Candyfloss & Dreams

Author: Kat Candyfloss

Fantastic House Moving Tips That You Have Probably Never Thought About

This is a collaborative post.

We all know moving house can be very stressful, and there is loads of advice online as to how you can make life easier for yourself in the process. We have already given you our stress-busting tips on this site. However, to be original, we have decided to come up with some clever ideas that you have probably never considered. So, without further ado, let’s get packing… erm… We mean cracking!

Fill your socks

Not only do you need to pack your socks, but you also need to pack up your fragile glass items. Kill two birds with one stone (not literally, that’s cruel) and use your socks as extra padding for your breakables. You might still want to use bubble wrap or extra tissue paper, but your socks will add extra protection. Hint: think of the germs and use clean socks if you intend to drink out of those glasses when you get to your new property.

Use beer crates for your books

(wikimedia)

Avid readers will need to put their favorite books somewhere, but cardboard boxes may not be strong enough to hold the weight. Instead, use wooden beer crates which are more durable, and have handles on the side to help you carry them. Make sure you remove (or drink) the beer first, however, as you don’t want to ruin your copy of Fifty Shades of Gray with fifty shades of alcohol!

Take a photo of your tv wires

Unplugging the wires from the back of your tv is one thing, but remembering where they go again is quite another! Considering the number of appliances you probably have plugged in, from your DVD player to your games consoles, having a handy photograph of what goes where will help you untangle your memory when you get to the new house.

Hire a cleaning crew

(pixabay)

You have so much to do on moving day that cleaning the home may become an afterthought. However, if you are renting your property, you won’t get your deposit back if the house is a mess. Therefore, hire an end of lease cleaning service to reduce your burden, or get your friends and neighbors in to give you a hand.

Cut down on boxes

You probably have loads of storage containers you haven’t actually thought about. Picnic hampers, laundry baskets, suitcases, and litter bins are just some of the items that could be filled with your essential items. Please note: ensure the cat hasn’t made a home in one of them, as you don’t want a flat packed kitty on your hands when you start to unpack later in the day.

Use toothpaste on nail holes

Your paintings look great in the house until you remove them and you are left with unsightly holes in the wall. Provided the toothpaste matches the color on the wall, squirt a little in, wipe away the excess, and you will never see the holes again! Admittedly, you won’t see them anyway as you will have long gone, but if your new property smells minty fresh you will know why!

Let me know if you have any original and creative tips for moving day.

August 8, 2017
Giving Your Home A Little Old-Timey Charm

This is a collaborative post.

If you’re of the romantic, nostalgic kind, then the old-fashioned style of décor might have a lot of appeal to you. However, you might not be willing to fork out the exorbitant costs of a home with real history nor willing to take on the work that a lot of older-fixer uppers require. That doesn’t mean you have to miss out, however. There are a lot of ways to add real old-time charm to your home.

Picture sourced by Gashif Reza

It’s all in the material

If you want your home to immediately feel more cosy, comfortable, and rustic, making the right use of the right materials is the first place to begin. Natural materials like fitting stone walls and hardwood floors immediately give a sense of “permanence” to the room, but are best accented with plenty of rugs and throws to make sure it doesn’t look too cold or sterile. Making good use of reclaimed materials can add real age to even the newest of new builds, too.

Muted, vintage patterns work best

Bright, contemporary colours can ruin the aged appeal of your style, however. If you want to keep a certain timelessness to the home, then think about muted colours that don’t clash with older furniture pieces. You can use real vintage linens, covers, and upholstery. Or you can simply go with more natural colours if you don’t want to go overboard and make the home look a little too out-dated.

Choose a period piece and make it your focal point

Indeed, you might not want to go too far with the efforts to make the home look vintage and end up making it look like a period piece. You can still incorporate plenty of modern appliances and contemporary furniture while maintaining that appeal by focusing it in, aptly enough, a focal point. If the home has a fireplace, this can be the best place to put it. However, any large piece of period furniture, like a vanity or a grandfather clock, can capture the attention by making sure that there’s a clear line-of-sight to it no matter where you are in the room or by using accent lighting to draw more attention to it.

Don’t forget the exterior

That old-fashioned look probably works best when it comes to adding real kerb appeal to the home. It looks much more welcoming and warm, and you can achieve it mainly by focusing on the fixtures of the home. For instance, sash windows add a classic elegance to the home, while simply giving an existing wood door a lick of paint can help it keep some of its historic appeal while keeping it looking fresh and reliable. A natural touch like hanging plant baskets look both established, but lively, too.

You don’t have to transport your home entirely back into the past to give it a little old-time charm. It’s all about identifying those parts of the home where a few vintage pieces might give maximum appeal while still allowing for some of the conveniences of modern design.

August 8, 2017
The Perfect Pedicure

I’ve never had a pedicure because I’ve had a massive problem with my feet since I was about eleven. I went on holiday with my family to Spain and we had a great time. I was in and out of the pool the whole week we were away but towards the end of the trip I caught my toe in some pool wire that was seperating the deep end from the shallow end. It got embedded under my nail on my big toe and since then has been the cause of so many issues. I’ve tried so many treatments to try and sort it out, going to the doctors, medication, treatment but every year I seem to have another problem with it. It’s so frustrating. I was given the chance to try a new product and challenge Canespro’s 21 Day Challenge to help finally combat the infection. 21 days I thought, I could do this! Many other treatments required six to eight weeks of application and I’m so forgetful that they never worked. 21 days seemed really manageable and I wanted to give it a go. It promises that after 21 days you’ll no longer have to paint over the infection and it will be gone for good.

Put Your Best Foot Forward This Summer

…with Canespro’s 21 Day Challenge

As we embrace summer outfits and start to bare a little more, we are quick to pay more attention to our skin whether this is tanning, moisturising or sun protection, but how much attention do we pay to our toenails?

There are many problems that you can face with your feet, Dina Gohil, Mayfair Podiatrist to the stars says: “Most common foot problems seen on a daily basis would be: bunions, plantar fasciitis, corns, cullus (otherwise known as hard skin) verrucae, ingrown toe nails and fungal nails”

One problem that can cause people to cover up their nails this summer is fungal nail, with 1 in 10 people suffering¹ from the condition and 1 in 5 feeling so self-conscious of their infection that they even refuse to walk barefoot in their own home².

However, one of difficulties can be knowing when you have a fungal nail infection, Dina comments: “Most people are unaware what a fungal nail looks like. Misconceptions being they only appear as severely discoloured and crumbly. Early stages of Fungal nails may just start with a simply discolouration and no change in texture of the nail.”.

If you want to stop painting over your Fungal Nail Infection this summer, take action with Canespro Fungal Nail Treatment Set and their 21 Day Challenge.

Canespro has a clinically proven mode of action to remove the infected part of the nail in 2-3 weeks (14-21 days). £29.99, Tesco, Supermarkets & Pharmacies Nationwide. Canespro have a printable 21 Day Calendar online to help keep you motivated to get rid of your fungal nail in time for summer.

Dina continues: “Fungal nails are not likely to clear without any intervention. There are several options but first be sure it is a fungal infection; see a podiatrist and they can advise you further. Once the nail infection has been established home remedies as well as over the counter treatment options are favoured in conjunction with regular visits to the podiatrist for maintenance”

Application of this particular cream is really easy you simply soak your feet and the nail that requires treatment. You then dry throughouly, apply the cream and cover with the provided plaster. The next evening you remove the plaster, soak the feet again and use the provided tool to remove parts of the softened nail then you do the same thing again for 21 days. A pretty simple progress. One I’m relieved to say didn’t cause any pain and I was so surprised at how quickly the treatment started to work. The product really worked and even though it took me a little longer to complete the treatment – more because sometimes I forgot and sometimes I just didn’t have time for that foot soak but it removed all of the infected part of the nail.

The first few days were a really nice treat of using my foot spa so it was really nice to just sit back and pamper whilst reading a book. After soaking and having a quick scrape (sounds worse than it felt, honestly) I would pop the cream on, the plaster and a clean pair of socks before going about my day. After the first week I saw a massive difference in my nail because so much had been removed. The cream does wonders for really softening it down alongside the regular soaking. Using the product really started giving me a bit of confidence back and I thought finally with summer just around the corner I can wear flip flops again, I can get that perfect pedicure, I can paint them pretty colours again.

Fungal nail infections aren’t really something we want to be talking about but I’m so pleased there are some non-invansive treatments that really help to get rid of the problem that are virtually painless. Once the infection is gone it’s important to keep the nails as healthy as possible and who wouldn’t want a regular bit of TLC? Give yourself a foot soak from time to time, get that perfect pedicure to keep you feeling fresh and if you have concerns about fungal nail treatment then go with a product that works. The 21 Day Challenge is easy to follow and gives you fast results which is the quickest I’ve seen with this type of product.

Disclaimer: I received this treatment in exchange for this feature. All opinions are my own.

August 4, 2017
A Visit to St Michael’s Mount, Marazion, Cornwall

I think it was the sunniest day of our trip to Cornwall that we were lucky enough to visit St Michael’s Mount. St Michael‘s Mount is located in Marazion which is about 40 minutes from Helston by bus. You can get the number 2 bus towards Penzance from the Blue Anchor stop in Helston. If you just want to visit the village at the bottom or stroll across the causeway, there’s no need to pay. When tide is high you can get a boat over which is a few pounds. We were able to walk there and back on the day we visited in July 2017. We walked across the causeway to visit the Mount which opened around 10 o’clock. It only takes around 10 minutes to walk across the causeway over there are a lot of cobbles so it’s not very accessible for wheelchairs or pushchairs. St Michael’s Mount is closed to the public on Saturdays to give the residents on the mount and the family living in the castle a day to themselves so it’s wise to plan your visit accordingly.

St Michael’s Mount is a national trust site so it’s free for members to visit and for those that are visiting from the day you can buy tickets from the ticket office. There are family discount tickets available. We made our way up the steep climb towards the castle after collecting our tickets. On the day we visited there was story time on the lawn every hour, on the hour. You can take a look at the website for more events happening on the Mount.

On a sunny day like it was on our visit, storytime would be the perfect way to enjoy the scenery before the climb up to the castle or to help recover after with an ice cream. I feel I need to exaggerate the climb towards the castle a little bit because it is incredibly sleep. The climb is relatively steep so wearing proper walking shoes is ideal. You might even want to consider a trekking pole. Hiking and walking activities happen all over Cornwall so it’s something you could use throughout your holiday.

There are handrails all the way up to the top however the path is full of broken stones and cobbles. I wouldn’t recommend this climb to those who are not fully mobile. Any babies or young children that may struggle with the walk will need to be carried as you will not be able to get pushchairs up this hill. There is a buggy park at the bottom. I think I struggled more on the way down than on the way up but I am aware I’m very, very clumsy so falling over is a frequent experience for me. There are gaps in the cobbles and it’s quite easy for small toes to slip between and cause slips and trips. I can imagine walking up these cobbles after it’s been raining can be a real challenge. I feel St Michael’s Mount is a place to visit on a dry day.

St Michael’s Mount is located in a really unique setting. I really enjoyed walking across the causeway to visit the mount. During high tide there is the chance to get a boat ride back however we were still able to walk back. You can easily check the causeway opening times on them St Michael’s Mount website. I would definitely suggest having a look at the website to help plan your visit. You need a few hours to visit the mount to fully enjoy and appreciate everything it has two offer. There are a few shops and places to eat we enjoyed lunch in the sail loft.

As well as being a national trust site the castle is a residential home and there are parts of the castle that are off-limits. You can get a ticket to include visiting the castle and the gardens surrounding the mount. The tour through the castle is a one way walk and it can get very busy and crowded.

I feel we enjoyed the sites and scenes and had enough time to appreciate everything the castle had to offer.

My daughter also enjoyed taking part in the children’s treasure hunt which led to her getting a gold medal. She was very pleased with herself. After exploring the castle we Took a slow walk back down towards the Sail Loft. Here we had a delicious lunch for £29.95 this included a ham and honey mayonnaise sandwich a new Lynn crab sandwich and a children’s lunch bag. For this type of attraction I think the food was good value as it was very tasty. The staff at the Mount were incredibly helpful and made for a pleasant trip.

I think the best thing about St Michaels Mount is the stunning scenery which can be seen from all angles. The castle is very high up and you can really get a gorgeous view of Marazion bay.

After our lunch we took a stroll down to the village with our ice creams which were really tasty. Evie enjoyed a chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone, Adam had mint with chocolate chips and I enjoyed raspberry and white chocolate. You can get ice cream just outside the sail loft. The ice cream was so lovely and we really enjoyed them sitting just on the grass outside the ticket office watching other people paddle in the sea. We also got to try the passionfruit sorbet which was really delicious and would recommend this option if it’s particularly warm to cool down, it was quite sweet but very, very refreshing and I really recommend it.! The two boys working in the Ice Cream hatch were very friendly and great at recommending flavour choices. On the way back we enjoyed a stroll along the beach paddling in the sea before catching our bus.

Our trip to Cornwall has been really lovely and a very special family holiday. We have enjoyed lots of sites and St Michael’s Mount has been a real highlight. For anyone that is visiting South Cornwall particularly close to Helston or Penzance then I really recommend a trip to Saint Michaels Mount particularly if you’re already a national trust member.

Disclaimer; we received three tickets to Saint Michaels Mount Castle and vouchers for ice cream in exchange for this review. All opinions remain my own.

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August 1, 2017
Our Family Holiday at Mullion, Cornwall

We are home after our trip to Mullion, Cornwall! Holiday’s really make you feel refreshed don’t they? It’s one of the main reasons why I want the ultimate work, life and travel balance. We have just enjoyed a seven night break at Park Dean Resorts Mullion Holiday Park in Cornwall. It was a great week. To watch what we got up to, take a look at my little vlog I put together. Our last holiday like this was on Isle of Wight and we had a lovely time so of course we had pretty high expectations.

I remember announcing the holiday a while a go as our next family holiday destination. Mullion Holiday park has plenty of mobile homes, caravans and space for pitching and touring. When it comes to camping you want to make sure you have all the right supplies so it’s worth checking out camping equipment reviews to ensure you have the best of the best.

Cornwall isn’t really that far, a few hours by car and we checked out the transport links before we booked. As a non driving family we left around 11.30am on 21st July arriving at the park after many train delays, missing a bus and forking out for a taxi at around 7.30pm where we were greeted by the friendly reception team and collected the key to our caravan. On arriving we were given our holiday admin paperwork, entertainment schedule, pool opening times and activities. We were pretty close to everything which was good as the last thing we wanted to do was look for our holiday home with all the luggage and be right at the other end of the park. The sun had just come out when we arrived, I took this to be a sign of a good week. After putting our luggage in we headed straight over for dinner and enjoyed a tasty pub grub style meal together.

I had a lovely fish n chips tea and Adam enjoyed the Steak and Doom Bar Pie. We shared some bread and oils too which were very tasty.

We had a pretty busy week planned and were going to be running around Cornwall all week with our family bus pass. It was £52 for a week for two adults and as many kids as you had with you which was pretty good. It saved us a lot of money as we headed out pretty much every day.

The holiday park is quite small but features a good sized family resturant, takeaway, shop, indoor heated pool, outdoor pool & splash zone, play park, arcade and evening entertainment lounge. We had a good week, the place was pretty clean and we tried to sample as much as we could really. Mullion holiday park is situated just outside Mullion village, 7 miles south of Helston and around 3 miles away from Lizard Point which is the most south you can get to in the UK. In Helston you’ll find a large Sainsburys, Tesco and Lidl for food shopping which is very handy. We decided we were going to cook most nights so on the Saturday we headed back into Helston for some time at Flambards and a quick shop. We got back later in the afternoon and headed to the entertainment lounge for the kids disco. E really surpised me as she didn’t feel like joining in very much but instead watched what was going on with her slush puppy. She did have a lot of fun with the 2p machines though and won herself some sort of dino fish from one of the grab games.

On Sunday we headed down towards Lizard Point for a picnic and the weather was super sunny and lovely. E walked around the rockpools with Adam and they found a family of crabs. E was a bit disapointed because the crabs were too small apparently. Well, pleasing children is pretty hard to do anyway right? There are lots of lovely beaches in Cornwall. Otis and us have some great advice on beach days and rockpooling.

We headed back up to Helston after lunch for some ice cream and a play in the big park there by the lake before heading back to Mullion and jumping in the pool. It was lovely to have a swim and a play in the sunshine and I’m pretty surprised I had the confidence to get in to be honest! Monday we spend the day at St Michaels Mount which is absolutely worth a visit. There are loads of places to go hiking around Cornwall so it really does make for an adventurous holiday. With gorgeous, rocky coastlines you want to make sure you have all the right hiking equipment.

We ended up missing our bus back from Helston but after grabbing some drinks from Lidl we only had half hour to wait and chose to do that in the park. We stayed a little later in the entertainment lounge and watched some of the show for the night which was a bit of fun. By half nine E was actually tired (never happens at home…) so we headed back to the caravan for the night.

We had a lazy day on the Tuesday after a few full on days making use of the facilities on site. A good swim and a play in the soft play area with a costa coffee was just the relaxing time we needed. E headed into the outside park later on in the evening before our regular routine of arcade and evening entertainment. A few times we tried to order some drinks and cocktails but the bar staff in the star gate lounge either couldn’t hear us or just didn’t really understand our orders. This was really frustrating to be honest especially when the entertainment staff and DJ kept recommending drinks and the bar staff couldn’t really complete the order. It’s also worth noticing that there are new menus around and not every drink featured will be available in every park. However, rather than being politely informed about drinks being unavailable we were met with shrugs, blank stares and often rude remarks. It was a real shame to be honest as it’s something we will take away from our holiday and has kind of tarnished it a little. I hope it’s just a teething and training issue with whatever changes are taking place and it was simply a case of wrong place and time.

On Wednesday we headed into Falmouth on the bus which took around 45 minutes from Helston in search for a cream tea. We found the perfect place in Dolly’s Tea Room and Gin Palace. It was a really delicious cream tea and we will absolutely head back to Falmouth for a child free weekend in the future to sample more of those delicious gins on offer.

We came home to enjoy our evening meal and the evening entertainment. By this point I was starting to feel a little unwell with a scratchy throat. Now I’m home with a full blown cold which is very annoying. Thursday was our final day and another lazy one at that, mostly due to me feeling unwell but we still got out for a play, a swim and packed up our caravan so we could leave bright and early the next morning. Checking out was simple and we left around 8.50 to catch our bus. Reception wasn’t yet open so we dropped our keys into the post box just on the side of the door. It took eight long hours to get home and we’re glad to be back!

Mullion is a nice little holiday park and has good connection routes with the rest of Cornwall. There is plenty to see and do nearby including some absolutely stunning beaches and I wish we had a chance to get to some of them. We will absolutely visit Cornwall again and I would consider Park Dean Resorts as a good choice for self catering accomodation.

July 29, 2017