It's been a little quiet around here lately, as I have been struggling with ill-health, which you can read more about here, and also contemplating a change of direction. In the meantime, somehow, October has been and gone and Christmas is suddenly on the horizon, which seems impossible. As a thank you for all the support I've received, I have joined in with a really exciting blogger giveaway, offering a great opportunity to find other blogs you might enjoy, whilst also taking part in a giveaway to win one of five fabulous Christmas hampers, which would be a great start to the Christmas shopping!
It's #Unblocktober! I'm really pleased this is a thing, because it needs to be a thing. Fatbergs are gross and destructive, costing taxpayers a lot of money and many of the unflushables that are flushed down the nation's toilets cause enormous harm to our environment. Whilst researching this post, I discovered a lot I didn't know about what you shouldn't flush and I thought it might surprise you too, so here's a post all about responsible flushing and how you can make #Unblocktober a success. To join the conversation and for more information, including a downloadable resource pack, head over to the Unblocktober website. 
I am writing this post primarily to help a friend, but also to try to prevent anyone else suffering the same fate. Her plight has made me realise exactly how easy it is for your online content; photos, writing, whatever, to be taken and used against you and how distressing it is when this happens. It is preventable and we all need to take steps to protect ourselves so that blackmailers can't prosper. In this post I will show you how to secure your online life and also how to help support someone who lost everything she'd worked hard for at the hands of these cretins. I think it is important that she gets something back of what she lost, so that those criminals don't win.
This gift guide is entirely unsponsored and made up of all my own ideas, which I paid for myself. Not that I have anything against sponsored posts, they are a great way to discover new products and I wouldn't say I liked something if I didn't, but I feel I should get all the credit for nailing a teenager's birthday with absolutely no help, because it really isn't easy. This is by far the hardest birthday I've had to buy for so far. He gave me a list of four video games, two of which hadn't even been released yet, and that was it. I always think the trick with birthdays is to get some things they want and some things they didn't know they wanted. Here's what I bought.
I had avoided watching Skint Britain - Friends Without Benefits for some time, as I knew it would likely upset me, since the story is quite close to home. I watched a close friend struggle for years on benefits, it's still too painful for me to write about fully, since my beautiful friend eventually died from a stress-related condition, but it really brought home to me how life and death the benefits system is. It's not just a decision whether or not to hand over some money, or how long for, there's so much more to it than that. It's people's lives. So I guess this post as been a long time coming as I have a lot to say about everything that's wrong with Universal Credit.
I always try to give up something for Lent. I think it's a really good opportunity to remind myself that there are people in the world who don't have things to give up, and how lucky I am to have a lifestyle where I'm able to have little treats and vices. It's usually something like chocolate, but I've been finding that giving up one treat is a bit of a cheat really, because there are plenty of other sweet treats to fill the gap, so this year, I've given up sugar. I have made it a bit easier, in that I don't count the hidden sugar in meals, but I have stopped eating any sugary treats. No cakes, biscuits, chocolate, nothing and it's been interesting. Here are the highs and lows of my first week, which was a lot harder than I expected.
After waiting an hour for a bus in pretty dreadful weather the previous week, it's probably not surprising that I came down with a really horrid cold virus the next day. I know that we shouldn't blame the weather, and viruses aren't caused by standing in the freezing cold, but I'm convinced it made it worse and have been sending psychic hate messages to the bus company ever since. Anyway, the upshot of all this is, that I couldn't attend week 5 because you are can't to go if you have something gross and contagious, on account of it being a course for people with chronic conditions who could have lowered immunity. So this is a summary of week 5, Communication, from the hand outs we received afterwards.
It's not that I don't like Marvel films, I do. A lot. The problem I have is that they are heavily marketed at children, with many different toys, plushies, Lego models, etc, all featuring superheroes from the Marvel franchise. Which is absolutely fine, children need heroes, positive role models to look up to, but, here's the annoying part, the films are a 12A and often feature language and scenes that not everyone would consider appropriate, even if they are the right size for the corresponding costume! So, here is another Parent's Guide, so that you can make your own mind up about Marvel's latest superhero; Captain Marvel. 
It's nearly World Book Day again and if you've got more than one child, a tight budget or not a lot of free time, you may be having a little panic about this. You don't need to worry though, because this list includes every simple, cheap World Book Day costume you could think of and there's bound to be one that will suit your expectant offspring. They may not be the most elaborate costumes, but they will get you out of trouble last minute, and can be made from items you probably already own. Just pick the one that fits what you have in the cupboards. Easy! 
Week 4 of The Pain Management course saw a few returners and a couple of absences, but I'm getting used to who everyone is, so it's much easier and more relaxed now. I was late, because the stupid bus didn't turn up, so I missed goal setting and recap from last week, which wasn't ideal, but everyone was welcoming and forgiving. I had previously warned them that the bus is hourly and not exactly reliable. Stagecoach, sort yourselves out! Anyway, this weeks theme was Sleep and, since I have a sleep disorder and already have a reputation for falling asleep in class, this should be interesting. 
It's becoming more of a challenge to find things to do with my son as he gets older, but it's also becoming more important. L is nearly thirteen and as such, he likes nothing more than to while away countless hours gaming or watching YouTube, as (he tells me) is perfectly normal at his age. As anyone who's got sucked into an angry thread on Facebook or hilarious parking videos on YouTube (that last one might be just me) it is too easy to sacrifice hours to the internet. So, I vowed to take decisive action this half term and do something appealing enough to drag a teen off the sofa every day, on a budget of under £50. For the whole week. That equates to just £10 per day and this is how we did it. 
Bugs that arrive via our children, or air-conditioned virus-circulating offices, are always at their worst in winter. If I'm going to catch one, it is usually in that depressingly bleak lull between Christmas and Spring, when everything is particularly cold and miserable. This year's offering was especially unpleasant. Flu-maggedon hit our household like a ton of snot and I can genuinely say, it is the worst cold I've ever suffered. So, by way of explanation for my blogging absence and to help anyone else who gets it, here is a run down of how I survived the onslaught, what worked and where you can definitely save your hard-earned cash.
There have been a few social media 'challenges' recently. The 10 Year Challenge, The Puberty Challenge and The Ageing Challenge. The first is fairly self-explanatory; you post a picture of yourself now and a picture of yourself ten years ago, to see how much you've changed. In the second, you post a photo of yourself now and one from your youth, to illustrate what puberty can do in terms of features, mood and fashion sense. The third is particularly brutal; you post your first ever social media pic, and your most recent, to see how much you've aged. These are all variations on a theme and have been interpreted very differently by those taking part.
I have been suffering from a chronic pain condition for over 10 years now and I continue to fight it every day. I experiment with nutrition and exercise to keep the pain under control and always live in hope that one day it will go away altogether. I am an optimist. However, since seeing a rheumatologist last year, I've been informed that, medically speaking, there is nothing more that can be done and I'm stuck with it. I've now been referred to a Pain Management course and I thought maybe it would help other pain sufferers to hear what happens, so these are my notes on part one of a group therapy course designed to help sufferers cope with long term pain. 
Since 2014, Veganuary has encouraged the nation to embrace Veganism and give up their meat and dairy consuming ways for the month of January. There is a world of reasons why people take up the Veganuary pledge at the start of the year. It might be because animals often suffer in the production of the foods we enjoy, it might be to ease the pressure on the environment from meat production, or even to support a New Year's resolution for a healthier lifestyle. Whatever the reason, if you have taken up the Veganuary pledge, and are already struggling for ideas, your Veganuary inspiration starts here.
I've been having a long think about New Year's Resolutions. So long, in fact, that this post is a day late, but more on that later. My issue with resolutions is this; if you resolve to do something that you have previously failed at, are you setting yourself up to fail? It seems that so much emphasis is placed on resolutions; ie, what you intend to get right in the new year, that that you are almost obliged to come with something you are currently dissatisfied with. But do such public declarations of intended success ever end well? Particularly if you don't first address the reason you haven't previously achieved it?