It’s the second week of our new blog linky! Mischief And Memories is all about your family and lifestyle posts so come and link up!
We want: –
Connecting and interacting with other bloggers
Building a strong family and lifestyle blogger community/tribe
Collating a fantastic collection of family and lifestyle posts each week, that our readers will want to dip in and out of, so it’s a #winwin all round.
This was a tricky area as we’ve always welcomed bloggers from all niches to join in. However, as all three hosts are family lifestyle bloggers, we are now going to be encouraging linkers to add posts reflecting this area.
Here are some ideas for family lifestyle posts:
Recipes
Kids’ and grown ups’ crafts
Useful reviews
How to do’s
Parenting/family advice
Been there, done that, got the picture
Interiors
Humorous posts
Family pets
Parenting fails and wins
Wellbeing
Positivity
Quotes
Days out/holidays
Idea posts
Personal experiences and views
Please do read through the rules carefully. We ask that you add our badge to your posts or to the sidebar/footer on your blog so that everyone can see where you link up and find new blogs.
1. The #MischiefAndMemories linky will open on Sunday at 6am and close on Thursday at 9pm.
2. Add up to 2 blog posts to the linky. We would recommend leaving a day or two between adding each post for visability.
3. Add the #MischiefAndMemories linky badge to the bottom of your own post or your blog sidebar. Copy the text in the box above and add to your html.
4. Comment on:
Each of the hosts posts.
The post before your own.
Any other posts of your choice (at least one).
Please ensure that you add #MischiefAndMemories in your comment as this will be used when checking comments. The deadline for commenting is Friday at 9pm.
5. Each host will feature the 2 top bloggers who have left the most comments on their following week’s #MischiefAndMemories post. This means that those 2 bloggers each week will receive 3 backlinks! Woohoo…
*this is fantastic for bumping up your DA scores.
**Bonus points for sharing the linky on social media channels and tagging us in will also count towards being featured.**
If you have any questions at all, please do DM one of the hosts and we will be happy to help:
*By linking up, you agree to your link being visible and accessible via the list of linked blog posts included below, to us sharing your posts on social media (tagging you as relevant), and to us sharing your post on our sites if chosen as a featured post.
So we are back to home learning. This time the schools have prepared more work because remote learning plans needed to be oin place. But as a teaching assistant in an infant school, we were not expecting last week’s Prime Minister statement. We were in school on Monday and instead of being able to plan for a mix of on site learning for key worker and vulnerable children, we were forced to assume normal school opening was proceeding.
But normal never happened.
Last week was tough as my colleagues and I responded to circumstances that literally changed by the hour. At home, things have been tricky too.
My older two have been home due to a major electrical fault and the school was closed anyway but we had Monday as notice. Zach’s bubble had to close due to low staff numbers. So whilst I went in to work, my kids were at home being supervised by Chris whose very patient and understanding boss and team allowed him time to keep an eye on them. He did not have the time to supervise any home learning and the kids are not allowed unsupervised internet access. I was therefore trying to cram in their home learning after school and this wasn’t sustainable due to exhaustion and time constraints.
By the end of the week, things had changed yet again. Matthew and Anya have been offered a place at a school 3 miles away as I am a key worker but this is not pratical for us due to the increased risks associated with travel and their fears about being in a strange place, with staff and children from across 4 years. I have halved my hours so that I can be home with the older two to complete their home learning. Zach has returned to school thankfully!
So here are my tops tips for home learning:
1 Go back to basics as a minimum.
Read A LOT. Write: make a game of writing a shopping list or rewrite the book’s ending. Do some counting: use that shopping list and add prices. Get outside or join in with Joe Wicks.
2 Keep it short.
Make a session no longer than 45 minutes for infants and junior aged children. Try teaching life skills like tying shoe laces, chopping onions or making a cup of tea.
3 Use the resources provided by the school.
Schools prepared remote learning plans last term. Give staff enough time to get these up and running. Twinkl and Orchard Toys have online resources that can be used if you need extra support.
4 Don’t compare yourself to others.
I felt very inferior last time round with some parents posting multiple times a day with a range of activities. I had to work. I had to look after 3 children with very varied sets of work. We all have different circumstances and need to try our best. Our own wellbeing mustn’t be ignored or we will not be able to help our children
5 Teachers are not expecting perfection.
We are just grateful for any effort during these difficult times. We understand that there is concern about access to devices or resources. We know you have to work and care for tother children as well as do housework. We are human too!
Please follow the government rules so that the national lockdown lasts as short a time as possible!
If you look in my home learning category in my sidebar you will spot my posts from the first lockdown which have some resources for topics we enjoyed. Happy learning!
Hello and welcome to my fourth year of participation in #Project365 where I share a photo a day for the entire year. Two extra pics this week!
Day 1: Happy new year and hello 2021. All three children managed to stay awake until midnight to welcome in the new year and we spotted the heron on our walk to keep us awake!
Day 2: Anya wasn’t keen on putting the decorations away!
Day 3: we have had so many roast dinners over the Christmas holidays. I LOVE sprouts! Do you?
Day 4: I wasback to schoolon an Inset day then we got the PM’s announcement in the evening that another national lockdown was beginning immediately and schools would be closed! In other news, we were the top buyer of crisps at our local Sainsburys 🙂
Day 5: No school for the kids as Zach’s bubble is closed due to staff absence and there has been a major electrical surge which has closed the juniors for the other two. They don’t seem to mind though!
Day 6: lots of home learning completed but it took me a long time to download and upload it all!
Day 7: Zach was able to return to school as I’m a key worker and the bubble opened again
Day 8: Friday feeling and a well deserved bottle of prosecco. The spoon trick works to keep it fizzy so that’s me sorted for the next 2 nights too!
Day 9: not a shepherds pie as Chris thought. It was actually a very tasty jam sponge (gluten free and vegan!)
Two female bodies are pulleed from the river. They look almost identical and one has had surgery. When Detective Mackenzie Price goes to inform the next of kin of the first identified victim, she is shocked to find the victim is alive: who are the two bodies who look so much like Katy Becker? Then Katy goes missing…
Their Frozen Graves sees Mackenzie back for her latest case, yet she is still reeling from recent events so don’t read on if you want to catch up on the first book Hidden Lake. She is estranged from her husband who cheated on her, and her father is back in her life after being declared dead decades ago. The local community are angered by the revelations of crime from prominent people which has caused a downturn in finances for many families. And Mack gets the blame for exposing it 🙁
The murders and links to an old case are certainly intriguing. How and why are these women looking so similar to Katy and did this happen before with another woman and her double? The plot twists as the case gets more and more confusing held my interest but I had no idea about motive or culprit.
The inclusion of major plot developments in Mack’s personal life does slow down the speed of the murder plotline. The chapters are quite short to keep the plot flowing but the case and Mack’s personal life take up equal amounts of text overall. However, our attention is maintained through the intensity of the emotions that Mack contends with as she adapts to these momentous life changes.
Their Frozen Graves is an enjoyable police thriller with the main protagonist absolutely central to the novel. Just like the first book, there is a major twist at the end so we wait for the next instalment…
The giant stretch of frozen river was melting and the light made the lake glitter like crystals. The women lay side by side on the shore, eyes open and glassy. Their long, dark hair was like tangled rope, their faces a reflection of each other…
When two bodies are found dumped in one of the vast lakes in Lakemore, Washington, Detective Mackenzie Price is first on the scene. She identifies one of the victims as Katy Becker, a local known for her work helping the community. The other victim looks strikingly similar.
Still grappling with a shocking revelation from her past, Mack is only too happy to throw herself into the case. But when she goes to break the news to Katy’s husband, the investigation takes an unexpected turn: Katy is very much alive, and has never met the women who resemble her so closely.
Now the race is on to find the killer before Katy becomes the next victim. But when Mack unearths a disturbing connection to a sixteen-year-old suicide, she realizes they could be hunting someone whose crimes span decades – and there are more lives than just Katy’s at stake.
Addictive, pulse-pounding and packed full of jaw-dropping twists, fans of Lisa Regan, Angela Marsons and Karin Slaughter will love Their Frozen Graves.
Author Bio:
Ruhi Choudhary discovered her passion for writing when she was seven years old and wrote her first Star Trek episode. Being a fan of the dark and twisted, she found her calling in crime thriller.
She likes to write stories that make you a little uncomfortable and characters that you struggle to make up your mind about but stay with you.
She lives in Toronto and spends her days training to be a scientist and wishing it rained more often!
Melanie Douglas is a single mum with a violent ex in prison, desperately trying to make ends meet as she cares for their daughter Kate. She receives a letter offering her an inheritance yet she was abandoned as a baby: does she have a secret family and can she protect herself from her dangerous ex?
The Single Mother is Mel, a vulnerable woman who is very likeable and struggling to cope financially and emotionally. She has had an unhappy life, abandoned as a newborn and growing up in foster homes so she is determined to give her own daughter love and security. But her ex Billy is in prison for a variety of crimes including domestic violence.
Mel’s vulnerability makes her someone that readers will feel warm towards especially as she continues to face hardships. I felt myself being distrustful of the other characters in the same way that she is: her past is very emotive and affects her relationship with her daughter which then in turn creates a fear when dealing with others.
The plot device of the unexpected inheritance provides Mel with opportunities but also concerns. She gets the chance for a fresh start but there are secrets hinted at by the locals as well as the mystery of who her benefactor is. Added to this is the hope of new love as Mel and Tom grow closer but the past continues to haunt her happiness.
I did not find Single Mother very credible but it was certainly enjoyable and I think it would make a great psychological drama on TV. I found myself emotionally invested in Mel and willing her to find happiness to counteract the loss she has felt all her life. The final chapter has some big reveals that will make you reconsider some parts of the plot and the characters themselves.
I will do anything to protect my daughter. She’s all I’ve ever wanted and all I really have, but the moment I opened that letter and accepted the inheritance, I walked us right into a dangerous trap.
I know I should have got her to tell me who she’s been talking to on the phone late at night, and where she was the day I went to pick her up from school and couldn’t find her, but she’s not spoken a word since she found that little pile of bones buried in the garden.
And now she’s missing…
A jaw-dropping, addictive and totally twisty psychological thriller that will have you sleeping with the light on! Perfect for anyone who loved The Girl on the Train, Friend Request or The Wife Between Us.
Author Bio:
Samantha Hayes grew up in a creative family where her love of writing began as a child. Samantha has written eight thrillers in total, including the bestselling Until You’re Mine. The Independent said “fantastically written and very tense” while Good Housekeeping said “Her believable psychological thrillers are completely gripping.” Samantha’s books are published in 22 languages at the last count.
When not writing, Samantha loves to cook, go to the gym, see friends and drink nice wine. She is also studying for a degree in psychotherapy. She has three grown-up children and lives in Warwickshire.
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