Tweet It’s been a while since I did anything useful and crafty – mostly it’s just been for pleasure, or as silly gifts. All lovely, but nothing especially noteworthy. But while dreaming of new placemats to adorn my table for Christmas dinner, and feeling sentimental about the thought of throwing away my rather tired-looking 13 […]
Christmas
The One With The Post-Christmas Lull
Tweet Have you polished off the mince pies yet? Got room for another turkey sandwich? I’ll bet I can tempt you with a small festive tipple though? Make yourself comfy, and settle yourself down in the post-Christmas lull. Did you have a perfect Christmas Day? Did lunch go without a hitch? Or, like me, did […]
Fabulously Festive Family Christmas Quiz
Tweet I have been searching for way of entertaining my boys easily over the school holidays (Eldest’s current favourite boredom busting game is winding youngest up – it turns out not to be so much fun for anyone else!) and as well as a giant puzzle book, which lives on our kitchen table, paper chain-making, […]

My Pledge for a Stress Free Life
Tweet My name is Claire, and I am a control freak. I have to confess, I take on way too much, actively stop other people from helping me because I feel I should be doing it, and then get majorly stressed out by having to do it all, and wanting it all to be perfect. […]

Staying Safe (and keeping children safe)
Tweet Hearing a discussion on television today, focused around schoolgirls’ attire, and whether it’s safer (or perhaps I should say, less encouraging of unwanted attention) for girls to wear thick tights with their skirts. Whilst I do agree that a lot of schoolgirls wear their skirts something on the short side (I did, and not […]

Driving Home For Christmas
Tweet As you must surely know by now, I am very proud of the area in which I live, and consider myself very lucky to be surrounded by hills and and valleys, lakes and rivers. Whenever we drive back home after a spell away, the stretch of the M6 when the mountains really take shape […]

A Very Northern Boozy Christmas
Tweet Following on in my little mini series about Booths Christmas, I absolutely simply must tell you about their Christmas spirit. Well, ok, not spirits, but certainly their wine and beer range. During the Christmas preview evening, there was a chance to sample some of the fine tipples, and the first supplier was particularly focusing on a […]

A Very Northern Christmas Party
Tweet Following on from my Booths Christmas preview event post, I promised to give you some of the finer details in separate posts. I thought I’d start by giving you some pointers for hosting the perfect Christmas party. The range of party food on offer from Booths, supplied by both Gazebo Foods and Frank Dale, […]

A Very Northern Family Christmas
Tweet I consider myself very lucky to live in a totally beautiful part of the country (and, indeed, of the world). Nothing beats the feeling of the fresh Cumbrian air, gently blowing across your face at the top of a Lake District fell (okay, so perhaps the bracing gale nearly whipping you off your feet […]

Baker Days Letterbox Cakes – A Little Slice of Christmas
Tweet After my early foray into Christmas-land (I usually eschew all things festive until December), it seemed fitting to use my day off work today to sample the Baker Days Letterbox Cake Christmas cake that I had been invited to review. It arrived last week and was beautifully presented in a pretty little tin, making […]