Lena Dunham - Girls

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A few weeks ago I didn't feel to good, well it was just a cough and cold but it took me out. I was really bad with it and it lasted almost a week which is really rare for me. I usually just have it for a day or two and still able to do my normal things, this wiped me out completely.
 
I looked after little J as normal during the day which was okay although he had his usual appointments so I just made sure I had lots of tissues with me. When Daddy came home he took over and I was able to go to bed. I just couldn't sleep, which didn't help me get better. Instead I was flicking through some TV Shows and I couldn't believe it when I realised the third season of GIRLS was out. 
 
I'm not quite sure how I came about watching GIRLS I think I had read an article about it when it had just premiered on HBO in America.
 
I watched the very first episode and I was hooked. It is such a great programme and I can relate with all the GIRLS in different ways.
 
If you have never seen it, GIRLS was created by Lena Dunham who also stars in the show. It follows the lives of four friends in their twenties living in New York City.
 
It reminds me of Sex in the City but more realistic and genuine. 
 
Anyway so I wasn't feeling well and found season 3 of GIRLS to watch. Now all parents will know it is hard to get a few minutes to yourself and it normally takes me a long time to get through a series of a TV programme but once I started watching it I couldn't stop. Although I felt like rubbish I was enjoying my chill time and I watched a whole season in less than a day. I really enjoyed it and I'm gutted I have to wait till next year for season four. 

Do you watch GIRLS?

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#Win Gioteck EX3-R Inline Messenger Headset

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Daddy has been trying out the Gioteck EX3-R and you can read all about it HERE
If you would like to win one then all you need to do is answer the question and leave the answer as a blog comment.
Q: If you won, who would you give the headset to?
Good luck
Gioteck EX3-R Inline Messenger Headset
To view more Gioteck Products please visit the website HERE
Terms and Conditions
Competition closes on Sunday 26th  October 2014 at 12AM
Entrants must have a valid UK address
Bulk, third party or any other entries using automated software will be disqualified
All entrants and entries are checked and verified.
All entrants must follow the mandatory step and answer the question as a blog comment.
1 lucky winner will be chosen at random by the Gleam application.
Mummy2Monkeys will contact the lucky winner within 1 day of the competition closing
The winner must respond within 28 days. If no response a new winner will be chosen.
The prize is a Gioteck EX3-R Inline Messenger Headset
There is no cash alternative.
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Gioteck EX3-R Inline Messenger Headset

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You may have already read that Daddy and big J love their console games. 

Daddy has wrote a post for me based on a review of the Gioteck EX3-R Inline Messenger Headset

Gioteck recently sent us the EX3-R inline messenger headset to try, as a quality alternative to the usual range of headsets on offer for ps4.

The headset arrived in a well packaged and typically blue and black box, with some of the headsets key features shown.

Inside, the headset is of good sturdy quality, simple and easy to set up with your ps4 controller - it really is plug and play (or plug and talk I should say!)


The set fits nicely around your ear to keep it in place and the earphone fits into your ear like any other in ear headphone would. You can adjust the set to get the right fit for you. The voice piece is nice and short and doesn't get in your way at all, but picks up very clearly what you are saying.

You can hear clearly what your friends (or enemies depending on the game) are saying and the quality does rival some of the more expensive sets outs there. 

If I was to sum up the EX3-R inline messenger headset, I would say simple, inexpensive, and good quality headset. If you are looking for a cheaper chat headset, but don't want to lose the quality then I would recommend the set. 

As an added bonus, I have also discovered that this set works on Xbox one too, when used with the controller and adapter.

Thanks Gioteck, I am now looking at buying my next gaming chair from your site. 

*****************
To view the Gioteck range you can visit the website HERE
If you would like to own a Gioteck EX3-R Inline Messenger Headset make sure you check out my competition HERE


*we were sent the gioteck headset in return for a full honest review - thought and any opinions as always are our own*
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Frozen and Fajitas

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At the weekend we had a Frozen and Fajita night. Frozen is one of my favourite Disney movies and it was perfect to cuddle up to, all cosy on a chilly Saturday night.

Our movie feast was Fajitas. We were sent a selection of Santa Maria goodies and Frozen to create the ultimate movie night in.

You may already know that Santa Maria is the new brand name for Discovery products. We have bought Discovery products in the past but we hadn't tried the new Santa Maria products yet. 

So for movie night Big J wanted a bowl of Sweet Chilli Nacho Rolls with Salsa and Guacamole to dip. He's not a lover of peppers or onions so has never tried a fajita before but he said he would give it a go.

There is a chicken fajita recipe online for those who have never made them before

I am not the best cook but they are very easy to make but I have included the recipe below 

Chicken Fajitas (serves 4)

2 tbsp oil
500g chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 sachet of Santa Maria seasoning mix mild.
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 packet of Santa Maria corn and wheat tortillas

To serve

Green Salad
Fresh tomatoes, slice
Santa Maria Salsa 
Santa Maria Guacamole

1. Coat chicken in oil and seasoning mix. heat a heavy based frying pan until very hot and add the chicken. Fry for about 3 minutes until well browned.

2. Add the onions and peppers and cook for a further 2 minutes or until meat is cooked.

3. Serve with warm tortillas, green salad, tomatoes, salsa and guacamole, roll up and enjoy.

There are two fajita seasonings available hot and mild. For me the mild is hot enough so I wouldn't try the hot one but that would be down to personal choice.

So fajitas and nacho rolls were ready and we were ready to watch Frozen.

We have not tried corn and wheat tortillas before but I would definitely buy again, they were delicious. They were slightly smaller than are usual tortillas but they were very soft and had a nice taste to them.

The salsa was mild too so perfect for me who doesn't like to spicy. It was nice to try guacamole as we have never tried it before. It was actually quite nice. I think the colour usually puts me off which I know sounds silly but it did so i'm glad I had a taste.

We were all fans of the nacho rolls they are so yummy. I love anything sweet chilli flavour so for me they were probably my favourite. I could just eat them on their own without dips, just like crisps.

I was really impressed with the Santa Maria range and it was nice to sit down as a family with a movie and have something different for dinner. Quick and easy to prepare and cook and very tasty.

You can visit the Santa Maria Range HERE

 
*we were sent a selection of goodies in return for a review*
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Pop Art Fun

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We have recently taken part in a challenge to create some POP art. We are not the most creative family in the world but we give it a go and we ALWAYS have fun. So no matter how amazing (or not) our creations turn out we know we had a giggle doing it.
 POP is a high energy childrens channel for 4-9 year olds and they are hosting the blogger challenge.
So what did we decide to create? Well big J wanted to create Bumblebee from Transformers, which is shown on POP
I had no idea how to make a Bumblebee but we got a box and paint and just went with the flow.
So here it is our POP art fun creation. We had lots of fun making it and was nice quality family time with big J. He did want to make it so it turned into the robot but I couldn't even imagine how we would do that..haha.

So big J is happy with his creation and that's all that matters.

Its now took pride of place on his bedroom shelf.

To find out more about POP the first channel to be added to the freeview children's portfolio in eight years you can visit the website HERE

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No More Stinky Smells

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When little J was born I was actually overwhelmed with what you can buy for babies these days. It was so long since we had big J that I actually forgot how much stuff a little one needs. On top of all the 'must haves' we did get a little carried away with buying stuff we didn't actually need. 
Not once did it cross my mind to buy a nappy bin. I'm not sure why but I didn't actually think we would need one. Since having one for just a week I realised that a) We did need one and b) We should have got one from day one.
We were given the chance to review the Tomee Tippee Nappy Disposal System and like I said I had never thought we needed one so I wanted to give it a go.
The nappy bin comes in two new colours, pink and blue and are exclusive to Mothercare. I chose blue for my monkey.
When it arrived it was smaller than I imagined and was a nice soft baby blue. It was already set up and ready to use in the box but I'm not sure whether all bins come like that. If not there was a step by step guide on how to get it ready and it does seem quite easy to fit the nappy bag refill. I will need to refer back to it when its time to refill the nappy sacks.
So its not rocket science really what the nappy disposal system does, basically your little one does a stinky and you pop it in the bin. It is however quite clever so let me explain.
You pop the nappy in the bin which is lined with a nappy sack.
Once the nappy is in the bin you need to twist the outside wheel which is grey with a little handle to grasp.

As you twist in a clockwise direction you will see the nappy sack start to close with the nappy inside.

Once you have have turned the wheel clockwise in a 360 degree turn the sack should be completely closed.

Then all you need to do is close the lid. This then pushes the nappy and sack down in the bin.

When you open the lid again a new fresh nappy sack is waiting for the next nappy.

I thought the nappy would just fall to the bottom of the bin but it doesn't it hangs onto the fresh nappy sack and so on. It reminds me of a string of sausages. 

The nappy bin came with a free refill which is just a cartridge which like I said earlier seems easy to fit.

So that's it. Very simple but very useful and easy to use. 

There is a  list of key features on the website HERE but a few points to mention are

The system holds 28 nappies at any one time (based on size 1). I can't imagine letting it fill up with that many nappies though.

The system comes with a nappy cassette pre loaded.

The Blue and Pink version are exclusive to Mothercare at the moment and are currently priced at £15.50 although it does say original RRP is £31 so if you are wanting to buy one I would suggest sooner rather than later as the price may go back up. This does include two refills.

For more information you can visit Tommee Tippee HERE

I am really pleased with the nappy disposal system. It has saved me going back and forth to the bin and there has been no nasty smells lingering since we have been using it so I would definitely give it a Mummy2Monkeys thumbs up.

*we were sent the nappy disposal system to review in return for a honest review. all the thoughts and opinions above are my own*
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#Win 27 Polaroid Style Images from Square Snaps (3 winners)

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When you are a blogger taking photos becomes a huge part of your life. I always have my camera ready to catch a special photo of my monkeys. I also like to choose my favourites and have them printed so I also have them at home to look at.
 
I have just been introduced to Square Snaps and I love it. They offer to print your photos either from your computer or instagram.
 
They have mini snaps, standard snaps, super snaps and polaroid snaps which I am lucky enough to give away in my competition.
 
Three winners will each win 27 polaroid style images from Square Snaps.
 
Each photo is 3.5" x 4.2"
 
To enter all you need to do is LEAVE A BLOG COMMENT telling me which website is giving away this amazing prize?
  
Once you have left the comment, more options will be available for you to enter with.
 
GOOD LUCK
 
Square Snaps Competition  
 
To view all the available prints available visit the website HERE
 
 
for more competitions visit Loquax
 
Terms and Conditions
Competition closes on Tuesday 21 October 2014 at 11:59PM
Entrants must have a valid UK address
Bulk, third party or any other entries using automated software will be disqualified
 All entrants and entries are checked and verified.
All entrants must follow the mandatory step and answer the question as a blog comment.
3 lucky winners will be chosen at random by the Gleam application.
Mummy2Monkeys will contact the lucky winners within 1 day of the competition closing
The winners must respond within 28 days.
If no response a new winner will be chosen.
The prize is 27 Free Polaroid Style Images from Square Snaps.
 There is no cash alternative.
It will be the responsibility of the representative of the company representing the above to issue the prize.
 The winner must consent to their name and details being passed on to the representative so their prize can be distributed.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
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