LivingwithKids

Yesterday I was looking at the calendar on the kitchen wall, and realised it was almost full for this month (and the next). With the offspring's social life.

So far this year (and bear in mind we're only in March) there have been parties nearly every weekend, six sleepovers and 10 cinema outings. That's not counting the school disco.

How did this happen? BC (Before Children) we went out all the time. MotH goes out quite a lot for work. Me? Coffee with friends and the occasional dinner. Most nights I like to be in bed by 11pm. Rock and roll.

What about you? Do you still go out a lot, or has having children hampered your social life?

Let me start off by saying I've never met the man, although he lives quite close to me. I always thought he was the cutest one out of Take That, I voted for him to win Celebrity Big Brother. But it's not like I KNOW him, or anything. (I did once speak to Jason Orange on the phone, but that's a different story).

So I'm surprised at how much it bothers me that Mark has admitted to cheating on Emma, his partner of five years (who he recently married) with not one, not two, but 10 different women.

Why does it bother me so much? Well, apart from the fact I always thought he seemed like such a nice, honest guy, it's because he and Emma have two children, aged three and one. The celeb least likely to cheat, in fact. What a disappointment.

Even more of a let down for his partner, of course.  For their sakes, I hope he gets himself sorted.

Last night, thanks to the wonder that is Sky+, we recorded The Brits and were able to fast forward through most of the dross and watch the most interesting moments. (This left us with about 20 minutes of TV.)

One thing I was interested to see, of course, was Cheryl Cole's performance, which wasn't great. To me she seemed lacklustre, like she'd lost her usual spark. Hardly surprising when you consider what she's been going through over the past week following the latest revelations about Ashley and his habit of texting other women.

Meanwhile, yesterday I was sent a copy of Tess Daly's new book, The Baby Diaries. It's a beautiful book, with lots of mentions of Vernon Kay, but it was written, of course, before it emerged that Vernon is a textaholic. I wonder if she would write a slightly different book now.

Of course, none of us can know what's going on behind closed doors. But in my book, when a man 'flirts' with another woman in secret, behind his partner's back, either by sending her text messages, facebooking her or emailing her, he is effectively virtually cheating. If a deep emotional connection has started to develop, it can be very dangerous. And personally I'd find it a little hard to forgive.

What do you think?

Last night we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Sky. I wasn't expecting it to be such a romantic movie - but essentially, that's what it is, a film about the enduring love affair between the characters played by Brad Pitt (swoon) and Cate Blanchett.

It got me thinking about my own favourite romantic movie moment. Of course I love An Officer and a Gentleman, but my absolute favourite has to be this.

What's your favourite romantic movie moment? And Happy Valentine's!

Mixtapes and sock bunnies are all very well, but sometimes it’s nice to get a little special something that isn’t homemade for Valentine’s Day. Here are a few suggestions:

*A bouquet of flowers, delivered right to your door. Interflora have a gorgeous selection, including this beautiful Dramatic Dozen rose arrangement (£39.99), and the good news is they’re delivering on Sunday.

*A Bonterra & Green and Black’s gift pack, including a bottle of delicious Bonterra Rosé wine and 12 adorable mini bars of G&B (£15, available from Ocado) ideal for um... sharing *cough*.

*A romantic DVD – Play.com have a brilliant selection, including the classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s (£4.99), so you can indulge your inner Hepburn.

*A glamorous box of chocolates – especially Lindt’s Amour Heart Box of luxurious Lindor truffles (£4.99, available from Sainsbury's).

And for him, well most men I know would be very happy with a copy of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game (£17.99-£24.99, available on Wii, PS3 or Xbox360, from Play.com). Or failing that a sock bunny.

What will you be getting your loved one for Valentine’s?

With Valentine's Day less than a week away, the National Trust have put together a list of some of the most romantic places in Britain. They include the beautiful Giant's Causeway and Lyme Park, famous as the setting for that lake scene from Pride and Prejudice.

It's got me thinking about my own favourite romantic places. In Britain I'd probably say St Ives. Further afield - well the beaches of the Caribbean are of course incredibly romantic, ditto California, but Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii, the backdrop for Lost, is one of the most breathtaking places I've been to, and it's no surprise that so many couples choose to get married there. It's simply stunning, particularly at sunset.

My ultimate romantic place though has to be Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como. It was used to great effect in Casino Royale and um.. Star Wars Episode II and it's almost laughably romantic, with idyllic terraces everywhere offering incredible vistas of the Lake.

Where are your favourite romantic places? I'd love to know.

Last year one of my friend's husbands booked tickets for them to go and see a band in concert as a surprise. It was a band she had hardly heard of and didn't particularly like - they had one hit in the mid-90s. 'Why didn't he ask me first?' she told me. In the end, she refused to go and he ended up going with a mate. Not surprisingly, perhaps, they've been going through a bit of a rocky patch recently.

With Valentine's Day approaching fast, there are numerous love songs CDs on offer. So it got me thinking. What's your favourite love song? And does it matter if couples don't like the same music? How important is music to a relationship? I'd love to know what you think.

Meanwhile, here's one of my favourite love songs - probably the only thing I have in common with Gwyneth Paltrow, who it was written for. Enjoy.

Yesterday Man of the House rang me from work and asked me to bid on an item for him on eBay. Now I have sold stuff on ebay, but I've never actually bought anything. 'I've never done this before,' I reminded him. 'I'm not really sure what I'm doing.'

'It's OK, I'll tell you what to do,' he said. 'OK,' I agreed. 'What are we bidding on?'

Turned out it was an enormous jar of Manuka honey, which, being from New Zealand, is one of MotH's favourite things (and it's quite pricey over here.) The bidding was already up to £3.50.

'OK, raise it by 50p,' he told me. I entered the figure - and almost immediately another bid went up. £4.40. 'What shall I do?' I asked, beginning to get a slight andrenalin rush. 'Shall I go higher?' 'Yes, go to £4.80,' he said. I felt like I was on Dickinson's Real Deal. I was in an actual bidding war. 'It's gone up to £5,' I said. 'Go higher,' MotH said. Three minutes left until the auction closed. I punched in £5.40. 'Well?' he said. 'Seems to be alright,' I said breathlessly. 'Think they've given up.' I was a natural. 'I'll keep checking.' 'Great, talk later,' he said. 'Don't lose my honey.'

I answered a couple of emails, and looked back at the clock on the screen. Still three minutes left. I went into the kitchen, switched on the kettle, came back. Three minutes left. I clicked on the image of the honey and suddenly the screen refreshed. 'Auction closed,' it said. 'Winning bid £6.'

Oops.

As you know I'm a big fan of encouraging kids to start cooking at an early age, and one of my absolutely favourite recipe sites at the moment is mydaddycooks, featuring stay-at-home dad Nick Coffer and his utterly enchanting two-year-old Archie.

Together the two of them make the most amazing recipes, and Archie has already been dubbed 'the next Jamie Oliver.' Here are a couple of my favourite dishes - maybe it will inspire you to make your own parent-and-child cooking 'vlog'!:

The trailer for St Trinian's 2 has just been on TV, which reminded me of my most embarassing moment to date. (Actually I've had lots of embarrassing moments - as my family will happily tell you - but this one is particularly bad.)

A few years ago a friend and I went for lunch at a very small Italian restaurant near our work. We were looking at the menu when two people walked in and sat down at the table behind us. One of them had a very distinctive voice... I recognised it immediately. Mr Darcy. 'It's COLIN FIRTH,' I stage whispered to my friend. 'Where?' she whispered back. 'BEHIND YOU,' I nearly shouted back.

Now I love Colin Firth. I loved him in Pride and Prejudice, I loved him in Bridget Jones's Diary, I loved him in the first St Trinian's film. And to see him sitting there, almost within touching distance, was I'm afraid too much. He happened to glance over and at that point I became utterly hysterical. Tears were pouring down my face as I tried to stop giggling, my cheeks were burning bright red. 'If you don't stop that, I'm going to slap you,' my friend hissed, and of course that made me even worse. I could see him looking over wondering why this woman was laughing and crying at the same time and I'm sure if the restaurant hadn't been full he would have moved tables.

Eventually I regained my composure, and Colin was able to continue with his pasta in peace. But I still blush when I think about it. I was hysterical in front of Mr Darcy, of all people.

What's been your most embarrassing moment, celeb-related, or otherwise?