Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Follow said the Pied Piper and they did follow... The Musketeers of Children's Literature.

Follow said the Pied Piper and they did follow...

Quote by Peachy Emma (Karen Emma Hall )

Follow here for Kid Lit Authors site.

The Old Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Musketeer from the Kid Literature Authors (KLA) come together from today the 15th day of April in the year of our lord 2014 to bring you a magic treasure trove of children's lit!
Lit as in literature. From bonny picture books, to captivating and enchanting stories that children will want to read again and again.
It was going to be the 4 Musketeers, then it grew to ten of us. Then some dropped out on the way. We have 5 main admin now and a lot of content contributors, who support by sharing and retweeting, as we do for them.
So as we start out on a new path together, to help and lift the spirits of each other and give you their combined knowledge in children's stories, books, literature, and illustrations for starters! and ... well that is not all we are also promoting your children's books and sites FREE! (More details to contact the kid lit team at above web page on fb) Yes we are a very creative bunch, and also have our own books out for you to check out, with some amazing stories, characters and pictures.

Karen Emma Hall on Twitter
Mrs D Books on Twitter
Lorenzo Bear/Carmela Dutra on Twitter

So follow them on twitter! The pied piper said follow.. tweet tweet.

We met on twitter from across the globe (It sounds very romantic) but it is true! We bonded on twitter in our aim to get our books onto the e-readers of children and parents who will read them to their children. We want people to find us.

At present our customers are looking for us blindly in the dark, those children who do not possess a debit card to purchase our pocket money priced books, and sometimes free books, (you still need a debit card to get the freebies) we know you are out there somewhere, but haven't the foggiest which way to look, or what exactly to look for (or google) So unless some biggy publisher or media person comes along and plonks us smack bang in the middle of the highway of whsmith/ 'book of the week' shelf then we will just have to continue on our quest, as hard as it may be of the lone indie publisher.
If that has not put you off then you must be doing the author/publishing thing because you enjoy it! I can give a lovely word or 2 of advice here, I will just squeeze it in here > ... if you do not enjoy writing and promoting your book then unfortunately it isn't even the slush pile for you. Even on days when only the slush pile will do. No, you will no doubt give it up as a bad job, as you have to at least enjoy writing and say to yourself anything else is a bonus.
I set myself a goal a few years back, and my goal was to have my book complete, the idea, a good introduction, a middle plot and ending all intact, good illustrations, good front cover, and if I was lucky to have it in hard copy! I am very happy to let you know I have achieved this to date so have also accomplished my initial goal. But as we know it is never good enough... now it would be nice if it could get to a few more children's bookshelves though.

As Authors we decided many heads are better than one, so the more times more people will hear about us, the more times it gets out in the right places, and the more children will get to read our books!
After all that is what we want. It is our aim.

To get our lovely stories, illustrations, and idea's into the children;s hands we want reading them.
We want to sprinkle the magic about a bit. We want our magic to enchant the little ones, and their parents, grandparents, teachers, and carer's.

We can all remember the time when we first got hooked into a book as a child. Where the magic began.

We may still have that book, or still remember the warm feeling it gave us and the memories it evoked when recalling it back to mind. It is like the first album we bought, never to be forgot. We also must remember the books we loved but can't for the life of us remember what the title was, or who the author was. We just liked the story, and still search for it from time to time through google/good reads.

So this blog is especially for the indie authors out there, doing their bit to get it out there.

It is dedicated to the lovely Musketeer children's lit Authors who I have already named. They have their own little home, all together, like the big brother house where you can all go and peep in on them. You can even visit them, and talk to them! they will even let you put your own book up on to show it off, as they know whatever hand they help, will help them. Here it is here > click like to show your support, even better click like and leave a message. https://www.facebook.com/KidLiterature

Maybe you have them on your twitter, if not add them today, they love retweeting and replying back. After all they are all for one, and one for all.

Follow them said the pied piper...

...and they did follow.

Follow the Kid Literature Authors if you click here.

Kid lit Authors brought to you by Karen Emma Hall

Have a good day and read a book :)

Love from the Kidliterature team.

N.B we are still looking for another good media agent or publisher, please contact us on here or at captnjacksparrow@msn.com if you can help us. We are promoting free and any help will be appreciated.

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Monday, 7 April 2014

Mental healthy state of mind.

Being mentally healthy doesn’t just mean that you don’t have a mental health problem.

Today will be focused on a general introduction to mental health and a little about eating disorders. This topic will be ongoing every week, and will soon include people's stories, how they suffered, how they perceive difficult situations and also how they have overcome certain difficulties in order o gain some of their life back. As everyone suffers in different ways this article and future articles about mental health will not represent everyone. If you wish to add your story or your own experience please contact me.

If you’re in good mental health, you can cope with what life throws at you easier, you can manage to throw the negativities off quicker with a simple shrug. Sometimes it takes a big heave, but you don't dwell on it once your mind is thinking and involving yourself in another project in that day. So you cope ok.

You play a full part in your family life, the workplace, socially and among friends, and you want to!

Your mental health is another way to say your ‘emotional health’ or ‘well-being’ and it’s just as important as having good physical health.

We like to show to the world we are fine, we are coping, and if anyone asks us 'are you well? ' or 'how are you?' we offer them an 'I'm good' or 'fine' even when we are not. We all do it.
So why is it we prefer to ignore it, shun it, pretend it isn't there like the proverbial elephant in the room?
Because if we ignore it, somehow we try to tell ourselves it will go away and cease to exist. Unfortunately it will not go away, sometimes it gets worse until it is dealt with and acknowledged.
Mental health affects us all at some point in our life or another and there will be no way to ignore it.
You cannot ignore it as mental health is as apparent as your physical health. It is your business, and everyone's business.
We are all made the same way, with similar thoguhts and feelings, and depending on your personality, some people with a more sensitive personality get more periods of feeling stressed, or low, or frightened. Some people with a sensitive personality are also creative and this can be turned into a positive outlet.
We can be creative in art, reading, writing, outdoor life, imagination, and so many life skills, and this can be acted upon in low times. For people who suffer mild to moderate mental health, starting or keeping an ongoing activity will help them relax and take their focus into a more positive light.
Most of the time low feelings pass. But sometimes they take a long time to pass and can develop into a more serious problem and that could happen to any one of us.

Everyone is different. You may bounce back from a setback while someone else may feel weighed down by it for a long time. Your mental health doesn’t always stay the same. It can change as circumstances change and as you move through different stages of your life.

There’s a stigma attached to mental health problems. This means that people feel uncomfortable about them and don’t talk about them much. Many people don’t even feel comfortable talking about their feelings. But it’s healthy to do so. You will often find that people you talk to have experienced similar things, and this can be very helpful in overcoming a problem instead of letting it grow.

Why do young adults develop eating disorders?

Eating disorders, anorexia, and bulimia are complicated, and serious. They're caused by a combination
of complex factors. They can be genetic, biochemical,psychological,cultural and enviromental.
Researchers can identify certain factors that make individuals susceptible to an eating disorder but not the specifics.
Eating disorders are rarely about food and also rarely about wanting to be thin. Individuals who suffer actually use food and unhealthy behaviour like dieting, going without food, bingeing and purging to cope with overwhelming emotions and unpleasant situations. In the short term these behaviours can relief the stress. However, in the long term these anxieties increase, and create other complications, and many very serious. An eating disorder is an illness, people do not choose to have an eating disorder. It is very rare to tell if a person has one just by looking at them or even living with them. They can be any weight, under weight, average, or over weight. It is very hard to spot and diagnose, as many keep it hidden from everyone.

Genetics

Genetics has a significant contribution and may predispose individuals to eating disorders. Researchers have found that eating disorders tend to run in families. Also, there seem to be higher rates of eating disorders in identical twins than in fraternal twins or other siblings. In addition, specific chromosomes have been linked to both bulimia and anorexia.

Biochemistry

Individuals with eating disorders may have abnormal levels of certain chemicals that regulate such processes as appetite, mood, sleep and stress. For instance, both people with bulimia and anorexia have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Some research also suggests that individuals with anorexia have too much serotonin, which keeps them in a constant state of stress.

Psychology

Various psychological factors can contribute to eating disorders. In fact, eating disorders are common in individuals who struggle with clinical depression, anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Other factors include:

• Low self-esteem
• Feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy
• Trouble coping with emotions or expressing your emotions
• Perfectionism
• Impulsivity

Culture

Dieting, body dissatisfaction and wanting to be thin are all factors that increase the risk for an eating disorder. Unfortunately, our society encourages all three. You can’t walk by a cash register without seeing a magazine that encourages rapid weight loss, calorie counting or feeling guilty after a meal. Here are some aspects of our culture that contribute to eating disorders:

• An over-emphasis on appearance, at the expense of more meaningful attributes
• Societal beauty standards that promote an unrealistically thin body shape
• Associating thinness with positive qualities like attractiveness, health, success and love
• Media’s focus on dieting and striving for a slim and toned silhouette
• Messages that perpetuate a fear of fat and food; viewing fat as undesirable or foods as “good,” “bad” or “sinful”

Environment

Your environment can also play a major role in developing an eating disorder. These factors include:

• Family or other relationship problems
• Difficult or turbulent childhood
• History of physical or sexual abuse
• Activities that encourage thinness or focus on weight, such as gymnastics, dancing, running, wrestling and modeling
• Peer pressure
• Being bullied because of weight or appearance in general

Why Do You Continue to Eat When You're Full?

The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief.

Prior research studies have suggested that the hunger hormone ghrelin, which your body produces when it's hungry, might act in your brain to trigger this behavior.

New studies suggest that ghrelin might also work in your brain to make you keep eating "pleasurable" foods when you're already full.

Scientists previously have linked increased levels of ghrelin to intensifying the rewarding or pleasurable feelings that can be obtained from cocaine or alcohol.

Researchers observed how long mice would continue to poke their noses into a hole in order to receive a pellet of high-fat food. Animals that didn't receive ghrelin gave up much sooner than the ones that did receive ghrelin.

Humans and mice share the same type of brain-cell connections and hormones, as well as similar architectures in the "pleasure centers" of the brain.

Isn't this really the million-dollar question? Why do people continue to eat, even after their stomachs are full or even stuffed? If there was a simple answer, I’d gladly share it with you, but the reality is that people overeat for a variety of reasons -- and many of them are rather complex.

As this new study suggests, one of the forces driving you to eat a second helping or an extra dessert even though you’re full is the hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin (pronounced GRELL-in) is produced mainly by your stomach, although it is also made in other organs, such as your intestines and your kidneys.

Ghrelin has been dubbed the “hunger hormone” because in previous studies people given the hormone became so ravenous, they ate markedly more than their usual food intake. Ghrelin, it appears, may also act on your brain’s “pleasure centers,” driving you to reach for another slice of cheesecake simply because you remember how good the first one tasted and made you feel (at least in that moment).

What Influences Your Body’s Level of the Hunger Hormone?

Your body’s level of ghrelin can be influenced by many factors, including your lifestyle habits. For instance, chronic lack of sleep increases ghrelin, making you feel hungry when you don’t really need to eat. This is likely one reason why a lack of sleep can make you gain weight.

Insulin may also play a role in regulating ghrelin levels. In one study, ghrelin levels were monitored in eight non-diabetic adults as they were given a two-hour infusion of insulin. Shortly after the infusion began, levels of ghrelin began to drop. When the insulin infusion was stopped, levels of the hunger hormone began to rise and rapidly returned to normal.

Since insulin is already known to increase levels of leptin -- the "obesity hormone" that tells your brain to curb your appetite after eating -- the findings suggest that insulin plays an important role in controlling what you eat.

In other words, let’s say you eat a sugary dessert. Your production of insulin increases so that the sugar in your blood can be taken to cells and used for energy. Eating this sugar also increases production of leptin, which regulates your appetite and fat storage, and decreases production of ghrelin, which helps regulate your food intake. The idea is that when you eat, your body knows it should feel less hungry.

But there is another major key here that is often overlooked, and that is when you eat certain foods, namely those that contain fructose, this important cycle does not occur.

Is Fructose Driving You to Overeat?

Fructose, a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks, can damage human metabolism and is likely fueling the obesity crisis. This is because your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose, and fructose is now being consumed in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound.

If anyone tries to tell you “sugar is sugar,” they are way behind the times. It is increasingly becoming clear that just by eating fructose, including high-fructose corn syrup, you may be drastically increasing your tendency to overeat.

You see, glucose suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose, however, has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain’s communication with leptin, resulting in overeating.

This is why fructose may contribute to weight gain, increased belly fat, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome -- not to mention the long list of chronic diseases that are related to these conditions.

Are There Other Factors That Come Into the Mix?

Yes, ghrelin, leptin and insulin responses in your body may be major players in your ability to regulate your food intake, but they are not the only ones.

Stress, anger, sadness and just about any other negative emotion can also lead you to seek food as a coping mechanism and ultimately overeat. And subconscious cues you pick up from portion sizes, food visibility (such as passing by a candy dish on a desk) and food proximity (standing near the food table at a party) can alsoinfluence how much you eat.

Gary Taubes, who wrote the landmark article What if it's All Been a Big Fat Lie?, also recently offered a very interesting alternative explanation for why people overeat. He suggests that people overeat because their fat tissue is accumulating excess fat. And why does fat tissue do this?

Because dietary carbohydrates, especially fructose, are the primary source of a substance called glycerol-3-phosphate, which causes fat to become fixed in fat tissue. At the same time, this diet raises insulin levels, which prevents fat from being released.

Practical Tips to Keep Your Eating Under Control

The solution to normalizing your ghrelin, leptin and insulin levels is fairly straightforward, and this is to eat a diet that emphasizes good fats and avoids blood sugar spikes -- in short the dietary program detailed in my nutrition plan, which emphasizes healthy fats, lean meats and fresh vegetables, and restricts sugar and grains.

If you want to take your health to the next level, I highly recommend finding out your nutritional type as well, and then eating a diet according to your unique biochemistry.

This, combined with a regular exercise program and a tool to handle emotional eating, will be your key to controlling your motivation to eat.

Mental health is an ongoing battle. It can be made easier. It can also creep back up on us at anytime, sometimes we feel it is our closest friend and our closest enemy. We might not all get rid of our problems and feeling of negativity just like that, but we can do things to ease the mind. Make the day a bit nicer to live. So talk to someone, change doctors if you have to. Read about it on the internet, read about others with problems and how they have dealt with them. Do not ignore it and think you are the only sufferer. The majority of people suffer in their lifetime, so you are not alone. Far from alone.

Monday, 31 March 2014

Foggy owls and lions and lambs, oh my! Blogionaire ❤

Bloglovin

Spring 2014

Britain woke up to find their cars covered in dusty sand from the Sahara Desert, 2014

and this is no April fool's joke. Unusual occurrences are blowing in from a sandstorm from Africa. Covering the whole of the country! The met office have forecast a ten out of ten for air pollution for London. This dust will cause one of the worst smog's of the year and you can't deport any of it back now, as some of it is full of cat hairs.

You need the correct combination of elements to create this sandstorm, the wind from the South, and the right sort of rain.

Whatever next, and what exactly is the right sort of rain?

Well the right sort has to be light, not too much, just enough to bring down some dust or sand to cover everything. This rain dries quickly leaving the sand residue. Apparently it is not dangerous but warnings are going out to people who are aerobically fit outdoors as there has been more widespread news of respiratory problems among the fittest who work-out in the outdoors.

Bring back the lions and the lambs is what I say! You know the old ditty, March In like a lion, and out like a lamb. READ THAT BLOG HERE kidliteraturetoday.blogspot now-in-march-as-saying-goes

March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.

whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot, weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether you like it or not!

'not'

March and April are good months for me, it is the debut of my long awaited book, my fully illustrated children's book...get it this week for 77p only!

Yes that is right 77p! I am on a mission to RT as many twitters as possible, and all that RT me.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JDG8T3M

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424518

News from 10th March 2014 !

Children's book website is up, and if you tweet me on twitter, a few hours later it comes up on the website, on the page 'what I have been up to today via social media.'

It looks so cool, and if you have a book out and I retweet it, then it also goes up there!

Check it out !

All illustrations are complete! I added three more illustrations and a really cool index profile page of the owls names and pics at the back. This lets readers get a good look at all the characters in the book and become familiar with them.

All of the owls will not be in the first book though, rather they will be in the next book in the series of the little magic owl and his friends.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JDG8T3M

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424518

A lot of work has gone into designing the owls for my book. I am so grateful for all the help sharing and supporting.

Check my progress in my past blogs to read about me, my cats, my owls, and what I have been up to.

Lord Snoots from my book (The real Lord Snoots is Sooty cat

being mischievous at home)

First book sketch - Hello Teeny Pheeny

18/Jan/2014

Welcome into the world of the magic owl Teeny Pheeny!

Pencil sketch is of the first draft of the Magic baby owl That will be going into my book. 18/jan2014

I am working on articles for a health magazine at the moment. So that is taking me away from the book publishing. So I became guilty and set my mind to finishing some illustrations off. I have so enjoyed creating them even though they have took me ages. I am getting some help to complete the formatting in order to get them up as quick as possible. Like I say I have dragged my feet in publishing the children's owl book. The very special children's Owl book. The first in the series. (They are all penned ready to go) sitting like impatient children in the back of a car shouting 'are we there yet!'

Well there is a light ahead. All the illustrations have been chosen out of the hundreds I have drawn. Done! yes done! woop. They are now all ready for the first book, so watch this space, January looks like the month they go out to the public in book form.

So this week I have really enjoyed learning more about health and fitness. It is also making me want to start my yoga classes up again, not partaking but actually taking classes. I can't do everything I want, so I will be have to be content to do my own yoga solo. It was a few years ago I took classes. To remember things that you had put on the back burner and and re-enforce what you used to know and learned was so rewarding. I am so pleased I found the time to research this time, instead of being at college studying it! (Very little computer use in practical studies even in the late 90's).

Adventures of the Magic Owl Land. Hello Teeny Pheeny Out now! >http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JDG8T3M

If you want to know anything about Yoga, back pain, and treatments and exercises to consider then look at my articles here> more are updated regularly http://www.backpaininfo.co/

Saturday, 29 March 2014

Spring forward Fall back.

If I had any spare time at all, spare time, what's that I hear you cry! it would be to go bungee jumping in Honolulu, scuba diving in the Maldives, climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro, or some such getting the juices going activity. In fact it is a bit of a shock to me that people who say they are bored, are not at the very least learning how to speak Swahili, Mandarin Chinese, or knocking out Mandarin Caprioska for breakfast Mary Berry style.

I do not have the time, and especially spare time.
I would love to sit out in the garden on a sunny afternoon, lazing the day away thinking of which wall in the house I fancied painting next, then watching it dry.

Time is indeed going quicker and quicker, for me anyway, and I thought it was because my life was so fulfilling, but apparently it isn't!
The reason it seems as if time goes quicker can be explained scientifically. (Leans to sceptic side here) Scientists can explain it like this: As you get older your memory capacity shrinks and you have less memory cells so you don't hold as much information.

Therefore the older you get the less time you think you have, because you don't store it as well. But you wouldn't remember all that anyway, so let's not worry too much.
I still feel as if I am missing out, hmm.
It doesn't impress me and thank you Miss Know it all, who was so keen to tell the 'oldies' she worked with.
We had only happened to mention how Christmas/Easter comes around so much quicker these days (when you are over 40).

An extra hour's Luxury

In October, when the clocks went back, this is what I wrote.

'As I sit writing a blog on the day the clocks go back in October just gone, (yes, and time has flown by since then) I realised the day had once again completely flown by. I could have sworn I was only onto my second cup of coffee since awakening from a refreshing sleep, which was an hour longer so I had to have noticed that surely.

Nope, I slept right through that particular luxury. On checking times on mobiles and clocks and so forth when I first awoke, the time showed the usual time I get up: Which was 7.30am, and first thoughts were good.
I still had to change the clocks back as I had forgot to do so before retiring to bed. Oh how lovely, I thought, an extra hour to do what I wanted to do, in a time that I had to do it, and all at a leisurely pace. I had really looked forward to this time all week, as I am always rushing about and never ever have enough time in the day etc. So this was going to be me right back on track, this extra hour. I would spend it meditating, soothing my mind (and it needed soothing) and easing it into the day with a leisurely lie in and an even longer coffee time before the world started to nag at me. But the clocks had tricked me, they had automatically changed back themselves! How very dare they! Wasn't I in control over when they changed. I could set it 2 hours back if I saw fit. I didn't. My mind still lives in the days where you had to manually change them back yourself, none of this internet signal lark. Otherwise we will be sitting up waiting at 2.00am to see if they have changed automatically, because we will not be entirely sure that they will do so!

So I would like to decide what goes on in my house thank you very much Greenwich Mean Time, and you can take your signals through the airwaves, or whatever changes the time automatically these days and put your heads together to think of something more useful to do, like tell the correct time, and not adjust it twice a year.'

So where does this time go? The time leaves us and goes to the young ones, as they seem to have oodles of the stuff.

I'm not entirely sure if they even have the talking clock now.
When you need to know the precise time to the second. I hope I find the pause button soon, because it is definitely on fast forward at the moment. Time is a game played expertly by children, and over too soon for many.

Now it is March, and in March we are told, it should came in like a lion and out like a lamb ...but mostly it always seems to go out like a lion too. But they say the UK is going continental now. The little tin island is looking uncannily like the continent in a manner of speaking in regards to the weather. And who listens to the weather forecast these days anyway? Well, we still find ourselves looking it up online, or listening to it on the TV or radio. But we know they are mostly wrong. We know we have as much chance of getting it correct as those in the know with their satellite systems.
Because they are always wrong, and we are always right. You should always listen to your Auntie Mary when her arthritis plays up. You know there is a storm heading your way when she hollers.

Years gone by were totally different. It rained all the time. That all started the year that number 1 tune came out about 'brella ella's' I will not mention the full title in case it.. you know.. changes the weather again.
Although that year we did get a freak week of sunshine somewhere in the middle. So I will try not to be too English and complain about the weather too much. I shall complain about the time instead. Yes those sleep robbing gits! Have done us out of an hours sleep again! That's a vital hour for most people. The farmers these days have a lot more high tech equipment so they do not need an extra hour daylight! What do they do with it anyway?
I know!
They are spending the extra hour in bed!
It is high time we went back to normal hours and not adding and taking hours away willy nilly (at ones whim).

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Now get to bed, It is bedtime! ;) Go save up those extra hours again.

Watch out for the first few copies of my first book out in print. The first batch is signed and dedicated to your reader. This will be shown on my Author page from the 12th of March 2015!
Keep your owly eyes open on my twitter page and facebook page, which are on links in the menu above.
Hope to catch you soon.

Hello Teeny Pheeny by Karen Emma Hall.

The magic owl book and toy out for the very first time in print and extremely plush cuddly. All ready for an Easter gift.

Go to the facebook link in menu for details from 12th of March 2015.

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Pancake day

A Mums dilemma as pancake day approaches.
You know it is pancake day when you have to buy a new pan, (tefal this time) because you can't bear to see the kids eat another scraped offering from the old stick pan again, the ones you have to soak overnight to get the burnt bit off the bottom. You hold onto them still for emergencies. I never know why I hold onto them though as I have never had a pan emergency..still time though, so back in the cupboard they go.
So you go out and you buy a non-stick one. Or you get someone else to go like I did, because if you like a good non-stick toss to your pancake then a non-stick pan is the only way to go.
That is why in the supermarkets the lemons are next to the frying pans for a good month throughout February.

Do not go for the pancake mix, it tastes 'vanillary' and it goes thick in the pan and you are left with a claggy mess rolled up in the centre of your new non-stick pan.
Get some flour, (100gms) throw in a dash of salt, 2 eggs and half water(155mls) half milk (155ml)until it is quite runny. If it is runny it makes a better pancake.

So a big no no! for old pans, shop pancake mix and not having your homemade pancake mix runny enough!

As pancake day is more than 1000 years old and the idea behind it is that it was the way to get rid of the leftover scraps.
A genius idea to eat all the goodies without feeling guilty.
And as Ash Wednesday comes straight after, the first day of the fasting, make sure you eat your fill because you don't want to go hungry. gulp.

Once pancake day is out the way we know that Easter is around the corner, and that means yummy eggs again, only chocolate this time. The supermarkets as ever are way ahead, they have had creme eggs in since Dec!

'My pancakes too thin! I shouldn't have to put up with this crepe!'
Written by Karen Emma Hall.. found here most days
and here