So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

Morning all,

Yes KC, working in Cambridge is always nice - but I used to work at Trinity and now am in a much more modern and slightly less central institution, so the view from the office isn't quite as nice! (Less hassle though and they don't pay by cheque, which Trinity did when I was freelancing there!).

So far, so good with work this morning. Having got everything I wanted done yesterday (within reason - I still haven't found any brassicas for the allotment!), I slept well (some bedtime yoga and a cool shower helped) and Mr MV and I went for a quick walk round the block first thing. All this means I feel calm and focused, which makes a nice change from exhausted and stressed. Making good progress with work too.

Might have this for dinner - more courgette and the allotment potatoes to use! Mum is supposedly going to call round at some point for a quick cuppa (I might persuade her to go for a walk instead) and I also need to pop to the PO as I had an Ebay sale over the weekend.

We've had an email from a company on Mykonos that we'd enquired about doing a cycling tour with when we're there - they were booked up but have had a cancellation, so looking forward to booking that later.

I have proposed and Mr MV has agreed that next weekend we will spend at least half a day enjoying one of our memberships - RSPB or RHS. I suspect it will end up being a visit to the Lodge at Sandy as it's just up the road from us, but I think we need to plan these things in as we will just fill the time with jobs otherwise. And once we get to the autumn there'll be football matches and other things that occupy our time too. There's no cricket on GP next weekend, so a nice walk and birdwatching it is!

MS things:
* Comps, clicks and HW done
* MM surveys caught up on a bit last night
* Dinner last night was largely grown within walking distance (as was the night before's and likely tonight's)

Gratitudes:
* A good night's sleep
* A good result in the cricket
* Satisying, (almost) self-sufficient dinners

Have a good day all!

Baileys_Babe

Your dinner suggestion sounds delicious.

themadvix

@Baileys_Babe I can confirm that the recipe was indeed very tasty 😋 A bit faffy but would make again!

Baileys_Babe

themadvix said:

@Baileys_Babe I can confirm that the recipe was indeed very tasty 😋 A bit faffy but would make again!

Thanks for the feedback, glad you were pleased with the results. I will and it to my list of recipes to try.

themadvix

Morning all,

Very tired this morning as had a terrible night's sleep. However, Mr MV needed a lift to the station (he could have cycled but was also feeling pretty rubbish), so I'm up and at my desk nice and early. Email from client last night suggested a deadline of Friday for the project I'm working on, but actually I expect to be able to get it back to him tomorrow, which will be good. I've got another project with a Friday deadline, so I need to get this out of the way first.

Yesterday afternoon I popped out and bought some cabbage seedlings and compost for the allotment. I need to get the compost spread and seedlings in later today. Also offered a couple of cukes from allotment friend, so have cancelled them on my R'ford order. Mum didn't pop round yesterday and is planning to today (which works well for me as Mr MV was here yesterday, so I wasn't in need of any additional human company, whereas today I'll be very glad of it). I am going out for dinner with two of my evening class friends this evening (one of those planned spends between now and the cruise).

The cycle tour we were hoping to do on Mykonos is off - the timings didn't work. We would also have had to hire a car (£80) to get there. However, we may still hire the car - it would give us an opportunity to get out and about and see the island (and maybe find a quiet(er) beach) and we might still visit the farm where the cycle tour runs from - they do wine tastings/lunches and that might be nice. To be decided.

MS things:
* Clicks, comps and HW done
* 4 x PA surveys done
* Dinner from the garden/allotment again largely last night

Gratitudes:
* Dinner was delicious, if I say so myself - so many flavours, all melded really well
* Giggles over B&W cat playing with the disk drive of the PS3 when we got it out of the loft (our PS5 is digital only - no disks for him to enjoy
* Cucumbers from allotment friend

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Cat giggles!  Nice one.

Also a nice one at Mykonos, when are you going?  Not in the heat of full summer?  Mind you ... you'll be fine!  I spent a little time in Mykonos immediately after I graduated, there was only one disco then, and they stopped playing Western pop music for a bit, and all the Greek guys took the centre of the floor and danced Greek-style.  It was fantastic.  

You're doing so well on the allotment, in spite of how tired you feel, it sounds wonderful.

themadvix

Morning all,

Thanks KC. Mykonos is the last stop on the cruise - so definitely heat of summer! I think it's a bit of a different scene probably now - there's a lot of (gay) clubs. But I'm not really a clubbing type, so it'll be interesting! We're going back to the ship for dinner, so it's a case of making sure I can be dragged back to the island for the evening I think - even if it's just for a couple of drinks. I think it will make for great people-watching. Exploring during the day should be fun though.

Dragged myself down to the allotment just before I went out last night as allotment friend had left me a bag of cucumbers - 4 little mini munch and a white wonder. Maybe I'll try saving some seeds from them? 

Dinner with friends was lovely yesterday and £23 spent, which seemed pretty reasonable as we all had dessert too.

Today will be more of the same - I still need to plant the cabbages I bought on Monday. They are in the shed at the allotment (the other reason for visiting was to water them at the very least!). And I'm finishing up this project for my main client. Then I've got another two bits to do for him, plus the stuff from the Americans. So still very busy, which is great. Olio tonight too, although given our new unprocessed/Mediterranean diet, not sure there'll be much to keep - hoping for some fruit maybe?

I've followed-up with one prize provider as I've not heard any more about the night at the farm, which is in two weeks; if I don't hear this morning from the hotel stay one, I'll be ringing the competition organiser (which is different to the prize provider).

 Final electricity figures for June were 6.24 kWh. Most of this was the first two days when we charged the car before it broke. So virtually no grid power used last month! Pity about the standing charges, but definitely feeling that the solar/battery was a good move.

MS things:
* Did really well on PA yesterday and now at about £17 when all cleared
* Drank soda water at the pub (50p per glass) - imagine this helped keep the cost down (we split the bill)
* Free cukes!
* Mr MV had carbonara last night, using bacon from the freezer and some courgette too
* Picked up 18 eggs from Olioer yesterday morning - BB 17/7! (They had a display until date on them - I thought they'd got rid of these ages ago!)
* Courgette fritters (from the R'ford recipe book, but doesn't seem to be online) for dinner tonight; followed by hg raspberries and yoghurt

Gratitudes:
* Super affectionate cats this morning - I felt very loved
* Lovely time with my evening class friends, and we've agreed to meet again before class starts in September
* Allotment friend's generosity - he's always offering me things! (I could have had kale too, but I've got chard and courgettes to deal with)

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

I meant to tell you, I *did* join Olio, there's one person very close, and a couple only just over a mile away.  I'll keep an eye on it for a bit to learn what's what, but if the very close one has something I actually want, I might go for it  

themadvix

Ooh, that's good KC. Hopefully they'll have some helpful stuff sometimes.

My Cambridge boss/friend moved our meeting earlier, which meant that I was able to get to the allotment this afternoon before the rain arrived, so compost spread, cabbages in, watered, slug-protected and netted against butterflies/pigeons. I forget how much hard work it is! Also strimmed the grass while I was down there, did a bit of weeding, and picked another two large courgettes, broad beans and peas (and one lovely gooseberry).

Have been back a while now and finished as much of the Cambridge work as I'm going to do today, have finished the work for the Americans, and have rung to follow-up about hotel prize. Am waiting to hear back as the man on reception seemed confused by the concept of the radio station having competitions... Fortunately I have the MSE webpage with the link to the comp open on my computer. The comp page is dead now, but at least I can show it was there if needed. Hopefully I'll hear back either soon or in the morning. Glad I followed it up though.

themadvix

Morning all,

Olio was quite a small collection last night (36 items), but we kept three things - some porridge oats, all bran and rice krispies - all with packaging damaged rather than past their dates, so that's useful.

More of the same work-wise today - main client sent another piece of work that takes priority over the exceedingly boring long project we're working on, so I'm cracking on with that. Normally there's a lull between my two regular biannual projects for him, but nothing like it this year! And he's mentioned he's adding another freelancer (who we've worked with before) back into the mix as things are getting so busy. 

No news from competition provider as yet...

I've opened a Tandem account for their 4.36% instant saver - currently transferring the EF across to there. I may stick a little bit of it in their 18-month fix (at 6.XX%) too. My Atom fix is due to end at the beginning of August, so that will be a nice little interest boost.

MS things:
* Ongoing PA survey (it's a quiz - quite fun really)
* Useful and (relatively healthy) Olio food
* Cancelled milk order for tomorrow as milk arriving with R'ford delivery later (also adjusted it going forward, which will cost slightly more, but should result in less supermarket top-ups)
* Dinner was lentil bolognese (with a bit of courgette in, of course) - and there's enough for lunch for me today/tomorrow

Gratitudes:
* Some lovely Olioers
* A good night's sleep (mainly due to the exercise and fresh air at the allotment yesterday!)
* Plenty of work

Have a good day all!