7 Easy and Fun Art Projects for Kids Aged 7+ With the summer holidays fast approaching you might be feeling apprehensive about keeping the kids occupied all the time. I know I am! Especially on rainy days and days your purse is empty, or you can’t bear to watch the… Read More »7 Easy and Fun Art Projects for Kids Aged 7+
I have been trying to figure out how to write this blog post without actually saying anything. Or rather, saying too much! If I write about my kids or share images, I have to ask their permission first and there are some topics that would be an awkward invasion of… Read More »What does it mean to be a ‘good enough’ parent?
Barley, Cranberry and Rhubarb Yoghurt Loaf This is a typical yoghurt bread recipe but I added some rhubarb yoghurt and cranberries to add some sweetness for a teatime treat. You could make this sweet loaf with any flavour of yoghurt or just keep it plain and simple and use only… Read More »Barley, Cranberry and Rhubarb Yoghurt Loaf
Some of the (well) hidden perks of having a teenager We have two teenagers in the house at the moment and in September we’ll have three (actually four if you count the visiting Spanish student). If you mention the word teenager in polite company you are often met with knowing grins and a… Read More »Some of the (well) hidden perks of having a teenager
Yes, you can learn to draw, if you really want to. Like riding a bike or learning to swim, it is a skill that you can develop as an adult
The good, the bad and the downright uuuugleee… Most of the battles with our kids are about their screens. We have four children, two teenagers and two tweens, so that all adds up to quite a lot of battling! We fight over how much time they spend on them, how… Read More »Struggling with my Teens, Tweens and their Screens plus 18 tips for safe screen usage
Do your children also love to make a mess? The positive word for this is being creative, I think, and I’m all for creativity! I don’t have a great love for cleaning though and to be perfectly honest, I’m a bit up-tight about mess. However, research keeps reminding us how… Read More »Creative Gift Ideas for Teens and Older Children
Easy Peasy Homemade Fudge Recipe This fudge recipe is so easy, all you need to be able to do is stir reliably and not remove yourself from the stool you set beside the stove top for about 20 minutes. And because it’s homemade, it makes an ideal gift. (Christmas gift,… Read More »Easy Peasy Homemade Fudge Recipe
Some wonderful suggestions on how to get a teenager to pick up his dirty socks The biggest problem with being a human being I find, is that you have to live with other human beings. As well as their smelly socks. I suppose you don’t really have to. There are… Read More »Some wonderful suggestions on how to get a teenager to pick up his dirty socks
Drawing with Oil Pastels – Some Tips for Beginners This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy. In my previous post about drawing with chalk pastels, I spoke about how to draw dogs and some tips on using chalk pastels. In this one I am… Read More »Drawing with Oil Pastels – Some Tips for Beginners
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – using the book to teach others how to draw This review of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards is written from the perspective of a teacher using the book to teach drawing to others. ~ This… Read More »Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – using the book to teach others how to draw
~Affiliate post – my full disclosure policy can be found here ~ For almost 18 months I treated blogging as a hobby, a guilty pleasure! (Weird how I felt guilty about taking time out from house hold chores and parenting to write, but it just felt so indulgent). About a… Read More »On going Self Hosted on my Blog with SiteGround
Or ‘My Button Keeps Popping off My Pants and other Food Stories’ I am fortunate to have been pretty much the same shape and size my whole adult life but now I have bumped into a bit of a mental hurdle and I’m literally clambering over it to the next… Read More »‘broad bean’ and other edible body shapes…?
This post is inspired by two other bloggers who both recently wrote lists on gratitude and beauty. I think I’m meant to showcase some new products but as I have not received any freebies I’m not feeling the love need.
So instead my first impulse was to write about all my well used household cleaning equipment that is very pretty, I have some things a colourblind 1950’s housewife would be proud of, including but not limited to, flower cuffed washing up gloves (purchased for me by my husband) and three other dirt tackling devices:Read More »10 beautiful gifts that make me grateful
I am approaching that Middle-Aged crisis everyone warns you about. Actually forget about approaching, I’ve fully been immersed in it since I turned forty. The worst part is looking in the mirror every morning, there’s no denying it, I am fading faster than a polaroid. My laugh lines are competing with my neck wrinkles for attention.
Younger women and bloggers are flooding Instagram, YouTube and Facebook with beautifully glamorous shots and videos while I’m overusing filters to smooth out the lines and deleting about a gazillion selfies in disgust.
Am I too old or too ordinary to be a ‘You-Tuber’? Ought I to stick to peeling my potato tubers and forget about bright lights and stardom? My kids are devoted to a young attractive British couple who vlog on You-Tube and it seems that millions of other people watch them while they put on makeup, do DIY projects, go shopping and eat out. Then this couple, because they are cute, earn millions in advertising revenue through other people watching them explain why this product or that restaurant are so wonderful. Because they have said so, others too will buy that product or eat at that restaurant who will then in turn invite the couple back because they pull in the crowds.
I wonder, could I make a career the very same way, or at the very least eat out now and then? Could I grip the world with my fascinating exploits? Of grocery shopping and home dinners? I doubt it. I’m not in my 20’s and so I haven’t perfected the art of the selfie. I just don’t look so darned cute anymore with all my pesky wrinkles and stray grey hairs. But here, I AM always up for a challenge and a bit of a laugh so…nothing ventured etc…Read More »Forget Keeping up with the Kardashians, the Joneses or Anybody else for that matter…
The Cost of Children vs the Value of Children? I recently heard a couple of discussions on the radio about family sizes and the cost of children. I’m trying to figure out whether or not I chose to have my four kids (I do choose to keep them though), I… Read More »The Cost of Children vs the Value of Children?
Babies and Children could do with some Basic Improvements -IMHO. With all due respect to the wonderful way children are made, I would like to suggest a couple of improvements in their basic design. These are simply for making my life easier as a Mum. BTW I’m a professional Mum… Read More »May I suggest some Design Improvements in children?
For the sake of my kids and society at large I am practiced at putting on a brave face but I am struggling a lot at the moment; every now and then the facade cracks and I spill awkward tears before strangers. These past six months have been a dark… Read More »Fear, Anxiety and Worry- the three false lovers I’m breaking-up with.
26 South African sights you will never see in Ireland. That’s right, you will never see these scenes in Ireland (unless you look at my photographs), because these are all typical scenes you would find in South Africa. Some of these are so normal to South Africans, it has taken… Read More »26 South African sights you will never see in Ireland.
“Boys break your house, girls break your heart.” Anon. When Can I Resign from being a Parent? It seems to me that boys are brilliant at breaking things, or worse, themselves and girls are brilliant at breaking you, either way your parent-heart is a little bit dented every time. When it happens to me I… Read More »When Can I Resign from being a Parent?
This past weekend two of my three little women and I went to see the Little Women film. I read the book a long time ago, long before real life and real sadness intruded into my experiences. It was long before I was a mother of children who have been… Read More »Just Enough Heartbreak Just Enough Grace
Last week I wrote a review on SimpleCyberLife.com – the world’s first online forum designed to provide parents with resources to help protect their families from cyber threats (you can read my full review by clicking on the link above). The site offers a wealth of information in easy to… Read More »SimpleCyberLife Premium Membership Giveaway!
My four kids are in three different schools and every year at least one of them offers an internet safety talk for parents. If I paid enough attention, by now I should be an expert! There is plenty to take on board and as our children always seem so much… Read More »SimpleCyberLife.com Review – Simple Internet Safety for Parents
Do you see Your Work as your Calling or just a Chore? The way we view our work can make all the difference between feeling like every day is drudgery, vs finding meaning and purpose in what we do. Every job contains an element of the mundane, or people that… Read More »Do you see Your Work as your Calling or a Chore?
My Own 101 ‘Awesome Books to Read Before You Die’ List I recently downloaded ‘50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die‘ onto my Kindle for a princely sum of less than a euro (around a dollar) because I wanted to read Don Quixote and couldn’t see why I… Read More »My Own 101 ‘Awesome Books to Read Before You Die’ List