The ultimate incentive worked! Now onto phase two

Tete_en_l'Air

Poor NIM, have you been flogging him to death Dinah? I'm having a bake-a-thon tomorrow night actually to make some cakeys for my girlie weekend in York Had a massive spring clean last night, was nice to be able to get up and walk around my room rather than have to 'navigate' it!

Mmm, Lara, Pizza ... G-Force and pizza tonight woo!

Birdie85

Did the baking come out well at the end of the mega session?
We're off up your way tonight, to TGI Fridays. I'm going with my family so no doubt I'll be traumatised again in the morning! I hope not, I've told OH that we have to try extra hard to be extra nice and hope that Mum gets the hint!
Talking about spring cleaning, OH blitzed the spare room last week before I came home and it is so tidy and nice; I have to admit it is a major improvement! I'm a little worried about what he threw out but not found anything major missing yet so it's OK! I'm doing really well at keeping everything tidy too, I may have turned over a new leaf!
And OH has agreed to let me have a little shelf unit in the spare room for my beloved (and too blimmin' valuable to be rotting in my parent's garage) Barbies. I'm fairly sure he'll also request a lock on the door so he can hide away the shame when people come to visit, but I'll feel really settled when I've got my girls on display! I really can't wait to be a Mum so I can have a genuine excuse to play with dolls all the time!

Dinah93

Baking seems to have gone well, will know later when people have the cakes. Took us until well after midnight though, so not really a good economic prospect - 2 people, 4 hours, £3 profit!

Stop talking about pizza and TGIs - I'm getting cravings!!! Seems like forever since we last went out for a meal.

2lb loss this week, happy as I have now cracked the halfway mark. And have rocket, peppers, a bit of bean salad and a bit of cous cous for lunch (well under 300 cals total).... but will be destroyed if I have some of the choc and ginger moussecake for afters!

Cinny91

Morning!

Dinah - I think with the baking it's one thing you're not gonna make mega bucks on from the start. I think you have to do it 'for the love of it' at the start, it should get cheaper for you to make the cakes ect once you're getting regular orders and can buy the ingredients in bulk?
You can make a nice profit on cupcakes though, the big ones I make cost 50p each (that's including sprinkle costs! ) and you can easily sell them on for £1.50.

Biked into town to Asda this morning to get some 'healthy' foods (blah) Managed to get some good stuff cheaply though. I was fighting against the grannys at the reduced readymeal section! (Managed to get one complete with veg for £1.50 - it's only 277calories too)

Trying to be as good as possible this week now as my mum and me are having a girly day out in Sheff on Saturday while OH is at work. We're going shopping, to Pizza Express (thankfully they do that 500calorie pizza) then we're stopping off at Millies Cookies (with vouchers!) before we head to the Cinema. Paying for dinner and the cookies as I know Mum is stressing out over work atm so it should cheer the old lass up!

Dinah93

Is that £1.50 on a market or the like Cinny? I can't obviously go to the market at present, but I was considering pricing it up and asking my brother to go, offer to give him 50% of the profits or something.

Cinny91

I've seen them priced like that in local bakerys ect. I think with Cupcakes you can just price them on prettiness! For work you could price them at £1 each and still make a nice profit. Or do deals like 4 for £3.

Just found this recipe I'm desperate to try! http://52cupcakes.blogspot.com/2009/07/martha-stewarts-cookies-and-cream.html

Dinah93

Oh did I mention, NIM and I booked the train tickets for the weekend in Edinburgh in October. £39 for both, plus 1.5% cashback. Makes it about £15 cheaper than driving plus we can read on the train, so a lot less stressful and more 'holiday'ish.

Found a break in October for £460 per person, 5 nights in 5* Hong Kong - now wheres that fairy Godmother when you need her!?

Poolie

Does that include flights Dinah?

Dinah93

Yup, really is an amazing deal.

Tete_en_l'Air

Oh wow Cinny those cupcakes look amazing, I'm partial to a cookies n cream cheesecake I have to say!

2 cupcake questions:
do you know how much a 'cup' is, as in that recipe? I think it's American recipes that use them..?
And what size are your cupcakes? I was reading somewhere in internet land that cupcakes are actually made in muffin cases and trays, they just don't rise as much, whereas I always thought it was just a word for a prettily decorated fairy cake...???

Oh Dinah don't start my feet itching, already been talking about Cornwall this morning with a colleague, last thing I need is Hong Kong! Is it just !!!!!! though or a serious prospect?