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

themadvix

Thanks Beanie 😊

themadvix

Morning all,

Another weekend of mostly tiling, but with dinner out with friends on Saturday to celebrate two birthdays (inc. Mr MV's). Mr MV paid for that - mostly as I'll be paying for Thursday and Friday's celebrations. Floor is now completed (needs grouting) but I need to pop out for another box of tiles for the bottom of the wall later. They should go up tonight and then we can grout tomorrow evening and the cats can return the following day (hooray!). 

Sadly Mr MV's nan died on Saturday morning. She was 103 and it wasn't unexpected at all, and a release for her, so it is sad, but not devastating. We may well be called upon to help with some of the admin etc. in the coming weeks, and have offered to do so, but I think most things were fairly well in order anyway (FIL had a file with the funeral details in it that he always left out for us should we have needed it while they were on holiday, and I know it was all planned and prepaid). It also leaves us in a bit of limbo currently as we don't know when the funeral will be - hopefully before Christmas, but I guess at this time of year there's no guarantee. Imagine we'll hear at some point this week.

I started my Christmas shopping yesterday, ordering bits for Sis and boyfriend, Niece (tickets to the Horrible Histories concert for her, Mr MV and I 😬), and Dad and Stepmum. It feels good to be getting my head around this. Still need a little bit more for Sis and something for Mum and then it's down to Mr MV's side of the family (only his parents and nieces and nephew - we don't buy for the brothers and wives) and the foodie/gifty bits for others (and a couple of CS trawls). 

MS things:
* TCB tracked for a couple of bits
* Didn't get as far as dal making for Friday night's tea, but we had fish fingers and beans instead of a takeway
* Have been contacted by a former project manager at an agency I work for - she's set up on her own and would like to collaborate 😁
* Harvested half of my remaining leeks and have cleaned, chopped and frozen them (***** leaf miner - they were in a sorry state)
* Washing done and on the line yesterday (thanks for the nudge GP) - it finished off on the heated airer overnight, despite the airer being very full!

Gratitudes:
* A lovely night out on Saturday with friends and tried a new-to-us restaurant
* GMIL passed away peacefully
* The end of the disruption in our house is (temporarily - whatever is happening with the heat pump isn't happening until after Christmas now) in sight

Have a good day all!

Greying_Pilgrim

tmv - is the Horrible Histories the same folk who do the TV ones?  That chap who is in them - and is one of the key writers I think?? - and has been a key player in the Paddington Bear Movies/Paddington's tea with her late Majesty, is delightfully cringey and humourous.  I do like watching those programmes.  Not sure how much history I retain, but I think the way they make everything into a song and dance is very good.  

Greying X

EssexHebridean

Ahhh Vix I do get the mix of sad and yet also a release in relation to Mr TMV's Nan - we had a similar situation here recently with my Aunt - she wasn't that old but had been in hospital following complications after a routine, but fairly major surgery. She wasn't going to recover, and there was a chance that currently she was aware of her situation without being able to communicate that, and so the subsequent medical event that caused her actual death was as much as anything else a relief. Of course that in itself can bring all sorts of mixed emotions can't it - as we have a tendency to feel a degree of guilt for feeling that way, no matter how much that is actually the more humane way to consider things.  Funerals do seem to be taking a while at the moment - my Aunt died a bit under a fortnight ago, and her funeral isn't until the end of the week after next. 

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

tmv - is the Horrible Histories the same folk who do the TV ones?  That chap who is in them - and is one of the key writers I think?? - and has been a key player in the Paddington Bear Movies/Paddington's tea with her late Majesty, is delightfully cringey and humourous.  I do like watching those programmes.  Not sure how much history I retain, but I think the way they make everything into a song and dance is very good.  

Greying X

Yes, I think it'll be good (we love Ghosts and there's quite a bit of overlap in terms of writers/cast, I think?) - just a theatre full of children is somewhat daunting! (Especially for Mr MV - at least I have Brownie experience to call upon!).

themadvix

EssexHebridean said:

Ahhh Vix I do get the mix of sad and yet also a release in relation to Mr TMV's Nan - we had a similar situation here recently with my Aunt - she wasn't that old but had been in hospital following complications after a routine, but fairly major surgery. She wasn't going to recover, and there was a chance that currently she was aware of her situation without being able to communicate that, and so the subsequent medical event that caused her actual death was as much as anything else a relief. Of course that in itself can bring all sorts of mixed emotions can't it - as we have a tendency to feel a degree of guilt for feeling that way, no matter how much that is actually the more humane way to consider things.  Funerals do seem to be taking a while at the moment - my Aunt died a bit under a fortnight ago, and her funeral isn't until the end of the week after next. 

That sounds like a very hard situation EH. I can imagine that that was a relief - we'd all want that if it was us, wouldn't we.

The opposite can be said for GMIL really - she'd not had a clue who people were for a good 18 months (we'd been told we didn't need to visit anymore as she really didn't know us and as she was very deaf it was impossible to have any sort of conversation). And she'd not recognised Mr MV since the pandemic when he grew a beard - which I think he found quite hard to deal with. (Not that they were close - without wanting to speak ill of the dead, GMIL was a very awkward person and not always easy to love according to her family. She was always lovely to me, but that's neither here nor there - I only knew her in the 'sweet old lady stage').

I can't see the funeral being sooner than the w/c 15th. It'll be a small, mid-week affair I think - FIL was an only child and given her age, it's the children of her friends who might attend. We're away in the second week of December, and I know the in-laws will take that into consideration. Before that would be too quick - so it's possible it'll be between Christmas and NY, depending on crem availability. Oh well, it is what it is. Fortunately most of our existing commitments are earlier in December, so we'll just keep space available until we know more.

Jessy103

Sorry to hear about Mr MVs nan x

rtandon27

Sending comforting thoughts/vibes on the passing of MrVix's Nan xxx 

themadvix

Thanks Jessy and RT!

themadvix

Morning all,

Gorgeous sunshine here and I've just hung a load on the line - while it's bitter, there's a bit of a breeze, so I'm hoping it'll get partway to dry by the time it has to come in.

Mr MV has gone to the office today and will call in at his parents' on the way home. I am finishing up the large project for main client. I've got another project for Cambridge that I'm partway through (that uses my SE skillset rather than general admin skills), so that will keep me busy later. If I can, I'd like to pick the rest of the leeks and get them into the freezer later. Evening class tonight - although we've elected to do Zoom for a few weeks until our last class before Christmas, so not too disruptive to the evening.

Had an email yesterday from the pet medication company I ordered the boys' prescriptions from. The flea treatment prescription is over 6 months old so this company won't fill it. It's still valid though as the vet validated it until April... so, remembering Hetty's comment, I've asked for that bit of the order to be cancelled (not heard back yet of course) and have ordered it from Viovet via TCB, which don't seem to have the same ridiculous rules (I will save judgement until the meds are here!). The delay means that Ginger Cat is going to run out of his anti-inflammatories though, which is very annoying.

Still no news from Octopus (did I mention I got her OOO again last Thursday? She was meant to be back in on Friday, but still nothing... will email again today, and if I don't get a satisfactory response, it'll be time to escalate it. It's a month since they started work... (there was a delay on my part with the complaint, but it's still be a full 2 weeks since I sent that in). Also nothing from battery manufacturer - Mr MV has spoken to someone again to no avail and the forums appear to be full of people who aren't getting any customer service. ☹️ Still awaiting our staff discount to be re-added to account/sorted out... which is annyoing as I want to start planning December's normal order but I am not shopping without the discount.

In good news, one of the Christmas presents I ordered at the weekend has arrived and the last of Mr MV's birthday present came yesterday - I need to find a couple of present wrap-bags for those while he's out today. He also almost finished the tiling last night - two bits to cut tonight and the tile cutters can go back to the LoT tomorrow.

MS things:
* Bean chilli for dinner last night to help use up the sour cream. Enough left over for tonight.
* 1P surveys
* Clicks and HW - yesterday. But the FF browser update means I can no longer do the HW spins in FF. Jury's out on whether I'll bother firing up Chrome to do them in future
* Washing on line (and sunshine to power wm)
* Potential project for a US client next week

Gratitudes:
* Sunshine - I will definitely be getting out in it later
* Mr MV ate the chilli without complaint - it was not one of my finest meals - neither the beans nor the rice was as cooked as it should have been - the IP let me down 🙄 (pasta with it tonight and the chilli has added water and will cook long and slow before being served tonight)
* Plenty of work

Have a good day all!