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

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, is your cake Herman??
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_cake

I had one years ago - got sick of feeding it eventually and ate the whole thing

themadvix

Yes, it is! They’re quite greedy by the looks of it - sugar and milk as well as flour! I’m not sure I’ll keep it going indefinitely (and strangely if we move I think I might have more pressing matters to attend to!), but will give it a try in the meantime!

Suffolk_lass

I think you are supposed to keep Hermann alive for ten days before you make the friendship cake. It is Amish in origin, I believe. I have never done it and I have no idea if you are supposed to keep half when you bake it, like a bread starter. I definitely don't need more sugar (says the woman on here for her chocolate brownies recipe Ha!

themadvix

Yes, it is 10 days but my sister has given him to me on day three, so only a week until cake!

 Have had a gently productive day. Didn’t go for a walk in the end as both of us were too tired, but have tidied up the raspberry canes, done washing and got it dried and in, made wine and made two cards. DH has tidied up garage and listed some bits on eBay. He also found the leak in the pond pipe, which has been causing falling water levels (we’ve had the pump off except for viewings to solve this), so has ordered a new piece of pipe.

 Will make a start on dinner shortly - have picked the squash already.

themadvix

Morning all,

We're off to view a property later today (and will have a nosey at another potential one). They're probably a little bit too far, but if they're perfect, that's a different matter. We'll see. No more viewings booked here at the moment, but we'll wait and see what the week/next week brings. Apart from the two we're looking at today, there's nothing else on the market that has piqued our interest (that we're allowed to view without an offer on ours), so it's a waiting game.

Have been cracking on with work this morning, there's a loaf in the oven and I've been to the post box with an RM item. Have also fed Herman and checked on the wine (dubbed the 'yeast rounds', especially with the bread too!). Plenty of work keeps coming through, which is good. Just got to keep on top of it while trying to have some time off while DH has time off... 

MS things:
* RM survey posting
* PA ongoing survey
* YG survey -  4835 points now I think
* Clicks etc.
* Baked bread (haven't done this in weeks!)

Gratitudes:
* Lots of work
* Sunshine
* Herman smells like he'll make good cake!

Have a good day all!
(Going to get the bread out of the oven now.... mmm)

Karmacat

Good luck with your viewings of other properties

themadvix

Thanks Karma

Am on fire this afternoon. Not only have I got a lot of work done, but I've paid myself, done money shuffles, chased an overdue payment (with results ), told my clients when I'm away and, most importantly, given notice to four of them that I'm raising my rates from January! So far I've had two positive responses, so fingers crossed the other two are OK with it as well.

*1P survey - @£22.35. Hoping to cash this, PA and YG out this month.

themadvix

Morning all,

 The house we viewed last night was lovely but as a building, not a home for me. Due to its age it was very higgledy piggledy, with steps up and down, two iffy staircases (iffy as in steep and one was a tight open spiral staircase) and the best en-suite ever - it was added onto the house afterwards, so you had to climb over the roof beam to get into it, like climbing into a bath! So a lovely, quirky building, but I think I’d just do myself an injury living there. It also needed quite a bit of work/tlc and was at the top of our budget and a too far away to accept if not perfect. 

We also did a walk by of another (restoration) project, but established that it wouldn’t work either. So it’s back to the drawing board for now. 

We’re off on a jolly to London today - DH is going to buy some Allbirds trainers and I may well do too (I have birthday money). They are a vast ethical improvement on the Sports Direct pairs I usually hate buying, but a bit pricier. Meals will be provided by TGTG. 😊 So much choice up in London!

Forgot to say yesterday that lower spending last month was definitely reflected in increased savings, hooray! Just need to keep this up now. And the last major client got back to me and okayed my higher rates and complimented me too ☺️

 Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Enjoy your trip out today!  The ethical footwear sounds *really* interesting.  Great that you checked out thehouses last night - it does help you confirm what's important to you.

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks Karma, we did have a good day! London was still really quiet. Busier than when we went just before lockdown, when it was a ghost town, but much quieter than normal - just about the level I'd like it to be all the time, really, but I appreciate that that's not sustainable! We did well with TGTG - lunch for £3 from The Kiosk at King's Cross. It's mainly a meat place, so we were quite lucky as one roll was veggie and there were two pastries too. Picked up some more pastries (£2.89 for four massive ones, so two then and two for breakfast today ) later for a snack and grabbed a portion of curry to take home for dinner (£4.09, and it was only one portion, so not as generous as some, but still tasty - and we shared, it was fine!). The two rounds of drinks we bought over the course of the day cost considerably more than the food - £17 in total. Things unravelled somewhat when we got back to the station though - overhead lines were down causing major disruption. In the end we bought more tickets to the town where the in-laws live and FIL met us at the station and gave us a lift home, which was very kind of him. Will need to claim for the unused portion of our tickets though.

We both bought Allbirds - I'm still a little bit undecided, but they are currently warming my feet as I test them around the house. They are extremely comfortable, but I'm a bit worried my big toe might go through the top of them. To be decided.... (I can return by post). 

Today DH has gone out for an actual, in-person meeting, so I have the house to myself. I have loads of work to be getting on with, which is great (note that I'm not actually getting on with it though!). Veg box arrived and looks lovely. We'll be having a JO curry tonight I think.

MS things:
* TGTG saved us loads on food yesterday
* We didn't have to get a cab/uber home
* YG survey
* 2 x 1P surveys
* PA ongoing survey
* Lots of work

Gratitudes:
* Lovely food yesterday
* We have a lovely home that we own and could pay off completely if necessary (so many homeless in London - really heartbreaking, especially as many looked to be newly on the streets - donation to Shelter made)
* Lots of work
* Nice day out
* Kind family!

Have a good day all! (Just had a call from Great Aunt, who was very pleased with her cake/card! )