If you are anything like me, it was around 3rd January when you realised you hadn't even got a calendar, let alone anything sensible to keep a diary in! My daughter loved the Stigu planner I got from BlogOn last year and had bought herself another this year, so I was more than happy to review for them.


We've had several different Stigu Stationery products over the last few years and they're nice because they are a bit quirky, but they're designed to be attractive, effective and helpful on top of doing the intended job. They have simple wellbeing tips on each page that aren't condescending or twee, they are just reminders that you should relax and play as well as work...

It's easy for me to feel bitter and angry about the state of Children's Mental Health services in this country at the moment. I have every reason to believe it's a failing system that is understaffed, underfunded and consequently takes a long time to access and for any action to be implemented.

Last October the Care Quality Commission published a phase one report on children's mental health services. The full review and recommendations will be published next month. They've already found that because many different agencies can be involved, access to CAMHS and other services can be difficult and incredibly time-consuming. I could have told you that. So probably could anyone who has ever wanted to access CAMHS services.


Over the past 4 years we've learned far more about children's mental health services than we ever would have believed. Our family has been given an immense amount of help, for which I am eternally grateful. We had extreme circumstances and jumped to the top of the queues at first, and in the subsequent months we've had to wait patiently with everyone else and at times watch our young people deteriorate, completely impotent and unable to pull them out by ourselves. We've seen the holes in the service, the lack of knowledge-sharing, the time-pressure, the wrangling for financing from different departments in order to make things happen, and the waiting for red tape and meetings to sign off plans and be able to move forward.

I cannot fault any of the professionals we've met. I don't have a bad word to say about any of them because they were every bit as frustrated as we were. Their job often seems more about admin and knowing who to speak to than it is about clinical care and spending time with the people who need it.

Hearing Things is a great party game from Hasbro that can be played really quietly! It's very different to other games we have, and loads of fun. It's also one that can create some risque answers so, unless you can be very careful with what you say, best for older players.


Packaging is entirely card and inside the box you have the headphones and pack of 150 Phrase Cards, as well as instructions. You'll need 2 x AAA batteries to power the headphones, and learning the rules could hardly be quicker.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie was released on Digital Download on January 30th and we were among the first people to watch it in the comfort of our own home. We had already seen the movie in the cinema, but everyone wanted to watch it again and we were sent a bundle of goodies by Warner Bros to make a movie night of it!


We are big fans of the LEGO movies and we have really enjoyed them all. Ninjago is a LEGO theme with your traditional ninjas and dragons mixed with amazing technology and mechanics. It's an excellent theme and Ninjago are the most played with LEGO sets here.  There is also a Ninjago TV show, as well as books and of course the 4D cinema and Ninjago City Adventure play area at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. We are in very familiar territory and even I know all the names of the characters.

The first UK publication of 13th Reality: Journal Of Curious Letters by James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner, will be released by Sweet Cherry Publishing next week and we were lucky enough to be given an advance copy to review. This is a book full of intrigue and mystery, as we join Tick Higginbottom and try to work out 'what on Earth is going on?'.


I have to start by saying the package we received was gorgeous - the boys and I loved it and it was just perfect for this book. We knew this was going to be something special. We had a puzzle to solve before we even opened our copy! It really set the scene for reading the book.,,

The Nerf N-Strike Elite SurgeFire is a great manually powered blaster with the option of single shot or slam fire. It has full Nerf power, a rotating 15 dart cartridge and great accuracy. Three of us were excited about opening this one and none of us were disappointed.


There is minimal assembly required because you have to fit the 15 dart rotating drum - which just slots in until it clicks and then can't be removed. The box is cardboard and simple to open, there are no batteries and you can be playing with your blaster in seconds - Christmas morning friendly.


15 of the Elite Darts are included - a good amount for a battle and it's quick to reload, although the design means you can only insert 14 darts without rotating the cartridge.

The SurgeFire has a range of 27m - we haven't tested that, but it seems true and is plenty for a good battle. For such a big and clunky blaster it's incredibly accurate, even over fair distance - we've all had been pleased with that.


Power is by pump-action and you can choose to use the trigger for single shots or just keep pumping the barrel for slam fire. The drum rotates automatically after each shot. It's almost impossible to get any darts stuck inside the barrel, another impressive design feature to prevent frustration.


This is a large blaster, but not massive and it's pretty light because there are no batteries or motors. The pump-action doesn't require a lot of hand and arm strength, so it's a great one for younger Nerf fans aged 8+.

I grew up in Derby and I noticed the other day that Derby Heritage Centre is now, somewhat bizarrely, a ladies hairdressers. This is the same building where I had my first proper all day part time job. It was also my most memorable job and the one I'm fondest of, for reasons entirely unrelated to my actual work.

My mother worked for a press agency in Derby city centre and when I was 14 their Sunday girl left. For £12.50 each Sunday I became a Copy Telephonist, a role that doesn't even exist any more.

It was my job to take the news articles and ring around all of the newspapers, radio and TV stations to see if anyone wanted to run the stories. Sometimes I'd read out the same copy 15 or more times, and often I'd read it to a journalist or editor who would then put me through to one of their copy telephonists, who would type as I dictated.


A single reporter and I would be the only people working, and I opened up in the morning and locked up at the end of the day, although I left the front door downstairs locked. Unless a big story broke the day was fairly monotonous, filled with 2 line local news stories and the odd football fixtures. Occasionally the Photographer would be in his office downstairs editing Wedding photos or something ready for the local papers on Monday, but we rarely even saw or heard him.

None of that is what made the job interesting.

Miss Winter's Demise And Other Crimes Against Poetry is a new release from Matador press. A light-hearted collection of comic verse by Paul Minton, ideal for independent readers aged around 7-8 + and great for more reluctant readers who might be daunted by huge pages full of text.


As you might have guessed these poems are funny and very much what children like to hear and read, they're also often a little bit dark, in that Roald Dahl way, with deaths and disasters befalling some of the more unfortunate characters in the book. Including of course the poor Miss Winter.

Only 1 in 4 people working in core STEM roles in the UK are female and jobs in science, research, engineering and technology will rise at double the rate of other occupations between now and 2023.

EDF Energy's #PrettyCurious campaign aims to inspire girls' interest in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), something which I feel passionately about. I've tried to pass on a love for STEM subjects to my children and I'm proud to have raised a female future scientist.


EDF Energy are committed to bringing more young women into STEM careers and have already beaten their target of a 30% female STEM graduate and apprenticeship intake, with an awesome 35% in 2017. They've teamed up with Britmums and asked me to find out my daughter's feelings about STEM subjects and careers, and her reasons for choosing STEM subjects at exam level.

My daughter is 18 and studying Biology, Chemistry and Maths at A Level. Maths is her favourite subject. She's interviewing for places at university and hopes to follow a medical career in dentistry. She will be a scientist.

Magnus And The Jewelled Book Of The Universe is the first young fiction novel written by S.L Browne, released by Matador Children's Books last November. It is a book with the message to look after our planet, woven into a tale of mystery and intrigue, dinosaurs and tornadoes and an 8 year old boy named Magnus.


As the book starts Magnus and his elderly guardians move swiftly from mundane life to something completely different. A tornado approaches and a Police Officer visits their house to ensure they evacuate. There is a plan for Magnus and he is not only evacuated, he's removed completely to an entirely new world, an alternate Earth.