Candyfloss & Dreams

Category: Lifestyle

lifestyle blog posts focusing on home, lifestyle, parenting, pregnancy, family life and home and style. Home decor and working at home, working at home as a self employed freelancer and blogger. Family lifestyle blog posts including family reviews, family products and saving money as a family. Being a more eco friendly family.

The Wicked King Book Review 4/52

The Wicked King by Holly Black is the second book in the Folk of The Air series and is the surprising and enjoyable sequel to The Cruel Prince. It came out in January 2019 in Hardback and Audiobook and I’ve just finished it.

The Wicked King follows around four months after the end of The Cruel Prince and is told from the perspective of mortal girl Jude who has been brought up in the land of Faerie by Madoc, the Grand General, who murdered her parents. That in itself is an interesting and complex relationship which is something that really draws me into the story. Without giving too much away Jude is now in a position of power which she is quite desperately clinging too facing all sorts of humiliation and anger from the Folk and her family. The story very much feels like a power struggle throughout with a lot of tension, murder, betrayal and heated passion thrown in for good mix.

Despite being a fantasy the book is very political which I really enjoyed. It was interesting to see a mortal power struggle in a faerie land. I find most of the characters and their relationships with each other really interesting. Instead of being your typical young adult fantasy romance style book the relationships are full of more betrayal and displeasure at each other. The Wicked King challenges a lot of moral issues too, and instead of painting faeries in a cute or tricky way the focus is more on the mischievous.

What really surprised me about The Wicked King was the ending as I completely did not see that coming at all. It was a complete throw which actually, for once, left me wanting to know what happens next which of course is something I will have to wait to find out. I really enjoyed the ending even though those type of cliffhangers really frustrate me but this actually lead me to wanting to know more about the build up from the others characters point of view, why it happened and what will happen next.

The Wicked King is available to buy on Amazon. Here is the affiliate link for the book:

One of my goals for 2020 is to read 52 books or around one a week. Some might be new, some are ones I’ve had for a while or been meaning to read, some I haven’t quite finished yet and some will be recommendations from others. You can see all the books I’ve read so far on my Good Reads 2020 Reading Challenge.

March 10, 2019
I’m Too Fat To Be Body Positive

On one hand I see slimmer women from magazines, airbrushed and photoshopped giving me an unrealistic view of beauty and health and on the other I see women the same size as me confident and content with their bodies. I can’t help but feel what is wrong with me. I am not body confident, the way I look disgusts me.

It’s totally my fault of course because I own my body and I have made the decisions that make it the way it is right now. I ate the food, I moved less, I had children and in those years I’ve created a mindset that has a unhealthy view of food. I restrict then binge, yo-yo diet and workout but then I get complacent, or bored, or lose willpower or feel pressured and I stop. My attitude towards food is unhealthy and my attitude towards exercise is it’s painful and I feel humiliated doing it.

But I see so many women, some the same size, some larger than me loving themselves and I don’t understand what there is to love. I don’t love anything about my body, I don’t love anything about the way I look. I don’t have respect or pride for my scars and stretchmarks. All I see is fatty flesh, shoulders too big for my small head, horrible hair that never looks right however it’s cut, makeup that I can’t ever “do” proplerly so it always looks cakey no matter my budget. I see tiny hands with bitten nails, hard skin, soft pudgy bits that don’t sit right in any clothes. I feel chub rub, boob sweat and all the aches and pains that come with carrying excess fat around my body. Do these body positive, body confident women not feel these things either? Is there something wrong with me that only I suffer with these problems of being so overweight?

Do they not find it hard getting in and out of the bath? Do they not have to put the shampoo and conditioner in reach before getting in because the tyres around their middle prevent them actually reaching forward enough? Do they not sweat so much it makes them embaressed to go outside? Do they not look at themselves and the sag and excess skin and sretch marks and wish at times they could just unzip it at the back and step out of this fat suit? If they don’t feel like this then why do I feel like this if I am “one of them”

I do not want to be so slim and so ripped. I don’t need loads of muscles on show or eight abs. I don’t care about having a bit of a mum pouch from my two c-sections. I just want to wear a pair of jeans from a supermarket rather than expensive shops dedicated to plus sizes. I want to buy a bra that costs £6 instead of £36. I want to have a healthy respect for my body and a positive relationship with food.

I do not want to spend the next thirty years of my life stepping on and off the sad step until I reach my target weight and then obsessing over maintaining that weight for years to come. I do not want to have to restrict myself from food groups forever. I just want to be able to understand when I’m full and to have enough. I don’t want to have to overeat to the point of discomfort and I want to continue actually really enjoying food because it tastes so good. I don’t want to be stuck on a traffic light system focusing in on labels for the rest of my life in case something is too fatty or too high in sugar.

I want to learn to trust myself to make healthy choices and to enjoy movement. I want to be a good role model to my kids and show them that being healthy is not about being thin but it is about mental relationships. I do not want my children to live a live of obsession over their weight but how can I prevent that when the way I look disgusts me and drives me own obsession with diet culture.

I feel pressured, overwhelmed and disgusted at myself and I do not know where to start. I am too fat to be body positive and I am too fat to be healthy.

March 8, 2019
My Fairy Garden: Fairy Kitchen Garden Review #AD

My Fairy Garden: Fairy Kitchen Garden was sent to us in exchange for this blog post. All opinions remain my own. This post may contain advertisement and affiliate links.

I thought the Fairy Kitchen Garden would be something my mum would enjoy doing with Evie as she loves gardening and Evie is always picking her raspberries and “helping” her in the summer. My mum looks after Evie for a couple of hours every other Friday before she goes to her dads so it was a good chance for them to do something together.

Fairy Kitchen Garden comes with a planter, Fairy, Fairy House and some pea shoots for planting. You just need to provide your own soil to create a lovely little Fairy Garden. When the pea shoots have grown through you can snip them off and eat them so I also thought it would be a great chance for Evie to learn a bit about growing food too.

The Fairy Kitchen Garden is lovely and currently has pride of place in my mums Kitchen. Evie and her spent some time putting it together and then planting the seeds. The seeds need to be soaked in water between 6 and 24 hours before planting so I would recommend taking them out and popping in water the night before you want to make the Fairy Kitchen Garden.

It’s quite simple to put the Fairy Kitchen Garden together and really does look very cute. It’s so quick and simple and a great activity to do with kids as it’s something that is quick to do at first but takes a bit of time to see something grow so it’s nice to see Evie want to help look after something, and hopefully, be proud of what she’s grown.

We have just started seeing some of the first shoots come through which has really excited Evie!

My Fairy Garden: Fairy Kitchen Garden is from Interplay and is available to buy on Amazon.

March 7, 2019
Felix at 5 Months

These five months really are flying past! Not too much has changed since Felix’s last update at 4 months apart from him getting longer and heavier and now in his 6-9 month wardrobe. I need to start looking for summer clothes for him in 9-12 months as I imagine at this rate we will be needing to reach for those larger sizes around May.

We are also looking at what we need for weaning Felix at six months. We did try him on a few simple purees at 4 months because of his reflux as I was advised that it might make things better but it ended in a nasty bit of constipation so felt he just wasn’t ready. I am really excited about weaning though and hope to do a more baby lead weaning approach this time around as I didn’t with Evie.

We are on the lookout for a decent highchair, preferably one that we can adjust the height of and there are a few I have my eye on. I am also looking forward to introducing a cup with food for Felix to try drinking water with as I am hoping with the addition of tap water and food his reflux and constipation will be a lot less problematic.

We have the signs of his first tooth coming through and he’s had some really nasty teething spells but it hasn’t quite cut through yet. He has a really strong gummy grip and benefits from chowing down on something and teething gel seems to have a dramatic difference to his symptoms. He gets very red cheeked and the dribble is crazy!

He is constantly pulling himself up when sat on us to sit up and his back is much straighter when he’s sitting but he can not sit without support just yet. He also loves to use his legs and stand with support. He can hold himself up for a few moments when held and really pushes his feet down into the floor or a hard surface. When on his tummy he will do a sort of backwards baby plank with his legs but he hasn’t quite got it in him to get onto his arms. Felix will sometimes do a bit of a superman pose on his front and he is starting to sort of shuffle around a little on his tummy. He is still rotating around on his playmat and very frequently rolls onto his side and shuffles around that way. I really don’t think it will be long until he is rolling back and fourth a bit more regularly.

His routine still seems to be three-hourly during the day but he sometimes only naps for around ten minutes resulting in a very overtired baby. He finds it very hard to get comfortable and sleep if he’s constipated so we are doing lots of bicycle legs and gentle tummy massages to help – and it does help him a lot which is good. Feeding him only takes around 5 minutes now on a medium flow teat of 6oz. He finishes each bottle but we have found increasing to 7oz makes his reflux worse and he just seems to be overfeeding on that last ounce. He has started to hold his bottle himself.

It’s very clear when he’s unhappy as he makes a long “Ummm” sound which sounds very much like “Mum” so I hope that will turn into his first real word. Of course I know he doesn’t mean me, he just means “I AM VERY BORED AND UNHAPPY NOW PLEASE MOVE ME” He likes to laugh at mirror reflections of himself or of anyone laughing. It could be us or someone on the TV, he loves the sound of laughter but no one makes him laugh and smile like Evie does. It’s really incredible how much children tend to respond to other children actually even with an 8 year age gap!

He has his next Vaccinations coming up as he had to miss his last set due to having a bit of a cold – thanks to teething, and we all had colds. I’m glad this is his last set for a while.

March 6, 2019
Off The Hook Doll Review #AD

We received an Off The Hook Doll in exchange for a blog post review. All opinions remain my own. This post may contain affiliate or advertisement links.

Off The Hook Dolls are a new collectable fashion doll that Evie has been very impressed with. Just before half term she got her first Off The Hook Doll which has helped keep her entertained during February Half Term.

The dolls look cute and come in a fun box with two blind bags featuring a change of outfits. The outfits are quick and easy to change because of the ‘Hook’ feature which connects the pieces together and makes things easy to change. Evie likes being able to change her dolls up so this was a great fit for her.

There are several dolls to collect and several different fashion items for each doll. The toys are suitable for girls aged 5 and older. I love the punky look of our doll, particularly the boots and hair. Some of the fashions I’ve seen on the others is really on trend including a pretty cool Flamingo skirt which I want in my life.

Our Off The Hook Dolls feature two blind bags containing a changeable top and bottom which makes a complete outfit. You can really personalise each dolls look using the different hooks of clothing which is great and makes kids, I think, want to collectable.

As you can see the outfits seem to fit the ‘personality’ of the doll which is great and makes you want to try another doll and see what types of fashion they’re into. For ours with her punky look and coloured hair she has a real ‘rock chick’ look about her which I love. This is the type of fashion I (tried, hard) to pull off in my teenage years. I particularly love the boots which remind me of my patent leather Doc Martens.

February 27, 2019