To all the Mother's, Grandmothers and Mother figures, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day last Sunday.
Darren spoiled me with some lovely gifts and took me out for lunch. It was a glorious day in Melbourne with the sun shining and the air slightly warm. We had a family afternoon tea at my Mum's then the girls and grandchildren came over for dinner. It was a long day, but a day full of blessings, love and laughter.
Here's what else we got up to -
* Darren and I made blackberry jam using fruit Darren picked all Summer / Autumn. We made 14 jars in total and blessed a few family members with a jar.
* I picked up a punnet of slightly sad looking silverbeet seedlings from Bunnings on clearance for $1. I've planted them in the veggie garden and they are doing well ( so far ). I did plant seeds a few weeks ago but they didn't come up. I think it might have been too cold here.
* Kept the heater off during the middle of the day when the sun was shining. I did make sure the curtains were fully open to let some heat in. If I got a little cold I either did some housework or put a coat on.
* Made and sold a lemon slice to a cleaning client for a birthday party.
* Refilled the bathroom foaming hand wash pump with the remains of an almost empty shower gel bottle.
* Cleaned and washed a pair of Darren's sneakers. Darren was almost ready to move them on to become garden shoes but they've come up quite clean.
* Gratefully received a blessing of mushrooms. We used them in a couple of meals.
* Saved a couple of gift bags from Mother's Day. They will be reused for future gift giving.
* We had an unexpected situation pop up on Mother's Day and needed to find a gift in a hurry. Darren picked some chrysanthemums and greenery from our garden and I pulled a lovely hand wash from the gift cupboard and grabbed a jar of the freshly made blackberry jam. These simple gifts were well received and cheered up the recipient.
* Darren went to a charity dinner and came home with the table flowers and a door prize of a gourmet hamper. .
* Finely diced a couple of broccoli stalks and froze them for future soup and casserole making. I do this instead of buying celery.
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| The hamper Darren won |
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| Flowers from the charity dinner |
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| Cup and tray from Darren, biscuits from church gift |
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| Cutting up broccoli stalks |
How did you save time, money and energy this week ?
It is with much sadness that we learned of Suzan Warnes sudden passing on Monday. Suzan was a regular reader and commenter on this blog for a number of years and a contributor to the Cheapskates Chatter FB group and various other groups. Please uphold her family in prayer through this difficult time.
Wendy I am sure your little last minute hamper look equally as beautiful as the one Darren won with a lovely sprinkling of love.
ReplyDeleteJanine
What a blessing you had for Mother’s Day!
ReplyDeleteI jjust love the cup and tray from Darren, beautiful. What a thoughtful gift.
My favorite part of the broccoli is the stalk. I use it and the florets in my stir fry and my husband gets the florets and we are both happy.
Thanks for your happy, inspiring blog.
Hi Wendy.
ReplyDeleteI love sad looking plants at Bunnings. We call them our hospital plants because all they need is some TLC and sometimes just some water. In October last year we picked up five punnets of silverbeet and rainbow chard, five of spring onions, three of white petunias and one of coriander. Each punnet was marked down to five cents. We put them in a tub with some water and seaweed solution overnight and planted them the next morning. The silverbeet plants are still producing, we have plenty of spring onions and the petunias have only just died off.
My favourite bargain priced plant is our Pineapple Quince tree that I picked up for ten dollars at Bunnings about six years ago. It was sad looking and barely alive but has grown into a lovely looking tree. It has rewarded us with fruit for the past four years. This year it produced at least fifty quince.
I have shared the fruit with friends and have made stewed quince, quince jam and plenty of quince paste.
Sometimes all it takes is a little faith, some TLC and some water. As the price of everything continues to rise, we are blessed to be able to grow and share some of our fruit and vegetables.
Take care.
Maria.👩🌾
Thankyou for the idea to freeze chopped broccoli stalks I usually put them in the compost. This week I froze chopped celery for the first time to see how it works. I also think I'd like to receive the gift basket you put together.My family spoilt me with dinner, flowers and nice warm pajamas, just what we are needing in this weather.Have a lovely week
ReplyDelete@JennyP: the frozen celery works really well, as long as you add them to the dish you are making directly from frozen. Do not take them out when you start cooking, only when you can add them immediately.
DeleteYou are so thoughtful of others. I am inspired by your blog Wendy! Your mothers day sounds really lovely. I think I will start a gift cupboard as well. Thank you for the tip on the broccoli, I hadn't thought of using instead of celery.
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