Feather your Nest Friday, 24th August, 2018.

It is still Friday but very late in the day!  We came home from the farm this afternoon.
This week so much more was achieved!  I am tired but it is a good tired from getting lots done.

I have a few more photos as now the house looks less of a disaster zone and there are less sheets over everything.

We had a week of more packing, work on our home getting it ready to sell and lots of lists of things we need to do before we can move.
At the farmhouse  builders have been pulling up old carpets and sanding the wooden floors that are underneath.   And I am so happy to see lovely light coloured wooden floorboards... I want no stain just clear finish on them so the rooms will be as light as possible.

The kitchen cabinets have been undercoated and are being sprayed with some hard wearing paint and while we were there the old lino came up and the floor was sanded.  Straight away the room looked so much bigger!

The stove and sink are wrapped in plastic before the spray painting.   I love the floors!

Other rooms are up to about the same stage...

Inside painting is done and everything looks clean and fresh.  From where we started this is all a huge transformation.

Except the windows!  They haven't been cleaned in a long time.  We will get to those next week...

Because of sanding and mess we stayed at a little cabin near by.  It was just lovely.  We had a meal with Chloe and Luke and during the days I took a picnic to the house and a thermos each of tea and coffee.  We used the back of the van as a picnic table.  It was so sunny and beautiful so it was just gorgeous.  I thought over and over how making up a picnic and taking tea and coffee was the best investment of time ever.  It made the day so nice and when I thought I was so tired we had a break and then were ready to get going again.  You get so much more work done this way.

This was our front garden in the cottage we stayed in!  Full of birds too!  

During the day we worked on cleaning up another patch out the back.  You would call it fuel reduction for fire season.  We had a big fire going for seven hours and just kept piling stuff on.  

After we could see that between this and the last time we had made a difference.  We need to do this again each time we are there as fire season begins mid October then we can no longer burn anything.  Currently the ground is very damp, water is laying everywhere and it is safe to have a bonfire.

We saw there are a lot of rabbits around.  And I noticed a lot of the kinds of birds about including black cockatoos. 

At the end of the day Andy raked up around the fire so it would burn down and not escape.  Luke and Chloe arrived to see how we were going.  Luke came towards Andy and said "Andy don't move!"   Andy froze.  I looked... and there was a Huntsman spider the size of a small side plate on Andy's jumper.  Luke whacked it off!   Andy used to handle snakes as part of his job, isn't worried by lizards, mice, rats... but he hates spiders!  This was the largest spider I have ever seen!

That was time to call it a day! 

We have come home with a list of things we need, measurements and plans.  On the surface of it this list is daunting.  But if we tackle one thing at a time we will get through it!

At home I worked on my "use it up challenge" and used quite a bit more from the freezer.  This is helpful too as we have a lot of extra expenses for a while.  Next week, for instance, we need to hire a truck. 

I finished a rug which is for charity.  This took ages but it is very soft.  Mimi gave me this lovely sparkly yarn...

Thanks so much Mimi! This kept me busy for about eight weeks!

Now I have started working edges on some kitchen towels I got from Kmart.  They are gorgeous and at $3 each I thought I could do these as gifts.

I got a whole heap to do.  I will show them spread out when I have finished some.

Some are for the farmhouse too.  They are shades of grey with highland cows on them! 

We arrived home and I got started with the washing.  Tomorrow I need to go buy a fridge that will fit in the farmhouse kitchen.  Our current fridge will go too after this house is sold.  But as we will no longer weekly shop and need to go much longer we know we need a much larger fridge.  So I am hoping I can get a good deal and a fridge I really like.   Over the last months I have been investing in containers to keep fruit and veggies fresh.  Chloe has tested some different ones.  She loves the Debbie Meyer Green boxes the best of all.  She has also Tupperware Vent Smarts.  We looked into this a lot as with the price of food plus distance keeping things fresh as long as possible seems like a good investment.   I basically can't wait to have a fridge set up with these! 

So that is my week!  

How did you build up your nest, get ahead,  add to your pantry or preparedness?  

I hope it was a fruitful week for you.  I am thinking a lot about how the work we do adds up.  Things can seem enormous or impossible but little by little we get there.  Be encouraged and if you don't know what to do next "do the next thing."

Over the weekend we are going to hear from Laine.  I am blessed that she has shared something I can post for everyone to read.  I know many of you love it when we hear from Laine! xxx