I grew up travelling the world as we followed my Dad’s civil engineering work. This meant multiple flights a year making us pretty well seasoned travellers. My own children on the other hand had never been abroad, well apart from Wales, but according to Ells that doesn’t count because we didn’t have to get on a plane. Phil and I thought about how we could manage a weekend trip involving a plane so we could see them through their first flights. The tossup was between Edinburgh and Belfast, as we had never been to either before. We decided to travel to Belfast for the weekend and planned it around Phil’s birthday to make it even more special (stressful). As both our kids are Asperger’s planning the

I am a huge believer in teaching our kids life skills, they are paramount to their growth and future contributions to society. I also believe there is only so much we can teach them as parents before we need to let them go and gain a few skills for themselves without our influence. Having grown up abroad I had the privilege of experiencing many diverse cultures first hand, and this is partly why I am so pleased to have been asked to share my thoughts on the NCS programme. It really will give our young people skills for life not just for summer. My own daughter is 15 this year and is very keen to join next year’s programme. And to be honest so am I.

The past few months have been intense. Like really intense. I wrote a could do list a few months back and to be honest is kind of got lost a little in the chaos of the ‘to do’ list fulfilling. I did manage to check a couple of things of both lists mind, but nowhere near as many as I wanted to do. Still the point of the ‘could do’ list is not how many you check off but more that you make the time to do any at all. Or at least that’s what I have been telling myself anyway! And so to April, which I cannot believe we are in already. The second quarter of the year seems scary to me, in the sense

The next week is another busy one, with the end of term, Good Friday, a trip to Brixham and of course Easter Sunday! So meal planning has had to be as simple as possible this coming week. I have been scouring the t’internet for easy peasy recipes that are one pot or only take minimal effort. We have planned in a takeway for next Saturday so I don’t have to cook after we get back from Brixham, but I found a recipe I want to give a go at some point, so have linked that below in the interim. You can download this weeks meal plan and shopping list here, or head to The Vault to find all my downloadables there. Helpful Hints: Fish Cakes – there are

Quite often I get so lost in the list of things unticked but still to do instead of taking stock of what I have actually achieved. It is a downward spiral that leads to anxiety, self-doubt and the deterioration of self-care. I lose sight of the ‘all done’ list that is a mile long, filled with amazing accomplishments that could purpose to encourage me to keep going. I give up on tooting my own trumpet, I won't buy flowers or treats in favour of bashing myself over the head with a couple of things I didn’t get done amidst the chaos that is this life. After a humdinger of a session with my Coach, Kim who is amazing and I cannot recommend enough; I felt the