Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i Pick Me Up! Special

It often takes great strength to accept the hardships life may throw our way, but also to accept who we are. Stephanie (pg6) took years to finally accept who she was, but when she told the truth, she was punished for it in the cruellest of ways. Now, she’s speaking out and is proud of the woman she’s become. We really admire Benjamin (pg32). His acceptance shows no limits, and he’s using it to better the lives of children who would otherwise have had little chance of a good life. Accepting the truth can sometimes be very difficult, as we’ve seen with Nicole (pg18). When doctors delivered shocking news, she was convinced they were lying! But after just a few moments of denial, she’s now enjoying life as a proud…

As I carefully strapped my baby into his car seat, he looked back at me with a gummy grin. Colton was just six months old, but already his blue eyes sparkled with mischief. I felt so lucky… Being a mum had come so naturally, I couldn’t remember what life before Colton was like. But I didn’t want to – he was perfect in every way. Now, he was me and my fiancé Blake’s little shadow, toddling around us and always making us laugh at his latest antics. It was March 2018 and we were off to a friend’s house for dinner. By 9pm, Colton was starting to doze off in my arms. ‘Someone’s getting sleepy!’ Blake, 31, smiled. ‘Best put him down for a snooze,’ I said, excusing myself from…

Biting into her cheeseburger happy meal, my eight-year-old daughter Sophie, was in her element. ‘Are you having fun?' I asked. ‘Yes, Mum,' she smiled. For the past couple of years, a trip to McDonald's was part of our weekly routine – and Sophie thrived on it. As a young child, she'd been diagnosed as autistic and had epilepsy. She loved her special day out She struggled with big crowds and loud noises. I worried what the future would hold for her, but on our weekly burger outings, I was filled with hope when I saw her smile. And, soon enough, she'd taken on the role of a McDonald's staff member herself! ‘Can I take your order?' she smiled one morning. She'd drawn a big yellow M on a piece of…

Should I tell him I hate it? My boyfriend proposed and I was over the moon – but he’d already bought me a ring and I hate it. I know he spent ages picking it and he was so happy when I said I liked it. But now, I have to spend my life wearing a ring I can’t stand! Shall I tell him? Tiffany, Stoke-on-Trent YES  Pick Me Up! reader Mary from Romford says: You’ll have to wear this ring every day! You must tell him you don’t like it. Even if he is a little hurt at the start, I’m sure he’ll understand – everyone’s taste is so different and you don’t want to start your engagement on a lie. It doesn’t take away the amazing moment of…

As I scrolled through Instagram, gazing enviously at the girls with perfect bodies, an ad caught my eye. It was for a clinic in Turkey, promising to transform bodies. The picture showed a woman going from flat-chested to having amazing breasts. I wish I could afford that, I thought enviously. I’d hated my small boobs for as long as I could remember, but lately, they had really been getting me down. Mine were a B-cup – average for a petite size eight – but I’d always wanted them to be bigger. I frowned as I looked at other posts on the clinic’s Instagram. It looked incredible, but the women looked like me – just normal girls, hardly millionaires. On a whim, I fired off a quick message enquiring about prices.…

A downward gaze and an awkward silence... I knew the signs. As the doctor furrowed his brow, I knew what was coming. I was pretty used to it by now. ‘I’m so sorry, but you’re not pregnant,’ he said. Tears filling my eyes, I turned to my husband Andy, 36. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s not your fault,’ Andy smiled, clutching my hand. Andy and I had known each other for years, and when we officially got together in January 2009, I couldn’t have been happier. Five years later, in August 2014, we got married, and couldn’t wait to start a family. But for almost a year now, we’d struggled to fall pregnant, and I’d become so used to receiving bad news from the doctors. Each time I failed to…

New diagnosis Q I’ve recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and I feel a bit overwhelmed. What do I need to know? Evie, Preston A Crohn's Disease is one of the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease. It often presents with abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, , weight loss and mouth ulcers. It's surprisingly common and affects about 115,000 people in the  UK. It causes inflammation of the digestive system, which can wax and wane, meaning symptoms can sometimes improve only to then relapse again at a later point. Treatment depends on how severe the symptoms are. Some people can manage without treatment, while there are medications designed to reduce inflammation in the gut and reduce the symptoms. In some cases, these might be ineffective, and surgery may be necessary.…

A staggering 86% of us didn't know that a lactating breast is classed as an organ – that's according to a new study by leading breastfeeding brand, Medela. After speaking with 50,000 people, their research discovered that most of us have a lack of knowledge when it came to breastfeeding and breast milk, with a third of people studied having no idea that breast milk contains antibacterial properties that can kill cancer cells. They are now trying to share the science behind breastfeeding, making sure that families are well informed before they take their first steps into parenthood.…

We live in a world more connected than ever. But all this connection leaves many of us feeling stressed. These energising tips stemming from the ancient Japanese art of Zen are the perfect remedy. First practised over 1,000 years ago, Zen is one of the key sources of the meditation and mindfulness trends that have swept the West. We guarantee they'll detox your mind - lifting you if you're feeling down, energising you if you're feeling a bit sluggish, and zapping any stressful thoughts. 1. Presence and awareness Zen places an emphasis on mindfulness – being aware and being present in every moment. This helps to boost our happiness levels, as we can move out of our head (away from overthinking or negative thoughts swirling around) to being fully present…

Finishing off her shift at Tower Insurance Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand, on a Saturday evening, 56-year-old Blessie Gotingco rang her eldest son John to let him know that she was on her way home. As Blessie had offered to do some overtime, her close friend and colleague Behula Shah was unable to give her a lift home that night. ‘I’ll be getting the bus,’ Blessie informed her son. She ran to the location and found abandoned shoes At roughly 7pm on 24 May 2014, Blessie left work and headed for the 7.20 bus to her house in Birkdale. But she never made it home. After their phone call, John left for his evening shift at work. With Blessie’s husband Antonio in the Philippines for work, and her other two…

EASY HARLEY QUINN TUTORIAL Based on the DC comics, Harley Quinn’s live action portrayal in 2016’s Suicide Squad has become one of the most popular Halloween looks – and also the easiest! Step one: Using a pale foundation, cover any blemishes and redness. The lighter the shade the better. Step two: Cover you right eye in red eyeshadow. Go right up to your brow bone and bring it under your lower lash line. Smudge the shadow down to your cheek. Step three: Repeat this process on your left eye with blue eyeshadow. Step four: Run a matte black eyeliner pencil over your upper and lower water lines for a dramatic effect. Step five: Apply jet black mascara on your upper and lower lashes. Apply false lashes if you wish. Step…

Superlinks You could win big in our Superlinks games, with over £35,000 in guaranteed prize money! These are special-event bingo games that bring together selected rooms, offering bigger cash prizes. You can play from just 10p and there are games every half an hour, every day! To find out more and for T&C’s, go to the promotions page at Pick Me Up! Bingo. Daily Double Jackpots Pick Me Up! Bingo offers a variety of slot games that include three jackpots! Play a participating slot game such as Dragon’s Luck for your chance to win the Quick Drop Jackpot, which can be won numerous times a day at any time, or the Early Drop Jackpot or Late Drop Jackpot which are more likely to be won between certain times!…

TRICK-OR-TREATING – A BRIEF HISTORY Trick-or-treating may seem like a modern event, but in fact, it dates to the 9th century. Back then, the night of 31 October was known as Samhain. Our Pagan ancestors believed the souls of the dead would rise from below – and were appeased by offerings of food and drink. On that night, people would dress as ghosts and demons and perform dances around a bonfire, before receiving treats to appease the spirits. By the time Christianity got involved, a new ritual had developed. Poor people would visit the houses of the rich and receive pastries called soul cakes, in exchange for promises to pray for their dead. Over the years, trick-or-treating developed into the fun and sweet-oriented night as we know it today. Pumpkin…

Breaded cod fillet tacos Serves 4 Cooking time: 25 mins 1 pack of Young's 4 Large Breaded Cod Fillets 4 soft tacos 1 bag of mixed salad & rocket leaves Handful cherry tomatoes, quartered Mixed peppers, roughly chopped Red onion, thinly sliced Mayonnaise for dressing METHOD: 1. Firstly, cook the Young's Breaded Cod fillets according to the instructions on the pack. 2. Layer all of the salad ingredients into the tacos. 3. Once cooked, roughly slice the Breaded Cod fillets into pieces and place in the tacos. 4. Drizzle with mayonnaise (or any dressing of your choice). Chip shop cod fillet wraps Serves 4 Cooking time: 30 mins 1 pack of Young's Chip Shop 4 Large Cod Fillets 1 pack of soft flour tortilla wraps 1 pack of mixed leaves…

Placing the iPad out of reach on top of the fridge, I turned to my little boy Riley, eight. ‘That’s enough of that for one day,’ I smiled. He’d been glued to it for hours. ‘But Muuuuuum,’ he moaned. ‘You can go and play with your toys or watch cartoons instead,’ I told him, as I scooped his little sister, Nylah, four months, out of the high-chair. ‘I’m going to give Nylah a bath, I’ll be right back,’ I told him. ‘Behave yourself.’ I headed down the corridor to the bathroom and ran the warm water. ‘Here comes the rubber ducky,’ I cooed, pushing the toy towards my little girl as she giggled away. After 10 minutes, I bundled Nylah out of the bath and wrapped her in a soft…

When we’re on holiday, we want to feel as relaxed as possible, even when we’re on a haunting mission. After a long spooky day, returning to a clean hotel is a vital part of a make or break holiday. So, what are us Brits most worried about when it comes to the cleanliness of our hotels? According to End Of Tenancy London, these are our top digs! 85% of us are put off by visible stains on the bed and towels. 78% of us are concerned about extensive mould in the bathroom. 73% of us are repulsed by unpleasant odour from bath, shower and sink drains. 70% of us are disgusted by overly dirty and stained cupboards and drawers. 66% of us are revolted by unpleasant odour from the air…

CATCHING A SERIAL KILLER, Stephen Fulcher, 2017 On the evening of Saturday, 19 March 2011, D.S Stephen Fulcher received a life-changing call that thrust him into a race against time to save missing 22-year-old, Sian O’Callaghan. Based on the horrifying true events, Fulcher reveals all in his groundbreaking non-fiction novel about how he caught serial killer Christopher Halliwell – and lost his job in the process. Fulcher takes the reader down a cat-and-mouse chase that finds the body of not just Sian but also Becky Godden-Edwards. Halliwell is now serving life-sentences for both murders, but it’s suspected that he has many more victims. Catching a Serial Killer is a thrilling and absorbing look at a real-life murder case and forces the reader to question everything about the UK policing system.…

FANCY FRIENDS Who says fancy dress is just for humans? This Halloween, get your furry friends involved in the dress up. With the likes of Pets at Home selling all kinds of spooky outfits, your lovable animals can join you on your hunt for candy! Choose from pumpkins, spiders or even just some devil horns, for your very own fur baby. They're sure to get you more treats than tricks this ghostly season! LEFTOVER PUMPKIN Do you go pumpkin carving mad at Halloween? Do you find yourself with an endless supply left over? Well, instead of throwing them in the street or blitzing up a huge batch of soup, here are some alternatives! Turn it into a puree so you can use it for pies, cakes, muffins and even smoothies.…

They say three's a crowd, but for Claire and Cai, both 30, puppy love will always come first! The pair have been dating for a while and are happy in their new relationship, but for Cai, there will always be one true love – Teddy, his three-year-old Welsh terrier. The speed-loving mutt joins Cai on his motorbike, where he bought a sidecar, especially for his furry friend. Cai was a little worried about Teddy's hearing, as the bike is old and noisy. So he crafted a tiny helmet for his biking buddy – moulded from a giant bulb and personalised with his name. Although it took a while for Teddy to be comfortable speeding around the countryside, he now loves it, and jumps for joy when he sees Cai pick…

Packing my clothes into a rucksack, I counted down the seconds on the clock. ‘Another hour to go,’ I sighed impatiently. It was April 1994 – and me and my big brother, then 12, were going to stay with our mum and stepdad Ian for the weekend. Our parents had separated two years earlier, and my brother and I lived with Dad. But we loved spending our weekends with Mum and Ian, and couldn’t wait for Friday afternoons when they’d come to pick us up. ‘What shall we do tonight, kids?’ Ian asked as we fastened our seatbelts in the car. ‘Cinema!’ we chanted in unison. ‘Please can we go?’ Ian was a scout leader, so he was naturally great with kids. He was always playing games with us and…

Rifling through her swimming costume drawer, my daughter Amelia, six, grinned. ‘I’ll take these, and these, Mummy,’ she explained. We were all packing for our much longed for summer holiday in Turkey and we couldn’t wait. Especially my husband Jamie and I – it was where we had met 18 years before. Our youngest Jessica, three, didn’t really get what all the fuss was about but she ran around playfully after Amelia as she collected toys for the journey. ‘She’ll be ripping up the kitchen sink next!’ my husband Jamie, 44, joked as he packed the car. 12 long hours later we were disembarking the plane in Turkey and ready for our holiday. The first day was bliss and we started to finally relax. ‘The weather’s just as good as…

This month... ONLINE SHOPPING RECYCLING GUIDE Shopping experts from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk have revealed how best to dispose of many common packaging materials used for online deliveries… 1 Cardboard boxes - YES As we all should know by now, cardboard is recyclable. 2 Parcel tape - NO Parcel tape itself is not recyclable, but many recycling plants are built to be able to cope with certain amounts left on cardboard boxes. 3 Bubble wrap - YES Bubble wrap is recyclable, but it cannot be put in your regular recycling bin. It can be taken to alternative collection and many supermarkets have them. 4 Jiffy bags - NO Jiffy bags cannot be recycled. If you can remove the bubble wrap from the paper envelope, you can recycle the…

Pride welled up inside me as I watched my 13-year-old daughter sat at the dining room table, carefully mulling over her GCSE options. I could have sworn that it was just a minute ago she’d been in nappies, but now she was so grown up. ‘I think I want to be a lawyer,’ Tanisha mused one day last December. ‘Or maybe an accountant, or even a doctor. What do you think, Mum?’ She’d always been so conscientious. ‘You’ll do great at either, baby,’ I smiled. Tanisha was intelligent, kind and caring. And sporty, too! She never argued or made a fuss. As she was one of nine, I certainly had my hands full, so it was nice not needing to worry about her. Then, this January, Tanisha came down with…

Sarah was in a battle over a man and then a fight for her life Walking into the fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A, 18-year-old Sarah Ludemann, was blown away by the handsome chef strolling into the dining area. Sarah was a late bloomer when it came to boys, so when bad boy, Josh Camacho shot her a cheeky wink from the kitchen door, she was knocked off her feet. The pair soon started dating and Sarah was completely smitten in her new relationship. However, Sarah and Josh came from two different worlds. Sarah was a shy girl from a protective middle-class family, whereas Josh was in and out of trouble with the law. He regularly posted photographs of him holding guns, smoking weed or showing off his back tattoo of his…

Checking my bank balance, I let out a groan. It looked like it’d be another tough month where I’d struggle to make enough to make ends meet. ‘Sorry, we have to cut back on things,’ I told my three children, Mauvorneen, 15, Ireland, 13, and Gideon, 12, later that evening. ‘It’s OK, Mum, we understand,’ Mauvorneen replied kindly. But it wasn’t OK, I felt guilty, not providing for my kids. After years spent scraping by, I had to make a change. Working towards a better future, I set my sights on a career in political sociology and enrolled at university. A single mum, it meant giving up my job. With help from financial aid and selling my things on eBay, I was lucky if I managed to find £600 a…

To my younger self, If only you knew how naturally beautiful you were. You always aspired to look like Farrah Fawcett. Wishing you had her flicked-out hair and Californian tan when she played Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels. You didn’t need to put your hair in gigantic rollers, pretending you were the fifth Angel. You didn’t have to crowd round the TV at Mum and Dad’s with our older sisters Tracy, 16, and Julie, 18, watching her. And you shouldn’t have spent school summer holidays basking in the back garden. It wasn’t easy for you to get her sun-kissed glow. You weren’t blessed with Mum and Aunt Tracy’s olive skin. Instead, you were an English rose like our dad, John, 37. I wish back then, you all knew the importance…

Fashion is the second biggest pollutant in the world, and yet the majority of us have no idea. The chemicals used to manufacture clothes are polluting lakes that millions of people use to cook, wash and clean. We can all make a difference to the planet by not giving in to fast fashion, and instead purchasing staple wardrobe pieces that will last us years. We can also repair our clothes, recycle our wardrobes and swap our dresses. 1 IN 7 BRITS THROW AWAY REPAIRABLE CLOTHES New research by sustainable fashion company Thought reveals one in seven Brits throw their clothes in the bin if they become broken or damaged. That's more than eight million people in the UK, while only a third of us save our clothes by repairing them.…

Paging through the book of tattoo designs, my three-year-old daughter Freja was in awe. We were on holiday in Antalya, Turkey, with my mum Julie, and a few days earlier, Freja had got an idea in her head. ‘Please can I have one?’ she’d pleaded, pointing to a group of older kids near the pool, admiring each other’s henna tattoos. ‘No, Freja,’ I said gently. ‘You’re too young.’ Eyes downcast, Freja was crushed by my words. But for the rest of the holiday, she was so well-behaved, so on our second-to-last day, I caved. ‘OK, you can have a henna tattoo,’ I smiled. Freja was so excited. Walking into the henna tattoo studio, I was impressed with how clean it looked. Now, staring at the designs, she pointed to one…

Eyes carefully following my every move, my clever pooch Henry spotted me picking up my bag. ‘Woof!’ he barked excitedly, wagging his tail, panting and jumping up at me. ‘Yes, yes, Henry, we’re going out,’ I laughed, ruffling his head. But it wasn’t an ordinary walk in the park my three-year-old Cockapoo was excited about. There was nothing he wouldn't try See, from the day I brought Henry home in December 2015, he wasn’t like other dogs. He was so tiny, he fit in the palm of my hand! But what he lacked in size, he definitely made up for with his mammoth personality. Energetic, cheeky – and he knew how cute he was. ‘You’ve got me wrapped around your little paw,’ I’d tell him, spoiling him with yet another…

My partner and I grinned as our three fun-loving kids ran riot, bombing down slides and climbing up metal frames at the amusement park. ‘That was a great day,’ my bloke smiled back home as we sat down on to the sofa, the kids in bed. I hoped we’d have more like it, particularly once I bought a car. I’d passed my test in October 2018 and was saving for my first runaround. For now, my fella was the one ferrying us about. As we settled down for the evening, I got my laptop out and fired up Pick Me Up! Bingo. I played on and off and, seeing as I was relaxing, I thought I’d enjoy a few games of bingo. Winner! I’d won a whopping £1,000! After depositing…