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

themadvix

Afternoon all,

A busy few days - yesterday Mum and I visited a distant relative who is recovering from sepsis - she'd spent 6 weeks in hospital! Much better now and well on the road to a full recovery, which is wonderful. While we were over that way, we popped into Ikea (cuppa and cinnamon bun - 50p! ) and Costco, so stocked up on chicken (for cats), prawns, chips and pastries (for us). Enjoyed the samples too!

Got back to find some lovely scented narcissi from DH and the veg box and milk.... I think we were up to about 10 pints (I thought I'd cancelled the veg box but clearly hadn't!). We have rice pudding in the slow cooker currently (never cooked it like that before) and yoghurt yoghurting in the airing cupboard - down to a more reasonable amount of milk now and Friday's delivery has been cancelled!

Have made leek and potato soup for DH's lunches to reduce the sheer quantity of veg in the fridge (and potatoes - discovered a whole bag more than I thought we had :eek: ). Now I just have to work out how/where I'm going to fit the cooked cat chicken, the pastries and the spare portions of soup in the freezer, which is rather full of chips and prawns..... whoops!

MS things:
* Completed Swago on SB (two good surveys today too) and claimed a £25 NT voucher
* PA surveys - several done over the last few days
* Clicks etc.
* Paid Brownie cheque in
* Returned item to shop as it didn't work
* Meter reads done - still in credit
* Chased hotel as *still* haven't heard anything from them :mad:

Work still continues to be steady, so have been getting up early to fit it around gallivanting!

themadvix

Morning all,

Didn't sleep well and am struggling to focus this morning. Have already lost a post, so will keep it brief. Did manage to fit everything into the freezer in the end and the yoghurt is chilling in the fridge and the rice pud was delicious (although rather sweet - will use a lot less sugar next time).

MS things:
* Clicks done
* Opened a new Nationwide RS for my buffer fund to circulate through
* Plenty of work to do
* Used up some bits for dinner last night and will leave DH instructions on the veg to prioritise for tonight's stir fry
* Shouldn't need *any* food for at least a week (except milk, on Monday) - veg box cancelled

Gratitudes:
* Having plenty (of food, but of everything else too)
* A friendly email conversation with a regular freegler
* Appreciation of my efforts from a client - it's nice to have good feedback, especially as I work on my own/for myself

Have a good Friday all - I hope the sun is shining where you are.

newgirly

Hi vix, no sun here it’s still freezing :snow_laug hope you have a great weekend

earthgirl

themadvix wrote: »

I know Karma, it's very naughty, but good for the savings (I think we're onto ensuring we have enough for our trip to the US next year now). At some point we may start OPing again!

Tell me about the US trip - I am thinking of planning one - where are you going?

That said, because of recent increases in DH's work-related shares and the fact he's had to buy some options, we're actually mortgage neutral. As the money's in shares we don't want to sell though, it's all a bit moot!

Yey mortgage neutral!! Congratulations!!:j You should still celebrate but know what you mean about not feeling it!

In other news, an Ebay sale needs posting today and we'll split the proceeds between us and BIL as it was his unwanted (even to sell) item. Money shuffle completed too.

Not sure why I can't post in your quote but anyway I was wondering if you could share your us plans? and also well done on being neutral!!

themadvix

Thanks Earthie! We're going to Nashville, New Orleans and California next year, hopefully. We'd pretty much planned out Nashville and New Orleans for this year, and then discovered that we couldn't get the Upper Class flights we wanted with our points as they were all booked (therefore we couldn't afford them). So next year it is! What to do/where to go in CA is still very much up for debate, but we've got longer to decide and book now, so hopefully we'll get it pinned down. We may even be able to go for slightly longer as we'll have some extra time to save.

I have my first cat-sitting booking through Cat in a Flat! :j Have arranged to meet tomorrow morning, so looking forward to that. If it goes well, hopefully it might lead to more bookings. I'm thinking it's a nice change from being stuck inside and it should earn me a few pennies (not a huge amount because as I'm already self-employed I don't get the £1000 allowance that employees get for side hustle/digital stuff. But it's money, and it should be fun/interesting!

DH's friend has been round and welded my car this morning(£65, but he's worked hard and it's cold and damp out!) - so I've booked an MOT for later in the week - £27 + cashback. Swapped some rhubarb from the garden with my Dad for some OOD rice (not really a swap, per se, just he'd left the rice on the side when I went round and I snaffled it - he'd asked if I thought it would be okay earlier in the week (BBE 2014), and even though I said yes, he didn't fancy it.... it smells OK though, so we'll make use of it!).

Have bought some repair tape - one of our bed sheets has a big hole in it; I'm hoping I'll be able to mend it okay.

Gratitudes:
* A cuppa and catch up with Dad
* Free rice!
* A cat sitting booking - it's advantages are less financial and more a chance to stretch my comfort zone, I think.

Hope you're having a good (lazy) Sunday afternoon all!

Karmacat

That's great to have a proper cat sitting gig! You don't know where stuff like that leads ... and hopefully, at worst, you can have a stroke of the moggy

Busy_Mee1

Your trip sounds fantastic. We haven't been to Nashville and New Orleans but they are on our list to visit. We have been to California though and San Diego is a real favourite. We also love Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco....depends which bit you are doing. I hated Los Angeles as we spent most of the time grid locked on the 4 lane freeways everytime we tried to go anywhere.
That said we are flying into LA again later in the year but only in transit.

I have loads of Avios points and trying to find the best way to use them. I think like you the best way is to upgrade flights. The only problem is that with them being BA we have to travel to Heathrow to get the long haul flights and that adds a day to each end of our holiday. So I think we will wait until we are retired to use them.

themadvix

Morning all,

Karma - was an interesting visit. The cats will be fine (very straightforward) but the lady was quite vague....

Thanks Busy Mee - that's the problem we have, narrowing it down! For my work I've had to read a lot of tourism info about California, so I'm an expert on it, but can't decide which bits are best! We're going northwards, to do San Fran and would like to see redwoods, National Park, coast.... beer/wine... you see the issue! I don't think SD will get a look in, although friends have said it's great. We'll probably fly into LAX, stop one night (try and squeeze in a shot of the Hollywood sign from Griffith Park) and drive up either coast or forest way to SF.... we really need some extra time there!

We're not upgrading the flights... we've been saving points for a loooong time... so we're just paying the taxes for them (Virgin Atlantic). We've got enough(ish), so we'll probably look at switching to an Avios card as we can use them against internal flights apparently! (And more useful in the future). DH has flown Upper Class with work and so have aforementioned friends... I feel I'm missing out, so *really* looking forward to it!

Aaaanyway.... back to reality today (which involves reading more about CA!). As I said, cat sitting appointment seemed fine - I was all armed with paperwork and questions but the owners seemed to think it was overkill.... Cats seem totally easygoing, so happy with the prospect of the job.

MS things:
* Clicks etc. done (reached 1st target on SBs and claimed last month's massive bonus - 9SB :rotfl: )
* 20p bonus from PA (because a survey has been cancelled??)
* Comps entered (dreamt I won two last night, sadly nothing in the post today!)

Gratitudes:
* Heated seats in the car - it's cold, gloomy, damp and miserable out!
* Belly rubs with one of my new charges
* Homemade hot cross buns.... mmm....

Have a good Monday all!

Karmacat

The cats sound wonderful

Good heavens, I know someone with a smaller SB bonus than me! Mine was 86, and I was keeping quiet :rotfl:

Great potential itineraries in Cali - my sister's kids remember a day out into the mountains panning for gold (which is placed there by the trip organisers, of course, but they were only 8 and 10 years old, it was thrilling for them ). The coast, though, was special for my sister too - gave her a lifelong love of otters

I'm still going "oooh" at the thought of heated car seats

themadvix

Haha, I don't really play for the bonuses these days Karma, it's just nice when there's something there I try to do the first part of the daily to-do list, so if there's a survey that I qualify for and complete I might hit the target. I don't do watch or generally spend more than a couple of mins clicking through, so it's a slow burn.

I've panned for gold many a time in South Wales - lots of iron pyrites but doubtful there was any actual gold :rotfl: Yes... the coast sounds amazing to me, but so do the redwoods! I'm sure we'll be able to combine both, but it's such a big place!

Heated car seats are *wonderful*!! (Especially on cold leather - my car has fabric seats and they're just not as cold to sit on when it's cold, or hot and sticky when it's hot!)