So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

savingholmes

the_cross_rabbit said:

🤣 I used to be scared of triffids  when I was little because of that program .
CRx

What do you mean 'used to be' ? I still am..... that rattling hissing sound... bright lights.... Scary!!

Hope you recover fully soon MV. I had a better day today. So hopefully soon we will all have better days more often.

Suffolk_lass

I do actually put the lids on but only to cover the jars so there is not browning of the contents. Essentially you are heating the bottle contents to that bubbling heat (not a rapid boil) and not for long enough to stew them. It is fine to remove them at that point and wipe then screw on the lid (and turn the jam jar upside down, cover it with a towel and let it cool slowly. You have to eat or freeze any where the tops don't pop in. If you aren't comfortable heating the lids in the oven, you could buy new (I buy gingham patterned ones from Big River) and sterilise them another way (like a dissolved milton tablet) then swap the new lids with the old ones when the jars come out of the oven.

I never pick Rhubarb after July because of the build-up of oxalic acid. I will be top dressing mine with farmyard manure in February next year without covering the crowns to give it a good start

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Had a lovely wander round M&S with Mum yesterday afternoon and a tea and toasted teacake in the cafe, which was a nice treat. Bought a few bits in the foodhall (loose chocolate covered pretzels 😋) but no clothes needed. Apart from underwear, I buy very little new in terms of clothes these days and it all seemed very overpriced and over-trendy really (and some of it was just b****y awful - what the designers are thinking, I do wonder!). Wandered down to allotment and watered and then fed cat on the way back and it's safe to say I overdid it a bit - had a nap this morning 🙄 Tedious. So tedious. Picked another large courgette (but looks like we might have  break for a week or so before the next one!). Squashes are taking over and now have flowers on too Pulled my onions/shallots. They have been pretty much a failure - not sure whether they were just crowded out by the potatoes or I have allium leaf miner to contend with (although they don't seem to have rotted, just not thrived - but no upright leaves), but I will try again over winter in a different place (with mesh). Also picked two plums that fell off into my hands - absolutely perfectly ripe and delicious. The rest are not quite there yet, but will be very soon. I'm going to need some help with them though in my current state. 

This morning I collected some bits from Olioers - bananas, radishes and a few rolls - and popped to Costco for cat chicken - they will be relived, having been given all sorts to tide them over lately!

Have done a few bits of my work and some for Cambridge, although there's definitely not as much as expected there (and I'm on my own for two days, as the rest of the department are on leave, so I'm limited in how much I can get on with!).

MS things:
* All clicks done
* HW - won £4.20 (one of the free spins games is particularly generous at the moment), which took me over £5, so have withdrawn that - very unexpected, but very nice! That was a new site in my repertoire, so definitely seeing the benefit of expanded clicks there
* Clicks done
* MM survey screened out of - 5 points
* 2 NV surveys yesterday

Gratitudes:
* Time to catch up with Mum and a slight change of scene
* Mr MV cooked dinner as I was done in
* Not too much Cambridge work - I might have another nap yet 🙄
* Homemade florentines from Mum - yummy!

Have a good afternoon all!

savingholmes

Always nice to have 'free' food and free £.

Have a great weekend and I hope your energy recovers soon.

themadvix

Evening all,

Busy day today, despite energy being required yesterday (Niece-sitting - and I ended up abandoning her with mum as I was exhausted and had work to get back to). Finished the other cat sitting yesterday evening, so that was good.

Today I have done loads of washing (including bath mats etc.) and got it all dried on the line, cooked and prepped and frozen the chicken for the cats and made the rhubarb and ginger jam (SL, I looked into the oxalate stuff, but it suggests that a) there's not as much in the leaves and b) cooking it well destroys more of it too, so I decided to go for it - interesting though and if there was a history of kidney stones, definitely one to avoid.)

My laptop has also arrived back which Mr MV has set up for me. Annoyingly, this has involved another £100 spend as a licence had expired for my accounts software (last paid for in 2012, so fair enough) and my copy of MS Office was only for 1 PC (£25, so not too bad). Both of these are, of course, tax deductible, but having emptied my business savings for the unscheduled new laptop, they will have to come out of this month's pay. I will be writing for a bit of a moan to the company who I bought the laptop from though, in the hope they may give me a bit back - I think it's pretty poor service really to send something out that was physically broken and then take a week to fix it.

Also taken delivery of the Z00plus order, so topped up on cat litter and treats (free) and now have another top-entry litter tray.

MS things:
* YG survey done
* Y Live survey done
* HW done, but no luck today
* Jam made - at least one of the jars will be a Christmas gift
* Popped to Sains for jam sugar and bought 3 packs of butter as it was on my Nectar prices - £1.40 instead of £1.75
* Dinner was leftover date night curry and some homemade curry (date night was Thursday and while we don't always do anything special as there's often other fun stuff planned, it was good to have a takeaway that was intentional and enjoyed together - the MSE bit was that plain rice was £3.39, so I decided to cook it at home - and then promptly forgot! It was only for me as Mr MV had a biriyani, so I just had extra of the naan.)

Gratitudes:
* Energy - I did have a nap this afternoon having hit a wall, but have managed to do a lot today
* Mr MV for setting up my laptop
* Nice to see Niece yesterday, even if she was in a funny mood (and wouldn't just sit and watch TV quietly!)

Have a good evening all!

QueenJess

Glad to hear you are getting better. Just don’t overdo it.

themadvix said:

* Nice to see Niece yesterday, even if she was in a funny mood (and wouldn't just sit and watch TV quietly!)

What? Kids actually sit in front of the TV quietly? Anyone want to swap?! 😂

themadvix

Thanks Jess. She'd had a busy day the day before, so Sis had told her to do quiet things (also with consideration for me). Normally she's quite happy to sit and watch a film, but of course, having been told to, the appeal wasn't there. She practiced her cartwheels instead, which didn't involve too much effort from me, fortunately!

savingholmes

Glad you are pacing yourself 

themadvix

Evening all,

Thanks SH. I'm definitely over the worst of it now - how are you doing?

Another day at the in-laws - we're seeing progress in the loft now at last. Nothing done on the car today though. A few more bits on Ebay, hopefully to help towards car costs. Sold something this evening (£26), so that's to post tomorrow and the postage money for us (towards Devon fund).

Feeling pretty fed up and frustrated with myself this evening. Somehow I hadn't managed to save my choices for the recipe boxes, so we've got 3 meals I wouldn't have chosen coming tomorrow - including sausage and mash (meat sausages and I really don't need potatoes at the moment!). Not impressed with their website or myself... And also, renewal for accounting programme came through and they've obviously got wise and the licence is only for 1 year now (before you only got support for a year), so I'll have to renew that annually - another £90/year. And gadget insurance is apparently either a) impossible to buy as it's a custom non-big-brand laptop and none of the comparison sites can cope with this or b) about £9/month from the only place I've managed to get a quote. So much for advertised £1.99 type prices. So I need to think about that.

We were fed by the in-laws at lunchtime, so no dinner needed.... but something is, but can't quite decide what.

MS things:
* Ebay sales
* Lunch out
* HW done, but nothing today (might have a quick free bingo session though)
* MM screen out - 5 pts
* £5 PA bonus for surveys last week

Gratitudes:
* Lovely time sat in the garden when we got back with well-behaved kitties who just chilled with us instead of trying to wander off
* Lovely lunch
* Beautiful fuschia by our living room window is in full flower

Have a nice evening!

savingholmes

Thanks I have managed to go away for a few days. Good energy for that although started late each day 

Irritating about gadget insurance