Vlogging With Channel Mum and Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons #ButtonsMemoryLane

When Channel Mum first came along, a couple of years ago, I was so so very excited as I saw the potential of it. I waited a month or two and then with a great deal of trepidation submitted a written application which resulted in my being asked to submit a video. I didn't want to submit one from the existing live videos on my channel at the time and plus I wanted to submit one in line with the exciting idea I'd proposed in my application.

Every month I put off filming a video and wasn't at all ready. Whilst I was still considering it a close friend told me not to worry as they only wanted "young mums in their 20s" IHO, which turned out not to be the case. I didn't fully believe this at the time anyway, so it stayed on my mind but each and every month I did not take the plunge and whilst I procrastinated You Tube grew without me. I still kept my toe in the water vaguely, but only because I had to do this video on Vlogging with a Phone Camera for Collective Bias but it gave me hope I could still, possibly, be a Vlogger.

The world unfortunately does not stand still whilst we ponder something. Which was a great shame as twice, in the past, I was at the pinnacle of doing something with my channel (three times if you include when I actually created it in 2012). Once, when I edited my Featherdown Farm video, and was loving i-movie. But then my hubby broke dropped my Apple Macbook soon after. I often wonder where my channel would have been if I carried on with the enthusiasm I had then. I had a second chance last year, when I was uploading a lot of videos, getting in a flow with Windows Live Movie Maker and successfully edited a wonderful well received vlog of our daytrip to Weston Super Mare but then soon after my camera and laptop broke simultaneously (well not in the same month) AND I got pregnant. A pregnancy that found my morning sickness being made worse each and every time I went near the computer. Do they emit waves due to the Wifi? I don't know, but I had dreams of being a pregnancy vlogger and blogger but the morning sickness that would worsen the second I went near my computer really really put me off. Another VERY odd thing, was I could no longer even be a You Tube viewer and commenter late night in bed on my phone as theme tunes would make me feel ill, even my own, like the one on my Folly Farm video. Within 2 bars of that I would want to hurl which is so odd as I watched it again and again and again when making it and can do now too. That problem was just between weeks 6 and 14 of pregnancy whilst I had morning sickness, something I never suffered with Aaron.

When my aunt then so generously sent me my cousin's old computer it wasn't compatible with ANY movie maker, not even a bought CD that I got hubby to buy me for Xmas 2015 so I started to use You Tube editor (it's in the upload section) and oh my God it frustratingly has its limitations and is arduous and time consuming to use. So I'd got used to Windows and Apple and now had neither.

Anyway that laptop then broke too....... I will probably fix my broken laptops one day. I have a total of 3 (one apple and two windows). Well I need to as each of them has thousands of photos on and they are so so so precious and not backed up anywhere oooops.

Precious memories, yes that's what they are, which......... coincidentally is exactly what I got the chance to work on, with Channel Mum in recent weeks. Yep I am finally up to the current day with this preamble.

Even though I'm not an ACTUAL Channel Mum Vlogger, they widened their reach for their recent Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons campaign. I was honoured that I got to work on the campaign and I simultaneously PLUGGED my channel into their site which you can now do.

It has to be said I am rusty at vlogging. Turns out it's not like riding a bike where you never forget. It may or may not be obvious to you dear reader but my Mum said I seem really nervous and dearest Mum you are right I was. After wanting to be a Channel Mum for so long the nerves really DID get the better of me. but when you see the scenes of me, in the video, where I am not alone, but instead with my little Mr Charming, my Aaron, you'll see the nerves are not there and that's the real me.

So have a watch to see what our top 3 little moments of shared joy are:

Did you like it? I hope so. We do really feel joy in those moments. My boy is my everything and somehow my heart has grown to have enough love for two children. This is lil Lottie's first words which I was so very very lucky to manage to capture on camera.

So if I could do that Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons video again what would I do differently?

• I would straighten (and cut) my hair so that I'd feel confident with my appearance.
• I'd pick a higher seat so that you'd see the sunny garden and our lovely wooden blinds as a backdrop instead of just looking at my worktops and the gap where a dishwasher should be.
• I'd pick a better angle so that you can see me down to at least my waist so that it doesn't look like my neckline goes on forever.
• I'd perhaps do the whole video with Aaron as the scenes with him in are by far my favourites.
• I'd practice vlogging more, so that I am a pro instead of a novice. Blimey I have vlogged before I'm just rusty. My first ever vlog in 2012 was done to a stranger, a professional camera man, and yet I spoke for 8 minutes, unscripted, in ONE take! I should have ran with it and done it more often. Yep I often wonder where my channel would be now if I'd done just that.

So now is not the time for regrets. Yes I have got them off my chest above, but now is the time for moving swiftly onwards and upwards without constraint. So despite those 3 broken laptops I do now have another. It is on loan from the hubby but I CAN now edit videos and I have dived right in, whilst the iron is hot. Despite how much people tell you videos should be short I went and uploaded a 36 minute vlog. I'll tell you what happened. I wanted to do justice to our trip on a City Cruises boat down the Thames. It was gifted to me as a blogger with no pressure to review. I uploaded all of my content and it totalled 1 hour 9 minutes. I know that short videos should be 1-3 minutes and the popular slot for long videos seems to be 16 or 22 minutes. But with all of the editing in the WORLD my video came out as 36 minutes and given I was so attached to the content that was remaining it was not going to go any shorter so I hit publish.

Given that my Mum is in Ireland she watched all of our videos as a way to stay in touch. She is my biggest critic and said she loved it. I said "are you sure you watched all 36 minutes" and she laughed and said "yes, I felt like I myself went down the Thames". I was thrilled as that was what I wanted to create. It was a "I'll take you with me" type of vlog. Normally I include something long somewhere, that my Mum says I should have edited out, but no such criticism with this video. If you are a lover of London or a lover of the London Underground and history you may just love it too. I certainly got GREAT feedback from Carolin at Mummy Alarm (thank you).

So that's me. A lil insight into my history with YouTube. But from my main channel homepage you can see some playlists, like what my popular videos are etc... 

Did you work on the #ButtonsMemoryLane campaign? What did you think? I loved creating our memory lane, thinking about our joyful everyday moments and seeing the joy that Aaron and his cousins experienced whilst watching it.

You can make your own Memory Lane and my video above shows you just how easy it is to create from up to 7 of your own photos. Your kids will love watching it it's so easy to do and such great fun. Plus you can share it online with friends and family. Use the hashtag #ButtonsMemoryLane and tag @channelMum when you share it. We'd love to see it. Once you've created your memory lane, you'll be sent a link to your phone if you supplied a phone number or to your inbox if you chose to submit an email address. The link you use to then watch your memory lane is the same link you can share with others as I have done with mine above.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my Cadbury Dairy Milk #ButtonsMemoryLane video which is therefore an #ad.

My Cadbury Chocolate Victory Pool Party - Summer 2013 Heat Wave

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  

Social Fabric® Community.  

This Cadbury Chocolate ASDA shop 

has been compensated as part of a 

social shopper insights study 

for Collective Bias 

and their client.

We've been having a heat wave. I had to look it up to check if it is heatwave or heat wave, but never mind all that, it is HOT HOT HOT.

heat wave

noun

1.

an air mass of high temperature covering an extended area and moving relatively slowly.

2.

a period of abnormally hot and usually humid weather.

A time to have 

your body in a pool 

and 

your chocolate in the fridge. 

Eating refrigerated chocolate, in a pool, in the sun, is my idea of heaven.

But then, so is, dunking a biscuit, in a cappuccino! Which is what I did whilst I awaited the long arrival of my guests!  Aaron had a couple too as we were waiting for them to arrive to have lunch.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the beginning of this story.

Once upon a time...

... a hard working lass, who'd worked her butt off for 23 years, and never had a gap year, and even worked through maternity leave (from "home") was made redundant.  Summer 2012.  July to be precise.  Violins please!

In the October, at the last minute, just before the deadline, I decided to do my ET1.  The form that is the beginning of the Employment Tribunal process.  The redundancy consultation had not been done correctly.

It was with a heavy heart as I did it purely for myself, when I knew I had wanted/planned to do it for "everyone".  Anyway if you believe in God, and the power of prayer, and the old saying "what is for you won't pass you" you'll know that things have a habit of working out.

My hearing was a LONG time coming, (like 7 months) but when it did, I met a Solicitor, in the waiting room.  We'd never have spoken but I am a gobby cow chatterbox and to cut a long story short, he came into the Tribunal with me, making himself a "friend of the court" (neither of us could remember the Latin word for that), and (a) got the Judge to agree to postpone my hearing or rather "stay" it to use the official term (b) agreed to represent me (c) agreed to represent everyone.  I couldn't give him my file notes quick enough and off he went on the train. Until we'd meet again.

And that, we recently did!

Thanks to my file, which I'd prepared when I thought I was representing myself, we did not even need to meet in person, prior to my reconvened hearing.  We only needed a couple of emails and a couple of brief phone calls.  Based on everything I'd provided he knew what to do! He added his welcome expertise and job done!

Due to my status in the proceedings, I was allowed to represent everyone despite none of them bringing a claim. To cut a long story short, we won! What is ironic is a lot of them don't even know yet.  So it is a quiet victory for now, but a victory it is nonetheless.

And then my Solicitor took me for a beer two beers, each! Pints! Cold beer on a hot day = delish!  Even before the hearing we had coffee/tea in Cafe Rouge!

I should have got the bar maid to take a photo of us, with our victory smiles but that is his arm LOL.  Wearing a suit on a hot day must be hell!

Anyway, after the beers he had to head off in a rush to get his train "ooop norf" and I was left to get on the sweltering London Underground, which after having spent 5 days in a paddling pool, was not a fun proposition even with victory in hand.

I went home and got Aaron and headed off to meet my friend Siobhan and kids in the park, still wondering how I would celebrate.

It was an easy decision to make.  Hubby had bought a "paddling pool" for Saturday 13th July as that HAD been the hottest day of the year, and I had Siobhan Fiona and the kids coming.  After that, Aaron and I had a total of 5 days in the pool - I simply loved it - quality time with Aaron and the perfect outdoor way to refreshingly cool off.  I also loved spending time with my nieces and nephews last Summer - long time readers will remember all of our many adventures.  So Friday I got on the phone to their Mum, and gave her the choice of Saturday or Sunday to bring them over, for a pool party!  She chose Sunday, which I was thrilled by, as according to bbc.co.uk, the temperatures would be higher, for perfect pool weather.

In 12 years of living here I have NEVER EVER spent this much time in the garden.  But then before I had Aaron I always worked long hours and my home was merely a place to rest my weary head.

So, pool party booked, on Saturday we headed off to do my Asda shop for this post.  We also needed some kiddy stuff that was pool friendly.  Nibbly food and lots of ice poles. 

You can see my Asda shop in my G+ album here.  I didn't get everything, as Aaron was asleep in the car, so I only got what I could afford on my card, and then hubby went to get the nuggets, chips, pizza, ketchup etc etc etc...

* Roll forward to Sunday *

The pic above is me having a coffee and biscuit while we waited, as they were VERY late.  They arrived just after 4 p.m. but that was perfect as the temperature was at its peak from 4 till 7 p.m. that day, and the sun only comes round our side of the garden from 3 p.m. onwards, so I did not mind that they were late, and it gave me time to chill after doing loads of housework, which is not easy in the heat we've been having.

Aaron and I had already eaten the Praline Fingers on Saturday :-) errrr in the car #gluttony! ;-)

Yes that is a pound sign you just about see there!!!

Come Sunday, the pool was ready for 1 p.m. as I thought that's when they'd arrive. When I was having my (above photographed) cappuccino he asked me to put his "costume" on - mine was already on. We went outside to check if it was full and to bring in the hose, and we ended up hopping right in!  It was hard to resist to be honest.

And finally they arrived.  When they arrived we were actually IN the water, which made them all laugh. The older children were OVER THE MOON to see that it wasn't your ordinary ankle dipper paddling pool :-) On Monday I actually discovered that I can fill it even more, so the below is not even it at its maximum capacity! Oh shucks I will have to have them round again ;-)

Nobody is mentioning food yet, but I get them a platter of stuff to keep their energy up while I put lunch in the oven - they haven't had lunch yet either.

After many days of it only being Aaron and I in the pool, seeing him have fun with his cousins was so very heart warming to say the least.

There were  lots of tears all round at home time.

After all the excitement they calm down and chill.  Maybe it's the chocolate effect!

I am in the kitchen getting the below ready and notice behind me, out of the side of my eye, that one by one by one, they have come in and plonked themselves in front of the telly.

Only the adults remain outside.  By this time hubby has joined us too.

So it is a kiddy sitting room lunch while the adults (minus me) chill outside.

Would you believe that in addition to the above they had two large pizzas between the four of them. I didn't manage to get photos of that as I was running around like a blue arse fly, so was glad that I got that pool time with Aaron before they arrived, and as you can see below, I DO get to go in the pool later again. I am not one of those adults who just watches the kids have fun! Far too hot for that, and anyway I am like Peter Pan and have not yet grown up despite having turned 40 ;-)

When they all went in one by one, luckily they had the good sense to leave their wet muddly sandals at the door - kids CAN be sensible some times :-)

  
They do however drop their towels wherever they happen to land:

I was so happy when they didn't stay inside in front of the telly.

Once lunch was done they were all excited to get back outside and back in the pool, and given that the sitting room was quite cool (not in the sun at this point) I was surprised they wanted to go back out, but dead happy about it, as Winter is the time to be inside!

Finally once everyone had a full tummy and were well hydrated with drinks and ice poles, Mummy could get in the pool - yay! With my favourite little people! 

Despite the heat, chocolate is perfect as it gives you a portable boost, that is just perfect as long as it is chilled and eaten quick - yummy:

Surrounding myself in people - my favourite little people in this instance - is my way to celebrate in style.  The water and the sun were welcome guests.  The previous weekend the pool seemed too large, but you know what, when you fill it full of people, it's just right.  Just like my victory; the more the better!

Like the song goes, "one is the loneliest number that you'll ever meet"...

Chocolate in the sun is perfect if it has come from the fridge.  Guests mean it doesn't have time to melt - ha ha!  I was a little too stingy with that platter of chocolate above, but it means I have loads left in the fridge so have been having a nibble every day for days now #ooops!

So thank you Cadbury, thank you Asda, and thank you Collective Bias for helping me to celebrate!!!

By the way pool lovers, ahoy, it does get deeper still as I discovered on Monday:

The Date Night Didn't Quite Go to Plan after our eventful fruitful Search for Saturday Night Chocolate #CBias

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

Aaron is going to be 3 years old on Saturday and we haven't had a date night since he was born.  So this Saturday I was determined to get a movie, some chocolate (dairy milk preferably - hate dark) and get Aaron to bed at a reasonable time for once (believing it to be possible having got him down early Friday night for the first time in months). 

I know my readers will fall into two camps.  Those who say 

"WHAT? We have a date night once a week/month! Just do it!"

or 

Those who say 

"WHAT? Our children are 3, 5, 7 and 9 and we've NEVER had one! Lucky you!"

Either way, we NEED ONE!

So on Saturday, after Aaron and I had a superb day in the park, we went shopping on the way home.

As you can see, I popped the folded up buggy into the trolley. Not something I have ever done before, but I had to have it with me at the park in case he slept on the way home or got tired and I wasn't going to be able to push a buggy and trolley, so on the spot, decided to be creative. Yes I got some odd looks but what the hell :-)
   
Tesco is near the park, so it should not have been that big a deal, but I did not bargain on them not stocking Aaron's milk: Cow and Gate Infasoy.  We've always bought it in Tesco and Boots for 3 years, but apparently this branch was not big enough to stock it.  What didn't help, is for the first time since he was born, I'd let it run out, so getting it another day was not an option.

Luckily, before we decided which shop to try next, we had fun in Tesco, choosing chocolate:

As you can see we had a lot to choose from - Aaron's wondering why Mummy's trying to get just the right photo :-)  The Cadbury's Bite Size range is quite prominent and there are quite a few withing that range itself to be spoilt for choice.  They really are bite size too and as such quite moreish!

I don't allow Aaron to eat a lot of chocolate, but I don't 100% ban it either, so it was mainly for Mummy and Daddy but just for fun I asked him which one he would pick.  I wasn't surprised with his choice of Twirl given that he's had quite a few ice cream cones lately and the Twirl so closely resembles a FLAKE; well it does to me anyway.

Taking a bite in the only way he can considering we are yet to pay! LOL!

Next is the one I chose for me and Daddy to have with the movie.  Best of both worlds, in combining popcorn and chocolate.  It doesn't disappoint:

This next one was meant to make three so that technically we'd have one each, but this turned out to be the one that got away, which you can find out more about in our Google Plus album that tells the full story of this blog post.

Putting back the Crunchie enabled me to get this Disney Car to make Aaron's Saturday night complete:

So I bought two movies in Morrisons, the supermarket we went to next, in order to get Aaron's milk which Tesco (that branch of it) didn't stock.
It was a 20 minute walk to Morrisons, but I wasn't going to bus it as I only had enough on my Oyster card for the one journey home and wasn't expecting to have to go to two supermarkets.

As it turned out the walk was pleasurable - it was a lovely evening as my Google+ album shows and we enjoyed the walk.  Aaron stayed in the buggy so I was able to walk at a very brisk pace.  Means I got some exercise in too = result!

So here below are the two bargain movies I got *coughs* along with a load of other snips/offers I simply could not resist. The buggy was laden down.

So armed with 2 movies, 2 packets of Cadbury's Dairy Milk bite size chocolate, and a new car for Aaron, that was the ingredients for a perfect family night in. Or, so I thought...

Turns out I should have listened to my inner whisperer. Something told me I recognised the cover of Date Night, but because it was the same name as I was hoping to have that night, I could not resist it.  The hubby burst my bubble when I was happily unpacking the shopping, to tell me we already own it.  When asked if I've watched it, he says "no!" When asked why he would watch such a movie alone, he reminds me that we haven't really watched movies together since Aaron came along, and that the Bridesmaids that I had recently watched AND enjoyed, it had taken him MONTHS to get me to watch.  Oooooops.

So I give myself an internal high five that I got TWO film options and take the below photo.

I'm not really a huge fan of the bath, bottle bed model, but decided to follow it Saturday night as it had worked a treat on Friday.

So I got Aaron into the bath at a reasonable time despite the evening trips to TWO supermarkets, then gave him dinner, and a bottle and bed was therefore a breeze.  He was asleep by 21:20 for the second night in a row - it's been way later lately.

So I get myself into the sitting room, all expectant for the date night / movie night.  I dig into the popcorn chocolate knowing it is right up the hubby's street, and he says he is too full from dinner.

THEN he decides that what is on the telly is good. A movie called The Ghost Writer.  I patiently sit there playing with my computer (which is not working) for hours, waiting for it to finish and when it does, the next movie on is The Others, so my DVD is being neglected.

In the end, having eaten half the chocolate (only one bag - the popcorn) by myself, I go to bed with a heavy heart, knowing that me, my DVD and my chocolate stash, will attack him at a later date :-)

Hopefully a Date Night - either movie or otherwise will be coming to a cinema sitting room near me soon.

Click here see the full Cadbury range.

Oh it has to be said though, that MY favourite Cadbury product at the moment is Marvellous Creations (jelly popping candy shells covered in delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk) ... Have you tried it? I have a bar next to me right now.  In fact it has provided me my sugar boost all the way through this blog post.




13/06/2013
Even though the popcorn one was my favourite, it is a couple of days later and I am still munching just finished the Twirls. They really really ARE bite sized, look!

I was really sensible and did not eat all of the popcorn chocolate by myself.  I gave the hubby half of the bag to finish last night (it was actually a third ;-) ), but he loved it as much as I do/did.

Liska xx