May Personal Challenge

After the failure of my April Personal Challenge I am going to have another go with the personal challenge...

Maybe I was over optimistic last time so I'm setting my sights lower and maybe I'll succeed!

1. For my weight to go down instead of up! No actual number on the scales just a reduction from what it was today... I have been stuck around the same weight now for far too many weeks and its time I shifted more. I've been letting the Fitness Friday team down...
   

   
   
2. To be more organised and plan menus ahead again so that the kids and I know what we are going to be eating and to have it ready to go. This should help personal goal number 1 and make life a whole lot less stressful and cheaper!

Right that'e enough for one month! 

The Gallery: April

Hard to choose 1 photo to sum up April but hope this will do:

Lovely Narcissi on Newton Rigg Campus at Penrith. 

Please click on the camera logo to find more gallery posts

Haba Toys: Charlotte Doll

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I am delighted that my family has been selected as one of the UK Ambassadors for Haba Toys which are made in Germany. They have traditionally made wooden toys and furniture but are now also working in textiles and porcelain. I have been sent a parcel of toys for the family to try out and review and this is the first of them:

The first thing I liked was the minimal packaging the doll came in. So many toys have such excess packaging its pretty off putting. She was a very attractive doll and my 7 year old instantly wanted to claim her for herself and play with her. On the box it says for age 1 1/2 years upwards so it is intended as a starter level doll.

The doll was nice and soft to hold but nice and firm to play with. She is very made with an embroided face. Her clothes are removable which was an instant attraction to my daughter:

When everything was removed my daughter discovered that Charlotte has a stitched belly button which she found very cute. One problem we found was that it was hard for my daughter to put the skirt back on as it was pretty tight across the doll's bottom - this should ease as the doll is played with for a while. The shoes proved impossible for her to do herself and I had to do them. With a younger child they would need plenty of help to put the doll's clothes back on.


Her clothes are beautifully made and the hat looks like its hand knitted. Details such as pockets on the waistcoat are a nice touch. The clothes supplied allow for a couple of different looks. Looking at the web site there are a couple more outfits you could purchase if you wanted to.


This doll is definitely high quality and feels like it would have a long life as a child's toy. Judging by my daughter's reaction it could bring many years of pleasure. The only downsides we could find was the trickiness of putting some of the clothes/shoes on but this may well get easier with time.


I have a couple more toys to review from this initial bundle over the rest of the week so watch this space!

April Personal Challenge - the follow up!

First of all let me admit that I had forgotten about my April Personal Challenge post until Carole commented asking me if I'd succeeded!! This of course does not bode well for my first month of joining in with the challenge...

This is how I've done:

1. Loose half a stone - FAILED - not even sure I lost any
   
2. Get up earlier to exercise - er not very often!
   
3. Make my bedroom a haven - FAILED - but the kids room looks a lot better
   

Well what's my excuse? Can I blame the almost never ending school Easter holidays? Certainly being at home with the kids for nearly 3 weeks was not good for my diet, exercising or housework! So maybe my goals weren't as SMART as I thought considering the fact that April is not a normal month...

So I need to think up something new for May and see if I can manage it this time... Click on the logo and see how everyone else has got on - hopefully more successful than me!

Spring Blooms

Is it just me or has this been an amazing Spring for flowers? I snapped all these on my way to church on Sunday just walking down Burneside Rd: