Christmas Cleaning Tips

Have yourself a merry, healthy Christmas!

Christmas is an exciting and sociable time of year.

Follow these top tips to ensure you and your family enjoy the festivities whilst practicing good health & hygiene practices around the home.

Clean- Keyboards, door handles and chopping boards are among the most germ ridden items in the home. Give all surfaces a clean before guests arrive - anti-bacterial wipes will save time and give you peace of mind.

Hands – Christmas can be a busy time from answering the door to carving the Turkey, it is easy to forget to keep hands clean. Using an anti-bacterial hand wash will help keep hands bacteria free. 

Reduce – Reduce the risk of spreading germs by keeping items such as dirty tea towels and dirty underwear separate in the wash load.

Include- Include an anti-bacterial laundry cleanser in your wash alongside your normal detergent. Dettol Anti-Bacterial Laundry Cleanser allows you to wash at low temperatures, whilst killing 99.9% of bacteria.

Swap- Ditch the dish cloth and use anti-bacterial wipes to clean down surfaces. Home hygiene expert Dr Lisa Ackerley explains: “The cloth is often the dirtiest item in the home. We have found billions of bacteria on cloths, including those which could cause illness, and those that indicate faecal contamination”.

Thaw –Defrost your turkey thoroughly. Some turkeys can take up to 48 hours to defrost dependent on size so make sure you plan well in advance. Never rinse your turkey under the tap as this can spread harmful bacteria such as Campylobacter which causes food poisoning.

Mess – The warm, humid atmosphere in bathrooms is a breeding ground for bacteria – not just around the toilet but lurking on handles, bins and baths. Prevent a messy bathroom by using a bathroom spray like Dettol Power & Pure Advance Bathroom, with no need to rinse it also kills 99.9% of bacteria.

Air – Freshen the air around your home with a disinfectant spray. Not only will it leave your home smelling fresh it will also help prevent the spread of seasonal sickness bugs.

Store- Store your turkey and other raw meats in separate containers and keep at the bottom of the fridge. This will prevent meats and their juices mixing and limit the likelihood of cross contamination and food poisoning.

My Visit to Valencia pt2

This is where I will tell you all about our adventures on Thursday whilst we were in Valencia.

 

THURSDAY

 

Thursday started off for me at 5am, I was awaken by something but at the time I wasn't too sure what it was, then I realised it was my brother snoring his head off, cheers for that oh sweet brother of mine lol. I can't complain really as it's payback for all the years I snored as a kid on holiday.

 

Well eventually we got up and as we didn't have to check out of our room till 12 we decided to take a walk through the park and over to the City of Arts Sciences buildings.

 

What mighty impressive architectural buildings they are too. The one is nick named the eye because at different angles it looks like a giant eye.

 

 

As we approached said building we happened to noticed men climbing up the side of the building, climbing up the side of a building doesn't sound too impressive but take a look at the picture below, I think that looks impressive to be fair.

 

 

 

Well we finished our walk round these impressive building and made our way back through the park and back to our hotel.

 

 

On our way back we did however go past this awesome playground, how I wished my children were with me at the time we'd of all loved going on this amazing playground.

 

Yes as you can see its a giant playground in the shape of Gulliver from Gulliver Travels.

 

 

As it was nearing 12 we checked out of our room and started our walk back across town to the coach station to head home, being with my brother this was no quick simple route back neither but to be honest I'm glad it wasn't.

 

We didn't go the simple route we walked down this road and down that road following my brothers Street maps until we came to a point he was aiming for which to be fair was worth aiming for.

 

He aimed for a market at one point and we ended up stumbling across this beautiful building which happened to look like a train station but ended up being a local market hall, it was truly beautiful both inside and out.

 

 

Next his travels took us down many streets, down one particular Street he ended up spoiling his niece and nephews in the Disney Store, yes I went all the way to Valencia and ended up shopping in a Disney Store lol.

 

His last little adventure lead us down a few back streets and side alleys and it brought us out in front off the hugely impressive Town Hall but outside the Town Hall was a lovely winter wonderland with a big adults ice skating rink and a funky little kiddies one too.

 

 

Well we eventually found our way back to the coach depot, boarded our coach and headed home.

 

Well that was our journey to Valencia, we really enjoyed ourselves and a little note if anyone is going to visit Valencia use a street map and explore the back streets and take in all the history and see all the beautiful old buildings don't just jump on a bus or in a taxi you'll miss out on so much.

My Visit to Valencia pt 1

On Wednesday and Thursday last week whilst on holiday in Benidorm visiting my brother he decided it would be fun to board a coach and spend them in Valencia.

 

I've never been on holiday to somewhere before and spend days somewhere else so this was going to be a new adventure for me and I was so looking forward to it.

 

I'm going to break down the two days at this point so it's not a massively massive post lol.

 

WEDNESDAY

 

Wednesday rolled round and we made our way up to the coach station to catch our coach to Valencia, although the coach station is only a handful of years old it's just been left to look horrible and abandoned which is such a shame as it has so much potential.

 

Anyhow we boarded our coach and began our hour and a half journey up the country to Valencia.

 

 

We eventually arrived and my brother planned our route to our hotel on his phone, "we need to follow the park all along here to the big Island then it'd just over there" he said pointing to his map, he made it sound so simple lol.

 

Well we followed this path along the park until we came to a very old Bridge with what looked like a castle at the end of it, obviously being intrigued we had to go and cross the bridge and investigate, it would of been rude not to lol.

 

 

The bridge itself was a beautiful crafted piece of history which led up to an amazing old gate way to the old part of the city.

 

 

With its huge high walls and massive thick wooden gates, you can only but imagine the significance it once played in that part of the cities history.

 

Well we walked through the old streets and courtyards past many beautiful old buildings including some truly beautifully decorated centuries old churches until we came out onto a main road where in front of us stood a grand looking train station and only in Spain would this happen built next to it was a massive bull fighting arena.

 

 

We followed my brothers map on his phone which led us down various streets and obviously at no point did we get lost {Hehe} until we came out at a massive eight lane road island where my brother informed me our hotel was over the other side of this crazy busy island.

 

Well we eventually crossed all the roads needed to get to our hotel, we checked in and crashed for a bit until it was time to make our way to the Mestalla, Valencia's ground to watch them play Lyon in the Champions League. (read about that here).

 

Well that was our Wednesday sorted now onto our Thursday adventures lol.

My 34th Birthday

This year thanks to my amazing nan I spent my Birthday visiting my little brother in Benidorm.

 

Unbeknown to me my brother had organised a surprise for my birthday, no nothing naughty you dirty minded lot lol.

 

He had in fact arranged for us to spend two days in Valencia, not only that he had also organised us match day tickets to watch Gary Neville's first game in charge of Valencia against Lyon in the Champions League.

 

Quick note to everyone at this point I'd like to go on record and say my brother is the best brother in the world ever.

 

Wednesday night came around and we got ourselves changed and made our way over to the Mestalla, the home of Valencia CF.

 

 

 

As we arrived at the ground we noticed the police on horse back were blocking off the road and stopping the fans crossing from side to side.

 

It was soon apparent why as all of a sudden the home fans started jeering and booing, I turned round to see the Lyon teams coach driving past us and pulling in metres away from where we stood.

 

No sooner had they pulled up the home team coach pulled in and the atmosphere changed to cheers and whistles, that pretty much continued until every player departed the coach and entered the stadium. 



 

 



 Once the police cleared everyone to cross the road again we made our way over to a special little bar which belongs to none other than the famous Manolo.

 

 

 

Ok at this point most of you are asking who? I won't bore you with vast details but he is the Spanish National Football team's official drummer, his been all over the world and to ever major tournament Spain has played in, beating his drum and cheering them on.

 

 

Once we had finished our drink and took in the atmosphere we made our way back across the road and tried to find the gate we needed to get into the stadium.

 

I say tried we walked round the entire ground looking for the gate we need to get into the stadium, we tried a few entrances only to be told at each one "no further round, further round".

 

Eventually we found where we needed to be and entered the stadium.

 

Now the real fun began, where in the world were the seats my brother had booked us?

 

We walked up and round, up and round this path concrete concourse that just seemed to be going on forever and ever and ever until we made it to the top.

 

 

{ View from half way up the stadium }

 

We walked backwards and forwards trying to find the seating block we were meant to be in and we were being told by different stewards "it's up there, round there" till eventually a nice steward with broken English told us the ticket numbers were wrong and in fact it was the block above where we were standing.

 

We climbed our last flight of stairs in the direction of our seats, as you can imagine by this point we were in the land of the God's we were that high lol.

 

 

 

 

 

We walked through the doorway and what awaited us was truly awesome the view was amazing, you could see all around the ground, although the dug out area seemed miles away you could still make out Gary Neville sitting there in his grey (Monday Night Football) suit chatting to his assistant.

 

 

The atmosphere before the game was awesome, the fans cheering the players whilst they warmed up. Even the brief bit of rain we had didn't spoil that.

 

The game itself was mixed to be honest, Valencia played some good football but never really looked like causing Lyon any trouble whilst Lyon took their chances well and went on to win 2-0 and subsequently knocking Valencia out of the Champions League.

 

Even the loss didn't spoil our night, ok so a win would of been amazing but it was still a truly awesome birthday present from a truly awesome brother, thanks bruv.

Animated Christmas Jumper Review

It's that time of year again where the annual Christmas party has been organised and its just waiting to be attended, that now leaves you with the decision of what to wear this year.

Do you go for the more elegant evening dress or smart suit etc or are you one of those people who has a more fun side and wears a fun Christmas jumper?

A Christmas jumper I hear you answer, well that's perfect you need not look any further than this review for this years Christmas jumper brought to you from the clever people at Morph Costumes.

This Christmas Morph Costumes along with Digital Dudz jumper technology has brought to the market their new 2015 collection of warming woolies which are guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd at any party.

Each Morph Costumes Jumper has its own secure pouch for your mobile phone to house in, not only does this keep your phone safe and secure but it also helps transform your jumper into a awesome Christmas jumper with its very own animation feature.

Each jumper will fit most mobile devices up to 13.6 cm x 7cm. Unfortunately the Samsung S6 and IPhone 6+ won't fit their simply too big.

To turn your jumper from a run of the mill standard Christmas jumper into a animated Christmas jumper all you have to do is simply download the special app from your phones app store, insert your phone into the pouch on the front of your jumper and press play then hey presto you have your very own animated Christmas jumper.

A quick note - if have an Apple device make sure its running on IOS 8 or greater and Android devices must be running 4.0 or greater.

To be honest I'm not one for Christmas jumpers but when I was sent this review opportunity I began to read the email and I was like "wow these jumpers are awesome" the concept of turning a Christmas jumper into a awesome animated Christmas jumper had me hooked.

I was sent a cheeky gingerbread jumper for this review.

I recorded it too to show how cheeky he is lol.

The only issue I have with these jumpers are their price tags, they range from £14.99 to £35.99.

I have to be totally honest I love the concept of these jumpers but the price tags seem excessive to me especially as all your paying for is a Christmas jumper with a pouch on the front to put your phone in, the actual clever feature which then makes the jumper come alive is a free app which you download from your app store on your phone.

If you want to get everyone's attention this Christmas at your works party, out and about or at home this is definitely the jumper for you this year.

I was sent this jumper for review purpose only and all my views and opinions are of my own doing.

Which Christmas movie character are YOU?

Christmas is only 3 weeks away! 

Twinkling fairy lights are going up everywhere, festive music is playing, ice rinks are heaving and Starbucks are already on it with the Christmasy drinks (Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a Gingerbread Latte).

But when it comes to festive celebrations, are you more Buddy the Elf or Scrooge?

 To find out, take our 
“Which Christmas Movie Character Are You?” 
quiz and see which of our favourite famous Christmas icons matches your personality:

Once you’re done, why not check out the costumes and jumpers available in our Christmas section. Be morphfestive this Christmas!

A Visit To See Father Christmas

Today I took the children to Hatton Adventure World for their Christmas festivities.

The children as per usual had no idea where we were going so the car journey was a big game of guess where we could be going today.

We arrived at Hatton Adventure World with the children still thinking we were going to Lego Land, Cadbury World, Cbeebies Land or wherever else they had guessed but not the right guess as I informed them as I parked the car.

We were booked in to see Santa at 11 am, as it was only 10.30 we had a walk round the farm and saw rabbits, goats, chickens, guinea pigs, pigs and donkeys.

Then the children decided they wanted to play on the JCB area followed by the giant sand pit area, why not I thought so they did.

Well before we saw Santa we stopped off in the festive arts and crafts tent and the children happily sat and made Christmas cards for mummy, each their own design too.

Well it was that time, the time all children love, the time to visit Father Christmas himself.
They were so excited, they loved walking through the Elf Workshop area and chatting to Santa's helpers about Christmas and what they wanted this year.

Before we were took through to see Santa there was one last surprise awaiting the children, real reindeer, they were in ore of them, they wanted to stay there and chat to them and stroke them more than going to see Santa I think.

Once they were in Santa's grotto they didn't want to shut up they wanted to tell Santa everything on their Christmas list to the point there were no presents left to ask for.

Then they had their photo took with Santa then he checked the good/bad boy's and girl's list and told them they had been very good this year, to be honest I think he was looking at the wrong list lol, anyhow he gave them their own special key for them to take to the elf's workshop and wished them a Merry Christmas in return TP told him we had a special key for our house so he can deliver their toys to them on Christmas Eve.

In the elf's workshop they were so excited, there were shelves and shelves full to the rim of toys of all sizes, shapes and variety.

 They wanted this one and that one, "no daddy I now want this one" "are you sure I replied" to which I got in reply "no daddy I've changed my mind" eventually they all decided what they wanted and they exchanged their golden key for their chosen present.

As the weather wasn't too great today, in fact it was gale force winds outside, well it felt like it anyhow, I took the children indoors into the big soft play area where they happily played then had a pizza lunch.

After lunch we went to a Christmas storytelling show, the story being read today was about a brother and sister who build a snowman on Christmas Eve.

The kids loved this storytelling time as it was a fun show and contained a puppet snowman who interacted with the kids throughout the story.

Well after this show we had a look round the Christmas market, I brought the children some sweets and we headed home after a lovely day out.

Our Trip To Birmingham

Today was the day that I ventured out alone with all three of my monsters, I didn't just venture to the local shops, Oh No..... I took them on a train to Birmingham and then on to the theatre to see Peppa Pig Live.

To be fair they were good, they had their moments but what 3, 5 and 7 year old doesn't lol plus they were very excited that they were going on a journey but had no idea where although for a some reason TP thought we were going to Cbeebies Land and JR thought we were going to Lego Land, where they thought that up from I've no idea.

Well as I said our journey began at our local train station where we boarded the train and headed to Birmingham, the journey was made more interesting by TP gluing himself to the window at every stop and trying to convince me it was Birmingham, he was stumped when we arrived and I agreed that it was indeed our stop lol.

Well we made our way to the theatre to collect our tickets, I would like to say a massive thank you at this point to Michelle @SeeingRainbows for running her competition which I was lucky enough to win which enabled me to treat my kids to this fabulous day out.

When we arrived at the theatre, the kids were so excited when they realised they were going to see Peppa Pig Live that when I told them it didn't start for another hour they were absolutely gutted.

Well to pass the time away for a bit I decided it would be fun to stop off at Nostalgia & Comics, oh my oh my why oh why did I think that? (My kids are fastly growing up and becoming Marvel fans thanks to their mum and her partners loving of Marvel) once they entered inside the shop the three of them were in ore of everything they didn't know which way to go first bless them. Figures, comics, books, badges you name it they wanted lol, it kept them amused for a bit so thst was good to be honest.

Well we made our way back to the theatre ready to take our seats for the show.

The show itself was great, ( I won't spoil it incase anyones going to see it) it was full of dancing and singing and lots of audience participation. 

My three never stayed still, they were clapping abd cheering, dancing and singing they absolutely loved it from start to finish they even moaned that there was an interval cause they were enjoying it so much lol.

After the show we made our way back towards the train station but we made a slight detour as it was dark I walked them through the German Market to see all the lovely stalls lit up at night, it is a lovely sight to see and it does get you in the Christmas mood to be fair lol.