I received the complete party pack by 7th Heaven at the beginning of December and every other night I have pampered myself with a face mask or hair treatment. It has been luxurious and my skin and…
View PostI have been battling Anxiety for almost 2 years and have been in therapy a year and a half.
It all really started about 2 years ago, I knew I suffered from it before then but not to the extreme it got to. It was so bad that I thought if I was dead then I wouldn’t have to feel like this anymore, Of course, I wouldn’t do anything like that, they were just thoughts and I would never leave my children and family. I wouldn’t go out and I still avoid busy places as they really cause me stress and I panic. I felt like I wasn’t good enough and that no one cared.
Our good friend Kim from Soul Happy really pulled me from a dark place and helped me feel normal again with Reiki and hypnotherapy, I was really sceptical of it before I tried it and I learnt a lot from it. I had a few sessions with her and started to feel better but then over time, I started to feel low again.
I went to the doctors in tears telling him how I felt and how I was scared of everything, He advised me that I should try counselling and that it would really help me. He also prescribed me sertraline and booked me an appointment for a few weeks time. I rang the number he had given to me, they took all my details and asked me why I feel I needed counselling and that someone would call me back on a planned day and time with a self-assessment appointment which would last an hour to see if It would benefit me.
Long story short I was approved and I soon started my first block of 6 sessions. This block of sessions helped me overcome the trauma of being mugged but then it led to health anxiety following a scare I had.
Every little niggle, feeling or anything that just didn’t feel right was it for me, I had convinced myself I had weeks to live, I would have panic attacks and couldn’t breathe, It was horrible. My therapist thought I shouldn’t be discharged yet but I was to be followed up with phone call appointments, 2 appointments later the lady on the phone said she didn’t feel this would help me at all and referred me for Cognitive behavioural therapy. I didn’t have long to wait until I started my new block of therapy (8 sessions) where I met Ellie who has helped me through so much.
She taught me a lot about Anxiety and how it works, we did various exercises, quizzes and paper task sheets that I completed at home when I felt anxious.
I really listened and took in everything she said, I tried everything she suggested and even though I know I am not cured or will ever be cured, I now know some techniques to deal with it and calm myself down and I really wanted to share with others because it does work.
This is just a few things I have found that help me, however, I still have a long way to go. I hate that I still feel like this but I am learning to keep it under control, I have tried everything above and it does work and I now just have to practise everything and take some time out for myself.
I really hope this helps all of you that suffer from this.
We received a letter in the post personally addressed to Leo, Lydia and Emily from Becket’s tea room, inside there were 5 invitations and a letter from the man himself inviting us to come and have breakfast with him. As you can imagine at 3 and 5 years old they got rather excited and it was all they talked about every day.
In true Knight style, we ran about 10 minutes late. We walked into a lovely and warm, festive atmosphere where there were 5 tables of families including ours. We went to our table which was beautifully laid out with gold pointy hats and Christmas crackers.
( Lydia looks moody but I promise you she wasn’t )
We were offered drinks straight away and the kids got into pulling their crackers and laughing at the jokes inside. One thing in particular that I loved about this breakfast with Santa was that there was a set number of tables to keep it more personal and not overwhelmed with lots of people which was really calming for someone like me who suffers from anxiety with busy crowded places so I tend to just avoid, This is one of the main reasons we had never done anything like this. I was calm throughout the whole time we were there.
Our breakfast came out and it was delicious, we all had a full English breakfast cooked to perfection. The kids had the same size as the adults and did really well to eat as much as they did.
After breakfast, we all played pass the parcel which was really fun as we have always sat round in a circle but this time we did it around the dinner table and then passed it onto the next table to pass around. The staff made sure it stopped on every child so every one got a chance to open the parcel.
Halfway through, Santa Claus arrived with a sack of presents he sat down and started talking to the kids and then invited them to come and get their presents a table at a time. I thought this was lovely too as there was no queuing and because it was set tables the children didn’t have to wait long to see him either and could sit down whilst they waited.
After Santa had given gifts to all the children he surprised us adults and gave us a present each too. I thought this was a lovely personal touch to the whole experience as we really didnt expect it. Emily was star struck, she couldn’t believe she had just met Santa Claus.
When Santa had left to go back to the north pole, The staff got the children to join in with musical statues. It was lovely to see all the children getting involved. Noone moaned when they were out as they were given a bag of Maltesers. Lydia loved this game.
All in all we really really enjoyed breakfast with Santa at Becket’s tea room. It was calm and relaxed with Christmas music playing in the background, the food was perfect, Santa was perfect, the staff were brilliant and we had an amazing time.
Also for people who have children that find busy, crowded places too stressful or if you yourself cannot cope then I would definitely recommend booking here.
Thank you so much for having us, we really had a good time and it couldn’t have gone any better.
*** We were invited to have breakfast with Santa in return for an honest review***
I love singing when I am having a shower or in the bath but my phone doesn’t go as loud as I would like it to. I received a suction Bluetooth waterproof speaker to review and that is just what our family has done and enjoyed doing so.
USB charger (plug not included)
The Speaker with suction disk on the back
Instruction booklet
First of all, you will need to charge the speaker for 2 hours before turning it on which will then give you up to 3 hours of play time. To switch the speaker on you just hold down the power button for a few seconds and then you will need to sync it and connect it to your Bluetooth device like you normally would. The details are in the booklet on how to sync the speaker.
Once you have fully charged the speaker, place it where you want it to go and turn it on. Hold down the power button until it beeps and when the light stops flashing it means It has synced to your Bluetooth device.
We have put ours in the bathroom on the tiles, my children always ask me to play music on my phone for them to sing along too whilst they are having their baths or shower but like I said it just doesn’t go loud enough.
The volume on the speaker is really good, you can have a shower and hear it with no problems whilst you sing to your heart’s content. I also received a phone call whilst using this device and was able to chat away with my little sister whilst enjoying a relaxing bubble bath without the worry of dropping my phone in. Her voice came through lovely and clear and likewise with mine which I also thought was excellent for a low-cost speaker Rrp £9.99
This would make an amazing stocking filler, secret Santa or gift, If I had received one of these as a gift for any occasion I would be over the moon.
*** I received this product in return for an honest review, all opinions are my own***
We started our Sunday morning by taking the Christmas tree out of the loft and decorating it with Christmas music on in the background to get us in a festive mood ready for an exciting evening ahead of us, and to top it off IT SNOWED.
The girls decided they wanted to dress up for the show so Emily picked her Mrs Claus dress complete with tiara and Lydia wore her sleeping beauty dress with her Tiara.
We arrived at the Key theatre at 3.45pm ready for the 4-pm show and went straight to the box office to collect our tickets before heading upstairs with 3 very excited children. I knew the kids would want the light up wands so we went to the stand and bought Leo a Sabre, Emily a star wand and Lydia wanted a pink butterfly wand. They had a good selection of wands available and for the 3 we bought only cost £13.50 which I thought was a bargain because as you can see they are lovely.
We went through to our seats which are lovely and comfortable and what I love about the Key theatre is that it isn’t too big and is tiered so wherever you sit you get a good view of the stage without someone’s head getting in the way.
I was worried about Leo (12) not enjoying it because he kept saying sleeping beauty is for girls and that he didn’t want to go as it was embarrassing (Leo’s words). I have to say that there wasn’t a single moment when I looked over at him and he wasn’t laughing and smiling and joining in. I can assure those of you with older boys in your family that they will enjoy it. Leo said he wouldn’t assume again.
Lydia (5) was in her element, she loves singing and dancing and all things glitz and glam. She had the time of her life and told me and daddy that she wants to be on the stage singing and dancing, so on top of this performance, it is inspiring young children.
It was Emily’s (3) 1st ever trip to the panto and she loved it. She enjoyed being able to shout and get involved, during the second half Emily’s attention did start to wonder and she wanted to go and play but was soon caught again when we had a sing-off with the other side of the audience.
I found the whole show very funny and entertaining for the whole family. It kept my 3 engaged through-out and the humour from start to finish was down to earth. There were jokes for adults that the kids wouldn’t have understood but yet still found funny, jokes for the kids, jokes for everyone. Everything was funny especially the Trumps. The cast was amazing and the banter between them had us in stitches. Them too, with a couple of moments where they broke down in fits of laughter, adding to the whole entertainment.
There was a 15-minute interval halfway through the show when David bought me a hot chocolate from the bar which wasn’t badly priced at £2.30 and it was probably one of the best hot chocolate I have ever had. There was also a children’s pack which included Popcorn, Ice cream, chocolate buttons and a fruit shoot all for £3.50 which I also thought was reasonable.
All in all the whole cast was brilliant to watch, their outfits were stunning and the whole performance was truly outstanding and thoroughly entertaining. It is a fantastic experience for the whole family to enjoy, from young children to Grandparents. I can guarantee everyone in your party will have a good time. So if you haven’t booked yet, what are you waiting for? Have a look at their website where you can have a look at the seats and book directly online. It is the best Panto I have seen by far.
