Moving on

Cherryfudge

I stayed up late last night completing the story for the children this morning but it seemed to go well, apart from Abraham's tent collapsing on top of him and Sarah a couple of times. It didn't do that when I practiced.

DH has been in the wars: he put his back out this morning by sitting down to breakfast so he's had to move cautiously but it's not as bad as it could have been and he was able to take a couple of painkillers.

We had cold chicken with vegetables and couscous for dinner, and watched the last bit of Trading Places. I do hope there's another series.

The afternoon was a bit breezy but still tee shirt weather. I took DD's rocking horse out and gave it a good clean up, then assessed for repairs. It's basically okay but the back is worn so I'd like to make it at least a saddle blanket, perhaps a saddle too. The reins need to be replaced and so does the tail - then it can go to DD's daughter. I did discover the insides of the ears are white, which was a surprise.

After that I put the broken washing line up again. Gradually reclaiming my territory. 😊

I was quite tired later in the afternoon but didn't manage to doze off, and the only other thing worth noting is that I'm going down a level in Duolingo, despite spending some time on it today. I can't make up a thousand points shortfall between me and the next person, in one evening. I actually missed a day earlier in the week, completely by accident on a busy day, but I had a streak freeze in stock, so I'm not losing the streak I've built up over about four years. I know my French has improved as it now seems to be around the level I was supposed to be at way back when I took A level (and got an O level in it). That says something about how much I was struggling with it at school.

Watty1

really impressed with all those who develop their skills with Duo Lingo. I’ve tried to learn Welsh from the app but just don’t seem to be able to do that!!

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82018264#Comment_82018264

I think some languages work better than others on Duolingo. A friend who is Welsh says the Duo version is a mixture of northern and southern Welsh so there are phrases that she, as a southern Welsh person, wouldn't use. The French course is well thought out and doesn't often seem to require a jump in understanding, and I did French at school so I'm not coming to it anew.

Of course, it's all doubly complicated as it's written in American English and sometimes I have to translate from American in order to find what they are asking of me. For instance sidewalk = pavement = trottoir. Soccer = football = football.

rtandon27

Haha - I got super confused as well - I speak Canadian Englsh - which means British spellings - and international French with a smattering of Quebecois expressions - the duo French gave me a proper headache!

I decided to try Arabic instead but got bored with all the parts of a house.

So chess it is, even if the funny little man talks nonsense.

Cherryfudge

Yes, I remember doing something about Quebecois French - but then it disappeared off the scene. I think it might be more useful if they made a clear demarcation between regional differences, so you could take track a) for things distinctively France-style French, b) for Quebecois c) for Senegal, etc.

I've tried the Chess course but not stuck with it, it's one I might dip into occasionally.

I thought Arabic might be interesting: I wonder which Arabic they use? My Dad spoke it, having lived in Egypt, but found he needed French to communicate with someone from (I think) Saudi Arabia.

Speaking of the 'talking nonsense', quite an early stage of the Italian course is about haunted hotels! Of course, it's really to give vocabulary about asking to change your room or referring to bedrooms, bathrooms etc. The silliness is a deliberate ploy as it helps us learn, apparently, though I did hear someone say they wanted a serious course and so didn't use Duolingo.

By way of a P.S. My parents and sister were all multi-lingual - I'm the odd one out. When Mum used to try to help me with my French homework, I couldn't understand her as she had a southern French accent. She also said my Dad's Spanish had an Italian accent. As for me, I'm fluent in standard English but can understand most spoken Yorkshire and am very happy with that!

Cherryfudge

We had overnight rain and more this morning and the forecast is for it to continue at least till the middle of June, but actual rain has stopped. It's cooler - not cold.

I had my GP appointment this morning first thing - and it was a bit of a rush as she had to keep to time, but she's referred me to the sleep clinic at the big hospital in case I have sleep apnoea.

Since then things have been too quiet and boring, till someone on the using up food thread reminded me about making banana bread. I had three bananas in the freezer so I made them into muffins with walnuts, raisins and choc chips. I might pack a couple each work evening as DH doesn't eat bananas and I always get the nibbles due to the time of my shifts. I've also made the accidentally-defrosted pack of peas into soup, using onion, garlic, a ham stock cube and a small lettuce.

Most of the above ingredients are use-ups, so I'm quite pleased with my progress.

The pharmacy has texted to say they have my prescription - whether these are delayed items from last week's request or the doctor has ordered them for me, I don't know. I also have work trousers from V1nted to collect.

I didn't plan out my week, so here it is:

Monday - work

Tuesday - childcare

Wednesday - work. DH has the day off.

Thursday = 2 lots of work.

Friday - church cleaning, work.

Saturday - possibly car boot sale.

Sunday - church.

As you can see, there's not a huge amount happening, but I need to fit in some admin time both for Sunday mornings and for Thursday afternoon.

Well, I need to make another batch of soup as I've told DH it will be lentil and chorizo tonight, and the one I made this morning will be in the fridge for my lunches. I've also cleaned the nuts and couscous shelf in the kitchen and tidied it, and am half way through the one over the cooker that has things like loaf tins. We now have lots of almonds as DH was eating them to take in more magnesium, but the blood tests say his levels are fine so there are a great many to get through!

Cherryfudge

Work was three hours, tea was lentil and chorizo soup after demolishing a muffin at actual tea time to keep me going. I've also started an iron supplement: I found a liquid one just under £5 but if it's uncomfortable to take, I have also found the spray one that someone kindly recommended. It's twice the price of the one I got, hence prioritising this one!

Must go and get some sleep as we have the children tomorrow.

P.S. Annoyingly, I forgot to use the Clubcard vouchers that went out of date yesterday.

Rhyddid2026

I got the spray one for my grandmother when she was unwell, it went down really well and was probably the only supplement/medication she was willing to take. It is pricey (if it's the BetterYou version), but we found it was worth it.

Cherryfudge

I'm not sure of the make of the spray one I saw, but it was quite expensive, so I decided to try a liquid one first. If I've understood it properly, it's absorbed before it reaches the gut, so avoiding side effects. It's definitely on my stand-by list!

Today was spent looking after the grandchildren: despite what felt like a good night's sleep, I was tired most of the time. I didn't feel right till late afternoon when we were out and about, but thankfully DH's back is easing so he was okay to do quite a lot. I played indoors with them in the morning and had a snooze after lunch while he was in charge, then he took them to the library and I joined them later at the swings. I called in at BeeandEm where they had my favourite hot chocolate for £3.49. It's been up to around £5 on occasion so I made sure to get one. On the way out I found myself about to join a till queue behind the former client who assaulted me a few years ago! I was pleased to notice I didn't feel scared, though I swapped queues and he didn't notice me.

I also called into a charity shop later and found a funny mug that's just right for the class I'm currently helping in, so that was £1 well spent.

There were very dark clouds on the walk back, and later a bit of thunder, but it didn't rain.

No Tuesday evening meeting today, but it's nice to have a relaxing evening. We had the cod and chorizo fishcakes that I'd been keen to try, but I wasn't keen though DH liked them.

Cherryfudge

It's been a very showery day - on which I did two loads of washing! Oops. The first lot got half way dry before I had to bring it in, and the place is now decorated with tee shirts and towels.

DH made salmon in sauce with pasta and veg for lunch, thus using up half a jar of sauce and kindly buying the L1dl cheap salmon. The quality seems find but the pieces are odd shapes, but that doesn't matter if we divide it by two and cover it in sauce! Unfortunately he spilled some sauce as he was sitting down, so we've been very glad of the new carpet cleaner. Tomato on grey is rather too visible, but it's almost completely gone now. Another pass on another day might be enough, but we are thinking of getting the professional carpet cleaner back. He did them a while back and made a really good job of it, and I think it was about £70, though it's bound to be more now. We were thinking of having him back even before the spillage as it's really hard to get the carpets as good as he does them.

DH went for a walk in the afternoon and I fell asleep. I'm not sure why I get tired like this but it's a nuisance. I was awake in time for work (three hours), and grabbed some of the pea soup from the other day for a quick tea first. DH gave me a lift as there was a sharp shower just before I went out.

On the way home I spent £13.69 at L1dl, including a couple of 15% off coupons (garlic and potatoes) and some y/s hot cross buns. Their chick peas are down to 37p a tin - from 41p - and we use chickpeas a lot so I bought several and also restocked on cous cous.

We had a message through from church with some not-so-good news, so that may feature over the next few weeks. I'm not sure it's something I should talk about on here though.

Nearly time I went to bed as I have work tomorrow.