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

rtandon27

ahha - our two were ginger as well & from the same litter no less - explains the shared brain cell! 🤣🤣🤣

Cheery_Daff

OoOoh, do report back on the octopod visit!

I have vivid memories of my mum (the only adult in the house) wrapping our cats very tightly in a bath towel to give them tablets. They didn't like it, and neither did my mum, but it was efficient and the only way she could do it on her own.

We had similar struggles with our chickens, who could spot even a tiny bit if powdered tablet or even liquid medicine in any type of their favourite food a mile off 🙄 no teeth, but plenty of beaks and claws, and a very breakable neck 😬 We developed a ridiculous system of Mr C holding one under his arm and gently stretching her neck up (very gently 😱) and me forcing her beak open and jamming tablet far enough down to miss her windpipe (the opening of which is, unhelpfully, in a chicken's tongue 🙄). I miss the chickens, but I do NOT miss that! 😱 give me a cat any day 😂😂

themadvix

Heavens above! We have all three required 🐙 people here so we should (I make no guarantees) finally be finished with this today. We will be putting a full complaint in about the poor communication - which really (along with a bit of workman laziness) has been the main issue and detailed the whole long drawn out saga. I do think we're entitled to some compensation at this point. (Cheery, are you sure about this? I mean, I've always been a big cheerleader for 🐙, but they are top of my poo list at the moment and I'd struggle to recommend them. Love the heat pump though!)

Don't cheer just yet though…. I received a statement from the last night charging me £250 for gas in January. Now, I'm pretty sure, as they did it, that they know we don't have gas any more - they didn't charge us in November or December (no, the statement doesn't cover those dates), so WTAF???! So I will be ringing them today. I did write an extremely sarky email last night but I haven't sent it. It's not fair on whoever picks it up… but honestly - at the end of my tether does not begin to describe it!

In other news, yesterday morning was Cambridge work time - a report started and progressed and then main client gave me a couple of small but lucrative bits of work which I finished and then walked down to see the cat. Am expecting some more work from main client soon which I think is likely to keep me occupied today (along with a cat visit and making tea for engineers).

Lunch will be leftover soup and the end of the bread/hummus on toast. Mr MV is WFH today - it's his last day in his current role! 🎉 We will definitely be going to the pub to celebrate tonight, even though he's feeling very guilty about leaving his lovely team/nervous about what he's got himself into. And dinner will be chilli - beans soaked overnight, and I'll put the rice on in the IP while we're out.

Right, need to offer the sparky a cuppa and try to persuade ginger cat to leave our bedroom, where it's about to get noisy.

ETA, I beg their pardon - the bill does include gas from Nov-Dec…. 🙄 It doesn't make it right though! Who's gas is it?!

themadvix

Bill issue sorted with a quick call to 🐙. She was very apologetic and couldn't work out why it had happened. I'm not convinced it won't happen again, but we'll see.

Meanwhile work from main client has arrived and is fiddly but doable. Made a cuppa for the workmen and me and thought 'ooh I'll have a biscuit' (I opened a Christmas present tin of chocolate biscuits yesterday) - then realised I was hungry because at 10.30 I'd not had breakfast… a couple more biscuits may have rectified that situation. B&W Cat is serious unimpressed at being cooped up this morning, but I think it's for the best - there's lots of toing and froing and doors being left open (not to mention the airing cupboard and loft hatch, both hugely tempting for our cats).

Suffolk_lass

Anything new is always interesting to cats. Our plumber at the old house heard our cat miaowing before he left, having secured the floorboard with her under it 🙄 and on another occasion he set off for home, only to realise she was in his van with him. Fortunately his van then was open between the cab and the back! We had not noticed her absence when he knocked at the door and simply handed her over!

Cheery_Daff

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81861353#Comment_81861353

I shall definitely be bearing your experience very firmly in mind before any decisions are made @themadvix 😬 Our friends had a survey a couple of weeks ago from them - apparently their surveyor was distracted and on his phone trying to sort out an issue with a car he'd bought the whole time. And that was before they'd finished the survey, let alone signed an agreement! Jury is definitely still out at the minute, and I'll see about getting a quote from someone else too if necessary.

themadvix

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863229#Comment_81863229

Still no blue shrieky emoji! They are some hair-raising experiences - for you, if not the cat! Stories like these definitely have been in my mind with the workmen in the house! And when we had the ceiling down in our hallway, the ginger cat did like prowling around up there - he was much younger then though. You know what they say about curiosity!

themadvix

Evening all,

Look forward to hearing how it goes Cheery.

A quiet weekend here - some teardrop progress, some housework, some putting Mr MV's clothes back in his wardrobe (hooray!), some rag rugging and some email changing/account closing of online stuff. I've been to see my cat charge (last visit first thing tomorrow! 🎉) and Dad and Stepmum for a cuppa as I've barely been outside the house all week and apart from Mr MV my only company has been the 🐙people! We should have been going to the pub quiz tonight, but BIL and SIL were delayed coming back from holiday and need an early night.

Friday's chilli did lunch yesterday and then we had the very Germanic eggs, potato and white asparagus for dinner. The jarred asparagus was already cooked and definitely not something I'd buy again - very soft and nothingy. You live and learn. The last of that will go with our 'roast' tonight - which will use up the two meat sausages, two veggies sausages, some cabbage and some parsnips from the freezer (along with potatoes and carrot not from the freezer).

The main 🐙 will be back tomorrow morning to finish some pipe lagging. And then it should be done, bar a full complaint detailing the saga to see if they can be persuaded to compensate us for the drama. It looks a million times better though, so that's the main thing.

Have a lovely evening all!

TallGirl

Glad the 🐙sage is coming to an end I did love them when I was with them in the UK but some parts are obviously not quite as they should be. As for jarred asparagus they are a main ingredient in Tarteletter in Denmark basically a white creamy sauce with cooked chicken, those white things and bunged in a large pastry case, very nice in those but on their own no thank you.

As for restructure at work I do feel for you having just been through it so annoying when they do not stick to the deadlines and you are just hanging on all the time.

themadvix

Afternoon all,

🐙 man returned this morning and has completed everything! 🎉Hurrah! It looks so much better and I am really happy (I gave him a bottle of wine - credit where it's due, he's thought about everything, liaised with me, checked we're happy and made a good job of everything). We have yet to write the saga down and get a proper response from head office, but will do so.

Mr MV started his new job today. As expected, the IT systems hadn't been switched over - while it's the same company, it's an entirely different division, so different systems are used. I think he's had quite a quiet day - makes a change! I have pointed out that there'll be a period of learning (at a slower pace) and getting up to speed and that hopefully it won't be as manic as it has been for the last 3+ years - it wasn't sustainable!

I finished the cat sitting this morning and her owner has now returned from Australia and was enjoying kitty cuddles. I am glad it's over - she's been a pleasure to look after, but it'll be nice to have a couple of weeks before my next cat client.

I've also completed the last bit of the very large project I was working on for main client over the summer/autumn. It feels like a day of projects ending and new ones starting, which is quite nice and very suitable for Imbolc.

I've managed a walk (posted an Ebay sale of Mr MV's) and have been standing at my desk all morning, so feeling relatively healthy/exercised too.

Have just paid myself and done the money shuffles. All good, with judicious holding onto of last month's Cambridge pay to top up main income. Next month should be good paywise - a decent amount from Cambridge due and work has been busy (although some of this won't be paid - from the awkward US client - until March now). Have started a new project for main client too, so things are busy there (I haven't managed to check in with Cambridge yet today - think that's a job for a moment's time). Have a Cambridge report meeting in the morning so busy there too.

Confession time: We had lots of milk and a small amount of risotto rice, so I thought I'd make a rice pudding to provide some dessert. Gave the lid of the IP a wash and removed the seal to swap it for a pudding one (they can get tainted by curry smells, so it's recommended to swap them out for sweet recipes). Totally forgot to put the seal on. Set the pot off and went upstairs. Came back (when 🐙 arrived) to a steamy kitchen, a burn notice on the pot and milk everywhere… including having gone 'through' the IP. It will need a stint in the airing cupboard to ensure it's properly dry and I hate to think what it's going to smell like. I've cleaned it fairly well, but it's not the easiest thing to clean, especially when the milk has gone places it shouldn't 😬.

Dinner tonight will be a hot halloumi salad recipe that we got with a recipe box once. The halloumi has been in the fridge for months (it is still in date) and the french beans are homegrown.

Right, better get to Cambridge work. Have a good evening all!