Welcome to 2012! A new year in blogging, with this first being my initial burst of energy in hoping to maintain a resolution to write more and further my ventures online.

With such an eventful (and often upsetting) year behind us, I hope this year will see a smaller share of bad luck for those close to me, replaced instead by a greater share of happiness, especially now that we have a beautiful new addition to our family.

Best wishes to all who read Glamumous, I hope the year ahead will be a happy one for you too!

On festival days, the streets surrounding Heeley City Farm are usually crammed bumper to bumper with parked cars. But not today.

I tell Sarah it's because of the rain which is bounding off the windscreen like a hailstorm of ping-pong balls. "Some of the activities might have been cancelled, are you sure you still want to go?"

Of course she does. Ever since she saw the flyer I picked up in the reception at school Sarah has not stopped asking if she could get her hair braided. Personally I was looking forward to picking up a pretty wreath for the front door and some Christmas crafts to adorn our seemingly virginal tree. So hurriedly we packed Cassius into his pram and bolted across to the main centre, seeking shelter under a thatched roof where the tombola and a woodcraft stall had set up their wares.

Last year, my aunt inspired us all by creating beautiful handmade cards to send to family members - they were a Christmas treat in themselves!

So this year, Sazzy and I will be following her lead, using this great tutorial for origami Christmas trees as the basis for our designs:

We Grow By Our Dreams: Origami Christmas Tree Tutorial

We've found some lovely quality festive wrapping paper at only 25p a sheet in the local post office, already have gold star stickers, metallic pens and beads to embellish, and are scouring eBay for budget-priced blank cards (Hobbycraft is way overpriced!).

I'll post pics once we've made a few (and I finally have access to a camera-enabled phone!)

These days, almost all of us will operate a Facebook account, whether to keep up with family and friends or extend our social reach.

Image credit: Carbonnyc,

Like all modern technologies, there are no hard-and-fast rules for how we should operate our accounts, but there are guidelines we could follow in order to avoid embarrassing ourselves or others.

Make use of these etiquettes as you see fit and help make Facebook a more appealing place to socialise.

For the next two weeks, the independent cinema, Showroom in Sheffield will be host to Showcomotion - a film festival for young people.



As a film lover myself, I'm quite excited to know this is happening in my home town and am grateful that local kids will have the opportunity to see and learn about film. And with tickets at only £2.00 each, my kids are looking forward to a few cinema trips!

When I first saw those TV adverts suggesting we could feed a family of four for £50, I naturally assumed this meant a week's worth of evening meals only. So it did come as a pleasant surprise to find this cost includes breakfasts and lunches too. For a whole week!



Sainsburys have developed an efficient, cost-effective meal plan and recipe guide to cover a week's worth of meals for the whole family to enjoy together. The plan does require sticking to portion sizes and does not include any snacks between meals, though undoubtedly it is a cost effective means of feeding the family on a budget.