• Feeling: Good, but wishing the weekend was longer
• Listening to: I can go the distance / Your song
• Watching: Avenger Assemble

Woke pretty early (around 7:30 I think) and got up as D had suggested we should go for a walk before it got too hot in the morning, and I also had some sourdough bread on the go overnight that I wanted to get on with.

Kids got up around 8 and came on a walk without complaint (which is a minor miracle at any time of day). We walked along the north side of the river Leam through a small bit of woodland, and then back along the other side in Victoria park. It was lovely to be out while it was cool and not too busy (although the park was busy enough and hot enough by the time we were walking back).

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Morning stroll before it gets too hot

A post shared by Damyanti (@patel.damyanti) on May 31, 2020 at 2:24am PDT

When we got back home I tried to make crumpets out of some sourdough starter I didn’t need. It was a mixed success – the results were quite delicious (with maple syrup, blueberries and sour cream) but more like pancakes than crumpets (crumpcakes? pantpets?)

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Tried to make crumpets from sourdough starter left overs. More pancake like tbh, but still yummy

A post shared by Owen Stephens (@ostephens72) on May 31, 2020 at 4:06am PDT

In the afternoon we followed up last week’s viewing of Thor with Avengers Assemble (first time for the kids). I’m not so bothered about the more recent Avengers films – I prefer some of the other Marvel films especially Captain Marvel and Thor: Ragnarok – but the first Avengers is good fun I think.

In celebration of my niece (R) 10th birthday, D made chocolate cake and I had it with an oat milk iced coffee – very nice! We celebrated with R over Zoom at the weekly family quiz, although F got a bit upset because she was last in the quiz 🙁 Hard being the youngest sometimes.

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Iced coffee and cake

A post shared by Owen Stephens (@ostephens72) on May 31, 2020 at 2:58pm PDT

D (and I) like to watch the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen YouTube channel and recently they did a video on grilled cheese sandwiches. This had left D craving a grilled cheese, so my sourdough baking was partly to get some bread she could use. The sourdough turned out OK, although the crumb is a bit soft for my taste it is probably pretty good for grilled cheese sandwiches and D had a grilled cheese and soup for tea (while me and the kids were having ribs in BBQ sauce).

The evening I’ve spent recording myself singing the two songs for the Bare Necessities fundraiser next weekend. Recording yourself singing can be a bit soul-destroying sometimes and I tend to start getting very picky about what I’m doing – but I think I got two reasonable takes of each song in the end so I’ve submitted them.

Over the weekend I completely failed to install the new water butts we had delivered last week, and also didn’t manage to get to play the Maponimoes game that C sent us (something we are looking forward to trying), but its been a good day today and now I’m tired so I’m going to have some toast and tea and then head to bed.

Stay safe, stay strong x

• Feeling: Recovering from a grumpy day
• Listening to: I can go the distance (from Hercules)
• Watching: Lovebirds

Me being tired and grumpy on a Saturday is turning into a bit of a pattern (unfortunately). I woke early (5am) and then dozed on the sofa, and slept until 10am. D had been up for a while and had been out for a run but the kids were only just getting up when I woke.

My singing teacher is organising an online fundraiser event for a charity called Bare Necessities in Coventry which provides essential (non-food) items to those who need them – including sanitary and baby products. I’ve volunteered to record a couple of songs, and I spent most of the day trying to do a decent recording of “I can go the distance” (from Disney’s Hercules) and “Your Song” (Elton John). Unfortunately singing practice has taken a backseat during lockdown, and no choir means no regular singing – so I’m a bit rusty.

I managed two recordings in the end, but I’m not really happy with them – so it’s good that I’ve got a few more days before I need to send them in.

F created a quiz for us all to do in the afternoon – although computer problems caused her a huge amount of frustration we eventually got them sorted and the quiz was really successful – we all had fun.

B spent time doing calligraphy and working on adding some special effects to a video from his cousin B – he was rightly pleased with the results as the effects looked pretty good!

Meanwhile, D did a bit of gardening and cooking and spent some time reading.

Just before tea I shouted at Bryn which really upset F – she felt I’d been very unfair, and she was probably right (in my defence, B had been a bit thoughtless, but I had probably over-reacted). I cooked tea for the kids – and despite the fact I over-cooked the chicken a bit, they seemed to really enjoy it, and I apologised for being grumpy with them.

After tea we had our usual Saturday quiz (thanks C) which we thought was tough but did very well – so that was a nice boost. After that we went for a short walk – nice to get out into the cool of the evening. I showed the kids something I used to do as a kid – firing (I think clover?) seed heads from a stem.

Meanwhile D took some lovely photos instead of destroying the wildlife!

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Early evening sun

A post shared by Damyanti (@patel.damyanti) on May 30, 2020 at 11:39am PDT

Finally we watched some TV and ate ice-creams with the kids, and once they’d gone up to bed we opened a bottle of wine and watched a movie. So now at the end of the day I’m feeling much more mellow and not at all grumpy!

I think my frustration with Saturdays is I tend to be exhausted from the week, but yet feeling like I should be doing stuff – so “wasting” the morning by sleeping in leaves me feeling bad from the start of the day. Added to that Saturday is probably the day I feel the restrictions of lockdown the most in a way – as it’s when we’d usually go to the shops, have a nice lunch out, etc. etc. Its almost like I need an extra day every weekend at the moment to re-set.

Stay safe, stay strong everyone xxx

• Feeling: Relaxed
• Listening to: Nothing today
• Watching: Snowpiercer (the series)

I woke early (5am) with a headache and pain in my leg (which usually means I’m dehydrated) so got up, drank some water, and tried to get to sleep again on the sofa. After a while I managed to get back to sleep and then woke again around 9:30 – still with a headache – but felt much better once I’d had a cup of tea and a shower.

F’s hair has been getting a bit long and bothering her (getting in her eyes) for a couple of weeks now, so this morning I agreed to cut it (before I’d even had breakfast) – my first foray into hair cutting beyond my own beard!

Before and After:

The rest of the day was pretty lazy overall. F and I worked on one of the extra features F had designed for the potting bench – a place to safely stand pots while you work:

D spent the morning digging out a very stony bit of our garden (with a bit of help from me) to plant sunflowers out – although they look like they are suffering a bit this evening (I suspect the heat). She also used the potting table for the first time to put a cucamelon plant into a hanging basket.

B and F both had online tuition sessions today despite the bank holiday. F wasn’t keen at all to do her’s but with some bribery (promise she could watch “Thor” – a film we stopped her watching some two or more years ago on the basis she was too young at the time – a decision she is still holding against us somewhat) she did do it and enjoyed it (she always does).

B did a bit more work on his physics engine code project and managed to get a 2D ball moving around the screen with a bit of help from me, and we started to work out how to simulate gravity in a 2D world. In his online tuition B is now working on pretty advance maths I think (simultaneous quadratic equations today!) and it’s good for him to have a project to actually apply some of the maths he knows.

We all enjoyed watching Thor after the tutoring sessions were done, then cauliflower cheese and sausages for tea, and ice creams for me and D after the kids were in bed – all in all a pretty good bank holiday Monday.

Stay safe, stay strong x

• Feeling: Up and down
• Listening to: Nothing today
• Watching: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Been a bit up and down today emotionally, which I think is probably down to being a bit tired. Had some really good moments with the kids, but also got very upset with both of them during the day.

After watching Shop Class yesterday F was keen to make something, and for a while we’ve had a pallet sitting in the back garden which I’d promised D I’d make into a potting table for her – so we worked on a design together and after a bit of planning started pulling the left over nails out of the pallet wood and then started constructing the table.

This project took up most of the day although with lots of breaks, and we’ve not finished yet (the legs still need to go on and F has plans for a “pot holder” on top and some decoration), but I’m pretty pleased with what we’ve done and it was (mainly) really good to work on this with F.

D spent some time cleaning the kitchen this morning and organising plants, and then had a quiet afternoon mostly curled up on the sofa with a book (F and I had contributed to making her morning more stressful than it needed to be – sorry).

Despite being pleased with the potting table project, by the evening I was feeling a bit down after another falling out with F (because I said “No” to some TV), and not really in the mood to do the weekly quiz by C – but I was really glad we did because it cheered me up and I got to spend some time with B who I’d not really seen much during the day as I’d been focussed on the project with F.

Unfortunately I had another “down” dip when it came to the kids bedtime – which wasn’t a great way to finish the day with them.

After flipping channels for at least 15 minutes this evening eventually D and I watched “Birdman” (my choice) which is a film I’ve had on my “to watch” list for ages – it kind of suited my mood as it’s both funny and tragic by turn, and quite an odd movie overall. I quite enjoyed it though.

I’ve fed my sourdough starter this evening and tomorrow morning hoping to have enough to make bagels plus pancakes for breakfast.

Stay safe, stay strong.