Getting Started...

I wish I could play a musical instrument. I wish I had practiced as a child. I wish my mother hadn't (quite reasonably) allowed me to give up. Consequently I am reluctant to let Molly abandon the recorder even though daily practice almost inevitably results in one of us crying and rolling on the floor.

Yesterday, when I suggested that she might like to adhere more thoroughly to the music as written, rather than playing the notes freestyle, she decided to leave home. She stormed upstairs and began to pack her suitcase. I can only wonder what motivated her to include her yellow school swimming hat.

Anyway to cut a long story short, after some encouragement via facebook in response to the swimming hat post, I have decided to try writing a blog. As a result I am now entertaining fantasies of publishing deals, world domination and endless riches, in the style of JK Rowling. Predictably starting a blog has not turned out to be a simple process, I have spent most of the morning ignoring my family, trying to set up a new e-mail account and a new g-mail account, getting Colin to take a photograph of a fishfinger in my pocket and signing up for a blog. Not to mention fending off ever more desperate requests for breakfast, establishing that advent calendars may not be opened until Thursday and spending 40 minutes on the phone talking my irate mother through her dysfunctional e-mail programme. 

I have promised Molly that I will assist her in her quest to become Junior Bake Off champion 2013. Today this involves making cranberry and white chocolate muffins. Yesterday, with considerable guilt, I bought myself a holly leaf shaped plunger cutter, which will make me very happy as I will be able to create my very own embossed sugar paste holly leaves. The guilt was not so much about the cost of the cutter itself (£3.49 to which Colin's response was "How much?"), it was the additional expense of the nice red cupcake cases, the specialist 'holly green' food colouring and a large block of flower sugar paste. I did get a small amount of change from a £10 pound note, but since Colin has just finished work I am supposed to be economising and cutting back to essentials. In my mind, at the time, all four items seemed  fairly essential to producing Christmas cupcakes.

My other problem is that I have become mildly obsessed with airmiles, or Avios as they have now been rebranded. I have 15000, I need 40,000 to get myself and Colin to New York and back to celebrate my 40th birthday in 2013. The girls are not invited. I am mentally justifying most of my pre-christmas expenditure by consoling myself with the avios I am racking up.

Molly has just interrupted again, complaining that there is no number 19 on her advent calendar. Needless to say, there is. A mountain of washing is still awaiting my attention, the dishwasher needs emptying, the chickens need cleaning and Molly is already sorting out her ingredients...