Diane Stafford On Focus

Who's A Slummy Single Mummy?

2010-02-01T19:13:11+00:00

I do like this blog title, it certainly grabbed my attention as a 'single mummy' myself, although the 'slummy' part of course doesn't apply to me (she say's as the clothes ironing mountain threatens to fall on her 'desk' space as she types)!

So who is a Slummy Single Mummy?

At first I thought it was someone with an interest in the alcoholic drinks industry, purely based on the number of wine glasses and drinks bottles featuring in her post images, you understand.

Once I began reading her articles, I soon realised that no, this was no 'worse for wear' incoherent blogger.

She actually writes blooming great articles which I find interesting and which indeed strike a cord with me as a 'non slummy' (really I'm not) single mummy!

After very extensive research, this slummy single mummy's identity was revealed - yes, I looked at her about me page. It took ages due to reading all her great articles first.

Anyway, so now you know who she is, if you're a self confessed slummy single mummy, then you may enjoy reading her articles as much as I do.

Great articles Jo, keep writing

Diane

Has Your Food Been Bitten By The Recession?

2010-02-01T00:42:59+00:00

Has The Food You Buy Been Bitten By The Recession?

My girls have been asking, for over a month, for Sharwoods Puppadums, one of their favorite snacks, but they've not been in stock at our local supermarket for several weeks.

Anyway, on a recent trawl round the supermarket I spotted their timely return to the previously bare shelves, so added two packets of the plain variety into the trolley to please my little treasures.

There was at this point some serious hesitation!

Was this a case of imagination working overtime I wondered.

Hmmm... the price didn't appear to be smaller!

The puppadums themselves certainly did appear to be a lot smaller than previously though!

OK, it had been weeks since we last bought any, so let's just assume you are going bonkers Diane by imagining that they've reduced in size yet not price!

They remained in the trolley; the girls were going to get their snack after all!

The girls helped me unpack the shopping. I think they were scrabbling to get to their snack really.

Anyhow, when they did get to the see through packages they both, simultaneously (they are twins btw), gasped a sharp intake of breath and exclaimed questioningly, and rather loudly, "OMG what's happened to the size of these?"

Phew! What a relief, it wasn't the old imagination after all.

There was a little speculative banter exchanged between us about the effect of the economic climate on the size of the food on our supermarket shelves lately.

It appears to us that some of the food we buy has been bitten by the recession!

Now that we've located a recipe 'How To Make Poppadoms', we'll be making them at home from now on, although they won't be sun dried in Madras!

However, the puppadums/poppadoms are not alone.

Nope, this isn't an isolated 'inch loss' event.

The poppadoms are in the very good company of a few other food products we normally buy.

There's the in store baked loaf that seems to look a lot smaller yet surprisingly weighs the same, according to the label, (allegedly - reminder to self to actually weigh one).

Then there's the cereals the kids like that we think is a lower weight, inside the usual sized box.

And ... the girls reeled off several more recently noticed anecdotal examples.

Have You Noticed?

Is there a food manufacturing weight loss conspiracy going on?

Is this a move by food manufacturers, to 'trick' the cost conscious general public, in order to increase their profits by reducing product size rather than risking consumer revolt by raising supermarket prices?

Conspiracy or not, we'll be keeping our eyes open.

My kids love their food, so not much will be getting past them now!

And Finally

The girls thought that perhaps their snack item was out of stock for all these weeks (as part of a conspiracy theory): "We reckon 'they' were hoping people would forget how big they were before and wouldn't notice they're much smaller now"

bless... hmmm could they be right?

Crohn's Disease Social Network for those Tortured By Food!

2010-01-10T14:43:24+00:00

Video for: Crohn's Disease Social Network for sufferers, tortured by food!

What is Crohn's Disease?

Crohn's disease is officially categorised as an Auto-Immune Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that can cause severe pain, inflammation and blockage of the intestines and other parts of the digestive system, causing a wide variety of symptoms, all of which are completely unpleasant and not easily managed.

There is no cure!

Sufferers often feel they have to "get on with it".

It can be very debilitating and usually impacts on all aspects of the sufferers life and their family, friends, work, colleagues etc.

Why a Crohn's Disease Social Network?

As a crohn's sufferer since childhood years, I rarely talk about my illness, it's always been very much a part of my daily life, I get on with it, get medicated, prodded and probed when necessary and am very good at forgetting to make appointments for my regular 'pin cushion' sessions!

Although there are increasing numbers of crohn's, colitis, IBD sufferers, there is very little real support or opportunity to talk to others in the same or similar situation, with people who do actually understand what life is really like!

Thankfully, that's changing as Jason Leitman, a crohn's sufferer himself, has started a fabulous Social Network for Crohn's sufferers, their family and friends.

If you, or anyone you know has crohn's, is tortured by food or suffers in silence, please let them know about CDSN - you'll be very warmly welcomed by Jason and other members.

Can you help us raise funds for various charities including Crohn's Disease ?

or Help Plant 50 Trees : for EVERY "Advocate for Change" that joins us

Have a great day all

regards

Diane

Winter Wonderland for New Year

2010-01-08T02:01:08+00:00

Firstly, Happy New Year and may you achieve everything you wish for in 2010,
you deserve it.

Winter Wonderland for New Year or Treacherous Traveling?

I'm sure that your answer will depend upon your perspective and personal experience!

If you're without electricity, internet access (worst nightmare) and you're stuck in traffic for hours trying to get to or from work. Or, if like many, you missed Christmas or New Year with your family due to planes, trains and all modes of transport freezing to a standstill, then perhaps you're not feeling so positive about the current "ice age".

If, however, you're in this part of Cheshire, you may have been feeling a little left out over Christmas. We certainly were, as everyone else in the UK was having snow 'dumped' on them day after day, whilst we had a smattering of the stuff, which melted pretty quickly!

No Longer Left Out of The Cold on Our Own!

Yes, we finally got some of the fluffy white stuff, although we had to wait until this week for it to arrive.

As you can see from the above photo, the round hole is my outside fire pit by the way, we didn't actually get very much, well not compared to virtually everywhere else.

There was enough snow to cause mayhem on the roads, enough to close the local schools for a day and enough of the stuff to get people talking incessantly about the weather, a popular talking point for us Brits.

In this part of Cheshire, we've had just enough snow to be able to get out in it, throw snowballs at each other in the garden, play snow angels and take long crunchy walks in it, whilst being warmed by the bright winter sun.

In fact it's been a winter wonderland for us.

We are waiting for more, with fingers crossed that the electric stays on, the broadband remains live and the gas doesn't run out!

Wherever you are keep safe and warm.

All the very best for 2010

How To Create Backlinks with High PR

2009-12-11T19:29:09+00:00

How to create backlinks with high pr is a question most webmasters ask themselves on a regular basis, because let's face it, you need high quality backlinks to help your website gain authority and overtake your competition.

In a previous article I wrote about my friend Steve's new program that helps you create quality backlinks, so thought you'd like an update on the progress being achieved.

You can see the results in the above picture:

This screen shot shows how one of Steve's client sites, that he started to build links for around the middle of June 2009 has benefited from the program.

Note the traffic jump in July from the back link building.

The screenshot for this was taken on 4th Sept 2009 and the traffic had already reached 458 in those few days.

Steve has updated his SEO Link Building program and also added video tutorials to his website. You can watch his tutorials here: How To Create Backlinks with High PR

Topics covered:

creating your website profile

importing links

creating your signup accounts

creating one way links back

Do You Want To Create Powerful Links In Minutes Automatically?

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Unfortunately, this seo backlink builder only works on windows, and not mac, however you have a choice between 32 bit or 64 bit and yes this is an affiliate link, so if you buy the program I'll thank you now in advance for kindly encouraging Steve to buy me a cafe latte for Christmas.