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2am – Can’t Sleep!

Apr3

Definitely not a comfy place to sleep…

alittlebitquackers's avatarPinky & Perky's CIN Challenge

It is 2am and we can’t sleep.

We have resorted to doing laps around the service station to try and get rid of some of the achiness from laying on the floor for hours. We then decided to hunt down some cardboard boxes and made ourselves a cardboard bed to sleep on which made things a little more bearable while we were trying to sleep. Currently cannot decide which is worse at the moment: the cold or how uncomfortable the floor is.

Hopefully with the new cardboard bed we should be able to get a few hours sleep before people start coming in tomorrow morning. This is definitely a lot more challenging than we thought it would be.

See you soon

~Sam & Jenna

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Thank Yous & Our Mystery Donator

Apr3

Thank You to Our Supporters!

alittlebitquackers's avatarPinky & Perky's CIN Challenge

OMG guys!

We checked our Just Giving page before we went to bed and we have had some of the most amazing donations since our first facebook live video!

Thank you to all you guys who have donated to Children In Need tonight, it really has made our evening knowing that we are making a difference by doing this.
We won’t name people as we know that not everyone will want their name put on a public blog but we just want you to know that we are so grateful and your donations are going to make such a difference to children and young people all over the country.

We did also receive one anonymous donation for the huge sum of £100 and a personalised poem! We have no idea who you are and if you wish to keep it that way then of course that is okay but we…

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6pm – Nearly Half Way!

Apr3

Nearly Half Way!

alittlebitquackers's avatarPinky & Perky's CIN Challenge

Hello again,

Just a quick update. We are nearly halfway through the 24 hours now with 14 hours left to go. The rain has stopped thankfully but the sun has gone round the other side of the building so it is now a lot colder and we have started layering up.
We are cold, hungry, uncomfortable but still smiling!

Still lots of generous donations being received both on site and online so that is fabulous thank you so much!

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We will be back around 10 pm with another update before we try and get some sleep!

Thank You

Sam & Jenna

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2pm – It’s Raining!

Apr3

2nd update and the rain has come out!

alittlebitquackers's avatarPinky & Perky's CIN Challenge

Hi Everyone!

Here is our 2pm update. We have been sitting at the services in our little camp for 6 hours now and are surprised at how generous people have been! Lots of money currently being raised for Pudsey and the amazing folk at BBC Children In Need which is fabulous.

Good old British weather did not let us down and the heavens have well and truly opened. The weather forecast did say rain from 1pm and exactly on schedule all of our lovely sunshine vanished and the rain began. We have resorted to hiding out under some clear recycling bags in an effort not get get absolutely drenched by the rain. So far this has been unsuccessful.

But now we are going to go back in time a bit: We did manage to get this photo before the rain started! As you can see our camp is very small so…

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8am – Camp Set Up

Apr3

Camp all set up – 24 Hours to go!

alittlebitquackers's avatarPinky & Perky's CIN Challenge

Morning Everyone!

Today is the day! It’s 8 in the morning on Saturday and we have just set up our home for the next 24 hours. Unfortunately it is raining but we will not be deterred!! We are going to be blogging and vlogging our way through the next 24 hours with the occasional bout of facebook live to keep in contact with the lovely people who are supporting both us and Children In Need.

Above is our little “Camp Pudsey” which will be home for the next 24 hours.

Below is the first of our videos from 8am on the Saturday! Here we are feeling very chirpy as the sun decided to come out halfway through our video and grace us with it’s presence! How Kind!

Thank You to all of you who are following and donating to us! Here’s hoping we can raise a lot for Children In…

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March – 24 Hour Sleep Out

Apr3

March’s Children In Need Challenge!

alittlebitquackers's avatarPinky & Perky's CIN Challenge

Hello Everyone!

It is time for our next Children In Challenge. Check out our video below to see what we are going to be up to this time!

This months challenge is a 24 hour sleep out! There will be no luxuries, no food and we will be there regardless of whether it is pouring down with rain or a lovely sunny day. We have our fingers crossed for the sunshine!

We had to pick the best day in which we felt that we would be able to raise the most money so the date for this event is the 1st of April. We will be at the entrance to Fleet Services southbound from 8am on the Saturday to 8am on Sunday morning.

If you are in the area of Fleet or passing through please stop to say hello, we’d love to see you! We will be keeping you updated…

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The Last Binge

Mar7

So for anyone who is not aware me and my lovely friend Jenna have undertaken a year long challenge for Children In Need. If you are interested you can visit our fundraising website at www.CINChallenge.com. Unfortunately this means it is time to get fit. Even more unfortunately this means saying goodbye to most of the stuff that I actually enjoy eating. Therefore I thought it was acceptable to partake in one last unhealthy night with a friend of mine. This unhealthy binge consisted of a bottle of wine and a rather interesting snack which I had stumbled upon at the local shop across the road. Up until then I had no idea that pizza could actually come in a dessert form. So with no further ado I present to you the Goodfella’s Sweet Fella’s Delicious Dessert Pizza. In fact there is a little bit of ado as I have now had to partake in a rather lengthy conversation with my flat mate about the difference between “ado” and “adieu”. Turns out “ado” is a lovely little English word meaning without fuss or unnecessary hustle and bustle (think Shakesphere, Much Ado About Nothing”. “Adieu” is a dramatic French farewell, think of it as a last goodbye. So here I am with now a little bit of ado but that is okay because it is not a French goodbye. Easy mistake to make, don’t judge me too harshly and trust me I am a lot more intelligent in Spanish than French! Muchas Gracias.

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So this was my choice of a final unhealthy snack. I have to say that I disagree with their slogan that “the best things in life are worth sharing” because that pizza was amazing and I would happily not share. But I am a sharing caring individual and shared. After looking at the calorie content I am very happy that I did.

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Outside of the box it looked a little bit like a pizza which had gone mouldy. I fought the urge to cover it in magic stars and maltesers and put it in the oven for 14 minutes.

14 minutes later and this calorific and chocorific (if that is not a word it is now) specimen emerged from the oven. Was it an acceptable last binge? Definitely so! Could I have eaten it on my own? 100% definitely not! Goodfella’s I am sorry and I agree with your slogan. Now I know that these are hanging out in the freezer at the Tesco across the road I don’t know how I am going to be able to leave them alone. However I think that the fear of not actually being able to complete this Children In Need challenge slightly outweighs the unhealthy pizza chilling in the freezer! Can’t even remember the last time I ran!

Why do IKEA not sell Coasters?

Mar4

I have really been procrastinating and avoiding making decisions. That is why I think Dad decided to take matters into his own hands one evening and drag me off to Reading to buy some bathroom storage and a mirror. I had been putting this off because I am a genuinely indecisive human being when it comes to purchasing things. Pretty stupid excuse as I am putting off purchasing things to go inside the biggest purchase I have ever made to date. I bought a flat with less indecision than I am currently having around purchasing somewhere to store my shampoo. Dad collected me in the van after work and he had also accosted Nan on his way to get me which was nice. I had quite a random list of stuff still to get. I needed bathroom storage for both bathrooms. Lots of people have told me that you do not need storage in a bathroom but I have always had a lot of bathroom storage. This has its downsides because it has allowed me to acquire a rather large collection of different shampoos, shower gels and other bath & shower related things which now require a home.

So this is what I ended up with. There are so many options with IKEA’s Kallax and it looks really smart. I love how you can take the basic shape and then add doors, drawers and storage containers as you see fit. You can also leave cubes empty which looks really nice if using in a living room or bedroom as you can put photos, candles or ornaments in them. However as I was using these in a bathroom it was important to protect things from condensation. I now just have to decide what to put on top of them. Thinking along the line of candles or a bowl of that nice smelling stuff (I believe it is called Potpourri but do not quote me on that). I did initially buy this lovely little specimen to do that job:

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Introducing Dobby the House Plant. Dobby was supposed to brighten up the bathroom but unfortunately when I got him home it just seemed a shame to leave him in the bathroom. So now I have another living room plant and a continuation to my Harry Potter references. At least if I ever burn myself I’m never more than 1 flight of stairs away from a nice dose of aloe vera. I have always wondered if the Aloe Vera plant is able to regrow back the bit that we break off. May need to do some aloe vera research.

The strangest thing I have found about IKEA is that they do not really sell coasters. I am now left to wonder if the Swede’s use coasters. Maybe I was bought up strangely but a drink always went on a coaster. Not only would that stop that really horrible ring that you get left behind when a glass is wet or a drink is knocked it protects the surface underneath. In that massive store there was the grand total of 1 coaster. This coaster was round and made of cork which I’m sure would have done the job but it just was not the coaster I’m looking for so it got left behind. I did however pick up some multicoloured place mats for the table and one of these is currently doubling as a rather large coaster on the coffee table.

I also went to pick up the mirror which had been looking at the past two times I had been to IKEA. I was very lucky as I managed to get the last one of these mirrors from IKEA Reading. So overal this was a very successful shopping trip. I even managed to treat my Nan to dinner in the restaurant!

However the next day when we went to put the mirror up there was the horrible realisation that it was broken. I went online hoping that maybe I had not been looking correctly when I thought I had bought the last one. Sadly for once my eyes were not paying tricks on me and the only way I was going to get this mirror was going to be by driving down to IKEA Southampton. Not ideal but it did allow for an evening of family bonding as my brother lives halfway between me and Southampton so he came along too and it became a bit of a family trip. I took back my broken mirror with no problems and went hunting for a shiny new one. I could not find it and was starting to panic. I got to where all the mirrors were and there was not my mirror anywhere. By now it was 20:30, we had been there over an hour and I only had half an hour left so I had to ask someone to help me track down this mirror. There was no way I was leaving without it after driving all that way. Luckily for me they had some somewhere in the warehouse although they did not know where. This must have been why they were the only IKEA in this half of the country to have it! I was “that customer” who was hovering in IKEA collections half  an hour after closing refusing to budge without the mirror while they tried to find it. Anyone who works in retail or who has ever worked in retail will know what I mean by “that customer”. So Apologies to the people of IKEA Southampton for making you late home. At least I was not tapping my contactless card on your non-contactless card machine despite you warning me it was not contactless. It could have been worse.

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However I am now a very happy customer with a lovely abstract mirror hanging on the wall in the hallway. Not too sure why it has been discontinued but I love it!

Anyway I still do not have an answer to my question which was why do IKEA not sell coasters. After visiting two in the space of five days I have not managed to find an answer so if anyone knows the answer to this question please let me know. If you were by any chance looking for cork round coasters to put your drinks on then IKEA is your place. You’re Welcome.

Day 18 – Quest for Onion Bhaji

Feb8

The past three days have been spent unpacking my life from the previous two homes (the parentals and mine) to the lovely new little flat. I had no idea I owned so much stuff! I am on day three of unpacking at the moment and it actually looks like I have a home now which is very exciting! I cannot wait until this is all done and I can go back to my very much needed 8 hours of sleep a night and catch up on about a months worth of Eastenders!.

The worst thing about unpacking is the fact that you have no idea where to even begin or where anything is. I also found myself thinking I owned things when I actually did not. Food choices have been very limited to whatever I can find in the shop over the road as I have not had anything here to cook with. However I had moved the kitchen stuff in so decided to treat myself to an Indian snack selection (think samosa, onion bhaji, little potato thing with peas in). This meant I could snack and still unpack (ooh little bit of rhyming there!) without having to stop unpacking or snacking. (Sorry, again!). I come back from the shop armed with snack selection, pop the oven on and go to put the snacks on a baking tray. Baking tray… Where are you baking tray?

Turns out I do not own a baking tray. Why do I not own a baking tray? All the baking trays at my old flat belonged to the landlord at my old flat and I never bothered to get any more as they were perfectly functional for baking stuff like the name suggests. So I am now stood in my kitchen with no way to cook what I had just bought. The samosas and other bits I could have happily lived without but not the onion bhaji so I decided to adapt and use the microwave even though there was no microwave options on the packaging. I was not to be defeated by the lack of a baking tray!

I pop the snack selection on to one of my new square plates. I remember writing about these plates saying how much I had always wanted square plates. Turns out this was also a no go. Due to the squareness of the square plate it could only rotate 45 degrees in the microwave before getting stuck and rotating back 45 degrees in the other direction. My quest for onion bhaji was not going to plan.

Upon the removal from the microwave I was very disheartened to discover that due to the microwave’s inability to rotate I had a lovely little selection of really badly cooked snacks. Some were hot, some were cold, most were soggy and I think one may have been a bit burnt. Not even my craving for an onion bhaji was enough to make that taste nice.

So what was the first thing I did today? Bought a bloody baking tray! Well actually I bought three!