So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

rtandon27

Happy Easter! 🐣 🐰 

themadvix

Happy Easter! 🐣🐰🥚

Just a quick update. Friday we had a lovely day at the in-laws, and managed to fit in a trip to the pond place first and a post-lunch walk to the zero-waste shop, which was lovely. MIL sent us home with creme eggs (she did an egg hunt for us - 4 thirty-somethings, and two seventy-somethings!) and some leftover turkey for the cats, which will keep them going for a few days. Given we lost a whole new dish of chicken when the freezer was playing up, this was particularly welcome.

Yesterday was 'pond day' and was exhausting. However, we got everything done and offloaded lily rhizome and baby fish to Dad and Uncle, who both have ponds (I think final fish count was 32 - pond is only big enough for 3-5 medium sized fish, but who tells them that?!), and lily rhizome to various Olioers too. Resisted the temptation of a takeaway (the urge was strong given how tired we were) and had soupy leek rice for dinner. Lunch was the freshly laid eggs on some English muffins (also courtesy of Olio). I also collected some lettuce and cherry toms in the morning. 

Today I'm going to collect various Olio bits - some veggie pork pies, some tofu, prepped veggies and soup. I need to make some garlic flatbreads to take to my Aunt's later and then I'm popping to Mum's to see some distant relatives who are visiting from the IOM before we head to Aunt and Uncle's for the BBQ (complete with fish for their pond!).

I was hoping to sow some seeds today, but I think that's going to be tomorrow's job....

MS things:
* Had an excellent HW pay out on Friday
* Clicks and HW done 
* No takeaway! 

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine - I wore shorts yesterday!
* The pressure washer (inherited from Dad, because 'it leaks' - we've put up with it for a few years, but Mr MV has now ordered bits to stop it leaking - but by all means, Dad, buy a new one instead of fixing it 🙄) and pond vac (Ebay purchase) - make pond clearing SO much easier
* Newts!!! 😊😊😊 We found four newts in the pond yesterday - carefully transferred to a bucket for the duration and returned to their home carefully afterwards, which I did not repot as I didn't want to upset them. Pretty sure they were smooth/common newts, but very pleased to see them whatever!

Have a lovely chocolatey Easter Day all! (I have enjoyed some chocolate orange mini eggs for breakfast!)

Karmacat

**waves happily at the newts**

**oh, and at madvix too 😁**

Happy Easter!

Jellytotts

Oh newts! I just adore newts and frogs and toads but mr J is absolutely terrified of them, proper phobia territory.  I grew up with multiple ponds in the garden and was "chief picker upper of baby things" when it was grass cutting time.  Even now when I find toads in the garden I can watch them for hours.   How lucky!   We have a lot of slow worms here which I don't mind, the cats find them fascinating until they pick them up and they twirl around their whiskers....have had many a cat look on panic stricken whilst a slow worm wraps itself around their face...but they never learn.

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks for the newty love KC and Jellytotts! Love the idea of the slow worms wrapping themselves around the cats' whiskers! 😂

The weekend continued to be busy. Sunday morning I made some more flatbreads to take my Aunt's in the evening while Mr MV mowed and extensively scarified the front lawn - it looks bald, but almost better now. Half of it has been reseeded and we'll ignore for this year, but the other half is going to be turned into a wildflower meadow. He's ordered a half whisky barrel to make a wildlife pond and we're going to seed the lawn and revamp the bird feeder (and actually use it). He'd also like to put up a nesting box, but as this will be attached to next door's property (which overhangs ours, so we'd be able to see it from our living room), we'll have to ask them. 

I then popped out to Mum's to see relatives from the IOM, which was lovely - haven't seen them in a couple of years, so great to have a catch up. Back home to pick up Mr MV, fish and flatbreads (yes, on Easter Sunday I was singing the hymn that goes 'We have bread and fishes...' as we arrived at my Aunt's!) and then to the BBQ. Had a lovely time there and absolutely shattered and stuffed by the time we made it home. Yesterday, received an invitation from Dad to go to theirs for lunch, so despite being absolutely shattered (having not slept too well), we spent the afternoon there - more lovely family time as Sis and Niece (and the dog they are looking after) were there too. It has been very nice to have been fed pretty much all weekend!

Back to work for a rest and some introversion today!

This morning I have work from my main client that I would like to get finished today. It's sunny at the moment though and likely to get wet and miserable later. I still haven't sown any seeds (and, confession time, my tomatoes still only have seed leaves and I've managed to kill the pepper seedlings - no chillis showed themselves at any point - so some garden centre/nursery purchases are going to need to be made). I also have various bits on a shopping list (from places in opposite directions, of course) and I need to send Nephew's birthday present and a couple of cards.

I'm aiming to get stuff done before tomorrow as I'm likely to be going to Mum's to share the childcare duties (Sis is off on a course tomorrow a long way away, so Mum/I are meant to have Niece between us). At the moment my plan is to cycle down to Mum's and spend the day there but that depends on work and if that suits Mum - tbd. Lots of options for lunch for Mr MV today as we have quite a bit of salady stuff in; not so sure about me (lettuce is not my thing!). Dinner might be a sausage and apple casserole thing. I will be making crumble too as I harvested a big batch of rhubarb this weekend - we had some yesterday at Dad's too.

MS things:
* Starting the RM CD survey this morning - should be interesting with the new provider
* HW and clicks done - small wins today

Gratitudes:
* Family time with almost all relatives this weekend - so nice to see people and catch up
* Sunshine
* A bit of lazy quality time yesterday with Mr MV - watching YT and playing playstation (very badly)

Have a good day all!

Suffolk_lass

themadvix said:

This morning I have work from my main client that I would like to get finished today. It's sunny at the moment though and likely to get wet and miserable later. I still haven't sown any seeds (and, confession time, my tomatoes still only have seed leaves and I've managed to kill the pepper seedlings - no chillis showed themselves at any point - so some garden centre/nursery purchases are going to need to be made). I also have various bits on a shopping list (from places in opposite directions, of course) and I need to send Nephew's birthday present and a couple of cards.

We are off on holiday on Monday and I am leaving DS to seedling sit. I could send you some pots by post. There is still plenty of time for all three if you want to go again but I have too many for us (I have grown Cayenne, Jalapeño and Tabasco chillies, three varieties of beefsteak and one cherry tomato, and yellow bell-peppers) - the bigger tomatoes might be too big to post, so they would be smaller ones. The others are mostly quite small. I kept a couple of plastic mini-greenhouse things that clamp round the pots in groups of three for posting. Let me know (tell me your details in a PM if you want some).

themadvix

Thanks SL, that's a very kind offer - I have sent you a PM.

Managed to get out in the sunshine for a little bit earlier and sowed calabrese, romanesco, PSB, BNS, courgettes and Borlotti beans. Only a couple of seeds of PSB and romanesco left in the packs, which was a bit disappointing - undecided as to whether to get more or do something different instead (probably the latter). Have saved a couple of cells to add more calabrese in a couple of weeks - I'm never very good at successional sowing though, so fingers crossed I remember!

Have also done quite a few PA surveys (although not the broken one!), a YG direct survey and some YG Safe updates. Ordered some paper bags for Olio using Amazon gift card credit (from my client at Christmas) and have been given a month's free Prime. Doubt we'll use it again before the month is up, but it's there if we need it.

Have also booked our free VED spa day for later this month - looking forward to that and it's mid-week, so hopefully it should be nice and quiet. Whilst making lunch I also stewed the rhubarb for the crumble tonight - making use of the sunshine, rather than the battery. Will roast some parsnips while I'm cooking the crumble later to maximise oven space. R'ford delivery amended (to a smaller box that doesn't contain fennel), saving a few £s. Work is going well and I'm nearly finished. It's started drizzling here a bit, but I might try to get down to the allotment when I've finished this piece of work - even if only briefly.

EssexHebridean

Loving the various bits that gets sent around amongst MSE'ers via the diaries! Also loving the concept of slow worms twirling themselves around cats - although I can understand the cats reluctance! 

As for newts, a friend of mine is an ecologist, and for the past few years has had her daughter working with her during her university holidays - the daughter does NOT appreciate the delights of newts however, and as a result we have all now adopted her wording of describing them as "sh*t frogs"  

themadvix

Morning all,

EH, I can't condone that term for the poor newts - what did they do to deserve that?! 🤣

Looong day yesterday - cycled down to Mum's to look after Niece while Mum went to her ladies coffee morning. Niece and I walked to the park and then to the shops for a bun - a good couple of miles on top of 18km of cycling. Mr MV picked me up on the way home from work (if the weather had been better I'd have cycled to the station) and then I had my Olio collection in the evening.

Good sized Olio collection again and we've kept lunch, a couple of pastries and some naughty bits - there wasn't a lot of healthy stuff tbh. Dinner last night was daal, which we've not had for ages. There's a portion left over too - not sure at the minute whether to freeze it or have it tomorrow.

I'm cat sitting from today until Monday, so will shortly head out on my bike. I need to get cheese and eggs at some point too as we've run out of both. Depending on time and energy, I'll either pop into 'my' Tesco (i.e. my Olio one) which is en route to/from cat or head to Aldi after I've been to see cat - it's not much further, but I'm pretty tired from yesterday! Still, energy seems to come to me when I'm out on my bike. R'ford delivery is arriving at some point today too. Main client has sent me another project (unexpectedly), which will be the main focus of today. I need to get some washing out on the line this morning and another load in before I go to see the cat to make the most of the sunshine.

MS things:
* Did some 1P surveys yesterday while Mum and Niece were at dentists
* Dinner from storecupboard
* HW done yesterday and HW and clicks done today - two bookies are close to payout and one is just over... I feel I want to add stuff to savings today, so I may yet cash that one out.

Gratitudes:
* Lovely time with Niece yesterday - there were moments when she was less than lovely (6 going on 16 and knows it all), but on the whole, she was pretty good and we had fun
* A lift home
* A lovely cycle - it's such a more immediate connection with the world and other people than being in a metal box - you say hi, smile, thank people for moving - just much more connective.

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Energy does not come to me when cycling in a gale! I went to Tesco but they didn't have eggs and I refused to pay the ridiculous price for the cheese, so have left it for now. No real idea what we're having for dinner though. Am hoping inspiration will hit when I see the veg box contents. (Looking forward to that arriving as I can have a cuppa with milk that isn't on the turn!).

The post brought a case for my phone - I've been dropping it far too frequently lately and I need a case before I can safely mount it on my bike (why are iPhone so slippery?!), so I bit the bullet. Did get 10% off and it's a compostable case - very impressed that it just came on its own in a cardboard envelope - not even a dispatch note in with it.

Cat sitting for a regular now booked in for a week in June. One lot of washing is on the line, the other in the machine and the dishwasher on too - I'm hoping I'm not stretching the patchy sun and the battery too much! Have watered my seeds sown the other day too - it's nice and toasty in my mini greenhouse (Sis gave me a greenhouse thermometer for Christmas ).

Better get back to work now...

Oooh, I've been selected for a special YG Town Hall thing about policing - anyone else? (£20 additional payment after attending the meeting and doing the follow-up survey).