Okay, it sounds a bit daft, but I’ll let you in on a secret. Actually, it’s no secret, I moan about it (quietly) all the time – I have the coldest desk in the office at work* – and I’ve been feeling it a lot lately. Short of wearing a slanket at my desk (I don’t own one yet, I’m working on that) there aren’t many ways to beat the chills. Usually by mid-afternoon the room and I are a good temperature, though in the mornings you can guarantee I’ll feel the chills.

I’ll often make a hot drink to keep my hands warm – and more often than not I’ll forget it’s there and end up with some freezing coffee at the bottom. It’s annoying, especially when I’ve drunk it without realising.

So the opportunity arose via Fuel My Blog to review the USB cup warmer and the Funky Instant Heat Pads from Paramount Zone, I applied and I got lucky; so I put it to the test… and found it works! However, my regular cup is a little bit too wide for it – though there’s no shortage of cups and mugs at work, so I did find one that fit. It plugged into the USB port in the side of my keyboard (which in turn is plugged into my MacBook Pro), and worked perfectly. There’s a little light in the front so you know it’s on, and it doesn’t boil your cuppa, just keeps it nice and warm.

I was also sent a mini hot water bottle-a-like which you can leave to soak in some boiling water for ten minutes, then get up to 30 minutes of warmth – it’s great! Not too hot and warm enough to tuck into my handwarmers and still be able to type. The first time you use it you just click the element, once you have you can no longer use that method, though it is reusable so you can do it the way I originally described – so yet another thing to help keep me toasty.

So yes, what may seem like the kind of gadgets you’d think you don’t need, are actually really useful for me – if you’re in a similar situation I’d recommend trying it out – especially if you’re like me and your cuppa often goes cold – I had no idea they exist.

Both of these are great stocking fillers for Christmas – and are suggested on the site as presents for your boyfriend or men in general – but being female and someone who feels the cold (and who is now thinking this could be excellent for an afternoon at the football), they’re pretty good unisex presents, especially if you’re not too girly like me and spend most of your working day at your desk sipping hot drinks (which go cold).

Both are available from Paramount Zone – the USB cup warmer is £4.99, and the Instant Heat Pads are £2.99.

* to be fair, work did offer to put a radiator in our part of the room, so I’m not in any way criticising.

Smencils are a new kind of pencil from Learning Resources. They’re made from 100% recycled newspaper, and they smell. (see, smelly pencil – smencil!)

Incidentally, by smell I don’t mean of pencils – these ones are fruity, based around Robinsons Fruit Shoots drinks – the flavours being Orange, Tropical, Apple, Summer Fruits and Blackcurrant & Apple.

Now, H loves pencils. She’s only just three, so actually using them is another matter – I think we’re maybe a year too soon for them, as they’d be perfect for school. Each smencil comes in its own tube to help keep the smell fresh – I’ve read it could be anything from months to years, depending on how well looked after they are, so this is where I hope they’ll keep their scent for the next year, so she can take them to school where they’ll get a lot of use… having said that she does use them to draw with and identify each smell – and she gets them right too.

You can buy Smencils in store or online now!

Learning Resources have a Facebook competition on the go at the moment too.

We were sent the Smencils for the purpose of review – all opinions are our own.

We rent our home so we’re really limited with what we can do, especially fastening things on walls, and so on.

When the opportunity came up to review this mirror, it hadn’t hit me how perfect this would be for us – it was only sitting on the train and having a moment of horror – our bathroom steams up horribly (and the landlady wont install a fan) – had I left a line around my chin where my face pack had been?!

This is a 7.30am train kind of thought where you’re still half asleep, and I only remembered I’d had that thought by 10am and commented to my workmates. “You need one of those mist-free mirrors!” quipped one, and she was right too.

It arrived, and it’s small – it almost looks like a computer monitor! It fixes to the wall using silicone sealer which is easy to remove (ideal for renters like us), and the best bit, it’s really easy to use. All you do is put hot water down the back of the mirror, and voila! One mist-free mirror. There’s also two light settings which are handy for those areas you can’t quite see.

There’s a small shelf which fits razors – and underneath a small squeegee slides in which can be used to keep the screen mist free.

If my husband shaved, then he’d get good use from this, so at the moment it’s mainly me – but oh my, it’s made the things I do in the shower much easier to do – AND I’ll never have that face pack moment again!

I was initially worried about how secure it would be attached to the wall, but actually it’s stayed well put – we’re both really impressed with it.

You can buy the ToiletTree Deluxe LED Fogless Mirror on Amazon for £22.95 (at the moment!)

I received one to review from ToiletTree, and all opinions are my own.