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

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.

As my daughter’s school here in Devon is having a Yummy Mummy Market on Saturday 20th March – I thought I’d drop Mood Foods a line to see if they could donate anything for our raffle.

To my surprise a massive box arrived the other day full of lovely things like sample packs of Lizi’s Belgian Chocolate Granola (above) and Nairn’s Oatcakes.

I love the idea behind the Mood Foods website – that the food you eat can have a big effect on your mood and how you feel.

Do you need to roll yourself out of bed in the morning, stumbling around till you’ve fuelled up on coffee to get your engine revving? Does your concentration desert you mid morning till you’ve had a sugar fix then you’re back on track?

Caffeine is probably the most widely used behaviour modifying drug in the world. We reach for a cup if we are feeling tired and irritable to give us a boost and help us concentrate. Too much caffeine though and we can get symptoms such as anxiety and nervousness.

Many people are also worried about food additives and their impact on health, the dangers of some food additives and preservatives and the benefits of organic food.

Obesity and depression are at an all time high. The statistics make pretty grim reading.

There’s growing interest, and research, in how food and nutrition can affect your emotional and mental health and we’ve only just begun to understand the powerful links between nutrition, mood and mental health.

More and more people today are shunning pills and potions and looking for self help and natural approaches to help them feel happy and healthy. One self-help strategy is to change what we eat.

Take a look at the Mood Food website and be inspired by all these wonderful healthy foods & thanks again guys. Really appreciate the donation.

www.moodfoodcompany.co.uk

Thank you to Laura at www.laurasjewellery.folksy.com for sending us such a lovely raffle prize for our Yummy Mummy Market on March 20th. Laura sells a range of her handmade jewellery (like these Devil Duckie Earrings above) on her folksy site and also over on Etsy.

Laura describes her creations as “A delightful mixture of cute, kitsch, unique, funky and sometimes a slight vintage feeling all rolled up in to wonderful pieces of jewellery.”

She adds “I started crafting jewellery for friends and family, I mainly made pieces which I thought suited their personalities. One day, my mum suggested retailing it. “

I met Laura on twitter and you can chat to her too – @LaurasJewellery

Thanks again Laura & if you are reading this and could donate a little something to the raffle at our market (details here) like Laura did – then please tweet me @tishtashtoys

So far we’ve had a few responses. Rachel of Devon based Curworthy Cheese has emailed me back to say they will be happy to donate a cheese and we’ve been promised some drinks from Luscombe but the first donation arrived this week in the form of a shiny new voucher from Quickes to spend in their farm shop over near Exeter.

Thank you Mary (pictured above) at Quickes – this should help us raise some money via our raffle and the proceeds are to be shared between Upottery PTFA school funds and Clic Sargent – the children’s cancer care charity who promote fun-packed fundraising events for mums of all ages across the UK.

Quickes Cheese Shop is based at the farm in Newton St Cyres and the shop stocks the whole range of Quickes Cheddars plus their handmade whey butter and ice cream. The highest standard produce is all sourced from the West Country, from like minded artisan producers.

The the deli counter also offers a number of other West Country produced cheeses such as Cornish Blue, Sharpham Rustic, Cornish Yarg, Beenleigh Blue, to name but a few. Other gems you will find in the store include handmade chocolates from Somerset, tea made in Cornwall, honey made in Exmouth and free range eggs from Yeoford.

I don’t know about you but I think I need to make a point of visiting the Quickes Farm shop in the near future, it all sounds absolutely delicious!!!

If you run a business here in Devon and could help us out with a raffle prize or would like a stall at the Yummy Mummy Market which is being held at the Manor Rooms in Upottery on Saturday 20th March 10am – 12 midday, please call Sharon on 07740973990 or email sdpavey@googlemail.com

My daughter, 18 months old and I were over at friends for a play date last week with her two boys aged 3 and 18 months also. Daisy has recently taken a shine to frogs, and likes trying to jump like one – so she was in ore of the Bigjigs frog skittles my friend’s children had.

It was lovely watching both the younger children interacting with the game – they helped pick up the green wooden skittles for William. He then decided to show them how to count the frogs, which he lined up ready for a special edition of ‘6 little green speckled frogs’.

Daisy was particularly interested in practicing rolling the brightly coloured wooden balls to try to knock the frogs down after watching William do it; they are the ideal size for little hands to practice rolling and control. As she rolled the ball she then hurried behind them to see what they would hit, occasionally helping knock down the skittles with her hands and then applauding herself!

From this one first skittles game only costing £12.99 three children of different ages were able to engage with a fun activity suitable for the whole family to play together and utilise the toy in different ways to learn and play more! What looks like a simple game that could be finished in ten minutes can be so much more to feed their little imaginations and even more fun to use again and again.

Also in this range are the yellow wooden Duck skittles for kids, had Daisy seen these then I don’t think there would have been a moment without quacking noises for the rest of the day, they are on her Christmas list!

Click here to see the skittles and other children’s games on Tish Tash Toys

My favourite toy at the moment is the Touch and Feel Farm Animals from John Crane’s Branching Out Collection. I was chatting with a Mum at the Upottery Christmas Market on Saturday, as she was looking for a first shape sorting game suitable for a 12 month old baby – her Goddaughter. I showed her our gorgeous Tish Tash Toys catalogue focusing on the Dexterity, Shapes and Colours toys within the ‘Learn’ section. The Touch and Feel Farm Animals is a great choice for anyone looking to buy something a bit different for either their own little one or as a gift.

There are actually three of these touch and feel shape sorting toys in the range and they are all perfect for one year olds, either for Christmas or birthday or a special treat! The Touch and Feel Farm Animals board measures 20cm and is made of a lovely smooth wood (from replenishable sources). There are four friendly farm animals – a cow, pig, sheep and duck which can each be slotted into their different shaped holes. However – the unique and clever part of this toy is the interesting textured part of the board which each animal shape sits on. For example the circular sheep sits on a lovely lambswool type fabric. A literally touchy feely toy!

The other two texture toddler toys in the range are the Texture Puzzle Bugs (pictured above) – a ladybird, frog, snail and bee all with tactile fabric pieces attached to the wooden shapes. There is also the Touch and Feel Safari (see below) another great first puzzle for children from John Crane.

Click here to order your own copy of the Tish Tash Toys catalogue or see the website www.tishtashtoys.com

What a lovely surprise when a van turned up on Friday and a lovely chap gave us a box of beautiful jams and delicious looking marmalades. I’d emailed a few local businesses here in the south west to ask for donations for our Christmas Hamper for my son Alexander’s pre school in Upottery. Not heard anything back from Rose Farm then a lovely surprise arrived on Friday which made my morning. Thank you so much to Rose Farm, this is really very generous and much appreciated as the preschool is a charity and relies on donations to help make ongoing improvements and keep the general costs down so it can continue as a wonderful and much needed village and rural community resource.

Rose Farm specialises in making over 100 traditional chutneys, sauces, preserves and dressings all packaged very stylishly indeed. There are some amazing fruit sauces like apricot, blackcurrant, raspberry, strawberry, morello cherry, blackcurrant and rum and raspberry and port. The dressings and marinades include honey with mustard, tomato and herb, mediterranean, spiced pepper, sundried tomato and the one I really want to try which sounds incredible – orange and rosemary.

The chutneys are listed below:

Harvest. The one and only. Made only by Rose Farm. A Registered product
Apple with Herbs. Wonderful with pork
Apricot. Why not try with hot or cold lamb
Cranberry. Not just a Christmas favourite
Curried Peach. Delicious with spicy food
Four Fruits. Apples, tomatoes, sultanas, pears
Gooseberry. Good on game
Green Bean. A traditional-homemade choice
Hot Tomato. Tangy tomato
Marrow & Ginger. Crunchy and spicy
Onion & Pineapple. A fruity one!
Plum. Yum
Rhubarb & Ginger. The perfect partnership
Spiced Apple. A warm spiced condiment
Banana & Date. Sweet Moroccan flavours
Cheddar Pickle. Gorge . . .ous
Sweet Pickle. Move over Branston!
Tomato & Somerset Cider Pickle. Made with local cider
Military Pickle. Old Herefordshire recipe
Mendip Piccalilli. The hills are alive!

Jams and Marmalades:

Strawberry.
Raspberry.
Blackberry & Apple.
Summer Fruits. (Strawberry, Raspberry and Blackcurrant)
Rhubarb with Raspberry.
Peach & Pear.
Morello Cherry.
Plum.
Rhubarb & Ginger.
Blackcurrant.
Apricot.
Gooseberry.

Find out more on http://www.rosefarmsomerset.co.uk

We’ve been asking fellow businesses to donate items for our Christmas Hamper raffle for preschool here in Upottery in Devon. A HUGE thank you goes out to Judith at www.JudithGlue.com for sending us some lovely treats all the way from the top of Scotland right down to Devon. This is what Judith told me about her wonderful hamper business:

Real Food From the Orkney Islands! Our Orkney Christmas Hampers are crammed full of local Orkney produce, widely recognised as some of the best food in Britain. Most of our producers are small cottage-based businesses and you simply won’t find their products anywhere else in the UK. We aim to keep our carbon footprint low- all our suppliers are locally-based so our food miles are kept to a minimum. Everything in our hampers is sourced from our local Orkney producers who we’ve been dealing with directly for nearly 30 years- so we know exactly what makes them and their products so special!

Thank you again to Judith, all the Mums were thrilled and afer browsing the website and looking through the lovely brochure, we’d highly recommend Judith Glue if you are looking for an interesting and unique Christmas gift. The website is http://www.judithglue.com

Just watching a Dell Inspiron 1525 advert and it prompted me to write a very quick blog. DO NOT BUY A DELL. They’re pants! I got one a couple of years ago, red – as is my favourite colour! It was very slow, couldn’t cope with much going on on it, and the keys started slipping underneath the keyboard.

I’m now using a MacBook and loving it. It’s already over two years old and is a beautiful wonderful thing! Yes it costs more but it’s actually saving me money as the Dell computer was so rubbish I couldn’t use it for more than about a year.

Please don’t be seduced by all those pretty colours and that even prettier price tag. Dell laptops are rubbish, and you’ll regret buying one!