Father's Day is just around the corner, June the 16th to be exact and if you have a dad to buy for then you'll know that dads are the hardest people to buy for, men, in general, are a nightmare, the field of gifts seems much more restrictive and let's be honest, dads rarely ask for very much.  If your dad is an outdoor dad, one who loves his garden or is king of the BBQ or just relaxing in the great outdoors, then my gift guide is the one for you.  (This gift guide contains gifted products and affiliate links)

1. If dad is a gardener and needs some decent gardening gloves then I cannot recommend these clip gloves from Treadstone highly enough, they're amazing for lifting pots, you can't lose them as long as you clip them together and they're thick enough to protect your hands, they're also adjustable at the wrist for the more slender wristed wearer.

2. Pail of Ale from Best of British BeerFor the most part, beers always go down well with dads, especially if you can sit in the garden and enjoy them, you can also use the bucket for ice and then afterwards, maybe drill a hole in the bottom and pop a plant it in, I love gifts you can repurpose.

3.  If dad is a dog dad then these PetWeighter Bowls are absolutely perfect Holly Bobbins absolutely loves hers, they make the food easier to digest because she's not having to bend down so far, the bottoms can be filled with water or sand so that they don't move whilst your pup is eating and because she's not having to bend down, she's had fewer incidents of gravy ears, every floppy eared dog owner knows only too well about gravy ears!

4. Gift set from Cranes Cider Dad doesn't like beer?  no problem, Cranes have you sorted with this delicious and summer trio of ciders and a beautiful gift, imagine the sunshine and relaxation as dad sits in his own personal haven whilst sipping on this cider straight from the Gods...

 5. The Lechuza Balconera - this pot makes the perfect balcony or window box, I have mine with some alpines in it and due to its design it's made to store water so you have to worry about watering much less often, and that's essential for your pots during the summer, I chose to put mine outside of my back door and it's perfect, my alpine collection is very very happy.

6. RHS 50 plants you can't kill Not all dads are Monty Don, so if yours is just a beginner at gardening or if he doesn't know who Alan Titchmarsh is then this is probably the first book you should gift in his gardening journey, I bought this one for my best friend to try and encourage her, it hasn't worked as yet and still has a ribbon around it so far as I know but I'm forever holding out hope!

7. Pit Pat exercise tracker for dogs - if your beagle isn't quite reaching her potential or watching their weight then this exercise tracker for your pooch will help a lot, just pop in the perfect weight and their weight now plus breed and other magic things and you'll get your own personalised plan, we still have a way to go with reaching Holly's perfect weight but she's had a few health concerns, I do know however that we'll get there and it's a lot down to this as it tells us when she's done enough to be able to go home for a nap and if you know Holly, you'll know sleeping is her favourite and her best.

8.  Sock Subscription from Society Socks - I know it's a cliche but dads do tend to ask for socks and so why not get them socks with a purpose, for every sock subscription taken out they donate 2 pairs of socks and I personally am 100% behind any business with philanthropy at the heart.

National Stationary Week

I don't know about you but I find, even as an adult, or actually especially as an adult I have a weird addiction to stationery, let's call it a penchant for pens, a love of luminous highlighters, a romance with rubbers... oh, yeah, I'll stop now before this gets out of hand.

When Stabilo asked me to be one of their ambassadors it took about 0.2 seconds to accept, I mean who would refuse regular surprise delivery of pen and pencil heaven.

I'm particularly partial to the pretty highlighters which always make me smile and I adore the writing felt pens, if you've seen my other post about being organised you will know that felt tips are the thing I use to fill in my planner every single week, so much so it gets out of hand and none of the pages end up without a plethora of stickers and bright colours, does it help me to achieve my goals, heck yes!!

For sure if I start every week with a page full of bright coloured writing and motivational stickers you know I'm going to work faster, harder and better to achieve everything I've written down, it might sound weird but it works.

From April 29th to May 5th is national stationery week, a week to celebrate, the pens, the pencils, the erasers, the paperclips.  If your desk has too many pens for the pen pot then you'll definitely know what I'm talking about.

I guess some people might think I'm crazy to get excited about this stuff, and indeed some people think I'm a little crazy and that's even without the pen addiction but I have no fear of declaring my love of stationery to you and certainly no fear of thanking Stabilo for choosing me to send copious amounts of colouring pencils to and don't worry, if I'm a little too old for them, (they do offer a full range from 2-102) they find a good home with some of the smaller people I have in my life.

So thank you Stabilo and thank you stationery for making my world a brighter, happier, lovelier place.

I am an ambassador for Stabilo. I do not get paid to post but I do get occasionally lovely parcels full of pens and pencils.

14 Days To a Tidier Home Challenge

Around Christmas when I'd reached the correct dosage of CBD Oil and I was experiencing what it used to be like to have proper amounts of energy I started to tackle the decluttering, reorganisation and general zhuzhing of our home.

2 months on and the place is being transformed daily and so when Vonhaus got in touch to see if I wanted to join in their 14 days to a tidier home challenge it seemed appropriate to join in.  The kindly sent me a steam cleaner and some wonderful storage boxes and it's helped me so much in my mission.

So, do you want to take the challenge too?

14 days to a tidier home challenge

Day 1: Bins and recycling: sort through all the bins in your house and get your recycling separated. 

Day 2: Wipe down your kitchen units and steam the cooker tops. 

Day 3: Empty and clean out the fridge freezer - don’t forget the kitchen cupboards! 

Day 4: Vacuum Day: Focus on the floors, give all the rooms in your house a good vacuum. 

Day 5: Vacuum Day: Move the furniture and hoover those hard to reach areas of your home. 

Day 6: Clean the windows - inside and out! 

Day 7: Wash the curtains and wipe down the blinds. 

Day 8: Take everything off the sideboards, shelves and get dusting! 

Day 9: Get your bedding, blankets and cushions washed – after all everyone loves fresh bedding! 

Day 10: Wardrobes: Clear out any old clothing, reorganise and wipe down your wardrobes. 

Day 11: Remove wrinkles from clothing, curtains and upholstery. 

Day 12: Wash out your shower, shower screen and/or bath. 

Day 13: Let’s mop: antibacterial your floors and wipe down the tiles. 

Day 14: Finally take a trip to the tip: Declutter your home from unwanted clothes, items or food and take it to the tip, food bank or local charity shop. 

So I didn't strictly stick to the plan myself as I was already midway through and I have a little help on Tuesdays from Lisa our lovely housekeeping diva but if you're not already on a house beautifying mission then it's a great place to start.

Over the last few weeks if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some of my before videos of the general state of my cupboards, well now I can say that every single cupboard in my kitchen has been decluttered, cleaned and completely reorganised, we've even got a Brexit cupboard.

One of the reasons I chose to work with Vonhaus is because I actually love their products, I've worked with them in the past and I've shopped at their website so it felt like a natural partnership to me and I'd never promote a company I didn't identify with.

I'm in a place now where I have roomy storage, I have space to put things and I can actually see the wood for the trees, I've already done one tip run, I've laid floor in my downstairs loo, I've taken a whole trolly full of stuff to charity and I still have rubbish which needs to be cleared in bulk and another massive charity shop run to do.

The amazing thing is that when I feel anxiety creeping up, I take control and clear out another cupboard or reorganise or make a list and it gives you back just enough control to help with the anxiousness.

February is usually one of the worst months for my mental health but I'm kind of gliding through winter this year and even though life is far from perfect and there's a difficult financial climate out there in the real world I think I may make it to spring (my favourite season) reasonably unscathed.

The next step in my process is to attempt to decorate on my own, well I'm hoping I can grab some help from girlfriends and the kids.  I know I want to go with a dark decorating scheme and I've chosen a dark green for the lounge, I just need a little income to purchase all of the colour matched paint and then I am most definitely on it!

If you take the 14 days to a tidier home challenge I would love to see your before and after's, my before's were so grim that in most cases I did it on Instastories so they didn't last forever.  Please do share your photos and stories and I'd love to know if tidying and organising can bring about changes in your general mental health.