding and Goat's Cheese Towers with Sweet Roast Vegetables and Walnuts

Ingredients:

Aunt Bessie's Mini Potato Rosti
Black Pudding
Log of strong Soft Goat's Cheese
Aunt Bessie's Honey Roast Vegatable Mix
Walnuts
Dash of Maple Syrup
Green Beans

It would have been helpful if both frozen products cooked at the same temperature, but I put the oven on at 220 and popped the vegetables on the top shelf and the rosti potatoes on the bottom and it turned out fine.

Put the honey roast vegetable mix in a roasting tin with a little olive oil and cook for 20 minutes.  Then add the rosti on another baking sheet and cook for 18 minutes (approx 40 minutes total for the vegetables).

Meanwhile, slice your black pudding and goat's cheese and cook your french beans.

Approximately 10 minutes before your oven food is ready, add a sprinkle of walnuts to the roast veggies and a dash of maple syrup.  Shake well and return to the oven.

Fry your black pudding on both sides and while still hot assemble your towers with the rosti, black pudding and goat's cheese slices.  Doing it while hot results in burny burny hands, but it's worth it to get softly gooey cheese when you cut through the towers.

Absolutely delicious!!

Magpie Monday - Can't get no satisfaction

The Old Man has had a whole week off on annual leave.  As we managed to get some very dull chores done - like clean out the pantry and re-organise the linen cupboard, he decided to reward me with the promise of a WHOLE DAY'S chazzing.  Whoopee, my idea of heaven...mooching the streets, hand in hand, small person safely tucked away at school, a leisurely lunch and a meander through the bric-a-brac and book shelves.

As the world was my oyster I selected Hitchin to visit.  I haven't been for a while and have always had rich picking there.  Partly for some perverse delayed gratification, partly to give me an incentive to get through the mind-numbingly boring household chores, but mainly because of the planned vintage market, I chose Friday for the magnificent day, hoping I'd be in for double-bubble.

Fortified with a bacon sarnie and a strong coffee, we arrived in Hitchin town at 10am.  First stop the Salvation Army which seems to have arbitrary and highly erratic opening hours.  Almost every time I come it is shut and I find myself forlornly peering through the window at the wondrous vintage treasures.

This time it was open - result!  Heart-rate quickening we walked through the door.  There was a customer at the till about to pay for about a thousand ink pads and stamps which were tumbling from her arms onto the counter.  I eventually found the box these had come from and sure enough, she had cleared it our - leaving only the most obscure greetings and sentiments behind.  Pipped at the post again.

Wondering around, nothing caught my eye, but I picked up a very practical packet of sewing needles for 50p.

Onwards and upwards.  The expectation and excitement was still buzzing, but as we entered and exited numerous shops empty handed, our mooch became more of a disappointed plod.

We popped into our favourite cafe for lunch, only to find it heaving, so we headed off and did a few more (fruitless) charity shops before returning.  Still there were no seats to be had, so we had to make do with a second rate sandwich and coffee at an alternative.

Never have I had such a rubbish return from an entire town's charity shops.  This time of year, most of them seem to abandon their regular customers, swipe clear the bric-a-brac shelves and replace vintage tea cups and kitchenalia with cheap plastic Christmas goods.  Entire linen rails make way for the dreaded 'party wear' consisting mainly of shoulder-padded Etam sequined jackets and 1980's Laura Ashley velvet sweetheart dresses.  Jewellery cabinets are robbed of all sparkliness and stuffed with multi packs of Christmas cards.

Is this what we have to look forward to for the next 6 weeks?  Charity shops, I implore you - don't do it.  Don't force me to eBay.  I may not come back.

Hoping you had better luck than me, please grab the badge and link up.

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How the Other Half lives - Doing it outdoors

I seem to be becoming redundant on my own blog.

What with all Ruby's crafting, story writing and now her song and dance routine featuring on the Britmums round-up... The Other Half wants to get in on the act now and write a guest post.  

Surely it won't be long before the dog is upstaging me...

Anyway, it's all good.  I reckon I can get the whole family trained up to keep things ticking over here while the new series of I'm a Celebrity is on.

Before I hand over the reins to the Old Man, his suggestion for a post struck me as a nice idea for others to join in with.  Hopefully it will give you more of an insight to our family life, and I'm a nosey beggar - I'd love to know what your partner's obsession hobby is while you're busy reading or writing blogs, or endlessly twittering away on social media.

So, if you can persuade your other half to write a post about what makes them tick, or if you can write one on their behalf, please do link up below with 'How the Other Half Lives'.

Without further ado, I give you....the Old Man...

When I used to play regular Sunday and Saturday football there was nothing I HATED more than cold showers. I could not stand it... But it was a necessary evil that you often had to subject yourself to in exchange for 90 minutes of running, kicking and falling over (this is how my daughter describes my footy technique having seen me play once – her powers of observation and insight are sublime, unlike my skills on the field of play). 

Old father time finally caught up with me last year. After two years out I donned the boots for a final swansong season - it lasted two matches. But in all honesty after the first 5 minutes I knew that my legs, strength and most worryingly, my desire, had gone. So I hung up the boots at the grand old age of 40.

Of course the OH was delighted. Secretly I was devastated and have since been desperately seeking to fill the void. Not only for the chest-aching exhaustion from stretching every sinew in your body to breaking point, but the sense of personal triumph (and failure), the companionship and camaraderie and the feeling of freedom for 90 minutes a week. I am pleased to say I have resisted the obvious transition into golf or donning garish lycra and spending thousands on a push bike, or fast cars, or even looking for other forms of excitement :-). But my regular diet of circuit training, squash and the occasional run have left me strangely lacking. Until recently….mid life crisis I hear you say… read on and then judge for yourself.

On 13^th October I joined an old mate who’d organised the inaugural ‘The Swimmer’ experience. Pitched as a gentle meander through London’s ponds, lidos and parks - it is in fact a half marathon with a difference. Was this the mid life crisis kicking in? I am not sure, but the attraction for me was to do something different - once - have a run through London and get the opportunity to go for a dip in the Serpentine, something I was unlikely to ever repeat again. 

Epiphany may be too strong a term, but something happened during our journey on 13^th October….

I met my fellow intrepid explorers at 07:00 at Hampstead station (yes 07:00, and yes it was the weekend, and yes its 30 miles and a one hour drive to get there). I was so excited about the adventure, but it was short-lived and soon replaced by a totally different sensation! My first experience of cold water swimming was plunging into the icy waters at Parliament Hill. Even though I am told it was a veritably barmy 14 degrees, I thought I was literally going to die when I jumped in the water.

Unfortunately (for me), my ‘mentor’ gave no pre warning of what I could expect. Luckily, advice does exist  and he has retrospectively made amends, so that other cold water ‘virgins’ don’t repeat my school boy errors.

It is difficult to articulate quite what that first moment felt like, when I struggled to breathe in or out and I thought my heart had stopped. But it soon dissipated and I managed to complete a couple of lengths of the pool.

After a gentle 5 mile run to Hyde Park (what a glorious sight the streets of north London are at this time of the morning) we took a dip in the Serpentine courtesy of their swimming club, who kindly welcomed us as guests for the day. It felt colder again, but swimming in the Serp alongside my fellow Swimmers, and a swan or two, was an invigorating experience.

Next stop Tooting Bec! The final leg of the journey was somewhat more arduous, with our numbers dwindling, conversation drying up, and the mean streets of south London taking their toll on my ankles and knees. Never has Tooting Common been such a welcome sight, with the lido tucked away alongside the South London railway line as it snakes its way through the suburbs. The pool itself is a monster, looking 12,000m long rather than 120m and feeling like it was -120 degrees... I was too cold and too tired for a proper swim, but I had a little paddle and next time I am determined to do a length… did I say ‘next time’?

I certainly did. Tomorrow (November 10^th) is The Swimmer 2, when it will be colder and harder no doubt.

So I have been 'training', or at least seeking out places to swim. In a recent visit to County Cork I took the plunge at Lough Abisdealy and Lough Hyne (perhaps where the epiphany really happened) and have since been scouring Google Earth for the local spots for some wild swimming. The wilder and colder the better.

I was blown away by the sense of community evident at the Tooting Bec lido and the welcoming nature of the cold water swimming movement that I never knew existed. The Outdoor Swimming Society has over 9,000 members each one with a passion for this way of life and willing and able to give friendly and useful advice.

In short I am hooked. Tomorrow will be the latest step in my cold water journey. This time 20 of us, of all abilities and motivations, and we will experience another of London's great lidos at Brockwell, with the promise of tea and cake at the end!

This is no mid life crisis, but it has been life-changing for me. If you too want to feel A-L-I-V-E, try cold water swimming. Adrenalin, exercise, endorphins, companionship, adventure all available at a lido, lake, river, pond, sea front near you... You would be mad not to try and I promise you won't be disappointed. 

Please do join in and link back here with How the Other Half Lives...

NatWest Pigs by Kids Competition

Remember the NatWest piggy banks?  I sure do, but if you're not as old and decrepit as me you may have spotted them on programmes like Cash in the Attic or on ebay - they fetch a pretty penny now.

I remember the lad up the road from us had them.  The whole set.  Mind you, they were minted, most of us would never get anyway near the Sir Nathaniel...  Anyway, let's leave my childhood bitterness behind and celebrate, because yes, the piggies are back!!!

Not only are NatWest reintroducing this great incentive to get kids saving, but your child has the chance to design the pig.

To demonstrate this, we were sent a package of craft materials to create our own little porker.

Oh my!  I'm in crafting heaven

'Preliminary Pig' - before using up the felt.  Sitting ON the table is essential you understand

Preparing the background

Making the curly wurly tail

Adding the bees - every picture currently's gotta have bees

The finished porcine

Isn't she cute? She's a she because she has long eyelashes - obviously.

If you'd like to have a go yourself, check out the #PigsByKids campaign.

• The competition is open to children up to 13 years old.
• The winning design will become the new NatWest pig.
• Closing date is 12pm on 11th November 2012.
• Terms and conditions apply - see website for details.

This is an advertising promotion for NatWest

Magpie Monday - back in the saddle

Apologies for my disappearance last week.  I think it's the first Monday since Magpie Monday began that there hasn't been a post.  Sorry, I was too drunk disorganised  to organise a guest host.

We've spent a glorious week at Liss Ard in West Cork, and I pretty much managed to totally switch off.  It was long overdue!

Firmly back in Blighty now, I needed to get my junk fix - Mr O'Leary and his Ryanair crew wouldn't permit me to bring home thrifty hauls unless I paid a whopping excess baggage charge, so I had to leave some Irish charms behind.

Saturday we went to a good old fashioned British jumblie and boy was it a brutal affair.  I managed to force myself to the front and snaffled a few goodies.

A whole stash of fabric, some of which is vintage Heal's (squeals!).

A cute box of mini wooden dominoes for crafting purposes.

A selection of hurricane lamps/jars for Christmas decorating lushness.  I'm thinking: moss; pine cones and pure white church candles...

It was worth the bruises!

Over a cup of tea and a slice of cake, I got talking to a lovely girl who totally gave me the lowdown on buying and selling on Facebook and told me which local groups to join.  I can't wait to check that out, and kick fee paying to Ebay and Paypal into touch.  So all in all, a good Saturday's work!

What thrifty pleasures have you found?



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Asda's Spooky Scribes Challenge

For Halloween this year, Asda have challenged some blogger's children  to come up with their spookiest stories, based on one of their Halloween costumes.

Personally I'm not sure this is such a great idea - Ruby is certainly showing more creativity and a better grasp of prose than her blogger mummy, and I think I need to watch my back...

Based on the Rainbow Witch costume that she chose, Ruby worked really hard coming up with her spooky story, and as she's only 4, I wrote it down for her...

Once upon a time there was a witch.  A very mean witch.  She was so mean that she wanted to steal all the colours.

So she went off on her colourful broomstick, and flew high up into the sky with her cat.

She opened up her bag, which had a whirlwind inside, and sucked up the rainbow from the sky.

Then she quickly snapped shut her bag and went home to her haunted house.

When she got home, she saw her blue door wasn't blue any more.  It was grey.  Her grass wasn't green any more.  It was grey.  In fact, everything way grey because she had stolen all the colours.

All the town's people were sad because it was grey, so they sent the good witch to go and rescue the rainbow.  She quietly sneaked up to the haunted house, found the mean witch's bag and ran outside to release the rainbow.

All it's colours shone on the town, but the bad witch was left in her grey world with her grey cat forever and ever.

The end.

Happy Halloween everyone. x

Disclosure: We were sent a costume and creative package for the purpose of this challenge.