A few months back Matalan sent me their Autumn Winter 2011 look books for Children and Women – they sent me nothing other than this temptation.  What I have been tempted with is now arriving online and in store so I thought I would share my picks for me and my brood.

First up my choice for Baby G, this cute pink poncho for just £10

For Lil H I love this trapper hat  £6 and my favourite item in the whole collection and possibly for the entire season is this Lion T-shirt for just £7

For me I love these High Waisted 70′s jeans £20, this pussy bow blouse £14 and I do love a bit of faux fur with this belted jacket for £45.

Check out the rest of the Matalan Autumn Winter delights over at their online store http://www.matalan.co.uk/ you can also follow on Twitter @Matalan and swing by their Facebook page.  Let me know what you think and remember, you heard it here first!

Our plans to wander into Wilmslow for the community Market were washed away as the rain didn’t really stop all day. It wasn’t a major plan anyway so we’ve just mooched here.

We never reached a “bouncing off the walls” point. H rediscovered some toys and played happily by himself or alongside G. G had an afternoon nap which is rare these days. H and I snuggled on the sofa and watched, for the third time, the new Winnie The Pooh movie Disney sent us a few weeks ago. I’ve always loved Winnie the Pooh, the big dudes we see here with Baby G have been with me a l o n g time. The all-new movie is lovely, it has all the heartwarming nostalgia of the original tales. Like these it’s set “within the book” a paragraph or page helps the familiar and original faces, not the newly cartooned faces, on their search for the mysterious Backson. H loves the Backson, you’ll have to watch right to the end, past all the credits to see H’s favourite part though.

To top our day of nothing off we enjoyed our first roast dinner in our new house which was yum and the whole day was very good for my soul right now. Our Bank Holiday Monday was lovely for doing not very much but being together. How was yours?

Related links
Official website: http://www.disney.co.uk/pooh
Winnie the Pooh on Facebook
Winnie the Pooh Puzzle book – Available on iPhone and iPad for £.069

This raising a son
This raising a daughter
This being a mother
This being a parent
This being a wife
This being a friend
This being a working professional
This being a homemaker
This being a blogger
This life of mine
This is mostly done through gritted teeth

Every day I have the best of intentions but the effort put into creating joyful fun is exhausting and the results, well, mostly not that joyful.  So what’s going on?  Is it just me?  Is this Summer holiday fatigue?  Or a mid-life crisis?  Or UK life UK mid recession?  Or just life in the middle classes?  Or 21st Century life?  Is it just me or is everything shit?

The answer to date has not been found at the bottom of any of the many bottles of wine recently consumed nor at the bottom of any share bags of Galaxy Counters, which, for the record, I did not share.

During my enforced month long broadband fast I watched a few movies, one which has been on my “to watch list” for a while. It’s called The Cove

What I saw has really bothered me and I’m need to do something about it but I struggle through my life on a good day at the moment. What I can do to help any cause would be optimistically described as “limited”. What I can do is tell you The Cove is worth a couple of hours of your time and help spread the word.

The Cove is about dolphins, specifically dolphins passing a remote area Japan called Taiji. What I saw was fisherman disrupt the path of migrating dolphins driving them into a cove and sealing the cove with nets. I saw Dolphin trainers from all over the world choose Dolphins to be flown to aquariums, theme parks, swim with programmes etc. Then I saw the unselected Dolphins herded around to the next door cove where they were slaughtered, stabbed to death by fishermen. Their bodies gathered and their toxic mercury laden meat sold for human consumption.  This has horrofic implications. Over 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are slaughtered annual in Taiji. TWENTY-THREE-THOUSAND!

This annual slaughter begins in September and continues through until March. Whilst we go back to school in September the fishermen of Taiji go back to their horrific business. The annual dolphin hunt is scheduled to start on 1st September 2011. The Cove – have you seen it? Will you watch it, please?

The Cove, Oscar Award Winning Documentary http://thecovemovie.com/
Follow @CoveMovie_OPS
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TheCove

Take Part, Inspiration to Action, The Cove http://www.takepart.com/cove
Follow @TakePart

The Secret is Out. Spread the Word.