Fundraising and The Domestically Challenged Bakery

People are being really, really generous... I have a couple of enormous thank you's to say and, a la most uninspiring acceptance speeches, you know who you are. Yup, I have a big smile on my face for all of you.

When I was doing my University finals, Mum was coming down to visit me in Oxford and decided to bake some biscuits to give me, in an attempt to top up both energy and seratonin levels. She regrettably however had to confess that the biscuits were so revolting, that when offered to the Dog, they had been politely declined, and thus she had left them at home out of shame. I protested - biscuits, from a woman who can't bake, are a labour of love, and no true labour of love can taste bad, non? And on this assurance, we saw the birth of 'The Domestically Challenged Bakery Ltd'.

Mum would send me extraordinary home-made packages of baked goods which were often pretty edible. Equally, however, the occasional batch would require what one might call nutritional gallantry. Taste buds apart, I do know that every time I received one of my treasured 'Domestically Challenged Bakery' packages, I was filled with a combination of wonder, disbelief and joy. The biscuits always had directions for use, which might be something like "Put on short skirt. Locate academic tutor. Offer biscuit. Simper"; the ingredients would range from ground ginger to spaniel hair but would always list huge quantities of love; and crucially, each package would manage to surpass it's predecessor in terms of hilarity, and each one played a small but important role in the maintenance of my sanity.

I made a brief yet successful forray into jams in the summer of 2005, establishing the subsidiary 'Domestically Challenged Preservery', but since then, the trademark has laid dormant. Until, that is, I thought of Marathon Macaroons. Yes, last week, certain hapless friends received through the post a small collection of somewhat crushed, dubiously 'freestyle', home-made baked goods, accompanied by a sponsorship plea. Incredibly, a few wonderful people even sponsored me upon receipt of said unsavourables!

And little do they know it, but my esteemed work colleagues are soon to be subjected to a similar thing. I think Thursday might be the day for the next major biscuit assault.

Well, be it biscuit bombardment or begging, I am going to raise this much-needed money for the Spinal Injuries Association and I am (fingers very crossed as my right knee/ankle still aren't great) going to run every mile of the London Marathon.

Thanks again to everyone who has sponsored me... it means lots. And if you haven't, I would love just a little support.

Jess