Tuesday 20 February 2007

...so I managed to do the cake!



...oh wow is all I can say right now, a friend had discovered that I'd starting blogging by stumbling upon my blog and realising it was me. She said she'd left a comment, when I checked there were 3 comments. I started the blog so that people can read it and follow my journey, so why am I soooo surprised when that happened...one of those mysteries of life I guess!





Yes I made the cake..."hallelu" as they would say from my neck of the woods. So how did I get the money for it? It came from my darling husband..again! As the day for having the cake ready loomed ever so near, I had to bottle up courage and ask hubby for the money, which was hard for me as he had so kindly given me the money before, but I had spent it on other things. One of them being to help out a friend. Anyway I proceeded to mention to hubby that a friend of mine needed some help and I explained how I helped her out. My dear husband had a lovely smile on his face, saying how wonderful it was of me to do that! (Okay so I'd buttered him up, now was my chance to drop the bombshell.....) "honey", I said," that meant I had to spend the money you gave me to sort out the cake on my friend" his smile dropped! after a while he surprised me by saying..."you know what, God is in control and somehow we will get the money together for this cake"





.....so all is going well, yep! ummmmmm ! I have one day to get the cake sorted as our local newspaper was coming round to do an article on the cake and the reason for my making it. By this time I also realised that the person I was liaising with, for the TV programme the cake was for , had not given me details or where and when to drop it off. All I knew was that it had to be ready for the Saturday of that weekend! I send him another e-mail only to get a call from him in the evening to say the launch of the TV programme had been postponed! "po...what", I said. Due to not enough advertising, they had decided to re-launch in 4 weeks time! What was I going to do with the cake, bearing in mind that they had asked me to donate the cake to them, so in short it is no skin off their backs as they are not paying for it! You know what, the guy seemed like a nice chap, but I was freaking out as to what I was going to do with the cake. what story do I tell the local newspaper when they come round? Will they think I was lying in the first place just to get some publicity? what to do, what to do...





Somehow the thought of putting the cake up for auction came into my mind and then donating the money raised to a charity based in our local community. And so that is what I did, the reporter from the paper was very happy with that and mentioned a few charities I could choose, she and the photographer she brought loved the cake as it was very unusual - two African clay pots with a floral designs on them. The article went out and everything was honky dory! Well kinda off, I only got 3 bidders call me up, and the cake went for a third of what it would normally cost (I thought people loved giving to charities) but the very positive side to all that was that I did pick a charity, and I chose this one purely on the basis that it deals with helping kids, although the kids are aboard, the charity is based in our area. Initially when I got in contact with them, I thought what if they were not a proper charity and I'm just throwing money away! But the more I communicated with them, the more I thanked God for leading me to their path the way he did. They are a lovely couple that are very passionate about what they do, and I don't mind shamelessly plugging their cause via their website www.querico.org.uk .....every cloud has a silver lining right!

p.s: ignore the date on the photo, I use my daughters digital camera and she hadn't programmed the date properly!

Friday 2 February 2007

...I will be sad no more, at least I'll try

I started this blog firstly as a way of venting out my frustrations on daily living and trying to make ends meet, secondly for readers to come on a journey with me and see that being a stay@homeMummy and trying to run a business can work.

The day I started the blog, I heard the very sad news that the Mum of a little girl in my daughter's class had passed away, ending her fight with cancer. I was shocked, I knew the lady was ill and had been for a while but I didn't know it was cancer and then the fact that someone you knew - maybe not closely, but we did chat ever so often and our girls were always at each others birthday parties etc - was no longer here on earth. The lady has 3 girls, the eldest is about 20 yrs old and the youngest is 10 yrs old.

The kids are now without a mother... and the lady is no more!

It kinda shakes you up a bit when things aren't quite going your way and you are at war with the world because of it! No matter how much I might be struggling right now, and no matter how stressed I can get, if that lady could be in my position right now (a life, free of illness bar a couple of coughs & colds, being with my children 24-7) she would take it in an instant!


So, I have told myself to shake up, and know that I am blessed (I've known this for sometime, but you know how it is!) struggle through with a smile on my face, to be thankful for every little thing and big things too. Be hopeful always....


...and hopeful is what I am now, as I have managed to secure some very cushy advertising, there is launch of a programme on one of the SKY channels, that have asked me to donate a cake for their show and in return they will tell people how to get in contact with me and also have me in the credits at the end of the show. On the back of that, I contacted our local newspaper to ask if they wanted to cover a story on 'this very important cake' and they have agreed. So the cake is for next saturday (about 8 days from now) and the local newspaper want to come round on wednesday (about 5 days from now) and even though my husband had given me some money for the cake, I've gone and blown it on 1) helping a friend out who needed some extra money 2) party stuff and food for our 2 year old's birthday party in 2 days time!

In short I have no money for this 'fabulous' cake that is suppose to be ready soon!

Yes, I am hopeful......

Dear God, I pray the next part of my blog is another testimony.....Amen to that!