Lamb & Bear

Brand & Blog

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A-Z Blogger Challenge – J is for Juggle

juggle pinI do sometimes wonder how I juggle so many things at once, and actually I get asked the question quite often.

Designer. Mother. Blogger. Wife.

You may notice this is my strap line on my blog and social media. Something has to give and for me that’s housework and everyday tasks.

I’m lucky to have 3 days a week to work and blog, and it’s on these days I should really be doing typical house stuff, but I don’t. I blog, I design, I work. I have to, if I don’t I’ll never build my new career and earn a wage again. Which is vital to our family. We need more money.

I get lovely comments on my blog when I write about how much I do. Things like “when you dominate the world” and “superstar” which makes me feel incredible. But then I look around my house and feel like a failure. It’s pretty much always untidy. Always.

I clean the kitchen down every night, put the hoover round every couple of days (plus use the dust buster daily). Do the laundry. Clean the bathroom while Lamb has his bath. But I’m lazy and I hate tidying up. You know, general mess. I sit on the sofa peeking at it over the top of my laptop but don’t have the urge to tidy it away. I just want to use the time to work, because in a matter of weeks I’ll be juggling another human in my house (not literally if course, I can’t juggle anyway) and my blog will be neglected slightly.

I have to spend every spare minute on my laptop promoting my blog and brand, writing posts, being active on social media. My little online space means a lot to me and I want it to be successful. To be honest, I don’t know how I juggle everything. I use my evenings to do a lot, the 3 days when Lamb is out of the house, and I always find my Wordpres app super useful to write blog posts when we are in the car (I’m not driving of course) and if I wake randomly in the night (damn pregnancy insomnia).

I’m much happier when I’m busy. I love juggling all of these things. But unfortunately I’ll never be the perfect housewife. I see so many lovely photos through blogging of lovely homes, but you won’t be seeing any of mine.

Our home is lived in and certainly not Pinterest worthy.

But that’s ok. I can’t juggle everything can I. 😉

Ax

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ALDI Baby & Toddler Event – Order Specialbuys Online!

aldi baby & toddler event pinOn the 21st April Aldi will be holding their next Baby & Toddler event and there’s something extra special about it. For those of you who don’t live near an Aldi store, you can now buy their special buys online!

This month Aldi are trialling their jumbo boxes of nappies online for a limited period. So if you want to stock up nows your chance! What’s even better is Aldi are offering free standard delivery on special buys to celebrate their online launch offer!

aldi baby & toddler event collage

To celebrate the Aldi Baby & Toddler event and and the launch of their jumbo boxes online I’ve been given the opportunity to giveaway a box to you lovely lot!

You can enter via the form below. Good Luck!

Ax

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&Cs
UK entries only. No cash alternative.
Winner will be drawn at random within 48 hours of competition ending.
Prize will be sent by the brand/PR and is not supplied by Lamb & Bear.
Prizes are subject to availability. Colours/products may vary and alternative prizes will be offered if not available. 
All entires will be checked and verified. People who do not fulfil all requirements will be disqualified.
Invalid URLs left on blog post comments will be disqualified. 

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Cheap and Easy Beef Bourguignon Recipe #livepeasant Challenge

This week Simply Beef and Lamb asked me to take the #livepeasant challenge and create a ‘peasant’ recipe using cheap ingredients. We were asked to look out for the ‘Red Tractor’ logo on either beef or lamb. You may not be aware of the Red Tractor logo, but buying meat with that little red tractor on the packaging means you are buying farm assured meat.

beef lamb red tractor

Simplybeefandlamb.co.uk tells us more about the Red Tractor scheme…

“Many farmers have both cattle and sheep on their farms and the Red Tractor scheme covers quality beef and lamb production as well as a range of other agricultural produce. The assurance standards encompass food safety, animal welfare, environmental protection and traceability from farms to pack. The welfare needs of sheep and cattle must not be compromised at any stage of their lives including transporting them in safe, suitable vehicles and farmers must ensure that their farming practices do not damage the environment. Animals need to be identifiable and traceable back to their farms of origin, and the beef and lamb produced meets standards of hygiene so that it is free from contamination and safe to eat. – See more at www.redtractor.org.uk”

I was recently sent some Aldi wine to try out as part of their Mamia Parent Panel, but of course I can’t drink it, so I decided to cook with it instead! I’ve never made Beef Bourguignon before but it turns out it’s a really simple recipe with limited ingredients needed! I actually managed to buy everything in Aldi, meaning this is also a super cheap recipe too.

beef pin

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 4)

  • * 700g Diced Beef – remember to look out for the red tractor!
  • * 200g smoked bacon lardons.
  • * 100-200g chestnut mushrooms – chopped. I’ve put 100-200g because I like a lot of mushrooms. so tend to put in a whole packet!
  • * 2 cloves of garlic – peeled and sliced.
  • * 400 g carrots – peeled and sliced.
  • * 1 medium onion – peeled and sliced.
  • * 6 sprigs of thyme.
  • * 425ml red wine.
  • * Salt & pepper.
  • 1 medium potato per person.

METHOD

This couldn’t be simpler… chuck it all in your slow cooker and cook for a couple of hours! I served our beef bourguignon with fluffy mashed potatoes.

I love using my slow cooker. As a soon to be mum of 2 I find preparing an evening meal quite challenging, especially as my 3 year old likes to go to bed later than he should. I’ll soon have a newborn attached to me feeding around the clock, so my slow cooker will be my life saver when it comes to making evening meals. It’s so convenient for busy families. I can make our dinner first thing in the morning and leave it to cook slowly throughout the day. I can also batch cook to pop in the fridge or freezer for another day. I’ll be doing lots of this over the next couple of weeks in preparation for our new arrival!

beef ingredients

beef bourguignonIMG_9792beef bourguignonThe approximate total for these ingredients is £7.35. A bottle of red wine from Aldi costs around £5. The total cost per person for this meal is just over £3! Incredible how cheaply you can create such a delicious meal.

Why don’t you take the #livepeasant challenge and see how affordable your meals can be?

Ax

*This is a collaborative post with simplybeefandlamb.co.uk

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A-Z Blogger Challenge – I is for Improvement

improvement titleThe terrible twos never really hit our household. We always said between the age of 1 and 2 was harder. We knew we wouldn’t get away with it lightly though and prepared ourselves for the threenager stage.

Well, lamb has been 3 for almost a month now and what a challenging month that’s been.

It seems he’s turned 3 and found this new confidence to expect what he wants, when he wants it. Don’t forget the huge tantrum he had in B&M car park and I wrote the post about the woman who stared.

Like every other 3 year old, Lamb has found an obsession with surprise eggs. I remember my brother and sister in law warning me about this new craze as my nephew was already hooked. Well, lamb had been sucked in too. Almost everyday he asks for an egg or to watch eggs. It’s crazy. Unfortunately there are days where I use them as a way of getting him to do simple things like get in the bloody car so I can get to an appointment on time. Yes I’m that mum.

This week I had enough of bribing with eggs, it’s costing me a fortune! So I’ve introduced a Reward Chart, something I used in the past but slowly gave up on, but something I know could work with Lamb as he loves stickers.

I only introduced the chart on Wednesday but I already seen improvements, which I’m amazed at. Lamb has 4 sticker colours. Orange is for sleeping, purple is for eating, green is for helping and blue is for being good.

The rules are simple. Once Lamb has 10 stickers (which I will try drag out over a week or at least a few days) he gets a present, which he has decided is a surprise egg. That’s fine, they’re only 99p!

One thing Ive really been trying to crack down on is his sleeping. It’s been awful since he was 1. He’s rarely slept through the night for the past 2 years and with baby number 2 arriving very soon I wanted to tackle this problem as soon as possible.

Well this week he’s turned a corner. He’s slept through every night! We introduced a Gro Clock recently which has taken around a month to take effect. He now wakes up and tells me the clock is yellow and Mr Sunshine is awake. I’ll be writing a more thorough blog post on our experience with the Gro Clock soon. It really is an incredible product for kids who don’t sleep well. It just takes a bit of time to kick in.

Finally, I wouldn’t say we’ve seen an improvement in Lambs eating, but he’s started eating a bit of fruit again which is great as his diet is appalling. He’s always loved satsumas but because his diet is so limited he goes off them quite easily, the same goes with apples. This week he ate a number of satsumas at home and finally ate his apple for a snack at nursery. Breakthrough! I’ve asked nursery to let me know when things like this happens so I can give him a sticker on his chart.

After introducing his reward chart I’ve definitely seen an improvement in his behaviour. I have to keep reminding myself he’s only 3 and it’s not going to be a quick fix. It will take time for him to get used to and he will forget the rules every now and then. There are times I’ll say if you do this or that you’ll get a sticker and his reply is “how about now?” Meaning how about I get a sticker now! Bless him, he’s a little spoilt I think.

I’m actually really proud of Lamb this week. I just hope it continues for the rest of this pregnancy and when his baby brother arrives!

Ax

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A-Z Blogger Challenge – H is for Home

home pinAs you know our family will soon become a family of four and if I’m like the majority of pregnant woman I will start nesting in preparation for the new arrival. Well, the thing is, I’m quite an untidy person. Yep, I’ll put my hands up and say I’m messy. Don’t get me wrong, the mess is organised and I know where things are, it’s just usually in a few piles around the house! Lets call it organised chaos. 😉

Well, enough is enough. We have a small house and it needs to be adapted to make room for the many products a baby needs. Lamb has his own kitchen cupboard and baby will need one too. The thing is, they are all full – overflowing even. His bedroom lacks storage yet we will have a whole new collection of clothing, nappies, muslins, bibs etc to find a home for.

It’s time for me to ‘nest’. I’m looking at ways or adding storage here and there.

We are very lucky to have a cellar. A cellar that was renovated by the previous owners and is a usable room. Laminate flooring, electricity and heating. Not like your typical cellar.

For the nearly 5 years we’ve lived here the cellar has been used for storage. Christmas decorations, multiple prams, gym equipment. When Lamb was born I realised I desperately needed a tumble dryer so we have that and our freezer down there, and since launching my brand I began using it to store my leggings.

Things were getting a little out of control and we needed more storage racks and I’ve been asking hubby for a work surface for months. My super duper in laws love a project, especially if it involves home improvements, and last weekend they kindly reorganised everything down there. My father in law is a DIY whizz and built me the most amazing work surface that sits over the tumble dryer and freezer. He also gave me another set of shelving racks to store my boxes of leggings.

IMG_9816Having that room organised has really lifted a weight off my shoulders. I’ll soon have tonnes more laundry to sort and now I can use the work surface to keep the piles of clean washing neat and tidy for when I have the time to put it away. No more screwed up piles on the floor!

My leggings are beautifully organised into different tubs meaning it’s nice and easy for me to access when I get orders, like this week, when I had 10 to pack up after going on sale.

IMG_9821My wonderful father in law has also built me some shelves above my cellar stairs. Such a clever idea! I can now keep small items like medicine bottles in little tubs and free up some cupboard space in the kitchen for the baby. I’ve also decided to keep cereal boxes on the top shelf as these take up so much room in the kitchen! There’s so much you keep in a kitchen, but rarely need, so I’ve found these shelves so helpful already. I’m sure I’ll swap things around until I find the perfect balance of what I want in the cupboards and on the shelves but at least baby has his own cupboard now!

home shelveshome shelfWe are also going to be putting coat hooks along the lefthand side wall above the cellar stairs so I can hang things like spare carrier bags and winter coats. The little ledge along the side will probably become home to our wellies boot too. 🙂

I love how much difference these little changes have made to organising my clutter. Let me know of any clever little storage solutions you’ve done in your home that I might be able to do too.

Ax

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