October 2011

Archive | October, 2011

Nectar launches Daily Deal Hunt

By Mum's the Word on October 31, 2011 in Sponsored Posts

Nectar are running another Deal Hunt - this time the hunt will be purely based online with participants using Google Maps street view to locate the daily deals. A video explaining the innovative competition can be seen here:

Each weekday over two weeks an incredible prize will be hidden at a secret location. To help locate the daily deal the site http://www.nectardailydealhunt.com features a fully zoomed out Google Map with the only way to zoom in on the deal’s location being to tweet #dailydealhunt or share and like the page on Facebook. The more tweets, likes and shares that are made, the more the map will zoom in on the location of the deal.

Later today, when the map has fully zoomed in, it will switch to Google street view, where those taking part must then explore the area to find the deal following clues and directions that will give the users an idea as to the whereabouts of the secret location. The deal will then appear as the Nectar logo overlaid into street view and the first person to find and click on the logo then complete their details will be able to claim the prize.

The deal hunt will run until Friday 9th November 2012 with a new phenomenal prize released each weekday at a different location. Prizes include a Piaggio Zip Scooter, a Sony AV System, a Bose DAB Radio and an iPad.

Comments { 0 }

The Little Things.

By Mum's the Word on October 29, 2011 in Opinion, Parenting, Personal

As parents and bloggers we all share those monumental moments with each other, the holidays, the developmental milestones like first steps and first days at school. But we often forget about the little things, the times that really mean something to us. I gave Sausage a bath this afternoon, and as I was brushing and drying her hair it hit me just how much I enjoy doing these small things. Sausage has a lot of hair and it’s getting very long and taking care of it has become a real bonding experience for us. She’s become a pro at leaning back in the bath or shower so that no shampoo goes in her eyes when I rinse it off, and since I’ve started dusing a little conditioner on it the tangles are minimal. She doesn’t even mind the hair dryer too much now so what was, six months ago, a shouting, writhing, wriggling, wholly unpleasant experience for all involved has turned into something that mother and daughter can share and enjoy.

Silly really, to wax lyrical to this extent about washing my kid’s hair, but if the past fortnight has taught me anything, it’s that we need to enjoy every possible moment while you can. Don’t take anything for granted.

We’ve recently discovered Julia Donaldson’s books and Husband, Sausage and I have developed a bit of a ritual of sitting on the sofa most evenings, Daddy reading one book and then me reading another. Sitting together, enjoying a story and getting lost in the rhyme and rhythm of a good book is exactly what we seem to need, as a family. It goes to show that, while day trips and holidays are fun and important, for the princely sum of a couple of quid per book, we have enjoyed countless hours together. Plus, Sausage’s reading is coming along leaps and bounds, which is an added bonus.

I guess you could say that I’m swinging between the ever pressing need to SEE THINGS and DO THINGS before I no longer have the chance to see and do, and spending time enjoying the small things and taking things slowly. Who knows which is the right way to do things? All I know is, my outlook and my priorities seem forever changed, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Comments { 2 }

The Gallery – Faces

By Mum's the Word on October 27, 2011 in The Gallery

I haven’t done a Gallery post in a while; in fact, I haven’t done a blog post in a while, at least not one which required me to commit my own words to a page. Those of you who know me will know that my family lost a member last week, my stepmum Lorraine. Lorraine had been battling cancer, melanoma to be precise. She was 42 when she died, in fact it had been her 42nd birthday just ten days earlier, which she’d spent in hospital.

I still can’t believe she’s gone. When I think of my Dad, I think of them as a pair – Dad and Lorraine, it just trips off of the tongue. But sadly, so fucking sadly, my father is now just ‘Dad’. I cannot even begin to tell you all of the emotions that have gone through me in the last two weeks, I’m utterly, utterly devastated, as is Husband and of course the rest of the family. Unfair just does not even begin to cover it. I’m not quite able to write about this in the way I’d like to, not able to do Lorraine justice with my words as I still feel largely in shock.

A few days ago, I was going through my emails and I found some pictures of Sausage that I’d emailed to my Dad a couple of years ago and one pictures stopped me in my tracks.

It’s a picture of Lorraine holding Sausage.

You can’t see Lorraine’s face, only Sausage’s, but the look on my infant daughter’s face says everything you need to know about how she felt about Lorraine. Indeed, how we all felt about her.

I hope, in time, that I’m better able to write something that does justice to the woman who touched our lives and whom we already miss so much. But for now, I’ll let this picture and Sausage’s face do the talking.

Comments { 11 }

Taking Security for Granted

By Mum's the Word on October 25, 2011 in Personal, Sponsored Posts

When I was 21, I left home for the first time to live with some friends. We lived in an apartment block in the town centre, one of those places that they advertise as being perfect for ‘professionals’. It had a gym next door, a London-bound train line two minutes up the road, plus dozens of shops, restaurants, pubs and bars nearby. At the time, it was perfect for us as we had everything we needed within walking distance.

I look back now and I genuinely cringe at how much danger we put ourselves in. I’d walk home from the train station after work in the pitch black as, although we had a gym and whatnot nearby, the rest of the road is almost entirely office blocks, so post-7pm, the road is DEAD and there are literally dozens of places that someone could hide in or drag you to. We’d go out of an evening and walk home, two young (and generally inebriated) girls, blissfully ignorant about all the dangers which could have befallen us. To say we were lucky is an understatement.

We lived on the 8th floor of the building and I must say, I did love being that far off of the ground. You know how when you did History at school, you learned about medieval castles and how they built them on a hill so that they had the advantage over marauders and whatnot? That’s the same sense of security you get living so high up. Okay, so for a lot of the time, our front door didn’t even have a lock on it, but the entry-phone system meant we could pick and choose who we let into the building anyway.

Now I’m a Mum, I take personal safety a lot more seriously. Everything about my outlook has changed and I never take risks, especially if Sausage is with me. In fact, even at home, my attitude toward security is probably what other people would consider a little…extreme. For instance, Sausage actually still shares a room with Husband and I. This is because we live in a bungalow with two bedrooms and an office, all of which have doors which face on to our main front door. The room at the back would be too small for Sausage and all of her stuff and the room at the front is..well, at the front. The thought of her window being on the street is too much for me to bear, I don’t think I’d ever sleep again if she slept in there by herself. If we owned the house, I’d seriously think about investing in some roller shutters from Nationwide just for some added peace of mind, but as it stands we don’t so we’re stuck.

What would be ideal is to live in a house with an upstairs, just for the perceived sense of security that being on a first floor would give me, but unless our landlord decides to extend into the loft, that’s just not happening right now! So, we’re all happily residing in one room and will be for the foreseeable ..but I don’t mind, Sausage is a great room-mate and although we’re not on the 8th floor or a fortified castle, we still feel pretty safe.

Comments { 0 }

For Lorraine.

By Mum's the Word on October 24, 2011 in Family

Chimes sing Sunday morn
Today’s the day she’s sworn
To steal what she never could own
And race from this hole she calls home

Now you’re at the wheel
Tell me how, how does it feel?
So good to have equalised
To lift up the lids of your eyes

As the miles they disappear
See land begin to clear
Free from the filth and the scum
This American satelite’s won

She’ll carry on through it all
She’s a waterfall

See the steeple pine
The hills as old as time
Soon to be put to the test
To be whipped by the winds of the west

Stands on shifting sands
The scales held in her hands
The wind it just whips her and wails
And fills up her brigantine sails

She’ll carry on through it all
She’s a waterfall

Comments { 6 }

“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.”

By Mum's the Word on October 2, 2011 in All About ME!

: The chemical structure of hydrogen peroxide.

If you’re a regular reader of Mum’s the Word, you’ll know that I’ve been dying my own hair for a while. I was a bottle blonde for a good few years but found it far too high maintenance, so I went dark and have been using varying shades of brown and dark auburn since last year. Well, on Tuesday I’m filming a vlog for a software company and I wanted to look presentable, so I decided I needed to get a haircut and get the colour sorted out by a professional, and toyed with the idea of going back to blonde.

Toyed with the idea, that is, until I found out how much it would cost. Because my hair needs to be effectively stripped and then re-dyed, which will all take 4-5 hours, the lowest quote I got was £100. I know to a lot of you £100 probably seems quite reasonable, and believe me, when I was single I’ve spent a lot more on my hair in one go, but these days, that just seems unreasonable. Husband encouraged me to just go and have it done and to hell with the cost, but I just can’t get me head around spending that much money on just me when £100 pays for so many other things. For example, £100 pays for

A weeks shopping, give or take a few quid either way.
Our entire Virgin bill (telephone, internet, HD V+ box and a second box in the bedroom) for a month.
76 days of top-notch food for Chuck
Almost 2 months car insurance payments
15 weeks of bus travel to work

Maybe I shouldn’t look at it like that, but £100 could be spent in so many more worthy ways than making the top of my head look nice, don’t you think? I’d love to know if any of the rest of you feel this way too, or if you think that these luxuries are a must and that you just go for it anyway?

I’ve not given up on having my hair done altogether. I’ve got an appointment on Monday for a cut and colour with a lady I know who has a salon in her house. I’ll probably stay reddish-brown and have a bit of a restyle, which will cost me a far more reasonable £50. I’ll probably post a before and after picture so you can see the difference. Hey, let’s just hope it’s not true about blondes having more fun, eh?!

Comments { 5 }

The Last Days of Summer

By Mum's the Word on October 2, 2011 in Photos

Before we even knew about this heatwave, Husband and I had planned to take Sausage out for the day on Friday, to Southend Pier. Although Sausage has been to the pier before (on the day that I was in London for CyberMummy, actually!), I’ve never been, despite having lived in Southend on Sea for 6 years and coming here since I was eleven to go to school, so we thought it was about time that I went.

And seeing as how we all love a photograph on a Sunday, I thought I’d give you a few from our day, so that I can look back this time next year and see how lovely the weather was! The pier really only consists of a lifeboat station and a small cafe once you get to the end, but I fell in love! It was so nice, a big wooden promenade to walk around, lots of people fishing, a great view of almost the entire seafront reaching right up to Leigh on Sea in one direction and Shoebury in the other, and the sea breeze (alright, estuary breeze) to cool you down. Perfect on a hot day! I commented to Husband that I could just take a book and sit at the end of the pier all day, reading and soaking it all up.

I feel I should add, the pictures aren’t as good quality as I’d wanted because despite having TWO cameras in my bag, I forgot to take a single bloody memory card with me, so these are all taken with my trusty HTC Desire Z. DOH!