Long time, no blog! Home schooling / Game schooling

Wow a lot has happened in the last 2 years!

Moving forward, I think this blog is going to become a resource for me documenting our home school journey and the different things we try and play along the way. 

My cub is 3.5 years old and recently she has really discovered a love of board games / card games.  She has been playing Uno Junior for a while and we recently added a couple more games to her collection namely Sleeping Queens and Ticket to Ride First Journey Europe.  I intend to do a separate blog post for each game and will link them here once they are written.

I also have two online courses starting over the next couple of weeks.  I am doing A Beautiful Childhood online course with Eloise of Mighty Mother on Instagram and then The Simple Art of Toy Rotation with Rowan of Invitations to Play on Instagram.

I will keep you up to date with how these two courses go and am excited to get some fresh ideas in my tool kit for home schooling my cub.  

In the meantime what are your kids favourite board games / card games? Particularly, if your child is 4/5 years old.

Hello - I am back!

Well it has been quite a few months since I last got a chance to write my little blog, it has been on my mind often, but finding the time has been somewhat difficult!

Nevertheless I am going to start getting back on the blogging bandwagon and thought I would provide you with a little update.

Things have been crazy hectic for me lately.  First off, I made a crochet tutorial video on YouTube which was received warmly and has sent my YouTube subscribers through the roof to over 2,000! So I am working on a new crochet tutorial video for you ASAP, I dont want to let you all down.

More importantly, I found out earlier on in the year that myself and my husband have been blessed with a wee bubba due towards the end of November 2015 so that has had me in a whirlwind of sickness, tiredness and first time mummy conundrums! Still, I have lived through it so far and I am sure I will survive :0)  We have our second scan tomorrow which is very exciting!

All in all I have lots to share with you over the next couple of weeks, lots of catch up photos on various different crafts and crochet items I have made for the bubba, little snippets of decor in our newly painted nursey, and much much more so I hope you are with me along the way.  

I am also probably going to be posting some mummy type questions so if any of you can help that would be much appreciated as I havent got a clue what I am doing!

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Lazy Saturday Chit Chat

I write this post to you whilst sat on my sofa, crochet v stitch blanket over my lap, dog's head perched on me, hubby & brother playing Fifa on his new Christmas gift whilst eating shortbread biscuits! Oh, what a life!

I haven't really been committed to blogging for a while, I have been super duper busy with Christmas prep (we hosted both Christmas day and Boxing day at ours this year including two full meals!) busy with work and a home learning course, crocheting some Christmas gifts which I shall post about over the next week and life is just running away with me.

I feel like today is the first day in quite a while that I have done nothing and am enjoying it tbh!

I have used my time today to research two different things. No. 1 is finding myself some Dr Martens to order as I need some waterproof boots (Ugg's do not fit this requirement). Lucky for me, I have small size 3 feet which I have discovered means that I can order junior DM's for around £30 less, woop woop! 

No.2 has been researching sock knitting again.  I did successfully cast on two at a time socks on one circular needle but dropped a couple of stitches and ditched the whole attempt.  I don't really like the look of using DPN's I think that will confuse me no end so I am trying to find a beginners easy sock knitting pattern to knit an entire sock on a short / mini 9 or 19 inch circular needle.  If any of you guys could point me in the direction of a good easy beginners pattern I would be really grateful.

Anywho, I am going to have a read on my new Kindle and allow myself to have a Saturday afternoon doze.  I promise to be back next week with lots of photos of all the crochet Christmas presents I made and get back on my blogging quest.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and see you soon!

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Night out in London Town - Wicked Theatre Show and Wagamama's

Friday night was date night for me and the hubby.  I got the train up to London after work and we got the tube to Victoria station.

We dropped in for a quick Wagamamas before arriving just in time for the show. Our show of choice that evening; Wicked!  

We saw Wicked on New Years Eve three years ago and I absolutely loved it, it immediately became one of my all time favourite theatre shows. The music is just brilliant and the singing gives me goose bumps every time.

Now I must admit, although it was still brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and do not regret going again whatsoever, it wasn't quite AS good as the first time we saw it. This is possibly due to the fact that we were sitting up in the gods this time whereas last time we were close to the front in the stalls and could make out every facial expression.

All in all, it is a tremendous show and if you haven't seen it, it honestly should be added to your must see list.  It is a really clever twist on the traditional Wizard of Oz story and one which I personally prefer.

Have you seen Wicked? If so, what did you think?

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Guitar Heaven - Learning to play acoustic guitar

Hey guys

Last week I ventured somewhere new, a local music shop.

I am a huge fan of the television programme Nashville and do have a musical background.  I used to play flute and saxophone when I was at school and my siblings and parents also played instrument, "music is in my blood" haha.

Anywho, as I said I love the programme Nashville and there has been an urge festering inside me to learn to play acoustic guitar.

I knew of this local shop so thought what the hell, lets go down and check it out. I just wanted to go down there and check out what was available, ask some advice on what I might need, thinking I would put it on my Christmas list.

When I walked into the room with all the acoustic guitars I was in heaven, they are so so beautiful and I love all the different stains on the wood.  A really helpful acoustic guitar specialist / sales guy had a chat with me.  He showed me a few different guitars in different price brackets and also showed me a couple of 3/4 size guitars which were a better size and weight for me considering I am only 5ft2" tall!  

Anywho, he was blooming good as I left my window shopping session having put down a deposit on a Baby Taylor in mahogany. I told my husband who, as expected, wasn't best pleased I had done this, especially right before Christmas.  He felt I should start with a beginners guitar as opposed to going all out on "the guitar" and possibly finding that I do not like it and do not wish to carry on with it.

As it stands, the deposit is still on the guitar and I haven't made a decision.  What should I do?! Do any of my readers play Taylor guitars? Opinions on different acoustic guitars out there? I would love to hear from anyone with advice in the comments below.

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Snowboarding lesson on a dry slope

Hey guys

I just wanted to quickly share this photo with you.  A couple of months ago I went for a snowboarding lesson at a dry slope about 45 minutes away from where I live and it was friggin' awesome.  I totally loved doing it and definitely need to have a snowboarding holiday now!  I am a very active person and always like trying new sports / activities that test me.

The instructor told me that it is 10 times easier to snowboard on real snow too so that is very reassuring.  I even managed to use the ski lift which apparently means I am now allowed to use the lifts at any slopes in the world!  Woop woop go me!

Have you ever tried snowboarding before? If so, what do you think?

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Film Review: Maleficent

Hey my sparkles

 

As some of you may know, last night I went to the cinema to see Maleficent.  Now, I was a bit dubious about going but my mum had asked me to go and see it with her and I thought I should.

 

For me, both Snow White and The Huntsman and Oz, The Great and Powerful were failures in my opinion, so the thought of another dark remake of a fairy tale classic didn't particularly appeal to me.

 

However, I am thrilled to say I take it all back and really enjoyed this movie!  It is edgy, funny and beautiful and tells the story in a completely different light and one which I much preferred to the childhood classic!

 

Angelina Jolie was the perfect leading lady for the job and the scene with her and her real daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt was absolutely adorable.

 

All in all I would give this film a genuine thumbs up and say it was totally worth going to see.  I normally only see films that I REALLY want to see at the cinema, and wait for others to come out on DVD or Netflix.  I am very pleased that I saw this film at the cinema and in 3D at that, it really gives amazing depth to the movie.

 

Have you seen Maleficent or are you planning to go? Let me know what you thought in the comments below.

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An Evening at the Seafront

 

Hey guys

 

As some of you may know, Monday was a bank holiday in the UK which meant on Sunday night I didn't have the dreaded feeling of getting up to go to work the next day! Sooo...we decided to spend our Sunday evening at the beach and had a nice walk along a seafront with our pooch in tow.

 

I really enjoyed the sun setting, the warmth, the smell of the sea air, it was bliss.  We went armed with our snazzy camera, it is a Canon something D and got some awesome shots.

 

These are just a little taster of what I took on my mobile phone so the quality isn't amazing but I wanted to share them all the same as we have such a lovely "family time" kinda evening :0) Good memories were made, simple things sometimes are the best aren't they?

 

What family things do you like to do?

I'M BACK! - Lots of blog posts coming soon!

 

 

Hey guys

 

This is just a quick post to let you know that I am back in the world of blogging!

 

I had a lovely holiday abroad from half way through April which will explain my absence from the scene and I look forward to sharing with you some photos from that as and when I get around to sorting through them all myself!

 

In other news I have also ordered some extremely exciting bits for my Filofax which I hope will be arriving soon so lots of fun posts to follow about that but I am going to keep it a secret about what they are at the moment, do not want to ruin the surprise!

 

This week is also a special one for me as it is my birthday tomorrow so I look forward to telling you about my day :0)

 

Hope you have all been well and I look forward to blogging with you soon!

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DIY: Make you own Filofax / Gillio insert tabbed dividers using paperstock or cardstock craft

Hey guys

I had a go at a little project last night and thought I would share the outcome with you!

I made myself some tabbed dividers for my Filofax Pocket sized planner.  I chose 6 different designs from a pack of card/paper I had got at Wilkinson's (bargain price of £3.00, 12 designs, 6 sheets of each) which were the perfect size for my pocket pages.

I already had some original Filofax tabbed number dividers 1-6 so I traced round each of those onto my card and cut around them using a super sharp scalpel for precision!  I then covered the front design of each tab with some clear sticky book cover type stuff (sorry not sure of the proper name) to toughen them up a bit as the card was a bit flimsy.  I then marked out where the holes should go and punched them through with a single hole puncher. Voila~

I don't own a label printer but my husbands work does so he is going to be printing me off some tiny labels for each tab, hopefully today if he remembers, you know men!  I shall update this post with a pic of the completed dividers once I have the labels on.  I am labelling my dividers as follows:-

• Blog
• YouTube
• House
• Meals
• To Do
• Goals

Let me know what you think! If you have a Pocket Filofax and would be interested in me making you some dividers then just give me a shout! :0)

What is your favourite item to have in your Filofax?

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Trip to the Pet Shop

Hey guys 

Bit of a random post from me today but I thought I would share with you my recent trip to the pet shop!  I'm not sure why it has only just dawned on me, but these places really are like a trip to Toys 'r' Us but for your pets (well mostly dogs as you are allowed to take them in) and if most of us are honest for us too.  Toys all shapes and sizes, textures and make a gazillion different sounds.  A clothes section that would give Primark a run for its money and even a pick 'n' mix type section of treats! I don't know about you but I enjoy spending money on my pets and take pleasure seeing them get excited over a new toy or special treat.

I cannot believe the size of the section that is devoted to doggy outfits now! I must admit I partake in the odd (sensible) wooly jumper to keep my pooch warm at the moment as our house is FREEZING but personally I wouldn't stretch to dogs in tutu's and booties, each to their own though.

I love walking around the small furies in their little homes waiting for that special family to come along and (I very much hope) give them a forever home with love and warmth.  They are so sweet and small and curious, I guess much like us when we were younger.  The hamsters always give me a chuckle, especially when they are running so fast in their little wheels that they fall out!

I was happy to see that there was a rehoming/adoption section in this pet shop too.  It had animals that had been brought back or put up for adoption, for whatever reasons, and I hope that people don't discount them and choose to give them a second shot.

I am very pleased that these large retail pet shops no longer sell puppies or kittens and other like animals.  There are plenty out there that need homes so I am glad they are not exacerbating the situation with more.

Anywho, that is me done for now.  I hope you found this unusual blog topic a welcome stray from the norm! :0)

Do you have any pets? If so, what? What is your favourite animal?

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Chapitre un: I am learning French : Je suis l'apprentissage du français - Michel Thomas method amongst others

Bonjour!

Ca va? Je suis tres bien, merci!  Je voudrais parler avec vous sur apprendre à parler français.

Okay, basically...I am learning to speak French at the moment and I thought I would share this journey with you kind folks?

First off before I forget, can any of my readers speak French? If so, please comment below and encourage me / practice with me if you so wish.  I need all the help I can get!

I have wanted to be bi-lingual for a long time now and always feel ashamed that the Brits have such a reputation for not having / bothering to learn other languages "because everyone speaks English already", it's lazy and I don't like it!

 

A pipe dream of my husband and I's at the moment is to "one day move to France and live in a gorgeous chateau in the French Alps". However far fetched this seems at the moment I believe it is important for everyone to have dreams and goals that they wish to work towards, this is ours. Ergo, the need to speak French has arisen.

 

With fluency in French being our ultimate goal we have set ourselves several tasks to carry out which will hopefully help us achieve this:

 

1. We are attending an evening beginners and improvers fast track French course at an adult college.
2. We are also using the Michel Thomas Total French CD course to speed up our learning.
3. We also purchased an Easy French Reader book to again, add more to our learning each week.
4. I have purchased one of my all time favourite books "Twilight" part un which is called "Fascination" en France. I figured that knowing the plot and kind of being able to predict what I am reading would help.  I am going to read a couple of pages a day armed with a dictionary and figure that by the end of the book, surely my French will be good, right?

Short from being able to completely immerse ourselves and live in France for a year and only speak to French people we really are doing all we can!

 

I am on the third Michel Thomas audio CD out of seven and it certainly gets you talking from the word go.  He gives you lots of rules that will allow you to speak hundreds of words immediately just because the endings are pronounced differently.  For example, any word in English ending in ary is pronounced aire, necessary is necessaire *said with French accent*.

 

If you would like and find it useful, let me know in the comments below and I shall provide reviews and updates on the course as I go through the CD's?

 

This is all I have to report at the moment and please please wish me luck, I need it!

 

What methods have you tried to make yourself fluent in a language?  What has worked for you?

 

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Park with the pooch

Hey guys

Today's post is just to share some beautiful (well I think they are) photos that I took whilst walking my pooch at the park over the weekend.

It was a perfect winters day, sun was poking through the clouds, birds chirping and clear fresh air to clear your head, aaahhh.  

It was quite chilly so I made her buckle up in her pink stripey jumper (bought from Pets at Home about 3 years ago) and off we set.

It has become a bit of a favourite past time of mine / Saturday morning ritual to walk her while the hubby is getting on with stuff in the house and a time that I use to really do my deep thinking and be at peace with myself. I love spending quality time with my fur baby too as she is doggy sat by nanny during the day on weekdays while I'm at work. Weekday evenings and weekends just never seem enough to me but my hubby has refused to let me be a stay at home mummy to the dog! Boo him!

In case you are wondering, she wears a Perfect Fit Harness available from the Dog Games Ltd website but I shall go into that in more detail as I am going to be writing a blog post review of the harness soon. *Watch this space*

 Love the reflection in the water of this photo ^

 Wouldn't this just look magical in winter covered in snow?! ^

What is your favourite thing to do to chill our and escape the world? Do you have a dog? If so, what breed are they, age, name? I would love to hear about them as I love all animals.  If you have blog posts about your pets please feel free to leave links to them in the space below.

Thanks for reading guys!

Robin Sparkles


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Decorate your Filofax organiser with Washi tape

Hey everyone

I was recently browsing Instagram like I sometimes do, having uploaded a picture of my Filofax onto my instagram @Robin1Sparkles using the hashtag #Filofax.  I was amazed by the world of Filofax decoration out there that I was completely unaware of and how Wash tape played a great part in that.

I fell in love with how some people have made their Filofax's look and the idea of using Washi tape to make particular events stand out in your diary / organiser or to just make it look pretty.  I was sold on the idea.  Me being me, I took to eBay and ordered a roll of Washi tape that would fit with the colour scheme of my Filofax.

I have only decorated 1 page that I am happy with so far but certainly intend to stick with it and get more creative.  I shall keep browsing Instagram for more inspiration too.

I have also added some Post-It tabs to the front of my Filofax to use for special dates / events to make them stand out on the page.

Do you like to decorate your Filofax? If so, what with? I would love to hear your Filofax stories so please post links or comment below.

Robin Sparkles

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How to stay organised: Filofax Pocket Organiser

Filofax Pocket Organiser

Hey my little sparklers!

Today's post is about one of my most trusty belongings; my Filofax!  I have been using Filofax's since I was at University (7 years yikes!) when I was shuffling lectures and lessons with work shifts and since then I have been totally hooked.

It is my go to accessory in my handbag, I cannot go anywhere without it and if I do, I have to tell my friends and family that I cant make arrangements "until I have checked my Filofax". 

My Filofax Pocket organiser consists of the following sections:

• Week on two pages 2014 diary.
• Notes (blank pages).
• To do lists.
• Lined paper.
• London underground tube map.
• World map.
• Numbered 1-6 dividers.

My organiser came with A-Z dividers and address book pages but I didn't use them so decided to take them out to make way for some extras I have added.  I have a separate address book that I keep so decided to stick to using that.  I feel that the address pages do not give enough space for the amount of information I need to put on them also.

Filofax Organisers are available in the following sizes:

• Mini
• Pocket - this is what I have
• Compact
• Personal
• A5
• A4

Diary

I go for the 'Week on two pages' view and always have done.  for me personally, this provides enough space for me to fit in 2-3 items that I have scheduled per day and I like to be able to visually see the week I have coming up ahead.

Diary inserts are also available in the following layouts:

• A day per page.
• Undated page per day.
• Week on two pages starting on Sunday.
• Week on two pages starting on Monday.
• Week per page.
• Month per page.
• Month on two pages.
• Four year planner.
• Year planner.
• Week on two pages academic (Aug-July).

There are lots of different types / variations of the above but that list gives you the general idea.  They are also normally available in white, cream or pink coloured paper!

What I use my Filofax for

• Reminders of birthdays and anniversary's
• Appointments (doctors, dentist, vets etc)
• Social events (seeing friends, parties etc)
• Holidays and annual leave myself and my husband have booked off

Other Info

The To Do check lists are really handy for making sure you don't forget to do something!

There is a few slots at the front of the Filofax organiser to store business cards and there is also a slot at the back of the Filofax organiser to store other notes / pieces of paper.

You get a ruler which doubles up as your marker for what day you are on in your diary. This ruler has centimetres on one side and inches on the other.

The world map that came with my Filofax has time zones of the world on the other side of it!

That is all I can think of at the moment, if you have anything else you would like to ask please let me know.  I really cannot stress enough how lost I would be without my Filofax.  I know people like to use their phones calendar etc nowadays but what can I say? I'm old skool. Cannot resist a good bit of stationery. Give me a pen, paper or a book any day over electricals. Plus, a pen and paper cannot break!

Do you have a Filofax? If so, what one? Do you use something other than a Filofax to stay organised? I would love to hear from you so comment below!

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