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

Goldiegirl

Sorry to hear about your nan. My mum had dementia, and it's a very cruel disease. You feel as if you grieve while they are still alive, but it's still a shock when they pass away.

We went to Bletchley Park a few years ago. I found it really interesting. One of my husband's aunts was based at nearby Chicksands, taking down the messages for the codebreakers to decipher at Bletchley

themadvix

Thanks GG. It is cruel. In some ways we were very fortunate - Nan never lost her sense of humour (depending on the day) and she recognised us all in some way (she knew we were family, at least) up until the end. What you say about grieving is very true. We'd started clearing her house when she moved into the home and I definitely started the grieving process then, remembering what we'd lost of her. But it is still a shock and a big change now she's gone - it's just very final, I guess.

Your husband's aunt must have been at a Y-station then! See, I've retained stuff learned from the weekend. How fascinating!

Back to MSE things.... £50 cashed out on YG! :T :T Woohoo!

Karmacat

I'm glad to hear the funeral's comparatively soon, madvix, and glad you just had takeaway - like you say with the skirt shopping, when your heart's not in it, it just doesn't go so well.

And ooh, Bletchley Park! I have genealogy-link envy :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

themadvix

Morning all,

'Genealogy-link envy' is a great term! I think I'll be using that in the future!

I'm heading over to Nan's house later with Mum. Her and uncles are meeting the vic, but I'm going to peruse photos for after the funeral. So this morning I have work to get done. I've just started following along with the flylady thread - not posting because I'm sure it won't last! :rotfl: It seems to be helping. Along with the flylady jobs, I've also made pizza dough for tonight - will use up open pizza sauce, some mushrooms and cheese. Chopped up the ends of the loaf and froze them this morning for croutons. I wish I could keep this thrifty-ness up all the time, but it always seems to slide...

DH and I have been looking at holidays in the US. We're struggling with narrowing down what we'd like to do. It has been the plan to go for a while, which is what we've been saving our cc miles for. We'll be flying Virgin Upper Class there and premium economy back. It's just the bit in the middle that's a problem. We'd like to go to Nashville and New Orleans and California too.... not conveniently located for each other (Nashville and NOL are, but which bit of CA and is it all too much?!). The Virgin sale is on at the moment, so we need to make decisions soon. DH has got the time between Easter and May Day BH booked off - as per Martin's email, so we'd probably have plenty of time, it just depends on how much we want to spend running around as nothing seems to be cheap there. Any thoughts welcome!!

MS things:
* clicks etc.
* YG payout (mentioned above, but worth repeating, I think!)
* RM survey items to post

Gratitudes:
* Working for myself - gives me the freedom to escape when necessary and to save money a lot of the time
* Pizza tonight
* Tea (another night of not enough sleep!)

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Glad you liked the genealogy link thingy

Sorting the photos will be a big help to the generation "up", I'm sure - its the kind of really important job that takes forever (or maybe thats just me!).

Interesting about your holiday in the States - the thing is, you'll go again. So Nashville and NO are great, but you don't need to do Cali *as well*, at the same time. There's bound to be other stuff on the East Coast, or the South, that you want to see. Thats my twopennorth, anyway

Two things I saw in Florida were wildly different: I had a couple of days at Cape Canaveral, with a really good ticket for a shuttle launch view, and a few days at St Augustine https://www.visitstaugustine.com/things-to-do/historical-sites one of the very oldest town in Florida. They were very honest about why it hadn't been torn down - the place was too poor, too unwanted! And by the time it *was* wanted, it was attractive to tourism, so it's been preserved It's not just theme parks there, I promise!

themadvix

Morning all (just),

The photos didn't take long at all Karma - I was looking for photos of my Nan for the funeral and she was massively camera shy! I found an entire (small) album of people holding me (first grandchild), but was she featured?! We did find some good ones though.

Thanks for your thoughts on America. We probably won't go again, at least not for a long time. Both because of the environmental cost and because I've come to the conclusion that I really don't like flying long-haul (at least in economy, not tried fancier options yet!) - the discomfort of the journey outweighs the benefits of the time spent there for me. So we'd like to get as much out of our system as we can. I haven't ruled out another trip to Frugalwoods-land (East Coast) in the future, but South and West are less likely to happen in the foreseeable future. The California thing is hugely influenced by my work - I've had to do a lot of looking at the visitcalifornia.com website recently. St Augustine looks fascinating though and DH would love to see a shuttle launch (or SpaceX rocket launch!). Decisions still to be made!

Stupidly I managed to leave my phone at Nan's house yesterday.... so I need to do a nearly 50 mile round trip to retrieve it today. It's weird not having it on me, but somewhat freeing!

MS things:
* Clicks etc.
* Using up stuff for lunch (DH lunching on a supplier's tab)
* Ordered some bits for Brownies via TCB
* Tiny Ebay sale

Gratitudes:
* Found some lovely things when looking through photos yesterday
* HM pizza was good last night
* Landline phones!

Have a good day all x

Karmacat

Sorry about the journey for the phone! Interesting about the American trip - really good to home in on what *you* want out of your time and money and travel energy.

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks Karma - I do appreciate your points, just still trying to wedge in as much as possible! We'll see...

I have caught DH's cold and had a very sleepless night (more brain-related than cold-related, but nonetheless I feel lousy). Am dosed up on cold meds and just trying to get work done.

We had a busy, decluttery weekend. DH and I had a clear out on Saturday (I honestly don't know where the stuff comes from as we're really good as not bringing stuff in). About 20 items listed on Ebay, some should go for a fair bit (DH's PSP for instance). No interest on any of the bits I've listed yet, of course, although I may have been optimistic with the pricing. I can always reduce the prices in a bit - I'm not in any particular hurry to get the stuff gone. There's still more to sort/chuck.

Yesterday I went to Nan's house with Mum, Sis and Uncle and we made really good progress - sacks in bin, loads for charity and I may have brought three bags of stuff home too (with the exception of a jug for flowers and a couple of card games, all are useful things not sentimental things).

MS things:
* Tax bill paid and 81p leftover from PB withdrawal Tilly tidied
* Clicks etc. done
* Confirmation of BB and phone switch has arrived
* £40 LV ordered from S&S
* Ebay listings (and tiny sale)
* RM survey item to post

Gratitudes:
* Family time yesterday (just hope they don't catch the cold )
* DH cooked dinner last night
* Call the Midwife is back

Have a good day all x

Karmacat

themadvix wrote: »

Thanks Karma - I do appreciate your points, just still trying to wedge in as much as possible! We'll see...

Not a problem, no way, no how - it's got to be right for you. I'm struggling at the moment with cruises in the Med with my sister - I don't want to be on a cruise ship that pops in to a port where I've previously spent 3 or 4 days, I'm just not paying out for that, and its not going over too well, horses for courses is the only acceptable mantra when it comes to holiays

I have caught DH's cold and had a very sleepless night (more brain-related than cold-related, but nonetheless I feel lousy). Am dosed up on cold meds and just trying to get work done.

Hope it shifts really quickly.

themadvix

Thanks Karma

Totally understand you not wanting to double up on things you've already done - especially at great expense (which is the case on a cruise!). Hope you manage to get it sorted... that is the problem with travelling with others! (Even with DH there are compromises to be made )

Sorting holiday is scheduled for tonight - we've done some rough calcs about points/flights and it looks eminently doable including premium economy all the way back from San Fran if we want. :j I think we need a more structured approach than we're used to for holiday planning!

In the meantime, work is happening.... remarkably well considering how I feel. Not sure about the walk to the post box though... considering driving :eek: Not MSE!