So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

I can't say I noticed anything about the bread. But American bread is enriched. But it wasn't noticeable when we ate 'proper' bread in the US either (the Walmart sandwiches, however, were utterly, utterly vile - we were desperate by that point though).

I didn't realise that was why Nigella converted plain - I though, like me, she couldn't be bothered to keep two lots in the cupboard!

badmemory

It does save space doesn't it.  I "bumped" into something she'd written & what a bump that was.  Then I realised that one make of sr flour gave me the bloat & that was me also completely converted.

themadvix

Anyway, Morning All!

Feeling distinctly peed off with Nest pensions this morning as they are still mucking around with my transfer out. I think it's deliberate delaying tactics now. I sent them back the ID confirmation forms last week and now they've said 'you not sent this form' (another one). Well that's because this is the first time they've sent it to me. The service has been appalling - I've had Vanguard telling me there's an issue and had to contact Nest to ask what it was. I started this transfer on 9th November !!!!!!. I'll send the latest batch of paperwork (obviously costing me additional postage) back this morning and I've asked Nest to confirm receipt and given them 10 days to complete the transfer before I make a formal complaint. In the meantime of course, they'll continue to take their fees.

Mr MV and I went to Lidl last night (regular readers will be shocked that Mr MV came with!). Spent £26.20 but Mr MV paid as they had a problem with contactless (I'd only taken my phone) and Lidl plus (so we couldn't use the voucher). Dairy all stocked up on, bought some frozen salmon fillets (IME they don't always have these, so voucher or no, I was getting them) and some other bits.

Came back and cracked on with flatbreads, which went well with masala carrots and dal.

Still have loads of work to do - annoying really as there's another couple of jobs I'd like to get out and do, but can't see it happening. Mr MV out for a work dinner tonight in London, so a late night for me as I'll collect him from the station. 

MS things:
* HW and clicks - pennies won on HW; have qualified for one of VB's insurance quotation thingys, so I'll get paid £5/month potentially if they use my data for insurance quotes.
* £4 YL survey - thought it would have filled up as it's been sat in my inbox, but apparently not
* Made the effort to get to Lidl instead of just putting in an online order (which I'll still have to do, but for a smaller amount)
* Endless work!
* Cukes, toms and peppers are germinating already in my heated propagator!

Gratitudes:
* A nice night off from Olio last night
* Sunshine - probably should get some washing on
* Heated seats - it was chilly in the car this morning when I dropped Mr MV at the station!

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Morning all,

Had a super productive day yesterday - loads of work done and then I popped out at 4.30 to pick up a key for cat sitting, took a couple of pieces of art we bought on holiday to the framers in town (£41 for two custom frames, thought that was pretty reasonable), popped into the pharmacy, posted my forms to Nest and whizzed into the library. Had dinner (parsnip dal from the freezer, with another flatbread) and enjoyed Call the Midwife from Sunday and then did some more work while waiting to collect Mr MV from the station. Checked Olio, and managed to bag some raw king prawns, Jersey milk and a baton. Came home, poached the prawns, strained and topped up my kefir with the Jersey milk and made yoghurt with most of the rest. Picked up Mr MV and then popped the now appropriately cooled milk into the airing cupboard. Lunch will be a very pleasant prawn mayo baguette! 

Today is my last day with Cambridge for a while - need to finish some bits there, I have a handover meeting later, and need to submit and get timesheet signed off before 3. This could be the trickiest bit, as boss/friend is running around all over the place this week. 

We're going to some friends for dinner tonight and they have very kindly offered us a bed so that we can both have a drink. I'm quite sure we'll have a lovely time and plenty of wine will be consumed. Tomorrow may be a less productive day! Off to the long-delayed Spurs v United WSL match on Sunday - it was supposed to happen the weekend the Queen died. 

MS things:
* HW and clicks, but no luck today
* Free prawns and Jersey milk - and all sorted/used immediately
* Cambridge timesheet is going to be a bumper one
* Main client is still sending me plenty

Gratitudes:
* Olioer allocating some lovely bits for me
*  When the cats inevitably knocked over my (granted, somewhat precariously perched) heated propagator, it seems that I've only lost one tray - three cukes up now (only 4 seeds), and some of the tomatoes are good (the others not so much). 

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Morning all,

We had to cancel dinner with our friends as Mr MV is not well. We think he picked something up at the dinner in London and is dizzy and naseous. Such a pity as we were really looking forward to it. We'll rearrange for March or April (friends are away end of this month).

So no hangover for me. I am going to get down to the allotment - some weeding/mulching to do and I'm going to take some tools and try to get my head in gear about infrastructure. I'm beginning to get a clearer idea of what I want to do, but unfortunately I think some of it is going to need some money spending - I do have funds allocated for this though, so hopefully it'll cost less than that. Also need to order some replacement asparagus spears - will get from Crocus to get 8.5% TCB. Have ordered a sign for my plot from Etsy this morning - took ages to decide as the nicest ones were £20 and I wasn't going to spend that! We have to have a sign with our plot number and I think the one's with people's names on are nice as they help engender community.

Well I'm heading off, so have a good day all! (Where has the sun gone today?! Might take tea-making stuff with me!)

newgirly

Oh dear, hope he feels better soon 🙂

EssexHebridean

Late to the party but another here who thinks Subway are much over-rated. As for the doughnut place, if we're talking about the "krispy" one - I can't eat them - they are just so sweet they give me an almost instant headache! 

Hope Mr MV is recovered now and that you are able to rearrange the dinner  - always disappointing when plans have to be changed like that, but obviously can't be helped. 

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks NG and EH - Mr MV is much better now. It must have been some sort of bug as it persisted most of the weekend and he was really tired after the football on Sunday, but at least we made it to that.

Saturday I spent some time at the allotment in the morning - I cleared out loads of stuff from the shed as I'd not used it and if I've not used in the first year, I doubt I will. It's looking *much* clearer in there and I can see a way forward for it now. Also spread some compost, did some weeding and generally enjoyed being there.

The football was good (Utd won) but the food was definitely more expensive at Spurs than at the Emirates. That said, you can see why - it was a very posh stadium and they haven't sold the name to it, so they've got to pay for it somehow. We're off to the see the Lionesses in Coventry on Sunday, so it'll be an interesting comparison (and then, no more football for a while - nothing in the diary at least). We ended up with takeaway on Sunday night too, so not a good weekend cost-wise (Mr MV paid for that though).

Yesterday I had Niece for the day and we visited a friend. Low cost day as she fed us lunch, so we just took some treats to enjoy (£5). And better still her wonderful Indian husband sent me home with some daal.... it was delicious and I was very grateful for an easy dinner! Served with a splash of cream, rice and flatbread, it ticked all the boxes. We also had chocolate pud for dessert, cooked at the same time as Niece's dinner (and turned off 10 mins before the end so as to minimise use during the Octopus saving session!). Did also pop into zero-waste shop, but that was for actual shopping, so different budget. £12 spent there.

Today I'm catching up on work, enjoying not having Cambridge work (I enjoy it, but it's always 'there' IYSWIM - my work is done and finished and straight off my desk, academic stuff is seemingly never finished!) and cat sitting. 

MS things:
* Couple of ebay sales for the other mini fund - but I'll convert the postage
* Listed a few bits on ebay at the weekend
* Have collected some bread items (and two pain au chocolate) this morning from Olioer - breakfast and lunch covered (and a few more days of lunch too)
* We don't do Valentines as it's our 'got together' anniversary on Friday, so no overpriced nonsense here
* Olioing tonight as an offered favour for my Olio friend - she's in need of a quiet night!
* HW and clicks. Have emptied WH as I was stuck at £4.88 and had been for months. Will transfer to savings.

Gratitudes:
* Enjoyed the football and Mr MV was well enough to go
* Lovely day with Niece yesterday and great to see friend. Niece and her little boy get on *so* well, especially considering they only know each other from a few days when we've got together.
* The daal for dinner last night - friend's husband is a genius in the kitchen 
* The feeling that my work might actually get done and finished (temporarily) today. Will be so nice to feel entirely caught up.

Have a good afternoon all!

themadvix

So much for the idea of getting entirely caught up with work - the pile of jobs for my main client keeps growing! This is in no way a bad thing and as all I'm doing is stuff for him at the moment, at least he knows how much I've got to be getting on with.

Have been to PO with one Ebay parcel - annoyingly I don't have anything the right size for the other, which is two china plates, so it really does have to be right. Mum might have one though, so will see what she says and if Sis can bring it over (her new job is in our town, but she lives very close to Mum), then that will be great. 

On the e-bike front plans are afoot. I finally got around to ringing them today to book an appointment to see them, only to discover that they have retailers and were about to list them on their website. So much easier - can just go and visit a shop on a weekend, and better still closer too. 

Other small houseworky jobs done while the panini were warming for lunch - I've resurrected my Google tasks list in my email window, so hopefully I can get  a bit caught up with those. Oh, and I dropped some rags and a book at the charity shop while I was at the PO - so good to get things out of the house!

themadvix

Morning all,

Relatively small Olio last night, but enough to keep a sandwich and pastry for Mr MV and some grapes. Some use by bits weren't collected either, so we'll be having stir fry for dinner and I'll have a jacket potato with the tuna and sweetcorn mix for my lunch. Have frozen some piri piri chicken pieces too.

Have just ordered replacement asparagus crowns - glad I hadn't got around to it before, as I was able to take advantage of TCB's £3 bonus when spending £5. Currently waiting on £11.22 cashback, which is a lot for me!

I deliberately didn't sort the flat battery on my car last night - forcing me to cycle to two lots of cats today (and if it's OK, also tomorrow, otherwise we'll get the car started tonight). Quite excited about the prospect of looking at the e-bike at the weekend (need to discuss this with Mr MV and assuming he's OK - the dizziness returned last night, we think he overdid it on Sunday) - it would just make all the difference with the hills here!

Have come to the conclusion that while I wanted to wait for a bit longer, I need to replace my phone. I replaced the battery last year, but it's already degraded quite a bit and it only lasts until about 3pm - we wonder if this is due to the older chipset/older software taking its toll on battery life. It is an iPhone 7 so pretty elderly and I've had it since 2019. I will replace as a business expense and it will be a refurbed one - looking at a 12 mini (I was going to get an SE, but the 2020 one is very cheap but won't have the longevity of the 2022 one, but that's still really expensive as it's not very old - and I don't really want to hobble on until Sept/Oct for the next release, when secondhand prices will come down). Need to check what's in my business savings account (Just looked £237 - it took a beating from the laptop replacement). Mr MV has sent me a referral for BackMarket so that's £10 off and I should get £40 for recycling my current phone.

MS things:
* Two small PA surveys
* HW and clicks - absolutely nothing on the HW today, but it goes like that sometimes
* Still ploughing on with work from main client (except I've not actually started yet this morning)

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine - keeping the battery topped up and me warm!
* Friend is coming here for a cuppa tomorrow afternoon - saving me the journey to hers
* Lots of work

Have a good day all!