Beingamillionaire.com finally has a new product!
The £1Million note has been around since 2006…something I can hardly believe! Last week we launched our brand, spanking new product which you can see in all it’s glory over at www.shinyshack.com
We’ve had some fun as it’s being manufactured in China, so the language barrier can cause a few problems. It’s certainly been a learning curve for us, but we’re really pleased with the end result.
We hope that you like it too?
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?
When I’m not blogging and tweeting my ‘Mummy stuff’, I actually have a real job running my own business. At www.beingamillionaire.com, I have a cool application called ‘Dream Builder‘. If you’ve not seen it before, take a look.
In the meantime, here’s my new video, (also embedded below) made with animoto.com and images from the ‘Animal World’ category of the Dream Builder.
Enjoy!!
It’s official, BeingaMillionaire.com is now a corporate partner of Macmillan Cancer Support!
‘What does that mean?’ I hear you say. Well, it means that for each product that we sell, we will donate a minimum of 10p to Macmillan Cancer Support.
In case you were wondering exactly what Macmillan does, here’s a quote from the Macmillan website that describes in a nutshell, some of their work.
“We rely on our supporters for 99% of our income. Without you we couldn’t provide any of our services for people living with cancer.
Force for change
We are a force for change, listening to people affected by cancer and working together to improve cancer care. People who live with cancer are experts by experience. Together we use this knowledge to make a positive difference to the lives of people affected by cancer.
When you have cancer you want high quality services, and want to be involved as equal and active partners in decisions about your treatment and care. Often this doesn’t happen. Many people also want to play an active part in improving cancer services in the future.
Campaigning and influencing
We work with people affected by cancer and other organisations to raise awareness of the issues that really matter. We influence all governments and the people who make decisions at both a regional and national level.
Cancer care research
We want to ensure cancer care is given the same priority as research into treatments and ‘cures’. To us, improving quality of life matters as much as quantity of life.
Cancer Voices
We support people affected by cancer to voice their views and shape the future of cancer care.”
We are very proud to be part of such a fantastic charity that touches the lives of so many people.
On Monday we delivered our biggest order yet to Tobar in Suffolk.
For those of you who don’t know, and that includes me up until a few months ago, Tobar are the parent company of Hawkins Bazaar.
Outside the warehouse
It was a mad rush to get the £1Million notes delivered as the truck carrying 1500 of them crashed the Friday before delivery!!! Argh!! We then 72hrs to source them from another printer and pack them ready for delivery at midday on Monday.
Needless to say we had a busy old weekend getting them all ready and believe me if child labour was legal, even the baby would have been sticking bar codes on!
But we did it in the end and by Monday afternoon we had safely delivered 4000 £1Million notes, which are due to go into Hawkins shops around September time.
Hawkins/ Tobars head office. Fab clock!!
We then spent a lovely day in Lowestoft and Southwold which is one of my most favourite places, especially the pier. I can definately recommend the ‘Under the pier show’ which puts a new spin on coin operated machines.
All in all it was a brilliant day, the sun shone, the kids didn’t moan (much) and we went home very happy.
P.S
Talking of happy, have a go at this: http://www.scienceofhappiness.co.uk/
I’m now on Twitter.
You can follow the expoilts of BeingaMillionaire as well as notification of new blogs!!
I may well be one of the few people on the planet who hasn’t yet seen Slumdog Millionaire.
As I have a Millionaire related website, I was keen to go and see it and then write a review for the site, but I’m very undecided or maybe just fearful?
Two friends of mine went to see it and absolute loved it! OK, I admit that they didn’t actually ’say’ what they thought of it, I just read their status update on Facebook!!
I then went to visit my inlaws and my other half’s Mum said that she liked it but found it upsetting! Upsetting? But I thought it was a ‘feel good’ movie? ‘Yes, it is’ she said ‘But there are some harrowing bits. It’s a little like Schindlers List, it’s a great film but makes uncomfortable viewing.’ I’ve read no reviews of it so I was quite shocked to hear this. It may well just be her opinion, but it has put me off.
The thing is this. I can watch Horror Films with all the blood and gore that they can muster, but films that tell sad human stories I really struggle with, especially since I’ve had kids.
So, up until now I’ve found plenty of excuses not to go to the cinema to see it. Children are good for that. When you get invited to something that you don’t want to go to, you can say ‘I’m so sorry but I simply can’t get a babysitter that night!’
However, we are flying to the USA in a few weeks and obviously the most important thing that anyone should do when booking a long haul flight is see what films are showing on the plane…and what’s on our plane? You guessed it…..Slum Dog Millionaire!!!
I think it’s the universe’s way of telling me that I should watch it, sad or not. So it looks like Being a Millionaire will get it’s review after all.
Ok…so it’s almost Mothers Day.
Now to some It’s probably just hype and another way for card companies to make money!
To me, it’s very important and when you read on you’ll see why.
I have three boys and OK the youngest doesn’t even know what day of the week it is and is only concerened about where the next plate of food is coming from, but the other two on Mothers day they actually do stop and think about all the ’stuff’ that I do for them.
Well, not even all the ‘Stuff’ that I do for them but they take it upon themselves to do ’stuff’ for me and to say ‘Thanks Mum.’
I love the home made cards and attempts at making breakfast and the kisses and hugs that kids don’t always remember to give out. I think it is so important to teach kids to say Thanks and this is one way of doing it so I’m all for Mothers day”!!!
I wanted to share an excerpt from an email I had a few days ago from a lady who uses our DreamBuilder application.
“Just a quick line to let you know that just after I registered for the
“Dream Builder” I chose some pictures including one of an island with a beach and palm tree.
I have been wishing for a desperately needed holiday, but couldn’t afford it.
My sister has come into a bit of money from her father-in-law,
and booked a week in Jamaica, this March.
She asked me if I wanted to go, and offered to pay; I accepted gratefully.
Ususally I would be too proud to accept, or feel guilty, but this time I
didn’t, because I was the person that sorted out the probate papers which released his estate in 3 wks rather than 2 years.
That saying of what goes around comes around has never been so appropiate as in this case.”
I think that is such a wonderful story.
Take care in what you think about as it might just come true!
Andrea
Our tagline at BeingaMillionaire.com is ‘Being a Millionaire, it’s more than having a Million.’
You’ll find it on our website, it’s written throughout our literature and if you’ve ever had an email from me, it’s how I sign off!’
So…my question is….if it’s more than having a Million, then what is ‘IT’?
Ok, I’ll start. ‘It’ for me is feeling good.
‘And what Andrea…’ I hear you say..’makes you feel good?’
This week, I have been feeling good about my new bread maker.
I have been banging on about having one of these for years, so last week I bought one…reduced…of course. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I never pay full price for anything. I also love telling people, whether they want to know or not, how much it cost!!
So…my breadmaker was reduced to £34.00 which to my mind was a bargain!
We unpacked it and placed it in it’s own little spot on the kitchen worktop and promptly and proudly produced our first loaf. Now if any of you out there are building anything at the moment, this loaf would have made an excellent brick! It was horrible and rock hard!!!
So there I was, straight on the internet finding bread recipes. After a week of trial and error I have found the perfect recipe that makes beautiful bread and you can find it here, http://www.carrsbreadmaker.info/recipes/wholemeal_flour.html.
If you’ve got any recipes that you think I’ll like, please post some here or email me on andrea@beingamillionaire.com.
Thanks
Andrea. 
