Table of contents for 28-Jan-2016 in Pick Me Up!

What A Barnet! Thank goodness for hair straighteners! Check out my baby curls in this throwback snap. If you’ve got naturally wavy hair, too, go to lifedeathprizes.com and search ‘13 things’. What A Laugh! At a fancy-dress party, my boyfriend, Darren, and I went as the comedy duo, The Chuckle Brothers. Hilarious! What A Diva! It’s no secret my dog Radley is quite the fashionista! He looks adorable in his new bow tie, too. 16 That’s what I scored on The Big Soap Quiz Of 2015. See if you can beat me. Go  to lifedeathprizes.com and search ‘big quiz’. What A Break! Me and my friends had a girls’ weekend away at Elveden Forest in Suffolk. We had so much fun – any ideas for where we should go…

‘Lexi had a healthy, pink glow, big, bright eyes’ ‘She had a rare condition and a hole in her heart’ We figured we were among the lucky ones... ‘She never cries,’ I smiled, cuddling my newborn, Lexi Mia, before her feed. She’d been born on 1 January 2013, weighing 5lb 8oz. Me and her daddy Jason Thomas, 36, fell instantly in love with her. And I adored being a mummy. A first-time mum, I thought it was strange how much she slept. I’d expected to be woken in the night by my hungry baby. Instead, it was me waking her for feeds! But I wasn’t worried. Lexi had a healthy, pink glow, big bright eyes. At her 6-week checkup, she was given a clean bill of health. So I just…

‘I limited myself to just 1,000 calories a day’ I’d always been the type who could eat what I liked and not put on any weight. ‘Where do you put it?’ my mum would laugh as I devoured a large pizza. At 9st and a size-6, I was tiny! I could easily slip into fitted dresses and little shorts. Then, in 2013, when I was 18, I met someone. We’d enjoy romantic nights in, cuddled up in front of the telly. ‘Takeaway?’ I’d ask. A few months on, I found my jeans were a bit snug. Everyone puts on a few pounds when they’re in a relationship, I reasoned. When I jumped up a couple of dress sizes, I wasn’t worried. In fact, I looked better for it. ‘You look…

Endometriosis 1 This condition only affects women. 2 Endometriosis is rare. 3 Painful, heavy periods are a major symptom. 4 It can lead to infertility. 1 TRUE Endometriosis is a condition where small pieces of womb lining are found outside of the womb. Because of this, it only affects females. 2 FALSE It is common, affecting around two million women in the UK. Most are diagnosed between the ages of 25 and 40, so it’s rare among menopausal women. 3 TRUE Other symptoms include chronic pain in the pelvis, lower back and the top of the legs, pain during sex, bleeding between periods, fatigue and difficulty getting pregnant. 4 TRUE It can sometimes damage the fallopian tubes or ovaries, leading to infertility. However, around 70% of women with mild to…

GUN OWNERSHIP • The US has an estimated 300 million guns in civilian hands. • Each year, about 4.5 million firearms, including approximately 2 million handguns, are sold in the US. LOST LIVES • Tragically, more than 30,000 people are killed by guns each year in America. • Half of those who die are aged between 18 and 35, and a third are under 20. GLOBAL GUN HOMICIDES (annual average) • Less than 50: Japan, UK. • Less than 150: Germany, Italy, France. • Less than 200: Canada. • More than 10,000: USA.…

Chocolate Caramel Tart Serves: 8 Prep Time: 30 min + 1hr cooling Cook Time: 10 min Caramel: 1 Preheat oven to 180C/ Gas 4. Melt chocolate in a bowl over pan of simmering water, then take off heat and allow to cool for a few min. 2 Beat together chocolate with eggs, butter, sugar and flour. Pour into pastry case, and bake for 8-10 min, until just set. Leave to cool and firm a little. 3 To make caramel, put sugar into a large nonstick pan over a medium heat and cook until sugar turns a light, golden colour. Do not stir, but jiggle pan now and then. 4 Off heat, stir in chopped hazelnuts, then pour mixture onto a silicone…

'Benji was soaking wet and stuck in the garden' I’d always wanted a puppy. So when my boyfriend, Anthony Bruce, 19, suggested getting one, I was thrilled. We thought a puppy would complete our family. ‘I’ve always wanted an Old English sheepdog,’ I told him. We soon found a litter of pups being sold and, just weeks later, in December 2014, I brought Benji home. Locked out ‘My baby,’ I’d coo, fussing him. I’d spend hours playing with him, cuddling him... But, weeks on, Anthony started getting irritated. ‘Stupid dog!’ he yelled one day, when Benji got under his feet. ‘He’s only a pup,’ I said. It seemed to wind Anthony up more. ‘You pay that dog more attention than me,’ he spat. ‘You can’t be jealous of a dog,’…

'Now they can play football without being in pain…' ‘Come on, Son!’ I shouted from the side of the pitch, as my Kian, 10, tackled another player and scored a goal. ‘Yes!’ I said to my younger lad, Callum, 7, cheering next to me. Every weekend, my boys played for their local under-11s team, Thurmaston Magpies, and I was a manager there, too. Football was our passion, and if we weren’t watching our favourite team, Nottingham Forest, then we were on the pitch ourselves. While it might seem typical for fathers and sons, we are pretty unique... See, it wasn’t just my love of football I passed down to my boys, but also Adams-Oliver syndrome - an extremely rare genetic condition. Adams- Oliver means that our feet and hands didn’t…

CAPRICORN 22 Dec–20 Jan If you’d do what you need to do, instead of trying to please other people, then you – and everyone – would be a lot happier! There’s a jealous face in your close circle right now. Ignore them – it’s the key to overcoming their actions. Call: 09058 170 719* AQUARIUS 21 Jan–19 Feb You’re in need of a change of scenery right now – and the more you push for changes, the sooner you’ll get them. Angry feelings you have about about a younger person are diluted by news from a third party this week. Call: 09058 170 720* PISCES 20 Feb–20 March Try not to make snap judgments about new faces – take the time to get to know what they’re really about. It’ll…

‘He’d been an amateur rugby player before he fell ill’ A scream and a loud crash came from the kitchen. Dashing in, I saw my daughter, Amber, then 9, had accidentally broken a glass. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. But as I cleaned it up, I stood on a shard. ‘Ouch,’ I winced. Not one to cause a fuss, I bandaged up my foot and mopped up the blood. But it still hurt the next day, so I went to A&E at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. ‘There’s glass in your foot,’ the doctor said. I had a minor op to remove it but, a few days later, I felt dizzy, hot and my wound was oozing pus. It’d become infected. My family looked after Amber while I was admitted into hospital. I…

Daddy’s girls Roger, my dad, enjoying his 70th birthday with three of his five daughters. Me in the middle with my sisters, Rachel and Faye. Stacy Gibson, Kidderminster Look Who I Met! Me (left) and a mate got the 'onesie-ina-lifetime’ chance to meet Mel B at The X Factor studios last year! Richard Lowery, Sheffield Snorkel buddies This is me and my boyfriend Christiano having the time of our lives in Cairns, Australia! Georgina Webster, Bodfari Cute couple Princess my 7-month-old Pug loves to babysit little Roman, 2 months old! Samantha Kena, Gravesend Guilt-free gorging Well, now suddenly it all makes sense! Irene Emerson, Grimsby Snow way! My boys, Elijah and Benjamin, made the loveliest snowman in our garden. Becky Lunt, Willesden Got it licked! Here’s…

‘She even struggled to use a knife and fork’ ‘Children don’t get bad backs,’ the doctor told me. Sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? Especially as my 6-year-old daughter, Chloe, was always telling me her back hurt. So I took the doctor’s word for it, hoped it was just a phase. But, a year on, nothing had changed. So I spoke to another doctor and arranged to see a specialist. After CT and MRI scans and blood tests, we finally had an answer. ‘Chloe has joint hypermobility,’ the specialist said. It meant her joints had a bigger range of motion. Her hips were the worst affected, so to overcompensate she’d been using the wrong muscles. Hence the back pain. The condition had left her with no core strength, so she was referred…

It was the best news ever. Me and my husband, Jason, 41, were having a baby. We’d been trying for a year. A brother or sister for our Ashley, 6. Now, in May 2011, I was pregnant at last. Luckily, the pregnancy went well. But when I went into labour, the umbilical cord got wrapped around our baby daughter’s neck. She’d not been positioned well in the womb. As soon as she was born, she was rushed to Intensive Care. I lay in my bed in the delivery room, Jason beside me. Both of us feeling dazed and panicked. ‘She has a hole in her lungs and jaundice,’ the doctor said. Our baby, who we named Emily, was in an incubator for five days. Her leg muscles were also underdeveloped,…

‘Pain tore through me as my skin blistered and bled’ ‘I shied away from public places and covered up my skin’ A month shy of my third birthday, my life changed forever. It was June 1997, and a scorching-hot day. I was asleep in my room and my baby sister, Sierra, then 1, was in the living room in her cot. My mum, Shannon, then 21, and dad, Craig, 25, were outside speaking to our neighbour. But, unbeknown to them, a fire had started in the kitchen. It didn’t take long for flames to start tearing through the house. Surrounding me, I cried out in pain as they began burning my skin. Luckily, my sister, Michelle, 6, was playing outside. She spotted the flames and smoke billowing from the house,…

1 Co-Op Loved By Us Madeira Cake We enjoyed this cut-and-come-again cake, with its light sponge texture. Help yourself to as small – or large! – a slice as you fancy! 2 Morrisons Iced Madeira Cake The icing top, plus a layer of jam and vanilla-flavoured buttercream makes this cake super sweet, but perfect as an after-dinner treat with a cuppa. 3 Sainsbury’s Madeira Cake A good, dense cake – but not at all dry – with a soft texture and lovely, buttery flavour. Delicious to eat on its own, or as the base for a trifle. Make it yourself... Serves: 8 Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 30 min 1 Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4 and grease and line a loaf tin.…

Godminster Vintage Horseradish Vodka Spirit, £22, www. godminster.com If you think straight vodka doesn’t have quite enough of a kick, then this could be the tipple for you! Horseradish is infused with the spirit for over four months to add plenty of bite. Verdict: BONKERS! We’ll stick with horseradish as a sauce for now! Phillips Hue Wireless Bulbs Starter Kit, £149, www.currys.co.uk This clever kit allows you to use the free Phillips app to control up to 50 lights via your smart phone or tablet. Select from 16 million colours (yep, you read that right!) for the bulbs, change them as many times as you like and turn your lights on or off even if you’re away from home! Verdict: GENIUS! A pricey –…

'The latest figures are worryingly high' Would it surprise you to learn that a staggering 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK? That’s the reality according to The Trussell Trust charity. And the poverty crisis is getting worse. Millions of families are regularly going hungry, or turning to one of the 425 foodbanks run by The Trussell Trust in times of utter desperation. Foodbanks provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food, and between April 2014 and April 2015, they fed well over a million people - including 396,997 children. Adrian Curtis, Trussell Trust’s UK Foodbank Director, says their latest figures are worryingly high. Between April and September 2015 alone, over half a million emergency food supplies were handed out, well up on the same period…

‘ We get the keys next week!’ my fiance, Mark Jupp, 37, said After a year’s search, we’d bought our first home on 4 September last year. That night, Mark returned to our rented home, with a bottle of bubbly and eight rock oysters. ‘Time to celebrate!’ he beamed. Mark grilled the oysters but, tucking into my first – crunch..! ‘A bit of shell,’ I said, spitting it out. To my surprise, a round, white gem rolled across my plate. ‘A pearl!’ Mark exclaimed. I kept munching – what the..? I spat out a black pearl. We put the pearls in a glass jar for safety. Then, in the excitement of our move, forgot about them. A week on, Mark returned to the fishmonger…

‘I was terrified she wouldn’t recognise me’ I’ll never forget that phone call on 26 October 2011. ‘Are you Aletia’s mum?’ a stranger asked. ‘She’s been in a car accident.’ Aletia, then 16, was a trainee hairdresser at a salon and sometimes got a lift home. Now she was being airlifted to Cardiff University Hospital. My daughter, Kelly, 26, drove us straight there, numb with shock. Nothing could prepare me for the state Aletia was in. Her jawbone had snapped and she’d suffered thousands of bleeds on her brain. She’d also broken a rib and smashed her clavicle bone. ‘She’s in a critical condition,’ a doctor explained. He said they’d put Aletia into a coma to help her body recover. Only time would tell if she’d pull through. Even if…

‘Partying, drinking, my life was spiralling out of control’ ‘I had panic attacks, flashbacks haunted me…’ As I walked home, one of my neighbours popped his head out of his door. ‘Hi, Lucy,’ Yassir Mehmood, 32, grinned. ‘How are you today?’ ‘Great, thanks,’ I smiled back. Everyone knew each other on my street. I’d moved in with my uncle for some independence, but Mum only lived a few doors down. And my mate, Claire, had become friends with Yassir - he seemed reserved, but friendly. The three of us would hang out sometimes, enjoy a few drinks. A few days later, I was popping to the shop when I passed Yassir in his garden. ‘Fancy a drive in a bit? I’ve got to pick something up,’ he asked. ‘Sure,’ I…

Soft option Wide plastic guttering, fixed onto a bedroom wall, gives you great extra storage space for soft toys. Sharon Taylor, Runcorn Bits ’n’ bobs Keep all those little bits and pieces of your child’s small games together in a plastic food bag. Hayley Tomkins, Swansea Quiet play If your newborn has an older sibling, decorate a box and fill it with q uiettime activities, for when your baby’s having a nap. Gillian Sanderson, Y ork Hit the shops When you’ve used your gift cards, keep them for your children – they make fun debit/credit cards for playing shops. J Giblin, Glamorgan…

Cyst mystery Q Last year, I had an ultrasound scan and my consultant found an ovarian cyst. But when I had my pregnancy scan this year, there was no cyst there. What’s happened to it? Jill, Coleraine A Ovarian cysts are very common because they develop as part of the menstrual cycle. Sometimes they persist and grow bigger, but they can also resolve themselves after a few months. Thyroid replacement Q I’ve had a low thyroid for years but recently, after testing, my GP has reduced my medication. Is my thyroid starting to work normally again? Ju, South London A No, but as we age, the hormone thyroxine lasts longer in the body so you may need less of it. Make sure you have annual testing so it’s still being…

‘Omar told his mum that he loved her’ ‘The hideous bloodbath left eight people dead’ Early on 3 August 2010, Omar Thornton went to a meeting where he worked at a beer distributor’s. He’d been with the firm for two years - first working in their warehouse, then as a driver. Only the Connecticut firm had video evidence showing what they believed was Omar stealing cases of beer and empty kegs worth $400 (around £270). During the meeting, Omar was presented with the footage. He was offered the chance to resign or be fired. The 34-year-old opted to sign a one-line resignation letter. Steve Hollander, the company vice president, was there and witnessed Omar’s decision. ‘He didn’t protest when we were meeting with him to show him the video of…

Seven years ago, I was browsing the Internet, looking for ways to save. I came across Quidco, and it just looked so easy to use that I signed up for it straightaway! Quidco’s such a fantastic service. You get rewarded for shopping online, and there’s no catch. And then Quidco introduced another great service that lets you get cashback on your grocery shopping, as long as you sign in first. I’m always in and out of Tesco, so I find this really helpful. I made £50 in a year doing just that! The website also always has loads of discounts and deals. In total, I’ve earned over £800, which I use to buy day-to-day items like groceries, as well as the little luxuries that I wouldn’t normally be able to…

'Your future hasn’t been written yet. No-one’s has' What’s the film you watch time and again? For me and my fella, Jordan, 26, it’s Back To The Future. Both sci-fi geeks, Jordan was in the year above me at school. We’d got chatting over MySpace when I was 14, and soon discovered our mutual passion for the film trilogy. Buying a house together in 2011, we’ve watched the films countless times. In Back To The Future 2, the 80s teen, Marty McFly, travels to 2015, on 21 October. Jordan and I had many nerdy conversations about that day. I was 6 weeks pregnant when, on Valentine’s Day 2014, Jordan proposed. ‘Let’s get married on 21 October 2015,’ I suggested. ‘Great Scott, that’s a brilliant idea!’ Jordan laughed. Bursting with ideas,…

ASK JESS Q I use concealer daily to hide dark circles under my eyes, but it makes my skin dry. Can you suggest a good product? Natalie Tucker, 31, Kempston A Try Bourjois Radiance Reveal Concealer, £7.99, from Boots. It helps to hydrate skin while hiding any imperfections. Jess’ Beauty Hero Organic Surge Extra Care Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser, £9.50, www.organicsurge.com , leaves my skin feeling squeaky clean and really soft. READER’S TIP You should avoid washing your hair too often. Constant shampooing can strip it of moisture. Alex Robertson, 54, Woburn Pick Me Up! FOR LESS £2.99 Olay Essentials Double Action Day Cream at TJ Hughes (usually £5.39) Want the perfect... MAKE-UP BRUSH CLEANSER? Try one of these… Wipes: B. Makeup www. Brush Cleansing Wipes Perfect…

‘The cost of living has risen massively, but wages haven’t. Foodbanks are a necessary stepping stone for someone in genuine need. It’s a sign of the times.’ Gemma Carrick, Sunderland ‘I’ve been faced with paying rent and bills or buying food. There were no foodbanks then, but if there were, I’d have used them Cassie Green, Isle of Man ‘If I needed help, I’d take it from anywhere willing to give it. No-one should put their pride above feeding their family.’ Ashli Ross-Richardson, via Facebook ‘Fresh food can be made very cheaply. I’ve used bags of potatoes, onions and carrots to make meals for a week. A long-term solution is to teach people to manage their finances.’ Jackie Wilson, Basingstoke…

‘My friends convinced girls I was Olly’s twin!’ A lifelong diet of fast food, takeaways and crisps meant I’d ballooned to 19st by the time I was 20. But, as my belly grew, my confidence was quashed. I struggled through school, bullied every day for my bulky bod. ‘It’s Rik Waller!’ classmates jeered, comparing me to the overweight Pop Idol finalist. Then, in November 2007, I was in a changing room trying on some 48in-waist jeans. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fit them over my 19st 7lb frame. I was just too fat. Then and there, I broke down, ran out of the store in tears. I had to change. I’d heard about people doing well with LighterLife. So I signed up. Healthy soups and cereal bars…

Q I’ve just got a new job in an office and the dress code is casual, but we aren’t allowed to wear jeans. Can you help me with some ideas of what to wear? Dawn Painter, Wigan A Congratulations! I’d recommend investing in a few printed shirtdresses like this floral one. They’re really comfy if you’re sitting down all day, won’t show creases and can be easily teamed with tights in the winter and bare legs in the summer. Layer a sleeveless jacket over the top for an on-trend touch and accessorise with a simple pair of loafers.…