Cake. Who doesn’t love it? Give me a quiet corner, a cup of tea, and a slice of something delicious and I’m smiling.

Today’s ‘something delicious’ was a slice of Chocolate Banana Loaf. I always have leftover bananas looking a little past their best in the fruit bowl. This banana loaf (or cake if that’s what you prefer to call it!) is my absolute favourite way to use them up. It’s also a good excuse to eat cake, as if I need one…

It’s best to use bananas that are starting to speckle in this recipe, the riper they are, the sweeter your cake will be. You should end up with a wonderfully light loaf, that melts in your mouth. Perfect for a lunch box treat, or an afternoon indulgence!

Chocolate Banana Loaf
Makes approx 15 slices

Ingredients:

• 240g soft light brown sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 small bananas (approx 200g when peeled)
• 240g plain flour
• 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• 30g cocoa powder
• 140g butter – melted

1. Turn on the oven and heat to 175°C, and line a 2 lb loaf tin with grease proof paper, or a loaf tin liner.
2. Using a hand-held mixer (or a free-standing one), mix together the eggs and sugar, until light and fluffy, then beat in the mashed bananas.
3. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix thoroughly, making sure you incorporate the dry ingredients well.
4. Add the melted butter, mix well, until the batter has a nice sheen.
5. Tip the batter into your lined loaf tin, and bake in your pre-heated oven for approx 1 hour, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before cooling completely on a wire cooling rack.
7. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche and a nice hot cuppa. Bliss!

You’ve missed it, right? Hot or not is back! Just in time to perk you up, at the end of a hard week!

So, where were we? Ah yes, last time Joseph Fiennes came over all brooding and dark, and quite frankly had me in a bit of a flustered state! I’ve gotten over him now though. A girl can’t chain herself to one object of unrequited lust forever!

This weeks chap is certainly raising a few pulses! He’s gone from Saturday Night Fever, via Emmerdale, to keeping the ladies (and gents) a tad misty eyed, as he skates around the ice of a Sunday evening.

Who can it be? Well, let’s find out!

Matthew Wolfenden, hot or not?

Yes, he’s wearing pink and sequins. No, I don’t give a monkey’s! This young man is the reason I’m watching Dancing on Ice, purely for his *cough* skating skills, of course!  He’s training for the show at my local ice rink. Perhaps it’s time I learned how to skate again?

It’s not my call though. You decide….

Generations of children have grown up with the stories of Winnie the Pooh. As a child I remember reading A. A. Milnes’ wonderful books, which were beautifully illustrated by E. H. Shepard.

Over the decades, this honey obsessed little bear has been introduced to new generations of children, largely with the help of Disney, through film, and the vision of toy manufacturers.

So, relieved we were to learn that finally, Winnie the Pooh had arrived in the LEGO family! He along with his famous friends, can now by played with, by even the tiniest of toddler hands, thanks to the ingenuity of the designers at LEGO DUPLO.

The LEGO DUPLO Winnie the Pooh Range features the familiar friendly bear himself, along with Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger. The range is suitable from 18 months upwards, and as with all LEGO DUPLO sets, is fully compatible with all the other LEGO DUPLO ranges.

My 2 year old daughter absolutely adores this range. There is just something so utterly loveable about Winnie the Pooh and his friends, which appeals to her, a lot! These brightly coloured characters and their environments have been brilliantly interpreted by the folk at LEGO DUPLO, and while remaining true to the Disney images of Winnie the Pooh we all know and love, make a seamless addition to the LEGO DUPLO family.

As with all LEGO DUPLO sets, this range can be used for imaginative play, along with helping our littlest folk become introduced to the concept of counting, and introduce them to construction and colours.

We can’t wait to see what the designers at LEGO DUPLO come up with next!

Disclosure.

The winner of the Philips Azur GC4890 Man Iron is…..

{Drum roll please….}

Darren

Congratulations Darren. I’ll be in touch shortly with details of how to claim your prize I’m sure you’ll have hours of fun *cough* with your new toy! Happy ironing!

Thanks and commiserations to everyone else who tweeted and commented to enter. Better luck next time!

You know me. I’m always attending soirées and luncheons that require me to be groomed and gorgeous.

*cough*

When M&S asked me if I’d like to try one of their Secret Support Party Dresses, I thought what better way to disguise all those little lumps and bumps, and make me appear even more goddess like! (quiet there at the back, you’re ruining the illusion…)

The Secret Support range isn’t just limited to Bridget Jones style big knickers. They’ve devised other sneaky ways of helping you and me disguise those unwanted wobbly bits. From hosiery and lingerie, to trousers, skirts, and dresses, there are now many ways to give yourself a sleek silhouette, albeit just for the day!

I was sent the really rather fabulous Red Secret Support Structured Short Sleeve Dress. This fabulous dress contains a Secret Support lining, and pulled me in, in all the right places, giving me a smooth, cinched waist and shapely hips.

The dress made me feel like a million dollars as sashayed about, channelling my inner Christina Hendricks!

So popular were the dresses in the Secret Support range, that they have now sold out, although I am reliably informed that M&S are working on a new range, which will be on sale later this year.

Keep your eyes peeled, you don’t want to miss out!

This is a review post.

As much as I love a good old fashioned braised beef casserole, sometimes I just want to pump up the flavour threshold and give it a bit of pep!

So, since my current obsession is with Thai and Chinese flavours, I thought what better than to turn our Sunday casserole into something a little more exciting?

Unlike your usual quick stir fried oriental style dishes, this is cooked low and slow, like a traditional braised beef casserole. You’ll end up with meltingly tender beef in a wonderful sweet, sticky sauce, bursting with fresh flavours.

I served this with some steamed rice, but it would go equally well with noodles.

Chinese Braised Beef
Serves 3 (or 2 adults & 2 small children)
Easily doubled

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 450g beef stewing steak – cut into medium sized chunks
• 2 large onions – sliced thinly
• 40g root ginger – peeled & diced very finely
• 1 red chilli – deseeded & diced very finely
• 3 cloves garlic – crushed
• Small bunch of coriander – leaves removed and reserved, stalks chopped.
• 2 tsp Chinese five spice
• 3 whole star anise
• A good pinch of black pepper
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 50ml dark soy sauce
• 50ml light soy sauce
• 50g dark muscovado sugar
• 400ml beef stock

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a large pan, and add the beef. Fry in the oil until browned & remove from the pan, along with most of the juices.
2. Put the onions, ginger, red chilli, garlic, and coriander stalks in the pan and sauté for 5 – 7 minutes.
3. While the onions are softening, in a bowl mix together the tomato puree, light & dark soy & dark muscovado sugar. Set aside.
4. Once the onions are nicely softened, reintroduce the beef and juices to the pan, along with the Chinese five spice, black pepper, and the star anise. Allow to cook for a minute or so.
5. Add the sauce you set aside to the pan, stir through, then add the beef stock.
6. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, over a low heat, for 2 – 2.5 hours, until the beef is tender, and the sauce reduced to your liking.
7. Serve with steamed rice or noodles, sprinkled with the coriander leaves you reserved.

We took our first foray into the world of the school packed lunch recently.

The 5 year old had asked Santa for a ‘Thomas’ lunch box, and decided he’d like a change from his usual hot school lunch. When I asked him what he’d like in his lunch box, he said it had to be tuna sandwiches (tick), grapes (tick), yoghurt (tick) and last but by no means least, a flapjack.

Now, being a control freaky perfectionist glutton (and not just for punishment), I decided this was the perfect excuse to whip up a batch of homemade flapjacks. None of your cheap shop bought stodge for my boy! Nope, it’s butter, golden syrup and oaty goodness all the way!

Now, as tradition dictates, I baked these late at night, which adds nothing to their flavour, but keeps me sane. You can bake yours whenever you like!

Lunchbox Flapjacks
Makes 15

Ingredients

• 300g butter (I prefer salted, it gives a better flavour)
• 75g brown sugar
• 6 generous tablespoons Golden Syrup
• A pinch of salt
• 500g porridge oats (I use a 50/50 mix of jumbo and regular for a chunkier result)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160ºC .
2. Grease and line a 33cm x 23cm x 5cm baking tray.
3. Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan, and melt over a medium heat, stirring until combined well.
4. Put the jumbo oats and porridge oats into a large mixing bowl, and pour over the butter and syrup mixture, stirring well to make sure all the oats are covered.
5. Pour the mixture into the baking tray, spreading evenly, and pressing down with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake at 160ºC for 30 – 35 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, for 10 minutes before scoring your pieces.
8. Once scored, leave to fully cool in the baking tray, before carefully removing the flapjacks, and transferring to an air tight tin.

Something I’ve learnt, from losing a parent at a young age, is that you can never have too many photographs.

People you love, places you’ve been, things you’ve enjoyed, it doesn’t matter what the subject is, it’s the recording of a moment that’s important. A visual clue, a snapshot insight into someone’s soul. Pictures can reveal so much.

It’s very rare for me to leave the house without a camera, in one form or another. And I was more than thrilled when Kodak said they’d like to send me an Easy Share Touch M5370 to use in conjunction with their Big App.

The Big App allows you to super size any image or photograph, and print it out easily on a conventional printer. No need to pay someone to do it for you! The app breaks down the image into A4 sections, which you download as a PDF file, and then send to print, on your home printer.

You could super size your favourite view, make a birthday banner, or create all sorts of different wall art. You could even laminate your prints and make a giant puzzle. And when I say giant, I mean giant! The app can create an image that’s almost 4.62 metres by 5.94 metres in size, which prints on 440 A4 sheets! Of course you can create much more manageable images, starting at just 4 A4 sheets.

I’ve chosen to split this image of my son into 9 sheets, creating a striking A1 poster size image.

The black and white effect was created using the Tri-X film effect on the Easyshare Touch. This camera is a pocket rocket! With 16 Mega Pixels and 5x optical zoom, plus a 28mm wide-angle lens, it’s smaller than a mobile phone, but packed with brilliant features. You can even instruct the camera to ‘share’ you photos on Twitter, Facebook and more, automatically, when you upload your pictures to your PC. Perfect for social network junkies like me!

I’m sure over the coming weeks and months, with the help of the Kodak Easyshare Touch M5370, I’m going to have more photos I want to give the Big App treatment than I can choose from! The question is, will I have enough wall space to hang them all!?

How would you use the Big App?

This is a review post.

When my Mum passed away, my brother and I were just 3 and 5 years old. My Grandma & Grandpops moved in, to help my father cope. We were very lucky to have them.

They were compassionate enough to give up their home, to help us.

But faced with such a tragic situation, some children simply don’t have family left to care for them.

Meet Julie Jones, recently named as Tesco Compassionate Mum of the Year.

When Julie’s best friend Caroline died of brain cancer, she didn’t have time to grieve. You see Caroline, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in 2009, left behind six orphaned children.

Their father had passed away suddenly in January 2010 with a brain haemorrhage, and Caroline, realising her children would be orphaned, had asked Julie if, when the inevitable happened, she’d adopt her six children.

Julie didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Caroline sadly passed away in June 2010, and Julie honoured the promise she’d made to her best friend of 33 years. That day, she went to pick Caroline’s children up from school, and delivered the devastating news. They have been together ever since.

As a single mum, with three boys of her own, Julie is now a mum of nine. Five of Caroline’s children live with her, with the sixth, eldest boy Tim, living with a relative nearby, and visiting whenever he likes.

Julie, who works full-time at RAF Brampton, admits that at times it can be a struggle, which is unsurprising, considering all the mouths she has to feed , and all the bodies she has to clothe! She takes the challenge of caring for, and loving her suddenly enlarged family in her stride.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror Julie explained, “If my best friend hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have the children. What I am doing is something very natural and ordinary. This is just what I do. I’d got three boys, there’s six more. I just do what I can. I don’t look for any recognition, I’m just a mum.”

To recognise her amazing act of selflessness, Julie has been deservedly named Tesco Compassionate Mum of the Year.  She, along with the finalists in other categories, will be collecting her award at a star-studded ceremony in March.

For more news on our amazing Tesco Mum of the Year finalists, keep your eye on the Tesco Mum of the Year website, or follow the #TescoMumoftheYear hashtag on Twitter.

We all have jobs that we hate.

You know, those household chores that tip you to the edge of sanity? Well, for me that task is ironing. Lucky for me, I have someone to do it for me!

Noooooo, I don’t pay anyone! My husband does it, along with all the laundry. Yes, you did read that correctly.

When Philips contacted me and asked me if I’d like my husband to trial their new Man Iron (styled like a space ship, designed to appeal to the masculine market, to perhaps encourage more of our less chore minded men to do the ironing), while I relaxed with a pamper kit, I had to chuckle. So, while I languished lazily in a hot bubble bath, book and cuppa in hand, the husband got to work testing his new toy.

His top 5 ‘likes’ are:

1. The iron glides effortless over garments. I was smooth to use and removed creases without having to exert much effort.
2. The iron is lightweight, but has the sturdy feel of a much heavier one.
3. The Man Iron heats up quickly, and is ready to use in no time at all.
4. The settings are simple, no fussing about with digital displays, just turn the dial for heat and slide the button for steam. It’s practically idiot proof!
5. The cord is designed to wrap neatly, without touching the plate, for safe storage.

What do I think of the Man Iron? I couldn’t tell you, I’ve never used it….

Fancy getting your (or your husband’s) hands on a Philips Man Iron, also known as the Philips Azur GC4890? All you have to do is leave a comment below, and tell me, who does the ironing in your household?

For an extra entry copy paste and tweet the following:

I’m entering the #PhilipsManIron #giveaway @InsomniacMummy - http://wp.me/pO1G4-Tv

Good luck, and happy ironing….

Terms and conditions: The competition will close at midnight, Monday 23rd January 2012, and the winner chosen at random . The winner will be contacted by email and will be required to provide name, and postal address. These details will be forwarded to the PR representative at Philips UK. The prize will be posted to the winner by the PR representative at Philip UK.  The competition is open to UK residents only.

I’m not a photographer, by any stretch of the imagination!

I adore taking pictures, in fact, it’s a complete compulsion! Some things are just begging to be snapped, and so many moments need to be captured. I have the ability to make time stand still at my finger tips, what could be better than that?!

Many, many years ago, I studied photography as part of my art course, at university. I even learnt how to develop ‘real’ photographs, from actual film, in a darkroom. But those fleeting skills have long since been forgotten.

These days, most of the pictures I take are snapped on my trusty (never far from reach) iPhone. Grab, point, shoot, et voilà!

The one thing I wish I did more of, is getting my photos printed. I long to be able to pore over albums for hours, taking it all in! I suspect I’d have to sell a small child to cover the cost….

So, my favourite phone photo? Well quite frankly I have far too many, so here is just one of thousands! My boy, on the beach in Felixstowe, on an unseasonally warm mid November day. Lovely memories….

It’s 2012. How in the hell did that happen?!

I’ve been a little absent of late. A nasty chest infection, coupled with the festive season pretty much took the wind out of my sails. All my energy has been channelled into focussing on family and work, and the ‘social media’ version of me has become a tad elusive. I like to think it gives me an air of mystery, no?

So anyway, I’m having a short blogoliday. I’m putting my feet up for a little while, just until I shake the moody blues, and I can be sure I’m back in full feisty form.

You can bet your Gran’s pension that because I’ve decided to have a break, there’ll be a squillion words begging to be released from my brain by tomorrow morning. Such is the nature of the blogging beast!

Oh and there may be quite a few changes to come, including a whole blog makeover, which I’ve been working on sporadically for a while, in the small hours.

Did I ever mention I don’t sleep well?….

I have my very own calendar out. No not that kind, tsk!

OK, so I lied, it’s not my own calendar, it’s the much anticipated British Parenting Blogger Calendar 2012, and I’m on the front cover……yikes!

Once I got over the fact that I was hideous famous, I thought I’d better make sure I got my hands on a copy. For potential tell the grandchildren fodder, of course. So, in return for a calendar Jay and Tara want my blogging CV.

Who am I, anyway?

• Name – Ellie
• Blogging at Insomniac Mummy since August 2009
• Twitter – @InsomniacMummy
• Facebook  Page – Insomniac Mummy
• Silly post – Hot or not?
• Serious post - It’s time to talk about mental health

History – Insomniac has babies, turns to internet to fill hours of sleeplessness. Writes nonsense, returns to work, becomes social media addict butterfly. Still can’t sleep.

Highs – Hadrian’s Walk. Making real life friends through blogging, with whom I can laugh like a drain.

Lows – Realising there are not enough hours in the day, and having to let the blogging slide a bit….

Future plans – Pimp my blog (it’s been 2 years since it had a makeover!) to give it a new lease of life, go to Cybher for some serious fun schooling, walk 26 miles in 12 hours for charity, and continue being the laziest blogger on the internet, because that’s just the way I like it!

And finally, here’s my inspiration….

It was the boy’s 5th birthday a couple of weeks ago. Where did the time go?!

As a priviledge of being LEGO DUPLO Experts we were sent a fabulous party pack and cake. So we invited round some of his school friends, and had a LEGO DUPLO birthday party.

The pack contained:

• A LEGO DUPLO birthday card, ready for me to write.
• 20 dinner placemats/large colouring sheets (we gave these away with the party bags).
• 20 balloons
• 20 stickers (3 different varieties)
• 20 paper plates
• 20 napkins
• 20 party bags
• A fabulous personalised LEGO DUPLO birthday cake made by Need a Cake.

The party went down a storm! The children spent time playing with our ever expanding stash of LEGO DUPLO. We filled their party bags with the colouring sheets, stickers, balloons, a slice of the delicious cake, and bought our guests LEGO Mini Figure each to take home. Perfect! Happy faces all round!

Now on to the good stuff! You could win a LEGO DUPLO party pack and personalised cake! It can be for a birthday any time during 2012, and the cake will be delivered a couple of days prior to your chosen birthday.

All you have to do to enter is send your details, including the name and birthday of the person you want to win the party pack for, to duplocompetition@docolondon.com. Make sure you quote INSOMNIAC MUMMY DUPLO PARTY in the subject line.

The competition will close on Saturday 24th December so get emailing to be in with a chance!

As parent in a digital age, there are definitely certain products that we’ve come to take for granted.

In our house, the product that we wouldn’t be without is our digital baby monitor.

Our youngest daughter may be 2½ now, but we still use the monitor on a nightly basis. It’s something that I’m not yet ready to leave behind, and provides us with great peace of mind.

I was recently contacted by Little Pumpkin, an online baby boutique, and asked if I’d like to test a Clarity Digital Video Monitor. Since we’ve always used a regular monitor, we were interested to see what difference the video monitor would make.

The Lindam Clarity Digital Video Monitor comes with a baby unit (the camera eye, and an adjustable bracket wall/cot mount), and the parent unit (the monitor unit itself, with a 2.36″ colour screen). Both units can be either battery or mains operated. The camera and mount were easy to set up and adjust, and we managed to place it fairly unobtrusively in the bedroom. It’s basically a round white camera. An eye in the sky, if you will!

The monitor has a 150 metre range, both audio and visual capabilities, and works well and both day light and at night, thanks to its infrared camera. For the first hour we used it at night, I felt like Yvette Fielding in an episode of Most Haunted. I may have even screamed a bit when, after taking my eye off the ball for a few seconds, there was movement and suddenly a small child standing in front of the camera! I soon got used to the novelty, and it became normal to be able to see, as well as hear what was going on.

The monitor also plays three lullabies, should you need them.

All in all we liked the Clarity Digital Baby Monitor. It was extremely useful to be able to see what was going on in the bedroom. Especially when the children were restless. It meant we could gauge whether or not to intervene more effectively, and also provided peace of mind.

There are a couple of improvements we’d like to see to the monitor. We missed the room temperature feature we use religiously on our regular monitor. Also the Clarity could benefit from a ‘talk back’ feature.

Overall it’s thumbs up from us, and a big thanks to Little Pumpkin!

He’s a very busy man, that Santa Claus.

With the push toward Christmas Eve well and truly under way, he’s also found time to get together with the NSPCC, and create some very special letters from Santa, for children young, and old!

For a suggested donation of £5 per letter, he’ll be taking orders online, at the NSPCC Christmas website.

But don’t leave it too late! The last date for online orders is Sunday 18th December 2011.

Spread a little festive cheer, while donating to a fantastic cause! If that doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy inside this Christmas, nothing will!

It’s almost that time of year again….

Christmas!

OK, so it’s still a few weeks away but with December 1st just around the corner, I’m thinking about putting the Christmas tree up sometime soon. Yes, I’m one of those hideous folk that have their decorations up for a whole month! I can feel some of you shuddering just reading that…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to shove it down your proverbial throats, and do the whole shebang with outdoor lights and a display to compete with Blackpool Illuminations, nope. It’ll be subtle; a nice tree, nothing too gaudy, and stockings hung on the fireplace. Understated and homely (in my imagination at least). Ahhh, it warms the cockles of my heart just thinking about it.

I know there are those of you out there, who come mid November are itching to trim up the tree, and those for whom Christmas Eve is soon enough for festivities, and not a day before!

So, where do you sit in The Great Christmas Tree Debate? Come on, be honest.

Now, where did I put that Michael Bublé Christmas Album….

The winner of the Filtrete Air Purifier, courtesy of Allergy UK is…..

{drum roll please}

Christine Mosler

Well done Christine, I’ll be in touch shortly with details of how to claim your prize!

Thanks and comiserations to everyone who entered, and thanks to Allergy UK for providing such a wonderful prize!

Everyone has a dish or a style of cooking that they revert to time and time again.

A lot of the ‘go to’ dishes we eat, on a regular basis are Italian inspired. There is so much you can do with pasta to make it appetising to even the fussiest of eaters! And, by that, I mean the husband and not the children!

With a few basic, fresh ingredients you can whip up a bowl of something that’ll knock their socks off. Infinitely better than a bland jar of generic pasta sauce, any day of the week!

This is super cheap and simple to make. The white wine compliments the pork sausage perfectly, to make for a delicious bowl of pasta perfection!

Sausage and Tomato Spaghetti
Serves 4
Cooking time – approx 1 hour

Ingredients:

• A good lug of olive oil
• 6 good quality pork sausages, skins removed, broken into small pieces (high pork content works best, I used Debbie & Andrews Harrogate 97% pork)
• 2 large onions – diced
• 3 cloves garlic – crushed
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 250 ml white wine (a miniature bottle is perfect)
• Small bunch of basil – roughly chopped
• A generous pinch of course ground black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 400g spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan.
2. Sauté the onion and garlic in a pan.
3. Add the sausage meat and sauté for a 3 -4 minutes until browned. Break down any large chunks with the back of a wooden spoon.
4. Add the white wine to the pan and cook for 4 – 5 minutes until most of the wine has evapourated (this burns off the alcohol making it child friendly).
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, a good pinch of course ground black pepper and salt, and simmer for approx 35 -40 minutes until the sauce is nice and thick.
6. In the meantime, bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the spaghetti as per pack instructions.
7. Add the basil and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
8. Drain the spaghetti and stir into the sauce.
9. Serve piping hot with a sprinkling of strong cheese.

As a child, I was diagnosed with asthma. Allergies, inhalers and antihistamines have always been a normal part of my life.

When I had children, one of my fears was that they would inherit my genetic predisposition to atopic diseases, such as asthma, eczema and hay fever. Unfortunately, it seems they have.

From being just a few months old, both children were prescribed treatment for eczema and asthma, and then once they were over 1 year old, both developed hay fever symptoms. These conditions are not uncommon and parents, like myself, are dealing with and managing them on a daily basis.

Allergy UK are highlighting the issue of ‘The Rise of Home Fever’ with Indoor Allergy Week (14th – 20th Nov 2011). They predict that as many as 12 million people, in the UK alone, are allergic to their own homes. These hay fever like symptoms, usually a runny nose and sneezing, but experienced out of season, have been dubbed as ‘home fever’. As many as 58% of allergy sufferers react to ‘home fever’s’ main allergen – house dust mites.

Both my children and I are among this number. As the cold weather draws in and we turn on the central heating, perfect conditions are created for the dust mites to breed. It’s not just the dust mites wreaking havoc – mould spores, pet dander, and cleaning products can also trigger ‘home fever’, better known as Perennial Allergic Rhinitis.

Research by Allergy UK has revealed that allergy sufferers aren’t doing enough to reduce the house dust mite allergen. With 55% of sufferers reporting that their symptoms are worse in the bedroom. Me and my family fit into these statistics.

To highlight this problem, Allergy UK were kind enough to send us a Filtrete Air Purifier to test out in our bedrooms, and see if we could gauge any improvement.

The Filtrete Ultra Clean Room Air Purifier boast and amazing 99.9% effectiveness at removing pollen, dust mite debris and mould spores from the air. My eldest son has recently been suffering badly with a persistent asthmatic cough at night, so we have been using the Filtrete in his room at night.

With claims as astonishing as 99.9% I was sceptical, but over the week we have been using the filter, my son’s persistent night coughing has dramatically reduced. The Filtrete purifier uses patented filter technology that allows more air to pass through the purifier. As a result, allergens are removed more quickly.

The Filtrete has 3 speed settings, and low noise level. It’s quiet enough not to wake my boy, and isn’t intrusive. It takes up a small amount of floor space, but that’s a small price to pay for the benefits we’ve reaped! He sleeps better and coughs less, we sleep better as a result, everyone’s a winner. I cannot tell you how impressed we are with this product!

There are, of course, other measures you can take to reduce allergens in the bedroom. These are Allergy UK’s tips:

• Dust regularly but use a damp duster first, then a dry cloth. Otherwise, you are just moving the dust around
• Wash bedding once a week at 60°C or higher to remove house dust mites. Allergy UK’s research revealed 16% of people wash bed linen every three weeks or less. And with 58% washing bedding at 30 or 40 degrees, house dust mites are set to stay
• Regularly steam clean carpets and curtains.
• Use allergen-proof barrier covers on mattresses, duvets and pillows.
• Replace your mattress every 8-10 years. The research found 13% have had their current mattress for 11 years or more, where as 3% have kept theirs for 20 years
• Buy new pillows every year -  don’t wait five years or more like the 25% of allergy sufferers out there
• Buy products that have been tested to ensure they prevent the escape of house dust mite allergen. Look for the Allergy UK Seal of Approval™.

Now, on to the great news – I have a 3M Filtrete Air Purifier, worth £134.99, to giveaway to one lucky reader. If you or your children suffer with allergies then I urge you to enter – this product will improve your quality of life!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. For an extra entry copy, paste and Tweet:

I’m tackling indoor allergies and entering the #FiltreteAirPurifier #Giveaway @insomniacmummy - http://wp.me/pO1G4-RQ

For more information on allergies and Indoor Allergy Week visit Allergy UK.

Terms and conditions: The competition will close at midnight, Sunday 20th November 2011, and the winner chosen at random . The winner will be contacted by email and will be required to provide name, and postal address. These details will be forwarded to the representative at Allergy UK. The prize will be posted to the winner by Allergy UK.  The competition is open to UK residents only.

So, with the boy’s 5th birthday less than a week away, my thoughts have turned to my glaring lack of planning  for his party!

The invitations were sent out, to a select few new school friends late last week. Now I’m desperately trying to decide what to do with the two hours we’ve scheduled!

Last year we had it easy; we took him and some friends on the local steam railway for a picnic, and packed their party bags with activities that would keep them occupied for the 1.5 hour round trip. This year I’m flummoxed.

We want to keep it simple; our house is small so nothing too elaborate is possible. But at the same time we want him and his friends to have a great time playing and eating. The only party game I can think of is pass the parcel….

So, with a considerable lack of inspiration (and insomnia depleted brain cells) on my part, and a wealth of knowledge and experience on yours, I’m asking for help!

Tell me, how can I entertain a group of 4-5 year olds for two hours, and what on earth can I put in party bags, that won’t end up in the bin or break the bank?

Help me…..please?

I love the autumn.

The wonderful colours, the fading light, the damper duskier days – I adore everything about it. It’s a season of cosying up, and comfort.

There’s nothing we love more on a lazy autumn Sunday than a stroll around the park; kicking up the leaves, and collecting the them to make pretty pictures. Pure autumn bliss.

It’s amazing how much fun two little can have, bedecked in their wellies, simply crunching the leaves under their feet.

*contented sigh*

I can hardly believe that this year the husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! I’ll never forget the day he surprised me with a proposal I wasn’t going to refuse…

The husband is a bit of a traditional old romantic at heart. We’d talked wistfully about getting married, and discussed that I’d like a piece of diamond jewellery, but we never actually looked at rings. I presumed, being the control freak that  I am, we’d arrange it all together, but he had other ideas.

One evening, in my Dad’s kitchen while we were having a cuppa, he unexpectedly proposed! I was nothing short of flabberghasted….and, of course, over the moon.

Earlier that evening he’d had ‘the chat’ with his future father in law, and unbeknownst to me had already bought the ring, which he’d chosen all by himself! No clues, or hints from me whatsoever!  It was a pretty solitaire, small but perfectly formed. I was nothing short of flabberghasted….and, of course, over the moon.

A simple proposal, but a wonderful surprise! Amongst all the great engagement rings out there to choose from, although mine wasn’t a 2 carat whopper, it was perfect for me, and all the more so because he’d made the effort to choose, and buy it in secret.

Back then there were no online diamond stores to endlessly peruse. Buying diamond rings UK wide, for the majority of normal folk, involved trawling through jewellers in nearby towns, until you found the perfect ring. I’d hazard a guess that most ordinary people didn’t even know that there were so many different cuts of diamond. Can you imagine if he’d have been faced with a choice of:

• Round Brilliant
• Princess
• Baguette
• Pear
• Emerald
• Oval
• Radiant
• Asscher
• Marquise
• Heart
• Trillion
• Cushion

Not to mention all the types of gold and settings you can find online these days! I’m not sure he’d have been so bold as to choose a ring, faced with such a range. I’m not even sure I could choose myself!

I think if we were getting engaged now I’d have to ignore all the detail about carat and cut. I’d spending hours gazing at websites, seeking out the perfect ring and imagining it nestled snugly on my finger. I’d think up wily ways in which I could make him pick the right ring. And hope when the proposal was made, that I wasn’t disappointed and the perfect ring magically produced.

In fact, if we were to do it all again, I reckon we’d probably end up with much the same ring as we have now. Hmmmm, I wonder if we should put that theory to the test.

Can you get re-engaged to your husband….

Content on behalf of The Diamond Store

If you live under my roof, it’s a prerequisite that you love trains. So, when the National Railway Museum in York offered us a VIP day out, we were obviously going to scream, ‘yes please!’

We’re no strangers the NRM. It’s somewhere we’ve visited time and time again, since the 4 year old found his walking feet.  This Sunday we bundled ourselves, and a none too resistant Grandad, into the car, for our fabulous day out.

This half term The NRM is having ‘Big fun with little trains‘. Alongside its regular exhibitions, there are lots of hands on things to do! From model making with Meccano, crafting a Halloween diorama, rides on pedal trains, miniature train rides (indoors and outdoors) and even a ride on ‘Teddy’ the steam train, there’s an abundance of things to get stuck into!

We found it hard to fit everything in to one day! The children had an absolute ball and both fell asleep on the way home…..as did I!

Here are our tips for a great day out at the NRM:

• Arrive early. The museum opens at 9:30am and tends to get busy around 11am, so early arrival means you can beat the queues for all those fab train rides!

• On a tight budget? Take a packed lunch. The museum has a good-sized indoor picnic area with large tables. We’ve used it  plenty of times before!

• Want to leave the cooking to someone else? Treat yourself to lunch in the restaurant (we had vouchers for lunch). Arrive early as it fills up quickly over lunch time. The food is fairly expensive if you’re feeding a family, as you always tend to find in museums, but is tasty nonetheless.

• If you have bags and pushchairs that you don’t need all day, there are lockers available to dump them in if you want to give your arms a rest, and the toddler’s legs a run about!

• If you want to ride on the outdoor miniature railway/road train etc, make sure you take some cash with you. The charges for these rides are minimal, but you don’t want to get caught short with a 4 year old begging for a train ride and no cash!

• If you’re taking baby, there are changing stations in both the ladies and gents toilets – a small detail but something you don’t often find!

• Parking in the museum car park is currently £9, but entry to the NRM is absolutely free, so in the scheme of things it’s a cheap day out! If you live within easy distance (we live an hour away by car) why not catch the train instead?