Time to get back to business having fun ..

Warning this is really long!!!What a day today has been, I woke with a smile on my face because I am finally getting things organized and we had made a lot of decisions (the brood and I) after a family meeting last night.. I should of known then it was going to be a strange day..
I quit my job this morning. It was not planned or anything and it was very quick and to tell you the truth bloody fun as well.... I have a huge intolerance of vicious gossip, I love a good gossip and natter but I make a point of not being detrimental or cruel. In the work place we all come across certain clicks or groups just like at school that stick together only at work the things that happen are called 'office politics etc'. I have confidence in my work and I know my manager had full confidence in me (ok she told me) I had the stereotypical bully tactics today which I found really funny as it was just not that intelligent or well thought out (mind you she had a list) and she had to go as she stated 'for back up' half way through a farce of a meeting (she is the cook and I'm the chef umm go figure my dear). This 'meeting' soon disintegrated (I think it might of been the giggle heard from the cleaner outside of the door bless her they had done it to her) with both of these people just losing it there was not one real valid reason to have a meeting with me also they did not have the authority (manager was on holiday). I was not rude impolite or totally negative, I was firm and nonplussed just casually sat on a chair arm drinking my lemonade. Honestly was I supposed to be impressed by bullies I had been pre-warned about when the major issues turned out to be as important as incorrect sandwich cutting and the wrong number of leeks being available. The other things were mute points as I did have the authority to make the changes I did which at that point of being informed the cook nearly went purple. I'm not frivilous with jobs but this job was taken on with the understanding it was to be therapeutic work and it was quite destressing being in my own little world with my Ipod and cooking and generally having fun with the majority of the people working there. I pretty much had free reign when it came to cooking as long as I stayed within the basic ingredients and if I wanted anything else they would order it for me. I loved making what I call smile food some of the people were a lot older so they may as have as much enjoyment out of food as I can give them.. Ok cut a long story short the difference of working at home and there would of been so little as to only be doing the job I loved doing it. So I thought sod it I dont need this crap and said bye..
Oh this was just before 9.20 am so they were in at the deep end with the cooking serves them right ..... So much more happened but I need to go make crepes suzzette for pancake day and cup cakes for friends ... toodle pip

Life and cupcakes..

It's been a while since I blogged a case of so much internet so little time..
A combination of starting a new chef job and a torrent of family issues has meant that the elusive sit down and have an hour to myself is just not enough time to keep up with the deluge of internet things to do.
I've had health issues which were new to me, I spent over 2 yrs getting healthy and fit following spending the major portion of my life as disabled only to find something unrelated has decided to go wrong.. So I tried to sit back and take stock of my lifestyle and changes I could make to deal with this new issue.
Well it didn't work I was just as uptight and stressed as ever and now back on 'lifetime' eek medication.
I did discover some things on my little journey!!
Life is what you make it and sometimes no matter how many good things in your life you do and the things you help with, there are some people that you just can't please and they will go out of their way to make it difficult and be downright evil and harassing.. These are not rejected ex's or disgruntled friends or anything like that but family members and they can be the cruelest of them all.
I can only have so much compassion and sympathy for people who are cruel because sometimes they cant help it if they are grieving or upset but when people go out of their way to deliberately cause harm to another then my time would only be wasted on them as I can never condone that behavior.
I am proud of what I have achieved in my life against all odds, I may not be rich in money but I am rich in friends and love, I may not have a flash car or house anymore but what I have is mine and I have worked for it. I have 2 amazing children (young adults) and a great extended family that love me for who I am not what I am...
So to my friends and my family thank you from the bottom of my heart and bribery cupcakes are in the mail xx
Oh speaking of cupcakes that is one of my new stress reliefs since my workshop was flooded again and I cant work out there and play soap fairy until the foundations are redone, I stopped making soapy goodies inside due to chef'ing and not wanting to cross contaminate.. Oh yeuk soap tasting cupcakes would not be nice and I have a teeny kitchen..
Si the latest update pictures are my valentines cupcakes made especially for my dad's birthday and for my dear friend who just had my new guardian child... love you sweetie xxx


So back to normal life and blogging I hope.... Toodle Pip xx

The best reason!

My quickest ever post... One of the reasons I've not been posting...Alyx Breenan Gibson my new Guardian son xx

Oh my gosh I'm featured!!

Oh how cool when I got back on my computer there was an email from emma (misi.co.uk) congratulating me on being selected as this weeks www.misi.co.uk featured seller what a really lovely thing to find in my email. I really like misi as it is just so uncluttered and unlike etsy I am informed straight away on each sale by email.



Oh it feels like ages since I got to sit and write my blog first of all I was really busy then I was under the weather for a little while, I guess that was the only time not owning a television was a down point. I had decided to play with my computer and add some new bits and totally customize my case with fairy graphics and new color scheme, argh the best laid plans.... I was laid up for a week with no entertainment from the outside world and not able to sit and do my computer. I had to miss a craft fair that had been paid for also my first aerial silk lesson and didn't get all my product pictures done eek..
But I did get lots of hugs and cups of tea made for me and even had dinner prepared all week by family aww how sweet thank you guys and sorry for being so grouchy.....xx

Fluffy Fairy Soaps and Roofing....

What is it when a male sees a woman with a power tool they just have to take over even if they have never used said power tool... ummm something which I thought was limited to boyfriends or husbands has effected my son now.. I planned on taking a few days to redo parts of my kitchen namely the worktops and painting. So armed with my snazzy new jigsaw with laser guidance (so you can see where you have gone wrong) I attempted to remodel my kitchen.. A week later I can finally sit down for a while... It went like this....
1 plug in jigsaw
2 ask a million times for right worktop (no not that one)
3 start to cut
4 jigsaw taken from me (women dont understand these things apparently (took him 20mins to work it out))
5 lose first bit of wall where workbench cut to wide (umm not my measurements)
6 first snapped workbench ( i warned them not to jump on it to make it fit)
7 lost second bit of wall
8 had to redo pipework sons cut out meant sink to far over (i love flex pipes now) no water for 6 hrs now
9 first workbench in place minus several chunks of wall
10 first breakdown of day when studio roof discovered to be partially broken where workbench strangely had somehow hit it when being taken out of the rafters....
Then the mini storm started.............. result.... lost most of roof on studio.... Argh I had a beauty show to do and orders to fill no studio and half a kitchen not to mention the chicken and duck houses to winterise and the million eveyday things to do.. The insurance to fix the roof would take weeks so rather than wait we did it ourselves, we just have a bit to finish now but its safe and drying out..

Awww there's me been desperate to play with my new fragrances and try and finish xmas pressies and I've not made any for 2 weeks now, I think I'm in withdrawal so last night I put the dresses on my Fluffy Fairy Soaps and finished a set of wine glass charms and today until 2pm I'm sitting on my butt felting with not a power tool in sight and definatly not a whiff of male hormones....... When will men learn women seem to work less because we get it right first time.....!! toodle pip...

Swing and Bath Bombing...

Today was bath bomb day, more difficult with all this wet weather it makes my house really humid.
As well as having the floor mop on constant standby with muddy doggy footprints..
But of I went with swing playing really loud on my comp radio and had a really good day.
Making the fizzy bubble bars the other day was the same it can set the fizz off..
So I'm drying batches nearer the radiators.
There's Chocolate Milk Bath Truffles, Snow Bombs, Bleeding Hearts,Surprising Strawberry(shown), Blueberry Blossom and Lavender Spa Balls.
Still totally pants at pictures but I have a solution now a friend is swapping crafts with me as she can take nice pictures and she makes amazingly funny cards I'm working on getting her online I think she would have a great time hehe..
Oh also today I did some more Shower Jelly Hearts and I even put them on etsy, the enchanted one today has little soap blossoms suspended in it, it was made for my niece kitty, hopefully I'll have a picture that can show the blossoms each I took was wobbly and not the jelly.
HeHe must make this a short blog I'm listening to furby and elmo comedy online and it is hilarious but distracting and I need to finish work and get ready to go to kent tommorow..

Hope everyone has a great weekend.... toodle pip

Making Xmas Bacon!

Well I was not going to write this blog today as I really wanted an early night.. But bless her little heart my daughter is making me a bacon sandwich yumm....
So for my friend nigel here is the recipe for the xmas bacon I made last night..
1 glass of wine
Loud Music
Slipping into something more comfortable

oh sorry wrong blog again...


First of all make sure the pork is well refrigerated, whilst in the fridge work on the cure.

Since this is xmas bacon I cure it in a really strong cure, a bit like xmas cake but with pork lol..
So there is heaps of salt as well as
* Cinnamon
* Ginger
* Star Anise
* Black treacle
* Cloves (for studding)
* Brown Sugar
* Orange
* Bay Leaf
* Sea Salt
* Black peppercorns

I grind the dry ingredients up apart from the cloves (these are studded into the pork) and bay then use that as a rub and leave for about 8hrs in the fridge.
The wet mix is warmed and heated for about ten mins before being left to cool. Then it is poured into the curing box and the orange added
.
easypeesy pop the pork into the curing box place in cold room (shed) and wait 4 days!!!!! Argh the wait.. Guess i'll have to make soap lol..

When the pork has cured for 4 days then I dry it open for a few days in the fridge ( I use my fridge in the garage that I use to do certain soaps and hang from the top).

Then slice and enjoy....

This is a combination of several methods and makes for a rich bacon that is not very salty at all even with the 4 days cure, we cannot say how long it would last or keep as we have not got past a few days before it has been eaten or my family have nabbed some...

Cant wait for it to be ready....... x

Baby Pumpkins and Surprises.....

What a funny few days we have had over here, what was going to be a quiet time turned hectic again... Oh and profitable..
Thursday was packaging day and designing the new labels I've swapped to vellum after a few misses to start with got the hang of how the printing is not like on my normal pearlesant paper, the results were really nice with a old faded look that is a bit dreamy. I think I may use all the colors I have rather than my first decision of sticking with the antique gold. Then my first surprise!
A random text from my bestest friend who has been out of the country for ages, the last time we hugged was in 2004 ah bless.... The text read..... Have you got a bed for me?
If I didnt have a bed for him I would make one... He arrived yesterday to spend 2 days with me before he flies back oh how sweet, we made up for lost time yesterday and oh I think i'm slightly suffering the conciquences <-- is that spelt correctly? The second surprise of thursday was the apple of my right eye informed me i was to attend her work halloween party and take soaps???
Ok a little confused at that point but for popping up for just over an hour I sold quiet a few and also nabbed myself a new outlet for my products with the local beautician and hairdresser wanting me to build them a website as well as use and sell my products.... oh fun... The apple of my right eye already knew this but kept stum! For fun we took pictures of the babies dressed as pumpkins for my pumpkin recipe lol.... It was a really fun halloween party with dungeon etc and lots of fancy dress.. It was at Joe Smiths Hair Design at sheering and a lot of the village turned out.. Oh dear I cant upload the pictures at the mo.. I have made a whole new range of bath bombs as well eek..
I have seen some fab blogs in the past few days especially laughing purple goldfish and her jumper felting I am going charity shop hunting to try it out.
Right now I'm of to cook a massive traditional english brekkie for my bestest pal nigel ...... have a fab day..x