Olympic Scrapbook hits the home straight

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We're nearly done. We have reached the home straight and struggling for the line. Well, not really struggling - we're powering to the line, a bit like Mo Farah did last Saturday night. Time is passing very quickly it seems and I can't believe that it will all be over tomorrow night.

We'd had a bit of a lull in our last post, but Team GB returned to winning ways on Thursday with a bang! Three gold medals, all won by women, in an eclectic mix of sports - boxing, taekwondo and freestyle dressage. All of them dancing, after a fashion.

Our page reflects that - Nicola Adams, Charlotte Dujardin and Jade Jones all feature on our page. We also included Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir - a Jamaican 1-2-3 in the men's 200m, David Rudisha who broke the world record in the 800m, and the GB rhythmic gymnastics team - just because their participation was so historic. Keri-Ann Payne is also on the right - I was really gutted that she didn't win a medal.

And then, Friday. A day of no golds for Great Britain but medals a-plenty nonetheless. Lutalo Muhammad getting a bronze in taekwondo, Luke Patience, Stuart Bithell, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark all winning silvers in sailing, Anthony Ogogo who lost a boxing bout to gain a bronze, and the women's hockey team. I also included a shot of the BMX riders and Oussama Mellioli who won the open-water swimming. We also had some more challenges to do and I've added all the medals even though we have not quite yet filled in ALL the pages in the scrapbook but we will do very soon.

We're headed to the line. One more day of competition and a closing ceremony to go! Do remember that you too can continue to collect The Times and The Sunday Times to record your memories of the London 2012 Olympics.

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

Olympic Scrapbook - a slight pause for breath!

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Well, another post after two more days of Olympic action. Recording our memories of the London 2012 Olympics with our Olympic Scrapbook from The Times and The Sunday Times is proving to be a worthwhile experience. Every day, we turn straight to the scrapbook page to see if we like the pictures, then scan through the rest of the paper to try and ensure we have a picture of all the British medallists and any other significant people (like Usain Bolt - you couldn't miss him out, could you?).

But these last two days have been that little bit quieter. Including a whole day when Team GB didn't win any medals. I mean, really? I have to pinch myself because we keep trying to explain to Monkey how in some Olympics, Team GB only won as many medals across a whole games as we have on some days this time. But yes, a whole day without medals yesterday - probably a nice pause, given the rate we are running out of stickers in our pack.

Missy Woo insisted muscling in on Tuesday's page as she helped me compile the page. We have the Brownlee boys on the left hand side. We also have our 3 medals as we completed our challenges again - the children loved running upstairs to bed in particular, and Monkey did sterling work carrying shopping back from our walk into town. Talking of which, I took this picture yesterday whilst we were in town.

The children with Bradley Wiggins's gold postbox, which is located opposite the Town Hall in Chorley. The children were very excited to see it.

Anyway, on the right of the page is Charlotte du Jardin of the dressage team, Robbie Grabarz who won high jump bronze, Victoria Pendleton after she won silver (still gutted about that), Laura Trott winning another gold, Sir Chris Hoy winning yet another gold, and Rob Dempsey winning a windsurfing silver.

So, Wedneday was a lot quieter day. I mean, for goodness sake, I even have some Aussies winning a gold medal in the sailing! On the right, I put Nick Skelton (who was unlucky not to win a medal), Mo Farah doing his Mobot, and Shanaze Reade doing BMX time trials -  there is even space for a crowd picture and a picture of a random Chinese table tennis player. Yes, really, that quiet. The last day we didn't win any medals was Day 1, which seems like a lifetime ago.

Only four days left now. I can't believe it is nearly over. And there is still more to come for our Olympic Scrapbook. If you're joining in with this, don't forget you can continue to collect the The Times and The Sunday Times to record your memories of the London 2012 Games.

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

A hand blender that chops and whips too - my first Morphy Richards Innovator review

So, you may or may not know that I was chosen earlier in the year to be a Morphy Richards Innovator. This means I get to try out Morphy Richards appliances and share my thoughts on them with you lucky people.

The first thing I've been sent to try is their Accents Hand Blender set in red. Here's the official Morphy Richards video showing you just what it can do.



I love hand blenders as they make soup making so much easier because you don't have to decant everything from pan to jug and back again. I used to have one long ago that did other things so I was intrigued to try this. It has a balloon whisk attachment to whip cream and a little chopping bowl that you can use like a little food processor. And the blending leg is heat resistant so you don't even have to wait for the soup to cool before blending it.

All the attachments detach easily and go in the dishwasher which is fantastic. Not that anything is too fiddly to clean. My one comment is I don't understand why they put small ridges on the inside of the chopping bowl because it makes it harder to scrape completely clean. Everything feels solid and well-made, so I have no concerns that it won't stand the test of time.

Making pesto was a breeze

The chopping bowl itself requires a bit of a knack to learn how to do the twist and lock mechanism to put it together as it feels counter-intuitive. However, once you get it, it's fine. The chopper itself is brilliant - I made pesto in it over the weekend and the little chopping blade is amazingly efficient. You have to make sure that you screw the motor bit in properly or it just makes a horrible noise but it's easily fixed. I love it because it is so much easier than getting out my food processor for doing smaller amounts. It would be great for anything like making breadcrumbs when you only want to do one or two slices, chopping a bag of nuts or making a curry paste.

Whipped cream in two minutes flat!

The whisk attachment is a bit different. I used it to try and beat some eggs but I made the mistake of trying to do it in a mixing bowl rather than the beaker provided. It took forever, but that's because there is only one beater, not two. In the interests of research, I bought some cream to try whipping it using the beaker. It did the job in less than 2 minutes, but I did have to hold onto the beaker tight to stop it moving around. I think adding a small  non-slip base to the bottom of the beaker (similar to the base on the chopping bowl) would make a big difference, as I wanted to adjust the speed without turning it off. Still, it was fast and effective.

The instructions state that the chopping bowl should be used at full speed and the whisk at low speeds. It's a shame they're not marked on the dial as it's easy to lose instructions and forget. It's obvious that you need to keep the whisk at low speed or you'll get spattered, but it's not really obvious that you can only chop at high speed.

On the whole, I love this little set. If you can't afford - or don't have space for - a food processor and a hand mixer, it's a great choice as you'll get 3 gadgets for the price of one. It may not do everything that a food processor does but it's very versatile. I think it could be improved by having a non-slip base for the beaker and making the inside of the chopping bowl smooth, but these are minor quibbles. For the price, which is around £50, I think it's great value for money.

By the way, if you  fancy buying anything, you can get 25% off if you enter the code FP1002 at www.morphyrichards.co.uk

(I was sent the hand blender set to try for the purposes of a review. All opinions are my own.)

Olympic Scrapbook passes the bell

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We're onto the second week of the Olympics - not quite the home straight, but we've certainly heard the bell now. None of us want it to end in this household  - well, maybe Missy Woo is not as excited as the rest of us, but she does loving Team GB winning golds. In terms of our Olympic Scrapbook, in which we are recording our memories of these games with pictures from The Times and The Sunday Times.

It's been two days since my last post and we've encountered a bit of a crisis. We've run out of Team GB gold medal stickers! I'm sure they were trying to be conservative and not over-confident but I guess we couldn't have predicted we'd win so many medals in the list of who won what - which is not a complete list of medallists as some days, there are over 20 medals on offer. We've had to stick on gold medals and stick a  union flag next to it!

This is Sunday's page, which was a bit mad. Andy Murray won men's singles gold incredibly easily so he's on the left, with Ben Ainslie, Andy Murray, Laura Robson, Louis Smith and Christine Ohuruogu all winning silver. And then, of course, Usain Bolt winning the 100m - which of course, I couldn't leave out. And not to be left out, Max Whitlock is at the bottom winning his bronze in the pommel horse. (You might also notice there is a Chinese athlete called Ling Dan who won the badminton men's singles, largely to fill a gap!

And here's Monday's. A somewhat quieter day - since when did a quiet day at the Olympics meaning winning two golds and a bronze? That would never have happened when I was a child the age mine are now! So, we have included Holly Bleasdale coming 6th in the women's pole vault - because she's from round here and went to the school the children will probably go to in a few years. We could only find a small picture of the showjumping team - it was that or a huge picture that wouldn't have fitted in! And then of course, there is Beth Tweddle finally winning a medal in the uneven bars. On the right, we have put Beth again, as well as Jason Kenny blowing the opposition away in the sprint and Laura Trott doing well in the omnium races.

We know already we have more gold medal performances to add to today's page, so I'll show you that in a few days.

Don't forget you can continue to collect the The Times and The Sunday Times to record your memories of the London 2012 Games. 

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

Meal Planning Monday - holiday/Olympic/August edition

I wasn't really sure what to call this, as you can tell. Normal routine has gone out of the window, what with scrapbooking, watching the Olympics and not a lot else really. Mostly watching the Olympics! The week reflects my need not to make anything too complicated. Sunday, we are having tapas to celebrate (and commiserate the closing ceremony of the Olympics, that I really don't want to end).

Here we go.

Monday - Sweet mustard salmon with garlicky veg (held over from last week)
Tuesday - Sausages with sweet mustard onions
Wednesday - Spicy root and lentil casserole
Thursday - Prosciutto and pesto fish gratin
Friday - Homemade burgers and wedges
Saturday - keeping free
Sunday - Tapas

Don't forget, there are more Meal Planning Monday entries over at Mrs M's place but do tell me what you're  having this week.

Our Olympic Scrapbook runs out of superlatives

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The other day, I said we'd gone medal crazy. I hadn't banked on the days to come. On Friday,  I sobbed as Katherine Grainger finally won a gold medal with Anna Watkin in the women's pair. But then yesterday, wow. We were at Old Trafford as the men's four won their gold and caught the end of that race. We heard that the lightweight women's pair had also won during the match we attended (Japan beat Egypt 3-0 in case you're wondering, a result that was never really in doubt when an Egyptian player got sent off in the first half.

Once we got home, we then enjoyed the ladies of team pursuit winning gold for Britain, but we were totally not prepared for what happened next. Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all winning gold on a very very special night. It was a great night to be on Twitter, I lost track of the number of tears I shed for them and shared the stunned amazement and jubilation the whole country seemed to be feeling.

With all this success, how on earth do we even manage to fit everything into our Olympic Scrapbook, which we are using to record our memories of the London 2012 games using pictures from The Times and Sunday Times? Well, it's been a struggle but we've tried to include everybody by doing montages in the big boxes on the relevant pages.

So, this is Thursday, which seems so long ago now. Winning 2 gold medals in the space of 5 minutes, and a silver to boot, was pretty amazing but that almost pales into insignificance of the days since. We have Sir Chris Hoy, the other team sprint boys Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes, Peter Wilson, the canoe boys Bailie, Stott, Florence and Hounslow, and off in the corner is Gemma Gibbons winning an emotional silver medal in judo. (Sorry for chopping you off in the photo!)

Friday, we have fitted in the men's team pursuit, aforementioned ladies pair, Alan Campbell, Karina Bryant, Victoria Pendleton and some early shots of Jess Ennis taking part in the first day of the heptathlon.

And then finally, Super Saturday, which I'm renaming Superlative Sunday, because I've run out of them. More Jess Ennis, and tucked away in the left are the ladies of the team pursuit and Kate Copeland and Sophie Hosking of the lightweight pairs. On the right, we have the mens four, the lightweight pair who won silver, and Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford on the bottom right. I snuck in Andy Murray and Laura Robson for good measure as they reached the final of the mixed doubles. You'll notice the medal challenges up on the left, which the children completed, having learned the words to God Save the Queen, played tennis and done 10 press ups (which was quite entertaining, they don't really have perfect technique on that one!)

Phew! I have run out of superlatives for the London 2012 games now. It's been amazing and we're only halfway through. I can't wait for the next week, when we will be continuing to collect The Times and The Sunday Times to record our memories of these Olympics. Are you?

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

Our Olympic Scrapbook goes medal crazy!

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I don't seem to have any time to blog at the moment. I'm permanently glued to the Olympics. I worked out earlier that I've seen all of Team GB's medal performances live (on television, not at the venue!) so far and there has been a lot of jumping up and down and shouting at the box in the corner of our living room.

Well, that and continuing to complete our Olympic Scrapbook from The Times and The Sunday Times. If you've missed this so far, the idea is you collect pictures from the newspapers and you stick them in the scrapbook.

The children are joining in but they are a little camera shy today. That is actually code for they are joining in and cutting out but often wander off, leaving me to finish it all off - well, once they have applied all the glue to the pages anyway, that seems to be their favourite thing.

A bit photo heavy but here are our pages from the last few days.

This is Sunday's page, featuring of course, Lizzie Armitstead and Rebecca Adlington after their medal winning performances. We also chose a picture of Ryan Giggs scoring a goal at Wembley.

Here's Monday's page, featuring the divers and the men's gymnastics team - plus Ruta Meilutyte, because she trains in Plymouth! They're slightly out of shot here but we completed all but one of the day's challenges - because it involved doing a length of the pool and Missy is doing dance summer school this week.

Tuesday saw another medal in the team eventing and we also chose a fantastic action shot from the women's football as we were so proud of Team GB beating Brazil.

And of course, Wednesday was the day it turned gold for Team GB. Monkey and I put together a montage in the big picture featuring Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Michael Jamieson, the men's eight, Andy Murray and Kristian Thomas. And we cannot, of course, forget Helen Glover and Heather Stanning who won gold in the women's pair. I've almost impressed myself with that.

Don't forget you can continue to collect the The Times and The Sunday Times to record your memories of the London 2012 Games.

And of course, the cycling starts today and the athletics tomorrow. It can only get more exciting.... if that's possible.

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.