Bonus print is the way forward

Animal kingdom from the sky

Typhoon lagoon 

  I'm fed up of seeing the same calendar on all my friends walls and thinking I wish I'd done something different. So I did this year I have decided to make my own calendar with my own pictures. I added all my favorite holiday snaps and the end result was amazing.

Discovery cove - TJ and my nephews 

I cannot wait to start seeing my favorite photos at the beginning of every day on display.

The display to do this was easy to I decided which photos I wanted for each day and made the choice of background if I wanted it ( which I decided it looked better without) and uploaded the pictures and waited less then a week for the calendar to arrive.

 The photo album was a little bit trickier due to my internet going down on various occasions during the uploading time. Which was due to poor service provider problems.

Queen Mary Ca.

  When choosing to do a photo album there is so much to take into consideration including photo size, writing (if any), How many photos per page?  

Disneyland Ca.

 The photographs I chose were placed automatically in the album as each folder uploaded from my computer. I found this helped me as it saved time on trying to decide which photographs to choose and put up as my favorite. You could place up to nine pictures per page including captions if needed. 

When the photo albums came back I was amazed at how well they have turned out with such clear pictures and writing on each page. 

Calico and Barstow Ca.

 This picture was printed on a board and came with the fixtures ( no nails) so it could be hung straight away. Again the quality of the photo is amazing. This photo was originally taken on my phone and zoomed in slightly. The photo has come back arger then the original so no doubt it would have had to have been blown up a little to fit the board. 

The image was taken whilst visiting Calico ghost town near Barstow California. 

 I have had another picture printed on to wood but as it holds a direct view of my sons face I have decided not to put it up. The picture quality again for this photo is fantastic and so clear.

It's amazing how they've done it too I never thought about printing straight on to wooden planks before.

 Bonus print have impressed me so much that I will now only use them to print my photos and I print a lot as I also scrapbook.

The prices are the best put there to and if you sign up for email updates they also have some really good offers running most of the time.

Captain Pug the cutest story I've read.

My little light reading has turned into me being obsessed with the book that I've finally managed to start reading.
From the second I started reading the bright orange, blue and white pictures drew me into the story. All the colors throughout the book are these 3 bright colors and fantastically drawn.
The main character is a Pug named Pug which is Haystacks favourite breed. With the googly eyes that seem to watch your every movement right down to the curly tail he just loves them.
The book follows the life of a rich Pug who has his own wardrobe. (I'm in awe as I wish I could put hats and ties on my Lab, yes I realise that it's a book but a lady can dream).
In the first book he visits a boat donning his very cute sailors outfit and sure enough mayhem is soon behind him. From t

he boating lake to ending up in a much bigger pond the story is full of giggles especially as Pug is afraid of water.
Pugs owner Lady Miranda is a young lady who knows what she wants and when she wants it. When I was younger I wished I'd have servants but alas I only had an older brother. (It's all good I have nephews now ).
TJ and I have both enjoyed reading this book and haven't wanted to put it down.
In fact I didn't even when TJ fell asleep!
Bad mommy, but I was enjoying it too much.

I don't want to give away to much of this fantastic little book but you can find out how much fun it is yourself by heading to

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/captain-pug-9781408866375/

Bathing my son has just got easier

The turtlemeter has gone down a treat my 8 year old can now successfully draw his own bath and now I don't have to worry about him burning himself as much as I did before.

The turtle comes from Amazon at a cost of just under £10.50. 

Batteries are included and are already in place on arrival, just take it out the packet and the turtlemometer is ready for use. The size dimensions are 15.2 x 5.1 x 12.7 cm.

To activate the turtle just put it in the water, there are no buttons or switches as it's activated by the water on sensors underneath.

Blue = To cold 

Green = Perfect temperature 

When the blue display is lit up the bath is to cold, green is perfect and red well we all know red means danger so be warned.

The centre of the dial reads the temperature in Fahrenheit, reads every second to ensure that it is up to date during the whole bath.

Our turtlemeter generally gets played with whilst TJ is in the tub, it is fully subversive and floats on the top of the water creating TJ and the nephews to giggle out loud when it spirals around the under the running taps and gets pushed off into the walls.

It's easy to use for any age and so far has been found to be very robust. 

I've been given the 2 thumbs up from TJ and a cheeky grin from the youngest nephew when asked if he likes it, so I'll take that as a yes.

Coconut oil for dogs ... are you mad?

I recently ordered this product from amazon two weeks ago for various reasons.

The main reason for the purchase was because my Labrador has been scratching and chewing her feet more and more over several months.

I've been applying the coconut oil to her feet every other day and putting the suggested amount in her food. The benefits in just a week are fantastic! Not only does her breathe not smell any more, the annoying chewing and scratching has slowed down and almost stopped.

The aroma that hits the senses from the second you open the jar is lovely and fresh. 

Bonnie's coat was starting to look dull and not very nice, but now it looks and feels a lot healthier and is nice and glossy, compared to a few weeks ago.

This natural and organic product is great, so great that both my dogs can agree on it and will often try and lick it out of the jar if given half the chance.

I finally got my first Loot crate!

Ok so I may have got just a little over excited when I found out my little black box had been delivered this morning.

Looking at the solid black box it felt quite heavy, when looking at the sending instructions I realised it had been sent from the U.S. The postage costs $19.95 as indicated on the box.
I decided to pay for the 3 months subscription with a 10 % off code that I was given. So the cost per box worked out as $28 each month delivered to the UK.



When I opened the box the theme was Dead. With bright red and purple zombies printed on the inside of the box. I was quite pleased about this theme as I love the tv series Izombie, so I was secretly hoping that there would be something to do with the series hidden in the box.




The first thing I saw was a Deadpool Q fig - this item is a loot crate exclusive so currently not found anywhere else.

The next thing I found was a t- shirt again Deadpool themed. The top is marvel branded, soft to touch with a large print across the chest.

The third item I found was my loot crate pin specially made for each moths box.

I then came across a string of ears...... I suddenly had a flashback of Universal Soldier starring Dolph Lundgren. The ears in this case are linked to the walking dead. These soap on a rope ears are rather scary have no fragrance but look great hanging of the rope they are provided with.

Last but so not least as I've been looking forward to this. I get to look in my booklet that was in the bottom of the box and yay! I'm so happy there's a publishing from one of the cast Izombie. I love Rahul Kohli's character in Izombie Ravi is probably my favourite character. Sharp witted liners all the way through the program.

I wrote this write up so you could see for yourself whether the loot crate is worth spending your money on. Although you definitely get more than your monies worth of products. In my opinion the

loot crate has a cracking value.
As long as you know each month what the theme is (which you can check online and if you don't like that one you can skip a month and get the next one delivered instead) .

Tigerprints T's

Two days ago I received a parcel through the post from www.tigerprints.co.uk
Before this week I'd never heard of the lady Mary who runs this business let alone seen any of her products. I'm glad I have now.

Mary runs a t-shirt printing company called tigerprints. No it's not your average t-shirt printing as Mary believes that children and adults alike should be able to be an individual starting from their choice of tops to wear. 
The family runs business which originates from Bedfordshire takes everyday and makes it fun with their range of personalised t-shirts.

With designs ranging from dinosaurs to zebra or names to quotes printed on these very special tops very top ordered can be personalised to the high quality  you'd expect from a small business.

I ordered two different tops at the beginning of week.
One organic top in green (a little bit more expensive) and an ordinary red tshirt.

  I love the fact that both tops are very bright, after two washes kept its color with no color running. 

The organic green top with its giraffe print is noticeably softer to touch I've had a hard time getting Tj to take it off ( he has a thing about soft clothes). It's definitely worth the extra few pennies. 

The size I ordered was 9 - 10, the top has plenty of growing room for Tj he's not the slimmest of children due to his rugby playing frame. 

I choose to have a giraffe printed on the front which is central to the top with the head ending just below the neck line. 

The red top is long sleeved good quality cotton. The sleeves are cuffed which helps prevent them from riding up. The ribs on the cuff are loose, so there is room to move around, plenty of room to hold tissues. 

The size I ordered was 9 -11 years. This top is big enough to last a few years and a few growth spurts.

I look forward to buying a few more tops in the future. It's never to early to buy Christmas presents for friends and family these are definitely being added to my Christmas budget this year. 

Cheeky nandos

Imagine sitting in a restaurant talking between your companion and yourself, up beat Portuguese music playing in the background. Mood lighting shining down on the table, enough to allow you to read the menu without straining your eyes but not too bright that it hurts.
The server greeting you explaining nandos etiquette. ( myself I don't need help there).

Once you've chosen and ordered your meal at the till don't forget your table number! Sit back and relax......

My meal went like this, hopefully yours will turn out similar to my meal out.

Beneath the perfectly cooked crispy exterior of my 1/2 cooked chicken was a tender white meat in mango and lime sauce.
The crispy coating finished the chicken off perfectly.
The corn on the cob although a little cold tasted amazing there was no way I was sending it back.
Crispy garlic bread freshly toasted.
The freshly cooked piri piri cooked chips were lightly covered with special piri piri salt. Although the chips were freshly cooked the oil was still seeping on to the plate from where they weren't drained properly.
This was sorted by placing a paper tissue under the chips for a few seconds and blotting up the oil.

Little passports is a hit !!

Today the long awaited surprise came through the post.
Little passports came through the post in a lovely box decorated box that says little passports, so there's no mistaking the  parcel that comes through the post.
The parcel itself came from the United States and took around 10 days for it to arrive ( a little longer in my case due to it being Christmas and new year).

When the parcel was opened there was a mini letter to me, explaining what the parcel holds and other details about little passports.

As the story goes Sam and sofia are 10 year old children and they travel on a magical scooter to different continents.

Inside the 1st parcel TJ found a suitcase, a passport, stickers, an activities booklet,a map and a luggage tag.

The luggage tag opens up yet more amazing treats online.

The map is medium sized to put up on the wall which is fantastic for those inquisitive minds.

I don't want to give to much more away as it'll ruin the fun. But it's safe to say I can't wait for next month's parcel to come.

Stewarts garden centre - Wimborne

Going to Stewarts Garden centre is soon becoming a holiday favourite trip for an hour or two in the last few weeks running up to Christmas. 

With festive decorations around the shop, two live reindeer and a Santa's grotto. It's very popular with children and adults to visit.

 TJ unfortunately this year has decided he doesn't want his picture taken with a santa look a like and is waiting to catch the real santa Christmas eve.  

On display is this fantastic restored vw camper with elves and santa dotted around inside and out. An electric Thomas the tank engine which children or adults alike can push a button to make it go around the vw camper on its track.

Christmas decorations are throughout the shop and although slightly higher priced then some shops it's peaceful and relaxed atmosphere create a lovely shopping experience.

When visiting the tea shop, a pot of tea for two was plenty - we managed six cups out of the two pots that were provided.

We choose to sit next to the back door although a slight draft coming from people going in and out the door it was the best seats. The reindeer were just outside the door playing and tossing the straw across their paddock area hunting for food, which TJ found hilarious. 

Long Johns Fish & Chips

I'm up there among the seafood lovers of poole, and for me this chip shop is the best around.

With sit in and take away services, whether your in a rush or just having a wander through town this is highly recommended place to eat.

In the picture above I've ordered the skippers meal deal. I can eat with the best of them and this meal deal is more then adequate for myself and my mom. 

The fish and chips come out fresh from the fryer and on to the plate. As with all the food it's not to greasy.

The restaurant staff are always happy to help, friendly, on the ball and always smiling.

Christmas shopping

When trying to shop for my eldest nephews Christmas present I've found it so hard this year.
I like to get him something he can build as he's such a clever young man. Over past years I've brought him science experiments such as the build a volcano or make your own crystals. This year I wanted something a little different so I opted for this really cool mug.

I like this mug for two different reasons :

1. Because it's heat activated
2. Because it's the solar system

I had to test it to make sure it worked, and I'm actually tempted to go and get another mug for myself.

The packaging itself is sturdy and in the shape of a small shortened rocket.

The mug is chunky but not to heavy. It's black with small white dots on which represents the stars in the sky.
One the boiling waters been added to the mug it takes a minute or two before it activates, the middle area slowly disappears and reveals constellations.

The cup stays warm for a good 10 minutes so if your a slow tea drinker it would be perfect for you.

Personally I think I made the right decision with this present but we shall see Christmas day.

Lush, the confession!

Omg I'm in love with Lush's product called 'FUN' .

It comes in various colors and scents Orange, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow and I recently found out they do a Gold bar.

The product has a 4 in 1 usage. It can be used as play dough, shampoo, bubbles and a soap. 

I have found the Pink smells of vanilla with a slight scent of caramel.

• Yellow smells like play dough.
• Blue smells of lavender.
• Green smells of lemon and lime.
• Orange smells well of oranges.

Tj's favourite is the Green each bath time he covers himself in Green 'fun' from head to toe and acts like an alien.

Myself I prefer the Yellow 'fun' before my bath I break a small bit off and make a small ball and place triangles around so it looks like the sun. before crumbling it up under the tap to give myself lots of bubbles.

Using the product to wash with leaves skin feeling soft and smelling fresh.

I have yet to wash my hair with it as my hair tends to not like anything except Aussie shampoos and conditioners. Tj on the other hand has had his washed and it leaves his hair all fluffy and smelling again fantastic,

I give this product 4 out of 5 a product that I will keep on buying for a long time from now.

Sprinkles Bournemouth

I've heard so many good things about Sprinkles, unfortunately this will be my first and more than likely last visit to the Sprinkles Gelato chain.

From the moment we walked in the door the staff were miserable, there was no good afternoons, no smiles, no can I help you. Nothing! We stood at the till for a few minutes before being asked if they could help. I did think that this was perhaps that it may have been because they'd had a busy day, but looking around there was only a maximum of 20 people, all of which were sat and eating their ice creams. 

TJ and his honeycomb ice cream

When being served the lady that served my mom was playing with her hair and her large loopy earrings, whilst smacking her mouth with gum in and serving! she was wearing the blue gloves. Then proceeded to touch the cash register and ice cream and chocolate etc with the same gloves on.
The server that served me again wore gloves whilst handling cash then proceeded to making my son's ice cream which the majority was melted. I did not see the lady that dealt with my ice cream.
When my moms ice cream came there was 2 scoops of ice cream and the rest was whipped cream. After reading the description for the ferrero rochea ice cream. There was one type of sauce applied with hardly any on. One ferrero rochea, one wafer and not even a teaspoon of nuts sprinkled on top. For almost £6 this to us was NOT acceptable even less so when the ice cream was melted !! 
The cheesecake and ice cream I had served to me was melted. There were strawberries on the side of the plate were looking very much past its sell by date and the banana's on the plate were going off also. 

Banana's starting to turn

The cheesecake was served from the counter and was not chilled it was served at room temperature.
In my opinion as you can see our first visit to sprinkles was no where near what I expected it to be like and all the hype from my friends that have visited I expected a lot more from Sprinkles.

Vikal - I was chosen!

I had a parcel delivered to my door a few weeks ago. A massive surprise for me as I'd not heard anything back from Savvy circle about my application for Vikal.

Surprise

Following the instructions I Checked to see what our water was - no surprise really for our area. As we live in a hard water area.

Hard water 

 I started looking around the taps in the kitchen and never realised how bad the limescale deposit was around the taps.  I normally use bleach when cleaning the sink Obviously this has not been the best of choices.

Before spraying 

 Reading and following the instructions I cleared the area and left for 5 minutes for chemicals to activate.

During

After 5 minutes I rinsed well and wiped with a cloth. The end result was awesome. My taps are now after one use shiny and a lot less limescale on them. 

Results after one try 

After my second try the results were even better. Instead of using bleach from now on I will be using vikal on my taps.
I am impressed with the chemicals and how they bubbled when working although I have since been warned by another person that leaving it on the taps for to long could cause corrosion, so beware and rinse well if you use Vikal or any other chemical based products and always read the instructions.

A visit to Bucklers Hard

I decided that our day out would be to Bucklers Hard. An 18th century village where warships for Nelsons navy were built. Set in an idealistic village, surrounded by Beautiful scenery on the Beaulieu river.

The Maritime museum has items dating back to Admiral Nelson and his crew members, as well as many other boats that were made at Beaulieu. 

Ships built at Beaulieu

With open houses to wonder around life in 18th century was definitely hard. Reading the information provided and listening to the guided tour. I can imagine how hard life was back in the 18th century when listening to the historian.

Guided tour 

  To look around the little village and the museum it took us around 2 hours.

Outside the museum

Costing £6.50 an adult and £4.50 a child.
There's is an option to upgrade the ticket to an unlimited yearly pass which was only £10 a person.
This did not include the additional price of the river boat cruise.

Shipwrights cottage and St. Mary's Church 

Along the houses on the left there are two houses in which you can look around. the shipwrights cottage and St. Mary's Chapel which holds a hidden room.
As you progress down the hill towards the waterfront there is a pub and grill area. with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating.

Shipwrights School

The building in the background at the waters edge has just been re- built with 150 year old oak wood. Provided by the Beaulieu forest.