It’s half term and Evie has returned from her dads which means the job of keeping her entertained during this cold half term is now down to me. We experienced a lovely holiday to Disneyland a couple of years ago during the February break but since then we’ve made the most of time together at home. I was so pleased when I was offered the chance to review the Cozy Cats set from Fuzzikins Crafts as I just new it would be something Evie would love doing. She absolutely loves cats and pairing it with making something and colouring is a genius idea. I think February half term can usually be quite hit and miss so having some fun and easy to do crafts and activities is ideal.
The Cozy Cats set comes with a small family of three cats, which Evie has decided is a mum, dad and a baby. The set also includes three bedding sets which you can make up so you can put the cute cats to bed. The bedding is made of felt and requires no sewing to make the little beds up ready to get them tucked in. There are also some little fish and heart stickers and each cat comes with perfectly sized eye masks to cover the cute little kitty’s as they sleep. We also had three pens, a grey, orange and pink pen, to colour in the cats and give them a little detail.
At first the cats are plain white with a fuzzy feeling material over their bodies which helps make it easy to colour them in. The heads move around and each cat can sit up on their own making them great little play toys to add to your child’s other characters. The little felt beds are quick and easy to put together, requiring no sewing, no scissors and no mess. For each bed you simply push the tabs through the ready made holes to make a pillow and pouch that each cat can fit in. Evie has chosen to decorate her eye masks and beds with the fish and heart stickers. She even let me colour one in which was a nice surprise.
Altogether we had about an hour of colouring and creating the Cozy Cats which was a lot of fun for Evie. She was so excited to open up the box and start using it straight away. She has now coloured them all in completely pink which is very fitting – Evie does love pink! She has decided that the small family of Cozy Cats is our family and throughout the day has trusted Adam and I to take care of them – so far, I think we’ve done okay!
I really liked doing this Fuzzikins Craft set with Evie because the Cozy Cats are really cute and it was really simple. I am not very good when it comes to creating things and prefer to follow a guide or instructions which makes this sort of set ideal. I particularly love that it is mess free creative play and something that Evie can continue playing with amongst her other toys unlike some craft kits that seem to be sort of finished with when you’ve made them. I would highly recommend the Fuzzikins Cozy Cats set for any cat and craft lovers this half term!
The set is for children aged 4 years +. Other sets by Interplay also include Dozy Dogs and Cottontail Cottage with Rabbits. It’s available from John Lewis and Amazon with an RRP of £9.99.
Disclaimer: We received the box of Cozy Cats in exchange for this feature and review. All opinions remain my own.
This week is Cervical Cancer Awareness Week so I wanted to share some helpful stories from other women to get the conversation going about cervical screenings, or, commonly known as Smear tests. Throughout 22nd – 28th January you might see a lot of lipstick smeared selfies across social media and this is to encourage people to talk about smears and most importantly go and have their cervical screening. I’ve had two since turning 25, I’m no expert but I know what to expect. The years before I turned 25, despite having a baby at 21, was full of anxiety about my first cervical screening but when I got the letter through inviting me to make an appointment I did.
I remember getting that first letter and leaflet and thought how strange it was that I was being invited to a cervical screening. It’s not really the kind of party you want to attend but it’s the kind of invitation you should always, always RSVP with a big fat YES! Get it done, get yourself checked out, have the screening and be on your merry way. At least then, whatever the results, you didn’t just leave it. It shocks me to learn that women just aren’t going to their screenings when it’s the biggest cancer killer for women under 35. 2 women die every day from Cervical Cancer and that just breaks my heart – but it makes me glad that each time I’ve got that letter, I’ve made the appointment, dropped my knickers and chatted to the nurse about how many she’s done (I think I was number 960 – she seems pretty qualified!)
Here in the England women are invited to their first cervical screening around the time they turn 25. There are plenty of campaigns to have this age restriction lowered as it is in other parts of the UK. A cervical screening or smear test is taking my swabbing some of the cells from your cervix. It can’t tell you if you have cancer, but what it can do is check to see if you’re cervix is healthy, has any abnormal cells such as HPV which can sometimes lead to cervical cancer. It’s important to note that there are 100’s of different types of HPV which is why it’s so important to get that smear test done as soon as you can. It takes a while for the cells to change which is why you go back every three years. These cells are sent off to check for abnormalities and over the years as you have more they are checking for changes and abnormalities. They’re quick, uncomfortable but not necessarily painful, and usually take place at your GP’s surgery by the nurse.
The appointment in my area lasts for around 40 minutes and the majority of that chat is talking about general health. We spoke a lot about my weight and BMI, general concerns and a quick look over my medical history – despite being fat I’m relatively healthy and don’t really go to the doctors for anything. I was then given the privacy to undress – I always opt for a cotton or jersey style dress, leggings and big ass comfy cotton knickers. It takes just a few minutes of lying back with a big bright light at your lady bits, some discomfort, a swab and your done. A few minutes of your time that can safe your life. I said above I’ve been lucky enough to have regular results but some of my blogger friends have experienced a bit more. I wanted to share more stories with you to help you see just why Smear tests are so important and why, if you’re due one, you should book in right now!
Twinderelmo talks about abnormal results and the fascination of watching a colposcopy.
Evan Angels Fall shares why she welcomes smear tests and encourages you to do the same.
Whinge Whinge Wine shares her story about abnormal results and what to expect if you have to get checked again.
Through Ami’s Eyes talks all about her nerves for her first smear test and how her nurse made her feel relaxed and reassured.
I hope the stories above help to show you that a cervical screening is just a way of looking after your body and having a health check. It’s important to get it done, it might be a bit embarrassing but ultimately, it’s five minutes of your life. Five minutes that could tell you if you’re at risk of developing cervical cancer.
How to get involved – Check Out Jos Trust for more information
When you share your #SmearForSmear make sure you tell people why you’re doing it. Here are some example posts you can use to let people know what the campaign is about, remember to tag us!
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under 35, yet one in three young women don’t attend their smear test. I’m supporting @JoTrust (Twitter) / @joscervicalcancertrust (Instagram) and sharing my #SmearForSmear because every woman should know that smear tests save lives. Attend your smear test, #ReduceYourRisk
The number of women attending smear tests is falling. I’m supporting @JoTrust (Twitter) / @joscervicalcancertrust (Instagram) and sharing my #SmearForSmear because I want every woman to know that smear tests save lives
Attend your smear test; reduce your risk of cervical cancer. Here’s my #SmearForSmear for @JoTrust (Twitter) / @joscervicalcancertrust (Instagram) to encourage more women to go to their smear test
I’m supporting @JoTrust (twitter) / @joscervicalcancertrust (Instagram) with a #SmearForSmear selfie because 1 in 4 women do not attend their smear test. Attend your smear test to #ReduceYourRisk of cervical cancer.
If you are either shortly on holiday to Disneyland Paris or in the stages of planning then this is the place for you. Our stay at Disneyland Paris Sequioa Lodge Hotel was fantastic and I’d love to share more in this review. Staying in a Golden Forest Club Room really made a difference to our stay. It saves money and the room was gorgeous. It is a comfortable room and it perfect for a family of three.
Upgrading to a Club Room
Should you, if you can, upgrade to a club room in the Disneyland Paris hotels? My opinion, absolutely! Especially if it’s your first time and you’re not quite sure what to do or where to go. If you are trying to do Disney on a budget – the snacks and drinks can help save you a fortune. They are filling, and the drinks are available pretty much all day. We have just returned home from our four nights, five days stay in Disneyland Paris.
The upgraded hotel room, park tickets for both the Disneyland Park and Studios Park and breakfast each morning was £732 for two adults and one child aged five. For a holiday, I was happy to pay this price as we were able to book with a deposit through Thomas Cook and pay in our own time making it affordable over a few months. We didn’t ask to upgrade, that was the room available and we thought it was a great deal.
The Golden Forest Lounge in Sequioa Lodge Hotel
Benefits of Golden Forest Club Room
*Private Check In/Check Out – with chocolate coins *Private Golden Forest Lounge *Nespresso Machine in Room *Complimentary hot and soft drinks from 12noon-10.30pm every night of your stay – however you can not make use on day of departure as check out is 11am *Complimentary tea time treats from 4pm-5.30pm which includes savoury and sweet options. We enjoyed cakes, mini wraps, biscuits, sweets, canapes and fruit. We stocked up on this which saves money in the restaurants. *Hot Food & Continental Buffet Breakfast *Rooms are in the main building with fully working lifts *Can get a Lake View room – we did, and we could see the fireworks every night from our room
The view from our lakeside room. You can just see the top of the Disneyland Paris castle in the distance and Hotel New York in the far right.
Checking In
I loved the cute toiletries we got from replenished in our room each day
You will find a clearly labeled Golden Forest Check In desk which saves you joining the main queue. Here you will get your park tickets and hotel fast passes. There was no programme or park guide/map which would be a really handy and helpful addition. At this point, we could hand in our bags of which we were asked, ‘Is this it?’ thanks to savvy packing and they were stored for us to save carrying them around. We went back around 3pm to collect our room keys and our luggage was brought to our room free of charge and no need to tip.
The Room
The room in itself was not much different from others except we had a mini fridge and Nespresso machine. Two double beds made it comfortable for the three of us and the rooms are a good size. Television has some English channels including Disney Channel which is handy in the morning or if you want an early night. There is always a film on at 7pm, which was great on our first night after all the travelling and a bad night sleep the day before. You will also find a shower over bath, iron and ironing board, safe, kettle and complimentary toiletries. Everything is cleaned and replenished daily. The room has plenty of storage in the sink area and the main room. Having a fridge is handy for keeping our drinks cool throughout the day.
These are the types of snacks available for free in the Golden Forest Lounge
The Lounge
The lounge is a lovely perk and nice to sit in when you want to relax. It gets busy when the snacks are available however you can go in and collect drinks throughout the day to take back to your room. You can then take these into the parks or have a drink in the lounge. Afternoon snacks include sweets, cakes, brownies, marshmallows, mini sandwiches, fish and cheese canapes and mini wraps. It’s replenished throughout the two hours and again is self-service. Having free drinks saved us so much money and we had a few left over in our fridge which was very handy to take back when travelling home on the last day.
Disneyland Sequioa Lodge hotel
Breakfast
The Breakfast in the Golden Forest Lounge is really tasty
Breakfast is delicious. The hot options include bacon, eggs, pancakes and veal sausages. There were plenty of hams, cheeses, cereals, toast, croissants… a huge selection constantly refilled and kept nice and hot. We also had fresh and dry fruit available as well as yoghurts. Drinks included coffee, chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice, still and sparkling water. Breakfast in the Golden Forest lounge is 7am until 10.30am which is plenty of time before or after the extra magic hours and there’s no need to book a half hour slot, hardly any queues and very tasty.
Overall we had an amazing time and having a club room saved us so much money in drinks and snacks. We didn’t have to eat out as many times as we thought thanks to the snacks we just weren’t as hungry! It really made our hotel amazing and actually made our Disney holiday fairly relaxed!
The hot chocolate was absolutely delicious – a must have to try.
FAQ’s about Sequoia Lodge and The Golden Forest Upgrade
Should I upgrade to a Golden Forest Room?
Yes, it made our holiday so much more enjoyable. As long as it’s affordable for you it’s an excellent upgrade and can really make a huge change to the type of holiday you have. Especially when it’s colder outside.
When are snacks served for the Golden Forest rooms?
Snacks are like afternoon tea and served between four and six. They include mini cakes, sandwiches, sweets and savoury bites. Having access to these meant we didn’t feel the need to have a big meal every night.
When are drinks available in the Sequoia Lodge Golden Forest lounge?
Drinks are available from 12pm-11pm. Soft drinks are cans and can be taken away to the park or into your room. Tea, Coffee and Hot Chocolate can also be taken away. The tea is not very nice.
Does Sequoia Lodge have a swimming pool?
Yes it does, its a medium sized pool with water slide and jacuzzi. There is also a sauna. Only guests at the hotel are allowed to use the swimming pool.
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The last month has been absolutely manic. Firstly, it took me around five weeks to shift a cough and then cold. This year has been absolutely awful for my health and really is making me question a lot of choices I make with what I eat because I think my weight is a really big contributor to my low immunity. I never used to get ill very often, I don’t get a lot of bugs but colds and coughs are taking longer and longer to shift. I remember the first three months of the year I was suffering really badly with a cough that made me feel so run down. Adam ended up sleeping in the living room, it made my last birthday a bit of a sad affair and no doctor would help with it. It was rubbish. I was really worried that would happen again but I’m glad it’s gone and I’m going to try a lot harder to make myself healthier.
Starting a new job whilst not being 100% well was really tough too because there has been so much information to take in, as there always is. I’ve now done a couple of weeks part-time training and one-week full time which, thankfully, wasn’t as much as a shock to the system as it would have been if I’d left it to start and not done any training. It’s felt like an absolute whirlwind and I haven’t quite got a routine in place with everything just now. So far I’m just working 9-5 but there are shifts involved and new things to learn so it will be a continuous place of learning and adjusting for us all. Adam has also reduced his hours at work but he’s dashing all over the place from doing the school run, college, work and other household duties too. He has two weeks off work over Christmas which tie into his time off at college too so he’s really looking forward to that time. I haven’t got any time booked off over Christmas but I’m not really worried. If all goes well and I get taken on permanently at the end of my 12-week temporary probation I’m estimating a gap in pay which will be another challenge.
I genuinely thought I’d feel more guilty about going back to work. It’s putting pressure on Adam to add in the school run alongside everything else and he’s really tired so it’s a given that the weekend lie ins belong to him (not that I’ve ever had one anyway) and I’m glad he’s got some time off coming up soon. Hopefully, he will make good use of his holiday next year so he can get a bit of rest. I don’t really feel guilty about going back to work though because I feel like I’m doing my part. I’ve always been doing my part and I’ve always earned money but this is a little more contributing and it helps more than it hinders. I took the job because it came at the right time, with the right description and the right money.
Work is going really well and it’s a really busy period. I’m learning a lot and I’m really enjoying getting to know the team. I’m absolutely shattered in the evenings though which is why the blog has kind of suffered. I haven’t had the energy to write and I’ve been procrastinating a lot in the mornings by catching up on TV shows and playing Assassins Creed (which I’ve now completed) so my priorities have been a little all over the place. We have, however, had a nice few weekends too. Evie’s had a sleepover at my dads, we’ve been to see Thor Ragnarok and Justice League at the cinema, we’ve done a lot of Christmas shopping and post presents are bought, paid for and wrapped. Some are waiting to be wrapped and stuffed in various places around the flat. It’s been nice to treat the family for once as it’s not something I can do very often or have been able to do the last few months.
Life really has been a whirlwind this last month and I imagine it will continue to be. I’m having my implant removed on Friday and have the day off work so I expect this weekend i’ll be feeling a bit sore. We are going to use the weekend to move a few things around and have a bit of a declutter because my desk, the dining table and basically everywhere else to be honest. We need to get rid of stuff, we need to move furniture around and make room for our Christmas tree. We’ve got a few Christmas events booked throughout December too which I’m really excited about including a show, a trip to visit Father Christmas and the local Hawk Conservancy Trust which is a really lovely day out. We’ve even organised Christmas dinner which is being delivered to us, hot and ready to eat on Christmas Day. We were going to go out for it but this feels so much better instead. I’m really excited about it, the menu is lovely and includes four courses for us all. We’ve enjoyed many a festive drink in various coffee shops too. It seems to be our thing!
I’ve been on and off hormonal contraceptive since I was about 14. Starting with the combined pill Microgynon to help control heavy periods and reduce the pain I was having. It didn’t really work to be honest but you follow your doctor’s advice and hope for the best. Since then I’ve also had Cerazette, the mini-pill and the contraceptive implant, Nexplanon. That’s pretty much 12 years on and off, but mostly on, some form or hormonal contraceptive with a small break where I had a baby. My reason for having the implant was to prevent pregnancy in my new relationship and in the last five years I’ve had an implant inserted, removed three years later and exchanged for a new one. Two years on and I’ve had enough of hormonal contraceptive.
I’ve been really lucky with Nexplanon, the implant has worked perfectly for me. It’s a small, flexible tube put into my upper left arm. It was first put in with a local anaesthetic to the area, a small incision and a stitch. I had a dressing for about a week and awful bruising for around two weeks. It wasn’t a painful procedure but the local anaesthetic made me feel a bit sick and the bruising was a lot bigger than I thought. Within around six months my periods had reduced, then completely stopped. I haven’t had a baby either so it’s done its job pretty well. Nexplanon, when inserted correctly, is apparently more than 99% effective in preventing pregnancy. It can move, so you have to keep checking that it’s been inserted in the right place and if you can’t feel it, speak to your GP. It contains the hormone Progestogen which is the same as the mini-pill. They last for three years and then you can decide to remove or have a new one put in. This is again done with a local anaesthetic, a small incision and the removal and insertion of a new Nexplanon implant. For me, the bruising was a lot bigger this time because there was a bit more poking around on my arm to remove the old implant.
The science bit; The implant stops the release of an egg from the ovary by slowly releasing progestogen into your body. Progestogen also thickens the cervical mucus and thins the womb lining. This makes it harder for sperm to move through your cervix, and less likely for your womb to accept a fertilised egg. – NHS
Bruising after removal and insertion of second Nexplanon contraceptive implant
The not so positive side effects are very person specific. On the whole, the implant has been pretty good for me over the last five years. No pain, no periods and no pregnancy. My GP told me that fertility should return to normal within 72 hours of the implant being removed. It’s great after birth because it’s safe to use with breastfeeding too. However, there are always side effects with every single medication and hormonal contraceptive that you take. These can include, for some women, disrupted periods, acne, headaches, breast tenderness, changes in mood, loss of sex drive and feeling sick. These are typical of hormonal contraceptive and should subside over the first few months.
Since having a baby and then having the implant I’ve suffered really badly with migraines which have been awful. It wasn’t really something I’ve ever connected with my implant but if removing it helps reduce them then brilliant. The biggest side effect though is the women that report weight gain. In the five years that I’ve had the implant, I’ve gained around five and a half stone. That’s a pretty massive chunk. This has absolutely been down to food cravings and mood changes. I wouldn’t say the Nexplanon implant has made me depressed but it’s absolutely made me more emotional. I cry all the time, at all the silly things, I am a sensitive soul anyway and I think the implant has affected that and contributed to quite a few of my mood swings. I’ve had a lot of skin breakouts too which are always down to a hormonal imbalance. I’m also in a loving relationship with a man and we both want to have children together, so if pregnancy happened then, well, we are both adults and I’m sure we’d cope absolutely fine with the prospect of being parents (again).
The weight gain has been a significant reason as to why I want a break from my hormonal contraceptive implant. I want a chance to lose weight, healthily, safely and if this is a stumbling block for me then it makes sense to get it removed. I am hoping removing the implant will make weight loss easier, reduce cravings and prevent mood swings. The only downside is my periods returning because they’re horrible and painful and rubbish. I’m going to invest in a period happy box so I can get chocolate treats and things that make me feel better. Mostly, I want my body to be in a much better shape than it was in my previous pregnancy. We won’t be trying for a baby until I’ve lost a significant amount of weight and we know where we’re going to be this time next year. We need to move really as well because we have no space for beautiful baby things.
I’m speaking with the contraceptive nurse on Wednesday to get my appointment with the only doctor in my surgery that is trained to remove the implant. When I’ve got my appointment and everything’s been removed I’ll keep you updated on any changes I feel.
