Silent Sunday

Hula Hooping For The young & Young At Heart

This week has been a wonderful week.  The weather has been gorgeous and we have been staying with my parents.  They have a huge garden so we have been able to enjoy spending lots of time outside. I will be doing another blog post on what we have got up to.

The other day we popped out to Waitrose and Poppy spotted this sparkly purple hula hoop that rattles.  She was so excited and it only cost £5 so I picked it up for her. At just three, I wasn't sure how good she would be but I was surprised at how much fun she has had with it.

Its amazing how great the old toys are and its much more difficult then I remember.  I am hoping that I will be quite good at it by the end of the Summer but at the moment I am a bit rubbish.

My girls are very close to their grandparents and really enjoy spending time with them.  I think you will see this is evident in this very short video clip which I hope will make you smile:

So there you have it, hula hooping for all ages.  The young and young at heart.

Karen x

This Mummy Wants To Feel A Bit More Yummy!

This Mummy really wants to look and feel a little bit yummy so each Saturday I review a beauty, diet or fitness product that I think makes me feel a bit special. Sometimes they are things I have been sent to trial and review and sometimes they are just things I use and love.  However, they will only ever make it on Make me Yummy if I think they really work and that is a promise!

This weeks product from me is TIGI Bed Head After Party.



This is something I discovered at a hair salon years ago and have been using ever since.  I love it. Definitely my secret to shiny, healthy looking hair.

Basically it is a smoothing cream which aims to smooth, straighten de-frizz and make your hair shine.

It is available form a number of hair salons and on-line retailers for about £15. To be honest it lasts for absolutely ages so is definitely worth it. You use such a tiny amount of it. Just a small blob between your palms and then rub it in through your hair.  Its very lightweight, not greasy at all and leaves your hair feeling and smelling gorgeous.

Bed Head After Party is perfect for Mums on the go.  If running late and you don't have time to wash your hair, rub a little bit of this through it, brush it and go. You can use it on wet or dry hair but I like to use it after straightening.

The only thing I don't really like is the shape of the bottle/tube.  It looks a little bit rude!

A fab product and scores a 9/10 from me!

If you have beauty, fashion or fitness tips of your own, products, accessories or events that you think other Mummies would be interested in then feel free to share details.  All you need to do is post a short post, photo or tip and add your name to the linky below.  It can even be a recent review you have done as long as you believe it works for you!

Please do join in and grab the badge too.

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Karen x

Playing Mummy, She Thinks Ironing Is Fun!

After blogging about how much I wanted to be a toy tester here, I think Helen over at The Crazy Kitchen took pity on me and kindly decided to share some of her luck and work load by asking my little girls and I to help her out with this another Toys R Us Toyology review and do a guest post. We were of course delighted to be able to help.

We were asked to review this Casdon ironing set which includes an adjustable Beldray ironing board with storage tray, a Morphy Richards Iron and a clothes horse with 4 clothes hangers. Its aimed at children ages 3-8 years and is available in-store at Toys R Us for a very reasonable £20.

The girls had great fun unwrapping the package when it arrived and Poppy in particular was very impressed. She couldn't wait to start playing at "being Mummy".  This surprised me at first considering Daddy does all the ironing in our house but never mind!  

I went to find some of Rosie's old clothes and she quickly set up this game where she washes the clothes in her washing machine (not included), hangs them on the line to dry and then irons them.  The whole process takes approximately two minutes and she plays it about 100 times a day! I am actually amazed at how much she enjoys it and how busy it keeps her.


Here's a little video clip we have done for you:

The actual board is quite sturdy and adjusts to three different heights.  Its great and she loves it so that's all that matters. The iron doesn't actually do anything. It is not an all singing all dancing one that takes batteries and lights up or make noises but to be honest Mummy quite likes that and Poppy doesn't seem to worry. The only problems she has, is her younger Sister keeps knocking over her clothes horse but this is just a side effect of having a Sister. We give it a massive 8/10 and would definitely recommend it as a great gift for little ones.


Karen x

Stimulate Your Senses With Colour and Light - Luminarium

Living in the South West not too many invites for events come my way so I was delighted to be able to attend this one. It was for the Luminarium at Taurus Crafts, Gloucestershire. It also offered the chance for me to tweet up with The Boy and Me and Jenny Paulin who are both lovely and we all enjoyed a fabulous day today together with our children.

So what is the Luminarium? Well its a huge inflatable walk (100 square meters) in sculpture which is filled with light to create a magical and beautiful stained glass window effect. It is labyrinthine like with tunnels to discover, central pillars, caves and pods. Quite difficult to describe but pretty amazing actually. Visitors are encouraged to relax, wonder and explore. I did do some video footage but am not at home with access to my usual video editing software. I might have to add it in later. In the meantime here is the official video link telling you all about it:

Luminarium, Taurus Crafts from Bridget on Vimeo.

Quite funky, I think you will agree. From the outside it looks rather like a bouncy castle and we did need to remove our shoes. When you first step in to it the light and colour look amazing, it really was quite beautiful.  However, the heat hit us too which was not so good. It was boiling. If you are planning to go, try not to pick a day as gorgeous as today, it was 23 degrees and like a sauna in there. We still had a good time but it was not really the relaxing atmosphere they aim for.

Here are a few photos to share with you:

After visiting the structure I managed to speak to Alan Parkinson, the designer. He told me that he has been designing these structures for approx 26 years and that they have made over 500 exhibitions in 37 countries. Pretty amazing really. Originally designed for children with special needs, they continue to be enjoyed by a broad audience, including the elderly and those with learning difficulties.  Its not difficult to see why they might enjoy and benefit from this whole sensory experience. 

The Luminarium Levity is located at Taurus Crafts, Lydney in the beautiful Forest of Dean from now until 31st July. Not your usual craft centre this is also a social enterprise so therefore the perfect place to host this event. I managed to speak to the lovely Manager, Elizabeth who told me all about the valuable work they do and what they offer:




If you want to visit the luminarium, it costs £3 per person or £10 for a family ticket (either 1 adult & 3 children or for 2 adults & 2 children). 


We thoroughly enjoyed our day out and although I was not asked to write a blog post, I wanted to share with you the experience. I would definitely say it was well worth a visit.

Karen x

Musical Instruments Bring The Family Together

I am a great lover of old fashioned wooden toys and if there is a choice between wooden or plastic I would always go for the wooden ones. I was therefore thrilled to be approached by Wooden Toy Shop to do a toy review.


Bamboozled by the huge array of beautiful wooden toys, I decided to show my eldest daughter the website and let her chose something herself to review. She immediately selected the John Crane Tidlo Musical Instruments. Not a huge fan of noisy toys, in the past I have always refrained from buying this type of toy.  However, we do go to a music group every week which both girls absolutely love so I decided to give in and said "of course, great choice."

This 14 piece Wooden Musical Set costs £28.79 and includes:

• 1x Tambourine
• 2x Castanets
• 2x Maracas
• 2x Paddles
• 2x Rhythm sticks
• 1x Scraper
• 2x Bells
• 1x Triangle

When they arrived I was thrilled to discover that they come in fantastic box which has a magnetic lid and a shoulder strap. This is a great selling point and should be perhaps included in the description. It is perfect for keeping them nice and tidy. After all you wouldn't want toys like this to be thrown in the bottom of a toy box! They are gorgeous, traditional wooden instruments and are very well made. They were also very well wrapped too so arrived in perfect condition.

They are aimed at children 3+.  While Poppy fits the age bracket, Rosie is officially too young. However, having been using instruments like these since she could hold them in the music group, she knew exactly what to do and couldn't wait to get them out. I think you can tell in these photos:

This has been a fantastic toy for us to trial and the whole family have had fun doing it. Check out this short video clip to see how much this box of gorgeous wooden instruments has brought the family together:

If you are holding back on buying musical instruments because you think they are too noisy, don't.  These are perfect and bring hours of fun to the whole family. We love everything about them. I am so pleased I gave in to my little girls and would definitely recommend them to others. They get a massive 10/10 from us. 


Karen x

MUMenTum - Week 12

Hello ladies,

Just a short post this week. I have been using my slimpods and my hotpants and I have actually been shrinking!!!

I ordered a load of new dresses recently in size 12 and they were all too big and had to go back. Part of me was disappointed as they were gorgeous but the other part was excited yipppeee!! 

I am therefore going shopping this week to treat myself and am hoping to fit into a few size 10s! I do have a sneaky suspicion I might be in between sizes but we will have to wait and see. Watch this space for an update.

The past few days have seen me celebrate my Husband and Daughter's birthday so I have been indulging in party food and cake but I am not too worried.  I will just be good again tomorrow.

Hope you girls are all doing okay too. I will be checking out all of your posts this week :-)

Karen x

Poppy is Three!

My Little girls is three today.  Its amazing how time flies.

She shares her Birthday with her Daddy which is pretty special.  As he had to work today we decided to have a family celebration yesterday which was lovely. They opened all their cards and pressies together and then we went out for the day.  We took Poppy's new bike and went to the beach as its long and flat...perfect for bike riding (a whole other blog post).  We had lunch out too.

Today we had  a picnic in the park with all her friends.  it was perfect.  The weather was gorgeous and everyone ran around and played on the climbing frame, swings and slide...even in the sand. We had a huge picnic and even had  a Pepper Pig Birthday cake.  Poppy thoroughly enjoyed herself. For the record her friends are not aliens but i'm only just learning how to distort images:

On the way home Poppy and I stopped to enjoy an ice cream by the river.  Rosie missed out as she was fast asleep.

I cannot believe how fast the past three years have gone.  I wanted to share a few photos with you to show how much she has changed from a beautiful baby to a gorgeous cheeky pre-schooler:

Looking forward to lots more Birthdays.

Karen x

Silent Sunday

Ballet Shoes and Tutus, A Treat For Us Parents

It was Poppy's last ballet lesson before the Summer this morning.  Usually all the parents have to wait outside the door. Its a wooden door with glass panels and we all huddle around trying to peer in and catch a little glimpse of our little princesses. However, for the last lesson of the term we are treated to a mini show and are allowed to sit in and watch.

I now understand why we usually have to wait outside.  All the children kept turning to their parents to wave and smile or say "look at me", "look what I can do" instead of concentrating. It was very cute though and they looked adorable...a vision of pink, fluffy girlyness, just gorgeous!

I for one am very proud of my little ballerina.  She may not be perfect but she listens to her teacher, concentrates hard and does what she is told. Ballet is therefore great for discipline and is good exercise for her too. Its only a half hour lesson but she runs, hops, skips and gallops as well as doing her pilates and stretching exercises.

Because we are usually outside, we can see them but don't know what they have been asked to do.  I was thrilled to discover that the teacher gets them to really use their imaginations and join in.  They act out being fairies, princesses and dolls coming alive as they step out of magic doors.  My little one has a fantastic imagination and I know she loves this sort of thing.

I leave you with a few pictures of my budding ballerina and her friends who look like aliens thanks to my first attempt at distorting photos:

Practising at home

Stretching

Such a cutie

The whole group, Poppy is in the middle looking directly at the camera

That's it until September for now but I ma sure she will be practising at home.

Karen x

Make Me Yummy Blog Hop - Week 8

Its Saturday again already and that means time for another Blog Hop. For those of you who don't know I am on a mission to find beauty, fashion and fitness products/ accessories to make us Mummy's feel a little bit yummier. We are always so busy looking after our children and families we often neglect ourselves so I have been on the hunt to trial things and report back to you those that work.  

I would also like to hear your tips so to join in all you have to do is write a short post or post a picture of something you think will make us feel yummy. Then add your name to the linky and feel free to grab my badge at the bottom too.

This weeks product is Happy feet by LUSH.  

I was fortunate to be sent 2 of these fabulous new products to trial and had to tell you about them immediately.

Happy feet is a limited edition gift for the summer.  It includes three footcare products and is presented in a lovely looking reusable Knot-Wrap bag. Products include a Stepping Stone foot scrub to revive tired feet. A cooling and minty Fair Trade Foot Lotion and a Volcano foot mask to sooth and soften. Each Happy Feet gift also comes with a free download from The Spell CD.

I got to trial the foot scrub and the Volcano foot mask but think it would have been nice to have finished off with the foot lotion too.

First the foot scrub. This smells gorgeous...very similar to avobath which is one of my favourite bath ballistics.  You can see a review I have previously done on them here. It is bright green and has a very citrusy scent.  You basically break a bit off and rub it into tired feet.  It made mine feel all lovely and soft and smell delicious.  A bonus when it comes to your feet.

Trialling the volcano foot mask had my husband in hysterics.  It comes in a little pot, is grey in colour with a grainy texture. You literally rub a bit all over your feet and then wrap them in cling film or plastic bags.  Without any cling film I resorted to carrier bags as you can see from this photo (the things I do for my blog):

I must admit though, after ten minutes of relaxing with my feet like this, my feet felt lovely.  I scrubbed it all off in the shower and it left my feet feeling all kind of clean and zingy!!

I would give these products a huge 9/10 and would love to try the lotion too. I am a huge fan of Lush products anyway and am going to add these products to my list of favourites.

So that's me for this week, over to you now.  Cant wait to read all your top tips and discover some new products for myself.  dont forget to grab my badge if you wish.

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Karen x

Fabulous Giveaway with Poppy Sparkles

I have treated myself and my girls this week to a little pressie from one of my favourite bloggers and her online shop, Viv at Poppy Sparkles.  If you haven't heard of her before she sells beautiful things, all girly and sparkly including Handcrafted jewellery using quality materials, like Swarovski crystal, Freshwater pearls and sterling silver. She also sells gorgeous flower corsages which you can have made into either broaches or hair accessories. 

I ordered a pink poka dot flower hair clip for my little girls, which she kindly put onto an alligator clip for them. The treat for me was this gorgeous Spotalicious Necklace in hot pink.  Its currently in the sale for £18.20 and I love it:

Both are absolutely gorgeous and came beautifully wrapped which made me feel very special.  The hair clip came wrapped in hot pink tissue paper and the necklace came in one of her brand new boxes. I was apparently one of the first to receive one of these. They are white with the logo on and tied with a think pink ribbon, very simple but perfect! I will definitely be going back for more.


Hair accessories are sold in singles for £5.50 or pairs for £10 and are available in a variety of clours including custom or School colours too. So your little one can still look pretty without breaking school uniform policy.

I was so thrilled with my goodies I have organised a giveaway on my page. One of you lucky readers will have the chance to win this fantastic prize:

Three hand-sewn Ribbon Flower corsages from Poppy Sparkles as a brooch, hair tie, hair clip or hair grip and your choice of colours from those in stock (choose a matching set or all different, it's up to you!).  Perhaps one for mummy and a treat for your little girl?

A sample of some to choose from

This is a fabulous prize and I am very jealous I can't enter. If you're too impatient to wait to see if you've won, or you have your eye on other lovelies from Poppy Sparkles, use the code YUMMYMUMMY to receive 10% off your order until the end of August 2011 from www.poppysparkles.co.uk.

So to win:

All you have to do is follow me on Google Friends Connect and leave me a comment below saying why you would like to win.

For an extra chance you can also

• Tweet the following "I have entered to win a fabulous giveaway of gorgeous hair accessories with @PoppySparkles_ and @wouldliketobe at http://bit.ly/pJjEp3"
• Like my FB page (there is  a like button on the right hand side of my blog
• Like Poppy Sparkles FB page
• Follow Poppy Sparkles on Twitter

Please leave a separate comment for each of these.  You can have a maximum of five entries. Oh and don't forget to leave a way to contact you, ie twitter id, Facebook or email.

The competition is open until 7pm Friday 29th July and the winner will be picked randomly and announced shortly after.

Good Luck

Karen x

Prepared For Everything Thanks To Savlon

I very excited to receive this fantastic goody bag from Savlon and Lypsyl. Now if any of the girls fall over and hurt themselves (or each other) this Summer, thanks to them I now feel ready for anything:

Talking about Savlon, they are the sponsors of Play day.  Have you heard about this yet? No? well if not, don't worry I have the details here for you.  

Wednesday 3rd August 2011 is  National Play Day. This follows research recently undertook by Savlon which shows that the children of today just do not get outdoors and play as much as they used to.  For example their research showed that: 

• 42 per cent of children have never made a daisy chain
• 32 per cent have never climbed a tree
• a quarter of children have never rolled down a hill
• a third of children have never played hopscotch 
• one in ten children have never ridden a bike    

Shocking isn't it? Well I for one make sure my girls get outside daily.  We don't have much of a garden but do have a patio area with a small trampoline and garden toys on it including hopskotch.  We also have play parks nearby and lots of rolling countryside and beaches. We go out as a family every weekend as we all love being outdoors and best of all its free. 


Getting out and about doesn't cost anything so why aren't we all doing it? My eldest loves going to the beach, running, splashing, throwing pebbles into the sea and crabbing. She also loves splashing in puddles and picking up sticks and leaves to make pictures with at home. The youngest loves the feel of the wind in her face...it makes her giggle and she loves looking around at everything.

Anyway back to Play day.  You can find all the information you will need here on both play dates in your area or hosting your own.  It doesn't matter how big or small the event is, its just all about getting our children playing outside. I am definitely going to be doing something here in Dartmouth.  If anyone wants to join me my email is:

 wouldliketobeayummymumy at gmail dot com. 

Happy playing and thank you Savlon.


Karen x

Guest Toyologist Review - The Tomy Aquadoodle with Animal Magic Sounds

For this post only

I was thrilled to have won the opportunity to become a Guest Toyologist with the lovely Jenny at Edspire. I would have loved to have been a Toyologist and made it to the shortlist but not to the top 10, so this was a fantastic opportunity for me (wouldn't that badge look fab on my page?)

We were asked to test the Tomy Aquadoodle with Animal Magic Sounds. It costs £24.99 at Toys R Us and is for children aged 18months+. My girls are one and almost three years. Although Rosie is officially too young for it, she did have a go and enjoyed herself.

Like me, Poppy and Rosie were very excited at the idea of becoming Toyologists and took their jobs very seriously.  As soon as they saw the box, they were itching to get it out. Unfortunately it did not come with batteries though so we had to wait a day until we could get them.

Once we had the batteries and were ready to go, the girls had a great time. This product basically does what it says on the tin. Its a drawing mat and water pen.  You simply fill the pen with water, choose one of the farmyard animals and doodle away to the sounds.  Even if your little ones drawing isn't up to much, it doesn't matter because as they scribble they will reveal hidden images on the mat! As it dries, the pictures will fade and they can start all over again.

To help show how to use it we have a little video clip for you:

Your little ones will have great fun with this time and time again and Mums will like it too as there is no mess!

I am not sure the animal sounds really add to the experience but I think my girls would say differently. Also being very girly, we are not that keen on the colour green so would have liked to have revealed more colours.  If I was being picky, I would ask for batteries and an extra water pen to be included too. However, we still give it a score of 8/10.

Here are a few photos of them enjoying themselves with it:

So there you have it a great toy for little ones especially if you don't like mess but if you do go out to buy one, don't forget your batteries!

Karen x

The Power of Blogging .... I Never Expected That

When I started out blogging back in January I did not know what to expect. I thought perhaps my blog might be a kind of journal.  Recording what we get up to as a family and something my parents and Sister might occupationally dip into.

When I set it up, I didn't really think too much about the name, the direction it might go or even about followers.  I didn't even read any other blogs before doing it myself. I certainly didn't expect to meet so many like-minded people, make new friends or that I would get to meet them at a big event called Cybermummy! This year has been truly amazing.

I definitely didn't realise how my blog would give me a voice, the power it would offer to make me heard.

Let me show you what I mean.

Two weeks ago we had some new furniture delivered.  Unfortunately it was not up to the standard we were expecting.  We contacted the company - Oak Furniture Land and after several phone calls we decided to take a full refund.  However, we were left feeling very unsatisfied with the situation. We felt as though we had been let down by the company and were still without the furniture we had saved so hard for.

Then I wrote a blog post.  You can read it here. I sent a link to it to the Company and thought nothing more of it.  I didn't write the post for a response.  I wrote it because I had various feelings that I need to vent anger, frustration, disappointment etc. I thought the company should also know about our dealings with their Customer Services team.

A few days later I had a message on Twitter and my blog post saying that someone would be in touch. Sure enough they were. The Customer Services Manager rang to say that they were aware of the blog post and deeply unhappy that we were feeling the way we were and of our situation. He told me that he needed a few days but that he and the  Head of Sales were going to look at the furniture we had received and would get back to me with a solution.

Two days later he rang back as promised and agreed with everything I said. He told me that they had seen the furniture and that it was definitely not to the right standard.  They had discovered a faulty batch and that it was on the way back to the factory with a full report.  He also told me that he recognised a training need within Customer Services and that he would put this right.

I am very happy with the way our situation has been dealt with since and would like to thank the Company for that. I managed to speak to someone sensible that has apologised for the furniture and the way we were treated.  He has now put aside some new furniture which both he and the Head of Sales have physically seen and inspected for themselves and guarantee it is of the right standard. We have also kindly been given a discount for our inconvenience. We are now just waiting for a new delivery date.

However, without my blog this would not have happened.  We would still be without furniture and the company would not have been aware of the faulty batch or the need for training.

This experience has shown me what a fantastic platform my blog is for making myself heard..... I never expected that!

Karen x

MUMenTum - Week 11

Hello again,

Wow its been 11 weeks we have been doing this for .....its amazing.  For me things have changed drastically since the start.  The main thing is I am no longer on a diet!! Thats right no more dieting for me.

I have ditched the diet and instead have been listening to my Thinking Slimmer Slimpods and have been wearing my Hotpants and guess what?  I feel great!

I even went out this week and brought a pair of little white shorts for the summer.  They were a size 12 and I slipped them on without undoing the zip or button...amazing! We still have a few weeks left before husband is on holiday so maybe I should try them on in a 10...not sure they will fit over my bottom though! I will have a think about it.

Now I am not claiming to have dropped a dress size yet but I am feeling slimmer.  I could probably safely lose another stone and believe I will but not through cutting carbs.  No I am going to continue the way I am.

Now I have been slacking on the exercise lately but managed an hour on the cross trainer yesterday and felt good.  Therefore this week my aims are:

• 1/2- 1 hour exercise 6 days a week
• Wear my hotpants
• Listen to my slimpods every night
• Continue drinking lots of water
• Continue with fruit tea 

I am a bit annoyed with myself as I seem to have misplaced my measurements again. To be honest I think little Miss is getting taller and has moved it along with £25 pounds. Anyway, I will be measuring again to record my progress too.

Hope you are all doing well too and look forward to reading all your posts.

If you are checking this out for the first time all you need is a  MUM TUM, write a post, grab the badge and add your name to the linky.  We are all very supportive and appreciate new members :-)

Karen x

SIlent Sunday

Trust Me To Test Your Toys!

Hi my name is Karen and I really really would like our family to become toy testers!

I made it to the top 25 to become a Toys R Us Toyologist but unfortunately not the top 10.  You can check out my review here:

Review of the Leapfrof Leaptop

Then I entered and won a competition to become a Toyologist for a day with Jenny aka Edspire. You can see my review here:

Tomy Aquadoodle With Animal Sounds

Here is another review I did just for fun:

Review of the Evenflo Exersaucer

I discovered recently that I have missed the opportunity to apply to review toys with the fabulous Toyjeanius and Letterbox. How frustrating! I don't understand how I missed them as I was following them both on Twitter and am on there daily. I could kick myself.

If any companies out there would like me to review toys for them I would be really happy to.  I am very keen and enthusiastic.  I also have two beautiful girls who love playing as well as being photographed and videoed which always helps. You can contact me on:

 wouldliketobeayummymummy at gmail dot com

If you happen to be a blogger just passing, who knows of companies looking then please do give me a nudge in the right direction! I just don't know how I keep missing them all.

Many thanks

Karen x

Make Me Yummy Blog Hop - Week 7

Its Saturday again and time for another blog hop.  For those of you who don't know I am on a mission to find beauty, fashion and fitness products that really work and will make us Mummy's feel that little bit yummier.

This week my fabulous finds are lush products.  I have been a huge fan of Lush since they first opened but recently I was fortunate enough to be sent some lush products to trial and review including Avobath and Sugar Scrub.

Avobath is one of the Lush bath ballistics.  At only £2.99 for 180g these really do not cost the earth and are a lovely treat for mum's at the end of the day.  This one happens to be my favourite one.  It has  a gorgeous citrus scent that is really quite delicious. 

Fresh avocados are mixed in with the fruit and lemongrass to leave your skin feeling super soft and silky. Once you have filled your bath with lots of lovely warm water, drop it in and watch it turn the water into a shimmering green pool.  Sometimes as an extra treat I like to add a few bubbles too.... heavenly!! A great product and one you will always find in my bathroom.

Even with skin as sensitive as mine these Lush ballistics are great and score a massive 10/10 from me.  There really isn't anything I would change about them.  They also do a huge variety of scents and colours so there truly is something for everyone.

The sugar scrub costs £2.65 for 100g so again not too expensive. This fab new product looks and smells pretty similar to the avobath but is very different 

"Its no nonsense stance stimulates activity and tackles cellulite with fennel and ginger. Skin calming lavender has a balancing effect. Get yourself wet in the shower or bath, but don't let the bar get under the running water or it'll be lost before it can prove itself. Scrub, scrub, scrub and rinse away. It doesn't waste any time getting down to business". 

Although I don't have cellulite I definitely liked the way my skin felt after using it.  It felt amazingly clean, smooth and fresh.  I will mention that it is quite scratchy but I quite like that...you might not.  Also its quite hard making sure it does not all disintegrate too quickly.  Try snapping a bit of and just using that bit. I would give it a score of 8/10.

So come on then ladies, what are your favourite products, tips or accessories that make you feel yummy?  Please share.  Just write a post or take a photo and add your name to the linky.  Feel free to grab my badge too.

Karen x

For the record I was sent one advobath ballistic and  one Sugar Scrub to try but all words and opinions are my own.  Watch this space too for more lush review's as I have been sent a variety of other new products to try including some for men (Husband is kindly helping out).

What If We Didn't Have Teeth?

Teething - why does it have to hurt so much? My poor little baby went to bed and woke up 40 minutes later screaming in pain.  She only ever wakes up if teething or poorly and it will be in the evening not the middle of the night.

Earlier today I noticed the amount of drool had increased significantly so guessed a few might be on their way. She has had the required amount of medicine.  She has had Ashton & Parsons and she has had the gel. When I put the gel in her mouth I could feel her top gums were bulging,  I think perhaps two might be trying to force their way down inside her mouth.

What next?  I havebeen in three times. I have given her a little cuddle, I have laid her down and ssshhh patted her bottom and she has settled for a while.  I hope that's it but don't believe it will be.  Oh and she has been wearing one of those amber teething necklaces for a week too.

Children go through all this pain to get their teeth and then they just all go and fall out!!  They then get adult teeth which are bigger...does that mean more pain?  Then when you get older they just fall out again. Its just horrible! It got me thinking what if we didn't have teeth?

Obviously we would have difficulties eating, which would be a problem. So then I started thinking what we could do instead.

Maybe we could all be born with full size adult ones which never fall out.....but then breast feeding would not be an option so I guess that wouldn't work.

Maybe we could all just get given a set by the Dentist when you get to a certain age.  Of course they would never need treating and would not fall out.  That would be fantastic!

Oh dear, she is screaming again so that's the end of my hypothetical what if's and I'm off to check her.  All teething advice welcome

Karen x

Frozen ipod had me all in a panic

Last night was a nightmare and made me wonder if I have an addictive personality.

A few weeks ago I was addicted to chocolate...like seriously addicted.  if I didn't eat it, I thought about it frequently and craved it every single day.   After listening to my Chocoholic Cure Slimpod for 8 days I was soon "cured" of this but now I am afraid I am addicted to my Slimpod's (I have drop a dress size and a chill out one too). Last night is my reasoning for questioning my behaviour.

I got into bed as usual, put my ear phones in as usual and went to listen to my Slimpods... BUT OH NO! It had frozen.  There was a Check sign on the screen. The top said "Disk Mode" and the Bottom read "OK to disconnect".

I phoned Husband at work in a bit of a state but he couldn't help me off the top off his head.  So I settled down for the night feeling a bit panicky. Two seconds later I thought I am never going to get to sleep this is going to annoy me so I turned the lamp back on again and looked it up on my phone.

I found these instructions:

To turn iPod Disk mode off:

1. Toggle the hold switch on and off
2. Press and Hold the Select and the Menu button for more than ten seconds
3. The normal selection screen should appear, your iPod is out of Disk mode.

Sounds straight forward right?....Wrong. What on earth does toggle mean? Is it wiggle, keep pressing, I was not sure.  I tried it all and it was still frozen.

Then I looked it up again and found these instructions in English:

In order to take the iPod out of Disk Mode, you will have to reset the iPod. To do this, press and hold the Center and Menu buttons together until the Apple logo appears. That should do the trick.

Phew that did it.

So panic over, I settled down happily with my Slimpod's and was fast asleep even before the end of the first one. However, I couldn't believe the way I felt when I thought I wasn't going to be able to listen to them for one night. It certainly wasn't something I was expecting.  Has any one else experienced anything like this?

Karen x