My boys really are x-box fanatics. If they could get away with it, they’d probably spend more time on the x-box than they would doing absolutely anything else at all in their lives.
The Ben 10 Omniverse 2 X-box game is the latest instalment of the franchise that sees Ben and his Omnitrix alien forms battle new galactic threats. In this version, Azmuth and Omnitrix enter the Incursean’s Intergalactic warship to try and stop Emperor Mileous.
Littlest has had a few plays with the game after being sent a review copy, and it seems to be hiding in amongst the favourite game pile to go back to over the school holidays.
The general consensus here is that this game is slightly easier than the last one we had. That’s a welcome finding as they found Alien Destruction quite difficult. Middler is getting an x-box for his Christmas so this will go perfectly for him to enjoy and potter with while he learns how to use it.
It’s a classic version of kids using Ben’s powers to run around and fight aliens and with some lovely puzzles in the middle.
I did get slightly confused as our version has a 7 on the front, yet inside it carries a PG and a 12 + rating. The review copies perhaps go to lots of different countries and perhaps that’s the reason for what looks like several ratings, though the version on Amazon is rated a 12.
The game is fast moving and has kept littlest amused over the last couple of wet, windy and miserable days. I can see it being used a lot over winter with 3 boys to all work through it. Would I have bought this. I suspect the answer is yes for middler who is just entering the world of console gaming at the age of 12. I’d prefer it to be a little cheaper, but we do get good value with three children to share the games around.
Hotel Chocolat sent us a box of their Signature Christmas Collection to try.
The box is gorgeous and my boys eyes were all agog when they saw it. It’s a classy box with a lovely texture and looks reassuringly expensive.
There are a mixture of white, dark and milk chocolate with a focus mostly on soft centres which was right up my eldest child’s street.
The selection consists of : Rum & Raisin Truffle, White Caramel Praline, Pistachio Praline Crunch, Hacienda Iara Salted Caramel 90%, Hacienda Iara 63% Ganache Milk , Christmas Mess – Dark, Mulled Port, Nutmeg & Almond Praline, Cranberry Cup, Christmas Stars, Caramel Supernova.
At £25 a box, for most people this really is a luxurious Christmas present to giveaway but I found myself wishing I liked dark chocolate so I could enjoy more of the ones in the box. The boys however finished them all off pretty quickly. I do however, know one very particular chocolate lover who is going to appreciate a box of these on Christmas day.
Looking for quick ways to make soup is easy with a soup maker. After my review, I’ve decided to keep making different soups to see how they work out.
In the co-op, I found these small bags of washed and prepared broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. It was really easy to make these into a fast and delicious soup which is perfect for a lunch, starter or even just a light snack.
Soup Maker: Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrot Soup 1.3 Litres
The one thing that is never far from the minds of most of us in winter is just how much it’s going to cost us in energy to keep our homes nice and toasty. Last year, we had a spell where our heating broke down and it was a very cold winter that we found quite hard to cope with minus our heating. We found it difficult to keep tabs on how much energy we were using and as a home that budgets, we find it disconcerting not to know how much our bills will be at the end of the year.
The costs for energy are high in comparison to our month outgoings for other essentials and any help to make those costs more obvious and help reduce those costs is very much welcomed by us.
E.ON has launched a special online tool to help you work out how you could make savings and there is a wealth of energy saving information on their website for customers who manage their account online, to help you see how you use energy and where you could make positive changes.
You can even compare your own figures with those of similar homes to see how you stack up.
The tool helps us to take control of our energy use and help us to understand that reducing energy in our homes need to help us stay warm and comfortable while making a difference to the pennies in our pockets. It’s about helping us to waste less energy now and in the future and allows us to compare our energy use with similar homes in our own area.
Customers will need to register to be able to use the new tool and from then on, they can take greater responsibility over the energy use in their own homes.
As a family, we had got into a very bad habit of leaving many appliances on standby at bedtime, and even when just going out. We now know what over 30% of us could leave a dozen or more appliances turned on. It wasn’t something that we even thought about, we had just got into such a bad habit.
E.ON’s website also features a number of handy tips to help you become more fuel efficient, like not leaving your television on standby quite so often. If you’re an E.ON customer you can also use the comparison tool which allows you to see how your home is performing in relation to those in your area – giving you greater motivation to save energy. You won’t need to be a qualified expert to put these into practice, just a dash of common sense will do!
We used to leave many appliances on standby or by leaving them on charge when they had reached fully charged status:
4 TV’s
Sky Box
Microwave
Inside and Outside Lights
Internet Hub
4 Phone Chargers
Printer
Tablet Computer
Oven Clock
34% of us admit we leave up to 15 gadgets and appliances turned on at once. This was an easy area for us to make changes in. We’ve long replaced lightbulbs with energy saving versions, but with 15 spotlights in one room, there was room for improvement. We’ve learned to go round the house every evening and switch off every appliance at the wall. We do make exceptions for the Internet Hub and for 2 mobile phones, but after seeing just how much our meter was still spinning, we turned everything else off, including the cooker clock.
We have a cat and he uses a cat flap. I don’t particularly like the idea of my animal having to wait outside in the cold to get in, but I did realise that the old seal was causing the flap to blow open in the wind. Contacting the supplier meant we could replace the seal on the cat flap and stop it opening with every gust of wind.
Our front door was an energy stripper as it has never seem to stop any drafts from coming through it. It’s quite difficult to keep a home warm if the cold air is constantly coming in and the heat heading out the door, so we identified that something had to be done. With no time nor budget at the time to replace the door, we simply hung a heavy curtain behind the door which slides open when nobody is at home. We remove it in the warmer months and as the colour blends in with our decor, few people ever even notice that it’s there. Blocking the draughty door also allows us to keep our heating a degree or two lower to keep the house warm. That’s a win win situation all round.
Thinking smart about our energy at home could reap rewards for us all.
“I’m going round to Jacks to play tonight,” my eldest enthuses before school. I listen and then tell him I’ll still pick him up at the usual time after school and if he is still going over to play, I’ll drop him off.
“We’re not allowed to play anymore,” comes the sad face when I picked him up from school.
“Why, what’s happened?”
“Well, you know mum, he’s grounded and has to do chores.”
“Aww, that’s a shame, what happened?”
While secretly glad I didn’t just assume he would be going off to play at Jacks and went to make sure, I was a little gobsmacked and slightly shocked at the response.
“He got pushed over on the hill at school, and his clothes are muddy so he’s got to do chores for going home dirty.”
Whether that is true or not is neither here nor there, but the child believes he’s being punished for coming home mucky.
I really can’t understand the mentality of any parent who grudges their kids a little muck here and there. Ok, it might be a bit boring and cumbersome to have to wash clothes and yes, it might be a bit annoying if you were heading out and about, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of kids being punished for coming home with some dirt on them.
Before someone says it, I can understand where someone is so skint that the price of hot water is a challenge, but come on, for most of us, it isn’t really an issue.
For the kids I am talking about, they are mostly middle class comfortably off families with often several holidays a year and gourmet fast food outlets on speed dial, so it’s not as if they can’t afford a cycle in the washing machine or they have to slave over a sink with a washing board and a bar of soap.
I don’t understand the “must be clean at all costs” school of parenting and I suspect I never will.
Kids should be allowed to get dirty, mucky, muddy and downright filthy with black gunge under fingernails. Those are memories they’ll remember and a quick soak in a tub washes it all away.
Why are so many parents against their kids getting mucky if paying for electricity and hot water to wash the clothes isn’t a problem?
Don’t they understand that for most kids, getting mucky means they have usually had fun?
This Alphabet Poster worth £20 is available to one lucky winner, along with access to the Practice Words with Pip App from the iTunes store. Brought to you from Learn To Read With Pip.
Pips Alphabet Poster
Introduce your child to Pip’s magical world of letters with this bright and colourful large wall-poster. Unique artwork shows each of the letters with their appropriate character, presenting 26 alliterative friends to unlock the magic of reading. Give your child the best possible start by transforming the alphabet into a set of friendly and familiar faces!
A1 (594 x 841 mm), 120 gsm, full colour, fade resistant and moisture resistant.
Practice Words With Pip App on iTunes.
Designed by teachers to help children enjoy learning beyond the classroom. Learn to read with Pip is a fun set of curriculum-led phonics games which help your child to enjoy learning beyond the classroom. This app is designed for children covering the Reception year curriculum, moving from simple CVC words to longer words.
Your child will develop and improve their reading ability whilst remaining entertained and inspired.
Pip, our adventurous collector of letters and words, will lead your child through a rigorous series of great games, exciting exercises and cool challenges as they learn to read. Our teachers have created a series of interactive games and specific skill-building exercises which allow your child to build confidence whilst advancing at their own pace.
Features:
• Pip and his world of characters make learning fun • Practice existing skills and improve your reading ability • Play with friends and family in our multiplayer mode • Collect letters and words and use them to create your own pictures • Build confidence as you unlock each of the game levels • Learn by sight, touch and sound • Correct phonetic sounds for every word • Reflects Systematic Synthetic Phonics taught in National Curriculum • Carefully structured and age-appropriate • Dynamic games keep your child interested
Choose word: Choose the right word to match the picture and collect stars. Get help from the Phonics Reading Pad, which gives you the right phonemes needed to read the word yourself!
Silly and Sensible words: Feed nonsense words to the terrible troll and sensible words to Pip. Get 8 stars to beat the terrible troll!
Unlock words: Match the picture to the correct word to unlock a new word for your collection room. Stuck? Simply press on the word and you can hear its phonics with the Phonics Reading Pad!
Match: Pair the correct word and picture to win all your stars and unlock the next level!
Collection room: Collect letters and words and use them to create your own pictures. Take photos of your certificates of achievement!
The winner will be drawn by random generator on the 11th December 2013. The competition closes at midnight on the 10th December 2013.
My boys recently got some very cool watches to review.
We received two Tikkers watches and a Mr Men Mr Strong Gift Watch Gift Set. The Tikkers watches are amazingly boyish with the bright skulls and suit my boys down to a tee. Tikkers and Mr Men Watches can be found in Debehhans, H Samuel, Bentalls Kingston, Fenwich Newcastle and John Lewis.
You can also buy them online at:
watchshop.com
watches2u.com
Littlest and elder wanted a more grown up watch, but middler is still struggling with time and wanted a watch that he could show off at his school.
The Mr Strong watch is much more sturdy than I expected and even fits my adult wrist which is always good for growing room.
The Tikkers watches are fabulous. The straps are fairly thick rubber with good quality fastening and they feel solid. Again, there is plenty of wrist growing room in the well made strap.
The Giveaway
Choose from one of these watches if you are selected as the winner.
The winner will be drawn by random generator on the 14th December 2013. The competition closes at midnight on the 13th December 2013.
I did say that I would be putting one up for a giveaway and here it is.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to complete the steps in the rafflecopter widget and obviously get in touch within 7 days if you are picked as the winner through random generator.
It’s currently on sale at the discounted price of £44.99 by using the code GH2255 on the Morphy Richards website.
Good luck to you all, this is indeed a time saver in the kitchen and one that is now my new best friend.
The winner will be drawn by random generator on the 14th December 2013. The competition closes at midnight on the 13th December 2013.
It’s interesting that Antivirus company BullGuard had added a Protection Product that not only covers devices, but also covers the people as well. It seems to be a shift over just protecting what we use to get online and moving to also helping keep us safe with our whole persona online.
The video explains that to help protect our identities, the service also checks the “dark web” to see if our personal information, credit cards, driving licenses, login details and much more have been shared. If BullGuard finds our information being shared, they let us know by e-mail and we can log onto the dashboard at any time to see the status.
BullGuard says that one in five parents are shocked by content on their children’s email, text or Facebook account. I know I was in the realms of traumatised when I first began to be aware. I’ve learned there is no point thinking my kids wouldn’t do or say things I’d not like them to, but it isn’t just about what our kids say, but also about what other people say or do to them.
What Do I Think?
The Facebook issue is a huge one in our family and with the profiles of children now being public instead of being allowed to be hidden, this software appeals to me greatly. I’m glad I agreed to try it as Facebook worries me a lot.
Inside the box, there is an instruction card which holds the license key number on it and a pen. Following the instructions seemed to go fine until I hit the stage where it said to refresh to show the Identity Protection and Social Media Protection tabs. I did that and it told me my licence key had already been activated and I couldn’t see the tabs. It was simply a case of going to “my account” to see my options so it wasn’t a big deal, but it might happen to others as well.
Social Media Protection
To use this, we enter the kids names and birth dates and we can either send our children an e-mail for them to install it themselves, or if we have their account details and passwords, we can add the code manually. It sends an e-mail to them to get their account linked up. I did hit a problem though. When I added the application to their accounts, it first showed up as an error and I had to contact BullGuard to sort it out, which was quickly done.
It flags up:
Links to malicious websites.
Inappropriate content.
Posts, photos and private messages with violent or offensive content.
Suspicious friends.
Possible bullies or predators.
I quickly noticed that the suspicious friends includes people who request access who have a significant age difference being flagged up quickly. A malicious link was flagged up within the first hour of being live and I could see the chain of interactions that were good to talk to my boys about.
Seeing a malicious link flagged up allowed me to have a conversation with my eldest about not clicking it and seeing if the friend who posted it was actually someone he should be friends with. It’s not too intrusive, with only a small icon in the application section of their Facebook and they can also see what has been flagged up for themselves too.
I’d have to say that I like the Protection Suite and it saves me having to keep checking their profiles or logging into their accounts.
What does BullGuard say?
TOP 10 WAYS THAT PARENTS SNOOP
1. Reading messages on social networking sites 2. Checking their internet history 3. Reading their text messages 4. Monitoring their list of friends on social networking sites 5. Checking their pictures on social networking sites 6. Reading their emails 7. Checking their call list 8. Finding out their passwords 9. Asking teachers to keep an eye on their internet use 10. Getting a sibling to help to snoop
London, 24th October 2013:
One in five parents have been ‘shocked’ by content they have discovered on their children’s email, text or Facebook account, a study by internet and mobile security firm BullGuard has revealed.
The alarmingly high figure emerged amid a study of 2,000 parents of kids aged 10-17, which showed 61 per cent regularly snoop on their kids.
It also emerged that one in five mums and dads are convinced their offspring lie about their age to gain access to social networking sites.
More than one in ten parents have had to deal with their child being bullied online and a whopping 17 per cent have had to intervene after their child was threatened.
What’s more concerning is that 23 per cent of parents said their child didn’t know the perpetrator.
It’s no wonder then that one in four parents have confessed their snooping to their children because they were so concerned about what they found.
The worrying stats also revealed the average child doesn’t actually know 40 per cent of the people they are friends with on Facebook.
Alex Balan, Head of Product Management at BullGuard said: ”Parents do face a real moral dilemma as to whether they should check what their children are doing online. It’s understandable to want to keep tabs on the sites that they are visiting but whether to read private emails, texts and messages poses a real quandary for parents. Whilst you want to look out for your child and ensure they are safe you also want them to be technologically savvy and have their own independence.’’
The study also found around 38 per cent of parents believe they would lose their child’s trust completely if they confessed to snooping.
A more discreet 37 per cent had brought up the issues they were concerned about but hadn’t let on they had seen private content on their child’s computer or phone.
Researchers also found 30 per cent of concerned parents admit that although they were aware they were invading their child’s privacy they felt it was necessary in order to keep tabs on who they were talking to online.
Reading emails, texts and messages were the most popular way for parents to spy on their kids as well as checking recent call lists and monitoring their internet browsing history.
But nearly a third were wracked with guilt after hacking into their child’s email or Facebook account.
Of the parents who took part, one in ten said they knew the passwords to their kids’ smartphone or computer despite their son or daughter trying to keep it private.
And 34 per cent of parents of kids aged 10-17 said they have no idea what the passwords are to their kids’ gadgets.
The main areas of concerns for parents were who their kids were talking to online, how much time they spend on the internet and the type of sites they are visiting.
Half of parents said their biggest concerns when it came to social networking sites were that their children could be talking to complete strangers.
In fact 16 per cent said their offspring had signed up to social networking sites behind their back, despite the fact they knew their parents would object.
And 40 per cent fretted that Facebook and Twitter distracted their kids from school work.
Posting suggestive pictures, declaring the family is on holiday and leaving the house empty and coming across as boastful were other concerns for parents.
One in five parents said their kids weren’t aware of ‘stranger danger’ whilst online but 30 per cent of parents admitted they had no idea how to safeguard their kids by keeping their gadgets safe.
Alex Balan, Head of Product Management at BullGuard added: ”It’s a minefield for parents, whilst you want your children to have freedom and make friends you want to ensure they are safe when they are online. And this is where BullGuard Identity Protection can help. It’s hard enough watching your children 24/7 in the real world, but keeping tabs on their movements online is the real challenge. BullGuard’s Identity Protection offers Facebook protection for parents concerned about what their children are being exposed to such as cyber bullying, social predators or inappropriate content. It provides unobtrusive parental controls that permit parents to keep a discreet eye on their kid’s Facebook activities, so they can go back to just worrying about them in the real world.”
Giveaway
The Protection Suite is £34.95, and I have 5 codes to access it as a giveaway. I also have a 25% discount link for those who don’t win or can’t wait and would like to buy it anyway.
Morphy Richards let us have this Soup Maker to play with before Christmas. It’s perfect timing for our household and I have been amazingly surprised just how fast it makes nice thick soup the way we like it.
Look out for later this week as I’ll be giving one away to my readers just in time for Christmas.
I don’t usually measure out ingredients for soup, I’m more of a judge it by eye person and after one use of this wee machine, I’m sure I’ll quickly go the same way with our new soup maker.
I had reservations about there being enough soup for all of us from it but we did all manage to have a plateful, even if there wasn’t any left for seconds. My ideal size would be a 2 – 2.5 litre soup maker, but considering it only takes 21 minutes to make a pot of soup, I could just throw on some more veg and have another fresh batch.
I put the veg in the machine, made a mental note of how much veg I needed to make 800g, added water to the maximum level and set it to go. It seemed to be such a short time later, it beeped to say it was done. I hate to say it, but the end results were actually better than my regular soups. Perhaps I overcook mine normally.
I could have chosen from chunky soup or smooth. The smooth was very smooth and much more so than my smooth soups come out after using a hand blender.
In reality, there was one pot, one spoon that I used to stir the soup (unnecessarily) and no ladle: the soup maker has a lip to pour directly from. Cleaning it was simply a quick rinse with soap under the tap, dry, and put away. I’ve put the cable inside for storage but be careful with the blade if you do that too.
The Soup Maker also has a juice setting to make smoothies and fruit drinks. I suspect less hassle and difficulty than washing my blender.
I had a lovely squash that I bought simply because of the colours, so the first soup I tried as a simple squash soup which I based loosely around quantities of vegetables used in the sample recipe book that comes with the soup maker.
Prepare the vegetables and chop up into reasonably small pieces as they are going into a soup maker.
Pop the vegetables into the soup maker and add some salt and pepper to taste. I added one chicken stock cube and flaked it onto the vegetables.
Fill the soup maker up to the maximum 1.6 litre line, put on the top and select smooth or chunky. The smooth version will take 21 minutes to fully cook.
Serve with fresh bread.
Notes
All the ingredients for the 1.6 Litre output of soup need to total up to approximately 800g. I simply add a few carrots, potatoes and the onion and then top up with the largest main ingredient to the 800 grammes.
Most women love jewellery but I suspect most men love the odd bit of bling here and there, especially if it’s good quality and makes them feel good.
Although my husband rarely wears any jewellery other than his wedding ring when he goes out, he does like a good set of cufflinks. It’s coming up to Christmas and I’ve got a fabulous set of cufflinks up for grabs that can be personalised to make any one of the men in your life a great present.
Brighton based Jewellers, Ring have lots to choose from, but they also supply celebrities with personalised photo cufflinks. The ones on offer are the ones worn by Theo Walcott and Greg Lamb which can be personalised to your taste.
To enter, all you have to do is follow the rafflecopter steps, and good luck.
I bought popcorn kernels ages ago with the intention of putting them into a pan to make but really never got round to it. I’d planned a Lakeland delivery as we needed some more sodastream gas canisters – so I added their microwave popcorn maker to the basket.
I thought it was the best of the options as it was £16.99 and would fit in a cupboard between uses. My gadget count has been increasing lately and my kitchen counters are beginning to fill up with the load placed on them.
I’d tried just putting some kernels into a microwave container but most of them didn’t pop so this was my last attempt at finding something space-saving to make fresh popcorn with. The biggest problem was that although I like plain popcorn, my the boys like sweet popcorn, just how it comes when we go to the pictures. Actually, so do the gerbils.
We’ve managed to get it right and it was easier than I thought. All we needed to do was simply add a few spoons of icing sugar to the kernels in the bowl and mix it all around. Don’t be tempted to try butter added to the sugar. We did – and it tastes great, but the heat with the butter does unspeakable things to the microwave bowl.
Simply add enough popcorn kernels to fill the measuring scoop to the maximum line on the measuring cup. Leave plain or stir in some icing sugar and just microwave until most kernels are popped. It will take about 2.5 – 4 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave. Our newer microwave sadly needs 4 minutes to make popcorn whereas our last one would have done it in the 2.5 minutes.
You can sprinkle sugar on after making popcorn, but we’ve found it didn’t imitate the cinema popcorn experience that way.
There will be some unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl. Try to resist having another go at popping unpopped kernels. They didn’t pop for a reason, and many are likely to burn and smell awful if you try again.
What we have now though is popcorn on tap whenever we want and without mess or having to have packets of the stuff in the cupboard at a fortune in comparison money wise. It’s a win win for us. I’m glad I bought it as we will get lots of use out of it.
The next time we go to the cinema, we may just squirrel some bags of it to take with us since it’s so expensive there, but shhh, that’s not really allowed is it?
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Newest Comments:
I agree with you John ogroats is a dreary miserable lifeless place stuck in the 1940s full of greedy little…
Hi Made lot of rolls and bread. Try make 50/50 rolls and come out great.and used my bread machine.
For your dry potato, look for Kerrs Pink, September onwards.
I agree with you John ogroats is a dreary miserable lifeless place stuck in the 1940s full of greedy little…
Hi Made lot of rolls and bread. Try make 50/50 rolls and come out great.and used my bread machine.
For your dry potato, look for Kerrs Pink, September onwards.