Received an email today from Letterbox announcing they are back! I enthusiastically clicked on the link to order a new letterbox catalogue but the link didn’t work! Will have to try again later, as I’d love to see what has happened since they stopped trading back in the spring then were bought by high street toy giants Hawkins Bazzar.

Lots of people compare Tish Tash Toys to Letterbox which is certainly a compliment as Letterbox always had a great range. The business was actually sold to a larger company (Findel) three years ago or so and ceased being a family business. The Times reported back in April that: Letterbox, a mail-order firm specialising in “imaginative traditional products for children”, was founded in Truro in 1987 by Deborah Kilmartin and John Williams. They collected £7 million when they sold out to Findel in June 2006.

Mulberry Bush, who like us sell a lovely range of interesting traditional children’s toys commented about Letterbox on their blog: Three or four years back Letterbox was an excellent toy retailer with a great range of wooden toys and traditional games, run by really nice people.

Toy News Mag adds that In a statement to customers on its website, Hawkin’s Bazaar said: “With over 35 years of experience of mail order and retail we are ideally placed to restore Letterbox to its former glory and to bring you the range that you know and love, along with unrivalled customer service.

Anyway – I’m off to try and order a Letterbox catalogue – don’t forget to order a Tish Tash Toys catalogue while you’re here. If you like the letterbox style – you are sure to like us too. Click here to order your catalogue.

If you are really into traditional toys – you can join us and earn extra selling them to friends & family. We’re always on the lookout for new agents – see the Tish Tash Toys website today!

I started a new business this month selling antiques. Bonne Vintage is a pure personal indulgence and has yet to make me my millions! I have a Bonne Vintage store on etsy and I’m renting a few shelves in an antique centre in town – Honiton, Devon.

One of my vintage 'finds' on Bonne Vintage

Being a busy multi-tasking mumpreneur isn’t easy though, constantly having to leave my desk to do the shopping, school runs, walk the dog, feed and clean out the chickens etc. So I thought it was about time I invested in an i-phone to help me keep up to date with everything when I’m out of the office.

Something old, something new!

This is my long lusted after beautiful black i-phone next to what was once a lovely little phone!! This is a real antique isn’t it ! I used to love the now scratched and mottled flowery cover on my siemens CL75 which hubby ’sold’ to me about 5 or 6 years ago because it has a little button you can press to turn a mirror function on….not that I’m vain or anything, but well, we all like to know if we’ve left the restaurant with food in between our teeth don’t we!

So it’s goodbye, farewell, auf weidersehn, adieu….to my little faithful siemens…

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row

This popular children’s nursery rhyme is a reference to Bloody Mary. The garden refers to growing cemeteries, as she filled them with Protestants. Silver bells and cockle shells were instruments of torture and the maiden was a device used to behead people. Mary was Queen of England between 1553 and 1558.

Mary began her tumultuous reign at 37 years of age. Following the disarray created by Edward VI’s passing of the succession to Lady Jane Grey (Jane lasted only nine days), Mary’s first act was to repeal the Protestant legislation of her brother, Edward VI, hurling England into a phase of severe religious persecution. Her major goal was the re-establishment of Catholicism in England, a goal to which she was totally committed. Persecution came more from a desire for purity in faith than from vengeance, yet the fact remains that nearly 300 people (including former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer and many of the most prominent members of society) were burned at the stake for heresy, earning Mary the nickname, “Bloody Mary.”

LOOKING FOR A PART-TIME JOB – SOMETHING FLEXIBLE TO WORK AROUND YOUR FAMILY. WE NEED NEW AGENTS  TODAY – CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE WWW.TISHTASHTOYS.COM

We’re looking for young models – no experience necessary! My business Tish Tash Toys & my cousin’s enterprise The Children’s Jewellery Company are working together on some future marketing campaigns and need child models aged between 0 and 10 years of age. We are holding a casting session on Sunday 7th June at The Playdome in Honiton.

No need to book, just bring your little ones along there between 10am and midday. If you want to stay and play after your turn in the casting, then you will get £1 off each child’s play session plus you get a free filter coffee! Any enquiries – please contact us.

Need unique birthday gifts for your little one? See www.tishtashtoys.com

Need a job!! We need you TODAY – click here now!

Just adding up the cash we made from the raffle at our Champagne & Shopping Evening for Red Nose Day a couple of weeks ago. It was £28 something so I’ve rounded it up to £30. Thanks to everyone who came along and bought raffle tickets and generally enjoyed the evening here in Devon. Looking on the Comic Relief website, there are lots of way to pay in your money. I think I’ll pop into town and pay it into the post office.

£30 doesn’t sound like much does it, but it all helps. From helping a child growing up with domestic violence, a dad living with mental health problems or a lonely older person with dementia living down the road in the UK, to supporting orphans and desperately poor communities in Africa – this cash really does make a difference to their lives. £30 could pay to take a young carer on an outward bounds activity day, giving them a much-needed break from their caring duties and allowing them to simply be children having fun.

Just £10 could pay for a young person living with domestic violence at home to talk to a counsellor in a safe non-judgemental environment, to help them cope with their traumatic experience.

£15 could pay for two months’ worth of basic provisions which give an orphaned child in South Africa the chance to go to school rather than have to work or walk miles a day to fetch water.

£20 could buy clothes and toys for children who have nothing after fleeing their home with their mum because of domestic violence.

£25 could pay for a hot, nutritious lunch for over 600 children living in extreme poverty in Zambia.

Also unlike some charities which take a percentage of the donation to cover administration – Comic Relief has a promise “For every pound the charity gets directly from the public a pound goes to helping transform the lives of people living with poverty and social injustice”.

If you were wondering – the total raised so far this year by Comic Relief is £65, 699, 850. Apparently over 50 million Red Noses have been bought over the years – remember The Hands Nose, The Tomato Nose, The Colour Changing Nose, The Shaggy Nose and The Nose That Grows?!

I think RND is every two years so I might organise a fair for the next one and try to raise lots more, as it’s such a good cause.

I got a text message yesterday from The National Blood Service telling me that stocks of my blood type are low, and could I make a donation soon. I couldn’t make my last session the week before Xmas as was just too busy with work. So I checked out the website www.blood.co.uk and have found a session on tomorrow at a school a few villages away.

Apparently as winter colds and flu affect increasing numbers of people, the National Blood Service is urging everyone who can to get down to their local blood collection session to give blood. Over the past two weeks, more than 6,000 fewer donors have been giving blood across the country than this time last year, causing blood stocks to dip significantly. While supplies to hospitals continue to be met, the National Blood Service needs 7000 donations across the country every day to maintain healthy blood stocks and is urging people not to leave blood donation to someone else.

Many of the regular blood donors this country’s health service relies upon to keep stocks healthy over the holiday period have not been able to give blood due to flu and winter colds. Blood is often vital for patients undergoing treatment, for cancer, for example, and may help to allow them to go home for Christmas to spend time with their families and friends.

Apparently only 6% of the people eligible to give blood do – read more on this site www.stosyth.gov.uk

If you are contemplating giving blood – this is an interesting article called Top Ten Reasons People Don’t Give Blood …And the Argument Against Them

All you have to do is call The National Blood Service on 08457 711 711 or visit www.blood.co.uk for details of your local blood session or to make an appointment.

Writing this on the long car journey back from Devon to North Yorkshire with two very sleepy babies. Hopefully Corinne Bailey Rae will do the trick and send them off to sleep (nearly three hours after their bedtime!).

Ms Bailey Rae’s was one of the first choices to go on my IPod when I got it a few months ago – as I really like ‘Girl Put Your Records On’ but ‘Trouble Sleeping’ is a nice track too. It’s a lovely album actually, very mellow (and good for sending the kids to sleep!) Didn’t I hear that her husband died recently though – just googled it….. apparently Jason Rae died this March after a suspected drugs overdose and I’ve found a picture of the couple in happier times – below.

Everyone in my family was subjected to the entire Leona Lewis album (Spirit) on the way to Devon, and my incredible background singing to accompany the lovely Ms Lewis! Fave tunes are the “I’ll be fine without you” track ‘Better in Time’ and ‘I Will Be’. Another good line is “Don’t pay no mind to what other people say” in Track number two ‘Whatever It Takes’.

Other favourite songstresses on my shiny black Ipod Nano are Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) and the young pretender Estelle, whose’ album ‘Shine’ sounds much too much like the aforementioned Fugee’s frontwoman to be a coincidence!

Love Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ though and might jump over to that now as Corinne Bailey Rae seems to have lullabied my youngest to sleep already. 28 year old Estelle seems to have done very well in the last couple of years and her loving what’s underneath Kanye West’s jeans has made an impression on the top ten in the UK and the States.

Also listening to Duffy’s ‘Rockferry’ and still adore Kate Nash’s ‘Made of Bricks’. Just downloaded Madonna’s new album Hard Candy but not really listened to it yet. And if that sounds like too many girls. I’m also a big Snow Patrol and Muse fan. ‘Set the Fire to the third bar’ is incredible and I MUST see Snow Patrol in concert before I die!

Back to work tomorrow – with our business Tish Tash Toys…

Still unhappy about missing Dirty Sexy Money on Friday night especially as I’ve seen every episode so far and like it so much I actually had my new haircut based upon the lawyers wife’s cut at Toni and Guy in Northallerton last week! Hey ho – maybe I can download it and catch up before Friday whizzes round again!

Dan and I are really getting into downloading whatever we want to see now and not trying to be around whenever something is on. Technology is really changing now isn’t it and even I am embracing my new IPod although can’t quite work out how to sync my Itunes onto it yet. Shame as Dan has downloaded The Ting Tings album ‘We Started Nothing’ and I want to listen to it in the car. (Apparently her name is Katie if you were wondering!!)

Had lots of enquiries from people interested in working part-time for us as an agent this week which is great, and some interest in the recruitment position we have advertised on the Remote Employment website. We have people coming to us from Mumsclick as well which is nice as I’m really getting into that site. We even have our own Tish Tash Toys thread on Mumsclick now about working with other businesses.

Kids broke up for holidays last Thursday and we’re enjoying some time with Nanny and Granddad, although the family is very sad about Great Nan being ill in hospital at the moment with possible gall stones. She’s due for a scan on Tuesday though so we’re all waiting for the results of that.

My walking training is going well and more articles have been added to the other blog – Trek Morocco. Losing weight, feeling fitter and raised nearly £1000 now for Rainbow Trust.

Tasha has not one but two wobbly teeth and is very excited about the tooth fairy making her first visit to our house. Tasha’s reading is coming on so well, we were blown away today when she read the whole of ‘Where Are You Blue Kangaroo’ in the car (with Aleck very sweetly helping on all the pages which say “WHERE ARE YOU BLUE KANGAROO?”). As a special treat she has been chosen one of our pink milk tooth holders and has it on standby for when her first tooth comes out.

Aleck is still on his gluten free diet until the end of the month and has had tests for lactose intolerance too. He’s ok in himself just still producing horrendous nappies but the less said about that, the better! Trying not to think about it and enjoying the bank holiday weekend.

It’s been a very busy week here at Tish Tash Towers, with the kids off school on Easter holidays for a second week and lots happening. I started the week with a trip to the Harrogate (Trade) Nursery Fair which didn’t really have enough toys to see but was a nice couple of hours out, and I took Tash who at six was a great help spotting potentially interesting products for our next Tish Tash Toys collection. Our third annual catalogue is due out this summer and we’ve started collating ideas for it.

Our new press officer, Julia Kirkman also officially started work for us on Monday and has already been chatting with local newspapers about my trek across Morocco this September. You can read more about my challenge to raise £5000 and conquer my fear of heights over on my dedicated Trek Morocco blog!

Our new party host offer began on Tuesday 1st April and we’re very pleased to be working with Zoe from Squashed Tomato, as she sells fabulous greeting cards with a proportion of the sales going to charity. You can find out more about how you can get your hands on a set of ten Squashed Tomato cards for free on our website www.tishtashtoys.com

Dan took the kids to Twiggy’s soft play in Thirsk as a treat for tidying up their toys and I had a peaceful couple of hours to catch up on work!

We heard about the Prowess Business Awards on Wednesday and are hoping a few people will nominate me for Business Mum of the Year Award. We know some of our agents already have (thank you so much to Amanda, Melanie, Mandie, Joanne, Fiona, Jeni, Sarah and Rachel) and are keeping our fingers crossed as we feel we fit the critera they are looking for. 

Thursday was manic as Thursdays usually are getting orders out to people for Friday. We had agents doing baby shows, craft shows and events all over the country needing toys for the weekend. Friday was a much quieter day and we finished early – and enjoyed an hour in the sunshine in the park with the children.

Saturday was spent in Northallerton picking up some treats for Dan’s birthday. He particularly wanted the new Iain Banks hardback – Matter, which a very helpful shop assistant in Waterstones found for me. Then the afternoon was spent letting the kids run riot in Northallerton’s soft play centre, Funky Farm. It was quite busy and very welcome after a nightmare walk from town in freezing hail and wind, my feet soaking from stepping in too many puddles (oh dear!). I replenished our pile of Tish Tash Toys catalogues on the front desk, a great place for local customers to hear about us.

Today is Sunday and Dan’s birthday and we had a day out in York with lunch at one our favourite places, El Piano. It was a veggie restaurant until recently but now it’s the first vegan and gluten free eatery in the UK. The falafels were delicious as usual but I’m not sure about the new gluten free bread!

That leads me onto blogging in the bath – I’m not actually in one, as that’s probably ill-advised with electrical devices but I’m actually using the time my daughter likes to wallow in one for half an hour to catch up on my poor neglected blog…on my divine new Dell laptop…in my favourite colour – red! Ooops the Dell has just been splashed so I’m signing off to deal with my over-excited six year old. Back to school tomorrow!!

I’m giving up my 4th wedding anniversary this year (11th September) to go trekking across Morocco. I’m not crazy about heights so climbing North Africa’s highest mountain – Mount Toukbal will be an interesting challenge for me!

My business – Tish Tash Toys is supporting this trek as part of it’s continued support for Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.

See www.tishtashtoys.com for more info. I hope you will be able to contribute a little bit to get me closer to the ridiculously ambitious £5000 target I’ve set for myself. Tish Tash Toys is covering the cost of my travel etc so EVERY penny goes to the charity.

Please dig deep and sponsor me online…..today via my Just Giving page.

You can also read all about my training efforts and other stuff related to the trip on my NEW Trek Morocco blog.

Click here if you want to find out more about the challenge or are thinking about doing it yourself. Closing date is March 31st 2008.