Monday 27 January 2014

Delete Blood Cancer

I was sitting down one morning looking through my Facebook feed a couple of weeks ago when I came across a plea for  more blood stem cell donors to help beat blood cancer. Cancer is something that has affected our family in more ways than one so anything I can do to help beat it I will! I was intrigued by this link so I clicked on it.

I learnt that there is actually a register of stem cell donors and when a blood cancer patient needs a donation, the register is checked for a match. More donors are needed on this register. If you donate stem cells it isn't any more intrusive than giving blood. So I registered for a pack online, I did all this before I finished my cup of coffee, it's that simple.


My pack arrived in the post and included two cheek swabs. I whizzed both the swabs in my cheeks, stuck my individual donor sticker on the envelope, popped them in and used the free post envelope to post them. It doesn't cost anything other than 5 minutes of your time! 

Register online here: http://www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk

Who is eligible to donate?
Any healthy adult living in the UK, between the ages of 18 and 55 can become a donor, and pre-registration is possible from the age of 17. However if you have, or have had in the past, a chronic or other serious condition (some of the most important examples are listed below) or take any medications regularly, please discuss this for initial guidance with a member of the Delete Blood Cancer UK team.
The most important exclusion criteria, which means you cannot register:
  • Heart diseases (e. g. previous heart attack, coronary heart disease)
  • Lung diseases (e. g. severe bronchial asthma)
  • Diseases of the haematopoietic system
  • Severe kidney diseases
  • Thrombosis
  • Severe illnesses of the central nervous system
  • Cancer
  • HIV or Aids
  • Metabolic diseases (e. g. diabetes)
  • Autoimmune conditions (e. g. rheumatism)
  • Severe infectious diseases, (e. g. infectious jaundice, Hepatitis B, C)
  • Weight under 7 stone 12 lbs/50 kg
  • Obesity (i.e. body mass index (BMI) > 40)  

    Monday 20 January 2014

    Ember the Sheltie

    Ember the Sheltie has the most amazing bombproof temperament, she has the best temperament out of all the dogs. She's brilliant with Macy.


    Wednesday 15 January 2014

    Sleep Tight Missy Moo

    Missy was Mark's dog, she would have been 11 years old this year, a good age for a shepherd. She was a funny character, very protective of Mark and it took her a long time to accept me in to the pack.


    Just over a year ago I recognised the symptoms of bloat and she had to be rushed in to the emergency vets to be operated on, she pulled through and recovered really quickly. She was a real tough nut, a proper fighter.

    Since we got back from Germany she hadn't been eating properly, when we leave her she pines for Mark and had been on hunger strike. We thought she was still upset about that, she was eating little bits and nice food and was happy in herself and not losing weight. She had been in season so we thought it was also to do with that.  Over New Year we noticed sores appearing and took her to the vets. She started to drink a lot and the vet was concerned it could be pyometra. After a scan confirmed it wasn't she was put on a course of antibiotics. They didn't make any difference, she stopped eating completely and was drinking for England! We took her in for blood tests and when we got her back she was on three legs and stayed that way, her hips were starting to go.

    In just a couple of days she went rapidly down hill, scarily so. She was groaning constantly, obviously in pain, she didn't want to move or eat at all. She had given up, it was horrible to see. We hoped the blood tests would give us a clue, unfortunately we didn't expect the results to be what they were. Her blood test showed her organs were giving up, she had had enough and her body was shutting down. We didn't want to see her suffer any more, she had already been suffering for a day, so we said night night. Missy was a tough nut so for her to give up she must have been in a lot of pain, poor girl.

    The last pic I took of her the night before we lost her, sleep well Missy, run free without pain.

    Monday 13 January 2014

    Water Babies Photo Shoot

    We took Macy in November as had seen some underwater photos and thought they were gorgeous so I couldn't resist some of my little girl.

    The shoot was actually in the same pool she usually swims at so it was familiar to her. We had a time slot and there were several parents and babies in the group, it ran like a normal class and you were called one at a time to have the shoot. 

    Macy was passed to an instructor who dunked her underwater and the photographer took several shots, you then collected your baby and rejoined the class. This happened three times and on the third 'dunking' you had the option to put a funny hat on, this time it was Christmas themed so we used a Santa hat.

    After Macy was dressed we could sit and have some refreshments while we waited for the photo viewing, which was only 5 minutes or so.

    The photo shoot fee was around £35 which was refunded if you had 3 or more digital images. You could buy all sorts of products such as canvasses etc. we decided just to buy the digital images so we could use them how we wanted. Out of around 9 images (aprox 3 in each 'dunking'), there was only one that was a good one without dressing up and one with the hat on. One of the images had the instructors arm in it so they said they would photoshop it and we would never know, there was an extra charge for this. Anyway in total for the three images it was around £260!!

    I have to say I did feel that was a little excessive but once you see the images you have to have them!



    Unedited

    Edited - I feel they went a bitt OTT with lighting though


    Friday 10 January 2014

    Baby Snacks!

    I am in the process of weaning Macy, as a result of her reflux she has really gone of milk - it causes her so much pain! I received a voucher for a free pack of Heinz Apple Biscotti and took them out with us as a snack. They were brilliant as she is not yet eating anything hard, so snacks can be difficult, there's only so much banana and yoghurt she can eat! These melted in her mouth and were good fingers of biscuit so she could hold them herself.

    However I got home and googled them and was horrified to find how packed with sugar they are, I thought they were supposed to be healthy snacks, but actually there's less sugar in digestive biscuits! I have compared the amounts per 100g for Low sugar Heinz Rusks vs Heinz Apple Biscotti vs McVities Digestive.

    Energy 1771 / 1783 / 1975kj
    Energy 419 / 423 / 471kCal
    Protein 6.6 / 10 / 7.1g
    Carbohydrate 78.0 / 71.4 / 62.8g
    - of which sugars 20.3 / 20 / 16.6g
    Fat 9.0 / 9.7 / 21.3g
    - of which saturates 4.0 / 4.5 / 2g
    Fibre 2.1 / 5 / 3.6g
    Sodium 0.01 / 0.2 / 0.5g
    Iron 7.0 / 6 / mg
    Calcium 390 / 317 mg
    Vitamin A 450 / 380ug
    Vitamin D 10ug
    Thiamin 0.53 / 0.5mg
    Riboflavin 0.82 / 0.5mg
    Niacin 8.8 / 9mg
    Vitamin B6 ? / 0.7mg
    Folic Acid  ? / 100ug
    Vitamin B12 ? / 0.7ug

    To be honest I am really confused about how much sugar she should be having, I can't seem to find anywhere that tells me what the maximum amount is. Plenty of websites giving you an idea for adults but nothing for babies!! Lots of websites say to avoid anything with added sugar, which I didn't think these had (sugar from fruit?) and still seem very high!

    Her favourite lunch is Heinz Cheesy Pasta and that has 11.5g per 100g. One article I did find in The Mirror stated no more than 2g per 100g! So even her meals are well over that!

    I am really confused by it all and although I am doing my own cooking I just don't know how much of her daily intake of vitamins etc she is getting. At least with the boxed cereals I can ensure she is getting her RDA of all the vitamins, why do we have guidelines on vitamins and not sugar! It's no wonder there is a problem with obesity in this country!

    If anyone has found any guidelines for sugar intake please let me know.

    Monday 6 January 2014

    Knorr Stock Pots

    I was sent some knorr stockpots through Mumsnet. The idea was to test the stockpots by using them with leftovers from Christmas Day. Knorr sent some recipe cards through but some of them were a bit complicated and had ingredients I didn't have or like. Having a young baby who keeps me busy I can't be bothered with long winded recipes or recipes that contain an endless list of ingredients!

    So the first recipe I used was Goodtoknow's Turkey Stew:

    Ingredients
    2tbsp olive oil
    1 onion, chopped
    1 garlic clove, crushed
    2 chillies, chopped
    900g turkey, cut into bite-sized chunks
    1tbsp tomato puree
    285ml vegetable stock
    2 bay leaves

    Method
    Heat the oil in a casserole dish, add the onion, garlic and chillies and fry gently until softened (about 5 minutes).
    Add the turkey pieces, increased the heat, and fry until browned.
    Stir in the tomato puree, then pour in the vegetable stock and add the bay leaves, and season.
    Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 40 minutes, until the turkey is tender.

    I halved the recipe for the two of us as the above feeds four. Also at the same time I added the stock, I added some left over veg from
    Christmas Day - brussel sprout, carrots, green beans and mange tout!



    I of course used Knorr Vegetable Stockpot for my stock. It was such an easy meal to make, I didn't bother browning the turkey so literally just threw all the ingredients in my wohl and left it. Served with mashed potato. It was lovely, very tasty and most of the taste must have been down to the stock as there weren't many other ingredients. The chilli added an extra kick which you could leave out it you don't like anything spicy but I enjoyed it.

    A lot of the recipes suggested by knorr didn't use up all my leftovers so I again found another on the Goodtoknow website, this time it was "Slimming World's turkey risotto"

    Serves 4

    Ingredients
    1 large onion, chopped
    2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
    1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped
    2 garlic cloves, crushed
    710ml / 1¼pt chicken stock
    227g/ 8oz dried Arborio rice a few strands of saffron
    454g/ 1lb lean cooked turkey, skin removed
    salt and freshly ground black pepper
    2 tbsp chopped parsley

    Method
    Put the onion, leeks, peppers, garlic and 284ml/½ pint of the stock in a large heavy frying pan. Cover the pan, bring to the boil and boil for 5-10 minutes. Uncover the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and syrupy.
    Stir in the rice and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add some more stock, together with the saffron, and bring to the boil.
    Reduce the heat to a bare simmer and cook very gently for about 15-20 minutes, adding more stock and stirring as necessary.
    Add the cooked turkey after 10 minutes and heat through in the rice. The risotto is ready when the rice is plump and tender, and all the liquid has been absorbed. Season to taste and serve sprinkled with parsley.


    It's quite a labour intensive recipe but all done in one pot on the hob and you can throw all your leftover veggies in too. It was very tasty, I ended up using two Knorr Chicken stock pots plus the liquid. 

    Finally I used the Beef Gravy pot with some mash, veggies & a beef pie. I must admit I couldn't really taste much difference to gravy granules such a bistro. You had to make the gravy by putting the stockpot in warm water then bringing to the boil in a pan. I expected it to be super tasty, I think I will just stick to granules.

    So to sum up, would I buy the stockpots? Yes. Would I buy the gravy pots? No.


    I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network Research Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.

    6 Month Birthday!

    Happy 6 month birthday Macy!  I can't believe how time flies!



    Cuddle - Snap Happy Brit Mums

    Morning cuddle!

    Thursday 2 January 2014