Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
A few weeks ago we celebrated Mr. TheBoyandMe's 40th birthday, something he'd been avoiding and was also inevitably going to arrive on the 20th March regardless. He wasn't particularly keen on a huge celebration but it's not possible to let a big birthday go by without a little bit of a fuss being made, despite the bronchitis and laryngitis he had developed.
Over the past few years we've discovered the curious corners of Cornwall and the wonders of this part of the west country. A truly beautiful part of Britain, it holds some of the most beautiful beaches and quaint curiosity villages I've seen. Traditionally I'm a Dorset stalwart, but Cornwall is rapidly growing on me.
We were recently invited to stay at Bosinver Farm Cottages, just on the edge of St. Austell. As we normally holiday in north Cornwall, I was keen to see what the south had to offer, plus the opportunity came at what has been a very stressful time for me and my family of late.
This post is written by Mr. TBaM who has a keen interest in the working of the Hive!
When we bought our house ten years, one of our first purchases was a new boiler. Fitted by a local engineer, he also gave us the simplest thermostatic control system possible: a temperature dial in the hallway and a 24-hour timer on the boiler itself. The times we need the heating on vary through the week, so we ended up having to leave the boiler switched on from 7am to 11pm and only making alterations using the dial. Coming home to a warm house at the end of a winter’s day meant setting the thermostat before leaving for work, and ignoring the wasted heat in the intervening hours
I’ve been looking at a few solutions recently, so when we were offered the chance to try out the British Gas ‘Hive’ system it seemed like it would be the perfect opportunity to make a significant saving on our gas bill.
We recently reviewed the Hot Wheels Total Turbo Takeover set and The Boy was delighted to be sent the Spiral Stack Up set which is part of the same range and can join onto it to extend the play opportunities.
I'm determined that although it is only the beginning of February, I definitely need to start Spring cleaning. Surely if I start embracing Spring now, it might entice it to turn up?
The other desire to get cleaning is that I've recently been sent the Vax Dual Power Carpet Cleaner to test out, and it has saved my sanity whenever I look at the new carpets we had fitted last Summer. I'm sure beige carpets were a good idea at the time? However they don't really mix well with a five and a half year old boy, Winter and muddy wellington boots.
One of our favourite activities during the Winter months is bowling. Although it's counterintuitive to our usual ethos of 'no such thing as bad weather', there is only so much rain and cold that a family can take in Wales!
The Boy adores going to London, he thinks it's a really special place to visit because of the variety of things we get to do. We usually visit in the Summer and spend time wandering through the parks and enjoying the great outdoors. I had been eager for quite some time to visit London at Christmas time so we could see the lights and the wonderful shop displays.
A few weeks before Christmas, this was made possible when we were invited to stay at The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington for the weekend. I have to say it is quite possibly one of the most luxurious, and child-friendly, hotels I've stayed in with one of the most amazing views over London.
A few months ago I was sent a pair of Winter walking boots from Hotter Shoes. They knew how much we are an all weather family, and that my trainers were hugely inadequate for the task of chasing after a five year old boy in the squelching mud and golden sands of south Wales.
I'd love to be able to show you a decent photograph of the Summit walking boots before I started using them, but I was ever so slightly impatient to test them out.
We were recently sent a sound system to review, and I won't lie that my husband's eyes lit up when he saw the delivery. As a result, I've asked him to write the review as he is more technical in these matters than I am!
The boxes in the hallway were the first clue that something interesting was afoot. Arriving in four separate packages, the largest being easily 4 foot long, the LG MusicFlow system that we had been invited to review was difficult to miss!
The Boy is a long term fan of Hot Wheels Walltracks and has several sets which we enjoy putting together into different combinations for him. We've never tried the floor sets though and therefore were delighted when he was recently sent the Total Turbo Takeover to review.
