Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

Morning all,

Indeed RT, no use whatsoever, especially as I'm too tight to buy French stuff from the supermarket here generally (so much cheaper in France, funnily enough). 

It's been another very busy week workwise - finishing the large job on Tuesday, then having plenty of smaller bits to keep me occupied (and then some) the rest of the week. I will be doing some work today too - a couple of other clients have poked their noses above the parapet, so I'm having to balance deadlines with main client's expectations. 

Working today isn't an issue, however, as we're trapped (not literally) at home inside as the workmen are here to remove the asbestos (which is in a cupboard by our back door (outside)). So we're in charge of keeping the cats happy and then keeping us and the cats out of the way later when they come inside to deal with other bits - one just needs painting, but I'm not sure what the protocol will be for the other bit (although it's not licensed material, so not as complex as the setup currently being installed outside (with sucky-machine and everything sealed off - and no access to the garden!)). I also intend to bake some bread and cakes this morning - using some of the apples I was given. Quite a few of the apples have gone into strudel (after I was given a lesson and recipe in how to make authentic Austrian strudel the other day). I think whatever's left after the baking will be chipped and frozen for future strudels.

In exciting news, I have taken on another allotment plot! It's not the one I really, really want (that would reunite the original plot I have, which has been split at some point - I'm still on the waiting list should that come up), but it's within sight of my existing plot, I have to walk past it (virtually) to get to my current one and it's got space, should I want to put a greenhouse on it in the future. It's got a few bits growing at the minute - some parsnips (in amongst the weeds), some very green tomatoes (will be investigating green tomato chutney/alternative green tomato ideas) and possibly some onions - but I think they've been planted at the wrong time. The plan is to cover it for the winter to kill off the weeds, then in the spring, I'll compost it and plant easy things that don't need covering too much - onions, potatoes and, through holes in the groundcover, squash. If my preferred plot doesn't come available (it's not looking likely - they've actually started using it, but rent year is up in January), then I'll invest some money in compost etc. But overall, the plan is that it'll be a minimal effort plot and just give me a bit more space. Rent for the remainder of this year (including a £25 setup fee 🙄) is £43 (a year's rent is £67).

Otherwise, it's been a pretty quiet week - lots of work! No pub last night as BIL and SIL weren't available, but Cambridge boss/friend came around for a cuppa, which was nice - had a moan about work and a catch up about the rest of life, which we don't get to do when we're working.

MS things:
* Allotment still feeding us with minimal additional inputs. Will have a R'ford order next week though as we're running low on hg onions and my carrots are feeble!
* Clicks and HW - nothing to write home about here
* Only grocery spends since the weekend were £2.40 (saved 20p with member voucher) on Coop milk.
* As expected French hypermarket shop was covered from a combination of personal spends, grocery budget and grocery savings.
* Had a very exciting 🙄 evening of admin on Wednesday - but did get a whole load of jobs done.
* Hotbin is warm - about 32 degrees this morning, so not quite there yet, but getting there. I need to shred some cardboard for it, but I filled it earlier in the week with a good mix, but a mower bin load full of grass which should get things moving.

Gratitudes:
* Lovely to see friend for a cuppa yesterday
* In-person evening class continues - and it's lovely to see people in person every week!
* Have booked a lunch at the Savoy in October that we were given for our birthday - voucher needed to be used, so that's something to look forward to! (October is actually quite busy with nice things - mostly already paid for)

Have a good Saturday all - probably more exciting than mine! (Although maybe we'll have a fire tonight or go to the pub!)

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, good allotment news! I think I need to start thinking of the veg plot in the garden more as an 'allotment'. I think of it as part of the garden (unsurprisingly, since it is) and as the garden is large and unwieldy, it can feel somewhat overwhelming. Perhaps if I just mentally separated the 'allotment' bit that would help me keep on top of veg growing?! Perhaps it would also make me put some gates on it to keep the sheep and cows out

I shall continue to follow your allotment shenanigans with interest Please do post pictures if you can! 

rtandon27

Wow Vix - TWO allotment plots - that is well impressive, I can barely keep up with our garden let alone grow anything more than herbs & potatoes!

themadvix

Cheery that sounds like it might be a good plan for you. And maybe some perennials? Can recommend incredible veg - am loving my perennial kale, saltbush and walking onions for ease of care and readily available leaves. If I didn't have 40-odd leeks already in the ground I would be buying some everlasting leek too - maybe next year.

RT, it's an experiment. It may be too much! And while our small back garden is pretty neat and tidy, our large front one is less so - it has been left to meadow for the summer. It is on the to-do list, but we need to decide what we're doing with it (too many ideas). So I am by no means on top of all the gardening. I do love growing my own though and feeding us (probably because it's so MSE!). If it's too much, I'll hand it back next year - nothing ventured, nothing gained and that's why I don't want to expend huge amounts of money or time on it. (A greenhouse is definitely a future project, not an immediate one, and I'll try not to buy 2 tonnes of compost for it, although I can't promise that as it was by far the easiest way to get it all set up last time.)

Bread and Dorset apple cake baked, but the men are in the house now so I don't really want to make fried egg sandwiches as (even without bacon) it feels a bit mean! They have had their lunch, mind you (while Mr MV and I have just had a slice of cake). Have got quite a bit of work done too, which is nice - will just have a quick thing to finish on Monday morning and return to work for main client.

Mr MV has said I can head down to the allotment later, although I think the guys reckon they'll be finished before too much longer (maybe, I may have misunderstood what I overheard). Sun is out here, so it'll be nice to be out in it. The cats are both hiding in separate bedrooms, absolutely terrified, I imagine (men in loft, so above them) - but I felt they were happy hiding where they were rather than trying to tempt them down to the living room with us. In any case, I don't think the men will be too long in the house.

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Asbestos people did go about 2.30/3, which was lovely. I popped down to the allotments for a bit (notice the plural 😉) and then we had chilli for dinner after a fire in the garden (enjoying the last of the sunshine). Put one bed to bed at allotment 1 and picked some raspberries and did some weeding. Picked up various bits of litter at plot 2 and investigated the groundcover fabric that was there (bunched up apparently and underneath the tomatoes which are all in grow bags) - I'm hoping I might not actually need to buy much.

Today we've been and fitted the inner roof to the teardrop, which feels like another big step forward. And been doing some prep for the heat pump installation - we needed to deep clean where naughty B&W cat pees and remove some boxing in around pipes (which Mr MV installed originally). So progress there. I've also chopped and open frozen the remaining apples. Lunch was leftover minestrone made for Friday's lunch and dinner will be more chilli, followed by strudel, so a very lazy cooking day.

After much research we have decided to go to Berlin for Christmas markets. Sadly this will be by plane (the budget is not sad about this), but we will offset our flights - I know it's not the answer, but it's better than nothing. This doesn't cost much, even with the best provider, so it's worth doing. We've not booked yet, but expect to get this sorted this evening - costs to be met from holiday fund.

The sun has come out now, so I'm going to collect a bottle of vodka from my friend (she didn't want it any more and I can use it) and then I might pop to the allotment (mainly to see if there's a spare broom handle for Mr MV for teardrop-building purposes - it's too wet to do much else).

Have a good evening all!

Greying_Pilgrim

tmv - do you put lemon juice on your apples when you open freeze them?

Greying X

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

tmv - do you put lemon juice on your apples when you open freeze them?

Greying X

I’ve never open frozen them before, but I never bother with lemon juice - I don’t care if they are brown as long as they taste ok!

beanielou

Oooh exciting on the market 

themadvix

Afternoon all,

Thanks Beanie - it is. We went to Berlin in 2015, so 10 years ago. But we stayed in an Airbnb with no heating (despite what the host said) and were miserable as a result. We're staying in a hotel this time, so hopefully will be warmer and happier! Hotel was obviously shopped around for and we're hoping to use Mr MV's status (achieved via a convoluted process outlined by headforpoints) to get free breakfast, a room upgrade and early check in and late check out.

GP, in an update to the apples - when I finally got around to bagging them, they hadn't discoloured any more than when I put them in the freezer, so I definitely wouldn't bother with lemon juice.

Invoicing and accounts done yesterday and I paid myself more than usual (but still leaving a decent chunk of the extra in the business account to help smooth this month/next month if pay is lower). Heat pump/asbestos/window pot has now got £2500 in it - which will leave £1000 when asbestos bill is paid. Cambridge pay should top this up to £1400ish mid-month. Heat pump is about £2800 (off the top of my head), so we'll be halfway (to be paid on a 0% cc anyway). Windows are not quite as much a priority, although I do really want to get the two in our bedroom done - they're both old (we replaced most of the downstairs in about 2014, but not anything upstairs) and the seal has gone on at least one pane - think these will be about £400 each (if we fit them, which Mr MV wants to do). 

Was delighted that business bank switch has gone super smoothly and everything reconciled perfectly. Have added two more small pots to my savings - one for allotment rent (now there's two this is a bit more to find) and one for household maintenance stuff - i.e. new bed sheets/things that aren't consumables (which come from grocery pot or 'bulk' pot (5l of Faith in Nature etc.) or groceries, but need buying/replacing occasionally (£10/month to go in here; different from 'house maintenance' which covers DIY and Mr MV looks after).

Popped to allotment yesterday and started clearing and covering new plot. Found parsnips and carrots, which was handy as we ate some carrots for dinner and will have more in tonight's dinner. Also found two newts and a toad. Have put the groundcover back down, so hopefully the newts will be happy under that for the winter (or in the 'compost heap' - it needs work, but that's a job for the spring). Also picked the last of my borlottis - have been really pleased with the harvest of these (500g dry beans from 12 plants). In the garden my hotbin is now happily between 40 and 50 degrees, even overnight, so hopefully I'll have some compost for the allotment in a month or so (which will be perfect timing for it to continue to compost down and enrich the soil over winter). I spent Monday afternoon at Mum's shredding some of the 'trees' we cleared from her garden, which will be good for bulk material for the next few months (and there's more to shred too, if I can do it before the garden renovators start work).

Baked bread last night and messed up. Couldn't tip it out of my lovely Netherton Foundry tin immediately on getting it out of the oven so left it while we ate dinner, only to discover that the moisutre had fallen out the bottom of the loaf, resulting in a rusty tin and rusty loaf. 🙄 Have just re-seasoned tin and it's looking lovely again. Not sure about eating rusty bread - will probably opt for a crustless sandwich and will use the crustless bread to make breadcrumbs for a batch of Glamorgan sausages I plan to make at the weekend.

Spending wise: Budget of £250. £90 supermarket delivery arriving tomorrow morning and a £19 R'ford delivery (which won't be a weekly thing - have ordered carrots and onions to keep us going for a couple of weeks as we've got plenty of other veg). Have cancelled Friday's milk (milk needed by tomorrow so in supermarket delivery). Will go to refill shop on Friday as we have no pasta or brown rice left, among other bits. Mr MV has taken the car to the garage for pre-warranty expiry work today; it's near IKEA so I've asked him to get me some more silicone bags (£10 - there goes this month's household maintenance budget).

Work for main client is quiet (he's currently travelling - will be back in my timezone soon). Finished the first instalment of a new project for another client yesterday. Otherwise, I've got plenty of Cambridge stuff to do (and avoided it yesterday, so am focused on it today!).

October is going to be a month for focusing on health. I've eaten too much cake lately and not been doing my steps or any yoga and it's beginning to have an impact (on scales and stiffness). So I started this morning as I mean to go on - a walk round the block and 10 minutes of yoga.

Teardrop is coming along - roof is now on and the struts on that are halfway through being attached. Mr MV is making progress with wiring plans and we have the insulation ready to install.

MS things:
* 'Found' vegetables!
* Clicks and HW
* Cashed out £29 from PA this month, with £8 pending
* Mr MV cut his own hair (which is what always happens, but I never mention it here!)

Gratitudes:
* Newts at the allotment!
* Lovely evening class last night - and I'm feeling I'm on top of it at the moment
* Allotment meeting on Monday night was productive too (still need to finish and distribute the minutes).

Have a good afternoon all!

Greying_Pilgrim

themadvix said:

....GP, in an update to the apples - when I finally got around to bagging them, they hadn't discoloured any more than when I put them in the freezer, so I definitely wouldn't bother with lemon juice......

 

Thanks sweetie - super helpful info.  I'll get on and prep some of the apples we got from the 'holiday' accommodation - it'll be fab to have them in cake or something further into Autumn/winter - and LG will love the memory of picking them and enjoying them all over again.  

Greying X