The Bluebirds are Nesting...: Feather your Nest Friday, 8th December, 2017.

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Feather your Nest Friday, 8th December, 2017.

We were so lucky with a cooler week and even some rain. Being summer now I am grateful of every week that is NOT hot!

Some of the ways I feathered my nest included:

I made tomato relish as I got some cheap tomatoes. I used Mimi's recipe for this.

I got 9 big jars, two are already missing in my photo! The recipe is here. I don't have a food processor so I just chopped the onion finely.

I cut Andy's hair. He wants to look halfway reasonable for Christmas! 😊

This week I was really lucky with free stuff! Chloe brought me two and a half dozen fresh eggs.
Also two huge containers of shampoo and conditioner.
I was given seven packets of end of the day bakery items... there were french sticks, finger buns, small loaves...

Most of this I froze to give to Chloe. It is harvest and the boys are on shifts 24 hours a day. Chloe takes Luke out food she makes up. All this will help her.

I picked up free lemons from a house that had them out the front with a sign that said free to take. I left a thank you note.

In an op shop I found an old fashioned hand egg beater. I love these they are so good.

I visited my Aunt for Christmas. Her garden is lovely. Her trees are covered in developing fruit!

Her apricots have already finished and she had jars of jam on her counter. The colour was spectacular.

I made Naan bread. The girls like this so I make a batch and give them some each for the freezer.

I did some Christmas decorating. We just have a little tree and it is down low so Harper can enjoy it. I have it covered in little birds...

In the garden we have pink Lillies! Lots more look set to come out too...

I made flourless biscuits. (cookies)

We had a nice dinner home last night as Chloe was visiting. I cheated and had little individual pavlovas from Aldi with strawberries and cream. They were gorgeous!

Each day I have been writing cards and wrapping presents. I posted a big lot on Monday. The last things will be posted this coming Monday. I am getting there! Then I will get on to some baking.

Today is a gorgeous day. I will have a flurry around to get some more done for the week. I can see next week getting booked up. I am grateful for everything I already did earlier in the year to make this time much easier! Getting ahead really pays off!

How did you save, build up your home and get ahead this week?

Have a wonderful weekend! xxx

48 comments:

Leslie McKinley7 December 2017 at 18:53
In her 80's and still canning...your aunt is amazing. You have accomplished quite allot this week! I can't wait to make some naan bread with my stash of homemade yogurt.

My week has been filled with accomplishments. 3 haircuts for the men-folk. :) Cooking pumpkins for puree. I freeze these in gallon bags. Saving pumpkin seeds for next year's garden. Friends gifted us with 23.5 lbs. of venison. Making homemade chicken stock in the slow cooker. Gifted with homemade chocolates (yum!). Paying the library a visit for books and movies. Husband got good deals on candy canes & cereal at the discount market. Plans to finish a sign for my mother's Christmas gift this weekend. Baking and wrapping for my California family.

We enjoyed a bit of snow here in Ohio. Looking forward to more! I love playing in the snow more than the kids do. Oh well, they don't know what it's like to live in the desert. ;)

Blessings,
Leslie
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gardenpat7 December 2017 at 19:33
This week I dried a total of 23 pounds of chopped onions that I paid $4 total for! It has filled 3 half gallon jars that I vacuum sealed!
I was able to buy 5 boxes of pint canning jars (dozen size) for $5 each and was given a $5 gift card that let me get a sixth box for free!!! So 72 canning jars for $25! I will put them to good use!
I have been using bits of things from my freezer and fridge to make into extra meals to eliminate food waste as well as save $$!
Our hens are still laying about 4 eggs/day even with this cold winter weather and we currently have a bit over 14 dozen in our refrigerator. I use them regularly and rotate them by age but I'm hoping that as their laying decreases or stops during the winter that we will still have enough to keep us from buying any! They have been such a wonderful blessing to us!!
I was given a bushel of celery from m friendly produce market so I shared half of it with my friend and will use part of mine fresh and chop and dry the rest! My dried storage is being built up and vacuum sealed in my 1/2 gallon mason jars!
I bought milk chocolate toffee bits for cookies on sale (99 cents/bag instead of $3.29!!) so I bought 15 bags and vacuum sealed those into 1/2 gallon mason jars too! No reason my food storage can't be yummy and sweet and filled with baking delights!!
I've just completed 8 quilts for a client and will finish 7 doll size quilts for her too and will be paid for that on Saturday! Then I have another quilt to just do the quilting on and a wingback chair to upholster and I will be caught up on sewing/fabric orders for our business. Dave and I are also building a tortoise "condo" for a client who saw one advertised in a tortoise magazine published in the UK. That one was $300. Ours will be just over half as much and yet our profit will be satisfactory!
I chopped up and froze 3 more quart bags of red bell peppers.
I made 2 dozen banana walnut scones using up overripe bananas. Those went into my breakfast on the go box in the fridge.
I made a gallon of yogurt so we have been enjoying that!
I got 5 more jars of peanut butter (99 cents/jar on sale!)!
My pantry is growing larger and more diversified! It seems like every day an opportunity presents itself to use or to add to our pantry! I'm so grateful for all the new ideas/inspirations that all of you add to my life!! Thank you SO much!!
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Anonymous7 December 2017 at 20:41
Beautiful week Annabel. Bluebirds please pray for San Diego we have a very fast moving fire.It is huge and wind driven. It is doubling about every half hour.It is jumping free ways and moving to a very large housing area. We have lost several hundred race horses from a training ground. It it is so sad the would not let the horse rescuers in. It is burning ranches. We just had a fire break out at the other end of the county. So zero percent contained. We are ready to evacuated. Loading the car and praying the winds would die down. So sad we need humidity to rise we are at -2 percent. We need a miracle. So many mandatory evacuations.
Thasnk you for the prayers we need a miracle.4100 acres and moving fast.

Much love,
Patti from San Diego
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Anonymous7 December 2017 at 21:34
Your ahead of yourself Annabelle. Your title today is 2018. Slow down, life goes too quickly as it is.!!
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Anonymous7 December 2017 at 23:45
We are ready to evacuate. The car is full of gas.We have our bug out bags packed.We are registered with all emergency sights with our cell phones.We will sleep in shifts and watch the news. We fill prepared as we can be. At day break we will have the army and navy helping too. We will also have the super scooper from Canada doing water drops. It is good to be ready. Thank you for the prayers and the encourages to be prepared.
Love Patti
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Jane8 December 2017 at 01:31
Patty stay safe. Praying that the fires are put out quickly. |
This week I have made sweet chilli jam. Bluey was gifted a shopping bag full of red capsicums and my chilli bushes were full of lovely red chillies. Chilli jam is a regular condiment here and we go through a batch pretty quickly.
I was given a loaf soap mould for my Birthday and have finally gotten around to using it. I waited until Tilly was having her daytime sleep and I got in and made a batch. I was after a pink, black and white tiger stripe. I used too much pink clay and it looked more brown and I didn't achieve a tiger stripe. The marbled look I did get is just lovely and worth the time and effort.
I took Jo and Tilly down to visit my folks. My Dad isn't doing real well and he lit up when Tilly wanted him to pick her up. We had a lovely visit. Mum and Dad bought me a new to me sewing machine and it is amazing. It is so nice to have a machine that does not require you to hold your tongue at a particular angle in order to work. I am in sewing heaven.
The heat and humidity have increased so we have been spending a lot of time on the veranda. Miss Tilly was afraid of water when she arrived but this has passed. We have been having a lot of fun playing with the hose and under the sprinkler. Naughty Granny has a tendency to spray Tilly when she should be watering the plants. Many giggles can be heard.
Life is hot, humid and hose spraying fun.
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Anonymous8 December 2017 at 02:04
Hello Annabel and beautiful bluebirds :) .

Today has been a very laid-back week for us and we have spent some time feathering others nests by helping to clean a friends home as she was moving out of her rental. We also spent time visiting with a friend who's wife was going away for a few days break to check on his welfare as he has seizures and the beginnings of Alzheimer's. His wife had asked us to keep an eye on him over the next few days so we will drop around each day until Sunday.

Good news for the week is we spent very little money and our Vicky challenge added up to a grand total of $6.95 saved but probably lots more with other things we did in the home.

Repairs -
- Compared the price of having my wrist watch battery changed with Mister Minit and the local jewellery store and found the jewellery store was much cheaper. I had my watch battery put in there saving $6.95.

Internet sales -
- Sold more saved vegetable seeds saved from our gardens.

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

In the gardens -
- Planted 1 x 5mt row of sweet corn and 2 x 4.5mt rows of silver beet seeds in the gardens.
- Raked up dried leaves from around the shed and 2 garden beds and ended up with a 90lt wheelbarrow full. We will run this over with the mulching lawn mower and mix it with grass clippings to mulch more of the vegetable gardens with rather than buy hay.
- Collected more fallen twigs from under 1 Eucalypt ironbark tree and stored them near the trunk for additional kindling for next winter. I will wait until we get a few sunny days to dry them out a bit before I put them on the veranda for next winter.

Have a wonderfully frugal week ahead everyone :).

Sewingcreations15
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Melissa K8 December 2017 at 02:55
Hi Annabel,i have been taking advantage of all the good sales in the supermarkets this week i bought an electric toothbrush for someone who wanted one,i have given and received lots of gifts, this week now under the tree Annabel i love the pink lillies,and i want try cooking the tomato relish recipe if we get a good crop of tomatoes this year,i also have made Christmas cakes one for us and another for a gift
Patti my thoughts and prayers are with you and for all of San Diego i have seen it on our news, pls take care xx
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Lana8 December 2017 at 06:10
You are an awesome Mom to care for your girls that way! You would seriously love a food processor as it saves so much work. I will check out the tomato relish recipe.

The deals continue at the grocery stores and we are really getting well stocked on everything. I purchased stainless steel canning rings on a great deal from Amazon using gift cards I had earned so no cost to me.

My husband 'retired' this week as in his job goes away on the 27th and he cannot work due to the brain injury. We have disability for 19 more months at this point. His company will continue to deposit funds into his retirement savings for 6 more years and he will be able to take advantage of retirement benefits because he left on disability. I even have health insurance for 2 more years for a very low cost and hubby's is paid for. Everyone was wonderful to him on the day he cleaned out his office. We are very much blessed.

Have a good weekend all!
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Cristy8 December 2017 at 06:12
Annabel, and Bluebirds,

It has been another expensive and exhausting week here. I am afraid that I haven't been as good as I could have been about feathering my nest.

I have gone through my pantry, fridge and freezer, pulling out all that will no longer work for my husband's new lifestyle. It was painful to get rid of all that stuff, but I felt better once it was done.

I was able to get to the store and supply my pantry and freezer with things on his approved cardiac diet.

I also went through my recipe books (the ones I have put together myself) and pulled out all the recipes we can no longer have. In looking through it, I found 14 recipes that I have made before that are on the approved diet! That helped my feelings, because they are familiar, so I don't have to try some totally new recipe while things are so trying and stressful.

I started trying to go back to the menu plan, but it is just too difficult right now to figure out many days in advance. (I was doing a month at a time.) So I had to settle for a week.

I'm in budget on the food budget. That's good, I guess, because we are way out of budget on our medical budget.

And I finished most of my Christmas shopping for the kids. I do have 2 more crochet toys to finish and get into the mail. This year I've had to just do a little at a time.

Well, I am glad we do this exercise of telling how we feathered our nests. By writing it up, I see that I have accomplished more than I thought I had.

Blessings to all you Beautiful Bluebirds! I sure appreciate this group! It helps. :)
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Kathy8 December 2017 at 08:02
Hi Annabel and everyone,

All of the breads look wonderful!

This week's efforts:
Cooking and food: I baked an apple crumb pie with some apples that needed to be used up ($28 value), and put the crockpot to work with a rump roast and brown rice. I also made a large pork roast and potatoes to get ahead. Into the freezer went some bananas that were too ripe for snacking, but will be perfect for baking, and the bones from our roasts (for broth-making). All work lunches were prepared and brought from home ($150 value). We replenished the sugar ($1.50 for 4 lbs), crushed tomatoes ($1.20/large can), and canned soup (for times of illness when the freezer stash is depleted; 5 cans/$4) in our pantry.

Household: I washed all of the rugs and bedding over the weekend. We are already seeing a difference in allergy symptoms with more frequent laundering and new air filters. I must say I did wash everything in my home before now! With such a dry, warm fall and beginning of winter, there has been a lot more dust and pollen than usual, so doing this more often seems to be a good approach. We harvested some more peas and herbs from the garden.

Shopping: I used some money I had been given as a birthday gift to buy a pair of sheepskin-lined winter boots (on sale for $125, marked down from $225) and sheepskin house slippers (on sale for $58! from $120) to keep my toes warm in winter. They are very nice quality and should last for ages. (Savings $142)

Entertainment: We enjoyed a movie and some books from the library.

Personal care and education: A co-worker gave a bring-your-own-lunch-and-learn talk about how to save money on travel expenses and non-grocery shopping. (Every once in a while, someone volunteers to talk about couponing or contests or some sort of DIY.) He had a few good tips, so we got to enjoy friendly discussion and get some good advice for free. We paid cash for the last installment of my husband's semester's tuition; we save 2.5% by paying this way, and this is on top of the 50% his work pays, so a good savings there. My husband cut his own hair (he uses an electric hair trimmer), and I gave myself a new pedicure - I'd estimate $40 for both.

Crafts/gifts: I cross-stitched a bookmark for a friend, and am working on a pair of worsted-weight socks.
A set of vintage Wedding Band Gold china and some glassware went to a sweet friend for a holiday gift. [The china was purchased in a huge set at a thrift store for $24.99; half of the place settings and the serving pieces went to another friend as a wedding gift.] She loves and appreciates these things, so it is the perfect gift for her. I looked up the pattern and am gobsmacked at the actual cost - $70 per place setting! So that is a $280 value for the $12.50 spent on it - well worth it! I have no idea about pricing for the glassware, but it is very pretty with etched roses, makes the beautiful crystal pealing sound when tapped, and cost $1.49 a glass.
Some yarn and floss from my stash made a gift for a friend who is learning how to knit and stitch.
I used knitted items and a pair of sale-purchased earrings from my gift stash to put together a holiday gift.
The stash of sale-purchased gift bags, tissue paper, and ribbon has been most welcome as we wrap holiday gifts - the prices in the stores seem high! White tissue with colored ribbon looks very festive; I've also been saving fabric ribbon from packages and using it to fancy-up gifts.
We received a nice holiday treats basket as a gift; the treats were packaged in a very pretty rustic tray that I am going to re-purpose as decor.
I was given a gift certificate to the natural foods store, with instructions that I am to pick out some nice tea - what a nice surprise!

This weekend I plan to get a start on candymaking and hopefully package up some goodies for neighbors and my husband's co-workers. Fingers crossed!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Kathy
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Jen8 December 2017 at 11:58
Hi Annabel and everyone

I have not commented for far too long, I need to catch up!

Patti, I truly hope you are not forced to evacuate and that the additional help arriving will improve the situation. You sound very well prepared if you do need to leave though. I have seen some of the footage and it is devastating.

Annabel, congratulations to Chloe, Luke and your family on their engagement! What an exciting time for you all. Your tomato relish looks so good, ours are coming down in price but no big boxes just yet!

We have now been in our area for nearly eleven months, and we are really happy we made the move. Everyone said before we moved that it takes at least a year to really settle in, and there are definitely aspects that I've found challenging. The biggest for me I think has just been finding my rhythm. Being further out from town means more travelling time, and sometimes when jobs take longer than expected I get to a point where it doesn't make sense to go home because I would very soon have to drive back to pick up the kids from school. So I feel like I waste time that way. I've also found getting to used to having less available nearby has meant more travelling to buy groceries and other items, so this can often feel like a whole day gone doing something that would have only taken a morning where we used to live. So I feel a real need to be more organised going in to next year. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself about the time it's taking to get used to living a more rural life, but it is frustrating to feel disorganised, so I really want to focus on that.

Only one more week of school left, I can't wait to start the holidays! My boys keep reminding me of things we need to do in the build up to Christmas, like make rocky road, a gingerbread house, and crackers. It's nice that without really planning to we've created these family traditions.

I hope everyone has a good weekend, I'm hoping to get some onion chutney made and finish some small presents :)

Jen in NZ
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Melissa K8 December 2017 at 13:12
Hi Annabel and bluebirds, Patti my thoughts and prayers are with you and all of San Diego do keep safe xx
I have been taking advantage of all the great sales this week in the supermarkets today iam making a big pot of spaghetti bolognese that will do for during the week for lasagna,spaghetti or hamburgers xxx
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Anonymous8 December 2017 at 21:19
Dear Annabel and fellow bluebirds, I'm glad you are enjoying the cooler weather and getting rain. We, too, are enjoying the cooler weather as we get ready for winter here in Arizona. I actually wore a sweater to go out last night. We finally got a nice rain after more than 100 days! It was cool enough tonight that I made chilli for dinner. I'm thinking I can finally make soups and stews again without feeling it is too hot. Your photos are lovely, as usual! I especially like the pink lilies. We have been praying for the people in California with those awful fires going. I have a friend I taught with who lives there now and I will also add Patti to my prayers. Another friend has a son who fights wild fires. I haven't heard that he has been sent, but pray for him and the other brave fire fighters. We got our Christmas packages mailed the first of the week. I think I'm finished except for some baking and a few things yet to wrap. I have all the wrap I need already on hand. There were several good deals and free items at the grocery store combined with the senior 10% discount. Congratulations to Chloe! I know it will be an exciting time preparing for the wedding. Wishing everyone a lovely weekend! Love from Arizona, Elaine
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Jenny of Elefantz8 December 2017 at 22:30
Annabel, I love the excitement in your posts as you feather your nest. :-)
Tell me, do you have a jar or something used for saving coins that fund your Christmas postage costs?? It occurred to me the other day that I should start one in January as apart from Blossom and her little family all our other family and friends live far away and it's a rather large expense in one or two pay cycles. Merry and blessed Christmas!
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Anonymous10 December 2017 at 11:39
Dear Annabel and beautiful bluebirds
It's been another BIG week, spending a fair bit but lots and lots of savings:
Shopping and gift making for Christmas is nearly done, just two main gifts and some stocking stuffers to go plus I need to finish my posting, here's how I saved this week:
Vicky challenge :
Shopped wisely and , just this week to go and I get my first ever promotion done and receive ten thousand flybuys points which I will convert to $50 fly buys $Mso when it all clears I will then have $60 flybuys $$ to spend at Kmart, Coles, target, etc.
I am working on my Wishlist now. I bought lots of household items ,some to have back ups and spares, I got batteries half price good batteries that will last a long time , grocery savings across 2 supermarkets this week was about $70
I bought treats for myself, my family and friends included in these supermarket shops.
I got a magazine, the Christms issue of a magazine I like but never ever buy and received a set of free with purchase Christmas cookie cutters , hopefully my care worker and I will make Christmas cookies ( biscuits) to share , I might even see if I can use Annabels easy shortbread biscuit recipe to make the cookies, if not I will jumake shortbread in a pizza pan like Annabel does.
Ok back to the Vicky challenge!:
bought cupcakes as a school holiday treat for my nieces and myself , they were $4 each and I was not going to buy any but the lady said if you would like these two flVours I can sell them to you for $2 each half price, just because the cupcakes had come away from the wrapper a bit, yummy cupcakes, I took two home and ate them over 3 days and sent two home with my nieces so $8 savings on cupcakes.
I found a speciL keepsake decoration online in memory of ,my
partner, used code to save $3.30 and get cheap postage and personalised decoration stamped with my own saying , hopefully I will receive that this week or next , In time for Christmas.
next saving , I had bulk billed medical tests, saving $200 , which will be used to buy new shoes I desperately need, I get mine made but also looking at other options and waiting for sales.
I had bulk billed doctors appointment saving me , $60 and free medication until the end of the year saving me $50 this week , that will be used to boost my emergency fund which is low.
I had my usual subsidised services with Centacare saving me $120 compared to a professional service, this will be used to finish Christmas and pay for a beauty service for me this week.
I got a $1 off a slightly damaged book, received a gorgeous gift from a friend, full of beUtiful things just for me, very luxurious and things that I would never buy or be able to make myself, my fave teabags etc.
I got another parcel but I think I mentioned it last week!.
I received. Gift that will and already has changed my life, cannot say too much but it's life changing , nothing huge but special to me $170 saving .
I received a sentimental and precious gift, a cushion made from one of my late partners shirts and using. Patch embroidered by a friend, it's gorgeous and very comforting , if I had to pay for it it would be at least $50 .
I saved on taxi by getting rides with marents$70 this week anther were quite a few trips.
I received, a roast beef meal Rissoles meal and so erase beef from my parents, saving $50 .
I had my hair cut my a friend who is or used to be qualified hair dresser , no longer works as hairdresser, saving me $30 .
I used gifts from,ygift cupboard and saved $100 this week.
And finally I am using that $100 for my slush fund nd a joint gift for my nieces and parents and myself.
Grand total this week is:
approx $820 not including my $60 fly buys that's next week!.
I hope Patti is safe and your community get the help they need.
Have a great week Annabel and bluebirds .
Love Barb W.

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