Safer Internet with Kaspersky

 

There’s no doubt about it, the Internet is taking over the world, which means it’s getting harder to protect yourself and your family online. With this in mind, we are offering you the chance to win a copy Kaspersky ONE, worth £79.99, ahead of Safer Internet Day on February 7^th Kaspersky ONE Universal Security is the easy, one-license solution to protect your PCs, Macs, smartphones and Android tablets. Based on award-winning Kaspersky Lab technologies, Kaspersky ONE delivers real-time protection against dangerous Internet threats with security optimised for each device. So no matter which devices you use to bank, shop, surf, or chat online, you know you're always safe.

For more information on how to stay safe online, check out these top tips from Kaspersky Lab’s senior security researcher, David Emm.
 
1.     Got protection? This may seem obvious, but security software is the new “black”. It helps you stay fully protected against malware, spyware, hackers and identity theft. And don’t forget to perform regular updates and scans. 
2.     Password strength matters. Use secure passwords – a different one for each Internet service. Set passwords to include 8-14 upper & lower case characters and numbers. Don’t use any words that are in the dictionary—they’re too easy for hackers to guess. 
3.     Protect your family. You stop your children from talking to strangers on the street – you should do so online too. Be aware of the potential dangers of the net from online bullying to paedophiles. Take parental control over the sites you don’t what your children to look at by using the parental control feature in your online security product – it’s an easy way to avoid disaster.  
4.     Click with care. If you’re checking your email or talking over instant messenger, make it a practice to avoid clicking on links in messages from people you don’t know. These links could lead you to a malicious website and result in malware installing on your computer. 
5.     Practise safe online shopping. When you’re going to buy those new killer shoes or the latest toy for your tyke, make sure you purchase from a reputable online retailer. You always look for a URL that starts with "https" and has the lock symbol when entering your credit card details or other personal information. 
6.     Socialise safely. By now, we’ve all had a bad link or two sent to us over our favourite social network. Utilise your social network’s security settings to their optimum level. Do you really need to display every detail about your life? And perhaps more importantly – do your children?
7.     Keep your privates, private. A good rule of thumb: Don’t post anything online that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your local newspaper! This includes your personal phone number, email address and street address, your holiday plans– and maybe also your bikini-clad, beach holiday pics. 
8.     Stomp out spam. Most Internet Service Providers & security software programs have anti-spam technologies. The spam blocker will help prevent fraudulent emails from showing up in your Inbox tempting you with fake lottery wins or promising certain body-part enlargements. 
9.     Be careful how you surf. Open wireless networks are called ‘open’ for a reason: anyone can connect, including hackers. If you do have to use one, use a password manager to store passwords and enter them for you automatically. This will prevent data being captured by cybercriminals using a keylogger.  And only enter personal information on secure sites – look for the “https”
10.  Handle personal information with care. Beware of online sites that ask you to enter too much personal data. Read the small print – they may be selling on your personal details to third parties resulting in even more email spam and cold calls.

Please leave a comment with a contact or email below to enter and why not head over to http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/ to find out more! Comp ends 7th Feb

Devine cake

With the weekend coming up and for once Saturdays fairly quiet I started hunting for some nice to bake and came across an old but incredibly tasty chocolate and raspberry cake. It really is divine, especially with either some cool greek yoghurt or cream!

PS recipe is an old one from M and S and is pretty much perfect every time!

Ingredients

250g/9oz Plain chocolate broken in to pieces

225g/80z Unsalted butter

1Tbsp Strong Dark Coffee ( I personally leave this out)

5 Eggs (I use large and add a little more flour but otherwise use medium sized)

100g/3 ½oz Golden Caster Sugar

85g/3oz Plain flour

1tsp Ground Cinnamon

175g/6oz fresh raspberries plus extra for decoration

Icing Sugar

Yoghurt/Cream for serving warm from the oven

Method

Preheat the oven to 160c/325f/gas mark 3. Grease a 23cm/9 inch cake tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper. Put the chocolate, butter, and coffee in a small heatproof bowl, set the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and heat until melted. Remove from the heat, stir and leave to cool slightly.

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a separate bowl until pale and thick. Gently fold in the chocolate mixture.

Sift the flour and cinnamon into another bowl then fold into chocolate mixture. Pour into a the prepared tin and sprinkle the raspberries over the top.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 35-45 mins or until the cake is risen and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the tin for about 15mins before turning out on a to a larger serving plate. Dust with icing sugar, add the yoghurt or cream and enjoy!!

Wisley

Today we went off to Wisley (RHS) which is fairly local to us to see the "Butterflies In the Greenhouse" exhibit they have on at the moment (last day 29th feb) It is a beautiful garden and series of gardens, little gardens, veg patches, rockerys which have been created and cultivated by the RHS since my grandma and papa first went there 60 years ago!

You cant start anywhere until you've said hello to the fish!

 

Making Oak Leaf Boats



Part of the 1hr long queue

 



Amusing ourselves dancing in the queue



Waterfall! Far more exciting than a butterfly!

 

A Butterfly!!






A tiring but happy walk home

Nappy Rash?

If like me you have a tiny one in the household you'll experience at some point nappy rash. Never nice it occurs when teething, when they have upset tummys, run down or just because lilke mine they have sensitive skin. What did I use? Sudocrem! I did try everything else as well but nothing worked as well as or gave relief as quickly as sudocrem.

If you want to know a bit more about nappy rash the causes and what to look out for check out Sudocrems page Nappy Rash
For every 'Like' on the Sudocrem Facebook page www.facebook.com/sudocemSudocrem will donate 50p to the NSPCC. Sudocrem have pledged to donate £25,000 in total to the NSPCC to help protect babies and prevent abuse to children.

Country Kids: Hill Rolling

Its that time of the week again and Fiona over at Coombe Mill has her linky all ready and open for us to tell her what we've been doing outside this week.

Well this week we decided to visit a local National Trust and explore the grounds. The boys adore any where they can just "run" as they put and Uppark in Petersfield is perfect for this. Pretty much as far as the eye can see is perfect grass or field for running and hill rolling.

(of course it helps to have a flask of hot chocolate to defrost with this time of the year back at the car!)

Me and My Boys

Hill Rolling

Time for a rest

Admiring the grass

Trying to see if there were any moles hom

So why not pack up a flask with a hot drink or soup and go and investigate yourself!

Getting your littles one out!

After my post at the weekend about my two little ones gardening I had some lovely comments but a couple asked if they didn’t already have a veg garden for their children to play in how else could they get involved in gardening in the winter. Well there are a fair few ways just remember with it still being January try and take advantage of the sunshine. No child will find a love of gardening if they’re dragged out in rain and wind!

Painting pots : A lovely way to pass the time. Terracotta pots work the best but I’ve known people to decorate their plastics ones in stickers and sticky crafting foam which look to be a work of art in them selves.  On the clay pots acrylic is going to be the best bet for bright and longlasting colours!

Putting bulbs in : Do be careful on this one as some bulbs are poisonous. Either pot your little one in some gloves or get some safe bulbs. Ours adore daff-o-dillys which arent poisonous and some bulbs from the garden centre are already popping their shoots which the boys loved popping in the ground and them covering them up delicately with earth.

Making fat balls for the birds:  I’ve included the wording from the RSPB “You can make your own bird cake by pouring melted fat (suet or lard) onto a mixture of ingredients such as seeds, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal, cheese and cake. Use about one-third fat to two-thirds mixture. Stir well in a bowl and allow it to set in a container of your choice. An empty coconut shell, plastic cup or tit bell makes an ideal bird cake ‘feeder’. Alternatively, you can turn it out onto your birdtable when solid”

Create a worm farm : Now if you have little boys they will love this! Simply get a large cardboard box and line it with a plastic bag. Fill it with soil and some worms from the garden. Let your kids pop in vegetable scraping’s from the garden every day and you should have some lovely compost eventually. Make sure you keep the worms in a shaded area and ensure it stay’s moist (not wet!!)

Plant garlic: Dig over some soil in the garden and weed it where you would like to grow the garlic. Separate the bulbs up in their individually cloves and remember to space them as each clove will grow into its own bulb. Push the garlic down in the soil and allow about 5mm (1/2cm) to stay sticking up out the top. They normally take about half a year to grow and its ready when the leaves turn yellow and collapse.

Jam jar beans: Wet a jam jar (don’t dry it out) roll up a piece of kitchen roll and pop it in the jar and press it up against the glass. Pop down between the glass and tissue your bean or pea of choice. Now pop it on a windowsill in the light and warmth and ensure the tissue stays damp and watch the little bean grow!

Herb garden: Choose three or four little pots and fill with earth and compost. Choose some quick growing seeds and sprinkle those gentle over the earth. Lightly sprinkle some more compost over the top of these and gentle water and very soon you should the seedlings appear and soon you can have your own fresh herbs to cut and enjoy.

Quick Homemade Chinese (lemon chicken)

Well it would appear a lot of you rather liked the microwave chicken curry I posted the other day so since its Saturday night why not try this? Cooked from basics and on the dish in less than 20 mins? Try it!

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Oil

500g/1lb Chicken (cut into thin strips)

4 Small Courgettes thinly sliced

2 Carrots thinly sliced

1tsp Grated fresh ginger (I cheated and used ground)

Shredded lemon rind (again I cheated and just used the lemon juice)

5 Spring Onions

2 Tbsp Dry Sherry (I skipped this)

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

Juice of ½ Lemon

2 Tspns Cornflour

Method

Place the oil in a bowl and microwave on HIGH for 1 min, add the chicken and cook on HIGH for 2 min.

Add the courgettes, carrots and ginger and HIGH for 3 mins.

Stir in the lemon rind, spring onions, sherry and soy sauce and cook on HIGH for 3 mins.

Blend the lemon juice & cornflour together, stir in to the dish and cook on HIGH for 3 mins until the sauce thickens.

Serve with boiled rice and prawn crackers!

Yummy made from scratch Chinese!

Down in the garden....

If you pop over to Coombe Mill you’ll see that they are big fans of family outdoor time. We agree! However we don’t always manage to get out down the woods or to a national trust however there are ways of entertaining our two at home. To encourage them out in the garden in all weathers (not that they needed much encouragement) we gave them a little bit of the garden and they have grown (with a little help) their own vegetables. So today we spent a lovely day out in the garden just doing general things like weeding and playing in the earth and the boys loved it, if you can manage it do give your little ones a bit of garden for themselves of even a plant pot to keep on the balcony!

Quick microwaveable home made curry!

If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know my husband is South African and one of his favourite dishes is Bobotie (pronounced Bur-bore-tea) which is a bit like a mince stew/curry.  Normally it takes a while and you have to stand over a hot stove while its cooking which is a tiny bit difficult when you have little ones demanding your attention. I was discussing this with a fellow expat who said why not cook it in the microwave then – Fabulous idea so here’s her recipe!

Ingredients

25g/1oz Butter

1 Tablespoon Oil

2 Onions chopped (she chucks a load in her food processor at start of week and divides them up in bags in the fridge!)

3 tsps Curry Powder

1 Clove Garlic Crushed

750g/1 1/2lb Minced beef

50g/2oz Sultanas

1 Tablespoon Chutney

25g/1oz Fresh Breadcrumbs

2 Eggs

150ml/1/4 pint Milk

25g/1oz Flaked Almonds

3 Bay Leaves

Method

Place the butter & oil in large bowl and microwave on HIGH for 1min. Add the onions & garlic, cover and cook for 2 mins stir in the curry powder and cook on HIGH for 2min.

Mix in the minced beef and cook on HIGH for 5mins. Add the sultanas, chutney, breadcrumbs, 1egg and mix well. Pop into a microwave serving dish.

Beat the remaining egg and milk together, our over meat, sprinkle with almonds and decorate with bay leaves on top and cook on HIGH for 15 mins. Leave to stand covered for a further 5 mins.

Quick simple curry! Tastes yummy to!

Bunting - making my own & template

The effect i'm going for

I like this!

At home we have a blank kitchen wall. Being a new house and not an outside wall its not strong enough to hang anything on so after flicking through a lot of expensive magazines I noticed bunting is very much “in” and fashionable at the moment so I thought there’s nothing to lose I’ll use bunting to cheer the wall up. Then I saw the price! However all bunting is material cut in a triangle sewn to ribbon, therefore no reason not to make my own.

Now where to get scraps of material? Quilting being all the rage at the moment smalls bits are more expensive then they use to be. So I popped in to our local furnishing shop who have lots of those lovely sample books. New season = New books. Obviously they then aren’t much good to anyone and he was selling off the books for 50p. I needless to say grabbed a few! One of which is oil cloth which is perfect for the kitchen so today I made a triangle template (the width of the material was 5” so that was the drop in the middle. So this is how far I’ve got (my boys help or rather hindered) and hopefully I’ll have it up by the weekend – stayed tuned!



The book of samples



First ones cut



So to make your own you need:

Pinking sheers (saves sewing the ages!)

Template

Material

Either binding or ribbon

Want to be organized and dont know where to start?

I’m still creating my own household planner (chore lists, grocery list & meal planners, finances, schedule etc) but I gave in and ended up using someone else’s chore list(motivated moms)  after much research. I had been advised to try the fly lady but I’ve found she takes a while to get going and I tend to like to storm into something immediately, especially when it’s a new year’s resolution. I have a friend who buys a huge family planner calendar – the ones with the pockets in for each months and writes out all her cards stamps and address them for everyone’s birthday for the year ahead. One day…..one day I’ll be that organised!

To save you time trawling the net I’ve complied what I personally have found to be the best or rather more realistic websites. Most of them have free PDFs you can download to create your own binder or house hold book.

The Household Planner – This has loads of free pintable’s from grocery lists, summer templates, garage sales, Back to school checklists etc etc.

Behaviour charts – Loads of lists on here for chores for 2yrs+ to potty training, printable invites, homework charts (you name it theres a chart for it here!)

The Organized Home – Everything you need to start getting organized and how to do is found here. They teach you how to organize your kitchen cupboards, what needs doing round and outside the house and when, time and money savers, recipes.

Only a couple there but more than enough to be getting on with. I’d better go as I’m only half way through my list today and have the Inlaws to visit, kids to be walked and dogs fed n(or the other way round!) so I hope you all had a Happy New Year and wish me luck with this!

HAHA I wish!!