Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 19: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is the link to the prior thread:

Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 18: Calmly through the day

All this baking sounds lovely. I really like fruit cake but I'm not a fan of marzipan. I'm not much of a baker but did make a brack (fruity tea bread) last week which was nice. My kids have got into baking recently and can pretty much manage a simple cake without help, which is fab because I can sit back and watch, then enjoy all the cake!

acorn that truly is living the dream!

In dull news, I have been on two walks and yoga class today.

@Prokupatuscrakedatus

I can live quite well without Früchtebrot. For cookies I have recipes from my mum and from DH's GM plus recipes I tried and collected over time. Mine are of course not so lovely as the ones in the magazine but perfectly edible. I am not a fan of marzipan either, though I can make it if I have to or I buy Niederegger for a lovely work mate.

I adore Niederegger-my SIL always buys me an assortment box for Christmas.

Baumkuchen
This is sold only before Christmas - and it is lovely.

@Prok; I think they had this as a technical challenge on Great British Bake Off a few years ago.

sue I have only seen snipptes of GBBO on YT, but I think I have seen that. They made the 'Schichttorte' for normal kitchens variety. There is no room for a spit unless you live in a mansion. I have to pass a Christmassy Baumkuchen bakery on my way from work.

My dull news of yesterday ( pulled up carpets, painted skirting) was nearly a lot more dramatic. Realised at 02.30 we could smell gas. Turns out DH had drilled through a pipe when fixing down floorboards. Fixed tonight but meant the carpet fitter we’d waited 8 weeks for couldnt do stairs or landing. But given how close we got to blowing ourselves up that seems a small price.

We went through a phase of nearly always having a chrismassy fruit cake (from Sweet by Ottolenghi/Goh) on the go, may have to look it up again.

Math - I googled the Nova Scotia 'black fruitcake' and it's really similar to 'black bun' ( dark fruitcake from the North of Scotland which my Gran used to make. Given the roots of many in Nova Scotia it makes sense I suppose.

Obviously the real deal Scottish version is wrapped in all butter pastry!
Might try it this year....

@1frenchfoodie

My dull news of yesterday ( pulled up carpets, painted skirting) was nearly a lot more dramatic. Realised at 02.30 we could smell gas. Turns out DH had drilled through a pipe when fixing down floorboards. Fixed tonight but meant the carpet fitter we’d waited 8 weeks for couldnt do stairs or landing. But given how close we got to blowing ourselves up that seems a small price.

We went through a phase of nearly always having a chrismassy fruit cake (from Sweet by Ottolenghi/Goh) on the go, may have to look it up again.

In 2 different houses my husband managed to put a nail through a water pipe; messier than gas, but not so dangerous!

Having a wobble here three more weeks before I start my Keep in touch days before going back to work. DS will be 7 months by then but I will miss him so much.

Neither of my DC are much into baking, although DD will help, especially with the cookie cutters. She'll also peel apples if I'm making a pie. DS is very much into cooking and grilling, and DD is really an expert at sewing.

Speaking of DD, on our Zoom call last night told us that she's decided to add a minor in data science to her major in neurobiology. DH was greatly pleased as the data science studies will make her job search easier when she graduates.

We've ordered DS an iPhone 13 for his big Christmas present, but they're back-ordered. It's supposed to be here before the end of the month.

@1frenchfoodie, did the fire department come?

@Lemonsandlemonade

I managed to get through to the hospital after 3 hours of try later messages and found out that at the moment the date they are giving out is 23rd but there is a big pile of referrals so mine may well be after that. They did however add me to their call if a cancellation list and said you can transfer in if private first but its often a consultant who works there are works privately.

DH didn't go to his piano lesson and stayed here with us playing the piano. Silkiecat was most impressed with this and decided to lean over from the dining room table where she lies on her cardboard box and tapping a furry paw on DHs neck each time she wanted something like tuna mashing and water adding to her tuna.

DD had another day of mocks so 6 days down, 6 days to go as well as the Senior Maths Challenge. We are having fajitas tonight.

silkie Fajitas (had to google) sound great
What are mocks? Everything DS writes under exam conditions (Klausur) is graded and counts.

Which brings me to your first paragraph - I am slightly shocked / surprised at how different things are handled, but it is not my place.

I just watched and listend to Thomas Pesquet explain the ISS - DUO would be proud

@Silkieschickens haven’t had fajitas for ages. Hope you get your appointment soon.

@Prokupatuscrakedatus mocks are like practice exams. Sometimes they can be taken into account if you can’t take your exams due to an emergency but are not usually.

Sat by a Dad at child’s party yesterday who had reasonable English but was originally from Brazil. I realised that I know very little about Brazil. We had a very interesting conversation about the country and farming.

Isn't it a waste of effort not to take mocks into account? All the effort pupils and teachers go to? I tried to read up on it, but haven't got very far.
The temperature near my desk has dropped to 14 C - hot water bottle, open window and bed, I think.

Lemons, that's hard.

Silkie, that's distressing. If the hospital can't see you until the 23rd at the earliest, you should really consider being tested privately. I love fajitas, but our regular tex/mex place doesn't do them.

It's now dark here at 5:00 PM.

Prok There are two sets of main exams here gcses at 16 then A levels at 18. DDs mocks are practice exams like the ones she will sit in May and June for gcses. Pre the pandemic they did not count unless you were half dead on the day and could get a doctor to certify this on the day but last two years have gone to teacher assessment last minute and they have been taken into account. Last 2 years government first announces exams as normal, no teacher assessment in September, then December govt says we have had a rethink are changing exam papers, this is final then in Feb govt says we are changing to teacher assessment but you can have an exam if you wish or not if you dont. Its chaos at the moment. This year we are currently at stage 2 where officially it is amended exams but the kids have already been out of school from Jan to March, most have had covid and most have had a few covid isolations. If schools shut again it will probably go again to teacher assessment and these will count.

Steak fajitas were lovely.

The Australian professor started emailing me at 5am today though I left it today as needed to research hospitals. It was also a very academic request and my brain was not up to it at 5am.

I have been looking at private MissC but its complicated here and sometimes private wont speed things up. I need to invesigate it more, it looks like to speed it up I need a consultant who works privately and at our hospital otherwise I think it goes back via GP and also think it also has to start via GP with some private. Some of the private do tests in stages whereas Nhs is one stop shop. I am thoroughly confused by it all though I am at least on nhs cancellation list and they said chances are slim for that but I may be called at any time for a same day or next day appointment.

My kids did practice exams (for the SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test) but they did them online or out of books, as part of their tutoring. No one saw the results. The real SAT tests are recorded but lots of students just study some more and take them again if they're not happy with their results. You get to pick which scores are reported to the universities you apply to.

I'm so glad that my kids were already through the application process when the pandemic hit. Testing was chaos here too. Lots of universities waived the requirement and picked candidates based on grades, recommendations, and other factors in the application.

Uni is really working out well for both DD and DS, it's just costing us a fortune.

My dull news is really dull. Took all the children’s outgrown clothes to the nearest charity drop off only to find they have such a backlog they can’t accept new donations. Grr I should have checked.

We all had assorted leftovers this evening. Fettucine Alfredo for me and DD3, plus peas that nobody else wanted. DD4 found tortellini in the fridge and had them with pesto. DS bought the best hot dog and fries he has ever had in his life (direct quote). He thinks the excellence of the fries may be because the potatoes are freshly harvested at this time of year, or perhaps they used fresh oil at the exact right temperature. The hot dogs are usually great at that particular place but apparently this one surpassed all previous offerings.

The GPA system in the US is continuous assessment and reduces the importance of final exams. Your final grade for the year in any given subject is going to consist of a mix of grades for all the work you've handed in throughout the year, participation in class, and the final exam. My DCs used to have a notification from their teachers a couple of weeks ahead of finals week stating what percentage they needed to attain in their finals in order to get an A in any given class. For DS it was always about 85%. The DDs were far more consistent students.

Silkies I hope you'll get a cancellation and start the ball rolling.

math Same here, constant assessmets. And for Abitur it is the grades of 2 years no subjects dropped + 4 exams in restrictedly chosen subjects + a presentation or paper.
Currently DS fights with the paper.

Tried gp to see if they could help and they replied no. But then had good news, Just had a phone call from nhs hospital offering me a cancellation on Friday morning. They said it includes physical exam, mammogram and ultrasound as I am over 40, did not mention a biopsy but at least the first stage will be done. On the phone last time said biopsies are sometimes done same day.