When a local blogger and her partner ask if you'd like to review their magazine Bury Family Life, and then invite you to a party and ply you with alcohol and food, how can you refuse?
I clearly did the right thing too, as when Heather from Note From Lapland came round with some copies of her magazine, she also brought chocolate.

In order to raise the cultural profile of my blog I've interspersed some things that also come from Bury.

Danny Boyle, that bloke who directed Slumdog Millionaire and the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

If (like me) you live in an area where you didn't grow up, you try to learn what's going on through osmosis, but you never pick up all the insider knowledge that comes from being a native. You don't know where the soft play is, which park has ducks or when the next insanely ridiculous local event is going to take place.

Bury Family Life Magazine has all of that - and loads more answers to questions your children didn't even think of yet

The Black Pudding ~ they even have Black Pudding Throwing Championships and veggie pudding, which is lovely	.

Bury Family Life is free of charge and available to anyone online. It is also a paper magazine given out to people within the Bury area of Greater Manchester.
It's more than just a local magazine though, that's less than half of it. Alongside the money off vouchers for local attractions and 'What's On' are loads of general articles and features. They are all really relevant to most parents, like 'How to take better photographs' and 'Why your child should learn to swim'.

Elbow ~ just a coincidence they had the theme song of the Olympics? I think not.

The magazine has regular features such as a 'We love....' which in the latest edition is 'Father's Day', and showcases loads of great present ideas. There are 'Bury Mum' and 'The Dad Diaries' parent columns which are very light and humorous.

The RSPCA shop and a signwriter who must have known what they were doing

The magazine also features competitions, with current prizes including a Bowling party for 10 children (2 winners) and a really cute Kids Baking Set.

Robert Peel ~ the inventor of the modern Police Force and the nickname 'Bobbies'

I actually already picked up and read this magazine before I knew it had anything to do with a local blogger. I entered the competitions online and read the articles. I scoured the 'What's On?' for something to do with my kids cheaply and I laughed at the stories of life with children and the sods law that prevails.

I really like it....but don't tell her I said so or she might stop trying to bribe me with chocolate....

The gorgeous Victoria Wood

He is 30cm tall, has removable clothes and shoes, chenille hair and a very sweet face. His entire body is soft and he can be hand washed in hot water.





We think he is really nice, and he has been everywhere with us since we took him out of the box.



I think the age range is right as a smaller child might be tempted to chew his hair. It is not a cheap doll, but it is really well made and I think would last a child for a lifetime. My sons love him and the 3 year old has carried him everywhere since he got him. For these reasons I think he does offer good value and I would heartily recommend him. 5/5

I read this article this morning, which is titled with the headline Social network users are airbrushing reality in search of peer approval.

What? People are actually glossing over the rubbish and leading us straight to the excitement? They're editing the highlights to make themselves appear more interesting than they really are?

This is not in the least bit surprising. No-one wants to post a photo of themselves looking like they actually are, we want to feel permanently good about ourselves. We take 16 photo's and choose the one we like best, or give up and use that one photo from 8 years ago where we think we looked cool. We don't want to tell you that we spent 3 hours today doing washing or that our son just changed into his 4th set of clothes for the day because he wee'd on the way home from dropping his brother at nursery. Well, not unless it has great comedy value...

We're used to the concept that stalkers and other unwanted pests might lurk on the Internet pretending to be something they aren't, so surely it shouldn't surprise us that actually people with entirely honest intentions might just be doing similar. It's airbrushing, enhancing and editing, it's not really lying, right?

We want to be witty and intelligent and lead amazingly interesting lives.  We don't want to record or imply the mundane, and we certainly won't be broadcasting news that we lost our temper or said something inappropriate.

Having a blog is one of the ultimates in Social Media airbrushing. Everything can be re-written, cropped and polished until you're completely happy (usually around 3am) with exactly what impression you give. No-one can reply or interrupt while you re-word something that even you feel turned out to be a pile of complete drivel.

Sunny Holiday Dream

60mph Hurricane Holiday Nightmare

Food tastes nicer and you know you're a better chef when you have a gorgeous photo to prove it (well, okay, a passable photo that's mainly in focus).

Perfect Tart Illusion

Burnt Tart Reality

You can look like you spend all day, every day playing with your children in an exciting and educational way, rather than half of it in Tesco and the other half washing poo off wellies, and you never ever shout at anyone or grumble about getting out the 15th jigsaw of the afternoon.

Play Rarity

Play Reality

I don't think it's entirely a bad thing,  I have a sense of pride when something I made looks lovely, or I write something completely legible. It makes me happy to see nice photo's of my children, even if they were pulling faces at the time. I can look back on my blog and remember the fun bits, not the nightmares that took hours to clean up. I can even laugh about things that otherwise I'd despair about because actually, when you word it right, it was nothing but funny, it had huge comedy value...

Sibling Love Unreality

Sibling Love Reality

Thing is, I don't know about you, but I'm getting so used to the airbrushing that it has a different effect on me now. I don't just see the lovely cake, I see the chip in the plate or I know the mess the kitchen will be. I look for dates on photo's and find the blurred patches where the edit took place. I re-read sentences that don't completely make sense and work out what it used to say. I see the cuts in a video and I know why I'd have had to make them. I wonder who or what has been cut out of cropped photo's. I look at different status updates from people at the same event and snigger at the differences in the stories.

I've actually become so cynical that whenever I do something to my own acceptable standards first time, I don't quite believe it myself....I feel it must need some airbrushing. I look for the accidental double-entendre or the bag of rubbish at the edge of a photo, and surely it'll work better in natural light, so would you mind looking surprised again? I reword mundane to be more exciting, and I don't tell you about the day spent in the tent trying to stop the kids treading mud everywhere and holding the roof up with bits of gaffer tape, instead I tell you about the fact we spent our time playing cards as a family and singing along to some local radio station and it's cheesy pop tunes.


Remember.....objects on the Internet may not be as real as they seem..

Me

What I actually look like today

Elinens recently asked Bloggers if they'd like to apply to review and having bought from them in the past I was more than happy to put my name forward. I was even more happy when they asked me to let one of my children choose some bedding. My little boys have to put up with a lot of hand me downs, so it's always nice to be able to give them something of their own and this is especially true of boy no.4, who hardly ever gets anything that isn't pre-loved. I let him pick from their really quite extensive range of children's duvet sets.

Looking past all of the TV themed options and spaceships he chose the Children's Treasure Quest Duvet Set (despite his brother's insistence he would really rather have the Ben 10 bedding). It actually retails at only £9.97, so is a complete bargain.



The duvet cover fastens with really well-made poppers, rather than buttons which I find get a bit loose after a while and come undone, especially on a toddler bed which still isn't quite a full sized single. The cotton is really soft and although I always wash everything I buy before I use it, I didn't need to.

My son is delighted with his choice and has told everyone he's seen that he chose his bedding and the postman brought it for him, then gone on to explain about the pirates and their treasure. He loves the pillowcase with it's skull and crossbones.


I think this bedding set is very attractive and well-made. It is excellent value for money and a definite hit. My only problem is that boy no.3 is now waiting for the postman to bring him some!


Elinens sell a massive range of products for the home, not just linens. They have free delivery on orders over £50 and a 30 day money back guarantee.

I admit, there have been times over the last 7 years that this has been a far more daunting proposition.

Actually, now that our oldest 5 are all teenagers, and they can even help wrangle the two pre-schoolers, we really didn't even flinch at the prospect of taking them out.

In fact when we got the opportunity to review our local JD Wetherspoon and their new American and International dishes we jumped about with unbridled excitement (we don't get to take them all out much unless we're on holiday or it's someone's birthday).

Our eldest was working, so it was lunch for 8. I was pleased to discover he was happy to come with us had he not been working, as it is his 'local' and where he goes to drink with his friends.

I rang in the morning to ask if I needed to book, and they assured me we could just turn up. It wasn't too far, so we walked (my partner and I could enjoy a refreshing beverage with our meal).


When we got there it was 1.30pm and still incredibly busy, so we found 2 tables next to each other and landed. At this point we were a bit daunted by the prospect of eating at two small tables and wished we'd been able to book.


Luckily we only had to wait 5 minutes before 2 bigger tables became free, and we were able to push them together and settle - and practice our loveliest photo faces (or daftest as it turned out).

Just for giggles we told the teenagers that we were secret shoppers and would be rating our experience. I think it went to their heads and they arranged the scoring during the meal.....results at the bottom of the page....

L to R ~Child 5, Child 2, Child 1, Child 4, Child 3, Child 6

The menus are really clear and well-laid out, and everyone easily found something they liked. All the vegetarian options are clearly labelled as such, and there's lots of choice. The children's menu is great because it doesn't just include 'kids food', it has child-sized portions of real adult meals too. 



I asked our older ones to take a photo of me and this is the best they managed!


Plates were cleared away swiftly but we did have quite a wait before they brought out pudding.


The desserts were something everyone was excited about. Our second youngest (wearing the bright ginger hair and grey t-shirt) had seen an ice cream sundae on the TV and has wanted to have one ever since, so he was pretty much over the moon.
  
 
Obviously his little brother had to have one too. Neither of them managed to finish it, but fortunately Mum and Dad were on hand to help.


Everyone enjoyed their meals, the food was lovely and every speck was eaten. No-one misbehaved, no-one started wandering about. I only had to supervise 3 toilet visits (and they were lovely and clean). We had a really, really lovely time.

I felt really comfortable and relaxed throughout the whole meal. The staff were all lovely, the pub was incredibly friendly and no-one cared we had so many young people with us. The clientele was so mixed that the children just slotted right in. It was really busy but never frantic or feeling cramped, and the service was great. I do wish we'd been able to book because we were such a big party, but that was pretty much the only downside to the whole meal.

Our entire meal with drinks cost around £90, which will make most families wince, but for 6 adults and 2 children it works out very reasonably indeed. I couldn't have asked for more, and I really do think it won't be too long before we are back.

It also happens that today it is exactly seven years since my partner and I got together and we started our journey to becoming one big family, so this was a very fitting celebration - with photo's we'll treasure forever (especially on their 18th birthdays when we get to embarrass them unremittingly!).


The scoring - exactly as written...

Child 1
Sweet Chilli Egg Noodles (V) - Very nice, quite small 4/5
Pancakes - Very nice too - Ice cream melted quickly
Any other comments - I'd come here again definitely
Child 5
An adult Classic Hot Dog and chips shared with his brother - Eleventy/5
Child 6
An adult Classic Hot Dog and chips shared with his brother - 16/5
Child 2
Tennessee Chicken Burger served with chips and beer-battered onion rings - A burger so delicious that if it were a person I'd marry it.
Waffle Sundae - The pudding was nice also
Any other comments - Not really
Child 3
Chicken Breast Burger and chips - Pretty nice 4/5
Hot Fudge Cake - Pretty nice 4/5
Any other comments - I think it's very nice and the meals are very reasonable
Child 4
Mexican Vegetable Burger and chips - Very tasty 4/5
Cheesecake - Not very cheesey 2/5
Any other comments - It's nice that Tom's mates (our oldest) are in here and talking to other people who are having a drink, like that old lady doing her shopping.
Dad
Full Rack of Ribs with coleslaw, beer-battered onion rings and chips - Nice, excellent value for money
Strawberry Sundae leftovers - Very nice
Lavazza Filter Coffee - Fantastic
Any other comments - I think we've all had a great time, everyone seemed to enjoy it
Mum
Mexican Vegetable Burger - Very tasty, lovely crispy chips 4/5
Chocolate Sundae leftovers - Delicious. The brownie pieces are gorgeous and chewy. 5/5
Lavazza Filter Coffee - Ooooh yes
Any other comments - Everyone's full and happy, it's a win for me.

2 portions Garlic Ciabatta Bread - Overall vote - Delicious!
2 portions Beer-Battered Onion Rings - Overall vote - Crispy and delicious!

Overall score - #Win #Pwned (translation - very good)

Special K is 30 years old this year, and they have challenged bloggers to look at how they've changed in the last 30 years since 1983, so this is my entry for the Britmums/Special K "How I've changed Linky Challenge"


That's me, with my brother and sister, aged about 10 or 11. My sister is the serious and sensible one and I'm the one who looks like I'm a foot too tall for my trousers! White socks were all you could get back then and hair had to be brushed until it was as close to an afro as humanly possible. I don't need to tell you that brown was all the rage and a patterned carpet hid the crumbs.....

1983 was a big year for me. It was the year I started Secondary School. School wasn't my favourite place that year, it's very hard being 11. I turned 12 in the November and I remember having a party for some friends at my house, but we were all very grown up and didn't play games. My Grandparents took me out to a 'restaurant' for my tea at the weekend, and it was an incredibly special occasion because it was the first time I'd ever been out for a meal. Looking back, what I thought was a posh hotel in the countryside was in fact just a large pub in the outskirts of Derby, but I still grin whenever I get the opportunity to go past.

I was about 25 when I first tried Special K, and I've eaten it ever since. My little boys think it's Mummy's special breakfast and it's called 'K', and they also love it. I was genuinely intrigued by the new recipe because I hate it when gimmicky things devalue something you like, but I didn't need to worry. It is really tasty. 


New 3 Grain Recipe Special K is made with wholegrain flakes of rice, wheat and barley, so it now contains more fibre plus all the other wholegrain goodness you'd expect. The taste is different, you can clearly taste the wheat and barley, and it has a more bran-type taste. It's very nice, and has had the thumbs up from me and my lot.


So this is me now, with two of my sons, my oldest child at 19, and my youngest at 3. The way I've changed most over the last 30 years is that I am no longer someone's child, but I'm very definitely someone's Mum! (And I don't possess any white socks....)

This is  our first review as official The Toadstool Toy Testers. The parcel that arrived was beautiful and very intriguing...


And inside it just got better...


My lot had absolutely no idea what on Earth this was going to be, but as soon as I saw it I knew it was just perfect. 2 x 250 piece packs of Plus Plus Mini.


Plus Plus is a hollow plastic building medium in a similar vein as Lego with interlocking pieces, but every single piece is exactly the same size and shape, thus giving the name Plus Plus. Once opened I just put it on the table and let them get on with it....

 


We were stunned at how good the little ones were, and how they took to it straightaway. Even our 3 year old thinks it's brilliant and is enjoying separating different colours and making his own models and pictures.

Concentrating hard!

Plus Plus is brilliant for fidgets and people who can't only do one thing and be at peace.It's very therapeutic, it's easy to get the hang of and start making really quite complex designs, and the sense of achievement is very rewarding.


It's very rare to find something which actually interests the little boys as much as the teenagers and also as much as the adults - this fits the bill beautifully.






Plus Plus is brilliant for imagination and design, problem-solving, manipulative skills and basics like learning colours and talking about 2d and 3d shapes. It has been a very good tool for getting all of my family playing together and talking. Plus Plus Mini is suitable for children aged 3+, and is recommended up to 12, but we think it's absolutely great anywhere beyond that. ALL of the teenagers have played with it, as have I and anyone who has visited. 



 

(Dr Who lands at the Great Wall of China)

We love it so much and it's so versatile that I even used it to make the penguins for my prize winning Wonderworld DKL competition entry.




Plus Plus Mini currently retails for £9.50 ~ 250 pieces and £5 ~ 100 pieces.  It is excellent value for money because it will last for as long as we don't lose it under the furniture. We've already had many hours of fun and we've barely even started. We very definitely give Plus Plus Mini a 5/5