Leoni's Cakes

The decision to re-start my business has been a really difficult one. After Big Girl was born, The Husband and I started talking about it. We moved house and just before I registered the new house I found out I was pregnant! The discussion continued as morning sickness and other complications took hold and a decision was never really needed, I just wasn't well enough to work.

When Baby Girl was born, the discussions started again, but with Baby Girl being so ill and my CFS/ME diagnosis, I just wasn't well enough and the decision was made for me, I just wouldn't be able to work for the foreseeable future.

When we moved to Weston, we never really discussed it, but making some cakes for my friends I realised how much I loved and missed what I did. As more friends, and friends of friends, started enquiring about cakes for occasions I realised I was going to need to think about this seriously.The husband and I started talking about the business and in particular if I was well enough and what we could put in place to help. We discussed different situations and lots of 'what would happen if' questions have been asked. 

With business plans tweaked and new terms and conditions thought about. I am so excited to be able to say Leoni's Cakes is once again taking orders and open for business. Take a look at my new website, its not quite finished yet as I have a very exciting photo shoot coming up later in the year to help me better showcase my gorgeous cakes. Keep an eye out for the blog post!

Please help me spread the word by sharing my website amongst your friends in the North Somerset area. Thanks.

A Public Apology to The Husband

Sometimes I ask the husband to proof read my posts, like the post on the education shake up, just to make sure I've got facts right and sometimes I'll ask him to check through the grammar on my posts too as its really not a strength of mine.

Most of the time I just post things up without him reading it at all. On these occasions I usually only find out he's read a post if there is a problem with it, I'll get a phone call saying you really cant use 10 commas in one sentence, or I think the word you were looking for was X rather than Y?

On Wednesday I got one of these phone calls except it wasnt to pick up on spelling or my awful grammar, it was because The Husband was upset. On my post entitled fathers day I had said "I need to send a card to the husbands dad, I could leave it to the husband but lets face it, it would never happen (I left mothers day to him this year BIG mistake!)" He was upset because according to him, I was being unfair. He stated that I never really gave him a chance to remember mothers day this year because I had rung him from the supermarket asking if he had sorted anything out yet (the day before). He also said if I'd just given him the chance he would have done something himself for his mum (have I mentioned his mother lives 100 miles away and he needed to post her a card?)

Anyway, he asked me to post an apology, stating I was wrong, so I am. I unreservedly and publicly apologise for suggesting you were useless at sorting cards and gifts for special occasions.

I'd already bought and written in a card for his dad but I thought I'd leave the rest to him. Obviously he is more than capable of posting a card to reach his dad in time and organising a gift for him. Right?

Just one, small, unimportant question. Why is said card still sat on my kitchen counter this morning?

Photo Of The Week, Fathers day

Friday Treat Week 6

Its Friday again, so time for another treat.

This is the most stressful cake I've ever done. EVER. Not because its a difficult design, it was actually very simple, or because it uses skills that I don't have. Whilst making this cake I found out our oven didn't work! We'd recently moved house and this was the first (and last) cake I made in that oven.

It started off as a normal baking day, I needed to make 2 6" cakes, 2 8" cakes and 2 10" cakes. I had baked them all and left them till the following day. When i sliced open the 1st cakes to fill them, I found they were still raw in the middle, slightly annoyed at my stupidity of obviously not checking them properly I put them to one side and sliced open the next ones, they had the same problem as did the last 2. Shocked that I could make the same mistake 3 times and aware I had lost a day I re made the cakes. The following day I sliced open the 1st set of cakes to find they had the same problem, as did all the others. 

I phoned my mum in a complete panic, I had 2 days to start the cake from scratch and I needed at least 4! I packed up every thing I needed and drove the 80 miles to my mum's house to us her oven (he also has a double oven which meant I could cook more than 2 at a time!

I got the cake finished in a blur of stress, tears, exhaustion and anger. I'm so pleased with how it turned out despite feeling like everything was going wrong around me.

Thankfully now we have a oven that works and I now add a day or two to my making and decorating schedule, just in-case!

These beautiful photographs were taken by the lovely Emily from Emily Beale Photography. Hop on over to her blog to see more of her amazing work.

Education

My heart sank this week as I read details of the GCSE shake-up that has just been announced in the House of Commons. I didn't do too badly in school, but exams stressed me out massively. I found revision hard, as I just didn't know where to start, and being in the exam the anxiety would rise up and I'd spend most of the time concentrating on calming down, relaxing and not giving in to the panic attack that was imminent.

I did well at school largely because of coursework and modular exams. Knowing the exam I was sitting didn't really matter as it was only 10% of my overall mark made things easier, I could mostly hold off the anxiety and get through the exam with a basic pass mark. Coursework was my strength, I had time to make it excellent. 

My heart sank because of my children. Although their life experiences will be different, and I hope they wont be plagued by the same anxiety that rules my life, they are my children. They have inherited half of my genes and traits. Every person is different. Every person thinks differently, learns differently and remembers differently. This is accepted in the world of work, why isn't this accepted in our schools? Why are we taking away modular exams and coursework when, for people like me, it was the only reason I came away with decent grades. I'm not stupid, I'm quite an intelligent person, but exams are not one of my strengths. Putting someone like me in an exam situation is not the way to determine how much I've learnt!

I get so angry at the pressure placed on children to pass exams, it starts when they are just 7 year old. Most schools get it right, but others place so much pressure on these kids to pass and do well. Does it matter?  Is it crucial to the child's education? 

My mum home-schools Little Bro and will home-school Little Sis. Its something I have been thinking about for a while now and I have to say nothing that Gove has done is filling me with any sort of faith in the state schooling system. 

I don't know if I will home-school Big Girl and Baby Girl, its a decision the husband and I are still considering, but I know I do not want my children being put under immense pressure at such a young age. Home-schooling is looking more and more appealing each time Gove opens his mouth.

Fathers Day!

How is it that despite having a date underlined and circled on the calender, despite knowing it's coming (it falls in the same month every year, its not hard!) And despite reading other's blogs on the subject and seeing countless pins on Pinterest for the occasion, Fathers day has once again crept up on me and caught me by surprise.

Each year I think next year I'll be more organised and do better and each year I'm not. So once again I'm looking at the calender and panic is setting in. I need to send a card to the husbands dad, I could leave it to the husband but lets face it, it would never happen (I left mothers day to him this year BIG mistake!) I need to find an appropriate card for my dad and find time to get the girls to at least attempt to make a card for the husband.

I've been watching the pins on Pinterest closely and luckily have a few ideas, I've even started creating a board of my own. I have 4 days to come up with 3 fathers day presents to show 3 important men how much we love and care about them, how hard could it be!

I've been tipped off Morrisons have some unbelievably cute Root beer bottles, so tomorrow I am off there and really hoping they haven't sold out. I want to use them as the basis for all 3 gifts.

Come back on Sunday to see how we did!

My Ballerina

Big Girl started a dance class today. After I got her dressed and did her hair I just stared at her almost unable to recognise the little girl that stood before me. There were so many emotions looking at her that swung from pride to a deep sadness. My stomach flipped and I had the urge to pick her up, cuddle her and never let her go. It was another of those moments where you realise that tiny helpless baby you gave birth to and were put in-charge of nurturing and growing, is no longer a baby. Instead she's a head strong independent girl with her own thoughts and ideas.

I really could waffle on all day about how sad I am my babies are growing up. But I wont, instead I will leave you with some pictures of my little ballerina.

All poses are her own doing, I just told her to smile.