Always been stylish me !

I am feeling particularly frumpy and out of sorts with my fashion these days. There never seems enough time to "think" about the clothes I wear. It wasn't always this way, so when I saw the April Tots100 blog hop I though it might be fun to show you just what a style icon I was back in the day !  ( remember these photographs were taken 30 years ago - gulp).

I was no Private Benjamin. 1979 aged 17 years in basic training for the army. They made us wear our P.E. Skirts for the two weeks until our uniform was tailored. Look how shiny my shoes are. All my own work, spent hours and hours of spit and polish bulling them.

1981 The coolest girl on the base ! Horrible itchy acrylic woolly jumper tucked into my high waisted jeans, coolest of cool leg warmers pushed down (of course) and pixie boots (the first time around) leaning ever so casually against the bonnet of my boyfriends yellow golf of was it a polo ? can't remember. The hairstyle of the day Joanne Catherall of the Human League of course !

1982 wearing the biggest style statement of the year courtesy of Kevin Rowland from Dexy's Midnight runners. Dungaree's! I had 4 pairs in different colours and also colour co-ordinated the tops ! Look at the telephone on the wall in my mum's house. ha!

1982 Then it all went horribly wrong ! Somebody told me having a perm would be good for my fine flyaway hair. I duly went to a German hairdresser on the base in Rhinedahlen and came out looking like a poodle! I was totally distraught, I ran all the way back to my room crying and spent two days trying to wash the perm out. Of course it only made it worse. When my boyfriend first saw me he turned and ran off! I ended up marrying him, should of known the marriage would be doomed from the start!

So there you go That's my Tots100 blog hop post.

Meccano Space Chaos & Turbo

We were recently thrilled to receive some Meccano Space Chaos and Turbo Models for the twins from Meccano.  The boys loved the sets, although they needed a little help from daddy to put them together.  They combine the traditional view of Meccano (metal pieces with holes in them ) with some plastic components and futuristic design.

The space Chaos ships come in two ranges Silver Force set (on the left above and the good guys) and the Dark Pirates (on the right and the bad guys).  Both ranges transform into two ships.   Also included is a trading card  .  As is often the case in our house  Jarvis chose to be a bad guy and Milo the goody, I can confirm the good versus bad battle was rigorously fought, with lots of bashing and crashing, sound effect and flying around the house !  The ships survived to fight another day !

 Children  can go online on the professional and easy to use website to read about the quest, download card games, secret codes and videos.

The third set was from the Turbo range a selection of racing cars.  One clever feature is part of the storage case is used to form part of the car.    Suitable for 7 yrs and over they boys had no trouble putting this one together.  Its sturdy and well made and again combines the traditional look of Meccano with uptodate features.

If you are looking for an alternative to expensive chocolate Eggs this Easter, these toys priced at around £12 represent good value for money. 

This is not a sponsored post, we received no money for our review.

Is now the right time ?

I have to admit to thriving on a challenge.   

I am always looking for more ways to make a living.  Sales of my childrens clothes in my Ebay Shop and website have taken a bit of a nose dive in the last year.  In some way due to the recession I am sure, but also if I am honest, because I haven't given that aspect of my business the attention I should have. 

I get distracted by new ideas and bored by old ones.  I have a typical Gemini Mind.

Last year I launched my own small range of Milly by the Sea clothes for little girls, it was well received and I had lots of ideas but not the money required to produce all the items I would have liked or to follow up the range. 

The clothes are hand crafted in England and it was important for me to be able to sell them at an affordable price.  A tough call.  Anyone who is involved in the manufacture of goods in the UK will know that its impossible to compete with the mass produced rates overseas manufacturers offer.  So inevitably there was little profit for me and I decided to put Milly to bed for the time being until hopefully I was in a position to develop and market the range properly.

I would dearly love to wake Milly up now, but as I also have another idea on the back boiler at the moment coming as a result of my new and second blog The White Approach (yes, another one) is it the right time ?  Should I just concentrate on one business ?

Or is this how I should be thinking in these tough times ? Running several different concerns to appeal to as many people as possible ? 

Is this Entrepreneurial Spirt ? - 

 Entrepreneur – noun

1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

or

Being a Jack of all trades and master of non ? 

Gifted People

You know how it is, you need to buy a gift for somebody at short notice or they are the person who  "has everything", you panic and buy a gift voucher from the nearest store. Not very inspiring and often left to languish in a drawer unredeemed.

 I remember many years ago buying my husband a very expensive Horticultural Experience (which could only be redeemed at a certain place and had an end date) I thought it was the perfect gift for him.  Sadly he didn't, it was never used and £150 went down the drain ! Shocking now !

I was really interested to take a look at http://www.giftedpeople.co.uk/ a Scottish Company that specialises in ethically produced gifts and experiences from local Scottish makers and traders.  This does not mean their site is limited only to those lucky folk who live in Scotland though.  There are many beautiful items available to gift to friends, family and loved ones.    I must admit, it would be great if they did go nationwide I would LOVE to be gifted the Ironing experience !

With many options on the flexibility of the gift from ;

E-vouchers -  Your Order -  They are sent to you and copied to the gift provider. You can specify that you want the gift sent to the gift recipient and send them a copy of the e-voucher so that they can get in touch with the gift provider.

or

Gold Gift Vouchers are sent to your gift recipient. They then contact the gift provider.

You are sure to find something to suit the person who you are gifting and if they are not happy (we all know one of those people) then they have the flexibility to change the gift themselves.

The site is really easy to navigate and offers great treats like :

Second time Weddings - let them choose something to do together
Gifts for people by their Character
Pamper sessions - for men as well as women
Male Grooming
Learning Gifts
Beautiful Arts and Crafts
Gourmet Chocolates

The list is endless, a site full of different, thoughtful presents to suit all budgets.

If you are looking for something other than the usual boring bunch of flowers for your mum for Mothers Day pop over and take a look, there is sure to be something to delight her on this lovely site.

This is not a sponsored post but I was lucky enough to be offered a voucher to spend on the site and will update this post once I have decided what to buy and completed my gift experience.