The Open Road

Back in our footloose and fancy free days, Mr. TheBoyandMe and me did a decent amount of travelling on our holidays. Most of the time it was for long weekend breaks in European cities, as I am a bit rubbish on medium/long haul flights, but there were the odd occasion where we flew for over eight hours to either Dubai or to America. Those holidays were amazing, and we were fortunate to get upgrades to premium economy or, in the case of America, first class! Thank you Virgin Atlantic!

However, one thing that I decided from those holidays is that I would not be taking The Boy on any flights until over the age of five years old. I am certinly not condemning anyone who does, but the thought of trying to keep a little one amused on a aeroplane for more than an hour, while stressing that they weren't irritating the less understanding passengers, makes my blood run cold with fear and anxiety! The decision was made to spend The Boy's first holidays in our own country, and I've never regretted it!

We've been on holiday now three times to Dorset, each time with my parents, and hired lovely little cottages by the sea. We tend to stay in the same town each time, the one that my great aunt used to live in, and always always enjoy it. But this year I fancy something and somewhere different. I've been investigating wooden lodges in Cornwall, debating caravans in Devon, staying with friends in the Lake District and I can't decide which one to go for. All I do know is that after last year's holidays with mum and dad (where we argued and were over-ruled on our parenting the entire week), our main holiday this year has got to be different. This is our time to relax, enjoy our surroundings and chill out, bonding as a family.

One of my best memories from my childhood holidays (always spent in static caravans in the South-West of England) is when my dad converted an old transit van into a campervan. It is the only time I have been 'camping', and I'm not sure that one night spent on a camp-site really constitutes camping, but it's the closest I'll ever let myself get to 'roughing it'. Dad had put in a sink, a stove, a table and benches. He'd designed it so that the table dropped down and made a bed which mum, my sister and I slept on, while he slept on the floor underneath. I remember every single elbow in my face (from my sister), every pelt of rain on the window, and every bleat from the camp-site goat, and this was over twenty-five years ago!

The idea of a campervan or mobile home really appeals to me though. Not a caravan which wobbles, but something that can be static but easily moved to another location. Just packing everything up and moving to another beach, another farm, another county really excites me. I have such twitchy feet on holiday that one time when we stayed in Barcelona (for five nights) we stayed in two different hotels! I don't like the idea of being stuck somewhere unpleasant. With a motorhome you could change your surroundings, and chase the weather, so easily.

I know that things aren't quite as easy as all that though, there's maintenance to be had on any vehicle and a motorhome is no different. Tax, MOTs, general services and motorhome insurance are all things that need to be taken into consideration. However, what a fabulous pipe-dream for me to have? And when I win the lottery this weekend, I will indeed be investigating the swishiest motorhome that I can find!

The Gallery: Phone Photos

Tara has set us a real challenge this week:

This week's theme is: Phone Photos.

The only rule is you have to have taken it on your phone. Doesn't matter what app you use. Camera phones have moved on so much and I've seen some quite stunning photos from these little in-your-pocket devices! So there is never any excuse for now snapping whenever you're out and about.

And while Tara has waxed lyrical about the wonders of Instagram and the camera on her iPhone, I have an HTC Desire. The interface of the phone is amazing. The camera? Horrendous. Really, really awful! Plus, the Android apps for the photography are naff. (Although if someone can point me in the direction of a decent one, I'd appreciate it)

However saying all that, I will share with you some of my favourite photos that I've taken on my rubbish camera-phone. They are unedited because the brief says it has to be done on your phone and I can't find a good app to do that, so here are the raw images:

He's just woken up from a nap and decided that I'd put something I shouldn't have in the laundry basket. Within the next thirty seconds after this photo being taken, he almost fell in!

Look at those knees!

Discovering his shadow for the first time.

One of my favourite camera-phone shots ever: bedhead!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better

So Christmas time?

A time of love and laughter and joy ever after, ours for the tak… sorry, I went all Cliff then.

But seriously, while it was a fabulous time to spend with our families and for us it was the best Christmas ever, cor blimey missus, no-one read the blogs! I mean, did no-one else feel the need to look themselves away in the loo with their iPod Touches/phones, wi-fi connection and just read a few blog posts here and there?

I can't believe it was just me; I saw you all on twitter!

This is your opportunity to link up the posts which didn't do very well for no reason other than people were eating Turkey and cheese. (And a miraculous birth may have had something to do with it!). The posts don't have to be just from the past month, they can be any time in your blog's life.

ShowOff ShowCase

 

ShowOff ShowCase: The One That Should Have Done Better

You know the drill by now:

This weekend is your opportunity to link-up a post that you wrote that filled you with a sense of satisfaction. You typed that last full stop, pressed 'publish' and thought "yes, this will be a good one!" and waited.

But no bugger actually bothered to read it, or if they did they certainly didn't comment on it!

Why?

I can still hear you shouting it at the stats counter/comments log.

Heaven only know why. They didn't deserve it, they were good posts. It's not their fault that they were published on a Bank Holiday or when people were experiencing blog-apathy. Or at CyberMummy, the Tots100 Christmas Party or any other event. The worse culprit has got to be Christmas; whose idea was that then?

This weekend, I'd like you to help that post to hold its head up high! Brush them off, stick my badge at the bottom of the post and show them off for everyone to see. Don't be ashamed of them, help them shout at everyone:

I SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER!

ShowOff ShowCase

This linky only fulfills its purpose if you take the time to read other people's blog-posts that have been linked up; give them some love!

 

Second-Class Customers

I like photography, anyone who knows this blog knows that. I also like a bargain, which is why I subscribe to Groupon. Every morning, the Groupon e-mails are the first ones I scan to check for bargains; I'm particularly fond of those related to photo products because some of them are excellent opportunities.

I've previously blogged about our experience with a photography studio and started to tell us that as Groupon customers we were only entitled to a certain service. When I stood my ground, he backed down and quite rightly so. It doesn't matter where the custom has come from, a customer is a customer!

My mum mentioned in the middle of August that she'd like some canvasses made and I immediately popped over to Groupon to see what offers they had available. I purchased this one from You Frame on August 19th of last year. At only £12 a canvas, it was a bargain indeed.

Only bargains are not always what they seem. You see, it's not the fault of Groupon, more of the businesses who submit their offers without any real intent in fulfilling them.

Mum and I placed the order for the canvasses on 18th November and we were fairly confident that these would arrive in time for Christmas to give as gifts.

How wrong we were.

When I e-mailed them more than a week before Christmas to ask when it was coming, I had this reply:

Further to your recent communication with us, we would like to apologise for any delays you may have experienced with your order.

Due to huge demand for our special offers, we have experienced some delays with production.

Please be advised, we are now dealing with your request and your photo canvas will be printed within the next 14 working days.

That was 13 days ago.

Today, I had another e-mail from them:

Thank you for your email received and I am very sorry for the delay in our reply.

We have been and still are dealing with an exceptionally high amount of orders and this has caused more of a delay than we anticipated.  However, I can confirm that your orders are in production and should be despatched within the next 14 days.  I can only apologise for the delay and any inconvenience that this may have caused.

Thank you for your patience, we do very much appreciate it.

With the original apologetic e-mail promising it to be with us within 14 days and that deadline ending tomorrow, I'm guessing that it's not going to be here?

You Frame are currently promising Groupon vouchers a 21 day turn around on their orders.

Personally, I wouldn't hold your breath!

12 From '11

This past year has been a whirl-wind of fun and chaos and all thanks to eleven little letters contained in four words:

The Boy and Me

Not only is this site a place with photos and reviews and competitions, but it's also our lives: the lives of my son, my husband and me. It's been a year of change and adjustment, fun and games, tears and therapy. There are people who read my blog, who comment and have become friends in real life, which is something that I would never have imagined when I penned my first tentative post. Thank you to everyone who reads about my little corner of the world, I really appreciate every single read and comment.

Here's my 2011!

January

The start of the year saw me pondering the loss of the technology in our home.

February

I confessed one of my deepest darkest secrets to anyone who wanted to read it. Oh the shame, my cheeks are still burning!

March

We decided that the cold was for wimps and got busy with a few meters of plastic tubing and a watering can.

April

An egg-citing trail around the garden lead to much consumption of cocoa.

May

Finally, 17 years after completing my GCSEs, I gained an 'ology!

June

The Boy celebrated his 2nd birthday.

July

With the sun beating down on us on one of the hottest weekends of the Summer, we decided to spend it going to a chocolate factory, meeting other bloggers and going on safari!

August

Toilet humour was the order of the day as one of the most stressful and confining experiences of my life began!

September

We discovered the wonders of wellies.

October

With random heatwaves and bouts of frostiness, we met a CBeebies hero.

November

My baby became a little boy as testosterone kicked in, in an astounding and upsetting way.

December

The celebrations for Christmas started with a big weekend party.

What one event would you pick to sum up your 2011?

Snowflake Cookies

I've made a fair few cakes with The Boy now, and we've turned our hand to pizza, but we haven't tried cookies yet, and we haven't tried gingerbread. When I saw a recipe for polish spiced Christmas cookies (basically gingerbread) on The Crazy Kitchen, I decided to give it a whirl: everyone is always making it, it can't be hard surely?

Wrong! Well, that is if you're not using an electric mixer which it turns out, everyone else did. I only have a handheld mixer, which I am wary of using with The Boy, and so we mix everything we make with a good old-fashioned wooden spoon! Gingerbread ingredients are quite tough to mix together.

Anyway, here we go!

Ingredients
110g unsalted butter
110g soft, dark brown sugar
6 heaped tablespoons runny honey
1 egg
450g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
2 tablespoons mixed spice
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100g icing sugar

  • Melt the butter, sugar and honey in a small pan until the butter has just melted
  • Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, stir together
  • Add the egg and mix well
  • Add the melted butter/sugar to the dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms
  • If the mixture is too dry add water 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together
  • Roll out on a floured surface to an inch thick
  • Use cutters to cut out the shapes and place on greased baking trays
  • Bake in 200 degree (C) oven for 7-8 minutes
  • Cool on a wire rack

Then we decorated our snowflake and jigsaw piece cookies with drizzly white chocolate and sweeties!

We used these fab cookie cutters from Cox & Cox, excellent quality and durable.

I was sent the cookie cutters to review. I pinched Helen's recipe. Both are great and my opinion is honest and unbiased.

A Free Mia Tui Bag

The ever so generous Charlotte from Mia Tui has an amazing offer on at the moment, consider it her Christmas present to you hardworking mums out there:

A free brown or black Grace bag with a purchase of any other bag!

These beautiful and practical bags (which can be used as either a messenger bag or an under-arm bag) normally sell for £29.99 but if you order another one of the fabulous range of Amelia, Ava or Grace bags at the moment, then you can order it for free by using the codes: FREE BLACK GRACE or FREE BROWN Grace at the checkout.

Treat yourself, it's Christmas!



ShowOff ShowCase: The One About Christmas

As a final acknowledgement to the festivities, the theme for ShowOff ShowCase this week is:

The One About Christmas

Link up your posts, new or old, about your festivities or preparations and share the blog love.

Don't forget to add the badge to the bottom of the post so people can revisit the linky easily, and please take the time to visit some of the blogs linked (or it doesn't really work very well!)

ShowOff ShowCase

 

Our Best Christmas Ever!

It occurred to me that I haven't blogged about our Christmas Day yet. It's not going to be of interest to many, but is to me.

Normally, Mr. TheBoyandMe gets up first with The Boy and gives him breakfast as this is part of his time with him. However, Christmas Day is special so while The Boy and I played with the iPod and books in our bedroom, Mr. TBAm showered and dressed. Then he took him downstairs for yoghurt while I showered and dressed. I pegged it downstairs and we sat and ate yummy pastries while opening our stockings, all three of them from Father Christmas. The Boy was fascinated that the big man himself had indeed eaten most of the mince pie, but there was disapproval in his voice when he discovered that not all the milk had gone!

Traditional presents in his stocking

Following this, and having had the titbits to keep us going until our proper cooked breakfast, we went into the dining room and his face was a complete picture when he saw the tree and all the presents!

After opening the presents from Father Christmas, we settled down to eat a hearty breakfast. I'd even been to the butchers' and bought proper sausages and bacon for Mr. TheBoyandMe. We wolfed it down, and then all finished opening our presents from each other. I was rather chuffed to discover Mr. TBAM has bought me a voucher from Photobox so I can make a 365 photobook! He also generously gave me a digital photoframe (as I've wanted one for years) and, this is the best bit, a waffle-maker! (I'd harped on two months ago about one but he seriously vetoed it, little did I know what he was planning!). I bought him an electric razor, the usual Private Eye annual, lots of other bits and pieces and a new digital camera (his had broken a few months ago). We normally set a £50 limit, but I suspect we both blew it quite seriously!

The Boy had great fun opening the rest of his toys and hasn't stopped playing with them ever since!

We had a rather scrummy lunch of: deep fried brie for starters; four-bird roast/asparagus & craberry risotto filo parcel, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, mashed swede and sweet potato, brussel sprouts, roasted carrots and parsnips, creamed spinach; followed by christmas pudding two hours later.

Presents from Nana and Grandad followed, a little kip for The Boy, the Queen's Speech, a kip for Grandad, dishwasher loaded, cheese and biscuits on table, groaning bellies, bed for The Boy, more washing up, television, playing with 'toys' and finally bed.

The look on our little boy's face at every moment throughout the day was magical. It has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the best Christmas ever!

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