The last eight weeks have been a bit of a blur, but hopefully we will be able to start getting more of a routine and settle down into life with a baby. There are still moments when I can’t believe he’s ours and we still have him. He is so beautiful and well behaved I can’t believe it at times. What did we do to deserve such a wonder?

This year is going to be the best ever for us and I hope it will be for you too!

As the colours in it are quite autumnal, even if the flower itself isn’t something you’re likely to see at the moment I am going to enter this into the Celebrate Colour competition for needlepoint. Last month had some really amazing entries, so fingers crossed!

So having made a few batches of different types of jam here are my top tips:

• Almost all fruits can be made into jam;
• Yes, it really does need that amount of sugar;
• If it won’t set add a jar of Certo for more pectin;
• Boiling it twice is only following family tradition;
• Having people who are willing to give you piles of fruit when they have grown too much is good if you don’t have the space to grow enough for making a sensible amount;
• Knowing people who also make jam is great as then you can swap so you don’t end up with a cupboard full of jars of the same type of jam;
• Homemade jam is much tastier than shop-bought.

Photo of our most recent jam adventure – grape jelly thanks to K&A for the fruit!

I was working for SouthWestern selling books door to door, and that day was very surreal as everyone was in a state of shock. Many people I spoke to knew someone in New York, or had tales of lucky escapes. I carried on working all day (although didn’t really sell much) thinking that the terrorists “won” if they stopped us doing what we would normally be doing. Everyone was friendly, just not interested. Odd as that day was I found the following Friday evening weirder, as it was a time of remembrance across the US. Virtually every house had candles alight on their porches to remember those who died and the streets were eerily quiet.

Ten years on I can still remember the shock that everyone seemed to be feeling after the event and the unreality that seemed to pervade everywhere.

• sea salt
• balsamic vinegar
• five spice – actually we have about four pots of this…I think they must be multiplying in there!
• cocoa powder
• baking powder

So, any ideas for what to do with these? Any nice recipe that combines them?

Reminds me a bit of what I felt about FriendFeed and Google Wave! Maybe it’s just me…

We obviously have a problem with a minority of society feeling disenfranchised, but these loud calls to remove their benefits and throw them out of council houses is only going to make that worse. I don’t pretend to have any answers, but surely we need to find a way to include them in society not further marginalise them.

I feel really sorry for all those involved in this situation – those who have been the victim of attacks, those who perpetrated them, those who were trying to maintain order and those who are now being blamed for it. Blaming others for the situation is hopeless as well – we are where we are and now need to come up with a plan for the future. Every side blaming the other makes them less likely to work together and doesn’t make anybody feel better or help make things better!

Also, when should you start getting things ready? I’ve spoken to people who’ve assumed I would already have bought everything I needed, but at more than three months before the baby is due that seems a little early to me. For one thing, where would we put it?!? Now I know we will need to reorganise the house and find space for these things once the baby has arrived, but surely not months before that. I think part of the reason for my reticence is that I don’t want to jinx it and then if there are problems with the baby to have to cope with the reminder of all the baby stuff as well as that.

That’s not to say that we’re doing nothing – we have a plan. We’ve decided which room will be turned into the nursery and started clearing it out to make space for all the baby-related paraphernalia we will be getting. We’re also probably one of few people who have painted the living room and kitchen in preparation of the new arrival. So now the whole house has been painted in the last few years and so won’t need doing again for some time. The nursery-to-be is already a nice shade of yellow and so didn’t need to be painted again. Yellow is a good colour as it is quite calming, and gender-neutral! And in a month or so we’ll start thinking about choosing buggies and car seats and all the other things we’ll need.

OK, so we should get child benefit (I’m very unclear about how the changes to this are going to work in practice) and can get childcare vouchers tax-free, which helps, but that’s a huge hit on our disposable income. All until they go to school, as that’s free (at least at the moment!). So for four years they’re expensive, then there’s 13 years of free education followed by having to pay for their higher education at ridiculously increasing costs. £777 a month is £9,324 a year so it is equivalent to the fees Universities are able to charge from next year.

Is there any limit on what childcare costs as the Government are imposing on HE? I’m not even sure how typical these costs are compared to other places.