Joanne Mallon is a freelance journalist and life and career coach, and I've been following her blog Joanne the Coach for a while because she's written a book called Toddlers: An Instruction Manual. The book, available through Amazon and as a Kindle download features advice from over 60 bloggers, and is helping to raise money for the family support charity Home-Start. She very kindly agreed to write a blog post on dealing with tantrums whilst I am … [Read more...]
Project 366 week 6
I'm thrilled that it's almost the middle of February as my life has been on hold waiting for an operation since the beginning of the year. Of course, winter hit a Siberian-vengance this week, with the snow overnight coating even the sea. The Girls were in snow-angel heaven. I was snuggling in front of a warm fire and DH was doing all the cooking to keep us warm. Nevertheless we weren't snowed in, so were able, as is our regular wont, to see … [Read more...]
Valentines treats: White Chocolate Fudge and Strawberry Creams
When I went looking for some treats to make for Valentine's Day, I headed over to Baking Mad, which has a brilliant database for all kinds of recipes, savoury or sweet. Whether you want to make bread or Valentine's Cupcakes, they have something for everyone. And boy did I score huge points with DH when I whipped up a batch of White Chocolate Fudge. Simple to make, delicious to eat, the only downside was losing my sugar thermometer down the back … [Read more...]
Super simple Heart bookmarks
Sometimes you need something to distract two small children from pulling each others' hair out. My distraction took the form of a couple of envelopes. I cut hearts out of each corner and got The Girls to colour them in. It would have been easier for The Girls I think, had I got them to colour first and cut second. Either way, the end result is a set of handmade love token book marks for Granny, and two happily … [Read more...]
Fabulous Bakin’ Boys Mini Muffins
There are certain things that could precipitate divorce at DG Manor. Refusing free cake when it is offered is one of them. So I said yes. Not that this was a challenge, since the cake that was on offer was from the Fabulous Bakin' Boys, with whom I am quite familiar (not a euphemism.) I cannot recommend their chocolate flapjacks enough: they got me through two fairly epic six-day baby-related hospital stays. They may also have contributed to … [Read more...]
Simple upcycled spoon plant markers
I've seen quite a few plant marker posts on Pinterest, my spiritual home. Sadly they seem to involved metal stamping of some kind and that, quite frankly, is beyond my threshold of what-can-be-reasonably-achieved-in-my-lifetime. I'm fairly sure that the tools required would throw DH over the edge and may force him to move into his as-yet-unfinished-man-shed and never return. But I am nothing if not inventive. Aside from the fact that our … [Read more...]
My twitter policy: what’s yours?
I saw a post about twitter policy on Laptops and Lullabies, in which Laura put forward her strategy, for want of a better word for using Twitter. I like having a manifesto for how you approach social media. I have come to realise that I know more than I thought, which is thrilling, but I also think that it is worth taking stock periodically and working out how you use the social media sites you frequent, and what you hope to gain from your … [Read more...]
