The natural way!

Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats
As a keen gardener I have been throughly enjoying the BBC1 Series 'Grow your own Drugs' presented by James Wong. Each week James has shown just how simple it is to make natural remedies for complaints such as eczema, varicose veins and acne. Many drugs are of course derived from natural products, but have you ever tried to decipher the ingredients of any product you buy in a chemists? I've just purchased my very own copy of the book to accompany the series and this weekend we will be making a hop and lavender pillow to aid restful sleep!

…In an english country garden

I was just imagining myself in the garden, with the sun shining with my Rose Garden Basket by Cath Kidston… then the phone rang!

Social Networking pitfall #1

We're all very much aware of the pitfalls of social networking, but when we have a brush with them ourselves, the dangers are hammered home.

I refer to my 14-year-old daughter who has recently entered the realm of Facebook. On the whole she simply partakes in enjoyable banter with friends and acquaintances and, on the whole, I can see nothing wrong with this. Indeed over the last couple of months she has endeavoured to come out of a somewhat hardened shell! We're even being told of remarkable improvements in classroom participation, which coincides with her communicating more freely with those she knows well and not so well.

However, she recently became aware of the fact that she was being referred to by a friend, "wall-to-wall" a means by which friends can openly communicate. The friend was speaking about her with his pal in a foreign language. With curiosity spiked, my daughter used Google Translate to figure out what was being said, and I'm sorry to write, discovered her friend was being particularly lewd.

A crime? In private, well no, I guess not.

Today my daughter is acutely aware that a distorted physical description and obscene suggestions have been banded around the internet. Nothing to worry about if she were to remain anonymous, but this vulgarity is shared by friends, and then friends of friends; something that if she had the power to undo she most certainly would.

Front page!

Yo! I got a front page and didn't even know it! (bottom right hand corner)

Pretty in pink

I've fallen for this hi-tech baby-grow! Sadly, it neither comes in my size nor do I know a young miss who would enjoy a romp in this funny onesie!

Lots and lots of hilarious baby wear in fun2wear2's shop!

Managing your business from home

Eight things you can improve right away!

Working from home has some major advantages, for instance, being there when the kids arrive back from school. But it can provide distracting disadvantages…

Here are some tips to help you get through the day:

Set yourself a daily goal Without a clear focus, it’s easy to succumb to distractions.
Set targets for each day in advance Decide what you’ll do; then do it.
Worst first To defeat procrastination learn to tackle your most unpleasant task first thing in the morning instead of delaying it until later in the day. This small victory will set the tone for a very productive day. You can turn this one on its head, by saving your most favoured task until last!
Peak times Identify your peak cycles of productivity, and schedule your most important tasks for those times. Work on minor tasks during your non-peak times.
Timeboxing Give yourself a fixed time period, like 30 minutes, to make a dent in a task. Don’t worry about how far you get. Just put in the time.
Agendas If you have to attend meetings then provide clear written agendas to participants in advance. This greatly improves focus and efficiency. You can use it for phone calls too.
Ready-fire-aim! Beat delay by taking action immediately after setting a goal, even if the action isn’t perfectly planned. You can always adjust course along the way.
Deadline Set a deadline for task completion, and use it as a focal point to stay on track.
Brownie points Don't forget to reward yourself when you have met your goals: planned and timed breaks help you to relax and focus.

Twitter Moms newest member!

that would be me!

FREE L'Occitane Shea Butter Discovery Set

This Shea Butter Discovery Set (worth £12.50) is yours for free when you spend £25.00 or more at L'Occitane. Just enter ASH9 at the checkout. Grab the offer here!

Send a text message!

Send a message to a loved one, or tag your mobile with one of my very own phone charms! I make these to order and have 4 different styles available, each with several colourways. They make excellent party bag and stocking fillers, great for guys and gals alike! Check out my other site here!

Lolley's toolbar

In a continued effort to promote my jewellery business, I have been looking at the features and benefits of creating a customised toolbar for customers' browser windows. There are a few neat sites out there where you can build your custom toolbar, including links that you think your customers might enjoy and find useful.

I figured that if you visit my web page then you are probably looking for, or you are a fan of, jewellery. Therefore, in my toolbar along with links to my web page and Etsy store, I have included links to some of my favourite jewellery sites: Swarovski (of course!) Links of London ("flutter & wow") and my favourite Etsy store Elleabelle.

The beauty of adding a menu is that one can continually update a link selection which is shared instantaneously, and build quick links to some of the best sites out there! Not only that, if you have an announcement, for example; a special offer or giveaway, use the toolbar to get the message across to customers.

Other features I've added to my toolbar include an email notifier (just what you need if you are using webmail) local weather forecast, headline news ticker and chat. When visitors arrive at my home page they see a one-off message inviting them to download the toolbar… once downloaded the message disappears! See how it looks on my home page.

Check out my toolbar here (suitable for Firefox and IE) then why not try making your own version!