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 27 July 2017

Feather your nest Friday, 28 July, 2017.

The weeks go too fast! Or maybe there are just not enough days in a week?  I am glad to take a moment to look back and appreciate things or else it is likely to go by in a blur!

This week I had a shopping day and continued on my "further afield" experiment.  I went south again to where my friend lives and had a lovely lunch with Hilde.  So it was a combined day of op shopping (thrift stores) grocery shopping and social.  It was so much fun!  I went back to the shops that I saved so much at last time.  And Hilde took me to her supermarket and her butcher.   From this trip I found two more places to go and I am thinking of doing this trip once a month.
I took a lot of notes and found one place that has bulk meat is about half the price overall even compared to Aldi.  Since Aldi meat is much cheaper than the main supermarkets here this is a big savings.  
This all has really proven that where I live supermarkets are the expensive way to shop!  I never would have dreamed this would be the case!

We also went op shopping!   I got two sets of cups, saucers and plates with roses!  They are Queen Anne and a series called American Beauty!  I couldn't believe my luck!


I paid $5 each set. 


This alone made my day!  Except my day was made over and over!

I also found three huge jars.  I paid $3 each for these.


Two  of these are quite old and are french...


There is only one thing better than jars!  Vintage jars! So happy with these!

Hilde gave me more lemons!  I stopped her at one bagful as I still have lemons from the trip before!

I came home with a lot of fruit and vegetables for the week.  I am making soup, baby food and of course just using veggies in our usual meals.

I also found a beautiful book of birds for my card making. It has over 100 pictures that are quite large...


My next card making session will be bird themed.  I was really thrilled with this find.
I got two more hair colours for 99c each! 

During the week I cooked a tray of chicken drumsticks as they were on special and Andy had these for lunches.
I made a double batch of spaghetti sauce and some of this is for meals, some to give the girls for the weekend and some to freeze.


I cut parsley and oregano from the garden to go with this too.  
Chloe has been up from the farm.  She came to dinner and I am sending her home tomorrow with two lots of spaghetti sauce,  focaccia breads (they are rising now) and a lemon cake. 

Mum sent me lavender from the farm...


This went on the table for dinner and I am using one of my rose tablecloths I made from the sheets I had found.  (You can see in some of the above photos)  I love these tablecloths!

I made yoghurt.  It is years since I did this. I followed Cath's recipe MOO Yoghurt.  This is so so easy.  I am going to do this a couple of times a week now.  It gives you a lot of savings as you can use this in place of sour cream on potatoes and in enchiladas etc if you leave it plain.   A lot of my cake recipes use yoghurt.  The cake I am making this afternoon (Yoghurt lemon cake) will use up two cups as I will make two cakes. I never make one cake!  


I made the first lot plain. Over the weekend I am going to try my favourite which is vanilla bean.  I should mention... I didn't yet have a large thermos.  So I used a jar and placed it in my small crockpot.  I only ran the crockpot twice for a short time. I wrapped a towel around it to keep the heat in, turned it off and left it all day.  It worked just fine!  I started it off with boiling water as well and poured the water 3/4 the way up the jar.  I also had a lid on my jar.  So I will just keep doing it this way. 

Last week I got a $70 Coles voucher in the mail.  Mainly I earned that using these coupons and I had a new set for the next few months.


I sat and cut them out and put them in my diary according to the weeks and dates. Then I remember to use them each week.   

I also used my $70 voucher.  I got everything on special including a hair conditioner I like which was on a clearance for 75c each (usually almost $5) so I slightly more than doubled my money and had over $140 of goods for my pantry.  Free!  I also got rice, tinned fruit, coffee, tea, powdered milk and heaps more. 

Chloe also gave me some essential oils. I am trying to learn more about how to use them and last night I used the lavender blend and slept like a log! 

I made a few cards and packaged up some more gift tags to give as gifts.

For my Vicky Challenge I wrote in $601.  Being the end of the month it included doing my own hair. 
So it was a good week!  

How did you build up your home, save and get ahead?  I hope it was a really good week for you. 

I am off to make cakes, use some lemons and deliver food!  
Andy is flat out working and will be all weekend. So I will get on with cooking, present making etc.  I rang the insurance company as I am tired of waiting.... they say we have two more weeks or so and hopefully we will have the money to put down new floors. I will be glad of that! xxx














42 comments:

  1. Well done Annabel. Those cups are stunning. What will you do with the large jars?

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    1. Hello! And welcome! I store all my pantry goods (or nearly all) in jars. I do have a few really large tins for flour. So I can never have enough big jars. One is already filled with powdered milk I am now using to make yoghurt.
      Have a lovely weekend and thank you for commenting! Love Annabel.xxx

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  2. Dear Annabel
    Those trios were a great find - and with the price of meat and other bargains it sounds like the drive to meet up with Hilde is well worth it.

    I have the modern version of those jars, love them. Have various sizes with my really large ones being a find in an op shop.

    I didn't receive the vouchers from Coles - did however receive an offer for a 1/2 price leg of lamb so used that on Monday after I had been to the Chiropractor when I also picked up my herbal tea which was on a great special and a couple of other items to make up the $50- spend for week 3 of my spend $50- for 4 weeks deal that they sent me.

    I needed to replace the items that my naturopath had me on so popped into Chemist Warehouse and managed to get just about everything on my way home on Monday afternoon. One of the wonderful staff chased after a couple of items that they didn't have in stock and I picked them up yesterday. I also picked up some horseradish, garlic and vitamin C for my husband - lots of bugs in the office environment and with our traditional 'flu season set to start next month I felt it was better to get him started on something now. My over all saving for my complete shop was over $70-. It will be more if you take into consideration the use by date on the horseradish, garlic and vitamin C - we have a couple of years before they expire.

    We are still adjusting to the travel involved with my husband's job - coming home is when there tends to be a problem because of accidents that may have happened a few hours before so meals are being planned with delays in mind.

    I had to have a blood test Monday morning and decided to pop into a local cafe for a hot chocolate. The cafe was taken over late last year and I wanted to see how things were going. The owner was telling me that they did 80 covers for breakfast on Sunday - that is a huge amount of money. I hadn't thought of putting a price on Sunday breakfast but now I will be.

    I am still reorganizing my kitchen, some things have been moved several times because they do not feel like they are in the right spot.

    I hope everyone has a great weekend


    Lynette
    XXXXX

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    1. Dear Lynette,
      Its turning out that I have several sizes of large jars. I need to put them in matching groups. But they are so useful and lovely. I can never leave a jar like that!
      I worked out the Coles vouchers vary place to place. I went online and looked as I saw some on FB got that lamb offer but I didnt. I clicked on my offers and there was nothing. Yet I got all those vouchers.... so it obviously varies. I shopped with my $70 and got great buys and used it to build up stocks. It was really good. Already I got over 1000 new points with one of the new vouchers.
      With your husbands office could he take some miracle cleaner and wipe over the surfaces, computer keyboard and so on. The other one I like is eucalyptus spray. The vitamins are a good idea. I didnt realise your flu season was still to come.
      I am on the same page with reorganising the kitchen. When the floors finally go down I figure this is my chance to have a whole re arrange. I am thinking it over. I am going to really change things. It will be big but I cook a lot and need more room. I have one space too in the dining area that I want to get a small cupboard for. So I have taken measurements and Im on the look out!
      Have a good new week! With lots of love, Annabel.xxx

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  3. Dear Annabel, you had a great week of bargains, and one of the best things about your post is the line that says 'Andy is flat out working'! That's great news! I had some really good success with my Merchant Ships mentality this week, thanks to you. I travelled to my 'other' favourite market, and stocked my fridge and pantry for just under $100. I'd usually spend twice that, including little individual serves of canned tuna for lunches, fruit, meat, pantry goods, juice and deli items. It's a little more hassle to shop there as it is basically just a huge fruit, meat and produce barn, without electronic conveyor belt checkout, and you buy many things in 'bucketloads', so there's no delaying the unpacking when you arrive home, as fragile fruit can get squished. But providing you're energetic and disciplined, it's a real money saver! I can do it some weeks, and not others if I'm tired, but I love the savings when I'm up to it. I also visited a thrift store that I hadn't been to in a while. I found some lovely things including a brand new doona that is yellow and lilac rose print one side, and lilac, blue and white mattress ticking style the other...perfect to convert to cushion covers and table napery for my Frenchified living and dining room. I also found a vintage aluminium colander (strainer) to hang from my pot rack, a lovely tall table lamp with an elegant glass base (I'd looked at a very similar one online for five times the price!), a new blue and white mixing bowl for my blue and white kitchen, and some fine bone china tea mugs (ladylike ones) that perfectly match a teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl that my husband gifted me last year. Such a lucky find! This particular thrift store also had large bottles of prettily scented and tinted hand wash for $2, so I stocked up on half a dozen of those as well. These are twice to three times the size of the ones in the supermarket, so they were a great buy. I finally felt like I was making headway with gift making this week too, so I feel really good about what was achieved. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to. Love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Dear Mimi,
      I love the sound of that market! Especially the bucketloads system! And I loved that your merchant ships shopping also involved op shops like mine did! As soon as I saw the words "bye and white mattress ticking" I thought how french! I was going to say kitchen towels but cushions are equally good! What a find! You had a heap of good finds! The hand wash was an added bonus. Now this kind of thing is a surprise at a thrift store but I am seeing lots of things like this... in surprising places and I love it!
      I am glad for you on the gift making. I knew earlier you had so much with dance costumes and other things... so this is really good. What a good week! Thanks Mimi for sharing it, with love Annabel.xxx

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  4. Hi Annabel,
    After your success with the coles vouchers, I decided to use mine to get 1000 points on a $160 shop. This wasn't hard as I was out of a lot of things and got a lot of half price specials. I was really pleased with the result. From a $175 shop, I had $58 savings from the usual prices. I have let my stockpiles run down and I am now inspired to get back on track. Thanks for the reminder on the things we can do to get ahead. I have even been taking photos of the things I make and put them into a word document as my diary. I am finding it helps with motivation to see all the lovely pictures as a reminder of what can be achieved with a little thought and planning. Many thanks for your lovely blog. It is a daily source of inspiration to me.
    Del x

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    1. Dear Del, Thank you so much! I love your idea to photograph what you make and keep a record. It would be lovely to look back on and see what you have accomplished!
      Well done on building up the pantry. Truly it is a great saving and back up plan. Half price is the way to go. You can just get so much more and stretch a voucher when you get on to do some major stocking up.
      Thank you for such a kind comment, I appreciate it! With love Annabel.xxx

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  5. Hello Annabel and beautiful Bluebirds :).

    Annabel the teacups saucers, plates and jars are adorably elegant and beautiful, great you found a cheaper butcher for meat as that is a major expense in all of our budgets.

    Our Vicky challenge added up to $184.79 this week.

    Here is the ways we saved-

    Household-

    - Upcycled 4 worn bed pillows into 2 good ones. I took the stuffing out of 2 and laid it on top of the stuffing in the other two pillows and stitched the ends back up. They are adorably comfortable and it saved us buying new pillows just yet which would cost $20 for the firm and high we usually buy.

    I have also soaked the cotton pillow covers and saved them and now have some good thick white material to upcycle into another creation too. Was thinking I might make some lovely white cloth napkins for our table to match the French inspired tablecloth I made.

    Grocery savings -

    - Saved 38% or $4.98 off usual prices on the cost of toilet paper from Woolworths by combining specials and the 5% off I get with my RACQ grocery cards.
    - Brought chocolate coated sultanas and snakes from the Reject Shop saving $2.50 on supermarket prices for a treat for us.
    - Purchased a packet of 3 correction pens DH uses for marking the chain he starts on whilst sharpening the chainsaws from the Reject Shop for $2.50. This saved us 80% or $10.12 over buying a branded name in our local supermarket.
    - Purchased a 400g packet of Macadamia nuts to top up the pantry from Aldi saving $3.51 over purchasing them at Woolworths.

    Clothing savings -

    - Purchased 4 new knitted vests for DH to keep his back warm in the chilly weather we are having which is -2 - -4 oc here at the moment. I combined a 50% off sale, a $10 off customer loyalty bonus voucher and 5% off from DH's in store credit card. This brought the price of each vest down from $29.95 down to $11.87 saving all up for the 4 vests $72.30 or 66.98% . We then paid it straight off his store card :).

    Electricity savings -
    - By using our solar lanterns to light our home, the combustion fireplace to heat our water for our cuppas and heating up washing up water we saved $4.30 on electricity costs.

    Have a wonderful week ahead everyone :).


    Sewingcreations15


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    1. Dear Sewingcreations, What a good weeks work! I really think the solar lights are a great idea. We have plenty of sun... solar lights make sense. I have them in the front and back yards and they always are lit up. I love them. I need some to bring inside as well.
      Napkins would be lovely and they are useful. Sets of napkins are good for gifts too. On Wednesday I will show a craft one of the ladies did that I think you might like... it is sewing and very very useful!
      Have a really good new week! With love, Annabel.xxx

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    2. Hi Annabel and thank you for your encouragement :) .

      The solar lights do save a bit on electricity indeed in most households. From research we use around 10 - 15% of our power consumption on lighting in the average home.

      I loved everyone's craft from the last post and was a bit late in replying.

      Mimi if you are in Australia the French fabric can be found at Spotlight and of course I purchased it on sale too :).

      It will be exciting to have some cloth dinner napkins in the home as we have none presently and I am getting a real buzz out of repurposing things that are worn out in the home at the moment without purchasing anything.

      Sewingcreations15

      Look forward to seeing everyone's lovely crafts on Wednesday too.


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  6. Annabel I've just inherited an identical cup, saucer and plate from Mum! It's so pretty, I can't wait to get the dresser sorted and put the whole crazy tea set on display. This week I picked lemons and mandarins. The oven had another workout making pizzas, sausage rolls, brownies and ANZAC slice. The breadmaker has also been busy, baking us 4 loaves of the nicest wholegrain bread. We've had rain, so Wayne made sure the rain barrels were in place to collect water which we'll use in the garden (they're saying we are in for a long, hot, dry summer and we haven't had much rain so every drop will be precious). Hannah saw scones in Aldi today, $2.70 for 4! My scone recipe makes 18 and costs $2.56 to make! And she said they were rock hard too - we like our scones light and fluffy :) I'm so glad I can bake the things we like, freeing up our money for other things and we don't feel deprived. This weekend we are helping my brother and sister-in-law move house and I'm going to dig up the two huge rhubarb plants they don't want and bring them home. Hopefully they'll be ok with a little TLC - and that will give me 4 rhubarb plants, good thing we love it. Have a lovely weekend, Cath

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    1. Dear Cath, I really hope the long hot summer doesnt come true! We are in so much trouble if it does. Im going to have a big action plan. Truthfully at this stage I would like a back up generator!
      I love fine china and tea sets. I have a lovely pink teapot and it gets used quite a lot. I like cake stands too!
      Your baking sounds beautiful. I always think scones are one of the nicest things. I must check bakers Delight next time I go near them as I think scones there were $2 each... I can tell you sausage rolls are $3.80 each here.
      I hope you don't get worn out helping with the house move! That is a lot but it is great family is helping.
      Extra rhubarb will be wonderful! I am sure it will transplant ok... hopefully! With love, Annabel.xxx

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  7. Wonderful finds and a great week for you. You have to love those kind of weeks.
    Blessings

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    1. Dear Cheryl, Yes you do! I have been really lucky the last few weeks. Have a wonderful new week! With love Annabel.xxx

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  8. Dear Annabel and Bluebirds,
    I just wanted to drop by and say hello to everyone and thank you all for your well wishes concerning our little bluebird! I can't believe it has already been three weeks! I am enjoying every minute of it and we are all doing very well.
    Annabel, you had a lovely week as usual and I'm glad Andy is getting work. You are doing so well with your shopping further afield and it looks like the others are too. I especially like your recent op shop finds! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I just wanted to check in with everyone :)
    With love, Kelsey

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    1. Dear Kelsey , it's lovely to hear from you ! and that "our" little bluebird baby is bringing such joy :-)and all is well, great stuff to hear , best wishes and love Maria xxx

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    2. Dear Kelsey,
      It's so good to hear from you , thank you for letting us know you and your husband and baby bluebird are all well . Sending you love from Australia. Love Barb W.

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    3. Dear Kelsey! Hello! I am so glad you are doing well and the baby is doing well! Thanks so much for popping in as I know you are busy and probably tired! Have a wonderful new week to you too! With lots of love Annabel.xxx

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  9. Great finds! I'm looking forward to cooler weather to go thrift store and garage sale shopping. The heat has been miserable so I haven't had much energy to do anything extra. Lots of cool meals all week. Tonight will be tuna wraps & pasta salad.

    Your finds are wonderful! I have never seen large old jars like that anywhere, though I have no doubts that many old barns around here are filled with them!! Are you keeping the teacups or putting them into your gift cupboard? I already have 6 sets of my own, so I use my extras as gifts.

    I hope you get lots of stuff done while Andy is working...that's a great thing, too!

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    1. Dear Debby, I am keeping the cups... I collect pink roses and pink china and have a pink teapot etc but over the years Ive had a few breakages and so this will be great. I love to have afternoon tea and if I invite someone over its usually for afternoon tea so it all gets used.
      I hate the heat! It is best to stay out of it if you can I totally agree.
      I am getting lots of stuff done... today (Sunday) I have baby food on for Scarlet, pie cases, tacos, lemon butter.... so far!
      Have a good new week Debby! with love Annabel.xxx

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  10. Annabel, you've had a good week! Love the tea cups and saucers!

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  11. Dear Annabel and Bluebirds,
    I am a bit slow on commenting this week. We have had a very busy week.
    First, I want to thank Laine for all her wonderful savings tips and encouraging bits of information. That is most kind of her to share with us.
    Second, ladies you are still making such beautiful items. I love seeing what you make each week.
    Finally, Annabel, you have had an awesome couple of weeks on finding really good bargains. I love the table cloths, napkins, and the cup & saucer sets. The rose set you posted is one of my very favorites. My grandmother had those dishes and now they sit in my China cabinet. I am impressed with the way you made yogurt and will give that a try. Yogurt is expensive here, so it will save us quite a bit if I make it.
    Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
    Love and hugs,
    Glenda

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    1. Dear Glenda,
      The yoghurt I like here is a medium tub which is 500g. Thats about 17 ounces. It is $7. It turns out so cheap to make. I am just experimenting with my vanilla flavour I like but the first lot had no flavouring and I really liked it. It is all gone anyway as I made two lemon yoghurt cakes and they take a cup of yoghurt each.
      Thank you for your comments on Laine's post and on the crafts and op shop finds!
      I have another batch of yoghurt started now to try with including vanilla in the mix... Ill let you know how that goes. Have a lovely weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

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  12. We have been busy feathering our nest for the last couple of weeks in anticipation of hosting family. There were so many projects that we diy'd that I don't even know how to account for them all. We: wallpapered 2 rooms, painted the bathroom and all its furniture, painted the kitchen cabinets and sewed new curtains for its windows, painted the porch and its roof, decluttered some, and cleaned like mad. We also replaced a broken closet door in the bathroom with a $5 bed sheet and $2 tension curtain rod that matched my shower and window curtains perfectly. Cleared some brush from the "farm" parts of our property and got the garden all weeded and caught up. The house looked so great when everyone came! So now we are on a rest!
    Well, I need a new bathrug as the other one fell apart in the wash right before they came, so I have gone through everyone's t shirt drawers and gleaned some blue and white tshirts to try making yarn out of them and crocheting a new rug since it worked with the plastic bags. I have only had to rip it apart once so far for not being square, so maybe it won't take too long!
    I hope everyone has a truly lovely weekend!

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    1. Dear Sarah, You did a lot of nest feathering! What a lot to do but the results would be lovely.
      Crochet t shirt fabric would be a good bath mat. I put something non slip under the bathmats I make. They work really well. I had a great aunt who make bath mats from cutting old panty hose into strips and crocheting those. They worked great! That is a good recycle project!
      You enjoy your weekend after all the good work! With love Annabel.xxx

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    2. Sarah I just wanted to chime in and say with all of the work you did yourself your savings is huge! Great job!!!
      XOXO
      Vicky

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  13. Dear Annabel,

    What a wonderful trip you had! I am also so happy to hear that Andy has a bunch of work lined up for the weekend.

    We did our big trip to the city today and spent, but saved, a fortune, if that makes sense! :) I was COMPLETELY out of (plain) flour, and we had used all our bread I had frozen ahead...things were dire on the flour front! :) Got a 20 kg bag today, so we're fine for awhile, now!! Got our Costco baking items that saves us a ton, and found some great clearance deals in the supermarket in the city, too, so stocked up on those items. Then came home to a pre-planned meal of tacos and Greek salad (mixing cultures, I know, but they were great together!!)...delish. Just having meals pre-planned makes things so much easier each day, especially if you have to be out all day.

    Got a couple of things picked up for Christmas at the thrift shop for pennies, and a couple of household items. (Like a broiler pan for our oven, which didn't come with one...I've wanted one for years!! Brand new for $4! Hooray! Hopefully this gives the smoke detector a break, as well as my (permanently burnt) pizza pans from all the juices that have nowhere to drip down!) We packed a lunch and jugs of water, like we usually do when we go somewhere, and had a lovely (and productive) day overall. Now it's time for a Friday night movie and popcorn in our living room.

    Hope you had a lovely visit with Chloe!

    xx Jen in NS

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    1. Dear Jen,
      I loved hearing about your big day! Yes! These days are kind of an exhausting big adventure but so much fun! And your day really paid off! Plus now you are ahead with flour! (I am also low on flour and plant to fix that this week!)
      Also I am finding a menu plan hugely helpful. I only recently started to properly menu plan. Wow! I love it. We are having tacos tonight as it turns out!
      Have a really good new week! With love Annabel.xxx

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  14. What a wonderful find Annabel! The dreaded flu hit me (I got the swab results back from my Dr) a strain not covered by the vaccine and hit my chest hard. It's now got to the point oral antibiotics aren't working and the specialist wants me in hospital. But with no one to care for my little dog, I'm staying put at home on specialised nebulizer antibiotics to see if I can over come it that way. The hospital system in this state is shocking with no beds in 4 hospitals in the city including private ! My specialist says he's had some patients waiting 3 weeks in emergency dept for a bed !
    I'm trying to take it slow and easy and not go out. Although living alone this is hard as I need to get milk etc. However because you've taught me to be prepared I had lots of meals to eat in the freezer when I was too sick to venture out. I'm wondering what delicious foods you have bubbling on that stove of yours ? Love sonia

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    1. Oh, how awful. I hope the nebulizer works.

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    2. Dear Sonia, Im so sorry to hear you are so sick.How awful for patients to have to wait that long for a bed.I have heard of waits at our main hospital but not that long a wait. I do hope you get help soon and manage meanwhile to rest and look after yourself. My daughter is just getting over a virus too.Wishing you a speedy recovery , with love Maria xxx

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    3. Dear Sonia, I am so sorry you are sick! I hope you are improving otherwise off to hospital! In SA there have been no beds too many times and it is just one cut back after another. I am glad you have meals... plenty of soup and other things in the freezer are so important. I always keep chicken soup frozen just in case.
      I have pie crust, lemon butter, baby food and tacos going today... oh and yoghurt!
      I hope the nebuliser is helping and you are much much better! With love Annabel.xxx

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  15. Annabel,
    I love your teacups! Well everything just looks so pretty as usual.LOL Our savings for the week was just a tad over $600. The highlight being 3 free jugs of cat litter and the jugs will be handy for water storage after they are empty. I found jars of beef bouillon marked down to $1.34 so I got three and at least one will go into cooking or kitchen themed basket for Christmas with some pasta and herbs kind of like a soup mix. I earned a few gift cards from surveys and the garden work oh my if I can keep the critters out of it will yield really good savings again! I hope everyone has a great week!
    XOXO
    Vicky

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    1. Dear Vicky,
      Good savings! You do amazing with your coupons and deals. We just have to take advantage of the ones we get. Ours are different to yours but there are similarities... i.e. they take some time to do but they can be really worth it! Some things might not be suitable but will make a good gift too. If I don't want something I usually can think of someone who could use it! I really hope nothing raids your garden! I am not sure if you get deer there? Or mainly smaller things?
      I hope the new week will be a good one! With love Annabel.xxxx

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  16. Beautiful china, I love china myself, good idea using books for cardmaking. I am passionate about birds, I love them.

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    1. Thank you! I love love love birds! I always have. I look for bird, rose, garden and other beautiful books and use these for making cards, journal and note book covers etc. Usually for a couple of dollars I can make up to city cards. More in the case of this book with over 100 paintings! xxx

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  17. Dear Annabel, I loved this post! hearing about all your good buys and outings . Super that Andy is busy with work! Your mum's lavender looks lush and your bolognaise yummy and warming in our cold weather the last 2 days . Maximum of 6 but with wind chill factor feeling like -1C.
    Im lagging behind this last week or so as Ive been busy with family and my daughter has been sick, so helping with washing and pickups for my grandchildren.Hence Ive resorted to online grocery and to save my energy as Ive felt very tired and im up very late now, as Ive been tidying the guest room which is my hobby room.The last 12 months Ive had family staying on and off (as you know) and had to make it more useable for adults and grandchildren .But Ive been finding it hard to remember where my craft stuff is and wrapping paper and cards that are ready to use. I had it all set out originally so I could go straight to what I needed for gifts etc.
    We've been eating freezer meals which has helped me , and Im working to empty the freezer over the next few weeks so I can rebuild and improve how I do that .
    Thanks for Caths recipe I do make my own but with less milk powder but find after 1-2 times the yoghurt isnt as nice so I start anew,I will try more powder and see how that goes, thanks for that info.
    LOve you rose tablecloth and teacup set , gorgeous!
    Love Maria xxx

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    1. Dear Maria, The yogurt is really creamy which I like but I must over heat it or something as it will not make new yoghurt. So I am looking into this! However it works first time perfectly! Also it worked with vanilla added to get a good vanilla. I will try a few other ways this week too...
      Freezer meals are so handy. I am menu planning better now and each week there has to be a meal from the freezer on my list... this way I rotate better what Ive put away and make space for good bargains. Im a work in progress here...
      The week goes fast when anyone is sick, needs extra help etc but I am so glad you are there to help and at times like these we can imagine how would thing she if we weren't here to help!
      I am really enjoying my tablecloths too. One rose tablecloth cheers up a whole room! And they cost about $1 to make!
      Have a really good new week! With love Annabel.xxx

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  18. Beautiful cups & saucers! Lovely bird pics...they will make wonderful cards. So inspired to make my own yogurt again. Thank you for sharing your gift pantry fillings, too.
    Loving your bathroom photo too.

    Blessings,
    Leslie

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  19. Dear Annabel,
    Thank you for another excellent post Annabel. You had a great week .
    I have had some unexpected expense this week but I saved as well . I needed a new phone because I accidently drowned my mobile phone and I don't have a home phone anymore sorry I really need a mobile ( cell) phone . Instead of buying a phone at the phone shop I bought one from the supermarket and saved myself at least $40 compared to buying a phone at the phone shop and I am still able to use my phone plan which is an amazingly cheap plan.
    I saved $33 on tea bags just by buying my favourites half price ( I buy English breakfast tea. In a particular brand) . I saved $10 on a new pair of slippers , they are usually $35 I got them for $25, they are so comfortable . They have memory foam inside them and a warm lining.so worth the money, plus I take a size 12 mens so I was very fortunate to get an pair that fit me.
    I saved by making and having made most meals this week with the exception of one takeaway meal that my parents paid for and my mum made and gave me 2 meals as well so including these things I estimate I saved $70 .
    I had 2 hours subsidised cleaning this week , saving me $40 compared to a professional / private company doing the cleaning.
    My mum paid for my morning tea out yesterday saving me $8 .
    I made 18 cards to use for a charity donation ( I hope I didn't count it last week !, I only made them last Sunday so I don't think I already included them) a saving of about $72 ( based on $4 per card) .
    I think that's all for this week Annabel , a total saving of $273 approximately .
    Your spaghetti sauce looks delicious Annabel, Yum!.
    I hope everyone has a great new week . Love Barb W.


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    1. Dear Barb, Oh no about your phone! I have done this... once my phone was on my bed and I put all the linen into the wash. Then I thought where is my phone!!??? But it was too late. So that was the end of that phone.
      Slippers with memory foam sound gorgeous! Wow! That would be like walking on air. I would love that.
      Well done on all the cards as a donation! Thats really lovely. Thanks Barb as I know you lost comments but still tried again and I really appreciate that, with love Annabel.xxx

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