How to Handle Difficult Relatives at Christmas

In an ideal world, relatives would be like other people, we would be surrounded by the ones we like, and not obliged to spend time with those we don't get on with. Sadly, it doesn't work like that and Christmas is probably the prime time for testing the tolerance levels of the average adult, often to Hulk-esque proportions, but you can make it easier on yourself. If family politics (or personal guilt) rule out going away for Christmas, pretending to have a highly contagious disease, or faking your own death, here are some suggestions for helping things go more smoothly when difficult relatives threaten your Christmas spirit.

Novotel Bristol Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Baffling!

We've just returned from a stay at the Novotel Hotel, which is situated about ten minutes' walk from Cabot Circus in Bristol. We booked through Hotels.com and paid about £195 for two nights, which is towards the lower price end for a fairly last-minute booking in this area. This secured us a double room with a sofa bed for myself, my adult daughter and teenage son. The hotel is part of the Accor Hotels group and is described on their website as a 'mid-scale hotel for business or family trips'. We've never stayed in a Novotel hotel before and it looked very swish from the outside, so we had high expectations. How did it measure up? Read on to find out.

Win One of Five Christmas Hampers UK Blogger Giveaway

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!

Don't Rush to Flush #Unblocktober

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. 

Cuddle Fairy and the Instagram Pirates - Protect Your Social Media

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.

A 13 Year Old's Party at AirHop - Review

Each year it gets harder to come up with original and fun party ideas to celebrate L's birthday. It's important to mark the occasion, but older children have different ideas about what's entertaining! This year, however, I got really lucky and won  a party at Airhop in Bristol. We were celebrating L's 13th birthday and, since it's tricky to think of party ideas for older children, I thought I would share our experience. The Extreme UV party has many fun features and this post details how it was received by our guests who ranged in age from 6 to mid-forties! Could we really find a party idea that suited everyone? And what exactly is a UV experience? 

Giving Up Sugar - After Three Weeks

I originally took on the challenge of not eating sugar for Lent, so I have about another two weeks to go. However, I intend to carry on controlling my sugar intake, as I've come to realise the negative impact excess sugar can have on the body. It hasn't been easy, though. In week 1 the headaches started and in week 2 I was hungry and confused, so I didn't really know what to expect from week 3. Now that things have settled down a bit I will be writing these updates as round ups, rather than daily entries, since there aren't as many changes to report. There have still been a few ups and downs though. This is week 3, as I try not to eat the world during my giving up sugar challenge.