{"id":98110,"date":"2020-07-10T17:28:40","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T16:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/?p=98110"},"modified":"2020-07-13T10:16:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T09:16:51","slug":"dont-go-to-work-mum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/presenters\/julia-roberts\/dont-go-to-work-mum\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t go to work, mum\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s blog was already going to have Wilfie the cat in it, climbing into the box after I\u2019d removed my new Davina McCall exercise bike, but I couldn’t resist putting the picture above in too.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

This is my new, much-admired work bag with my initials on it that Chris bought me for my birthday, which is, incredibly, a month ago today! It lives in the hall when I am on my long run of eight days out of nine on-air, but this is the first time Wilfie has climbed inside it. It\u2019s almost like he is saying, \u2018Don\u2019t go to work, Mum.\u2019<\/p>\n

The good news for Wilfie is that today is the last in my run of days and he is about to have five days of me at home, much of which will be spent in my loft room writing, which he loves as he lounges on the floor next to me. I have around 12,000 words to write to keep me on target to reach the deadline for my next book which is the end of July. I managed 3,000 words on Monday this week, so it is doable so long as I don\u2019t get distracted. I\u2019m not sure why Wilfie loves the top room so much as it is the hottest room in the house and he is wearing a permanent fur coat and, according to the weather forecast, it is going to be hotting up this weekend.<\/p>\n

Luckily for Wilfie (and me) we finally managed to have the air conditioning unit fitted up there, as when it\u2019s hot it\u2019s like a sauna. We already have a unit in the family room because we live in a Victorian cottage with a south\/west facing back garden and it gets very warm in the latter part of the day. The engineer was able to link the new unit to the existing one, but I did feel for him perched precariously on a ladder two storeys up, connecting the wires. At least he didn\u2019t have the high winds of last weekend to deal with \u2013 every cloud etc.!<\/p>\n\"\"\n

While on the subject of writing, two things; firstly, I\u2019m going to attempt to do an Instagram simulcast when I start the reading of Carol\u2019s Singing on my JuliaRobertsTV Facebook page tonight at 8 p.m. I\u2019ve had a few people say that they don\u2019t do Facebook, so we\u2019ll give it a try and see what happens \u2013 please make allowances for this technophobe if it doesn\u2019t work out. By the way, if you do \u2018do\u2019 Facebook, I\u2019ve been asked by my publisher, Bookouture, to be part of a crime thriller panel of authors for a live broadcast on their page on Monday evening at 7 p.m., where you can ask questions about our journey to publication and our books if you\u2019d like to join in.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

But back to Instagram; you\u2019ll find me at juliagroberts if you don\u2019t already follow me and would like to see picture stories of my home and work life. I posted a video of me cleaning Wilfie\u2019s teeth a couple of days ago and had so many responses saying there was no way their cat would let them do that.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t by choice that I started cleaning Wilfie\u2019s teeth. You may remember a blog post from a couple of years ago where I mentioned that he had to have teeth out because his are prone to decay \u2013 apparently some cats have more of a problem with this than others. The vet suggested teeth cleaning to try and avoid him losing more teeth and so far it appears to be working, as his teeth are positively gleaming. In a way it\u2019s a shame that cats don\u2019t smile, as he ought to be showing them off!<\/p>\n

Speaking of smiling, I had a big grin on my face at the hairdresser\u2019s yesterday.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

I won\u2019t lie, I was a bit nervous until I got to the salon and saw all the safety precautions they have put in place; taking your temperature on arrival, hand sanitiser, visors and gloves for the hairdresser, spacing, paying in advance to reduce contact etc etc. It is good to see how businesses have complied with the regulations as indeed we have at QVC.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

It won\u2019t be too long now until the beauty side of salons can re-open for treatments, but of course you can buy your beauty products from us and we have some more brilliant beauty Today’s Special Values coming up this week, one of which is already on pre-order. I\u2019m not working tomorrow, so will not be doing any of the live shows for the fabulous L\u2019Occitane Today’s Special Value<\/a>. It\u2019s a trio of three supersized products in the Almond fragrance; 950ml almond Shower Oil (which you can also use in the bath), 500ml almond Milk Veil and 150ml of the almond Hand Cream. It\u2019s really good value for the supersizes\u2026 after the Today’s Special Value offer, these would cost \u00a3148 from us plus P&P, but while we have stock it\u2019s\u00a356.97 and on three Easy Pay interest-free instalments. As I mentioned, it\u2019s on pre-order, launching on-air tonight at 9 p.m., and already has four 5 star reviews \u2013 don\u2019t miss it if you\u2019re a fan of the almond fragrance.<\/p>\n

Then there is a Doll 10<\/a> make-up Today’s Special Value all day Tuesday and M. Asam<\/a> on Wednesday, not forgetting the Liz Earle<\/a> Today’s Special Value, which has been selected for our Beauty Day next Sunday \u2013 more on that on next week\u2019s blog.<\/p>\n

Can I just say that I really appreciate the comments you leave after reading my blogs \u2013 it\u2019s good to know someone is reading them and enjoying them. Following the picture of the coffee and walnut cake I made for Chris for Father\u2019s Day, I had a few requests for the recipe in your comments, so here it is:<\/p>\n

Coffee and Walnut Cake<\/p>\n\"\"\n

For the cake<\/p>\n

7 oz self-raising flour
\n6 oz golden caster sugar
\n6 oz margarine
\n3 eggs
\n2 oz wlanuts (chopped quite small)
\n2 teaspoons coffee granules dissolved in a little warm water<\/p>\n

For the icing<\/p>\n

8 oz icing sugar
\n3 oz soft butter
\n2 teaspoons coffee granules dissolved in a little warm water
\nSmall quantity of milk if required to mix
\nWalnuts (whole and chopped) for decoration<\/p>\n

Method<\/p>\n

Cake<\/p>\n

Cream the sugar and margarine in a mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time then fold in the flour. Pour in the dissolved coffee \u2013 it should be a soft dropping consistency. Add the chopped walnuts.<\/p>\n

Spoon into a greased and floured cake tin \u2013 I use a heart shape, but a 7 inch round is fine \u2013 and place in the oven for 25 \u2013 30 mins at 170 degrees, fan assisted. Lightly depress the centre of sponge \u2013 it should spring back. If it doesn\u2019t, return to the oven for 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

Allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cool, use a breadknife to carefully slice through the centre to give two round or heart-shaped cakes.<\/p>\n

Icing<\/p>\n

Cream the butter in a bowl and gradually add icing sugar, 2 oz at a time. When you\u2019ve added 6 oz icing sugar, pour in the coffee mixture, mix and then add the other 2 oz icing sugar. If it feels quite stiff, add a few drops of milk to soften it.<\/p>\n

Sandwich the two halves of the cake together with half the icing. Spread icing around the edges using a knife or palette knife and then spread the remainder of the icing over the top of the cake. Decorate with the walnuts as desired.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I\u2019ve stopped doing quite so much baking as I was feeling \u2018a little bit heavy\u2019, particularly as I\u2019m less mobile than usual. That\u2019s one of the reasons I ordered the Davina McCall exercise bike when it was a Big Deal last week. It arrived just after I left for work last Friday and Chris had put it together by the time I got home. Wilfie wasted no time getting into the box it came in the moment the bike was removed!<\/p>\n\"\"\n

I haven\u2019t been on it properly yet, apart from to set the right height for the saddle, as I want to run it past my physiotherapist first. I\u2019m on quite a structured physio programme, but I thought the pedalling action would be good for flexibility of the ankle \u2013 I\u2019ll let you know how I get on with it once Brittany has approved me using it at this stage of my rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Well, that\u2019s about it for now. See you tonight on Facebook or IGTV (if it works) for the start of my Carol\u2019s Singing novella, or if not, I\u2019ll see you on air next Thursday.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your weekend.
\nMuch love,
\nJulia x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s blog was already going to have Wilfie the cat in it, climbing into the box after I\u2019d removed my new Davina McCall exercise bike, but I couldn’t resist putting the picture above in too. This is my new, much-admired work bag with my initials on it that Chris bought me for my birthday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":98120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[247,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98110"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98141,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98110\/revisions\/98141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}