Who needs expensive day trips when you can get outdoors and have fun in your own garden? Well, that's what I said this morning and my two little ones looked at me as though I'd gone loopy for even making that suggestion. Regardless of what they may have thought, I...
What are your top tips for keeping the children amused in the summer holidays? This is the first year I haven't arranged lots of activities for the children and I'm going to see how that goes. Wish me luck eh? My theory is, the children are old enough now to be able...
I love meeting other authors. For me, it's very inspiring and gives me hope that I will one day be in a similar position. It's incredibly hard work though and takes a lot of dedication, as my guest today will tell you. Karen Inglis is a children’s author living in...
I know everyone has a lot on their minds at the moment, what with the political and social meltdown that is consuming our everyday lives (and our Facebook feed). However, I have a problem I'd like your help with and I admit that it's in no way up there on the scale of...
What will the 24th June 2016 mean for the future of the UK? Will we look back on this day and wonder what all the fuss was about, or will we remember the results of the EU Referendum as the day everything changed? A nation divided It seems we are a nation divided, but...
Relationships are vital for our emotional wellbeing. Whether connections between partners, friends, family or work colleagues, the networks of people we surround ourselves with can provide a framework of support in both good and bad times. Human beings are social...
A senseless tragedy that should never have happened It was a normal afternoon, but whilst speaking to my mum on the phone, she said there were police helicopters flying overhead. After we finished talking, she text me back to say local MP Jo Cox had been shot dead...
How do you manage your family's social calendar? I don't know what's gotten in to me at the moment, but I can't seem to stay on top of the family's social calendar. I don't work as an executive PA in the real world for a reason, I suck at it. Tell me, what more can I...
This is my work station at the moment. When I get time to work on my fiction writing, that is. It's been too lovely to sit at a desk staring at the wall. I'd much rather be in the kitchen, looking out over the garden, lush and green as it is at the moment. I'm...
Welcome to week seventy-six of What I’m Writing. If you’re wondering what the heck I’m going on about and where are the other seventy-five weeks, let me explain. You can find all the details about #WhatImWriting here but the short(er) version is, this linky is for all...
Wow, what a day yesterday turned out to be. The Kids Strike against the new SATS testing saw parents up and down the country taking their kids out of school for the day. I was one of those parents and although one person was out to target us with comments about having...
I am not the protesting type. To my shame actually. I'm one of the sheep who just gets on with things. But ever since my son's school called a meeting to show parents the new SATS tests, something has been niggling away at me. First of all, when my older girls sat the...
I’ve been quiet on the blogging front recently. Sometimes, I feel as though I could quite easily spend all my time blogging and never get anything else done. I have to pull myself away from it every now in then so I can concentrate on other projects. That means I’ve...
A weekend ski trip can be more accessible and affordable than you think If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll probably know already that my family and I ski yearly in Pamporovo, Bulgaria. It's the only place I've ever been skiing, so I don't have anything to...
Continuing with the positivity that has seen me through February, I decided to do a bit of Spring cleaning. No, not my house, although it could do with it. I'm talking about this little 'ol blog here. I like to give it a spruce up every couple of years or so and it...
What a difference a month makes. In January I was lost in a sea of illness and chaos. Thankfully, February sees us fighting fit, even the puppy is back to full health. He's six months now and has settled down a bit, which makes it easier for me to work at home too. My...
Read January was so busy and full of illness, that it left me with little energy or enthusiasm for reading. That said, I have an extensive list of books I've read over Christmas. These include: Boston Terrier (Smart Owner's Guide) - As we picked up our Boston Terrier...
I'm glad I didn't make any new year's resolutions, because I would have been bitterly disappointed by now and it's not even the end of January. Work on my novel has come to a standstill whilst I work out where it's going and it seems this has triggered a fiction...
My middle daughter isn't very sporty. She's not as bad as she thinks she is, but she doesn't enjoy it, particularly team sports. Last term, she played netball for the first time (as Goal Keeper) and although learned to tolerate it, she could take it or leave it...
Pain, once subsided, is soon forgotten. You might talk about how painful something was, but you don't truly remember the exact feeling you had at the time you were experiencing it do you? I had an accident coming up to 12 years ago this summer. I was 11 weeks pregnant...