The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Thursday 24 November 2016

Feather your Nest Friday, 25 November, 2016.

Look at the date! One month to Christmas! Happy Thanksgiving to all the US readers as while it is Friday here I know it is still Thursday in the States and it is Thanksgiving. How wonderful to give thanks and celebrate.

It was a quietish week here as I just worked on finishing little areas of painting. I did a small hallway area and my linen cupboards and doors. This really brightened things up and is another bit finished!
Andy is working on the weekend so I will try and finish the new doors and frame and that will be another thing ticked off the list. I am getting there...

Some of the ways I feathered the nest and saved this week were:

Many usual things such as making all the lunches and dinners. So far we have not had takeaway food this year. Last year we have takeaway food one time!

I cut Andy's hair. It was a rug. He must be much cooler now!

I planted more basil and 6 capsicum plants, 2 red, 2 yellow and 2 green.

I have been adding herbs to the big pots we have with trees in them to utilise these spaces.

We have enjoyed flowers in the house as roses are still going and the Hydrangeas are just starting to come out.


I had an exciting parcel in the mail!  Nanna Chel makes sourdough breads. Her blog is Going Grey and Slightly Green which is on my side bar. She really got me back on to soap making with her tutorials.  I was thinking I would give Sourdough bread a try next.  The thing that holds me back is the starter and feeling like it is a science experiment and what if it goes wrong?  WELL yesterday a little parcel arrives and it is some of Nanna Chel's started Gertrude (yes it is alive and has a name!)  and I have been given links to read and learn how to revive this starter then keep it growing and make my bread from this.  Last night I read for hours learning about feeding your starter and making loaves from it etc.
Next week I will get started. I need some bread flour and to get myself organised.  Stay tuned! Thank you Nanna Chel!
Providing I don't mess it up this will make great gifts. My Dad LOVES crusty loaves of bread. I could keep everyone in bread actually!


Today I am up to day 96 of my 100 day challenge! Most days I have painted, prepared an area and/or spring cleaned. It has been a ridiculously long challenge but it turned out to be about right to get all this finished up.  My main goal was to be finished by December and it looks like I will be!


I used mince from the wholesale butcher to make a giant batch of spaghetti sauce. We had this for dinner last night. I simmered it for three hours, the key to the flavour I think.
The rest I divided up into meal sized portions. One lot for the weekend and the others for the freezer.


I chop oregano and parsley from the garden to go into it and a sprinkle on top.  I find this very good in the freezer. It can be a meaty pizza base, over noodles or zoodles, with tacos,  corn chips or even toast.  It is useful and yum.  

Some Christmas presents were wrapped and cards written.

Once a week or so Andy drives past an Aldi. Our local one is still a few months off. So I study the catalogue and he has a list so that if he has time to dash in her gets the best specials we can use. This little system has been a big help and saver! He is there today!  Of all my savings this year Aldi would account for most of them. 

How did you build up your nest this week?   How did you get ahead or save?
Have a wonderful weekend! xxx







35 comments:

  1. Annabel I am sure Gertrude will behave for you and I look forward to seeing your first sourdough loaf. Mine was like a frisbee to be honest so don't get discouraged if it isn't perfect :-) You will be an expert in no time.

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    1. Dear Nanna Chel, I am glad you told me this! That takes the pressure off if things go wrong. I think it sounds like a "get the hang of" type of thing so I am ready for that! Have a lovely weekend and thanks again! Love Annabel.xx

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  2. Dear Annabel, you have still had a good week even thought you think you had a quiet week , the savings add up, Wendy reminded me of that when I said on her blog last week that it had been a quiet week for me that week. This week I have got ahead by buying a few goodies for Christmas and they were on special too . I have had my usual two hours cleaning service this week which helps me a lot as well as meal preparation on Monday for an hour and I have my Centacare lady coming today for an hour of meal prep too.i went halves in 2 kg of lean mince with my parents, it is very low fat mince from our local butcher and it is either 12.95 a kg or 2 kg for $20 we always buy two kg which does us for many meals.the same or similar quality mince at our supermarket costs $9 for 500 g so almost double what we pay at the butchers.
    I received a potato bake and a container of mums fried rice from my parents as well as a meal . This saves me time, money and effort.
    I saved at least $30 on my groceries including saving $5 on one product alone just by shopping around. I am banking $30 to take advantage of the savings.

    I saw some lovely little Christmas goody gift boxes but at $8 for a little cardboard house with one tiny chocolate in it I thought that was too expensive So I left it there. I was telling my mum about it and about the other little boxes they had ( all made out of cardboard) starting in price at $5 and mum remarked " you could make them yourself cheaper" , we didn't and wouldn't say that in front of someone but they certainly know their worth like Annabel was talking about earlier in the week.
    So I saved myself money by not purchasing the goody boxes as I call them ( as they have chocolates/ goodies in them!. I would love to make some for my family for our Christmas table in a couple of weeks ( early Christmas for us as my sister and her family are going away for Christmas) .
    I think that is it for me Annabel, a relatively quiet week here too.
    Take care Annabel and everyone .
    Oh before I forget, A huge congratulations to Kelsey and her husband , what beautiful news.
    Have a great weekend Annabel and ladies and gentleman ( I can't leave the men in your lives out!) .
    Love Barb W.

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    1. Dear Barb, It is wonderful you have help on the meal preparation and your meals from your Mum sound lovely as well. I love fried rice!
      You might find a pattern online of the little cardboard houses Barb. Or something similar. The idea sounds lovely and I bet you could do it!
      You are right the quiet weeks average out and even with yours you still saved money and banked some! That is really good!
      Now only a month to Christmas! I thought I would tell you that Lucy gave me a big box of decorations and I am going to take those over to add to Kaths room. I will go the first week of December so she gets a fair bit of time to enjoy them. I will take a photo and send to you!
      Have a wonderful weekend! With love Annabel.xxxx

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  3. Hi Annabel, check out gaganis in hindmarsh for bread flour - i buy 12.5kg bags from there for my sourdough and it is about $1.50/kg. Good luck with the sourdough adventures.
    Cheers, Laura

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    1. Dear Laura, Thank you for telling me this! I know Gaganis and love it but it didn't ever enter my mind about bread flour! I am due for a trip there! Thanks so much! With love Annabel.xxx

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    2. Hi Annabel,

      Just to add that I bought baker's flour from Costco in a 12.5kg bag last week. Not sure it will be as high protein wise as the bread flour at Gagani's. It was around $10. I bought it for foccacia and other artisan type breadmaking. It might need a little boost with an improver still. Will know once I use it! ;-) think its protein 11%. Australian product. Hope the sourdough works out well!

      Love, Kaye xo

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  4. Annabel your quiet week puts me to shame. This week was one of waiting. Our builder friend who was removing a wall and squaring up an arch told us 4 days or 5 if he came across any difficulties. He finally finished just after lunch today, 2 weeks after starting.
    I don't need to tell you the amount of washing, cleaning, dusting, vaccing and mopping that has gone on today and will continue tomorrow.
    I got ahead this week by making our family Christmas Pudding and helping Katie make her first. This left a lot of crusts off the bread. These were run through the food processor and are now bagged in the freezer. I don't think we are going to run our breadcrumbs anytime soon. A few left over crusts were soaked in sugar water and then put out on the front lawn for the rainbow lorikeets. They are such noisy, bossy little birds. Their antics were quite amusing.
    I ran out of gift tags and could not bring myself to go to the shops for more. Out came some cardboard, fabric and buttons and I now have some gorgeous sewn gift tags.
    I found a bit of Christmas mojo and made a few things to display and to send to young family members now in their own homes.
    This week was one of very low energy and real burn out. Thank goodness for good friends like Annabel who understood and knew just what to say. Here's hoping for more vim and vigour for the coming week.
    Life is challenging but good.

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    1. Dear Jane,
      It is a difficult one with renovations.. it is great to get them done but it is such a disruption and mess and for you it has come at a busy time and maybe one thing too many! I hope it turns out much faster than the builder now thinks!
      Well doen on the pudding and it is great that Katie now knows how to do this as well.
      When I was a kind I had a pet Rainbow Lorikeet. He liked condensed milk straight out of the tube. That was his treat! I love those birds!
      Thank you Jane... I hope Bluey is doing well and that you get a restful weekend as that is probably what you need most of all. Rest, sleep and a bit of sunshine are good medicines. With lots of love Annabel.xxx

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  5. Dear Annabel,

    How sweet of Nanna Chel to send some sour dough starter for you to try. I had limited success when I tried it, as supposedly the air in Port Augusta is not that suitable for producing the yeast for sourdough (cant catch the wild yeast properly). I found it really hard to get a decent bubbling happening. So I have given up. I did enjoy playing though, and you may spark my enthusiasm again if you are successful.

    We are in Adelaide at the moment as Phil has a couple of days off. We have taken the opportunity to come down and have some much needed time out. I have been to a couple of Aldi stores today and picked up some bargains. Popped into Savers, Spotlight and Lincraft (boy is there some nice gear in Lincraft), and just had a relaxing day. We no longer have a Spotlight in our area so there is no where to purchase crafty things other than Cheap as Chips. Tomorrow we venture to Costco and Bunnings and some Salvos op shops. I hope we can get time to go to Gaganis Bros too. We head home again Sunday. Not many savings for me this week, but I will stock up while down here and that will be a saving in the long run. I did manage to make a couple of gifts this week. I am sorting out our outdoor games room to prepare it for a sewing/craft room just for me. Cant wait to get out there and do some serious creating ~smiles

    Enjoy your weekend,

    Love Tania xx

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    1. Dear Tania,
      This sounds like a fantastic break! If you go to Gaganis Specialty Foods the wholesale butcher is near there in Theberton. I am loving that place! However you might get good prices on meat at Costco and not need that at all. It sounds like you will go home with wonderful supplies!
      Having a sewing and craft room will be wonderful!
      I will let you know how the sourdough goes... I am hopeful but worried about killing the starter!
      Have a safe trip! With love Annabel.xxx

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  6. Well, I don't know, Annabel! It's been a week of being in between successes! That means we've just been keeping on 'keeping on' in pursuit of eventual achievements to celebrate!

    I'll try to recount some memorable aspects here ..... Along the way, I was filling in the cavernous diggings that the dog dug last summer under a trailer. There had been created a shortcut to China, so it was high time this was filled in! As I moved the soft soil, I was astounded to find lumpy bits of soil turning into cane toads - brown lumps that opened their eyes! Anyway, they were quite polite, and one chose to stand in the cave I was filling, seeming to enjoy the showers of soil ..... but that's not pretty home talk ..... let's see ..

    Dad and Mum have been sorting through items stored from decades ago. I helped Mum match up items with the sibling that owned/created the item - a bit tricky, at times! We laughed when Mum offered me a little pocket knife, only to find it already had my name on it!! All in all, I am a few items richer - some quality old army boots (I feel like Jo in "Little Women", which I recently read!), some embroidered doilies that my Grandma or her sister worked, and my favourite - a calico embroidered laundry bag that was Grandma's! One of my childhood beginnings into crochet came home with me, too! Next time, my glass covered cake dish comes home! I love finding treasures like this!

    Now, when I looked inside the cover of "Little Women", I found an inscription, and this reminded me that I once taught a young girl beginner's piano. My parents wanted the focus to be on giving the lessons rather than on pay, so only a token gold coin payment per lesson was accepted. From time to time, though, I received special gifts - a knitted scarf and mittens for walking to school, and, sometimes, a nice book to read. That is a good memory!

    To me, all these things have a richness better than money can buy!

    Your roses still look like they must smell beautiful!

    With very warm regards,
    Rachel Holt

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    1. Dear Rachel,
      I don't mind frogs... but toads with scare me half to death. Those little eyes looking at me...
      It sounds like there are some treasures at your Mum and Dads! Everything sounds lovely especially the glass covered cake dish! I love those. Everything is more special served on one.
      Do you still play the piano? I like the lovely gifts you were given for your lessons.
      I hope the tunnel to China was eventually filled and not re dug! haha!
      Have a wonderful weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

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    2. Annabel, do I still play the piano? I wonder if I can? ..... I have hardly touched a piano in ten years!! My husband bought me a wonderful banjo instead. It is something he likes the sound of, and it is eminently portable! I was telling Mum, recently, how, with the banjo, you play the same string at the same time with both hands ..... as opposed to totally different things, at times, with each piano hand! This is a good thing about the banjo! Mum then recalled how, once, I had told her that piano was easy, and that she should learn! Well, I picked up on something and said that, if Mum had any interest, that she should learn!! I think I will be giving my Mum piano lessons! She hasn't objected at all, and it's the least I could do!!!!! Besides, we're just starting up a special trade. If they find jars and bottles for me, I will gladly give them a massage in thanks! We all enjoy it!!

      With very warm regards,
      Rachel

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    3. Dear Rachel,
      As always, I really enjoyed your post. It sounds like you had a lovely time with your Mum walking down memory lane. The "dog digging to China" put a huge smile on my face. That's because as young children my brother and I decided we were going to dig to China in the sandbox at the playground. So amazing that we can be across the world from each other and yet have some of the same consciousness. Truly we are all more alike than different. Blessings, Cookie

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    4. Thanks, Cookie! I really could have laughed aloud at your reply, but the household is asleep!!
      Rachel

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  7. It's amazing, Annabel, how those weeks that we consider "quiet" still have savings and stocking up built into them! Perhaps, it's because some of those things, like making meals at home, brown bagging lunches, etc have become "normal" parts of our routines!
    For our Thanksgiving yesterday, we hosted just 27 of our family members and a neighbor who lives alone. I planned ahead and while I usually spend well over $100 on it, this year I made the decision to see how I could cut that cost down. My daughters and daughters-in-law (5 of them) each brought side dishes as usual. I bought a 9 pound boneless ham that I slow roast in maple syrup for $5 after coupons, sale and bonus store cash I had! Before I bought a turkey (or two), I noticed that in the bottom of my chest freezer, I still had a whole turkey! I decided to use him!! And, since last year when I cooked my usual 2 turkeys and had the second one completely left over as well as leftovers from turkey #1, I opted to only cook up one turkey and not but any this year! Cha-Ching!!! More savings there! I got out 2 quarts of home canned green beans, made turkey gravy with what I had on my shelf.
    I bought 2 pumpkin pies on sale for $4 and got a free 1/2 gallon of ice cream with the purchase and I bought pie crust. I used a quart of my home canned apple pie filling and one of my cherry pie filling and baked up those two pies, so my pie crusts were my only cost for those two ($2)! I also bought paper plates (2 sizes) from Sam's Club to use over the holidays. Spent $20 total on those but they will be used through New Year's and perhaps even longer as we have out of state children and their families staying with us for a couple weeks. This will save on dishwashing and free up time to enjoy their visit!
    So my total investment in Thanksgining was $31!!! I feel happy about that and it gave us lots of leftovers for meals this week and also a gallon ziploc of cooked turkey into the freezer for later!
    I bought 3 Instant Pots online yesterday for $59 each instead of over $200! So that saved about $420 and added to our Christmas gift giving.
    My fourth granddaughter Christmas quilt will be finished this weekend, with only 2 more to do after that!
    We have one of our pallet Ohio's ready to ship for our son-in-law for Christmas and completed a paying order for an Iowa from a friend on the West Coast! All from our free pallet wood!
    Got a $48 Prepaid Visa rebate from some small appliances I bought 3 months ago and will use it to pay down one of our medical bills! Got another $12 in survey money that I will also use to pay off medical bills.
    I finally canned the dozen pints of homemade teriyaki sauce but ran out of brown sugar mid recipe! Since I have been making my own brown sugar for about 18 months now, I just made up 5 pounds quickly, used what I needed in my recipe and put the rest in my canister to replenish my stock! Both the teriyaki sauce ingredients and brown sugar ingredients were all in my food storage as well as the canning jars and lids so I had no out of pocket costs for those! I consider it simply a "conversion" of some of my food storage into a different form!!
    I also canned 8 pints of white Great Northern beans and 8 pints of black turtle beans at the same time in my pressure canner from my dry beans in basement storage, saving me both time and money! This ensures that we will incorporate more beans into our diet! With that in mind, I made up a crockpot full of white chicken chili using pre cooked chicken chunks I had frozen (that actually had a bit of freezer burn on them! Slow cooking really brought them back to a tender state), white beans, fresh peppers and an onion from my garden ! At least one more dinner with the leftovers!
    All in all, I am pleased with the "little things" that we did this week!

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    1. Dear Gardenpat,
      You made me think... yes things becoming normal routine are great savings. I just cook dinner and make the work lunches and the coffee in the morning and send it to work etc. There are a lot of savings that are more or less automatic. Making something from the shelf or freezer for a super quick meal is another, it is faster than getting takeaway anyway!
      Your week is always wonderful! I hope you will find a great special on Turkeys then you will have another one to go into the freezer to replace the one you just used!
      I need to find out what instant pots are... I will look that up!
      You did an amazing job hosting so many for Thanksgiving! Truly wonderful and I am amazed the price you did it for! Really that was an excellent week.
      You are always finding ways to bring in some extra money, save some and get ahead. I love hearing your week! Thank you so much! With love Annabel.xxx

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  8. Dear Annabel,
    Gorgeous roses and hydrangeas. Hydrangeas were always my "cash crop" as they would be dried and made into wreaths to sell. I still dry them,but not on such a grand scale. The meat sauce looks yummy.


    It was a quietish here in nest feathering too. I got two turkeys, one for Thanksgiving and one that got cut in half and frozen for later use. Made an Impossible Pumpkin Pie and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert, homemade cranberry sauce. Infused some avocado oil with the dried lemon peel and now I'm ready to proceed with the lip balm, which hopefully can be gotten to today. Cut out some flannel squares to make handwarmers for some of the men on the gift list. Finished sewing some new placemats, coasters and table runner for my table, sewed crocheted edging on tea towels. I think that's it for me. Wishing everyone a beautiful weekend. Cookie



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    1. What beautiful work you do, Cookie! I'd love to see it, especially the table runner, placemats and coasters! What yummy reading!!
      Rachel Holt

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    2. Dear Cookie,
      Years ago florists sold dried hydrangea heads for $2 each so they are probably much more now. This area has a lot of hydrangea and mostly people cut the flowers off and throw them away! I had always dried and saved them and I used to make topiary trees etc for weddings and decor. I can see how you could make beautiful wreaths to sell! They are just lovely. I have had some dry better than others. I notice if they dry slowly with water in the vase for a few weeks they dry better. I might try adding glycerine this year. I think I will have a fair few so want to do something...
      Your Thanksgiving cooking sounds beautiful! And your sewing! You have done heaps! I hope your husband is doing really well.
      Now onwards towards Christmas! I hope the lip balm goes well! I have a lot of lemon peel drying. I also need to juice and freeze some lemons which I better get on to today! Have a great weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

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  9. I love to read everyone's comments. I always enjoy Rachel Holt's comments immensely. It really brought a smile to my face when she was talking about Jo and Little Women. That such a good picture and I loved that book, too.

    And gardenpat's comments about her Thanksgiving prep sound beautiful, loving and fun! And she saved money while doing it.

    All of you inspire me so much!

    Annabelle, you are planning to try your hand at sour dough bread. Good luck and God bless with that. I hope you have all the success you dream of.

    While you are working to learn to make sour dough, I finally got around to trying something I have been thinking about for 3 years: cheese making! It was SO much fun and really neat to watch the milk separate into curds and whey. My kids loved watching the transformation as much as I did. I knew your group would appreciate this. I don't have anyone in my immediate circle of friends locally who appreciates that sort of thing. So it helps me to have some people with whom to share my joy. This group is a blessing to me!

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    1. Dear Cristy,
      The comments are the best part of my blog I think. I am very lucky with such generous contributors. And you get to know people so well!
      My sour dough adventures (or misadventures!) being this week!
      I would love to try cheesemaking! Rachel makes ricotta and Jenn makes cheese as well. I am so glad you did this! There are many things I am still wanting to learn to make!
      That was a good week as you learned something new! With love Annabel.xxx

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  10. Hi Annabel,

    I laughed at your comment about Andy's hair...and this reminds me of another "Little Women" reference, at least to the movie that stars June Allyson as Jo. When she cuts her hair to get money to help the family, one of her sisters laments the loss of her beautiful hair. She replies, "Really? I find it deliciously light and cool." And every time one of us gets a hair cut in summer, we say, "It's so deliciously light and cool," while shaking our tresses (or lack of) magnificently. :)

    I hope your sourdough goes well! I have kept mine going for a good 6 years, now, and it makes wonderful bread! I wanted to let you know that I haven't been making any cheese, other than ricotta...I've been waiting for the kids to go and for the milk available to increase. I'm so glad to hear that Cristy's been trying cheese! Lots of it is easier than you think, and it truly is a lot of fun!

    Good luck on your last four days of your challenge! I know it will feel so good to get all of that painting under your belt...what a massive goal!

    Have a wonderful weekend.

    Love, Jen in NS

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    1. Dear Jen,
      When I cut Andys hair I do it outside and we leave the hair on the lawn in theory for the birds to use in their nests. So I always say how there are little birds out there saying "this next is so prickly" haha seriously I say it every time.
      If you have kept your starter going 6 years then that gives me hope. I am getting going hopefully this week.
      I am going to let everyone know your kids are baby goats incase they think you are waiting for the children to leave! haha I think the cheese making sounds fantastic. You make so much its amazing.
      I got a bit further with painting yesterday... and a bit more this afternoon! Plus its really nice weather. So I think this week will be it!
      Have a lovely Sunday! With love Annabel.xxx

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  11. Annabel,
    This week was a lot of cleaning and moving things around again. Most of our Thanksgiving dinner was from everything I had on hand except fresh veggies for a veggie tray. I did have to buy a turkey as well since I didn't find any marked down last year, but I bought on sale at the lowest price so still saved quite a bit.
    I tried sourdough one time. LOL I killed it! Yeast things I am not that good with. Your flowers are so beautiful I love flowers! The landscape here isn't much to behold at the moment, but I imagine soon we'll get some pretty winter scenes.
    Cristy- Congratulations on your cheese making! What a wonderful endeavor. And if you poke around online there are instructions on how to make homemade rennet.
    XOXO
    Vicky

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    1. Thanks for the tip, Vicky. I'll have to look for that. I had no idea I could even make the rennet! Taking it to the next level. :)

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    2. Dear Vicky,
      I hope I am not the next sourdough killer. haha that is funny sounds like cereal killer only instead its bread killer.
      I would love to see your snowy scenes. Christmas in my mind is white but I have never seen it!
      Thanks for the cheese tip! With love Annabel.xxx

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  12. Cristy, I liked your comment, too!! An excitement for life comes through your words!
    Last night, I had to ponder. There was not much relevant to share, but I like to make things interesting, and I love a true story!!
    Regards,
    Rachel Holt

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  13. Oh dear I lost a long post as I'm on my phone and hit google account I didn't see anonymous But now I can ...so briefly
    Dear Annabel , Nanna Chel is a darling sending you the starter I wish you well in using it.
    Well done on getting to 96 days you have achieved heaps !
    Here things have slipped but as someone mentioned above there are lots of daily savings that just happen from habit .
    I got some good markdowns this week for my family Christmas hampers .
    We did some garden tidy and planted seeds Into bigger pots .
    I'm thinking of turning my chest freezer back on so that good meat specials eh can be put aside for christmas and summer .
    It has been such a year of changes and happenings here and around the world . Changes here mean our Christmas Day will now change its format and I'm adjusting to that and trying to be optimistic . As my DH says change is inevitable life does not stand still . But he is struggling to these changes too .
    The earthquakes here though not centered in our area have still impacted greatly in our main city waterfront area buildings with s huge list of ones shut down and these are main buildings to . The wharf and ferry terminal areas.as well .
    And our local mall in my area which is 15 minute drive from the city has been extra busy as the other city's big mall has been closed while engineers check structural elements .
    We are lucky in that no damage to our place or area not to our mall . I'm very thankful for that .
    I'm trying to finish gift shopping sooner now as with that and Dgs starting school this week I'm doing pickup duties two days a week . I'm looking forward to seeing his bright little face and chattering non stop :-)
    Cristy - I felt the joy in your post sharing cheese making with your family , Thankyou X
    Love Maria xxx

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    1. Maria I take it you are in New Zealand then...My prayers are with you as I know these earthquakes were devastating.

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    2. Dear Maria,
      I think you are right we don't count many things as savings as we just do them and always have yet probably others would think they are huge savings!
      It must be disruptive and stressful for everyone with the earthquakes. I don't think you could ever just get used to that as even small ones make you feel what if a bigger one is coming? Anyway it must be tiring and difficult.
      I think what is our normal Christmas experiencing changes isn't easy either. Finding a new normal or making things as good as possible and as normal as possible is probably the best thing. Children being happy and joyful will make it good!
      How exciting for your Grandson to be starting school! It doesnt seem possible he is big enough already! He will love you picking him up!
      I am hoping I will need lots of freezer space and find lots of specials after Christmas. Last year was the first year I didn't have much luck. This year I will have to try harder. I have Mums freezer as a back up plan!
      Have a great new week! Wiht love Annabel.xxx

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  14. I had a busy enough week. I went down to visit my son in his new home place twice. On Sunday for his baptism and on Thursday to spend time with my two boys and their children for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful week filled with two Thanksgiving meals (one away and one here for John and I on Friday after he finished his 24 hour shift). The upside to his shift is the vast amount of overtime pay he will receive. It will be a decent check despite the vast amount of taxes, lol. I am calling big projects done until start of New Year when I will tackle a new list of tasks. Not to say December is all restful. The first week alone we must finish up shopping and host a family dinner plus we have one or two social obligations. It feels like a lot to a home loving body like myself, lol. http://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2016/11/frugal-friday-holiday-daze.html

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    1. Dear Terri, That was a lovely Thanksgiving! A 24 hour shift! That is incredible. I would need 12 months recovery!
      I am doing the same as you and trying to make December free of the big projects and will start again in January. I want to enjoy Christmas and have family time and be happy with what we did this year and have a little break. This week will hopefully see me finish many tasks!
      Have a good new week! With lots of love Annabel.xxx

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    2. Terri,Thankyou , yes I am in NZ , lower North Island, 15 minute drive to City and harbour(in good traffic flow).I was reading our local paper tonight and local council aren't happy that some people still aren't stockpiling, and suggest that we have at least 7 days food and water as we are close to areas that a Tsunami could come with very little notice if we had a long quake rather than a short one.Fortunately we live on a hill so better off up higher .
      You did have a lovely thanksgiving, and I know what you mean when you say you are a home loving body, the social calls of this season can be a bit much .With love Maria xx

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