A Little Bit of Cakey Goodness to share

Who knew running a cake stand could be so exhausting!!!  I went to help my friend Cathy woman her stand at the Whittlesey Festival (great day out by the way, loads to see and do!).  Sounded a simple enough endeavour.... cakes after all aren't all that heavy are they?

So we arrive and set about setting up the stand, we gather tables and chairs from Cathy's office and put up the canopy (genius piece of kit I must say!) and we lay out the cakes as attractively as we can and they did look pretty marvellous and mouth watering. 

And we stood back and waited for the hoards to arrive and arrive they did.  During the day there was a steady stream of people picking up their delicious Pattiecakes treats.  

It was only at the end of the day we really could see how much we had sold because all day long we were refilling the trays and displays from cunningly hidden boxes filled with more cakey goodness. 

It wasn't all completely plain sailing however, quite a few lessons were learned during the course of the day... most importantly that weights for the base of the canopy were important accessories to have as when there was a massive gust of wind the thing almost blew away and we had to pounce on the legs to keep the thing from blowing over.

We also discovered that the sun is not always your friend... we had to scuttle around changing the side panels on the canopy to keep the sunlight off the cakes... chocolate toppings don't react well to sunshine, however even when they started to melt the chocolate ones sold out faster than any other!

I had a fantastic day helping Cathy but I will admit to being completely shattered by the time I got home carrying my box of left over goodies... believe it or not I only got 1 out of the whole box, the rest were snarfed down in good order by teenage boys.  but glowing praise from them... Conor says that Cathy's cakes are "amazeballs"  some new teenage terminology that means great apparently.

Cathy does take commissions on cakes of all types, so if you have a special event and need a fabby cake her website is http://www.pattiecakes.co.uk/

 

Guilty Pleasure

My youngest son is Dyspraxic and has ADHD, he was diagnosed at 9, but I always knew there was something... I won't say 'wrong' with him because I don't think of it as an illness or a defiency it's just part of his makeup and makes him who he is.  Intelligent, funny, sarcastic, persnickety, ultra logical and painfully honest.  But I also won't say it is easy to live with either, hence the guilty pleasure title of the post... I feel guilty that I am happy that he has gone to his fathers for a few days, after an entire summer holiday of Conor I need a break from him, whilst he is all the positive things I said he is also irritating, argumentative, blunt to the point of rudeness and totally oblivious to anyone's feelings but his own.

I guess I always knew there was something different about him from when he was really small, it was little things, rapt attention to a task to the point of obsession sometimes, but I got that, I was like that myself so I understood it.  It was later, at school that his issues really came to the foreground, constant arguments with a specific teacher after which I would be called in and complained to about his behaviour.  Apparently him pointing out that she was incompetant was inappropriate (even if it was true...she got fired by the end of the term). I did try pointng out that she should be impressed that not only did a 7 year old know in what context to use the word 'incompetant' (secretly I was well chuffed) but he could also spell it correctly... Now that is impressive you have to concede!

A period of 2 years of constantly complaining from the school about Conor's "rudeness" and for rudeness I would substitute "excessive bluntness" my son calls a spade a spade,  if you're ugly he would happily tell you, my dearest friend Suzi will testify to this, not the ugly part, she isn't,  but Conor christened her cabbage and it's stuck.  This was a very difficult time, as a single parent I was endeavouring to date and had many a man seen off by Conor baring his arse at the poor chap.  I think in his mind it was some sort of test to see if they would stick around.... If you can bear the sight of my arse you're alright with me! Kind of thing....   Not many men managed to stick it out I have to say.

But the most difficult side effect of Conor's behaviour was my mental health.  I couldn't work out where I was going wrong? At his fathers he was a model child, at home he was hell on legs,  he seemed to enjoy tormenting me, many was the day I locked myself into my bedroom with him battering on the door demanding entry whilst I sat on the inside crying bitter tears wondering what was I doing wrong. 

The day came when then school insisted he go to the child and adolescent mental health dept for assessment and I will be forever grateful for that insistance... After tests suddenly there was a reason... I wasn't a shit parent with an out of control 'naughty' child.  I was the parent of a Dyspraxic child and all of a sudden the lights came on.  

Treatment for the ADHD was offered and administered and things did get better, obviously Dyspraxia is not a condition that has a pharmaceutical solution but there are coping mechanisms and behavioural therapies that help and we use them.  

We haven't, however, managed to find a way of stopping Conor taking great pleasure in tormenting me, trust me 4 hours of being poked in the arm repeatedly by a knittng needle would be enough to send a saint into a screaming fit... I am no saint trust me... I scream!

But i have learned to see the behaviour as in some ways flattering, he torments me because he feels safe, I'm the one person he feels safe enough tormenting that he feels won't go anywhere, I'll put up with it and him because he is my son and I love him.

Doesn't mean I won't lose the plot and throw a shoe at him though... Like I said... I am no saint.

So here is to my days off from Conor... my holiday so to speak and when he comes home and asks did you miss me? I will be as forthright as he and say "no!"

Virgin Earth - Philippa Gregory

This book is part of a two parter really, even though the story kind of stands on its own, it is the follow up to Earthly Joys. Where the first book follows the John Tradescant the Older in his career as gardener to the King, this book follows his son who inherits his father collection of plants and also his love and skill with the.  John however gets to travel to America in search of new plants where he meets native Indians and falls in love with their lifestyle. 

 As usual Philippa Gregory writes with style and grace, and I found myself falling into the story and living the adventure.

Bridal Jewellery ~ Clare Yarwood-White

This is a really really useful little book, it's not huge , only 96 pages but well worth its size for the amount of information packed into it. I was expecting a book of designs but whilst there are some designs to get you thinking and trying ideas out there is also a wealth of information about gems, names, settings, design consideration, matching accessories and how to work with a bride during a very stressful time... and a whole section on building a bridal jewellery business, including market research, business planning and pricing.  

So if you are thinking along those lines this book is well worth getting.

Book Review : The Land Of The Painted Caves

Have you ever been gagging for a book to come out?  I have and this was the book, I have read all the previous 5 in the series and loved them, loved them so much I had re-read them several times and I had always hoped that this one would come soon, pleeeeease let it come soon. I think you are getting the drift on my desire to read this book.

Anyway finally the book comes out and like an avid child in a sweetshop I rushed to buy it... I even bought it in hardback because (a) I knew I would have to wait for the paperback and I'm not good at waiting and (b) I thought oh I know I will read it more than once so I can justify the hardback price.

So I save this to take with me on holiday and settle down in the sun for a good read... after about 100 pages though I was just about ready to cry.... with disappointment! 

After waiting all this time for this book I couldn't believe just how bad the book was.  I mean the characters are the same, the same people I felt I had been getting to know throughout the previous 5 books, so my attachment to them should have been the same.  It wasn't a lack of emotional investment or interest on my part.   It was just the book... I don't know what happened to Jean M Auel but this book just didn't have the same oompf that the others did.  It was like she just ran out of steam, the book was so repetitive.. by page 100 I was literally screaming "ok already I know people find her freaking accent unusual... shut up about it!!!"

But I am stubborn and as it was the ONLY book I brought on holiday with me I felt compelled to finish it.  I did... barely... almost chucked it in the sea a couple of times and the disappointment I felt at the repetition in the book wasn't salved by a strong ending... no it was the wishy washiest ending to an epic story I have ever seen.  Now this could have been because I was already so annoyed with the disappointment of the body of the story or it could just have been because the ending was rubbish either way that's several hours of my life I won't be getting back. The last time I saw a plot this wet it involved Bobby Ewing being in a shower and it all being a dream in Dallas.

And to top it off, I almost left the book in the hotel room, I was that disgusted with it, but no, I thought I will take it home and stick it on the bookshelf only to get charged for excess baggage on the way home... if I had left the book behind that would have been a chunk of weight we didn't end up paying for.

The editors of this books should have gone through it with a big red pen and marked "repetitious" on every page.

Touch

Adding Touch to our list of must watch programmes.  I thoroughly enjoyed Tim Kring's previous serious Heroes so Touch already had my attention.

Having watched two episodes now I have to say I am hooked.  

Touch follows the story of Martin Bohm, a man widowed during 9/11 and left to care for his autistic son Jake, whom he is devoted to but unable to connect with or really understand.

I'm not a massive Keifer Sutherland fan and I am struggling to find him terribly believable as the devoted father in touch but the story itself has me so captivated I can let that pass.

The young male actor chosen to play Jake is one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen, his eyes seem to portray all the emotion that as an autistic child he is unable to share. So if he's good as a child when he reaches adulthood his career is going to be worth following.

What drew me to this series originally was the ideas behind it... that there are these tiny moments in time that seem so unimportant, like tiny ripples in a pond, they mean nothing to us but that those ripples radiate outwards and connect us all in ways we can't see or appreciate.  It's made me wonder does coincidence actually exist or is there a plan?  Are there really invisible strings that draw us all together and does everything we do, everything we say, every call we make or thought we have connected and important?

The other aspect of the show that has captured me is the love,  I wasn't expecting that.  The absolute unconditional love this man has for this child who does not connect with him, who cannot say I love you dad and cannot bear to be touched, who doesn't "give back" to this parent all the moments we parents cherish and yet, this man fights to keep his son, fights to understand him and is prepared to take the leap of faith to follow the map his child is setting him. 

If you haven't seen the show, I would recommend that you find it and watch it.  But be prepared, having tissues because you will cry... ok maybe you won't, but I blubbed like a baby. 

Catch Touch Tuesdays 8pm on Sky 1

Review - The Shadow Line

BBC2's The Shadow Line has been  an incredible visual ride.   Written by Hugo Blick this is an incredibly dark journey into the shadowy underbelly of the drugs world and even darker world of corruption within the police force.  

Right from the start you are never quite sure who is on who's side. 

Starring:

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Christopher Eccleston 

Richard Lintern 

Robert Pugh

There isn't a single "filler" episode or time wasting moment, it's a non stop rollercoaster of a series that shocks you at every single turn.  Just when you think you know who the baddies are and why they have done what they have done... someone who appeared to have been a thoroughly "good guy" turns out to to have been a "right wrong 'un". 

This series was a real jolt to the system, the acting was excellent, the story very hard hitting and deep and although the body count was quite high by the end of the series, none of the violence was there just to shock, even though it did shock.  

I got the sense of the shadow that the title of the series speaks of, the struggle that a good cop has to stay a good cop when all around him the people who are supposed to be colleagues and on his side are quietly working on their own agenda's.  

Watch it, Watch it!  Watch it!!!!

Time

Time is a very funny thing, it's a difficult concept to actually wrap one's head around,  at some points it creeps and crawls like when your child is a baby and they are teething and won't sleep for nights on end and whinge and cry all the time, time seems to mooch along at a snail's pace dragging it's feet as you beg for it to hurry up and for that period of time to be over.... please please please when will this end arrrgh.

And then other times time rushes past with the speed of light, so fast you never feel like you are catching up and that it's all getting away from you. 

Motherhood seems to be based so much on time, the passage of it, the squandering of it, the need for more of it...

And then one day you're stunned to find it's all gone by too fast and standing in front of you is the young man that once upon a time was your little baby.

Yesterday I felt that moment upon me,  my son reached his 18th birthday.  All the drama and joys and the tears that were shed over the years reached up and tapped me on the shoulder and I felt that pang... it's all gone by too fast.  My baby is a young man, ready to start his own struggle with time.

From Blog That!

Soft Play Purgatory

Recently I had my first re-experience (hmmmm is that a real word???) of soft play, you know,  those indoor playgrounds that are full of climbing frames, ball pits and slides etc. Oh good god the torture of it.  My boys are 17 and 14 so it's a very very long time since I have set foot over the treshold of one of these places and I had forgotten totally what they were like. The first thing that hit me was steam, I mean I know it was raining outside (really heavily... in fact I was at that point considering googling plans on ark creation) so I guess an element of the steam might be kids and parents coming into this hell hole slightly damp but I think also that the steam might have just been the sweat off the kids and the constant CO2 created by their open mouths as they screamed.

And scream they did!!!

We were there because my stepchildren were down visiting us during the school holidays and at 7 and 4 they are a lot younger than my boys so I am having to re-learn how to entertain small people again... not easy I can tell you, but probably good practice if we ever do achieve our aim of having a baby.

The second thing that struck me was the wall of noise.  I am wondering is tolerance of softplay venues, parks etc something you get an immunity to?  I ean when my boys were small I remember taking them to these softplay places and sitting quite happily with a book whilst they ran themselves into exhaustion and the noise never bothered me, yet here I am a few years later and it was like being locked into a room with 100 howler monkeys all screaming at the top of their lungs and it was absolutely excrutiating.  I looked around and there were all these other mums sitting quite happily chatting with each other and yet I could not even hear myself think!!!

I ended up digging into the bottom of my handbag and fortunately found some earplugs which I gratefully shoved into my ears... trust me you could still hear the screaming and shouting... and crying as little Johnny bashed some other kid or vice versa... it was just now at a reasonable dull roar.

I did have a genius thought though if the armed forces ever decide they need new methods to extract information from detainees they could always tie them to a chair and stick them in the middle of the ball pit and just let the kids have fun throwing those plastic balls at them and let the detainees endure a few hours of 100 howler monkeys... oops I mean darling children... a few hours of that and they will be begging to tell what they know.

Time to Rant - Politicians

There are few things in this world that are guaranteed to get me riled up and ready to rant than career politicians. (ok that's a porky pie, there's plenty of things)  I don't mean Joe Bloggs, the man/or woman off the street who decides to stand up and be counted and represent their community... I mean the people who come from (in the main) quite privileged backgrounds, who trot off to University and study politics for years and then come straight out of university and go straight into their jobs of "Politician".

Why does this cause me to have a rant, I hear you ask.... well... think of it this way, if you are sick and you need someone to diagnose you, would you go to you MP's surgery to have them diagnose you?  Or would you take yourself off to your GP, someone who has had years of training in medicine, to work out what is wrong with you?  If your car is broken down, do you go and see your MP or do you go and see a mechanic?

Why then do we trust career politicians who have no had any experience of running companies, who have never worked in the NHS, who have no medical training or business training to run as big a company (and don't be fooled, the NHS IS a business) as the NHS? How... exactly.... are career politicians qualified to decide how money should be spent within the NHS, where is their business qualification?  Where is their medical experience and qualifications? What makes them think they know so much better how to run the NHS better than people who have been working in the field for their whole careers?

The latest comical plan by the Conservative Party to reorganise the NHS is just laughable, especially since the current structure of the NHS was initiated by the Tories in the Thatcher years. It's so easy for them to try and palm the blame off onto the last government but we're not all as stupid as the Tories think and some of us were around when they were last in power and remember what they did.  The Tories were the instigators of the endless league tables and beauracracy.  

If the Tories are serious about reorganising the NHS in a way that a) will work and b) is cost effective then really the Career Politicians need to get out of the equation altogether. Bring in people who actually know what they are doing. As much as they would like to blame the NHS's situation on "Management Overload"  They are wrong, management is essential within the NHS, it is a given that, thanks to the Tories, management is top heavy and could use some pruning, but without good management the NHS would fall to pieces, everyone has a role to play, doctors do the doctoring, nurses do the nursing and the management and admin do the boring paperwork and gruntwork that keeps the NHS ticking over.

What makes me so angry is this stupid assumption that reorganisation is the way forward... we're in a recession, wasting £1.5 billion on reorganisation is not only insane it's wasteful and insulting to us, the taxpayers.   People are worried about whether or not they are going to have a job tomorrow, whether or not their children will be able to go to university or even whether or not they will be able to eat and our Government thinks it's ok to throw around £1.5 billion on reorganisation of an institution that they reorganised the last time they were in power...

I guess it is really easy to sit in a protected ivory tower, where you know your job is safe for 5 years and chuck around sound bites and taxpayers money.