My A/W Wishlist...

I'm not one for asking for things, nor am I one for expecting things, so I've never really done a wishlist or Christmas list before. Anyway, I've found myself grumbling recently with certain things I own and I thought I'd make a note of everything I want or need, If I don't manage to get them by Christmas then I have a goal to work towards until each and every one is ticked off don't I! Afterall, winter doesn't end until March!!

1. Laptop
First things first, boy am I in desperate need of a laptop. It's starting to affect my blogging schedules now as it keeps dying on me or taking 45 minutes and upwards to even turn on. I've done well though - a whole 6 years this baby has run for and it has seen a lorra lorra use!  I like the look of the tablets that can have a keyboard attached, like the Surface Pro  - but at over £700 for the tablet alone it's way out of my league.

What do you use to blog? Any advice?


2.  Hair Straighteners
I don't wear my hair down enough and whilst I love a good kink and wave to a hairstyle, it's frizzy. The kind of frizz only a straightener can tame. THEN I add the waves or kinks to it. Weird aren't I? Now, I'm not a GHD kinda customer, purely because I don't want it to stay straight. So something for frizz like this Remington Frizz Therapy Straightener maybe?


3. New Bed

My back pain has almost completely disappeared since my op and I intend to keep it that way by investing in a new bed.  I actually have a divan base rather than a bed frame so what I'm really hankering after is a new double mattress - preferably an orthapaedic one! I'd love a king size bed but my bedroom just isn't big enough to accommodate that. Is having a smaller wardrobe worth a bigger bed guys?


4. Camera
I've been using my phone to take pictures for the past 2 years. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. It has served me well but I'm due a contract upgrade in November and this time I'll be focusing less on the camera and more on the functions of the device, which means I'll need to buy a separate camera for snapping now. With regards to this point - I have no examples to list. I am literally clueless and I would love your advice - if you have any - on a decent camera that's handbag worthy!


5. Chocolate.
Just because no list is complete without chocolate!

Enjoy... 



...woah!

We're going to Toytopia and you can too! #win

Toytopia. Just the name sounds exciting doesn't it? 

It runs from Saturday 24th October through to Monday 26th October and we're going on the Saturday 24th. Based at The Exhibition Centre in Liverpool I just can't wait as it simply looks and sounds AWESOME. 

toytpia what to expect

Just look at that image! Woah...

A massive 87,000 square feet of pure entertainment and toys galore, not to mention the guest list of characters that will be gracing our presence, for example, Peppa Pig, Dennis the Menace or Ben & Holly.

Tickets start from just £20 per person and, here's a treat, by using the code TOYTOPIA511 you can benefit from a whopping 25% discount right up to 23rd October 11.59am. Visit their site here to get buying those tickets.


**FLASH GIVEAWAY!**

If you're feeling lucky, you'll be pleased to hear that I've 4 tickets for the opening day on Saturday 24th October to give away to one very lucky ducky. All you need to do is head over to our facebook give away post, give us the thumbs up and leave a comment to let me know when you have done for your entry to count. Don't forget to let all your friends know about it too - these tickets are hot right now and in very high demand so spread the word!


So, are you going to Toytopia this year? I'd love to hear what you think!

Ideal World TV Launch New & Exclusive Bissell PowerGlide Cordless #REVIEW

October 10th sees the launch of the new and exclusive Bissell PowerGlide Cordless, an innovative, cordless vacuum available on Ideal World TV and online. I've been fortunate enough to give one a whirl for the purpose of reviewing it coinciding with Ideal World's launch.

That metallic blue colour is lovely!

Cordless really is the way forward in this day and age isn't it? I would never go back to a wired vacuum cleaner, there is simply no going back from the freedom and agility one has without being attached to the walls once you've experienced it for the first time! Thankfully it's pretty lightweight too, further freeing the user from any strain or effort.


It took 2 hours to charge the battery too it's full strength and when the battery pack light changes from red to green - you know you're ready to go.

This vacuum cleaner claims to "offer the longest uninterrupted running time for a cordless vacuum on the market today, meaning you can clean your entire home without the worry of having to re-charge the vacuum." So, I set about checking that claim out and vacuumed my 3 bed semi at a leisurely pace taking around 40 minutes. This included the stairs, the ceilings for any lurking cobwebs and also the skirting boards. Indeed, it lasted throughout without it's power or suction faltering.  


I have carpet in all rooms expect for the kitchen/diner and bathroom which are laminate and lino. I found the vacuum seamlessly adjusted to the different floor types, particularly with the on/off button for the rotating brush rows in the head of the cleaner. For us, talc is particularly difficult to pick up from our carpets so I risked pouring it all over Finley's floor to demonstrate it's suction power...  


The Bissell PowerGlide Cordless has a lift-off function to help clean those hard to reach areas such as the corners of stairs/doorways and even reaching any cobwebs up high! This is one thing that I really missed with owning the Bosch Athlet - the fact that there's no lift off or tubed nozzle to do that.


Lifting off means no balancing of the upright vacuum cleaner on the stairs too. The swivel steering makes for easy navigation and whilst it doesn't lay completely flat to the floor without the head lifting from the ground, it gets about as close as you'd like it to which was good for under beds or sofas for me. 

My opinion of the Bissell Powerglide is, obviously, a good one! I wouldn't pay the retail price of £249 as is from from Bissell direct however don’t forget to tune into the Bissell Powerglide Cordless Show on October 10th at 9pm, on Ideal World TV: www.idealworld.tv,  Sky Channel 654, Freeview 22, Virgin 747 and Freesat 812 to get yours for just £199 exclusively

Now that's more like it! Worth every penny... I just can't fault it.

Lifehack of the Decade PLUS win £20 Amazon Voucher!

What do you do when you you've washed far too much laundry with nowhere left to dry your clothes? 

I'd done a shed load of washing the other day, every radiator in the house was on full blast, full of wet clothes and the washing line was also full. I stood at the french doors just staring outside thinking WTF am I going to do here?! Then, all of a sudden, the rusty cogs inside my mind stirred...


I'm so proud of that little squidgy mass inside my skull. How have I never thought of this before? I managed to get at least 4x the amount I normally would on my line and it dried just as fresh and quickly as always. YESS!!

Anyway... 

Whilst I've been all proud of myself taking pics of my smalls on the washing line, Tracey from One Frazzled Mum has gone self hosted this weekend, something waaaay to nerve-wracking for me to do after being on blogspot for 3 years, and I've pretty much fully recovered from my emergency surgery just over 3 weeks ago so we thought we'd come together and host a giveaway to celebrate. So, here we go.... 



If the Rafflecopter widget doesn't appear above, click on the link 'a Rafflecopter giveaway' and it will open a seperate window in order for you to complete your entires.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!


Please enter correctly we both will check and incorrect entries will be void.
The £20 voucher will be sent via email unless requested not to so can be sent worldwide (the voucher amount will be £20 sterling UK currency)
Rafflecopter entries will close 11.59 pm 1/11/2015
The prize is supplied by myself and Tracey from One Frazzled Mum.
All reasonable attempts will be made to contact the randomly chosen winner and if the prize isn’t claimed by them within 7 days a new winner will be drawn.
This competition is running on two blogs so please leave your mandatory comment on the blog you are entering the competition to get your entry although you can enter on both if you want.


More competitions at: Prizefinder www.theprizefinder.com 

A Mum's Quest for Cheap Stocking Fillers - Help!

When I was recovering from emergency surgery the other week I tweeted a plea. What the heck does a 7 year old boy have in his stocking this year? Surprisingly, or rather not thanks to my mini absence, I received no responses and my life was over. OK. So maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad here. But I was pretty miffed to say the least.

I think as far as those stocking filler prezzies go, we mums wait for things to make themselves known to us, rather than us knowing what we want and for whom. Unless I'm the only one without a clue! 

Help meeee!!

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am still none the wiser as to the smaller gifts a 7 year old boy should be looking at receiving this Christmas. Cue googling "cheap stocking fillers" as some kind of hopeful lifeline to sanity and organisation. 




Ha! I did manage to come across site actually called Stocking Fillers, which was handy to say the least, and a perfect example was this Balloon Powered Boat in the "gifts for boys" section. I've never ever heard of anything like it despite knowing now that it'd be absolutely perfect for Casrson. He would LOVE this so much! I'm pretty surely Finley would love watching it whizz on by too, he does have a thing for bath toys! Guess what too... it's a total steal at just £2.99 as well. 

This boat got my mind jogging... cue searching for "make your own science kits" thinking I'll get some inspo from along those results. Well, I came across a Make Your Own Volcano Kit on ebay for £8.75. Wow it took me right back to Primary School with the papier-mâché and bi-carb! I'm sure he'd love that. 

We all know Carson has an obsession with numbers/dates/times so I thought about a clock making kit. Does it exist? Is it child friendly? Yup! This kit is £14.99 from Happy Puzzle and leaves me super happy, and confident, in the run up to this Christmas!



I guess what my point here regarding christmas presents is that I'm coming to realise that my 7 year old boy doesn't need fancy gadgets or entertainment, but educational wonderment. It's how and why things work that fascinates him and, fortunately for me, education is so much more cost effective over entertainment. Or am I just plain mean in this day and age?!

What are your plans for stocking fillers this year?

Week 4 of the 5:2 Fast Diet Kitchen Challenge

Unfortunately, I was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery just hours after my last post went live which meant that I couldn't participate in the final week of my 4 week challenge in collaboration with Ideal World TV. Whilst it's such a shame to not know if I'd have hit my half stone over the 4 weeks by simply swapping 2 days worth of food and drink with handy pouches of Fast Diet Kitchen meal, I'm just chuffed I'm recovering well from surgery!  

I thought I'd provide you with a quick recap of my experience on the whole in this week's update...

What's the 5:2 diet?
For 5 days per week eat what you want, when you want, just as you normally would. For 2 days of the week though, fast by reducing your calorie intake to just 500 per day (600 for men). As stockists of Fast Diet Kitchen, Ideal World TV  sent me 4 week's worth of meals to see me through my fast days without the hassle of calorie counting myself. 


How was it?
On the whole, I enjoyed it. FDK's meals were hearty, filling and seasoned to perfection. Of the 8 dishes I received I only disliked 1 lunch. Not bad going really! Hunger pains aren't uncommon but keep that water intake up, it makes a massive difference. Additionally, you can buy flavoured coffees that are just 2cal per cup - I very much enjoyed a cup or two of coffee in between the water. I also found it much easier to cope with by being backwards in that I'd have dinner at lunch and lunch at dinner. I've no idea why that worked, but it did!

Any favourite meals?
Scotch Broth and Chicken and Butterbean Stew  were my absolute favourites. They need to sell these individually in supermarkets! I definitely recommend those dishes.

5:2 Diet

Does it work and would I do it again?
Well let me tell you this, I enjoyed takeaways, wine, roast dinners and all sorts, but, in the 3 weeks that I followed the plan for I still managed to lose a whopping 6lb. I feel sure I'd have broken the half stone mark had I have been able to participate in the final week and it didn't even feel like I was trying. Yes I'd do it again and yes I'd use FDK to help me along the way. 


Find out more about FDK over on their website or social media channels.   

The stockists of the FDK plan are
 www.idealworld.tv

Disclaimer: I've been sent the above pictured products for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.
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