So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

Watty1

Catching up on thread and late to it but congratulations on freedom 

Suffolk_lass

Karmacat said:

My word, madvix!  Glad to hear it's sorted - you can never tell when you'll need them!  

I'm feeling very sorry for Ginger Cat 🤣😺 having his business pored pawed over by his humans 🤣

tee hee hee

Don't forget there are lots of RHS Partner gardens where the member gets in free (2 for 1 effectively)

Karmacat

Suffolk_lass said:

Karmacat said:

I'm feeling very sorry for Ginger Cat 🤣😺 having his business pored pawed over by his humans 🤣

tee hee hee

Oh!  I should have seen that pun 🤣🤣🤣

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks Watty! @SL 😂😂😂 very good. Ginger cat likes to make eye contact while using the litter tray - it’s quite disconcerting, but he just looked rather forlorn and confused when nothing was happening!

Had a lovely meal out on Friday to celebrate our anniversary and mortgage freedom. It was at a local pub/restaurant that is in the Michelin Guide, so not cheap as you might imagine. They do have a more reasonably priced bar menu, so might go back another time to try that.

 Despite a poor night’s sleep on Friday, we managed to get quite a lot of holiday prep/friends coming for bbq prep done yesterday. The garden is tidy, Mr MV made the necessary improvements to the roof rack for the car, we planted our wild flower plug plants (grown from seed), I got the camping equipment out (still need to do some washing up), bought food for today’s bbq etc. Lunch yesterday was pancakes to use up some on the turn milk, while dinner was a real use it up meal - omelettes with salad and wedges to use up half tin of sweet corn, an avocado that was two weeks past its best before (and absolutely fine apart from right at the top where it was a bit brown!), salady bits and the last two potatoes. Also had hm ice cream using my new ice cream maker - it was delicious!

MS things:
* used personal Nectar price discounts on needed items in Sains and also earned 430 points using offers and their challenge thing (these will be converted to Avios)
* NV survey
 * use it up dinner (which was actually very nice)
* watered allotment and I had some broad beans in my omelette (Mr MV will only eat them under duress)

Gratitudes
 * hg food - am eating raspberries from the garden on my breakfast every morning and broad beans for dinner
 * to the mums whose gifts paid for dinner 😊
* to combined antihistamines- I got bitten badly on Thursday and have extremely itchy legs. Fortunately cetirizine hydrochloride plus benadryl (they can be taken together - learnt this from my hives episode) plus anthisan helped! (Although Anthisan four years ood, so perhaps time for a new tube).

 Have a good Sunday all!

Karmacat

Wow!  Very impressive have a lovely BBQ today.

EssexHebridean

Ouch to allergies to bites - MrEH suffers badly there too and it's ever fun. Glad you have a medication combination that works for you.

We love our ice cream maker - we had a bowl in the freezer one for a long while which got used a lot, and the compressor one we have now whilst a pricey treat gadget is wonderful! 

That's a right bother about the car - I'm very glad the AA sorted you out reasonably fast! 

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks EH. Your posh ice cream maker sounds very fancy! Mine is a bowl in the freezer job. Which reminds me, we have a tiny bit of cream and one egg leftover, so I might finish that off tonight in the same way, with some hg raspberries in!

Yesterday was busy - friends and their small children for lunch, so necessary prep for that (me) and final car preps for holiday (Mr MV) in the morning, afternoon with friends and then as BIL and SIL were coming over to run through cat care (esp. Ginger Cat's meds and toilet habits - poor thing!), we invited them to help finish up the cooked BBQ food! After they'd gone we watched Elton and I entered comps. Enjoyable day though, despite the heat (fortunately our friends brought a gazebo as there's no shade in our garden until mid-afternoon.

Today I've done a wee bit of Cambridge work, an even smaller bit of my work and, more importantly, all the invoicing and money shuffles. It being early, I wasn't sure if I would have enough to pay the (rather large) CC bills, but with taking the vet's bills out of the EF (and instructing the vet to put in another claim), I've managed it. There'd be more Cambridge money on the 1st and probably a couple more paid invoices from clients, but I didn't really want to have to be trying to do this while away, possibly without signal (and definitely with no laptop). Clothes fund and cat fund are very depleted now (and I've calculated what we'll give SIL for cat care and taken all the excess out of the cat holiday fund too to cover cat costs), but at least I'm square.

Otherwise, it's packing and prepping for our holiday. We've not camped for a week since 2008 (several other shorter jaunts since) and have never taken the Mini for a week's camping, so it's a challenge! And definitely *not* lightweight camping - I've just packed my spun iron frying pan! 😂 I need to pop down to the allotment later for a final check/water and do the same in the garden too. We're supposed to be visiting the Wine Society at 4pm for their summer fair (free prize draws and wine tasting - what's not to like), but I think this will depend on how we're getting on. I'm currently waiting for Mr MV to get out of a couple of meetings to have some lunch.

MS things:
* Clicks, comps and HW done
* Nothing will be left to fester in the fridge - use it ups have done well and we'll either eat the remains today or pack as snacks for the journey tomorrow.
* Vouchers: I exchanged my MS Rewards for £20 of M&S vouchers hoping to find something to wear there - failed on that so far, but will look again when back from this holiday - there are a few things I do need before the cruise. Have a voucher in my inbox for a free birthday milkshake (the date format was clearly US style when I signed up, so I get this every year) - we'll be passing the diner tomorrow, so looking forward to that! Also had an email from Costa offering me 50% off food (clearly because I've not used it in so long - Mr MV only got a 30% voucher). Also 7/8 beans collected there. And Mr MV has a free hot drink at Greggs voucher from his car insurance, so that's expected to be used too.
* Camping - I've packed full size frying pan and extra saucepan in expectation we will cook on several nights
* £8.16 claimed from PA - not a lot this month, but work has been busy
* £3 NW rewards claimed (after account fee)
* We used 1.81 kWh of grid power last week
* S&S and FOTG submitted
* Gfk TV survey done - now that points mean vouchers, it's much more motivating

Gratitudes:
* Lovely time with friends yesterday
* It's a bit cooler here today!
* Elton at Glasto was excellent - wish we'd been there!

Have a good day all!

EssexHebridean

1.81kWh of grid power in a week is astonishingly good - although in fairness, so was last week's weather I guess! I'm still wavering about solar/batteries, but I think we probably will end up there... 

Karmacat

All sounding really good!  It also sounds like you're heading off on holibob later this week?  Way to go!

themadvix

Yes, we’re off tomorrow KC!