Start-rite school shoes Puerto Banus
If you are looking for Start-rite school shoes you can get them in Puerto Banus in Marina Banus, opposite El Corte Ingles, on the lower floor. A small shop tucked away in the corner, that also sells Croc shoes.
The lady will measure your child’s feet and has a good selection of sturdy Start-rite shoes so long as your child has regular feet. The problem I have is my child doesn’t have regular feet. She has elephant feet, with a width fitting of H, that will be an H for Hippo, which means the shoes would have to be ordered in. Then if my child didn’t like them, ( highly likely) I would only get a credit note.
My youngest child laments that she doesn’t have shoes to match those of Carrie Bradshaw unlike her friends who are eight and already own high heels. However she forgets that each shoe she tries on has bumps, lumps and pressure pads that means they cannot possibly ever be worn, or bought. So in desperation I hit the Start-rite school shoe shop and was willing through sheer exhaustion to purchase shoes costing well over 60 euros. So I’m not willing to take the credit note risk as if the shoes don’t fit, or do fit but don’t pass the lumpy bumpy test, then I’m stuck with a credit note. I would never buy shoes costing so much for my other children when they can wear leather shoes from El Corte Ingles or the supermarket for half the price.
So, a great shop if money is no object or you have Fussy Footed Freaky Kids, or if you are about to have a mental breakdown after trying on close to 25 pairs of shoes with your Fussy Footed Freaky kid and would hand over your limbs if it meant you ended up with a pair of shoes that actually fitted or were deemed comfortable.
Until then, my daughter will have to wear her old school shoes that don’t fit and I’ve told her next week if she continues to refuse shoes that she tries on I’ll just get out a Stanley Knife and cut out a hole for her toes to stick through.
Then I’ll cut off my limbs…..
Vroom Vroom with Hertz
If you book with Hertz before 31st March and plan to hire a car in either Europe or the US before the 31st March, you will get a free car upgrade. If you are planning a trip over half term and haven’t yet booked your car rental then it is worth looking at the price difference.
We tried Avis over Christmas and we had the most dreadful car. It hadn’t been cleaned properly, it was badly scratched and bumped and then to make matters worse a fuse went on the car and we couldn’t use our screen washer. Not very hepful when you have a three hour motorway drive in zero temperatures. I closed my eyes after a while and I think I had better visibility than my husband who was driving.
The fault is actually with the new Vauxhall Zafira. The fuse goes on the washer fluid mechanism if you try it in zero temperatures, which of course you do as that is the time you really need to clear away the ice etc. Linked to the same wiring is the the Vauxhall Zafira’s car boot. So yes, along with not being able to wash your car windscreen during the winter you will also find that you are now unable to open your car boot.
A quick trip to the local garage solved the problem and we were told this is a fault with the new Zafira. I have just looked up the meaning of Zafira and apparently it is the name of a well known (not by me) Hungarian porn star actress and nude Internet model. I bet her fuses don’t blow.
Anyway, there are plenty of car hire firms around, the cheapest ones will have collection points away from the Terminal building. Hertz is always located close to the Terminal building if not inside and their current offer ends 31st March, 2010. Just check that the Vauxhall Zafira isn’t the upgrade….
Shiny granite kitchen work tops
Lovely Jenny has told me about a product you can buy in Mercadona that will make those black granite kitchen work tops shine again. It is supposed to be used for chrome, taps, fridges and extractor hoods, but by accident she spilt some on her black granite kitchen work top and voila she had shiny granite again.
The spray is in a grey bottle with an orange and grey top and is called Aceite Abrillantado, Acero Inoxidable y aluminio. It is ABSOLUTELY brilliant. It is much better on chrome than any window cleaner, as it is a spray it can cover large areas really quickly ( excellent on extractor hoods) and my black granite is twinkling after use. I have just tried it now on my white bathroom suite and they too are sparkling as though they belong in a five star luxury hotel bathroom. I’ll let you know if they turn yellow after half an hour as I really don’t think the spray is supposed to be used on toilet lids. I haven’t put it on toilet seats as I think an unfortunate soul may slip off upon contact as the spray is oil based. Then again, it could be fun to watch….
It doesn’t smell great but neither do I this morning, so signing off now to take a shower and to stare at my shiny bathroom toilet.
Simple….
How to write your CV
I have decided to start looking for a job. The best bit is that it means my husband will have to catch the cat in the future, as I’ll be at work. I’ll leave him a healthy stock of bandages, plasters and vodka.
It has been a long time since I wrote a CV and to be honest I wasn’t sure where to start. A quick search on Google showed me some excellent sites, relevant to my profession and within a couple of minutes I had several CV’s in front of me and have been able to choose the best formats, to write up my CV.
Here are a couple of websites that will show you how to write a CV and which look particularly relevant if you are looking for a job in sales etc
Top tip from me…when you have finished writing your CV, print it off and get a couple of people to proof read it for you. They may find some grammatical mistakes that you may have missed or suggest something which you could have added.
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cv1.htm
Catch the cat
I’m sitting here feeling quite anxious as I have to take my daughter’s cat, ( please note it isn’t MY cat,) to the vets by 10am. That involves the delightful job of having to catch it and lure it into the cat box.
That involves close contact and the strong potential for getting scratched. My sense of self preservation is kicking in and I’m absolutely dreading the whole thing. The cat isn’t stupid and when it sees the cat box and my face, it usually tries to run in the opposite direction, which is through the kitchen serving hatch.
I haven’t fed the cat so it is currently yowling which is making my nerves jangle. Aren’t cats related to lions and I read recently that some cats had eaten their old lady owner because they were hungry and she probably had a cat box in the kichen.
I have put a small bowl of food at the end of the cat box but I remember doing this once before and when it did finally go into the box I slammed the door and then had the job of trying to get its tail back through the gap. It was like trying to grab an eel. The cat span around, its eyes were glaring at me and it definitely wasn’t purrring. It is a ginger cat and we all know how fiery ginger things are. Ginger snaps, Ginger beer, Chris Evans…
The vet asked me on a previous visit to hold the cat down whilst it has its injections. I’d rather abseil down the Tower of London or date James Hewitt.
So here goes, it is 9.21am and it is now or never.
I choose never…….
Weather Girl
For those of you that haven’t had a chance to check the weather over the next few days you will be delighted to know that the rain has ceased.
You can turn off your pumps in the basement, stop your bulk purchases of mildew and mould spray, buy some salad instead of roast dinners, throw out your big soup pot and start remembering what life was like when you could wear flip flops, tshirts and cut off trousers. Temperatures are back to being between 17-19 degrees and Mr Sunshine is back.
Hallelujah.
Getting teenagers to study
We have a neighbour next door that is heard frequently shouting at her teenage son to study for his GCSEs. She bans him from moving around the house, insists he spends hours in his bedroom and then of course finds him doing something else and thus the screaming begins in earnest.Studying for exams and tests is boring. There isn’t a magic solution to memorise facts or numbers, you just need to read, re-read, write things out and eventually it should fix into your long term memory.
With children or teenagers that get bored easily you need to get involved. Set older children a study time of 40 minutes on a specific subject/module. Give them a timer, set it and then tell them at the end of the 40 minutes you will test them. If they do well enough they will then earn 30 minutes doing something that they want to do…the pc, the playstation, anything that they want. Setting a timer for an activity of less than an hour is meaningful as children cannot concentrate full on for much longer than that. With younger children the time of studying should be no longer than 15-30 minutes depending on their age.
The promise of a reward encourages them to complete the task and having you test them is really helpful. It is quite difficult to test yourself and quite dull.
Different study techniques work for different children and of course different ages, but for bored teenagers who find staring at a book mindless, the above ideas may actually get them a little more motivated. The result is a less stressed parent, less stressed teenager and possibly much improved examination marks.
Credit crunch tips, the Marbella way…
With the credit crunch I too have made serious cut backs on those things that used to be my life’s essentials. My OK magazine has gone, the 24 weekly cans of diet coke are now limited to 2.4 ( my daughter drinks the other 0.6) and I now shut my eyes and my purse when I pass El Corte Ingles signs that say their soft buttery beige handbags with chrome linked snaffle bars have been reduced to 69 euros. I also collect 5 cents pieces from public toilet floors as they pay for the El Corte Ingles carpark charges.
For those of you that are feeling the pinch and sense “sisterhood” with my cut backs above, here are my credit crunch tips for saving cash.
1. Instead of that OK magazine go online to the Daily Mail, click this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/index.html Here you will find out that Denise and Lee are having a little girl, Hannah Waterman is now 7 and a half stone and that Dexter from the US series is actually married to his “sister” in the programme. All that gossip for free.
2. Who needs another handbag? Those made of potato peelings are so much more 2010.
3. Mens toilets are the best place for collecting 5 cent pieces. Even if you don’t find a 5 cent piece, you may find a man to network with….
Bookworld Espana sale
Bookworld Espana in Puerto Banus currently has a really good sale on with books down to as low as 2.90 euros. As you go into the shop, opposite El Corte Ingles, the sale section is on the right hand side. I bought a book for one of my older children today and there were plenty of books to appeal to both men and women. Would make someone who lives in Spain an ideal birthday present and Bookworld Espana do gift wrapping for free too.
If you want a gift card, then Bookworld Espana has a good selection of UK birthday cards too and wrapping paper.
Isn’t it ironic
when you have been without hot water or heating for the week-end, you call the boiler man out AND….he tries it first time and it works!!!!!
My boiler is possessed by a nasty evil spirit and at night I swear I can hear it cackling.