Review - RunPhones Wireless Sports Headband Headphones for running

Ram is currently training very hard for the London Marathon in April. It's his first marathon, and he's getting on really well with the challenge. Seeing him going out running regularly has even inspired me to take up running again, having not been out since Harry was a toddler. I don't have any desire to run particularly long distances, but I do feel like running gives me a good workout, and I aim to run around 5km a couple of times a week.

On our runs over the last few weeks, we've been trying out a pair of RunPhones. RunPhones are headphones hidden inside a sports-style headband, designed to be used by active people looking for a comfortable and convenient way to listen to their music while on the go. We've been trying the wireless headphones, and we both used them out while we were running with an iPhone 6.

This was something new for me as I'd never actually run outside before using headphones. I find that I can never get the wires to hang comfortably, and also I worry that it will distract me from noises that I need to hear when I'm out and about, like cars approaching. Fortunately I found that the RunPhones were the perfect solution to my headphone worries. They are super comfortable to wear, stayed firmly in place, and because they are wireless I don't need to worry about getting tangled up. I found that I could listen to my music at a comfortable volume, yet still hear enough noise around me to be aware of my surroundings. I also discovered that running while listening to music makes me run faster, a great bonus!

We have the medium size headband in black. It fits Ram perfectly, it is a little more loose on me but still fits well.

Tucked in a pocket inside the headband is the removable internal stereo headphone system. It is Bluetooth enabled with a range of 5-10 metres and rechargeable via a micro USB cable (included). There are no controls for your music on the headphone system itself - volume, skipping tracks and so on need to be controlled through your device. The battery life is 8-12 hours, which seems very good to me. The headband itself is machine washable (once you've removed the electrical parts inside).

As well as outdoors, this headband would also be really good to use on a treadmill at the gym. I always find myself getting tangled up in wires and worry about tripping over them, but with these headphones there is no need to worry, and you could prop your phone up in front of you to easily access all your music.

I did occasionally have a problem with the connection to the music cutting out, in particular when putting the phone in my pocket at the beginning of a run and removing it at the end. Ram had no problems when he was carrying his phone in his running belt, and it was fine if the phone remained out in the open (like when running on a treadmill or held in a hand). It might mean that you need to experiment with carrying the phone differently, I found that one particular pocket in my trousers worked the best!

If you enjoy listening to music while you are running then these headphones are a great idea.

I received a pair of RunPhones in exchange for this review.

Review - The Gardener's Cupboard jigsaw from Ravensburger

Recently you may have seen my review of The Red Box - a new jigsaw puzzle from Ravensburger. Today I'm sharing a review of another puzzle in the same series, again from Colin Thompson - The Gardener's Cupboard. The Gardener's Cupboard is a collection of different gorgeous images, all related in some way to gardening, with flowerpots, vegetables and pretty little landscapes. There are a few odd things in there too, garden gnomes and a few other unusual creatures, with lots that you only notice as you are putting the pieces together! It's a lovely picture, and I really enjoyed completing the puzzle.

Like all the Ravensburger jigsaws I've reviewed recently, inside the box, there is an additional sheet containing a picture of the finished design. This is really handy, because it means that you can use both parts of the box to hold sorted jigsaw pieces, and it's easy to refer to as you're completing the puzzle. It's a very good quality puzzle, and the pieces fit together nicely.

I like this style of puzzle, because there is so much going on that every piece of the puzzle is different. After an initial sort where I set aside the edge pieces and chose a colour to focus on (I started with blue) I found that I was able to complete the puzzle without any further sorting of the pieces. I could either find the pieces in the box that I was looking for by eye, or choose a piece from the box and work out where it should go. I much prefer this to one where you have a pile of identical looking pieces and you need to rely on just the shapes of the pieces to put them all together, and it means that you can sit down at the puzzle for just a few minutes at a time and put some pieces in place, great if you are living in a state of constant interruption!

Here's the finished jigsaw puzzle, looking good!

I received this puzzle in exchange for a review.

A Decopatch Mouse

Thanks to a Pay it Forward challenge and a kind gift from Melissa at Mental Mum's Little World I was recently treated to some new crafty goodies. I chose a mouse to cover with Decopatch paper. I made my first foray into Decopatch around a year ago and I was eager to try a new project. Enter the decopatch mouse!

I love Decopatch, it's a very soothing craft and there are some really lovely different papers available. You first need to tear the beautiful paper up into little pieces, something that I wasn't keen to do at first but it really does work out well. Then you just glue it all over your moulded shape, overlapping the edges, and covering with plenty of glue. You use a stiff Decopatch brush to make sure that you are working the paper into all the corners. I've been using the branded Decopatch glue that I had as part of a set, but I believe that you can also use watered down PVA glue. It dries to a lovely and smooth glossy finish.

For his ears and tummy I cut out the shapes from some pink Decopatch paper that I had, using two layers to make sure that the pink colour stayed vibrant. Then I finished the mouse off with some googly eyes and a ribbon. I'll probably add some whiskers at some point when I've thought of a way to stick them on!

I do think that he looks a bit anxious. He's probably worried that I'm going to get carried away and Decopatch everything in sight. It is a bit of an addictive craft!

The traumatic loss of the first tooth

Harry first noticed that his tooth was wobbly while we were waiting in line at Disneyland. He was thrilled! He couldn't leave it alone, and I must admit that I was quite excited too. I thought it was quite early for him to be losing teeth as I can still clearly remember losing mine, but lots of his friends have lost them already and apparently losing teeth does go on until the age of 10 or even older.

It took over a week from the first wobble until it came out. During the afternoon we were excitedly wobbling away, and I could tell that it wouldn't be long. But when it finally happened as Harry was tucking into his post dinner ice cream, he surprised us by being really upset. I don't know if it was the smear of blood that ended up in his cornet, or the unfamiliar feeling of the soft gum underneath, but it really bothered him. He refused to touch or even look at his tooth, and he took himself off to bed, really subdued and without any of the usual fuss.

Of course this was all forgotten the next morning when he found the shiny £1 coin left by the Tooth Fairy (yep, it's gone up just a bit since I was little) and the excitement of showing his new gap all his friends at school. Now the other front tooth has the hint of a wobble, and with no sign of new teeth appearing it looks like we are going to have to get used to the new gappy look for a while yet!

Spring window decorations

Spring is on the way! Well, I'm trying to convince myself at least that it's starting to feel a bit warmer! To celebrate we made this easy Spring hanging decorations to display in the window, also a great craft for using up some of those pom poms that we seem to accumulate in great numbers. Even very little ones can do this, and older ones can enjoy making up their own designs and patterns. If you don't have fabric petals, you can easily cut out some petal shapes from coloured card or tissue paper.

Materials:

Thick cardboard, cut into circles (I used the bottom of a large mug as a template)
Ribbon - about 30cm length per decoration
Things to stick on - we used pom poms and fabric flower petals
Glue
Skewer and large needle

Instructions:

Cut the cardboard into circles, we used three for each decoration.

Cover liberally with glue and decorate, making sure that you use plenty of glue especially underneath the pom poms. Harry liked the idea of making some Spring flowers using the petals, Mia went for a more random approach.

Make holes with a skewer where the ribbon needs to go. Thread the ribbon through the holes using a large needle. I used shorter lengths of ribbon to join the circles (tied in a firm knot at the back) and a longer length for a loop at the top to hang. Mia's decoration hangs down in a simple line, Harry wanted to make his into a triangular shape with the flowers close together.

Hang up and enjoy! I used some suction cap hooks to attach the decorations to the window, but you could just use the ribbon to hang them from a window handle or a hook on the wall. They are currently brightening up our kitchen with their cheerful, bright colours!

Book review - Confessions of a Mother Inferior by Ericka Waller

"Peta has three children under five, a job she hates and a tummy that looks like Jabba-The-Hut. Her (quirky) daughter has just started school and it's not going very well. Her husband comes home less and less since employing his young blonde secretary and the only person she wants to talk about it all with is no longer around to hear her. She tries to keep up with a village full of perfect mothers and happy marriages but quietly her chaotic world is falling apart by the second. Can she save it and herself in time?"

I am in complete awe of anyone that can write a book, and especially people with young children, I just can't imagine finding not only the time to write, but also the thinking space in order get to grips with the complexities of working out the plot to a whole novel. Ericka Waller writes a fantastic blog at Mum in the South, and Confessions of a Mother Inferior is her first novel, published through Britain's Next Bestseller.

I found the book easy to read, and completely engaging from the outset - given the opportunity I could have easily read it all in one go, I was quickly drawn into Peta's world, and was eager to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I knew that there was a plot twist coming, but it kept me guessing until the end.

The book is full of emotion - at times hilarious as Peta struggles through the reality of everyday life with young children, and at times full of sadness as Peta mourns the loss of her close friend and faces the reality that her family may be falling apart.

If you are a Mum with young children then you will definitely be able to relate to Peta's life, the school run dramas, how life changes when you become the main at home carer to small children and the exhausting and challenging every day reality of life with little ones. And even if this isn't you, it's still an enjoyable read that keeps you interested and wanting to read more.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Playing the #MinsGame - a February declutter challenge

Towards the end of January I was tagged by my friend Cherry to take part in a February declutter challenge. She proposed the Minimalism Game, the idea being that each day you remove the same number of items from your home as days in the month. February is a good month to take part, because with fewer days the final goal is a little more achievable - although by the end of the month an incredible 406 items will have been decluttered!

I must admit that I did bend the rules slightly. You are supposed to remove items from your home immediately, but it just isn't practical for me to make a trip to the charity shop every single day, so the clutter stacked up in bags until I was able to remove it. I was away from the 14th - 19th February, so that was 99 items that I needed to declutter in advance, and I also pre-decluttered earlier on for some of the higher numbered days towards the end.

I decluttered all sorts of things, from earrings to a fireguard, old glasses to a breadmaker. I found at least five pairs of my trousers with a hole in the knee, as well as several pairs of shorts that are no longer decent, even for the beach. Many of the items were children's clothes, toys and books that they have grown out of - at least with small children there is never a lack of things to be passed on - and I hope that they will have found nice new homes via the charity shop.

I was amazed at how easy I found it. I like to consider myself fairly decluttered, but I think the pressure of actually listing out my decluttered items forced me to consider getting rid of things that had survived previous decluttering rounds.

It has made an enormous difference. I noticed it in particular when I was packing for our holiday. I could grab pants, vests and socks from the children's drawers, and knew that all the ones I had picked up would fit them and that they would wear them. It was also an opportunity to declutter further - when packing for Harry, among his minimal collection of clothes I discovered another 7 t-shirts that no longer fitted him! I've managed to fit all my paperwork into my filing cabinet, when previously I had papers piled up on top of it, and I now know exactly what craft supplies I have, inspiring me to pick some of them up again.

The challenge has freed up cupboard and drawer space that I can use to store things in temporarily instead of having them lying about the house. I feel lighter emotionally, and I like to think that I've done some good by donating good quality items to the charity shop.

In fact I've enjoyed playing the Minimalism Game so much that I'm planning on carrying it on into March. I don't know whether I'll get to the end - with a further 90 items to find the 31 days of March will require a massive total of 496 things to leave the house - but decluttering is a continuous process and even if I just manage a few things a day it will still make a difference.

You can read a blog post written at the beginning of the challenge by another one of my fellow players here - Fresh for February from The Vicar's Wife.

You can also read an update from me here - Playing the #MinsGame - An Update.

Photo credit for main logo - Cheryl Winn-Boujnida via Unsplash.