The Bluebirds are Nesting...: Feather your Nest Friday, 19th February, 2016.

Thursday, 18 February 2016

Feather your Nest Friday, 19th February, 2016.

It has been a good week! I have to say doing some painting every week adds to how fast the week goes and makes things busier. But I am making progress even if it's slowly.

Some of the ways I saved money this week are:

I made another batch of soap. This time it's the Lux soap with pink colour. I love it. I will add this next Wednesday as I found that by continuing to blend this soap it becomes shiny and silky and amazing. And I love the pink!

I used up the last figs. The figs were a big and daily job. But what a bonus they were. I made many jars of jam...

And I used the lovely labels Chloe gave me...

Some of these are going to be gifts. My Dad loves this jam.

Also I used left overs from Valentines Day which were rocket, goats cheese and prosciutto and made this into pizzas. The pizza bases were from Aldi and the nicest purchased pizza bases I have ever had. They were really rustic and good. So I used these things and drizzled over balsamic glaze...

When cooked it was beautiful. Best ever left overs dinner and new use (for me) of figs.

I had left over rocket and pear and made a salad with that and it was a great dinner. Left over pizza went in Andy's lunch box as well.

Oh, and left over Brownies went in the lunch box all week too.

My friend Karen gave me Coriander seeds and I planted those straight away as I had a space and I have good success planting this time of year.

My neighbour gave me cuttings from his garden.

I got petrol for 99c a litre and filled up.

At Woolworths I looked at the Valentines Day clearances. Everything was marked down massively. (on Monday). I got heart shaped baking tins for $2.50. I bought all they had left which was 4.

I am keeping one and three are in my gift cupboard.

Some of the ways I built up our home:

I cleaned out the kitchen pantry, re arranged and put forward things that need to be used.

The laundry cupboard got a clean out too and major re arrange. This was inspired but the need to make room for all that laundry soap!

I painted two more doors and some skirting boards and door frames. I have one inside door to go. It has added up to enough that inside is looking fresher and brighter and I love that!

Also I decided my cellar is full. Seriously if I put any more down there I won't be able to get in and find things. So that mission is accomplished. I have covered lighting, batteries, medicines, canned goods, dry goods, cleaning, water, treats, pet food, sanitary and hygiene ... it is pretty much a shop
with spare everything.
But I still feel to add. I thought about this. Do I stop and maintain and rotate or do I keep building it up?
All along I felt strongly to do this. I still do. So I am continuing. In my life anytime I had a strong feeling about something and didn't act on it, well, things didn't turn out well! So I am not stopping this. But where do I store now?
Basically I thought what would Vicky do? What would Patsy do? And I had an answer. I have nothing under the bed at all and I bought flat lidded plastic storage boxes. They slide in under and cannot be seen. I have eight of these and can store pretty much anything. So off I go on new storage!

Today I have the front gate and two doors to sand before I can paint them. So that is my goal before the day is out!

I hope you had a great week. How did you build up your home and savings?

Have a wonderful weekend! xxx

49 comments:

patsi @ a working pantry18 February 2016 at 17:40
Annabel, that is exactly what I would do, use that under the bed space! Your pink soaps are so pretty. I made a trial batch of your soap today using castile pure soap bars that I grated up. So far it looks good. Your tips were most helpful. I'll let you know after I take it out of it's mold tomorrow. I can easily see how this way of making soap could become addicting. If these batch turns out well I want to try some pink soap next.
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Anonymous18 February 2016 at 18:42
Hi Annabel!

You made me laugh when I read that your laundry cupboard reshuffle was inspired by having so much laundry liquid! I sit my plastic bottles on a duckboard over the bath!

I think I saw an almond at the top of your fig jam. It's all lovely! Move over, Maggie Beer!!

I've got my wool wash ingredients. I'll look forward to making that in the new week! That means filling more jars ..... I always think of hanging things from the sky or ceiling for storage place!!

There's not much of reporting value from my end this week. We have, however, been having warm weather - with free 'Russian steam baths'. It was 36 degrees Celsius the other day.

With warm regards,
Rachel Holt
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Glenda18 February 2016 at 18:46
Dear Annabel,

Love the pink soaps!

I did some deep cleaning in the kitchen this week; baked and cooked a couple of days to get ahead a bit; polished the stainless steel in the kitchen; cleaned out two refrigerators and freezers; vacuum sealed some foods for storage; researched some stock up items for the food storage room; worked on some genealogy for the books we are putting together for the children and grandchildren; added to food storage; and did the regular cleaning, laundry, ironing, book keeping, etc.

John did some research and did find a less expensive source for the soap flakes that are chemical, additive, and fragrance free. By ordering in bulk (large container) the cost per bar of soap, including the milks and E.O.'s would be about $1.50, which is an awesome price for a fragrance free, healthy bar of soap. Thanks again for sharing the recipe links and thanks to the ladies who put them on their blogs.

Love and hugs,
Glenda
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Anonymous18 February 2016 at 19:20
Hi Annabel, I have read your blog for quite some time, i have never started a list of things I've done during the week to feather my nest. I do hope this little bit will get me started at setting more goals and accomplishing a little each week.

I bought about ten bunches of bananas that were spotted but just fine for eating and freezing for $3. I put six of the bunches in the freezer and we are eating the rest. I froze four bags of shredded cheese portioned out for pizzas from a large two pound bag I got for half the price cheese usually costs me. I chopped, portioned out, and froze red peppers for pizzas I also put leftover black beans in a bag with chopped onions and red peppers to add to a crockpot of taco meat. I froze 5 cups of skim milk that was almost expired, I can use that for baking. I made laundry soap, and I put shelves in my pantry. The last item I recorded will sound rather silly, but I put all of our clean laundry away tonight even though I was very tired and still had a bed to make and snacks to make and children to put to bed...this will set us up nicely for our busy weekend. Often when tired at the end of the day I don't give that extra push to get things done.

Marie
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Anonymous18 February 2016 at 20:08
This week has not seen much feathering about the nest but I have really enjoyed the work I put in prior to this week. Sunday night my daughter came down with a nasty stomach bug which moved like fire throughout the family attacking all but husband. But bad as it was we were prepared. My pantry had Gatorade, canned soups, crackers, needed medicines etc. My cleaning cupboard had all that was necessary to clean and sanitize the bathrooms and bedrooms. We were able to be as comfortable as possible without panic induced trips to the grocery store and pharmacy. This has just encouraged me to continue on with building up our home.
Ginger
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Julie in Autumn18 February 2016 at 20:15
Hi Annabel,
Try this for your pantry.
HOMEMADE BROWNIE MIX
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Put mix in plastic zip-lock bags or mason jars.

When ready to bake, add: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.
From the SS web page a while ago.
Julie
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Fiona18 February 2016 at 20:51
I'm tired reading all the things you have accomplished this week Annabel. The soap is gorgeous. As you know I make my own soap and the style I prefer after having a go at a few different moulds, is to use a cleaned out 2 litre orange juice carton. Pour the hot soap in there, leave o'nite and then just tear away the waxed cardboard. I like big chunky rustic style soaps the best. It is good to see how many people you are encouraging. Fi x
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Unknown18 February 2016 at 21:01
Dear Annabel,
You have had a great week, I love the soap but I am not going to commit to making any unless I can make some without the chemicals , . I simply don't trust myself not to do something very wrong!. I could however be tempted as your soaps look wonderful Annabel!.
I love your heart shaped tin Annabel, My mum has one and I may have one too but it has been so long since I baked a large cake I do not remember!. I usually make muffins or cupcakes.
I saved money this week by receiving 6 meals from my parents as well as pies and sausage rolls from their freezer and nearly a full tub of butter as they go on holiday today on a cruise and did not want to leave much food in their fridge and freezer. I also accepted a pineapple and shallots / spring onions both from their garden. I also saved money by making 10 cards using my new sizzix machine and I bought some sparkly lace like material to make more cards too, saving me money in the long run. I got ahead with the meals , most of which are in my freezer and it is so nice to put something in the oven or simply heat in the microwave for an easy night. I made cheese and bacon and shallot muffins with a touch of mustard in them and they did not cost a lot of money or take too much time to make. I have easy morning and afternoon teas in the freezer now too.take care Annabel and have a good weekend. Love Barb
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Debbie18 February 2016 at 21:24
You have been a very busy bee! That pizza looks delicious by the way. I wish we could grow figs in our area because I just adore them!
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Anonymous18 February 2016 at 21:25
Your soaps look lovely Annabel,Im still looking for pretty shaped molds to make some.And your pizza looks interesting and good too by sounds of it.
This week Ive managed to use some freezer and pantry foods up as part of my food decluttering mission so that the new restock will be fewer choices and of items we like and use regularly.
I made a Valentines dinner for my family on Sunday evening of marinated beef kebabs, roast small potatoes and a big mixed salad and home made mayo. A lovely chocolate cake recipe (of Mimi's)which made 5 big heart muffin size and a square slab.Dusted the muffin size with icing sugar and a small heart shaped chocolate pushed into the top on a plate with red foil heart chocs, it was well enjoyed.
kept up my daily exercise plan,pleased about that and adding to it slowly.Baked half a big batch of butter cookies today half cooked and half dough frozen .Baked 2 banana breads to use up soft bananas.
Had success with crocheting at last.Little grandosn asked for a helmet for his tiny fav bear and was thrilled when I did.Two thirds of the way through a small jersey for the yarn I bought and wasn't having luck with.
Pottered in the garden planted plants , trimmed and planted and emptied some big pots .Hubby gave teh back steps another coat of paint.Undercoated the side gate after prepping it with anti fungicide .Thats a few of this weeks feathering of my nest activities :-) With love Maria xx
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Anonymous18 February 2016 at 22:30
Annabel,
I love love your pink soaps they are so lovely! I am glad you have decided to continue on. I know some may feel against having a very full pantry and I am not sure about there, but here there is starting to be a lot of issues with food. Listeria, salmonella and other things that have compromised the quality of food. If there are concerns about having too much then we are all invited to places that require us to bring a dish right? Bring 3 instead. LOL I am happy you have found room for more storage also your jar labels are very pretty and I bet your jam is tasty! You always make such good use of the things you get!
XOXO
Vicky
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Tania19 February 2016 at 03:58
Dear Annabel,

Tonight is the first time I have been able to sit down and catch up on a couple of your posts. Those soaps are gorgeous, you always make the simplest things look so pretty. And the jam jars look great too. I should start using pretty labels, they look so much better. I love fig jam, it is my favourite. I made scones today just so we could enjoy some of our jam :)

I wonder if our woolies have any valentine specials, I must go and check tomorrow. I haven't really been going to the shops, as I am trying to save money. Not sure what the future holds with hubby's job now the steel industry in Whyalla is coming to a halt, not looking good for our train drivers...A tight budget is now in order, so I am going to be frequenting my favourite blogs a lot more.

Have a lovely weekend :)

God Bless,

Lots of love,
Tania xoxo
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Mrs. Gillam19 February 2016 at 13:43
I'm glad you were able to figure out the under bed storage to continue building your pantry. The soaps and food you made with figs looks great!
Thanks for the reminder about allocating tasks to 15 minutes at a time. I'm familiar with Flylady. That's kind of what I meant by "baby steps."
I've been working on getting our linen closet cleaned out and decluttered. I'm washing things so they are fresh to either use or pass along. I've found a few things I can repurpose. I made a few lavender sachets to help keep things fresh, as well
The cabinets under our bathroom sink are also getting cleaned and sorted.
Our weather has cooled down a few degrees again, making it more pleasant to work in the yard. In addition to the other planting and transplanting, I was able to transplant some mint seedlings to another pot. We enjoy hot or cold mint tea, so I would like to have our own supply. I have a sweet potato started with the hope of slips to transplant. That worked real well the year before, but not as well last year. I'm trying again.
We still have quite a bit of citrus, both of our own and from our neighbors. They are so tasty and useful!
I used a package of powdered lemonade drink mix to clean and refresh our dishwasher.
Wishing you and the other ladies a lovely weekend! Thank you for the encouraging posts and comments! Elaine
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Anonymous19 February 2016 at 14:42
Your pink soaps are just delightful and your fig jam labels are darling! I've had a catch-up week after doing the tile, meaning I've worked on things for church and home, done paperwork (yuck!), and helped Jay clear the kitchen of extra tools and supplies so he can start to lay the new floor.
Have a lovely week!
Blessings, Leigh
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Mrs. Kelley Dibble19 February 2016 at 15:13
Laine stores under beds, behind sofas, under, behind, above, in between. You name the preposition, she did it! Lol! GOOD GIRL!

The soaps are dreamy, just dreamy. They take me back to the '60s and '70s with a retro feel, especially the color.

The figs are our Danielle's, DD2's favorites. If I showed her your fig renderings, I'm afraid she'd eat the screen. What a blessing indeed.

Weekend hugs to you, Annabel dear.
Kelley~
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Jane19 February 2016 at 18:39
Annabel you have been one busy Miss this week! I'm a bit exhausted just reading what you have been up to.
At first I didn't think I had done much but then I really looked hard at what I had done. At home hubby has been busy helping out with various household tasks whilst I have been working. It mean that this morning there wasn't a lot that needed to be done. He is a keeper.
Anyways my nest feathering happened at work. The lady I was substituting for has decided to take a new career path and resigned. I was asked if I could assist in cleaning out the classroom Office and storeroom. I was also told to take anything of the personal resources that might be good for me. I was a bit miffed at having to clean out for someone else, especially when yesterday was my last day in this class as someone else is taking the group over, but then I thought at least the students will benefit from a teacher coming into a fresh room without the headache if cleaning up. So into I did go. I ended up with some lovely resources and the satisfaction of handing over a clean and organised workspace for a colleague. This clean out took several hours over a few after school afternoons. The new resources required me to re think my study come craft room space at home, so that there is clear and logical order to everything. I'm not quite there yet but it is a happening thing.
My efforts were noted by school admin and I am thankfully on a new contract, doing a different job within the same school, until the end of term. Bank account is very happy as am I.
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terricheney19 February 2016 at 18:45
Your soap is lovely and makes me (almost) wish I had't such a large stock of pink Camay bars. Apparently towards the end of her life, Granny was certain they were going out of business and she stocked up. I've been using those bars for five years Annabel and still have a dozen or so bars! They've gotten nice and hard and last a long time now.
Besides using the on hand soap, I started working in the yard a few minutes each day. Lots of outdoors jobs and right now it's cool enough to enjoy those outdoor tasks. I posted more of my savings and my Vickie Challenge items here:
http://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2016/02/assigning-value-to-what-we-do-sweet.html
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Anonymous19 February 2016 at 18:48
Dear Annabel, I love the pink soaps! Ok, I have never made soap, but I know that some of the ladies were wondering about an inexpensive pure soap sold in the U.S. I am thinking that Ivory soap would work well, as they claim it is 99.44% pure. I looked at the ingredients, and my guess is that the percent that is not pure is a preservative and the fragrace, which I know is very slight as I have used this soap many times. Everything else is regular soap ingredients: tallow, oil, glycerin, acids, etc. I understand that it used to be sold as flakes, but now is only sold in bar form. The website said that it was also used in the past for laundry, dishes, and general cleaning, so I don't see why this wouldn't work. It is white. The U.S. ladies will know what this is as it is sold everywhere and has been around a long time. Just be sure you get the Original and not the newer, fancy, specially formulated stuff since that has a lot of added chemicals.
Ok, now on to my week! It was mostly spent out at the ranch. I have been doing my laundry out there, of course, since my machine broke. My husband and I have also been looking around to see what needs to be done before we move in. We have been taking measurements, clearing out the bedroom that will be ours, and deciding which of our belongings we need to sell and which to keep. I was a bit overwhelmed by it all today, but I am still very excited and so ready to get to work. Next week, I will be taking everything (which is more than you can imagine) out of the kitchen and giving it a good clean.
Other than that, I bought some groceries on special and purchased some Valentine candy on clearance. I also picked up two heart-shaped cake pans for $3. I have been away from my home a lot this week, so I haven't been writing things down! Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful weekend. You certainly brought joy to my week :) Love, Kelsey
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Mary20 February 2016 at 15:20
Hi Annabelle, lovely soaps! Hey, I wanted to send you a pic of what I made my DH for Valentine's Day (as I never wrote you back about what I did for his birthday/Christmas celebration). Is there an address to send a picture to? Thx.
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Mel20 February 2016 at 17:11
What a busy week Annabel! I love painting. It's such a cheap tool and can make such a difference on walls and furniture. My stockpile is running low here as we've been eating from it all Summer I need to focus on replenishing it. Are you stockpiling in case of an emergency? or just to have a general back up? I've been doing lots of sewing here this week and nabbed some great op shop bargains, including some bottles for bubble bath. I didn't have lace or trinkets on hand, but decorated them the best I could with what I have. Thanks for the idea! xx
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Mimi20 February 2016 at 23:28
Dear Annabel, and everyone, what a wonderful week of reporting from you all. Annabel, the soaps, the labels from Chloe, the figs...all stunning! At this end, I baked four chocolate cakes, freezing two for lunches this coming week, made cumquat marmalade with the half a dozen cumquats I managed to harvest from our trees....so it was a tiny amount of marmaladem but delicious all the same...and made my own sun dried kaffir lime slices, also from our trees. These will go into potpourri and will be divine, I think. I made yoghurt, then drained it and made labne cheese, and scribed lots of gift wrap for upcoming celebrations. We planted a pawpaw, Loquat, blueberry, olive, two dwarf avocadoes, and a fig to replace one we lost, so that was very exciting! I made pesto by hand with a pizza cutter from my sons basil and garlic and we had it with home made fettucine. So all up, it was a very lovely week. Thankyou for all your encouragement. Love, Mimi xxx
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Jen21 February 2016 at 03:00
Your house must be looking and smelling lovely with the fresh paint and soap everywhere! I am stripping wallpaper in one of our bedrooms when I get a chance, can't wait to be ready to paint.

Confession time Annabel, I have lived in my house for 7 summers and not once used a fig from our fig tree. The birds have had a great feast though! I didn't even know people made fig jam. I just remember my dad trying to give us dried figs to eat as kids and thinking they were gross! For fig jam is it a 50/50 split of sugar to figs? Do you add anything else like lemon juice? I took 2 of my boys blackberry picking yesterday, we picked about 3kg and came home and made jam which is lovely! And which set well, unlike my strawberry jam that was actually a sauce lol.

Apart from that I have still been looking after sick kids, three weeks of a rotten gastro bug. Just one still not quite right now. On Friday I decided to do some genuine 'feathering' and hung some of my eldest sons drawings in a bit of a gallery wall. I used frames we already had and painted them all black. He was really happy to see it when he got home from school. I think that was on my 'to do' list for about 2 years!

Hope everyone has a lovely week
Jen
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Annabel21 February 2016 at 03:28
Dear Jen, It is so hard when there is sickness in the house. I hope this week will be much better
Your son would have been so proud about his gallery! That was wonderful. I love that you did this!
Stripping wallpaprer would be no fun but once you get painting that will be! I had a few days of sanding, cleaning, scrubbing, puttying... but now i think I have a clear run for a while of painting which is the best bit and you can see big results.
I am not sure of the prices locally for you but check the prices of figs. Here one fig is $1. So potentially if you have 500 figs you have $500. Seriously. My post tomorrow is about this kind of thing. It is a big asset to you. So you can use the figs in meals, make jam, sell fresh figs, make a deal with someone that they can pick them in return for something else...sell them to restaurants or at a market... and so on. My jam is about 60 percent fruit, fourty percent sugar, lemon juice and cook.... last hour add blanched almonds. Google fig recipes... We love them roasted with chicken, wrapped in prosciutto and the pizzas were beautful. I use the jam as gifts as well as we use it also. I have also taken figs, in the past, into a organic cafe and made a deal to deliver a box a week. There is big money in figs! So I hope that helps. I hope they can become a big asset to you.
Blackberry jam sounds just beautiful! Well done. Jen you are a busy Mum and doing well. I hope everyones better this week! With love Annabel.xxx
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Anonymous21 February 2016 at 05:45
My hubby raised our hanging rods in the closet for more room to set totes and buckets. I cleared out a lot of Tupperware, if not used in last 2 years out it went. your jam looks so pretty with the bluebird labels. It's raining today and calling for snow tue-fri. Have a lovely day!
Sue
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Anonymous21 February 2016 at 13:09
I am trying to strike a balance right now with my pantry because we are preparing for a move. I don't want to clean it all out--clearly it was hard to build up and we still want to eat after we move. But, it is clearly too big to easily move! So, we are eating up as much as we can, and setting some money aside to buy cases of food to fill in the gaps after we move. It's the best I can do, but it's certainly not comfortable after so many years of building it up. My situation is compounded by the fact that everything will be put into storage for a few weeks while we are in-between houses. We are also downsizing, so will be searching for room, as you are. It makes for something to keep my mind busy anyway:)
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