The Penguins of Madagascar - Out soon on DVD and Blu-Ray

Movie fans will be be pleased to know that the loveable Skipper, Kowalski and the gang are back with their action-packed spy-fi animated capers, and you can own the movie to watch at home from 30th March.

Out on DVD and Blu-ray with a host of special features including:

• The top-secret guide to becoming a special agent
• The Madagascar mash-up
• The Cheezy Dibbles advert

The movie starts with a young Skipper, Kowalski and Rico leaving the pack to chase after a runaway egg.  They rescue it from hungry seals but find themselves adrift on an iceberg.  The young penguin who hatches is Private, and taking the gang as his family, they set of on their adventures.

The film sequels the Madagascar 3 movie, and introduces us to the delights of Cheezy Dibbles - an orange cheese puff snack (think Wotsits) for which the penguins will do just about anything.

Dreamworks Animation and Twentieth Century Fox deliver this high-octane, bonkers animation with the penguin foursome joining forces with spy unit The North Wind to defeat Dr Octavius Brine and his plans to take his revenge on the world.

Fans will be pleased to hear the thoroughly English tones of Benedict Cumberbatch as The North Wind's leader a grey fox named 'Classified', as well as the instantly recognisable voice of John Malkovich as the evil Dave/Dr Octavia Brine who seeks his revenge on the penguins for usurping him with their cuteness in every zoo around the globe.

The action is fast and frantic and you need to pay attention to the plot as they whizz from Fort Knox, to Venice to the Sahara, then Shanghai before finally making it back to New York.  Younger members of the audience will enjoy the slap-stick humour and high energy, even if perhaps they didn't fully follow the story.

Despite the crazy capers, there is still a moral message to the film though.  Young Private is desperately trying to find his place in the team, fed up with only ever being the 'cute one'. They ultimately find him invaluable in the end,  and he earns respect and kudos from the others.

A fast, furious and funny movie for all the family.

Penguins of Madagascar is out on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on 30th March from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.  

Disclosure: I attended a special screening for the purposes of this review.

A meeting with Sir Ranulph Fiennes - The Marathon des Sables for Marie Curie

It's not every day you get to meet the world's greatest living explorer.  A man who has climbed the North face of the Eiger, the oldest man to climb Everest, conquered both the North and the South Poles and completed 7 marathons in 7 days - after just having had a heart attack!

The word is used too often, but this man truly is a legend.  And at the age of 71 he's not hanging up his hat just yet.

Image: Mike Goldwater with Gretta from Mums Do Travel, Christ from Thinly Spread and Mary from Keynko

It's said that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, well it's possible that Sir Ranulph is both and he'll be doing a whole lot more under the scorching sun.

I met him at Kingston University's sports science department as he underwent training and assessments ahead of the ultra-marathon: The Marathon des Sables. To you and I a marathon generally means a 26 mile race, and I know how rigourous the training for that can be - my Old Man is in training for the London Marathon next month and he's out all hours running.  But the Marathon des Sables is an ultra-marathon in the extreme.  It is dubbed the toughest foot race on earth.

It takes place in the Morrocan Sahara, over 6 days and is a total distance of 156 miles in blistering heat and suffocating humidity, carrying all personal equipment needed for the duration on your back.  Battling your way across shifting sands, endless miles of desert with no point of reference, sand in your eyes, your shoes and everywhere it shouldn't be.  It sounds like pure hell to me, but Sir Ranulph seemed totally unfazed.

I joined him as he undertook some training and observations in Kingston University's heat chamber which took him up to 40 degrees - last year temperatures in the MdS topped 56 degrees.  He was hooked up to a thermometer and heart monitor and asked to complete cognitive challenges to see how he was coping on the treadmill in the heat - both physically and mentally.

The key concern is keeping his core temperature to a reasonable level.  Normal core body temperature should be 37.5, but if a person's raises too far above that it can have severe physical affects, and if it reaches 43 the body's enzymes are affected and it results in fatal hyperthermia.

Sir Ran was also weighed before and after the hour-long session to assess how much fluid he'd lost and whether he was taking on adequate liquid.  His trainer Rory Coleman has instilled into him the habit of 6 sips every 15 minutes.

Image: Mike Goldwater

Water is going to be a huge issue in the desert. It's essential fluids are kept up, but water is only issued in 1.5 litre allowances at checkpoints every 6 miles.

He'll also be carrying his kit in a rucksack which must weigh a minimum of 6.5kg and contain all the stipulated race essentials including a signalling mirror; compass; torch; anti-venom kit; safety pins; sleeping bag; food; passport and quite literally his bus fare home (well, enough money to cover transport back to base if he needs to abort).   He'll also need to carry flares, but as I pointed out you can't run in flares, you'd trip up!

In the heat chamber, after nearly an hour on the treadmill in 40 degrees, Sir Ran had barely broken a sweat while the camera man was positively dripping. This man is a machine.  I mean, seriously incredible especially when you consider he's 71, had 2 heart attacks, survived cancer and had a double-heart bypass.

So why does he do it?

Well, clearly he's passionate about the charity he's raising funds for.  He hopes to raise £2.5 million pounds for Marie Curie to help them care for cancer and terminally ill patients and their families.  He's already raised over £16 million for charity in 10 years and his goal is to reach £20 million so that can be put on his gravestone.

Marie Curie provide free care and support to those living with terminal illness, and to their families.  Their nurses work 24-7 in people's homes to provide hands-on care and emotional support.  They also run 9 hospices around the country which provide specialist care around the clock.

We had a chance to chat with him after his heat chamber session. Sir Ran is a humble man.  He has a daughter around the same age as mine and it was funny to hear that she's point-blank not interested in what he does. It reminded me of Ruby who nonchalantly accepts her Dad's medals after races with a shrug and a 'whatever'.  He's a man of simple tastes. He said that after the race he'd be looking forward to a cup of tea and a chocolate Malteser rabbit! He is a funny guy, he made me laugh a lot.

Image Mike Goldwater

I was curious to know how he comes up with his challenges, and it turns out, he generally doesn't.  His first wife worked tirelessly and used to suggest and help plan his expeditions, and he has a trusted team who does that for him now. Some ideas he'll reject, others they'll explore further.  The one hard-and-fast criteria for vetoing a trek is creepy crawlies - he's completely phobic, although when he was in Arabia he did have to try and face his fears to retain the respect of the Arabs on the trip with him.

But I was curious what drives a man to undertake these extreme challenges.  It turns out, it's pure, unadulterated competitiveness.  Speaking to Sir Ran he was one of the most laid-back people I've ever met and this seemed at total odds with his achievements.  I almost wondered if he'd grasped the enormity of what he'd agreed to do, there was a feeling that he just gets on and does it.

The thing that showed the raging fire in his belly though, was his raw determination to beat his arch rivals the Norwegians at all costs.  I guess we all need something to spur us on.

I wish Sir Ran and Rory the very best of luck - it was a pleasure meeting you both and an inspiration.

You can donate to Sir Ran's challenge for Marie Curie below.

Please follow his progress on social media as the race commences on 5th April - #RunRanRun, I'm sure you'll agree he deserves our support.  Or you can donate £5 and send a message to Sir Ran by texting RUN to 70007.

Interplay Instant Flower Press

I remember spending hours gathering and pressing flowers and petals as a child. I had a little wooden flower press my grandad had made me, with little wing nuts and washers, stacks of cardboard he'd lovingly cut out of old boxes, and precious squares of yellow blotting paper.  I still have that press somewhere, I must look it out, I bet it's still got faded paper-thin flowers in it.

Much as I enjoyed it, flower pressing wasn't a hobby for those who want instant gratification.  And I suspect kids nowadays probably wouldn't have the patience to wait weeks and weeks before their petals are ready to use.

That's why the new Instant Flower Press from Interplay is such a great introduction to this pastime. 

I was sceptical at first whether it was really possibly to achieve pressed flowers in seconds as claimed on the box, but we put it to the test.

Flowers are a bit thin on the ground in our garden at this time of year, but we hunted around and found some violets and yellow forsythia flowers.

The kit itself works in the microwave, so it's all made of plastic, with felt pads and cotton sheets to place the flowers between.  It's robust and easy to assemble for little hands, although younger children may need some help squeezing it together to get the hinge pin through.

The instructions recommend heating in the microwave for periods of 20 seconds at a time before checking if it needs more.  The flowers we selected required 3 lots of 20 second blasts before they were dry and pressed.

To prevent the flowers from burning, you're instructed to place a cup of water in the microwave with the press.  It is recommended that an adult supervises the use of the microwave and I'd recommend  getting into the habit of changing the water after every 20 second period - a cup of water can get very hot after a minute.

Young children may also need a little help gently lifting the pressed flowers from the cloth as they're so fragile.  A pair of tweezers or a palate knife of some sort may aid the process.

We were delighted with our instant pressed flowers and being able to get on and craft with them straight away.  We made this simple posy card with the violets by punching through a couple of holes into the card, threading a ribbon through before using PVA glue to attach the flowers and tying the ribbon.

I think this is a kit that's going to really come into it's own in the summer when there's an abundance of flowers and we're looking forward to using pressed flowers in all sorts of crafts.

The Instant Flower Press retails at £9.99 and is a great gift for crafty children. Recommended for children aged 8 years and over.

Disclosure: We were sent a kit for the purposes of this review.  All opinions and images are our own.

Moonpig to the rescue for Mother's Day gifts

If you still haven't sorted Mother's Day, you can get a last minute reprieve with Moonpig.com. If fact, order by 2pm Saturday and they'll have your gift delivered on Sunday leaving you glowing in glory, so even the last-minute dad's out there have got no excuse really.

I went along to their Spring/Summer showcase last week and was treated to a tea-tasting session with The English Tea Company and a bouquet master-class with aptly named in-house florist 'Aster'.

You'll be forgiven for thinking Moonpig just sell personalised photo cards, but nowadays they do a whole lot more.  From stunning floral displays of English flowers, to bespoke looking hampers bursting with products from some of the country's hippest independent producers.

Here's a few of my favourite products to get you in the mood.

Fairtrade Sunshine Bouquet £35:

Show mum you care about others with this sunny yellow fairly traded bunch of sunshine.

British Grown Tulips £25:

A gloriously colourful hand-tied bouquet of 25 spring tulips grown in the UK.

Meg Rivers Cookie Tin £12:

A wonderful vintage style tin, bursting with lemon and ginger biscuits made by artisan bakery Meg Rivers.  I sampled some of these and they are perfectly crumbly, old-fashioned shortbread biscuits made with stem ginger and fresh lemon.  Such a homely gift.

English Tea Shop Classic Collection: £6

A selection of four of the best loved organic teas - English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Peppermint and Rooibos.  Talking to the people behind The English Tea Shop their passion for quality was clear.

Hope & Greenwood Tuck Box £25:

Let mum re-live her youth with this retro styled candy-stripe selection of old skool favourites. You had me at sugar mice and cola bottles! 

There's so much to choose from I think you'd be surprised.  If you haven't checked out Moonpig lately, you're in for a bit of an eye-opener.

Win your new summer pool essentials with www.swimshop.co.uk

Whether you're a serious long-distance swimmer; looking for a new swimsuit to lounge by the pool on your summer holidays or looking for swimwear for your child's swimming lessons, The Swim Shop is your one-stop for all things aquatic.

Offering a huge range from professional triathlon suits to inflatable pool toys, from modesty swimsuits to fashion bikinis you're sure to find what you're looking for here.

We're at the pool every week for Ruby's swimming lessons and followers will know that the Old Man is never far from a lake or river (not always clothed in trunks!) so we're quite au-fait with the world of goggles, swimming caps and swimwear.

The Swim Shop offers great value for money with ladies bikinis from £11.99, junior swimsuits from £3.99 and boy's briefs from only £1.79.

If you're looking for kid's swimwear, they cover the whole spectrum, from nappy suits, neoprene suits to competitive swimsuits.  I've rounded up a few of my favourite girl's and ladies from their range.

Junior range:

Maru Girl's Super hero costume: £14.99

Speedo Girls Endurance Legsuit: £12.50

Zoggs Girls Toggs Wings Bella Swim Suit: £16.99

Ladies range:

Speedo Women's Endurance Black Legsuit: £20

Speedo Speedosculpture Crystalshine swim suit: £30

Maru Women's Wow Sparkle Suit: £27.99

For women they offer a full range of swimming solutions including modesty and full cover body suits; support and body-shaping suits and swimwear for larger busts.

Order by 7pm for next working day delivery, and postage and packing is free on all orders over £25.  Alternatively, if your order is less, you pay just £1.95 for 48 hour delivery.

With a £25 voucher on offer to one lucky winner, and the Swim Shop's great prices, you could probably kit out the whole family!

To be in with a chance, simply complete the rafflecopter below.

Open to UK entrants only.  The prize will be in the form of an electronic credit. One winner will be chosen at random and will be required to set up an account which will be credited with the prize amount.  You may use the credit for purchases less than the value of £25 and to cover p&p charges, or for amounts over £25 with free postage and pay the balance. No cash change will be given and the voucher cannot be exchanged for cash. The prize is kindly donated by www.SwimShop.co.uk who are responsible for fulfilment.

Giveaway closes 21st March 2015 at 12:00am.

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You have the Power To Switch

Energy suppliers. Yeah, I know, it's not exactly a scintillating topic is it? Or so I thought.

Like an awful lot of people, I didn't really give my gas and electricity suppliers much thought.  I groaned each quarter when the bill came through the door.  The groans began to get louder and louder in line with my bills getting larger and larger until eventually I decided I should do something about it.

Until then I was paralysed with apathy.  It just wasn't high on my agenda.  I thought that switching suppliers was going to be a nightmare task, taking hours and hours trawling through websites trying to make sense of a baffling array of tariffs.  I assumed the process of transferring would take ages and result in many frustrating on-hold calls to various telephone call centres. I thought that it would probably all go horribly wrong and I'd get some ridiculously incorrect bill through with lots of noughts on the end.

It turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Since we moved into our home about 4 years ago, we'd been with one of the 'Big Six' on a duel fuel tariff.  Last year I was lucky enough to win a competition, the prize was a year's supply of green electricity (you can't get more money-saving than that!).  This was the impetus to change our gas supply since we obviously needed to leave our current company providing electricity to take up the prize, and since we no longer qualified for a duel fuel rate, I thought we may as well shop around.

Well, literally 10 minutes on a comparison website, and I'd found a brand new gas company who could offer me a saving of over £70 per quarter!  All I had to do was type in my postcode and some figures from my latest bill and the comparison site did the rest for me.

I was staggered at the saving, but still fairly reticent about changing.  The instructions were straightforward though so I continued.  It really was as easy as ABC.  We had to provide a couple of meter readings and that was pretty much it.  We got a letter from the old supplier to confirm our final reading, then a letter from the new supplier welcoming us and that was that.

The money we've saved over the year on our gas bills has paid for a family half-term holiday, and I know what I'd rather spend our cash on!

Simple.  Honestly.  Really simple.

I've been banging on about it ever since.

And in fact, since I moved company, it's become even faster with switching times down to just 17 days.  Which means in just that short space of time you could be saving money on your bills every month - many households could save around £200 by switching.

There's 27 companies now supplying energy.  This has really shaken up the market, with the main firms no longer holding a monopoly.  The savings are being passed on to you the consumer, so it's time to get out there and claim them.

My top tips for switching supplier

• Visit www.BeAnEnergyShopper.com for links to Ofgem approved comparison sites.
• Decide what's important to you - is it just about saving money, or do you want great customer service, do you want green energy?
• Have your latest bills handy so you can input the figures.
• Keep all email correspondence about the switch in a separate folder.
• Keep a record of your final meter readings, or better still take a photo of it.
• If customer service is important to you, many comparison sites have a review section where you can read how customers rate the service.
• Use the opportunity to take up more money-saving incentives like paperless billing, free smart meters and direct debit payment if you don't already.
• After your switch, remember to contact your old supplier and ask for a refund if you have any credit with them.
• Even if you have termination clauses, it's still worth comparing your tariff - you may find the savings outweigh the fee you have to pay to exit.
• Do you know anyone who's not as internet-savvy that you could offer to help with this process? Many older people are missing out on savings because they don't use the internet.
• Finally, you've got nothing to lose by checking even if you decide not to switch.

Disclosure:

I'm working with BritMums and DECC alongside the #PowertoSwitch campaign. I have been compensated for my time. All editorial and opinions are my own. Visit www.BeAnEnergyShopper.com for more information about switching energy suppliers.

Mother's Day Giveaway

If you think you've left it late to buy your Mother's Day gift, panic not, there's still time to pick up a gorgeous present for mum, and better still if you're my lucky winner, you can win it all here!

I often pick up gift items in Tesco while doing the weekly shopping - as a busy mum sometimes it's the only way to fit it all in.  I was really pleased to be introduced to Kimm and Miller who, it turns out are a local company based just up the road from me.  They produce many of the branded gift ranges you see in store at Christmas and other seasonal times, and their Mother's Day range this year is delightful, offering something for everyone and to suit all budgets.

So, whether you're looking for a special treat for mum, the kids want something small to buy with their pocket money, or you're after a gift for a special gran, then take a look at the range below which will be available in your local Tesco store soon.

Heart Message Biscuit Set

This cute cookie set comes with two tubes of icing for kids to write their own personal message (the message shown is on the packaging and just for illustration purposes).  A sweet gift idea that I'm sure Daddy will have no trouble supervising!

Teddy Mug for 'Mummy' or Grandma'

A small plush brown teddy bear, with a pretty floral designed slimline mug. Comes in both 'Mummy' and 'Grandma' versions with the 'You're a star' motto. Gorgeously soft teddy and a practical mug make this a thoughtful gift for mum or gran.

Handbag with sweets

Mini handbag shaped keepsake tin filled with bonbons.  This is a lovely little pocket money gift to show mum you care.

Ceramic Ginger Jar with Sweets

An elegant floral lidded jar which could be proudly displayed on the dressing table or mantelpiece after you've polished off the delicious strawberry bonbons!

Iced Flower Biscuit and Vase

No worries about this flower wilting before the big day!  A yummy biscuit pop, displayed in a pretty bud vase that can be used time and again.  A clever gift for organised kids who want to buy their flowers in advance.

Tealight Lantern with Chocolates

Pretty little tin bucket with heart design, perfect for tea lights later on for mum's relaxing candle-lit bath!  She can indulge in the chocolate hearts while she soaks in the tub too.

Teacup and Saucer

A very generous sized pretty teacup for mum to enjoy her well deserved cuppa in.  Lovely butterfly embossed design in a pretty pastel pink colour this is sure to become a favourite.  The set comes with a small selection of English Breakfast tea.

Ceramic Toast Rack

A pretty pink ceramic toast rack to match the tea cup.  This would make an ideal breakfast in bed gift.  Comes with 2 mini pots of preserve for mum's toast.

Cupcake Stand with Mallow Cupcakes

Pink square shaped footed cake stand, perfect for any mum who loves baking and entertaining.  Except on this special occasion she won't need to bake a cake because the gift set comes with 4 squidgy sweet mallow cupcakes.

Hamper Basket

A pretty little card hamper box complete with 2 large heart shaped cookies and a selection of 4 each of both English Breakfast and Earl Grey teabags.

All of the range is delicate and feminine and just right for an indulgent treat for mum.  They are all brilliantly packaged, each component nice and secure so they'll withstand the rigours of little hands wrapping them up.  

Look out for these items in store at Tesco, and I'm pleased to say that one lucky winner can win the ENTIRE range here on my blog (one of each gift item mentioned above).

To enter, simply complete the rafflecopter to be in with a chance.

In order to ensure that the winner receives their prize in time for Mother's Day, they'll need to respond  by lunchtime on Wednesday 11th March with their postal address.

Open to UK entrants only.  Closing date is midnight on Sunday 8th March 2015.  The prize will be supplied and dispatched by Kimm and Miller's PR agency.

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I was sent the above items for the purposes of this review. All thoughts and photos are my own.