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Rachel Bustin

Birthday boys!

My three boys are not just animals to me, they are part of the family. They are so important to me as they bring me so much joy, companionship and loyalty, I really do not know what I will do when they pass on. Anyway, the point that I am trying to make is that as I regard them as members of the family it seemed only natural to me that on Leo's first birthday we would celebrate with a birthday cake and lots of pressies! However, having since discussed this with many friends and family it would appear that it is not so normal for most. 

PrintKick Review

We were kindly sent a box of goodies from Printkick for an afternoon of fun. Printkick is a family business which started in 2001. They primarily sell ceramics like printed mugs to small businesses around the UK but they have recently expanded their range to include a whole host of items, some of which we are reviewing today.

My top ten best lunch boxes

With the children back to school in September here in the UK, many parents will be shopping for school supplies so here are my top 10 of the best lunch boxes available from Amazon. 

Affiliate links are at the bottom of the page and cost you no extra, but help to keep my blog going. 

Do you know the difference between use by and best before dates?

According to the UK Food Standards Agency the 'use by' date is all about the safety of eating the food, so if the packaging has a 'use by' date, then you should never eat it once that date has passed as it is not safe to do so, even if the food looks or smells ok, it could have bacteria in it which could cause serious illness. However, the 'best before date' is all about the quality of the food and is perfectly safe to still consume years after the date has passed.

3 things people don't tell you about making slime!

My daughter has joined the craze of wanting to make slime, so like many mums, I started looking for recipes and 'how to' posts on making slime, so that we could make some of our own. From this, I have discovered three things that no one tells you when you're looking through tutorials on Pinterest or blog posts about making slime, which I think that people need to know!

A family day out at Chessington theme park

Chessington theme park and zoo is a great family day out as there is so much to see and do, enough for more than a day, I wish that we had gone for two days. 

H.Top Molinos Park - A Review

On June 14th 2018 we enjoyed our third stay in four years at Molinos Park. We absolutely love the hotel as it is such good value for money so I wanted to share it with everyone.

Kangeroo Pup!

Natural history museum

On a recent trip to London, we decided to visit the Natural History Museum as we had heard so many good things about it. However, I must say that although we did have a nice time we were not as impressed as we had thought that we would be. 

My July 2018

My July movie Reviews

Welcome to my new monthly feature! I am a big movie fan and I have a monthly cinema card so that I can visit my local cinema as many times a month as time will allow so I thought that I would give my thoughts on the films which I have watched each month. However, this is just my opinion so please don't send me angry messages if you watch a movie which I have recommended and you did not actually like it!

The complexity of adult friendship

Making friends as an adult is so much harder than when you were able to just tell someone that you really like them and want them to be your best friend forever!

A trip to Shreks Adventure London

When I first heard about this attraction opening in 2015 I knew that I wanted to take FJ there, as she is a huge Shrek fan. Three years later and we finally made it there! DJ, CJ, FJ and I recently spent a weekend in London so a trip to Shrek's Adventure had to be included in our itinerary! 

Adventures at the dog park

My three boys like nothing more than a trip to our local dog park. I say local, but it is actually the only proper dog park which we have in our town and it is located at the opposite end of the town to where we live, so the boys do not get to go as often as they would like.

Our romantic weekend away without the kids

In September 2016 I managed to tick off number 31 from my 40 by 40 list, which was to go on a luxury romantic weekend away with DJ. 

5 tips to writing a great library based dissertation

Writing any type of dissertation can be a very daunting task and for me, I was absolutely terrified of the whole idea as I just felt that it was something that only really smart academics could achieve, so I had a battle with my mind before I had even started. Most dissertations require the student to conduct a research study and collect the data themselves, but for a social work degree, you can choose to either do the former or to undertake a library based dissertation which is what I chose to do.

Our family holiday to sunny Salou!

In the car on the way to
the airport!

On June 25th 2016 I managed to check off another of my 40 by 40 goals which was to take a family holiday back to Salou.

First-born leaves the nest!

I knew that one day my children would all leave home, but I didn't expect my oldest to leave home until she was at least thirty. She was always the child who did not want to grow up and she would always tell me that I would have to 'kick her out' as she was not going anywhere. Even when she started university she chose to go to our local one so that she did not have to move away from home. Then she met her boyfriend and fell in love and everything changed. 

Five lessons learned from being a mature student

Being nearly at the end of a full-time social work degree, I thought that I would share some advice from what I learnt during my experience, for anyone considering returning to study.

1) It is not too late!

I hear so many people say that they wish that they could have gone to uni, but it is too late for them now. It is never too late to invest in yourself and your future. Many people return to uni as mature students so you will not be alone, particularly if you are studying a subject like social work, where at least fifty percent of my year group were mature students. 

Introducing Prince

The story of how Prince joined the family is a bit different to our other two dogs. My oldest daughter LJ aged 20 begged me to let her buy a puppy of her own. I wasn't sure as we were happy with our two boys and I wondered if she would really take care of him like she was promising, but when she showed me this picture of him, my heart melted and I could not say no.

How I finally won my battle with nicotine and gave up smoking

On January 15th 2015 I finally managed to quit smoking for good, which meant that I could check off number 14 from my 40 by 40 list. 

I had my first cigarette in 1993 and little did I know back then, the stress and pain that decision would cause me! Back then, age 13, I truly believed that I would be able to choose when I smoked and that I would not become addicted and that it was a 'cool' thing to do. I wanted to fit in at school and it was not as well known back then as to the health risks of smoking. 

Introducing Cody

In September 2016 we made the decision to get another dog as Leo had brought us so much joy and we thought that it would be nice to give him a little friend. 

So, when I saw a picture of this little cutie I knew that he was the puppy for me!

My uni journey as a mature student on a social work degree

For new readers, I will start from the beginning! So, I originally started a degree in social work in 2005. Unfortunately, I did not get to complete the degree as I became ill in the second year and I was later diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). After a long period of illness and many difficulties, I was finally well enough to return to the degree in 2014. As I had been away so long and so much had changed over the years, I was told that I would need to start from the beginning so I started year one again in September 2014.

Introducing Leo

In September 2014 we decided to get a dog as a family pet. We had never had a puppy before but I felt that I would rather have a puppy than an older dog as puppies have not had time to develop any bad habits. I was not worried about getting a pedigree and in fact actually, prefer cross-breads as they look so cute. I knew that I wanted a boy and that I would like the dog to be small. It didn't take very long for me to find the puppy that I felt would be perfect for our family and I was right, as getting Leo was one of the best decisions I ever made! 

Where I am now in life

Wow! It has been so long since I last posted on this blog! I honestly do not know where the time has gone. I have decided that it is time to get back to my blogging as I really enjoy it and I now have a little more time than I did so I will be posting more regularly.

So much has happened since my last posts so I will give a brief over-view of what has been going on and where I am now in life and then I will be sharing more information about these things in future posts.