NorthHantsMum

NHM’s Summer Holiday 2015…

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Summer Holidays 0 Comment

I’m planning to step back from NHM a little bit over the summer holidays.

The last 12 months have been awesome but hard work because I now get a lot more requests for posts that I used too! (I’m not moaning, just saying :-D).

So I need a bit of a break.

I will still publish the regular Monday “Things to do” post and the Wednesday “Guest Post” but I’m going to see how it pans out for the rest of the week.

In the meantime, I have lots of posts in my “floating posts” list in Todoist (and half drafted in Evernote) and I would like to get lots of them finished and ready for you!

I also need some time to get the new NorthHantsMum website ready, clean up the site and get things in order, ready for September.

If you have any events, new classes, etc. that you would like to be publicised over the Summer Holidays or for September please can you email me atNorthHantsMum@gmail.com with at least THREE weeks notice so I have time to get everything scheduled.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding!

Yay for Summer holidays 😀

Don’t miss out on future posts like this – you can receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address to the box on the top right of this page and hitting subscribe. You can also follow NorthHantsMum onTwitter,Google+,Facebook Page, Facebook Profile, LinkedIn and Feedly. I hope to see you there! 

Happy 4th birthday NorthHantsMum!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in My Experience 0 Comment

NorthHantsMum is four years old today!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this amazing journey over the past four years. It’s been AWESOME!!!

The biggest thank you goes to Mr NHM and Miss NHM. Without them, NHM wouldn’t happen.

I have HUGE plans for NorthHantsMum over the next 12 months, so keep a look out for them :-D.

Yay to the next year on NHM !!! 😉

Milestones

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Happy 3rd birthday NHM!

Don’t miss out on future posts like this – you can receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address to the box on the top right of this page and hitting subscribe. You can also follow NorthHantsMum onTwitter,Google+,Facebook Page, Facebook Profile, LinkedIn and Feedly. I hope to see you there! 

How I write NorthHantsMum in 2015

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum

Several people have said to me recently that they don’t know how I have the time to write NHM, with everything else going on in my life, so I spent some time thinking a little more about this over Christmas.

I wrote a post in 2013 about how I wrote NorthHantsMum then. I spent three months on my maternity leave setting up NHM (Miss NHM was a sleeper!), and although I’ve learnt a lot since then, I only really dedicate about 2-3 hours a week to blogging.

These are a few of the reasons why I think I have the time to write NHM!

I am “uber” organised

I’ve mentioned on NHM before that there are two apps that are fundamental to my organisational skills. These are Evernote and Remember the Milk. I still use Trello but I use this more as a reference tool for the boards that I set up a few years ago.

I use Evernote to draft out each post. I have two specific folders in Evernote for NHM. One which has post ideas organised by theme and one which has posts organised by month. I mainly use the month post, so I always have the current month and next month in my Evernote shortcuts. Evernote syncs to my iPad, my pc and my phone. So I can literally update a post when I get an idea and it syncs to all of my technology.

I used to have a schedule in Evernote but found I had to keep referring back to it. I’ve found it much better just to add the schedule directly into Google Calendar. I’ve set up a specific calender for NHM which has all the posts I have scheduled for the following month and any activities or meetings that are diarised.

I use Remember the Milk to organise my life. I use this for all of my “to do’s” as well as NHM. It’s a great reminder tool.

I also use Google Calendar. I have several different calendars set up, including one for NHM, one for my husband and another one for Miss NHM. Each month I spend about 10 to 15 mins thinking about which NHM posts I want to add in for that month and add in a calendar notice for each day, showing this. Then, if I don’t get around to updating evernote, it doesn’t matter as it’s in my calendar. This also syncs to my iPad, PC and phone.

I am crap at Birthday cards though. I really don’t seem to be able to get birthday cards out on time, even with multiple Google calendar alerts. I have stack loads of birthday cards that have been bought for people that I never quite got around to sending out. I am going to do my very best to work on this during 2015!!! lol.

We don’t have a TV

Yup, that’s right, no TV. So, when you would sit down to watch TV in an evening, I’m normally on my computer, catching up with people on Skype, working, organising things or doing NHM “work”.

Although, since Mr NHM stopped working shift in July 2014 I don’t get as much access to my computer as I used too. We now have alternate evenings between who has the study, as I can’t write NHM whilst he’s playing his computer games :-D.

However, we do still watch “TV”. We used to watch a lot of DVD’s as we had Lovefilm membership but we now have Netflix and Amazon Prime. I wasn’t planning to get both and I think next time we will stick with just Netflix. I love the luxury of being able to choose what I want to watch, when I want to watch it.

I am that person in the cinema who laughs at all of the adverts because I’ve never seen them before!

I try to only watch an hour of “TV” a day. It doesn’t always work out like that if it’s a good TV series that I’m watching!

I am very strict

I try not to let NHM impact my family life.

I’ve mentioned before that I work four days a week, so whilst my daughter is awake and not at nursery, I’m spending as much time with her as I possibly can.

I do most of my NHM work on Sunday nights.

I delegate and outsource everything that I can

I’ve mentioned before that we have a “lady who does“. Tracy, our cleaner, is my godsend. She comes every couple of weeks for an hour and a half and does all the cleaning that I can’t keep on top of. I learnt several years ago that as much as I love a clean and tidy house, I’d rather use my time to better effect than actually cleaning and tidying it myself :-D.

I have blogged about using online food shopping. We rarely go shopping in a store and I can’t imagine living without online shopping. It has been my saviour on many, many occassions. Oh and I also meal plan, which means I don’t have to think about what we are going to eat every evening.

I also delegate a lot of cooking to my slow cooker. I’m getting a bit of a reputation of being the “slow cooking queen” but it really is a fantastic way of being able to prepare two meals at once in half the time.

Facebook

I don’t like Facebook. I find it very insidious. However, most of my readers access NHM via Facebook so I have to use the tool.

I’ve “liked” a lot of Facebook pages. I’ve set things up so that I get notifications (not emails!) every time specific pages post something to Facebook. This helps me stay on top of what is happening in the area, and ensures that I can keep you informed.

I rarely drink alcohol and I have a good breakfast every morning

I hardly drink any alcohol anymore. Since Miss NHM was born I just haven’t had the energy. Especially when Mr NHM was on shift and I was looking after Miss NHM on my own, I didn’t want to spend the time with her hungover.

It’s not such a bad thing. I more than made up for drinking alcohol in my youth :-D. And possibly at a recent Halloween party, but the less said about that the better!!! lol.

I try to have a good breakfast every morning, to keep me going. I always have a fresh juice (or previously prepared juice that’s been stored in a SIGG’s water bottle in the fridge). I started juicing just over a year ago and I’ve hardly been sick since, compared to before I was juicing.

I also always have a bowl of porridge with either frozen fruit or maple syrup.

This is how I write NHM in 2015

I’m sure this is all deathly boring for you to read but at least now, when people ask me how I have the time to continue to write NHM, I can point them in the direction of this post 😉

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Thank you from BVA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Fundraising

What an AWESOME email I received today (see below).

Thank you again to everyone who donated to this fabulous appeal. I’m certain that your support was one the reasons it was such a success this year!

Yay for us!

BVA Christmas Food Box Appeal 2014

Dear Louise and the NorthHantsMum community,

On behalf of everyone at Basingstoke Voluntary Action, we would like to thank you for supporting this years’ ‘Food Boxes for Basingstoke’ appeal so wholeheartedly.

Your hard work, team spirit and kindness generated a huge amount – not only food boxes, but clothes, new toys and books, and even gifts for pets, in addition to financial contributions which have enabled us to provide tents, sleeping bags, waterproofs and vital items to our homeless community.

This year the response was enormous, and thanks to people and organisations like yourselves we were able to distribute in excess of 300 boxes, including around 70 larger boxes for families, via the following agencies and charities:

  • May Place
  • Jacobs House
  • The Camrose Centre
  • YMCA
  • Neighbourcare
  • MaD (teenage parents)
  • Young Carers
  • Citizens Advice
  • YouTrust
  • Homestart
  • Mary Rose Court
  • HCC Learning Disabilities team
  • HCC Children’s Services Team

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The impact of this cannot be under-estimated, not only from a practical point of view, but for someone who is socially isolated or vulnerably housed, simply knowing that people care can make a massive difference at a time of year which can be a huge struggle especially if you are alone or without money.

The feedback from all involved has been incredibly positive and this campaign really has helped to make Christmas for hundreds of individuals and families around Basingstoke and Deane. We hope you feel your donation was worthwhile, the BVA staff and volunteers who supported this campaign certainly do.

Here at Basingstoke Voluntary Action we strive year round to support and enrich our local community. If there is anything we can help your business or organisation with, from providing volunteer opportunities or advice on fundraising, to developing business/charity partnerships please do not hesitate to let us know.

Once again, from the team at BVA and everyone whose Christmas has been touched by your kindness, thank you all and a Happy New Year,

Best wishes

Rebecca Kennelly

CEO BVA

On behalf of the BVA team

Admin@BVAction.org.uk

https://localgiving.com/charity/bva

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BVA provides guidance, information, support and resources for voluntary and community groups providing a service in Basingstoke and Deane. 

Basingstoke Voluntary Action Registered Charity Number 1077442 and Company Limited by Guarantee in England and Wales Registration Number 3802713. 

Fully serviced office accommodation at extremely competitive rates available for immediate occupation! Call the Orchard Facilities Manager now on 01256 423801 or the Orchard Team 01256 423800

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8 “things” about me, the person behind NHM

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in My Experience 0 Comment

1. My name is Louise

If you would like to send me an email, please don’t hesitate to refer to me as Louise!

If you refer to me as anything else (other than NHM), don’t be surprised if I don’t reply!  lol.

2. I live in a house that has no TV

How else do I find the time to write NHM! :-D.

You can read my post about having no TV at the following link: Yup, we don’t have a TV.

3. I make no money from NHM (2011-2014)

NHM is my hobby. I don’t make any money from it at all. However, I have been given two freebies since I started. Which was very nice.

I recently paid wordpress to remove all adverts from the wordpress site. I’m still slightly bitter about this, but I didn’t want people thinking I got paid for these adverts.

WordPress got paid for these. Not me. (this is a test to see if Mr NHM really does read my posts as I haven’t actually told him I’ve paid to have these removed. Opps!)

4. Facebook is a pain

It’s supposed to say NorthHantsMum on Facebook but Facebook won’t allow you to have a one word name.

It did make me chuckle recently when someone called me “NorthHants” (my old FB profile used to be “NorthHants Mum”, until FB deactivated it in 2015).

5. A disappointment in person

I am terrified that when people meet me I’m a bit of a disappointment to them. That’s why I keep under the radar.

However, after all of the lovely emails I’ve received from you this year (2014), my confidence is growing. Plus, no one has told me they’ve stopped reading NHM after meeting me! Yet. lol.

6. I hated Basingstoke when I was younger. Now I love it!

I grew up in Basingstoke and have lived here, on and off, for the past 32 years. I recognise a lot of people and know a lot of history of the place.

I’ve lived in Leeds, Southampton and Canada and considered relocating to America and Germany when I worked in both countries during 2001 to 2008. The elastic band syndrome always kicked in and bought me back home.

7. Kate Winslet is a Trollope

Yes, Kate Winslet did snog my first boyfriend whilst I was still with him and yes I will ALWAYS  judge her for that. Trollope. 😀

8. Do you even care about any of this?

No probably not, but I thought it might be nice to “share” a bit. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow. Can you tell it’s nearly Christmas? 😀

NHM Two Year Anniversary

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

So, NHM has been running for two years. I’m not sure what to say about it, as I’m pretty sure that the only person who cares about this is me! Lol.

Two years is a long time, when I think back to what was happening in my life two years ago. I was still on maternity leave and dreading going back to work. Now I love my job and can’t imagine not working. It feels like a lifetime ago, and feels like NHM has been running for much longer than two years.

There are now 469 posts on NHM. That’s quite a lot, even if it is just two years! Lol. If you are new to NHM, I recommend having a flick through the menu bar, as there is a lot there and most of it is still relevant to parents in the area.

My little one has changed so much in the past 12 months. She’s growing into a very independent and determined little miss. Can’t think where she gets it from ;-). It is a joy watching her grow up, and I just hope that my best is good enough.

I hated living in Basingstoke when I was growing up, and did everything I could to get away from it. Ironic that I’m now a walking encyclopaedia of information about the area and that my husband and I have chosen to bring up our daughter here. It’s only when you leave, that you realise how many wonderful opportunities there are in, and around, Basingstoke.

Changes coming

I’ve been so impressed at how Guest Post Wednesday has taken off. I started it in March last year, so it’s been running for over a year and I’ve only once not had a post to fill the slot.

However, during the summer months, the regular guest posts will be postponed and the Wednesday slot will be filled by a Guest Blogger. It’s all very exciting and when we’ve finalised the details, I shall let you know.

The regular Guest Post slot will return in September, so if you run a local business, group or class, please let me know at northhantsmum@gmail.com.

Thank you!!!

I know I want to thank you, my lovely readers, for your support, comments, “Like’s”, feedback and event notifications.

To everyone who has sent me a message thanking me for a post, over the past two years, your messages make it all worth while.

So, thank you. Here’s to the next year! Cheers!!!

Why I continue to write NorthHantsMum – May 2013

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

I write NorthHantsMum because, quite frankly, I LOVE doing it!

I want to give something back

I’ve always done voluntary work in one capacity or another (Volunteer for Oxfam, Volunteer Youth Worker, School Governor) and I knew that once my little one came along I wouldn’t be able to dedicate my time in the way that I used too. NorthHantsMum is also my way of giving something back. I know it’s not much, but its my little bit of sharing information with people and putting people in touch with each other. I get so much out of it as I’ve met some fabulous people via NHM and learnt so much about our local community.

I get a real kick out of people sending me emails saying how much they enjoy my posts. You can’t imagine the joy it gives me, to know that I’ve helped someone else out. I know that’s cheesy, but if I’ve helped only one person in the past two years, because of NHM, then it’s all worth it.

I love sharing information

I was given so much conflicting information when I was pregnant and when I was on maternity leave, that it’s difficult to know how to make a decision sometimes. But, if you don’t know about something in advance, you can’t make the decision! NHM is my way of sharing what I know and passing on the little pieces of knowledge that I’ve learnt along the way.

I’m also a nosy cow, and like to know what’s going on in the area! 😀

I am so proud to see how many connections have been made via NHM. Either for myself, meeting LOADS of fantastic Mum’s and Dad’s who are running amazing businesses, and/or doing fantastic volunteer work, and/or running their families with such love and affection.

I love to see the connections that have been made for other people because of NHM. There are at least four ladies who have met each other at the NHM Meet Up who are still in touch and meeting up regularly, and that kind of thing makes me puff out with pride!

The evenings are long

Before I met my husband and had a family, I was very lucky to be able to travel the world with work. I was out most nights when I was away and when I came home I was out a lot catching up with people. Things are very different now (and I wouldn’t change them!!!) but I am lucky if I go out two evenings a month. That means for the rest of the time I’m home for the evening. When my little one was tiny and before NHM, I was very restless. Now I have a focus. I have something to do, which I feel is worthwhile.

I also miss the life I had when I was on maternity leave and this is my way of connecting back to it. I get one day “off” from a normal working week to spend with my daughter, and it’s great, but it’s no where near enough. NHM is my way of connecting to all the other local parents out there, who are trying to find things to do in the area with their young children.

My Legacy

I started this blog nearly two years ago and it’s become so much more than I ever expected. I’ve learnt so much more because of it, I’ve made so many friends because of it and I’ve been to some great events because of it. I’m very proud of NHM. I’ve put a lot of effort into it over the past two years which shows, as there are now over 400 posts of content and nearly 1400 people see these posts!

I guess you could also say that NHM is a little bit of my legacy. I’ve spent a lot of evenings putting together the posts for NHM and it’s so good to see the time hasn’t been wasted.

So, I write NHM for myself, but I also write it for you. All my lovely, wonderful readers!

Thank you for your support, your feedback and your suggestions. They will always be much appreciated and help me to keep on writing!

How I write NorthHantsMum in 2013

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

People frequently ask me how I have the time to run NHM. I spent three months on my maternity leave setting up NHM on WordPress, and although I’ve learnt a lot since then, I only really dedicate about 2-3 hours a week to blogging.

I am organised To the hilt!

We don’t have a TV. Yup, that’s right, no TV. We do watch DVD’s as we have a computer in the living room which functions as our TV and we have Lovefilm membership, so watch a lot of series or borrow box sets from friends. So, when you would sit down to watch TV in an evening, I’m normally on my computer, catching up with people on Skype, working, organising things or doing NHM work. I am very strict and try not to let NHM impact my family life.

I’ve mentioned before that I work four days a week, so whilst my daughter is awake and not at nursery, I’m spending as much time with her as I possibly can. I do most of my NHM work on Sunday nights. However, my husband works shifts, so when he is working a night shift, I often spend the evening working on my PC.

I’ve mentioned on NHM before that there are two apps that are fundamental to my organisational skills. Evernote and Remember the Milk.

Evernote

I use Evernote to draft out each post. I have two specific folders for NHM. One which has post ideas organised by theme and one which has posts organised by month. In each month, I draft out one note which shows the schedule of which posts I plan to feature each day.

Evernote syncs to my iPad, my PC and my phone. So I can literally update a post when I get an idea and it syncs to all of my technology.

Remember the Milk

I also use Remember the Milk to organise my life. I use this for all of my “to do’s” as well as NHM. It’s a great reminder tool.

Google Calendar

I also use Google Calendar. I have several different calendars set up, including one for NHM, one for my husband and another one for my daughter. Each month I spend about 10 to 15 mins thinking about which posts I want to add into NHM for that month and add in a calendar notice for each day, showing this. Then, if I don’t get around to updating Evernote, it doesn’t matter as it’s in my calendar. This also syncs to my iPad, PC and phone.

Flipboard and Goggle Reader

I read a lot of blogs via Flipboard, an app you can download for the iPad and iPhone. It sets up blog posts in a newspaper format, which means I can flick through posts very quickly. I get a lot of inspiration from all of the blogs that I read and for those posts which I think might be useful at a later stage, I copy them across to Evernote.

I use Pro feeder to do this. I have an inspiration folder on Evernote which is where these posts go. Every so often I sort through them and move them to the relevant folder.

I’m absolutely gutted that Google Reader is being closed, so I’m trying to find a suitable replacement. I’ve just created a Bloglovin account, but from what I can see, it doesn’t work with Flipboard. I will be so upset if I can’t find a replacement for Google Reader on Flipboard. If you know of any other alternatives, please do let me know!!!

Facebook

I’ve “liked” a lot of Facebook pages. I’ve set things up so that I get notifications (not emails!) every time specific pages post something to Facebook. This helps me stay on top of what is happening in the area, and ensures that I can keep you informed.

I delegate and outsource everything that I can!

If there is something that someone else can do to save me time, then I’m all for it! We have had a cleaner for the past four years, but have recently decided to share the cleaning between us. This is because we are both home a lot, with my husband working shifts and me working from home most of the time. We’ve worked out that we can split the cleaning, he does downstairs and I do upstairs, and then split the money we would have spent on a cleaner. I think it’s working… so far!

I work at odd hours

I find that I’m better at writing posts first thing in the morning or last thing at night. I do all of my blog work in advance, and schedule them in on wordpress. So, I don’t actually get up at 8am every day to publish posts! 😉 I also use other tools, like Siri on my iPhone to take verbal notes when it’s not convenient to write something down. I also get my best inspiration when I’m distracted, away from my desk and thinking of something else.

Twitter

I created a Twitter account on Wednesday. I finally succumbed. You can find me here. I have no idea what I’m doing with it, but it seems to be pretty intuitive so hopefully I’ll have it sussed very soon! 😉

Anyway, not sure if you find any of that interesting, but I hope you do! I think it’s always nice to see how someone does something behind the scenes. Let me know your thoughts…

Why I started NorthHantsMum…

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in NorthHantsMum 0 Comment

My little one was, and still is, a sleeper. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is great and I’d rather she was a sleeper than a non-sleeper. However, when I was on maternity leave I found being trapped at home for several hours a day very frustrating. I managed to get out and about a lot, but in the afternoons and evenings when my little one was sleeping, I needed something else to occupy my time.

I graduated from my MBA when I was six months pregnant and I had spent the previous 8 years studying for my MBA distance learning, in my “spare time”. Fifteen Hours a week, for 6 years (I took some time out in between each stage of the MBA) were dedicated to studying.

So when the initial shock of my little one’s arrival had passed, I found myself with huge chunks of free time. I wasn’t working or studying and we don’t have a TV at home so I really did have several hours in my day with not much to do apart from stare at my sleeping baby. (Which rocked for the first month! lol)

I’d been reading a lot of blogs for a while. I stumbled across the blogging world via Little Red Boat, still one of my favouritest blogs. So, I decided I might just try it. I did start a personal blog which chronicled the first few months of my little one’s life, but I found that NHM was where my heart lay.

Information was sporadic in the beginning

I also found, in those first few frantic months after my little one arrived, that I was given so much conflicting advice. It was also a huge struggle to find out any information about what was going on in the area. So, NHM is my attempt to pull it all together, for new parents and parents of young children in the area.

I often think that we, as parents, are under represented. There is so much information out there about our children, but very little directed at us as parents, other than to tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing. There also doesn’t seem to be many ways for us to meet each other, as parents. Everything is directed at our children. The classes are for children, the playgroups are for children.

NHM is my attempt to help parents in the area and to share information with them that I’ve found useful. I hope you do find NHM useful! 😀

Next week I’m going to schedule a post about How I  write NHM. I hope you find it interesting, especially those of you who are thinking about starting a blog yourself.