It is May already! I lost some of this year but this week I have plenty to report.
Last Friday I already had the girls here for the holidays. As soon as we had arrived home chickens were hatching. We ended up with ten beautiful chicks. They are doing so well!
There are two that are a lovely brown! One is black. One is striped! I have upgraded them into a bigger box but I need a bigger box still which I will set up over the weekend.
The girls worked so hard on the cubby house. It took HOURS. They loved it!
Getting the cubby over to the boys involved a trailer!
You can see it was a success!
On the weekend we went over the paddocks to visit Nana Pat. It was a beautiful day. Nana Pat had planned a project to teach the girls how to make posies. In this case herbal posies.
They learned the used for the herbs as well as how to use floral tape. And how to make a posie using flowers and greenery, ie adapt it to whatever you have.
I picked myself a nice big bunch of Bay Leaves to dry too. They are hanging upside down in the kitchen.
After I took the girls home I made a couple road side stops. One to pick Proteas. From these I made two bunches to give as gifts and some for the house.
Also some gum... I mainly picked these just to show how stunning many of our gum trees are.
It is hard to show the size but each of the yellow flowers is about the size of a gold ball.
Pumpkin was a great buy and I filled the slow cooker to make soup. How to make pumpkin/vegetable soup is my Back to Basics subject on Monday,
Two batches of scones were made.
We haven't had rain. It is very very dry. The driveway and area around the top house, the cabin, the chook yard and the shed adds up to be a few acres. I decided to move the cows in to graze this. There are also sheep brought in (not mine.) My only "trough" for this area is an old bathtub which I fill manually. I run up the hill, turn a pump on, fill the bath, run back and turn the pump off... this works ok but I've been doing it about 5 times a day because of the volume of water these guys all drink!
Yesterday Tim got on to putting in a proper trough that will self fill. First he built up a rock and gravel surface.
I should have taken a photo but the whole time Tim worked on this the cows stood and watched. It was all so interesting. 😊
This was a good days work! Life is easier now!
There is about one more days worth of grass for the stock to eat then they will all get moved back into the paddocks.
I stocked up on batteries, toothpaste and tomato soup. These were the best deals that I use and this is when I grab some extras.
Lily is 8 weeks old. She is doing well and growing. You can see Chloe got some of the proteas!
So that was my week. Oh, I do have beans coming up and more apples from my small trees we planted.
How did you build up your home, pantry or garden? We love to hear! Think over what you did because our work really adds up. It makes a difference. Sometimes the list ahead is all we think about but it is really lovely to see how far we have already come! Also it is beautiful to have the weekend, a bit of a break before we plan for a new week. I am here with a cup of tea and considering my week I am very grateful. xxx 🩷🩷🩷
This year is just speeding by! You had such a lovely week. I enjoy those pictures of your grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lana. Yes I cant even comprehend this year and how we got to May! We will be moving into winter soon! xxx
DeleteHello Annabel and all of the bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteA week ago we had what the insurance company calls "a water event." (We call it a disaster). We have frost-proof outdoor faucets. One of them apparently froze during the Arctic freeze in January and we did not know this until I turned it on--and flooded the kitchen and utility room. A restoration company has spent the week drying it out. They took up the floor (a composite product similar to Pergo) and cut out the bottom few feet of drywall and ran 6 industrial fans for a week. For most of that time, half of the kitchen was tented in plastic.
The refrigerator has been in the dining room and the laundry handmaidens were in the garage, but all moved back today until the repairs are started. (Let the laundry begin again, LOL). We're going to be in a mess here again until the drywall and floor are replaced, but for the moment I have an operable kitchen and utility room, albeit with partially ripped-up floors and drywall.
We stayed in a motel for two days because of the roar from the fans and dehumidifier. We've also eaten most of our meals in restaurants. Hoping that at least some of this will be reimbursed by insurance. The adjuster is coming Monday.
We live in an open-plan house, meaning the kitchen, dining area, living room and hallway are all one big room, with the same flooring throughout. This means that ALL of the floor will be replaced. We have decided to take this "opportunity" (if you can call it that) to make some other changes in the house. This is going to cost us some $$$ but needs doing. In our late 70s, we can no longer DIY. Knowing what's involved, I'm kind of glad for that! Also very glad we are insured.
So, last week we tore our nest apart and we've spent this last week repairing it, with a lot more feathering to go. At the same time, I'm trying to get ready to plant my garden, move the patio furniture into place, etc--all the usual spring stuff.
It has been a busy week, with more to come, and I would not wish it on my worst enemy! The only good thing is that we got on it right away before we got a bunch of mold.
--Maxine, aka mikemax
PS I love the pictures and how wonderful that you and your mom take the time to actually teach the children to do this. Not just leading by example--which is good--but teaching, too. They will remember the lessons and the time spent learning them all of their lives! Not to forget all the fun they had at NanaBel's!
Oh dear! That must have been very stressful Maxine. Hoping that the insurance will cover quite a lot of what you had planned as well as what has been damaged…. Maybe a silver lining aka special blessing from God?
DeleteOh my gosh Maxine! We had a hose in our dishwasher blow out in our last house. The water flooded the kitchen but like your set up the floor was the same through the dining room and living room so it all had to come up. In the end I had a nicer floor but it was a huge mess for weeks! I am feeling your pain! Yes thank goodness for insurance! And being able to rectify things before mould as you say. I hope this week is disaster proof! xxx
DeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you had the girls over and had such a great time. What a fun project with the playhouse...kids love to be in one, and that looked like lots of fun to decorate. Those proteas are beautiful! We don't have anything like that, here!!! The daffodils are blooming, though, so I cut some to bring inside for some "sunshine" and gorgeous scent. I also have a few tulips blooming by the front door, but everything else is still just waking up for spring. It's coming, though! I got a bit of yard work done this week, and cleared out 3/4's of my rhubarb patch. Everything is so overgrown due to last year's wet summer...I think this will be an epic battle with weeds in the garden this year. I also finished sewing p.j.'s for a May birthday present, did some more decluttering and deepcleaning (slowly, but surely!), and have been diligent about working on using up older pantry stock for meals. One of my neighbors who is older and lives by herself (and just had hip surgery 3 and a half weeks ago) was extremely ill this last week, so I
spent quite a bit of time checking in on her, trying to get some food in her, and walking her dog. Thankfully she is on the mend, but she certainly gave us all a scare! Oh! Hubby's chick hatch gave us 14 little multi-colored chicks, and hopefully a good number of them will turn out to be hens! Your chocolate ones are beautiful.
Such a nice post with all those adorable smiling faces! Hope you have a wonderful weekend and get some relaxing in!!!
xx Jen in NS
Dear Jen, You are such a blessing to your neighbour! I hope she will be ok now. Fourteen chicks is fantastic! Like you I hope for half at least hens! I transferred mine into a much bigger box today. This will keep them going for a while. I also started them on some greens. It is really nice having a colour variety! Very nice work on the Pjs and garden. Thanks so much re the Grandchildren! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteAnnabel, you had a very busy and productive week. I love the flowers, the cow, the chicks, and the children photos. Here in the mountains of Virginia I was able to get a few things accomplished in spite of my lower level of energy. I am still recovering from the hospital visit 2 weeks ago but I managed a few things like washing the windows and screens, planting flowers and a few vegetables. We also cleaned our area rugs. Maintaining what we have helps us from having to replace things. I found few deals at the grocery stores although one store advertised boneless chicken breasts for $2.29/pound which I thought was the new "sale" price. When I got there they had priced the packages at 41.99/pound! It made me very happy as that is my price point for boneless chicken breast. I bought enough to make 9 meals. They also had 2 packages of chicken thighs marked down to $1.30/pound so I brought those home as well. This same store had Vidalia onions on sale for 5 pounds for 3.99. This bag will hold me until my garden onions are ready to harvest. I went to purchase flowers for the garden but the prices were way more than I wanted to pay. Our local Home Depot had petunia 6 packs for 7.50 each, regular price 12.98! I bought 4 of the 6 packs to fill flower boxes and planters and spaces in the flower garden. I organized my little refrigerator freezer and am using pantry items to make meals. I still have a ton of volunteer lettuce in the garden. I have given lots of it away but will be able to eat and share for weeks as long as it does not get too hot. My next project will be to reorganize the upstairs pantry. Thank you for the lovely post.
ReplyDeleteDear Marley, You did heaps and it amazes me after you being in hospital. I think you are doing really well. The little lettuce plants are great! I have not have had lettuces see seed but I get heaps of tomatoes and parsley plants come up. I carefully pot or move them... or let them grow where they are if its an ok spot. They usually grow better than anything else!
DeleteAll the cleaning you did is hard physical work, I hope you have a rest over the weekend! With love Annabel.xxx
This week I worked on getting some meals in the freezer- spag bol, taco mince and lasagne! Having some things pre-made is such a help.
ReplyDeleteWell done! They are all beautiful meals and will be so helpful when you need them! xxx
DeleteI worked on finishing projects and starting some new ones. Still much too cold to even think about gardening. Still using things up, and shopping my stashes instead of running out and buying something from the store.
ReplyDeleteTime to declutter and simplify my life so I can enjoy what I love doing.
God bless.
Dear Jackie, Well done on finishing projects. I love to finish things up. Saying that I have three blankets on the go and would love to finish one! Have a lovely weekend! Love Annabel.xxx
DeleteAnnabel, you are such a wonderful daughter, mother and grandmother! Everything you do is completed with great love for your family. Looking at the photos of the girls creating the cubby, I noticed your cornices, they look like the ones in my lounge room! How old is your house? Also, did you make the built ins on either side of the fireplace? And, is that marble on top of the cupboards? It looks very beautiful. I need to get some type of storage into my lounge area to store all of my books and stuff/junk🥰Much love from, Jennie🖤🖤
ReplyDeleteDear Jennie, Thank you so much. I think this house is about 50 to 60 years old. I know the oven is from the 50s... The cupboards on each side of the fireplace were here... they are cupboards at the bottom and shelves then to the ceiling. The tops were hideous laminate and I used marble contact paper from Kmart to cover them! Well this fools everyone even when we had a builder here. So that was an el cheapo renovation! If you have a similar area I would measure it and look for bookcases that fit... then paint them to match the walls as then you get a built in look.
DeleteThank you for your kind words they do encourage me. With much love Annabel.xxx
Thank you, Annabel! You truly are an artist!🖤🖤
DeleteI don’t need to tell you but I must say you have the most beautiful grandchildren! In looks and I’m sure in spirit with family like you to guide them 🙏 It won’t be until they are much older that they will look back and see what a magic and precious childhood they had, they are very blessed indeed!
ReplyDeleteI should take a leaf out of your book and write down what I achieve in a week so I can remember, but I keep forgetting to do that, so I’ve been wracking my brains trying to remember what I did! 😂
It’s been a cleaning week for me, now that the weather is cooler, I have the energy to clean, so I pressure washed the back deck posts and rails, they haven’t been done in a very long time and they had mould and lichen growing on them 🫣 This is step one in a big protect as next they will be sanded (whenever it stops raining) and the post which are currently timber will be painted monument grey, and the rails will be left timber and oiled. It’s going to be less maintenance to paint the posts compared to oiling them.
Then I cleaned the tracks for the sliding door and kitchen window and cleaned the glass too. It came up lovely. I made a small nozzle from the plastic tip that goes on a tube of silicone, and then I used strong tape to tape it to the end of my vacuum cleaner, this was a great way to get into the narrow tracks and vacuum out all the dust.
I continued to fill the freezer, by making two double batch meals during the week and freezing half for later use. So curried sausages and macaroni beef casserole were added to the freezer.
Finally I made a small batch of Apple Mint Sauce, a recipe by Sally Wise. I have a lot of mint growing in the garden and I am experimenting with ways of using it up!
Have a lovely week Annabel and bluebirds, keep feathering those nests 🪺 🐦
Love from Cheryl
Dear Cheryl, You did a lot! Pressure cleaning works a miracle. Very clever on how you made a small enough nozzle... I think you just invented something we all need! Well done on the freezer meals too. The day will come when you will be so glad of them. I love mint sauce... I am going ton look up this recipe as I have both apples and mint!
DeleteEnjoy your weekend! With love Annabel.xxx
Hello to all you hardworking Bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your time with the girls, and the boys' response to the amazing playhouse. They did a lovely job! So nice of your mom to teach the girls how to make posies. Enjoyed the photo of Lily. The flowers are so beautiful. Congratulations on your new chicks.
I had a nice week of balancing work and play. My family has joined the local YMCA. We have been swimming 3 times this week. So nice to get school and chores accomplished then be rewarded with a swim! I had no idea how helpful it would be to soothe my aches and pains! (I have nerve damage in my hip from an old injury).
Slowly getting my garden in. I was delayed by a late frost from planting my tomato plants.
Well off to make kombucha and to freeze my chicken broth. Thanks, Annabel for your hard work and inspiring spirit! Praying for you, Maxine.
Love,
Leslie in Ohio
Thank you, Leslie!
DeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteYou are making such beautiful memories with your grandchildren. The boys look so excited about the playhouse! I cannot get over how adorable Lily is 💕
This week Colton put up sheetrock in the room we are renovating (where our freeze dryer is going) and has been taping and floating the joints. We are DIYing as much as we can but will hire someone to put down flooring. It is very exciting to see the progress, as this has been a year-long project that we've worked on as time and money has allowed.
I was a big girl and made myself a hair appointment, a dentist appointment, and an appointment with a naturopath. I have been putting all of this off but it is time to take better care of myself.
I spread wood chips on the garden and planted some seeds. We got some rain yesterday, which we really needed.
Colton is liking his new fire station (closer to home). He took eggs to sell and sold out. This makes me so happy as no one at the other station was ever interested.
I have made a couple of really good friends through the homeschool co-op we joined. They are of the homemaking/homesteading/preparedness mindset and they live close by. We all feel like we finally found people who are oddballs like us. It really fills my heart with joy.
I hope you have another beautiful week.
Love, Kelsey
Last Sunday I went into the grocery to pick up produce and sale priced eggs but stumbled on several clearance/markdown items in both produce and meat departments. I snatched them up to freeze for future meals. Got the eggs, too, didn't forget them, lol. I painted the porch furniture with oil enamel paint. The chairs belonged to my grandmother but look like brand new with the paint. I plan to paint more furniture this next week. I cooked meals at home all week long and made no further trips to the grocery. At church last Sunday I swapped some of my grandmother's iris for two zucchini, a tomato and loads of vinca plants. Also at the grocery I found a very nice tomato plant and a lovely little fig tree for cheap. Then I discovered potato plants in my current lot of fresh compost. Later this past week when I stopped to buy mulch and soil, I found basil and peppermint on sale.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter had her gender reveal party today. She's going to have another little boy!
Dear Annabel, what a lovely thing to have your mum teach the girls things ! Some of my best memories were times I spent with my Nana learning to cook or do basic but useful things ! My Nana was the happiest woman I knew and sadly left us four years ago at the ripe age of 95.5 and was still cooking even basic things until she was forced to go into care from lack of strength. We had all the veteran services to the house but she was too weak. She loved things like basic scrambled eggs, or salads. She didn't eat meat. I'd love to see more of your recipes ! Love Sonia. In Sydney , Australia
ReplyDeleteThis Sunday I am thanking God that we avoided last week's storms that did major damage in the surrounding areas.
ReplyDeleteFarmer decided to get a new pickup as his old one was having fuel pump problems. He got his price which to me, means God was allowing this blessing.
Since we now have a new vehicle payment per month, we are being more frugal. I made sure we did NOT go into Sam's Club yesterday, even to look around, because that always means $100 at checkout.
Other feathering: Found instant coffee, large jars for $5 (was over $9) so bought 2. Found instant mac & cheese for the grandkids at $1.50 per and bought all six.
We are eating from the freezer and if we go out, we have quite a few gift cards left from Christmas gifts, so we'll use those.
The kids took over my veg garden, so no cost to me there. They started many of their plants and we had 5 tomato volunteers come up. Also many potatoes and sunflowers and dill. They also planted some potatoes from last year that were sprouted.
My asparagus is producing so I've had several meals from that.
I did buy a few flowers for the front yard. I have 2 more pots to fill and a few herbs. Then I'll be done. Keeping it frugal this year, no matter how much those pretties call to me. :)
I'm using some free wood chips we have when the tree surgeon took down some damaged trees 2 years ago. I'm renovating some flower beds using what I have here, like weed barrier cloth and bricks for borders. We did get one bed's worth of border stones on sale but I won't get anymore until next year's sales.
I found quite a few books and clothes for the grandkids at the thrift store for summer.
I've looked over my clothes and Farmer's and I think we'll be just fine. I won't have to buy any for us.