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The Quiet Way to Get Ahead of Winter Food Prices

Budgeting, Family Life, Parent Life / Mrs PPP
Store cupboard foods to buy ahead of UK food price rises in winter 2026

UK food prices could rise again this winter. Here’s what to buy gradually now, from store cupboard basics to freezer staples, without panic buying.

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Budgeting, Family Life, Parent Life

How to Encourage Reading in Home Education

Home Education, Parent Life / Mrs PPP
How to Encourage Reading in Home Education: Keeping Books Alive in the Digital Age

Reading is at the heart of successful home education in the UK. It builds curiosity, confidence, and focus in ways screens can’t match. For many UK home-educating families, the challenge is keeping reading alive in a world filled with devices.

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Home Education, Parent Life

Five Herbal Teas You Will Need This Autumn

Holistic Living, Recipes / Mrs PPP
Five herbal teas to get you through Autumn and Winter

Feeling that first tickle of a cold? Before you reach for shop-bought remedies, try what’s in your kitchen cupboard.

These simple herbal teas really work, and they’re backed by evidence, not old wives’ tales.

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Holistic Living, Recipes

The Truth About Socialisation in Home Education

Homeschool, Parent Life / Mrs PPP

When people hear that a family home educates, one of the first questions they ask is, “But what about socialisation?” It’s often said with genuine concern. The assumption is that without school, children miss out on learning how to get along with others, build friendships, and have fun. But is that really true?

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Homeschool, Parent Life

Exclusive Raider’s Peril Minecraft Challenge

Homeschool, Parent Life / Mrs PPP
Minecraft-Raiders-Peril-Challenge

There is a consensus that, for a lot of parents and kids, this is just massively overwhelming, and a lot of really fantastic parents are beating themselves up for not facing every learning day with a smile and enthusiasm. Maybe it’s just time to say: ‘Give me a break – school at home is HARD!’

Exclusive Raider’s Peril Minecraft Challenge Read More »

Homeschool, Parent Life

Hospital Bag Series – Part 4

Hospital Bag / Mrs PPP
Hospital Bag Series Part 4

Now that you have your bags, we need to focus on what to pack in them so that you can be comfortable during your time on the ward with your child.

Hospital Bag Series – Part 4 Read More »

Hospital Bag

Hospital Bag Series – Part 3

Hospital Bag / Mrs PPP
Hospital Bag Series Part 3

Now that you have your bags, we need to focus on what to pack in them so that you can be comfortable during your time on the ward with your child.

Hospital Bag Series – Part 3 Read More »

Hospital Bag

Hospital Bag Series – Part 2

Hospital Bag / Mrs PPP
Hospital Bag Series Part 2

Now that you have your bags, we need to focus on what to pack in them so that you can be comfortable during your time on the ward with your child.

Hospital Bag Series – Part 2 Read More »

Hospital Bag

Hospital Bag Series – Part 1

Hospital Bag / Mrs PPP
Hospital Bag Series Part 1

When packing for the hospital it is often hard to know what to take. Pack too much and you risk having to work around it during your stay. Pack too little and the inconvenience can be far greater. As a hospital stay regular, I have put together this guide that may help you make some informed choices about what to include in your bag.

Hospital Bag Series – Part 1 Read More »

Hospital Bag

Dear Hospital Mummy

Hospital Bag, Parent Life / Mrs PPP
Dear Hospital Mummy

I would ask you how your day has been Hospital Mummy, but from your tired eyes and rigidly held shoulders, I can see that today has been a trying day

Dear Hospital Mummy Read More »

Hospital Bag, Parent Life

The Day Your Child Is Rushed To Hospital

Hospital Bag, Parent Life / Mrs PPP
The day your child is rushed to hospital

You get off the phone and cry; silently so your child cannot hear you. This is not the way you thought a trip to the hospital would go; you don’t know what you expected – but it wasn’t ‘this’.

The Day Your Child Is Rushed To Hospital Read More »

Hospital Bag, Parent Life

Don’t be Anti-Social

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plotplansparent

SEND Mum | Wife | Aussie in the UK.
Creative | Blogger | Full-Time Reading Obsessive
Home Ed Maven | Stroke Survivor
I am also @McDayDesignsUK

I just finished Cats Out of the Bag, book 2 of the I just finished Cats Out of the Bag, book 2 of the Swinton Sweeties series by Gwenna Laithland a.k.a mommacusses. 

I actually really enjoyed this one.

Cats Out of the Bag is a bit different from your usual romance because Jackie and Caleb have already done the falling madly in love bit. They’re married, have kids, work together and have reached that particular stage of life where you can successfully manage seventeen different things at once but somehow haven’t had a proper conversation with your partner since Tuesday.

Which, frankly, felt VERY real.

I loved that neither Jackie nor Caleb was the bad guy. They both love each other. They’re both trying. They’re also both spectacularly stuffing things up because what one thinks is helpful is absolutely not what the other one needs at all.

There were several points in the book where I wanted to grab them both, smack their heads together and yell, “USE YOUR DAMN WORDS, PEOPLE!”

Jackie especially was painfully relatable. There’s a lot here about motherhood, getting older, kids needing you differently as they grow and that slightly alarming moment when you realise the roles that you have decided define you, for years, are changing and you’re left thinking, “Right. Well. Shit. Who am I then?”

Thankfully, the tone from the first book has not changed. Swinton is still gloriously bonkers. Everyone is in everyone else’s business, the friendships are brilliant and there’s enough ridiculousness going on to stop the emotional bits becoming too heavy.

And Chicken Wing. Chicken Wing may be my spirit animal.
Honestly, every small town romance series should apparently come with one completely ridiculous animal who has no respect for personal boundaries, social convention or the fact that the humans are trying to have an emotional moment.

Cats Out of the Bag is funny, messy, frustrating (but in a good way) and more emotional than I expected. It’s about what happens after the happily ever after, when you still love the absolute pants off someone but life has got a bit loud and you’ve forgotten to tell them.

100% worth a read. ❤️

Out October 13th. Get into the series, now, Talk of the Townies is on Kindle Unlimited.
There are mysterious pawprints in Mixy’s garden. N There are mysterious pawprints in Mixy’s garden. Naturally, everyone has brought the appropriate investigative equipment.

Mixy: detective skills.

Fern: torch and toolbelt.

Pip: 🥄a wooden spoon.

Look, nobody knows what might happen, OK! 😂

The Mystery of the Midnight Pawprints, Book 3 of Mixy the Garden Detective series, will be out soon. 

Keep your wooden spoons at the ready! 🐾

#CosyMystery #ChildrensMystery #MixyTheGardenDetective #UKAuthor #UKKidsBooks #ChildrensBooks #BedtimeStory
Three mysteries. One very curious cat. A ferret wi Three mysteries.
One very curious cat.
A ferret with ALL the tools.
And one mouse who continues to believe a wooden spoon constitutes emergency equipment.

🐱 Mixy the Garden Detective

✨ Book 1, The Mystery of the Midnight Glow

🚂 Book 2, The Miniature Train Mystery

🐾 Book 3, The Mystery of the Midnight Pawprints * Coming Soon*

Each book is its own gentle mystery, with clues to follow, familiar garden characters and plenty happening without needing anyone to save the world before bedtime. Great for those 'one more chapter, pleeeease' bedtime reading moments. 

They’re written as short, illustrated chapter books for children who are ready for longer stories but still enjoy plenty of pictures along the way.

And the garden keeps getting bigger and more magical with every mystery... 

#CosyMystery #ChildrensMystery #MixyTheGardenDetective #UKAuthor #UKKidsBooks #ChildrensBooks #BedtimeStory
COVER REVEAL! 🐾 Meet Book 3 of the Mixy the Garden COVER REVEAL! 🐾
Meet Book 3 of the Mixy the Garden Detective series: The Mystery of the Midnight Pawprints!

This time, the mystery starts right in Mixy’s garden.
Broken pots. Spilled soil. Strange tracks.
Something has been wandering through the garden while everyone was asleep, and Mixy intends to find out what.

I have deliberately kept one rather important character off the cover, because discovering exactly who left those pawprints is all part of the mystery.

Although Pip appears to have arrived armed with a wooden spoon, so clearly, he is prepared for every eventuality!

What do you think made the tracks?

#mixythegardendetective #cozymystery #childrensbooks #bookcoverreveal #childrensauthor
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