Book Review - Porridge the Two Faced Parrot by Jaylen Grace

I was recently sent a copy of a children's book to review. I worried that it would be too 'young' for my DD who is 14, but it turned out she found it both engrossing and hilarious.So much so that she blogged a review on her own blog here.

I'm not sure what age group the book is aimed at but as the author dedicates the book to 'all kids' I'm going to suggest if your child understands the word 'fart' they are the right age.

Did I mention it's a bit rude? Not the sort of rude an adult minds but just the sort of rude to have small people sniggering in minutes.

The story begins as we meet a deaf granny, a school teacher, a small boy and a rehomed parrot. Farce style misunderstandings abound in the first few chapters and continue through out the book, as Porridge (the parrot) is a suspiciously good mimic of voices and has the knack of saying just the wrong thing at just the wrong time. But Porridge has some other, unforeseen skills...

Winner of the Toy Comp

I ran a Toy competition with Linky thingy and although I only had a few entries they were all fabulous!

I really enjoyed reading about Angel Frouk's much loved baby doll. Lovely to see she is important enough to keep through all the years and still revive happy memories.

So funny to read about Edd and his (frankly terrifying) giraffe, and his weird decision to turn down a bearded Action Man when given a choice!

This selction of photos of BunBun (a toy loved by an adult) exploring the garden made us smile too, and reminded me that grownups can still enjoy the silliness that toys can engender.

But our winner (mostly as I could so identify with the need to purchase multiple versions of a lost toy 'just in case' and then ending up with 3 that are all loved!) was x2Mum . Here's hoping that Jacob and Daniel (with his appropriate den of lions!) enjoys the Bunny Puppet from the One Stop Bug Shop.

Thanks to all that joined in.

For the love of Tea - #Competition

A nice cup of tea. What could be better. (shhh no one mention bacon butties or alcohol)

A nice cup of tea, what could be better, suitable for vegetarians, teetotallers and everyone (ha! see what I did!)

I love a nice cup of tea, you know when you make a really good one that is just right, no scum on top, just the right strength and just the right temperature. And that temperature is 60-65oC according to the Royal Society of Chemistry they also point out that the water should be freshly boiled and not re-boiled (something that my husband does grrr!) as previously boiled water will have lost some its dissolved oxygen and that is important for tea flavour.

My tea of choice is Assam. I love its golden colour and taste to wake you up! I always feel its like a 'posh' builder's tea. I drink it white, with one sugar.

My lovely husband drinks green tea (loose leaf only, in a glass cup) with no milk or sugar. But he's weird.

It was with excitement that I discovered the perfect website for the tea lover! The rather aptly named 'Nothing But Tea' (though actually that's a fib as they sell tea related goodies too.)

They are, to be blunt. tea obsessed. It's all about the wonder of proper tea. Honestly take a look, who knew that tea was such an enormous subject, a tea bag is nothing, nothing, the NBT website is alive with the joy of the leaf, the ceremony of the art of tea making. Just a read of the website makes me want to spend time watching my tea brew, to really savour the proper taste of proper tea, and I'm British after all, we are famed for making and drinking tea!

Nothing But Tea shuns the teabag (filled as they are with inferior leaves and dust) and sells only loose leaf (Mr TM will be happy!)

But don't panic, in a hurry you can still make a fast, fuss free brew using the cutest tea ball

Hedwig Tea Ball £3.60

or play submarines in your mug

Submarine tea infuser £4.68

Or go the full ironic and use a teabag shaped infuser

Cute teabag tea infuser!

I bet you fancy a cup of tea now. I know I do. Luckily the lovely people at Nothing But Tea would like to give away a Beautiful Tea set (worth £48)  and a whole box of tea samples to one lucky reader! Could it be you?

To enter use the Rafflecopter thingy below.

You must leave a comment here telling me which is your favourite tea from the Nothing But Tea website (I confess Mexican Sunrise Oolong sounds rather fine!) There are extra entries for Twitter follows, Google+ shares etc.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A very special toy.

I'm going to post about a special toy. I want you to post about one too. I'll add a linky.

The post should be about a special toy, with why it is special, it should have a picture of the toy, which can be drawn by you if the toy is lost in the distant past. The toy can be yours or a friend's, or belong to your child.

There will be a prize for the best post. (I shall look for a sponsor but if I can't find one I'll provide the prize)

Competition and PRIZE details now live at http://tattooedmummy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/a-special-toy-blog-competition.html

The most useful gadget you've never used

Is your kitchen an old style Amish one? No electricity, a mangle and a washboard? Or are you a teensy bit more high tech?

I have a few gadgets, I say a few, once I start to list my 'labour saving appliances' it seems I really do have quite a few. I don't have a dish washer or a tumble drier, but I do have a washing machine, a bread maker, a smoothie maker, an electric whisk, an electric carving knife, a food processor...

The smoothie maker is a recent acquisition, a gift at Christmas and I love it. DD and I have smoothies at least once a week and often more, I'm sure as it gets warmer we'll experiment further, maybe making ice lollies, or alcoholic smoothie cocktails (for me not her). We love the smoothie maker, it's simple to use, quick, easy to clean. Those are things that for me are really important! 

I rarely use the carving knife. I inherited it, I assume it's for enormous roast beef joints and getting smoothly cut slices for everyone, but as we don't really have roasts, and there are only 3 of us, and we don't care if our meat looks 'tidily sliced' we never use it. It's silly, it takes ages to plug all the bits in, has two blades, has to be used near an electric point and takes as long to clean as it does to set up. I don't know why I keep it...

The bread maker is really DH's domain. He makes bread every other day, his own recipe (yes ladies he not only has a beard but he bakes too - I win!) he bakes wholemeal or raisin bread with no salt. It's good. So the bread makers we buy tend to wear out, not rust away. I think this is our third in 10 years. He loves his bread maker, he only uses it to do the initial mix and knead, but it saves time, presenting him with a risen dough ready to shape and bake.

We use the washing machine of course. Too often I expect, when did we get so clean? :-) I'm sure in the 50s a weekly bath and a weekly clothes wash kept everyone alive (if slightly fragrant).

And obviously I have a cooker which (quite frankly) I am in love with, it's one of those big country range affairs (though it's dual fuel not coke fired) and it cooks things so much better than my old cooker (which had heat up to 9 but needed at least up to 11)

 And we have a fridge, I'm sure this is standard by now in most houses (though when living in my bedsit I used the shady window ledge to keep milk cool) 

So what about you? Is you kitchen full of useful gadgets? Or gadgets that seemed like they would be useful but actually sit there doing nothing? (I disposed of a slow cooker after about 3 years of not using it at all!)

I want to know about your kitchen gadgets! And if you tell me you'll be entered into a competition to win £100 in Amazon vouchers! Seriously! What an awesome prize, you can spend it on more gadgets! Ones you might actually use! Or just buy a few books to read while your gadgets do all the work.

So a huge thank you to Appliances Online who have offered this super prize. (You might like their Home Style Blog too - it's pretty good!)

And you can follow the blog on twitter AOatHome
  
The Competition Rules

• You must enter using the RaffleCopter thingy below and/OR by leaving a blog comment and ensuring I know how to contact you.
• Don't forget you MUST leave a blog comment to be eligible to win!
• RaffleCopter offers extra entries.
• The winner will be selected at random from UK entries only.
• My relatives (sorry mum) are not eligible to enter. Full terms and conditions are on the RaffleCopter Widget

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's a funny old world

I like the internet. It makes the world a small place. Like an intimate soiree. And like a party you chat, you listen, you get talked into things....

So when a Twitter buddy sent me a link to an online competition saying 'this would be great for you' I had to take a look. How flattering! It was a competition to be the Citizen Journalist for Ecover (a company I love and use and have reviewed on the blog in the past) and part of the deal was you had to attend a festival. We all know I'm a sucker for being drunk in a tent in field so how could I refuse!

I entered. I panicked a bit that I didn't write much (about 140 characters per answer I expect!) Then I imagined that was the last I'd hear of that.

But I only went and won! So I'm now on a roller coaster ride to discover Ecover's 'Secret Thing' and to write articles for their online news magazine The Splash., To attend Hampton Court Flower Show (will I need a hat?) and then of course the festival.....

 Yes gentle reader this middle aged self proclaimed hippy is only off to Glastonbury this year in the company of Junior reporter DD! - who knows what adventures will befall us! Stay tuned!

I won't be alone as I cannot be trusted there were two winners. So I'll take a moment to introduce you to .... Lemon!

Just a reminder..

That Vosene are still giving away fabulous prizes in their competitions based around the theme of families and this month the prize is........

Your very own chef!!

and still the chance to win a fabulous family holiday - so mosey on over to http://www.vosenefamilies.co.uk/ and see what you need to do....cameras at the ready!!

Good Luck!