When the chaps over at Morphy Richards Home Innovators asked me if I would like to review one of their products which they had launched in partnership with Age UK, I knew immediately who I would offer the review to.  My Brother has fantastic in laws and his mother and farther in law are in their eighties, so would be the perfect people to give any product a test run.  So I am going to hand you over to my Brother (who can be found tweeting @Boroyouths).

The Morphy Richards Never Loses Suction Lift Away Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner.  Well, that’s a mouthful of a name isnt it!  Thankfully the vacuum is a lot more practical to use than it is to say its full name! Straight away it was easy to realise that it is a lot more powerful than it actually looks, the suction really is a plus point for the cleaner.  Add to that the pivital floorhead and it becomes not only easy to use but quick to use as you don’t need to go over the same spot time and again because the suction lifts first time.

We liked how we could also see any potential blockages through the small plastic window in the floor head, the one touch emptying sytem also meant not only was it easy for myself to use, but also my ‘want to help’ 5 year old daughter and my aging mother in law also.  With a simple button release the bottom of the collection devise opens up meaning you can just hold it over an open bin, press the button and within seconds its empty and ready to use again.

Its noticeable that the vacuum keeps its suction when moving from a carpetted area to a hardwood or laminate flooring area, which is great as there is nothing worse than stopping, getting onto hands and knees to change tight switches when moving into different areas of the house.

The mother in law who struggles to get around soon decided that of course I wasnt doing it right and needed to do it herself.  She said she found it easier than expected to manouver about and the swivel head would take a little getting used to.  It also was lighter than expected and the handle on the collection device is idea to use when carrying the vacuum upstairs.

The Morphy Richards Never Loses Suction Lift Away Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner is priced at £199 and comes with a 2 year guarantee as standard, 5 year upon registration with Morphy Richards.

Each of the items in the range of products come with up to a two year guarantee and a proportion of the sales (3%) go to Age UK, providing a vital source of income to help older people across the country, which is a great idea as I I believe older people need products to make everyday a little easier.  I also loved the pictures of my sister in Law’s mum with the vacuum.  She doesn’t look in her 80′s does she.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a tea monster.  I am obsessed with tea and all that comes with it, which means I have lots of teapots, as I use real tea a nd a lovely selection of mugs and cups.  So I couldnt let this weeks listography pass me by.

Now I am rather lucky to be married to a fabulous man who brings me a cup of tea every morning in bed before he goes to work and as I am usually still asleep at 6.30am, he brings it in a travel mug, a) so it stays warm and b) so it doesn’t spill if the boys knock it.

My next drink of the day is usually English Breakfast Tea (decaffeinated, as I am like the Duracell Bunny on E with caffeine now, I initially dropped caffeine to aid the absorption of iron).  I always use tea leaves so make a pot and then drink it in this lovely extra large tea cup and saucer which was my mums.

After I eat I prefer to have a peppermint tea and love it made from fresh leaves or failing that teapigs lose leave peppermint and I make it in my fab boden cup, which not only has an infuser, but also is insulated to keep things warm whilst it infuses.

When I have tea in the afternoon and evening, I like it out of the Emma Bridgewater Mug that I decorated when visiting her factory on a blog trip a couple of years ago.  We all decorated our own and they are in regular use each day.

Finally, I love a hot chocolate or a chai latte and the boys bought me a Big Love Emma Bridgewater Hot chocolate mug for my birthday and it is the perfect size for a large drink.

Mid January I blogged about Mini not going to bed and going to sleep and how it was really affecting our evenings and also making him really tired and grumpy in the morning.  We were at a loss, especially as Maxi has always gone to bed like a dream.    Well I thought it was time for an update and I am pleased to be able to tell you that our evenings have been transformed.

Mini tonight at 7.15pm

Mini now goes to bed between 7.00pm and 7.30pm and goes to sleep.  He has even asked to go to bed and taken himself up at 6.45pm one evening.  Even when were were moving his room he still went to bed and sleep in all the mess and chaos.

So how have we done it.  Basically it has all been about consistency.  We have established strict bedtime routine for both the boys.  No screen time after 6pm, by this I mean computers and games consoles.  I read somewhere that it takes the brain an hour to wind down after screen time, so I want to encourage this in the boys.  We then try and keep to the same routine each evening of dinner, night clothes,  books, cuddles, tooth brushing etc and bed (with a bath a couple of times a week).

We downloaded the Relax Kids Wizard Meditations on to am MP3 and he listens to it every night using ETY·Kids5 universal earphones, which he loves.  He prefers to listen with the earphones and we have found that he concentrates more of the meditations that way blocking out external noise and influences.  Plus we do not have to worry about the earphones being to loud as they have a noise level limiter and they must be comfortable as he has no problem with going to sleep with them in.

Initially we implemented a reward chart for going to bed successfully, but now he knows that it is expected that he goes to bed and that it is reward in itself as he is much less grumpy.  Even Cass from Frugal Family has commented that his behavior is much improved in the last two weeks.

More than just making for a happier, well rest little boy, it has really made a big difference to mine and MadDad’s evenings.  No more snipping at each other as to who will put Mini back to bed.  I no longer have a heavy feeling of anxiousness as bedtime approached.  We are a much happier family.  I am glad that we preserved over a few hard nights and approached the issue with consistency, a targeted approach and kept together on the same wave length.

I want to thank everyone for their support and suggestions and I am in no way smug, as I am sure we will soon be lurching to another parenting challenge!

Disclosure: We were sent a sample of the Etymotic’s ETY·Kids™ Safe-Listening Earphones 

After a week in which I found a note from Mini saying nobody likes him, when I saw Kate’s blog post about what makes our children happy, it was something I was keen to do with them.

So I presented them with a large sheet of paper and asked them to draw what makes them happy.  No prompting and just left them to it.

Yes I am the fat one in the last picture by Mini, with a baby in my tummy, as he said he would like a baby sister to make him happier.  He is going to have to keep on dreaming as it is an impossibility!

I decided to also put together a collage of recent photographs board of what makes me happy.

• Growing things
• Sewing and creating
• Flowers
• Family and friends
• The seaside
• Baking
• Cooking
• Tea
• Books and stationery
• My blog

I have never been one for keeping a journal with all my heartfelt feelings in, but I love the idea of being able to look back and see what I did this time last year or the year before.  So when I saw this project at Design Sponge I knew it was the perfect one for me.

There are some great instructions over on their website, so I am not going to reinvent the wheel, but I couldn’t find a cardboard berry holder (I guess as it is out of season), so I found a lovely pot one at Anthropology.  Instead of postcards, I used some scrapbooking paper that I had on hand and I used old index cards, that we had at home too.

I love it.  It sits by my computer in the study/craft room, which used to be Mini’s old bedroom (the smallest room in the house) and is just perfect.  I am going to be keeping an eye out for boxes of the right size so I can make these as Christmas gifts for all my friends.

I am entering this in the #pinadicts linky over at Life as I know it

Maxi: Mummy where is heaven?

Me: Where do you think it is Maxi?

Maxi: Is it near Devon?

Me: Erm…….. Go and ask your Dad

Maxi as Samuel Peeps in his class assembly this week

My stock response these days is to say “what do you think”.  Often it is sufficient to clarify the actual question, this time not so much. Normally I do not send him off to ask his Dad either, but I am really unsure about this whole Heaven thing, especially since losing my Mum.

I am linking this to my friend Chris at Thinly Spread‘s regular Friday Things they say and do!

Before Christmas we were sent a Snow Boogie Inflatable Sledge to review.   The  poor penguin sledge has sat in our garage waiting patiently for it to snow.  Now has it been last year we would have got loads of use out of it, but so far this year nothing.  Until Saturday night, when it started to snow.

Sunday morning the boys were up bright and early (6am) and raring to get outside.  being the good neighbour I am, I kept them inside until 9am and then we all went out with the Snow Bogie Inflatable Sledge too.

We used a pump to blow it up, which took about 3 minutes.  The sledge is lightweight and very easy for the boys to carry and they had a whale of a time on it.

The sledge comes with 2 patches, which was good as they managed to burst it after an hours play, but then they were going pretty fast on it and all the children in the neigbourhood wanted to use it as it was faster than theirs!  MadDad had it patched and back inflated within 20 minutes.

The sledge is 44 inches in length and is made from durable cold resistant  PVC vinyl with a sturdy handle on each side. It took 3 minutes to inflate the sledge by pump but it doesn’t have a no return valve so the air comes out if you do not get the stopper in fast.

The sledge is currently on offer at £7.49 and is great as it packs away small so takes no storage.

My paternal Gran died long before I was born, in fact she died long before my Dad and Mum got together and got married.  However, she was always with us growing up.  My paternal Granddad lived with my parents in the house that my Dad’s wages had helped pay for when my Gran was ill.  Her picture always stood in pride of place on the dresser top in the sitting room and the wedding picture of my Gran and Grandad hung next to the one of my mum and dad on the wall and it hangs next to it sill on my stairs.

My Grandad William and Gran Marjorie with my Dad in the car

My Grandad didn’t talk a lot about his “Marge” without his eyes filling up with tears. But I remember sitting on his lap whilst he went though the boxes of slides and showed them to me.  There were boxes and boxes of slides most of them with Gran in.  They often had day trips and picnics out on the moors and my Granddad never went anywhere without his camera.  She was a very stylish lady of Italian decent.

Marjorie 

Gran was a nurse, specifically working with children who had kidney problems.  She loved her job and was very good at it by all accounts and then she fell ill with kidney disease.  She very quickly became incredibly sick and was advised that she needed to go on dialysis, which was very new in those days.  But she refused, knowing that two children could have dialysis instead of her.  She went on to die within six months of her diagnosis, leaving my Granddad heartbroken.

It was only as I was going through some of the paperwork that I brought from Mum’s that I discovered her death certificate and it reminded me of the story, which I often thought must have been exaggerated, as these things sometimes are, but no she died of renal failure on 1st October 1968 aged 43 years old.  I also found her Anatomy & Physiology for Nurses book which was from 1941 and have added it to the books in my book shelf. I often wish I could have met her, she looks and sounds like an amazing lady.

Once a week we have a family film night in the Mad House.  We all curl up on the sofa with our PJ’s on and watch a family movie with popcorn and drinks.  We even have special popcorn containers!

This week we watched Dolphin Tale.  We never got the chance to see this at the local cinema, so it was new to us all and we loved it.  It is the real life inspired story of Winter (the dolphin) who had to have her tale amputated due to infection after getting it caught in a crab trap.  It features Harry Conick Jnr, which a lot of the ladies like, but I have to admit that it is Morgan Freeman that makes my heart miss a beat, however, it is Winter and the children who really steal the show.

We sat though the whole film and even had to pause it for comfort breaks, which doesn’t normally happen.  It is an engaging, thought provoking and uplifting film and it even had me shedding a tear near the end.  Yes it is schmaltzy, but it is the perfect family feel good film.

I can tell when my boys have enjoyed a film as it gets put on time after time and since receiving this they have watched it at least three times and we now have the winter webcam saved on the computer under favorites!

I loved the fact that after the film both the boys were really interested in finding out more about dolphins and we learnt that they are not fish, but mammals and are very intelligent.

We really recommend this movie, a fab film for all ages.  Dolphin Tale is available on Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, digital download and DVD from February 13th 2012

Thank you to Warner Bros for sending it to us.