Table of contents for 31-May-2018 in Pick Me Up!

I know most people think their mum’s the most kindhearted person in the world. But I don’t just think it - I know it! My mum Dawn is so caring and no matter what’s happening in my life, I know that I’ll always have her to turn to. As far as my mum is concerned, I’m always going to be her baby, and she still looks out for me - even though I’m now nearly 30! Don’t let that big heart fool you, though. She’s also got a great sense of humour. I’m constantly winding her up, which normally ends up with her laughing and telling me how silly I am. Just like me, so many other people also love my mum. She takes people under her wing and helps…

Alcatel A5 LED, £135, shop.vodafone.co.uk Forget looking at your screen for notifications. This clever phone will play a particular song or flash with a certain pattern depending on who’s calling. And, even better, it’ll even flash with different colours depending on which app you’ve got a notification from. Verdict: GENIUS! We think this is such a call idea (sorry)! AmazonBasics Honeycomb Slow Dog Feeder Bowl, £7.99, amazon.co.uk Stop your dog from guzzling down their dinner too quickly by turning dinnertime into a game. By making the food harder to reach, this bowl forces them to eat slower, which helps to ease bloating. Verdict: GENIUS! A great idea for greedy pooches. StylPro Original, £39.99, Boots No more waiting hours for your make-up brushes to dry! Using spinning…

Psoriasis 1 Psoriasis is a skin condition. 2 Itonly affects the elbowsand knees. 3 It affects around 2% of people inthe UK. 4 You can only develop one bout ofpsoriasis in your life. 1 TRUE It causes skin to turn scaly, red and flaky, with crusty patches and sometimes silvery scales. 2 FALSE It’s also common on the scalp and lower back, but can develop anywhere on the body. Most people are only affected with small patches. 3 TRUE It can start at any age, but more commonly develops in adults under the age of 35. It affects men and women equally. 4 FALSE It is a chronic disease that usually flares up during certain periods. The severity varies greatly from person to person.…

Sitting on my bed, I could see strands of light brown hair peppering the carpet. Lots of strands. No, we didn’t have a dog. It was 9-year-old me who was shedding all over the floor. Well, I say shedding. I wasn’t losing my hair, exactly. I was pulling it out. Every day, when I got home from another awful day at school, I’d run up to my room and start pulling. I didn’t understand why, but the moment I felt the sting of the root being plucked from my scalp, a warm, tingling relief flooded through me. I’d discovered this by accident, after randomly pulling out a hair one day. Now it was a compulsion. The only thing that seemed to help with the stress I felt. Growing up in…

‘I think I’d simply rather not know. It would be like living under a cloud, waiting for the disease to strike. Yes, you could take preventative measures with the prior knowledge, but then I would feel like the disease was controlling me. You never know what the future holds and anything could happen.’ Vivien McLaren, Cheshire ‘I made the decision to be tested for a genetic disorder due to which my dad sadly passed away. I was pregnant at the time and that's the only reason I chose to find out. If I hadn't wanted children, I wouldn't have chosen to have it done as ignorance is bliss in some cases. Thankfully, it came back negative. The relief was overwhelming.’ Sarra Simpson, Dewsbury ‘I’m still in two minds about being…

Looking at the plate of spaghetti Bolognese in front of me, I felt my mouth water. It smelt delicious. But I knew I wasn’t going to eat a mouthful. ‘Sorry,’ I said to my mum Alison, now 50, pushing it away. ‘I’ve already eaten.’ It was a lie. I wasn’t eating because I couldn’t eat. If I do, something bad will happen to my parents, I thought. I don’t know what sparked those thoughts. I was just 14. Maybe it was my hormones. Or the stress of school. All I knew was that a poisonous seed had been planted in my mind. And as its roots bedded in, I did everything I could not to eat. Telling Mum I was having dinner round at a friend’s, fibbing that I’d already…

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Slicking on some lippy, I headed off to the Chinese restaurant where I worked as a waitress. I was only 16 but felt so grown up. I’d moved out of home, lived with a mate and, thanks to this job, had my own money. You could say I had an old head on young shoulders. Which is why I was wary of Danny Barnett, the restaurant’s takeaway delivery driver. With a gym-toned body and dark hair, he was a massive flirt, cracking jokes with the other waitresses. I’m steering well clear of him, I thought. I might have been young, but I knew a player when I saw one. Sure enough, Danny, 23, soon tried on the charm with me. It didn’t work. ‘I know your type,’ I laughed. Danny…

Not enough milk Q I’ve just had a baby and I really want to breastfeed but I don’t have much milk. I know I’m overweight – could that have anything to do with it? I’m keen to persevere if I can. Sally-Ann, Bristol A Obesity delays breast-milk production, so women often give up too soon. Ask for support from your breastfeeding midwives and you can achieve your goals. Too old for op? Q My very elderly mum has been told she has cataracts. She’s physically pretty frail and isn’t keen on surgery. Should I encourage her to go for it, or is she right to worry? Melanie, Leeds A Cataract surgery is simple and recovery is good, but your mum would need extra help during that time. It can significantly…

Springwatch, BBC2 Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan return to the National Trust’s Sherborne Park in the Cotswolds, looking out for a host of wildlife – including resident badgers, nicknamed Kate Bush and Marc Almond. They’ll also keep an eye on the otters, stoats, red kites and barn owls who’ve made the rambling estate their home. Countryfile Royal Specials, BBC1 It’s hard to believe but Countryfile turns 30 this year. And, to celebrate, over the next three weeks the shows will be royal specials to also commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation. The team have been granted exclusive access to the Queen’s private estates at Windsor, Balmoral and Sandringham, and the three episodes explore the Queen’s lifelong attachment to rural Britain, reveal where her love of animals came from…

As my son Kieran zipped up his overnight bag, I couldn’t help worrying. ‘Are you sure you’ve got everything?’ I asked. ‘Yes Mum!’ Kieran replied with a grin. I knew I was fussing. But, aged 15, this was Kieran’s first sleepover at a friend’s. You see, my boy had autism. I’d taken him to the doctors two years earlier, worried he was depressed. He’d become introverted, never wanted to socialise. And he seemed really set in his ways. The GP arranged for some tests. Which is when Kieran had been diagnosed. It made so much sense. It also meant I had to plan things carefully. Kieran needed a very strict routine in order to cope. He rarely strayed from it and always preferred to sleep in his own bed. But…

George High Shine Lip Gloss in Pink Fantasy, £2.50, Asda For a softer look this summer, trade in your matte lippy for a gloss. The pink colour of this one will look gorgeous with a tan, while the high-shine finish will reflect the light for a plumper-looking pout. Starskin Exfoliating Double Layer Foot Mask Socks, £8.50, House of Fraser This might just be the most disgusting beauty product we’ve ever used, but it’s so worth it! There are no instant results, but after just a few days of using these socks, all the hard skin will start to peel away, leaving you with super-smooth feet. Mark Hill Easy Curl Barrel, £14.99, plus £14.99 for the handle, Boots It’s hard work to maintain sleek tresses in summer. Embrace the extra volume…

That weekend, I’d been out with the other mums from school The classroom buzzed with the sound of parents clucking proudly. Including me and my husband Scott, 39. It was March this year, and the teachers at my 7-year-old Lucie’s school were hosting a ‘drop-in’ night, so parents could see their child’s progress. ‘She’s so talented!’ I beamed, as Scott and I leafed through piles of her work. Scott, who was looking at a drawing, nodded. Then suddenly his face broke into a huge grin, then a big, belly laugh. And once he’d started, he couldn’t stop. ‘Margaret, you have to see this!’ he wept. I walked over to where he was standing. ‘Oh my God!’ I cried. Because there, captured in technicolour, was a picture of me in bed,…

Keeping my head down and my hood up, I scurried out of the supermarket. All I wanted was to get home without anyone seeing me. But it was too late. ‘Hey, Quasimodo!’ a teenager yelled at me from across the street. A group of lads roared with laughter as they spotted my face. ‘Scary face you’ve got, Jeanie-meanie-modo,’ another called out, sparking another shriek of laughter. Pushing my headphones into my ears, I turned up my music to drown out the jeers. But I could still feel the gawking eyes of strangers as I quickened my pace to get home. You’d think I’d have got used to the abuse by now. But it still hurt. It all started in 1987, when I was 3 and I was diagnosed with leukaemia.…

Bubbly and beautiful Embrace your inner fabulousness and dazzle this summer with this limited-edition bottle of Lambrini sparkling perry. Each bottle offers 50% off products from Fake Bake – the self-tanning brand – purchased online at fakebake.co.uk. Make his day When you buy a Tescobranded greetings card, you can claim £10 off a £30 gift voucher to spend at buyagift.com . The site offers thousands of experiences across the UK and they start at just £15! Meaning Dad can have a super-nice present at a fraction of the cost. The offer is valid until 18 June. Who could resist? Treat yourself to a luxury Co-op pizza for only £4 (usually £5.25) until 29 May. The Irresistible range includes a classic Margherita and a Ham, Mushroom & Mascarpone…

Coming home from college, I’d crash out on the sofa. I was just so exhausted that once I sat down, I couldn’t get back up. Then there were the headaches and the constant pains all over my body. I was only 18, and used to be really active at school. But in the past few years, the slightest task would wear me out, and sometimes it took hours to wake me up. I didn’t just roll over and hit snooze, I’d be dead to the world. ‘You should get checked out,’ advised my partner Philip, then 36. But I put it off. Philip may have believed me, but others called me lazy. Part of me believed them, but on some level I knew something wasn’t right. In August 2015, I…

STIRLING Gavin McPhee, 35, Stirling Two women suffered at the hands of abusive Gavin McPhee. He was first arrested in April 2017, following an assault on his partner, but it later transpired that she wasn’t the first woman he’d hurt. His catalogue of violence took place over a shocking 10 year period. At Stirling Sheriff Court this month, McPhee was convicted of assaulting two women and was jailed for seven years. DS Mark Kane said, ‘McPhee committed domestic abuse against multiple partners and is now facing the consequences of his actions in prison.’ LONDON Sabir Sharife, 32, Hackney Sabir Sharife launched a savage assault on a lone woman in her 20s as she walked home from a night out on 9 April last year. He boarded the same bus as…

Honey and lime chicken kebabs Serves 4 Prep: 15 min (plus marinating) Cook: 10 min ◻ 4 small skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into 3cm cubes ◻ 5 limes, quartered; 2 limes, zest and juice ◻ 100ml extra virgin olive oil ◻ 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped ◻ 4tbsp runny honey ◻ 1 small bunch fresh mint, roughly shredded 1 Put all the ingredients, except mint, in a freezer bag. Refrigerate for at least 2-4 hr to develop flavour. 2 Prepare and light the grill according to instructions. Thread alternate chicken pieces and lime wedges on to 4 skewers and chill until needed. 3 Grill the kebabs for 5-6 min, brushing with remaining marinade to keep them moist during cooking, and turning with tongs until golden and fully cooked. Scatter…

ARIES 21 March–20 April Commitments you make at this time are a sign of how far you’ve come. You were too easily influenced, but that Aries’ defiance is back and you’ll do what you want when you want. And that makes for one of the most colourful weeks you’ve had in quite some time! Call: 09058 170 710* TAURUS 21 April–21 May Try not to believe all you hear. Instead, go to the source for the answers. It’s a great week for interviews or to make solo choices at work. You’re thinking very clearly now and even wild dreams are sure to have the security of your inner psychic side to assist them. Call: 09058 170 711* GEMINI 22 May–21 June Your time isn’t your own and you may have…