In other exciting news, we’ve bought a new microwave, ok so not earth shattering, this is a ‘mummy’ blog after all. We’ve been microwaveless for about two years now, since my sister-in-law blew it up during popcorn-gate, don’t ask. We didn’t miss it all that much so didn’t replace it, until that is I realised that the only way to cook tescos melt-in-the-middle chocolate puddings was by microwave, that and the lure of fresh popcorn (see next paragraph) left me with no real choice. £45 wasn’t too bad - until it breaks next week, I turned down the 3 year guarantee for £145

Setanta Sports the home of the Scottish Premier League went bust while we were away, oh no, how terrible. I stupidly agreed to shell out for a subscription for Alex’ birthday, what a waste of money, every time there was rain (which is every time in Scotland) their cameras would be so obscured with raindrops you couldn’t see a thing, ridiculous. That and the fact that you’d have watched three hours build up for the biggest boxing fight this century only to find that the channel shut down on you just as the first bell sounded, it’s not really any surprise they went bust, no love lost there. I was quick to cancel the subscription, the next day in fact and just as quick to plough the funds elsewhere. Setanta’s loss is Lovefilm.com’s gain, I signed up for their £14 and a few pence deal which gets me unlimited dvds and xbox games, two at a time, so far so good first two received were Hancock and Stranger than Fiction, I won’t go into any details here as I plan to do a little round up at the end of the month.

And that’s about it really, I’ve begun to attack the mammoth ironing pile, the livingroom looks as if a burglary’s taken place, the kitchen as if squatters have taken over. How clean is your house? Not clean at all, now pity me and send the industrial help round. No? Oh well better get on with it then.

I used to volunteer at after school clubs as my mum ran a few over a number of years, I think they are a great affordable resource for parents. I’m considering utilising an after school club when Erin starts full time, partly so that I can commit some time to my own projects but also I think it will be nice for her to have some play time with friends.

Do you use after school or breakfast clubs, if so, in what circumstances and how do you find them?

I’ve done a few courses on blogging and related media now, the most recent one I’ve been doing is with Caroline Middlebrook who is based in the UK.

The course is called the Bloggers Bible and is delivered via email. The course is split into 49 units and you receive one unit per week. This course is ideal for the beginner and intermediate blogger, all of the content I’ve received so far was covered in Yaro’s course however that was a paid thing so I think this is a good deal, free is always good

Caroline includes general lessons in blogging as well as more techincal advice, each ‘lesson’ has actionable content that will help you to become more proficient at the technical side of blogging as well as grow your audience.

Click here to view more details

Okay listen up people, you’ve got to go and see Up when it comes out, 3D or otherwise you won’t be disappointed. As far as these modern animated films go this is by far the best storyline I’ve seen so far, the 3D may add another dimension, literally, however this film stands up well enough without gimmicks.

In the first ten minutes, friendship, marriage, miscarriage and death had all been covered in a short montage, be ready for some difficult questions, much of it went over Erin’s head at three, older children will take in a lot more.

The story follows a septuagenerian named Mr Frederickson who loses his wife and soulmate and ultimately faces losing his home, this is where the film really gets going and the more fantastical part of the plot kicks in which takes Mr Frederickson and various sidekicks on an adventure of a lifetime. The plot turns serious again when you realise that the whole adventure has been an outlet for Mr Frederickson’s grief which eventually forces him to move on with his life.

Take your tissues, I never thought a ‘cartoon’ could be so moving, I was stunned to find out that even my husband had had to choke back a tear. The issues were covered beautifully without being too heavy for younger viewers whilst providing some ‘meat’ for parents.

I’d go as far as to say this is the best film I’ve seen this year and, for me, ranks beside The Dark Knight and Little Miss Sunshine, high praise indeed, but well deserved.

I’ve been shopping exclusively online (for food and household items) since 2006 and have expressed its virtues before, but I just can’t decide if Ocado is the next step in efficiency or a ploy to have us purchase stuff we don’t need.

Who exactly will stand to gain most from this new software? Ocado co-founder Jason Gissing says in the Times “It should be like an order bought by your partner. It might not be exactly what you want , but it will be something you’d be happy to receive” Hmmm, when I send my partner to the shop he returns with cookies, donuts, bacon for sarnies and bottles of fizzy juice (on offer, of course) which is why I don’t send him, still not sure where the advantage is apart from making Ocado loads of money sending me stuff that I don’t need.

Jason goes on to say “we have got these clever propeller-heads who can work out what’s in your larder”, ah, well it all makes sense now, propeller heads, actually nope, still not getting it. So is there anyone out there that has used or is still using Ocado and can speak in plain English, who can explain Ocado in a way that doesn’t include talking about propeller heads.

What is Ocado? Why do I need it? Is it better than Tesco?

The character breakfast at Tusker House where we met Mickey Mouse.

Taking a look at the tropical fish.

Erin and Daisy.

Listening to the sounds of the rainforest.

Erin and Rafiki at the conservation station.

Erin and her ‘noculars’

We went to Downtown Disney where Erin went snap happy with her disposable camera, I’m sure they’ll be worth developing, not! Erin also relieved herself of some pocket money with a Little Mermaid jewellery box and a Goofy case jammed with sweets.

We stopped for some brunch at Earl of Sandwich, I revisted memories from six weeks ago and had the exremely large chicken caesar salad, while Alex had the daily special, a bbq beef sandwich toasted with cheese which he said was the best sandwich he’d ever had, but he says that about most foodstuffs here, so I’m not sure how much that can be believed, it did look tasty though.

After we’d seen all we wanted to see we decided to try and navigate our way to the Florida Mall, turns out it’s not far and very easy to find. New trainers for all, some bargain clothing and a few belated birthday presents and we’d managed to relieve ourselves of $400, not bad for a couple hours work. We stopped by TGI’s for sustinence and Dunkin’ Donuts for more sustinence, and then fell asleep

Thursday

Finally time to visit Magic Kingdom! We went on the teacups and then into Mickey’s Philharmagic Show, my favourite attraction in Magic Kingdom. We visited Minnie and Mickey’s house, and Erin tried her hand at sewing.

We braved Tony’s Town Square for lunch, the last time I was there with the Disney 7 we had a few issues with cold food, no cold food this time although it’s still not really my taste but if you like BIG food you should go for it. The pistachio creme brullee was the best desert I’ve had for a very long time

After lunch we did the country bear jamboree and it’s a small world and then it was back to the hotel for a swim.

That night we headed out for chinese, there was a tv in the restaurant with the breaking news that Michael Jackson had died, very odd, I’m no great Micheal Jackson fan but it did feel like a ‘where were you’ moment, and therefore a bit strange to be in a random chinese joint in Florida.

Monday

For breakfast we headed to International House of Pancakes or IHOP for short, here’s a little picture of Erin with her ‘create a face’ concoction.

Afterwards we went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s waterparks, we had fun but Erin was more interested in sunbathing and pottering about in the sand than the water or rides which came as a bit of a surprise.

In the evening we went to TGI’s for dinner which was tasty.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we returned to Hollywood Studios and did the Little Mermaid show which was one of my favourites, followed by Beauty and the Beast. Erin was completely mesmerized by Beauty and the Beast and I have to admit there were a few ‘mummy tears’ behind my sunglasses, moments like that make it all worthwhile It wasn’t long before we experienced more ‘moments’ over lunch. We had hoped to go to the sci-fi dine-in theatre where you sit in cars and watch old movies, however the whole place was booked out, which was a blessing in disguise as we ended up at a character lunch with some of the characters from Playhouse Disney. I really shouldn’t but I have to post all the pics, they’re all sooooo cute (even if I do say so!)

After meeting the characters we then went to see them live in the Playhouse Disney Show.

Finally we utilised the Fast Pass system to ride the uber popular Toy Story Mania, a 3D shoot em up game. Erin loved it, and insisted we’d won (Alex won) we weren’t about to burst her bubble! All in all a fab day and the longest queue was 10 minutes for Toy Story

This morning we headed to the very nutritious Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. I’m fully aware that donuts and coffee for breakfast is a treat and not the ‘healthy option’, unfortunately Dunkin Donuts don’t agree, their tagline is ‘America runs on Dunkin’. I’m not sure anyone runs anywhere after going to ‘Dunkin’ which is why we’ll drive thru when we go back for some Baskin Robbins or one of the uber calorific Snickers shakes.

Epcot was our intro to Disney World for Erin and we headed straight for ‘The Seas’ where we had a ride in a big shell to visit Nemo and then we had a chat with crush which was the highlight for Erin, she’s been saying ‘hey little dudes’ all day, unfortunately she wasn’t chosen to ask a question, which she says was “I like flowers”. Okaaay, crush will have been gutted to have missed that one. We also popped upstairs to see a real live ‘crush’ which amazed me, this turtle was hyowj, we also saw some dolphins.

The Disney transport system whisked us away to Disney Hollywood Studios where we did the Jim Henson 3D Muppet Show before heading to the Hollywood Brown Derby courtesy of Sarah. Our vouchers entitled us to a three course meal with non-alcoholic drink. I had a salad with goats cheese and candied pecans, followed by chicken and israeli cous cous with lemon aioli. Alex chose coconut shrimp followed by steak, which he said was the best he’d ever tasted! Erin had a hot dog and fries which she seemed to enjoy, it was the least sophisticated choice on the menu, one of the other options was tempura fish. We both had creme brulee for desert while Erin had an ice cream/jelly sweet/orio cookie concoction. I even had my first strawberry daquiri The whole lot was lovely, a real treat.

We decided to have a chillin out night, not sure Erin heard though, she’s still tearing around the room at breakneck speed.

First, a quick introduction to BlurbNation;

BlurbNation is a community of editors, writers, designers, artists, and photographers. Blurb provides everything you need to make books for your clients, including free bookmaking software, your own online bookstore, and a print-on-demand back-end that enables you to print professional-quality books in any quantity. Anyone can become a member of BlurbNation, it’s as simple as signing up and making yourself available to make books

Q1. Can you briefly describe BlurbNation and how it works?

Whilst using the BookSmart software is very easy, there are people who can’t or don’t want to make their own books. Blurb has set up a directory of book makers called BlurbNation to cater to people who want books made but don’t have the time or technical know how to do it.

Book makers who have met certain criteria can apply to Blurb to be included in the directory. The directory is available to the public who can go through it and from details provided choose the right book maker for the job at hand. All dealings between the client and book maker are independent of Blurb who have no contractual relationship with either party.

For book makers themselves BlurbNation is a fantastic means of communicating with each other, sharing ideas and problem solving. In addition to this BlurbNation provides its members with tips on design and marketing too. It can be a lonely job sitting in front of your computer, putting a book together and the support you can gain from other BlurbNation members is immeasurable.

Q2. How did you find out about and become a member of BlurbNation?

I found Blurb very early on and was addicted, making books for anyone and everyone who mentioned an idea, whether it was a party, a business or a passion! As a result of that I was lucky enough to be asked to be the first BlurbNation member in the UK. For some time I didn’t really understand what it was all about. As the months went by and Blurb got more and more exposure here in the UK, I started getting email enquiries and then actually started getting work through it. I didn’t realise how useful it would be then but I am very grateful for the opportunities that have come my way through BlurbNation.

Q3. Did you have any previous photography or publishing experience?

No, I had no previous experience in either field! I qualified as a barrister and had a criminal and family law practice for 12 years but stopped to bring up my son and daughter (now aged 12 and 8). When my daughter was 5 and at school full time, I found a new lease of life and having received a Canon digital SLR and a Mac Book Pro lap top as Mother’s Day and birthday presents three years ago, there was no stopping me!

I had always been interested in photography but it was an expensive hobby as developing and printing film was a costly exercise, largely because you didn’t really know what you had till the film was exposed. Now you know within seconds of taking a photograph so there is no waste of time or money! I hadn’t had my own income since having my children and I became keenly aware of the fact that everything cost money! Here for the first time, I could experiment with my photography and editing without feeling guilty about mounting costs because if I didn’t like what I did I could simply erase it!

Q4. Do you think it’s possible to make a full or part time wage from book making with Blurb Nation?

In this day and age there is so much competition in every field. Blurb has created such a unique platform where your only outlay is your time and the cost of printing a book so really, there is no risk of losing capital. Realistically, when starting out, Blurb Nation can certainly provide you with pocket money. It will take your own initiative to turn it into a full income sustaining project. If like me you have chosen (and are lucky enough to afford) to stay at home and look after your children, then joining Blurb Nation and making a go of creating full time income from it is not risky. I don’t want to jump the gun and say that I am making a living from it but I can say that I am not far off from being able to!

Q5. Are there any particular skills you think are necessary or helpful to be successful with BlurbNation?

I had no qualifications in the fields of photography and design but I think I had a natural flair for it. The one thing I have gained from BlurbNation and the team who run it is confidence. That confidence, a good eye for design, creativity, and huge amounts of enthusiasm has been my secrets to success.

Q6. How could someone interested in following in your footsteps get started?

To put it very simply, download the software if you haven’t already, get creating and if you have the ability, perseverance and enthusiasm, you will be on your way over those stepping stones to success. You have nothing to lose by trying. In the world we live in it is not every day you get the chance to try something for nothing. BlurbNation is effectively one such chance!

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