So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

EssexHebridean

I suspect Vault City use lactose a fair amount in their brews as that's one of the things that is usually used to give the creamy mouthfeel. having said that though, I recently had a Pilot Brewing Mochaccino Stout which also had that mouthfeel but was also lactose free - not sure how they achieved it but it was delicious! (Also from that same area I think, by coincidence!) 

Baileys_Babe

@themadvix my eldest is a Coeliac. I think BIL steered you right by suggesting potatoes or rice. With the crisps you will need to check the packaging for gluten containing ingredients or the may contain gluten statement in the allergy advice section. All the walkers products I have looked at are contaminated. We generally buy crisps in Aldi as most are suitable and the Grandparents buy crisps in Sainsbury's which are also fine.
With the cakes obviously the flour needs to be gluten free but any oats need to be certified gluten free. Oats become contaminated when harvested, processed and stored.
When we had coeliac visitors before eldest's diagnosis I would occasionally buy a packet mix for GF brownies or cake as I didn't stock appropriate flour and the all important xanthum gym.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

themadvix

Thanks Baileys Babe - I've had various Brownies over the years and a friend who is coeliac, so I'm pretty sorted on what they can and can't eat - but 7 year olds are laws unto themselves in terms of what they choose to eat! Apparently she likes Schar ciabattas, so I might revert to my original idea of a sandwich based picnic as this would be easier for me. I'll definitely be buying the cakey bits though - GF recipes are also tricky IME and I want it to be edible!

themadvix

So, invoicing, pay and money shuffles sorted (almost - just waiting for Tandem to actually send the money over to Nw and then I'll pay the cc). Nothing to savings from this pay due to dishwasher costs, but pleased to say that I've only withdrawn £100 to cover that from the EF - between us we've otherwise covered it. Aim will be to get that returned to the EF as first priority this month - hopefully interest earned will mostly cover it, although of course my savings are down since we bought the car. 

Am still waiting on a couple of POs/details before I can finalise my earnings for the month - they'll be down on last month (as was this month), but still OK and I've got a couple of US invoices outstanding (they like to pay 45 days after invoice 🙄), so that will help. And I'll get a decent amount from Cambridge in a couple of weeks (already submitted), so should be fine.

Had a lovely lunch. Mr MV wanted to drive the car(!) so we packed a picnic and took it up for a car picnic at a spot with nice views not too far from us (it was a lockdown adventure to drive slightly further than we needed to collect a more -ural-than-normal takeaway that led us to this spot in the first place - it's always going to be remembered for that!). It was so nice to actually get Mr MV away for more than 10 minutes from his computer/meetings - hopefully we can do it again. 

I have reviewed the R'ford situation and am going to place a small (minimum charge) order. If I don't we won't have peppers, cuke or toms for our lunches, and I'll also get the milk and one variety of veg.

Right, cc paid, accounts done. Main client has sent through next piece of work, but I need to do a couple of Cambridge bits first *and* get down to the allotment.

themadvix

Have been to allotment and harvested last potatoes, some broad beans, the gooseberries and some of the many pinkcurrants - I reckon I've got about 1kg and I've barely done a third of the bush. Don't tell anyone, but there's a courgette coming - hooray!

redofromstart

Careful, slug watch will hear you.

themadvix

redofromstart said:

Careful, slug watch will hear you.

😂😂😂 My thoughts exactly!!

themadvix

Morning all,

The Currys giftcard arrived in the post, although in no way protected against theft, so I'm glad it made it here. Am waiting on the go-ahead from Mr MV to order the dishwasher. We will be getting a slightly cheaper one (and cheaper delivery too, I think), so there should be a bit spare left on the card. This will likely go towards soda stream gas (if they ever have it in), as that's what we tend to go there for.

Have shuffled £10.94 of expenses plus a few pounds of interest paid over to EF, so down to £80 to find now to get this back to where it should be. There's 6p waiting in TCB, but I think I might be waiting a while for more to pay out! It would be great to cover this before my Cambridge pay arrives, but I think the odds are slim - at least it should be sorted when that comes in mid-month. 

Ordered Sis's birthday present yesterday (got a bit more TCB) - budgeted for, of course.

Have started newest project for main client - and am very happy with the state of it, so that's good. Have managed to get out of all Cambridge meetings today! Cancelled the one I lead, and the other two were cancelled (one with the possibility of being reinstated), so planning on making strong progress with this piece of work. Also had a small piece for US client - they've got a new project started, so I'm in demand. Am waiting on them for a PO for something last month though - I'd asked for it and no response, so have sent a reminder this morning. I have two others for other (smaller) projects though, so think it's an oversight rather than intentional. I've never had any issues with them paying in the past.

MS things:
* Clicks and HW done - nada today
* 1P surveys
* YLive exit poll survey done (£1)
* Dinner last night was a curry to use up the coconut milk I'd opened at the weekend. It was meant to be a korma but I think Mr MV made up the curry paste and then added all of it, instead of just half - it was a bit spicy! Used up some frozen tofu too - which worked well in the curry, so will do that again. I need to have a check in the fridge to see what we need to prioritise using up now - and could do with inventorying the freezer too.
* The end of a pint of milk was well and truly on the turn (could have done with Mr MV passing that knowledge on before I made porridge and tea with it...🤢) - made a quick batch of scones to use it up.
* Garden is keeping us in raspberries, strawberries and lettuce. 

Gratitudes:
* Rain has saved me the effort of watering garden and allotment (Was less grateful as I was cycling down to cat in it!)
* Good, if challenging evening class last night
* A tiny courgette!

Have a good day all!

themadvix

Morning all,

A very early start today as B&W cat decided that 4.30 was waking up time... 🙄 I did try to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening so I thought I'd prefer to get up and get on instead. May have a nap later!

Had an enquiry through the work platform I use occasionally from someone I did a bit of work for back in February. There's a lot more coming, am I available? So I've asked about volume and deadlines, but unless it's totally unreasonable, I imagine I'll take it. This was one of the factors in getting up early - I know I'm busy for the next few days with main client's work (although when I mentioned that to him last night, he'd forgotten!), and I want to get cracking with the Cambridge reports, so I need to get ahead as far as I can. The expected platform work will be fairly trying (and having already done some, it's a known quantity), but also relatively well paid (without any risk to me of client not paying, really, due to the platform taking the risk), and given the likely volume, will be worth my while. 

The sun is shining here this morning, which will make my visits to the cats much nicer than in the rain yesterday - because it's a new route, through a nicer bit of town, it almost felt like I was on holiday when I cycled there on Monday - new views, a lovely brand new bit of cycle path, sunshine! Getting up early also means I won't feel guilty about taking a longer break later to enjoy the sunshine.

Loving the news today - polling days are always good for actually getting uplifting stories (IVF for rhinos, anyone?) and things that usually get lost amongst the doom, gloom and petty bickering from our supposed representatives.

Anyway, time for another cuppa and back to work...

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Morning all,

Loving the news today - polling days are always good for actually getting uplifting stories (IVF for rhinos, anyone?) and things that usually get lost amongst the doom, gloom and petty bickering from our supposed representatives.

Anyway, time for another cuppa and back to work...

I must have missed that story! I ended up reading an interesting story about how one place in France is dedicated to trying to significantly reduce waste and started with a smaller group of people and educating them on how to reduce waste. They even held yogurt making workshops!