An ode to the hot pink mama shoes...

Dear Hot Pink Mama Shoes,

You know I love you. I loved you the moment I saw you, I just knew you had to be mine.

So why do you keep insisting on embarrassing me whenever I wear you?

Take the other day for example, minding my own business, tottering around on you out shopping together, when you gave way and sent me tumbling (not for the first time)...

And then the other evening when I took you for a night out with the girls, most shoes would have been grateful for an outing like that, not you, no, not you, as soon as we entered the slightly rough pub in Bury St Edmunds Town Centre (yeah, I hang out in all the classiest places me) you tipped me over, I landed on my knees at the bar. People were laughing Shoes... did you not see? All I could do was tell them "I always come in here like that". I defended you, I blamed the hidden step. I could tell you blamed the couple of shandies I'd had in the previous pub.

Whilst you know I don't like to have favourites, put it this way, if the house was burning down, I would potentially grab you (oh, and one of the kids if I had room in my arms), so I think the least you could do is show me a little love back.

You are making me consider the perils that lay before me if I even dare to venture out with you. And that's not good for either of us.

So, give me a break shoes, let's get back to the old love we once shared and I will cherish you forever more.

Yours 'hoping to stay upright a bit more',

ooops...!

A serious case of 'bloggers block' has struck me recently, but I'm getting over it and am just about ready to start blogging again.

Besides, I have a serious backlog of shopping to share with you guys.

So I am sorry for the absence, I hope you will all join me again in the next few days when I return to the blogging world.

Just wondered... does anyone else suffer from blogger breakdown? And how do you deal with it?

And the WINNER is…

And the winner of the great big sweetie giveaway II is...

Using a random number generator, it selected number 41 which equals a winner!

Who is...

Drum roll please...

Shoegal!

Congrats Shoegal (please email me your address), hope you enjoy these little babies! Sorry everyone else but thanks for all the entries, next time eh?

London Zoo made us ill...

Contrary to popular belief, this skirt wasn't from the kids range but funnily enough is much smaller than the kids one I bought yesterday. This one though was just £3 from Matalan, Bury St Edmunds.

The picture probably doesn't show it well, but it has a purple and black houndstooth pattern.

My 'la pharmacie' box has been getting some good usage. Both kids have been poorly all week. Worryingly they took ill monday, the day after our family trip to London Zoo.

I can't understand why. I became completely OCD'ish about the hand sanitizer they had everywhere at the zoo. Making them form an orderly queue at each sanitizer stop (and there were quite a few!). My son even started drinking the stuff. At one stop he wanted to do his own, so stood beneath, looking up, mouth wide open to concentrate... and... SPLOSH, straight into his mouth. Eugh!






ps. Only a couple of days left to enter my second sweetie giveaway, don't miss out!!...

It's child's play...

I'll let you into a little secret. I was drawn to the pattern and colours of this skirt on a sale rack in Sainsburys, Bury St Edmunds the other day... and was quickly let down when I realised it was a kids skirt... age 12-13.

I tried to force it on my daughter, she didn't want it, not cool enough or summink.

On further investigation, hmmm, it had an elasticated waistband. Could I possibly squeeze into it with the aid of the elastic, or at least letting the elastic out a bit? You betcha! "Sold to the lady who looks a tiny bit silly buying kids clothes for herself."

It still needed a little work, the length was very appropriate for a child, very decent you might say. So I whacked off a couple of inches (being the hussey that I am), hemmed it up (with hemming tape, I might be a hussey, but I'm no seamstress) and voila! A pretty skirt for a bargain £4. Sorted.

If you look closely enough, you can just see the hemming tape show through, so my plan is to just move quickly whenever I wear this, that way, no one will ever notice my shocking work.






ps. Don't forget to enter my second sweetie giveaway, you gotta be innit to winnit...

No7 Protect and Perfect bargains...

At the end of last week, I started to run out of most of my make up AND skin care products. Why does that always happen? All at once. At least it allowed me a bit of a shopping spree at Boots, Bury St Edmunds.

I've become addicted to Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Range. It is one of the best skincare ranges that I've ever tried. I use the eye cream, the day cream and the beauty serum.

These 3 bought together can set you back a bit as they retail around £20 per item, and really should be used in conjunction with each other to keep those wrinkles at bay.

I was thrilled to discover that Boots were doing a 3 for 2 offer on the range, but not only that, the assistant also gave me a £5 off voucher! I ended up getting all 3 for £34 which should have been £60. Yay!!! (The extra £5 off voucher only runs for a few more days, so hurry if you want to stock up!).

With the £25 I saved, I hot footed it round to New Look and bought that Rock and Roll jumper dress that has been 'on my radar' for some time now! I was a very happy shopper.

So, what skincare products do you swear by?






ps. Don't forget to enter my second sweetie giveaway, you gotta be innit to winnit...

Thrifty Thursday!

I was in such a rush this morning to get the kids to their respective carers for the day that I didn't have time to get ready! Horrific! No make up, nothing.

I chucked on a trackie and trainers and off we skiddadled.

En route, my toddler asked "going running mummy?"

"Yes darling!" I lied, whilst my teenager sniggered.

Boy, has that little fella got some things to learn about mummy!

Once back home I had a little more time to get 'officially' ready for work. The sun was shining for a change, so I decided to eek out some wear in a summer dress. I thought the colours could lend themselves to an autumnal look.

The brown courdroy blazer was the only 'new' purchase, £3, thrifted from a charity shop in Bury St Edmunds. Coolio.

I also had a little play with a new foundation. 'Minerals' from L'Oreal. It's a powder foundation that claims flawless coverage. And the result... Yea, I quite liked it. (how's that for a product review?).

I didn't really have time to give it a fair try, just a bit of dabbing on the face and back of the hand mainly. 10,000 years BC (before children) I would have spent hours playing with this, perfecting using it, but those days are long gone... Now I just make do with a tidemarked face and lying to my two year old son about my keep fit regime (or lack of it!).

ps. Don't forget to enter my second sweetie giveaway, you gotta be innit to winnit...

Budget stylie hot picks from New Look...

Uh oh... I've been looking at the New Look website.... Darn it, I want so much, I've picked out just a few of my fave bargains – warning to BF: some of which may become mine.

Sequin ankle boots £25. Rock and Roll Jumper Dress £20. 69 Print Top £12. Chunky Beret £6. Funnell Neck Dolly Coat £30. Skinny Jeans £20. Sequin Jacket £35. Gem Frill Bag £12. Metallic Frill Belt £6. Ribbed Leather Gloves £12. All available from New Look.

My daughter is demonstrating at her high school open evening tonight. She is making scones for Home Ec! (which is amusing if only you knew how bad a cook I was). It's funny, she got picked to demonstrate due to her scones scoring a '9 1/2 out of 10' during lesson time. (woop woop Daisy!) But... what God giveth, he also taketh away, she also received a dentention for the very same lesson (for forgetting one ingredient). I can't figure it out! If I was Daisy, I would have bargained... "Sure, I'll demonstrate baking, but swipe the detention... pleeeeease Miss?"

On the other hand, I've been teaching my 2 year old son to finish singing his nursery rhymes with a dramatic finish... 'Up an octive' and 'Jazz Hands'. It's working, he's now doing it all the time, my work here is done. Only prob is, I did suddenly remember that he goes to toddler group several mornings a week with his childminding group. Just imagine the 'big finish and jazz hands to Old Macdonald Had A Farm' - he will never live it down. I'm picturing him now growing up, he will be a clone of Justin off of Ugly Betty... mwah ha ha.






ps. Don't forget to enter my second sweetie giveaway, you gotta be innit to winnit...

Hallelujah!

I found two new eye shadows in the boot of my car today!

At first I thought it must be God, cutting out the middle man (aka the shopping bit). In fact when I opened the car boot, a small gospel choir formed in my head and belted out a short sharp burst of "Hallelujah!" and... yep, my boot was glowing*.

Imagine that, you just wish for something and it appears in the boot of your car. A miracle!

But during later investigations, the mysterious eye shadows were claimed, by my mum, who'd lost them on one of our recent shopping excursions. Hmmph.

I started today with all good intentions of wearing a clean cut outfit, simple black and white... and red... and er yellow shoes (ok... several colours). But as the day wore on, and I got colder and colder, I eventually started layering up. I ended the day looking like a bag lady who'd been on a trolley dash round the local church jumble sale. (Naturally, I haven't pictured that look, although it can probably be found in a 'What NOT to wear' type feature somewhere online).

Oh, the skirt was from River Island, it was £10 in the sale. Yeehah!

ps. Don't forget to enter my second sweetie giveaway, you gotta be innit to winnit...

*Actually, there really was a glow of light... but that's just the interior boot light. No actual real miracles here today unfortunately. But, if God is reading... (what?... you never know), I don't really need 2 new eyeshadows, but if you know anything about heating in a Honda CRV please don't hesitate to have a tinker.

Faux fur, frills and purple shoes...

I woke up today feeling below par. Could of been the couple of shandies I had last night, but as I explained to BF and my colleagues was more likely that I was actually really ill (and it was Monday).

After serveral bouts from the voices in my head, 'staying in bed' put up a good defence, in the end I decided not to be a total wimp and just get up and get on with it.

When I got dressed I put on this new skirt which I found in a charity shop in Bury St Edmunds. It was £2.50. The length felt a tiny bit 'mumsy'. Yes, I am a mum, but I don't really qualify as 'mumsy' however much I wish I did. Having said that, looking at the pic, actually I think it is okay. It may live to see another day this skirt.

I wore the coat nearly all day. Was way too cold today. Not helped by the fact my heating has stopped working in the car. I like my car, but not when it does things like this. It's not content with having just had all new tyres at £100 a piece! Ungrateful I say.

The windows were misting up badly without the aid of some warmth, so as cold as it was, I had to whack the air conditioning on full blast just to see where I was going. My poor car nearly did get a quick kick today had it not been for a) not wanting to damage my purple shoes and b) the fact I suddenly realised I have heated seats... that softened the blow. Sure, I risked frostbite in my hands and face, but my butt was as warm as toast.






ps. Don't forget to enter my second sweetie giveaway, you gotta be innit to winnit...

pps. Horror! my son gave me two round "I've been a good girl" stickers this morning, and popped one on each boobie. It's now 8.30pm and I've just taken them off. Exactly how many people have seen me with these today is uncertain AND slightly worrying.