Rug Doctor Review: Removing Stains From My Carpet

We've lived in our current home for 4.5 years now and in that time we've had 2 babies. As you can imagine life is a lot busier now and a lot more expensive. There's a list as long as my arm of jobs I'd love to do in the home, but money just isn't there at the moment. One thing I'd love to do is change the carpets throughout the house. They were here when we moved in, so although they are neutral they're not to our choosing. And with 1 boy who has just been potty trained and the other who has regular explosive poonami nappies, you can just imagine what our poor carpets have been through in the last year.

Baking With Kids - Messy Me Apron Review

I've always loved to try new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. In fact that's originally how I started my blog many years ago. I'd bake something, photograph it and share with family and friends what I'd made and the recipe. But since having children I've found it so hard to find the time or energy for it. So although I have all these recipes I'd love to try, maybe I need (for now) to change how I'm doing things.

Butlins Just For Tots: Our Family Holiday

When I was getting close to the end of my pregnancy with our 2nd baby I said we should plan a break away when our baby is a few months old. I thought it would be nice to have something to look forward to, because lets face it having a new born isn't easy. And this time we'd have a toddler and a new born to deal with and I knew I could probably do with a break. We considered our options and in the end Butlins in Skegness seemed like the best option.

Tips for A Working Mum - Petit Fernand Personalised Label Review

Being a parent is hard work no matter your situation, there are pro's and con's to being both a stay at home and working mum. But one thing I've learnt as a working mum who is also the main care giver, is that you really need to be organised to keep on top of things. If you're not organised, you're constantly chasing your tail and rushing to get places and get things done. Not easy when you have young kids, who always seem to want to do things on their own agenda.

I was a working mum, working part time for the good part of a year. Having a husband who works long hours, I was sole parenting the majority of the time Monday to Friday, as well as cooking a lot of the meals and keeping our home clean and tidy. Here's a few of the things that helped me stay sane and on top of things as a working mum. Of course much of the below would work for you no matter what your situation is, but these are the things that helped me as a working mum.

Review: Electric Jukebox

Electric Jukebox is a product suitable for the whole family - from your kids, to your grandparents - there's music on it for everyone. 

https://www.electricjukebox.com/

What is Electric Jukebox?

• Electric Jukebox is the easy-to-use device that turns your TV into a jukebox - the ultimate music machine
• With Electric Jukebox, you get an HDMI TV stick, and a 'point and click' controller with voice search
• There is an easy 2-minute set-up - no complicated tech. Just plug in, connect to wifi, and play.
• You can search for music from our 30 million track catalogue (not just 'new and trending' music, but old classics) by pressing a button and simple saying the artist or track you want to listen to. There are no ads. Listening is unlimited.
• Or, if you're not sure what you want to listen to, Electric Jukebox has hundreds of curated mix tapes to suit every mood/activity (e.g. relax, cooking, dinner party, kids)
• Electric Jukebox is suitable for the whole family - there is a parental lock feature, which blocks explicit content from being played.
• There are lots of celebs who think Electric Jukebox is a cool idea, including Stephen Fry, Alexander Armstrong, Robbie Williams and Alesha Dixon. So, they've decided to become our special music curators - you can check out lots of their exclusive mix tapes on the service too.

What does it look like?

TV isn't included - we assume most people have one of those!

Juices and Smoothies

Wherever you look in the supermarket these days, you'll see "1 of your 5 a day", referring to the fruit and vegetable portions we should be eating. We all know we should be having a regular intake of fruit and veg, but some may struggle to eat the 5 portions a day.

A fantastic way of adding fruit and veg into your daily diet is from having freshly made juice and smoothies. One of my favourites is a green smoothie made with spinach. When I tell people about the smoothie I make, they usually cringe and can't imagine having to drink spinach. But added with juice and fruit, this is a great smoothie to have. I will usually add in some flaxseed (see link below) too, which has great properties and this is an easy way of adding into my diet. For a list of heath properties of spinach click on this link 11 Health Benefits of Spinach.


Green Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

• Large handful of spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 apple (cored and chopped)
• 1 cup of orange juice (freshly squeezed)
• 1/2 cup of water

Optional

• Dessert spoonfull of flaxseed

Preparation

Add the spinach, water, juice and apple to the blender. Start the blender on a low speed, mix until smooth.

Add in the banana and flaxseed and increase the speed. Add in more water if required. Blend till all is mixed well.

Pour into a glass and enjoy

Documentary on Channel 5


On Wednesday 10th July 2013, 8pm (UK) on Channel 5 a new documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead will start, which follows Joe Cross who was 100 lbs over weight. Joe trades in his junk food diet and sets off on a US road trip with a juicer and generator, vowing to only drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for 60 days. Follow the documentary to find out how Joe gets on and maybe you will be inspired to follow Joe's example.


Juicer Machine

If you're looking for a juicer to purchase, it's worth getting one that is good quality so it won't brake after a few uses.

One that can be recommended is the Sage by Heston Blumenthal Nutri Juicer BJE410UK and will be featured in the documentary on Channel 5.

Product Details (taken from Debenhams website)

• Easy cleaning
• HWD: 43 x 39 22 cm
• Warranty: 2 Years repair or replacement with 5 year motor warranty
• 1200w
• Material: Chromed base
• Brushed metal finish
• With bigger 84mm chute for juicing bigger fruits and veggies
• Extracts up to 70% of the nuturients from the fruit
• Long lasting titanium blades
• Dual speed for hard and soft fruits and veggies