The Joy of Quidco!

In a 1970's hairy, sweaty, 'love to love you baby!', sexy way....I love the joy that is Quidco.
Seriously. For those of you (ie. all of you) who shop online regularly this is the way to go.

Since joining it in May I've had nearly £150 in cashback for just getting on with my normal shopping!

With very little effort you can earn an average of 4% cashback on many of your purchases, including hotels, holidays, ebay auctions, takeaways, betting, groupon deals, all types of insurance, clothes and lots lots more!

Benjoy Review

I'm currently on the look-out for healthy snacks that my lactose intolerant toddler can enjoy and sometimes share with his wheat/gluten/oat intolerant mother.
I'd read about Benjoy on another blog and contacted them to see if they might be up for letting me do a review too.
And they agreed....

Benjoy make a range of healthy Munchcups that are designed to be a nutritious and delicious, take-anywhere snacks for kids.
As my little boy is lactose intolerant I often struggle to find different snacks for him to eat, and share with me as I'm gluten and sugar intolerant - what fun!

Nakd Review

As I'm on a strict diet for my endometriosis I thought I'd blog my search for interesting and tasty snacks and cooking ingredients. this is my first review!
Earlier this month I contacted the people at Natural Balance Foods about their Nakd bars. They very kindly sent me a selection of bars to try.

Nakd avoid the refined, additive packed ingredients found in most cereal bars by making them with raw fruit, nuts and other natural ingredients.
They are wheat, dairy and gluten free and best of all....count as one of your 1 a day!

Hotels.TV Competition - Southside and Old Town Edinburgh

Last week I made a very last minute entry to Hotels.TV's facebook competition.

They're giving away £500 to the person chosen as winner. I'd love to win so that we can double our car fund since Steve's just passed his test. Road trip!


I made this on my own in and around my local area using just a camera tripod and mini HD video camera.
This was a fairly embarrassing task but I really enjoyed doing it, even though the local 'characters' were edging closer and closer and the same pair of mums kept passing me time and time again with their prams, shaking their heads. I do have a natural cheesy side which is best shown off with me doing thumbs up signs on my own in the street.....


Here it is on Youtube

If you'd like to give me a thumbs up to give me a boost then please click here and VOTE. You need to like the Hotels.TV facebook page in the process of doing this. Worth doing as they have great offers. I had a look around the website in order to write this post and their prices are very competitive.


You can click VOTE once daily up until the 9th sept. Judges are choosing the winner but I'm sure that they'll appreciate people bringing in more fans!


Read below about 'My Edinburgh'.

Endometriosis & Nutrition

I have stage 4 endometriosis. It's a shitty, painful condition that is invisible to strangers and generally involves lots of surgeries and crazy hormonal treatments in order to, just, keep on top of the symptoms.

If I try to explain it in my own words it'll just come out as quite a lot of swearing, so here's the official NHS line:-

Endometriosis is a common condition in which small pieces of the womb lining (the endometrium) are found outside the womb. This could be in the fallopian tubes, ovaries, bladder, bowel, vagina or rectum.

Endometriosis commonly causes pain in the lower abdomen (tummy), pelvis or lower back. It may also lead to fertility problems (see Symptoms of endometriosis for more information). However, some women have few or no symptoms.

The cause of endometriosis is uncertain, but there are several theories.

Endometriosis affects around 2 million women in the UK. Most of them are diagnosed between the ages of 25 and 40.

There is no known cure for endometriosis. It is a chronic (long-term) condition that can cause pain, lack of energy, depression and fertility problems. However, symptoms can be managed and fertility improved with pain medication, hormone treatment or surgery, so that the condition does not interfere with your daily life.

After years of laparoscopies, being put through an early menopause for 3 months, pills & disciplinaries for absence from work I was told it was hysterectomy time or try to get pregnant, if I could, which was doubtful.

What do you know? I got pregnant very quickly and was given nearly 3 years of respite from pain until I stopped breastfeeding and the dreaded hormones kicked in again.

I've since discovered that my adhesions are so widespread that a hysterectomy would not bring me full relief of symptoms anyway. Stage 4 is the final stage and a lot of women have it much much worse than me.

This time round it's back in my life but I'm not going down the NHS route until it's totally necessary.