Abundant Cottage Adventures Monday 30th March 2020

Here's how we spent Monday at home -

*  Cut up tomatoes from our garden and onions into portions to make relish in the future.  I've frozen two portions.  At the moment some ingredients might be a bit hard to get so I thought I'd wait until Spring to make a fresh batch of relish.

*  Darren did some tidying up down the side of the house and rearranged a few things in his shed to make room for some folding chairs we were given.

*  Removed any cobwebs from inside our home.

*  I spent a few hours watching old episodes of A Country Practice on Seven Plus ( tv ).  Talk about walking down memory lane.  This was a very popular tv show when I was a teenager in the 1980's.

*  Megan cooked roast chicken Maryland pieces with roast potatoes and steamed veg for dinner.

*  Darren picked the last of our tomatoes and they are ripening in trays under our pergola.

Roses Megan bought 8 days ago.

Ready to freeze to make relish.

How did you spend your Monday ?

Are you finding plenty to do around your home ?

Abundant Cottage Adventures Sunday 29th March 2020

We had a slightly quieter day at The Gower Abundant Cottage.  Melbourne had a thunderstorm late in the afternoon which gave the gardens a good drink.  Here's what else we did around the home -

*  Darren and I watched our church service online.  It was bit different sitting on a comfortable couch with the footrest up enjoying our Pastor's message.

*  Megan gave Luka a haircut.  Considering Megan is not a hairdresser I think she did a fabulous job.

*  Darren and I vacuumed and mopped the floors.

*  On tonight's menu it was Get Your Own.  Darren made turkey meat dumplings for anyone in the house who wanted them.  I'm not a big fan of dumplings so I had a meal from the freezer.

*  Cut up and froze the beans I'd picked from our garden over the last few days.

Beans from our garden ready to freeze.

How are you coping with staying at home ?

Abundant Cottage Adventures Saturday 28th March 2020

The lovely weather has us pottering around outside as much as possible.  Here are Saturday's adventures -

*  Weeded the lettuce we have growing in guttering on the fence.

*  Stripped our bed and did three loads of washing.  The great weather allowed us to dry the washing outside.  I also started washing all the blankets we keep on chairs and couches,  ready for the cooler weather.

*  Darren edged our gardens and Kurt mowed the lawns.

*  Made 10 jars of raspberry jam using fruit from our garden I'd been picking and freezing over the last few months.  This has freed up some freezer space which is lovely to have ( for a change ).

*  Gave the ensuite shower a really good clean.  For the last 6 - 8 months I've been using a microfibre cloth ,  an old toothbrush and diluted dish washing liquid.

*  We had home style KFC drumsticks with roast potatoes cooked in the air fryer and salad.

Lettuce seedlings in guttering.

Raspberry jam on the stove.

What adventures did Saturday bring for you and your family ?

Abundant Cottage Adventures Friday 27th March 2020

Megan and I had a very busy day.  Most of our adventures were food related but we can now relax knowing we are well stocked.

*  Megan and I went to Australian Butchers to top up our meat supply.  All meat was repackaged into meal sizes once we got home. We also went to Coles supermarket for a few bits and pieces.

*  Both Megan and I did an inventory of our meat stocks before we went out shopping.  Most of the meat we will share amongst the two families with some nights cooking different things to suit our tastes and budgets.

*  Wrote out a menu plan for the next week and a half.  Although I like to write menus a month or more in advance,  we need to play it by ear and watch what we are using up and what is available to buy ( and if we are allowed out in the future ).

*  Darren planted broccoli seeds.

*  Massaman beef curry was on the dinner menu.

*  Staked the cucumber plants.  We are not sure if we'll get anything from them so we are feeding them up.

Meat from Australian Butchers

Cucumber plants

What did you get up to on Friday ?

Abundant Cottage Adventures Thursday 26th March 2020

Here's a list of what we completed on Thursday -

*  Picked rosemary from the garden and now have it drying in paper bags.

*  Picked a handful of raspberries,  a few strawberries and a handful of beans.

*  Dusted all surfaces in our home.

*  Watched Downton Abbey the movie on tv last night with Darren.  We are big fans of the series and movie.

*  Had dinner outside on the deck with the family and enjoyed the mild weather.  Tuna Casserole was on the menu.

What did you do on Thursday ?

Abundant Cottage Adventures Wednesday 25th March 2020

Our world has been turned upside down due to the Corona virus.  Life as we know it now looks very  different.  So many people are in complete shutdown or heavily restricting their movements outside of the home.

For our family,  we've had some changes.  Darren lost his job on Monday.  I've lost half of my cleaning work and will possibly  loose some more as time goes on.

This poses some new challenges for most of us - so much spare time on our hands.  What to do ?  What to do ?  So far Darren and I have kept fairly busy.  That long list of jobs  in my head will be put down on paper and we hope to complete most of them.

So I thought I'd share the things we do around here in the hope it will  motivate and inspire you to keep on keeping on no matter what.  I'll try to post everyday with at least one photo.  The posts might  be very short.  Some days we might only do one or two things.  Other days we might just watch tv.  Whatever we do,  we'll share.  We hope you'll join us and share your daily adventures too.

*  Wednesday we planted a few shrubs purchased about a month ago.  Darren planted them along the chicken coop fence line..

*  I  got out all the little bottles of shampoo,  conditioner and shower gel from our hotel stays last year.  They have been put in the shower and we've started using them.

*  I've taken all the packaging off the hotel soaps and put them into a container.  Over the next week or so I plan to finely grate them to make laundry powder.

*  Darren pruned a few rose bushes.

* I did four big loads of washing ( 2 babies in the house) and got most of it dry on the line.

*  Megan and Darren went to a local supermarket and were able to get a packet of toilet paper and a few small groceries.

How did you spend your day on Wednesday ?

Life Is Busy So I'm Taking A Break

I'm sorry to say I'll need to taking a blogging break.  Life has been busy with the blending of two households.  I've also been helping Megan get ready for her new baby due within a couple of weeks.

As soon as things settle down I promise I'll get back to the computer and start writing again.