Table of contents for 11-Jan-2018 in Pick Me Up!

What Total Bananas! I had a great time seeing 80s songsters Bananarama at a gig in London recently. Their hit version of Venus was definitely the highlight for me! 1982 …was the year that Bananarama had their first Top 40 hit. Blimey, I feel old! What A Scoffer! I’ve put my New Year’s diet on hold till next month. There’s still far too much Christmas chocolate in the house to be virtuous… What Fun! Look at me, having fun out the back on my space hopper! You can check out the seven best toys from the 1970s at: lifedeathprizes.com/70s-toys What A Spectacle I’m not entirely sure that these crazy sunglasses suit me, but they’re so darn cool, I don’t care!…

Looking back, I can hardly believe how easily I was duped by credit card scammers. But at the time, I had no reason to think anything was wrong. That’s why I want to share what happened to me - so that other people don’t fall victim to fraudsters in the same way. The problems began with an email from my credit card provider. I opened it, wondering what they wanted - and felt quite excited when I read that they wanted to increase my credit limit. Not that I’m a spendthrift. Quite the opposite - I’ve always been careful with money. In fact I didn’t have a credit card at all for years, because I didn’t want the temptation of overspending. But having eventually applied for a card, I made…

1 NMO affects the spinal cord. True False 2 It’s caused by bacterial infection. True False 3 It can cause bladder problems. True False 4 Surgery can cure it. True False 1 TRUE Also known as Devic’s disease, NMO causes inflammation of the optic nerves and spinal cord. 2 FALSE NMO is caused when the immune system reacts abnormally and attacks healthy tissue, though the exact reason why this happens is not yet fully understood. 3 TRUE Common symptoms include eye pain, vision loss, muscle spasms, limb weakness and temperature sensitivity, as well as bladder, bowel and sexual problems. 4 FALSE There’s currently no cure for NMO, but treatments such as steroids, immunosuppressant medication, biological drugs and physiotherapy can ease symptoms and slow progression. Next Week COGAN’S SYNDROME…

We put some truly original products to the test… True Touch: Silicone Pet Grooming Glove & Massager, £9.99, jmldirect. com Groom and stroke your pet in one go with this glove. It has tiny nodules that pick up pet hair – leaving you with a palmful to throw away later! Verdict: GENIUS! Stealth groomer for pets who normally hate it! Personalised Face Lollipop, £39.95, prezzybox.com Possibly the strangest gift idea we’ve ever seen, you can now treat your friends to a candy lolly of their face. Just upload their photo plus a few details, such as eye colour, to receive your sweet treat in a matter of weeks. Verdict: BONKERS! Face it, it’s truly crackers – but we WANT one! HiMirror Plus+, £319,…

7 THINGS YOU ONLY KNOW IF YOUR BOYFRIEND IS TALLER THAN YOU… 1 Taking selfies together is pretty much an impossible task. Unless, of course, you want a picture of your face and his chin, or his face and your forehead! 2 The  shower head will always be about 1ft too high for you when you get in after him. 3 He’ll always get the aisle seat at the cinema or on an plane because of his long legs – you never get a look-in! 4 Trying to put your arm around him when you’re out for a stroll is less romantic, more of a challenge. Maybe suggest that he walks in the road and you on the kerb? 5 Your jeans look so short it’s like they’re from…

Before having my fourth child Riley, life was great. I had three other boys - Taylor, then 9, Tony, 3, and Ryan, 2 - and was married to gorgeous hubby, Stuart, 41. And thanks to my love of swimming, jogging and ice skating, I was a slim size-12. So when I welcomed Riley into the world in November 2008, my life should have felt complete. But, though I loved my newborn desperately, I felt weepy, tearful. And as the weeks passed, I struggled to get out of bed. My mother-in-law Victoria, 67, rallied round. Living down the road, she’d drop the three older boys at school each morning, then pick them up in the afternoon. ‘You’re just exhausted,’ she said. ‘You’ll be back to normal soon enough.’ ‘I felt so…

YUM YUM! NAME THAT CAKE..! The Ghost Island For 100 years, H ashima Island, Japan, was a densely populated coal-mining facility. H omes were built for miners and their families, along with hospitals, schools and restaurants. A t its peak, Hashima had more than 5,000 full-time residents in a 16-acre space. T hen, in 1974, the coal ran out. The mining facility was closed and workers were told they could keep their jobs if they returned to the mainland, but on a first-come, first-served basis. So the families left – and fast! For 30 years, the island crumbled to ruin, abandoned and ignored, but in 2009 it was reopened to tourists. 4 Times We Couldn’t stop Smiling Getting back in our jeans. Finally, after eating half our body weight in…

Giving my footy player hubby Dermot, 35, a good luck kiss for the match, I winced. My hand fluttered to my belly. I was pregnant with our first child and a day over our due date. But it felt like a dicky tum, not labour. ‘You sure?’ Dermot said. It was a Saturday morning and he was about to go and play for Hereford City. ‘Yes, go!’ I said, pushing him out the door. ‘If anything happens, I’ll call.’ Only 20 minutes later, my tummy was feeling way more than ‘dicky’. So I rang my mum Jutta, 57. ‘I’m not sure if I’m in labour,’ I told her. She was there in a flash. Just as well, as the pain was getting stronger. I rang Dermot and his manager Chris…

Monkey business I’m not sure who was cheekiest, the gorilla or my 3-year-old daughter Harriet! Rebecca Law, Colne Caught in a trap Here are my daughters Olivia, 10, and Ruby, 7, making a plea for freedom during our family day out! Stephanie Cullum, Chatham Batdog Nananananana Batdog! Our lovely pooch Jenko loves dressing up, especially as her favourite superhero! Lisa Savery, Reddish High flyer It looks like I’m flying this small sightseeing plane, but I’m just a passenger! Beautiful views of Ireland’s Sherkin Island, though. Amie Yetton, Burwell Greedy guts!  don’t think my cousin wanted to share any of her afternoon tea with me! Emma Matthews, Stockport Look who I met I was thrilled to bump into I’m A Celebrity’s Joe Swash at Center Parcs! Karen Wells, Gravesend Breakfast of…

1 Unexpected call, email or text? A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account.Only give out your personal or financial details to use a service that you have given your consent to, that you trust and that you areexpecting to be contactedby. 2 Ifyoufeeluncomfortable about the information you’re asked for, it’s likely that something is wrong. Take five to say, ‘My money? My info? I don’t think so!’ 3 Even if the number or text on your phone looks authentic, it may not be. Criminals can fake real telephone numbers to appear on your handset. 4 Never click on linksin an unsolicited email or text, or agree to tap your card…

1 Keep an eye on your interest If you have many debts, it’s easy to lose track of how much interest you pay. Try to pay off debts with the highest interest rates first. 2 Cut monthly payments Look at statements to make sure you don’t pay fees for services you no longer use. 3 Switch your credit card? Aim to stop using credit cards altogether, but in the meantime check if other cards offer cheaper interest rates. Switching could help you break down immediate interest. 4 Stay focused  Before you buy anything ask yourself, ‘Do I really need this?’ Only spend money on things you need, rather than things you want. 5 Shop around  Don’t impulse buy. If you find something you need, check if it’s cheaper…

In September last year, my daughter Amelia, 5, started to say her neck hurt. Checking behind her left ear, I found a small, hard lump. ‘Ow!’ she yelped when I touched it. She began suffering from a high fever too, so I took her to the GP. Amelia was given antibiotics for an infection, but the painful lump was only getting bigger. It stretched from behind her left ear to her jaw. Blood tests at Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital showed nothing, and she didn’t respond to any of the antibiotics she was given. ‘It could be an abscess,’ suggested one doctor. Full of pus. Lots of it! The doctors didn’t know what had caused it. By then, the lump had got so big that Amelia was self-conscious about it. She was…

Pregnant for the first time, I had a weird dream the night before my 12-week scan... ‘I dreamt we were having twins,’ I chuckled to my partner Trevor, 45. ‘Wouldn’t that be fun?’ Imagine my face later that day when two shapes appeared on the monitor! We were having twins! We were over the moon. But at 16 weeks, doctors had scary news. ‘One twin’s heart is under pressure from receiving too much of the blood supply,’ explained the doctor. The other wasn’t getting enough blood. It’s called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, or TTTS. Reading online, I was horrified to learn that TTTS could be life-threatening for one or both babies. Terrifying. But at the next checkup, it looked as if the condition was resolving itself. ‘That’s a relief!’ sighed Trevor.…

White Chocolate Cookies Makes 9 Prep Time: 15 min plus chilling Cook Time: 15min ◻ 220g plain flour ◻ ½tsp baking powder ◻ Pinch of salt ◻ 100g white chocolate chips, plus extra for decoration ◻ 60g unsweetened desiccated coconut ◻ 125g, unsalted butter, softened ◻ 125g caster sugar ◻ 75g brown sugar ◻ 1 egg ◻ 1tsp vanilla extract ◻ 100g white chocolate chips, plus extra for decoration 1 Preheat oven to 180C/ Gas 4. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. 2 In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, choc chips and salt. Stir in coconut and set aside. 3 Cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add in egg and beat until combined 4 Tip in flour mixture, and stir through…

Looking down at her left leg, my 3-year-old limped around the room. ‘Mummy, it hurts,’ Lilly groaned. Usually always on the go, for the past few weeks Lilly had been complaining about her leg when she woke up. ‘Something’s not right,’ I said to my husband, Stuart, then 27. We weren’t the only ones who were worried. Lilly’s twin sister Lacey missed having someone to dance around the house with. ‘Lilly’s leg’s hurting,’ I explained, as they sat on the sofa together. Our other children, Katie, 8, Kyle, 7, twins Kian and Chloe, 6, Jayden, 6, and Katie, 5, were concerned too. But it was Lacey who Lilly had an extra-special bond with. So, in June 2015, we took Lilly to hospital. ‘There’s nothing wrong,’ the doctor said, sending us…

TRIED & TESTED This week: Dry Shampoo 1 Aussie Wash + Blow In A Can Boost Me Up Dry Shampoo, £4.71, Boots I have thick hair so I’m not normally in need of any extra volume, but this was brilliant for refreshing my hair after the gym. Use sparingly and brush out carefully. 2 Sport FX Body Build Volumising Dry Shampoo, £2.99, Sports Direct I always reach for this in between hair-wash days to give my roots a little refresh. It’s a light formula that is nice and easy to brush through. 3 CoLab Galactic Dry Shampoo, £3.49, Boots This smells much more like a perfume than your average dry shampoo, with a deep woody scent. It also soaked up the oil in my greasy roots without leaving them powdery.…

A few weeks before my birthday, my hubby Rob, 46, asked what I wanted for a pressie. Most women would be thinking about jewellery or designer perfume. But I had something a bit different in mind... ‘I’d love a couple of pygmy goats,’ I grinned. We had a massive garden, with a field attached to the house - plenty of room. Rob rolled his eyes. We already had five chickens, a horse, a dog, three wild cats and a tortoise! But I was animal crackers. Soon after my 45th birthday, our furry friends, Hugo and Boss, arrived. I wanted to keep them entertained, so we decided to build them the ultimate adventure playground. It has a trampoline, swing, children’s slide, tractor tyres and wooden planks. When we got the trampoline…

ARIES 21 March–20 April Don’t count your days, make your days count! Events at the end of last year really took their toll on you and it’s taken you a while to recover. From this week, though, you start to feel more like you again. Plans you make at this time will be the basis for a steadier future. Call: 09058 170 710* TAURUS 21 April–21 May Family are not supporting you in what you want because they don’t really understand what this is (well, you have only given them half the story!). Use the communicative aspects Mercury is offering to get back on track and to work with each other better. Call: 09058 170 711* GEMINI 22 May–21 June If you play games in love this week, you are…

Flicking through a photo album, my nan Maureen stopped at a snap. ‘That’s your auntie Angie,’ she smiled, pointing to a pic of a girl with a cheesy grin. Nan had three daughters - my mum Joanne was the eldest. Mum still saw her sister Michelle, but they’d lost touch with Angela, the youngest. ‘Angie has always been independent,’ Mum explained. Growing up, me and my brother Daniel, now 26, were often told stories about our long-lost aunt. ‘She was always having a giggle,’ Nan, 70, would recall. I longed to meet my eccentric aunt. Over the years, the family tried to find her. But Angie moved around a lot. ‘Why doesn’t she keep in touch?’ I asked Mum. She explained Angie led a chaotic life. She had no children,…

Waving furiously at the computer screen, my daughter Lisa, 22, laughed. ‘It’s so good to see your face, Mum!’ she beamed. Lisa was almost 7,000 miles away in Singapore, working as a physiotherapist. She loved to travel. So when she’d landed a job in Singapore in 2014, it was her dream come true. Yet, despite how busy she was and how much fun she was having, she always found the time to Skype me. ‘Mmm, I can smell the gravy for your roast dinner, Mum,’ Lisa joked. It was a Sunday and she knew I was cooking. ‘We’ll have one when you’re back,’ I promised. Lisa chatted away about work. Then she told me she was planning a few days in Indonesia with friends. ‘I want to climb Mount Bromo…

Scampering up the town-hall steps, I looked at my watch. It was lunch time on 23 June 2016. Usually working three days at the primary school, I also had a job as a tattoo artist. Tonight, I’d be tattooing - but first, I was off to vote in the Brexit referendum. My younger brother George, 25, was with me as we went inside Halstead Town Hall. And then... I don’t remember giving my name, picking up a pen, crossing a box. Just waking up sprawled on the floor, a paramedic towering over me. ‘You had a seizure,’ Pete said. I was taken to Colchester General Hospital and given a CT scan, which came back clear. Doctors couldn’t work out what was wrong, said it wasn’t epilepsy. But they prescribed anticonvulsant…

Pregnancy and hay fever I’ve just discovered Q I’m pregnant, but I get terrible hay fever. I usually take antihistamines early on in the year, but I don’t want to take any medication now. Will I just have bad hay fever? Laura, Kendal A Nasal sprays are more effective than antihistamines and there is negligible absorption into the body, so they are very safe to use. Start them and continue through the season. Convulsion concerns My daughter has Q febrile convulsions. They don’t last long and I thought she would grow out of them, but she is now five and still gets them occasionally... Kayleigh, New Mills A Febrile convulsions usually stop around 3 years of age - but, as they have persisted, there is a slightly increased chance of…

Peter Woodcock was born out of wedlock to a teen mum in March 1939. She was unable to keep him, so he was put up for adoption. But Peter was strange from the day he was born. He barely ate, barely slept, and spent most of the day crying hysterically. It was hardly surprising when nobody wanted to adopt him. He moved around foster homes, suffering abuse along the way, until he ended up in the care of Susan and Frank Maynard in Toronto, Canada. While most of the children they fostered came and went, Peter stayed put. As he grew older, the wealthy couple tried everything they could to give him the best possible life and cure him of the pain he’d suffered as a child. They splashed cash…

Sainsbury’s Mini Meal This new ready-meal range, with classics such as Bangers & Mash, is perfect for those with a smaller appetite, or for anyone who wants to enjoy their favourite dishes while watching their weight. Ooola Secrets, £2.39 for 3 x 60g pots, Tesco These indulgent chocolate mousse pots come in two irresistible flavours – Raspberry and Chocolate Chip and Triple Chocolate with Salted Caramel. At only 79 calories per pot, these are the perfect guilt-free treat for any time of the day.…

I’ve always loved a bit of bingo and used to go to the bingo halls with my friends. But over the years, life got busy and we just didn’t have the time to go any more. That’s when I joined Pick Me Up! Bingo in 2013. I’d seen a story in the magazine about someone who’d hit the jackpot. ‘If I can win, you can too,’ she’d said. And she had a point. ‘I’ll give it a go,’ I decided, signing up. My husband Raymond, 66, enjoyed the odd bingo game too, so he decided to sign up as well. We had so much fun, often playing side by side. ‘We’ll go on a family break!’ Fun and sociable I even made a few friends in the chat rooms. ‘They’re…

My son Marshall was my world. There was no way I’d bring anyone new into his life before I knew I could trust them. So, when I started dating Nathan Bennett, then 24, in January 2014, I knew it would be a while before I introduced him to Marshall, then 7. It’s not that I didn’t know Nathan, though. We’d been acquaintances for five years. Only he’d been a bit wild back then. ‘I’ve grown up now,’ he said. And you know what? He had. So, after a few months, I introduced him to my boy. Soon they were best pals. ‘When’s Nathan coming round?’ Marshall would ask, excited. Together they’d climb trees, play in the park together. And Nathan still had time for me, showering me with presents and…

Working as a waitress in a cocktail bar… Get you singing? Well, that’s how I met Glenn in 2001. He was 35 and a guitarist in a band that played at a bar where I worked. ‘I fancy him,’ I swooned to my mates. I knew he had a partner, but we became friends...mainly talked about Star Wars ! We were both obsessed with the films and argued about which was best. Then, two years on, when Glenn became single, we started dating. It felt right. He was the Obi Wan that I wanted! In September 2009, we had our son, Luke. Named after Luke Skywalker, of course! And on my 40th birthday, Glenn proposed. ‘Yes! I squealed. We set a date for May 2017, and…

We’ve kept horses on our farm for years, but I’ve never met one quite like Wee Bob. He may be a miniature Shetland, standing just 32in (about 81cm) tall, but he has a personality the size of a whale! Back in 2009, I was searching for a new horse online when I found Bob, as he was then called. His owners were looking to rehome him as their daughter had grown too big to ride him. As Shetlands can be a quite a handful, my mum Marlyn, 46, wasn’t sure. But she came along to see him anyway. Instantly, I knew this was a special pony. Bob was running about the garden, playing with two Alsatians. They were rolling around, jumping all over each other! I had to laugh when…