We were recently contacted by KatKin to see if our cat Sonya wanted to try out their cat food. Unlike most canned and sachet cat foods, KatKin is not super heated to kill off any bugs or nasties. It means it won't last for months in your kitchen cupboard, but it also means it has retained more flavour and nutritional value. This is fresh meat, cooked, and frozen.

We were sent a 2 week trial box, with 14 portions of food in a variety of flavours (each approx 147g), plus Chicken Nibbles (50g) and Chicken Sprinkles, which are both made from freeze dried cooked chicken.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 23rd - 25th February 2022

UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 18,804,765 (+31,933)
In Hospital Yesterday 24th Feb: 10,767
Using A Ventilator Yesterday: 289
Losses of Life: 161,224 (+120)
Tests: 685,308
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 52,606,239 (91.5%)
Vaccinations 2nd Dose: 48,953,594 (85.1%)
Boosted / 3rd Dose: 38,138,518 (66.3%)

Area: Cases (Positive Tests) Last 7 Days / Rate per 100,000 population
Wales: 6,618 / 208.8
Scotland: 43,161 / 789.6
Northern Ireland: 17,598 / 928.4
England: 234,902 / 415.4

Rep. Of Ireland: 1,287,908 cases and 6,471 losses of life.

World: 432,741,524 reported cases and 5,950,972 losses of life.

"President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia."
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

"Ukraine is a country that for decades has enjoyed freedom and democracy and the right to choose its own destiny.
We – and the world – cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out. We cannot and will not just look away."
Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, announcing to the UK that we will not be watching this one from the stands. We're in the players dugout at the moment, but prepared to warm up and appreciate we may need to step onto the pitch. Still hoping to avoid any serious gameplay. Not actually COVID, but for a lot of nations it will undoubtedly have a massive effect on case numbers, testing, travel etc...
Any Ukrainian nationals living, working and/or studying in the UK will be able to extend their stay (although if that hadn't been the case, you'd have been able to legitimately apply for sanctuary as a refugee anyway). There is currently no announcement of a resettlement scheme or other measures to provide an easy, legal and safe route for any Ukrainian refugees to enter the UK.

It's what you do next that really counts...

If you are a parent blogger in the UK (and even if you aren't) you may have spotted a blunder or two recently. In the past week there have been 3 pretty amazing faux pas from 3 of the biggest websites who work regularly with bloggers. And that's just to my knowledge...


Thing is, no-one is immune. You can only make decisions to the best of your ability at the time. The first week back after the Christmas holidays is manic, and none of us are at our best. Even nature spends half the day telling us we should still be in bed, and without the invention of the lightbulb we probably would be (which helps account for the huge families back then).

When you are busy and working it's easy to press the wrong button or type the wrong word, or even worse, leave half a draft and publish by accident. Gary the cat once published a post while I was on the loo. It was rubbish, but it had 3 viewers and a comment within 5 minutes because he added an intriguing title.

Goodbye to 2019. You were a lot fairer to me than the previous 6, so thank you.

In my home at least, we've found an overall level of peace and calm that has been hard fought for and a long time coming. We will always have a huge Elspeth-shaped gap in our family, but we are beginning to learn how to live alongside it and pick up some of the things we dropped when she died.

We had an excellent Christmas and spent lots of time with all of our children, as well as the Grandparents. Our big kids are settled at uni and work, our young boys are doing well at school. 2020 seems like the time to focus more on ourselves.


For the UK 2019 turned out to be a year full of momentous decision and political records which will be taught to our children's children as history, but will impact them every single day of their lives. We all know the theory now and 2020 will see Brexit become a reality. And that's probably enough UK politics for one post...

2019 was a year which saw young people front and centre, standing up for their futures with climate change school strikes around the globe. A young woman brought the climate emergency to the entire world's attention, just as a young woman emerged heroic in the year's most watched TV series, and 3 of the top 6 grossing movies 2019 have powerful female leads.

This year was, in many ways, the year we really paid attention to the kids and the powerful women...

This month didn't exactly go as expected for us, in fact the last week has been a bit of a roller-coaster of emotions. We had an excellent 4 days at Timber Festival (as guests and I will get my review live this week), but we came home to find that Gary the cat was not well.

Gary was an internet star from the moment he arrived, and possibly my glowing review helped. He lived his life on the internet and I know a lot of people cared about him. He owed a lot of people a coffee.


Gary was really poorly. He didn't survive the night and died in the early hours - peacefully and not in pain. We all had an extra day off work and school to say goodbye and help bury him. I think it was harder because Gary arrived at a time when we really were feeling the huge gap left by Elspeth. Losing him was like losing another part of her, but it was right I told everyone, and I did so in a blog post eulogy. 

He brought us joy and laughter, love, and someone warm who was always willing to have a cuddle. I admit it, my opinion of cats has changed somewhat. I miss him. He's left a shredded stair carpet, a box of chewed cat toys and a small cat-shaped hole that will never be filled in.


The universe realised we were short of a pet and needed a distraction, so it intervened and sent us another to save. My eldest son saw a magpie fighting a tiny bright green budgie near a park in Withington, stepped in and rescued the little fella.

He might be a full grown bearded adult, but he did what all kids do when they aren't sure what the next move is, he took it to his Mum. That's me. In his pocket, on the tram. I preferred it in a cardboard box (it's a proven rescue animal storage method).

Gary was left outside our house. At first we thought he was a lost kitten, and we printed off big photos and put up posters looking for his owner. No-one rang and we were sad for an imaginary young family of children or elderly lady pining for her cat.


When he arrived, despite the fact I had a strong dislike for cats, Gary was determined he was at the right place. He knew how soft I am really and he knew he could break me down. I think he knew everything. Cats are smarter than we realise.

Thing is, he was really scared of outdoors and he really didn't want to go back out. He stayed with me all day, following me around the house and climbing onto my knee whenever I sat down. His eyes barely left mine and I chatted away to him the same as I did with my toddlers. Sometimes he even replied.


No-one ever came forward to claim Gary - who was named Gary by our youngest "because that's his name". We fed him boring dry food and left the door open for him to leave, but he didn't. He even went to the toilet inside - in the actual toilet (or the bath). It's one of the things I particularly liked about him.

Astoundingly it's been 3 years since we won the world's most expensive free cat. Well, 3 years and 2 months, I'm a bit late on this post. I'm all over this cat thing now though. Ask me anything about cats and I can make up an answer that sounds plausible.


I know people on the internet like cats, so you may not have heard of Gary before, you might just have clicked on because there was a cat picture. Here's Gary's backstory and it's really because of the internet that he's here. He also wouldn't be here if he hadn't turned up at the home of someone who is ridiculously soft, and despite a previous loathing of cats, took him in.

Without the internet we wouldn't have known that there was a cure (scalpel) for Gary's sensitive genetic ailment (very very tiny penis) and it would have been curtains. Since his operation Gary's health has been brilliant and he can pee whenever he wants, thankfully usually outside or occasionally still in the bath. Annoyingly he's stopped going to the toilet in the toilet, although it was always a bit disturbing to walk in on him - especially if he was reading the paper.

We've been sent hundreds of items for review over the past 6 years - here are a few which stood the test of time and are still being enjoyed, used or fondly remembered now. I'll be posting a couple of these revisits a month throughout 2019. We reviewed all of these items during late February from 2013-2018...


February 2016 saw my second most popular review ever - my Gary The Cat review. I knew nothing about cats at the time, other than that I didn't like them and couldn't understand why people would choose one as a pet. Left on our doorstep when he was ill, I'm a soft touch and couldn't leave him to suffer or be put down. He's taught me a thing or two over the past 3 years - mainly just how much people on the internet love cats! I've written about him a few times now - Gary the cat posts.

Like most modern families who like to play with toys, we use hundreds of batteries a year. There are loads of reasons why rechargeable is better than buying new non-rechargeable batteries, cost in money and materials are the main ones. It's much cheaper to recharge and we are all now painfully aware just how important it is to avoid throwaway consumables.


I've tried lots of different battery chargers and rechargeable batteries over the years, but hadn't heard of GP Batteries ReCyko range until I received the email. Their Rechargeable Batteries can be charged up to 1500 times each, but one of the things that makes them really special is that they retain their power really well, so that even after 5 years in a drawer you should still have up to 70% charge.

2019 is here with a bit of a blur for me. I seem to have fallen into it rather than the usual meandering approach through Christmas, possibly because I've slept more in the last 3 weeks than I did in the previous 3 months. Back to Earth with a bang, and a little reflection on the year just gone.


I've been invited to join in with the Top 7 tag by Laura from Tired Mummy Of Two. It was started by One Frazzled Mum and asks me to look back at 2018. To share my favourite 7 blog posts, 7 things I loved about 2018 and 7 things I'm looking forward to in 2019. Then I get to tag 7 other bloggers to take part.

I'm writing this month's Smiles post a day early because tomorrow we'll be delivering the second of our Freshers off to uni. It's been a more emotional time than I anticipated, I think I might even miss having to come downstairs at 2am to tell them to be quiet.

We gathered 6 of us together for a 'goodbye meal' of Veggie Tacos which my daughter made with me. It was lovely to spend the time with her before she went. I'm definitely going to suggest to our other two uni students that we cook something together too, maybe at Christmas. Cooking together is something we've always done and you don't think about the fact you'll miss it, until you realise it won't be possible.

Okay, a friend date with my cat is not something I'd ever have anticipated writing about and the people who have known me longest are entitled to laugh loudest. Go on, enjoy yourselves. Cats really weren't my thing until Gary landed at our door and forced us to care about him by being ill and cute. I've headed with his best model shot, you can see the cute...


I'm not made of stone, I tried to resist, but even I relented and it's taken a mere 2 years to get to this point... Cats will rule the universe one day. Whiskas have asked me to conjure up the perfect evening with my cat. Even Gary was surprised when I told him.


I'd have gone for the cinema, bowling and a nice sit down 3 course meal, but happily cats aren't generally allowed in restaurants or cinemas and they are rubbish at bowling, so I've settled for Gary's preferred choice, date night in. (That's a lie, but I'm not sitting on the back step for 3 hours watching the drizzle.)

It's about time I updated you on what Gary is up to, although it is with a degree of disappointment that I inform you he still doesn't have a 3-storey cat hotel, but you never know, one may just be in his near future... Black Friday is only getting closer...


For anyone who has missed Gary's story, he arrived, he squealed (for an hour). We let him in, he repaid us in hugs and a terror of the outdoors, followed by a persistent inability to have a wee. The internet raised some of the money, the vet took a hatchet to Gary's credentials and he's been just fine since.

He's only 3 and he's had the most adventures of any animal I've ever had.


Gary is the only cat I have ever actually tolerated liked. I'm not a natural cat person, I like dogs - but don't tell Gary. He's very excited by passing dogs, but I don't think he intends to befriend them.

Cobra Paw is a really quick game for 2-6 players that demands ninja-like reflexes and will really sort the quick-thinkers from the more sedentary game players. From the manufacturers of Bananagrams and played with beautiful domino-style printed stones, it takes moments to learn and anyone aged 6+ can play.


Called Cobra, yet mysteriously cat-themed, inside the box are your 21 Clawfuku Stones, 2 Catnippon Dice and a rulebook. The box is really small, so it's great for shelf storage. It's also pretty attractive and a nice quality item, and makes a great gift. The style of the whole set is modern yet classic, so suits most tastes. Full marks for no plastic packaging.

National Geographic and their younger publications from Nat Geo Kids are renowned for being reliable, sensible and educational, and their series of How To Speak books really does back that up. How To Speak Emoji, How To Speak Dog and How To Speak Cat are fabulous books which have really taken me by surprise and captured the attention of everyone here.


We've been sent all 3 of the books to review and I didn't realise just what gems they were going to be. These aren't simply lists with definitions, they're full of facts and really fascinating.

Staggeringly it's exactly 2 years since Gary turned up on my doorstep, howling and terrified and unable to pee, but we gloss over that nowadays. I've discovered a lot about cats in the last 2 years, or maybe it's just Gary, I have no idea and never intend to. As it's his Garyversary, and the internet saved my cat, I thought I'd share what I've learnt.


1. Cats can sleep anywhere. Gary has his luxury Amazon Prime Cat bed at the end of our bed, and a smaĺler, cosier box on the floor for when he doesn't want to risk being kicked in the head at night. He will however sleep anywhere. Window ledge, under the bed, on a cushion, clothes line, bag of marbles, IN the LEGO box. Whatever cats are made of, it's some sort of pain resistant cloud magic in a loose bag, and if we can harness it then we can be pain-free millionaires. Forget Tesla, this is where the real future lies.

I've used property locator devices in the past, but they've never been ideal. Tile is a really gorgeous bluetooth fob with a minimum guaranteed 1 year battery life and it is supported by the world's most popular Bluetooth tracking app. You can attach the fob to keys, toys, cats, bags or anything else you might lose. More than that, if you can't find your phone, you can even use your tile to find that.


Utterly gorgeous, you know you have something carefully designed before you even open the box. I'm reviewing the Pro Style & Sport double pack, which has one each of white/gold Style Tile and black/grey Sport Tile.


You download the app. and pair the Tile to your mobile phone. Give it a name, category, even a photo if you wish. Lose the Tile and you can ask your phone where it is, or where it was last spotted by anyone using the app.  If I can't find my phone, I can call it by double pressing the button on my Tile, even if it's on silent.

It's taken me 5 years and 2 weeks to reach 1500 posts, so I guess that means I've averaged 300 posts a year. It would be disingenuous to assume they were all brilliant, so please let me take a moment to apologise for all the drivel and  the posts that were crap. The blurry photos, the videos where I'd put the model together wrong or made up a phrase that made no sense whatsoever. The times I blagged it completely, the Twitter party where the product hadn't even arrived. The times I got the title wrong, or accidentally published a draft post which contained a few swear words and little else. The time Gary the cat wrote and published a post while I was on the school run. It wasn't even his best work.

It's dark, it's cold and everyone is shattered. No-one wants to play. With this in mind, here are a few of my most light-hearted posts. Hopefully something here can bring a smile to your face, whatever the weather outside....

Megableu make great family games that everyone can enjoy and they have given me a bundle of 3 of their newest games to give away to one of my readers - Beat the Flush, Tumball and NAME THAT!

Four years ago today my partner became ill with Meningitis. We were lucky and fairly swift to act and he survived pretty much intact, but he will never fully recover. His memory is a bit broken, he has pain and tiredness. Life is harder for him now, but he's alive. He's a survivor.

Almost 3 years ago our family's oldest girl was a victim of suicide. For those left behind suicide brings devastating gifts that can crush the strongest of souls. The last 3 years have been the hardest of our lives in so many ways, the pressure immense, but we are all still here. We are survivors.

The Manchester bomb was very close to home. A girl from nearby was killed. She went to the same school as some of our lot, and the thought that the teachers have already had to deal with bereaved children because of us made me sob. The thought of her Mum, walking past me in the local shop made me sob.