You know how sometimes you think your all caught up with everything and then it's like the gods look down on you and start laughing and drop you in the middle of a crazy zone? That's been my last few weeks!
So here is a brief update of whats been happening!
1. My sister got given a house in Cardiff - she knew about it we knew about it everyone knew about it but do you think she got her ass into gear and got herself organised for the move? Hell no! So I did around 8 round trips back and forth to move some of her stuff then a friend of ours did 2 massive van loads. In between trying to get my sis signed up with a gp, a health visitor for the kids and various other services and unpacked. Total chaos.
However on the positive:
1. got her some beds from gumtree so her and the nephew are no longer sleeping on the floor
2. got carpet from gum tree for H's bedroom
3. mostly moved in and most of the repairs on the new place done
4. grant application done for some carpets for the rest of the rooms and a cooker (shes currently living off micro, toaster and deep fat fryer food which is not good!)
On the negative:
1. House in bridgend still not empty!!!
2. unpacking not finished in new house
3. need to sort out sofas she has none
4. waiting on grant application approval to get vouchers for a cooker and carpet
Overall this is a positive improvement for us - her new house is 20 mins by a direct bus from my house or a short 10min drive. It's a new start and she is working pretty hard to try and sort out her belongings and to get rid of what she doesnt need - this is hard for her due to metal health issues and problems with concentrating but she is doing it slowly. It also means that H has her own bedroom - this will help to get her into a better nighttime routine. There are lots of services available in the area she has moved into for her and J's mental health needs and there is also lots of things nearby for her to do such as parks, a leisure centre, shops and food places. The house is lovely with a large enclosed back garden which J has already worked hard in and brought from the state of an overgrown jungle to a safe play environment for H and for D when he stays over.
Sorting my sis out has taken a lot of my time and energy - but I have also started my new job. At first I thought I had made a mistake - sure the new job is better paid but it seemed really boring for the first week and I felt a bit let down - I am used to being busy from the moment I step through the door until I go home and the first week I didnt really do anything - my computer id took a long time to come through and it seemed like they didnt really have anything for me to do. Thankfully the second week picked up.
It's a little scary actually how much I will be responsible for but I am sure I can do it.
Everyone in the new place seems really nice and approachable which is good. The office is massive and open plan which has taken a bit of getting used to. My parking space is a 10 min walk from the office which means I have to leave earlier in the morning and I get home later in the evening - not a huge difference about 30mins or so but its something else to get used to!
I've been so shattered with the move and with the new job that I actually took a break from comping and went a whole week without doing them.
In other exciting news - well exciting for me :D I'm doing a project with savvy circle IF team (thats the instant feedback team) with anew oral b toothbrush I am really pleased about this because I needed a new one as my dad dropped my old one down the loo when he last stayed over and I have been using a regular one and its just not as good as an electric one. The new toothbrush is proper clever and talks to my phone and stuff.
I am also going to be reviewing a washing machine for ao.com which will be fab.
Both reviews will be on the blog in the next week or so :D
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Holiday Planning :) Forest of Dean Forest Holidays
Last year I was very fortunate - I won a £500 voucher for Forest Holidays.
I decided to book for my mum's birthday for this year so we are going from Monday 11th July until Friday 15th July (my dad is kindly staying with the cats & snakes - he loves his pet sitting duties).
I found out that I could pay extra and take the dog - we were really pleased by this as he is a part of the family (like the cats and the snakes but sadly we cant take them). I also paid a little extra to upgrade our cabin to a hot tub one and to have the entertainment package (Sky movies and wifi).
My niece who is disabled is also coming - she has mobility probs and tires easily but we have a walking frame for her which she manages pretty well with it.
After the voucher I have paid an extra £200 or so on top which covers the extras which I think is pretty reasonable - my mum and niece have both contributed £50 each towards the extras too :)
It's getting pretty close to holiday time now - 44 days until we go! So I have been looking at putting together an itinerary for us - I know some people like to fly by the seat of their pants on holidays but I am a planner and when taking the dog and my niece I do need to make sure that everywhere is accessible and dog friendly for us.
I have spent a bit of time on trip advisor, the hayandwye tourism website and just generally randomly googling the area and have decided on a few things to do.
Day 1.
Leave the diff around 10.30am (to avoid the rush hour traffic - seriously the traffic in and out of Cardiff during the week from around 7,30-9.30 am is horrific maybe not London levels but getting there sometimes!)
My mum and niece fancy a trip to Weston Supermare (even though it's not actually going the same way as us lol)
We should arrive at WSM around 11.45ish - we will then head to a pub called Scally's - we have never been there before but the reviews on it say it has decent food, a large beer garden and is dog friendly. If for some reason this place is not open we have an alternative nearby called The Captain's Cabin (this isnt my first choice due to the mixed reviews on tripadvisor)
After lunch which I am anticipating we will be finished around 1pm we will then have a wander around WSM - my mum wants to visit a jewellery making shop we found last time we were there if it's still open. I quite fancy the 2p machines down the beach front myself!
We will leave here around 2.30- 3pm and head to Forest of Dean - arriving at the Forest Holidays site around 3.45pm - 4.15pm. Check-in is 4pm
We will then check-in, check out the hot tub, give the dog a good long walk.
Around 6pm we will head to a local supermarket and get in some supplies and possible stop for fast food should there be a chain nearby (the dog is partial to a cheese burger from MaccyD's -no sauce, onion or gherkin on his hehe)
We can then headback - put the shopping away - have a turn in the hot tub - walk the dog, watch a movie and just chill.
Day 2
Breakfast in the cabin :)
A walk in the forest for Jac
Then we will head out to the railway. The Dean Forest railway seems like a great choice for us - it costs £12 for an all day ticket for the humans and £2 for an all day ticket for Jac :) It has a few different stops where we can get off and have a wander into parks, down the harbour etc before getting back on.
We will find somewhere local for a late lunch
The late afternoon and evening we will see how we feel we might go for a walk or shopping in local shops etc
Day 3
Breakfast in the cabin :)
A walk in the forest for Jac
I decided to book for my mum's birthday for this year so we are going from Monday 11th July until Friday 15th July (my dad is kindly staying with the cats & snakes - he loves his pet sitting duties).
I found out that I could pay extra and take the dog - we were really pleased by this as he is a part of the family (like the cats and the snakes but sadly we cant take them). I also paid a little extra to upgrade our cabin to a hot tub one and to have the entertainment package (Sky movies and wifi).
My niece who is disabled is also coming - she has mobility probs and tires easily but we have a walking frame for her which she manages pretty well with it.
After the voucher I have paid an extra £200 or so on top which covers the extras which I think is pretty reasonable - my mum and niece have both contributed £50 each towards the extras too :)
It's getting pretty close to holiday time now - 44 days until we go! So I have been looking at putting together an itinerary for us - I know some people like to fly by the seat of their pants on holidays but I am a planner and when taking the dog and my niece I do need to make sure that everywhere is accessible and dog friendly for us.
I have spent a bit of time on trip advisor, the hayandwye tourism website and just generally randomly googling the area and have decided on a few things to do.
Day 1.
Leave the diff around 10.30am (to avoid the rush hour traffic - seriously the traffic in and out of Cardiff during the week from around 7,30-9.30 am is horrific maybe not London levels but getting there sometimes!)
My mum and niece fancy a trip to Weston Supermare (even though it's not actually going the same way as us lol)
We should arrive at WSM around 11.45ish - we will then head to a pub called Scally's - we have never been there before but the reviews on it say it has decent food, a large beer garden and is dog friendly. If for some reason this place is not open we have an alternative nearby called The Captain's Cabin (this isnt my first choice due to the mixed reviews on tripadvisor)
After lunch which I am anticipating we will be finished around 1pm we will then have a wander around WSM - my mum wants to visit a jewellery making shop we found last time we were there if it's still open. I quite fancy the 2p machines down the beach front myself!
We will leave here around 2.30- 3pm and head to Forest of Dean - arriving at the Forest Holidays site around 3.45pm - 4.15pm. Check-in is 4pm
We will then check-in, check out the hot tub, give the dog a good long walk.
Around 6pm we will head to a local supermarket and get in some supplies and possible stop for fast food should there be a chain nearby (the dog is partial to a cheese burger from MaccyD's -no sauce, onion or gherkin on his hehe)
We can then headback - put the shopping away - have a turn in the hot tub - walk the dog, watch a movie and just chill.
Day 2
Breakfast in the cabin :)
A walk in the forest for Jac
Then we will head out to the railway. The Dean Forest railway seems like a great choice for us - it costs £12 for an all day ticket for the humans and £2 for an all day ticket for Jac :) It has a few different stops where we can get off and have a wander into parks, down the harbour etc before getting back on.
We will find somewhere local for a late lunch
The late afternoon and evening we will see how we feel we might go for a walk or shopping in local shops etc
Day 3
Breakfast in the cabin :)
A walk in the forest for Jac
Pack up the car with a picnic lunch and drinks
Head to the Sculpture Walk - this sounds like its quite a cool thing to do - a gentle walk in the forest trying to spot some hidden sculptures - its free to do which is even better! Parking costs £3.50 and you can use the ticket to park at other local sites too
We will then find a spot for our picnic lunch
Then head to Symonds Yat rock - which has views over the river wye and the forest and is supposed to be really pretty and just happens to be included with the parking charges we would have already paid at the sculpture walk
After we plan to find a dog friendly pub where we can stop in for an evening meal
Day 4
Breakfast in the cabin :)
A walk in the forest for Jac
A walk in the forest for Jac
We will be looking at doing a boat ride down the river wye - I have found a couple of companies who do tours which allow dogs on board too - we also want to go into haye on wye and have a nosy around the shops.
We will eat out for lunch and dinner and then hea dback to the cabin for some last hot tub time and to pack up
Day 5
Breakfast in the cabin :)
A walk in the forest for Jac
We will then have to check out at 10am eep
We havent decided if we will drive straight home or if we will have a stop off somewhere on the way back for a few hours - perhaps g to chepstow castle or somewhere similar
So that's my planned schedule for us so far. Hopefully my mum and niece and of course Jac the dog will enjoy it
A walk in the forest for Jac
We will then have to check out at 10am eep
We havent decided if we will drive straight home or if we will have a stop off somewhere on the way back for a few hours - perhaps g to chepstow castle or somewhere similar
So that's my planned schedule for us so far. Hopefully my mum and niece and of course Jac the dog will enjoy it
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
A Post by LadyCat
Fed up of my human talking about rubbish like jobs, medication and bills I have decided to post something that is infinitely more interesting... a post all about me! LadyCat
Now in the past there may have been a passing mention of me or the others but I feel I need a dedicated post all to myself to explain my awesomeness!
So in the words of Maria - Let's start at the very beginning!
My mamma cat was a poor stray - luckily for her she got rescued by Vale Cat Rescue in Ebbw Vale.
By the time she was taken in by the rescue she was heavily pregnant - unfortunately the pregnancy went wrong and some of my brothers and sisters didnt make it...mamma was rushed to the vets where she had an emergency c-section - I was last out and because of this I had been starved of oxygen - they weren't sure I would make it.
Mamma cat survived and was spayed at the same time, myself and my brother also survived and we were hand reared by the rescue. My brother grew bigger and stronger everyday but I didn't really grow much - the vet said that I had special needs - I took that to mean I was a very special kitty and was quite pleased.
Over time I grew a bit and the rescue started to look for a new home for me - living with 40 other cats was okay but I needed a place of my own where I could live like the special kitty that I am!
The rescue got me vaccinated ready for adoption (I was still much too small to be spayed as I weighed only 1kg) but just as I was starting to do really well I had a bad reaction to the injection and became very poorly.
And thats when I met my forever hooman!
My hooman and her friend came to visit the rescue because her friend wanted to become a foster mamma. As soon as I saw my hooman I knew she was the one for me! I dragged myself onto her lap and sat there for 2 hours whilst she chatted to the head lady at the rescue and then she gently picked me up off her lap and left!!!!
I couldn't believe it!
I knew we were purrfect together! Didn't she know how lucky she was that I had chosen her? Didn't she know how hard it was for me to crawl up onto her lap? How poorly I was, how I could hardly breath and then she left without me!
I was so sad I didn't understand and I felt so so so poorly. I had visits to the vets, antibiotics, special food and plenty of warm blankets but I was so tired of fighting, so tired of hurting and lonely. The rescue ladies try to give everyone love and attention but with so many of us in their care they couldnt spend as much time as I needed.
Just as I was ready to close my eyes and head to the rainbow bridge the hooman I chose came back! She brought someone with her and I heard the magic words "I've come for Lady"
The rescue told her I was poorly, that I needed a special home, that I was smaller than other cats and that I might need lots of extra care in the future and she just said okay.
They wrapped me in a blanket and her mamma held me in her arms as they took the long drive home.
When I got there she picked me up and cuddled me all night long - but I was still very poorly. I couldnt breathe and the vets told her to prepare for the worse.
But slowly I got better...everyday my hooman would give me my yucky medicine, she would clean my eyes and nose with special wipes and breathing became easier.
As I grew stronger I started to meet the rest of my family - my hooman already had 3 cats! a dog and 2 snakes!!!!
I heard her telling people she hadn't planned on getting another cat but she couldn't leave me behind - well I am utterly adorable!
After living with my hooman for a longgggg time (9 months) I was finally big enough to get spayed - normally the rescue says you have to spay a cat as soon as they are old enough as part of the adoption process but because I was so small and light my hooman was told she didnt need to get me spayed but as I kept wanting to go outside into the garden and for my safety she felt it best to get me done. We had to wait until I reached 2kgs before the vet would do the op and after the op to stop me biting out my stitches I had a collar on but the collar was much much much too heavy for me even though it was the smallest one and I couldnt even walk with it on. The rescue suggested my hooman get me a babygro but even the prem baby ones wouldnt fit so she improvised and cut up one of her socks instead!
I didnt really like it as I really really really wanted to bite those annoying stitches out but the hooman and her fluffy sock completely foiled me!!! Grrrrr
Following the op I continued to get bigger and stronger and to prove myself the Lady of the Manor.
I soon had put the other 3 cats in their place!
LeoCat the Bengal became my willing slave - he would often groom me and just generally pay homage to my awesomeness. As you can see her remains my faithful servant, always at my side and about twice as big as me!
Morticia the old lady of the pack and I became firm friends - we often play chase, bite the belly, chew the tail etc and then cwtch together
Finally there is Dena - we dont get on - she is Mistress of Evil and we take every opportunity to hiss at each other - but occasionally we forget we have a war going on and take a nap together :D The hooman couldnt find a pic of us together so you miss out on my awesomeness and just get her evilness instead!
There's also the snakes but who cares about them? they are just wiggly wormy things that I am not allowed to eat - I like to watch them sometimes though mmmm tasty wiggly worms
Then there is Jac the dog - he came after me and he is only little too (he's also smaller than LeoCat!) so he knows I am the boss, sometimes he plays with me when we try and catch the red dot - but he always gets a treat at the end and I dont - the hooman says its because dogs get ocd about the red dot - I think they pretend to in order to get the treats!
And thats it really a brief introduction to me LadyCat the most amazing kitty ever!
I will leave you with a few more photos so you can bask in my cuteness and I will be regularly writing for the blog from now on as Ithink the hooman's posts are rather dull myself and I am sure you will be much more interested in the time I fell off the sofa, or how I made her trip down the ladder from the attic than jobs, holidays and money!
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| Me & the hooman - selfie |
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| My fave place to perch and watch the snakes |
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| Giving my serious gangsta look - you talkin to me? |
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| Check out these pearly whites! |
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| Surveying my kingdom aka the living room |
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| I won this bag to store my treats in - but the hooman has failed to fill it! |
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| Hooman thinks she's funny taking this pic! |
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Countdown to the new job :)
My countdown is on - I have 2 weeks left in my current job - but thats equal to 8 days as there is a bank holiday and I have a day annual leave too.
After waiting so long for the clearance from Occ health it seems like now its come through the time to finish is coming around wayyyyy more quickly.
I have a couple of things planned.
I had my leaving do last night - I wanted to do something different to the usual meal out so I arranged to go to Go Air which is a massive indoor trampolining park. It cost £10 for an hour session plus you have to buy socks which cost £2 but can be reused several times (until the grips wear out).
Here's a pic of the socks - the only photo we took all night oops
I wish I had taken photos but your not supposed to have anything in your pockets and we were having way too much fun to stop to go get photos of each other.
So basically Go Air has like a massive block of trampolines all joined together and surrounded by a wall of trampoline like things - you can jump on a single trampoline, jump from one trampoline to the other and jump into the sides and stuff. They also have a smaller area set up in a similar way but surrounded by netting where you play dodge ball, 2 long strips where you run and slam dunk basketballs (this was out of order when we went boo!) and a giant foam pit (more about that in a bit)
As we were there kinda early it was mainly kids - I think there were like 4 other adults playing but it didnt bother us.
We started off on the individual trampolines - I swear I managed a height of around 12 foot at one point - I bravely tried to bounce from my trampoline to the one in front but didnt quite make it landing squarely inbetween the too and looking a bit of a dick but oh well - when your built like homer simpson and wobbling on a trampoline your already surpassing alll dickness of appearance so it was fine.
We got brave and decided to face the foam pit. The foam pit was set up with 2 low trampolines that you bounce down towards the pit and then jump into it, there is then a solid platform above 2 trampolines that you can jump from the platform onto the trampoline and then fling yourself into the foam pit and then there is another 2 low ones with like a rope ladder. The foam as well its not like shaving foam but big cubes of foam material.
Anyways we watched a bunch of like 7 year olds doing crazy flips and stuff into the pit and decided to give it a go.... my mate went first and chickened out...then another and chickened out so I was like c'mon guys outta the way lemme show you how its done! So I jumped and jumped and bounced and wobbled my way down the trampoline to the very end... I continued to bounce building height and speed and then ... I looked into the pit and chickened out!!!! So as not to completely lose face I stepped up to the end of the trampoline and bunny hopped into the pit and thats when it went wrong for me.
The foam cubes were like quick sand sucking me down - I bravely crawled at the pace of a snail whilst my friends literally wet themselves laughing and mocking me!!!!!! Half way to the edge with the end in site I lost my sock and could feel my leggings being pulled down too. So I had to make an 'adjustment' and dig in the foam for my sock. As I continued to crawl to the edge my dignity (as if) in shatters my obvious shame did not bother the girls and they decided to give it ago too.
They had as little success as me so we went back to the individual trampolines!
The girls then mastered landing on their bums and back up to their feet - I couldnt actually manage that!
After a quick wee (I swear they should have been playing Taylor Swift in there and instead of Shake it off it should have been shake it out!) and a drink we decided to brave the foam pit again - it had pretty much the same results as previously except one of the girls tripped on the edge and did an impressive and unexpected forward somersault! As she tried to escape the foam it managed to such one of her boobs out through the gap by her armpit! Bwahahaha that didnt happen to me because I wore 2 sports bras - I couldnt breath but damn you could balance drinks on my boobs!
After the joy of trampolining we met up with another load of work people who had decided to leave the tena lady at home and skip the trampolining. As lots of people have kids I had suggested that we go to the Harvester which was next door to Go Air and said anyone with kids was welcome to bring them. The Harvester is relatively cheap, does kids meals and is kid friendly which is great. This turned out pretty good the kids were all well behaved and got on, we all had a great meal and chatted and just had a good time.
I have a few other things planned for work before I leave including:
- a letter box cake I won from baker days :) I went for an emoticon one with a picture of the poo emoji on it because it's a bit shitty I am leaving my awesome team and they are gonna miss me (although it is awesome to be going to a job that pays more money!)
- cakes and pinata - I won £30 of credit with a party supplies company I got a bunch of stuff ready for H's birthday in August (I was originally going to get stuff for D's birthday in April but they took literally weeks to get my prize code and then like 4 weeks to deliver my items!) but I also got a monkey pinata which I am filling with sweets and make up samples and freebies. I am sure the girls in work will enjoy it ( I do have one male colleague and whilst he might not enjoy the make up he has teen daughters and eats sweets non stop! so am sure it will be fine)
I also have a lot of work to do before I finish - there doesnt appear to be any cover for me and there are changes being made to the various admin teams so I want to make sure they are as well prepared for not having any admin support for a while as they can be.
I also have a hand over to do as well with the community lead.
So yeah 8 working days left and then that's it!
I'm not going to lie I am a bit scared about the new job - I worry about things like I wont be able to do it, or the people wont like me, or I'll do something hugely embarrassing on the first day and run away never to return! I come across as a really confident person but I am really not - the more uncertain of a situation I am the louder and ore confident I appear.
But I am also quite excited and looking forward to meeting the new people, seeing my office and finding out exactly what I am doing
After waiting so long for the clearance from Occ health it seems like now its come through the time to finish is coming around wayyyyy more quickly.
I have a couple of things planned.
I had my leaving do last night - I wanted to do something different to the usual meal out so I arranged to go to Go Air which is a massive indoor trampolining park. It cost £10 for an hour session plus you have to buy socks which cost £2 but can be reused several times (until the grips wear out).
Here's a pic of the socks - the only photo we took all night oops
I wish I had taken photos but your not supposed to have anything in your pockets and we were having way too much fun to stop to go get photos of each other.
So basically Go Air has like a massive block of trampolines all joined together and surrounded by a wall of trampoline like things - you can jump on a single trampoline, jump from one trampoline to the other and jump into the sides and stuff. They also have a smaller area set up in a similar way but surrounded by netting where you play dodge ball, 2 long strips where you run and slam dunk basketballs (this was out of order when we went boo!) and a giant foam pit (more about that in a bit)
As we were there kinda early it was mainly kids - I think there were like 4 other adults playing but it didnt bother us.
We started off on the individual trampolines - I swear I managed a height of around 12 foot at one point - I bravely tried to bounce from my trampoline to the one in front but didnt quite make it landing squarely inbetween the too and looking a bit of a dick but oh well - when your built like homer simpson and wobbling on a trampoline your already surpassing alll dickness of appearance so it was fine.
We got brave and decided to face the foam pit. The foam pit was set up with 2 low trampolines that you bounce down towards the pit and then jump into it, there is then a solid platform above 2 trampolines that you can jump from the platform onto the trampoline and then fling yourself into the foam pit and then there is another 2 low ones with like a rope ladder. The foam as well its not like shaving foam but big cubes of foam material.
Anyways we watched a bunch of like 7 year olds doing crazy flips and stuff into the pit and decided to give it a go.... my mate went first and chickened out...then another and chickened out so I was like c'mon guys outta the way lemme show you how its done! So I jumped and jumped and bounced and wobbled my way down the trampoline to the very end... I continued to bounce building height and speed and then ... I looked into the pit and chickened out!!!! So as not to completely lose face I stepped up to the end of the trampoline and bunny hopped into the pit and thats when it went wrong for me.
The foam cubes were like quick sand sucking me down - I bravely crawled at the pace of a snail whilst my friends literally wet themselves laughing and mocking me!!!!!! Half way to the edge with the end in site I lost my sock and could feel my leggings being pulled down too. So I had to make an 'adjustment' and dig in the foam for my sock. As I continued to crawl to the edge my dignity (as if) in shatters my obvious shame did not bother the girls and they decided to give it ago too.
They had as little success as me so we went back to the individual trampolines!
The girls then mastered landing on their bums and back up to their feet - I couldnt actually manage that!
After a quick wee (I swear they should have been playing Taylor Swift in there and instead of Shake it off it should have been shake it out!) and a drink we decided to brave the foam pit again - it had pretty much the same results as previously except one of the girls tripped on the edge and did an impressive and unexpected forward somersault! As she tried to escape the foam it managed to such one of her boobs out through the gap by her armpit! Bwahahaha that didnt happen to me because I wore 2 sports bras - I couldnt breath but damn you could balance drinks on my boobs!
After the joy of trampolining we met up with another load of work people who had decided to leave the tena lady at home and skip the trampolining. As lots of people have kids I had suggested that we go to the Harvester which was next door to Go Air and said anyone with kids was welcome to bring them. The Harvester is relatively cheap, does kids meals and is kid friendly which is great. This turned out pretty good the kids were all well behaved and got on, we all had a great meal and chatted and just had a good time.
I have a few other things planned for work before I leave including:
- a letter box cake I won from baker days :) I went for an emoticon one with a picture of the poo emoji on it because it's a bit shitty I am leaving my awesome team and they are gonna miss me (although it is awesome to be going to a job that pays more money!)
- cakes and pinata - I won £30 of credit with a party supplies company I got a bunch of stuff ready for H's birthday in August (I was originally going to get stuff for D's birthday in April but they took literally weeks to get my prize code and then like 4 weeks to deliver my items!) but I also got a monkey pinata which I am filling with sweets and make up samples and freebies. I am sure the girls in work will enjoy it ( I do have one male colleague and whilst he might not enjoy the make up he has teen daughters and eats sweets non stop! so am sure it will be fine)
I also have a lot of work to do before I finish - there doesnt appear to be any cover for me and there are changes being made to the various admin teams so I want to make sure they are as well prepared for not having any admin support for a while as they can be.
I also have a hand over to do as well with the community lead.
So yeah 8 working days left and then that's it!
I'm not going to lie I am a bit scared about the new job - I worry about things like I wont be able to do it, or the people wont like me, or I'll do something hugely embarrassing on the first day and run away never to return! I come across as a really confident person but I am really not - the more uncertain of a situation I am the louder and ore confident I appear.
But I am also quite excited and looking forward to meeting the new people, seeing my office and finding out exactly what I am doing
Friday, May 13, 2016
Calmurid Pro - The Insiders Project - Post 2 - Use & Results?
I have been using the Calmurid Pro Body Lipolotion and Hand cream daily.
My big areas of concern have been my lower legs, feet and hands.
The Calmurid Pro products sit comfortably on the skin and create a barrier between your skin and the outside world not only rehydrating the skin but also protecting it. The protection is so complete it is easily demonstrated using the spray bottle provided in the Insiders project kit :
1. take a small amount of lotion and rub it into your skin
2. Using the provided spray bottle (filled with water) spray the water onto your skin
My big areas of concern have been my lower legs, feet and hands.
The Calmurid Pro products sit comfortably on the skin and create a barrier between your skin and the outside world not only rehydrating the skin but also protecting it. The protection is so complete it is easily demonstrated using the spray bottle provided in the Insiders project kit :
1. take a small amount of lotion and rub it into your skin
2. Using the provided spray bottle (filled with water) spray the water onto your skin
3. Check out how the water beads on your skin rather than sinking into it
4. Take a paper towel and wipe away the water - the skin remains moisturised and unaffected
So onto my trial :)
My feet are kinda manky - I am not a fan of feet anyways but mine have a lot of dry skin and cracking especially over the heel area - this is probably due to the fact I live in sandals and flipflops as soon as a single ray of sunshine appears.
I decided based on previous experience of using products that I would use the hand cream on my feet - I have done this previously and it has worked a lot better than body lotion.
Before using the hand lotion I washed my feet and then used my pedi to remove any loose and hard skin before wiping them over with a wet wipe and then drying.
As you can see from the pics below - they were not looking good - very dry, off coloured and cracking too! The dry skin goes down around my ankle, over my heel completely and down over the sole as well.
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| Pre-cream (day 1) |
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| Pre-Cream (day 1) |
I then applied a pea sized amount of the cream directly to my heel and worked it into the skin. I did not like the feel of the cream but that is the norm for me. It took a while to work into the skin and left my feet feeling very slippery! NB dont try walking on laminate for about 5 mins after applying cream to your feet!!!!
I repeated this for 3 days - I started to notice results from the first application and by day 3 there was a significant difference. The heel looked a more normal skin tone colour (rather than the yellow tinge), the dry flaking skin was significantly reduced and they just looked so much better.
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| Post-cream (day 3) |
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| Post-cream (day 3) |
I have been using the body lotion on my arms and legs as well - both feel smooth and my skin looks more revitalised and fresh although admittedly the results are not as photo worthy as the difference in the feet.
Unfortunately I havent been able to trial the hand cream fully on my hands due to a rather nasty burn I managed to give myself. (I have cream from the hospital to use on it so can't mix and match them yet), it is nearly healed though so I hope to properly trial the hand cream from next week
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Bloggers Vs Compers my views
So this same thing keeps cropping up over and over again on twitter, on facebook groups and on chat forums.
Bloggers hate compers!
Then you have massive arguments and much keyboard warrioring and it's basically the same arguments each time and I really dont see what the big deal is.
Now for the uninitiated this is how I see it:
Bloggers write blogs - sometimes about specific things, sometimes about whatever floats in their mind, sometimes dedicated to their favourite pair of pants and so on - a blog can be about anything you feel like sitting down and writing content about. I write this blog so I am by default a blogger BUT I am not a professional one - this isnt a job or a source of income for me. For me a professional blogger is someone for whom the blog is an income generator.
Bloggers run comps/giveaways on their blogs - companies want bloggers to try out and to review their items and to run these comps and giveaways - giving away 2 free items (1 for the blogger and 1 for the prize) is going to be a cheap and quick way to get your brand seen. The blogger reviews the item and then runs a comp which runs for oh I dont know say a month. To enter you have to do things like visit the companies social media or follow them or tweet or share on facebook and so on and lots of these comps have a daily entry option so your doing it every day.
Now imagine 100 people enter the comp and you can do everything daily to get extra entries - thats 3000 RTs/Followers & 3000 B likes and shares in a month... that doesnt seem much but most people have an average of 150 friends on FB and a similar amount of followers on twitter so thats actually a potential 450,000 people you are reaching on each site - so basically just under 1 million people in a month across both sites - and thats assuming most people have a low average number of friends! To get that kind of advertising on the regular media or even paid for ads on social media is going to cost way more than the item you have given. So it's a win-win situation - the company wins because they are getting a shed load of free advertising and the blogger wins because they are getting new followers, more hits on their site, more hits on their social media pages and so on which then means they are going to get noticed by more companies and pr companies and offered more products and the advertising bar on their blog is gonna earn them more money.
So it makes sense that actually they want people to enter and join in after all compers have friends and its likely that their friends are gonna see the comps and enter too.
So why do bloggers hate compers then?
Well the truth is most of the bloggers I know actually are compers themselves - some of the most successful compers also run very successful blogs.
And lots of bloggers are very comper friendly - some of them even have a nice little badge on their blog and on their giveaways saying just that.
I have won some amazing prizes with bloggers.
In fact there is only a tiny teeny small minority of bloggers who dont like compers and below are some of the reasons I have heard:
1. They want their giveaways to be for genuine followers of their blog
- but you can be a genuine follower of a blog and still comp! And since comping I have found so many interesting blogs who I follow on various social media - I now see people and companies in my social media feeds who I would never have seen before and I interact with them more - if I hadnt entered a comp on their site I wouldnt be following them now
2. People only follow them on social media for the duration of the comp and then unfollow - they repeat this each time there is a new comp!
- I think this is a completely valid point - however only on Twitter - I have heard of a mystical capped follow/like limit on FB, Instag etc but have never known anyone who has reached it. Personally I try to keep all the bloggers I follow on twitter on there - I only unfollow people when I have reached my follow limit and then I sort by activity and unfollow those who havent been active in a month. Since Twitter increased the follow limit for everyone to 5000 this is less of a problem than it was previously
3. Compers are rude - they dont say thank you,they dont appreciate the prize and they just want it to sell
- All sorts of people are rude not just compers - I personally always post a thank you to any company or blog I win form when they announce me as a winner and also I usually tweet or post an fb pic to their wall once the items have arrived. Most of the compers I know do the same, but there will be a few rude people who dont - but you can't blame all compers for their behaviour (just like all compers shouldnt be rude about bloggers because few refuse to let them enter their giveaways).
I would also say I appreciate each and every item I win or get as a freebie - and am grateful.
As for selling items...I will put my hand up and say yes I have done this. An example would be winning a blu-ray and selling it on ebay and then buying the dvd (because I dont have a blu-ray player) or winning a runners up prize which I dont want but I never enter a comp and think hmm how much can I get for this item on ebay? But really once the item is in someone elses possession its their item and you really have no control over what they do with it - and non-comper winners might also sell the item on or swap it for something else and so on.
To be honest if someone says I dont want a comper entering then I am prob not going to enter - whats the point of wasting 5 mins of my time? I'm not going to read the blog post, view their pictures or their videos or even check out the product on the companies website - in fact they become an internet dark spot for me and I avoid them. I'm sure the majority of other compers do the same.So the compers lose out on the chance to win a prize but so does the blogger and the company in terms of traffic and media reach.
The issue is there are some compers who make it their mission to go out on a limb and attack such bloggers - the quote ASA code and various other things and waste a lot of time and energy arguing and generating hate, they can be rude, they can get their friends involved - it becomes a social media shit storm. And after all that they wonder why the blogger doesnt like them.
Crazy!
Now some bloggers who comp take it upon themselves to politely nudge the blogger in the direction of various articles regarding giveaways and fairness and so on. They do it in a way which encourages them to reconsider their views and to allow compers to enter. This is totally the way forward. No shit flinging like monkeys in a zoo - just reasoned and correct information passed on in a friendly blogger to blogger manner.
So that's my take on the whole mess.
Bloggers hate compers!
Then you have massive arguments and much keyboard warrioring and it's basically the same arguments each time and I really dont see what the big deal is.
Now for the uninitiated this is how I see it:
Bloggers write blogs - sometimes about specific things, sometimes about whatever floats in their mind, sometimes dedicated to their favourite pair of pants and so on - a blog can be about anything you feel like sitting down and writing content about. I write this blog so I am by default a blogger BUT I am not a professional one - this isnt a job or a source of income for me. For me a professional blogger is someone for whom the blog is an income generator.
Bloggers run comps/giveaways on their blogs - companies want bloggers to try out and to review their items and to run these comps and giveaways - giving away 2 free items (1 for the blogger and 1 for the prize) is going to be a cheap and quick way to get your brand seen. The blogger reviews the item and then runs a comp which runs for oh I dont know say a month. To enter you have to do things like visit the companies social media or follow them or tweet or share on facebook and so on and lots of these comps have a daily entry option so your doing it every day.
Now imagine 100 people enter the comp and you can do everything daily to get extra entries - thats 3000 RTs/Followers & 3000 B likes and shares in a month... that doesnt seem much but most people have an average of 150 friends on FB and a similar amount of followers on twitter so thats actually a potential 450,000 people you are reaching on each site - so basically just under 1 million people in a month across both sites - and thats assuming most people have a low average number of friends! To get that kind of advertising on the regular media or even paid for ads on social media is going to cost way more than the item you have given. So it's a win-win situation - the company wins because they are getting a shed load of free advertising and the blogger wins because they are getting new followers, more hits on their site, more hits on their social media pages and so on which then means they are going to get noticed by more companies and pr companies and offered more products and the advertising bar on their blog is gonna earn them more money.
So it makes sense that actually they want people to enter and join in after all compers have friends and its likely that their friends are gonna see the comps and enter too.
So why do bloggers hate compers then?
Well the truth is most of the bloggers I know actually are compers themselves - some of the most successful compers also run very successful blogs.
And lots of bloggers are very comper friendly - some of them even have a nice little badge on their blog and on their giveaways saying just that.
I have won some amazing prizes with bloggers.
In fact there is only a tiny teeny small minority of bloggers who dont like compers and below are some of the reasons I have heard:
1. They want their giveaways to be for genuine followers of their blog
- but you can be a genuine follower of a blog and still comp! And since comping I have found so many interesting blogs who I follow on various social media - I now see people and companies in my social media feeds who I would never have seen before and I interact with them more - if I hadnt entered a comp on their site I wouldnt be following them now
2. People only follow them on social media for the duration of the comp and then unfollow - they repeat this each time there is a new comp!
- I think this is a completely valid point - however only on Twitter - I have heard of a mystical capped follow/like limit on FB, Instag etc but have never known anyone who has reached it. Personally I try to keep all the bloggers I follow on twitter on there - I only unfollow people when I have reached my follow limit and then I sort by activity and unfollow those who havent been active in a month. Since Twitter increased the follow limit for everyone to 5000 this is less of a problem than it was previously
3. Compers are rude - they dont say thank you,they dont appreciate the prize and they just want it to sell
- All sorts of people are rude not just compers - I personally always post a thank you to any company or blog I win form when they announce me as a winner and also I usually tweet or post an fb pic to their wall once the items have arrived. Most of the compers I know do the same, but there will be a few rude people who dont - but you can't blame all compers for their behaviour (just like all compers shouldnt be rude about bloggers because few refuse to let them enter their giveaways).
I would also say I appreciate each and every item I win or get as a freebie - and am grateful.
As for selling items...I will put my hand up and say yes I have done this. An example would be winning a blu-ray and selling it on ebay and then buying the dvd (because I dont have a blu-ray player) or winning a runners up prize which I dont want but I never enter a comp and think hmm how much can I get for this item on ebay? But really once the item is in someone elses possession its their item and you really have no control over what they do with it - and non-comper winners might also sell the item on or swap it for something else and so on.
To be honest if someone says I dont want a comper entering then I am prob not going to enter - whats the point of wasting 5 mins of my time? I'm not going to read the blog post, view their pictures or their videos or even check out the product on the companies website - in fact they become an internet dark spot for me and I avoid them. I'm sure the majority of other compers do the same.So the compers lose out on the chance to win a prize but so does the blogger and the company in terms of traffic and media reach.
The issue is there are some compers who make it their mission to go out on a limb and attack such bloggers - the quote ASA code and various other things and waste a lot of time and energy arguing and generating hate, they can be rude, they can get their friends involved - it becomes a social media shit storm. And after all that they wonder why the blogger doesnt like them.
Crazy!
Now some bloggers who comp take it upon themselves to politely nudge the blogger in the direction of various articles regarding giveaways and fairness and so on. They do it in a way which encourages them to reconsider their views and to allow compers to enter. This is totally the way forward. No shit flinging like monkeys in a zoo - just reasoned and correct information passed on in a friendly blogger to blogger manner.
So that's my take on the whole mess.
Calmurid Pro - Product Trial with the Insiders - Post 1 - an introduction
I'm a big fan of The Insiders - to read more about how to sign up and take part check out my page on reviewing items here.
I've been chosen to take part in previous campaigns so when the chance came up to sign up for a new campaign working with a product aimed at dry skin I was straight in and applying.
I have really dry skin - I always have - my GP has prescribed me E45 which is okay but it doesn't work hugely well on my feet or legs.
The campaign is for a product called Calmurid Pro - a product for sensitive dry skin.
After applying for and getting selected to take part in the trial I was anxiously awaiting my parcel from them. It arrived over a week ago but I am a bit late posting this :)
When it arrived I was really impressed by the amount of goodies and information sent
The parcel contained:
I've been chosen to take part in previous campaigns so when the chance came up to sign up for a new campaign working with a product aimed at dry skin I was straight in and applying.
I have really dry skin - I always have - my GP has prescribed me E45 which is okay but it doesn't work hugely well on my feet or legs.
The campaign is for a product called Calmurid Pro - a product for sensitive dry skin.
After applying for and getting selected to take part in the trial I was anxiously awaiting my parcel from them. It arrived over a week ago but I am a bit late posting this :)
When it arrived I was really impressed by the amount of goodies and information sent
The parcel contained:
- 25 x 10ml samples with an information guide and £3 off vouchers to use at boots
- An Insiders Guide book with all the need to know information about the products and how to use them and demonstrate them to family, friends and colleagues :)
- A pad of ask your friend sheets - these are great to hand out with the samples - so you can get feedback easily from those who you give the samples too.
- A wheel showing which product is best for each skin type
- Some Insiders business cards to hand out to people who want to know how to join in their campaigns
- Full size products for me to use :) So us campaigners get full sized products to trial (which is awesome!) for this trial we get the Body Lipolotion and the Moisturising Hand Cream
- A spritzer bottle - this confused me slightly as the bottle top had a long like double the size of the bottle straw bit? But after speaking to people on the campaign blog I just cut it down to fit the bottle and it's ready to use. This is to show people how you can rub the cream into your skin and it locks in the moisture and it doesnt come off easily
So as you can see thats a HUGE amount of goodies and reading and passing out of samples and trying out stuff I have to do - phew.
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