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

Karmacat

I find the gratitude exercise, at the end of each day, is wonderful for me - its still not natural, but it definitely helps me: those roses are precious, as ch4rly says

You sound like you're doing really well, madvix - I'm glad there's a bit more work come your way too.

themadvix

Hi All,

Thanks for your comments Ch4rly and KC It's always nice to have visitors. The gratitude definitely doesn't always come naturally to me, either, KC, but it's nice to reflect on what I have.

It's been a lovely few days:
- chauffeured DH to meeting on Friday, had a cooked breakfast (paid for) and caught up with his colleagues (who I've met before)
- Saturday had a lovely day out in Southwold with mum, delicious lunch and slightly dubious tea and cake later on!
- Sunday spent lunch with mum, nan and uncle and then headed back home, picking up DH from his parents' house (post-stag) on the way.

MSE things:
sold two items on eBay yesterday, posted this morning, £5.23 transferred to OP fund
Free cooked breakfast and lunch yesterday (the first, we offered to pay; the second mother was cheeky and as I don't have meat in takeaway carvery, she just got extra veg and yorkies - not sure how I feel about this, but it wasn't my call)
DH had been deliberately overcharged for the activity on the stag do, to cover costs of taxis, and also covered most of cost of evening meal, so less money spent there than expected
loads of work today, will keep me going until at least Weds and more expected soon
remembered to use triple nectar points voucher when shopping today
veg box ordered for Thursday, but cancelled eggs as they were £2.40 for 6, rather than £1.80 for 12 (they're organic and while I would prefer that, money just doesn't stretch that far at the moment; still free range - I would never choose otherwise).
meal plan done for this week
listed a couple of bits on GT - a new experience - will see if they sell

Am going to pick dad up from the airport tomorrow - he's been in the Far East on holiday for the last two weeks. He seems to have had a wonderful time judging by the whatsapp photos. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

Things I am grateful for:
* DH being home this week - one way and another, it felt like we were ships passing in the night most of last week
* Hm pizza for dinner tonight (and the reuse of mozzarella water in the pizza dough - better for flavour and such an MSE thing to do )
* A wonderful weekend spent with family
* A walk down a green footpath with the birds this morning while my new tyre was being fitted
* A decent night's sleep for a change!

Karmacat

The weekend sounds absolutely lovely, madvix! As for free breakfasts in hotels (especially chain hotels) - just take it, of course! I know exactly how I feel about that

I know what you mean about the eggs - I've just downgraded from organic free range to free range ... signs of the times, I'm afraid.

I'm absolutely spoiled when it comes to birdsong - a sparrow is staking his claim to my hazel tree, and he's up there yelling to all the local females constantly it's adorable. And he keeps it up when I'm gardening

try_harder

Sounds like you had a great weekend and time spent with family and close friends is the best.

themadvix

Thanks both KC the birds sound lovely, especially your sparrow! We get very few in the garden (despite having a well-stocked bird table) here as there aren't any trees for some distance although we did have a grey wagtail visit a few times a couple of months ago - he liked our pond! However, I can't complain too much today as there was a red kite flying overhead earlier - first time I've seen one from our house

As is always the way, work is now very busy, and I'm beginning to wonder how I'll keep up! I'd far rather it was like this though Have had a productive day today - got more done than expected, despite picking Dad up from the airport and have also made baps for tonight's dinner and lunches the rest of the week. Also sold a couple of very small items on FB.

Not much else to report as work has kept me busy

Today's gratitudes:
* Lovely sunny day
* Dad home safely and seems to have had a lovely time (I said I'd view the edited photos - there are 800!)
* Squidgy baps for lunch this week (love the results, but the recipe is fiddly and often don't bother to make unless we have people round)
* Palm sugar sweets from Cambodia (I think?), strangely addictive
* Evening class tonight, homework done

themadvix

No time for an update yesterday! Had an urgent and difficult piece of work to do - all done now though This was for a client who I've been doing small pieces of work for for about a year now, but this month has seen a huge increase in projects, which is nice as I enjoy working with her (and she's in the UK and pays on time ) Still have plenty of work for today, although at a slightly more relaxed pace.

MSE things:
* Eating from meal plan (daal and hm naan last night)
* Good feedback received from various ebay purchasers, including for items sent by cheaper courier.... think they might replace RM for some items.
* SBs code extravaganza yesterday. Have been lax with this lately, but now only 100 bucks to go to next Am £5.
* £1.70 earned on YSP

Gratitudes
* Evening walk with DH yesterday
* Kitty cuddles
* Relaxing evening catching up on TV - much needed after last week
* HM naan bread from freezer

Have a good day all!

try_harder

I find My Hermex much better all round for posting parcels .They have been delivering my parcels within two days lately and when i had a parcel go missing from an ebax buyer i was sent a refund immediately after putting in a report ,also much cheaper for postage unless you are posting something really small such as a bracelet etc then RM are cheaper .Hope you have a nice relaxing day ,the sun is shining beautifully here at the minute .Sorry i meant to an ebax buyer .

themadvix

Yes, I've been using MyHermes - it's good to know they're good when something goes wrong too! Thanks

themadvix

Well... that was an eventful weekend!!! :eek:

Saturday we went to visit our new niece on DH's side of the family. We went via Lincolnshire, to visit some of the areas we'd be interested in moving to. It was gorgeous there with the sun shining and the daffs (fields and fields of them) all out. However, the day started by filling up DH's car with petrol and then it not starting - had to bump start it (fortunately a couple of lovely gentlemen came and helped when they saw me pushing - I wouldn't have managed to turn the wheel, so was relegated to the heavy work I love pushing cars around! ). Spent a lovely afternoon with the BIL and his girlfriend. Niece was a bit grumpy but very cute. Went for a walk in their nearby country park and enjoyed an ice cream to finish the day. Got home lateish so decided to have fish n chips. Was a lovely day.

Yesterday we spent the morning doing housework and gardening (lawn cut again ) and then thought we ought to head over to see our mothers. I dropped DH at his parents house and headed (in my car) on to see my family (who congregate at my Nan's on a Sunday). Just as I was coming off the motorway there was an odd smell.... which didn't disappear (as my car is older, I'm always paranoid about smells!). Thought I'd better pull into the services and check.... turns out the soundproofing in my bonnet was smouldering away! Never have I been so glad to have a fire extinguisher (there were no flames)! :eek::eek: Called DH (his Dad brought him along), my Dad (Nan's was nearer) and then, with the prompting of a very lovely man, the fire brigade. (Said lovely man also offered me a coffee, gave me bottles of water for the 'fire' and was generally a reassuring presence!). After the firemen put it out they, DH, FIL and Dad checked it over and it didn't look as if the car had caused the fire, so we carefully drove it home. The consensus is that a cigarette butt or something similar must have been flung up and set the soundproofing alight....

This morning however, DH tried to take his car to work - it wouldn't start; tried to jump it from mine, still wouldn't start; took mine instead.... didn't like how it was behaving, so came home again and is now working from home! Looks like we got the mini going just in time! He's going to take some time later to look at both cars.

Have done a little bit of work this morning, hopefully some more will arrive later. Yesterday ended up being a bit of a spendy day (tea and choc at services (I needed it, was shaking like a leaf), pizzas for tea (not on meal plan)).

When I've got my head in gear I'll be back to do a proper update on finances.

Have a good day!

ch4rly2002

Oh goodness, sounds like a very eventful weekend.

I'm glad you got to spend time with the new arrival. Babies are gorgeous, even when they are grumpy!

I'm really sorry to hear about the car trouble. It sounds like there were a few good Samaritans on hand, which is always helpful. It restores my faith in humanity. I hope DH has success when he takes a look at the cars.

Have a better week ahead! x