I often say it was a busy week. This was a super busy week!
I am happy to take a break! At least I know the week contained good things to report!
Soooo... I got to preserving some things the guys in the cabin brought me. Mainly I have a lot of cooking to do as I have tomatoes, capsicums, onions, eggplant.... also pumpkin and sweet potato. I'm thinking "sort of lasagne" and soup. These will be big batch cook ups.
Anyway I did get a cabbage, a bunch of spring onions and a head of celery freeze dried.
Greens are very interesting in the FD. They basically look the same as before they went in ie the cabbage above is done and the cabbage below is about to go in.
On Easter Sunday we had planned a picnic. We should have thought of this sooner as at long last it rained! We had 14 mils. We were so busy being happy that it didn't upset us about the picnic and we just celebrated inside. Chloe made a beautiful table and cakes.
The boys made us Easter cards. It was just lovely.
Mum made me little cakes...
I froze some for morning teas.
I roasted some lamb and made several roast meals. Then I stood and made a whole heap of roast lamb sandwiches and rolls to freeze.
Despite the rain there is no actual grass yet... and if no more rain comes there won't be.... tiny bits of grass are poking though but it's been sunny and dry since. So... I fed the cows. This would probably be amusing to watch since 1/ they chase me the minute they see me coming with the trailer on 2/ they start eating the hay before I've unloaded it 3/ I am trying to unload it without "help".... then I move a couple of hundred meters and they chase me again and repeat the whole thing.
This is Justice now. She loves hay too.
Being another long weekend I have men in the cabin again. I am loaded up on more produce plus chocolate (for Easter.)
So I really will be having a massive cooking week next week. (I need a day to flake out first.) But the thing is... I can load up the freeze drier, the slow cooker, the oven... the dehydrator... get all the handmaidens on the job!
The girls came to stay. This was a really good time with them.
We made cards (ready for Mothers Day) and Honey Gingerbread biscuits which they decorated. We also went rock climbing. Close to here there are amazing rocks to explore.
We made it to the top of the hill and saw the amazing view. It was really beautiful.
Today the girls have gone home and I have Sidney instead. While I made dinner I made him a highway from alfoil. 😊 He was amazingly impressed with this!
Lily wore her dress! I can't wait to get to cut out some more dresses for her.
She is rocking the hair and tongue out and farm boots!
This girl is going to give the boys a run for their money. She is let's go go go!
So what a lot of blessings! Too many to count. I taught the girls the count ten things to be thankful for (on your fingers) before night time prayers. This really caught on and it was really interesting to hear their ten things as they were different to my own despite the fact we just did everything together!
I hope you had a great week too. How did you build up your home/nest/pantry/freezer/garden/gift cupboard... anything!? We all love to hear. It is all important work. xxx
Annabel, what a blessed week you have had. I am amazed at how all your grandchildren are growing. It is so special all the personal time that you give them, the memories that are being built.
ReplyDeleteYour hunters truly provided you with beautiful produce and the basket. I can see many wonderful meals being made.
I traveled this week after Easter.We had a beautiful Easter dinner celebrated out in our sun room and my granddaughter's girlfriend made a bunny shaped cake for dessert. We sent them home with all the leftover since we were going to be out of town.
While we were in another town we took advantage of the stores there, we visited a thrift store together, an Italian Bakery and an Italian Import Shop. The prices there are so much better than home. I felt blessed finding OO Flour.
I was also able to add to my clothing pantry at thrift store sales, couldn't pass up paying 99 cents for an item.
I will be washing all we bought from the thrift stores, husband being proud he found crystal glasses 3/$1.98
I will miss the opportunities of shopping and saving in other town as my husband's work season winds down. After next week I get to concentrate on our home. Starting with Spring clean up and trimming bushes.
Everyday is an opportunity to gather, produce and learn.
Dear Rosanne, You had a great week! I love crystal glasses! Yes travelling takes a lot of time but good finds are awesome! Being at home again you will catch up... like me I will be catching up after having the kids come to stay. It begins in the morning! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel
ReplyDeleteYour grandchildren are such a light and joy to us all in these times when it’s easy to get lost in the weeds of these frequently difficult times. You (and the grandchildren ) are truly blessed.
Kate
Dear Kate, Thank you so much. You are right. Grandchildren are really my focus. Now they are all home today I was out feeding cows and it was so lovely them all happily munching around me being very friendly... animals and nature are the next thing that brings joy. Never was it so important to have a happy environment. Have a very good new week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHi Annabel
ReplyDeleteAll the children are growing so quickly, lovely photos of them all. The cakes look fab too and your Easter celebration looked lovely. A good week of preserving for you.
My batch cooking this week was vegetable soup and I stocked up with cocoa powder and yet more toilet rolls.
I visited a couple more charity shops and bought more like new children's picture books, a book for me and two blouses for the summer in my smaller size. I took some old clothes to fabric recycling.
We sowed more squash seeds and more cucumbers and I picked Swiss Chard and purple sprouting broccoli from the garden. My husband has worked hard on renovating and recovering our polytunnel and has improved the door and windows. I have been reading Save like Nana and 30 days of Preparedness again as an encouragement.
I visited a friend and took a book in like new condition which I had bought in a charity shop and a plant my husband grew from a cutting. I wrapped the pot in pretty florists cellophane I had saved and wrote a nice plant label to pretty it up. I looked up the cost of the same plant retail, £14!!
I was contacted by the fundraiser I attended the week before to say I had won two raffle prizes, a children's craft set which I've given to a young friend and a voucher for money off coach trips to attractions and days out. I will save the voucher till the autumn and then have a day somewhere Christmas shopping probably.
Best wishes to all Bluebirds.
Penny in the UK
Dear Penny, What a good week! Thank you for telling me you are reading through all posts! Wow we have covered a lot of ground now!
DeleteIt is great your husband is working on the poly tunnel and you have so many good things planted! It will pay off!
Also great you have continued to cook up and stock up. I had a very high set of cupboards in a bedroom. In the end I filled them with toilet paper. It needed to be something light weight I wouldn't drop on my head getting them down. so that whole cupboard is TP.
Your gift for your friend was lovely and congratulations on winning two prizes! What a bonus to the week! Im thinking you will have good Spring weather now and your garden will really be coming along! Have a good week! With love Annabel.xxx
I really like the ten things being taught to the granddaughters. We all have so much to be thankful for. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Gretchen! I do the ten things each night and it is spreading now since my daughter also got her kids going (the younger Grandchildren) and it is gorgeous hearing what kids are thankful for! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHow I love your Friday weekly wrap-ups, Anabel! Your grandchildren just keep growing and getting more beautiful by the week. Justice is getting to be a big "girl", too. And Lily's dress is so pretty. Glad you had a lovely Easter and got some rain.
ReplyDeleteWe had 7 inches of snow in North Central AZ early in the week, but it was back to 70 degrees f. by midweek. You'll understand how badly we needed the moisture. Any moisture. Even a late snow. Our big projects continue... today the raised beds will be put together and put in place. There are also 5 lilac trees to get planted. 18 tons of gravel was delivered with retaining wall block and concrete pavers coming.
Fertile eggs will ship June 7th; a neighbor of our son's will hatch them (we're getting 6) and a neighbor of ours will brood them, giving us time to get everything ready for our first chickens. We appreciate your encouragement and inspiration! May God Bless you and all the Bluebirds as April ends and May begins. --Elise
Dear Elise, Thank you so much! Oh I love your projects! Raised beds are fantastic! Everything seems to me to go better in raised beds. And Lilac trees! How gorgeous! Sounds like some pretty major work there! Very exciting!
DeleteIt is very exciting to have chickens coming too. You will be so happy ... chickens are so economical and happy.... and productive. You really achieved a lot! With love Annabel.xxx
Wonderful news for your busy week, ours was the same! Your grands are all adorable, I can’t believe Lily is up and going…she was a baby a few months ago. They do grow quickly! Your food blessings are wonderful! You keep me so motivated! Enjoy
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! You all keep me motivated, it's mutual! xxx
DeleteThat Lily is a doll-baby! Sounds like you had such a blessed week for sure! Making memories with the grandkids is so special and they will always remember it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathy! This is true, I remember so many good times with my Nana. So many things she taught me! I hope your week is going well! xxx
DeleteYour grandchildren are so cute and it is great to see kids just having fun and enjoying being kids.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that some of the veg seeds I planted in the garden have germinated. I haven't been so lucky with indoor seeds, although I have got 5 nice little tomato seedlings, about the right number for us.
My husband bought some things at auction to sell on. We both enjoy cleaning, refurbishing and repairing things and some items have made their way into our home - a nifty gadget for coring apples and cutting them into segments, a lovely vintage vinegar bottle and lots of books. I am a very keen reader, so this was a real blessing. I will read them and then pass them onto him to sell. Win, win!
Dear Tracy, Thank you! It is great your seeds are coming up! Mum is a really keen reader and I am always collecting books for her.
DeleteI love refurbishing things and have a done a lot of re selling! It is a good side gig! That was a great week! With love Annabel.xxx
Dear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteI look at the Harper and Scarlett and wonder where the time goes. I remember when Scarlett was born. All of your grandchildren and just beautiful. I love the "highway" you made for Sidney. The dress you made for Lily is just adorable. Chloe always prepares such a beautiful table. She's one talented lady.
We had a lovely quiet Easter.
This week I have been gathering all of my scraps of fabric up and am sewing potholders with matching jar openers to put in the gift closet. I finished cards to send to Cards for kindness and made Blessing Journals from cardstock and printer paper to send out with happy mail. Outside we dumped all of the grass from mowing into the raised bed garden and it will be tilled into the soil sometime this week. Made a trip to the library and got some new books to read. The usual household chores got done. Wishing all a blessed week ahead. Cookie
Dear Cookie,
DeleteWe have been friends for a long time! Pot holders with matching jar openers is a fantastic present! Also a great use of scraps! I know they will be lovely! Well done on the cards for Kindness. The story you told me about this earlier really motivated me. You had a very good week! With love Annabel.xxx
Dear Annabel and Bluebirds,
ReplyDeleteI am in awe of how much food preparation you achieved this week! I love seeing how you put your trading to good use! How wonderful to have the girls and then young Sidney stay! But mostly I can't believe Lily is walking now! How did that happen, it feels like she was only born a few months ago!! The dress looks lovely!
I've had a good week. I'm slowly coming good from a not so great start to the year with some mental health issues, so that is what I am thankful for.
I had some mushrooms in the fridge that really needed using, so they were sliced and dehydrated, I've never dehydrated mushrooms before it was so easy and fun. I thought when next I see mushrooms reduced in price at the supermarket I will be buying them to dehydrate and this will save me so much money! (And I don't know why I've never thought of that before!!)
I made a big batch on Anzac biscuits and double batch cooked brownies and banana bread, half of which was frozen for later use.
I trialled making yoghurt in my (new to me) Instantpot, I can report it was soooo easy, and it tasted better than any other homemade yoghurt I have ever made. I strained about 200mls of whey off the youghurt to thicken it, so I yielded 800mls of yoghurt for under $2! That is a huge saving!!
Finally I popped into the op-shop as I needed to replace my loaf pans, well I didn't find any loaf pans, but I came out with two queen size vintage bed sheets and 2 big bags of thread in assorted colours, some of the thread is vintage and made in Australia! I don't know what I'm going to make with the sheets yet, but I couldn't leave them there! They had my name written all over them! All for just $11!
I hope you get more rain, if I could send you some I would, we are desperate for a little sunshine where I live, it has hardly stopped raining! Everything is soggy and damp and mouldy!
Love from Cheryl
Dear Cheryl, Lily didnt waste too much time to get walking, around 1. Chloe walked at 9 months!
DeleteI am so glad you went well with the yoghurt! And yogurt has so many health benefits and uses.
I LOVE the sheets! They were a great find! This happens to me... looking for one thing and find something else fantastic!
The mushrooms are great too. Cheryl, Im glad you are feeling better. There is a lot of stress in this world, for one thing.
I would love some of your rain and send you some of our sunshine!
I cant wait to see what you end up doing with the fabric! With love Annabel.xxx
Goodness it does seem like Lily was only just 3 months and now she's running in boots! Well time does pass quickly. Tomorrow I am off to see our 7.5 month old baby who has in just two weeks begun to get on hands and knees to rock back and forth and has gone from saying Dada to Mama. I can't wait to see him.
ReplyDeleteThe kitchen painting is coming along, ever so slowly but coming along and it looks so lovely. This was something my husband insisted we pay to have done and it's been both a great thing and slow. The man doing the work for us wanted to do as a side job and we agreed because we truly like this contractor. Anyway, the mess is what is bothersome but the results are fantastic. The kitchen is over half done at this point and I was told that tomorrow we shall come home to find the countertop wall completely done which is wonderful as well.
In other things: I went to a warehouse store to do a grocery top up. The number of things put back after I picked them up due to price. Oy! And I was about half again over what I'd thought I'd spend even on my greatly shortened list. Thankfully I saved nearly as much last month so we broke even on that end.
I recovered chair cushions using what I had on hand which went into the freshened kitchen sitting area. I moved some things around that I'd used in the room before and put them in different places so it's a whole fresh look.
I cleaned up the porches and patio and while I'm not done they look so much better, a great reminder that organizing and putting things away can easily go a long way. I also gathered old flower seeds and planted herbs and flowers in pots that I had on hand.
I made all meals at home this week save one. I had several cooking sessions and so I was able to have easy meals all week thanks to the cook-ups.
Lastly, I have done my own manicure and pedicure. I see women all the time who have their nails done and think it looks lovely, so I decided to utilize all the polish I have on hand and do my own.
We hung clothes to dry all week long thanks to the lovely sunshine and warmer weather.
It's been a great week!
Dear Terri, I hope you had a wonderful visit with your baby and heard him say some words too.
DeleteI am glad the kitchen painting is looking so good! You will be delighted when it is finished!
Fresh cushions, fresh porch and patio all sounds so nice. You are cooking like me doing some cook ups.
It sounds like the weather is lovely... I hope lots of those seeds come up for you! With love Annabel.xxx
Beautiful grandbabies, jars, swaps, and Easter table! You've had a beautiful week! The dress for Lily is just so cute! It's exciting to see something you sew in action, isn't it? Well done!
ReplyDeleteMy week has been busy with finishing up the spring cleaning and baking up a storm! What is it about a clean kitchen that so inspires? My guys appreciated vanilla cupcakes from the pantry and granola made from what was on hand! We did well at the grocery store by using store coupons. i plan to make double chocolate muffins tomorrow morning to last us a week of breakfasts! I'm hoping to use what I have for as long as possible to use up parts of my pantry supplies that have been there a while.
I have a few sewing projects on my work table, so we'll see how much I can get done on those!
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!
Stacy in Virginia
Dear Stacy,
DeleteYour baking sounds delicious and appreciated! The muffins for breakfasts will be a hit.
I hope you got to the work table. I didnt. Still working on a lot of produce... which is still good but I do want to sew too.
A very good week! With love Annabel.xxx
The grandchildren are a ray of sunshine even reaching Europe☺️!Just so very lovely. Sewing dresses for Lily is defin. worth the effort! Have a great week, Annabel. 🌷Esther (the Netherl.)
ReplyDeleteThank you what a lovely thing to say Esther! I am itching to sew some more!xxx
DeleteDear Annabel (and everyone),
ReplyDeleteThe grandkids are so gorgeous, Annabel, and getting so tall! Those cakes are lovely, and how good Justice looks!
This past week was wild with work deadlines and weather - torrential rains and not tornadoes, thank God, and my rain barrels will be replenished now. My home is on a hill, and my town was merely inconvenienced, so we were quite fortunate. Lawton (about an hour away) had many water rescues and is still underwater in some places. I mostly stayed in and did some deep cleaning and laundry, and a bit of stitching. Sunday afternoon roads were ok again and I picked up some salvias and two coral rosebushes at a nursery sale. They are tucked into my front entryway for protection as we may get hail today, but I will plant them this week.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week.
<3
Kathy
Dear Kathy,
DeleteI hope this week isn't as busy at work as last week. I am glad your house did well in all the rain and your rain barrels are full! Staying in while the weather is wild is ideal and you have plenty of nice things to work on. Hail is tough on everything so I hope you didnt get that! You are really got a battering!
This week is already flying by! With love Annabel.xxx
Glad everyone had a Happy Easter. I'm so grateful to you, Annabel, for all you share. I gain so much inspiration here!
ReplyDeleteMy week was so full, I couldn't even comment till today (Monday).
I got to have some time with each of my older daughters. I went out for iced coffee with one, plus a game of chess. My second daughter and I shopped for plants and went on a lovely walk around her college campus. My husband and I even had a night alone as all kids were out/working Friday night.
I've been blessed to babysit a friend's 11 month old daughter. She is adorable! Plus I get paid! She has given our whole family such joy!
I'm off to get my tomato plants in the ground. We've had such a chilly Spring.
Love, Leslie (Ohio)
Dear Leslie,
DeleteThank you! I am glad your week was full of good things and time with your daughters and husband. Babysitting a dear little girl would be lovely and the extra money a help too. I hope your tomato plants are off to a great start! With love, Annabel.xxx