8:20 dawns and Bud, Little Miss and I don our protective gear (coats, hats, gloves) and prepare to embark. Until September this year I was blissfully unaware of the daily struggle and drama parents and carers have to go through to get their children to nursery or school. Our nursery run takes around twenty minutes.We walk along local streets. I'd love to say that it was a pleasant walk, where Bud and I can chat about what will happen at nursery on the way there, and what he has been up to when we're on our way home. I'd love to but I can't.
Our twenty minute walk increasingly feels like a military assault course. Firstly there is the
dog mess which carpets the pavements in our area. I have to check the wheels of the pram every time I get home. Thankfully we haven't had an incident for a while but a few weeks ago I had the fun job of attempting to clean Bud's shoe on the way to nursery without wipes or tissues. A great start to the day. I think our council have been cleaning the pavements recently, and we've had a bit more rain which has helped, still, I'd rather our council tax could be spent on essential services rather than cleaning up after lazy, irresponsible dog owners.
So, once we've safely navigated the deposits, the next obstacle is a huge building site which, in the council's wisdom has been created by the decision to dig up one of the green spaces in our area. This is probably another rant in itself but this was a favourite spot for children to play football and had many mature trees, all wiped out in favour of some new houses. The site office is across the street we have to walk down so a mass of mud, sand, building rubble and mess lies strewn across the pavements, great to push the pram over. There always seems to be some kind of plant vehicle leaving or entering the site just as we're walking past too.
We can usually arrive at nursery in one piece but that's when the fun really starts for me and LM. We walk past a primary school which starts slightly later than nursery so on our way home we hit the peak of drop-off time there. I can only assume that the average parent driving their children to school leaves their brain at home when they lock the front door as the way people park is, frankly, appalling. The roads around the school are narrow and on both sides are no parking at any time. Apparently that means 'no parking, except for me' to any parents taking their children there. Last week we were subjected to a car parked on the pavement across the street from the school. Not just two wheels, all four wheels were on the pavement. It was impossible to get past with the pushchair so I ended up crossing the street and trying to navigate against the flow of children trying to get into school. So much fun. This morning there was a car parked on the corner of the school driveway. I can only assume that the person driving had looked carefully to find the most inconvenient spot to leave their vehicle and parked accordingly.
Added to this, our journey home takes us down a street which is being dug up, and the 'diversion' for pedestrians has clearly been constructed by someone with no sense of how people walk on pavements as it is virtually impossible for me to get the pram through it, which forces us into the road. The icing on the cake is that this will contribute further to the appalling condition of the pavements in our area which are so rutted and in such a poor state that I often get the pram wheels stuck. The final battle is with our neighbour, who has enormous hedges and still parks his car half on the pavement, leaving around a foot of space to get through. The pushchair is significantly wider than that so we're onto the road again.
I genuinely feel like it is a daily battle to get my children to and from nursery safely. It shouldn't be this hard, just a little consideration for others would greatly improve everyone's lives, well apart from those who might have to pick up a bit more dog poo or walk their children a little further to nursery but, hey, it's the greater good. The best part is that I get home at 9:05 and have to leave again at 11:15 to start it all again.
November is here already and my thoughts are turning to making sure our home is ready for the festive season and will look the very best it can in December. I love browsing online for beautiful decorations, both for our tree and our rooms, but this year my thoughts have turned to the outside of our home and I'm seriously considering buying something to make our front garden look magical too.
We have a square yard which is lined with hedges so we can't really have anything at floor level. Well, we could but no-one would see it which renders having it slightly pointless. I've been thinking about lights for the outside of our home, like these fantastic LED Icicle Lights from the Christmas Lighting range at White Stores. I think a two or three chains of these around our eaves or the canopy for our front door would look really festive.
Christmas decorations have moved on so much in the last few years and it is wonderful to see how people decorate their homes. I'd love to be able to go for something really dramatic in our front garden, like one of these
LED Blossom Trees. The largest of these is 2.5 metres tall so would be a striking addition to any home, or garden and would make a wonderful alternative to a more traditional Christmas tree. I think they would work really well in a retail or gallery setting, especially somewhere with a very stylised design where a striking lighting installation would offer the Christmas feeling without compromising their aesthetic.
Of course, when you have small children around then they are usually a little less keen on sleek, modern design and rather more in favour of light up penguins, Father Christmases and reindeer. That's probably exactly as it should be. I think, whatever we decide to opt for, it will be great to add that touch of sparkle to the outside of our home this Christmas.
Do you decorate the outside of your home at Christmas? I'd love to know what you have planned for this year.
Brought to you in collaboration with White Stores.
Remembrance Sunday is an important day in our year. Red Rose Daddy is an Explorer Scout leader so the Sunday nearest to the 11th of November finds him on parade with his scouts and us in the crowd at our local war memorial joining with our local community to remember the fallen. I've written about my experiences before in this post - Remembrance - and it's one that I am most proud of.
When we were offered the opportunity to review a couple of items from Arthur Price's range of Remembrance items, sold in aid of the Royal British Legion Women's Section, I was keen to do so. The range, called 'Remember' is the first non-tableware range from Arthur Price since 2010 and offers a selection of items, each printed with a specially designed poppy print. Arthur Price have teamed up with Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen to create the range and it includes a tablet cover, tote bag, umbrella, mug and notebook.
I was sent the mug and umbrella and I've been very pleased with both items. They both feature the all over poppy print which I really like. It reminds me of the Arts and Crafts movement, and designers like William Morris and the amazing wallpapers they created. The design is carried around the mug and on to the handle with an accent of poppies inside the mug, as well as the word 'Remember'. I'm fairly fussy about mugs and I like one. It's a nice shape and feels good in my hand. It's especially good for a cup of herbal tea as the bright white inside makes the colour stand out well.
The umbrella is a ladies umbrella. It's a good size which easily covers me and Bud when we are out for a walk. The canopy measures 24" which is perfect for us. I was really impressed by the automatic mechanism for opening the umbrella. A square silver button sits on the handle and with one press, opens up the umbrella. No shaking or flicking to ensure it is properly opened, it just pops up. Great for when you are caught in a sudden shower. The umbrella features the same vibrant poppy print as the mug, with accents from the Arthur Price logo and that of the Royal British Legion Women's Section.
A proportion of the sales of all of the items will go towards the Royal British Legion Women's Section. This is a membership organisation for women which serves the serving, and ex-serving military community. Formed in 1921 the organisation continues to support thousands of men, women and children in the Armed Forces community through scholarships, annuities, family welfare breaks and direct grants. You can find out more information on their
About Us page.
Please visit the
Arthur Price website for more information on their range of products.
Disclosure: I was sent these items for review purposes and to publicise the charity campaign
Bud loves to bake and it's a great fun way to while away an afternoon. Lot's of baking supplies for children can be more toy-like than for serious baking so when Pyrex sent us a couple of items from their fab Flexi Twist for Kids range, the most difficult decision was which to use first and what to bake.
The Pyrex Flexi Twist for Kids range is a bright, colourful range featuring numbers, Happy Birthday and circus themed designs. Every item has the reassuring Pyrex quality, with high grade silicone which can withstand temperatures of up to 240°C. All of the products are Bisphenol-free too which is reassuring for parents.
We were sent the Numbers Cake Tray and the Circus Moulds Set. The Numbers Cake Tray is a large mould which has the numbers from 1-10 embossed in it. It makes a large, shallow cake which is perfect for tea parties. The Circus moulds feature a lion, clown and an elephant.
Bud is rather obsessed by muffins at the moment and these are his favourite thing to bake so we decided to give our usual muffin cases a rest and use the Circus moulds to make some larger muffins instead. We used a simple muffin recipe and Bud got busy stirring the mix. We half filled the moulds with our muffin mix then added the all important chocolate chips. I stood them in a baking tray to ensure that they were secure in the oven.
After twenty minutes our muffins were ready and we were very pleased with the results. They were shiny and glossy and looked very tempting. After a few minutes cooling in the moulds we simply turned them upside down and out they popped. You can see a textured area on each side of the mould, this is so you can firmly grip it and then twist it to remove it if needed, I had lightly greased the moulds so we didn't need to at all.
I was really impressed by how clear the detail was that each mould had embossed on to the muffin. They looked great, especially the clown mould and the fun design means that you don't need icing. If you do decide to ice then your children could follow the lines of the design to make it look really great.
All we had left to do was taste them and we really weren't disappointed. The Pyrex Flexi Twist for Kids range gets a big thumbs up from us.
Pyrex is a trademark of Corning Inc, used by permission.
If you would like to know more, please visit their:
Website: http://www.pyrex.eu
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PyrexUKOfficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PyrexUKOfficial
Disclosure: We were sent these items for review purposes, all opinions are my own.
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