Feather your Nest Friday, 17th December, 2021.
I just realised today is one week until Christmas Eve. I really want to enjoy Christmas week. We need it. We need every joy and good thing that Christmas brings. It has been a hard year on most people but we have been incredibly fortunate and I am so grateful. And we have met here every week and encouraged each other along. That has really helped me thank you so much.
This week I got busy and used up a pile of very ripe bananas and made them into cakes. One went to my daughter and the large cake in a baking dish was iced and sliced up for the freezer. I tripled my Banana cake recipe and used nine bananas. The peels were buried in the garden near my roses.
The scones were for Mum. Half had sultanas and half were plain.
My cook up for the week was Enchiladas. Vicky taught me to make my own sauce and it is really good. Much cheaper than the jars. I made a giant lot and it was a delicious dinner plus three trays of jumbo sized Enchiladas. One went to my daughter and two went into the freezer. I have found Enchiladas freeze perfectly.
I also cooked a Lamb roast. Again we got dinner then I plated up another dinner and two meals for the freezer. I have really built up some freezer meals now.
My hen and her eight little chicks are going well. The chicks have really grown. Every day I make them a little salad of snipped parsley and silverbeet and any weeds I pull up. They go crazy over it!
In the picture you can see the ramp they walk up to go inside the enclosed coop. Every night I go out to check they are all inside. The first few nights one or two chicks were left behind down the bottom. There was a lot of chirping. So each night I went in, caught them and lifted them up into the house and shut the door for the night. Last night they all went in by themselves, yay!
I had wonderful luck in the op shop finding mohair and wool yarn, a vintage apple corer and peeler and a barometer. I always wanted a barometer. Pa used to have one and he was more accurate with his weather forecasts than they are today!
I had some potatoes growing shoots so I planted them up in a big spare pot.
On Facebook Buy, Swap and Sell a lady was selling cook books. She had photos of some that caught my eye like Nigella Lawson Christmas, Nigella Lawson Express, many slow cooker books, new titles and looking perfectly brand new. It was almost 60 books. I got the lot for $40. A whole heap went into my gift cupboard. A few I will cut up to make cards. Chloe is mad on cook books so I gave her some and some of those might go into her gift cupboard too. It was amazing! I am enjoying studying new books.
The weather is warmer so my days are busy with watering. I sewed a little a day and made more cleaning cloths and two more bags. This one was made from fabric my neighbour gave me...
I had a brooch that went with it perfectly. It has a pocket each side. This rose fabric is flocked and feels just gorgeous.
In the evenings I completed more wash cloths. These ones are a muslin/gauze which is so soft and lovely.
I found them on eBay in packs of ten. I am ordering more of these I like them so much.
The Christmas tree is up. I cut it down myself! I just realised I don't have a photo but I put a little nest in it...
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and Christmas week. Do something really special for someone that could really use a boost. Keep your eye out for opportunities.
How did you build up your home, pantry, garden this week? We love to hear! xxx
Dear Annabel, What an industrious week you had! Well done. Your cooking looks so good as does the bag you made. I have had a good week also. One of my sisters stayed for two nights. I made her a cake for her birthday while she was here. It was a lovely visit. I have been working in my garden most mornings. I was able to pick a whole desert bowl of strawberries this morning. My zucchinis are producing faster than we can eat them. My apricots are ripe. I have made 12 jars of jam, stewed some to freeze and tomorrow will preserve some in my fowlers jars. Tonight we had a picnic in a park with friends (I made your impossible pie with a glut of zucchinis and eggs), afterwards we drove around looking at Christmas lights. I am making detailed meal and time plans so that I can enjoy the seasons socializing with family and friends. I am finding I feel a bit overwhelmed to be so busy after such a long time of not seeing anyone or going anywhere so planning it all out is key for me to relax and enjoy it all. One day this week, M had a party and sleepover. My husband called me at 1pm and asked what I was doing, which was cleaning our two bathrooms, he said work flat out until 3 pm and I'll be home and then we are going to have a little holiday. We watched our favorite DVDs and it was really nice to just be together and relax. I loved it and learnt another important lesson about making time to enjoy simple things. I hope all the bluebirds find joy in the Christmas week. Love Clare
ReplyDeleteDear Clare, I am so glad you had a nice week. Having your sister stay was lovely and I bet she loved the cake.
DeleteSo good to have the apricots! They are beautiful. Your evening with a picnic and driving around to see the lights sounds so good. These things are what memories are made of!
I love your husbands idea and that you got a relaxing afternoon and evening together. All of this sounds like a lovely week. Your produce coming in just adds to it. I am hoping to get some apricots this week... our little tree planted in water produced about 20 apricots already which is a pretty good effort! I hope this week will be a beautiful one too! With love Annabel.xxx
Any chance you are able to share the enchilada sauce recipe?
ReplyDeleteDear Elle, It is in this post ...
Deletehttps://thebluebirdsarenesting.blogspot.com/2017/08/pantries-and-preparedness-money-and.html. I leave out the chicken stock and use chicken stock cubes instead and a tin of tomotoes or pasatta. I x3 this recipe for my cook up. It is really delicious. And flexible. Sometimes I make it up but have it with rice, sour cream and grated cheese and that is really good too. As in the post I often make up the spices mix in packets so it is ready to go. Hope this helps. Love Annabel.xxx
Thank you for your posts on stocking up, here in UK, with my husband and I shielding I stocked up and so glad I did, family members all around are dropping with covid the numbers are incredible. It feels worse this time as this one is so fast and my husband so vulnerable. Be prepared all of you. Not meaning to be gloomy. I do hope that you, your family and all the bluebirds have a wonderful Christmas. God bless. Sue
ReplyDeleteDear Sue,
DeleteI am glad you are stock up. I am seeing this morning world wide news isn't too good. I am sorry your husband is vulnerable to this, it must be a big worry. I would say be aggressive with the Zinc, C, D and everything that can be done to fight it. I pray you can keep ahead and stocked up too. I hope it will be a good and beautiful week leading up to Christmas. With love Annabel.xxx
Dear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteYou've had a busy week cooking and stocking your freezer. The Enchiladas look great.
Aww, the hen and her adorable little chicks. I love that you have black and silvery gray one... too cute!
It's always neat to hear of your thrift store find. A barometer is a really nice thing to have. My grandparents had one and my grandfather was good at predicting the weather with it as well.
Sounds like a nice collection of cookbooks to enjoy reading and trying new recipes.
Your Christmas tree bird and nest is very pretty. Wishing you and your family God's blessings for a wonderful Christmas! Blessings, Laura
Dear Laura,
DeleteI am really lucky that I ended up with a variety of colours in the chickens. The Mother is such a pretty silver/grey and I got some, some black and one yellow which I guess will be white. I love this!
Have a wonderful Christmas week, thank you so much, Merry Christmas to you too. With love Annabel.xxx
I am so glad to see your healthy little chicks and Mama. Your cooking and baking looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
Thanks Lana, wishing you a wonderful Christmas too! xxx
DeleteThose little chicks are so precious! Did you make that little bird ornament in your Christmas tree? It is really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteDear Debbie, Thank you. The little bird I bought a few years ago, the nest I collected and added glitter. I have a collection of nests. (and feathers). I am glad you like it! Wishing you a very Happy Christmas, with love Annabel.xxx
DeleteAnnabel it must be the week for using up bananas. I envy you your freezer space for storing the cakes and for freezer meals.
ReplyDeleteI baked up two dozen choconana muffins that were iced. I found some Christmas sprinkles, including gingerbread men and candy canes that went on the icing. These have disappeared into little and big people tummies. Bluey baked up two large boiled fruit cakes. One is pineapple and brandy and the other is mango and rum. Yummo!
Christmas placemats have been completed for the Grandies. I finished off a Christmas romper for Spencer and I made some coasters for a Christmas gift for a friend.
Bluey and I had the little girls on our own whilst our son and his wife had a night away. It was our first time doing this and it was a bit of an eye opener. We managed just fine, even when the three year old decided that 3am was a perfectly acceptable time to wake up.
It is our daughter's Birthday tomorrow. Her husband purchased her a really fancy camera and put it out to all of the rest of the family the idea of gifts to add to the camera. I made a quilted neck strap. I had already made her a single bed quilt for her couch. We are all off for a lunch barby Birthday Bash at her house tomorrow(Sunday).
Our young chooks have started to lay. We are now getting two eggs a day. The garden is still producing the odd bits and pieces. I have been making zucchini slice but using New Guinea Bean, which grows better here. Matilda calls this Bacon Cake and loves it. Call it Zucchini Slice and she wont touch it.
Have a wonderful lead up to Christmas. Life is good.
Dear Jane,
DeleteI saw one of Blueys cakes and it loos beautiful. I am going to have to get more freezer space. I am running low now. I can imagine this week is going to be very exciting at your place!
I hope Katies has a fantastic Birthday, I think she will with this beautiful gift and everyone joining in with that theme. The chooks are laying!! Ok you are going to be set! The girls will like collecting the eggs too. Bacon cake might be a good school lunch box additions when school comes around. We had a similar thing... Chloe did not like Quiche. I waited a while then renamed it egg and bacon pie and she loved it so we stuck with egg and bacon pie. haha Great minds think alike!
Have a beautiful week! With love Annabel.xxx
Those chicks are so sweet! I love how the mama hovers over them. We had 10 chicks hatch a number of years ago and I loved watching them trail behind their mama. "As a hen gathers her chicks," Jesus said. Love how He used so many farming metaphors.
ReplyDeleteI've had a full week. Baking and candy-making with my 11 yr. old daughter. A funeral to attend and a Christmas play rehearsal to help with. Neighbors to gift with baked goods. But the best part of my week was watching my mailman open our mailbox to find a package of homemade fudge! His jaw dropped and we could see him mouth, "Oh, wow!"
So thankful to be apart of the group of ladies that meets here to work to make this world a better place!
God Bless you all, Leslie
Annabel, you have had another busy week! I must admit that I'm starting to run out of steam at this stage of the year. We finished off school last Friday and I feel like a weight has been lifted and I can finally relax and enjoy this week before Christmas. I love the anticipation that this week brings :)
ReplyDeleteOur Christmas supply cupboard is stocked, presents are all bought, including some lovely family photos professionally done for parents and grandparents. The weather has turned crazy and stormy again. I'm worried that the few tomatoes I have will be blown away! Thank goodness we have stocked up for the coming weeks as it doesn't look like we will be able to rely on the garden much this year.
You have done so much to help and encourage all of this year, and I for one would like to say a big Thank You! I hope you and your family have a wonderful, blessed family and that borders stay open so everyone can be with their loved ones. Merry Christmas!
Kirsty x
Annabel your enchiladas, banana cakes and pre - prepared baked meals look scrumptious. I love your velvet bags you have made , the crocheted wash cloths and the lovely nest and bird you have in your beautiful Christmas tree :) . How wonderful you were able to get some lovely wool and mohair yarn from the op shop and lots of lovely cookbooks as well. I am glad the rest of the little chicks are doing so well and love the special little fresh food pile you make for them and they have grown so much.
ReplyDeleteNot a lot done here as DH has been having a serious adverse reaction to the you know what since September so we have been backwards and forwards to doctors for tests for his heart and lungs. We will find out more of what is going on when he has a heart stress test and angiogram done.
We did however get the lawns mowed , saved $13.04 buying a RACQ WW fuel voucher and using our rewards card to save whilst filling up 5 jerry cans of fuel and topped up more on our grocery stockpile.
During the week we cooked all meals and bread from scratch and I managed to finish pruning the last 3 shrubs in the gardens around the outside of the home. I also vacuumed DH's AWD and DH cleaned the tarp in there and hung it out to dry and cleaned all the vinyl so the car sparkles. Now just to finish it off by washing the outside of the car :).
Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead :).
Lorna.
Lorna,
DeleteI’m so sorry your husband is struggling with his health. My husband has had gone through this a couple of times due to injury and it’s so hard on everyone.
Hoping for good test results and a return to some kind of normal for you both.
Thank you Patti and we now have a diagnosis fortunately and a treatment and you are right it is hard on everyone and hopefully things will come back to some kind of normal shortly :) . Yes DH also has injuries from being in a military accident as well which compounds things.
DeleteGood news is that he has been diagnosed with the least difficult type of cardiomyopathy and it can be treated with tablets for a 6 month to year long treatment plan so that is a the best Christmas present to us both. He also has a bout of chronic Q Fever for which he will have to have an extended up to 12 month treatment plan on strong antibiotics.
I am thankful that he is breathing easier and has less pain and his heart function is now up to 30% from 25% after just a few days of treatment.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and I hope that your husband is well at the moment Patti.
Merry Christmas also to you and yours Annabel which I forgot to put in the comment above and I hope that 2022 is a better year for all of us along with all the lovely Bluebirds.
Lorna.
Annabel--I keep trying to find a way to comment on your blog! I so enjoy reading the comments! Our weather is very different from yours as we had days of -35 last week. Today is warmer around +16 but it is snowing steadily. We could get 12 inches! We are in Fairbanks, Alaska so it looks like a Christmas card outside, We need nothing because we have a well-stocked pantry. We are so blessed to still have many garden potatoes and carrots as well as frozen celery and beans!
ReplyDeleteOur pastor moved back to MN a month ago. Since then, my husband has been preaching. He thoroughly enjoys retirement, but is needed during the vacancy. I have had heart issues stemming from rheumatic fever as a child, but things are improving.
Thanks to your, Annabel, and the other bluebirds for all your frugal ideas. Fairbanks is the end of the supply chain, so we cannot rely on shipments to arrive. May all have a blessed Christmas centered on the birth of our Savior. Alaska Gram
Alaska Gram, success! Thank you for persisting! Thank you so much. Wow I cant even imagine -35. I find is scary! It would be stunningly beautiful. Well done to your husband for stepping up to filling the need. That is very admirable. I hope he continues and there are many people touched by his Ministry. I hope also you continue to improve.
DeleteI am looking up Fairbanks so I have a mental picture... but knowing the freezing conditions and being at the end of the line so to speak preparedness would be so very important! Merry Christmas to you both! With love Annabel.xxx
You have been as busy as ever, Annabel. Thank you for your positivity and energy, which are always reflected in your blog. Have a wonderful Christmas with your family.
ReplyDeleteLinda in NZ
Thank you so much Linda. Merry Christmas to you too! xxx
DeleteMerry Christmas Bluebirds
ReplyDeleteIt is the week of Christmas, oh the joy of this week is something totally needed right now.
Here it has been awful with the mandates coming into play and mask wearing back in. People have been rude and nasty to staff and I will say that the staff held their tongues very well. It is annoying to see these people serving us being put into such a position of dealing with this. They simply are obeying the rules that the government have in place. I saw the results of this on Friday at our local cafe by the river. The nasty comments also on Facebook. Today we along for breakfast to support them and I saw the owner and told her to be proud of her staff the way they handled things to which this made her cry tears of joy, as she told me it had been a difficult time and those words meant more than anyone could know at this point in time. We also have 2 confirmed cases of Covid with a few exposure sites but luckily they were not in the community for long at all.
I was able to get some of those containers from Kmart that you had in another post and they are just perfect for putting away meals for us and DP to take to work, they will travel well for him.
Well DD11 and I are at the end of the 9 day stint of him working but he thinks as he is so tired he will stay there tonight (for the best) and leave early in the morning. We have kept ourselves busy and managed well by watching Christmas movies, DD has had some friend over and we have made things like Choc dipped reindeers, Strawberry Santa's and today we are making gingerbread. We have done some walks around light looking, cleaned up together and this has been a wonderful help to me.
Only a few things to wrap which I will get to this afternoon whilst DD11 has iPad time chatting with her friends. Then there are just a few I need clarification on from DP and then wrap the last of things tomorrow night. Grocery shopping is all I have left to do, hoping to drop into the farmers market tomorrow to get a fair bit of fresh items.
Annabel your chicks are absolutely gorgeous.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and please stay safe
Take Care
Aly xxx
Dear Aly,
DeleteI really feel for staff. I feel they have been placed in very unfair situations. We all need to understand this and be kind. I am so glad you got the containers! I rally like them! I keep sneaking away extra meals. There would be nothing wrong with everyone picking the meal of their choice and all eating something different either.
Have a wonderful Christmas Aly and stay safe to you all too. With love Annabel.xxx