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

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, I love a trifle - and I love that we all leave out different things 😂😂 I never put cream on top 😂 just sponge, jelly, custard for me 😂 

Good luck to Mr MV. Sometimes a change is good - I find the rose tinted spectacles get me through a little while in a new job at any rate 😂 but I am sure he'll make the right decision. 

Very glad the new octopod people are nice! 

Suffolk_lass

Ha! I love how much we are all exercised by trifle contents and methods. Of course I don't use readymade Tweetie custard @badmemory - we I make it from the pink powder - and absolutely no boozy contamination here. The advantage of pouring cream is you only add it if you want it as you serve it. All things to all people. Over the 50 years I have been making it, I have tried all the variations preceding, but I stand by our family friendly option. I might check who eats it this year. I'm sure the NYE one was mostly Mr Sl and me last year.

Don't forget Dordrecht in NL as a Christmas market option tmv! the bridges even have wheel gullies so you can take (carried/wheeled while you climb) bikes on them

EssexHebridean

Trifle = soggy cake. I'll just have the cake, unsoggified, thanks!

SL's reference above reminds me that Cambridge Station has bike ramps on the staircases between platforms! 

themadvix

Morning all,

Loving the trifle chat - we all do it differently, or not at all, it seems! (No readymade Tweetie custard here either - proper powder and milk all the way, like my Nan used to make it.)

Definitely haven't forgotten Dordrecht @Suffolk_lass! I think next year we'll probably aim for one we've done before and can recommend (not Berlin) to get them into the spirit, but definitely keen to branch out (have considered doing a few small places near to each other and moving around by train). The cycling would be great if it weren't for Mr MV's knee 🙄 He really, really needs to get on with the exercises over Christmas/NY and get into a routine with them. 

🐙 people will return on 2 January (the main guy is off until then anyway) - this works for us as a) we get the same guy back, who has thought everything through and b) we can forget about it until then (barring needing to move their copper pipe into the garage).

Still no news about Mr MV's potential job, but from things going on with his current boss, really hoping Mr MV can get out of there. Thanks for your thoughts on consultancy @greenbee, although I think the concern is more than his performance will be judged on his ability to persuade people to make the changes needed. I'm not sure how that's a thing, but hey ho.

Cambridge is similarly frustrating at the moment (*still* awaiting news of restructure - this has been hanging over the department since September, with an originally promised announcement in October) and everyone is very demotivated. I will need to do some Cambridge work over the Christmas period but hoping to avoid most of it (Cambridge is shut anyway, so not pressure to do anything, except for it making my life easier).

I have the next project from main client and also need to quote for another project, but I am struggling with focus a bit this morning. I have been to see kitty and have also collected key for sitting the ginger ninja over Christmas (and discovered that the family are relocating, so I'll lose another cat client). Also returned the skilsaw to the LoT. There's presents to be wrapped and I'm tempted to abandon work until I've done that/some housework, but I know I can long both of those out (even with fabric wrapping bags) and avoid work!

MS things:
* Mr MV found a perfectly sized piece of plywood hanging around to use as the extension for the table - it didn't even need to be cut
* All presents bought, within budget - just need to label my jars/bottles of preserves/booze and allocate now
* Dinner last night was fajitas, using up some wraps from the freezer. Leftovers on toast for lunch today. Chilli tonight to continue the use of the soured cream
* The never knowingly undersold pledge seems to work - Mr MV's niece's present (lego) was definitely much cheaper in there than elsewhere.

Gratitudes:
* A lovely catch-up with Mum over a chocolate orange hot chocolate in town yesterday
* Use of the car for my chores this morning - it is very wet out
* Lovely cat clients have given me presents! I'm going to miss them!

Have a lovely afternoon all!

Greying_Pilgrim

Oh tmv - your talk of extending your dining table took me back to the house DH and I shared when we first got together.  I liked to entertain but there wasn't enough room to have a 'big' dining table - plus we didn't need it 99% of the time.  But DH had a motley assortment of furniture - including a formica 'winged' table in the kitchen, and a 'made to look posh' wooden winged table in the front room.  We discovered, that by having a 'wing' down on one side of each, and the judicious placing of a piece of  2" x 1", and a large sheet, we could fit 8 - 10 people around the table 😁  Then of course, we had to go on a hunt for chairs......... 🤣  Simple times 😁  Works though 😁 Bravo to you and Mrtmv 😁

Greying X

Suffolk_lass

OMG Chairs! We have ten next week and some were gotten rid of... timely prompt @Greying_Pilgrim

themadvix

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Oh tmv - your talk of extending your dining table took me back to the house DH and I shared when we first got together.  I liked to entertain but there wasn't enough room to have a 'big' dining table - plus we didn't need it 99% of the time.  But DH had a motley assortment of furniture - including a formica 'winged' table in the kitchen, and a 'made to look posh' wooden winged table in the front room.  We discovered, that by having a 'wing' down on one side of each, and the judicious placing of a piece of  2" x 1", and a large sheet, we could fit 8 - 10 people around the table 😁  Then of course, we had to go on a hunt for chairs......... 🤣  Simple times 😁  Works though 😁 Bravo to you and Mrtmv 😁

Greying X

We've balanced plywood on the table previously to make it bigger, and have used an small camping table to 'extend' the table (except it was lower, so very much the second-class table 😂), but the large sheet of plywood we used has been cut in half (for storage purposes - it was an absolute pain, but had supported our dubious mattress for several years), so a new solution was required. Rather pleased with it tbh!

Suffolk_lass said:

OMG Chairs! We have ten next week and some were gotten rid of... timely prompt @Greying_Pilgrim

I thought this was going to be a problem too SL, but with the lovely bench Mr MV made in the summer, I think we're OK... although I've not actually tried to fit the chairs/bench combination around the table. I love Christmas furniture improvisation though - always remember the need for someone to sit on the bathroom stool at my Nan's (and the table legs in the way) - only things that happen at Christmas really!

greenbee

If anyone needs any spare chairs, just let me know... I have several in the summerhouse, and some in the garage. I think I can seat 20 before it gets complicated... Which makes me thing I should actually do a bit more entertaining!

themadvix

Morning all,

Mr MV has gone off - he's doing some volunteering this morning (removing a certain type of gorse, but leaving the rarer sort?) and then has his work Christmas do this evening. All things that are happening in/near his parents' town, so he's staying over there tonight. Expecting (I am, Mr MV is just not thinking about it - so I don't remind him) that he'll hear about the job today. He is super chill about it which is really good! (And very unlike him!)

I am loving the sunshine this morning - the wet weather yesterday was definitely contributing to low mood and overwhelm. I have work to do, a cat to visit, and a lengthy non-work to-do list (mostly of tidying-related jobs, although I need to put together tomorrow's trifle once the parts have defrosted). Not sure about pub tonight - will depend on whether BIL and SIL are free (we've not been in a while though). Might also get the rest of the labels printed for my preserves/liqueurs and stuck on - then they just need allocating. I'd love to get to allotment/woods and cut some holly, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen today. In an ideal world, I'd like to get all the tedious stuff done today, so that from tomorrow I only have work and fun things to do - as the holly/allotment definitely count as fun, they won't be a priority today. (We're at Dad's for Christmas with the step-siblings tomorrow and there's Christmassy jazz at a local brewery and nine lessons and carols at the church we got married at on Sunday - I'd like to get to at least the carol service, if not the brewery beforehand - opposite directions of course).

I knew I was forgetting to mention something yesterday - Mr MV finally got around to the call with our battery installer and we now have both batteries up and running again, for the first time since we had the heat pump installed. So that will definitely make a difference to our running costs.

Have a good day all!

greenbee

Congrats on getting the battery up and running!

I made a call to a recommended heat pump engineer and told him that I want help with design as I'm not sure on timescales. And no, I don't want a freebie after which I decide not to do it/to go with someone else. He's been recommended, so I want to pay him to work with me on the design regardless of what/when the next step is. I think the design may involve more battery...