Pick Me Up! 02-Feb-2017

What A Listen I’m hooked on True Crime podcasts at the moment. My current faves are They Walk Among Us and Casefile . Give them a listen. 155 That’s the average number of Facebook friends each user has. But research shows that we’d only turn to four of them in a crisis. Makes you think… What A Menagerie  Check out our video about a granny who has two grizzly bears and a tiger as pets! Search ‘Bonnie Hart’ on www.lifedeath prizes.com What A Treat When I saw something called a Peanut Butter Martini on the menu in a restaurant recently, I had to give it a try. One word… YUM! What A Couple My boyfriend dragged me to the Star Wars exhibit at Madame…

Little STAR I love this pic of my happy daughter Matilda, aged 6 months, enjoying a trip to the park on a cold, sunny morning. R Law, Colne Snow way! 'Mum, my feet are cold!’ Poor Jasper really didn’t know what to make of the snow. And as you can probably imagine, we didn’t end up walking very far... Tracy Davidson, Stratford-on-Avon Viva Las Vegas Here I am jumping for joy and having the most fabulous time on my recent trip to Las Vegas! Kim Coopey, Cardiff Egg-cellent snap Don’t really know why I decided to sit next to a giant egg, but I definitely look happy to be there! Amanda Hadley, Hayseech Snug as a bug There’s no way my son will go to bed until he’s rounded up…

When Alfie Peak walked into the pub where I worked - The York in Bexhill, East Sussex - his tanned skin and cheeky smile made my heart race. ‘Need a hand?’ he asked as I cleared away the empties. It was 2006 and he was 18, about to start a college course in Painting and Decorating. I was two years younger, and couldn’t believe a fit bloke like Alfie would be interested in me. We talked until closing, then swapped numbers. Want to do something this week? he texted the next day. And that was that. We were a couple. Alfie was kind and caring. He was a great dad to his young daughter from a previous relationship, too. Over the next few years, the pair of us grew up…

‘We’d raise her as a sassy, strong, confident girl’ ‘He looks out for his sister – reaches things she can’t’ Leaving the doctor’s surgery, I felt sad and frustrated. It was 2010, and me and my husband Steve, 51, were struggling to conceive. Yet tests couldn’t find anything wrong. ‘Unexplained infertility,’ the doctor called it. ‘Sometimes people just aren’t compatible,’ he’d said. I already had a son, Mitchell, 18, and Steve had two kids, Thomas, 21, and Zoe, 23, from a previous relationship. And I’d fallen pregnant with Mitchell accidentally while on the Pill! ‘It’s not fair,’ I said sadly. Our best chance to have a baby together was fertility treatment. So, in 2012, using our savings and scrimping for the rest, we tried IUI - artificial insemination. It failed.…

If you buy cheap kids’ books from charity shops, you can cut out words and lines to help your child learn to put their own sentences and stories together. Jayne Benham, Whitefield To give your make-up brushes a good clean, leave them to soak in warm water with baby shampoo and then rinse them thoroughly. Lisa Adams, Halesowen When your potpourri starts to lose its scent, spray it with a room or laundry spray to give it a new lease of life. Tracey Griffin, Bristol A glass cupcake stand makes a great display for your perfumes! Lee Hall, Sittingbourne I bought a hairdryer that came with a diffuser, but instead of using it on my hair, I use it to store my rings! Tina Williams, Ebbw Vale Take your lettuce…

1 That’s bananas!  Cover the stems of a bunch of banana s in plastic wrap and they’ll last longer. Danielle Smith, Abery stwyth 2 Fresh fridge  Keep fridge shelves clean by covering them with clingfilm. Then just peel off the dirty layer and apply a new one! Molly Spender , Brighton 3 Stop the spills  When travelling, place a sheet of clingfilm between the open ing and the lid of your drink to prevent any spillage. Chloe Barkley, Dundee 4 Well-furnished  If you’re decorating, cover your furniture in clingfilm to protect it instead of struggling to move it out of the room! Sue Rhodes, Derby…