I'm baack!!:-P

hiya folks no i havent fallen off the edge of the planet hey im sorry i havent been around for 2 years i guess life really has got a way of intruding but here i am again to bore u with the mundanity of my life. Well that's October week over. Back to school. My eldest has just informed me that I have to run him to the local park at 6.30 in the am so he can go for a training run with some of his running club mates at 6.45. Now I am up and dressed at that time on a school day, but I am normally on auto-pilot for half an hour until OH leaves for work and I have to start the day by making packed lunches and getting the kids up and now he wants me to be properly awake at that time.!!! Monday am: Well here I am, I managed to get him to the park and sat and waited for half an hour while he and his mates ran round the park in the cold and dark - what fun!! They are all packed off to school and I am now just starting to feel human! Admittedly when run fanatic left for school, he admitted he wasn't quite sure of his whereabouts - he was kinda running on autopilot!! having got up an hour earlier than normal, ran round the park, came home, breakfasted and showered and left for school in a kinda daze! he's gonna be knacked tonite!! Here's hoping this gets old quickly with him!!! Well my baking forays having taken new steps recently - I tried out, for the first time ever making a Key Lime Pie desert - not quite the pukka USA recipe, but worked for me - and it was actually surprisingly good - mixed reaction from the family - OH enjoyed - at least he didn't spit it out!, wee one - na she didn't like it, but RF yeah he agreed it was OK! So a thumbs up basically, and another one I can add to my repertoire. Also tried out chocolate scones for the first time ever - saw them mentioned on Twitter - basic advertising folks! - and having never even heard of or seen chocolate scones, researched them and decided ok I'd give them a whirl - turned out surprisingly ok - a totally new territory for me and quite strange to get used to the taste of - never having contemplated chocolate and scones together - but yeah tasted ok, I think next time tho, I will tweak the recipe a bit to reduce the amount of cocoa powder - bit strong for my taste but now I know the receipe I will feel happier tweaking it around a bit. A 60/40 success from my tasters - the wee one luvs them and surprisingly RF who doesn't like normal scones snaffled about 4 of them and said please mum make some more! My OH not so excited but not total thumbs down. Next adventure is the Christmas Cake - which I have to make kiddie friendly and not so large - since OH says he doesn't want his birthday cake come April to be Xmas Cake with 51 candles!! oh so witty - just for that I reckon I have to save a piece for April!! (hopefully we WON'T still be eating it by then!!!) So onwards and upwards and apologies to all those traditional Xmas cake bakers out there while I try and tweak the recipe a bit! Guess what I'm doing next weekend - has to wait til then cos I need OH muscles to mix it! (something he's very good at at the best of times!) Will keep you posted next week on my (natural)baking success! Til then - if you can't be good - be careful!