Jennieworld Today

I’m just talking to a friend of mine in Aberystwyth on MSN. I’m going up to Aber at the weekend (without family, for a change!), primarily to visit Aber uni’s Relay For Life, but I’ll also be able to visit my MSN Aber friend, and hopefully a school friend of mine who has recently moved back to Ceredigion. She was actually the one who got me started on this whole blogging lark in the first place, so you have her to thank for the inane trivia I post on this page.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the visit. I’ve got company on the drive as I know someone else who wanted to go just for an overnight, which is great for me. I’m just trying to schedule my days to make sure I do everything I want to!

My MSN friend is a student, so I’ve just been checking he has a freezer, as I’ll be making cakes for him, and I don’t want any to go to waste. As I said this last to him, I realised how stupid it sounded, as he has the most enormous appetite and couldn’t fail to clear almost any amount of baked goods well before they were past their best! However, it’s nice to feel appreciated!

I’d better make a move now, actually, as I’ve been on the computer for more than an hour, and I’ve got more housework to do before I collect my other son from school. Time flies when you’re having fun!

I think I may be becoming obsessed by the weather. I’ve blogged about it a few times, but trust me, the weather matters when you have to do three school runs in a day! Today has been lovely - I even left my coat at home when I picked up my youngest before lunch!

I’m really hoping that it holds - it would be lovely to be able to take the boys out for a bit after school, but I expect the clouds will have rolled across by then, which is extremely off-putting! However, maybe I’ll be strong and force us to go out and get some fresh air. I might even try going somewhere new, or at least somewhere we haven’t been for a while, such as the part of the coastline near to us where the old lighthouse used to be. The only problem with that is that there are usually a lot of cows down there, which look HUGE when they’re walking near to you! The boys do worry about them a little bit, but then being city boys, I suppose they’re not used to seeing animals any bigger that cats and dogs.

What is it about lists, and more specifically about crossing things off lists, which is so very satisfying? As I have mentioned before on this blog, I have a lot to do in my house to prepare it for sale next year, and last year I was really getting nowhere. This year I really feel like I’m making progress, and I’m sure that key to that is the fact that I make lists. I have a little yellow notepad which I take nearly everywhere, and at the start of each day I make a list of jobs for that day. Then I start crossing off. I’m more than half way through today’s list, which is hugely pleasing to me, and I’m forgetting less things which need doing.

This morning I made three big pots of food, which should supply my family with at least five meals. I plan to freeze most of it, keeping out cottage pie for tonight and maybe some of the pork casserole for tomorrow. Then I have more of the meat sauce for cottage pie to go in the freezer, as well as a chicken jalfrezi, which will be joining a chilli and a Thai red chicken curry which I made last Friday. As I have so much decorating to do, having these meals ready made will save me so much time and will allow me to carry on with my housework right up to the last moment before tea.

I think I may be becoming organised - does this mean that I’m growing up?

I’m always interested to look at the statistics generated by this blog, to see what it is that people look at when they come to this site. Overwhelmingly, it seems that people find my site after searching for information about cakes, and birthday cakes in particular. Another popular search which ends with people coming here is a search for things mediaeval. Now, I was pleased with how my cakes turned out, and so I then photographed them and put them up here, but that was almost a year ago now, and surely there are better places to look? Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted that all of you visit me here, but it’s a poor lookout for the internet if I’m high up on the list of places to get information about cakes and mediaeval trivia! Out of interest, I’ve tried to search for myself on Google using similar search terms as others have used, and I never get my site listed. How long does it take to get to me? I can’t imagine that I’m on the first few pages. I’d be thrilled if someone would let me know!

I’m struggling. I’m helping to run an event for Cancer Research UK called Relay For Life and we’re trying to set up a website. I set up a blog for it, but we decided that it would be better if we bought a domain name and hosted the blog there. That way we could also have e-mail through that rather than yahoo or hotmail. However, I’m really struggling to work out how to configure it. It’s just not getting through to whichever part of my brain is supposed to take it in. I’ve set up e-mail addresses via the host site for all the committee members, but I can’t really do very much until the registration is activated, which will apparently take a few days. I want to get the blog over there now! I hate having to wait for things! Patience, as you may have guessed, is not my strongest point.

There are six of us on the committee of Cancer Research UK Relay For Life in Cardiff. It’s a new event for the city, and will be very exciting to be a part of. At the moment, we are still waiting to hear from our main venue choice which is a little frustrating as there is practically nothing to be done until we have confirmed the venue and date. As you can imagine, without a date and place for the event, we can’t recruit teams to take part, we can’t invite cancer specialists and celebrities to attend, we can’t order logistical things like marquees, sound and lighting and other facilities, and the list goes on and on. There will be such a rush of activity once we can actually start!

This is no good for my (lack of) patience. I feel so frustrated that I can’t do anything!

I’ve just been on Facebook and have found out through it that there is a total lunar eclipse this coming Wednesday night. I’ve never seen one before, so I’ll definitely be trying to remember to wake up for this one! It’s not too late at night if you live on America’s east coast, but for me here in Britain it’s apparently at it’s ‘height’ (can’t think of a better word) at about 3.30am. An alarm clock will be set!

If you would like to find out more about this, click here.

We went for a walk around Roath Park Lake this afternoon as the weather has been so lovely and bright and sunny. The daffodils are starting to come out and the trees are beginning to show signs of leaves in bud, so it was a lovely time to visit the park. If you could ignore the cold air, it was easily possible to imagine that it was much later in the year. I don’t suppose that this lovely weather will last much longer, but we’re certainly enjoying it while it does.

Friday was the last day of the half term holiday, and so my parents and I took my children to Cardiff Bay on a “bendy-bus” for the afternoon. We had been a bit worried that the sky was looking a little threatening, but by the time we had finished lunch it had cleared up beautifully and the sun was pushing through. It was very cold though, as Mermaid Quay and the area immediately around the water is very exposed to the cold winds from the Bristol Channel. The boys took part in a hunt around Mermaid Quay to find pictures of weather conditions, a list of which they later swapped for goody bags in a half term promotion. They were also given balloon swords, which I’m sure you can imagine, they enjoyed immensely!

We had a good walk around the Bay, trying to find the hidden entrance into the ‘Torchwood Hub’, looking at the Pier Head Building and then visiting the Welsh Assembly building. I’ve often walked past it, played tag with my children on the terraces by its front doors or just sat on the steps enjoying an ice cream from Cadwalladers, but I’ve never managed to go inside before. There was airport-style security before we were allowed in; the boys had to leave their balloons at the security desk and our bags and coats had to be scanned. Then we had to walk through a metal detector, which of course, I set off! I was then scanned by one of those stick scanners, but I obviously didn’t look too threatening as, once it was established that there was only metal in my belt and shoes, the guard let me pass.

The inside public area isn’t very large, although it does boast a gallery where you can see into part of the Assembly chamber and see the debating in progress when the AMs are in session. On Friday, however, the Assembly was not in session so it was all very quiet. There is a cafe on the upper floor where you can get a Welsh cream tea very reasonably. My mother was very tempted by this, but we had left my father outside in the cold and so decided it wouldn’t be fair to leave him there while we ate and drank in comfort!

Afterwards, we got back on the bendy bus and made our way home, worn out and very glad to get back into our warm flat.

I’ve not moved house for seven years. When I last moved I (only just) didn’t have any children to worry about, no toys etc to pack, no little people untidying everything five minutes before a viewing with potential buyers. In fact we didn’t have to worry about viewings as we were renting our last flat and I think only one person came to see it before we left. So the thought of moving house now fills me with trepidation. A large part of that is the idea of keeping a two bedroom flat tidy for an extended length of time. There are four of us in our flat, and not one of us is what you could describe as a tidy person. Also, I worry about the responsibility of choosing the next house. I know that it is not solely my decision, that my husband will choose with me and I’m sure our parents and friends will offer advice. At the end of the day, however, it is a large financial commitment, and I worry in case I miss something obviously wrong with the house, the area, etc. Then there’s everything that has to be done, both in the flat and paperwork. We would obviously instruct solicitors to cover most of the necessary work, but we still have to do a fair bit and I’m convinced that I’ll forget something crucial like insurance for the move and the crossover into the new house.

I’m a worrier.

I worry endlessly. Except when I’m asleep, although it is not uncommon for me to have dreams in which I worry. And, in common with all serial worriers (it’s not that bad that I can’t realise there are many more like me out there!) I worry out of all proportion and way before it is necessary to get worked up about anything. For instance, I’m starting to worry that we’ll put the flat on the market and no-one will view it. Is it because we will be putting it on the market for too high a price? We haven’t even had it valued yet and I’m worrying about that! Bless me.

My Dad has advised me to make a list of everything that needs to be done before we put it on the market. He’s a great believer in lists. As am I in normal circumstances, but I’m fairly sure that, if I were to make a list of everything that needs doing right now, I’d probably crawl under my duvet gibbering wildly and become prone to frequent panic attacks. So, I’ve decided to make sure that I do something to improve the flat every day for a month, then, at about Easter, I’ll make a list. By then hopefully some of the decorating at least will have been done, even if I haven’t managed to clear out cupboards etc, and so I’ll at least be able to see that progress has been made. A plan! Hooray!

I had a lovely morning. I was presented with a card, a large bunch of pink and cream roses and a two-course breakfast in bed! I had the obligatory cup of tea to wake me up, then a croissant with red grapes and a glass of red fruit smoothie. This was followed by scrambled eggs (in heart shapes) on toast. And I also had a valentine cracker, which contained a red ‘crown’ and sparklers which I plan on lighting after dark this evening! I’m loved! I’m happy!