May 14, 2015

The Curious Case of Mrs Meow

May 14, 2015/ Claire Spence

My mysterious stray cat's origins were revealed earlier this month, and it's a bizarre tale alright. It's featured in this week's County Down Spectator, along with a fantastic cartoon by Neal McCullough from http://www.handdrawncreative.co.uk/

Neal is the genius behind my website's logo, and you can tell he knows us as he's dressed us exactly in our usual attire!

Here is the tale of Mrs Meow.

May 12, 2015

Happy Veggies Celebrate National Vegetarian Week at M&S

May 12, 2015/ Claire Spence

National Vegetarian Week runs from 18th - 24th May and it's a great opportunity to discover some meat-free alternative recipes for your family. There are tonnes of resources and recipes on the Vegetarian Society website https://www.vegsoc.org/ , ditto on the Marks and Spencer site http://www.marksandspencer.com/s/food-and-wine/vegetarian-and-healthy

I'm a huge fan of M&S meals, and finding which ones are veggie friendly are really easy. There's also a great list on their site of every single item they sell which would be suitable for vegans. This is really handy, as working out which meals are completely animal product free can be more complicated. http://health.marksandspencer.com/uploads/pdfs/Vegans.pdf

But, onwards to my choices!

For a really straight forward family-sized 'let's try something veggie tonight' you can't beat this huge, rainbow coloured pasta melt.

Of course M&S has a dedicated, all year round, vegetarian selection.

For ready to cook oven veg, try the fresh vegetable section.

Vegetarians are really well catered for in the snack and lunch department. The wasabi mayo potato salad is one of my favourite M&S products EVER.

Waldorf Salad £2 : Wasabi Potato Salad £2 : Falafel Snack £2.70

This feta pasta salad is another one of my own repeat purchases. It's really colourful and delicious.

A few new lunchtime snack items. Really keen to try the sugar snap pea salad with the peanut & coconut cream dip. And I love the little pot with two boiled eggs in it, super even for a snack for a toddler on the go.

Another of the new range, and really these are only a fraction of the veggie options for lunches. No boring egg and onion sandwiches for the M&S veggie!

Here's where I would never have realised you would need a veggie option. I thought sweets were just sweets, but apparently the gelatine used in regular sweets make them unsuitable for vegetarians. Luckily M&S come to the rescue with a wide range of gummy sweets. Each pack is £1.50 or two for £2.50. I tried the veggie Percy Pigs two years ago, and preferred the texture, so I've always bought them when possible. My new favourite are the Percy Pens. I'm embarrassed to say I demolished the whole pack last night!

I also spotted these little strawberry plants for sale. I've tried growing them before and struggled, so if like me you'd love your own strawberry supply, M&S is a great place to start!

Happy vegetarian week, everyone!

May 10, 2015

The Playmobil Victorian Mansion- Mine, and Some Really Cool Mods By Other Homeowners

May 10, 2015/ Claire Spence

This weekend we got my Playmobil Victorian mansion down from the attic. My son and I built it and he's loved putting the rooms together.

Check out these really cool versions that people have modified, starting with the basic mansion kit.

May 03, 2015

Did You Have This Classic Wooden Toy When You Were a Child?

May 03, 2015/ Claire Spence

We've been building train track set ups today. We are lucky to have boxes and boxes of second hand Brio track to play with.

Did you have any of these sets yourself?

You could even have a Brio birthday party in the eighties!

April 23, 2015

Silent Night Help Me Get a Great Night's Sleep

April 23, 2015/ Claire Spence

Last Thursday night I was caught up reading my book, The Three by Sarah Lotz. I pushed through my sleepiness at 11pm as I wanted to keep reading, and when I finished around 1am, suddenly I realised I wasn't sleepy. Usually I'd put something on to watch on my ipad, but instead I tried to stay tech-free and just attempted to sleep. Come 6am I was still lying there sleepless, and when it was that close to getting up time I didn't want to sleep & then feel kind of sick trying to get him to school. So after the school run I just had a nap.

I took to Twitter to have a rant about my sleepless night, and Silent Night Beds tweeted me asking could they send me something to help me next time I'm awake staring at the ceiling.

This morning this gorgeous Sanctuary Spa set arrived, the trademark Silent Night hippo & chick in plush form, and lots of advice on how to avoid sleepless nights. The Sanctuary stuff smells amazing. It reminds me of sun lotion scent, but in a good way that I now smell like I'm on holidays. I've the hand cream on and I'm just sitting smelling my hands.

Look at those goodies! It was almost worth the sleepless night!

The Silent Night site has a dedicated section with tips and facts on sleep including a sleep clinic if you have questions http://www.silentnight.co.uk/sleep-matters/

Some of the main pointers for maintaining good sleep routines are:

1. Having a relaxing, clutter-free sleep environment. Keep the bedroom for bed. No iPads, laptops or phones in bed (this would be a tough one for me!)

2. Have a winding down routine. We used to do this with our kids, half an hour before bed you quiet them down, read a story etc. A relaxing bath perhaps with lavender is also a natural way to make you sleepy.

3. No caffeine before bed. Drink juice or water, or even hot milk.

4. If you wake during the night, don't check the time. You will only start worrying how little sleep you are getting or have left. Just relax, breathe and think about using whatever time is left to relax.

5. Exercise. It can reduce stress and help you sleep more deeply.

6. Eat breakfast 30 mins after waking. Again it starts your body getting used to a routine.

Have you any tips I might be able to add or use? Let me know on Twitter, I'm @rudedoodle, and Silent Night are @silentnightbeds

April 22, 2015

Stocking Up the Pantry for Spring with M&S

April 22, 2015/ Claire Spence

I popped up to Sprucefield M&S today and picked up some wonderful cupboard items to liven up all sorts of meals. Here's what I found.

I love rhubarb, and have repeatedly bought the rhubarb sweet shop fizzy pop from M&S over the years. The new sparkling Rhubarb presse is a little more grown up, with a hint of ginger. Really refreshing. There's a matching cordial which will be great for on the go in a water bottle.

And obviously I couldn't pass these tiny rhubarb crumbles. So cute!

Cordial £2.30 : Presse £2 : Bakes 2 for £4

I'm a sucker for anything coconut too, so I chose these Paradise Slices. The white chocolate fudge sauce will be fab for over ice cream when the weather stays sunny.

Some more sparkling drinks now, Apple & Cucumber and Raspberry & Pear. Brilliant for tee totallers at BBQs

Speaking of BBQs, if you are a fancy grilled rather than just a blackened sausage on a fork type person, M&S has lots of marinades, rubs and wonderous powders to add flavour to your meats. Or you can just stuff a regular burger in a bap and smoother it in relish or fancy lemon mayo.