EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

mark55man

Hello EH - thanks for popping by my thread now and again, and apologies for returning the favour a touchy tardy - the first thing I saw was garage decluttering and mincemeat - so you now have a subscriber for life.  Hopefully I will do more than lurk, which is my favourite thing, even on my own diaries  

EssexHebridean

Haha I ALWAYS love decluttering of toast Cheery! definitely a staple foodstuff as far as I'm concerned! I came to the conclusion that the nail varnishes were an easy win and it was a good way of getting a quick achievement hit as it got rid of the grotty dusty cardboard box!  SH - I'm afraid that the random coloured fingers were sorted out within minutes of me hitting "post" on my last - while I had no issue with them as such, they weren't done particularly tidily and I fear Mr Boss may have been less happy with the new trend! Ooh Redo yes, I can see mincemeat working well there. I pretty much never make a fruitcake though as MrEH's enormous annual Christmas cake lasts through a good chunk of the year! 

Hello Mark - thanks for popping by and I can see congratulations are in order on your "Ambassador" status - we'll all know where to come for our Ferrero Rocher now then... (I'm assuming that comment may work rather better here than it did on a thread of someone who I suspect is best part of 30 years younger than I am, where it was received with complete bewilderment!)  

Well what a chilly soggy morning it is - here at least, I can only hope that it's not this grotty everywhere!  I decided it was NOT a morning for any additional cycling mileage and headed from car > office as fast as I could - which wasn't as swiftly as I would have really preferred with an icy headwind battering me most of the way. Ah well - hopefully it will be drier (and warmer!) later on. My fingers haven't quite warmed up yet, although that was partly because the central heating boiler at the office had managed to depressurise itself over the weekend so it was FREEZING when we came in - it's only just crept over 16 degrees now! 

I've had a reasonably productive morning so far mind - I spotted a Prolific study on offer when I checked it over my morning cuppa, so checked again when I got in the car with MrEH for the commute and it was still available so that was 15 minutes well spent. Prolific was also at just over £10 so I cashed that out, and have now transferred it to my "Gym Neutral fund" and amended my signature on here - creeping towards 10% saved there. I've also transferred over my clothes savings from an old N/Wide account paying sweet FA interest to a new one I opened last night which pays 0.35% - I know it's still peanuts BUT it suits me to have the money where it is so I have no interest in shifting it to any of the better options right now. I need to log-in to the desktop site at some stage and amend the account name on that, and close to the old clothing account. 

Yesterday was also pretty productive - the seed box was sorted through, some stuff discarded as too old or previously unsuccessful. A list was made for the garden centre in the afternoon of things we decided to buy for sowing this year, and some other older flower seeds have been earmarked for general scattering around some of the communal areas - if they grow, brilliant, if they don't, well they may at least provide food for something. Some more decluttering was done - I got tough on subject of books when MrEH said that the teetering pile on his side of the bed was "things that were waiting to go back on shelves" - fine I said, but which shelves, allowing that ALL of his were full. He headed towards a space I'd made on one bookcase by sending some of MY books to the charity shop bag and was swiftly told to keep his thieving mitts OFF! As a result a few did go off to the CS bag, along with a few DVDs we agreed we no longer wanted, and a box containing three CDs which I'm pretty sure hasn't been listened to in a LOT of years.  I finally decided to get rid of my stepper - one of the fairly sizeable ones with an upright and handholds - I'd hung onto it because of it's potential value for giving me "some" cardio exercise if we had to isolate while still being fit and well, but realistically if that situation did bite now I'd far sooner just dance around the place for few nice loud rock tracks - far more fun! That has gone off to the bin shed where one of the neighbours might decide they want it. Another bag of rubbish to the bins too - honestly, where does it all come from?! I sorted another bag of shredding to go through the heavy duty shredder at the office (that has been dealt with this morning).  

While all that was going on we also sorted out lunch, and having eaten a tasty roast lamb dinner we also decided that the now cooked rice pudding might as well get eaten for pudding then rather than re-heating it later on. it was delicious with some of our redcurrant puree frozen from last year's crop - the remains of the tub of puree will go with yogurt one day in the week. After lunch it was out to the garden centre - £31 spent but all planned/budgeted. When we got back we did a bit of work on our beer festival volunteer role as well albeit achieved less than we hoed in the time available thanks to two phone calls that needed making by MrEH to try to sort out/find out about a potentially tricky situation and a problem with the laptop. Both the laptop issue and the tricky situation hopefully sorted, but definitely thieves of time, which was annoying! 

This week needs some more time spent on the beer festival stuff for sure. I plan to head to the gym after work tonight as long as it's not still pouring with rain, and will aim to go again on Wednesday I think - I'm hoping for the chance for some extra cycling mileage on both of the other two working days as well. we also need to start getting together the stuff we want to pack to take to Lundy, and check for weight restrictions on luggage too - I can't remember whether the boat has restrictions or just the helicopter. (We're on the boat this time and if weather means helicopters on the way back they just have to deal with the weight issues as it's not our fault - we pay the additional fares). At various other times some of the bits from the previous list also need tackling - I'm not fussed if the floors don't get done but the kitchen WILL have a clean before we head away!  It felt better to  make use of the tidying/decluttering momentum over the weekend though.

Surveys:
Prolific - just cashed out, now £0.88 paid/£4.63 pending
OnePoll: 1397 points
Ipsos : 284 points

Ticking along! 

foxgloves

Mincemeat flapjacks sound good, @EssexHebridean. I will try making those at some point. I usually make belgian cake (Cranks cookbook) with leftover mincemeat. That's useful too as it cuts into neat little squares for lunch boxes & also freezes well.
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EssexHebridean

I've been meaning to google that recipe Foxgloves as I've noticed you've mentioned it in your diary which I'm currently gently progressing through from the beginning! (And in the spirit of getting things done, I HAVE just googled it - it sounds delicious! It will now have to wait for next year's half used jar of mincemeat, no doubt!)  

I had a proper MSE moment at lunchtime. I'm after a new - better - insulated mug. I looked at a few in a shop we were in yesterday but then time was ticking by and MrEH was impatient to get off to the garden centre, so I decided to try again today in the T's store near work. I went in, and looked but nothing was "quite" right. While in there I decided to have a look at mugs as well - again, a replacement for my work mug is something I'd been considering for a while, my current one is now around 15 years old, only cost me £1 in the first place and most definitely owes me nothing, but it IS getting a bit scratched and grotty on the inside, and increasingly tricky to clean. Anyway, along I bimbled to the mugs, and there were a couple there I liked - from the slightly more expensive range but still only around £4 which I was happy to pay...but then neither of them absolutely sparked joy, either, and they both looked very slightly small for my taste, so I walked away from those too! Emerged a few minutes later with only the other items I'd gone in for (which were of a female and entirely essential nature!). I'm sure the "right" mug will leap out at me at some stage, and in the meantime at least I have a shiny halo to admire! 

milann

The right mug will turn up when you’re not looking for it. I used to hate having to buy the other item you went in for……😏 

savingholmes

Halo well deserved

I am a sucker for mugs. I recently gave loads away but DD is a hoarder of crockery in her room so when she's home I regret how much I got rid of!

foxgloves

It is a nice recipe @EssexHebridean. I sometimes drizzle some white icing over the top if I'm feeling a bit lah-di-dah fancypants.
I do enjoy cooking, which you will know if you are progressing through my diary & its many tales from the Spendy Era.
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EssexHebridean

Milann It's never particularly bothered me - and I even have MrEH trained now to pick up a couple of packs if he's in Al's and they have their own brand in stock - he's not phased by it at all which is lovely! 

SH I do have a few spares at home but I prefer my work one to be one that's chosen specially rather than just a cast-off from home - my current on has stylised flowers on it in bright orange, green & mauve, it's very cheerful and was bought at a time when work was exceptionally grim and I just needed something that would make me smile. It's done its time though! Mugs are one of those things we do seem to just accumulate though - we had a clear out a while back too! 

Foxgloves I am thoroughly enjoying your diary - it's taking the place of my current book a lot of the time at the moment! 

Well then - Tuesday again, and still grey and dreary down here although (thank goodness) less damp than yesterday. I've done a bit of extra distance cycling on my way from the car, pushed it a bit harder than usual on the second half of the distance and Strava tells me it has rewarded me with three personal best times on segments and a "local legend" status too for most rides on a segment inside a set period. Of course none of it really "means" anything but it's all a good incentive! A cheerful start to the day in any event. 

Did my gym visit as planned last night too - must update my signature. Definitely still feels like harder work at the gym near work with the different machines but I think a lot of it is getting used to them as well - some I like better, others less so. 

Had to hop on the live chat with the Big River shop last night after a couple of parcels which claimed to have been delivered on Sunday simply didn't show - both said "handed to resident" as well so goodness knows what happened there. Both were items needed for a fancy dress costume for the weekend so we've had to crack on and reorder from elsewhere, The BR shop is going to refund the originals, in fact one of them has already come through to my complete astonishment. Apparently it "could" be that there is an issue with the tracking, in which case they could theoretically still turn up, but they had no way of actually knowing. 

Tonight's tea is leftover lamb from Sunday's roast with couscous and roasted veg. I might bite the bullet and prep all the butternut squash to roast at the same time - some will need freezing and some is wanted to go with the remaining chicken portions in a curry later in the week so it will make it quicker to sort that out. the last three beetroot are getting prepped and roasted at the same time too. Allowing that I should have a little extra time this evening I may also prep all the remaining onions ahead of us going away - excess over what is needed for the curry and for the other planned meal of liver, bacon & onions can be frozen. As far as I can think then the only other veg needing sorted out will be the tatties and if I pop those into the potato storage bag I have they will likely be OK anyway. I may just mash them all though and freeze the balance in portions. 

Managed to get a few more rows of my crochet done last night around sorting out some beer festival stuff - we'll be planning some more of that tonight too as we really need to make some headway before having to leave it to its own devices for a week. Last night we ended up spending ALL our allocated time in sorting out emails, but MrEH plans to keep an eye on the emails a bit more during the day today. I've also just popped a message over to our technical genius to ask him if he's got a clean copy of our revised database we can start using. It'll get there, it all just feels like it will be a miracle if we pull it off at the moment! (And it felt even worse doing it for the first time in 2019 - at least now we know we CAN do it!) 

Banking checked and all good. 
Surveys have seen a bit more movement:
Prolific £2.75 paid/£2.76 pending
OnePoll 1407 points
Ipsos 290 points
Both the last two have surveys to do as well. 

EssexHebridean

Oh - forgot - a spend to declare. I've ordered myself a new insulated mug that looks to be exactly what I wanted. I was keen to get something leakproof ahead of the trip to Lundy as not only is it better/easier in the car, I also wanted something that I could take up the lighthouse in the mornings to enjoy a "brew with a view" - and with a handy "loop" type handle on the top this should be ideal with luck. All being well it should arrive today - and MrEH is in so hopefully there will be no issues with this delivery going astray! £12.99 spent, but if it functions as it is meant to I'll consider that money well spent. In fairness, my previous one is a freebie from a company I used to deal with in my previous employment, and I've been gone from there for over 11 years now so it's done exceptionally well (and will get kept I think as it does still work well for some situations). The cost has already been transferred from my spends account across to account for it. 

foxgloves

Awww, that's a kind thing to say about my diary, @EssexHebridean. I started out on the DFW daily small things board, then migrated over here to start a diary. I decided to start one because I wanted to show that it is very much possible to change even very longstanding bad money habits. I overspent my income from the age of 19 (student arriving in big city from hicksville), all the way through meeting & marrying Mr F, (who was even more endebted than me), a professional career, until my early 40s, when I was struck by The Lightbulb.....a real one that time, not a little flicker of something which had gone out a couple of days later (if it lasted that long!) I also noticed from reading other diaries, that a lot of people were using language like "I have no willpower". I think that "willpower" is almost a get-out clause, as in having an affliction we can't change. Getting rid of our debt took a change of attitude, but it was about choices rather than 'willpower'. I had spend almost all my adult life to date making the wrong choices with my spending, compounded by my dogged refusal to budget, it really was just a case of starting to make the right choices & noticing how much better I felt once I was doing this regularly & seeing my financial security grow. So I thought my diary would demonstrate that it is entirely possible to change from a terrible fritterer of money to a really quite responsible human being! 
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