For Better or Worse?

Osborne's Solicitors have come up with a fun new app to get couples, or friends chatting about their happy memories and how well you know each other. Do you remember where you met your partner? I met Red Rose Daddy in a nightclub! I was out for a drink and a dance with my cousin and he kept smiling at me across the dance floor. I went across to talk to him (what? I'm a modern woman!) and the rest is history. Here we are nearly five years later with a beautiful family.

I asked my partner a few of the questions and I'm pleased to say he did quite well. He remembered where we met and what I was wearing the night we met. The idea is that you login to the app below using either Facebook or email, answer ten questions then send them to your partner to answer. You'll be notified of their responses and compare them to your own. It's just a little fun but it might take you on a happy trip down memory lane.



Disclaimer: This is a featured guest post

Walkers Hoops and Crosses - A Review

Last weekend we received an intriguing parcel. A box shaped like a shoebox (leading Red Rose Daddy to accuse me of buying shoes online again...who me?)

We quickly opened it up to reveal inside, not more shoes, but a little book, a snack and a new friend. 

The little green book told us all about these new snacks. They are made from wholegrain which is something I have been very conscious of ensuring forms part of my family's diet since we completed the wholegrain challenge back in February. The snacks are baked and don't contain any artificial colours or preservatives which makes them lower in fat, and generally healthier than traditional fried crisps. Each pack weighs in with only 85 calories so they definitely seem to offer a good option for lunchboxes. They are available in three flavours - Roast Beef, Prawn Cocktail and Salt and Vinegar and all flavours are suitable for vegetarians.

Included in the box we received a pack of the Roast Beef Hoops and Crosses, and a new friend - Monty the Monkey. We've all tried the snacks now and they were met with a mixed response. Bud claimed not to like them but it didn't stop his hand creeping into the bowl until they were all gone. I wasn't sure at first but after I tried a couple I found them quite more-ish. Red Rose Daddy said he liked them straight away and that they reminded him of Monster Munch in texture. We do buy crisps in our house as Red Rose Daddy likes to take one in his packed lunch for work and I like the odd pack of salt and vinegar. I think that the pack size is really handy for lunches and they offer a change from traditional crisps.

As for Monty? Well the only member of our household who couldn't try the snacks has really taken to him. Little Miss has been saving some of her best smiles for him, I think he is a hit!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored review but all opinions are open and honest.

Happiness is...

Happiness is...

Smiling, beautiful brown eyes, hugs from chubby arms. A million firsts, a daily adventure  Life, love and laughter with Bud and Little Miss.

Thirty Years of Special K

Special K is thirty years old this year and has invited us bloggers to celebrate with them by looking at our last thirty years and reflecting on how we've changed in that time. This is my entry into the BritMums/Special K How I’ve changed Linky challenge.

This is me, thirty years ago, on holiday in Rhyl. 

and this is me now. 

Ask my mother and she'll tell you I haven't changed a bit. I don't think my smile has changed much but, obviously, I'm a lot taller and a lot older!

I've been thinking about this post for a little while and reflecting on what I would say to my six year old self if I had the chance to plant some ideas in that mind. I wouldn't change my life now for the world but I would be interested to see where I would have ended up if I'd made a few decisions differently so here goes...

Dear Philippa

Actually, we'll start there. You love your name right now but you'll get over it by high school and when you get to my age the only people who will call you that are your parents when they are talking about you. It will be Pippa or Pip to everyone that knows you and that's how you'll refer to yourself.

Keep reading - books will take you on some of the biggest adventures you will ever have, without ever leaving your home. They are a window on worlds you will never know but will be offered to your imagination. 

Keep writing - you'll struggle with this for a while but, when you are me, you'll be writing more than you have done at any other point in your life. You will love it. Don't let anyone else try to take that away with pettiness and harsh comments. It will leave you without a creative outlet for far too long.

Try not to take the easy option - I've done that a few too many times and, while I don't regret it, sometimes I look back and wonder if I would have achieved a few things that I let slide or didn't try hard enough at. When you're looking back over thirty years it can be the outcomes you don't know which weigh heaviest on your heart.

Be a better friend - you are good enough and you are loved. You'll spend an awful lot of time wondering about both of these things and that self doubt will lead you to losing some of the people you have loved most. Don't let that happen, cling on to them with both hands. People are working on a thing in a lab somewhere called the internet right now and that will change everyone's lives. It will also make it easy to keep up with these friends. Just wait until you get email when you're eighteen! There will also be Facebook and Twitter but you'll spend quite enough time on them when you're thirty-six without me talking about them when you're six.

Give your all - Not everyday, no-one can do that. When it matters though. Again, you'll regret those times when you didn't do your best and, while you can happily live with the regret, imagine knowing that you tried your hardest!

 Children - You'll have the biggest adventure of your life in your thirties. Being a Mummy is amazing and will be the best thing you'll ever do. It has answered so many questions, and asked lots more. It's hard, but completely worth it. Try to love every second of it!

Geography - Yes, you will be really good at it but ignore that weaselly English teacher who tells you you won't pass your English Literature A Level and puts you off applying to read English at university. You will get an A. The pleasure of telling him you proved him wrong will be even sweeter if he knows that you are off to study 'his' subject.

And finally...

Tequila - no good will ever come of it. Avoid. That's absolutely all you need to know on that subject! Oh, and those green Dr Martens you throw away aged twenty-six? Big mistake, huge.

I've never been a massive fan of breakfast cereals, I tend to go through phases of eating them and not. Special K has always been a favourite when I am eating them though. To celebrate its thirtieth anniversary Special K has changed and now includes a mixture of three grains, making it into a portion of your wholegrain for the day. I actually think that this has improved the flavour of the cereal and have been really enjoying breakfasting on the box that we were sent. 

Our Fresh Week Meal Plan

 We are supporting Fresh Week this week and, as a result I have pledged to ditch the processed food and cook fresh ingredients for our family meals this week. We won't be eating any pre-prepared food - out go the frozen pizza and chicken nuggets which Bud loves sometimes, and the ready meals I often turn to if I my partner is out for the evening - in comes meals cooked from scratch every lunchtime and evening, with the aid of our Tefal gadgets - the Actifry and Fresh Express.

Monday

Lunch: Baked potatoes with grated cheese and side salad

Dinner: Herb encrusted salmon fillets with fennel gratin, runner beans and new potatoes. Bud will have salmon flaked and the vegetables. Little Miss will have salmon and mashed potato.

Tuesday

Lunch: Pitta Pockets with cooked chicken, lettuce and cucumber. Little Miss will have the same but as finger food. 

Dinner: Slow cooked gammon in cider with mustard mashed potato, purple sprouting broccoli and carrots.

Wednesday

Lunch: Scrambled Eggs and Mushrooms on Toast. Little Miss hasn't tried eggs before, she may have cheese on toast instead.

Dinner: Chicken Risotto with whatever veggies we have in. we'll be shopping tomorrow.

Thursday

Lunch: Leek and Potato Soup, providing the weather is still cool. I'll rethink if it is a lot warmer.

Dinner: Cottage Pie with Potato and Swede mash topping. Green beans to accompany.

Friday

Little Miss and I are out at The Baby Show all day so will be eating on the hoof.

Bud is at Grandma's for lunch.

Dinner for Daddy and Bud will be chicken stir fry with rice.

Saturday

Lunch: Bacon Sandwiches, finger food for Little Miss

Dinner: Homemade burgers, coleslaw and wedges. Little Miss will have some haddock, potato and sweetcorn puree from the freezer. 

Sunday

We're out at Tatton Park Foodie Festival during the day so lunch will be eaten there. 

Dinner: Roast Lemon Chicken with all the trimmings.