Table of contents for 27-Jul-2017 in Pick Me Up!

What A Week! Donna McCann, Senior Designer What A Hero! My partner Andy is a fantastic, hands-on dad to our sons Sonny, 1, and Louie, 2. But as well as looking after us, he’s a hardworking firefighter. At home or at work, he’s definitely our hero! What A Shocker! If only I’d known that rabbit-poo tea or a deep-fried canary could cure a hangover..! I’ll be sure to stock up on the good stuff before my next big night out. For more weird morning-after remedies, go to www.lifedeathprizes.com/hangovercures What A Joy! The key to a tidy house is making chores fun! That’s why I cheer and clap when Sonny puts toys away. My neighbours must think we’re the happiest family ever! 20 Happy birthday to my friends Lois, Lauren and…

Amy Narraway, 36, Buckinghamshire When I met Jason back in 2008, he was a cheeky so-and-so. I was in the local pub with my mates when he came over. ‘Do you mind if I sit on your lap?’ he asked. ‘There’s nowhere else to sit.’ With that, he plonked himself down. You’re a bit of all right!’ he told me. Blond, with piercing blue eyes, he wasn’t bad himself. Later, we shared a kiss, and we became an item soon after. Jason was 20 – seven years younger than me – with an amazing sense of humour. Not a day went by without a laugh. But in 2012, life suddenly turned serious when Jason found a lump on his right thigh. ‘Get it checked,’ I said. So we went to…

1 Airport parking Don’t just turn up! Book in advance for the best parking deals. 2 Sun cream Buy before you go, as it always costs more in the resort. Look for 3-for-2 deals and value-size bottles. 3 Car hire Hire before you go to save around 25%. For best car deals, see holidayautos.co.uk 4 Attractions It can be cheaper to buy theme-park tickets in advance. For parks in Orlando, Spain, France and the UK, see travelrepublic.co.uk to buy tickets. 5 Phone sense Get free calls with Skype, and you can add credit to call landlines. You should also turn off 3G and use free Wi-Fi if you can. See what overseas deals your provider offers, or buy a local SIM abroad.…

Frances Batten, 33, Somerset It seemed to come on out of nowhere. In 2015, I noticed red patches on my face. Before long, I also began breaking out in spots. ‘I feel like a teenager,’ I told my doctor. He prescribed creams, but they didn’t work. I was referred to a dermatologist and told I had rosacea, a rash affecting the face. It can be triggered by stress. I was prescribed antibiotics, and the redness and spots cleared up. But, last year, it came back. Only this time, antibiotics didn’t seem to help. I tried to cover the marks with make-up, but that just made my skin worse. The spots were really tender, too. Self-conscious, I hated going out in case people stared at me. Even doing the school run…

Chevonne Shears, 29, Morpeth i thought it was just a cold. My daughter Gabriella, then 3, had stayed at my sister’s house overnight. But my sister phoned and said Gabriella had woken up and wasn’t herself. She had a bit of a cough and a sore throat. Plus a slight temperature. ‘She’s wheezing as well,’ my sister explained. Gabriella had been fine the day before, and it’d just come on out of nowhere. I still thought it was just a cold, but I took her to see our GP to be sure. ‘It might be croup,’ he said. She’d had croup – a condition affecting the airways – the year before. But as the doctor ran some other tests, Gabriella’s oxygen levels suddenly dropped. She was in an induced coma,…

TREAT OF THE WEEK 93 p per serving Flourless walnut Cake with Poached Pears Serves: 8 Prep Time: 20 min Cook Time: 40 min □Butter for greasing □ 350g California walnuts, plus extra to scatter □ 4 eggs □ 1 lemon, zest and juice □ 225g golden caster sugar □ 1tbsp icing sugar, plus extra to dust □ 4 ripe conference pears □ 8 cardamom pods □ Pinch of saffron □ 150g caster sugar □ Greek yogurt or creme fraiche to serve 1 Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4, and grease and base line a 9in cake tin with baking parchment. 2 Put walnuts into a food processor and blitz to a flour-like consistency. 3 Separate eggs into two mixing bowls. Whisk yolks, lemon zest and caster sugar with an electric hand…

Cross It! Solve the puzzle to find a word. Fit the words back in the grid and the letters in the highlighted squares spell out the answer. We’ve put in one word to help. Enter on page 49. 3 letters Inn Its Pal Pea Rev Sad 4 letters Etch nice Rave Teem Veto 5 letters Lunar Sedan Sushi Voter 6 letters Entrap Espial Obtuse Slough Utmost 7 letters Idolise numeral Predict Pursuer 8 letters Camellia Hardness notation Spryness Sudoku! To solve the puzzle, each 3 x 2 box, each column and each row must contain the numbers 1 to 6. Solve the puzzle, then read down the numbers in the highlighted squares for the prize answer. Enter on page 49.…

Verdict: BoNkErS! We’ll stick to standard fudge, thanks. Increasing Heat Chilli Fudge, £9.99,www.firebox.com Start off with chipotle, move onto habanero, then blow your socks off with scotch bonnet! Not for the faint-hearted. Verdict: BoNkErS! A glass taller than a toddler? Really? Ultimate Giant Wine Glass, £59.99, www.getting personal. co.uk One glass may not feel like enough after a long week, but this might be a tad excessive. Standing at 75cm tall, this can hold a 18 litres of wine! Giant His and Hers Beach Towel, £19.99, www.prezzybox.com We don’t always want to share the bed or the duvet, and that extends to the beach, too! There’s no doubt who’s boss when it comes to this hilarious towel. Verdict: GENIUS! Spot on – but we’re not sure fellas will agree!…

Try this…. sparkling ice cloudy lemon flavoured sparkling Water, £1.49, tesco, sainsbury’s, Boots, superdrug, Wh smith With just 12 cal and zero sugar, this is a great alternative to fizzy pop. sacla reduced fat Basil pesto and sun dried tomato pesto, £2.49, morrisons, co-op, ocado made to authentic recipes but with 30% less oil, add just a little of these to meals to get a mediterranean flavour. Flattering Fashion We love this summer maxi! With an elasticated top and long, flowing skirt, you can wear it with or without the straps. It comes in four different colours and five sizes from XS to XL. Food Swaps Swap salmon en croute… 379 cal For poached salmon fillet… 180 cal Save… 199 cal Get Moving! Jump to it! rebounding is controlled bounces on a…

Little Pick Me Up! Leanne got what she wished for… Leanne Gidlow, 33, Middlesex Doing star jumps in the hospital toilet, I felt mad. I was 21 weeks pregnant and trying to find out the sex of my baby. But during the scan, it wouldn’t stop wriggling around! The nurse told me to try gently jumping up and down, so it’d move into a position where we could see. ‘Here’s hoping,’ I laughed to myself in the toilet. It worked, though. ‘You’re having a girl,’ the midwife smiled. Over the moon, I was desperate for a girl. My partner James, 38, and I already had a son, Tyler, 9. But I wanted a little girl, so I could brush her hair, and buy princess dresses. On 20 December last year,…

4 WAYS TO ENTER EaSy TO ENTEr ONliNE! ONliNE It’s free and only takes a moment to enter from your smart phone or on your laptop. Join our Pick Me Up! comp club now and enter your puzzle answers directly online at our new website below. Existing puzzlesandprizes members may need to re-register, just click on the ‘Join now’ button on the website. www.lifedeathprizes.com/win TEXT Simply text PMUB followed by your answers (spaces between answers please) full name, door number and postcode to 85010 Eg: PMUB answer ChloeSmith 16 NN32 0PE. Texts cost 50p plus standard network charges. Max 160 characters. When you enter by text, you may in future get SMS marketing messages from Time Inc. (UK) Ltd and Pick Me Up! magazine, if you don’t want to please…

Carabiners make the perfect clips for keeping your rings and bracelets together, especially when travelling. I got a pack of four from my local pound shop! Christine Hamori, Whitefield Tip of the Week An open tub of bicarbonate of soda in the fridge will neutralise smells. Heather McEwen, Norwich After having an accident, I was told by my doctor to keep my wound dry. This was quite difficult in the shower, so I wrapped some clingfilm around my leg, which helped keep the dressing dry! Janice Simons, Cosby To keep showerheads sparkling, place a bag of white vinegar over them. You’ll find they’ll look and work like new! Karen Hill, Caernarfon Screw rubber doorstops onto the bottoms of your garden-bench legs, as it’ll help stop the base from rotting when…

Sophie Akis, 22, Yardley Wood, Birmingham After a morning spent lounging by the pool, I decided it was time to stretch my legs. It was April earlier this year and I was on holiday in Agadir, Morocco, with loads of my family – and, so far, we’d had a magical time. ‘Anyone fancy coming for a walk?’ I asked. ‘I’ll come,’ replied my sisterin- law Yasmin. The pair of us set off to browse the interesting shops and stalls that lined the streets of the resort. There was so much to see, but one thing that kept catching our eye was the street vendors doing henna tattoos. They looked so beautiful and elegant – I’d been really tempted to have one all holiday. In fact, the day before, I’d had…

dr arabella onslow has been a GP for 11 years and was rosemary Conley’s Health Professional slimmer of the Year in 2012 after losing 10st. Sensitive tummy Q I get stomach symptoms if i eat wheat, but a coeliac test was negative, so they told me i should be able to eat gluten. i’m sure that it causes these symptoms, so what’s the problem? Phoebe, Devon A Coeliac tests diagnose gluten intolerance, but a negative test with symptoms indicates gluten sensitivity. Your symptoms are more sensitive than the test, so stick with a diet that helps. Funny feeling Q My lady bits feel funny. it’s hard to describe, but i can feel it all the time. it’s not painful, but it’s distressing. i can’t see anything wrong, so why is this…

£1.25 per serving Lovely Light Lunch! Baked Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Shropshire Blue Serves: 4 Prep time: 25 min Cook Time: 1hr □ 1kg sweet potatoes □ 3tbsp olive oil □ 1 head of garlic □ Salt and pepper, to taste □ 350g flour, plus extra for dusting □ 50g butter □ 250g creme fraiche □ 150g Shropshire Blue cheese, crumbled □ 100g rocket □ Fresh herbs such as chives, parsley or basil, finely chopped 1 Preheat oven to 200C/ Gas 6. Wash and dry sweet potatoes, prick all over with a fork, put on a baking tray and brush with olive oil. Cut top off garlic, and bake along with potatoes for 50 min, until potatoes are soft. 2 Remove potato skin immediately and mash flesh to a puree. Squeeze…

Supermarket Aldi’s name is a contraction of the founder’s surname, ‘Albrecht’, and its philosophy, ‘discount’. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! These hard-hitting health-campaign ads were designed to shock… And they worked! These TV Theme Tunes Are THE BEST ! (Clockwise from top left) The Monkees Minder The Flintstones Friends Only Fools and horses Are You the Ultimate royal-Family Know-It-All? 1 Who was Queen Elizabeth II’s dad? 2 How long was Queen Victoria’s reign? 3 Which King was William of Orange? 4How many of Henry VIII’s wives were called Catherine? 5How many House of Windsor monarchs have there been? Answers: 1. George VI 2. 63 years, 216 days 3. William III 4. Three 5. Four AND BREATHE … These everyday irritations and annoyances drive us bonkers! •People stopping abruptly in the street…

Pick Me up! BIG STORY •accident left Kirsty in a coma •Disfigured for life at just 18 •Ten years on, she won’t let her injuries define her Kirsty Smart, 28, Gwent You need to look,’ my sister Marie, then 23, said. ‘The sooner you look in the mirror…’ I knew what she meant. But it was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d been in a coma for 15 days, my face almost destroyed after being dragged under a car. Who’d want to see that face? Not me. But, as I hobbled to the bathroom with Marie’s help, I finally found the courage to look at my reflection. Unable to scream through my torn voice box, hoarse gasps of horror slipped out. My legs buckled as I tried to…

OFFER OF THE WEEK cute alert! We adore these doorstops! Normally £20, Ulster Weavers is offering PMU readers 15% off all doorstops at ulsterweavers.com – just use the code SUMMER15 before 27 July. SAVING OF THE WEEK Domestic goddess Ace For Colours is a must-have if you’ve got littl’uns! It removes tough stains without fading colours. Even better, it’s now just £1.50 (normally £2) at Tesco until 1 August. Drink Up! Bag a 750ml bottle of super-hydrating Rebel Kitchen Raw Coconut Water for just £4 (normally £4.99) at Waitrose until 8 August. getting steamy If you’ve been thinking about splashing out on a steam mop, now’s the ideal time! The Vileda Steam Mop is now a discounted £44.99 (normally £89.99) at shop.vileda. co.uk until 30 July. It’s perfect for using…

1 It’s to do with iron levels in the body. ⌟ True ⌟ False 2 Symptoms begin at birth. ⌟ True ⌟ False 3 Chelation therapy can help treat it. ⌟ True ⌟ False 4 It’s caused by a faulty gene. ⌟ True ⌟ False 1 True It’s an inherited condition in which iron levels slowly build up over many years. If not treated, it can damage the liver, joints, pancreas and heart. 2 false symptoms usually begin between the ages of 30 and 60 and consist of fatigue, weight loss and joint pain. In men, it can cause erectile dysfunction, and in women, irregular or absent periods. 3 True There’s no cure, but chelation therapy involves taking medication to reduce the amount of iron. Phlebotomy – a procedure to…

In February 1979, some parts of the Sahara recorded its first snowfall in living memory… LOOK AT ME NOW! • Losing weight is a huge feat, but why do people never tell you these things before you shed a few stone? • you have pockets of loose skin in the strangest places… • your boobs start to shrink overnight! • you’re never sure how to react to comments that you’ve lost weight. (‘you thought I was fat before, right?!’) • you feel the cold. • Putting on a few pounds makes you worry you’re going back to square one. CHOON! These dance-floor fillers are a guaranteed hit no bride or groom should leave off their party playlist… 1. Jackson 5 – I Want You Back 2. Queen – Don’t Stop Me…

ASHLEY KATSANDE Marta was mistaken for somebody else, then attacked by a jealous girl in a nightclub Marta Bugalska, 24, Edinburgh Little black dress? Check! Killer heels? Check! Glass of prosecco? Check! All the ingredients for a good girls’ night out. It was 15 September last year, and I’d had a job interview. It was at a currency exchange, and would be a real step on the ladder for me. I felt sure it’d gone well, and now I was ready for a night out to celebrate with my mate Jess, 21. My long highlighted hair was curled down my back, my look finished off with a neutral make-up and a sophisticated silver necklace. All ready for some fun. Our mate was running a special night at a club in…

This stylish heart bracelet is the perfect accessory with its pretty heart charm and T-bar fitting, and is yours for free! Just complete the coupon and send with a 75p stamped, selfaddressed envelope to the address below. Plus, there’s a stylish matching silver plated jewellery collection: two lengths of heart necklaces – a 16in chain for only £6 and a 22in necklace for just £8 – and two pairs of earrings – matching studs and hoops at just £6 for both pairs. The full set is just £20 and if you order it all, we’ll enclose a mystery jewellery gift absolutely free! •CREDIT CARD ORDERS: Call 01858 345108 and quote PMU23. •Lines open seven days a week (not available for free bracelet only). •Applications must be received by Friday 1…

TRIED & TESTED This week: Bronzer Value: Essence Luminous Matt Bronzing Powder The outer edge of this powder is matte, while the inner circle is packed with shimmer. I swirled them both together and applied across my forehead, nose and cheekbones for a sun-kissed look. Glow: Sunkissed Giant Bronzer in Medium Aside from the fact that this is the biggest bronzer I’ve ever laid eyes on, this gives a really gorgeous glow. I used it with a big fan brush to add some much-needed colour to my face. Daytime: Lottie London Tan Time Bronzer Shimmery bronzers look great in the evening, but for day I always like to stick with matte. This shade was really flattering on my pale skin – leaving me looking tanned, not tangoed! Jess’ Beauty Hero…

20-26 July 2017 ARIES 21 March–20 April Something that was failing is given a boost and you feel optimistic about your future. but don’t tell too many new faces your plans for this year or it could rub those who’ve supported you up the wrong way. professional and personal will mix well this weekend. call: 09058 170 710* TAURUS 21 April–21 May Finally, your efforts from the last six weeks pay off and you get a ‘Yes’ from the very faces who said ‘No’ before! What you’re about to realise – which you couldn’t before – is that you’ve done a very good job of impressing the most stubborn signs around! call: 09058 170 711* GEMINI 22 May–21 June Not a good week to mix with those who bring you…