Coping with endo: infographic

Light therapy for Winter

I don't know about you, but I struggle so much more with fatigue and depression once the nights draw in and darkness envelopes us from 4pm.

For endo warriors already battling pain and reduced serotonin levels, a light box can be a really useful aid to help combat the winter blues if you struggle with them. If you are dealing with pain and fatigue anyway, it can often be hard to make you sure get out enough in daylight hours to get the right amount of Vitamin D from sunlight before the evening draws in again all too quickly.

Heating goes geeky

I am a sucker for new apps and my inner geek does a backflip when a new gadget comes out.

The folks at British Gas asked me to try out their brand spanking new Remote Heating Control system and one week in I have to say we love it.

The system uses a wifi hub which links with your thermostat and app on your smart phone to be able to control your heating from anywhere, in or outside the home.

Miles and I were away last weekend so on the road trip back from Newcastle I could make sure the house would be snuggly and warm in time for our arrival back at the ranch. I also tend to crank things up a notch or two if I am sitting at my desk and feel a bit chilly (lazy? nooooo....), or even from bed, but don't tell anyone.

Installation was really simple - an engineer swapped our existing thermostat for the new gadgetry and while he did that I installed the app on my iPhone and went through the set up wizard online to establish our daily heating settings.

I will be blogging more about the system as we use it, so watch this space.

I think it's a good idea for anyone wanting to reduce their heating bill  - you can make sure the heating is only on when you need it, and if you left it on when you are out it's easily sortable with a swipe on your 'phone. You can also set the hub to email or text you when the temperature in the house goes over a certain level, so if you are watching pennies during winter you can make sure you only use what you need.

Have you tried the Remote Heating Control yet?Let me know how you use it if you do.

 

 

Rock star baby bro gets married

Last week I went up to Newcastle for the weekend to attend the wedding of my lovely baby brother Paul and his gorgeous lady Amy.



Paul and Amy are a very creative couple ( he is a drummer, she is a graphic designer) and their unique day really reflected them both. They got married on a Friday in an amazing venue, As you Like it, in the Jesmond area of Newcastle -  a very eclectic, vintage-inspired space which they really personalised to be just perfect for them. A popcorn machine and candy floss stall turned up in the evening reception and we all had a dance to a mixture of 80's tunes,  Motown and Led Zeppelin. Brilliant.

Creative Crush: Lush's Mo Constantine

Lush's wonderful new product "Fun" is known as "Bathtime playdough" in our house.

The Minis and I absolutely love the brightly coloured squishy textured goop that can wash hair, faces, bodies and also be made into whatever the imagination decides.

I had the pleasure of asking Lush's Mo Constantine about  how Fun came into being; Mo is the Co-Founder of Lush alongside husband Mark, and now oversees the production of all handmade cosmetics for Lush. Mo is perhaps most famous for inventing the bath bomb, one of Lush's best known products.