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

themadvix

Hi all!

Back from a lovely long weekend away yesterday and have been catching up since! We had a lovely time away, despite it being rather cold and windy (we were in a tent!) - I'm reading the digests about 'you lot' putting on the woodburners etc. and there I am living outdoors. Fortunately, although we had some showers, it wasn't too wet - wet camping is the worst, I think. I'm not sure what total spends were, but no more than £150 (and I think probably less than this). We had a gift card for the NT, so we went to one of their properties for lunch one day, we cooked dinner one night and breakfast every day and only had one 'proper' meal out, so it wasn't too bad. I feel really rested and happier to accept that summer is over now I've actually had a break (our holiday in May was so long ago, and before the kitchen!).

I came back to proper work - hooray! I did quite a bit yesterday, but have enough to continue with today and my main client has said that the work for one of our main projects will start arriving this week, so the drought should be over

DH was off yesterday and continued to work on my car... unfortunately it didn't go too well, so I don't have a car still. Not a problem today, but we'll have to work out how he's getting to work tomorrow as I'll need the car for brownies (his lift share might be able to help, otherwise one of us will be getting the bus/train).

My mum, sis and niece popped round for a cuppa yesterday afternoon and then not long after that MIL, FIL, BIL and his GF arrived - they were going to view a house for BIL and GF nearby. They invited us out for dinner and even better, MIL paid and wouldn't accept any money.

MS things:
* Free dinner out
* Using NT gift card for free lunch and cake
* Lots of free exercise while away - average 15000 steps each day
* Use of NT membership for free parking while away
* Have used Shopm!ium to collect free Shloer - now have 3 non-alcoholic bottles put away (need DH to claim his bottlegreen!)
* Comps entered
* 2 x 50p YG surveys
* Saved fuel by skipping a meeting I intended to go to last night for dinner instead??! (I didn't have to go, and by the sound of it what I was going to discuss wasn't mentioned anyway!)
* VB poll, SBs done
* No heating on here (and not for another month hopefully!)

Not so MS:
* Beetroot still lingering in the bottom of fridge
* Bought pizza (supermarket) on Friday night instead of cooking (but I didn't get back from Brownies until 9.30, so it was probably wise
* Forgot to cancel veg box - went 42p overdrawn (fortunately have an overdraft for such occasions!). We needed veg, but I was planning on making do with supermarket stuff.

Gratitudes:
* Wonderful house martins flitting around while we were away
* Bird life in general while we were away
* Norfolk's amazing skies and water (fish and chips in the car at Blakeney with the sun going down)
* The sense of peace and connection with nature camping creates
* Unexpected meal with family yesterday

Karmacat

What a lovely post! Crammed with mse goodness, but also crammed with the pleasures of life

themadvix

Thanks KC, it was fairly representative of how I was feeling yesterday! I didn't sleep well last night though, so not quite so cheery today.

DH did a bit of finishing in the kitchen (there's only a few fiddly bits to do, like attaching skirting board etc) last night, which was anything but straightforward, so we ended up eating late. However, despite my grumbling stomach, I stuck to the plan and cooked, rather than giving into the temptation of takeaway.

If I can get all the jobs I need to get done finished, I might pop over to see my Nan later (with mum, sis, etc.).

MS things:
* NV surveys yesterday - three of them! At ~£20 on there now
* YG surveys - two yesterday, one this morning - ~£41 now, aiming for £50 by Christmas.
* 2 PA surveys yesterday, first in a while, a quick £1.55
* Lots of SBs, as they've got a Swago thing on. Nearly halfway to another £5.
* Huge amounts of work - it's amazing how much more productive I can be when I have lots of work to do.
* Comps entered (all caught up from being away - it moves so fast though, it's difficult to keep up!)

Gratitudes:
* Little bit closer to a perfectly finished kitchen
* Mum unexpectedly popped in for a cuppa - these unexpected guests are becoming a regular occurrence, it's lovely!
* Homegrown tomatoes in dinner

themadvix

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I last posted.... time flies! Lots of little jobs have been getting done/finished and we've not spent much money, so I think we're doing okay. Did have dinner out on Saturday night, but used £20 of Leisure vouchers and we were all on strict budgets so DH only had to pay £20 cash (we bought for our friend as it was her birthday).

Work has picked up properly now, so much less time for jollies with sis and niece (sis has been at work the last two days, so I did see mum and niece briefly yesterday - mum is having her one day a week when sis goes back part-time - I think it's a shock to the system! She said to me yesterday that she thinks these women that have fertility treatment at 60 are insane!).

MS news:
* Lots of work
* VB, SBs bits and pieces
* Have kept up with mag daily comps, need to blitz the rest this evening
* Evening class has restarted and there's 3 newbies, so some of the money paid for this term will roll over to next half term (we'd dropped below the baseline number, so it had got more expensive).
* Have asked on freecycle for a bit of ericaceous compost for two tiny plants that need it - don't want to have to buy a whole bag!
* Bought a slightly cheaper dry cat food, that is only very slightly less meat - hope the cats like it
* No heating yet!

We've invited people for a bit of an Oktoberfest shindig in a couple of weeks time - went to Aldi to check out the food last night - looks like it could be very cheap (and at the moment only two people have said they can come, so it might not be many to cook for anyway!)

Gratitudes:
* Motivation is high to finish bits off around the house, so it's beginning to feel very respectable!
* Have been making an effort to get out in the garden for a bit of a tidy up each morning - today I planted up some begonias in a hanging basket (these might seem odd gratitudes, but I'm grateful for the motivation and focus)
* Have booked a couple of our Christmas/birthday presents (birthdays are near Christmas!!) treats for a couple of weeks time - a relaxing spa day and an owl and eagle experience await!

Must post again sooner!

Karmacat

themadvix wrote: »

She said to me yesterday that she thinks these women that have fertility treatment at 60 are insane!).

I couldn't agree more :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Gratitudes:
* Motivation is high to finish bits off around the house, so it's beginning to feel very respectable!
* Have been making an effort to get out in the garden for a bit of a tidy up each morning - today I planted up some begonias in a hanging basket (these might seem odd gratitudes, but I'm grateful for the motivation and focus)
* Have booked a couple of our Christmas/birthday presents (birthdays are near Christmas!!) treats for a couple of weeks time - a relaxing spa day and an owl and eagle experience await!

That's a great list! Environment and experiences

Save

Watty1

Fertility treatment at 60 ?????


Goodness me! Is that really possible?

themadvix

Lol, I have no idea, but you do hear about such things in the papers (usually the delights of the Daily Mail!).... but surely these women need their heads checking! Thanks for popping in Watty - hope you're okay, will pop over for an update.

Thanks KC, you're right of course... and as you know environment is really important when it's your workplace as well!

themadvix

Morning all!

Popped over the road to local carpet shop yesterday and was pleased to find affordable options that meet my requirements for the spare room. I brought a couple of samples home, with the intention of getting paint on the walls and being able to decide..... Unfortunately I have a MS fail to report though - the 5 litres of magnolia paint I got on freecycle was worse than useless.... it doesn't look like I've painted the walls!! The make was 'Turner and Gray' fyi. So tonight we'll have to get some proper paint - I've definitely discovered recently that you get what you pay for when it comes to paint! Sadly don't think I have any vouchers that can help with the cost

Off out on a bat walk tonight - via my mum's work, so free. Will probably eat something at hers afterwards too (she mentioned takeaway, but then thought about supermarket pizza - we'll steer her in that direction as takeaway will be pricey. She's being made redundant (and semi-retiring) soon, so she needs to save the pennies too). I'm really looking forward to the bat walk

MS things:
* Caught up on comps last night
* Lots of SBs as it was a codes day
* VB poll - 15p (am over payout threshold now, so aiming to get as much as possible paid next month)
* Cats like new food It was highly unlikely they wouldn't - one hoovers all food (and plastic :eek:) up and the other has a good appetite too (fortunately not for plastic!)
* I won a book

Gratitudes:
* An evening in yesterday - have been out a lot recently
* More work
* Free bat walk (education, exercise and environment )

Watty1

Bat walk sounds brilliant. I saw one advertised locally and wanted to go but then couldn't .....was it interesting?

themadvix

I'll let you know - it's tonight. I've been on one once before about ten years ago at a National Trust place (I was on a working holiday) and it was fascinating - they had lots of different varieties of bats living there though. This one starts with a talk first I think, so should be good.