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 23 May 2019

Feather your Nest Friday, 24th May, 2019.

This week was the same again, another whirlwind!   It had it's moments to be honest.  But mostly it was good!

Where to start?  First of all last Friday I headed off to a town north of us to catch up with a friend, Wendy, who I had not seen in many years. It was so wonderful to see her.  We have so much in common and she was in town as she works regularly in the local craft store/co op.  It was so much fun!  Wendy arrived with beautiful big jars for me and I took her eggs. She is a wonderful cook.  I found great bargains in the shop too.  Wendy pointed me in the direction of a bottle she thought I might like for bubble bath. She was right!  


I got the little dog as the girls love dogs and I thought he could be a cake topper. (Was $1.)

Also these lovely fine English china little bowls.... $2 each.


I also found books for Andy and he was so pleased.  What a good day. We are going to make it a regular thing to catch up and do some bartering too!  

With the farm dogs growing up I made some dog beds.  These are thick memory foam.  We had a mattress topper neither of us could stand to sleep on even though it was thick and soft.  It seemed like such a waste.   I had the idea to set it to good use and cut the whole thing up with a giant sharp knife. For covers I decided to ask Mum if she had old pillowcases.  So I cut them to size.  So we have a stack of retro print dog beds haha!
My stash went more than half way to the ceiling.  The boys were pleased!


The puppies are amazing now.  This is them only getting nine in a photo was beyond me...


So.... meanwhile I had the calf feeding after many trials.  She is one moody calf.  Sometimes she drinks.  Sometimes not.   I was very worried at first.  I literally spent HOURS trying to get her to feed.  I learned the mother cow licks the calf all over to wake them up and get them to feed.  Not being prepared to lick her all over haha I rubbed her all over and talked to her,  tried different teats etc.  FINALLY she drank!   She drinks when she wants and if she doesn't want you can't do anything to change her mind.  If she wants a drink she stands next to the gate and bellows.  


This morning I was having a dream and there was a calf bellowing as part of the dream.  Something said that the bellowing just didn't fit into the storyline... then I woke up fast as it was Laffie wanting breakfast!   I go down to feed her in my dressing gown.  

Now she likes her head rubbed and is generally a big baby.


Just now Laffie is waiting at the gate...

During the week I made pizza bases and pizzas, Dad's favourite cake and then I cooked to help the girls. I made three pasta bakes with meat and tomato sauce (kind of like lasagne but with spiral noodles) and cup cakes.



So it was busy busy busy AND THEN Luke turned up with newborn TWIN lambs that just just been born, orphaned and rained on.  They were a mess and so tiny. 

I grabbed old towels and rubbed them dry and we sat them in front of the warm fire. 




Things started to get interesting at this point.  The next day I had to go into town and the lambs were on a four hourly schedule.  So they came with me in the back of the car in a basket. 


I found some bargains at the grocery store and stopped into the op shop.  I found maybe the best bargains of my life.  There is a pure wool luxury range and a local factory.  They sell wool underlays and quilts etc.  There were items with "seconds" marked on them and I believe they had come straight from the factory and were brand new.  I could find no faults with them so the reason they were seconds must have been so minor.  I got a woollen underlay in Queen size and a King sized Quilt for $5 each.  They are just divine.  I just could not believe it.  When I got home I looked up the prices.  Now I knew they would have been very expensive. The Underlay was $699 and the Quilt was $589.   I paid $10 all up.  I am beyond thrilled.  I also got a quilt for a gift for someone which I gave immediately and was so appreciated.   What a day! 

For some reason I decided it would be a good week to start The Swap Party in The Tuesday Afternoon Club.  This is so much fun.  If you are already a member you can join in the swap.  This will keep us busy for the next week.

Yesterday we headed down to see the girls.  I stopped to check out a little op shop.  Oh my goodness it was my day again!  I picked up a heap of the most beautiful childrens clothes.  I am just washing them up now.  First I showed Lucy to gauge her reaction.  There were Ralph Lauren little overalls, smocked and exquisite little dresses, cardigans....    Lucy just was in love with them all.


This little dress including the little shirt was $4 and the Ralf Lauren overalls were $3.   😍
I also got a bag of various big needles like darning needles, hook needles and needles to sew thing like canvas etc for 50c the whole lot. 

We set Laffie up a little house lined with hay and she is snug. 

We had the gift of help.  Dad sent over a worker with a chainsaw and he helped us with some trees we could not manage ourselves.  It was an incredible day. He cut and we carted and loaded the firewood.  What was achieved in that day is mind blowing.  I am in awe.  Now we have many big bonfires to have but it helped us so much!   Things look neater,  there is no tree leaning on the chicken house now, the driveway is clear, things are much better for next fire season and some trees that were a hazard are gone.  What a blessing this day was.  I had a bath that night soaking in Epsom Salts and then a hot pack on my legs! 

I came home with spinach for the chickens and that is my next job, to go feed the chickens.

I am very behind with many things.  How anyone manages twins I don't know as twin lambs, a bigger lamb and a calf are a handful and the kitchen is full of bottles with different formulas!   If I have not replied to your comment from last Friday I am really sorry.  

If you would please pray for Mum we think she has kidney stones, we are waiting on test results and she is in pain.

What a week! I hope it was a good week for you.  How did you build up your home, pantry, savings... how did you get ahead and get things done?  I always say little things add up!  They certainly do.  
Have a wonderful weekend!xxx













42 comments:

  1. I honestly don’t know how you do it all Annabel!? I can only imagine how time consuming it would be to look after all those orphaned animals, but they are so cute, it would be fun and rewarding!

    I took on lots of extra paid employment this week to get ahead. I worked two ten and a half hour days Monday and Friday and a shorter 7 and a half hour day on Wednesday. So all I managed to do around that was keep the house ticking over (a bit like last week) but next week I’m back to my normal one day a week. The money will be helpful in getting ahead on our savings and mortgage.

    I found a little time to work on my cross stitch this week. I haven’t picked it up in so long! It felt so good to be stitching again!

    Thanks for your continued inspiration and have a lovely weekend,

    Cheers Cheryl

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    1. Dear Cheryl,
      Sounds like you had a very busy week too. Ten and a half hour shifts are long! But as you say it is an opportunity in getting ahead. I think to get ahead when we can!
      How lovely to be working on some cross stitch. I have crochet going and it is so soothing to do.
      Have a lovely weekend! With love and thanks, Annabel.xxx

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  2. You have a house and barn full of animal orphans! They sure have picked the right house to go to!
    I'm praying for your Mom. I've heard how painful those kidney stones are.

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    1. Dear Vickie, Thanks for praying for Mum. I really appreciate it.
      It is a bit of a mad house but the animals are beautiful. LAffie now bounds, leaps and kind f bounces and runs back and forth like a dog fetching. Very cute! Have a good weekend there! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  3. Annabel you have had such a busy week and two more little arrivals too and soon you will be dreaming of bottle feeding beautiful little animals. What great pickups from the op shops and particularly the wool underlay and lovely quilt too so cheaply !.

    Been a similar week here with building our 10 above and below ground garden beds and removing lots of wheelbarrows full of soil.

    Our Vicky challenge added up to $470.15 in savings last week :).

    In the kitchen-
    - Cooked all meals and bread from scratch for the week.

    Grocery stockpiling -
    - With our $40 a month pantry building budget we purchased on really good specials 2 x small chocolates (for grocery shopping energy), 1 x box of special K, 11 x pkts of pasta and sauce,4 pkts of nice biscuits and 8 x 250 g blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese saving $34.70 on usual prices.

    Purchases -
    - Purchased 4 x 100 pk boxes of Panadol and 8 shave sticks on special saving $9.12 on usual prices.
    - Saved up enough to buy all of our wool insulation batts for our ceiling cavity.
    - Purchased a new laptop for myself on eBay since my last one's hard drive gave up the ghost saving $374.11 over buying an equivalent one in the shops.

    Trading -
    - Traded us digging fence post holes with our auger for 8 metres of rapid mesh we lined our trailer with saving $35.72 over buying it in the shops.

    Internet listings -
    - Listed 10 items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $16.50 on usual listing fees.

    In the gardens -
    - DH finished tilling our 10 in-ground and above ground garden beds and we both removed barrow loads of soil ready for it to be amended with manures and put back in.
    - I lined the bottom of each garden bed with weed mat, grass clippings, ride on lawnmower mulched autumn garden leaves and our vegetable scraps from the last week or so.

    Hope everyone had an equally wonderful week :).

    Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

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    1. Dear Lana, I really like that you budget money in for pantry building. That is a wonderful idea. I am working on building my pantry. We are installing shelving in the laundry so that paper products and appliances like the dehydrator can go in there and free up the pantry for all actual food. I cant wait. Its part of the plan this week.
      You had many good savings! And the raised garden beds will be so awesome. The weed matting underneath is very good.
      Your eBay listings are another that you consistently keep at. I think side stream incomes are a very good idea. I am doing much more bartering here which is a little like a sideline. As I increase this I am buying less and less!
      Have a lovely weekend. We have rain! What we need. And things are begging to look lovely and green. It is an adventure being in a new house in a new season. I am looking forward to winter here. Often we wake up in a fog and seeing green paddocks is lovely! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  4. My goodness girl - you make my head spin! You have become a bonafide farm. I just love all the animals and the stories.

    You got some good deals as well. Sure hope your Mum gets to feeling better quickly. Have a lovely weekend.

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    1. Thanks so much Cheryl. I am tired today but I realise why! Just now everyone is fed and it is raining so I am having a cup of tea and break! I am in a feeding routine now but at first I found it hard to keep track of who to feed next!
      Have a lovely weekend! I hope you are doing well... with love Annabel.xxx

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  5. After reading what you fitted into your week I need a cup of tea and a lie down. Annabel you really have been extremely busy and it does not look like life is going to slow down anytime soon.
    Bluey found free tomatoes and caspicums and brought a big bag of each home for me. We have yet more chilli jam and this batch was made with out Birds Eye Chillies so it is quite hot! That was the capsicums taken care of. The tomatoes were made into passata. I have water bathed these to extend the shelf life.
    Bluey also purchased a large punnet of strawberries which are a favourite of mine. He accidentally left them in the hot car all day. I decided that whilst they were past their prime of eating I would not waste them and decided to make jam out of them. We now have a jar and a half of strawberry jam.
    I have been at the machine everyday and have completed a few projects and started more. I am so pleased to have the stick vac as I can easily clean up the threads that end up everywhere.
    The garden is booming. There has been regular coastal showers for weeks. I havent had to water the garden now for nearly a month. This is unheard of! It has also been warm and the seeds I have thrown around are all sprouting madly. As we eat the older veg there is newbies coming along.


    I am loving the swap session. Thank you for organising it. I will have items to swap I will post for the swap early over the weekend.
    Give Mum my best and I hope she is feeling better soon.
    Life is mild winter wonderful.

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    1. Dear Jane, I need to have a lie down and did for an hour today! Things are a bit better as the calf is now feeding nicely. And it is simple. If she wants a drink she says near the gate and bellows. If she doenst to that it is a waste of time trying.
      You really made the absolute most of those tomatoes and capsicums. So much goodness.
      I love having a stick vac and not have to haul out the whole vaccume it is amazing! I love mine. Life changer!
      It is wonderful your garden is thriving.
      I am enjoying the swap party too! I love mail and it looks like I will have lots coming. I got a fair few swaps ready today. Essential oil swaps I am working on tomorrow. Lots to post on Tuesday when I go into town.
      Many thanks re Mum. I am hoping she is much better soon too. With much love, Annabel.xxx

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  6. Oh Annabel. You are so busy, and don’t I know it because I had twins! Plus a 4, 6 and 8 year old. They were busy days.
    I love the photos of the animals, babies are always so cute.
    I love the outfits you got the girls. The dress is so sweet.
    And the underlay and quilt were amazing prices. You have so much luck with op shops. Here in Canberra everything is overpriced and they’ve become more like businesses than charity shops.
    Love Susan

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    1. Dear Susan, You would have been so incredibly busy with three young children then twins! Well done.
      In Adelaide I was not so lucky with op shops. I did have some luck but many times I was just disgusted with the prices. Like $300 for a teapot! They used to be about helping people both afford things AND raise money for a charity. Now they are just about making money. Anyway if you get off far in the country you still have the little churches who charge 50c for a Queen Anne plate! And this is where I am... far off in the country! I am still discovering and tying different locations but I have a couple of favourites... and I enjoy it so much. And am friendly with the staff there too. Tow of the ladies were out nursing my lamb at the one where I got the wool underlay and quilt. I am still thrilled about those they are just divine. Lucky lucky! Have a wonderful weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

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  7. Annabel I adored all the pictures you posted. And I love the idea of the little dog as a cake topper would never have thought of that.. perfect for the animal lovers. Using my husbands email but this is Anna Gartin from Women of Proverbs.

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    1. Thank you so much Anna. I am not very good at cake decorating so I cheat and use pretty things! Or cute things. This is my solution! Thank you re my photos! It is bit of a virus here at times but I do love these animals and they are so loving and good. It all warms my heart. And it has become easier as the calf is drinking well now after a rocky start! Have a good weekend Anna, thank you. Love Annabel.xxx

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  8. Annabel,
    Oh what a busy and productive week you have had. Prayers for your Mum.
    You are truly a Mum to your orphans, you do have your hands full just with bottle feeding. They are all so adorable though, I have to say.

    You did spectacular at the op shops and factory store. Amazing savings and such beautiful items. The underlays will be so nice to have this winter and the girls new outfits are so cute.

    Now with all the tree cutting and clearing, you are better equipped for fire season and you will have firewood stacked for winters to come, amazing just in that alone.

    I have only accomplished a few things around the house, cleaning out all the flower gardens and trees. They look so much more healthy now.
    I have my hands full with the start of our sun room being built, I am just praying it all goes well.
    Was gifted a Singer Treadle Sewing Machine by my Son who found it on Freecycle, he and his son carried it into my library for me. Some work is needed like a good cleaning and new belt but for being 108 years old she looks good.

    Love, Rosanne

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    1. Dear Rosanne,
      Thank you! I did feel accomplished and lucky this week. Also worn out by the end lol!
      This is very true with the outside work... it is killing several birds with one stone so to speak... as we clean and tidy things look much nicer, grass or lawn will grow better, it is much safer in fire season and we have all this wood to stack in our wood pile. It is amazing. I know you are flat out busy too. I am sure your sun room will be a benefit and as you say a potential green house too.
      Your Sewing machine is just amazing. What a gift! How good of your son.
      Have a lovely weekend! With much love, Annabel.xxx

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  9. Oh Annabel what a busy week. I am tired just reading what you have done. Looking after all those babies is a job in itself but so rewarding watching them grow and get their own little personalities.
    All those op shop finds are wonderful and just perfect, I only occasionally find things like that.
    I'm very relaxed at the moment as we have just come back holidays and it was perfect and just what I needed. Life has been busy for us and I'm trying to set up a small business (just a small nail salon at home).
    On the crafting side I have been knitting a cardigan for Dotti and a Spiderman jumper for Henry and I'm so happy to have the time to craft. Will post photos when they are finished.
    I have a grammar to cook up and make into pies and some baking to do before we head to Sydney tonight for a 60th birthday party so I had better get moving.
    Hope all is well and your Mums health improves as it isn't good when they are sick. Love Debbie xx

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    1. Dear Debbie, Yes it sure was busy. I am doing a bit better now as the calf now feeds nicely without any dramas. In fact she just bellows in the corner of the paddock when she s ready then drinks her bottle straight down. Hallelujah! haha!
      I was so lucky with the wool quilt, underlay and childrens cloths. I am amazed.
      I am glad you got away for a holiday! How nice. And wow with setting up a salon! I am sure you will be very successful with that.
      I cant wait to see these jumpers. I still remember your beautiful dolls. You definitely need crafting time as you are amazing at all you do.
      Thank you re Mum. Have a lovely weekend! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  10. Dear Annabel and bluebird friends, aww Annabel those baby animals are just delightful.looking at their little faces just melts my heart and brings a smile to my face .i bet the girls will have a lot of fun with them and add to that nine jiggly wiggly lovely puppies!.
    I must apologise for being absent from commenting for awhile.i read every blog you write Annabel and love them all but the last few months have been very challenging healthwise and I have been very slack with keeping up with correspondence and blogs etc. my knee continues to be annoyingly and excruciatingly painful , the doctors are at ,a loss as to what to do with me other than telling me to walk and swim , ican barely put my foot to the floor without agonising pain sometimes let alone walk for exercise.the surgeons have told me I am to young and too fat ( even though I have lost over 45kg) .i apologise for whinging but it gets me down and wears me out.
    I lost my craft mojo awhile ago but am starting to make things again slowly.
    My savings over the last few weeks have included, being given lots and lots and lots of craft items for free, at least $250 worth , I have saved on groceries ( about $75 over a few weeks) , I converted $10 worth of points into fly buys dollars , I will use that for a treat or something I might need.
    I was given a jar of lemon butter$5 saving .
    I have been given at least 3 meals a week from my parents ( $10 per meal saving approximately so over th.e last 2 weeks , 6 meals is a $60 saving.
    I cashed in some $1 coin savings and I had $350 so I bought a pair of my custom made shoes I usually get and I have money left for something , I may put $50 into emergency , $30 into my slush fund fund and the rest into my spending purse .
    I received some beautifully made cards from an online friend, I won’t put a $ value on them but they will save me a lot.
    Ok I better finish up.happy weekend to all . Annabel I know you like to be busy but I hope you get some relaxation time too.
    Love Barb W.

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    1. Dear Barb, I am sorry for your pain and knee. I know it is difficult with knees and surgery and replacements etc. I know when replacements wear out that is dreadful and the pain is apparently terrible and they have to be replaced every ten or fifteen years! What a lot to go through. So I hope your knee improves and you can get swimming and walking and it will help.
      Well done on your $1 savings and investing that in good shoes. I am just terrible unless I wear good shoes. They are worth it. I hope you love them and help you lots.
      Thank you re the animals. They re adorable and funny. They are very loving. IT is taking up a lot of my time but I am managing ok now I am in a routine and the calf is drinking nicely! Thats what took a while.
      Thanks re Mum too. She is improving a bit and we hope will be much better soon. Have a beautiful weekend Barb. Craft as you can as it helps having happy distractions when you are up to it. With much love Annabel.xxx

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  11. Dear Annabel( mark 2 ) , I forgot to mention that I am keeping your mum in my thoughts .i hope she feels better soon.sending love to you and the family too.
    Love Barb W.

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  12. Dear Annabel, first of all I am SO sorry for your poor Mum. Kidney stones are agonizing! Sending prayers that her pain passes soon and she is on the road to recovery. Secondly, the lambs and calf are adorable and bring back so many memories for me. My grandparents would often have lambs and calves to feed, and my Mum was the local 'saver of animals' and we frequently had tiny kittens or puppies to feed with an eyedropper. Honestly, the things you learn from these experiences are invaluable. You truly are EVERYONES Nanna! Lovely buys on the underlays and designer clothes for the girls, and as always, so much abundance in your post, it's heartwarming! So much happening here...my She Shed is almost complete and I'm actually starting to move in, which means a huge declutter of my sewing stash, and as always, work is busy but rewarding. Life is good. Much love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Thanks Mimi. Your Mum sounds like she was such a legend! I think a childhood full of animals is just beautiful. And I agree.. invaluable. I cant wait to see more of your she shed. And what you create in there! Enough time to do everything we want to do is the issue. I already cant live long enough to do all my projects lol! But I am loving the variety and the animals... being outdoors and with animals sort of makes you see the world from a better place... it is just happy. Mum is doing ok... we hope she will be on the mend now. Thank you! With love Annabel.xx

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  13. I use to get in the pen with the calves growing up and love on them. we raised sheep and I got to feed the bottle to the lamb rejects too. I don't know where to post this but if anyone is interested Melissa K. Norris from the Pioneering and Homesteading blog tells how to make a gluten free sourdough starter using brown rice flower. I made some and use it to make gf sourdough muffins and gf sourdough pancakes. I tried to make bread once but it was a flop. I think perhaps my starter was not strong enough yet. Nancy

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    1. Dear Nancy, Thanks for the tip of starting a pure gf starter. It has taken several weeks for me to get my gf starter really strong and bubbly. Now I can get a very strong sponge quite quickly but my first was MILDLY bubbly which is not enough for bread. It is interesting! I might try bread tomorrow now that I think of it! My calf is very cute and playful. And strong! The lambs are like babies and go to sleep as soon as you pick them up! I am going to have a look at this Pioneering and Homesteading blog thank you so much! With love Annabel.xxx

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    2. Annabel, I think it is Homestead and Old Fashioned Pioneering. I think you will enjoy it. Nancy

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  14. Oh goodness on you with all your little orphans! I don't know how you do it.
    I spent my week with a paint brush or spray can in hand painting porches and my patio set which is bright pink. I LOVE it! So pretty with the Navy and White chair cushions from Aldi ($6 each).
    I am sure I did more this week but I can't think what. Sure sign it's time for me to head to bed!

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    1. Dear Terri, Oh I love the sound of your patio set! They sound lovely. Good on you! Happy anniversary by the way! Thank you... I am in a good routine with the animals now and they all feed ok now... so it has become much easier! With love Annabel.xxx

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  15. Hope your Mom is on the mend. You are one busy lady. With all the orphaned animals: Will you be keeping them as pets? Starting your own herd? Returning them when weaned? Or keeping them for food. Guessing the food part might be a bit heart breaking, but such is the life of farming.
    Son is home for Memorial Day weekend (USA.) He had an 8 hour drive. Enjoying our visit that started with me giving him a haircut.
    Wonderful purchases at your op-shops.
    Try and sneak a nap in there. Four hour feedings are tiring. They can’t have their new “Mama” get sick.
    Sheila

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    1. Hi Sheila, Thank you re Mum. Well we are not sure with the animals but we think we could breed from the calf when she's grown and get more cows.
      Well done on giving your son a hair cut when you got there! That is so sweet. I did have a lay down today (Sat) as it all caught up with me. I went straight to sleep for an hour. It helped. And we had a day of rain it was just lovely!
      Thank you for your kindness and encouragement! Have a beautiful weekend! xxx

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  16. What a week!

    For kidney stones we take one ounce of hydrangea root tincture. Take as directed on the bottle until the bottle is gone. Then we would do lemon essential oil, on drop on each kidney at bedtime for five days. The tincture had never failed to do the dissolving of the stones.

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    1. Dear Lana, Thank you so much for this information. I am writing it down. Do you buy or make the Hydrangea root tincture and if so where do you get it? Lemon essential oil I have in my medical cabinet. Thanks so much. With love, Annabel.xxx

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    2. I buy it from Amazon. I always keep it on hand just in case.

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  17. What a week Annabel!
    Sending my best wishes to Pat, that sounds horrible. I hope she is feeling better soon.

    Your op shop buys are incredible this week! What an amazing deal for the quilt and underlay. And the clothes for the girls are lovely too.

    How wonderful to have the help with the wood. When we were kids we thought mum was so weird because she would admire piles of firewood. Well, I've turned into my mother lol. If you have a fire there is nothing better than seeing a big pile of firewood!

    Great effort sewing all of the dog beds, and without having to spend any money!

    My older daughter is turning five this week and I have been doing a special project for her birthday. She was given a dollhouse that belonged to her cousin when she was a baby. She loves playing with it. The roof fell off ages ago and it is another thing that had been on 'the list' for too long. It took 7 nails to fix the roof. So approximately one minute. Anyway, I have told her I need it for a while to fix it properly (not entirely true...) because my oldest son and I have been decorating the rooms inside. It is so much fun! We have wallpapered with scrapbooking paper, stuck embellishments on the walls, and a local flooring place gave us some free samples so some rooms have vinyl and others carpet. I got her some Sylvanian families furniture for her birthday and a bunny family. I've also sewn some tiny cushions and blankets, a great way to use tiny fabric scraps! I'm pretty sure she will love it. At some stage I will paint the outside, but that will have to be after her birthday.

    So lots of baking to do today in preparation for her party, as well as a morning tea to say thank you to her kindergarten teachers.

    Have a lovely week, I'm so pleased you managed a lie down! I'm going to look into the gluten free sourdough starter- thanks Nancy for the link.

    Jen in NZ

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    1. Dear Jen, This is funny as I LOVE to see a woodpile. On the way to the town I shop in there is a wood pile someone has recently cut in a paddock. Every time I see it I think how wonderful it looks. I want a woodpile like that!
      I would love to see pictures of what you have done in the dollhouse! It sounds fantastic. And fun. One thing I will tell you is a tip someone gave me... that the little mirrors in makeup like a compact make amazing wall mirrors in a doll house! Its genius! How cute! Your daughter is going to love it all!
      Jen in the swap I offered my starter which is huge now and is gf bar the 1 teaspoon at the very beginning which was a regular starter. You are welcome to some if you would like it.
      Have a great birthday party! With love Annabel.xx

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  18. Wow! So much accomplished and so much to do. Now that you have a complete petting zoo, what is your plan for the animals? I always enjoy reading your adventures.

    I was given 4 baskets of peaches 2 weeks ago. $60 worth. I made jam and took 3 pints back to the farmer and his assistants as a thank you. Still came out with 8 more than I had before.

    Then the next week, the same farmer sold me 2 boxes for $10 each. It was a genuine steal. So cheap. The girls and I picked blackberries at the you pick. I made 7 pints blackberry peach jam with that and then 6 more pints of peach. It is the favorite of my family and friends for Christmas presents, so I can never have enough.


    Then the girls and I checked in with another farmer we know. He had blueberries, so we picked 2 gallons. He let us give him 1/2 and keep the rest for free! I froze those for later.

    And, we had priced getting a big tree that was too close to the house cut down. But it was thousands of dollars.
    A friend of Greg's heard we were wanting to do that. He said he has done lots and loves to do them. He came Frtoday and did it for free!.

    So all in all, it was a great week of filling the pantry and getting ahead. Praise God!

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    1. Dear Cristy, We are not sure but the twins are both girls and the calf is a girl so we hope to have babies!
      Peaches would have been wonderful. They are my favourite fruit. A good idea on thanking the farmer and workers. Also I bet you get peaches again next year!
      And Blueberries! Gosh they are so expensive here. A Tiny handful is about $5. We have found the same with trees. One big tree can cost THOUSANDS. What a blessing to get that done for free! That is amazing.
      You did have a wonderful week. I hope this week will be as good for you! With love, Annabel.xxx

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  19. Annabel, hearing about all you've got on your plate makes ME tired! I chuckled to think of you stowing those two lambs in a basket to take with you into town, and your figuring out an alternative to licking the calf all over to encourage it to drink.
    Your op shop finds are amazing!Isn't it fun to find treasures like that that you can use and enjoy?

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    1. Dear Chipmunk, I learned a few things with this calf. I expect another calf will come my way so the things I learned will be helpful. Overall calves are less work than lambs except for the getting them drinking at the beginning.
      I will be back to the op shop tomorrow. You are never guaranteed anything but over all it is working out so amazing what I am finding! So much fun. I never even get the urge to go into a retail shop, I just do the grocery store. I hope your new week will be a good one! With love Annabel.xxx

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  20. Dear Annabel, I hope your Mum has some answers and is starting to feel better by now, tell her I am thinking of and praying for her. Your photos are all delicious and I especially love the photo of Lattie waiting at the gate, it is so cute. I loved helping my Dad feeding calves on our dairy farm. I remember teaching them (when they a bit older than Lattie) to drink from buckets by letting them suck my hand and gently drawing their heads down into a bucket of warm mikk - at first they really didn't like it and would snort and blow bubbles out their nose but eventually they would get the idea to suck up the milk without my fingers, then they would hoover the milk at amazing speeds. Gosh I loved it. I had a busy week last week but managed to keep up with the house. My daughter and I made up more of your bubblebath receipe as she gets achy legs and has been having baths to help her feel better. I also made choc chip cookies. At Aldi I paid $2.50 for a posy of pink carnations (perhaps left over from mothers day), I was so happy. I have put them in a white jug - they look beautiful. Happy feathering everyone, 🌻Clare

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    1. Dear Clare,
      Thank you for praying for Mum. She still has one kidney stone and pain. We are hoping it goes and is done with!
      I think bucket feeding is great. I have taught small calves to do it with no problems. Now Lattie I have no hope. She is too big and strong for me. When she is hungry enough to sick she knocks me and the bucket clean over! Luke might be able to do it. But she is so boisterous and strong! She is just gorgeous though and playful!
      Warm baths and epsom salts are wonderful for achy legs. I suffered fore legs so much. A warm heat pack is also very helpful. She might need one for each leg! Your flowers are beautiful these little things can be so nice! They make us feel good! I love your little sunflower nice I think of sunflowers and giant pumpkins when I think of you! I hope your new week is going well! With love, Annabel.xxx

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  21. Dear Annabel,

    Prayers for your Mum...kidney stones are so awfully painful. I hope she will be better soon! I love seeing all the photos of baby animals, here! The little puppies are just gorgeous!

    Love, Jen in NS

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