The Gallery 146 - Dads

This week's Gallery Prompt at from the lovely Tara over at Sticky Fingers is Dads.

Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of my dad's death. He died of esophageal cancer and died within 2 weeks of being diagnosed, it was fast and was a blessing in many ways, but I still never really got a chance to say goodbye. I'm an only child and worshipped my dad, we had our moments and fought as we were so similar, both wanting to be right, but we loved each other. I miss him everyday and wish more than anything I could talk to him one last time, find out if he's seen my children and if he's proud of me. 

He had a wicked sense of humour, he picked me up from primary school once in my life, it was a time when a huge vat of wax has exploded all over him and had dried in. Yes, I was so embarrassed. One time he took me to high school, the one and only time, he drove me right into the school playground and made me get out in the middle of everyone standing staring and he was shouting out the window saying he loved me. Not good for teenage cred. He was the most intelligent person I know, he was a scientist and did loads of research into metals and latterly recyclable plastics. He loved his work and was well respected. 

Fish is the Dish - Smoked Mackerel Pate & Haddock Fish Cakes Recipes

Fish is the Dish have a new campaign called Healthy and Happy Hearts, the challenge is to encourage families to eat fish twice a week. You can find out more about the challenge on the Fish is the Dish Website. They have tips, recipes and advice from not one but three Healthy Happy Heart Experts.

This week a few of the dishes we've had is Smoked Mackerel Pate and Haddock Fish Cakes. The recipes are below.

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Review - Hot Wheels Ballistiks Rapid Fire Blaster

We are big Hot Wheels fans here, the boys love cars and throw in something that fires them out and surely you're onto a winner. Hot Wheels came up with the Hot Wheels Ballistiks Rapid Fire Blaster to fire out their Ballistiks vehicles. This works by the vehicles being made into a ball and being fed through the magazine side and using the trigger to fire.

Guest Post - Summer With the Kids: Low Cost Adventures

The school summer holidays can’t come quickly enough for most, but the prospect of keeping the kids entertained for a whole six week period can give even the most prepared parents shivers up their spine.

The key to a successful summer is planning well ahead and creating a timetable of entertainment and a list of activities to make that month and a half not only bearable, but enjoyable, for all involved. 

After a year of wearing school clobber, you will need to make a few purchases for six weeks of out of school shenanigans. Kid’s clothes can cost a small fortune no matter how many children you have, and with all the fun you’ll be indulging in, making low cost but robust purchases is essential. 

A Magical Holiday

Last year we had an amazing time in Blackpool, but before I was married and pregnant my then fiancé and I booked a holiday to Florida with his family. I'd never been before, but they had many times. I was so excited and had been looking forward to it for such a long time, I'm a huge Disney fan and could not wait. A few months before we went I fell pregnant, no surprise we had been trying for a while but it meant I couldn't go on most of the rides. Not to worry my sister in law was also pregnant, with twins no less so we could hang out together while the rest went on the rides. 

The holiday was amazing, magical and fantastic; I loved every minute of it and was very sad to come home. America is great everyone is so nice and bends over backwards to please you. The first thing we went to was Sea World where Shamu’s family of killer whales live. There are rides, you can feed the dolphins, see shows and I fed some stingrays which were a bit scary but fun. We saw the Shamu show during the day and again at night it was amazing how these big creatures can be so friendly and interact with humans on a day to day basis.

The Gallery 145 - Inspirational Women

This week's Gallery Prompt at from the lovely Tara over at Sticky Fingers is Inspirational Women.

There is one more person in my life who also gives me support, encouragement, love and inspiration. She is my older cousin Fiona. She lives in Canada with her five boys, whom she has home schooled and is also a highly experienced doula and a lactation consultant. She helps so many woman feel at ease during their births, also before and after. She is there for support and advice. How she does it all I don't know. She's not had the easiest life with her boys, one having to have heart operations and one being autistic, but she has been patient and all have grown into wonderful children. Each one a credit to her. I got to see her earlier this year when our Uncle died and although it wasn't the best of circumstances it was great to spend some time with her and introduce her to my baby girl. I only wish we lived closer to each other. However, technology these days means she is never far away. Thank you Fiona for being an Inspirational Woman and my family.

And I couldn't not sneak in this photo of Fiona and my dad at her first wedding. My dad loved her very much as she did him. Next week mark's the 10th anniversary of his death so it seemed fitting to sneak this photo in there. 

Review - Laptop Table

Working in IT and being a blogger, I spend a lot of time on the laptop. I don't have a room I can use as an office or a spare table I can use. Normally I just have the laptop on my lap, but it gets a bit hot and uncomfortable so I'm loving the new laptop table I was sent. It's a Quadro oak and white laptop stand from Space 2.

Our Week With An Autogas Limited LPG Car

Most of you will hopefully have been following my trip from just outside Glasgow to London last weekend to go to Cybher in an Autogas Limited LPG car and back using the hashtag LPGRocks. I was given a loan of an LPG car to try out for the week and this included my trip from where I live to London. I tweeted about our experiences of filling the car for the first time with the gas, to how comfortable it was to how easy it was to find a gas fuelling station. I even threw in some pictures of the biggest strawberries, I've ever seen. 

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