April Goals Review

• Complete the next Quilting Project - a quilted clutch - I have done all I can on this pending the delivery of the zipper which is taking forever!
• Spring clean our flat room by room - done (maybe it's the nesting but I already feel like this needs doing again. Good thing I'll finish work next week)
• Complete the cooking course which was a wedding present - we didn't get this 'done' but we finally looked into it and we are waiting to hear when the next course takes place.
• Complete three things from my 30 list (revealed tomorrow!) - done! (Wellies, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest', and the baby cardigan)
• Answer my penpal letters - done!
• Change, fix up and fill our photo frames - done!
• Complete the application for Parental Money - ridiculously complicated so I'll be doing this when I get to my maternity leave.
• Plant on the balcony and in the flat - done!

Spring Mani-pedi

As well as enjoying being out and about in my new summery maternity wear, I thought I would brighten things up with what will probably be my last mani-pedi for a while. Reaching those toes was not easy and the baby gave me a good kicking for trying but that's it for a while. Love that colour! 

Kindle

It's been almost month now with my new tablet and one of the big benefits is the Kindle feature. Knowing what a bookworm I am, it's one of Nico's reasons for getting me the tablet. I'm currently reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles and while I will never be completely torn away from a good old-fashioned paperback, there are many benefits to Kindle:

• You can download most of the old classics for free. This is brilliant for me in my goal to read the BBC's top 100 list as many are classics - hence starting with Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
• It's easier to read on the go. I tend to have the tablet with me all the time for work and email so it is quick, light and easy to pick up in a quiet moment.
• I love the statistics - it's quite motivating to see how many pages to go. I especially love that it calculates roughly how long it will take to finish the chapter so I can decide on a night whether to start the next chapter or not when I am tired.
• I had worried about my eyes and getting headaches from reading this way but I normally read with the brightness at the halfway point and haven't suffered yet.

I can't recommend the Kindle enough. I will be using it a lot from now on.

30 things - Knit a Baby Cardigan

I'm so pleased with this project. I started knitting two years ago and this was by far my biggest project yet. It was the most complex and I learnt some new skills (thank goodness for YouTube).

I'm going to add a couple of buttons but otherwise this is ready for the baby. I kept it neutral for obvious reasons but I plan to make another with the colourful stripes of the original pattern as soon as I know which colours to use.

Now I am just waiting for the zipper to finish my other April project!

The Saturday Update

This week I:

• survived a rainy Easter Monday
• went back to work tired but stress free
• started Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• finished season four of Grey's Anatomy
• received and started working with my new wool supply
• brushed up my languages
• had lots of laughs with colleagues
• sat on a sunny balcony with my lovely husband and our cat
• baked a cake and mini buns
• made lemon and mint iced tea
• talked to / checked up on my crazy gran...a lot
• gathered ideas for my forty things list!
• ate two delicious and healthy take out lunches
• had my last year ten Spanish class for a while
• planned my prenatal course with the midwife

Lemon and Mint Iced Tea

I've been waiting for a nice day to try this out and what could be better than a sunny Friday afternoon - my last working Friday until 2015!!

Take a litre of water and boil it up with the juice of two lemons, four tablespoons of sugar and a good handful of mint leaves. Take off the heat and add three ginger and lemon tea bags to brew for at least ten minutes. Allow to cool. Serve over ice with lemon wedges. It's so refreshing - give it a try! (Recipe from here)

Languages Link

source

As regular readers will know, I am a languages teacher and having studied English, German, Spanish, French, Catalan and Russian at different times in my life as well as teaching languages, I am always on the lookout for new resources.

I mentioned duolingo a while ago and I still use this free site regularly to keep up with my Spanish and German. However, they are not yet offering Turkish. I've been keen to learn Turkish for a while as we have many pupils from Turkish backgrounds, and it is one of my 2014 goals.

Recently a colleague recommended babbel. The only downside is that the site is not free - it costs around five euros a month depending on which payment package you opt for. However, I have been using the site (and the app) for around a month now and am making much better progress than with a course book. I find the interactive method and review options so much more useful.

They also offer a wide range of languages so it's worth a look even if your linguistic interests lie elsewhere.