Being a parent isn't easy and the older my two get, the more I'm thinking about how I can best prepare them for the real world!I've worked very hard to teach them both kids how to manage their own money and have always involved them in family financial decisions.  They know how to plan meals and how to cook them which means that as far as budgeting and fending for themselves when they leave home, I think we're pretty much covered and I'm pretty confident that they'll be able to hold their own in the real world in these areas.I'm very aware that the thing I can't teach them myself … [Read more...]

OK, I'll start this post by holding my hands up and telling you that I cannot crochet to save my life!  However, when another blogger offered to share some of her free vintage crochet patterns with you, I thought it was something that might interest a few of you.  You might have noticed that over the last month or so, Saturdays have more often than not been round-up posts of some other great content from around the internet. There's a couple of reasons for this which I'll explain now before I get into today's vintage crochet pattern round up. ;-)Firstly, I have lots of ideas for things … [Read more...]

As you read this, I'll be at my Dad's funeral saying goodbye to the man who's been there for me since the day I was born. It feels like a good day to share this letter that I wrote to him the day after he died.I wasn't planning on sharing it as it was simply a post that I wrote to make myself feel better by getting it all out but as I thought about writing a post to share with you today, it just felt right to share this with you.Dear Dad,I can't believe you're really gone, that I really held your hand last night as you took your last breath last night.It doesn't feel real … [Read more...]

As a parent of two teenagers, the space we have in our home is something that's been on my mind a lot lately and I've been considering the various different options we have to give us a little more space at home.Our house isn't a small house but it's definitely not a big one either - we have a new build three bedroomed semi with an average sized garden and an integral garage which means that we definitely have options if we decide to extend.We've ruled out the idea of an actual extension because of the costs involved and the fact that we don't want all of the upheaval and hassle … [Read more...]