A Right Shower

Finally we get to get a shower in place. Chris has pined since we moved into our new home  to be with Granny he loves a shower, he is not keen on  bath like me.

We have been managing with a handheld shower. Its been pretty tough and especially for myself.I cannot bathe as my finger is broken and splinted,I can but I have to wear a big rubber glove,tape my arm and not stay in long enough to relax as the plaster gets damp. that has been fun for three months,one handed with a shower hose,not so funny.

So using some saved Amazon vouchers, I have invested in a Mira Vie. The reviews are good, I have bought all the fixings too, the 45 amp pull switch,apparently cheaper than my friend's supplier He will fit it next week, Chris's belated birthday present and I will not have to lay the shower down to reach for the shower gel,shampoo razor etc.

Bliss!!

But there's  always a problem,the bath is not up against the wall and I imagined it would be easy to get a two sided bath screen, with an end and side. Well no its not!!

I have hunted high and low and the cheapest I could find was £360 specially made!!!

So we are a bit stuck, a shower curtain may not contain the water, it may with me as I am sedate in my showering habits, Chris and Conor make the bathroom look like a tidal wave went through. What is it with men!!

Does anybody out there have a bath not up against the wall, do you know a solution,let me know??

Lego Lunch Box How cool!!

Th conversation on my daughter's Facebook page went  like this

I'm going to be the coolest student! — with L....

• L OMG so cute! U r so gonna fit at uni! All the cool kids will b wel jel!  haha 

  
  

  10 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
• LC where did you get these from!!!!

  10 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
• 

  Paige  I don't know, Mum got them! I'll let you know! I know 

  
  

The biggest question was where can we all get them from, Store A Place For Everything.co.uk is the place, its a great place to really sort out storage solutions for your home, from boxes and baskets, storage furniture,kids toy storage ideas, to lunch boxes that are great for 'Back To School' and Uni students as you can see.

This Lego Lunch Box intended for Back To School  has created a stir amongst uni students  Facebook friends and visitors to our  house whose student days are far behind. I cannot post all the comments on facebook as they mixed with banter not fit for a blog post. However the main gist is that everybody wants  a set! 

What is so cool about these are the Lego design Licensed by LEGO themselves and distributed in the UK by STORE, The set consists of a lunch box, smaller insertable boxes and a drinking bottle with the iconic LEGO®Minifigure head as a lid. The lunch box looks like an oversized LEGO® brick and can be matched with the smaller insertable boxes for small, healthy snacks. The LEGO® lunch range definitely makes lunchtime more fun…for children of all ages!

They also have a really cool Giant Lego Head storage container!

So whether your 

child is a boy or a girl, and whether they like strong graphics or cool 

simple design, they are sure to find a lunch set they love.

http://www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk/home-storage/lego-lunch-storage-box

http://www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk/home-storage/lego-drinking-bottle

Cargo Uni shopping

Well its drawing closer, the day Paige steps out into the world on her own, moving into halls of residence and studying like mad, oh and wild parties ...I won't go there.

The last few weeks have been a shopping whirlwind for essentials for her room and kitchen in halls.

She is now budgeting and has been keen to buy good quality items but at low cost.

Both she and I love our pretty decoration and for needed  items like bedding and crockery I encouraged her to buy for her eyes as well as practical use. So she has a lovely floral vintage style bedding set,cute plates and Cath Kidston teapot and cup set.

Cargo asked if I would like to look at their range that is ideal for uni and well any home. You may remember I featured their cake stand and fab vintage style cake tins recently. They are a great addition to the kitchen, not just practically but they are attractive and great to have on display.

They sent Paige a lovely Hearts tea towel and Buttons photo frame.  These will brighten up her uni rooms no end!

Hearts Tea Towel 2 for £6

The tea towel is really thick,will be great for Paige as she plans t ocook a lot at uni,which brings the inevitable washing up and drying. Its £3.50 for one and 2 for £6 which for the quality and thickness is very reasonable!

Buttons Photo Frame £8

The   pastel buttons are placed in a chequerboard design amongst brightly-painted squares with diagonal stripes. Its a nice size for her room,she is unable to put anything on the wall,she has a new bedside table and will be choosing a nice photo to go in it, I'm hoping its of me!! 

http://www.cargohomeshop.com/

Lechuza Self Watering Pots

Lechuza, the leading German manufacturer of self watering planters and pots, is launching in the UK. They sent me one of the pots to try out and I must say I  am pretty impressed, with my hand damaged and having to rely on Chris to water pots, cook, clean and all other jobs I am struggling with especially tasks that are wet, this has been a very useful item for this time, I also envisage great for when on holiday and well everyday. 

I enjoy watering my plants,I count it as a time to just be, pottering around the garden, dead heading and giving my beauties a drink. However my non gardening enthusiasts helpers, Paige and my friend are often left to water for me, especially now with my right hand out of action, this can cause my pot plants to be a bit neglected.

Now I have one Lechuza pot and I want more!!!

Its a sub irrigation system,  which provides plants with the exact amount of water they need for optimum growth for up to 12 weeks, so before you can plant it needs assembling, Chris found this easy.

The Lechuza sub-irrigation system includes an easy to read water level indicator, water supply shaft for easy fertilising and watering, and separator with ‘pon’ layer, which ensures just the right amount of water reaches the plants. When outdoors, the removable drainage plugs prevent excess rainwater from damaging plants.

I had to look up what the 'pon' layer is, if you are interested its explained far better by Lechuza

LECHUZA PON is the plant substrate from LECHUZA for house and pot plants. It is the ideal alternative to conventional potting soil - particularly in combination with the LECHUZA sub-irrigation set. LECHUZA PON stores added nutrients which are then released to the plants as they need them. It can also retain up to 40% of its volume in water while at the same time maintaining the optimum air pore volume. LECHUZA PON supports aeration of the roots whilst providing optimum dosage of water to the plants.

Each LECHUZA planter comes with the appropriate amount of LECHUZA PON needed to plant with a combination of LECHUZA PON and potting soil. Those wishing to pot their plants in LECHUZA PON only will need to purchase additional quantities of the plant substrate.

We decided to mix with multi purpose compost,its been in place for about a month and as you can see the plant is thriving, what I like is the easy carrying liner,which means a tender plant prone to frost can be removed from the pot easily. The pot itself is very light so easily moved about the garden, I moved my Cleome for this shot so you could see it easily. I am very impressed with my new pot, add that to the range of gorgeous looking pot designs and I want lots more in the garden and indoors.

Below is other info from Lechuza and their website, I recommend you take a look if you are a plant enthusiast  like gorgeous planters for the home and do not have the time to water,or maybe struggle.

The injection-moulded plastic planters and pots offer excellent design, high quality and value for money. The brand has been available on the European market since 2000 and to date, one in every three planters in German offices is a Lechuza. It has also been awarded numerous awards including the coveted Red Dot Award for product design.

The company hopes to replicate this success in the UK, where Lechuza planters can already be seen in hotel lobbies, airports and workplaces.

The pots, which are widely used by professional landscapers and green fingered consumers, are famed for their sub-irrigation system.

The wide choice of sizes and styles available makes Lechuza ideal for any type of planting, whether growing herbs or fruit, showcasing flowers or creating a larger focus point, with options for hanging baskets and windowsill planters. Each Lechuza plant pot is made from 100% recyclable plastic, meaning they are lightweight and, unlike materials such as terracotta, are both frost and shatter proof. The range also offers two styles of plant liners that allow easy transfer for repotting.

There are three main styles available:

Cottage

·  Wicker style finish

·  11 colours available including mocha, granite, yellow, white, black, purple

·  7 styles including Nido hanging baskets, Balaconera for window sills, three sectioned Trio and cylindrical 


Cilindro

·  

Sizes from 18cm to 75cm in height with a wide variety of base widths

Premium

·        
 High gloss finish

·         9 colours available including white, grey, black, purple, red, yellow

·         12 styles available including table planter Delta, square Cubico and rounded Classico

·         Sizes range from 25cm to over 1m in height with a variety of base widths

Trend

·  Matte finish

·  4 colours available including white, nutmeg, purple and slate

·  2 styles available include rounded Classico, and square Cubico

·  Sizes range from 18cm in height to over 75cm with a variety of base widths

Jamie Dickinson from Lechuza commented: “Plants make a huge difference to the environment around us, but not everyone has the time to look after them or a big budget for expensive solutions. We noticed this gap in the market and used our experience and expertise working with plastic to address this. Lechuza planters harness the latest technology to provide self watering planters of a high quality, for indoor and outdoor use. With RRPs starting from less than £10, the range also suits all budgets.”

Lechuza was created by the makers of Playmobil toys, building on a longstanding history of working with high quality injection moulding.

To find out more visit www.lechuza.co.uk or phone 01268 548111.

Cargo

Now regular readers know I love my baking,I find it more difficult these days with caring for Granny,I cannot believe I still have not made her my  best ever Carrot and Orange cake laced with Grand Marnier. I will do soon, I must!

http://given-to-distracting-others.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/carrot-and-orange-cake-with-grand.html

I now have some rather gorgeous accessories to display my goodies on and in  now,thanks to Cargo.

The range makes me very happy as its very shabby chic style, the first beauty is the  vintage cake stand, its very dainty and needs seriously good cake on it. 

Cream Wire Cake Stand (26 cm)
£16

I find a good cupcake is the best and for larger cakes, a little paper plate underneath works well. This is great for guests, Granny and I have been having an afternoon tea and this has made it so much more of an occasion and given her a treat as our tea looks so much fancier!

Home Sweet Home Cake Tins 
Set of 2 for £20

Then after you do need somewhere to store the cakes,not that they stay too long in our house! Can Cargo possibly come up with a locked tin?? 

This set of tins, fit nicely inside each other, but have only done that at the beginning as I have them sat side by side full of goodies.

The smaller tin is perfect for those cupcakes. The larger one is lovely and deep for an nice home baked sponge. I left my cake in for a week, it was still moist,bits had been pinched, but it was still good to eat.

The tins just look lovely on the side and I am delighted with them.

www.cargohomeshop.com, 

0844 848 3300

Cargo sent me the tins and cake stand to review, my opinions are my own and not affected by the product offer.

Win Gigaset SL910A Home Phone

I am very pleased to be able to make one lucky follower as happy as I am with the Gigaset home phone I recently reviewed. You can read what I thought here http://given-to-distracting-others.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/gigaset-sl910a-home-phone-review.html

The phone is just what a phone of today should look like,Paige thought I had an iphone at first glance its sleek, stylish, has a touch screen and sits in a base that does not have wires and does not need to be near the phone socket. 

It sits elegantly in my  living room and looks good, mine is currently on a clock display. 

But don’t be fooled, this phone is much more than just appealing to the eye. The choice of three home screens, including: dial centre, ECO DECT technology, text message centre and customisable information screen, as well as picture ID function and Bluetooth capabilities, mean this phone delivers on every aspect of home telephony - sound, reliability and performance.

I recently tried out the  room-monitoring function which for parents makes the Gigaset SL910A a good baby monitor not that I need that but will also be a security alert for those who like to feel safe. It will remind you of appointments too, you can bluetooth photos for the display,  use them for friends and family calls, you can even download music to assign personalised ringtones.

SL910A

Prices start from: £139.99

Handset size: 5.5 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm

Handset options: Single and additional handset

The SL910A is available to buy from from £139.99 John Lewis, Dixons, Amazon and Ligo.

For full details of all phone models available from Gigaset, please visit www.gigaset.com/uk

To win your own Gigaset just fill in the easy peasy rafflecopter, remember I do check all the winning entries so please make sure you do not forget to do enter correctly.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gigaset SL910A Home phone review

The first thing my daughter said as I opened the Gigaset SL910A was "Oh wow I thought you had an iphone!" The phone is actually a home phone but has the sleek looks of a good mobile handset!  A lovely large touch screen, sliding across from menu to menu. Its  a mobile for the home.

At first it felt  a little weightier but I think that is because it looks like my smart phone I expected the same feel, but compared to my current house phone is thinner and much more slimline! I have been using it a lot and it now fits in my hand and I don't think about it.

Benefits that really suit me is that the base that the handset sits (the dock) in does not have to be near the phone socket. This is fabulous for me, the house is quite long and the thick walls meant I was missing calls while charging my old phone.

It looks great in the living room as an accessory, even more so as its on the clock display, I hate ticking clocks, so previously to find out the time, we have been craning our necks to see the kitchen clock. It doubles up as a digital photo frame so in time I will be picking a lovely family shot to further make this as much an ornament as a useful gadget!

Chris loves to play with a new toy, the instruction book has been thoroughly read, he has been setting up ring tones, trying out the texting facility, bluetoothing his and mine's mobile contacts. He annoyingly set a shrill ringtone for himself that makes us all jump out of our skin when he phones home!

The phone has had a real benefit for Granny, she is hard of hearing and has always had trouble with phones, but she is actually able to hear people more clearly. This was not a feature I expected,but has been a great benefit and makes the phone invaluable for her friend to chat to her. Chris says the sound of my voice on his Parrot hands free device for the car is much better and vice versa.

Finally my love of this phone deepened with the separate belt clip, which enables me one to have the phone attached while I am working in the kitchen or caring for Granny.I am terrible for leaving my phones in a room and missing important calls. So having the Gigaset attached to me  means I am always contactable.

Its more obvious gain is hands free chatting so when I get a call from Chris every evening on his long journey home, I can carry on cooking the meal and not get grumpy that he rings when I am busy!

I am very impressed with the phone, the design  make it a pleasure to look at, the photo and clock face make it fit in the room as a pretty item but its usable features and clear connection, great sound quality, make it a much needed item, I did not think about before.

But don’t be fooled, this phone is much more than just appealing to the eye. The choice of three home screens, including: dial centre, ECO DECT technology, text message centre and customisable information screen, as well as picture ID function and Bluetooth capabilities, mean this phone delivers on every aspect of home telephony - sound, reliability and performance.

SL910A

Prices start from: £139.99

Handset size: 5.5 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm

Handset options: Single and additional handset

The SL910A is available to buy from John Lewis, Dixons, Amazon and Ligo.

For full details of all phone models available from Gigaset, please visit www.gigaset.com/uk 

April Showers!

 

 

 

Just one of the things I miss since coming to live and care for Granny is a shower, the house has been updated with a wet room for her use downstairs, however upstairs the bathroom is a throwback to the 80's, I adore the old fashioned Victorian style shower taps, but a hand held shower is just not the same as slowly waking up under a hot steamy shower. I long to have a haven where I can just soak and pamper for at least half an hour or just freshen up after a day caring!

 

We have been looking at different electric showers  they certainly save energy and searching different bathroom furniture too, we have been wondering whether to have a wet room, but Paige and I still love a good soak in the tub.

 

Mira Showers have a great shower range, I have reviewed their shower heads on the blog in the past. They are efficient and sleek.

 

They also have an  extensive range of electric showers, which do not compromise on power or efficiency. Electric showers are still one of the most popular and cost effective options for your bathroom, and 2010 saw the electric shower being used by 56% of the domestic shower market.

Roger Crabb, a showering expert at Mira Showers, said: “Electric showers are a great alternative to other types of shower because they heat water instantly; they work in the same way as a kettle and so you only ever heat the water that you need and never run out of hot water which makes them very efficient and ideal for families and guest bedrooms.”

 

 

 

 

I must admit not having to wait for a bath to fill,j ust to be able to jump under a shower has had me loitering in DIY shops in the shower sections. This is not me under the shower by the way, I look more  like a drowned rat!

People’s showering needs have changed over the years, as people look for more ways to save money and hope to be more eco-friendly, shower designs have developed and improved to adapt to this. I still have a shower timer, I got as a freebie from my electricity provider. It keeps me concious of trying to do my bit and conserve water. Though with the rain and tons of snow we have had, its hard to see that we need to be water wise at the moment!

 

 

People are also looking for showers that look great in their bathrooms, and Mira Showers has several cheap electric showers that have elegant chrome detailing, such as the Mira Sport range. I must say I love the chrome details, it looks sleek, is easy to care for and seems to look better for longer.

 

 

There are great showers now for a colour theme, you can  make a statement with your shower, you can choose a Mira Azora shower, which has really retro designs, dots, stripes, stone effects,then you can choose from one of the range of stylish coloured and patterned glass fascias. There are so many designs I can spend a long time browsing!

 

 

One thing that does cause a problem for electric showers is limescale, but luckily Mira Showers has found a way around this with its patented Clearscale and Dual Element technology, which feature on many of its showers and can reduce limescale by up to 50%, so that means one less thing for you to worry about.

Everyone is looking for ways to save money, so having an electric shower is a very sensible option, especially as energy prices are going up. If you have a family, or regularly have people coming to stay, having an electric shower is ideal. Showers don’t have to be just a necessity anymore, they can combine style with function, so you can be sure your bathroom is just as trendy and stylish as the rest of your house!

Now I have even more designs to choose from, going to need to choose something soon, as the garden is our current project, overhauling the forest I showed you back in September certainly makes me need a shower!

 

Disclaimer: This post is a sponsored post in which  I received monetary compensation for writing.