You dream of roll top baths, Egyptian cotton sheets, heavy, luxurious drapes on the windows, and a view of the ocean.
But, for most of us, all your budget will stretch to is threadbare sheets, net curtains, light switches that don’t turn anything on, tiny cracked baths and scratchy prison-style blankets.
Still, that doesn’t mean we don’t have some standards. The least we expect is clean sheets.
Whether you like to admit it or not, sometimes your child’s drawings just aren’t worthy of being stuck up on the fridge.
Sure, you do it anyway because it does look a bit like a dog.
But one mum was left in an unimaginably awkward situation when her son presented her with a lovely Easter card – complete with a pop-up egg. Well, that’s what he was going for.
But when his mum opened the card, something a little less innocent popped out.
Shelly Brandle posted her son’s, er, creative card onto Facebook, and for good reason, it received over 5,000 likes.
It’s probably best he’s left to think these thousands of people are just really amazed by the pop-up ‘egg’ though – otherwise it may prompt a rather interesting conversation.
At least it… Read the full story
We’ve been considering moving to Japan for a while. Mainly because they have over 200 varieties of Kit Kat. But also because they do Katsu sandwiches. And of course there’s the Cherry Blossom festival.
But this has made our minds up.
They now have a hedgehog cafe in Tokyo. Called ‘Harry’, a play on the Japanese term for hedgehog, it opened last month and has queues around the block most days. Naturally.
It’s located in the Roppongi entertainment district and is home to around 30 hoglets, who spend their time either dozing in their glass houses, or meeting their public.
A little girl was left absolutely devastated after a house fire took away some of her most prized possessions – including her beloved books.
An avid reader, every book eight-year-old Heidi VanSumeren owned was destroyed – including books she’d designed herself – when her family home was demolished in a house-fire, in Parma, Michigan.
But, as if by fate, her faith was restored when children’s author and illustrator Bob Shea came to Heidi’s school for ‘March Is Reading Month’. Heidi told Bob her story, and he was left feeling truly heartbroken for the little girl.
And so, in a bid… Read the full story
World Health Day 2016 is dedicated to raising awareness of diabetes in the hope that we can finally beat it.
Around the world, an estimated 347 million people suffer from the disease – according to figures from 2008 – with that figure rapidly growing.
In particular, diabetes increasingly affects poor and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO projects that by 2030, diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death in the world so it is easy to understand why the disease is being highlighted in today’s World… Read the full story
Having your heart broken is pretty crap.
There are few more awful feelings than losing the one you love. And it’s a feeling that’s universally understood.
It can feel like a sickness, one that often takes weeks or months to recover from, but is it actually an illness?
The answer, according to research at least, is yes.
MORE: D-Day hero set to marry first love, 72 years after he first proposed to her
So here we present to you the science behind a broken heart. Yep – your real heart feels it too.
As if the emotional… Read the full story
Despite losing an incredible 37st 5lbs and now weighing just over 13st, Christina Phillips admits she still feels like an obese person.
The 25-year-old from South Haven, Mississippi, lost 523lbs of her 708lb (50st 5lbs) frame after having life-saving gastric bypass surgery. Her journey was documented on TLC show My 600lb Life back in 2014.
But, two years on, she says she’s still struggling to come to terms with her weight loss, admitting she ‘freaks out’ and will stop eating for days if she puts on even the smallest amount of weight.
‘I’ve lost a lot of weight… Read the full story
How many of us spent the Easter break catching up with friends?
You may have stayed in London and seen uni friends or headed home for a reunion with mates you’ve known since you were both in nappies.
If you were lucky enough, you may have got to spend some time with your best mate.
We’ve all got one (or several) that we’ve known since the dawn of time.
And when your friendship has spanned over 10 years, you know the following things to be true.
1. There is no need for a back story to your new story
They know every family member, ex-boyfriend… Read the full story
In a world obsessed with youth and when girls and their duck pouts are everywhere, let’s celebrate the most badass older ladies rocking the most individual and amazing looks on Instagram.
Welcome to our new fashion icons and discover that old really is the new black.
1. Iris Apfel
Model, designer, badass.
2. Valerie Von Sobel
Artist, philanthropist and total babe
3. Carmen Del Orefice
At 85, Carmen is classed as the world’s oldest supermodel.
4. Grandma Emiko
Emiko is the 93 year old grandma who models her… Read the full story
Canadian dad-of-three Tyson Leavitt is living the dream making other people’s (mostly kids’) dreams come true.
Last year, he took his ‘stupid idea’ to build luxury over-the-top treehouses and playhouses for children and turned it into a thriving business – called Charmed Playhouses.
Let’s face it, setting up a company selling lavish miniature castles, planes and Hobbit holes – drawn straight out of children’s imaginations – in the middle of a recession, does sound like a recipe for disaster.
But, somehow, it worked. After starting with three employees, Tyson now manages 15 members of staff out of his HQ in Alberta.
Model Anastasiya Kvitko has been called Russia’s answer to the Kardashians because of her extreme curves.
In other words, she’s a Rus-shian.
The 21-year-old, who’s originally from Kaliningrad and now based in Miami, boasts a 24 inch waist and 41 inch hips, creating a dramatic hour-glass figure.
She has 2.6 million followers on Instagram and says her success is all down to loving her curves.
Welcome to Paperback Paradise, the world’s no. 1 used book store. They aren’t online, they aren’t on the high street. You can find them at ‘the edge of eternity’.
The parody Twitter account takes your favourite children’s books from the 80s and 90s, including those Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew classics, and tweaks their titles slightly.
The new and improved titles tend to work a little better with the somewhat dubious cover art.
They’re also pretty dark and, sometimes, NSFW. But, mostly, they’re hilariously spot-on.
Those twins are dead behind the eyes.
Seven-year-old military spaniel Scooby is one of 35 British army dogs who’ve been kitted out with goggles and paw protectors to protect them on the front line.
Scooby is one of the army’s oldest working dogs and a key member of the 105 Military Working Dog Squadron.
He’s been working for five years and completed a tour of Afghanistan in 2012 as a search dog, trained to sniff out explosives in vehicles and luggage.
Scooby was flown with his canine and human comrades been from his base in Sennelager, Germany, to take part in a military exercise in Aqaba, Jordan.
Bar work has a reputation of being one of the most stressful jobs a person can undertake.
If you’ve ever worked in this field you’ll know exactly why.
Here are just some of the problems people who work in a bar will understand…
1. No weekend
Weekend? What weekend?
Any person who’s experienced working in a bar is fully aware that this word simply isn’t in their vocabulary.
At the end of a hard working week most of the country can’t wait to go out into town with their mates… Read the full story
Ancient grains from 10,000 years ago are back on the menu.
Chef Adria Wu is an expert in the field of ancient grains and their valuable contribution to a well-rounded pantry.
Rice, oats and pasta can be swapped out for often-overlooked flavourful, nutrient-dense ingredients like amaranth, khorasan, teff and sorghum.
Adria, owner of Fitzrovia restaurant Maple & Fitz, says that while almost all whole grains are ancient, the term can be loosely defined as grains that are largely unchanged since the beginning of time.
This means that the constantly evolving and modified modern wheat is no longer an ancient grain, while the original heirloom variety would be considered ancient.
Though many from… Read the full story
A woman has gone viral after urging other parents not to set up their children’s bedrooms like she had.
Alison Johnson shared a photo of her children’s cribs, which had been placed together with just a small gap in between.
Shortly after putting her son, Caleb, down for a nap, she heard him cry.
We know, there’s been a glut of these optical illusions of late and they’re giving us a headache too.
The good news is, this one has an explanation, but we’ll get to that.
Dad and BBC Academy trainer Marc Settle stumbled on the latest mind-bending optical illusion while tidying away his toddler’s wooden train track.
When he placed lined two pieces of track next to each other, one looked significantly longer. But, when placed on top of each other, they magically became exactly the same size.
He shared his discovery, set to suitably dramatic music, on Twitter, along with a plea for help: ‘My toddler’s train track… Read the full story
The people of Bristol are proud of the city’s many attributes, but none more so than its penchant for a barrel of laughs and a right old knees up.
At the heart of this swashbuckling, green boasting, Banksy loving democracy is the holy grail of all South West consumables: a pint of the good stuff.
Whether it’s a keg of sweet (or not so sweet) cider, a cake of beer, or a wash of ale quantifiable to the River Avon: the bar never runs dry when there’s a Bristolian about.
Below, we look at 14 of the best local pubs in Bristol, and what makes them so special.
I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) – a form of Inflammatory bowel disease – in January, 2015.
I had been suffering with severe bowel problems for years, but it had been left un-diagnosed due to blood tests showing my inflammatory markers as normal.
I was finally diagnosed after being admitted to hospital with a nearly perforated colon, after being in excruciating pain within my stomach and suffering with extreme gastroenteritis symptoms lasting longer than normal.
My large bowel was entirely removed and I was given a… Read the full story
It’s the most normal thing in the world. But goddammit, why does menstruating hurt us so bad?
We’re grown up, strong women so of course we can handle it.
But we’re always hoping for a time when getting your period doesn’t feel like you’re passing a thousand knives through your uterus.
It’s not a completely helpless situation though. There are things we can do to ease our pain, ladies.
Here are nine things you should definitely do on your period to get through the time of the month.
Thanks to… Read the full story
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