Gracie’s Life Experiment

It’s the Good Shepherd Church Summer Fete on Saturday and we said we’d make a few cakes for the cake stall.  Decided to make some smaller cupcake/muffin type things (as these tend to raise a bit more than selling off whole cakes).  So I had a browse on the internet and found a recipe for Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes on the Nigella site.  

For posterity, here’s the excerpt from the site:

Ingredients for cupcake: 125g of unsalted butter; 100g dark chocolate; 300g of morello cherry jam; 150g caster sugar; pinch of salt; 2 large eggs, beaten; 150g self-raising flour; muffin cases & tin
Ingredients for icing; 100g dark chocolate; 100ml double cream; glace cherries for decoration

How to Make:
-Preheat the oven to 180?C/gas mark 4.
-Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the cherry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.
-Scrape and pour into the muffin papers in their tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
-When the cupcakes are cool, break the chocolate for the icing into little pieces and add them to the cream in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and then whisk – by hand or electrically – till thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and stand a cherry in the centre of each.  Makes 12.

Made a few changes to the recipe as we couldn’t find a relatively cheap cherry jam and ended up with Tesco Bramble Jelly instead (used a bit less of it as it’s quite sugary already) and we used their economy/value plain chocolate.  Also we had some cupcake cases (not muffin cases which are bigger).  We managed to make about double the number of cupcakes (fairy cake sized).  Tonight we just made the cupcakes, but haven’t made the icing yet as they’re still cooling.  Of course we had to sample a few, and they were gorgeous.  Nice and crunchy/crispy on top, soft and moist inside and the little pockets of molten jelly were to die for.  Tasted a bit like blackforest cupcakes.  Thank you Nigella - another great recipe.

Summary of the day:  Woke up at 2.30am and went to the loo, Tossed and turned all night visiting toilet for more wee breaks every hour on the 1/2 hr!!  Washed up in kitchen, Made hubby packed lunch, Went back to bed at 6am, Zonked out till 10am!  Spent rest of the day wandering round in a bit of a daze, Made Chicken Thai Green Curry for dinner, Went to Tescos to get cake ingredients, Made cupcakes!

Had a catch up meeting with the PhD supervisor today.  I was a bit worried as I really haven’t got as much done as I wanted to have - I would blame Shrimp for giving me pregnancy brain fog, but I think it probably is just me procrastinating and being lazy.  Went through the introduction and chapters and then realised I’d missed out 2 chapters some how (how did I miss that?)!!  Went through what I’ve got of lit review so far to check I’m doing it the right way.  Hurray it’s all looking good.  The title is agreed, the chapters and their contents agreed and the topics in lit review and writing style agreed.  Went better than I expected (I thought I was going to get a rollicking as I’d not got much to show).

Summary of the day:  Pulled together all my PhD stuff, Went in for meeting, Chatted to guys at work, Came home, Had porridge for dinner, Felt like a whale (I think Shrimp has had a sudden growth spurt as my bump seems really massive today)

Yay - panic - yay - panic - yay!  It’s July.  Our baby is due this month!  I had a bad night’s sleep last night as I was really excited about Shrimp arriving, but at the same time scared about the future and everything changing.  There’ll be no more impromptu dates out to restaurants.  Probably won’t get to go to the cinema for the next 5 years.  Everytime we leave the house it will be a military routine and involve a car full of stuff.  Sleep? - overrated and is for the weak!  I actually asked hubby last night whether it was too late to change my mind about having a baby.  I was having mild identity crises and thinking that my life for the next few months will revolve totally around baby and involve changing nappies, becoming a one-woman, sleep deprived dairy!  But then there’s all the nice stuff too - the cuddles, the feeling of being needed, playing with Shrimp, seeing her grow and develop, and finding out what her personality is like.  Since we met hubby has always been broody and I love the fact that I can give him the one thing in the world he’s always wanted and that is a baby of his own.  We’ll be our own proper little family from now on.

Summary of the day:  Woke up at 4.30am and cleaned the kitchen and put washing load on, Went back to bed at 6.30, Woke up at 8.30, Put towels and dressing gowns in washing machine, Hung out all the washing, Started work on lit review again (only got a couple of pages done today), Had visitors (a couple of mates have moved into a house nearby and popped by for some tea), Had takeaway for dinner

I’ve been on maternity leave since 22nd May.  Time has really whizzed by.  As part of the deal you can have up to 10 Keep in Touch (KIT) days to go into work without stopping the leave.  Unfortunately I don’t actually get paid anything to do them and I don’t have to go in so there’s no incentive to do it - other than me feeling like I want to.

The two people doing my maternity cover started work today and as my boss is on holiday I went into work in the morning to kick-off their projects.  It was really nice popping into the office.  Seeing all my friends/colleagues - everything was exactly the same as when I left.  Of course all conversation was about Shrimp and how much time I have left.   

Summary of the day: Went into the office (weird), Had to wear flip flops as can no longer get proper shoes on, Relaxed in the afternoon, Made the world’s most disgusting lasagne (don’t use Alpro Low Fat soya milk for anything - I have come to the conclusion that it isn’t nice in any circumstances and the reason it’s low fat is because it’s got more water in it) 

I’m quite fed up of being pregnant now.  I still have just over 4 weeks to go but am now looking forward to finally meeting Baby K as well as not being host to a squatter.  I’ll miss Shrimp’s little kicks and wriggles, but I won’t miss the discomfort, indigestion, bladder trampoline, not being able to lie on my front, aches/pains/clicking joints, waddling, irrational hormones, people talking to my bump and all conversations being about the bump!  I want to have a nice choice of clothes to wear each day (rather than working on a 3 pairs of maternity trouser rotation).  I want to be able to wear lovely summer dresses again and wear make up and go out and not feel that people are staring at my big bump.  I’ve actually got to the point where I can’t remember what it felt like in non-pregnant mode anymore. 

Ah well another couple and she’ll be ready for eviction (I think I will try and post her notice, but I suspect that she will move out in her own sweet time).  I’m hoping she’ll either be 9 days early (22nd July as that’s our wedding anniversary and if she’s born then I have bagsied it as my gift to hubby - he’d better get me an equally good present, he he) or 8 days late as she’ll be born 08/08/08 which is very auspicious in Chinese (and as she is 1/2 of Chinese ancestry then she’ll at least get some good fortune + it’ll be easy to remember her DOB).

Summary of the day: Woke up late, Played piano in church (yay I’m off the rota till mid August now), Felt rubbish, Slept in afternoon

The episode of Dr Who tonight was really good (The Stolen Earth).  I liked the bit with all the different companions all meeting up on the subwave “facebook” - poor Rose not being able to join in.  The bit at the end was a bit schmaltzy though (the slow-mo running towards each other).  Davros returning was a bit creepy (esp when he opened his jacket) - and Dalek Caan was so funny (gone screwy loopy and camp at the same time).

Huuooooowwwwaaagge cliffhanger till next week (thank goodness it’s not a cliffhanger till next series though).  So many questions:

- Is the Dr regenerating? Beeb kept that quiet well if he is 
- What is the Osterhagen Key?
- What are the 27 planets designed to do?
- Will Billie Pipers teeth stop escaping from her mouth?
- Why is Donna special?

Summary of the day:  Went into town to do some banking, Can’t even walk round town for 1 hr without getting knackered (and why is it that when people see a heavily pregnant woman they just walk straight at you - where is it I’m meant to suddenly disapparate to exactly?), Hubby made a curry for dinner, Watched Dr Who (and then Dr Who Confidential on Beeb 3).

We went to see an open air performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream tonight at Donington Le Heath Manor House (near Coalville) by the Chapterhouse Theatre). Before the performance we had our little picnic - well actually there were about 4 courses to our picnic as Rach & Lou had got loads of stuff too (and we had some duplicate items). It was really entertaining, apart from being a bit cold and blustery (thankfully there was no rain). It was a bit hard to hear at the beginning cos the wind was rustling through the trees, but it died down a bit in the second half.  Shrimp had a whale of a time kicking and flipping about during the performance - rather embarrassingly I had to get up in the middle of the first half for a comfort break.  Shrimp was using my bladder as a trampoline.

Summary of the day: Had a bath, Did some more on lit review, Prepared salads and stuff for picnic, Picked up prescriptions, Picked up Rach & Lou, Went to Donington Le Heath.

35 weeks down, 35 days to go!!!  It feels like I’ve been pregnant for almost a year already and I’m feeling like an elephant!  This week’s 10 things are 10 things that are annoying me at this stage of my pregnancy (~8 months).

1. Constant need to wee - I may as well pour whatever I’m drinking straight down the toilet it goes through me so fast. I’m needing to go every 30-60 mins during the day and every 2hrs at night now.
2. Cramps - last night my calf muscle went into a cramp while I was asleep. Woke up in pain screaming and hubby had to stretch it out by pushing my toes back. Who knows how long it was cramped for, but it’s become a massive bruise today. Also I seem to get butt cheek cramp at least once every day too (how embarrassing).
3. Indigestion - yuck, uncomfortable, burns your throat, makes you choke!
4. People commenting on the size of my bump - yes I am actually 8 months pregnant and I haven’t got my dates wrong. I guess I just carry my bump well as it’s not as huge as it could be, yet Shrimp was bang on 50th percentile at scans a fortnight ago. 
5. Suddenly having a social life - for ages we didn’t have very much in the diary socials wise, now suddenly there are loads of weddings, parties and reunions which we can’t go to.
6. Relatives wanting to know the exact day Shrimp will arrive - how am I supposed to know, oh yes let me get my crystal ball out shall I? All I can say is EDD is 31st July.
7. Insomnia - why is it that Shrimp likes to wake up when I am falling asleep and then do highland fling all night long?
8. Brain fog - I keep forgetting things. This morning I went down to make breakfast and put 2 slices of bread in the toaster, then I came upstairs to have a wee, went downstairs and put another 2 slices into the toaster. It was a bit of a surprise when 2 sets of toast popped up!! Ah well Mocha got to have toast for brekkie.
9. The house needing constant tidying - as soon as I’ve tidied it it gets messy within hours
10. Everything!!! It’s the hormones or something as everything is annoying me. Even all the inanimate objects. Today my T-shirt sleeve got stuck on the door handle as I went past and I almost cried in anger at it! I get angry at every little thing. Can’t bend myself to get my socks on, I have a big tantrum and throw the socks across the room. What is wrong with me - GET A GRIP!

Now I’m all riled up just thinking about the things that annoy me. I hope this goes away once the baby comes otherwise I’ll need to go to anger management classes or something. Poor hubby is coping really well with my anger/crying fits and constant demands and moaning about everything.

Summary of the day: Made 2 lots of breakfast!! Had a shower, Got to work on lit review, Made fishfingers for lunch (only 1 lot of lunch made), Did more work on PhD lit review (it’s starting to look in a good state now), Worked all afternoon, Made dinner, Played on Facebook for a while, Played fetch with doggy

With the impending new arrival, my parents are going to come visit Loughborough for a week or so in August.  As they’re getting on a bit and don’t like driving long distances I booked some train tickets online for them.  They get free off-peak travel in London (being over 60 you get a free travel pass) so all I had to do was book the St Pancras - Loughborough leg.  Sometimes they have some cracking Advance deal tickets.  Last year I think it was £7 each each way (so £28 for both of them return - it would cost 3x as much in petrol to drive up).  It only takes about 90 mins on the train from London so it’s not too bad a trip. 

So first I went to Network Rail website  and started to put in the journey partculars.  Excellent, there’s some tickets at £7 again from London to Loughborough - but hang on the Loughborough to London ones are £46!  So I started to try different dates.  It’s most frustrating as you have to keep going back and forth changing the dates and waiting for it to recalculate.  I noticed a button near the bottom that helps you to find cheap seats over a range of dates - but that’s useless as you can’t seem to add more than one date anyway (no matter how many times you try to add more).  Eventually I worked out that any time from 23rd August onwards was going to be expensive (I guess lots of families off for 10 day holidays what with the Bank Holiday at the end of the month). 

So that’s the days sorted then - 14th August to 22nd August, now to work out which trains to get them on.  Now they can’t get to St Pancras till at least 11am because they have to get off-peak trains from Beckenham first.  Hmm there’s tickets available for £7 at 11.55 - excellent that’ll do.  Now 22nd August, there’s plenty of tickets for £9, but they don’t want to hit rush hour on the trains when they cross London, so need to be at St Pancras by 15:30 ish.  Excellent - there’s a £7 ticket that gets in at 15:14.  Now make my selections and try to book - oh I seem to be being redirected to East Midlands Trains website (hmm they’re not Midland Mainline anymore).  It’s allocated some seats for those trains - but the parents need to travel forward facing - hmm Network Rail site didn’t give me that option so I start all over again on the EMT website.  Putting in the same details only to find that the tickets for cheap trains are different, but at least I can allocate forward facing table seats!  End up with train from St Pancras at 12:30 and return from Lboro at 13:44.  Hmm, hang on, isn’t Loughborough a short platform and have I not had to run down the train at the last moment before to be able to get off the train somewhere other than a 4ft drop!  So thought best to give the station a call - can’t for love or money find a direct number for Loughborough and end up talking to Customer Services in Derby (after getting through the various recorded options) - good the seats autoallocated won’t be in the wrong carriages.  Now, finally time to book.  Damn it wants my login and password (what, this is a new site, not Midland Mainline anymore) and now I have to trawl through my old email trying to find out what these details may be!!  Everything is paid for and confirmed and I try and print out the confirmation - funny they’ve made it open in a new window with no File Menu on it so I can’t save it.

It certainly wasn’t simple booking online at all.  Last year seemed to be so much easier!  I imagine that a lot of people would get fed up and just give up after a while.  There’s no way my parents could have booked it themselves.  My mum asked what she would do next year when we’ve moved to Oz and she won’t have me to book the trains - I said, well you won’t need to get the train to Lboro anymore as we won’t be there!!  ha ha

Summary of the day:  Went onto Campus to drop stuff off and collect prescriptions, Went to Aldi to get some food (lots of reduced stuff in there today), Went to Merlins to pick up some arrows and other bits and bobs for hubby, Went to chemist to drop off prescription, Had lunch, Tried to book train tickets (2hrs of my life), Made steak and jacket potatoes for dinner.  

Tuesdays seem to be my day of work.  I don’t know what it is but I wake up bright and alert (and motivated!!)and just get on with writing up my PhD.  It must be optimum time since the weekend and maximum boredom time for me - I guess I must usually spend Mondays pottering around the house doing nothing and getting bored.

Today I started at around 10am and worked through till 5.30pm (when hubby came home).  My Introduction chapter is in a good state (i.e. in a presentable state), and as sad as it sounds I needed to get this one clear in my mind in order to ensure that I know where I’m going with the rest of the chapters.  Now I just need to iron out all the other chapters (prob leave the discussion and conclusions till later in the summer) as at the moment they are “container” files (i.e. I have cut and pasted stuff in ready for me to rehash back together).  Got a meeting next week to go over progress, which considering I’ve been on maternity leave for a month is not as much as I’d hoped.

Summary of the day:  Did writing up most of the day, Hung out washing (it’s forecast for rain tomorrow), Cooked pork and beancurd for dinner