Happy New Me

So, Christmas is over. We've all eaten our way through too many chocolate oranges and are left feeling, let's just say, a little 'festive' around the middle. Generally, I'm not a fan of the 'post-Christmas/pre-New Year' week - it all seems a little forced and makes me realise how much I love my routine (even though I complain endlessly about that routine when I'm doing it). Also, the Christmas trees look very sad after Christmas, don't you think? Like they're trying really hard to still have a great time, with all their lights and baubles, but just ending up looking a bit tragic. Anyway, I digress....

So, it is with great delight that I realise we've reached New Year's Eve and with just a few more hours of excess to get through (that means you, box of fudge) I can look forward to starting on that detox I've been promising myself since, erm, this time last year and can happily put the gin bottle away for at least a month and not miss it at all (crosses fingers).

I'm also looking forward to a fresh start with my writing in 2012. I have watched several of my friends achieve huge breakthroughs and fantastic writing success in 2011 which has been hugely inspiring (yes, I am talking to you Maria Duffy and Jane Travers). Anyone who has followed me from the start (March 2009 - check it out here if you don't have anything pressing to do) will know that I've loved my blogging journey and have been pursuing my dream of being a published author at the same time. There are various posts around my blog explaining my writing journey (sorry - am a bit too full of stilton to think of a better word at the moment) and am delighted to be in a very happy place at the end of 2011 with a fabulous agent, Sheila Crowley of Curtis Brown, two 'near-miss' novels behind me and a notebook full of fabulous ideas which I just can't wait to get started on.

I also recently started writing a guest blog called 'Carry on Writing' for writing.ie which will follow my writing trials and tribulations during 2012 and I will also be continuing with my book review blog 'Off the Shelf' for hellomagazine.com. Hot off the press, Jane Wenham-Jones has also mentioned me in January's Writing Magazine which is rather exciting and in a lovely pre-Christmas Tweet, Vanessa O'Loughlin at Inkwell Writers mentioned me as 'one to watch in 2012'. Now, if all that doesn't give me the prefect excuse for an extra glass of champagne tonight, I don't know what does.

You may, or may not, also have noticed that I am no longer @hotcrossmum on Twitter, having decided, finally, to be my real self @HazelGaynor. Hot Cross Mum, the blog, will continue to be a place where I muse, rant and ponder all things child/parent related, and other things besides which catch my attention, but as far as my writing career goes, I shall henceforth be known as, well, myself!

So, here's to a fresh start, a blank screen and may the words flow as freely in 2012 as the bubbly will on the last night of 2011.

Cheers to you all and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Happy New Me

Stowells Light Wine

Ahhhh, Christmas - I love everything about it: the songs, the fairy lights, the feasting and the, ahem, occasional festive tipple. I'm not usually one to fret about the colorific content of the liquid I am about to sip in contented enjoyment, but, let's face it, I turned 40 this year and that taut stomach I used to possess (when I was around the age of 14) just isn't going to make a reappearance anytime soon. So, if there is a wine out there which has lower calories than others, I for one am willing to give it a try.

The new Stowells Light is a low alcohol wine at just 5.5% and contains just 60 calories for a 125ml glass, that's 30% less calories per glass than a typical glass of wine. Great news - especially as this means I can now scoff the entire packet of crisps with a slightly less guilty conscience - hurray to that!

Stowells Light White is made from a blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, and has fresh flavours of melon, pear and apricot. The Shiraz Rose, which I tried, is full of juicy strawberry, raspberry and cherry fruit flavours. Yum to all of the above. Cleverly, even though the wine is low alcohol and low calorie, it doesn't lose any of the flavour and if you like your wine to have a refreshing, fruity taste experience, this could be one for you. There is, of course, a big taste difference from a heavy, full-bodied red, but if you're looking for something lighter - in every sense of the word - I think this could be a big hit.

Clare Griffiths, Marketing Director for Accolade Wines (the people behind the Stowells brand) comments, 'We are very excited to launch Stowells Light. Quality and experience is at the forefront of everything that Stowells does, with a 130 year history as a wine merchant it has a great tradition of innovation. Our research has shown there is significant demand from consumers for low alcohol and low calorie offerings from brands they know and trust. But they are not willing to compromise on taste. We believe we have found a winning solution with Stowells Light'

Stowells Light is available at all ASDA stores nationwide for RRP £5.49.

For more information, visit www.stowellslight.com

Disclaimer

Please remember to drink Stowells Light sensibly.

Stowells Light Wine

Modern Languages in Primary Schools - lost in translation?

In Ireland's budget earlier this week, among the many shocking and depressing announcements made, was a proposal to abolish the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative with immediate effect. For anyone not familiar with the initiative, and to understand how short-sighted this is of the government, please read the response below from Tanya Flanagan, National Coordinator of the programme.

'As you can appreciate, we are absolutely devastated by this announcement which comes at the end of a year when we have been congratulated at every review meeting with the DES in terms of how we have continued to maintain and deliver excellent services while achieving significant efficiencies.

We support modern languages in over 550 schools nationally with a core team of just 6 people. We provide training, resources and school-based support as well as funding 300 visiting teachers who deliver the programme in schools nationwide, all within a budget of under €2 million, and not the €2.5 million erroneously quoted in the budget documents.

In terms of policy, we are already years behind our commitments under the Barcelona Agreement and the Lisbon Strategy – these agreements called for systems to be in place to facilitate early language learning of at least two foreign languages by 2010 .….Even more incredibly, all EU countries, including Ireland, ratified recommendations in NOVEMBER 2011 in which we have pledged to “step up their efforts” to implement the Barcelona Agreement!!! Please see - http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/11/st16/st16744.en11.pdf

As recently as October the Royal Irish Academy published their National Languages Strategy which called for “the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative (to)be integrated into the mainstream curriculum, as strongly recommended by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (2005) and the Council of Europe Policy Profile (2008) document,rather than being limited to extra-curricular time and to a portion of schools”. A Dept. of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation report also quoted in the RIA strategy and states that “the widespread but erroneous perception that ‘English is enough’ militates against the kind of plurilingual ambitions and achievements common in non-anglophone EU member states. The most recent strategy and action plan issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation argues that ‘the main challenge for Ireland…is to become a truly multilingual society, where the ability to learn and use two or more languages is taken for granted and fostered at every stage of the education system and through lifelong education”.

By abolishing the programme, over 14 years of expertise will be lost to the system and a whole generation of our children will be placed at an even greater disadvantage as they try to compete for jobs with our fellow Europeans.This decision will result in the only children accessing modern language classes being the privileged classes who can afford to pay for them – a return to the situation of 20 years ago. It will also result in over 300 more teachers on the live register.'

This video link also captures what is at stake with the Minister's decision to abolish the MLPSI programme.

If you would like to support the MLPSI to get this decision reversed, please contact your local TD, contact the Minister for Education directly at MINISTER@education.gov.ie , visit the MLPSIFacebook page and sign the petition to register your opposition to the budget announcement.

Thank you.

Modern Languages in Primary Schools - lost in translation?

The twelve days of a parent's Christmas

To be sung to the tune of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' (obviously!)

On the first day of Christmas, my children gave to me, a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the second day of Christmas, my children gave to me, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the third day of Christmas, my children gave to me, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my children gave to me, seven loads of washing, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, eight hours sulking, seven loads of washing, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, nine silly dances, eight hours sulking, seven loads of washing, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, ten stones for keeping, nine silly dances, eight hours sulking, seven loads of washing, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my children gave to me, eleven minutes typing, ten stones for keeping, nine silly dances, eight hours sulking, seven loads of washing, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs and a toilet floor covered in wee.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my children gave to me, twelve 'mum, mum, muuuuum-ings', eleven minutes typing, ten stones for keeping, nine silly dances, eight hours sulking, seven loads of washing, six friends for play dates, five stolen things - four rude words, three Ben Ten's, two dirty mugs,

and a toilet floor covered in weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

This post was written for Potty Mummy and Expat Mum who made me properly Laugh Out Loud and inspired me to blog about wee on the floor after some shared tweeting on the matter.

The twelve days of a parent's Christmas

Hot Wheels Wall Tracks review

I have two boys. They have lots of race track for their cars. It spends most of its life in various bits and pieces scattered around my sitting room or somebody's bedroom and I spend most of my life tripping over it, standing on it or hoovering up segments of it. Basically, it drives me up the wall. So, imagine my delight when Mattel got in touch to see if my boys would like to try their new Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, which you can, literally, drive up the wall. Yes please!

The idea of Hot Wheels Wall Tracks is that you assemble the racing track on the wall, where it stays, rather than under your feet. The track comes with a hanging template to help set them up - admittedly my husband took charge of this, but he reassures me that it is quite straightforward. The track sticks to the wall with 3M Command Strips, which you can get from places like Homebase and B&Q - but they also come free in the Hot Wheels box. 3M Command strips are safe and easy to use and don't damage the walls - although there are obvious warnings about using on your lovely new Farrow and Ball wallpaper etc! The sets are all fully customisable and connect to other Hot Wheels sets so you can mix and match to create different race tracks.

I have to admit to being sceptical when I saw the info for the product - would it really stay on the wall? Well, it does and the boys absolutely love it. We have assembled it in the smallest bedroom in the house - an average sized box room of an average sized 3 bed semi (to give you an idea). It is fixed from about half-way up the height and takes up about a third of the space of the longest wall and runs down to floor level. It is also designed to run in a curve around a corner so some of the track is also fixed against the small side wall. Of course, the kids take the track apart and change bits around and forget to put bits back together so some does end up on the bedroom floor - unfortunately no toy is completely mess-proof - but, all-in-all, I think this is a toy which prevents more mess than it creates.

This really is a great idea and a great toy and if you have kids who love their racing cars and racing tracks this is sure to be a big hit. Plus, the novelty factor of having a racing track actually on your bedroom wall is pretty hard to beat! Thumbs up all round from the Hot Cross household!

The starter set is priced around £29.99 and the stunt sets are priced around £16.99.

Disclosure.

Hot Wheels Wall Tracks review