Pay Off Before Lay Off!

Habibiboo

Alchemilla wrote: »

Snuggling sounds a good idea x

:wave:

Yes indeedy ... not sure I did it right though as I still got my herring knitted!

Edit: just read this back and realised that, in the given context, what I put there about my herring may well just come across as the world's worst euphemism. I apologise to the sensitive (especially Gally Girl) ... must choose my words more carefully!

Habibiboo

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm finding Fargo very enjoyable, good to find something to watch on council telly these days

:wave:

Thanks for stopping by Ed, I've seen your sage comments across various threads so anything that gets your vote's got to be good!

Truth is that I love the Coen brothers' work and could only be persuaded to watch the series once I knew that they'd at least given it the thumbs up ... they're credited with the screenplay I but don't really know how much involvement they've had! It's all very in keeping with the humour of the film though and is so well acted, I'm loving it. I didn't think anyone could outdo William H Macey as the main downtrodden man but, heck there, I think Martin Freeman might have done it!

Totally agree about the council telly btw ~ we got rid of ours many years ago and now hunker down with the laptop, catchup TV and our cheaper-than-a-licence-or-cinema indulgence of Netfl*x!

Habibiboo

:wave:

Mixed kind of day all round ...

What I did:
* Work
* Birthday present shopping whilst on way back from meeting (but within budget, so all good
* Contacted another student school to find out more info for comparison purposes
* 7,000 + steps because I actually remembered to wear pedometer today!

What I didn't:
* Get any calls or emails back from 2 language schools who "urgently" require host families - my theory is that these ones will eliminate themselves from my possibles list because if they're not too good at communicating when they need you, it doesn't bode well for if you need them in a hurry when (if) you're hosting their students!
* Get payment yet from a client who I gave a discount to for payment within 7 days (it's now day 8 and counting .... :cool:)

MFW action:
* Spending on birthday presents was all budgeted for today but means I can't claim a NSD.
* Checked all accounts ~ door cheque has now cleared so small tilly tidy to help boost mortgage account a little.
* Chasing clients for payment (see above) with hope to make £200 MOP by end of week.

Grey Clouds:
None really, OK day in a plodding kind of way.

Silver Lining:
Spotted a textiles recycling point I hadn't realised existed when on my way to meeting today. Will try to pop things along there each time I go, a little mini-challenge.

Daily Declutter:
Nothing to declare today! Total stands at 142 / 365 ~ must step this up as half-year point looms next month!

Simple pleasures:
Mr. Hbbb and I just did spontaneous tally of how our garden grows. Produce in the making stands at:
* Tomatoes
* Courgettes
* Squashes
* Leeks
* Garlic
* Lettuces
* Broad beans
* Asparagus
* Broccoli
* Rhubarb (although there's a story here ...)
* Strawberries
* Peas (not doing so well, may have to replant)
* Beetroot (ditto as for peas)
* 3 varieties of apple - 2 eaters, one cooker
* Pears
* Mirabelle plums
* Chums
* Apricots
* Gooseberries
* Raspberries
* Blueberries
* Figs

~ we've spent so long dealing with it all as separate little bits we hadn't stopped to work out exactly what's now growing, so it's a nice surprise to find we should be OK come harvest time! However, I must remember to do some successive sowing with lettuces etc though and swap to kale a bit later on!

The Weekly to do list is pretty much as yesterday still, will update that at the end of the week!

Hope everyone's had a good day! x

apple_muncher

Wow! My garden grows raspberry canes (both in the raspbery area and wherever else they feel like growing), blackcurrants, maybe some apples. And daisies, buttercups, dandelions, ivy, jasmines and an abundance of moss! All in a space smaller than 4m x 3.75m. Really does need some forethought, tho I fear tis too late for thoughts this year!

Basically, all plants need to be damp proof, snail proof and blight proof. Cos they'll not last long otherwise!

Your garden sounds idyllic. Hope you get many many many more evenings to sit out and enjoy it with Mr Hbbb.

Grr to those pesky language schools! The students pay an arm and a leg to go thereand it seems they end up in Fawlty Towers! Hope you find a school with communication skills!

Well done getting that herring done. Snuggling plus knitting? Simultaneously! How??!

pink_poppy

Wow, that is some list of produce, Habi, I'm impressed :T

My garden sounds the same as apple's, with the raspberry canes (that have gone completely berserk this year!!) & an abundance of dandelions, daisies etc.

So, what' s the story with the rhubarb??

And what on earth are chums??

Habibiboo

apple_muncher wrote: »

Your garden sounds idyllic. Hope you get many many many more evenings to sit out and enjoy it with Mr Hbbb.

Thanks A*M ... we're trying to get just the right mix of productive, growing places; sitting, relaxing places and plenty of space for chickens!

Grr to those pesky language schools! The students pay an arm and a leg to go thereand it seems they end up in Fawlty Towers! Hope you find a school with communication skills!

One of them is proving to be very pro-active (see today's post) so it looks like we may have to finish the bedroom decorating sooner rather than later!

Well done getting that herring done. Snuggling plus knitting? Simultaneously! How??!

:wave:

Ha, with a little ingenuity and plenty of jabbing poor old Mr. Hbbb with the end of the needle (blunt end luckily)!

Hope all's well for you A*M x

Habibiboo

pink_poppy wrote: »

Wow, that is some list of produce, Habi, I'm impressed :T

Thanks PP!

My garden sounds the same as apple's, with the raspberry canes (that have gone completely berserk this year!!) & an abundance of dandelions, daisies etc.

Er, well ... you should see the front garden which is very much work in progress and something of a nature meadow, which sounds spookily similar to your abundance of dandelions, daisies etc!

So, what' s the story with the rhubarb??

When we were having our after dinner cuppa in the garden the other evening I persuaded Mr. Hbbb that we should open the hen area gate and let them come through to tickle their toes on the grass. However, in the time it took me to go back inside to top up the tea cups, they'd "weeded" the rhubarb patch, baby rhubs and all!

And what on earth are chums??

:wave:

Chums are a cross between plums and cherries, small, sweet and prolific but a pain in the a*** to stone! We've only just cleared the chum jam I made 3 years ago so it's looking like a busy jam year again this year!

Hope you're good Pink Poppy x

Habibiboo

:wave:

A mixed day, weather and all else besides!

What I did achieve:

* Work target
* Finally got payment from all clients still owing :j
* Some housework in amongst it all!
* Arranged inspection visit from the one language school who are proving to be very professional and pro-active. They phoned today to see if I'd received their paper work and had any questions, so I've arranged for them to come up next week.

What I didn't achieve:

* A no spend day due to the MSE newsletter ... however, very excited and very lucky to get one of the John Greed pearl sets, for my son's OH for her birthday next month. She'll be 40 (she's a bit older than him) and I wanted to get her something special but this would have been far out of my budget, but thanks to the code, she's now getting a lovely present for £11.50, which I felt was worth breaking a NSD for. Buying her a gift was of course budgeted for though, so not a frivolous spend by any means!

MFW action:

* A little side stooze going on to earn a useful £25 over the next 3 months. I applied for the Barclaycard CC which was also on the newsletter - spend £100 at 0% interest for 3 months and earn £25 cash back. I already have the £100 put by in my gifts budget as we have lots of birthdays across the summer (all my sons, two of my nieces and two of my sisters). I've been accepted for the card so I'll use the card to buy the presents and pay it back straightaway to bag the £25 which can then go into the MOP or emergency fund, depending on which need is greater in 3 months time! This £25 gain will be more than the value of the clubcard points I could earn for the same money if I use the Mr. T CC for the birthday buying (original stooze, but still ongoing for grocery spends etc).
* Paid payments from clients into main work account, ready to clear and make MOP again on Friday, again hoping for £200+.

Grey clouds:
Cleaned up the house in between work tasks this morning because of anticipated visitors but they weren't able to come due to clash of visits! They're staying with one of their mum's who had also made plans for them ... and you can't turn down the person putting you up, that wouldn't do at all! So I totally understand but obviously disappointed.

Silver lining:
No visitors meant I did get lots of work done and so have spent a quiet evening starting to revive my old blog with pictures of the garden!

Daily declutter:
Nothing out today but I have photographed the tumble drier to put on Gumtree tomorrow as we don't use it, it will save us electricity to get rid and will bring in enough cash hopefully to finish necessary bedroom decorating before students come!

Simple pleasures:

Rain on the roses ... hope you can see what I mean:



Hope everyone's good, hugs as needed! x

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

What a beautiful colour rose . Thanks for sharing.

Tilly x x x

Habibiboo

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

What a beautiful colour rose . Thanks for sharing.

Tilly x x x

:wave:

You're welcome Tilly, if you like that one, I've got another which I'll add to today's post, which is an amazing rose! x