Take me to Vegas!

Last night hubby and I, accompanied by 4 friends, went to a Charity Ball.  My friend, and ex-Pampered Chef boss, Debbie Casey is raising funds for Women for Women and last night was the finale in her fundraising efforts so that she can go on a bike ride through China to raise money for and awareness of this charity's work.  If you would like to donate, click here.

Back to last night.  The food was very nice.  I discovered I like melon, the yellow-skinned green flesh variety, and creme brulee.  During the evening there was a 'spot prize'.  One chair in the whole room had the W4W logo tacked under the seat.  Me, me, me!!!!  For that I 'won' a bottle of pink fizz.  That'll go down nice at my birthday next month.  During the meal Debbie's girls were doing a tombola.  They had a bag of home-made tickets, carefully sealed, and some had prizes.  We had 3 tickets and won a bottle of pineapple Malibu and £30 of vouchers for a Mediterranean restaurant.  The latter will go down nicely on our week's holiday next month.  We weren't quite so lucky in the auction.  The bidding for 4 tickets to watch Hampshire v Durham AND a signed Hampshire CC shirt went beyond our limit, so we didn't win anything there.  Then the raffle was drawn.  I had my eye on the 'Finger Buffet for 25 people' as it would come in very handy for said birthday.  Unfortunately it was not to be.  Instead I won a one night stay in an Executive Suite at the Hamble Retreat, 2 miles from home.  Very nice, indeed.

Fortunately that was it; it was beginning to get embarrassing.  There must have been 100 people there, many of whom left with no prizes at all.  And then there was us with a bagful.  But it would have been just as much fun if we'd won nothing at all.

How lemon curd can seriously ruin your evening

This post WAS going to be titled "What is it about Christmas that makes me want to bake" (and I bet you can see where this post is going).  Today I got the culinary urge to spoil my family with home-made offerings.  However my pastry-making abilities are, well, pants!  My MIL will attest to this.  So I cheated and bought some Jus Rol frozen shortcrust pastry, 2 lots of jam and a jar of lemon curd.

After tea (home-made pizza) I set to with a vengeance (and my Pampered Chef Deluxe Mini Muffin Pan).  All was reasonably well until the 2nd batch came out the oven, the lemon curd batch.  As usual A, D & K were like bees round a honey pot waiting to sample the wares - I have a great quality control department.  Unfortunately one of the tarts split apart and landed oven-hot lemon curd on mine and A's hand.  He seems not too bad.  My little finger has a bright red patch and is throbbing merrily.  Fortunately this means the damage is superficial and not needing a mad dash to A & E.  It also means that the 3rd batch - blackberry jam - will have to wait till tomorrow.  A is watching the snooker and the kids have homework so there's no-one to take over.

This is after the cake I made yesterday decided to crumble apart instead of easing out of its tin like it was supposed to.  Maybe I should hold off making the double chocolate pudding (chocolate, bread waffles, cream, eggs).

Back in circulation

Did you miss me? I've been on holiday, nowhere exotic, visiting family in and around Nottingham. And of course I continued to wreak mayhem for the early part of the week. On Monday I managed to splash myself with hot fat. Fortunately the dish had been out the oven for a minute so the fat was no longer sizzling, and most of it went down my clothes instead. There's just a tiny mark on the inside of my forearm. Equally fortunately MIL (where we were) had a copious supply of aloe vera so the blister that began to form soon went away. Almost immediately afterwards I tried to fall over the table leg and almost ended up head first in A's lap (bad visuals, huh?!). I decided that my issue was being stone cold sober so MIL plonked a glass of wine in front of me which seemed to help.

On Tuesday we went to Skegness for our annual jaunt. For me it was a day of NO mishaps, breakages, electrical issues, etc. We all had a blast and came home tired but happy, until that is Mum told us off (in fun) for not bringing home any candy floss or brandy snaps.

Wednesday was K's 16th birthday. We went to lunch at Mum's local golf club, and were joined by all K's grandparents and cousins. The cousins came back to Mum's for the afternoon and tea. All 4 children - cousins and my two - played outside nearly all afternoon, so it was quite quiet in the house. We also realised that D sounds exactly like my brother, even down to tone of voice and his way of pronouncing certain words. Scary, eh!!!!

On Thursday A helped Dad to fit a new internet wireless router. D, K and I went into town to buy sweets - there's an old fashioned sweet shop - and call in at Tesco to pick up some ingredients for tea on Friday. D drove home via the back country roads, and handled himself very well. When we got back Mum's washing machine packed up. It looked like my jinx was back by proxy. She blamed A, as it stopped soon after the router was switched on. That afternoon she and Dad bought a new one. Then K and I went for a manicure and full-body hot stone massage respectively. Very nice. That evening A and I went to the pub with A's Dad for a few beers. I was deemed safe to drive and therefore designated taxi for the evening.

On Friday we went into Nottingham, and had lunch at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. A took K ice skating whilst D and I went bowling. K loved it and is now insistent that Daddy take her skating every week. Sounds like some serious daddy/daughter bonding time.

We came home on Saturday, followed a few hours later by my brother and niece. Niece had a special riding session in the New Forest, a present for her birthday from some friends.

Since then, I've sorted out (finally) a fundraiser - 28th August 10.30am - 8.30pm if you're local enough - for a local cancer support group that do a great job, taken delivery of next season's stationery and some of the new product for my job. Still working on where to put it all. I've also received all my paperwork from the tax office, so have to get that sorted out this week.

This week is just as crazy. I shall be delegating the driving to D, as he has his driving test on 10th September. He's more than up for it. Good job my nerves are. ;-)

You know you're running your own business when....

..... you're packing for your holiday and the first thing you do is make sure you have packed all your business paperwork needs for the week.

I mean, I used to laugh cynically at all those news reports of big (or those who think they are big) business men lying round the pool with their BlackBerry or i-phone permanently on, keeping in contact with the office back home. And yet, within 3 months of launching myself on an unsuspecting public I am doing a less extravagant version of the same thing.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week I have launched a website - sorry the rules state I may NOT link to it from my blog, nor may I advertise it in the public domain (talk about limiting your ability to make contacts) - sorted through my customer contacts and entered them on to a database, used said database to send business e-mails, will be using said database to print address labels off for those customers whose e-mail addresses I don't have, started planning a fundraiser for a local charity (more info later), helped open a bank account for another group (for whom I am Treasurer), laid out the Aims of said group on paper, and now just have to type up the Rules for a sub-group of this group. All this over and above the usual mundanity of laundry, cleaning, tidying, shopping, etc.

If you really want my business website address, contact me by e-mail. G'wan, you know you want to.

One of those weeks!

This has been an interesting week, techonology-wise. On Wednesday I finally plucked up the courage to get myself a Pampered Chef website. I'm not allowed to post a link to it on here but if you want it, e-mail me and I'll send it to you (strange rule I know, but.....). I then spent 3 hours playing with the settings, viewing the finished article to make sure everything was fine - most of the work is done for you, it's just the personalisation bit that you need to sort out. Then, suddenly, the website wouldn't come up any more. I assumed it was a case of waiting for final approval from on high, so I started playing with the content aimed only at us consultants.

Yesterday there was still no sign of a 'live' site so I started adding my customer information into the site's database, along with notes on what they'd bought and what they'd like if it ever came up on special offer. Then, suddenly, that bit broke - crashed completely. Cue one frantic phone call to the helpdesk. The nice man unblocked whatever I'd broke and I had a live site and a working database. :-))))))

Today I picked up the phone to call a friend. Bet you can guess what happened? Yep, the phone threw a hissy fit and refused to work. Soon got it sorted out but A has banned me from touching the new oven.

That's 3 technological hiccups. Ya think I've had my allocation?

Need a new kitchen

... to go with the new oven we needed last week, after the old one's thermostat threw a hissy fit and cremated a tray of brownies in 10 minutes flat. Seriously this Pampered Chef job is pretty good at giving us drones freebies. In the past two days I have had 2 boxes of stuff for free, currently totallying £178, all for hitting various sales targets in my first 8 weeks. And there's another box of freebies due because I did 4 or more parties in June.

Today I went through the kitchen sorting out what we never used from everything else - still got another couple of cupboards to do. Then I unpacked my 'work' bag into the small cupboard I'd managed to empty. Now all I need to do is find space for today's box AND the one I am expecting. And this is before I order the new stuff from the Autumn/Winter catalogue. Think I need to get earning so I can afford a brand new, redesigned, all whistles and bells kitchen with TONS of storage.

A keeps casting a critical eye on my stock and wants to know if I really need all the new stuff. Well, of course I need the new stuff. Got to have something to show the customers. I did offer to quit completely but he told me not to be silly. I think he enjoys the free stuff as much as I do.

Next on my list of 'want it now' perks is the Hamper. I earn it by having loads of parties and loads of sales in September and October. I wouldn't mind earning enough and getting 5 recruits by the end of February 2010 so I can go to Greece with A - all free and dead posh. Now that's a perk and a half!

Did I tell you I love my job!!!!!

So far, so good

I've now done two Pampered Chef parties and earned myself £65. It doesn't sound much for 3 weeks work but when you realise that it was less than 8 hours work in total, the hourly rate is much more interesting - somewhere around £8 - £10 per hour. Certainly worth my while! June is already busy with 5 parties (but I can certainly squeeze in one or two more), and I've already started booking for July.

Today is a beautiful day. The kids are in town with friends, and A is at work, so the house is all mine - a rarity till September when both D & K are at college. So I'm sat at the computer listening to Bon Jovi and catching up on reading some blogs. I may even drag up Civ IV shortly. Oh, the decadence! I probably should point out that there are already 2 loads of washing on the line and all the paperwork from last night's party is dealt with, so I'm not being a lazy toad all day - though it does have its appeal.

Last Sunday friend E had a house-warming party. Her back garden has very little shade but some kind soul had brought along some umbrellas to act as parasols, so I borrowed one - not a perfect solution but better than nothing. I survived in short sleeves for a few hours until the rash started. I'm not downhearted about it this year, as spending 4 - 5 hours in direct sunshine is probably asking for trouble. However I am feeling quite smug about it as the rash didn't develop into full-blown red spots - it was more bumps in the skin. Now all I have to do is wait for them to clear off (up to two weeks from flare up).

The kids have finally spotted themselves a nice little earner - unfortunately it is me that is coughing up. They've twigged that voluntarily doing chores round the house and helping me with my PC stuff will probably trigger financial remuneration. D, in particular, has been most helpful in the last few days as he has too much month at the end of his allowance (as usual).

A is working hard but seems to have his hayfever under control (so far!). I've probably jinxed him now. We're making a slow but steady effort in sorting out the garage so that - GASP! - we can get to anything in it from the internal door instead of having to open the main door to get to the fuse box. Wonder if the local tip will start charging us business rates for all the clutter we're getting rid of.

How many managing directors?!

My wonderful darling husband is a managing director of his own limited company. It has worked well for us and given us a life that we might otherwise not have had. It enabled me to be a stay-at-home-mum - you know, one of those people who are envied and pitied in equal measure. I'd rather have your envy; you can stick your pity - hang it alongside your Prada suits and Gucci handbags.

Except ..... now I am a managaing director too!!!!!! I have my own business that is just getting started. Will it support us both in the future? Maybe. It won't be through lack of effort on my part. I just have to get the selling side organised, the paperwork is easy enough.

I adore The Pampered Chef. Once I've got my initial 6 parties done and dusted I can work as much or as little as I want (as long as I make £150 worth of sales every other month). The harder I work, the more I earn. And there's no limit to how high I can go. On Saturday I met someone within the organisation who earns £12,000 per MONTH!!!! And yes, she does earn it - doing parties, training talks, workshops, etc. I'm not sure I'd want quite that much work but I'd definitely settle for that amount per year.

If anyone wants to join me, let me know.

I have a job!!!!!

And I didn't need to attend an interview to get it. I've been trying to find paid employment since October last year. I've had 4 interviews and no success, out of upwards of 50 applications. Now I have one. Like I said, no interview, no competition for the coveted role, no set hours, no office politics and all the holidays I want. Sounds good, eh?!

What am I doing, I hear you ask. Well, last week I went out with friend A to a Pampered Chef party. Now I've been a fan of their Stoneware for a year or two, so I took the plunge and signed up to be a Kitchen Consultant. My kit arrives on Monday (my first official day) and my first party is on Wednesday, held here at Dark Corner Towers (those of you who know me know where that is). D is hosting it and I get to practice my patter and cooking skills.

I'm keeping away from the rings, wreaths and plaits for a while - need to get them sorted out before I let them loose on an unsuspecting public - but am game to try anything else. The rest of the household are salivating at the thoughts of having to 'road test' my efforts - it's a hard life they lead.

So, if there is anyone out there who is interested in Pampered Chef, wants to come to my party on Wednesday, wants a party of their own, or fancies being their own boss, get in touch. I'll be more than happy to see you.