Inflatable Globe!

Originally uploaded by Sharon Pavey

Place an order before 7pm today (Wed 30th June 2010) and get a FREE £4.99 inflatable globe!!! Don’t miss our 20% OFF EVERYTHING END OF CATALOGUE SALE AT http://www.tishtashtoys.com

Skool is cool !!

Originally uploaded by Sharon Pavey

My little boy starts school in September and here he is with his big sister – both looking very dapper in their school uniforms! He’s got his uniform early as doing ‘taster’ sessions each Thursday until the end of school and loving it!

I don’t know about you but I go through phases with my reading, sometimes I don’t read for months then I go through a spate of devouring books like they are big fat slices of my favourite chocolate cake (with cream!). Also depends on how busy work is, or the demands of the children and other stuff and how much time I get to relax!! I’ve just ordered a copy of the Penguin book The Help by Kathryn Stockett as recommended by @exmoorjane on twitter. See http://bit.ly/aLWJms

I love stories set in the deep south of women’s struggle and this sounds like no exception….

Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren’t trusted not to steal the silver…

There’s Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son’s tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.

Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they’d be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell…

Cherie Blair reviews it saying ‘It weaves together the beginnings of black rights but also of women’s rights. We learn that one of the characters, Skeeter, is as trapped by the expectations of her parents and friends as are the black women she writes about. It also shows how, despite the lack of equality distorting the realtionships between the women, there was room for genuine friendship and affection, as well as incredible callousness.’

So – that leads me to your comments – I’d love to hear about what you are reading right now, or your last book and your recommendations. Add your comment below!!

We’ve got a fabulous Friday offer today – free postage on all orders on www.tishtashtoys.com

Whether you need some party bag toys from our affordable gifts section or there’s a new baby coming into your life and you need to look through our baby toys, or you’re looking for children’s furniture, you’ll had oodles of choice on the Tish Tash Toys website.

The code you need for free delivery today only (Friday 23rd April) is fdf2304 – simply use this code at the checkout to get the £4.95 postage taken off. All orders take up to 7 days but if you need something urgently just drop us a quick email at sharon@tishtashtoys.com or tweet us @tishtashtoys

And if you can’t make your mind up today – why not order a copy of our gorgeous catalogue and enjoy browsing over a cuppa! Click here to order your free catalogue.

We are always on the lookout for new agents, a job ideally suited to stay at home parents – so if you need to earn a bit extra – find out more here today.

Office on the Terrace

Originally uploaded by Sharon Pavey

At last…..the sunshine is here, and I love it. I’ve set up a table on the terrace, with DIY umbrella/parasol (and parcel tape!) as a sunscreen so I can actually see the screen on my old laptop! I’d just finished setting up my al fresco office when Gabriella thought it looked like a nice spot for an afternoon snooze!

If you hadn’t already cottoned on – I absolutely love twitter! As a work at home mum, living in the middle of nowhere, I love nattering away to people all over the world, especially about things I love like toys, kids, clothes, pretty stuff, green issues, cooking, my pets……get the picture! My latest twitterfriend is @friendlysoap who makes and sells some super smelly stuff !

Rachel sells beautiful organic soap for adults & kids, with no SLS/SLES/Parabens as she believes that everyday washing should be free from these chemicals. I agree so when a box of lovely soaps turned up on my doorstep to review, I relished the challenge!

Rachel donated several soaps to the Yummy Mummy market I organised for our school PTFA & CLIC Sargent, which took place last Saturday (thanks Rachel) and she also suggested I give a couple to my own kids to use and review. I don’t know about you – but sometimes we get through so much soap – I think the children are eating the stuff !!

Funnily enough Rachel’s soaps smell so good you could eat them – but as they’re aimed at kids there is a very helpful safety warning on the back saying they are not to be eaten!!

My daughter Natasha – an extremely discerning eight year old young lady used the round rosy heart  soap with the heart above and loved that it was girly and pretty. It made a nice lather and was soft on her skin, and mine….as i couldn’t resist using some during my lazy sunday soak!

My little boy Aleck who is four is a typical pre-schooler loving anything new in the bath so was quite excited with his new alien spaceship soap below! The great thing about this range of kids soaps is that they are perfectly created for little hands. I’m quite sure you will find your children rushing to wash their hands…and no more battles at bathtime either!

If like me, you are concerned about putting nasty chemicals on your little ones skin – check out the information page on the Friendly Soaps website – many of the ‘normal’ soaps we all use contain chemicals which can cause irritation, skin corrosion, eye irritations and other problems in children and hormone inbalance.

http://www.friendlysoap.co.uk

Blogging this for a twitter friend of mine James.

“Last year, I presented a seminar explaining the benefits of social
media for charities.  As part of that, I wanted to show how powerful
social media was in terms of getting a message out.  I sent out a
tweet and asked for it to be re-tweeted – sending it as far as
possible.  A couple of hours, four continents, hundreds of retweets
and dozens of countries later, it appeared in Australia.

This year, I will again be presenting some free seminars for charities
on social media and I wanted something new to show the power of social
media.  So I set up a social media charity experiment.

The idea was to raise enough money for one Shelterbox
(www.shelterbox.org) in one year by spreading the word using social
media.  Within a month, almost 75% of the target had been donated with
some amazing donations.

Now, we have set up Team2Quid.  Team2Quid is part of the experiment.
Donate £2 to the experiment and you become part of this amazing social
media club – and Shelterbox gets £2.

This is all about showing how powerful social media is and how
wonderful, kind and generous random groups of people can be.

When I present the seminars again and show what we have achieved – and
continue to achieve – I hope it will also inspire other charities to
engage online and, hopefully, for them to find new supporters and
income streams.

Please consider joining Team2Quid.  To join, go to
http://bit.ly/team2quid and look the campaign up on Twitter at
twitter.com/team2quid

Thank you for being part of something truly amazing.

Best wishes

James”

Thank you to Luscombe Drinks of Devon for their extremely kind donation of some of their delightful drinks for our Yummy Mummy market which takes place in Upottery near Honiton tomorrow – Sat 20th March.

LUSCOMBE drinks are made with purely the finest quality fresh ingredients,  without…concentrates; additives; preservatives; colourants; flavourings; enhancers; acidity regulators; artificial sweeteners; animal by-products; artificial pesticide residues; GMO`s & without  big, harsh, rasping bubbles the size of toads` eyes. All the LUSCOMBE drinks are made in Devon, within the historic setting of the Domesday farm.

River Cottage stock Luscomble drinks, as do Lyme Bay Winery & The Old Inn at Kilmington.

See http://www.luscombe.co.uk for more info.

We have lots of new Tish Tash Toys agent joining us this time of year and each one gets a fabulous starter pack including catalogues, flyers, toys etc.

We have for some time now invited other businesses like our own to send us their lovely flyers and gifts (eg pens, keyrings, t-shirts etc) to be included to promote THEIR businesses to our agents too. Most of our agents are mums so anything geared towards mums/women is best.

If you would like to send us your flyers and some (promotional) treats for our agents – simply drop us a line at info@tishtashtoys.com

You probably need to send 50 – 100.