Feather your Nest Friday, 11 November, 2016.

I have a lot to report this week as it has been really busy.  My list of things accomplished and savings lives on the fridge and I love seeing it grow and be able to add things to it.  I think even keeping that list is motivating to me.
Fridays review is a really happy time.  I feel so happy with what I got done!
It is so important to look back and feel good about what you achieved and take a moment away from everything that is still to be done!

So some of the ways I build up the home, saved and got ahead this week include:

I had a day where I visited my friend Hilde and shopped at Aldi, a great fruit and veggie shop and several op shops. It was a big day!

Yesterday I turned some of the lemons into Lemon Butter. It always looks and tastes glorious!

Lemons, Lemon Butter and yellow roses! This is how my kitchen turned out yesterday! 

So back to the beginning....   Hilde sent me home with two big baskets of lemons.

It was a beautiful day. Just being out in the garden picking lemons was such a happy time!

Hilde also gave me Oregano, Thyme and Sage plants! She has them coming up everywhere and we dug some up. As soon as I got home I planted them and they are looking fine.  We have a lime tree in a big pot. Now it has baby herbs around the bottom.

After I made the Lemon Butter I used some of the peels to make Lemon infused Glycerine.  This is from Jes' book.

One of the things I plan to make with this is her  Lemon Liquid Hand Soap. I can't wait to get on to that. This mix has to develop first.
Then as Jes' instructs I saved every other lemon peel and they are out drying in the sun right now. These are going to end up in soap and cleaning products.
So now I can say I use all of each lemon!
The next lot I cut up I am going to start my own Lemon Essence as well.
Jes' has her ebook 100+DIY Projects to make with Fruit Scraps on her blog Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth.  I will never waste a lemon or orange peel again!

The trip to Aldi was wonderful.  I have still been discovering more savings there. I came home with meat at excellent prices, fruit and vegetables and basics like sugar, butter etc. It was quite a stock up and the price was amazing.

I also op shopped and got a lovely top and beautiful nightie.

When I got home I had a huge car load of lemons, plants, op shopping, groceries etc and it took me ages to unpack and sort. Made worse by the fact that I was listening to election results coming in and can say I saw live every big announcement and lucky I kept my hands busy unpacking or I would have no fingernails left at all. How everyone handled the stress I don't know as here I am so far away!

On the way to Hilde's I found kerb rubbish. There was a child's play lawn mower, vacuums cleaner and puzzle toy, all as good as new. I grabbed those! Harper likes anything she can push along.  I have cleaned them up and they will help keep her busy when she comes next week. They are fantastic!

All week I enjoyed roses. Each day I cut the finished flowers and saved the petals. I have baskets of petals everywhere!   I kept bunches of roses inside as well.

The house smells of roses and I have to say being in the sun everyday trimming and picking them has been beautiful. The world looks a lot better when you are outside among the flowers and birds. It has been just lovely. 

Even collapsing flowers look gorgeous. But these are all going to become bath products etc.

My baskets of petals are lined up behind my kitchen bench. Remember that time the chicken tried to lay an egg in one of those baskets? Well I could hear a lot of noise and went to investigate. Then I saw rose petals flying through the air! This crazy chicken thought to come inside and make a nest in rose petals. I wish I took a photo but I was more panicked by the mess unfolding! 

And just like last time later she laid an egg (she has been off the lay for a few weeks). 

I really should have taken a video of that! It was a pretty mess at least. 

During the week I made a double batch of pizza dough and let it rise all day in the window sill. That sorted dinner for two nights and all the lunches.

We got a refund for $100 and this was money we had just about given up on. But we got it back! Andy took that to the wholesale butchers across town. I had googled their weekly specials. Oh my goodness we got a lot of meat and filled up the freezer from that. I think except for huge bargains I will no longer get meat at the supermarket ever again. It was well under half supermarket prices, many things more like a third. For Adelaide people this was Thebarton Specialty Foods. 

Andy caught Blue Swimmer Crabs. He feasted on these for two nights! 

The rule is every time I lean in to take a photo like this one of them suddenly moves! 

But Andy had a great time catching them and eating them! 

I made fruit balls and froze several batches.

Also a giant potato salad for the weekend and taking some to Lucy's this afternoon. Lots of home grown parsley sprinkled over the top.

I needed a present. So I grabbed a little basket I had and put in some hand wash in a bottle I decorated, a jar of the wool wash and a label of instructions and six of my homemade goats milk soap. It looked lovely! The beauty of having a gift cupboard! 

I picked our first radishes.

In the evenings I was wrapping presents.  Just one or two each day. Mainly the ones that need posting early.  I think of that as getting ahead. 

And I re arranged and organised the kitchen pantry a bit more and the new shelves and baskets are my back up supplies like a little shop. It is so good! The extra space is amazing!

My painting was zero! But I did do more spring cleaning most days!

So that is my week!  I can't wait for the Vicky Challenge and to work out my actual savings.  I think it will be one of my better weeks savings wise.

How did you feather your nest this week? I hope there were lots of ways to save, get ahead and just make things lovely.

Have a wonderful weekend! It has been a big week! Some rest and relaxation are needed! xxxx