In our part of the world it has rained just about every day and sometimes many times during the day ( and night ) for many weeks, if not months. My trips out to the chicken coop and garden are done with extra caution as the ground under foot is very wet and squishy. Thankfully we live on the high side of the street and almost at the top of a small hill so the water has a chance to drain away somewhat.
With all this rain I've concentrated on indoor jobs to keep me busy ( when I'm not out at my cleaning jobs ). I've been decluttering the contents of boxes we once stored in our roof. I came across my old high school uniform, student diaries, Year 12 assignments and many childhood knick knacks. Such fun to see them again, but time to let most of them go.
Here's what else I've been up to this week -
* Picked another few heads of broccoli from the garden. I've also blanched and frozen them for future meals.
* Made shepherd's pie in bulk and froze 7 serves. It was bulked out with TVP and lots of veggies.
* Baked three loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness. I also baked 2 bread sticks to have with our dinners occasionally.
* Made up a bottle of surface spray with cooled boiled water and kitchen detergent.
* Fed the compost bin with kitchen scraps every couple of days. I've been ripping up any odd bits of paper I find and adding it to the compost bin as well.
* Fed crusts, scraps from dinner plates, weeds and grass to our chickens.
* Dried most of the washing on clothes horses over our ducted heating vents.
* Our 6 year old Dyson vacuum cleaner died last week. We were able to sell the two vacuum heads to a cleaning client who needed them on their vacuum. I'm thinking of putting the rest of the vacuum up for sale as parts. Thankfully we have a handheld cordless vacuum as a back up while we research buying another one.
* Kept unused bedroom and bathroom doors and their ducted heating vents closed.
* Used the thermos every morning to store extra hot water from the kettle.
* Only turned the dishwasher on when it was super full. This worked out to every 1 1/2 days.
* Charged everything we could during daylight hours or on the weekend to make the most of the solar panels and cheaper electricity rates.
* Stuck to our 2 light rule. Many times we only had one light on.
LINKS
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| From our garden |
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| Drying clothes for free |
As some of you might have read on Facebook, this week we said goodbye to our much loved cat Princess. She came to us as a stray kitten struggling to climb up our front steps 12 1/2 years ago. She gave us much joy, laughs and love. My garden companion and night time leg warmer.
I'm sorry to hear about you having to say goodbye to Princess. They are just like members of the family, aren't they and are very much missed when they're gone. Looking at the pictures of her reminded me of two cats we used to have. One loved to get into an old shoebox which was too small for her but she managed to squeeze herself into it. The smaller the box the better. I smiled when I saw your cat on top of the heating and air vent. My husband and I each had a vent at the head of the bed on the floor. Our bedroom was always chilly in the winter as one cat would lay on top of my vent and one cat on top of my husband's vent. They have long since passed away but we really enjoyed them while they were here.
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely memories you have of your cats.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about Princess. She looks like she was a well-loved cat and a wonderful companion. Some of the things I've done this past week include:
ReplyDelete- using the food we have on hand first in refrigerator before making new food.
- harvesting cucumbers and tomatoes from our container gardens. These plants were given to us by a friend who had them growing as "free will" plants from their compost pile. There's nothing like fresh vegetables!
How exciting to harvest your own veggies. I'm really looking forward to Spring planting.
DeleteI am sorry to learn of the passing of Princess. It is always hard when we have to say goodbye.
ReplyDeleteWith relation to the Dyson. I am quite shocked to hear it only lasted 6 yrs. I have had my vacuum ( Wetheim) for at least 12 years and have always been envious of Dyson owners! The only thing that has given up on ours is the auto recoil of the power cord. Happy vacuum shopping though. I know you and Wayne will do your research.
It has been a busy week here but I have managed to make up odd meals with bits and pieces from the fridge and freezer, adding in leftovers. We did buy fish and chips last night from our fav fish and chips shop who have been in the area for 35 yrs and remember my hubby as a school boy coming in to spend his pocket money! Last night we also purchased discounted milk. My daughter has "given up" her bedroom light for constantly leaving her light on when she is not in her bedroom.
I have been washing up with sunlight soup after I bought a soap cake cage off the internet. I am suitably impressed and even my husband has been onboard with it.
I have made all of our lunches and snacks for the week, as always! Nothing new there.
Our daughter had her book parade this week at school. She wanted to go as a character from High School Musical. She already had light grey tracky pants and we found a matching sloppy joe at Kmart for $15. From Spotlight we purchased enough iron on letters to make the name of the high school in the movie for her track pants and top. She already had the t-shirt and just added a red hair scrunchie. Anyway, it all came in $12 cheaper than any costume she would have picked from Amazon or eBay, not including postage. To top it off, she will wear it over an over again, UNLIIKE a purchased costume. We had fun designing it especially because she is off to high school next year and this is her last parade.
Time to start my weekend chores. First up is making up more foaming hand wash from a cheap shower gel wash.
Vicky
Hi Vicky. Which character did your daughter go as from HSM ? My whole family were into HSM. We saw all the movies and HSM on ice.
DeleteThe female version of Troy!
DeleteI am sorry that your beloved Princess is not longer with you.
ReplyDeleteThis week has been an expensive week for shopping. I needed to top up supplies such as water before summer begins. I don't want to be short of water if it is contaminated etc. I have set myself a small budget to allow myself to buy myself a treat every now and then to see if this helps with my mood.
Have a wonderful week and God bless.
Hi Suzan. Where did you buy your water from ? I bought a couple of containers from Aldi for about $4. Have you looked into storing tap water ( safely ) ? Rose Red on YouTube did a video about storing tap water.
DeleteI would love to store our tap water but my mother would not like that at all. I try topics my fights carefully. At times mum uses bottle water for her tea!
DeleteI’m so sorry you lost your sweet kitty. Much love. Patti in California
ReplyDeleteThankyou Patti. It will be an adjustment.
DeleteI'm so sorry you had to say goodbye to your lovely cat. Thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteThankyou Penny.
DeletePrincess looks like she was an amazing cat.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous looking too!
Thankyou. She was a pretty cat.
DeleteI am sorry about the loss of your fur baby.
ReplyDeleteWe had a week of rain (very unusual for August here) and I was so happy to wake to sunshine this morning. Hoping for sunny weather for your part of the world soon.
So sorry on the loss of your beautiful girl she looks like she was much loved like the royal cat she was. Suffering badly with depression so for me just waking in the morning is my big achievement at the moment. I will win this battle. Take care stay happy and healthy to all. Leanne
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Princess was a very lucky cat in finding your safe and loving home all those years ago, Wendy. She looks much loved and content in your photos. Sending you my love and care as it's hard to say goodbye. Xx
ReplyDeleteWe had a very expensive week here. Our sweet Labrador girl became very sick suddenly and spent time in the vet hospital. She's home now and doing much better but such care costs money. We are very grateful that we could afford this from savings. She's on a very basic diet for time being, poached chicken and rice, so I sourced this from Aldi. That blew my grocery budget but I bought enough so that I could get it all cooked up over weekend, portioned into containers and into the freezer. Our very kind neighbour also made some nutritious chicken bone broth, and shredded chicken meat, for our dog too. People can be so thoughtful:)
Other thrifty things from our week:
* made all meals and lunches at home.
* ate meals from freezer when we were all exhausted instead of takeaway.
* did not buy meat, except for chicken for our dog.
* baked choc chip bars, a spiced cinnamon cake and ANZAC biscuits.
* made a macaroni and cheese bake, with extra veg, from leftover pasta.
* cooked multiple things while oven was on.
* watched a show on ABC iview which is free
* planted two bromeliads which were a gift from my mother-in-law.
* raked up fallen Autumn leaves and bagged these - they'll be used in the
compost bin over coming months.
Today, I am refreshing a garden bed with some new plantings. All but two of the plants I'm putting in were free; grown from cuttings or gifted from my neighbour. The two I purchased were $14ea from a local nursery.
Meg
I’m so sorry you had to say goodbye to Princess. She looks like she was a beautiful companion. They really leave a big hole in our hearts when they leave us🖤🐾🖤🐾🖤
ReplyDeleteI’m so sorry about your sweet kitty Princess. She was a beautiful cat and I know she will be missed.
ReplyDelete