Help Me, Dunelm Sleep Sheep! You're my Only Hope!

My title is a play on a line from Star Wars, and I am indeed having my own wars with one particular star, the sun. My new house is brilliantly bright & airy, but my main bedroom at the front of the house gets blasted by the rays each morning. With the nights getting shorter I'm being woken earlier and earlier with my room being lit up like a summer's day, despite having blinds. 

This is an unfiltered or brightened image of my bedroom, with the blinds closed, at 7am this morning. 

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The furry lump is the ever present Mrs Meow, who could probably sleep through a fire ball bursting into the room. 

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This Spring Dunelm are running a campaign to help Britain get a better njght's sleep.  They have a four tier approach which can be layered to fix your particular problems. Barney Blackout is the bleating boy for me.

http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/blinds/blackout-blinds/

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And here he is! Until Dunelm can work with me to get a blackout set up appropriate for my home, perhaps I can sleep with him over my eyes to block out the light! 

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I wonder do Dunelm have a sleep solution for cats who sit on your head in the middle of the night? 

Hot Cross Buns, Easter Bouquets & Biscuits

I've shown you the gorgeous selection of Easter eggs Marks & Spencer have available this spring, but there's more to Easter than just the chocolate. They also have more flavours of hot cross buns than I thought existed, with an offer that lasts all Easter of two packs for £2.50. I mixed and matched flavours and tried the toffee and fudge, and apple varieties.

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There are also delicious hot cross bun flavoured cookies, and lots of Easter treats. 

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And don't forget to stock up on fish for Friday. 

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And brighten up the house with some fresh blooms for spring. 

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Lots of Easter cards for friends who are far away. 

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Cracking Easter Eggs from M&S, & One of them Tweets!

M&S always have amazing, unique Easter eggs that stand out from the rows of branded eggs elsewhere. There are fabulous Frozen and Star Wars eggs, as well as lots of jellies and sweeties for any kids who don't like chocolate. The grown ups' eggs are something special though. The 'egg garden' with butterscotch, raspberry and pistachio flavours was my own pick. 

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30 eggs for your Easter Sunday afternoon egg hunt

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These were our choices to take home. I just love the soft pink chocolate of the Frozen egg. 

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My Easter egg garden! 

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You can even eat the little blue flowers

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My son's choice, as he's DJ crazy. 

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I teased you in the title, and yes, M&S have a tweeting Easter egg this year. It doesn't post tweets, but it does chirp like a chick when you open the top. Inside are chick & egg sweets that taste like orange versions of Percy Pigs. Very cute novelty.

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Monday Morning Musical Doodle Quiz with Happy Toast. How Many Can You Get Right?

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I was resetting my avatar on Twitter, and realised my new one has me morphing into my Happy Toast doodle from 2005! 

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I love browsing the characters on Happy Toast's website 

http://www.happytoast.co.uk/ So I thought I'd post some of his music based doodles here this morning. Why not test your office and see who has the best recognition of pop stars and their signature looks? Get stuck on one? You can ask Happy Toast who is who on www.twitter.com/IamHappyToast 

Round One : Groups and Bands

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Round Two: Single Ladies

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Round Three: the boys

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Round Four: Misc. 

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Cycling, Sushi & Star Wars with Smix

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Big Sunday for us two. Smix (that's my nickname for my son, as he shares a name with my brother so it can get confusing) and I have had a lovely, busy day. After seven and a half years, he can finally ride a bike unassisted!  

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He practiced lots in the garden, then we took to the park. After all that cycling and all that chasing after the bike, we were both dying to get to the new Belfast branch of Yo Sushi! where we had both agreed on having dinner before we went to the Ulster Hall. 

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We've been to Sakura in Belfast before, but I've been to Yo Sushi! any time I've been in London, and I knew the bright branding & video walls would be right up Smix's street. His eyes were popping out of his head. He got the kid's bento box for £7, which we shared, as he of course had to pick something off the sushi train also. Yo Sushi! is totally a beginner's sushi restaurant. There's even a 'help' button on your table to 'summon' your server for assistance. It lights up a little bubble lamp on your table, much to Smix's joy. 

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I was very tempted by the £20 takeaway kits to make sushi at home, maybe next time. 

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So, on to the main event! Light sabres and Ewoks greeted us at the Ulster Hall for the Ulster Orchestra's Sci-fi Weekender. Playing the score from Star Wars, the packed out show had fans of all ages.  

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Smix's bed time is 7pm, and with the concert kicking off at 745pm we were fighting a losing battle. I plied him with Coca Cola, but we only caught a few pieces before he got too sleepy. Still, an excellent experience to hear those songs played live, and with such gusto. Maybe an afternoon concert next time! 

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