Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

earthgirl

My Rhubarb is on its way but very slow up here in Scotland. Well done for getting yours in a crumble slready!

Karmacat

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend away, madvix, you've got utterly fantastic weather for it

Rhubarb! One of my plants is really big, it developed a double crown last year, so I have lots I need to start picking, thank you for the reminder.

themadvix

Morning all,

Crumpets - thanks for the input and sympathy re volunteeering. Unfortunately the advice about the tombola is unnecessary as this was what was causing grief. The person who said she was going to do it, isn't going to both with a bottle tombola and just do a sweetie one (despite minuted agreement to the contrary). Thereby reducing potential income massively and this has had a negative impact on the quiz raffle, as I deliberately kept some bottles back. She says 'being there will still raise our profile', completely missing the point that it's about raising cold hard cash! Aaaargh.

Earthgirl, Crumpets, Karma - rhubarb has gone completely mad in last couple of weeks. However, glad to have popped a ready to cook crumble in the freezer as we may need to have custard tonight to use up milk as it got rather warm yesterday morning before we got it in. Karma - I think ours may have a quadruple crown now! :eek:

themadvix

Morning all,

What a glorious bank holiday weekend! We (the Brownies, leaders and I) had an absolutely fantastic time at PGL - wonderful activities, wonderful staff and we hardly had to lift a finger - it was a revelation! They even factored in toilet trips and reminded them about sunscreen. Bliss! We're already debating when we can do it again! :rotfl:

We came back Sunday, so yesterday was spent in the garden. Popped to a camping show to look at some bits, as we could do with a stove, table and possibly chairs. Didn't spend anything though as want to do some more research. Good prices there though and it's on until the end of the month, so will probably return to purchase. Did spend £20 in Sains yesterday (am keeping on top of spending diary!) - including some naughty plastic wrapped bits from the YS section. Saturday was a NSD for both of us. :T DH was hoping to get to beer festival, but it didn't happen as he had no one to go with. Probably saved quite a bit - it's the food that's the killer! Had a BBQ with BIL and GF last night - they brought meat for them (just as well as Sains was out!) and it was a nice relaxed meal. Hm baps to put our food in (delish - Dan Lepard's soft white baps recipe if you're interested) and choc bananas for pud.

Have booked MOT for DH's car this morning - £27 and cashback to come. :T Hopefully it'll pass - he's done the various bits needed this weekend.

MS things:
* MS rewards, VB poll done. Will try to catch up on SBs later, but work takes priority.
* MSE MOT booked via TCB
* Holiday claim on £co has tracked, waiting game now
* NSD Saturday (and Sun for me )
* Weird lentil, saus and mushroom casserole portion that has been lurking in freezer removed for dinner. Wasn't great first time around, so want to get rid. Will eat with rice and omelette to jazz it up a bit/as a failsafe in case it's revolting! :rotfl:
* Water bill DD reduced by £1/month :T

Gratitudes:
* A wonderful group leader at PGL - made the weekend very special
* Great time had with the girls - you really get to know them when you take them away
* Gorgeous weather all weekend
* Lovely, relaxed day yesterday with DH

Karmacat

themadvix wrote: »

Karma - I think ours may have a quadruple crown now! :eek:

That's good to hear, actually - there's so much advice given about separating crowns (which I'm loath to do) it sounds like cruelty to plants *not* to do it. Quadruple crowns rool OK

themadvix

We considered splitting it, but then read that you don't need to... so we didn't!

themadvix

Afternoon all!

I am feeling very positive today. Not entirely sure why, but I'm sure the sun and breaking the back of the current project I'm working on must both have something to do with it. Evening class was good last night too (and homework wasn't completed at the last minute).

DH and I have had a chat recently about houses etc. While the plan was to move next March, this is looking increasingly unlikely for various reasons - Brexit (which could affect house prices, but will almost certainly affect my work to an extent), not being able to afford what we want where we want it, not being willing to compromise too much as we don't want to be moving again for some time, aged rellies etc., etc. Obviously things may change - we might win the premium bonds but at the moment the plan is to get the money saved for moving and see how things go (and keep overpaying ) . What we're looking for isn't ten-a-penny (i.e. we want lots of outside space, possibly a paddock, two garages, but apart from a decent kitchen we're not too worried about internal space), so even when we start looking it's not likely to be a quick decision.

I've been thinking for a while that we were unlikely to be saying 'bye' to this house on schedule, so it's good to know we're both on the same page and reasonably okay with the situation. Our immediate neighbours don't cause any problems (and are perfectly okay, although we'll never be best friends), we're close to family (getting ever closer it seems as they're all moving here!) and DH's work, and really like our house. Downsides are not being able to let the cats roam and the lack of garaging/parking space (important to us) and the frequency with which our drive is blocked by inconsiderate b******s. So it's definitely not for ever, but it might be for a bit longer than planned. Hmm...

One upshot is that DH is determined to build a 'catio' for the boys so that they can enjoy the garden for longer without escaping (and stop constantly whinging to be let out for hours before meal times!). So once the car work is finished we'll be investing in some building materials to get that built! I'm looking forward to watching them enjoy it (or moaning that they can't get out!).

I have scooped up the Santa cashback, so monthly net reduction on my savings deficit is about £50 (shocking, I know, but this is the fault of the naughty US client!). Now standing at £780. Naughty US client owes enough that payment of the bill this month should wipe out the deficit, give me enough to top up the holiday fund and put a chunk against the mortgage/in moving savings. *If* they pay!

Not spending is going well this month so far. CC bill (from 23 April) stands at £145 (after the £870 Brownie coach cost is taken off - airmiles ) and I'm keeping my spending diary up to date. It's easy when you're not spending anything!

MS things:
* VB, SBs, MS rewards - done
* Made chocolate porridge cake as found on Greying's *first* diary.... it may take me a while to catch up. But delicious cake, storecupboard ingredients and will do for lunches this week/next week (it made a lot!).
* Combined cake with cooking crumble last night to use oven to full potential
* Saving kitchen water to water the plants (DH used butt to top up the pond)
* Weird dinner last night was fine, but not something I'll repeat. It's out of the freezer and not wasted, so that's a win.
* Dinner tonight will be daal, chana masala and hm naan. Daal is the usual recipe, very yummy and :money: and chana masala will probably be Rick Stein's version (again thanks to GP's diary, but in a book I've owned for 5 years and this will be the second recipe used out of it!).

Gratitudes:
* I've eaten the last five meals outside - loving the weather
* Enjoyed watching a red kite directly over our house last night being mobbed by a couple of corvids (probably jackdaws, but hard to tell!) - we haven't seen a kite quite so close in concreteland!
* Delicious and easy new recipes shared on here

Have a lovely afternoon folks!

themadvix

Wow, sorry, that was long (even for me!)!

Karmacat

But it was chatty and it mentioned chocolate porridge cake

Interesting about the moving - I'm sure you're right not to move to an "intermediate" house. Your househunting is going to be really interesting, though, with all that outside space!

themadvix

Chocolate porridge cake is the way to go! It's very nice

The problem with not moving is that the mortgage gets smaller and DH and I become less inclined to increase it further! (And then there's the temptation of going all out and trying to clear it - if we decided to stay put (which isn't going to happen), I reckon we could focus and get it gone in 5 years. But we're *not* staying here forever!

ETA: Have picked up a ms (first in over a year) for some foreign currency... which we'll need for our hols