Vegamour vegan hair care 11

Gifted product to review. Ad My first job as a teenager was in hairdressing, not that you’d know that looking at me now as after the Corona years, I’ve still not been back to a professional to get my haircut. I can’t be the only person who dislikes strangers touching them, after years of social distancing and disinfecting everything. I am very aware of the poor condition of my hair, not just my DIY cut, but the texture of each individual strand was rough, and frizzy. No problem you might think, just nip to the supermarket and buy the best conditioner they sell? Nope! Here’s my problem, I have a constantly itchy scalp, with oily hair roots, great mid lengths, and shockingly dry ends. I’ve never found anything that improves the strength and texture of my hair, soothes my scalp and suits combination hair. I don’t have dandruff or head […]

Problems with your Mini central locking? 3

About a year ago we bought an ASBO on wheels, also known as the BMW Mini R53, a 1.6 litre engine with a supercharger. It looks like a Granny car, especially in this pale metallic blue, but it’s far from it. It might be a twenty plus years old car, but it still really pulls. I adore classic Minis, always will, but with my health slowly declining, driving little Mavis really hurts. I feel every bump and can barely walk after an hour driving her. The nearest to the classic is the first generation BMW Mini – in size and character. We had the Mini One R50 for a while, size wise it wasn’t much bigger than the classic, and still had a lot of original Mini spirit, but this was the poverty spec of the first generation BMW Minis. The R53 is a Copper S, and it was built […]

Echo Bunnyman – my pet rabbit 3

I’ve not posted on the blog about the bunny rabbit in ages, so brace yourself for bunny spam. I adore Echo Bunnyman, he’s got a big personality for a small animal. He’s feisty, and loving, caring and sneaky, funny and clever. Whilst rabbits cannot talk, woof or meow, they really are masters of non verbal communication. Echo Bunnyman makes it pretty clear what he wants, if he’s sat on our sofa and decides he wants something he’ll stamp about. He has a sort of sign language of head movements, and it’s cute AF. He can tell me when he wants food or cuddles, he tells me when his water bottle is nearly empty, he growls if he doesn’t want to be touched, he even has a potty dance for when he needs the garden. I recently read a vicious rant by an influencer on Instagram, by a rabbit owner. The […]

Modifying my bike 3

To help my body, as gyms have been shut so much in the last year, I am modifying my mountain bike. I have not been able to ride a bike without massive neck and back pain for quite some time. When I bought the bike about 5 years ago, I could. This shows my body is in decline due to fibromyalgia, and I don’t like it. What I need is to make the front much higher, like an old lady style bike (think basket with a tiny terrier dog in, and the frame all in dull pastel colours) with those huge curved bars. But being super tall, ladies bikes are too short, and I don’t want a new bike, I want MINE. Sticking big BMX or twee female handlebars on would have made it rather unique, quirky is good because it’s rather hard for a bike thief to flog on […]

Lockdown technical issues 16

I could write for days about the mental and physical stresses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but right now, I’m focusing on the technical nerdy issues home working and home schooling at the same time bring. My Husband works in IT (thank gawd), one child is 12 and doing senior school remote learning, and the other lad is 18 years old and doing his Oxford university degree online at home. The eldest live streams lectures, and also does video chats with other students on his course. This means 3 people in this house need the internet, and I just really want it for Spotify, entertainment and such. Jen spends his school day in his room, in streamed lessons, or quietly working on his iPad. We had a basic WiFi extender upstairs, but it’s no longer working well enough for this kind of demand. It bounces enough signal for a browser […]

Do you know what I’m missing? 3

Except sanity, things that I’m missing include going to the gym, hugging friends, pubbing, and writing on this ‘ere blog. Last time I tried it took hours, it was frustrating. Hours and hours of the server crashing, and the host was less than helpful. They were either fluffy and gentle, super fake nice or totally mansplaining things. Well, I’ve had enough! I was paying for a service, ok I’m not some massive well known blogging celebrity, but I was still a paying customer. So yeah, I’ve thrown my virtual toys out of the pram and moved on. I gave the other host too much slack – it would be up to a week or more before they’d look at support tickets, and well over an hour on hold if you try to phone them. I justified it in my head a bit like “oh there’s a pandemic, maybe they are […]

What does Fibromyalgia look like? 6

Living with an invisible illness like Fibromyalgia is a pain in the butt, I’m not going to sugar coat that. I often seem well, but feel awful. My daily life revolves around bed, sleep, naps and exhaustion. I might spend most of the night, restless or in pain – why is pain always harder to ignore at night? Then the next day feels like a write off, waking up so late shops and places I need to go to are shut. It’s like a roundabout you can’t get off of. As usual, in bed at lunchtime. Feeling like I have a hangover, despite being a non drinker. The only good thing about being in bed so much is my dogs. Rainie (the ginger one) shadows me, and hardly leaves my bedroom when I feel low. She might put her paw on the window ledge occasionally and woof at other dogs […]

Ways to save money and Save the planet

If lockdown has taught me anything it’s that I used to be very wasteful. Like, really wasteful. Just being able to be at home and not be out and about at work has made me also realise just how much money I was spending on things that I need and to be honest, I think the Corona-coaster has hit us all hard in the pocket as well. So I have been investigating ways that I can be kinder to my pocket as well as kinder to the Planet. Hurray!  Below are some of my favourite places that I have found, which can all be access from the comfort of your sofa. Recycle your clothes We’ve all dragged a few bin bags worth of stuff down to the charity shops during 2020 after all that time spent at home trying to fill the time. Well, you can actually recycle your clothes […]

What makes a good jewellery heirloom?

For me, antique jewellery is something I’ve aspired to owning. I always hoped that things would get handed down through the family, but I only have the one hand-me-down. My Nan’s engagement ring. It is basic, and my Granddad used to joke about how cheap it was, and that the wedding ring got thrown in free. It’s not worth much on paper, understated and plain, but to me it is priceless. It’s the story, the love in this ring – truly irreplaceable. #Ad – this post is for Carus Jewellery. The words and opinions are mine, the images are by Carus jewellery. The jewellery I remember older relatives wearing was bold. It was huge, twinkly and eye catching. I love retro clothing, so antique jewellery would be so me. A big petticoated 50s swing dresses, with nylons and a massive chunky bit of garnet jewellery. Nice! Almost everything my Nan […]

My car broke 1

Since I was a child I wanted a classic Mini, my Grandparents next door neighbour had one when I lived with them, and it reminds me of happy times. A few years ago my Husband bought me the car of my dreams, a classic Mini. Over the years we have spent a lot of money on not just maintenance, but on improvements to my car, lovingly named Mavis. I did not knowingly let her rot, this was as much a shock to my mechanics as myself. Sadly recently she broke, and dramatically. Going at slow speed, there was a clunk, then a bump and a squeal. The rear left of my car had dropped. I was praying it was just the radius arm, or a retaining bolt somewhere had moved, but it’s the subframe. This is like the cars skeleton, everything is built on and around this. Without this repair […]

That’s it, my child is an adult now 3

Ad,contains gifted items from Moonpig. I have not been paid for this post. My eldest son is turning 18. It is a tricky age to buy for presents for. Should you buy traditional 18th birthday items like numbered keys, and engraved hip flasks, or should you go a bit alternative? Moonpig to the rescue, as they have both quirky, and more traditional gifts as well as the cards they are known for. D isn’t much of a birthday fan, we’d normally pop out for the evening to a restaurant and have a family meal. He has things he can’t eat at home as I have allergies and whatnot, and it’s all about the experience rather than the gift. This year though, the dreaded COVID plague has struck, and with pubs and restaurants only just being allowed to open he doesn’t fancy it. So we will be at home, having Husband’s […]

How I made a basic face mask 5

I had been getting more and more concerned about being outside during Coronavirus lockdown and decided to put my sewing supplies to use. I wanted a mask, but didn’t want to buy one that medical and care workers might need. What you will need is 2 bits of cotton fabric, around 25cm by 20cm (or one bigger bit that folds into that – 25cm by 40cm ish). A fabric piece about 20cm by 15cm to act as a basic filter, for example cotton flannelette pillow cases, or a thin microfibre camping/gym towel. Tightly woven yet allowing air flow. About 40cm of flat elastic, or hairband round elastic. Sharp scissors, some pins if you like things straight, and needle and thread. You place the front and back facing each other, like in the picture above, to make the mask we sew it inside out, and then all the edges end up […]