Cheap days out

I've got a confession to make. One of my favourite afternoons out with M if it's raining is a trip to IKEA...

If you can avoid spending any money on candles, kitchen gadgets and things in bargain corner, it's rather a giggle. There's lots of beds to bounce on, sofas and chairs to sit on, kitchens to have a pretend tea party in, patterns to find, signs to read, sums to do with money you don't have, escalators to ride on, silly Swedish words everywhere and free tea and coffee if you've got a family card. We often pick up two toy cats from the children's section and treat them to a rip-roaring journey around the store, leaving them in the cat and dog beds near the end (or in a chest of drawers in bargain corner - oops).

What more could you want?

(Mind, willpower is required if you are to leave the building without spending more than £1.71 on carrot cake.)

This is guaranteed to brighten up your day

The small one was entranced.

Fame and fortune...

Ooh, I appear to have appeared on the list of the Tots100 UK's Top 100 Parenting Blogs. Hurrah!

There is some stuff about parenting on here, somewhere. It's mixed in with a whole load of pictures of the allotment (in the summer, obv - it looks rather like a bomb site at the moment, given all the rain we've had), lots of meanderings about cake and recipes, and one or two posts about my other incarnation (editor and writer). I *do* have a daughter, honest, who I sometimes talk about (and in fact, who I write a recipe blog for). So hello anyone visiting, nice to see you, settle down and have a browse. If you comment, I'll usually talk back.

You can also find me on twitter - in fact, I'm probably there more often than not. I try and blog when I can, but sometimes 140 characters is a lot easier (in fact, as an ex-Ceefax journalist, it's a breeze).

Halloween

Over on the other blog: Halloween spider cakes. Let it never be said we didn't make an effort...