All of Sally's Posts

About Sally

Sally is a full-time blogger and founder of the MAD Blog Awards and the Tots100, a community of almost 5,000 UK parent blogs. She is also a busy single Mum to Flea, the world's coolest seven year old.

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Here are my most recent posts

Do we invade our children’s privacy too much?

Posted on May 21, 2013 · 3 Comments
whosthemummy

As parents and writers, we are raising the first generation of people who could see their entire lives recorded online. With the rise of Facebook, parent blogs, Twitter and a thousand other websites, our children's lives are mapped online virtually from the moment of conception, in some cases. There's the scan photo on Facebook, the cute video announcing the baby's sex via cakes or balloons, the live-Tweeting of the birth, the toilet training stories, first day at school, and it goes on and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Rants and Rambles

Things to do at La Croix du Vieux Pont

Posted on May 14, 2013 · 5 Comments
2013 - 4

Back in The Olden Times (as Flea charmingly referred to my youth this week) I did a lot of camping. My Dad was a cub scout leader and we would regularly tramp off to a field to sleep in a tent, climb trees and splash about in rivers. We slept in scratchy sleeping bags on the floor, and woke with stiff limbs, crawling out into some muddy field or other for a campfire breakfast. As kids it was a dream come true, but my Mum was never quite so keen - and with the benefit of age, I can see … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adventures

Things to do in the Isle of Wight When You’re Seven

Posted on May 10, 2013 · 11 Comments
flea

It's been two years since our last visit to the Isle of Wight, when Flea was five. Last time, we went back to nature by staying in a yurt set in an apple orchard. It was incredibly picturesque but just a touch chilly, and a compost toilet does lose its rustic appeal after the first few visits. This Spring, we were invited to try out the West Bay Club, a holiday village on the Isle of Wight, just a minute or two's walk from the town of Yarmouth. The West Bay Club is a village of around … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: ,

Flea and Sally’s Simple Italian Feast

Posted on May 1, 2013 · 6 Comments
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Earlier this month, Flea and I spent a few days in Florence, and we were lucky enough to attend some cooking classes where some rather lovely Italian chefs taught us how to make lots of yummy Italian food. We've been home long enough to try these recipes again and I am delighted to report we have managed NOT to poison anyone in the family. On that basis, we're now sharing with you a simple, Italian menu that can be prepared in just a couple of hours by kitchen-idiots like me. All recipes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cookery

Dear Next Week

Posted on April 28, 2013 · 8 Comments
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Dear Next Week, We haven't met yet, but honestly, I have high hopes of a beautiful friendship between you and I. Certainly, I know you won't let me down the way that bastard Last Week did. For starters, there was the unfortunate incident where I had to cancel a night away in a 5-star hotel in favour of dealing with emails about server upgrades. You'd never do that, would you Next Week? I am also 100 percent confident that you won't be involved in any bird-killing shenanigans, the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bad Mother Moments

Why I’m over Candy Crush

Posted on April 24, 2013 · 30 Comments
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Apparently, Candy Crush is the most popular game on Facebook, with 9.7m people playing the game each day. I'm not surprised - I keep seeing mentions among bloggers of the game, and every time I log into Facebook, I'm accosted by half a dozen updates from friends who are inviting me to play. So, for a couple of weeks, I added the game, and played. I can see what people like about Candy Crush. It's cute, and simple to understand, and accessible. It's social, too - you can gloat as you pass … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Rants and Rambles

Why not say it with a GIF?

Posted on April 21, 2013 · 23 Comments
page 4

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then a GIF speaks - well, probably a bit more than a thousand. A thousand and two, at least. If you're a Tumblr user (check out the Tots100's guide to Tumblr for beginners if you're not!) then you'll be familiar with GIFs - animated images that are used to express a quick thought or capture a memorable moment. They're ALL over the Internet. Approximately 50% of GIFs feature cats. Or people falling over. Like this one, which is never NOT funny to me: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Rants and Rambles

The One Where We Road-Test a Volvo XC90

Posted on April 16, 2013 · 20 Comments
volvo xc90 review picture

Back in the dark mists of time - summer 2005 - I started looking for a new car. I'd been driving my little Citroen C3 for a couple of years but I was due to have a baby and that meant I needed a car that could manage a Labrador, husband, pushchair and baby plus assorted shopping - and my C3 was very definitely not THAT car. One of the vehicles we looked at was the Volvo XC90 - I loved the space, and knew it would be really comfortable for the regular journeys I made from Sussex to see family … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Product Reviews Tagged With:

Things to do in Florence when you’re Seven

Posted on April 14, 2013 · 31 Comments
florence

This Easter, Flea and I were set the challenge of spending 100,000 Starpoints on a trip somewhere fun. That was it. No rules, no guidelines, just -  go somewhere and have fun. And so it was we ended up booking two flights to Florence for a three-night stay at the Westin Excelsior Hotel. After I booked the hotel, I asked my Twitter followers what fun things there are to do in Florence. "There are a lot of bridges," said one friend. "It's very pretty," said another. It didn't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Adventures

April 6 : Just another day.

Posted on April 6, 2013 · 40 Comments
April6

Dates are funny things, aren't they? Stick an arbitrary label on a day, and something happens - you'll remember that thing on the same day every year going forward. There are birthdays, anniversaries, dates when someone died, dates when we went somewhere special. April 6 is the day my house should have been repossessed. I wish I didn't remember that quite so vividly, but there you go. On this date, not so very many years ago, I was due in court to explain to a magistrate why they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: All About Me
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