Spreading the Cheer for Christmas this Year!

I just read a lovely post on Facebook from the gorgeous, and frankly brilliant, Jason Manford, who has suggested that it would be a lovely idea to donate advent calendars to a local Foodbank, in order to ensure a better start to the festive season for the vast number of children currently living in difficult circumstances. Now, I will admit, I am a huge fan of this man. I greatly admire anyone who has the
presence of mind to use their celebrity to further the awareness of charities and causes, particularly the lesser known ones that struggle to get noticed.

Sunday Photo; Who's Walking Who?

Homage to the Husband's Inventive DIY

Over the years our family has been through some pretty tough times. From living in a two bedroomed flat with three children, to some fairly dramatic financial struggles, that took an epic battle on all fronts to eventually defeat. What has this got to do with DIY I hear you ask? Well, you don't get through those sorts of problems in one piece without two things. Firstly, a huge dose of solidarity and team spirit. Whatever you are in, you are in it together, that is the joy of families. You all pitch in, you all get out. And secondly masses and masses of creativity and imagination. To make things fit, to cheer things up, to make things better. That's what gets you through. So there follows some of my favourite examples of The Husband's handiwork. A man who has suffered for ten years from a wife who has all the ideas in the world, but no practical skills what-so-ever. I draw it, he builds it. 

Finding Nemo... at Bristol Aquarium!

I've never been to a 'proper' aquarium before. I've been to a couple of seaside efforts, but they've always been hugely anti-climactic, consisting of a number of unimaginative fish tanks welded to the wall, housing tired-looking specimens, that are either ailing from something or very, very depressed. So, it was with some trepidation that we trouped off to the bus stop, in search of Nemo and his scaly pals. The Aquarium is conveniently situated in the popular Harbourside area of the city, next to @Bristol and helpfully signposted by what I think is a huge Dung Beetle. Oh, actually I've just googled and it's a Rhinoceros Beetle. All you need to know is there is a huge pointy-nosed creepy-crawly to show you where you need to be. Which is handy.

The Best of Scotland with Caledonian Hampers

I love hampers, I do. I love the element of surprise and anticipation when you first open the box, and the indulgent contents that you wouldn't normally buy with your weekly shop. What I most love about hampers, though, is the versatility they provide as a gift idea. Everyone has that relative, usually far away and not often visited, but still important, who is a bit of a struggle to find the perfect gift for.

Sunday Photo; Colourful Fish Encounter

Ghost Post #1

Readers have been dropping off their dilemmas and guilty (or not!) confessions over the past couple of weeks, so here is the first of an occasional post, where we ask you, our lovely readers, to offer advice, sympathy, and occasional applause! 

My first reader would really appreciate some advice on how to handle the inlaws since her third child was born. Situations like this are becoming more and more common in our society, as 'blended families' arise due to new relationships, but there isn't always a rule book on how to handle it, particularly where the 'step inlaws' are concerned: