The Accidental Businessmum

Fashion for the 40 somethings!

Written by Andrea on March 5th, 2010

I love fashion, I always have. 20 years ago I trained as a designer and pattern cutter and spent 5 years or so in the industry as a designer and buyer.

15 years and three children later and I’m two weeks away from 40. I’m not that bothered by my age, 30 was worse, but I’ve recently found myself stressing over what to wear.

The problem is that in my head I’m only 25 and feel myself drawn towards clothes for the age group. I spend ages in Topshop salivating over dresses, tops and trousers only to find myself miserable after trying them on a realising they aren’t made for middle aged women with post caesarean tummies, bingo wings and droopy boobs!

Yesterday, it all came to a head when I went shopping with two girlfriends of the same age. We were all excited and full of hope about our shopping trip to Solihull. After 4 hours of wandering around the likes of River Island, Topshop, Miss Selfridge and H&M my friend piped up. ‘I feel old!’ Oh thank god one of us finally admitted it!

So what happens now? We all agreed that we’re not ready for Boden and Wallis, but what is there for ‘young’ 40 year olds.

Despite the three children, I have always tried to look resonably trendy and have never succumbed to tracksuit bottoms and trainers but I had to admit yesterday that I always wear the same black skinny jeans, baggy tops and coloured scarfs and I need a change!!! NOW!!

Please someone, come and give me a fashion makeover.

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Bedwetting issues

Written by Andrea on February 15th, 2010

‘MY name is Andrea and my 8 year old still wets the bed!’

There…I’ve said it! Oh and by the way, I’ve spoken to middle son and he’s happy for me to write this because like me, he feels that enough is enough and it’s time to get some

real help.

When I toilet trained my eldest son, he became dry at night very soon after he was dry in the day. I assumed that middle son would be the same, but, although he quickly learned to use the loo in the day, nights have been a whole different story.

We feel like we’ve tried everything. Using night time pull ups, not using pull ups, stopping all drinks after 6pm, no dark drinks, getting him up for a wee, not getting him up for a wee, seeing doctors and health visitors but we are honestly no further forward.

And I’m not talking about a little patch of wet, I’m talking soaked from bottom to top. Even his hair gets a drenching!

Although my OH and I are sympathetic and don’t make a big deal of it, it doesn’t stop his evil older brother teasing him, despite our pleas.

Accompanying the bed wetting, are night terrors. It seems that when he wants to wee he tries to wake himself up but instead has a night terror. We’re talking full blown shouting, crying, sweating, shivering and then remembering absolutely nothing about it.

We do seem to have cracked this though, by leaving his radio on as he falls asleep. It may be a fluke but the night terrors have, for the time being, stopped.

We’re now at a stage where he’s starting to be asked for sleepovers and so far he hasn’t been brave enough to go. Then a couple of weeks ago, I saw a request for parents of bedwetters to try out a new product called ‘UnderJams‘.

I put forward my request and soon received a pack of UnderJams. Made by Pampers they are similar to ‘Dry-nights’ which we have used before.

I am aware that the general advice seems to be, that the bed should be protected and not the child. But trust me….after years of ruined mattresses, disrupted sleep, a distressed child and shares in plastic sheets…..I am more than happy for him to wear night time pull ups. As is he!

Underjams are slim,discreet and when I asked middle son if he would be embarrassed wearing them to a sleep over he said, ‘No, because I could hide them in my bag, put them on in secret under by bottoms and no one would know. Would you know mum?’ And with that he performed a little pirouette!

And no, I couldn’t tell he had them on at all! They didn’t make a crinkly noise, they weren’t bulky and he said they were very comfortable.

Also, if it hadn’t been for UnderJams, I wouldn’t have heard of ERIC or Education and Resources for Childhood Continence.

Pampers are working with ERIC. It has a great website with loads of information, advice and best of all a helpline to call. It also made me realise that we weren’t the only ones and it’s actually a very common problem, especially in boys.

We’re now trying a hypnotherapy CD designed especially for children up to the age of 9 who are still bedwetting. He’s listened to it 4 times now and last night he was dry. So I’m hopeful that with the help of underjams, ERIC and the CD we may at last be getting somewhere.

This blog post can also be read at http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/fromdawntillrusk/2010/02/bedwetting-issue.html

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Favourite photo meme

Written by Andrea on January 12th, 2010

I’ve just been reading Claire Lancaster’s blog over at Dandelion Lounge and apparently that means I’m now tagged with a meme!!

The theme is favourite photo and as OH and I were sifting through photo’s last night, I thought I’d join in with one of my favourites although we have way too many to choose from!

I really liked Claire’s photo because it had such a great story behind it.

My favourite photo was taken in a tiny pub in deepest darkest Wales on New Years Day 2009. We’re all looking a bit cold (my red nose!) and had just spent a fantastic evening with my cousin and her husband. The pub we were in was literally someone’s front room! The bar looked like a dining table and they had a few dusty bottles on a shelf behind them. It was hilarious! There was an old portable TV in one corner and kids toys in the other. It felt like we’d been invited over to the house of a great aunt! So here’s my photo and what a bedraggled bunch we are!!

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Tags: favourite photo, Wales

A confused blog!

Written by Andrea on January 11th, 2010

I’ve spent the first part of January musing over this blog.

I originally started it to help promote my business. The business then took off and became a success despite me blogging, tweeting, viral advertising or anything else that I was doing ‘online’.

Next I started to write about my family and quickly found that there were a whole host of ‘mummy bloggers’ out there writing about their families too. I got involved with that crowd and have read some hilarious blogs and made some great ‘virtual’ friends.

On the back of that, I began to be approached by companies who wanted me to review their products. I chose a couple that I really liked and ended up with a few swanky bits in the house that I love using and enjoyed writing about.

In between all of this, due to a temporary lack of cashflow, (A posh way of saying ‘we were skint’!) I started to write about my frugal cooking tips. This attracted the most attention but then I started to feel like a cooking guru, which I definitely am not!!

All of the above then paved a way for me to be the new resident mummy blogger at the Coventry Evening Telegraph and this is where I began to write about my family again!

All of this has left me feeling that this original blog is all over the place with no direction, which would explain the recent lack of content.

So, I’ve decided that this blog should be a feeling blog…that is….I’ll write about anything that I feel like writing about! Be it family…business…cooking…reviews. Hold on! Isn’t that what it was all about anyway!

See….it wasn’t confused after all!!

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Tags: Confused, Cooking, Coventry evening Telegraph

Posh new addition…part II

Written by Andrea on December 14th, 2009

Not my bedroom!

It’s been an age since my last blog.

This has been due to the whole family having been struck down with a variety of illnesses which started with a projectile vomiting toddler. That was almost six weeks ago and since then both myself and eldest have had swine flu, middle son had his tonsils out and now we’ve gone full circle when Friday evening vomiting toddler started again!

Last night, my bedroom looked like a low budget zombie film as various children wandered in and out wailing, moaning and crying. Eventually OH had to make his way, yet again, to the spare bedroom in order to escape their escalating demands. I almost feel jealous that he’s going to work today.

It’s felt as though my only little ray of sunshine in amongst this sea of illness, have been the lovely things that I get sent to review. The most recent being a beautiful Dorma Boudoir cushion.

Unfortunately my bedroom is not very boudoir like. It’s currently without any decent furniture and has bare floorboards…though I’m on the case!

What I do have however, is a rather gorgeous, cream, high backed chair, which sits like a throne in the corner of the room. Inherited from my mum, it’s the sort that has a lift up seat so you can store blankets etc. It could probably be converted into a comode in the distant future!

In the meantime, I use it for the spare duvet and the boudoir cushion from Dorma’s ‘Belvoir’ range sits perfectly on it, looking very posh. My OH even noticed it when he went to bed, so it must be good!

I imagine that the cushion would be used for decorative use, though it’s certainly felt very comfortable when I’ve used it to prop myself up while using the old laptop in bed.

I’ve always loved Dorma bedlinen and their new products are quite gorgeous. Some of the designs look very sumptuous with deep, rich colours. Personally, I’ve asked Santa for the Keira range which will go beautifully with my new bedroom wallpaper.

The website looks great too and is very easy to use. What I particularly liked was the ability to zoom in in on the designs to get a really good look at them.

Of course Dorma don’t only sell duvet covers they also sell duvets, towels, table linen and have an amazing selection of bedroom furniture. Bedroom furniture! That’s exactly what I need!!

Now where’s my christmas list.

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Tags: Dorma, Swine Flu

Posh addition to my kitchen!

Written by Andrea on November 19th, 2009

Not my kitchen!

I recently agreed to write a review for an item from the simplehuman range of products for the home.

As always, it’s very exciting to find a parcel on the doorstep and this time it was one of the simplehuman slim cannisters.

The main reason I was keen to try it, was the promise of ‘fingerprint-proof stainless steel’. I couldn’t wait to see how it stood up to the sticky paw prints of my group of little monkeys.

The cannister comes very nicely boxed, and I was very impressed with how it looked when I removed it from it’s packaging. It was a real treat as I wouldn’t normally buy anything like this. I tend to use tupperware boxes or old ice-cream tubs for storage.

The cannister comes with a window on the lid where you can place a label and these can even be customised from the simplehuman website. As I only had one cannister I didn’t feel the need to label it!

I’d originally had the idea of putting cereal in it, but it was a little too small for that, so I put some fresh coffee in instead. Simplehuman sell the cannisters in 5 different sizes, so there is one large enough for cereal.

What I liked most about the cannister, was the push button opening. No fiddling with lids only to end up throwing coffee all over the kitchen! One of my aunties came over for a coffee and while chatting away to her, I got the cannister out, pushed the button and the lid gently opened. ‘Ooooh! I like that!’ she said. I felt very posh!

I’ve been using the cannister for around four weeks now, and have even got the kids to open and close the lid and do you know what? It really does have fingerprint-proof stainless steel.

My OH did have one negative comment to make. He felt the handle was a little too small and so found it hard hold. I have to add…he does have very large hands, but I see his point.

When I originally started to use the cannister, I did think it was an unncessary replacement for my battered old tupperware, but I really do like it. It looks great, has kept the coffee fresh and has made me consider buying one.

The slim cannisters are available from www.simplehuman.co.uk and range in price from £24.99 to £39.99

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Tags: simplehuman

Thank goodness for the Wii!

Written by Andrea on November 12th, 2009

millionpoundnote1 I’ve been away from the computer for over a week now. It wasn’t deliberate, it was due to a huge order of £1Million notes. 10,500 to be exact!!

Each note has to be put together with a backing card, slid into a plastic wallet, sealed and barcoded. The notes are then packed into envelopes of 25 with ten full envelopes going into a small box. Four of those smaller boxes go into one large box…..yawn!!! You still awake?

I normally do all the packing with the help of OH and two reluctant children. The most I have done up until now was 4,000 and I optimistically thought 10,500 would be a doddle.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but we started packing at 4pm Monday and finally finished at 11:30am Sunday! I went to bed at midnight each night and was up again at 5am each morning. I roped in my cousin, my uncle and two friends to help, plus bribed the kids to get them to stick bar codes on. All this in between OH jetting off to Baltimore, me taking the kids to their many social events, coming down with a cold and forcing myself to watch the Michael Jackson Seance with Derek Acorah!!!

Phew!!! I did my upmost not to moan or complain, after all I wasn’t down a mine, working on a hospital ward, cleaning public toilets or doing any other genuinely demanding jobs…but it was blummin’ hard work!

With the boxes all nicely packed, I spent Monday driving for 6 hours to Lowestoft and back to deliver them before flopping in front of the telly with a curry and cuddle from OH who’d just got back from Baltimore. While we were watching TV, I suddenly realised I hadn’t been anywhere near the computer for a whole week! No emails, no blogging, not even a tweet….and I hadn’t even missed it!

After that revelation, I made a pact with myself not to spend unecessary amounts of time on the computer…the Wii on the other hand!

I love the Wii, probably more than my kids do. I love it’s simplicity and how easy it is to use. By the way Santa, if you’re reading this, I’d really like a wii-fit for Christmas!

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a game to review called Bonsai Barber. As expected, I was more excited than the kids. The game is aimed at younger children, so my 13 year old wasn’t that impressed. Then again he’s a hardened PS3 gamer who plays games with horrible titles like ‘Modern Warfare’ and ‘Assassins Creed’.

I sat down with my 8 year old and we started to play. The idea is a little strange. You’re a new barber in town and have to cut the hair/leaves of various fruits and vegetables. You get given a style template and you have to cut around that template, gaining stars for accuracy with 5 stars being the highest you can get for each cut.

Simple enough. The wii remote becomes either a pair of scissors, clippers or even a paintbrush so you can colour the foliage.

After we’d styled about 6 different vegetables, the game suddenly wouldn’t let us go any further? We were both feeling a little frustrated until we realised that you only have a certain amount of appointments to complete each day.

The following day we were keen to turn the wii on again and see who was queuing up at our virtual barber shop. This time we had new customers and the styles were clearly getting harder.

We played Bonsai Barber every day for around two weeks and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Even my step-daughter who isn’t remotely interested in gaming, started her own story mode. It’s certainly not taxing and you don’t have to be skilled with a game controller. For that reason it isn’t suitable for older children who are used to more difficult games consoles. However it’s perfect for younger children and 39ish mums who want to spend some time playing a game with their kids that they actually have a chance of understanding!

Now where’s that Wii remote gone?

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Tags: Assassins Creed, Bonsai Barber, Modern Warfare, PS3, Wii, £1Million note

Review of KidsRooms.co.uk

Written by Andrea on October 30th, 2009

I recently saw a request from Rainbow PR for bloggers to review www.KidsRooms.co.uk. I was keen to take a look as it can get kind of boring when the only furniture option is Ikea!

Being totally honest, my first thoughts were not positive. To begin with the logo was way too small and surely a Kid-Inspired site should have a fun and funky logo? Overall I thought the website looked uninspiring. However, as I had agreed to review it, I made the effort to delve deeper.

What I found was a website crammed with some of the most fun, unusual and exciting children’s furniture that I’d seen in a long time. My particular favourites were the Tea Party bed and the amazing Treehouse bed which my middle son would just love.

Using the website was easy enough. The categories down the right hand side are self-explanatory and very easy to navigate. Once I’d clicked through, the images were rather small and it wasn’t until I clicked again that I saw a larger image.

The furniture carries a 5 year guarantee but that wasn’t immediately apparent. It would have been good to see this stated more clearly as I think it’s a great selling point.

I’m no web designer but as a Mum looking out for child-friendly products, I would love to have seen a site more reflective of the quality furniture it’s attempting to sell. The products looked great once I started digging through all the prose. I just think they could do with a better showcase.

Don’t let the website put you off. The furniture looks amazing and certainly worth more than a cursory glance. I’m sure they will do great business with what are unique, fun and functional products.

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Tags: Ikea, KidsRooms.co.uk

Cheap and cheerful fruit crumble

Written by Andrea on October 26th, 2009

A bit of a strange one this as it involves Weetabix, which is fine, except it makes the whole crumble taste like…well Weetabix! However, it’s cheap, easy to make, satisfies sugar cravings and makes great comfort food on a cold winters evening.

DSC00387 (1) 2 cans of fruit of your choice. (I used prunes and pears..weird but nice)

4 Weetabix. Sainsbury’s basic 75p per box

500g Porridge oats

4 Tbsp brown sugar

1tsp mixed spice

100g melted butter

Place the fruit in an oven proof dish

Crumble the weetabix and add to the porridge oats, melted butter, sugar and spice and sprinkle over the fruit.

Dot with butter and place in the oven at 190 degrees/ gas mark 5 for 15 minutes.

I serve it with custard or Greek yoghurt..tastes yum and the kids love it!

The whole dish would cost around £1.50 to make depending on what fruit is used.

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Tags: Greek Yoghurt, Weetabix

Review of PlayMais

Written by Andrea on October 19th, 2009

At the end of last week a little parcel was left on my doorstep. I don’t know about anyone else, but I love receiving parcels and this time I was even more excited as this was going to form my first ‘proper’ review!

I’d offered to review some toys, or at least get my kids to try them out and then write up their thoughts and opinions.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect other than I’d been told that the product was called ‘PlayMais’ and was like ‘Playdoh but without the colours merging’.

The weekend that it arrived, I had my 7 year old step-daughter staying with me who is incredibly creative and I knew that she would be an ideal candidate to try it out. What I didn’t expect was my middle son wanting to get involved. He’s also 7 and would rather be outside kicking a football than…well….than anything else!

x-playmais-med-250

I have to admit that I was surprised by the look of the product as it appeared to be a cross between multicoloured cheesy wotsits and polystyrene packing. The pack itself came with a small cloth that you make wet and then dab the ends of the coloured pieces onto it so that they are also wet. (Am I explaining this properly?) Once wet the coloured pieces become sticky and ‘Hey Presto!’ stick together like cheesy wotsit building blocks.

At first, the kids couldn’t gauge how much water to use and the pieces quickly became soggy with the colours coming off onto them and their hands. Once they got the amount of water correct, they were sticking the pieces together with no problem.

Once they had been playing for a while I asked them their thoughts. They both agreed that it was incredibly easy to use and was better than normal plasticine or PlayDoh. It wasn’t long before they had created a river scene with boats, sunshine and swimmers in trunks. As you can see from the picture, they did a pretty good job.

My middle son said he couldn’t think of anything that he didn’t like about it and asked if we could get some more!!

Personally I was impressed by the colours which were bright and vibrant and by how sturdy it was once it had been stuck together.

It’s an innovative product and as it’s made from cornstartch once you’ve finished it’s easily recycled.

Overall they loved it, and so did I because it was the quietest they had been in a long time. I would definitely recommend it, the only downside being that once it’s been played with, it can’t be used again.

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Tags: Plasticine, Play-Doh, PlayMais