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By Little Mummy, May 14, 2010 12:57 am

So after Monday’s disastrous trip to the community health spa I decided to treat my mum to a day at Bannatyne’s

The Bannatyne gym/health spa’s (owned by entrepreneur and ‘dragon’ Duncan Bannatyne) are doing an offer – £59 for two and for that you have access to spa facilities, gym, workout classes and you both get a treatment. We booked our day and went on Sunday.

We were meant to be doing yoga at 8.30am followed by spinning at 11am. That rapidly turned into just spinning and then to neither

So at 10am we turned up bleary eyed and after a quick chat with the beautician we headed straight for th health spa. The wood panelled changing rooms gave us a positive impression and we were hopeful of a better experience. We used the pool, sauna, steam room and spa and it was lovely and relaxing.

After a bit of lunch I headed to the gym to ogle the fit guys pump some iron walk on the treadmill for a bit. I headed back to the spa to find mum lolling over the side of the spa looking totally relaxed. I joined her, we relaxed for a bit before she leaned forward to tell me how large the person’s nose was across the way – I told that such inappropriate comments were a sign that she’s getting old (she’s 46). I told her I would blog this and she didn’t believe me (mum, everything’s fodder to a blogger).

After relaxing a bit longer we got dressed and I went for a back and scalp massage which was amazing, especially the scalp bit, in fact I think I might have dribbled a bit. Mum headed for hers and returned with her t-shirt on inside out, so I’m guessing it was pretty good.

All in all a far more pleasant experience and one we’ll definitely repeat.

Thanks Dunc

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By Little Mummy, May 11, 2010 11:51 pm

The MADs finalists were announced last week and I was thrilled to be shortlisted in the most innovative category which awards best use of technology to create unique content.

Here’s what the MADs organisers had to say…

Mum Erica sharing tips and advice on blogging, parenting and family life. This year Erica, who is studying part-time for a business qualification, launched a brand new e-course for parent bloggers, providing weekly tips on everything from commenting etiquette to making money from your blog.

I’m very pleased that I’ve been recognised on the basis of my mum blogger e-course, over 325 mum bloggers have taken, or are taking the course and the feedback has been amazing and it has spurred me onto new projects.

The MAD awards are sponsored by Butlins and my category by BitDefender who have put up a £1000 technology based prize package. At the moment I work off a netbook which isn’t powerful enough to run some of the software I’ve been recently looking into, if I win I’ll purchase that software and you can expect to see some exciting new content from me (think video tutorials)

I’d love it if you could vote for me, but there’s lots of other worthy finalists out there too…

Cafebebe and Notes From Lapland have both been nominated in my category, they founded the JustVlogIt competition that sees mummy bloggers enter a monthly vlog competition for prizes.

My friend Linda has been nominated in the Family Fun category for her blog (which I’m a writer for!) Have a Lovely Time.

I’m also chuffed for The MadHouse for her nomination in this category too, her craft activities are great.

Laura’s been nominated for funniest blogger and englishmum for best looking.

My guest post day partner Babyrambles has been shortlisted as Best MAD Baby Blogger and my lovely friend Tara has been nominated for Best Blog Photography.

Congratulations to all the finalists.

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By Little Mummy, November 5, 2009 1:36 am

Think about it for a minute because it’s easy after seeing so much television coverage to become immune…

A little girl snatched away from her family. I’m a Mum, are you a Mum? Please watch the video, god forbid it’s me or you that one day needs the help of the world’s parents to find our child.

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By Little Mummy, October 1, 2009 12:39 am

Christmas has come early! I have a fab christmas themed jollybox for one lovely winner.

The Jollybox company offer a range of themed playtime boxes that encourage children to use their imagination.

Each Jollybox equips parents with the tools to transport their child into an exciting, imaginary world of characters, themes and scenarios. Whether it is a dinosaur, an explorer or an airline pilot, children are encouraged to explore their imaginations through creative play, acting and drawing. Jollyboxes have been created to promote problem-solving skills, strengthen communication and encourage social interaction in children at an early age.

The range includes The Explorer Box, The Wedding Box, and The Holiday Box. Each box contains illustrated flash cards, an inspiration booklet and an activity book with puzzles, themed games, amazing facts, exciting new characters and plenty of creative ideas for budding young artists.

I have the Christmas Box to giveaway, which is bound to keep the little ones busy throughout December, or you could even keep it as a special gift for Christmas Eve or the big day itself!

Two Ways to Win

1. Join my newsletter for one entry, how easy is that?

2. Leave a comment on this post on the subject ‘One thing I hope for this christmas….’. This will count as one entry too.

You can enter either way, or do both for two entries. Newsletter subscriber will automatically be given one entre

I will choose a random winner on Thursday 8th October 2009

*This competition is open to UK residents only*

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By Dave, September 28, 2009 4:28 am

Hello Littlemummy Readers,

We’ve been seeing some issues with the Littlemummy template for Internet Explorer users including missing sidebars and broken comment functions, so we’ve switched back to an old template while we look for a new one.

The site will be up and down without warning for the next day or so while we resolve the issues.

In the meantime, do yourselves a favour and download Firefox or Google Chrome, both of which are miles better browsers than Internet Explorer, and far more secure.

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By Dave, September 6, 2009 10:06 am

We’ve just completed an upgrade to WordPress 2.8.4 here at Littlemummy.com, and if you’re a WordPress user, you would be well advised to do likewise. This update fixes a pretty major security hole that allows admin access and has resulted in a few nasty incidents at high-profile blogs. For example, Robert Scoble lost two months of his blog.

Stay safe out there kids.

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By Little Mummy, April 26, 2009 1:44 am

I’ve been tagged by my new friend English Mum, she’s one of the other lucky bloggers going to Walt Disneyworld (we’ve been asked to use it’s full title, a small price to pay, yeah?)

The meme involves 80 mum bloggers around the world, this is how it should work;

Here’s how it’s going to work:… I’m going to link to a couple of other mom bloggers here in Canada, and to a couple of mom bloggers from other countries around the world, and they’ll write their posts, sharing 5 things that they love (or maybe what they don’t so much love – this playground doesn’t force conformity) about being a mom, and then they’ll tag a few more bloggers from their own country and from other countries, and so on. And you’re more than welcome to join: just write a post of your own (5 things that you love about being a mom) and find someone to link to and tag – someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country (Google is a good resource if you don’t know any; google any country name and ‘mom’ in their blog search function) (be sure to let them know that you’ve tagged them!) – and link back here and leave a comment and we’ll add you to the ‘itinerary,’ ….

and here’s the person that started it all.

and now for my five things I love about being a mum….

1. Going into her room when she’s asleep, tucking her in and giving her a kiss. I get a warm feeling knowing that she’s snug and happy, I often think about the mum’s, through no fault of their own, who cannot provide a warm dry place to sleep and a full belly, it makes me feel so lucky.

2. Three year old conversations can be so interesting (if a little repetitive).

3. I love the hugs, wherever and whenever, they are free and plentiful but my favourite is the cooch I get in bed in the morning.

4. I enjoy showing her how to do craft activities and how to make pasties, and then she tells me I’m doing it wrong and puts me right!

5. I love being a mum, but being a family is the ultimate. Enjoying new experiences, seeing my husband as a father, starting our own traditions…it’s at the centre of everything I do.

I tag Mother at Large in Edinburgh, Scribbit in Alaska, and Linda at You’ve Got Your Hands Full for the mother of multiples perspective.

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By Little Mummy, December 17, 2008 1:09 am

Ring in the New Year with £100. One savvy sleuth will win £100 (or equivalent in Euros) worth of groceries to kick start the New Year!

Little Mummy and Allrecipes.co.uk have teamed up to give one lucky reader the chance to win £100 in grocery vouchers. All you have to do is prove you know your mixed peel from your mincemeat!

To enter for your chance to win, simply follow these steps:

1. Find the answers to the five questions below

2. Take the first letter of each answer to make the secret code

3. Submit your five-letter code below

If you crack the code correctly, you could be the Little Mummy reader who gets £100 worth of groceries!

Competition is open to UK and Ireland residents and closes on 15th January 2009.

Good luck!

Crack the code…

1. This sauce calls for 675g of _____ cranberries.

2. Which herb flavours this roast turkey recipe?

3. What type of butter is called for in this Christmas pudding?

4. This Christmas cake recipe comes from which country?

5. For how many hours must you bake this Christmas cake?

Cracked the code? Enter here for a chance to win!

………………………………………………………………………………………

Like this? Join the Littlemummy VIP list for automatic entry into prize draws and more competitions like this

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By Little Mummy, December 7, 2008 4:24 am

I want to try something new, being a stay at home mum (although I work part-time now!) can be a little, um, monotonous. I need to step outside my comfort zone. I need a challenge.

That’s where my blogging friends (that’s you) come in. I’ve come up with a selection of five challenges (briefly described below), all I ask of you is to visit my blog and choose one from the poll in the sidebar. I’ll begin the chosen-for-me challenge this Friday. I’ll blog about the process and perhaps even master this flip video thing.

Media Diet (as per 4 hour work week)

I’m re-reading Tim Ferris’ 4 hour work week and trying to apply some of the principles. One of his challenges is to go on a media fast, a diet, not the ‘see food and eat it’ type, a REAL diet. No newspapers, no magazines, no television news, no (choke) RSS feed or ‘unnecessary web surfing’.

What is allowed? One hour of ‘pleasure viewing’ in the evening, one hour of non-fiction reading, access to my blog to write posts/upload videos.

Why? To increase productivity (read, perhaps I’ll get the cupboard under the stairs sorted!)

Build VIP list to 100

I’ve started a VIP list giving away prizes and freebies, the challenge would be to get subscribers to 100 within the week. This is a huge challenge as I’ve only just launched the VIP list (you can sign up in the sidebar btw) and haven’t really promoted it as yet.

Why? I have a terrible habit of starting projects and not finishing them, this challenge would force me to focus.

Make £100 on Ebay

I have some stuff that I could sell and earn some money from, I’ve been delaying (being lazy) so it would get me off my lazy bum to clear some stuff and earn some extra money for christmas.

Make some flavoured oils and vinegars

I bought a beautiful book earlier in the year – A Slice of Organic Life. I’ve only implented two ideas so far (grow lettuce and herbs), so it would be good to try something new, learn something and have the produce to use over christmas

Spend £0

One week. £0. Is it possible? The whole family (all three of us!) would be involved in this exercise in frugality.

Why? To see if its possible, to (hopefully) curb our petty spending and taste for KFC.

So there are the challenges, just choose one from the poll in the sidebar. My fate will be revealed on Friday.