The Christmas Challenge. Fast ways to boost you Christmas gift supply!

Thinking about this I came up with a lot of things I have made in big numbers.  This is my favourite way to really boost the present supply,  make multiples production line style!
I came up with a long list which I have narrowed down by considering things that we can realistically do now in time for Christmas time wise!
The next factors are things that will suit at least several people plus be a reasonable cost.  Better still, use items we already have on hand!

Many times I have made batches of prettily wrapped soaps.  I buy pink Dove soap in boxes.  The fact they are boxed makes the wrapping look neat and lovely.  Usually I can get these for $1 each in the cheap shops yet it is beautiful soap that smells just lovely.  When I post these everyone says how the parcel smelled so good!
You can use wrapping paper,  craft papers, images from magazines or books, wallpaper...
I got the idea when I saw exquisitely wrapped soaps in a gift store. They were $20 each!
I have used all kinds of ribbons I have, silk flowers, bling, old brooches...

One year I worked crochet edges around face washers and little flowers and paired these with my soaps.  If you crochet this is a fairly fast project.  My edgings tutorial is here. 
Working an edging around something is much faster than crocheting the whole item. Edgings look lovely on kitchen towels, aprons, pillowcases, wash cloths, scarves, towels... and more!

My soaps are usually in a few colour schemes.  I have used floral book pages and all sorts of images.

The main thing is to wrap neatly and stick things down in such a way that your ribbon will conceal everything. I then craft glue the ribbon edges to hold tight.  

I have also given these away in groups of three if I need a larger gift.

Another gift I have made lots of times is various versions of notebooks.  Most of us love note books! You need to find inexpensive little books with plain covers.   Sometimes I have found them in multiple packs.  If you are a crafter or card maker and have images, sparkly stuff, stickers etc you are set.  Also lace, motives, ribbon,  etc are possibilities.  

These are fun to make and if you make small ones they post well.  A pen could be an addition.   Another idea is to use larger books and cover them with fabric to be diaries or with food/cooking images to be somewhere to write best recipes. 

Similarly cards make good gifts!  I love a big card making session.  If you make them into packs of five or six you have a gift. Everyone uses cards and they cost a fortune!   

I usually use cellophane bags as my packaging but a lovely box would be very nice.  Again a pen would be nice if you want to add something, stamps or a birthday book maybe. 

My dear friend Ethel many years ago would make up a folder with dividers and pockets.  She did this for the Mums and Grandmothers.  It would have cards for every occasion and all the family birthdays written in.   So Grandma could turn to January and there was a list of Birthdays plus the cards needed. This was a beautiful and helpful gift.  It was a gift of help, money saving and thoughtfulness.

Another one Ethel taught me was mini Christmas cakes.  She saved the tins from tuna and washed them up. He husband would knock the sharp edges with a hammer.  These became her little cake tins.  Lined well with non stick paper she would make up Christmas cakes.  These can be made well ahead.

Most years I do some of these.  They are right for a person who lives alone or even a couple.

You could use any recipe at all. My Christmas Cake recipe keeps at least a year and that is here.  Ethel decorated hers beautifully with royal icing.  My icing skills are not so hot.  You could also use muffin trays or little round soufflé dishes or any small cake tins.

Gift tags are another idea.  Like cards they make lovely gifts in packs.  They could also be book marks.

Tanya has made lots....  

She cut up a book of flowers for her images. They are really pretty!

Six in a cellophane bag tied up prettily is a good gift.

Tanya your gift tags are just lovely!  The bottom ones I can also see as luggage labels for travelling.

Another I make every year is Coconut Ice.  In stores this is sold in tiny pieces as it is rich.  I make a couple of baking trays of it and cut them into about 3 x 5 inch pieces.  This is one of the times I use my dried rosebuds too.

This is so yum and easy to make.  It is smooth and creamy.  I like to make the top layer the palest pink.  

This is my recipe Coconut Ice.

Lots of recipes are good for making big batches.  Packaged nicely they make great gifts.  I like fudge, rocky road,  gingerbread, peanut brittle....

I usually make shortbread.  Even with the price of butter this is a spectacular gift for very little.  To give it as a big gift I do the whole recipe on a pizza pan and give it whole.

This recipe is good as it isn't crumbly! Vanilla Shortbread. 

It can be cut out in shapes as well or baked whole and cut into wedges.  If you have tins then it can be given this way.

If you have someone who is gluten free (or grain free etc) making them a batch of something they can have is a really wonderful gift!  It is thoughtful and special and most store bough special diet items are very expensive!  This could be a hit. 

Holley suggested Crock Pot Candy. She shared this easy recipe which is here.  I am going to try this thank you Holley!

Barb suggested making up little hampers with a theme.  Pampering,  coffee drinker, afternoon tea, gardener.  This can be quick and easy to put together.

Jane has made lots of things in big numbers.  One is lip balms...

Another was shopping bags.  

Something like this would be great if you have a lot of fabric and fairly fast to make up.  

Pretty pillowcases are another one!  

Jane also decorates pegs. These are amazingly useful!  She started with a tutorial found on Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth.  A couple of years ago I did ones with birds on them.  They still keep the cheese packet shut! I gave them away on cards of six.   Thank you for demonstrating this also Jane! 

Wendy makes decorated hand towels in big numbers.  This is another good one. She adds a strip of pointed fabric and lace etc.  If you have fabric or lace remnants this would also work on face washers or kitchen towels.

Another I love to do is make up hampers of some of everything.  If I have preserves I will include a cake, jam, packets of shortbread, gingerbread, peanut brittle or whatever I have been making.  It is a selection.  Size it to match the family.   I watch for baskets from the op shop/thrift stores and save wooden boxes, trays etc.  With some cellophane and ribbon you can make it look wonderful.   If you look at the prices of hampers in the stores they are extremely expensive.  These are wonderful gifts.   

Sometimes I have found bulk packs of things that can be broken down into gifts.  I watch out for these!  This can apply to pretty much anything but the last time I did it was the hugest pack of Christmas Sweets.  I broke it up into about 20 little packs that I decorated and added these to my hampers.

With just over a month to Christmas making a big batch of something can really boost what you have.  Timing is everything.  For most of the baked goods I collect everything I need now.  Make sure I have cellophane etc as well.  I generally make coconut ice, shortbread etc about a fortnight before Christmas and give it out then.   For things given on Christmas Day I would do this kind of cooking a few days before.   Everything else can be done now to keep Christmas week calm!

Thank you everyone for sending in ideas!  There are some more in comments on last Wednesdays Christmas Challenge post and I have run out of time.   If you would like to add ideas and recipes please do!  

I can't believe how close we are to Christmas!  I know tomorrow is also Thanksgiving for our USA friends. Happy Thanksgiving!   

I hope your week is going well!  It is hot here! xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. Grain free with Laine.

A couple of weeks ago I shared how I am experimenting with not eating grains in an effort to rid myself of pretty bad aches and pains.  I wrote about that here with help from Cookie.

I am up to week seven now with no grains at all.  I no longer have aching legs, arms, joints... I wake up feeling much better in the mornings,  I have a lot more energy and I actually FEEL LIKE exercising and am walking or swimming everyday.  And even then... no pain!

This experiment has worked so well for me I cannot see myself ever eating grains again.  I had a week of pain after eating seeds so I got a great big reminder of what it feels like.  I was miserable. It was just awful.  So no grains and no seeds.    And I don't care a bit.  The way I feel is so drastically different it is worth it!

The photos today are from Rachel. She got chickens! 

She sent me this series of pictures to show me.

Each time she said "chickie chickie" they pretty much said they were too busy to pose for photos! 

It became a little story that reminded me very much of Winnie the Pooh!

They are gorgeous and funny!

Now this is not for everyone.  But I am sharing in case it does help someone.  If you suffer pain, inflammation, chronic disease or exhaustion then read up on foods that are natural anti inflammatories
and suggestions that might be worth trying.  I found it only took five days to know it worked. This was a small investment of time and effort for such big results. It cost nothing.  I just had to get organised!   Several of my good friends helped me very much.   One of them was Laine who many of you know so well!

Back in the days of Laine's Letters she was very interested in health and eating natural foods.  She has helped me a lot and was another voice that encouraged me to try what I thought was quite radical... going grain free.

Today we get an insight into Laine's diet and reason for her making many changes.

Over to Laine...

Dear Sisters,
I just celebrated three years grain free! And I say celebrated because going grain free has reduced pain considerably in my gut and bladder, for I suffer with a condition known as Interstitial Cystitis ( IC) which often stems from problems within the gut. I read a fascinating book called Breaking The Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall years ago which shares how she helped her daughter with gut issues through a grain free diet. But it was more than just going grain free, it was eating specific carbohydrates (as stated in the book) to help the gut soothe and heal, and to bring down inflammation; that inflammation, in turn, aggravates the body to create other conditions -many of them autoimmune- as in my case with IC. The diet is called The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). 

Unfortunately, just implementing the SCD diet did not solve all of my problems. I had to keep a copious amount of notes on my diet to learn that in the confines of the SCD diet I could not tolerate dairy, honey, anything fermented, nightshades, or very little fruit. Nor could I tolerate too much raw of anything. It has been a very slow climb back to feeling normal, but well worth all the prayers and effort to be out of daily pain and aggravation. I thank the Lord daily for the food He has given me to eat. I really enjoy my diet so much. I had to learn how to cook many new things, but even my grandkids love my food! 

Here was my menu yesterday :

Breakfast: pot of light tea
                   1/2 c coffee with cashew cream
                   1 egg and lentil flatbread with a big side of kale chips 
                    6 roasted pecans, 1 frozen kiwi slice, and 1 blueberry cashew cookie

Lunch: chicken breast soup with lots of green beans and navy beans
             Light Tea with 1 warm blueberry cashew cookie and 2 T banana vanilla N'Icecream on top, 6 roasted pecans, 2 Brazil nuts, 1 fresh ginger tea

Dinner: Poor Man's  Stew with carrots and rutabagas, lots of kale chips,
              6 roasted pecans, 1/2 small Apple, 1 blueberry cookie, and 1  fresh ginger tea

I am not on any medicines. I take the tiniest pinch of a probiotic as prescribed by my Chinese practitioner. I have been with her for six years now, and she has been a great help in getting my IC stable. I ask her before trying new foods so as not to upset my IC condition. Unfortunately, I didn't ask her about a change to an under eye cream which sent me into a very painful flare that lasted over two weeks this past April. So what goes on my body is as important as what goes into my body, which is why I keep a lot of notes to connect all the dots. 

The good news out of all the trials of gut problems, IC, plus  painful arthritis and rosacea -besides it being nonexistent at this time- is that I have been able to help others in my family. My granddaughter is benefitting greatly on the SCD diet without nightshades or dairy too. She is two years old and has been suffering from excema and severe mood swings coupled with joint pain and mouth pain. It's so good to see her thriving on the version that works for her in the diet.

Perhaps someone reading this has been suffering for some time with debilitating symptoms. My symptoms were bad for many, many years. I didn't want to take pain meds to cause further damage down the road, so I had to get to the root cause and change a lot of my diet over time to see success. Hippocrates said, "Food is medicine, and medicine is food" could not be more true, even after all these many, many years. For months I wrote down the food I ate on the days I felt good. It took me weeks and weeks to get 4-5 good days. I took those "good day notes" and set them next to each other. This is how I realized what foods my body liked and what became the basis of my diet. I built upon those foods slowly as I healed. 

I have tried adding in oats or brown rice this year in small amounts, but it didn't go over very well. So presently I am still on the SCD diet and very happy. My weight is normal , sleep is good, hair and nails healthy, and energy is great. The best is no pain where I had pain for so many years. How I thank God! He has taught me so much. I am so very grateful.

"Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." 3 John 2


Yes, yes, yes!

Love,
Laine

Thank you Laine for writing this for us.  As well she has helped me so much as I have asked her so many questions.  How lucky I am to have her as a teacher once again!  (and how amazing is life sometimes that this could even happen...) 


If you were to Google Laine's disease you will find it is very painful.  This is entirely different to what Cookie suffers and yet both of them have so much relief.  This is what made me prepared to try it.  Both Laine and Cookie lead wonderful lives and without the pain of their illness, this has to tell you something.  

From Laine's advice I have found a food diary very helpful.  I have had times where I would swear I had not done anything different but felt pain creep back in.   But the food diary means I can check, see patterns and be reminded of what I have actually eaten.   From this I have found I get pain sneak back in my joints after days I ate cashew nuts!   So this has been very helpful.

Many times we have some idea of what agrees with us and what doesn't.  But life gets in the way,  food is very tempting, we are busy looking after other people....  but the best thing we can do for our families is be as fit and health as we can and be there!   

I hope you have a good new week! 
I have been going through my present cupboard, I have stuff everywhere!  But I have enough for December and January Birthdays plus Christmas!  
Our weather has warmed up and we are going to be swimming for a few days in the evenings.  I can swim laps now and have no aches and pains afterwards!  Progress, progress... xxx

Thank you Rachel for the photos! 

Chickens make me happy! 

So do eggs! 

Feather your Nest Friday, 17 November, 2017.

It was a bit of a messy week!  I wouldn't say it ran smoothly!  First it was hot for a few days but thankfully now it has cooled down and we even have rain.  Andy was sick the whole time which is rare for him but he was really crook and only just getting better now.  I was seedy as well!  We all have weeks where it is more a case of survival than anything much more!
So... it will do me good to think of the good things and the things I did achieve as before looking at my list I would have said that I achieved pretty much nothing!

Luckily before the wheels fell of I had been baking.  Still on a mission to use up eggs I made six fruitcakes.   I also had bananas in the freezer and so I also made three banana cakes and 12 as mini cup cakes for Harper.

Several fruit cakes will be gifts.  Two banana cakes are already missing from this picture!  One was given to Chloe and one to Allie.  Chloe's boyfriend is working day and night harvesting. She sliced the cake up for some snacks for him that he can take on the tractor.  I donated a fruit cake to this cause also!

The little cakes went into the freezer for Harper.  They are packed full of banana.  

This all used up 28 eggs!  

But I still had eggs.  And with my grain free experiment I need things that I really like that have no flour.  So I made a crockpot full of little baked egg custards...

Debbie gave me the idea to use pretty little cups and I sit them in with water 3/4 up the sides.

So these were just lovely for me and felt like treats.

I love them and this used up six more eggs!  😊

This would be gorgeous to do for children in the small child sized tea set cups.... at the moment I only have two of those so I might try to collect more. 

The recipe for the custard is easy.... 

4 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla,

2 cups milk

300ml cream (10 ounces )

1/3 cup sugar. 

Blend well.

I use less sugar and more vanilla!   (1/4 cup sug. 2 teaspoons vanilla) 

Also the volume of milk and cream equals about three cups and I just use what I have, evaporated milk plus milk, cream or any combination.

I turn on the Crockpot and get it going with a jug of boiling water from the kettle.  I fill my little cups with the mixture and sit them in the water so that it comes up around 3/4 of the way to the top of the cup.  I sprinkle lots of cinnamon over the tops.  Once all my cups are in I top up the water a bit if needed... better to do it this way than flood your custards!  Put on the lid and let them set.  I do this when home... it is usually an hour and a half to 2 hours. I just poke one with a knife to see if it is set!  Left a bit longer won't hurt.  I like them set well.  That is it!  I pour the cold water on to a plant the next day! 

I also do this with creme caramel mix which is very similar with the addition of two extra egg yolks. This is extra rich and creamy.  I don't bother with the sugar syrup as Im trying to keep sugar down.  

Either way they are really nice and feel like a treat. 

Anything that needs a water bath i.e. cheesecake is a natural in the crockpot.  I might do crustless cheesecakes in the cups next! 

This week I had someone to visit in hospital and I made a posy myself to take...

I made yoghurt and flourless cookies.

My friend Nerilie gave me a gorgeous shopping basket.  

I love it!  

It must have been my week as Sue gave me curtains with big roses on them and lace curtains.  There are so many things I can sew with these!  Then there were surprise jars in the bag as well!

In the mail I got parcels again from our swap.  I have had beautiful fabrics, tags, cards and all kinds of craft supplies arriving.  I should have taken photos of them all but the last two were cards and tags with Bluebirds made by Holley...

You can imagine how much I love these!  Look at the little bow on the Bluebirds bonnet...

And Christmas cards by Lorraine...

She included glittery Christmas stickers which are stunning!   

As you can see my parcels are full of just gorgeous and personal things that brightened up my week so much.  Thank you both.  Thank you everyone who joined in the swap.  I am happy to report that I have heard of so many lovely parcels arriving around the world, friendships formed, even skills shared along with patterns etc.  

I heard back from Crafty Cristy and her husband is doing really well. She feels really helped by all your prayers.  Thank you all for messages of encouragement to her plus prayer and I can see she is doing so much better too.

This weekend I am planning to get everything out of my present cupboard and see what I have. It is full!  This is really good fun as by now I have always forgotten things I made in January, February and sometimes more recently!  Then I start to work out who gets what.  The ultimate is to find I have so much I can even use somethings for January Birthdays.  To me this feels like really getting ahead!  

It also gives me time to fill any gaps, wrap and post things well in time.  This is kind of like reaping the harvest of the years craft work and bargain shopping!  I think I have a good harvest this year!

How did you feather your nest, save or get ahead this week?

Have a lovely weekend! 

On Monday we have a post by Laine! xxx

The Christmas Challenge. Beeswax wraps.

Recently I posted about how "everything old is new again" and that re useable things certainly cut down on costs and waste.  I had seen beeswax wraps over and over online, in shops and on blogs.  The general idea is that you can wrap or cover food with them and re use them for ages so that you are saving using plastic wrap.  Many people are also keen to keep plastic away from their food.
Jane made some as a gift. That was it!  I thought I will give them a try.  I could think of several people on my gift list that are into reducing waste/saving money/the environment/ natural alternatives etc. and these fit the bill for anyone in these groups!

Also .... I love a gift I can mass produce.  I ended up with a supply for myself, several gifts and a couple of spares.

First I ordered both beeswax and pine resin online.  While this was on it's way I watched for some fabric which I thought needed to be really nice. I chose this chicken fabric for myself and most gifts...

For my niece I chose this camping themed fabric as she is camping crazy...

There are a couple of methods to choose from but I basically followed this one at Mommypotamous.
Saying that... I followed it roughly. I used olive oil not Jojoba.  I didn't grate the beeswax either.  I figured if it is going to melt why grate it?  So I just let it melt.

I used an old baking tray I can afford to assign to craft projects.  I roughly portioned out the ingredients ready to melt.

I stayed in the kitchen, let it melt slowly, now and then I moved it around with a chop stick to get it mixed up.

I had pre cut my fabric to sizes I thought would make useful wraps. (and also fit into my tray)  I did square ones for wrapping snacks and round ones to cover bowls.   I used pinking shears for the edges to look nice.  (Although you wouldn't have to)

You have to be careful as you are dealing with hot wax. I would not do this with kids around!  You do not want to fill the tray too much or it will be hard to move the tray and not slosh any on the floor!

I would carefully remove the tray from the oven and place a sheet of fabric into the wax.  Submerge it and make sure it will covered both sides.  Then with tongs I would lift it up and let it drip dry into the tray for a little bit before laying it carefully and flat on to non stick baking paper to dry.

I would get a couple done then the wax would need to go back into the oven for a few minutes to re melt ready to carry on. 

When I ran low on wax mixture I would start again with more and wait for that to melt. 

I ended up with every surface covered in waxed fabric! 

Once it was dry it was great!  A flexible wrap that holds it's shape however you fold it...

The bowl covers fold around quite well.  For an air tight fit I would use a rubber band as well.

I really like them and they were pretty easy to do.  Mine have already saved me a lot of glad wrap and they look much nicer!

These were fun to make and I love having spares.  At least a few times a year I find it very helpful to have gifts to make in batches.  It could be making individual fruit cakes in muffin tins,  making up a tray of beautifully wrapped soaps...  anything that will suit a lot of people.  This just turbo boosts your gift cupboard fast!   Next week that will be our subject... how to quickly add a lot of gifts to your present cupboard.    Given the time of year this will hopefully be handy!

So far we have had a hot week with warm nights but it has just broken and it is raining!  This is a big help as the garden is getting watered.

I hope your week is going well!

I have had an email from a reader, Crafty Cristy.  Her husband has had a heart attack. He has now had surgery and is doing well.  They have a $10,000  payment to make before their insurance kicks in and she has a lot of worries over this.  So she has had a very stressful week.  She could really do with some prayers. She has implemented every saving tip she can think of along the way.  Thank you!

If you make any gifts in batches please let me know so I can include your ideas in next weeks post! xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. A teachable heart.

This year we have focused on several main things,  getting ahead with our pantries and preparedness, leaning new skills and building up our homes.  The year has gone too fast for me.  It is still going too fast!   But I can report we made a lot of progress with general preparedness.   My pantry is in good shape.  We added a better generator and a rain water tank.  But most of all I learned new skills.

Whatever you store away will only last so long.  After that we depend on our skills.  And our health and fitness!  I have been thinking a lot about that.

This year I learned how to make sourdough and became pretty good at breads, scrolls, buns, raisin bread and I think I got a lot of people started too!

 

Suddenly making dough became a routine thing and I never have to buy yeast!  This all is a big family feeder.  It also gives me gifts to give.  A tray of sticky buns pretty much makes you welcome anywhere! 

 

I learned to make yoghurt and I churn that out and use it in cooking, in place of sour cream and buttermilk and it is really healthy and a big money saver as well.
I learned to really menu plan and build up an inventory of meals.  This was a huge thing!
I started to shop a far wider variety of shops and much further afield. (With amazing results)
I got the hang of Aldi and I love it!

Some small things were making all my soup and spice mixes.  These are a big saving and there is nothing artificial in them.

So I no longer need to buy packet mixes for Butter Chicken or soup mixes etc.

I learned how to make enchiladas. I made so many trays of these as they are a hit with the family!

Vicky taught me how to make my own Enchilada sauce and it is so good!  

Also I have been studying the relationship between pain and inflammation and what we eat.  I have a lot to learn here but I have pretty much completely changed my way of eating and almost all of my aches and pains are gone!  I have more energy and can exercise and even want to! It is a big change to eat in a completely different way.
My Doctor told me years ago that given a choice of dying or changing your diet most people will choose dying.  We are very attached to our favourite foods, traditions and ways of cooking.   But still this shocked me.  And it is odd to radically change I have to say!  

I know the next weeks will be busy with getting ready for Christmas,  it becomes pretty warm here and watering and the garden becomes busy too.  But I have started thinking about the year and what do I want to learn next year?  The last few years I have learned a lot and so much that it has been quite exciting!   I want to keep going!

It is funny how we learn. I notice if I don't want to learn something I can't even listen. It is beyond boring and I absorb nothing. The more it is explained the less I understand it!
But if I want to learn something I can concentrate and absorb and ask questions and try and try!  Then I can learn!    So I think that is the key. We have to want to learn.  We need a teachable heart.

People say they are bad at something, like they are bad at embroidery, and it will turn out they only tried once or twice.  No one is instantly good at any of these things!  It all takes practice practice practice.  Patsy wanted to learn crochet.  She got started and went on a challenge to crochet everyday. You should see her work now!  I bet someone will say to her "you are so lucky you can crochet so beautifully"  No she is not lucky she worked and worked at it that is why she can crochet this way!  Truly, very few of us are overnight experts!  We have to work at it!

So we need a teachable heart and be willing to commit to putting in the effort.  It is ok to fail too.  I remember when Jane first started with her sour dough.  Her first bread she forgot the step of making the "sponge".  Tons of people would have just said it is too hard. But she got it right the next time and has gone on to produce the most amazing bread and scrolls etc.    She is the most fabulous cook!

I am not sure what next year will hold but I can think of many many skills I would like to learn and lots of things I would like to be doing.  I would like to be dehydrating food.   I ideally would like to plant an orchard, have a lot more chickens,  have a huge veggie garden and plant pumpkins.   Some of my dreams would require living in the country I notice!
I want to learn much more about essential oils and natural remedies.

With Christmas coming it can be a good time to think of next years projects.  Maybe put in a request for a dehydrator or something that will be both fun and a good investment for the household!

What did you achieve so far this year toward your pantry and household preparedness goals?
What new skills did you learn or improve?  How has this helped?

Recently I asked what new skills would you like to learn next year.  I got some great suggestions for some tutorials.   As I get on with Christmas and end of year plans I am thinking on all of this.

Next week we have a post by Laine.  She has improved her health so much with her diet and she started with a very painful chronic illness.  From what she has written I have already implemented a few new things so it has already been very helpful to me.   This will be useful to anyone suffering with pain.  Sometimes we have to be in a pretty bad place before we are willing to try new things! haha that was me!

Have a great new week.  See you on Wednesday!xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 10 November, 2017.

The Feather your Nest Friday covers a couple of extra days as last time I posted it was a Wednesday.
Some of the ways I built up my home and saved were:

I have roses drying everywhere.  Some will be for my own crafts and cooking. i.e. they go on top of coconut ice at Christmas time, on bath bombs, soaps and so on and others will be packaged up for gifts and the next swap.

I have a shelf in the kitchen covered!

Some are for Jane and some for Tanya as they already have orders in!

I am still collecting more too. They dry quite quickly and hold such good colour.

Last week I forgot to report a good thing!  We came home from our trip with two new chickens!   

The are actually Bantams.  I seem to be collecting different colours.  I don't think I can help it!

Chloe had a big upset.  After we left  her place a fox got some of her hens.   I felt upset too.  We had just been there feeding them and she had such a variety of different colours.  Hers ALL have names too.

She got revenge on the fox and also already got some new hens which are just beautiful!  She found a local lady advertising some hens.

She said to me how she doesn't want to get low as chickens are good food security.  And she asked for a dehydrator or a foodsaver system for Christmas.  😊  

She had visitors with half an hour notice and she baked quick biscuits.

I loved this photo since you can also see the lovely view out of her window!

Much of my week was working on eggs.  We came home from the farm with so many!  

Apart from eggs for breakfast I made a giant quiche in my biggest baking dish.  

This gave me lunches all week.  So I managed to use 18 eggs.  Today I am making another batch of fruit cakes since I basically have orders.  This will take another 20 eggs.  Tomorrow I am making a triple batch of banana cakes since I have bananas in the freezer.  This will take another 9.   Progress! 

Mum gave me some beautiful crochet cotton!  I had none left.  So now I can get crocheting again!

Also last week I was asked if I would show a closer view of Mums knitted hand towels.  

They are beautiful!

I got some bargains... two childrens books for the gift cupboard down from $12.99 to $2. 

Two tins of baby formula at half price (very rare here)

A whole bagful of things Andy likes heavily marked down (i.e. salami) Many had been $8 and over and they were all under $2. He thought it was amazing!  These all keep ages so he is stocked up.

At the chemist they had a vitamin sale.  I got what I needed at half price (which is Magnesium and Vitamin B) and I got a bag of free goodies as part of a promotion they were having. It was valued at $200!   I found it contained useful things from mens vitamins to childrens sunscreen. Some things went into the gift cupboard.  There was something for everyone. 

I made chicken stock and then soup.  Andy wasn't well and he lived on this.  

I also made flourless cookies, a crustless cheesecake and yoghurt.

My Vicky Challenge total is going to be pretty good!  I have each item listed I just need to add it all up!

Today I am baking the fruit cakes. I soaked them overnight and they already smell beautiful.  I am going to make baked egg custards and use another dozen eggs! 

I hope you had a good week!  How did you get ahead and feather your nest?

Have a lovely weekend! xxx