Things have been busy here in Glam & Geeky HQ. With the summer holidays in full swing my blogging time has been reduced quite a bit! I’m still working behind on the scenes on my next blog post for my series on finding low entry competitions.
In the meantime I’ve decided to run my first giveaway! Now TV movies has been helping me keep the kids entertained with loads of great summer movies. So I’ve decided to offer up a 2 month movie pass digtal code out to my readers to help keep you and your kids entertained!
To enter simply follow the options below on Rafflecopter! If you’ve never used Rafflecopter before or are not sure how to use it then head over to this fab post by Di Coke at super lucky telling you how to use it. The competition ends midnight 20th August 2018, good luck!
A few months ago I wrote a blog post about accessible gaming. The blog post detailed how the amazing charity Special Effect had opened up the world of gaming for my son Chase. Little did I know that this would start a chain of events that would culminate with us being invited to Sega Europe HQ and meeting Sonic the Hedgehog!
Shortly after writing my blog post Special Effect asked if I minded my details being passed over to David Lilley. David Lilley is the Managing Director of Gaming Events. I quickly received an email offering Chase and the family tickets to either EGX in Birmingham or EGX Rezzed in London! We’re very fond of EGX as it’s where we first discovered Special Effect. We decided to visit London as it’s much closer and also happened to be running on Chase’s Birthday. Massive thanks to David to reaching out to us and providing us with tickets for the day.
EGZ Rezzed
Chase and the rest of us had a great day checking out the new games as well as stopping in at the special effect stand. We then found the Sonic Mania stand. Chase absolutely loves playing Sonic Racing All Stars and immediately spotted then massive Sonic statue they had. We went over for a picture and Chase then asked to have a go of the game.
A lovely lady called Julie helped make a space for his wheelchair so he could play Sonic. We had a great chat with Julie about Special Effect and the amazing work they had done with Chase. We also talked about how much Chase loves playing Sonic All Stars Racing transformed. You can check him out in action here
At the end of Chase’s go Julie gave me her email address and said to send her details of Chase’s gaming story. And this is how we ended up with an invitation to visit Sega Europe HQ!
Visiting Sega European Head office
Fast forward a couple of months and we had a confirmed date and time to visit Sega Europe HQ. Chase (and to be honest, the rest of us) were ridiculously excited to be what we consider the European home of Sonic!
The reception at Sega HQ was amazing. Straight away we spotted the huge Sonic statue that we also saw at EGX Rezzed. We made sure we grabbed a picture once again with Sonic.
We were taken past some of the meeting rooms. All of the meeting rooms are themed based on a Sega game. I have to say Football Manager was one of my favourites as it had a massive football pitch drawn out of the floor on the meeting room. We went through to the board room and saw the absolutely massive screen Chase would later get the chance to play not one but two of the new Sonic games out for release later this year.
The Main Offices
First up was a tour round the office floor, we checked out a few of the other meeting rooms and said hello to lots of people working in graphics, PR, Law and HR.
We also went in the most amazing room that was filled to the brim with Sonic merchandise!
Back around the office again there was the most amazing area filled with retro consoles and games as well as a Virtua Striker arcade machine.
A full size tennis table caught Brooke’s eye and she wanted to have a match against one of us.
There was the most amazing 8 bit art wall here covered with loads of my favourite Sega retro console characters. Alex Kidd, Streets of Rage, Altered Beast, Golden Axe and Echo the dolphin were just some that we spotted.
We made our way into the office break room. There we stopped to have a drink whilst the kids had a biscuit each. Even the toilets had the most amazing Jet Set radio art on them
Testing Games at Sega European Head Office
Our next stop was a floor down to the mega top-secret testing floor. Continue reading →
It’s the start of another month, which means yet another review of another month of comping! For those of you that are new to the blog I’m a comper. You can read more about my comping and why I do it here. But the short story is that after having to quit work due to keep up with my sons additional needs I needed to find something that meant we could still afford the nicer things in life!
This month I had a flurry of wins at the beginning and the end. After the success of last month and also the time I spent putting my first in a series of blog posts about finding low entry comps together I ended up having a break from my usual comping routine in the middle of the month. Despite this I still had some great wins. This is partly thanks to Mr Glam & Geeky who has been entering a few more competitions recently!
2 tickets to Champagne afternoon tea at the O2
This competition was found using Tweetdeck. Emirates Cable car was celebrating their birthday and there were lots of O2 related prizes available. Both husband and I decided to enter all of them. I was really hoping we’d win tickets for Up at the O2 which we didn’t. But Dan did manage to win us a lovely afternoon tea at the O2 instead. Entry was a RT to win.
6 x Sky Sports TV Day Pass
I known many of my comping friends win lists this month will probably feature at least one sky sports pass! There is currently a brilliant daily scan to win competition that is being ran by Carling. You simply scan your can of Carling into an app and see if you are a winner. There are lots of prizes available for this one. If you want to know more then check out legendary comper Di Cokes blog post all about it.
Years supply of a mystery product and £200
This is Mr Glam & Geeky’s win, I’m still not allowed to post full details Continue reading →
At the end of every school year most children say goodbye to their teacher and/or move classroom. But not all children. Chase attending a school for children with special educational needs means things are done a little differently!
4 Year Old Chase at school – so dinky and cute!
For the past 3 years Chase has been in the same class with the same teacher. He’s had new pupils join each year as well as pupils leave to move up class. Chase responds really well to change. Especially when it’s something exciting like changing classes!
This year is Chase’s turn to graduate. He’s had an amazing 3 years of learning. Chase has learnt how to read and write. His VOCA use has improved dramatically and he’s such a whizz on the computer. Chase has achieved so much over the past 3 years and has become so much more independent.
5 Year Old Chase – learning so many new things
Chase’s 3 year journey through Star Class
His school was kind enough to send me a memento of his last three years in Star class. It’s lovely to see how much he’s changed over the past 3 years. I’m so excited to see what the next three years bring in his new class. Next year he will be with 2 other Year 3 pupils and 3 Year 6 pupils. This is really going to push him but I think that’s exactly what he needs.
6 Year old Chase – he’s getting really good at reading and spelling now!
It’s so exciting to think about what he will learn over the next 3 years in his new class. He’s at a point in his English and reading now that requires a big leap to progress. In Chase’s new class there will be an older student who uses a VOCA really proficiently. Having someone else who communicates the same way as him will really help him take that leap toward.
The six week school holidays
We will be updating the blog over the 6 week holidays with lots of our adventures and activities we get up to. What have you got planned for the 6 week holidays? No actual holiday for us but planning as much outdoor activities as possible. This will hopefully be the last year that we’re stuck indoors on the days I’ve got all 3 children on my own. By next year Chase’s driving skills will have improved and if I’m lucky Harper will be walking. Although because of her hips I’m not counting on it!
7 Year Old Chase – It’s time to move on to a new class with new friends!
Finding low entry competitions is a great way to increase the number of competitions you win. If you only ever enter competitions from a competition prize listing website you will likely win every now and then, but not as often compared to searching for your own.
Why Bother Finding low entry competitions
There will be far less entries on competitors that are not listed on a competition website. So the more of these you enter it will greatly increase your chances of winning. Although at first it will take a bit more time to find your own, you will get quicker with practice. I have found taking the time to search for my own competitions well worth it and it has increased the number of prizes i win.
My favourite place to find low entry comps
I’ve been requested by many of my fellow compers to write blogs posts about tweet deck and twitter lists. I’ve learnt so much from other compers over the past few years I’d love to give back to those just starting out. Tweetdeck is my favourite source for finding low entry competitions. It is however a rather large – ok nope make that mahoosive topic. So I’ve decided to break it down into a mini series of blog posts. These quick and easy bite size blog posts will allow you to learn skills slowly and build them up until you’re a comp finding whizz!
Mastering Search Operators
Our first lesson is all about mastering the search bar! It’s important to know exactly how to use a search engine on any platform to be able to easily and quickly narrow down what you are looking for. We can do this using something called a search operation or search parameter.
What is a search operator
In complicated terms a search operator (or search parameter) is
a character or string of characters in a search engine query to narrow the focus of the search
In simple terms a search operator (or search parameter) is
A word or simple symbol used when using a search bar to help narrow down what you are looking for
THE Search operators
There are many, many search operators but I’m going to talk to you about the ones I most commonly use to find competitions and narrow down what I am looking for. As you read through these go ahead and open up Google or Twitter (or both). Try out some of the examples and see the difference when you include the search operators and when you don’t.
Quotation Marks “XXXXXX”
Quotation marks around a set of words you are looking for means you are looking for that exact term. Let’s say I want to search for Continue reading →
This month celebrates the 120th anniversary of Enid Blyton’s birth. To celebrate The Book People and Tots100 have teamed up for a special social media competition with an amazing prize of £500 worth of books from The Book People. One of Enid Blyton’s most loved and most fondly remembered character is Noddy!
I remember watching Noddy when I was young. Even my Mum has fond memories of Noddy books from her own childhood. So it seemed only right that my own children had an introduction to Noddy and his friends. My 3-year-old is particularly fond of reading about Noddy and his friends adventures.
The #NoddyChallenge
The #NoddyChallenge set by The Book People and Tots100 is to get crafty with Noddy! Whether its baking a cake or making your own Noddy hat. There’s loads of inspiration here on The Book People’s website
We love crafts in our house and decided to inspire you with our own Noddy themed craft too! Read on to discover how we made our own Noddy and his car.
Materials Used
Coloured corrugated cardboard
Pipe cleaners
Coloured cardboard
Colouring pencils, felt tips and crayons
Plastic spoon
Googly eyes
Brown Sharpie
Glitter
Scissors
Glue
plastic craft shapes
Don’t be alarmed if you don’t have all these materials. We didn’t even know what we were going to make initially let alone what materials we would use. Part of the crafting fun at our house is making things up as we go along. This is also a great way to get the kids thinking outside of the box and using materials they might not have thought of initially. You can substitute for whatever you have at home!
Our inspiration
After my daughter Brooke and I looked at some of the craft ideas on The Book People’s website Continue reading →
There’s been a video for sometime now circulating the internet of a call to emergency services. You’ve likely already heard it. A 3 year old manages to call 999 and ask for help as her Mummy has fallen down the stairs with a baby (it turns out that her mum was pregnant). You can listen to the 999 call here
What would my child do in an emergency?
Listening to this got me thinking. What would Brooke do in an emergency? Does she even know what 999 is or how to even access it on my phone?
The answer to all of those questions is no. So after a brief chat yesterday she know understands that in an emergency when there are no adults to help her she should ring 999. She also knows how to dial 999 on both my phone (when its locked and unlocked) as well as the home phone.
Why my child thinks we may need to call emergency services
The idea of what is an emergency seems to be taking a little bit harder to stick. Brooke understands that the emergency services consists of ambulance, fire and police services. Here are some her reasons that she (currently) thinks she might need the emergency services
Ambulance
Sometimes when I really do like manage to fall down stairs. you would get some blood out of yourself. but last week i feel down stairs and I didn’t get any blood so I called for my Mum. If there was lots of blood it would be an emergency
I’m really excited to share this news with everyone! Chase now finally has access to a bit of equipment that allows him to feed himself independently. Due to Chases restrictions with his arms and hands eating by himself had previously been an incredibly hard if not impossible task. Chase is unable to pick up a spoon, scoop up his dinner and then accurately place it in his mouth. He would most likely drop the spoon or knock it on the floor several times, struggle to get any food accurately on to the spoon and IF it then made it to his mouth he would have likely accidentally put the spoon so far in he would have choked himself!
Why Is independent eating so important
Chase eating independently is important for both Chase and for me.
Benefits to Chase
Greater self-confidence
Eating more food
increased Dignity
Feeling inclusive with everyone else dining
Chase at one point was so close to having a feeding tube put in. He wasn’t getting in anywhere near enough calories. He disliked mealtimes and refused a lot of food. When Chase first started using soe equipment at school that allowed him to feed himself he started to eat a huge amount more. His eating improved slightly at home too but nowhere near to the amount he was eating when he was able to feed himself.
Benefits to carer
Far less mealtime stress
My husband and I are able to eat our own dinners whilst they are hot!
I have personally found feeding Chase one of the most stressful things about his care. Chase is able to sense when he finds people are stressed and will play up even more. My husband has had to feed him a lot of the time because he simply wouldn’t even eat for me some evenings. This behaviour has improved as Chase got older but when he’s tired (which is almost every school night) this behaviour can flare up.
The Neater Eater
The nifty bit of equipment Chase has got is called the Neater Eater. It’s a manual feeding aid that uses a special damping system and can adapt to people with tremors, weak arm muscles, amputees – the list goes on! For Chase it enables him to smoothly and easily scoop up his own food and bring it to his mouth at a rate that suits him. Chase is a little messy with it whilst we do our final tweaks to get it at the perfect set up for home but none the less he is doing such a fantastic job!
Since it’s arrived he’s been so excited at mealtimes and has eaten a lot more than I would usually expect him too. The only limitation we have is the type of food that he can use with it. Chase is actually very good at eating a lot of different and tougher textures such as burgers. But as you can see from the set up scooping up a burger on his tiny spoon would be impossible! We did have burgers one evening actually and Chase still wanted to be independent. In the end i chopped up his burger into small enough pieces and put them on his spoon for him. Chase was still very happy with this as he felt like he was still doing all the hard work himself.
I can see I may still occasionally have to feed Chase myself. He also still has to be closely monitored. This is to make sure he doesn’t choke on his food, and also to keep him clean whilst eating. But to enable him to be the one putting the spoon to his mouth most of the time is an amazing.
Perseverance pays off
It’s been a long long road to get to this point. We actually had a rep come to the house to show Chase a neater eater before he started school. Chase refused to even sit in front of it and had a meltdown! We decided to let him start school and see other children using it first. Once at school he quickly decided he wanted to feed himself. As his school are utterly fabulous they already had a bit of equipment he could use at school everyday. It has taken me well over a year, hours of phone calls and lots of stress to finally get this equipment on loan for him. I’m so happy I didn’t give up and we finally have a solution for making mealtimes happy again!
It’s the start of another month, which means yet another review of another month of comping! For those of you that are new to the blog I’m a comper. You can read more about my comping and why I do it here. But the short story is that after having to quit work due to keep up with my sons additional needs I needed to find something that meant we could still afford the nicer things in life!
Every month for the past three months I’ve been able to say I’ve had my most succesful month yet. Well this shows no signs of letting up. June was my most successful month comping to date, I won prizes worth over £4000! This is a huge amount and although the value of prizes doesn’t fully matter it certainly does make me feel motivated to carry on entering when I have dry spells. This month was the first time I made it on to a radio station to win a prize; not one but twice! Read on to discover what I won and how I won it
Pink Magazine
My first win of the month was a copy of Pink Magazine. I won this from the Pink Facebook page where you had to post what you’d been up to so far this spring/summer. ALthough this seems like a small prize they do regularly have fab entry form only comps in this magazine. We’ve already sent our entry form off. If we’re super lucky then we will win a prize from a prize!
Strongbow Pac-a-mac
This was from the Strongbow epic festival entrance competition. This is a purchase necessary competition with lots of prizes up for grabs. If you enter you’ve got a really good chance of winning at least a small prize. You can find more details on blogger Super Lucky Di’s site here.
Lego Nexo Knights Book Bundle
I have no idea where all these fab books came from! They arrived addressed to Chase so my guess is an email entry kids comp. I’ve searched for the original competition but cannot find it anywhere!
Feather & Black Sienna Rattan Kingsize bed
I couldn’t believe it when this email came through at the start of the month. We’ve been wanting to upgrade to a king size bed for ages and had ended up buying a mega cheap second-hand bed off eBay as our current bed was broken. I carried on entering bed competitions in the hope i might be able to win a nice one and hit the bed jackpot! Continue reading →
For the first time since Chase started school I finally made it to his Sports Day. I fondly remember my primary school sports days still to this day. We used to do various races, as well as individual events to then get a final score. The scores then were totalled up and you got a certificate with a picture of a trainer on it with a number next to it. From what I can remember the number related to how well you performed from 1-10, and if you were dead good you could earn a triple 10 certificate. I’d like to use this short moment to boast I finally achieved my dream of triple 10 certificate in year 6. Looking back I think we should have all been given medals and counselling for having to do sports day in our pants and vests.
International Mud Day
I wasn’t fully sure what to expect from a chase’s sports day other than I knew there was a relay race. It turns out it was also International Mud Day. Because of this the school decided in the morning children would be doing sports activities with mud! Continue reading →
