07 August 2022

The Week That Was 7th August 2022

 

Here's another week done and dusted, and looking back we accomplished a lot!

Monday is always a big house cleaning day, after the weekend and to get ahead for the rest of the week, and this week was no different. It was a glorious, sun shiny day, with a breeze that would turn you into a frozen moment if you stood still - a good blanket washing day as my mother would say. So I stripped the bed a day early, and washed all the bedding and the towels and bath mats from both bathrooms and then just stood for a few minutes watching them all gently wave in the sunny breeze. Made my heart sing.

Sunny days in winter always motivate me so I tackled the pantry shelves and the big freezer in the laundry too. Sorting, putting things back in the right spot, updating the inventories, scrubbing spots off the wall (how do they get there?). A big job that took almost an hour, but it's done and I stood and stared at the shelves and smiled when I was finished. It seems the oddest things make me smile.

This week I am grateful for:

*Family - I spoke to my aunty on the phone, after playing phone tag for a couple of weeks.


*Electricity! It occurred to me just how hard my life would be if we didn’t have electricity - washing, cleaning the carpets, baking, ironing, even making a cup of tea and reading would be so much harder without electricity. We are blessed to live a very privileged life.


*Books. I love to read, and read every night, so I go through books quickly, and that could cost a lot. Instead I download free ebooks to my Kindle, either from online sources or the library.

Here's how I saved money, time and energy this week.

*Caught the shower warm up water and poured it into the washing machine.


*Boiled the kettle each morning and filled the thermos for cuppas through the day.
*Used the solar charger to charge my phone and laptop.


*Stuck to the one light rule as much as possible.


*Sorted my canning jars, lids and rings ready for canning season.


*Made a double batch of brownies, cut them up and put some in the cake tin and froze the rest for later. This used up some choc chips that had bloomed from the summer heat and the last of the margarine that was gifted to us a while back. Of course I had to sample them to make sure they were good enough, and yes, after two pieces during the day, I could say they were excellent.


*Doubled the fruit cake recipe but only used half the fruit to stretch my dried fruit stores and used applesauce instead of butter. Turned out just as delicious and moist. 


*Cooked all our meals from scratch using pantry ingredients.
*Learned an new dish cloth pattern. These are our Home Among the Gum Trees shop.  


*Only used the car once this week, and that was for a very short 7km round trip. ULP is coming down in price, but diesel has stayed pretty much the same so driving is only done when absolutely necessary.


*Planted tomato, eggplant, capsicum, zucchini and cucumber seeds in starter pots so they'll be ready to plant out at the end of September.


*Pulled the last of the turnips, washed them, diced them, and put into the freezer. The green tops were washed, drained and put into the dehydrator to dry, then powdered to use in soup.


*Fed the garden with worm tea.


*The lavender is starting to bloom so I've been picking it as I see it, and hanging it to dry.


*Added some more handmade items to the Christmas gift box, all made using what was in the craft room.


*Made father's day cards ready for next month. I haven't bought a card in years, but I expect I didn't spend at least $5 on them.


*While I was making cards, I batched a few for the nursing home, ready to send in a couple of weeks.


*Picked lemons from our tree and used them to make coriander rice and lemon tea.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment...I just love hearing from you!

Just a couple of things:

Please don't use your comments to advertise your business or goods for sale, any such comments will be removed.

And please include your name, ANONYMOUS POSTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED AND WILL BE RECORDED AS SPAM.