Camp Bestival 2013: A-Z

I am sat here shivering.
Shivering?!? It is meant to be June in 7 days.
And June means Summer, yes?
And Summer for me equals camping and festivals.

As you may well know we are big fans of Camp Bestival here and have been going since 2010. One of the main reasons we keep going back is due to the amount of things going on.

Here is just a snippet of what is on the line-up this year...

For more information on all things Camp Bestival 2013 click the link here.

And here is what we thought of last year's festival.

x x x

 

Disclaimer: I received a family ticket in return for a review of this year's festival. As always I will give a fair and honest opinion. 

Family getaway

I've been having a little think about family holidays. That week or two that everybody gets all excited about. A time to get away from everyday life. An escape.
I've been thinking some more and racking my brains for a time that our family holiday didn't involve a tent. Hold on a moment.......nope. Not one.
Now don't get me wrong, I love camping and every year since Edith was 2 we have had a camping and/or festival trip. Sometimes though I crave a bit of comfort and a holiday where I do not have to blow up my bed every other night.
Soon that time will be here.
Soon I will undertake my mission as a Butlin's Ambassador to see for myself what makes this type of resort so popular. I am intrigued. This is all new to me. I either camp and let the children run free or leave the children behind - ha ha - and find a boutique hotel for a couple of nights.


So, a first for us, we will be staying for four nights in a Gold Apartment at Minehead, Somerset, where, amongst other things, we will have a dedicated host, daily housekeeping, exclusive reception and, get this, a dishwasher - that in itself is luxury for me. Having perused the website and flicked through the brochures I know we won't be short of things to do. I also know the children are going to love it and I cannot wait to see how the whole Butlin's experience will shape up for us as a whole.



x x x

 

Disclaimer: This upcoming holiday has been paid for by Butlin's as part of my role as a Butlin's Ambassador. As always my views and opinions are honest and are mine.



Happiness is....

Happiness is....

....losing another pound in the challenge to get to single figures on the dreaded scales.

....a perfectly soft, and chewy in all the right places, flapjack after a workout.

....the realisation that life is actually too short not to enjoy a slice of flapjack.

....the realisation that the number on the scales isn't the be all and end all.

....having a day off at the end of this week - like gold dust in my line of work.

....having a family holiday next week that doesn't involve a tent.

But sod all that.

These arrived in the post today so I'm on countdown until I get myself some me time with another Prosecco fuelled train trip to London!

 

x x x

 

Motivational Words

I haven't blogged about it in a while but I've still been plodding slowly away in the background trying to grind away those pesky pounds. I had that initial burst, a lull, and then slowly, but surely things started to change as posted about here.
It continues to be an up and down journey and I've never declared the words, "I'm on a diet", as that would guarantee failure.
I've watched with interest posts about the 5:2 diet but just know I would not cope on the fast days running around after 6 year olds at work.
Being at work is easier. Breakfast is a bowl of Granola, for lunch I take in a box of healthy crudités - cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes, celery, grapes - a small pot of hummus and a few breadsticks, I forgot the latter yesterday and still survived, then I eat at 5 with the children where I have significantly cut down my portion size and refuse to hoover up their leftovers!
Currently I am back in the zone of exercising, once the children are down for the night. It is this that often gives first and I continue to be an 'All or Nothing' type.
This morning I stepped onto the scales and am so close to crossing the two-digit number barrier - you work it out! - and this motivates me to carry on.

I also look on my Motivation - the words Pinterest board for some arse kicking words of advice when I feel I'm about to slip.

And when I look like that I will be posting a picture!

 

So, what's your motivation?

 

x x x

 

All the above images can be found here from where the original source of image can be located.

Ranty Friday - Size isn't everything

I drive an economical little car which is ideal for my work commute and pootling around in.

It is small. It is not the coolest car in the world - by a long shot.

But IT IS NOT INVISIBLE!

I am fed up with people pulling out in front of me at the last minute.

I am fed up with people in the local country lanes almost running me off the road.

I am fed up with people driving up my bumper as I stick to the village speed limits.

I am fed up with people like the woman this morning, unsurprisingly driving a BMW X5*, hurtling off the main road into the Lane on which I live, coming head to head with me forcing me to stop then just sitting there looking down at me waiting for me to reverse a good 40 metres back up the road.

Feeding the monkeys

So May has arrived and that heralds the start of birthday season in our household.

Alongside the birthdays come the parties and feeding the invited monkeys children that have been carefully selected invited.

Today it's the turn for my baby boy. Five years old?! When? How?!?

Alban has made his food requests and a recent arrival in the post has been added to the list.

So alongside the usual party rings, chocolate fingers and pizza slices - how predictable is my son?! - will be Walkers Baked Hoops and Crosses. These are a low-fat, wholegrain snack which will definitely be finding their way into their lunch boxes too. The kiddies enjoyed the Roast Beef packet and I'll be looking out for my favourite flavour of Walkers - Prawn Cocktail.

Oh, we have also acquired an extra monkey for the party today!

Back to work with some Twinkl

I have done it.

I have gone full circle.

Since having my children I have returned to teaching part-time, resigned from teaching, been a SAHM, returned to work as a Teaching Assistant, upped my time to five days a week, taken on a day of teaching cover and now I have just got myself a part-time teaching job again. Phew!

Following much thought, and discussion with the hubs, we decided this made sense on many levels. Better for the children, better financially, better for my state of mind, all in all a better work/life balance.

Work/life balance is something I know loads of us struggle with and within the teaching profession it is a constant battle. The working week of a teacher can be crazy but there is help out there.

In the past I've spent many hours resourcing for my classroom displays, my lessons, my support groups, for home learning. The list is endless.

This takes time but now I have help at hand in the form of the lovely team at Twinkl - some of whom are actually teachers so add that special touch!



Chocolate creativity - Brownies and Rocky Road Bars

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit excited about going to one of my local supermarkets to carry out my first Collective Bias™ task. My mission was to buy ingredients of our choice to use in some creative baking. You may know by now that I have two children that love to bake, as do I, so the children had to be consulted over this task and the general feeling was that they had an urge for a chocolate fix. We wanted to try something new so we had a quick flick through the cookbooks for ideas and it was decided. We needed ingredients for....

...Gooey Chocolate Brownies & Chocolate Sauce.

And...(our version of) Rocky Road Bars.

Accepting the changing musical tastes of my daughter

Just over 18 months ago I blogged about the suitability of my, then, five year old's playlist as she began to get more interested in the music that we were listening to. I had the usual issues to deal with over selecting music that was suitable for her ears as well as being bearable for us. Luckily she still loves The Killers and listens to Brandon Flowers' Flamingo every night in bed - result. However, she is starting to broaden her horizons and is developing her own tastes. Panic.

What I don't want to do is force my musical taste on her in an effort to avoid the things I don't like. I don't want to smother her choices. I know I will have to bite my tongue - and stuff my ears - over future music that will come into our house, much like my own parents probably did. So, when the Disney Shake it up: I heart music CD arrived in the post today for her to check out I was open minded knowing that she was going to love it, and a little bit apprehensive that I would loathe it.

I reluctantly removed my Two Door Cinema Club CD from the car stereo and let her take control of the music for the drive to swimming. I clutched the steering wheel, prepared my ears and waited....

And. I was pleasantly surprised. The voices weren't too Disneyfied and the tracks were actually ok. Edith loved it. I shook my thang. As you do. I was enjoying the moment as I know it will only be a matter of time when that kind of behaviour will embarrass her to pieces - ha, can't wait for that.

Are you intrigued? Here's what to expect...

Courgette,Tomato & Red Pepper Gratin

I've been really trying to make a conscientious effort with my food lately with regards to trying new recipes whilst watching the calories.

Easier said than done I can tell you.

I've been trying out new soup recipes, which I can just about survive on for a lunch, but by dinner I am craving something a bit more, well, substantial.

BUT, I don't want to completely blow the day's good effort.

It can be difficult.

Last weekend I received this fantastic new cookbook from Yeo Valley...

It is packed full of mouthwatering recipes and images inspired by their very own dairy, farmyard and veg garden. Recipes are clear and easy to follow with the majority showing a finshed product image - I always like this as it gives me something to aim for! The dishes that leapt out at me included Crunchy apple & raspberry granola, Blue cheese & leek tart in cheesy oatmeal pastry, Lemon curd & raisin bread & butter pudding and Chicken & mushroom lasagne.

However, due to it's vegetable content and lack of major carbs, I tackled the.....

...Courgette, tomato & roasted red pepper gratin.

Class

This week the Great British class calculator has been doing the rounds with people either gloating, being despondent or genuinely surprised at its results. I obviously had to have a go, and I may have secretly started to compare myself to other results I saw floating about online. One interesting thing I discovered was that people I knew were spanning the whole seven groups from Elitist to Precariat. Make what you like from that.

If you're interested I came out slap bang in the middle as a New Affluent Worker which apparently makes me 'young, from a working class background and a home owner'. Well, one of those is definitely right; I'm a houseowner. I don't know what the criteria for 'young' is but I feel I may have shifted out of that one by now. And as for the class? I remember my sociology A-level tutor making the statement that I was middle class due to my dad being an accountant. A sweeping generalisation maybe and I don't how true that really was. I was however raised comfortably, my dad worked hard and funded my university education, a fact my husband has always used to have a dig at me, we went to National Trust properties, we were season ticket holders at Norwich City Football Club, we had holidays on the North Norfolk coast - never going abroad as my dad would say "There's far too many lovely places to see in our country". All in all a balanced upbringing not wanting for much.

Glazed Lemon Brownies

Zingy, tangy, lemony, deliciousness in a brownie - or maybe that should be a lemonie?!

So easy to make.

Canal life

So, the sun finally decided to shine in these parts yesterday and as we had messed up our food shopping we decided to postpone our Easter roast until today. Good plan really as it is dull and cold again here.

Yesterday though we got out for a leisurely walk along the local canal at Semington.

Fishbone Bookmarks {#pinaddicts April}

Hey all. I hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend and you have seen some sunshine. We've been having a bit of a lazy school holiday here but I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I have managed to pay some attention to the blog and have got the sewing machine out again. The two have been combined for this month's #pinaddicts challenge.

Fishbone Bookmarks!

I have been desperately trying to read more books lately and occasionally have more than one on the go. I hate turning down corners of pages so thought I would make some more bookmarks.

I made these ones here for a previous challenge if you want to take a peek.

I pinned this image to my #pinaddicts board on Pinterest but the image didn't link to any tutorial so I went about having a go making them from scratch.

Here's how I did it.

WANTED: Blogs to read.

I have a stash of delicious blogs that I am following in my bloglovin' reader but I know there are loads out there that I am missing.
I thought about putting a tweet out for suggestions but then they would be all over the place and I like things to be all neat and tidy and accessible - I'm a little obsessive in this area.
I thought about trawling through the Tots 100 but that's only, well, the Top 100 and I know there are some fantastic blogs out there not at the top of the stash - and also some bloggers not involved in these statistical league tables.
So, I decided to make a linky for blogs.
Any blog that you think I will love and may have missed.

So, do you have a blog that may have slipped off my radar?
Do you have a blog that you think I'll love?

Fantastic.
Just link up a post below and I will come over, have a nose around and spread the love.
Thanks!

x x x