Rants and raves: Done with expensive birthday parties

I HAVE organised my fair share of labour-intensive, costly birthday parties; agonised over party bags and experienced the last-minute cake-making stress - but not this year. This year, we're taking Alex up to Alton Towers for the day on his actual birthday, and then organising a family and friends picnic at Black Park, near Iver Heath.Read

Rants and raves: Netmums is a fantastic resource

IHAVE written before about my love for the fantastic www.netmums.com website, an amazing resource for families living all across the UK. Each area of the country has its own board, and the Hillingdon netmums site was one of the first to be set up, and so, is one of the busiest.Read

Rants and raves: Girlie weekend in Devon

A FEW bottles of wine, great food, girlie movies, plenty of chocolate, home-made cake, on-tap beauty treatments and not a husband or child in sight for three whole days. That's my idea of a blissful weekend. After major childcare negotiations with otherRead

Rants and raves: Whiplash from Wii

I HAVE had two 21st century injuries this week, ones that would never have happened when I was a child, or in our parents' generation.Read

Rants and raves: Brave moves in the salon

IT'S a brave woman who walks into a hairdresser's they haven't ever been to and says to the person who is about to take scissors to their hair: 'Do whatever you like.' But this is exactly what I did last week.Read

Rants and raves: make your vote count,

I DON'T know about election fever - I feel like I have election fatigue. Usually I don't give elections much thought and cast my vote as I usually do, but this time is different. This election has been dubbed 'the mums' election', and each party is courting us on websites such as www.netmums.com and www.mumsnet.com, as we are likely to swing the result - like the so-called 'soccer moms' who influenced the outcome of the US presidential races.Read

Rants and raves: Back to the grindstone

WELL, it's back to the grind of packed lunch making, uniform organising and school run dashing this week. Roll on the next school holidays I say. The highlight of the break was a birthday bowling party at All Star Lanes and our trip to Kew Gardens. Kew looked amazing, with daffodils everywhere, it was a lovely hot day and we spent the whole time outside enjoying the gardens.Read

Rants and raves: Fantastic support for familes dealing with autism

HILLINGDON Autistic Care and Support (HACS), a brilliant local charity for families with children on the autism spectrum, has just moved to a fantastic new centre in Hayes, and I was delighted to attend their opening last week. The charity is run by Toni Mullally and herRead

Rants and raves: The dreaded lurgie

I HAVE been feeling really sorry for myself this week as I've got the lurgie. Read

Rants and raves: Those embarrassing moments!

I COULD write a book about the embarrassing things that have happened at school, things we've read in Alex's school diary and the like.Read

Rants and raves: An amazingly happy place

IN MY part-time role as community affairs manager at toys and games company Hasbro in Stockley Park, I've been working closely with the charity CLIC Sargent on the building of its new London Home from Home. Read

Rants and raves: A diet that doesn't leave you wanting to chew your arm off

YIPPEE! I've managed to avoid Alex's sweetie tin and polishing off his leftovers for another week, and coupled with a week on the fabulous Bodychef diet, the scales are showing I've dropped another 2lbs.Read

Rants and raves: losing weight with Bodychef

NOTHING beats that feeling of being able to do up your belt on a tighter notch. It's such a simple, but very satisfying thing to be able to do. I've written before about my struggle to drop a dress size, and after losing two stone a while back I've been despairing at seeing the needle on the scales slowly creeping up.Read

Rants and raves: Great day at the museum

HOW was your half-term last week? Alex was lucky enough to go up to The British Museum with his grandparents on one day.Read

Rants and raves: Where there's a will ...

AGREAT weight has been lifted from my mind this week. After eight years of thinking about it, and not getting off my bottom to actually get it organised, I have finally made my will.Read

Rants and raves: Book early for half term activities

AS PROMISED, I've scoured all the half-term events that are on and brought you my pick of what special events are available for families in and around Hillingdon this half-term.Read

Rants and raves: Treat your eyes to a makeover

LIKE a lot of my other mum-friends, my make-up routine is generally a slick of lipgloss - generally applied in the car on the school run - and the days of never leaving the house without a full face of make-up on are long gone for me.Read

Rants and raves: Managing a family skiing trip

AFAMILY skiing trip was something I didn't think I'd manage to afford this season, because of worries about money, jobs and the general economic climate.Read

Rants and raves: Cycling along the canal

AFTER writing about my plan to get off my behind and on my bike to go cycling with Alex, I had a lovely email from Andrew Simpson, who lives in Uxbridge.Read

Rants and raves: Keep fit and spend less

I LOVE Christmas, but I'm always pleased to take down the decorations for another year, and my start to the new year is always the same - I make a few resolutions. I'm sure I'm not alone with my main resolutions this year - to keep fit and spend less money. I've managed to combine them in one go as I've decided to relinquish my expensive gym membership and I've started to work out on the Wii Fit instead.Read